December 27 ...

In 1831 Charles Darwin set out on a five-year, round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, during which time he recorded his biological, geological, and anthropological observations in South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution. In 1845 Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time, during the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA. In 1900 Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS, breaking each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen. In 1904 James Barrie's play Peter Pan premiered in London. In 1927 Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. In 1945 the World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations. In 1947 the children's television program Howdy Doody, hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC. In 1949 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule. In 1968 The Breakfast Club signed off for the last time on ABC radio after 35 years on the air. In 1978 Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship. In 1985 Palestinian terorists opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. A total of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel. Also on this day, American naturalist Dian Fossey was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda. In 1996 Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital. In 2001 President George W. Bush granted China permanent normal trade status with the US. In 2002 North Korea ordered UN nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons; also on this day, at least 40 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked Grozny, Chechnya.