Decades project - Science Section

Creating the Genetic Replica: Ian Wilmut

• Ian Wilmut Date of birth: July 7, 1944
• Ian Wilmut was born in Hampton Lucey, England, and raised in the ancient town of Coventry, a medieval town devastated by German bombs during World War II.
• His childhood interest in the outdoors and farming led him to study agricultural studies at the nearby University of Nottingham. Summer internships in focused his interest on embryology. He began to concentrate on animal genetic engineering and received his doctorate at the Uiversity of Cambridge in 1971. His thesis was on the freezing of boar semen. Since his postdoctoral work, he has been in the forefront of genetic research.
• Ian Wilmut was born in Hampton Lucey, England, near Warwick on July 7, 1944. His father, David Wilmut, was a math teacher. Wilmut described himself as a pretty average student.At Darwin College, Cambridge University, Wilmut met researcher Chris Porge who had discovered how to freeze cells in 1949. His father had a severe case of diabetes that caused blindness for the last thirty years of his life. This disease may have been another factor that led Wilmut to develop an interest in this field.In January 1996, Wilmut began the cloning procedure. He took the DNA of a six-year-old Finn Dorset ewe's mammary gland switched off its active genes, and fused it with an egg cell from a Scottish Blackface ewe from which he had removed the genetic material. He used electricity to fuse that mammary cell with its own DNA to the empty egg while it was in a dormant state. He repeated the process with 277 udder cells and eggs from sheep. Only 29 of the eggs actually began to grow and divide into embryos. Wilmut transferred the 29 embryos into surrogate mother sheep. Thirteen became pregnant.
• I believe Iam Wilmut was important to the scientific world because he did something that many thought was impossible. He might of been discouraged by many but he didn't care he chased after his dreams and beliefs. Many of the reasons why he did certain things might of been for his father. His name goes down in history as being the first to clone a animal.

Decades project - Literary section

Two seconds under the world : terror comes to America : the conspiracy behind the World Trade Center bombing

• Jim Dwyer was born on March 4, 1957, native New Yorker.
• Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, native New Yorkers, veteran newspaper reporters, and winners of many awards together and separately, now work at The New York Times. Dwyer is the coauthor or author of three other books. Flynn, a special projects editor at the Times, was the newspaper's police bureau chief on September 11. He previously worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News, New York News day, and the Stamford Advocate.
• Worked at the New York Times
• Became well known for his book Two seconds under the world : terror comes to America : the conspiracy behind the World Trade Center bombing.
• Jim Dwyer was significant because he wrote a book about that fearful day for many of the attempt to bomb the WTC. He wrote from his point of view as well as the people who experienced it too. I think hes brave for even writing this book many would just silence that day and put it in the past.

Key Person - Bill Clinton

William J. Clinton

• August 19, 1946, in the small town of Hope, Arkansas.
• During the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well being than at any time in its history. He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term.He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus.After the failure in his second year of a huge program of health care reform, Clinton shifted emphasis, declaring "the era of big government is over." He sought legislation to upgrade education, to protect jobs of parents who must care for sick children, to restrict handgun sales, and to strengthen environmental rules.
• Bill Clinton was president of the United States for two terms, from 1993 to 2001, and is best known as the president who survived impeachment after a sex scandal.
• In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected President. Two years later, when Bill Clinton was a senior in high school, he was selected to go to Washington, D.C., to be a part of Boys Nation, a special youth leadership conference. When Bill Clinton finished college in 1968, he won a Rhodes Scholarship, which allows select students to study at Oxford University in England
• Playing the saxophone was his favorite pastime. He loved music, practiced every day, and played in jazz ensembles. Each summer, he attended a band camp in the Ozark Mountains. His hard work paid off when he became a top saxophone player at his school and won first chair in the state band's saxophone section.
• In 1976, Bill Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas.
• His most important goal as governor was to enhance the quality of education in the state. He raised teachers' salaries and began a program of testing students after the third, sixth, and eighth grades. He also encouraged parents to participate in their children's education.
• Bill Clinton was a significant figure and the reason i chose him is because i think he has been one of the most successful presidents ever. He truly cared for the people and considered a lot of ways to make things easier for us, from our education to our health care. I believe he is going to be one of the presidents that is going to be really remembered throughout out future history.

AHA Decades Project - Historical section

The 1993 World Trade Center attack

• The World Trade Center bombing in February 26, 1993, has long since been overshadowed by the attack that brought the twin towers down on September 11, 2001.
• An explosion rocked the second level of the parking basement beneath Trade Tower One.
• The blast ripped open a crater 150 feet in diameter and five floors deep, rupturing sewer and water mains and cutting off electricity. Over the hours that followed, more than 50,000 people were evacuated from the Trade Center complex. A stunned nation soon grasped a fact larger than the incident itself, foreign-sponsored terrorism—which had long plagued Western Europe and parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—had come to the United States.
• New York Police Department collecting and studying residue from the blast area. In the course of this work, investigators found a key piece of evidence: a 300-pound fragment of a vehicle that, based on the damage it had sustained, must have been at the very epic center of the blast. Sewage contamination had rendered it unusable for residue analysis, but it bore something much better a vehicle identification number. This was not to be the first fortunate break for investigators. Authorities traced the vehicle to a Ryder truck rental facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, from which it had been reported stolen
• After the September 2001 attack, it was the opinion of many investigators and analysts inside President George W. Bush's administration, that the perpetrators of that attack had a state sponsor which was Iraq.
• The effects of the 1993 world trade center attack affected many people because it was one of the largest commercial complex, home to many businesses, government agencies, and international trade organizations.
  The notion of terrorism on U.S. soil was so distant in 1993 that authorities first assumed the explosion was an accident. But testing detected nitrates at the crater - the first sign that a crude bomb was the real cause.
• I think this event was so significant because it was the first attempt to the world trade center, and even though it was attempted to destroy the WTC in 1993, nobody assumed it was ever going to try and attempt it once again.In my opinion it should of been considered that someone could want to reattempt the event but this time get it right since the first time was sort of like a test attempt.

The Gulf War By Crystal Gonzalez

The Gulf War!

The Gulf War

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein

August 2,1990-Feb 28,1991

The Gulf of Mexico

Summary: The War was fought between Iraq and allies of Kuwait. From January 16 to February 28, 1991, lasting exactlly44 days altogether. The war had 3 main points of Iraqs job of Kuwait the game and sanctions against the war against Iraq.More than any previous war this war was fought on two very different sides including the war field itself it was fought in the media.The media war was initially staged by Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq relied on its own outmoded media personnel. Iraqs presentations of Saddam Hussein patting intimidated Iraqi infants will forever remain among the more serious moments in the history of international politics.Kuwaits way of dealing with the truth has been much criticized since the war some of the most disturbing reportage has been proven to have been fabricated. Yet Kuwait did win this media war which was a huge part of the process leading to the real war.

Chrongoly:1990
August 2
Iraq invades Kuwait
August 3
The United condemns the invasion and calls to remove Iraqi from Kuwait.
August 4
The European Community alliance of 12 nations forbits imports of Iraqi oil.
August 6
The UN Security Council votes to impose economic sanctions on Iraq.
August 7
President George Bush initiates "Operation Desert Shield" sending American troops to discourage an Iraqi attack
August 10
The Arab League of Middle Eastern nations votes to send troops to aid the U.S. operation.
Mid-August
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein announces that the 9,000 North American, European, and Australian citizens in Kuwait are now prisoners of Iraq.
August 22
President Bush demandsReserve forces since the Vietnam War.
August 25
The UN Security Council authorizes American naval forces in the Persian Gulf to enforce the trade embargo.
November 29
The UN Security Council issues an ultimatum threatening the use of force if Iraq does not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991
December 6
Hussein frees the 9,000 hostages.
1991
January 9
Peace comes between US Secretary of State James A. Baker, III and Iraqi representative Tariq Aziz end in a stalemate.
January 10
Congress begins debate on a resolution authorizing President Bush to use force to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait.
January 12
The resolution passes in both houses of Congress by narrow margins.
January 16-17
The Coalition air war begins. Bombers and cruise missiles strike at power plants munitions factories and other strategic targets. The bombardment will last 42 days.
February 15
Hussein offers a peace plan loaded with conditions. Bush calls the proposal "a cruel hoax."
February 21
Iraq and the Soviet Union present a peace treaty. Bush rejects it as inadequate.
February 22
President Bush issues an ultimatum Accept all UN conditions by noon tomorrow or a massive ground campaign will be launched.
February 24
Diversionary forces lure Iraqi forces to the east as the main Coalition force moves in on the Iraqi western flank taking the Iraqi army by surprise. Within two days the Coalition takes 30,000 Iraqi prisoners.
February 25
An Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Saudi Arabia killing 28 soldiers and injuring 97 more.
February 26
Iraqi troops try to take the main road out of Kuwait City causing a huge traffic jam.Causing aircraft bomb the road, killing 10,000 Iraqi troops.
February 27
Allies take Kuwait City.
February 27-28
The largest tank battle since World War II takes place. Hundreds of Coalition tanks armored infantry vehicles and combat helicopters destroy 200 Iraqi tanks. February 28
Hussein agrees to end the fighting.
April 3
The UN Security Council orders Iraq to cancel its annexation of Kuwait, assume liability for war damages, andstop all stocks of nuclear and chemical weapons.
April 6
Iraq submits to the terms of the UN order.

George Bush!

George Bush

June 12,1924

Milton Massachusetts

When he was 18 he joined the navy.He survived World War 2.He married Barbra Pierce in January of 1945.They had 6 children.GeorgeRobin (who died as a child) John also known as Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Yale University in 1968, and Harvard Business School in 1975. George Bush became president of the United States.In 1980 George ran for the Republican nomination for president but lost. George Bush was in a heated battle with Iraq when the First Gulf War broke out when Iraq invaded Kuwait an oil rich bordering country to the South. The War lasted at least a year and cost many lives for both sides. Later successed.We used special forces on foot and tank and air support to aid in the fight.

Greta Garbo!

Greta Garbo

18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990

Greta Garbo worked in hollywood as an actress.Once moving to Hollywood she appeared in only 27 movies yet she remains one of the most popular and recognizable Hollywood stars.In 1941,she did not accept any moreroles an dretired and got her self a apartment in NewYork City.Greta Garbo was a great movie star.Greta appread in silent films.Garbo reportedly entered into a variety of intimate liaisons with men and women, but her long-standing relationship appeared to be with the leading man, John Gilbert whom she agreed to marry but she failed to show up for her wedding.

Selena Quintanilla Perez

Selena was born to Marcela and Abraham Quintanilla on April, 16, 1971. She was the third and last child after Suzzette and Abraham Junior III. As a little girl of 8 years old Selena worked singing at bars, weddings, restaurants, fairs, and such. The band she worked in was called "Selena Y Los Dinos" formed by her father, Abraham Quintanilla. Her sister, Suzzette, played the drums and her brother, Abraham Junior, played the bass.

Selena barely enjoyed her childhood. She used to always play challenging games in school and with neighborhood friends. Dolls were not much her style, Selena was athletic (e.g. running, hide and seek, basket ball, climb trees and such). Instead of having a normal childhood, her father, a professional and experienced Musician and ex-member of the original "Los Dinos" from the nineteen-sixties, influenced Selena and her three brothers to be dedicated Musicians. A boyfriend could have never been on her schedule, considering music as a carrier was a time consuming business.

The Country Tex-Mex band officially started in 1981. The band was considered to be the "family business" of the Quintanilla family. This business was the main source they relied on to put food on the table. Since 1981 until late 80's the family went through very rough times. They barely had money for food, had to apply for food stamps, and on many occassions, they could not afford to pay a motel. Time and patience was what kept them going.

In the late nineteen-eighties Selena Y Los Dinos gained popularity in the western states, which by then Mexican immigrants were more prominent in the United States than ever. Due to all the work imposed by the music business Selena abandoned school. Nevertheless, Selena Y Los Dinos savored their first success in 1986 when Selena received the "Female Vocalist Of The Year" and "Performer Of The Year" awards at the Tejano Music Awards. Since then the band has been among the top winners, taking awards in numerous categories year after year. Selena Y Los Dinos then went from bar performers to national performers. They appeared on "El Show De Johnny Canales", "Siempre En Domingo", "Sabado Gigante", "El Festival De La Calle Ocho" and other prestigious shows.

By the early nineties Chris Perez entered the band as the Guitarist. As it is to expect, Selena without a boyfriend and Chris without a girlfriend, the fortunate Guitarist lost no time in dating the beautiful Vocalist. Selena's father, Abraham, totally opposed to the relationship and threaten to suspend Chris Perez from the music group. This was not seen as a threat at all, Selena could have been a solist and there were Rock 'n Roll bands offering contracts to Chris. The couple had deaf ears for Abraham's threats and married on April 2, 1992.

As Selena's popularity spread through out the Latin world, Yolanda Saldivar, a thirty-two years old certified Nurse in Texas, found Selena in a concert in 1993. In that same year, Yolanda immediately contacted the singer's fan club organization and left numerous messages on the answering machine. Abraham, father and manager of Selena, was intrigued and hired her as the president of Selena's fan club.

A couple of months later, Yolanda met Selena personally and describes her first encounter as "meeting Whitney Houston". Yolanda Saldivar, obsessed or not, gained access to the personal life of Selena. She became the chaperon and intimate friend of Selena Quintanilla. It is rumored that the Nurse and the Vocalist shared secrets. These "secrets" were the bound between these two friends.

Selena not satisfied with all of her music's success, she aspired to be a fashion Designer with Martin Gomez, a professional young Designer in Texas. In 1994 Selena opened her first boutique "Selena, Etc. Inc." located in 5410 Leopard St. Suite B. in the heart of Corpus Christi, Texas. Another two stores followed, one in San Antonio, Texas and another in Monterrey, Mexico. The naked truth is that at that time non of her boutiques were going well.

By early 1995 Yolanda is being confronted by Abraham Quintanilla, who alleges Yolanda Saldivar was stealing money from the fan club. Yolanda denied the accusation. Selena and her father met with the fan club's president to question her about the issue. Yolanda had no concrete answers and Selena suspected she was guilty of fraud. Obviously, Selena felt betrayed.

In March 31, 1995, Yolanda arranges to meet with Selena in the Holiday Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas at 6:00 A.M. The president of the fan club says she wants to give all the documents to Selena in person and in private. The singer agreed to meet with Yolanda in person and in private. When Selena arrives to the motel, Yolanda told her that she was sexually abused in Monterrey, Mexico before arriving to Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena then drove her to the clinic for a general check up. The doctor found no serious evidence of sexual abuse. By around 11:00 A.M. Selena and Yolanda returned to the motel. Once inside the room, Selena asked for the missing documents, Saldivar only returns incomplete documents and checks.

Selena Kept arguing with Yolanda about the missing documents. Selena, not wanting anymore troubles, announced to Saldivar that she's dismissed from her businesses. Selena then walked to the door, Saldivar feared to be dismissed and sue in court, takes a gun out of her purse, points it at Selena and shoots once hitting the upper right side of her back. Bleeding and petrified, Quintanilla ran to the lobby of the motel. According to Rosalinda Gonzales, assistant manager at the motel, and Ruben Deleon, sales Director at the motel, Selena arrived to the lobby yelling: "Help me, help me! I've been shot!." The twenty-three years old woman asked them to call 9-1-1 and slowly laid herself on the floor. A puddle of blood formed. The employees asked Selena who shot her and she replied: "Yolanda in room 158".

Minutes later she was taken to the hospital to only be declared as "clinically death". She lost a great proportion of blood and, as a result, she also lost consciousness along with her life.

Yolanda Saldivar was sentenced to life-in-prison for the murder of Selena Quintanilla Perez. Yolanda is currently serving this sentence in the correctional of Gatesville, Texas since 1995.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years pass by but the memory of Selena will always be rememberd within her fans.

The outcome we are left in memory of her and her wonderful music.

German Reunification

• October 3rd, 1990


• took place in Germany
  

Built on August 13, 1961 by the communist regime in East Germany, the Wall divided Berlin for 28 years. It cut right through the center of the city, dividing very important traffic links and separating families and friends. Minefields and border police with shoot-to-kill orders any further attempts by East Germans to look for a better future in the West. While the communists tightened their grip on people’s lives in East Berlin, the western part of the city became a walled-in outpost of freedom and democracy.

On November 9, 1989, the world watched in amazement as joyful crowds gathered on both sides of the Berlin Wall around midnight to celebrate the opening of the border crossings between the eastern and western parts of the city. A peaceful revolution in East Germany had finally cracked this grim symbol of Cold War and political oppression. It announced the beginning of the end of Germany’s postwar division and national unity came less than a year later on October 3, 1990.

• 8 August 1989130 people leave from the German Democratic Republic, the GDR, to the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic in East Berlin. They are a few of the many thousands who want to leave their home country via Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland.



• 4 September 1989 This date is considered to be the start of the so-called Monday demonstrations. Around 1000 people gather in Leipzig and demand more rights and freedom. On the following Mondays there are ever more people who defy the brutal excesses of the security forces.


• 11 September 1989 Hungary opens its borders to Austria. In only three days 15,000 people leave. At the end of September the Soviet and East German government gave 6,000 refugees staying in the German Embassy in Prague permission to leave East Germany.


• 7 October 1989 The Government of the GDR decrees celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the founding of the state. As a reaction to this, people in many cities demonstrate against the regime of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland, the SED, [Socialist Unity Party of Germany].



• 9 October 1989 Over 70,000 people march through Leipzig city centre and call for non-violent demonstrations for freedom of opinion and political reforms. One week later they are followed by 120,000 from the whole GDR.


• 18 October 1989 Erich Honecker resigns as Secretary-General of the SED and head of state.


• 3 November 1989 The GDR endorses to leave the country directly via the border to Czechoslovakia. Two days later around 15,000 GDR citizens have arrived in the Federal Republic via this route.



• 8 November 1989 The SED gives up its power in the politburo and resigns.



• 9 November 1989 The symbol of the separation of the two German states, the Berlin Wall, falls to the jubilation of people from east and west.



• 18 March 1990 In the spring free elections are held in the still extant GDR for the first time ever. The people elect a new Chamber of the People, the main aim of which was to prepare for accession to the Federal Republic.



• 5 May 1990 The Two-plus-Four talks start, in which the victorious powers of the Second World War and the Foreign Ministers of the two German states discuss removal of the rights of the Allies in Germany.



• 18 May 1990 The FRG and GDR sign the Treaty on the Creation of an Economic, Currency and Social Union.
  
• 1 July 1990 The GDR adopts large parts of the economic and legal order of the Federal Republic. The deutschmark becomes the sole means of payment.



• 23 August 1990 Before the end of the negotiations on a Unification Treaty between the two German states, the Chamber of the People decides on accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic for 3 October 1990.


• 12 September 1990 The Foreign Ministers of the United States of America, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France sign the Two-plus-Four Treaty and thus grant Germany full sovereignty.


• 3 October 1990 In the night of 2 and 3 October 1990 the official celebrations for German Unity Day are held. Fireworks light up the sky, bells accompany the joy of the people.


• 2 December 1990 The Germans elect a pan-German parliament. It is the first free election since 1933.

The outcome it had was that two cities reunited together like it was before.