- If you had stood atop the highest peak on Hong Kong Island, on January 26, 1841, you could have seen a British naval squadron assembled in the harbor below. With a spyglass, you might have made out the commodore stepping ashore to toast Queen Victoria and declare the island her territory. There were no signs of dissent from the Chinese military or the local villagers, who numbered fewer than 7,500. It was a mild kickoff to what would add up to a century and a half of British rule.
- Wernher von Braun (german-way.com)
Today Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) is little known in the US, but in the 1950s and ’60s he was a household name — known to virtually every American as the famous German rocket scientist and advocate of space travel. American astronauts were transported to the moon by rocket engines developed by the former Nazi SS officer.