Good morning, Whitewater.
Saturday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 6:44 AM and sunset 7:15 PM for 12h 30m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 91.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1953, a medical accomplishment becomes public:
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952–an epidemic year for polio–there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. For promising eventually to eradicate the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time.
In Wisconsin history on this day in 1881, a famous mascot dies in an accident:
1881 – Old Abe Dies
On this date Old Abe, famous Civil War mascot, died from injuries sustained during a fire at the State Capitol. Old Abe was the mascot for Company C, an Eau Claire infantry unit that was part of the Wisconsin 8th Regiment. During the Capitol fire of 1881, smoke engulfed Old Abe’s cage. One of his feathers survived and is in the Wisconsin Historical Museum. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, pg. 51]