1925 The Great Gatsby, a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.
1917 American organic chemist Robert Burns Woodward was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He is best known for his syntheses of complex organic substances, including quinine (the well-known antimalarial), the steroids cholesterol and cortisone, and vitamin B12.
1583 Dutch philosopher and jurist Hugo Grotius was born in Delft, Holland. His writings laid the foundations for international law, based on the concepts of natural law. For example, in his book Mare Liberum (The Free Sea) he formulated the principle that the sea was international territory and all nations were free to use it for seafaring trade.
Like a breath of fresh air.