Abraham Lincoln  (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)

The earliest known observance of Lincoln’s birthday occurred in Buffalo, New York,
in 1874. Julius Francis, a Buffalo druggist, made it his life’s mission to honor the
slain president. He repeatedly petitioned Congress to establish Lincoln’s birthday
as a legal holiday.

The National Weather Service (now the U.S. Weather Bureau) was established
on February 9, 1870 through a joint resolution of Congress signed by President
Ulysses S. Grant with a mission of providing meteorological observations at
military stations in the interior of the continent and other points in the States
and Territories”. The new agency was placed under the Secretary of War and
was then assigned to the U.S. Signal Corps under General Albert J. Myer.

President Grant

General Myer

 

Left: Exterior view of the Headquarters Building of the U. S. Meteorological Service of the United States Signal Service. Right: A meteorologist reading
a barometer (1880).

            William Henry Harrison  (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841)

Harrison was the ninth President of the United States beginning on March 4, 1841
and was the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, and 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980. Harrison was  
also the last President to be born before the U.S. Declaration of Independence. He
died of complications from pneumonia.
 

The NASA Skylab space station orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979. It included a
workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. Three manned missions to the
station were conducted between 1973 and 1974. The fourth and final Skylab crew returned to Earth on Friday, February 8, 1974.

The Skylab 4 crew included from left: Commander Gerald Carr, Pilot William Pogue,
and Science Pilot Edward Gibson. They were launched on November 16, 1973 atop
a Saturn B rocket. The three astronauts spent 6,051 man hours performing scientific experiments that covered medical activities, and solar observations,