July 19 is celebrated as World Photographer’s Day, International Retainer’s Day and New Friends Day. In Ukraine, this day is still Coach’s Day.
Coach’s Day
The idea of celebrating this professional holiday in Ukraine arose in 1999. However, Coach’s Day received official status only in 2021, when the President of Ukraine signed the corresponding decree. The date of July 19 was not chosen by chance – on this day in 1996, Ukraine took part in the Olympic Games for the first time as an independent state.
Before the official recognition, the unofficial date of celebrating Coach’s Day in Ukraine was October 30. This holiday is popular among specialists in the field of sports and physical education. Coaches play a key role in the development of the country’s sports potential, carrying out important educational and health work with children and youth. They not only teach athletes the technique and tactics of competitions, but also educate them in the will to win, discipline, endurance and other qualities necessary to achieve high results. Thanks to the persistent and professional work of coaches, Ukrainian athletes regularly win awards at international competitions and glorify Ukraine with their achievements. It is a holiday of sports and mentoring, physical culture, education and pedagogy.
World Photographer’s Day
On July 19, 1822, French scientist Joseph Niépce took the world’s first photograph, which was an 8-hour exposure of his backyard dining table. The first negative photograph was invented by Fox Talbot in 1839, and the first positive print was presented to the world by Hippolyte Bayard in the same year. The first “photo paper” was made from asphalt applied to copper or glass. The first color photograph was taken by the British physicist James Maxwell in 1861. The first aerial photograph was taken by a French inventor in 1858. The first portrait using electric light was made by Levitskyi in 1879, reducing the exposure time to 15 seconds.
The first photographic films for color photography appeared before 1904, produced by the Lumiere company. In the Russian Empire, the first color photograph was published in “Memoirs of the Russian Technical Society”, which depicted Leo Tolstoy. The basis for a digital camera was invented in 1973, and the very next year the first electronic astronomical photo was taken with it. The first digital camera was developed by Kodak in 1981. The first SLR camera with autofocus was released by Polaroid in 1979. The term “megapixel” was first used in 1984. The oldest Daguerrotype Susses Freres set a record at an auction in Vienna in 2007, selling for nearly $800,000.
Day of new friends
This positive holiday is celebrated three times a year – July 19, October 19 and January 19. It was started by the American company Hallmark Cards in the 1920s to increase the sale of postcards. At first, the idea of New Friends Day was poorly received, but over time it gained popularity, spreading the concept of friendship. Today, this day promotes the involvement of people in communication, new acquaintances and an active social life.
International Day of Retainers
This day is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of wearing retainers after orthodontic treatment. Founded by Vivera Retainers in 2021, the day highlights the role of retainers in maintaining a straight and beautiful smile long after braces are removed. Since their invention in the early 1900s, retainers have evolved from metal and plastic wires to the more comfortable and less noticeable clear options that appeared in the 1960s. Today, there is a variety of retainers to suit the individual needs and preferences of patients.
Events of this day:
– 711 – on the Guadalete River, the Visigothic Germans lost a major battle to the Umayyad Arab army, which led to the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom.
1650 – in Chigyrin, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky concluded a military alliance with Turkey.
1900 – the first metro line was opened in Paris during the World Paris Exhibition.
1959 – arrests of members of the Ukrainian National Committee, a dissident organization, began.
1969 – Indira Gandhi nationalized the 14 largest Indian banks.
1980 – the XXII Olympic Games opened in Moscow, boycotted by many countries due to the invasion of the USSR in Afghanistan.
2022 – Albania and North Macedonia have started negotiations on joining the EU.
On July 19, 1926, the city of Katerynoslav was renamed Dnipropetrovsk. Yes, precisely Dnipropetrovsk! At a general meeting of revolutionary activists, it was proposed to name the city Dnipropetrovsk. The new name immortalized the Dnipro River, on which the city stands, and the name of the Soviet revolutionary Hryhori Petrovsky, who began his work here.
There is no particular explanation for how the city became Dnipropetrovsk. The city lived with this name for more than 90 years. Renaming after the revolution was not the first in the history of the city. The first name of the city, if the historical settlement can be called that, was Peresicheny. Later, a number of urban settlements existed on the territory of the current Dnipro: Samar, Kodak, Novy Kodak, as well as a significant number of rural settlements: Polovytsia, Lotsmanska Kamianka, Diivka, Sukhachivka and others.
Founded at the end of the 18th century, Katerynoslav got its first name “from above” — by order of the supreme authority. Katerynoslav officially wore this name for a total of 127 years and changed it only once, and that too by “high” will — the decree of Paul I, during the “cleansing” of Kateryn’s heritage, the city was renamed Novorossiysk. However, it did not last long – Paul I was killed, and the new emperor, Alexander I, returned his name to the city and made it the center of the Katerynoslav province.
During the Civil War, the city changed hands at least 19 times, and during this period they tried to give it the name Sicheslav. Be that as it may, the trend, according to which the city received its name in accordance with the opinion of senior officials, has been preserved to this day – since May 2016, as part of the implementation of the law on decommunization, the city began to be called Dnipro.
