Between July 18 and August 15, 1939, one of the most consequential letters in modern history was drafted by Albert Einstein and the Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard. The letter, which was eventually delivered to President Franklin Roosevelt,led to the Manhattan Project and the development of the first two atomic weapons. Szilard and two other Hungarian-born physicists, …
August 1, 2020, marks the 40th anniversary of Vigdis Finbogadottir's inauguration as President of Iceland on August 1, 1980. She was the first woman to be democratically elected president in any nation. Learn more about her and the Icelandic Presidency in this blog post.
The following is a guest post by Tariq Ahmad, a foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress, to which I contributed. Tariq has previously authored posts on Islamic Law in Pakistan – Global Legal Collection Highlights, the Law Library’s 2013 Panel Discussion on Islamic Law, Sedition Law in India, and FALQ posts on Proposals to Reform Pakistan’s …
It appears that COVID-19 will not go away any time soon. As there is currently no known cure or vaccine against it, countries have to find other ways to prevent and mitigate the spread of this infectious disease. Many countries have turned to electronic measures to provide general information and advice on COVID-19, allow people to …
As we watch the United States take new steps in our space program, we also commemorate the 55th anniversary of the first American space walk on June 3, 1965. The Russian launch of Sputnik in 1957 had spurred U.S. development in space capabilities. The National Aeronautics and Space Act (Pub. L. 85-568, 72 Stat. 426), …
While working from home together with other Law Library staff our foreign law specialists and analysts have been busy researching many legal issues related to COVID-19, including Continuity of Legislative Activities during Emergency Situations (March 2020) on measures taken in various countries for continuing legislative activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, we also published a …
The following is a guest post by Tariq Ahmad, a foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Tariq presented a webinar on the subject matter of this post on May 21, 2020. He has previously contributed posts on Islamic Law in Pakistan – Global Legal Collection Highlights, the Law Library’s 2013 Panel Discussion …