October 26, 1963

That fall of 1963, gas ran $0.30 a gallon and Kennedy was in the White House — the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty had just taken effect, limiting nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space. On television, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was winning Emmy Awards, and Charles M. Schulz's "Happiness Is a Warm Puppy" sat at the top of the nonfiction bestseller list. The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees in four games to win the World Series, and off the coast of Iceland, a volcanic eruption on the ocean floor broke the surface and created an entirely new island, Surtsey, from scratch.