54 BC Aurelia Cotta (born), Roman wife of Gaius Julius Caesar (born 120 BC)
781 The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji
904 Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.
1009 Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.
1201 Attempted usurpation of John Komnenos the Fat.
1358 Étienne Marcel (born), French rebel leader (born 1302)
1396 Philip the Good (born), French son of John the Fearless (died 1467)
1498 On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
1527 Maximilian II (born), Holy Roman Emperor (died 1576)
1556 Ignatius of Loyola (born), Spanish priest and theologian, founded the Society of Jesus (born 1491)
1588 The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1598 Alessandro Algardi (born), Italian sculptor (died 1654)
1703 Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1704 Gabriel Cramer (born), Swiss mathematician (died 1752)
1715 A Spanish treasure fleet seven days after 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.
1718 John Canton (born), English physicist (died 1772)
1726 Nicolaus II Bernoulli (born), Swiss mathematician (born 1695)
1763 Odawa Chief Pontiac’s forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac’s War.
1777 The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”
1784 Denis Diderot (born), French philosopher (born 1713)
1790 The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1800 Friedrich Wöhler (born), German chemist (died 1882)
1803 John Ericsson (born), Swedish engineer, co-designed the Novelty Locomotive (died 1889)
1835 Paul du Chaillu (born), French-American anthropologist and explorer (died 1903)
1856 Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1858 Richard Dixon Oldham (born), English seismologist and geologist (died 1936)
1865 The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
1867 S. S. Kresge (born), American businessman, founded Kmart (died 1966)
1875 Andrew Johnson (born), American politician, 17th President of the United States (born 1808)
1886 Franz Liszt (born) Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1811)
1911 George Liberace (born), American violinist (died 1983)
1912 Milton Friedman (born), American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006)
1916 Bill Todman (born), American screenwriter and producer (died 1979)
1919 Curt Gowdy (born), American sportscaster (died 2006)
1919 Primo Levi (born), Italian chemist and author (died 1987)
1921 Peter Benenson (born), English lawyer and activist, founded Amnesty International (died 2005)
1922 Hank Bauer (born), American baseball player and manager (died 2007)
1923 Ahmet Ertegun (born), Turkish-American record producer, founded Atlantic Records (died 2006)
1923 Jimmy Evert (born), American tennis player and coach
1930 The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
1931 New York, New York experimental television station W2XAB (now known as WCBS) begins broadcasts.
1932 The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1938 Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
1939 France Nuyen (born), French actress
1940 Carol J. Clover (born), American academic and author
1944 Robert C. Merton (born), American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1945 Gary Lewis (born), American singer and drummer (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)
1948 At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
1948 USS Nevada (BB-36) is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.
1953 Georg Zacharias (born), German swimmer (born 1884)
1953 Robert Taft (born) American politician (born 1889)
1954 First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.
1956 Deval Patrick (born), American politician, 71st Governor of Massachusetts
1957 Dirk Blocker (born), American actor
1958 Bill Berry (born), American singer-songwriter and drummer (R.E.M. and Hindu Love Gods)
1961 At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in Major League Baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain.
1962 Wesley Snipes (born), American martial artist, actor, and producer
1964 Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
1965 J. K. Rowling (born), English author
1966 Dean Cain (born), American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1970 Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
1971 Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1978 Will Champion (born), English drummer and singer (Coldplay)
1979 Beatrix Lehmann (born), English actress, theatre director and author (born 1903)
1987 A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
1991 The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries’ stockpiles.
1992 Georgia joins the United Nations.
1999 Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector – NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon’s surface.
2006 Fidel Castro hands over power to brother Raúl Castro.
2012 Gore Vidal (born), American journalist, author, and screenwriter (born 1925)
2012 Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the greatest number of medals won at the Olympics.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017