154 Bardaisan (born), Syrian astrologer, scholar, and philosopher (died 222)
1274 Robert the Bruce (born), Scottish king (died 1329)
1346 Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, is elected King of the Romans.
1405 Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.
1535 Joachim I Nestor (died), Elector of Brandenburg (born 1484)
1576 Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.
1616 Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
1653 Sarah Good (born), American woman accused of witchcraft (died 1692)
1657 Frederick I of Prussia (born) (died 1713)
1709 Johan Gottschalk Wallerius (born), Swedish chemist and mineralogist (died 1785)
1735 Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
1754 Thomas Bowdler (born), English physician and philanthropist (died 1825)
1766 Elisabeth Farnese (died), Italian-Spanish wife of Philip V of Spain (born 1692)
1767 John Quincy Adams (born), American politician, 6th President of the United States (died 1848)
1789 Jacques Necker is dismissed as France’s Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille.
1796 The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798 The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
1801 French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
1804 A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
1825 Thomas P. Grosvenor (died), American soldier and politician (born 1744)
1833 Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.
1834 James Abbott McNeill Whistle (born), American-English painter (died 1903)
1848 Waterloo railway station in London opens.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Fort Stevens; Confederate forces attempt to invade Washington, D.C.
1882 James Larkin White (born), American miner, explorer, and park ranger (died 1946)
1886 Boris Grigoriev (born), Russian painter (died 1939)
1888 Carl Schmitt (born), German jurist and philosopher (died 1985)
1889 Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.
1893 The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
1895 Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.
1897 Bull Connor (born), American police officer (died 1973)
1897 Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
1899 E. B. White (born), American author (died 1985)
1904 Niño Ricardo (born), Spanish guitarist and composer (died 1972)
1914 Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
1918 Venetia Burney (born), English girl, who named Pluto (died 2009)
1919 The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
1920 Yul Brynner (born), Russian-American actor and director (died 1985)
1921 Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
1922 The Hollywood Bowl opens.
1930 Harold Bloom (born), American author and critic
1930 Trevor Storer (born), English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (died 2013)
1931 Tab Hunter (born), American actor and singer
1934 Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, about 20 meters at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take off.
1934 Giorgio Armani (born), Italian fashion designer, founded the Armani Company
1936 The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
1937 George Gershwin (died), American pianist and composer (born 1898)
1943 Howard Gardner (born), American psychologist
1943 Rolf Stommelen (born), German race car driver (died 1983)
1950 Bonnie Pointer (born), American singer (The Pointer Sisters)
1950 Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.
1956 Sela Ward (born), American actress
1959 Richie Sambora (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Bon Jovi)
1960 Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1960 France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina) and Niger.
1960 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.
1962 First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
1962 Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.
1971 Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.
1971 Pedro Rodríguez (died), Mexican race car driver (born 1940)
1972 The first game of the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.
1977 Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1979 America’s first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
1989 Laurence Olivier (died), English actor, director, and producer (born 1907)
1994 Gary Kildall (died), American computer scientist, founded Digital Research (born 1942)
2006 John Spencer (died), English snooker player (born 1935)
2007 Lady Bird Johnson (died), American businesswoman, 43rd First Lady of the United States (born 1912)
2008 Michael E. DeBakey (died), American surgeon (born 1908)
2012 Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.
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