495 BC A newly constructed temple in honor of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills.
1157 Yuri Dolgorukiy (died), Russian prince and founded Moscow (born 1099)
1252 Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1536 Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husbandied
1602 Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first recorded European to see Cape Cod.
1618 Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1718 James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world’s first machine gun.
1740 Ephraim Chambers (died), English encyclopaedist (born 1680)
1755 Laredo, Texas is established by the Spaniards.
1773 Alban Butler (died), English priest and hagiographer (born 1710)
1776 American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1793 Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for “about 360 meters”, at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights.
1800 George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.
1811 Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817 Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1850 The Bloody Island Massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians in Lake County are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon.
1857 Williamina Fleming (born), Scottish-American astronomer (died 1911)
1858 Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1859 Pierre Curie (born), French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1906)
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1869 Woman’s suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
1879 Gottfried Semper (died), German architect and educator, designed the Semper Opera House (born 1803)
1886 Emily Dickinson (died), American poet (born 1830)
1891 Pope Leo XIII defends workers’ rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum Novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
1902 Richard J. Daley (born), American politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (died 1976)
1905 Abraham Zapruder (born), American businessman, filmed the Zapruder Film (died 1970)
1905 Joseph Cotten (born), American actor (died 1994)
1905 Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1911 In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1918 Eddy Arnold (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2008)
1920 Louis Siminovitch (born), Canadian biologist
1923 Richard Avedon (born), American photographer (died 2004)
1924 Maria Koepcke (born), German-Peruvian ornithologist (died 1971)
1928 Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy
1935 The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
1936 Anna Maria Alberghetti (born), Italian-American actress and singer
1936 Wavy Gravy (born), American clown and activist
1937 Madeleine Albright (born), Czech-American politician, 64th United States Secretary of State
1937 Trini Lopez (born), American singer, guitarist, and actor
1940 Lainie Kazan (born), American actress and singer
1940 McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1940 Roger Ailes (born), American businessman
1940 USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.
1942 World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1945 World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948 Brian Eno (born), English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Roxy Music and 801)
1948 Following the demise of the British Mandate of Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1948 Kathleen Sebelius (born), American politician, 44th Governor of Kansas
1951 Dennis Frederiksen (born), American singer-songwriter (Toto, Angel, and Le Roux)
1952 Chazz Palminteri (born), American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 Cubmaster Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, California, by Pack 280c.
1957 At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
1958 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963 Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on boardied He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1969 People’s Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday.
1970 Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1970 President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
1972 In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become President.
1986 Elio de Angelis (died), Italian race car driver (born 1958)
1988 Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1991 Édith Cresson becomes France’s first female prime minister.
1992 Barbara Lee (died), American singer (The Chiffons) (born 1947)
1997 The United States government acknowledges the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmongand other “Secret War” veterans.
2003 June Carter Cash (died), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (Carter Family and The Carter Sisters) (born 1929)
2007 Jerry Falwell (died), American pastor, founded Liberty University (born 1933)
2007 Yolanda King (died), American actress and activist (born 1955)
2008 California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
2010 Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
2012 Carlos Fuentes (died), Mexican author (born 1928)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017