356 BC The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
365 A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami was caused by the Crete earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter scale. 5,000 people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city.
1620 Jean Picard (born), French astronomer (died 1682)
1710 Paul Möhring (born), German physician, botanist, and zoologist (died 1792)
1762 Timothy Hinman, American road builder, built the Hinman Settler Road
1796 Robert Burns (died), Scottish poet and songwriter (born 1759)
1816 Paul Reuter (born), German-English journalist, founded Reuters (died 1899)
1861 American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army.
1865 In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
1873 At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
1898 Sara Carter (born), American singer-songwriter (Carter Family) (died 1979)
1899 Ernest Hemingway (born), American author and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961)
1902 Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, New York
1904 Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium.
1911 Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and theorist (died 1980)
1920 Constant Nieuwenhuys (born), Dutch painter (died 2005)
1920 Isaac Stern (born), Polish violinist and conductor (died 2001)
1921 James Cooke Brown (born), American sociologist and author (died 2000)
1922 Kay Starr (born), American singer
1924 Don Knotts (born), American actor (died 2006)
1925 Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
1925 Sir Malcolm Campbell, father of Donald Campbell, becomes the first man to break the 150 mph (241 km/h) land barrier at Pendine Sands in Wales. He drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
1926 Queenie Watts (born), English actress and singer (died 1980)
1938 Janet Reno (born), American lawyer and politician, 79th United States Attorney General
1939 John Negroponte (born), American diplomat, 1st Director of National Intelligence
1944 World War II: Battle of Guam American troops land on Guam starting the battle. It would end on August 10.
1944 World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are executed in Berlin, Germany for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
1945 John Lowe (born), English darts player
1946 Ken Starr (born), American lawyer and judge, 39th Solicitor General of the United States
1948 Cat Stevens (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 Garry Trudeau (born), American cartoonist
1948 Snooty (born), American manatee
1951 Robin Williams (born), American comedian, actor, and singer
1952 John Barrasso (born), American politician
1954 First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
1955 Howie Epstein (born), American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) (died 2003)
1959 Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
1959 NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative.
1961 Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
1967 Basil Rathbone (died), South African-American actor (born 1892)
1969 Klaus Graf (born), German race car driver
1969 Space Race: Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission (July 20 in North America).
1970 After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
1972 The Troubles: Bloody Friday the Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing 9 and injuring 130.
1973 In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.
1982 Dave Garroway (died), American journalist (born 1913)
1983 The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
2004 Edward B. Lewis (died), American geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
2004 Jerry Goldsmith (died), American composer and conductor (born 1929)
2005 Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar July 7 bombings, target London’s public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers are captured and later convicted and imprisoned for long terms.
2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the fastest-selling novel ever is published. It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release.
2011 NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.
2012 Alexander Cockburn (died), Scottish-American journalist (born 1941)
2012 Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017