1261 Pope Urban IV succeeds Pope Alexander IV as the 182nd pope, the last man to do so without being a cardinal first.
1484 Pope Innocent VIII succeeds Pope Sixtus IV.
1498 Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to Kingdom of Portugal.
1632 John Locke (born), English physician and philosopher (died 1704)
1712 Gregory King (died), English genealogist, engraver, and statistician (born 1648)
1756 Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years’ War.
1756 Jan Śniadecki (born), Polish mathematician and astronomer (died 1830)
1758 The first American Indian Reservation is established, at Indian Mills, New Jersey.
1786 Shays’ Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.
1799 Pope Pius VI (died) (born 1717)
1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (born), American physician and author (died 1894)
1831 Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
1842 Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War.
1844 Edmund Ignatius Rice (died), Irish missionary and educator, founded the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers (born 1762)
1844 Edward Carpenter (born), English anthologist and poet (died 1929)
1856 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck (died), English author (born 1778)
1861 American Civil War: United States Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.
1869 The Mount Washington Cog Railway opens, making it the world’s first rack railway.
1875 Leonardo De Lorenzo (born), Italian flute player and educator (died 1962)
1876 Charles F. Kettering (born), American engineer and businessman, founded Delco Electronics (died 1958)
1877 Brigham Young (died), American religious leader, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1801)
1885 Gottlieb Daimler patents the world’s first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
1891 Pierre Lallement (died), French businessman, invented the bicycle (born 1843)
1898 The Goodyear tire company is founded.
1911 Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
1915 Ingrid Bergman (born), Swedish-English actress and singer (died 1982)
1915 Nathan Pritikin (born), American nutritionist (died 1985)
1915 US Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first U.S. submarine sunk in an accident.
1916 George Montgomery (born), American actor, director, producer, and stuntman (died 2000)
1916 Luther Davis (born), American playwright and screenwriter (died 2008)
1920 Charlie Parker (born), American saxophonist and composer (died 1955)
1922 The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.
1923 Richard Attenborough (born), English actor, director, and producer
1924 Dinah Washington (born), American singer and pianist (died 1963)
1931 David T. Abercrombie (died), American businessman, co-founded Abercrombie & Fitch (born 1867)
1935 László Garai (born), Hungarian psychologist and scholar
1938 Elliott Gould (born), American actor and producer
1940 James Brady (born), American politician and activist, 15th White House Press Secretary
1941 Robin Leach (born), English-American journalist and television host
1943 Dick Halligan (born), American pianist and composer (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1943 Mohamed Amin (born), Kenyan photographer and journalist (died 1996)
1945 Chris Copping (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Procol Harum)
1946 Adolphus Busch III (died), American businessman (born 1891)
1947 James Hunt (born), English race car driver (died 1993)
1947 Temple Grandin (born), American doctor and activist
1949 Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
1951 Geoff Whitehorn (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Crawler and Procol Harum)
1958 Michael Jackson (born), American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (The Jackson 5) (died 2009)
1958 United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1959 Rebecca De Mornay (born), American actress and singer
1965 The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic ocean.
1966 The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
1968 Ulysses S. Grant III (died), American general (born 1881)
1970 Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Ruben Salazar.
1976 Jimmy Reed (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1925)
1981 Lowell Thomas (died), American journalist and author (born 1892)
1982 Ingrid Bergman (died), Swedish-English actress and singer (born 1915)
1982 The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.
1987 Lee Marvin (died), American actor and singer (born 1924)
1991 Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.
2003 Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.
2004 Michael Schumacher wins his 5th consecutive Formula One Drivers’ championship (and 7th overall) at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix to beat the 47 year old record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
2005 Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing an estimated 1,836 people and causing over $108 billion in damage.
2007 Alfred Peet (died), Dutch-American businessman, founded Peet’s Coffee & Tea (born 1920)
2007 Six US cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads are flown without proper authorization from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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