1484 Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitorsto root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the most oppressive witch hunts in European history.
1492 Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
1766 In London, James Christie holds his first auction.
1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (died), Austrian composer (born 1756)
1822 Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (born), American academic, co-founded Radcliffe College (died 1907)
1831 Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1839 George Armstrong Custer (born), American general (died 1876)
1847 Jefferson Davis is elected to the US senate, his first political post.
1901 Walt Disney (born), American animator, director, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (died 1966)
1901 Werner Heisenberg (born), German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976)
1906 Otto Preminger (born), Austrian-American director, producer, and actor (died 1986)
1912 Sonny Boy Williamson II (born), American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (died 1965)
1926 Claude Monet (died), French painter (born 1840)
1932 German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
1932 Little Richard (born), American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor
1933 Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol illegal in the United States).
1936 James Lee Burke (born), American author
1943 U.S. Army Air Force begins attacking Germany’s secret weapons bases called “ski sites” that were bases for the V-1 flying bomb in Operation Crossbow.
1945 Flight 19, a training flight for five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers (14 airmen) is lost in the Bermuda Triangle, along with 13 members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat who was searching for Flight 19..
1947 Jim Messina (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Buffalo Springfield, Loggins and Messina, and Poco)
1952 Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow respiratory illness. The thick layer of smog blanketed London from 5-8 December.
1955 The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
1958 The Preston bypass, the UK’s first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
2004 The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
2012 Dave Brubeck (died), American pianist and composer (Dave Brubeck Quartet) (born 1920)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017