39  Lucan (born), Roman poet (died 65) 1493     Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. 1500     Benvenuto Cellini (born), Italian sculptor and painter (died 1571) 1783     John Austin, a highwayman, is the last person to be publicly hanged at London’s Tyburn gallows. 1783     The American Continental Army is disbanded. 1793    … Continue reading →

1734     Daniel Boone American explorer (died 1820) 1755     Marie Antoinette, Austrian wife of Louis XVI of France (died 1793) 1898     Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team. 1913     Burt Lancaster (born), American actor (died 1994) 1920     In the United States, KDKA of… Continue reading →

1512     The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time. 1520     The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage…. Continue reading →

1517     Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. 1587     Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575. 1632     Johannes Vermeer (born), Flemish painter (died 1675) 1913     Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States. 1919     Magnus Wenninger (born),… Continue reading →

1735     John Adams (born), American politician, 2nd President of the United States (died 1826) 1748     Martha Jefferson (born), American wife of Thomas Jefferson (died 1782) 1831     In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history. 1857     Georges Gilles de la Tourette (born),… Continue reading →