TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: Aug 6 2020
1181 Supernova observed by Chinese & Japanese astronomers
1661 The Treaty of The Hague is signed whereby the Dutch Republic sells New Holland (Brazil) for 63 tonnes of gold to Portugal
1787 At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia debate began on the first draft of the U.S. Constitution.
1806 The Holy Roman Empire ended with the abdication of Emperor Francis II.
1854 Congress passes Confiscation Act
1863 The CSS Alabama captures the USS Sea Bride near the Cape of Good Hope.
1888 Martha Turner is murdered by an unknown assailant, believed to be Jack the Ripper, in London, England.
1890 William Kemmler becomes the first man to be executed by the electric chair.
1904 The Japanese army in Korea surrounds a Russian army retreating to Manchuria.
1944 Deportation of 70,000 jews from Lodz Poland to Auschwitz begins
1945 Paul Tibbets, the commander of Enola Gay, drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It was the second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, that induced the Japanese to surrender.
1960 Pitt Steelers (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 43-16 in Toronto
1962 Jamaica becomes independent, after 300 years of British rule.
1965 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act prohibiting voting discrimination against minorities
1972 Atlanta Braves’ right fielder Hank Aaron hits his 660th and 661st home runs, setting the Major League record for most home runs by a player for a single franchise.
1986 William J. Schroeder died. He lived 620 days with the Jarvik-7 manmade heart. He was the world’s longest surviving recipient of a permanent artificial heart.
1988 A melee that became known as the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City leads to NYPD reforms.
1990 UN Security Council votes 13-0 (2 abstentions Cuba & Yemen) to place economic sanctions against Iraq
1991 Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet
1993 Pope John Paul II publishes “Veritatis splendor encyclical,” regarding fundamentals of the Catholic Church’s role in moral teachings.
1996 NASA announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil.
1997 Microsoft announces it will invest $150 million in troubled rival Apple Computer, Inc.
1998 Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with U.S. President Clinton.
2012 Curiosity, a SUV-size rover, successfully landed on Mars. The rover’s research has been planned for the next two years, but since Curiosity’s electricity is powered by plutonium, it could be operational and provide insight into Mars for decades to come
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
