2011 – In Florida, Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program.
356 BC – Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World
0365 – Crete Earthquake followed by tsunami around the Eastern Mediterranean allegedly destroys Alexandria
1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: Army led by the Lancastrian King of England, Henry IV defeats a rebel army led by Henry “Harry Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland thus ending the Percy challenge to the throne. Also the first battle English archers fought each other on English soil.
1542 – Pope Paul III begins inquisition against Protestants (Sactum Officium)
1645 – Manchu Prince Grogon issues edict that all Han Chinese men shave front of their head and wear hair in queues in the Manchu style
1669 – John Locke’s Constitution of English colony Carolina is approved
1730 – States of Holland put death penalty on “sodomy”
1733 – John Winthrop was granted the first honorary Doctor of Law Degree given by Harvard College in Cambridge, MA.
1798 – Napoleon Bonaparte wins Battle of Pyramids in Egypt (Battle of Embabeh) against Mamluk rulers, wiping out most of the Egyptian army
1846 – Mormons found 1st English settlement in California (San Joaquin Valley)
1853 – Central Park in New York created when New York State Legislature puts aside more than 750 acres of land on Manhattan Island
1861 – The first major battle of the U.S. Civil War began. It was the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, VA. The Confederates won the battle.
1865 – In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown
1915 – Woodrow Wilson sends the third Lusitania note, warning Germany that future infringement of American rights will be deemed ‘deliberately unfriendly’
1920 – Irish Nationalist and Loyalists engage in street fighting over the issue of Irish independence from Britain, though Loyalist are reinforced by 1500 British Auxiliaries and 5800 British troops
1925 – The “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, TN. John T. Scopes was convicted and fined $100 for violating the state prohibition on teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. The conviction was later overturned on a legal technicality because the judge had set the fine instead of the jury.
1930 – The Veterans Administration of the United States was established.
1940 – Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia were annexed by the Soviet Union.
1941 – Himmler orders building of Majdanek concentration camp
1944 – American forces landed on Guam during World War II.
1946 – Jesus T Pinerol becomes 1st native born Puerto Rican governor
1947 – Loren MacIver’s portrait of Emmett Kelly as Willie the Clown appeared on the cover of “LIFE” magazine.
1949 – US Senate ratifies North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 82-13 (NATO)
1954 – Geneva Accords for Indochina signed, dividing French colonial territories into the countries of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), Cambodia, and Laos
1955 – USS Seawolf launched, 1st submarine powered by liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor
1959 – A U.S. District Court judge in New York City ruled that “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was not a dirty book.
1961 – Captain Virgil “Gus” Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth. He was flying on the Liberty Bell 7.
1964 – Race riots in Singapore between Chinese and Malay groups, 23 killed, 454 injured
1970 – Aswan High Dam opens in Egypt, enables human control of the flooding of the Nile
1970 – Libya orders confiscation of all Jewish property
1972 – Bloody Friday: within the space of seventy-five minutes, the Provisional Irish Republican Army explode twenty-two bombs in Belfast; six civilians, two British Army soldiers and one UDA volunteer were killed, 130 injured
1974 – US House Judiciary approves two Articles of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon
1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, and his secretary Judith Cook are assassinated by a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA in his car in Dublin
1977 – Libyan–Egyptian War begins – This short war between Libya and Egypt started with Libya striking Egyptian cities. The war lasted for 2 days with a ceasefire on July 24.
1980 – Draft registration began in the United States for 19 and 20-year-old men.
1983 – Lowest temperature ever measured on Earth – Vostok Station, a Russian station on Antarctica experienced the lowest temperatures ever measured in recorded human history. The temperatures fell to −128.6 °F (−89.2 °C)
1996 – “The Daily Show” hosted by Craig Kilborn premieres on Comedy Central in the US
1997 – The U.S.S. Constitution, which defended the United States during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for the first time in 116 years.
1998 – Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, 17, was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women’s vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. Spinal surgery 4 days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest.
2002 – WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2004 – White House officials were briefed on the September 11 commission’s final report. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited “deep institutional failings within our government.” The report was released to the public the next day.
2005 – Four terrorist bombers target London’s public transportation system, exactly two weeks after the July 7 bombings. All four bombs fail to detonate leading to the capture of all the bombers.
2011 – In Florida, Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program.
2014 – After 3 weeks, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has struck about 2,800 targets in Gaza, while Gaza has fired 1,497 rockets at Israel
2017 – White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigns after opposing appointment of Anthony Scaramucci
2019 – Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló says he won’t seek re-election after widespread protests over misogynistic and homophobic comments in his leaked online chats
2020 – Russian interference in British politics is ‘the new normal’ according to report by British Intelligence and Security Committee
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
