1916 – Albert Einstein presents his general theory of relativity, The revolutionary theory describes the interdependency of matter on the one hand and space and time on the other. It is one of the most influential theories in Physics.
0141 – The 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet took place.
1345 – Saturn, Jupiter and Mars-conjunction: thought “cause of plague epidemic”
1413 – Henry V took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry IV.
1525 – Paris’ parliament began its pursuit of Protestants.
1602 – The United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) was formed.
1616 – Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.
1627 – France & Spain signed an accord for fighting Protestantism.
1703 – Akō incident: 46 of the 47 surviving Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death in Edo
1739 – In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupied Delhi and took possession of the Peacock throne.
1760 – The great fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings.
1792 – In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.
1800 – French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis, Turkey, and advanced into Cairo.
1814 – Prince Willem Frederik became the monarch of Netherlands.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his escape from Elba and began his “Hundred Days” rule.
1816 – The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions.
1841 – Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, is published.
1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” subtitled “Life Among the Lowly,” was first published.
1854 – The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI. About 50 slavery opponents began the new political group.
1865 – A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ruined when Lincoln changed his plans and did not appear at the Soldier’s Home near Washington, DC.
1886 – The first AC power plant in the U.S. began commercial operation.
1896 – U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.
1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was put to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.
1900 – It was announced that European powers had agreed to keep China’s doors open to trade.
1902 – France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance. They also asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.
1906 – In Russia, army officers mutiny at Sevastopol.
1916 – Albert Einstein presents his general theory of relativity, The revolutionary theory describes the interdependency of matter on the one hand and space and time on the other. It is one of the most influential theories in Physics.
1918 – The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union asked for American aid to rebuild their army.
1922 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.
1922 – The USS Langley was commissioned. It was the first aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy.
1930 – American fast food restaurant chain “KFC” [Kentucky Fried Chicken] is founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in North Corbin, Kentucky
1933 – The first German concentration camp was completed at Dachau.
1934 – Rudolf Kuhnold gave a demonstration of radar in Kiel Germany.
1943 – The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.
1944 – 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois department store
1947 – A blue whale weighing 180-metric tons was caught in the South Atlantic.
1952 – The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan.
1956 – Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) exploded.
1956 – Tunisia gained independence from France.
1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.
1969 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S. to close all bases in Taiwan.
1976 – Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.
1980 – The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.
1981 – Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron was sentenced to eight years in a convent.
1982 – U.S. scientists’ returned from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.
1984 – The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.
1987 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AZT. The drug was proven to slow the progress of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
1989 – In Belfast, two policemen were killed. The IRA claimed responsibility.
1990 – Namibia became an independent nation ending 75 years of South African rule.
1990 – Imelda Marcos, widow of ex-Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went on trial for racketeering, embezzlement and bribery.
1990 – In Rumania, tanks were sent to the town of Tirgu Mures to quell ethnic riots.
1991 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers could not exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage a fetus.
1991 – The U.S. forgave $2 billion in loans to Poland.
1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared emergency rule. He set a referendum on whether the people trusted him or the hard-line Congress to govern.
1993 – An Irish Republican Army bomb was detonated in Warrington, England. A 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were killed.
1995 – About 35,000 Turkish troops crossed the northern border of Iraq in pursuit of the separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
1995 – In Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.
1996 – In Los Angeles, Erik and Lyle Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of their parents.
1996 – The U.K. announced that humans could catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease).
1997 – Liggett Group, the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes, settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry marketed cigarettes to teenagers and agreed to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive.
1998 – India’s new Hindu nationalist-led government pledges to “exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons.”
2000 – Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured following a shootout that left a sherriff’s deputy dead.
2002 – Arthur Andersen pled innocent to charges that it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to the energy company Enron.
2003 – The United States invade Iraq, assisted by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland. The Iraq War, which was termed illegal by then UN Secretary, Kofi Annan, caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.
2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Deby.
2012 – 50 people are killed and 240 injured in a wave of terror attacks across 10 cities in Iraq
2018 – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with US President Donald Trump at the White House
2019 – Europe’s antitrust regulators fined Google $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business.
2020 – India hangs four men for 2012 gang rape and murder of woman on a bus in New Delhi, country’s first hanging since 2013
2021 – Overseas spectators will not be allowed to attend the Tokyo Summer Olympics due to the pandemic Japanese organizers confirm
2022 – Intense fighting in Ukrainian city of Mariupol continues as Russian forces encircle the city, trapping 300,000 people
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
