Birthdays
356 B.C. Alexander the Great
1822 Gregor Mendel, the Father of and laid the groundwork for the field of genetics
1919 Edmund Hillary,Edmund Hillary with Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return safely.
1938 Natalie Wood
1947 Carlos Santana
1980 Gisele Bündchen
On This Date
1654 Anglo-Portuguese treaty is reinforced, England guarantees Portugal’s independence and receives trade concessions
1793 Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico
1921 Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor of US House of Representatives
1793 Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico
1801 Elisha Brown Jr. presses a 1,235-pound cheese ball at his farm
1861 Confederate states' congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia
1861 Confederate states' congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia
1890 Snow and hail in Calais, Maine
1921 Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor of US House of Representatives
1930 106°F (41°C), Washington, D.C. (district record)
1934 118°F (48°C), Keokuk, Iowa (state record)
1944 Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army officer Claus von Stauffenberg - dammit!!!
1964 1st surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City"
1965 Columbia records release Bob Dylan single "Like a Rolling Stone"
1965 18.18 inches (46.18 cm) of rainfall in Edgarton, Missouri (state 24-hour record)
1968 Iron Butterfly's "In-a-gadda-da-vida" becomes first heavy metal song to hit charts; it comes in at #117
1969 NASA's Apollo 11 lunar module, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, lands on the surface of the Moon. Seven hours later, Armstrong becomes the first person to step on the moon at 10:56 pm EDT, and Aldrin joins him shortly after. Michael Collins remains in orbit in the command module
1973 MLB Chicago White Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood starts and loses both games of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees, 12-2 and 7-0
1976 Viking 1 lands on Mars at Chryse Planitia, the first successful Martian landing
1976 Hank Aaron hits his 755th and last home run off Angels pitcher Dick Drago
1977 Flash flood hits Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kills 80 and causes $350 million damage
1985 Divers find wreck of Spanish galleon Atocha, led treasure hunter Mel Fisher, The discovery marked the climax of a grueling 16-year search that took a heavy toll on Fisher's family, including the tragic loss of his son Dirk and daughter-in-law Angel in a boat capsize during the expedition.
1987 NY Yankees Don Mattingly ties the first base fielding record with 22 put-outs in a single-game
1994 Former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O.J. Simpson offers $500,000 reward for evidence of ex-wife's klller(rot in hell you cretin)
1997 32.52" (82.6 cm) of rainfall, Dauphin Island, Alabama (started on the 19th); new state record
2002 Bartenders doing tricks with fire start a major fire in a night club in Lima, Peru that kills 25 and injures 100
2019 115°F (46.1°C), John Martin Dam, Colorado (state record)
2021 Oregon's Bootleg fire has burnt nearly 400,000 acres, now so big it's generating its own weather patterns according to local fire chiefs