Today in History

1687 – English mathematician Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica is published, outlining his laws of motion and universal gravitation.

1811 – Venezuela becomes the first South American country to declare its independence from Spain.

1881 – Parliament introduces a poll tax of £10 on Chinese migrants and restricts the number allowed to land from each ship arriving in NZ.

1943 – A German offensive on the Soviet front begins with the Battle of Kursk in World War II.

1946 – Bikini swimsuits are modelled for the first time in Paris. Designer Louis Reard named them after Bikini Atoll, where US nuclear tests were being held.

1950 – The Knesset passes the Law of Return, which grants Jews the freedom to immigrate to Israel and receive immediate citizenship.

1954 – Elvis Presley, left, records That’s All Right (Mama) in his first commercial recording session, at Sun Records in Memphis.

1969 – The Rolling Stones give a free concert in Hyde Park, London, in memory of Brian Jones, who died two days before.

1973 – Rwanda’s government is overthrown in a military coup.

1975 – American tennis player Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles’ championship.

1989 – The first episode of Seinfeld (then called The Seinfeld Chronicles) airs on US television.

1994 – Up to 150 Haitian refugees, fleeing to the US, drown when their overloaded boat capsizes.

1996 – Dolly, a female Finn Dorset sheep, is born near Edinburgh, becoming the first successfully cloned mammal.

Birthdays

Cecil Rhodes, UK statesman and explorer (1853-1902); Jean Cocteau, French author/film-maker (1889-1963); Len Lye, NZ kinetic artist (1901-1980); John Wright, NZ coach and former Black Caps captain (1954-); Lizzie Marvelly, NZ singer (1989-).