Today in History

1887 – A dam breaks in Zug, Switzerland, killing 70 people.

1925 – The so-called ‘‘Monkey Trial’’ begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.

1940 - The Battle of Britain starts.

1942 – Heinrich Himmler, right, grants permission for doctors carrying out experiments to sterilise women at Ravensbruck concentration camp.

1962 – Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin patents a three-point automobile safety belt.

1967 – New Zealand adopts decimal currency.

1973 – The Bahamas declares independence after more than 300 years of British rule.

1975 – Graham Gooch makes his test cricket debut for England against Australia. He makes a pair of ducks.

1985 – The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is bombed by French saboteurs in Auckland, killing a photographer on board and triggering a prolonged diplomatic crisis between France and New Zealand.

1995 – Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is freed from house arrest in Myanmar, days before completing her six-year detention.

2002 – Helen Clark’s election campaign is disrupted by claims that her government covered up the accidental planting of genetically modified sweetcorn.

Birthdays

John Calvin, French theologian

(1509-1564); Solomon Northup, American abolitionist (1808-1863); Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and electrical engineer who developed alternating current

(1856-1943); Wilson Whineray, New Zealand rugby player (1935-2012); Arthur Ashe, US tennis player

(1943-1993); Sofia Vergara, USColombian actress and model

(1972-); Scott Styris, NZ cricketer

(1975-); Sarah Walker, NZ BMX rider

(1985-).