On this date
In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years and, according to some estimates, resulted in the deaths of more than 1 million civilians.
In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
In 1967, more than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the deploying of nuclear weapons in outer space.
In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in
Paris.
In 1984, singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C., calling for the U.S. to get out of Iraq.
Five years ago: Addressing students at the University of Michigan, President Barack Obama issued a warning to the nation’s colleges and universities, threatening to strip their federal aid if they “jack up tuition” every year and give the money instead to schools showing restraint and value. One year ago: The Ferguson, Mo., Police Department agreed to overhaul its policies, training and practices as part of a sweeping deal with the Justice Department following the 2014 fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.