DAY IN HISTORY

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Today is the 282nd day of 2020 and the 17th day of autumn.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire leveled three square miles, leaving 100,000 homeless and more than 300 dead.

In 1945, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would share its knowledge of the atomic bomb exclusively with Britain and Canada.

In 2005, an earthquake on the border of India and Pakistan killed more than 75,000 people and left 3 million homeless.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883-1970), physiologist/ physician; Frank Herbert (1920-1986), author; Harvey Pekar (1939-2010), writer; Jesse Jackson (1941- ), civil rights leader; Chevy Chase (1943- ), comedian/actor; R.L. Stine (1943- ), children’s author; Sigourney Weaver (1949- ), actress; Darrell Hammond (1955- ), actor/ comedian; Matt Damon (1970- ), actor; Nick Cannon (1980- ), actor/tv personality; Bruno Mars (1985- ), singer; Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. (1993- ), race car driver; Bella Thorne (1997- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, a fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, (about 250 miles outside of Chicago) destroyed the town and claimed more than 1,200 lives.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1956, New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect World Series game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There’s no tricks. It’s honesty with big melodies.” — Bruno Mars

TODAY’S NUMBER: $33.2 billion — estimated cost (in 2020 dollars) of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs, through August 1945.

TODAY’S MOON:

Between full moon (Oct. 1) and last quarter moon (Oct. 9).