TODAY IN HISTORY
1529 1590
Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
1669
The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21year-long Siege of Candia.
1777
Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States, for one day after the Second Continental Congress evacuates Philadelphia to avoid invading British forces.
1822
Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
1825
The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened.
1854
Steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
1905
The physics journal Annalen
der Physik receives Albert Einstein’s paper, ‘Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?’, introducing the equation E=mc2.
1908
First production of the Ford Model T automobile is built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1922
King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favour of his eldest son, George II.
1928
The Republic of China is recognised by the US.
1930
Bobby Jones wins the US Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of golf. The old structure of the grand slam was the US Open, British Open, US Amateur, and British Amateur.
1938
Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Glasgow.
1940 1954
Nationwide debut of Tonight Starring Steve Allen ( The Tonight Show) hosted by Steve Allen on NBC.
1962
The Yemen Arab Republic is established.
1962
Rachel Carson’s book Silent
Spring is published, inspiring an environmental movement and the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
1975
The last use of capital punishment in Spain sees the executions of five members of militant organisations, sparking worldwide protests against the Spanish government and the withdrawal of numerous ambassadors.
1983
Richard Stallman announces the GNU Project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
1988
National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
1993
The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1996
In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
1998
The Google Internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday.
2001
In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher kills 14 members of the Zug canton Parliament and injures 18 others, before committing suicide .
2007
NASA launches the Dawn probe.
2012
Mass shooting at Accent Signage Systems, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, leaves six people dead, including the gunman who committed suicide, and two others injured.
The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.