DAY IN HISTORY

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Today is the 191st day of 2021 and the 21st day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY:

In 1821, the United States took possession of Florida, which it had purchased from Spain.

In 1890, Wyoming was admitted as the 44th state.

In 1940, Nazi forces began an air attack on southern Britain that would last 114 days and become known as the Battle of Britain.

In 1962, AT&T (in conjunction with NASA) launched the first privately owned satellite, Telstar 1.

In 1991, Boris Yeltsin took office as the first popularly elected president in Russia’s history.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: John Calvin (1509-1564), theologian/reformer; Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), physicist/engineer; Marcel Proust (1871-1922), author/critic; Carl Orff (18951982), composer; David Brinkley (1920-2003), TV journalist; Alice Munro (1931- ), author; Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), tennis player; Arlo Guthrie (1947- ), singer-songwriter; Urban Meyer (1964- ), football coach; Sofia Vergara (1972- ), actress; Chiwetel Ejiofor (1977- ), actor; Jessica Simpson (1980- ), actress/singer.

TODAY’S FACT: The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, which battled the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, counted 11 American pilots among its 2,900 members.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1999, the U.S. soccer team defeated China 5-4 to win the Women’s World Cup in Pasadena, California.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” — Arthur Ashe

TODAY’S NUMBER:

134 — temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) reached on this day in 1913 in Death Valley, California, the hottest peak temperature on U.S. record.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (July 9) and first quarter moon (July 17).