TODAY IN HISTORY

1756

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

1880

Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

1901

Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87.

1944

During World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

1945

During World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

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.

1972

“Queen of Gospel” Mahalia Jackson, 60, died in Evergreen Park, Ill.

1973

The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor James Cromwell is 81. Actor Mimi Rogers is 65. Political and sports commentator Keith Olbermann is 62. Actor Alan Cumming is 56. Actorcomedian Patton Oswalt is 52.