1496 – Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria
1497 – Nicolaus Copernicus’ 1st recorded astronomical observation
1562 – Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1566 – David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland by Protestant nobles
1765 – After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually committed suicide.
1776 – Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.
1796 – Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.
1841 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
1847 – Mexican–American War: The first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history is launched in the Siege of Veracruz.
1862 – American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.
1889 – Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
1893 – Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs
1907 – 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
1910 – The Westmoreland County coal strike, involving 15,000 coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers, begins.
1916 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico. (18 killed)
1918 – Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1918 – Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
1918 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American sailor and politician, founded the American Nazi Party (d. 1967) was birthed.
1922 – KJR-AM in Seattle Washington begins radio transmissions
1930 – Ornette Coleman, Fort Worth, Texas, American jazz composer (Downbeat Musician of Year 1966) Born
1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
1933 – Mel Lastman, Canadian businessman and politician, 62nd Mayor of Toronto was born.
1941 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal, inspired the Miranda rights (d. 1976) was born.
1942 – John Cale, Welsh singer-songwriter, violist, and producer (The Velvet Underground and Theatre of Eternal Music) Was born.
1942 – Mark Lindsay, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and producer (Paul Revere & the Raiders) was born.
1943 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player, activist (d. 2008) was born.
1945 – The Bombing of Tokyo by the United States Army Air Forces begin, one of the most destructive bombing raids in history. – 334 US B-29 Superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 fire bombs
1945 – Robin Trower, guitarist (Procol Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale), born in London, England
1945 – Dennis Rader, (Alleged) American serial killer (BTK) Birthed
1946 – Ted Williams is offered $500,000 to play in Mexican Baseball League, he refuses
1950 – Willie Sutton robs Manufacturers Bank of $64,000 in NYC
1951 – Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam submit a classified paper at the Los Alamos lab, in which they proposed their revolutionary new design, staged implosion, for a practical megaton-range hydrogen bomb
1954 – McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy”, produced by Fred Friendly.
1954 – Bobby Sands, Irish IRA member and leader of the hunger strike at Maze Prison where he died in 1981 – Born
1959 – 1st known radar contact is made with Venus
1959 – Barbie, the popular girls’ doll, debuted, over 800 million sold
1961 – 1st animal returned from space, dog named Blackie aboard Sputnik 9
1960 – Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.
1961 – Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a human dummy nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich, and demonstrating that Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.
1963 – Beatles began 1st British tour, supporting Tommy Roe & Chris Montez
1964 – 1st Ford Mustang produced
1964 – Supreme Court issues NY Times vs Sullivan decision, public officials must prove malice to claim libel & recover damages
1966 – Andrew Brimmer becomes 1st black governor of Federal Reserve Board
1968 – Johnny Kelly, American drummer (Type O Negative) Born
1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
1976 – 1st female cadets accepted to West Point Military Academy
1977 – The Hanafi Siege: In a thirty-nine-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings, killing two and taking 149 hostage.
1984 – John Lennon single “Borrowed Time” released posthumously
1989 – Robert Mapplethorpe, US photographer, dies at 42
1992 – Menachem Begin, PM Israel (1977-80, 81-83, Nobel 1979), dies at 85
1994 – Charles Bukowski, author/poet, dies of leukemia at 73
Henry Charles Bukowski was a German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. His work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work
1994 – IRA launch 1st of 3 mortar attacks on London’s Heathrow Airport
1996 – George Burns, American actor and singer (b. 1896) died.
1997 – The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (Junior M.A.F.I.A.) (b. 1972) Murdered.
1997 – Terry Nation, Welsh author and screenwriter, creation of Doctor Who’s Daleks (b. 1930) died.
2006 – Liquid water is discovered on Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn
2007 – The US Justice Department releases an internal audit that found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens.
2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.
2012 – Senior members of hacking group Lulz Sec are arrested, including one member of the FBI, in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland
2010 – Doris Haddock, American activist (b. 1910) died.
2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.