On this day in history ...

• 1970 The Wiener Musikverein is inaugurated

  The famous concert hall is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
  

• 1929 Mother Theresa arrives in India

  Through her tireless work in helping the poor and ill, the Albanian religious sister later received the Nobel Peace Prize and was posthumously beatified.
  

• 1912 German scientist Alfred Wegener presents his theory of continental drift

  His work laid the foundation for the theory of plate tectonics, which explains why continents move.
  

• 1838 Samuel Morse presents the telegraph to the public

  Together with Alfred Vail, the inventor relayed the message “A patient waiter is no loser” over a distance of 2 miles (3 km).
  

• 1989 Akihito is sworn in as Emperor of Japan

  His accession to the throne followed the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito, on the same day.
  

• 1979 The Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia is overthrown

  Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh that day.
  

• 1927 The first transatlantic telephone service is established

  A 3-minute call between New York and London cost about $45 USD, which is roughly $550 in today's dollars.
  

• 1785 Hot air balloon crosses the English Channel

  French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard took about 2½ hours to fly from Dover (UK) to Guînes (France).
  

• 1610 Galileo Galilei discovers the Galilean Moons

  The Italian astronomer spotted the four largest moons of Jupiter that day: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
  

• 1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov begins his record spaceflight

  Polyakov stayed aboard the Mir space station for a record-breaking 437 days and 18 hours.
  

• 1959 Charles de Gaulle becomes president of France

  His right-wing political ideology, Gaullism, still influences French politics today.
  

• 1912 The African National Congress (ANC) is founded

  The ANC, whose most famous member is Nelson Mandela, played an important role in the fight against the South African apartheid regime and it is now the country's governing political party.
  

• 1889 Computer pioneer Herman Hollerith patents his punched card calculator

  His invention paved the way for modern automatic computation.
  

• 1790 George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address

  The U.S. president typically uses this annual speech to outline his political agenda.
  

• 2005 The second Sudanese War ends

  As an outcome, Southern Sudan is granted autonomy; in 2011, South Sudan becomes an independent nation.
  

• 1916 The Battle of Gallipoli ends

  The Gallipoli Campaign during World War I ended with the victory of the Ottoman Empire.
  

• 1861 The first shots of the American Civil War are fired

  The steamer, Star of the West, was fired upon by the Confederates as it attempted to enter Charleston Harbor
  

• 1768 Philip Astley opens the world's first modern circus

  The British equestrian, who is considered the father of modern circus, opened a riding school in London where he also performed tricks for an audience in the afternoons.
  

• 1431 The trial against Joan of Arc begins

  She was executed on May 30, 1431, exonerated in 1456, and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
  

• 1946 The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens

  51 nations were represented on that day.
  

• 1929 The first Adventures of Tintin comic book is published

  Hergé's books became hugely popular in Europe and the rest of the world.
  

• 1920 The Treaty of Versailles takes effect

  Although a ceasefire had been in place since November 11, 1918, World War I officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles.
  

• 1863 London Underground opens

  “The Tube” is the world's oldest underground railway.
  

• 1776 Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense

  The pamphlet argued for freedom from British rule and it helped spark the American Revolutionary War.
  

• 2002 The first prisoners arrive in Guantanamo Bay

  Following reports of torture, Amnesty International called the situation at the US detention camp a “human rights scandal”.
  

• 1985 The first Rock in Rio music festival is held

  A whopping 1.5 million people attended, making it the world's largest music festival.
  

• 1962 A massive landslide kills 4,000 in Peru

  Nine villages in the Río Santa Valley were engulfed by a 12-meter wall of rock and ice.
  

• 1935 Amelia Earhart flies solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland

  She was the first person to achieve this feat. Her journey took her from Honolulu to Oakland, California.
  

• 1922 Insulin is used for the first time to treat diabetes

  14-year-old Leonard Thompson was the first person to receive the medication to combat his Type 1 diabetes.
  

• 2010 An earthquake kills 316,000 in Haiti

  Most of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, was destroyed during the disaster.
  

• 1991 The U.S. Congress votes for war in Iraq

  President George H. W. Bush was given the authority to use military force to expel Iraq from Kuwait.
  

• 1969 Led Zeppelin releases their debut album

  The album was imaginatively named “Led Zeppelin”.
  

• 1967 James Bedford is frozen with intent of future resuscitation

  Bedford was the first human to be cryonically preserved; his body awaits resuscitation in Scottsdale, Arizona.
  

• 1908 The first long-distance radio message is broadcast from the Eiffel Tower in Paris

  Scientist Lee de Forest's broadcast was heard by an audience of 50
  

• 2012 The cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks, killing 32

  The ship's captain was later accused of imprudence, negligence, and incompetence.
  

• 2001 An earthquake devastates El Salvador

  This quake killed nearly 1000 people; at least 315 people feel victim to a second quake on February 13, 2001.
  

• 2000 Bill Gates steps down as CEO of Microsoft

  Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 together with Paul Allen.
  

• 1968 Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison

  The album “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison” became a huge success.
  

• 1915 The worst earthquake in Italian history kills 30,000

  The quake hit the town of Avezzano, about 100 km (60 m) east of Rome.
  

• 2005 The European Huygens space probe lands on Saturn's moon Titan

  It was the first ever landing in the outer solar system.
  

• 1953 Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia

  The authoritarian leader became a unifying symbol in his country and is still known by many today.
  

• 1943 Churchill, Roosevelt and de Gaulle meet in Casablanca to discuss their WWII strategy

  During the secret Casablanca Conference, the leaders agreed that the allied forces would accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
  

• 1559 Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England

  “The Virgin Queen” was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII.
  

• 2001 Wikipedia goes online

  The online encyclopedia has since become the largest reference work on the internet.
  

• 1992 Croatia and Slovenia are internationally recognized as independent nations

  The Yugoslav federation effectively collapsed as a result.
  

• 1973 Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam

  The fighting continued anyway until the capture of Saigon by the Vietnam People's Army on April 30, 1975.
  

• 1892 The rules of Basketball are published

  Canadian James Naismith invented the sport for his gym class at YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  

• 1759 The British Museum opens

  Its collection comprises 8 million items and it is one of the most comprehensive collections in the world.
  

• 2005 Adriana Iliescu gives birth at the age of 66

  The Romanian university lecturer broke the record for the world's oldest birth mother.
  

• 1992 The civil war in El Salvador ends

  The war had lasted over 12 years and left more than 75,000 people dead.
  

• 1979 The Shah of Iran flees the country

  As a consequence, Ayatollah Khomeini later took power and proclaimed the Islamic Republic.
  

• 1919 Prohibition begins in the United States

  The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.
  

• 27 The Roman Empire is established

  One of the events marking the beginning of the Imperium Romanum was the Roman Senate's granting of the honorific Augustus to Octavian on this day.
  

• 1995 The Great Hanshin earthquake hits Kobe, Japan

  6,434 people lost their lives during the quake, according to estimates.
  

• 1991 The Gulf War in Iraq begins

  “Operation Desert Storm”, launched in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, resulted in about 100,000 civilian deaths.
  

• 1961 Patrice Lumumba is murdered with support from western governments

  An independent commission concluded that Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of the Congo, died at the hands of his domestic adversaries with the assistance of the Belgian government and the CIA.
  

• 1946 The UN Security Council holds its first session

  The UNSC is the most powerful organ of the United Nations and it is charged with upholding international peace and security.
  

• 1945 Soviet and Polish forces liberate Warsaw during World War II

  About 85% of the city was destroyed at that point.
  

• 2002 The Sierra Leone Civil War ends

  The conflict had lasted 11 years and left over 50,000 dead.
  

• 1997 Børge Ousland becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided

  The Norwegian polar explorer walked 3000 km (1864 miles) across the Earth's southernmost continent.
  

• 1943 Insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto take up arms against the German oppressors

  This lead to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II.
  

• 1919 The Paris Peace Conference opens

  The aim of the conference was to set the peace terms after World War I, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
  

• 1886 Modern hockey is born

  The foundation of The Hockey Association in England formalized a modern version of the game that had already been played in ancient times.
  

• 2009 Barack Obama is sworn in as U.S. president

  Obama became the country's first black president.
  

• 1981 The Iran hostage crisis ends

  52 U.S. citizens were released after 444 days at the hands of a group of Islamists.
  

• 1969 The killing of a student activist sets the stage for the Bangladesh Liberation War

  The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation.
  

• 1942 Nazi officials meet to organize the extermination of Jews

  During the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, the Nazis discussed what they called the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.
  

• 1934 Fujifilm is founded

  The Japanese photography and electronics company soon became a global player in its field.
  

• 1998 Pope John Paul II visits Cuba

  It was the first time any Pope visited the country.
  

• 1976 Concorde takes off on its first scheduled flights

  2 of the supersonic aircraft took off from Paris and London simultaneously.
  

• 1968 The Battle of Khe Sanh begins

  It is one of the most publicized battles of the Vietnam War.
  

• 1911 23 cars take part in the first Rally Monte Carlo

  Unlike today, the competitors set out from 11 different European locations, heading for the finish line in Monte Carlo.
  

• 1899 Opel builds its first automobile

  Today, Opel is one of the world's largest car manufacturers.
  

• 2006 Eco Morales becomes Bolivia's first indigenous president

  The left-wing politician has focused mainly on combating poverty and curbing the influence of transnational corporations.
  

• 1973 The U.S. Supreme Court legalizes abortion

  The liberalization that was caused by the Roe v. Wade decision entailed fierce resistance from the Pro-Life movement, but the Supreme Court has so far upheld the decision.
  

• 1970 The Boeing 747 takes off on its first scheduled flight

  The Pan Am jumbo jet flew from New York to London.
  

• 1963 The Élysée Treaty formalizes the reconciliation between Germany and France

  The treaty effectively ended centuries of enmity between the two European countries.
  

• 1943 World record for fastest temperature change

  The fastest temperature change recorded in history occurred on this day in Spearfish, South Dakota. The temperature increased from −4°F (−20°C) to +45°F (+7°C) in the span of two minutes.
  

• 1986 The first artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

  Among the first inductees were Ray Charles, James Brown, and Elvis Presley.
  

• 1960 The Trieste dives to a record depth of 10,911 meters (35,797 ft)

  Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh reached the bottom of Challenger Deep, the Earth's deepest known point.
  

• 1957 Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company

  Today, the Frisbee is used around the world as both a toy and as part of flying disc games, such as Ultimate.
  

• 1950 Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital

  Despite international protests, the Knesset passed a resolution stating that the divided city will be the country's capital.
  

• 1556 The deadliest earthquake on record kills some 830,000 people

  The epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, China.
  

• 1990 Japan launches its first lunar probe

  Hiten was the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Luna 24 in 1976 and the first deep space probe that executed an aerobraking maneuver.
  

• 1984 The Apple Macintosh computer goes on sale

  The “Mac” was the first commercially successful personal computer using a graphical user interface and a mouse.
  

• 1946 The United Nations General Assembly passes its fist resolution

  Resolution 1 was passed to found the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC).
  

• 1848 The California Gold Rush begins

  Some 300,000 people traveled to California after James W. Marshall had found gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.
  

• 1835 Slaves stage a rebellion in Brazil to end slavery

  The Malê Revolt was instrumental in ending slavery in Brazil.
  

• 1977 The world's first solar power plant is opened

  The solar furnace in Odeillo, France was the first power plant providing alternative energy.
  

• 1971 Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda

  The dictator's rule (1971 - 1979) was characterized by human right abuse, political repression, and corruption.
  

• 1947 The first arcade game is patented

  Thomas Goldsmith's “Cathode ray tube amusement device” is considered the ancestor of video games.
  

• 1924 The first Winter Olympics begin

  The I Olympic Winter Games were held in Chamonix, France.
  

• 2001 A massive earthquake hits Gujarat, India

  About 20,000 people died and over 160,000 people were injured.
  

• 1998 In a TV statement, Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky”

  On August 17, 1998, Clinton admitted to having had an “improper physical relationship” with Monica Lewinsky.
  

• 1950 India becomes a republic

  The Constitution of India came into effect that day.
  

• 1905 The world's largest diamond is found in South Africa

  The Cullinan Diamond weighed 3106.75 carats (621.35 g or 1.37 lb) and has an estimated value of 2 billion USD.
  

• 1788 The first Europeans settle in Australia

  The first elements of the British “First Fleet” had arrived in Sydney Harbour on January 18.
  

• 1983 The first shaft of the world's longest tunnel is completed

  The Seikan Tunnel, 53.85 km (33.46 mi) in length, connects the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.
  

• 1967 3 astronauts die in a cabin fire while preparing for the Apollo 1 mission

  The accident was a blow to NASA's Apollo manned lunar landing program.
  

• 1967 U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty

  The treaty bans the deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space and limits the use of the Moon to peaceful purposes.
  

• 1945 Soviet forces liberate Auschwitz

  The German Nazi regime murdered over 1.1 million people in the extermination camps near Oświęcim, Poland.
  

• 1944 Soviet forces liberate Leningrad

  Die Siege of Leningrad had lasted 872 days and left over 1 million people dead.
  

• 1986 Space Shuttle “Challenger” explodes

  The orbiter broke apart 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all 7 astronauts on board.
  

• 1985 USA for Africa record “We Are the World”

  Over 20 million copies of the charity single were sold.
  

• 1958 The Lego brick is patented

  The Lego company has since produced 500 billion Lego elements, amounting to 10 lego towers from Earth to the Moon.
  

• 1820 Fabian von Bellinghausen discovers the Antarctic

  The Baltic German explorer is believed to be the first person to sight the Earth's southernmost continent.
  

• 1813 Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, is published

  It is one of the best-known works of English literature and it was sold about 20 million times.
  

• 2002 George W. Bush coins the term “axis of evil” as part of his State of the Union Address

  The term used to describe “regimes that sponsor terror” became exemplary for the terminology used by the Bush administration to promote its “war on terror”.
  

• 1996 France stops nuclear testing

  President Jaques Chirac announced the “definite end” to France's nuclear testing program just 1 day after the country exploded a nuclear device in the South Pacific.
  

• 1967 The Mantra-Rock Dance takes place in San Francisco

  The event is considered to have been the major spiritual event of the San Francisco hippy era.
  

• 1886 German engineer Carl Benz patents the first modern automobile

  His “Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nummer 1” was the first gasoline-driven car.
  

• 1845 Edgar Allan Poe's “The Raven” is published

  The narrative poem first appeared in the New York Evening Mirror.
  

Kitkat wrote:Hey Whiskers - I didn't think anyone was actually reading in this thread!  Glad to see that someone is interested and it's not just a waste of space.

mac wrote:

Kitkat wrote:Hey Whiskers - I didn't think anyone was actually reading in this thread!  Glad to see that someone is interested and it's not just a waste of space.

Oh I dip in too, every now and then...... 

• 1982 The first computer virus is released “into the wild”

  Elk Cloner was created by 15-year-old Richard Skrenta as a practical joke.
  

• 1972 On “Bloody Sunday”, British troops kill 13 unarmed protesters

  It was one of the most significant events of the Northern Ireland conflict.
  

• 1969 The Beatles give their last public performance

  The concert was played on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row in London.
  

• 1945 9,400 people die in the deadliest maritime disaster in history

  The “Wilhelm Gustloff” was sunk by a Soviet submarine during World War II.
  

• 1933 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany

  The “Machtergreifung” marked the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the “Third Reich”.
  

• 2011 Myanmar's first elected parliament in half a century convenes

  The event underlined a general move towards democracy in the country.
  

• 2010 Alaska Airlines flight 261 crashes into the sea

  The MD-83 experienced horizontal stabilizer problems before descending into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 on board.
  

• 1996 A suicide bombing in Sri Lanka kills 91 people

  Separatist Tamil Tigers detonated a truck loaded with explosives in front of the central bank in Colombo.
  

• 1865 The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed

  The Amendment, which officially abolished slavery, was adopted on December 6, 1865.
  

• 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on its way back to Earth

  All 7 astronauts were killed in the disaster.
  

• 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exile

  His triumphant return marked the beginning of the Iranian Revolution.
  

• 1968 Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War's best-known pictures

  The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.
  

• 1960 Four black students start the Greensboro sit-ins

  Their refusal to leave a “whites only” lunch counter was a milestone in the fight against racial segregation in the United States.
  

• 1884 The first fascicle of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published

  The book contained entries A to Ant.
  

• 1990 The South African Apartheid system of racial segregation begins to disintegrate

  President de Klerk announced the unbanning of the African Nation Congress (ANC) and his intentions to release Nelson Mandela.
  

• 1943 The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end as the Axis Powers surrender

  Germany's defeat marked a turning point in World War II.
  

• 1925 20 mushers embark on a journey to transport medicine to Nome, Alaska, inspiring the Iditarod Race

  The Iditarod is the world's longest and most challenging dog sled race.
  

• 1922 “Ulysses” by James Joyce is published

  The novel is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature.
  

• 1852 The first public flushing toilet is opened in London

  Using the “Public Waiting Room” at 95 Fleet Street cost 2 pence.
  

1925 20 mushers embark on a journey to transport medicine to Nome, Alaska, inspiring the Iditarod Race

The Iditarod is the world's longest and most challenging dog sled race.

• 1998 20 people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster

  The wings of a low-flying U.S. military aircraft cut the aerial tramway's cables, causing the cabin to plunge 80 meters.
  

• 1989 Paraguay's dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, is overthrown

  Stroessner had come to power in 1954 with a military coup.
  

• 1972 The deadliest snowstorm in history kills 4000

  The Iran Blizzard lasted a week and left whole villages without survivors.
  

• 1969 Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

  Even after his death in 2011, Arafat remained a highly controversial figure, many Arabs praising him as a freedom fighter while many Israelis denouncing him as a terrorist.
  

• 1966 Luna 9 touches down on the Moon

  The unmanned Soviet spacecraft was the first to achieve a soft landing there.
  

• 2004 Facebook is founded

  The social networking service currently has over 1 billion active users.
  

• 1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) proclaims independence within the British Commonwealth

  Since the 16th century, the island had been colonized by Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.
  

• 1861 The Confederate States of America are established

  6 slave states met in Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederacy, which lasted only until 1865.
  

• 1859 German archeologist Constantin von Tischendorf discovers the Codex Sinaiticus

  The “Sinai Bible”, a handwritten copy of the Greek Bible, is considered a great historical treasure.
  

• 1789 George Washington is elected as first President of the United States

  Washington took office on April 30, 1789.
  

• 1919 United Artists is founded

  Charlie Chaplin was one of the film studio's founders.
  

• 1909 The world's first synthetic plastic is developed

  Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite at a meeting of the American Chemical Society that day.
  

• 1869 The biggest gold nugget in history is found

  The “Welcome Stranger” was found at Moliagul in Australia and had a calculated refined weight of 71.081 kg.
  

• 1852 The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg opens to the public

  It is one of the world's largest and oldest museums and was originally founded in 1764.
  

• 1996 The crash of a Boeing 757 aircraft leaves no survivors

  Birgenair Flight 301 was the worst accident involving this type of aircraft.
  

• 1989 The Round Table Talks start in Poland

  The negotiations between the Polish government and the trade union Solidarność, or Solidarity in English, marked the beginning of the end of communism in Eastern Europe.
  

• 1959 The first microchip is patented

  For his invention of the integrated circuit, Jack Kilby was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  

• 1952 Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom

  She succeeded her father, George VI, who died that day.
  

• 1840 New Zealand becomes a British colony

  While the Treaty of Waitangi is generally celebrated as the country's founding document, many Māori claim they were deceived and unwittingly stripped of their right to govern the country.
  

• 2009 The Black Saturday bushfires in Australia kill 173 people

  The fires were the worst natural disaster in Australian history.
  

• 2005 Ellen MacArthur breaks the speed record for sailing solo around the world

  The journey took her 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds.
  

• 1992 The European Union is established as the Maastricht Treaty is signed

  The treaty also defined a single European currency: the Euro.
  

• 1986 Haiti's president, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, flees the country, ending 28 years of family rule

  On the same day 5 years later, the first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was sworn in.
  

• 1984 NASA astronauts take the first untethered spacewalk

  The photographs of Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart hovering freely in space became some of the most iconic images of the 1980s.
  

• 1971 The NASDAQ holds its first trading day

  The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations was the world's first electronic stock exchange.
  

• 1960 The first 8 stars are added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame

  More than 2400 five-pointed stars have since been embedded in the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street to honor stars of the entertainment industry.
  

• 1950 The Stasi, East Germany's notorious secret police, is established

  The “Staatssicherheit”, which was dissolved in 1990, is considered one of the most repressive intelligence agencies in the world.
  

• 1910 The Boy Souts of America is founded

  3 years earlier, British General Robert Baden-Powell had founded the Scout movement in England.
  

• 1879 Sandford Fleming proposes the use of time zones

  The later introduction of Universal Standard Time, which is based on time zones, revolutionized time keeping.
  

• 1996 The Irish paramilitary organization IRA ends an 18-month ceasefire by exploding a large bomb in London

  The explosion in London's Canary Wharf left 2 people dead and 39 injured.
  

• 1969 The Boeing 747 flies for the first time

  The “Jumbo Jet” was the world's largest passenger aircraft at the time.
  

• 1964 The Beatles embark on their first tour in the United States

  Their appearance in the Ed Sullivan Sow marked the beginning of the “British Invasion”
  

• 1959 The world's first intercontinental ballistic missile becomes operational in the USSR

  The Soviet R-7 Semyorka missile had a range of 8800 km (5500 mi).
  

• 1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy launches his anti-communist campaign

  On this day, McCarthy accused the U.S. State Department of being infiltrated by communists.
  

• 2009 Two satellites collide in space

  Both the U.S. satellite “Iridium 33” and the Russian “Kosmos 2251” were destroyed in the accident.
  

• 1996 Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a chess game against a reigning world champion

  Despite his defeat in the first game, Russian world champion Garry Kasparov proceeded to win the match by 4-2 games.
  

• 1964 An aircraft carrier collides with a destroyer in Australia, killing 82

  Destroyer HMAS Voyager sailed under aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourn's bow, was cut in half and sank.
  

• 1964 Bob Dylan's album “The Times They Are A-Changin'” is released

  The title track is one of Dylan's best-known songs.
  

• 1962 Francis Gary Powers, a U.S. spy captured by the Soviet Union, is released

  Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel.
  

Anthracite Coal First Burned as Residential Heating Fuel

• 1990 Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years as a political prisoner

  The anti-apartheid campaigner's release was a high point in South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy.
  

• 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran

  Few days after Khomeini's triumphant return from French exile, the Iranian army steps aside, making way for the creation of an Islamic theocracy.
  

• 1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female leader of the British Conservative Party

  Thatcher won the general elections in 1979 and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  

• 1938 The BBC broadcasts Karel Čapek's “R.U.R.”, the world's first science fiction TV program

  The Czech play whose abbreviated title stands for “Rossum's Universal Robots” introduced the word “robot” to the English language.
  

• 1858 Bernadette Soubirous sees a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes

  The small town in southern France became one of the most important Christian places of pilgrimage.
  

mac wrote:anthracite?

I used to be employed by the National Coal Board, later to become British Coal.  I took my concessionary fuel allowance as anthracite grains to fuel the 'Trianco' boiler in our home, providing lashings of hot water and 'always-on' central heating. 

Anthracite was a comparatively clean fuel - no tar, no sulphur, no smoke -  mined in Wales but some - of lower quality - was also imported.  Now the coal industry is gone.

Ah the good old days!

• 2002 The trial of Slobodan Milošević begins at The Hague

  The former President of Yugoslavia and Serbia died 4 years later, before the trial's conclusion.
  

• 1994 Edvard Munch's “The Scream” is stolen

  The iconic painting, one of a series of four, was recovered several months later.
  

• 1924 George Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” premieres

  The piece is among Gershwin's best-known compositions and one of the most popular pieces of the symphonic jazz genre.
  

• 1912 The last Emperor of China abdicates at the age of 6

  Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City after a military coup in 1924. He died on October 17, 1967 aged 61.
  

• 2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologizes to Indigenous Australians for the “stolen generations”

  Between 10 and 30 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children were removed from their families until the 1960s.
  

• 2004 The universe's largest known diamond is discovered

  BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star about 50 light-years from Earth and was nicknamed “Lucy” after The Beatles' song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
  

• 2000 The last “Peanuts” comic strip is published

  The 17,897th-and-last installment was published in newspapers around the world on the day following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.
  

• 1991 Two “smart bombs” kill at least 408 civilians in Baghdad

  The Amiriyah shelter bombing was one of the worst cases of civilian killings during “Operation Desert Storm”.
  

• 1945 The German city of Dresden is destroyed by a bombing raid

  According to estimates, up to 25,000 people were killed in the raids that lasted 3 days.
  

• 2005 Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated

  Several sources reported that the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon found compelling evidence for the Lebanese militia Hezbollah's involvement.
  

• 2003 Dolly the sheep is put to death

  Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult, had shown signs of premature aging and contracted various diseases.
  

• 1989 Union Carbide finally agrees to pay damages to the Indian government for the Bophal disaster

  The company had a yearly turnover of 9.5 billion USD at the time; up to 25,000 people had died in the tragedy.
  

• 1949 The Knesset, the parliament of Israel, convenes for the first time

  The term “Knesset” is derived from the Hebrew name of an ancient Great Assembly: Anshei Knesset HaGedolah.
  

• 1876 The telephone is patented

  Both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied for a patent on that day - Bell won.
  

• 2005 The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect

  The global warming pact was ratified by 191 countries to date - excluding the United States.
  

• 1987 The first trial against John Demjanjuk begins in Jerusalem

  Demjanjuk was falsely accused of being a particularly brutal Nazi guard dubbed “Ivan the Terrible”; in a separate trial in 2011, he was convicted by a German criminal court as an accessory to the murder of 27,900 people.
  

• 1985 Hezbollah is founded

  The Lebanese political party and militant group is classified as a terrorist organization by several western countries.
  

• 1959 Fidel Castro becomes Cuba's Prime Minister

  Castro's rise to power came shortly after his “26th of July Movement” had overthrown dictator Fulgencio Batista in what became known as the Cuban Revolution.
  

• 1923 The burial chamber of Pharoh Tutankhamun is opened

  Howard Carter's discovery is one of archeology's best known, especially due to the myth of the “Curse of Tutankhamun” that was sparked by the death of Lord Carnarvon who was one of the first to enter the chamber.
  

• 2008 Kosovo declares its independence

  The region's secession from Serbia followed an armed conflict referred to as the Kosovo War.
  

• 1992 Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is jailed for life

  Dahmer was convicted of murdering and dismembering at least 17 young men and boys.
  

• 1904 “Madama Butterfly” is premiered

  Giacomo Puccini's opera, one of the world's most performed works of musical theater, was poorly received in its first performance.
  

• 1863 A precursor of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is founded

  The “Committee for Relief to the Wounded” was created by a group of citizens in Geneva, Switzerland.
  

• 1978 Hawaii hosts the first Ironman Triathlon

  Contestants have to swim 2.4 miles (3.86 km), bike 112 miles (180.25 km) and complete a marathon run measuring 26.2 miles (42.2 km).
  

• 1977 The Space Shuttle takes off on its maiden flight

  The “Enterprise” was mounted on a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft; the first free flight took place on August 12, 1977
  

• 1954 The first Church of Scientology is established

  Despite many controversies, Scientology has gained thousands of members since its inception.
  

• 1943 The Gestapo arrests German resistance fighter Sophie Scholl and other White Rose activists

  21-year-old student Scholl and her fellow campaigners were executed for having distributed flyers criticizing the Nazi regime.
  

• 1930 Pluto is discovered

  Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet when sifting through photographs taken a month earlier.
  

• 2008 Fidel Castro steps down as Cuba's president

  Castro was 81 years old at the time and had been in power for 49 years.
  

• 1986 The “Mir” Space Station is launched

  The Soviet vehicle was the world's first modular space station and remained in orbit for 15 years.
  

• 1985 Iberia Airlines Flight 610 crashes

  All 148 people on board died in the accident that was blamed on pilot error.
  

• 1945 U.S. troops land on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima

  The photo showing 4 marines erecting a U.S. flag on the island has become one of the best-known images of World War II.
  

• 1878 Thomas Edison patents the phonograph

  It was the first machine able to reproduce recorded sound.
  

• 1988 The Nagorno-Karabakh War is triggered by der Autonomous Oblast's secession from Azerbaijan

  Today, Nagorno-Karabakh is a de facto independent state, but the territory is still internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
  

• 1962 The first U.S. citizen to orbit the Earth lands safely in the Atlantic Ocean

  John Glenn's 5-hour spaceflight came almost a year after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961.
  

• 1944 U.S. bombers attack German aircraft manufacturing centers, in a bombing campaign that became known as the “Big Week”

  The goal was to achieve air superiority to secure the invasion of Europe.
  

• 1913 Works to build Australia's capital city commence

  Canberra is an entirely planned city and was chosen as the Australian capital as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne.
  

• 1877 Tchaikovsky's ballet “Swan Lake” is premiered

  It is one of the world's best-known ballets.