28 BCE – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
1497 – Amerigo Vespucci leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
1768 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
Whig poster of 1837 Unemployment with Jackson’s and
Van Buren’s portraits on the wall
1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels.
1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 25 and injuring over 120.
1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
1893 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883. The Tariff Act of March 3, 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit.
Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), was a decision by the Supreme Court that, under U.S. customs regulations, the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit. The Court’s unanimous opinion held that the Tariff Act of 1883 used the ordinary meaning of the words “fruit” and “vegetable”, instead of the technical botanical meaning. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest. Botanically, a tomato is a fruit because it is a seed-bearing structure growing from the flowering part of a plant.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
1954 – Bill Haley & The Comets release “Rock Around the Clock”, the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.
1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder in Japan.
1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet (20 meters) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Birthdays
213 – Claudius Gothicus, Roman emperor (d. 270)
1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Traffic and Fleetwood Mac)
1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, humanitarian, and activist (U2)
Deaths
884 – Ahmad ibn Tulun, ruler of Egypt and Syria (b. 835)
1290 – Rudolf II, Duke of Austria (b. 1271)
1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
1818 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and soldier (b. 1735)
1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator (b. 1930)
2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)