671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock (clepsydra) called Rokoku. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu.
1692 – Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for “certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries”.
1786 – A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.
1793 – The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris. A year later, it becomes the first public zoo.
1898 – Spanish-American War: U.S. Marines land on the island of Cuba.
1916 – The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire was declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.
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| SMS Szent Istvan sinks off the Croatian coast after being torpedoed |
1918 – The Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István sinks off the Croatian coast after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat; the event is recorded by camera from a nearby vessel. Click here to see the recording
1935 – Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson.
1940 – World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.
1940 – World War II: Italy declares war on France and United Kingdom.
1942 – World War II: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.
1947 – Saab produces its first automobile.
1977 – James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee, but is recaptured on June 13.
1977 – The Apple II, one of the first personal computers, goes on sale.
2003 – The Spirit rover is launched, beginning NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.
Births
1832 – Nikolaus Otto, German engineer (d. 1891)
1859 – Emanuel Nobel, Swedish-Russian businessman (d. 1932)
1899 – Stanisław Czaykowski, Polish race car driver (d. 1933)
1907 – Fairfield Porter, American painter and critic (d. 1975)
1915 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
1922 – Judy Garland, American singer, actress, and vaudevillian (d. 1969)
1928 – Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
1932 – Pierre Cartier, French mathematician and academic
1943 – Simon Jenkins, English journalist and author
Deaths
323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC)
1776 – Leopold Widhalm, Austrian instrument maker (b. 1722)
1836 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
1926 – Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (b. 1852)
1967 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (b. 1900)
2002 – John Gotti, American mobster (b. 1940)
2003 – Donald Regan, Ronald Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff |
