1333 – Flood of the Arno River, causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani
1646 – Massachusetts uses death penalty for denying that Holy Bible is God’s word
1841 – First wagon train arrives in California
1845 – First nationally-observed uniform election day in US
1862 – Dr. Richard Gatling patents Gatling machine gun
1873 – Dentist John Beers of San Francisco patents gold crown
1875 – Passenger Steamship Pacific collides with sailing vessel Orpheus off Cape Flattery Washington, 236 die
1879 – James Ritty patents first cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his Dayton, Ohio saloon
1884 – Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G. Blaine (R) for his first presidential term. He was the only American president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms.
1890 – Prince of Wales opens first underground station at Stockwell, South London
1908 – Brooklyn Academy of Music opens
1929 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Laurence McKinley Gould, and their polar expedition team begin a 2½ month, 1500-mile dog-sledge journey into the Queen Maud Mountains, the first exploration of the interior of Antarctica
1939 – First air-conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago, Ill
1939 – US allows “cash & carry” arms sales during WW II
1940 – Eggs and cake rationed in Netherlands
1963 – John Lennon utters his infamous “rattle your jewelry” line at a Royal Variety Performance in London
1966 – Flooding of Arno River (Italy) destroys countless art works, kills 113
1970 – Russian nuclear physicist Sacharov forms Human Rights Committee
1979 – 500 Iranian students seize US embassy, take 90 hostages for 444 days until…
1980 – Ronald Reagan (R) defeats President Jimmy Carter (D) by a landslide
1994 – San Francisco: First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web
2003 – The most powerful solar flare as observed by satellite instrumentation is recorded
2012 – Kimi Raikkonen wins Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012
Birthdays
1756 – Anthony van Hoboken, Rotterdam merchant/ship owner
1876 – James Fraser, designed buffalo nickel
1879 – Will Rogers, Oologah Indian Territory (Okla), humorist and actor (Judge Priest), (d. 1935)
1918 – Art Carney, Mount Vernon NY, actor (Ed Norton, The Honeymooners)
1937 – Loretta Swit, Passaic NJ, actress (Hotlips Houlihan on M*A*S*H)
1946 – Robert Mapplethorpe, photographer
1946 – Laura Bush, U.S. First Lady 2001-09
1953 – Jacques Villeneuve (elder), Canadian racing driver
1969 – Sean Combs [Puff Daddy], New York City, rapper/record producer (Come to Me, I’ll be Missing You)
Deaths
1955 – Cy Young, American baseball player (b. 1867)
1995 – Yitzhak Rabin, PM of Israel, assassinated at 73
2008 – Michael Crichton, American author, dies at 66
2011 – Andy Rooney, American radio and television writer (b. 1919)