320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock.
1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
1386 – Opening of Heidelberg University. Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is a public research university and is Germany’s oldest.
1851 – Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is first published
1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
1898 – The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
1945 – The USSR’s nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio.
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following its development in 1954, made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947, they became the most popular electronic communication device in history, with billions manufactured.
Billboard reported in 1954 that the radio has only four transistors. One acts as a combination mixer-oscillator, one as an audio amplifier, and two as intermediate-frequency amplifiers. One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark.
Births
1130 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (d. 1200)
1679 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American witness in the Salem witch trials (d. 1716)
1836 – Frederick August Otto Schwarz, founded FAO Schwarz (d. 1911)
1904 – A. J. Liebling, American journalist and author (d. 1963)
1919 – Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
1927 – George C. Scott, American actor and director (d. 1999)
1947 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1997)
1950 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and author (d. 2006)
Deaths
1141 – Leopold, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1108)
1871 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the mechanical computer (b. 1791)A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage is best remembered for originating the concept of a programmable computer.
1931 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, invented the light bulb and phonograph (b. 1847)
2013 – Tom Foley, 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1929)