EVENTS
- 1610 – Galileo first observes the four largest moons of Jupiter.
- 1714 – A patent was issued for the first typewriter designed by British inventor Henry Mill “for the impressing or transcribing of letters singly or progressively one after another, as in writing.”
- 1782 – The first U.S. commercial bank opened as the Bank of North America in Philadelphia.
- 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).
- 1894 – A patent for motion picture film is granted to W.K. Dickson.
- 1924 – George Gershwin completes his famous classical piece Rhapsody in Blue.
- 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.
- 1927 – The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game.
- 1979 – The Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia is overthrown. Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh that day.
- 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.
- 1999 – The first presidential impeachment trial in 130 years began as members of the U.S. Senate were sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist to decide whether President Clinton should be removed from office. House prosecutors had delivered two articles of impeachment charging Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1800 – Millard Fillmore (13th US President)
- 1943 – Sadako Sasaki (Japanese victim of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki)
- 1948 – Kenny Loggins (Singer and Songwriter)
- 1957 – Katie Couric (Morning show host)
- 1964 – Nicolas Cage (Actor)
- 1967 – Nick Clegg (English politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1985 – Lewis Hamilton (English race car driver)
- 1991 – Eden Hazard (Belgian footballer)
DEATHS
- 1536 – Catherine of Aragon
- 1943 – Nikola Tesla (Serbian/American physicist, engineer)
- 1951 – René Guénon (French/Egyptian author)
- 1989 – Hirohito (Japanese emperor)
- 1995 – Murray Rothbard (American economist, historian)