EVENTS
- 69 – Traditional day when Saint Peter died.
Saint Peter - 1891 – The start of the United States National Forest Service.
- 1927 – Two U.S. aviators complete the first transpacific flight. Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger had taken off from Oakland Municipal Airport the previous day. Their “Bird of Paradise” aircraft touched down in Oahu, Hawaii 25 hours and 50 minutes later.
- 1937 – The snowmobile is invented.
- 1972 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that capital punishment was a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibiting “cruel and unusual punishment.” The decision spared the lives of 600 individuals then sitting on death row. Four years later, in another ruling, the Court reversed itself and determined the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment. On October 4, 1976, the ban was lifted on the death penalty in cases involving murder.
- 1986 – Richard Branson breaks the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing by boat. The British businessman took about three days to cross the ocean in his speedboat “Virgin Atlantic Challenger II”. He was denied the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest crossing because he refueled on the way.
- 1990 – Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are banned to protect the ozone layer. The London Amendment to the Montreal Protocol stipulated that CFCs be phased out by 2000 in developed countries and by 2010 in developing countries. CFCs are one of the substances most harmful to the ozone layer, escalating the greenhouse effect and global warming.
- 1995 – For the first time, the NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station.
- 2007 – Apple releases the first iPhone. The iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry and for a while made Apple one of the world’s most valuable companies.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1798 – Giacomo Leopardi (Italian Poet)
- 1858 – Social worker Julia Lathrop (1858-1932) was born in Rockford, Illinois
- 1861 – American surgeon William Mayo (1861-1939) was born in LeSeuer, Minnesota
William Mayo - 1900 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (French writer)
- 1936 – Harmon Killebrew (American baseball player)
- 1943 – Little Eva (Singer)
- 1944 – Gary Busey (Actor)
- 1947 – Richard Lewis (Comedian)
- 1967 – Jeff Burton (NASCAR Driver)
- 1968 – Theoren Fleury (Canadian ice hockey player)
- 1978 – Nicole Scherzinger (Singer and winner of Dancing with the Stars)
- 1981 – Joe Johnson (Basketball player)
DEATHS
- 1895 – Thomas Henry Huxley (English biologist)
Thomas Henry Huxley - 1933 – Roscoe Arbuckle (American actor, director, screenwriter)
- 1940 – Paul Klee (Swiss/German painter)
- 1967 – Jayne Mansfield (American model, actress, singer)
- 2003 – Katharine Hepburn (American actress, singer)
