1991 Mike Tyson The boxer has sex with 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington for which he was later convicted of rape.

1989 A United Airlines DC-10 crashes en route from Denver to Chicago, killing 111 with 185 surviving.

1985 Challenger disaster New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe is chosen from among 11,000 applicants to ride aboard the space shuttle. It would later explode on lift-off killing all aboard.

1984 First woman nominated for vice-president by a major political party Geraldine Ferraro is nominated by the Democratic party.

1961 First regularly scheduled in-flight movie By Love Possessed, shown on a TWA flight.

1957 First U.S. rocket with a nuclear warhead is fired, at the Nevada proving grounds.

1957 Civil Rights Frankie Lymon, a black performer, dances with a white girl on the TV show The Big Beat. The ensuing scandal caused the cancellation of the show.

1909 First unassisted triple play in major-league baseball, Neal Ball for Cleveland against Boston.

1900 The Paris Metropolitain opens, the main line of Metropolitain underground railway.

1862 Doomsday The Swift-Tuttle Comet is discovered by Horace Tuttle in Massachusetts. It had been independently spotted by Louis Swift in New York three days earlier. It has a 1 in 10,000 chance of colliding with Earth in the year 2126. If this occurs it will probably end civilization.

1848 Bloomers According to fashion legend, Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduces the new women's fashion by wearing a pair to the first Women's Rights Convention in New York.

1776 Declaration of Independence After receiving word of unanimous approval by all 13 colonies, the Continental Congress orders its engrossing and signing, which began on August 2nd.

1692 Salem Witch Trials Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Rebbecca Nourse, and Sussanah Martin are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

1952 Robert Burden cartoonist, created Flaming Carrot Comics (1979).

1948 Beverly Archer American actress. TV: Mama's Family (Iola).

1947 Brian May English guitarist with Queen.

1947 Bernie Leadon American guitarist, with The Eagles. Music: Take It Easy (1972), Desperado (1973), and One of These Nights (1975).

1941 Vikki Carr American singer. Music: It Must Be Him (1967).

1926 Helen Gallagher American actress. TV: Ryan's Hope (Maeve Ryan).

1922 George McGovern American politician, U.S. Representative (1957-61, South Dakota), U.S. Senator (1963-81, South Dakota), 1972 Presidential candidate, losing in a landslide to Nixon.

1883 Max Fleischer d. 1972 Austrian-born American animator. He and his brother Dave created Betty Boop and animated Popeye the Sailor. He also created Out of the Inkwell, which was the first popular animated cartoon series.

1865 Charles Horace Mayo d. 1939 American surgeon. He and his brother, William James Mayo, co-founded the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (1915).

1860 Lizzie Borden d. 1927 (Lisbeth A. Borden), American murder suspect. She was accused of axing her parents to death in 1892; she was acquitted in 1893.

1834 Edgar Degas d. 1917 French impressionist painter, sculptor. He is noted for his paintings of ballet dancers and racehorses.

1814 Samuel Colt d. 1862 American inventor. He patented his revolver in 1836. He also invented the first electrically detonated water mine (1842).

2006 Jack Warden b. 1920 (John H. Lebzelter), American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Crazy Like a Fox (Harry Fox). Film: Shampoo (1975, Lester Carp). He fought in the WWII Battle of Bulge (1944).

2005 Alain Bombard b. 1924 French biologist, physician. He made a solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (1952) in a 15-foot long boat with almost no provisions. He survived by eating raw fish and plankton. He just wanted to prove that it could be done.

1995 Dorothy McHugh b. ???? American dancer. An ex-Ziegfeld Follies dancer, she appeared in a medical device commercial proclaiming "I've fallen and I can't get up," for which she was paid $60.

1937 George Stafford Parker b. 1863 American inventor. He invented an improved fountain pen (1890) and founded The Parker Pen Company.

1850 Sarah Margaret Fuller b. 1810 American writer, critic.  She wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), the first American book on feminism. She was the first American woman foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune (1846).

1810 Louise b. 1776 Queen of Prussia, wife of Frederick William III.

514 Saint Symmachus b. ???? religious leader, 51st Pope (498-514).

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