1992 The Sci-Fi Channel debuts. Its first show was Star Wars.

1970 First Unmanned Spacecraft to Land on the Moon and Return Soviet Luna 16 lands back on Earth. It brought back 101 grams of lunar soil.

1968 60 Minutes debuts on CBS, featuring Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace.

1964 The Munsters debuts on CBS.

1961 Bullwinkle gets his own show when NBC debuts The Bullwinkle Show, a spinoff of Rocky and His Friends.

1960 First nuclear-powered aircraft carrier The USS Enterprise is launched at Newport, Virginia.

1957 Civil Rights Pres. Eisenhower orders federal troops to enforce the court order allowing blacks to enter Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas.

1956 First transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation, between Newfoundland and Scotland.

1955 First U.S. Vice President to temporarily assume the Presidency Nixon takes charges after Pres. Eisenhower suffers a heart attack.

1954 First hydrogen bomb fatality A Japanese fisherman dies after having been exposed to fallout from a U.S. H-bomb on March 1.

1951 Famous sex-change operation George Jorgensen, an American, becomes Christine. It was performed in Denmark under the supervision of Dr. Christian Hamburger.

1929 First blind airplane flight James H. Doolittle takes off and lands using only instruments.

1895 First around-the-world bicycle trip by a woman Annie Londonberry arrives back in Boston. She had departed in June of 1894.

1869 Black Friday Stock market panic due to crashing gold prices caused by an attempt to corner the market by Gould and Fisk.

1852 First flight of a dirigible Henri Giffard of Paris flies his hydrogen-filled 3-horsepower steam-powered craft.

1794 Whiskey Rebellion Pres. Washington orders a 15,000-man militia to suppress an uprising of western Pennsylvania farmers. They were protesting an excise duty placed on stills and spirits distilled in the U.S.

1789 Federal Judiciary Act is passed by Congress. It established the six-member U.S. Supreme Court and the office of Attorney General.

1493 Columbus The explorer sets sail on his second voyage to the "New World," on which he brought the first cattle and discovered the Virgin Islands.

1948 Phil Hartman d. 1998 (Phillip Edward Hartmann), Canadian-born American actor. He was shot to death by his wife in a murder-suicide. TV: Saturday Night Live, Pee-Wee's Playhouse (Captin' Carl. He and Paul Reubens co-created the Pee-Wee Herman character), and The Simpons (voice of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz).

1943 Lee Aaker American actor. TV: The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (Rusty).

1941 Linda McCartney d. 1998 American photographer, singer, wife of Paul.

1936 Jim Henson d. 1990 American muppeteer, created the Muppets (1956) and has won 18 Emmy, 7 Grammy, 4 Peabody, and 5 ACE awards. He died of toxic shock syndrome.

1932 Svetlana Beriosova Russian prima ballerina, created the leads in Le Baiser de la Fée and Perséphone.

1931 Anthony Newley English singer, actor, composer. Film: Oliver Twist (the Artful Dodger). He and Leslie Bricussse wrote the musical Stop the World, I Want to Get Off.

1924 Shiela MacRae English singer, actress. TV: The Honeymooners (Alice Kramden from 1966-71).

1921 Jim McKay American ABC sportscaster.

1911 Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko d. 1985 president of the Soviet Union and general secretary of Soviet Communist Party.

1905 Severo Ochoa d. 1993 Spanish-born American Nobel-winning biochemist. He shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology with Arthur Kornberg for his discoveries that furthered the research in heredity.

1902 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini d. 1989 religious leader of Iran, Time Magazine's 1979 Man of the Year.  He led the 1979 revolution which overthrew the Shah of Iran and became the country's Supreme Leader (1979-89).  He issued fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses (1988).

1900 Ham Fisher d. 1955 (Hammond Edward Fisher), American cartoonist, created Joe Palooka (1927).

1898 Sir Howard Walter Florey d. 1968 Australian-born British physician, won a Nobel prize (1945) for his work with Alexander Fleming in developing penicillin.

1896 F. Scott Fitzgerald d. 1940 (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald), American author. Writings: This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Great Gatsby (1925).

1884 Ismet Inönü d. 1973 Turkish statesman and its first prime minister (1923-37) and second president (1938-50).

1883 Frank C. Mars d. 1930 American candy maker, founder of Mars, Inc.

1870 Georges Claude d. 1960 French physicist, inventor of the neon light (1910).

1843 Adam Willis Wagnalls d. 1924 American publisher, co-founder of Funk & Wagnalls Company (1891), who first published their famous dictionary in 1912.

1755 John Marshall d. 1835 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-35), and principle founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law. The Liberty Bell cracked whiled tolling his death.

1991 Dr. Seuss b. 1904 (Theodor Seuss Geisel), American Pulitzer-winning children's author.  His first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) was rejected by more than two dozen publishers.  Books: The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), and Green Eggs and Ham (1960).  He won a 1946 Oscar for his documentary Hitler Lives.

1984 Neil Hamilton b. 1899 American actor. TV: Batman (Commissioner Gordon).

1952 John Washington Butler b. circa 1876 American politician, Tennessee state senator, author of the anti-evolution law which resulted in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial.

1945 Hans Geiger b. 1882 German physicist, inventor of the Geiger counter (1908). He also helped to prove that the atom is composed of a dense nucleus surrounded by electrons (1913).

1939 Carl Laemmle b. 1867 German-born American motion picture executive. He founded Universal Pictures (1912) and was one of the first to promote actors by their own names.

1834 Pedro I b. 1798 first Emperor of Brazil (1822-31).

1815 John Sevier b. 1745 American pioneer and Indian fighter, first and only governor (1785-88) of the American state of Franklin. He was also the first governor (1796-1801) of Tennessee.

1541 Paracelsus b. 1493 Swiss physician, alchemist. He was one of the first to recognize that illnesses had specific causes that could be treated, as opposed to the then-current belief that they were caused by the imbalance of body fluids.

1143 Innocent II b. ???? Italian religious leader, 164th Pope (1130-43).

366 Liberius b. ???? Italian religious leader, 36th Pope (352-366).

<< Previous | Today | Pick a Day | My Birthday | Surprise Me | Next >>

Celebritize Yourself
Add YOURSELF
or Someone You Love
to THIS Trivia List

Amaze Your Friends with
Your/Their Celebrity Status

Add Trivia to Your Website