Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1520

Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication.

1719

The first recorded sighting of the Aurora Borealis took place in New England.

1817

Mississippi was admitted to the union as the 20th state.

1845

Pneumatic tires were patented by Scottish civil engineer Robert Thompson.

1869

Women were granted the right to vote in the Wyoming Territory.

1898

The Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas territory, the Philippines.

1901

Nobel prizes were first awarded, in Oslo, Norway.

1906

President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

1927

The Grand Ole Opry made its first radio broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee under it's new name. It was originally called the "WSM Barn Dance" when it was started in 1925

1931

Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the first American woman so honored.

1948

The U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

1950

Ralph J. Bunche was presented the Nobel Peace Prize, the first black American to receive the award.

1958

The first domestic passenger jet flight took place in the United States as a National Airlines Boeing 707 flew 111 passengers from New York City to Miami.

1964

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize during ceremonies in Oslo, Norway.

1965

The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.

1980

Rep. John W. Jenrette (D-SC), resigned to avoid being expelled from the House following his conviction on charges relating to the FBI's Abscam investigation.

1983

Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín.

1984

South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

1984

The United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture.

1988

Up to 45,000 people die and a further 500,000 are homeless after the devastating earthquake which ripped through Armenia.

1994

Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize, pledging to pursue their mission of healing the anguished Middle East.

1996

South Africa's President Nelson Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution.

1998

Six astronauts swung open the doors to the new international space station, becoming the first guests aboard the 250-mile-high outpost.

1998

The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses rejecting Israel's existence.

1999

Computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested and charged with removing secrets from secure computers at the Los Alamos weapons lab. (Lee was later freed after pleading guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape; 58 other counts were dropped.

2002

Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in the Middle East in the 1970s.

2003

Iranian democracy activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

2014

Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein was killed after the suppression of a demonstration by Israeli forces in the village (Turmus'ayya) in Ramallah.

2016

Two explosions outside a football stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, kill 38 people and injure 166 others.

2019

Democrats in the House of Representatives announce formal charges against President Donald Trump that accuse him of abusing power and obstructing Congress, making him only the fourth U.S. president in history to face impeachment.

1822

César Franck, Belgian composer.

1830

Emily Dickinson, American poet.

1851

Melvil Dewey, the American librarian famous for creating the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

1911

Chester "Chet" Huntley, American broadcast journalist.

1896

Alfred Nobel, Swedish industrialist and philanthropist who also founded the Nobel Prizes.

1967

Singer Otis Redding died in the crash of his private plane in Wisconsin.

1987

Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist.

1999

Rock singer-musician Rick Danko of The Band died at age 56.

2005

Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor, at age 65.

2005

Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy, 89, American politician and a longtime member of the U.S. Congress.