In 1579 on August 8, the cornerstone was laid for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory. Now there's a bit of trivia for ya'. :)

August 9th
 

48 BC ~ Roman Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar defeated Pompey decisively at Pharsalus and Pompey fled to Egypt.

117 ~ Death of Trajan, Roman Emperor.

378 ~ Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens was defeated by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey. Valens was killed along with 2/3 of his army.

1842 ~ Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.

1896 ~ Birthday of Jean Piaget, Child Psychologist.

1945 ~ World War II: An atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was detonated over the city of Nagasaki, Japan at 11:02 AM (local time), killing about 75,000.

1962 ~ Death of Hermann Hesse, Author.

1969 ~ Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murdered five people including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger.

1975 ~ Death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer.

1995 ~ Death of Jerry Garcia, guitarist: Grateful Dead.

August 10th
 

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan's 5 ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe.

1792 ~ French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody.

1809 ~ Ecuador declares independence from Spain.

1900 ~ Birthday of Wolfgang Pauli, physicist.

1920 ~ World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives signed the Treaty of Sevres which divided up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies. (note to self – don’t lose wars)

1945 ~ Death of Robert Goddard, Rocket Scientist.

1948 ~ ”Candid Camera” makes its television after being on radio for a year as “Candid Microphone”.

1954 ~ At Messena, New York, the ground breaking ceremony for the St. Lawrence Seaway was held.

1988 ~ Japanese American Internment: US President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were either interned or relocated by in the United States during World War II.

1990 ~ The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.

August 11th
 

480 B.C. ~ Persians under Xerxes defeated Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight to the last man. The Persian and Greek fleets also fight the indecisive Battle of Artemisium.

The Battle of Thermopylae has served as an example to officers and soldiers alike of what courage and self-sacrifice could achieve. It is still remembered, almost 2,500 years later, as a classic example of virtue.

1905 ~ Birthday of Erwin Chargaff, biochemist.

1933 ~ Birthday of Jerry Falwell, Christian preacher and politician.

1934 ~ Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island.

1948 ~ Olympic games opened in London.

1900 ~ Death of Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist.

1966 ~ John Lennon held a press conference in Chicago excusing himself from the "Jesus affair".

2003 ~ NATO took over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

August 12th
 

1099 ~ First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders defeated Saracens and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is established under Godfrey of Bouillon.

1851 ~ Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1859 ~ Birthday of Katherine Lee Bates, poet, author of "America the Beautiful".

1887 ~ Birthday of Erwin Schrödinger, physicist.

1927 ~ Birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist.

1928 ~ Death of Leos Janacek, Czech composer.

1953 ~ The Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb.

1960 ~ “Echo I”, the first communications satellite, launched.

1964 ~ Birthday of Ian Fleming, Novelist.

1981 ~ The IBM PC was introduced.

August 13th
 

1521 ~ Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) fell to conquistador Hernán Cortés.

1704 ~ War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim - English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.

1860 ~ Birthday of Annie Oakley, Sharpshooter.

1899 ~ Birthday of Alfred Hitchcock, Director.

1926 ~ Birthday of Fidel Castro, Revolutionary and Politician.

1942 ~ Walt Disney's animated cartoon "Bambi" premiered.

1946 ~ Death of H. G. Wells, Writer.

1948 ~ Birthday of Kathleen Battle, Opera Singer.

1960 ~ Central African Republic & Chad declared independence from France.

1961 ~ The Berlin Wall began to be erected.

August 14th
 

1840 ~ Birthday of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, psychologist.

1863 ~ Birthday of Ernest Thayer, poet: “Casey at the Bat”.

1880 ~ After 632 years, Cologne Cathedral completed.

1945 ~ World War II: Japan surrenders, ending the war.

1947 ~ Pakistan and India gained independence from Britain at midnight, Pakistan commemorating the event on August 14 and India on August 15.

1951 ~ Death of William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate.

1953 ~ The Whiffle ball, a ball that curved when it was thrown, was invented by David Mullany Sr. for his 13-year-old son.

1971 ~ Rod Stewart released "Maggie May".

1980 ~ Lech Walesa lead strikes at Gdansk, Poland shipyards.

1988 ~ Death of Enzo Ferrari, Automobile Designer.

August 15th
 

1519 ~ Panama City, Panama founded.

1769 ~ Birthday of Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician.

1877 ~ Thomas Edison made the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

1888 ~ Birthday of Lawrence of Arabia.

1912 ~ Birthday of Julia Child, Cook, Writer.

1948 ~ Republic of Korea established south of 38th Parallel.

1951 ~ Death of Artur Schnabel, Pianist.

1967 ~ Death of René Magritte, Surrealist painter.

1969 ~ First day of Woodstock Music and Art Festival.

I was able to talk my cousin out of going to this. She had called me a month or so earlier and said she could get a couple of tickets if we wanted to go. It was inconvenient to get to, and when I said so, she agreed, and so….

1994 ~ Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos", was captured.

August 16th
 

1894 ~ Birthday of George Meany, Labor Union leader.

1896 ~ Gold discovered in the Klondike.

1899 ~ Death of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist.

1913 ~ Birthday of Menachem Begin, Israeli soldier and politician.

1930 ~ First color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.

1948 ~ Death of Babe Ruth, baseball player.

1960 ~ Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1962 ~ The Beatles fired Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr.

1977 ~ Death of Elvis Presley, Singer, Actor.

1984 ~ Carmaker John De Lorean was acquitted of all eight counts of possessing and distributing cocaine.

August 17th
 

1601 ~ Birthday of Pierre de Fermat, Mathematician.

1786 ~ Birthday of Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, Soldier.

1807 ~ Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, the Clermont, left New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.

1882 ~ Birthday of Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer.

1911 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Botvinnik, World Chess Champion.

1915 ~ Jewish American Leo Frank was lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.

1929 ~ Birthday of Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot.

1960 ~ Gabon gained independence from France.

1962 ~ East German border guards killed 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. Mr. Fecher thus became, at the tender age of 18, the most famous of the victims of the Berlin Wall.

1998 ~ Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admitted in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admitted before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.

August 18th
 

293 BC ~ Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica began.

1227 ~ Death of Genghis Khan, Mongol leader.

1587 ~ Birthday of Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke. She was the first English child born in the Americas.

1750 ~ Birthday of Antonio Salieri, Composer.

1774 ~ Birthday of Meriwether Lewis, Explorer.

1877 ~ Asaph Hall discovered Phobos.

1920 ~ 19th Amendment to US constitution was passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1925 ~ Birthday of Brian Aldiss, Writer.

1938 ~ The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, was dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1991 ~ Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup collapsed in less than 72 hours).

August 19th
 

1692 ~ Salem Witch Trials: In Salem, Massachusetts five women and a clergyman were executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

1839 ~ Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences.

1871 ~ Birthday of - Orville Wright, Aviator.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ogden Nash, Poet.

1921 ~ Birthday of Gene Roddenberry, Producer.

1934 ~ The first All-American Soap Box Derby was held in Dayton, Ohio.

1946 ~ Birthday of Bill Clinton, U.S. President.

1960 ~ Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

1981 ~ Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sent two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to take on a couple of United States fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.

1994 ~ Death of Linus Pauling, Chemist.

He was a physical chemist, among the most influential chemists of the twentieth century, and one of the most important scientists of all time. He was one of the first quantum chemists, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work describing the nature of chemical bonds. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaign against above-ground nuclear testing, becoming one of only two people to receive the Nobel Prize in more than one field, the other being Marie Curie.

August 20th
 

1882 ~ Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow.

1890 ~ Birthday of H. P. Lovecraft, Horror Writer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Jim Reeves, country and western singer

1940 ~ Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice-ax. He died the next day.

1941 ~ Birthday of Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

1944 ~ Birthday of Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

1968 ~ 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invaded Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.

1991 ~ Collapse of the Soviet Union: Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1998 ~ The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec could not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.

2001 ~ Death of Sir Fred Hoyle, Astronomer, Science Fiction Writer.

August 21st
 

1614 ~ Death of Elizabeth Bathory, serial killer.

1872 ~ Birthday of Aubrey Beardsley, illustrator.

1904 ~ Birthday of Count Basie (William Allen Basie), bandleader.

1923 ~ Birthday of Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel.

1936 ~ Birthday of Wilt Chamberlain, Basketball Hall of Famer.

1940 ~ Death of Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary.

1944 ~ Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations.

1959 ~ Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state.

1986 ~ Toxic gas erupted from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people.

1983 ~ Assignation of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Philippine opposition leader.

August 22nd
 

1485 ~ Death of Richard III of England.

1770 ~ James Cook's expedition arrived on the east coast of Australia.

1851 ~ The first America's Cup was won by the yacht “America”.

1862 ~ Birthday of Claude Debussy, Composer.

1893 ~ Birthday of Dorothy Parker, Writer & Wit. "You can lead a horticulture, but you cannot make her think." and "She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B." are among her more memorable quotes.

1910 ~ Japan annexed Korea.

1920 ~ Birthday of Ray Bradbury, science fiction author and fantasy author (Fahrenheit 451).

1962 ~ The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completed its maiden voyage.

1978 ~ Death of Kenya's founding father, Jomo Kenyatta.

2001 ~ For the Geeks among us, a sad day. The Trojan room coffee pot is switched off for the last time.

August 23rd
 

93 ~ Death of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman governor of Britain.

1754 ~ Birthday of King Louis XVI of France.

1829 ~ Birthday of Moritz Cantor, Mathematician.

1833 ~ Slavery abolished in the British colonies.

1912 ~ Birthday of Gene Kelly, Dancer & Actor.

1942 ~ Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

1951 ~ Birthday of Queen Noor of Jordan.

1962 ~ First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.

1966 ~ Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1990 ~ West Germany and East Germany announced that they would unite.

August 24th
 

79 ~ Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash.

79 ~ Death of Pliny the Elder, Roman polymath.

1456 ~ The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.

1814 ~ British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and burnt down the White House and several other buildings.

1880 ~ Birthday of Joshua Lionel Cowen, inventor of the toy electric train.

1929 ~ Birthday of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader.

1932 ~ Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

1951 ~ Birthday of Orson Scott Card, novelist

1960 ~ Birthday of Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player.

1992 ~ Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.

August 25th
 

1635 ~ Birthday of Sir Henry Morgan, Privateer.

1825 ~ Uruguay declared its independence from Brazil.

1830 ~ Belgium seceded from the Netherlands.

1867 ~ Death of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1875 ~ Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel.

1900 ~ Birthday of Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, Scientist. Nobel Prize in Medicine 1953.

1900 ~ Death of Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher.

1918 ~ Birthday of Leonard Bernstein, Conductor, Composer.

1944 ~ World War II: Paris was liberated by the Allies.

1989 ~ Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune.

August 26th
 

55 BC ~ Julius Caesar invaded Britain.

1071 ~ Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert.

1429 ~ Joan of Arc entered Paris.

1498 ~ Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pieta.

1676 ~ Birthday of Robert Walpole, British PM

1740 ~ Birthday of Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventor, worked on first hot air balloon.

1743 ~ Birthday of Antoine Lavoisier, Chemist.

1883 ~ Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.

1920 ~ The 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote.

1975 ~ Death of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.

August 27th
 

479 BC ~ Battle of Plataea concluded the Persian invasion of Greece, Mardonius routed by Pausanias, the Spartan commander of the Greek army.

1770 ~ Birthday of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Philosopher.

1776 ~ Battle of Long Island, in present day Brooklyn, New York British forces under General William Howe defeated the Americans under General George Washington.

1813 ~ Napoleon defeated the Austrians, Russians and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.

1828 ~ The Russians defeat the Turks at Akhaltzikke.

1861 ~ Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

1899 ~ Birthday of C.S. Forester, Author.

1900 ~ British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal.

19928 ~ Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed by sixty nations.

1979 ~ An IRA bomb killed Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland killed 18 British soldiers.

August 28th
 

430 ~ Death of Augustine of Hippo, Philosopher, Theologian.

1749 ~ Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Philosopher, Scientist.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy, Author.

1845 ~ First issue of Scientific American magazine published.

1850 ~ Richard Wagner's opera “Lohengrin” premiered.

1897 ~ Birthday of Charles Boyer, Actor.

1917 ~ Ten suffragists were arrested when picketing the White House.

1963 ~ During a civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

1972 ~ During the Olympic Games of Munich, Mark Spitz won his first of seven gold medals in swimming events.

1996 ~ Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales are divorced.

August 29th
 

1261 ~ Urban IV became Pope, the last man to do so without first being a Cardinal.

1632 ~ Birthday of John Locke, Philosopher.

1885 ~ Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first motorcycle.

1923 ~ Birthday of Lord Richard Attenborough, Film Director.

1936 ~ Birthday of John McCain, American politician.

1949 ~ The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

1952 ~ Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York.

1958 ~ Birthday of Michael Jackson, Celebrity.

1966 ~ Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco.

1991 ~ The Downfall of the Soviet Union: Supreme Soviet suspended all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

August 30th
 

1797 ~ Birthday of Mary Shelley, Writer.

1850 ~ Honolulu, Hawaii became a city.

1871 ~ Birthday of Ernest Rutherford, Physicist.

1930 ~ Birthday of Warren Buffett, Entrepreneur.

1941 ~ Siege of Leningrad began.

1943 ~ Birthday of Jean-Claude Killy, French alpine skier.

1963 ~ Hotline between U.S. and Soviet leaders went into operation.

1967 ~ Thurgood Marshall confirmed as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

1999 ~ East Timorese voted for independence in a referendum.

2003 ~ Death of Charles Bronson, Actor.

August 31st
 

1834 ~ Birthday of Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (La Gioconda - It contains "The Dance of the Hours")

1888 ~ Mary Ann Nichols murdered. She was perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.

1897 ~ Thomas Edison patented the Kinetoscope, the first movie camera.

1920 ~ First radio news program broadcast in Detroit, Michigan.

1935 ~ Birthday of Frank Robinson, Baseball Player, Manager.

1945 ~ Birthday of Itzhak Perlman, Violinist.

1980 ~ Solidarity labor union formed in Poland.

1879 ~ Birthday of Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel. This woman knew how to live!

1994 ~ Irish Republican Army declares a “complete” cease-fire.

1997 ~ Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris.

September 1st
 

September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. The name comes from the Latin septem, for "seven" -- September was originally the seventh month of the year, before January and February were inserted.

In Canada and the United States, Labour Day (U.S. - Labor Day) is observed on the first Monday in September.


September begins on the same day of the week as December every year.
September's flower is the morning glory.
September's birthstone is the sapphire.


1653 ~ Birthday of Johann Pachelbel, Composer.

Remember the theme music of “Ordinary People”? That’s “Pachelbel’s Canon” (which is not really a Canon).

1875 ~ Birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Writer, creator of Tarzan.

1905 ~ Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.

1907 ~ Birthday of Walter Reuther, Labor Union leader.

1914 ~ The last Passenger Pigeon died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

1935 ~ Birthday of Seiji Ozawa, Conductor.

1939 ~ World War II: Nazi Germany attacked Poland, beginning the war.

1972 ~ In Reykjavik, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beat Russian Boris Spassky and became the world chess champion.

Where are you now Bobby?

1983 ~ Cold War: Korean Air Flight KAL-007 shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace.

1985 ~ A joint American-French expedition located the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

September 2nd
 

31 BC ~ Battle of Actium - Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra. This date is often used for the beginning of the Roman Empire.

1666 ~ Great Fire of London: A large fire broke out in London in the house of Charles II's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. The fire burned for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.

1853 ~ Birthday of Wilhelm Ostwald, Chemist.

1898 ~ Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeated Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, establishing British dominance in the Sudan.

1936 ~ Birthday of Andrew Grove, co-founder and chairman of Intel.

1938 ~ Death of Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games.

1944 ~ Diarist Anne Frank and her family were placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They arrived three days later.


1945 ~ The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz from a delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing World War II to an end.

1948 ~ Birthday of Christa McAuliffe, Teacher, Astronaut.

1964 ~ Death of Alvin York, Hero. He was the most decorated American soldier of World War I.

September 3rd
 

1651 ~ Battle of Worcester - Charles II of England was defeated in the last main battle of the English Civil War.

1658 ~ Death of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England.

1777 ~ The Flag of the United States flew in battle for the first time, at Cooch's Bridge in Maryland.

1838 ~ Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boarded a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.

1875 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand Porsche, German automotive engineer.

1893 ~ Death of James Harrison, Australian pioneer of mechanical refrigeration.

1935 ~ Sir Malcolm Campbell reached 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 MPH.

1954 ~ The last new episode of the “Lone Ranger was aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.

1962 ~ Death of e. e. cummings, poet.

1969 ~ Death of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese revolutionary.

September 4th
 

476 ~ Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed.

1761 ~ Los Angeles founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula).

1824 ~ Birthday of Anton Bruckner, Composer.

1888 ~ George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak, and received a patent for his camera which uses roll film.

1891 ~ Birthday of Fritz Todt, developer of the German autobahn, the archtype for the limited access highway.

1907 ~ Death of Edvard Grieg, Norwegian Composer.

1944 ~ World War II: The British 11th Armored Division liberated the city of Antwerp in Belgium.

1965 ~ Death of Albert Schweitzer, Physician.

1972 ~ Mark Spitz won his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, becoming the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

1995 ~ Death of William Kunstler, Attorney.

September 5th
 

1735 ~ Birthday of Johann Christian Bach, composer, son of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1774 ~ First Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1793 ~ In France, the French National Convention voteed to implement terror measures to enforce the principles of the French Revolution. The ensuing "Reign of Terror" lasted until the spring of 1794 and killed 35,000-40,000 people.

1847 ~ Birthday of Jesse James, outlaw.

1857 ~ Birthday of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Scientist, Inventor.

1882 ~ The first United States Labor Day parade held in New York City.

1950 ~ Birthday of Cathy Guisewite, Cartoonist.

1960 ~ Cassius Clay won the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.

1972 ~ Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacked Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.

1997 ~ Death of Mother Teresa, Inspiration.

September 6th
 

1522 ~ The “Vittoria”, one of the surviving ships of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returned to San Lucar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.

1620 ~ The Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America.

1766 ~ Birthday of John Dalton, British chemist and physicist.

1901 ~ American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot and fatally wounded US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

1928 ~ Birthday of Robert M. Pirsig, author, creator of the Metaphysics of Quality.

1941 ~ Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, was extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.

1966 ~ Death of Hendrik Verwoerd, South African Prime Minister.

1986 ~ In Istanbul, two Arab terrorists from Abu Nidal's terror organization killed 22 and wounded six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Sabbath services.

1991 ~ The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic states.

1995 ~ Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record of playing 2,131 consecutive baseball games.

September 7th
 

1776 ~ World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship Eagle in New York Harbor.

1822 ~ Brazil declared its independence from Portugal.

1901 ~ The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ended with the signing of the Peking Protocol.

1908 ~ Birthday of Dr. Michael DeBakey, Heart Surgeon and inventor of the MASH.

1912 ~ Birthday of David Packard, Electrical Engineer

1940 ~ World War II: The Blitz – Under orders from Adolf Hitler, the Luftwaffe began to bomb London. This was the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.

1949 ~ Birthday of Lee McGeorge Durrell author, television presenter, zookeeper.

1977 ~ Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The US agreed to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

1994 ~ Death of James Clavell, Author.

1997 ~ Death of Mobutu Sese Seko, dictator of Zaire.

September 8th
 

828 ~ Birthday of Ali al-Hadi, Shia Imam.

1636 ~ The Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes Harvard College as the first college founded in the Americas.

1841 ~ Birthday of Antonin Dvorak, Composer.

1886 ~ Birthday of Siegfried Sassoon, Poet.

1888 ~ The first season of The Football League began in England with 12 clubs.

1925 ~ Birthday of Peter Sellers, Actor.

1930 ~ 3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1943 ~ World War II: General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announced the surrender of Italy to the Allies.

1949 ~ Death of Richard Strauss, Composer.

1966 ~ The first episode of the science fiction television series "Star Trek" aired.

September 9th
 

1585 ~ Birthday of Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu, French statesman.

1737 ~ Birthday of Luigi Galvani, Italian Physician and Physicist.

1754 ~ Birthday of William Bligh, British naval officer.

1776 ~ The Continental Congress officially named their new country the United States.

1824 ~ Birthday of Anton Bruckner, Austrian Composer.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (Anna Karenina, War and Peace).

1839 ~ John Herschel took the first astronomical glass plate photograph.

1945 ~ Admiral Grace Hopper discovered the first computer bug - a moth.

1956 ~ Elvis Presley appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for the first time.

2001 ~ Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated in Afghanistan.

September 10th
 

1913 ~ First paved coast-to-coast highway opened in the U.S.

1927 ~ France won the first Davis Cup.

1942 ~ Birthday of Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist.

1945 ~ Vidkun Quisling sentenced to death for collaboration with Nazi Germany.

1960 ~ Birthday of Colin Firth, Actor (Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually)

1967 ~ The people of Gibraltar voted to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.

1971 ~ Death of Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union.

1977 ~ France's last execution is performed by guillotine.

1990 ~ The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, the largest church in Africa and perhaps the world, consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

2002 ~ Switzerland, known for its neutrality, finally joined the United Nations.

September 11th
 

1297 ~ Battle of Stirling Bridge - Scots of William Wallace defeat English.

1711 ~ Birthday of William Boyce, Composer.

1914 ~ World War I: Australian forces defeat Germans in New Britain.

1917 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine political figure.

1922 ~ British Mandate of Palestine began.

1935 ~ Birthday of Gherman Titov, Cosmonaut.

1948 ~ Death of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan.

1973 ~ A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet toppled elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.

1997 ~ Scotland voted to re-establish its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England and the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

2001 ~ The September 11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and crashed a passenger airliner in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 are killed.

September 12th
 

1880 ~ Birthday of H.L. Mencken, Journalist, Author.

1888 ~ Birthday of Maurice Chevalier, Singer, Actor.

1913 ~ Birthday of Jesse Owens, Athlete.

1921 ~ Birthday of Stanislaw Lem, science fiction writer.

1933 ~ Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, came up with the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.

1940 ~ Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France.

1947 ~ Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1959 ~ Bonanza premiered. First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.

1977 ~ Death of Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist.

2003 ~ The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after Libya agreed to accept responsibility and make payment of US $2.7 billion to the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

September 13th
 

1321 ~ Death of Dante Alighieri, writer (La Divina Commedia)

1813 ~ The British fail to capture Baltimore, Maryland. Turning point in the War of 1812.

1819 ~ Birthday of Clara Schumann, Pianist, Composer.

1857 ~ Birthday of Milton S. Hershey, chocolate entrepreneur and founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

1874 ~ Birthday of Arnold Schoenberg, Composer.

1899 ~ Henry Bliss became the first person in the Western Hemisphere to be killed in an automobile accident.

1940 ~ German bombs damaged Buckingham Palace.

1948 ~ Margaret Chase Smith was elected senator, and became the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

1977 ~ Death of Leopold Stokowski, Conductor.

1999 ~ Bomb explodes in Moscow, Russia. At least 119 people are killed.

September 14th
 

1752 ~ The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14 that year).

1760 ~ Birthday of Luigi Cherubini, Composer.

1812 ~ Russian army burnt Moscow to prevent Napoleon from capturing it.

1814 ~ Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

1849 ~ Birthday of Ivan Pavlov, Scientist.

1879 ~ Birthday of Margaret Sanger, birth control advocate.

1927 ~ Death of Isadora Duncan, Dancer.

1959 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashed onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1975 ~ The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.

1982 ~ Death of Princess Grace of Monaco.

September 15
 

1789 ~ Birthday of James Fenimore Cooper, Author.

1821 ~ Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador proclaimed independent.

1867 ~ Birthday of Bruno Walter, Conductor

1885 ~ Death of P.T. Barnum's famous Elephant, Jumbo, hit by locomotive while crossing tracks, died instantly. Was later stuffed and put on display with the circus.

1890 ~ Birthday of Agatha Christie, Author.

1916 ~ Tanks were used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.

1929 ~ Birthday of Murray Gell-Mann, Physicist.

1935 ~ Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of citizenship.

1950 ~ United States forces landed at Incheon, Korea.

1959 ~ Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

September 16th
 

1810 ~ Independence of Mexico from Spain.

1914 ~ Birthday of Allen Funt, radio & television personality.

1925 ~ Birthday of B. B. King, Musician.

1927 ~ Birthday of Peter Falk, Actor.

1955 ~ Play-Doh is introduced to the world.

1963 ~ Malaysia formed from Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo and Sarawak.

1975 ~ Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia.

1977 ~ Death of Maria Callas, Diva

1991 ~ Manuel Noriega trial begins in the United States.

1992 ~ Black Wednesday - the Pound Sterling was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and to devalue against the Deutschmark.