Today in History

• Mohammed and his early followers win the Battle of the Trench (غزوة الخندق, or Ghazwah al-Khandaq), a key moment in the rise of Islam (627)
• The Alhambra Decree expels all Jews from Spain (1492)
• The British close the Port of Boston in response to the Boston Tea Party (1774)
• The Eiffel Tower officially opens (1889) – cover
• The NCAA is founded (1906)
• Construction of RMS Titanic begins (1909)
• The motion picture industry in the US adopts the Hays Code (1930)
• Congress authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (1933)
• Newfoundland joins Canada (1949)
• The first UNIVAC computer is sold (1951)
• Luna 10 is launched (1966)
• Explorer 1 reenters Earth’s atmosphere (1970)
• The first WrestleMania event takes place (1985)
• The last US battleship, USS Missouri (BB-63), is decommissioned (1992)

Birthdays

• René Descartes, philosopher (1596)
• Andrew Marvell, poet (1621)
• Johann Sebastian Bach, composer (1685)
• Joseph Haydn, composer (1732)
• Никола́й Го́голь (Nikolai Gogol), author (1809)
• Edward FitzGerald, poet and translator (1809)
• Mary Chesnut, diarist (1823)
• Jack Johnson, boxer (1878)
• Sir William Lawrence Bragg, physicist (1890)
• 朝永 振一郎 (Sin-Itiro Tomonaga), physicist (1906)
• Red Norvo, vibraphonist (1908)
• William Lederer, author (1912)
• Etta Baker, blues guitarist (1913)
• Octavio Paz, writer and diplomat (1914)
• 横井 庄 (Shōichi Yokoi ), one of the last three Japanese soldiers found after the end of the war (1915)
• Richard Kiley, actor (1922)
• Leo Buscaglia, author and speaker (1924)
• John Fowles, author (1926)
• César Chávez, labor leader (1927)
• William Daniels, actor (1927)
• Lefty Frizzell, singer-songwriter (1928)
• Liz Claiborne, fashion designer (1929)
• John Jakes, novelist (1932)
• Richard Chamberlain, actor (1934)
• Shirley Jones, actress and singer (1934)
• Carlo Rubbia, physicist (1934)
• Herb Alpert, trumpet player and producer (1935)
• Judith Rossner, novelist (1935)
• Barney Frank, congressman (1940)
• Michael Savage, talk show host (1942)
• Christopher Walken, actor (1943)
• Gabe Kaplan, actor (1945)
• Eliyahu Goldratt, management theorist (1947)
• Al Gore, Jr., vice president (1948)
• David Eisenhower, presidential grandson (1948)
• Rhea Perlman, actress (1948)
• Ed Marinaro, football player and actor (1950)
• Vanessa del Rio, porn star (1952)
• Tom Barrasso, hockey player (1965)
• Ewan McGregor, actor (1971)
• Evan Williams, Twitter co-founder (1972)
• Josh Saviano, actor (1976)

Deaths

• John Donne, poet (1631)
• Johann Christoph Bach, composer (1703)
• Olaudah Equiano, slave, merchant, explorer, writer (1797)
• John C. Calhoun, slavery advocate (1850)
• Charlotte Brontë, author (1855)
• J. P. Morgan, financier (1913)
• Emil Adolf von Behring, Nobel-winning physiologist (1917)
• Knute Rockne, football coach (1931)
• Prince Georges V. Machabelli, perfumist (1935)
• Ralph DePalma, racer (1956)
• Meena Kumari, actress (1972)
• Charles Herbert Best, co-discoverer of insulin (1978)
• Jesse Owens, Olympic athlete (1980)
• Enid Bagnold, wrote National Velvet (1981)
• Jerry Paris, actor (1986)
• Brandon Lee, actor and martial artist (1993)
• Mitchell Parish, lyricist (1993)
• Selena, singer-songwriter (1995)
• Bella Abzug, congresswoman (1998)
• Clifford Shull, physicist (2001)
• Anne Gwynne, “scream queen” (2003)
• Frank Perdue, chicken entrepreneur (2005)
• Terri Schiavo, right-to-die figure (2005)
• Raúl Alfonsín, Argentinian president (2009)
• Shirley Mills, actress (2010)

Holidays