On this day in history —

• The Battle of the Alamo ends (1836)
• The Supreme Court issues the Dred Scott decision (1857)
• Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first Periodic Table of Elements (1867)
• Oreo® cookies are introduced (1912)
• Cassius Clay becomes Muhammad Ali (1964)
• Stalin’s daughter defects (1967)
• Walter Cronkite signs off with “And that’s the way it is” for the last time (1981)

It’s the birthday of —

• Shaquille O’Neal, basketball player (1972)
• D. H. Hughley, comic (1963)
• Tom Arnold, ex-husband (1959)
• Stephen Schwartz, lyricist (1948)
• Rob Reiner, meathead director (1947)
• Kiri Te Kanawa, opera star (1944)
• Valentina Tereshkova (Валенти́на Терешко́ва), first woman in space (1937)
• Ivan Boesky, inside trader (1937)
• Marion Barry, Jr., DC mayor (1936)
• Gordon Cooper, Mercury astronaut (1927)
• Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman (1926)
• Ed McMahon, sidekick (1923)
• Will Eisner, graphic novelist (1917)
• Lou Costello, Abbott partner (1906)
• Ring Lardner, writer (1885)
• Georg Luger, gun designer (1849)
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (1806)
• Cyrano de Bergerac, soldier and playwright (1619)
• Michelangelo, turtle namesake (1475)

Deaths —

• Ernest Gallo, wine maker (2007)
• Dana Reeve, Mrs. Superman (2006)
• Melina Mercouri, actress (2006)
• Georgia O’Keeffe, artist (1986)
• Ayn Rand, novelist (1982)
• “Slapsy Maxie” Rosenbloom, boxer and comedy impressario (1976)
• Pearl S. Buck, novelist (1973)
• Nelson Eddy, MacDonald partner (1967)
• Margaret Dumont, Groucho foil (1965)
• Gutzon Borglum, monumental sculptor (1941)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court justice (1935)
• John Philip Sousa, march king (1932)
• Gottlieb Daimler, car designer (1900)
• Louisa May Alcott, novelist (1888)
• Constanze Mozart, composer’s spouse (1842)
• Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, William Travis, Alamo defenders (1836)

Holidays —

• Foundation Day (Norfolk Island)
• Independence Day (Ghana)
• Feast of Kyneburga and Kyneswide (Catholicism)