Albert Einstein at the Bern Patent Office, 1905 (Photo: Lucien Chavan/ETH Zürich)

Today in History

• William the Conqueror sets sail to begin the Norman conquest of England (1066)
• American Revolutionary War: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, becomes the capital of the United States for one day as Congress flees Philadelphia to escape British forces (1777)
• The first public railway to use steam locomotives opens in northeast England (1825)
• Albert Einstein submits his paper introducing E=MC² to the journal Annalen Der Physik (1905)
• Bobby Jones completes the Grand Slam of golf (1930)
• The Tonight Show (then starring Steve Allen) debuts (1954)
• Mach 3 is exceeded for the first time, though the pilot is killed shortly thereafter (1956)
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is published (1962)
• Hair opens in London, and will play 1,998 performances until the roof of the theater collapses (1968)

Birthdays

• Cosimo de’ Medici, Florentine ruler (1389)
• Samuel Adams, philosopher, politician, and brewer/maltster (1722)
• Alfred Thayer Mahan, US navy officer and strategist (1840)
• Thomas Nast, cartoonist (1840)
• Harry Blackstone, Sr. magician (1885)
• Lothar von Richthofen, fighter ace (1894)
• Sam Ervin, US senator and Watergate committee chair (1896)
• Albert Ellis, psychologist (1914)
• Louis Auchincloss, author (1917)
• Jayne Meadows, actress and game show panelist (1919)
• William Conrad, actor (1920)
• Arthur Penn, filmmaker (1922)
• Sada Thompson, actress (1927)
• Greg Morris, actor (1933)
• Wilford Brimley, actor (1934)
• Don Cornelius, host of Soul Train (1936)
• Dith Pran, photojournalist (1942)
• Meat Loaf, singer-songwriter (1947)
• Jim Shooter, comics writer and editor (1951)
• Shaun Cassidy, actor and singer (1958)
• Gwyneth Paltrow, actress (1972)
• Avril Lavigne, singer-songwriter (1984)

Deaths

• Braxton Bragg, Confederate general (1876)
• Edgar Degas, painter (1917)
• Engelbert Humperdinck, composer and educator (1921)
• Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist (1944)
• Babe Didrikson Zaharias, basketball player and golfer (1956)
• Clara Bow, actress (196 5)
• Robert Montgomery, actor (1981)
• Jimmy Doolittle, pilot and general (1993)
• Doak Walker, football player (1998)
• Donald O’Connor, actor, singer, and dancer (2003)
• William Safire, author (2009)
• George Blanda, football player (2010)
• Herbert Lom, actor (2012)
• Hugh Hefner, publisher and playboy (2017)

Holidays and Observances

• Consumación de la Independencia (Mexico)
• French Community Holiday (French-speaking Belgium)
• Google’s Official Birthday (Google)
• Meskel (Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church — September 28 on leap years)
• National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (US)
• Polish Underground State’s Day (Poland)
• World Tourism Day

September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years). There are 95 days remaining until the end of the year.