“The Assassination of Pompey,” from The Illustrated History of the World, 1880

Today in History

• Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) arrives in Egypt, only to be assassinated by order of King Ptolemy (48 BCE)
• The US Congress votes to send the new Constitution to the states for ratification (1787)
• France becomes the first country to emancipate its Jewish population (1791)
• The Brazilian parliament passes a law to give freedom to all new children born to slaves, the first major step in abolishing slavery in that country (1871)
• The length of the meter is defined officially (1889)
• The first night game in American football is played (1892)
• The first round-the-world flight is completed (1924)
• Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold, which turns out to be penicillin (1928)
• Ted Williams bats .406 for the year, the last major league pitcher to bat .400 or better in a season (1941)
• SpaceX launches the first private spacecraft into orbit (2008)

Birthdays

• Confucius, sage (551 BCE)
• Thomas Crapper, plumber and inventor (1836)
• William S. Paley, founded CBS (1901)
• Ed Sullivan, television host (1901)
• Max Schmeling, boxer (1905)
• Al Capp, cartoonist (1909)
• Maria Franziska von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers, inspired “Louisa” in The Sound of Music (1914)
• Ethel Rosenberg, convicted spy (1915)
• Tuli Kupferberg, poet (1923)
• William Windon, actor (1923)
• Marcello Mastroianni, actor (1924)
• Seymour Cray, supercomputer designer (1925)
• Koko Taylor, singer (1928)
• Brigitte Bardot, actress (1934)
• Ben E. King, singer-songwriter (1938)
• Christopher Buckley, novelist (1952)
• Sylvia Kristel, model and actress (1952)
• Gregory Jbara, actor (1961)
• Janeane Garofalo, comedian and actress (1964)
• Mira Sorvino, actress (1967)
• Moon Zappa, actress (1967)
• Naomi Watts, actress (1968)
• Dita Von Teese, burlesque performer (1972)
• Hilary Duff, singer-songwriter and actress (1987)

Deaths

• Herman Melville, author (1891)
• Louis Pasteur, microbiologist (1895)
• Richard Sears, department store co-founder (1914)
• Charles Duryea, automobile manufacturer (1938)
• Edwin Hubble, astronomer (1953)
• William Boeing, aircraft manufacturer (1956)
• Harpo Marx, comedian (1964)
• John Dos Passos, author (1970)
• Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian president (1970)
• John Paul I, pope (1978)
• Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine president (1989)
• Miles Davis, trumpeter and bandleader (1991)
• Peter De Vries, author (1993)
• Harry Saltzman, producer (1994)
• Pierre Trudeau, Canadian prime minister (2000)
• Elia Kazan, screenwriter (2003)
• Arthur Penn, filmmaker (2010)
• Shimon Peres, Israeli president (2016)

Holidays and Observances

• Statehood Day (Czech Republic)
• Freedom from Hunger Day
• International Right to Know Day
• International Safe Abortion Day
• National Day of Awareness and Unity Against Child Pornography (Philippines)
• Teacher’s Day (Taiwan and Chinese-Filipino schools)
• World Rabies Day

September 28 is the 271st day of the year (272nd in leap years). There are 94 days remaining until the end of the year.