September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). There are 118 days remaining until the end of the year. (Photograph: Geronimo (right) surrenders to US forces, September 4, 1886.)

Today in History

• Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustus, ending the Western Roman Empire (476)
• The town of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula, later shortened to Los Angeles, is founded by 44 Spanish settlers (1781)
• The Electrical Age begins when Thomas Edison flips the switch to start the first commercial electrical power plant, illuminating a square mile of lower Manhattan (1882)
• Geronimo surrenders to US forces, ending 30 years of fighting (1886)
• George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak® and patents his roll-film camera (1888)
• The airship USS Shenandoah makes its maiden flight (1923)
• Captain Midnight premiers on television (1954)
• The governor of Arkansas activates the National Guard to prevent African-American students from enrolling in Little Rock’s Central High School (1957)
• Ford introduces the Edsel (1957)
• Mark Spitz becomes the first person to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games (1972)
• Buckminsterfullerine, a carbon molecule, is discovered (1985)
• Two students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, found Google (1998)

Birthdays

• François-René de Chateubriand, historian and politician (1768)
• William Lyons, co-founder of Jaguar (1901)
• Mary Renault, author (1905)
• Richard Wright, author (1908)
• Syd Hoff, children’s author and illustrator (1912)
• Henry Ford II, car executive (1917)
• Paul Harvey, radio host (1918)
• Howard Morris, actor (1919)
• Craig Claiborne, food journalist (1920)
• Joan Aiken, author (1924)
• Asa Earl Carter, KKK leader, Alabama gubernatorial candidate, radio host, and author (1925)
• Dick York, actor (1928)
• Thomas Eagleton, US vice-presidential candidate (1929)
• Mitzi Gaynor, actress, singer, dancer (1931)
• Merald “Bubba” Knight, singer-songwriter, member of the Pips (1942)
• Jennifer Salt, actress (1944)
• Tom Watson, golfer (1949)
• Judith Ivey, actress (1954)
• Khandi Alexander, actress (1957)
• “Dr. Drew” Pinsky, radio and television host (1958)
• Damon Wayans, filmmaker and television producer, actor, director, and writer (1960)
• Ione Skye, actress (1971)
• Beyoncé Knowles, singer-songwriter (1981)

Deaths

• Edvard Grieg, composer (1907)
• Albert Schweitzer, physician, missionary, and Nobel laureate (1965)
• Creighton Abrams, US general (1974)
• Jean Rostand, biologist and philosopher (1977)
• Hank Greenberg, baseball player (1986)
• Georges Simenon, mystery writer (1989)
• Irene Dunne, actress (1990)
• Tom Tryon, actor and writer (1991)
• Dottie West, singer-songwriter (1991)
• Hervé Villechaize, actor (1993)
• William Kunstler, attorney(1995)
• Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, radio personality (2001)
• Alfonso Ford, basketball player (2004)
• Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, zoologist and television personality (2006)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Animals Day (Curaçao)
• Immigrant’s Day (Argentina)
• Ludi Romani (begins, through September 19) (Roman Empire)
• National Wildlife Day (US)
• Newspaper Carrier Day (United States)

Informal and made-up holidays include Eat an Extra Dessert Day and National Macadamia Nut Day.

(*O.S., or Old Style, when used, refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.)