July 10th in History

Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit July 10, 1962 (Photo: NASA)

Today in History

  • The city of Dublin, Ireland, is founded (988)
  • Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England, which she will occupy for nine days (1533)
  • Wyoming becomes a US state (1890)
  • The Troubles: Bloody Sunday kills 16 in Belfast, Ireland (1921)
  • Meher Baba begins his silence, which will continue for 44 years (1925)
  • The Scopes Trial begins in Tennessee (1925)
  • Howard Hughes sets an around-the-world speed record of 91 hours (1938)
  • The Vichy government is established (1940)
  • Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit (1962)
  • The National Assembly of Pakistan recognizes Bangladesh (1973)
  • John Paul Getty III is kidnapped in Rome (1973)
  • French operatives bomb and sink the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior (1985)
  • Boris Yeltsin becomes the first elected president of Russia (1991)
  • Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison (1992)

Birthdays

  • John Calvin, theologian (1509)
  • William Blackstone, jurist (1723)
  • George Dallas, US vice president and city namesake (1792)
  • Camille Pissarro, painter (1830)
  • James McNeill Whistler, painter (1834)
  • Adolphus Busch, brewer (1839)
  • Nikola Tesla, inventor (1856)
  • Marcel Proust, author (1871)
  • Mary McLeod Bethune, activist (1875)
  • Legs Diamond, gangster known as the “clay pigeon of the underworld” (1897)
  • John Wyndham, author (1903)
  • Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman (1914)
  • Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert), television host (1917)
  • Reg Smythe, cartoonist, creator of Andy Capp (1917)
  • David Brinkley, news anchor (1920)
  • Harvey Ball, creator of the “smiley” (1921)
  • Jake LaMotta, boxer (1921)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver, co-founder of the Special Olympics (1921)
  • Fred Gwynne, actor (1926)
  • David Dinkins, New York City mayor (1927)
  • Nick Adams, actor (1931)
  • Alice Munro, author (1931)
  • David Hartwell, science fiction editor (1941)
  • Arthur Ashe, tennis player (1943)
  • Ron Glass, actor (1945)
  • Sue Lyon, actress (1946)
  • Arlo Guthrie, singer-songwriter (1947)
  • Cindy Sheehan, activist (1957)
  • Bela Fleck, banjo player (1958)
  • Fiona Shaw, actress (1958)
  • Seth Goden, management writer (1960)
  • Sofia Vergara, actress (1972)

Deaths

  • Hadrian, Roman emperor (138)
  • Louis Daguerre, photographer (1851)
  • Clement Clarke Moore, credited with writing “The Night Before Christmas” (1863)
  • Jelly Roll Morton, pianist and bandleader (1941)
  • Arthur Fielder, conductor (1979)
  • Mel Blanc, voice artist (1989)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Armed Forces Day (Mauritania)
  • Clerihew Day
  • National Day of Commemoration (Ireland)
  • Independence Day (Bahamas)
  • Pina Colada Day
  • Silence Day (followers of Meher Baba)
  • Statehood Day (Wyoming)
  • Teddy Bear Picnic Day
  • Nikola Tesla Day
  • Beatles Day (Liverpool and Hamburg)

July 10 is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years). There are 174 days remaining until the end of the year.