North American X-15 in flight (Photo: USAF)

Today in History

• Lady Jane Grey is replaced as Queen of England after a nine-day reign (1553)
• The Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention opens (1848)
• World War II: The last U-boats are withdrawn from the Atlantic (1942)
• The X-15 is flown to a record height of 106,010 meter (347,800 feet), qualifying as a human spaceflight (1963)
• The first GPS signal is transmitted (1977)
• The Sandinista rebels overthrow the Nicaraguan government (1979)

Birthdays

• Baibars, Egyptian sultan (1223)
• Samuel Colt, gun manufacturer (1814)
• Edgar Degas, painter (1834)
• Charles Mayo, surgeon, founder of the Mayo Clinic (1865)
• Lizzie Borden, acquitted of the murder of her parents (1860)
• Max Fleischer, animator, co-founder of Fleischer Studios (1883)
• Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven (1894)
• A. J. Cronin, author (1896)
• Herbert Marcuse, sociologist and philosopher (1898)
• Harold Camping, evangelist who predicted the world would end May 21, 2011 (1921)
• George McGovern, B-24 pilot and US presidential candidate (1922)
• Pat Hingle, actor (1924)
• Arthur Rankin Jr., co-founder of Rankin/Bass studios (1924)
• Gaston Glock, gun manufacturer (1929)
• George Hamilton IV, country musician (1937)
• Vikki Carr, singer and actress (1941)
• Elie Nastase, tennis player (1946)
• Atom Egoyan, filmmaker (1960)
• Anthony Edwards, actor (1962)

Deaths

• Petrarch, poet (1374)
• Syngman Rhee, South Korean president (1965)
• Lefty Frizzell, singer-songwriter (1975)
• Alan Lomax, ethnomusicologist  (2002)
• Jack Warden, actor (2006)
• James Garner, actor (2014)
• Garry Marshall, actor and producer (2016)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Flitch Day
• Martyrs’ Day (Burma)
• National Hot Dog Day
• Sandinista Day (Nicaragua)

July 19 is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years). There are 165 days remaining until the end of the year.