Today in History

• First Council of Nicea (325)
• Vasco de Gama discovers the sea route to India (1498)
• Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence signed (1775, disputed)
• Blue jeans patented (1873)
• Metric system goes into effect (1875)
• First US traffic ticket issued (1899)
• Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris (1927)
• Amelia Earhart takes off on her transatlantic flight (1932)
• First prisoners arrive at Auschwitz (1940)
• First hydrogen bomb airdropped (1956)
• Battle of Hamburger Hill ends (1969)

Birthdays

•  Busta Rhymes, rapper (1972)
• Mindy Cohn, actress (1966)
• Ted Allen, queer eye (1965)
• David “Boomer” Wells, pitcher (1963)
• Bronson Pinchot, actor (1959)
• Dave Thomas, comedian (1949)
• Cher, diva (1946)
• Joe Cocker, singer (1944)
• Stan Mikita, hockey player (1940)
• David Hedison, actor (1927)
• Bud Grant, coach (1927)
• Hal Newhouser, pitcher (1921)
• Moshe Dayan, defense minister (1915)
• Gardner Fox, comic book writer (1911)
• Jimmy Stewart (1908)
• Max Euwe, chess grandmaster (1901)
• Faisal I, monarch (1885)
• Emile Berliner, inventor (1851)
• William Fargo, express deliverer (1818)
• John Stuart Mill, political philosopher (1806)
• Honoré de Balzac, writer (1799)
• William Congreve, rocket designer (1772)
• Dolley Madison, first lady (1768)

Deaths

• Robin Gibb, singer (2012)
• Randy “Macho Man” Savage, wrestler (2011)
• Hamilton Jordan, White House chief of staff (2008)
• Stephen Jay Gould, evolutionary biologist and writer (2002)
• Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist (2000)
• Jon Pertwee, third doctor (1996)
• Gilda Radner, comedienne (1989)
• Syd Howe, hockey player (1976)
• Christopher Columbus, admiral (1506)

Holidays and Celebrations