Today:
1859: French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope, an astonishing feat at the time.
1908: The Tunguska event occurred in Siberia, where a massive explosion flattened an estimated 2,000 square kilometers of forest.
1934: The Night of the Long Knives, a purge in Nazi Germany, came to an end, consolidating Adolf Hitler’s power.
1953: The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
1960: Congo gained independence from Belgium, marking the end of Belgian colonial rule.
1966: The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in the United States, advocating for women’s rights.
1971: The crew of the Soviet Union’s Soyuz 11 mission died when their air supply vented into space, marking the only human deaths in space (outside of Earth’s atmosphere).
1972: The first leap second was added to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time system.
1974: The first female pilot flew solo around the world; she was Jerrie Mock from the United States.
1997: The United Kingdom transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.