Today:
1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe, granting Columbus the authority to seek a westward route to the Indies.
1521 – Martin Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms to defend his writings, famously refusing to recant.
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, died at age 84 in Philadelphia.
1861 – The state of Virginia voted to secede from the United States and join the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decided in Lochner v. New York that limiting bakers’ working hours was unconstitutional, citing freedom of contract.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany after 11 days of resistance.
1961 – The Bay of Pigs Invasion began as CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed in Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government.
1964 – The Ford Mustang was officially unveiled at the New York World’s Fair, launching one of the most iconic American car lines.
1970 – The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission returned safely to Earth after a critical failure en route to the Moon.
2014 – NASA’s Kepler space telescope confirmed the discovery of Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size planet found in the habitable zone of another star.