Today:
1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, stood trial in England for adultery, incest, and treason.
1618 – Johannes Kepler confirmed his third law of planetary motion.
1718 – James Puckle patented the Puckle Gun, an early form of the machine gun, in London.
1851 – The first Australian gold rush was proclaimed after discoveries near Bathurst, New South Wales.
1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada was founded when 110 acres of land were auctioned off.
1911 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1940 – Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States.
1941 – First flight of the Gloster E.28/39, the first British jet-powered aircraft.
1972 – Governor George Wallace of Alabama was shot and paralyzed during a presidential campaign rally in Maryland.
1988 – Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly a decade of conflict.