Today:
1609: Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1814: During the War of 1812, British troops burn the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
1825: Uruguay declares its independence from the Brazilian Empire.
1875: Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel.
1916: The United States National Park Service is created by an act of Congress.
1939: The movie The Wizard of Oz premieres nationwide in the United States.
1944: Paris is liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.
1989: NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune.
2001: R&B singer Aaliyah is killed with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas.
2012: Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, dies at age 82.