Today:
490 BC: The Battle of Marathon is fought, where Athenians and their allies defeat a Persian invasion force.
1609: Henry Hudson, an English sea explorer, begins his exploration of the river that would later be named after him, the Hudson River.
1846: Poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope in London.
1940: Four teenagers discover the Lascaux cave paintings in Montignac, France, a remarkable collection of prehistoric art.
1953: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.
1959: The Soviet Union launches Luna 2, which would become the first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon.
1962: President John F. Kennedy delivers his “We choose to go to the Moon” speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
1977: South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies while in police custody.
1992: Dr. Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman to travel to space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
2003: Johnny Cash, the influential American singer-songwriter, dies at the age of 71.