Today:
915: Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor (probable date).
1609: Galileo Galilei builds an improved telescope after hearing of Hans Lippershey’s invention.
1775: The Continental sloop USS Alfred, on the day of its commissioning, raises the Grand Union Flag, the first American flag to fly over an American naval vessel.
1818: Illinois is admitted as the 21st state of the United States.
1833: Oberlin College in Ohio opens as the first truly coeducational school of higher education in the United States.
1910: Modern neon lighting is first publicly demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
1947: Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire premieres on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
1967: The first successful human heart transplant is performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard and his team in Cape Town, South Africa.
1984: A toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, results in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
1992: The world’s first SMS (Short Message Service) text message, reading “Merry Christmas,” is sent by engineer Neil Papworth.