Today:
1484: William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop’s Fables.
1812: The term gerrymander is used for the first time in a political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette.
1827: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven dies in Vienna at the age of 56.
1830: The Book of Mormon is first published in Palmyra, New York.
1872: Thomas J. Martin is issued a patent for a fire extinguisher system.
1953: Dr. Jonas Salk announces a new vaccine against polio during a radio show.
1975: The Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons, comes into force.
1979: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Egypt-Israel peace treaty at the White House.
1982: Ground is broken in Washington, D.C., for the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
2000: Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia for the first time.