Today in History

• 1811 William Makepeace Thackeray, Victorian novelist, "Vanity Fair"
• 1832 Horatio Alger, whose lads always had enough pluck to succeed.
• 1848 William Gilbert Grace, Victorian England's greatest cricketer
• 1853 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Dutch physicist (Nobel 1902).
• 1906 Clifford Odets dramatist
• 1906 S. I. Hayakawa, educator, politician, sleeper
• 1911 Hume Cronyn, stage actor
• 1913 Red Skelton, humorist
• 1914 Harriet Nelson
• 1918 Nelson Mandela
• 1921 John Glenn, Jr., first American in orbit
• 1929 Dick Button
• 1933 Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet (Bratsk Station).
• 1939 Hunter S. Thompson
• 1941 Martha Reeves

• National Day, celebrated in Spain
• 64 The Great Fire of Rome begins (Nero didn't fiddle).
• 1536 Pope's authority declared void in England.
• 1872 Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.
• 1931 First air-conditioned ship launched - "Mariposa"
• 1936 Spanish Civil War begans, Francisco Franco leads uprising.
• 1938 Douglas `Wrong Way' Corrigan lands in Ireland-left NY for Calif
• 1955 First electric power generated from atomic energy sold.
• 1966 Carl Sagan turns one billion seconds old
• 1966 Gemini 10 launched.
• 1968 Intel Corporation, inventor of the microchip, is incorporated.
• 1980 Rohini 1, first Indian satellite, is launched.
• 1984 Svetlana Savitskaya accompanies Vladimir Dzhanibekov on EVA outside Salyut 7, becoming first woman to walk in space.