Todays History

The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.

Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio.

Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American reconnaissance aircraft takes photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles being installed in Cuba.

Hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children’s Hospital.