Todays History

Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale.

The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s marriage is annulled.

Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.

Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.

Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.

The inaugural Formula One World Championship race takes place at Silverstone Circuit.

A train derailment in Philadelphia kills eight people and injures more than 200.

India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran

Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.