On This Day Calendar
Below you’ll find links to specific days and the historical events that happened on them.
Progress on adding the initial website content.
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February
March
April
May
June
July
September
01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
November
Historical Events by Month
January
February
March
April
June
July
August
- Europe's Royals Set Sail on the “Cruise of the Kings”
- Louis XVI, France's Last King Before the Revolution, Is Born
- The Baltic Way: Two Million People Joined Hands for Freedom
- Amelia Earhart Flies Nonstop Across America
- Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Reformer and Regent, Is Born
- The First Concrete Is Poured for the Panama Canal's Gatun Locks
- Arpad Elo, Creator of the Elo Rating System, Is Born
- Captain Matthew Webb Swims Across the English Channel
- Galileo Presents His Telescope to the Rulers of Venice
- The Birth of Emil Theodor Kocher, a Pioneer of Modern Surgery
- John Fitch Receives a Patent for His Steamboat
- Mother Teresa Is Born in Skopje
- The 19th Amendment Is Officially Certified
- The World's First Jet Aircraft Takes Flight
- The Book Created to Settle Pub Arguments Is Born
- Calder Hall Sends Nuclear Power to the Grid
- Britain Approves the Slavery Abolition Act
- Pedro Menéndez Sights Florida — and St. Augustine Gets Its Name
- The Tom Thumb Races a Horse — and Steam Wins the Future
- James Hunt, Formula One's Unconventional World Champion, Is Born
- Michael Faraday Discovers Electromagnetic Induction
- The Final Voyage of HMS Pandora
- The Railway That Learned to Climb a Mountain
- Bruce McLaren, the Man Behind a Racing Legend, Is Born
- Maurice Hilleman, the Man Behind Modern Vaccines, Is Born
- Melbourne Begins on the Banks of the Yarra
- Queen Mary Becomes the Fastest Liner on the Atlantic
- Ferdinand von Zeppelin Patents His Vision of the Airship
- Radio Prague Begins Broadcasting to the World
- The Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Shocks the World
September
- Annie Ernaux, the Writer Who Turned Memory Into Literature, Is Born
- The Wreck of Titanic Is Found After 73 Years
- The SR-71 Blackbird Flies from New York to London in Under Two Hours
- Edinburgh Welcomes Mary, Queen of Scots, With a Spectacular Royal Entry
- The Woman Who Would Become Empress Shōken Is Chosen as Meiji's Bride
- Frederick Soddy, the Scientist Who Gave Isotopes Their Name, Is Born
- Frank Macfarlane Burnet, the Scientist Who Helped Explain How Immunity Works, Is Born
- The World's Oldest Republic Begins on Monte Titano
- Viking 2 Lands on Mars and Begins Searching for Life
- George Eastman Patents the Kodak Camera and Changes Photography Forever
- Mark Spitz Makes Olympic History With Seven Gold Medals
- Two Stanford Students Found Google
- An 18-Year-Old Cassius Clay Wins Olympic Gold in Rome
- Freddie Mercury, the Man Who Gave Queen Its Voice, Is Born
- Peter IV of Aragon, the King Who Turned Ceremony Into Power, Is Born
- Columbus Leaves His Last Port Before Crossing the Atlantic
- John Dalton Gives Atoms Their First Modern Symbols
- Susumu Tonegawa, the Scientist Who Explained Antibody Diversity, Is Born
- Alberto Santos-Dumont Takes the 14-bis Into the Air
- Philidor, the Man Who Mastered Both Chess and Music, Is Born
- The Organization That Became INTERPOL Is Founded in Vienna
- Catherine of Bologna, Artist, Writer and Saint, Is Born
- The Northern Pacific Railroad Celebrates Its Transcontinental Completion
- The First Circumnavigation Ends as Victoria Reaches Seville
- Colonel Sanders, the Man Behind KFC, Is Born
- Leo Tolstoy, Author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Is Born
- Warwick Kerr, a Pioneer of Bee Genetics, Is Born
- Boris Tchaikovsky, Russian Composer and Pianist, Is Born
- Henry Purcell, One of England’s Greatest Composers, Is Born
- The LHC is not the work of a single country or laboratory.
- BART Begins Passenger Service in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Henry Hudson Reaches Manhattan and Enters New York Bay
- Australian Sprinter and Olympic Champion Stan Rowley Is Born
- Space Shuttle Discovery Launches on Mission STS-51
- Polish Writer and Philosopher Stanisław Lem Is Born
- Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Irène Joliot-Curie Is Born
- IBM 305 RAMAC Introduces the Era of Hard Disk Storage
- Britain Fails to Capture Baltimore and the Star-Spangled Banner Is Born
- Desmond Tutu Leads a Historic Anti-Apartheid Peace March in Cape Town
- Puerto Rican Poet and Activist Lola Rodríguez de Tió Is Born
- Joe Kittinger Begins the First Solo Balloon Crossing of the Atlantic
- Indonesian Independence Activist and Women's Rights Advocate Rasuna Said Is Born
- Jean Renoir, One of Cinema's Greatest Directors, Is Born
- Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, Is Born
- Zond 5 Begins the First Successful Circumlunar Mission
- African American Inventor and Educator Miriam Benjamin Is Born
- The Xerox 914, the First Successful Plain-Paper Copier, Is Unveiled
- W.O. Bentley, Founder of Bentley Motors, Is Born
- The First Linux Kernel Is Released Online
- Pittsburgh's Civic Arena Opens with a Revolutionary Retractable Roof
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Describes Bacteria Living on Human Teeth
- The New Theatre Royal, Covent Garden Opens in London
- George Washington Lays the Cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol
- George I Arrives in Britain as the First Hanoverian King
- Olympic Running Legend Emil Zátopek Is Born
- Ötzi the Iceman Is Discovered in the Alps
- Annibale de Gasparis Discovers Asteroid Massalia from Naples
- Turkish Wrestling Legend Hamit Kaplan Is Born
- Italian Cinema Icon Sophia Loren Is Born
- Billie Jean King Wins the Battle of the Sexes
- J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit Is Published for the First Time
- Nobel Prize-Winning Microbiologist Charles Nicolle Is Born
- The Duryea Brothers' Gasoline Automobile Takes to the Road
- Brighton’s Duke of York’s Picture House Opens
- George III and Queen Charlotte Are Crowned at Westminster Abbey
- The Birth of Paolo Ruffini, a Pioneer of Algebra
- A Storm Brings the First Europeans to Japan
- The Birth of Ferdinand VI of Spain
- The Shipwreck That Helped Spark the Tierra del Fuego Gold Rush
- Black Friday and the Collapse of America’s Gold Market
- Prague’s Second Defenestration
- The Paris Bourse Is Officially Established
- Henry Ford and the Five-Day Working Week
- TAT-1 Opens a New Era in Transatlantic Communication
- The Birth of Lu Xun, a Pioneer of Modern Chinese Literature
- The Birth of Ivan Pavlov, Pioneer of Conditioned Reflexes
- Einstein Publishes His Special Theory of Relativity
- Britain and China Initial the Agreement on Hong Kong’s Future
- The Birth of Grazia Deledda, Sardinia’s Nobel-Winning Writer
- Champollion Announces a Breakthrough in Deciphering Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- The Stockton and Darlington Railway Opens
- Remembering Fleming’s Discovery of Penicillin
- The Birth of Brigitte Bardot, Film Star and Animal Advocate
- The Murchison Meteorite Brings Clues to Life’s Chemical Origins
- Tampere Hall Opens in Finland
- Remembering the Birth of Miguel de Cervantes
- The Chevrolet Camaro Goes on Sale
- William Morton Performs a Painless Tooth Extraction Using Ether
- The Birth of Jean Baptiste Perrin
- Hydroelectric Power Lights Up Appleton
October
- Austria-Hungary Introduces the Postal Card
- Concorde Breaks the Sound Barrier for the First Time
- The Birth of Charles VI, Father of Maria Theresa
- The Birth of Graham Greene
- The Birth of Mahatma Gandhi
- The Birth of Christian de Duve
- Space Shuttle Atlantis Makes Its First Flight
- The Birth of Eleonora Duse, the Italian Actress Who Helped Transform Modern Acting
- The Birth of Saint Casimir, the Jagiellonian Prince Remembered for Faith and Compassion
- Belgium Declares Independence and Begins Its Journey as a New European State
- The Calendar Change That Took Europe from Thursday the Fourth to Friday the Fifteenth
- The Orient Express Begins Its Celebrated Inaugural Journey from Paris towards Constantinople
- Dr. No Premieres in London and Launches James Bond’s Cinematic Legacy
- Josef Groll Brews the First Pilsner and Begins a New Chapter in Beer History
- Václav Havel Is Born, the Playwright Who Became President
- John Paul II Becomes the First Pope to Visit the White House
- Reginald Fessenden Is Born, the Canadian Pioneer Who Helped Give Radio a Voice
- The Moulin Rouge Opens in Paris and Begins Its Journey to Cabaret Fame
- Luna 3 Photographs the Moon’s Far Side for the First Time
- Niels Bohr Is Born, the Danish Physicist Who Transformed Our Understanding of the Atom
- Women Become Full Members of Oxford University, Opening the Way to Degrees
- Don Larsen Pitches the Only Perfect Game in World Series History
- The First Fully Implantable Pacemaker Opens a New Chapter in Heart Care
- Heinrich Schütz, a Pioneering Voice of German Baroque Music, Is Born
- Isaac Singer Patents Further Improvements to the Sewing Machine
- Nick Holonyak Demonstrates the Visible LED and Opens a New Chapter in Lighting
- The Treaty of Bern Establishes the Postal Union That Connected Nations
- Harold Pinter Is Born, the Playwright Who Made Silence Speak on Stage
- The Birth of Giuseppe Verdi, the Composer Behind Some of Opera’s Greatest Masterpieces
- Woodrow Wilson Triggers the Blast That Brings the Panama Canal Closer to Joining Two Oceans
- Ewald Georg von Kleist Discovers How to Store Electricity in a Glass Bottle
- Jaroslav Seifert Wins the Nobel Prize and Brings Czech Poetry to the World’s Attention
- The University of Sydney Opens, Beginning a New Chapter in Australian Higher Education
- The Royal Wedding That Gave Birth to Oktoberfest
- Columbus Reaches Guanahani, Marking a Turning Point in Atlantic History
- Voskhod 1 Carries the First Three-Person Crew into Space
- Greenwich Is Chosen as the World’s Prime Meridian
- Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s First Woman Prime Minister and the “Iron Lady,” Is Born
- Yves Montand, the Italian-Born Singer Who Became a Star of French Cinema, Is Born
- Martin Luther King Jr. Is Named Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for His Nonviolent Struggle for Equality
- Roger Moore, the Actor Who Brought Wit and Charm to James Bond, Is Born
- Stephenson’s Rocket Wins the Rainhill Trials and Helps Shape the Railway Age
- Andy Green and ThrustSSC Set the World’s First Supersonic Land Speed Record
- Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, the Princess Who Became Queen of Sardinia, Is Born
- Pilâtre de Rozier Rises Above Paris in a Pioneering Human Balloon Ascent
- Wayne Gretzky Becomes the NHL’s All-Time Points Leader on a Historic Night in Edmonton
- Hamilton Discovers Quaternions and Carves a Mathematical Breakthrough into a Dublin Bridge
- Masaryk Submits a Draft Declaration of Czechoslovak Independence to the United States
- Belzoni Begins the Excavation That Reveals the Magnificent Tomb of Seti I
- Willie Park Sr. Wins the First Open Championship at Prestwick, Scotland
- The International Union of Railways Is Founded in Paris to Connect Railway Systems Across Borders
- Thirteen-Year-Old Bobby Fischer Wins Chess’s Famous “Game of the Century”
- Christina Koch and Jessica Meir Complete the First All-Woman Spacewalk
- The Birth of Zhu Xi, the Chinese Philosopher Who Shaped Generations of Learning
- The Birth of D. T. Suzuki, the Japanese Scholar Who Introduced Zen to New Audiences
- The Discovery of Streptomycin Opens a New Chapter in the Fight Against Tuberculosis
- The Birth of Miguel Ángel Asturias, the Guatemalan Writer Who Brought Maya Traditions to World Literature
- The Birth of Auguste Lumière, a Pioneer Who Helped Bring Moving Pictures to Audiences
- RMS Olympic Takes to the Water, Beginning the Story of a Great Atlantic Liner
November
December
- Alain Bombard Reaches Barbados After an Extraordinary Atlantic Survival Experiment
- Bell Labs Demonstrates the Transistor That Helped Transform Electronics
- Chet Baker Is Born, a Distinctive Trumpet Player and Voice of Cool Jazz
- James Cook Reaches the Pacific Atoll That Became Christmas Island
- James Prescott Joule, the Physicist Who Transformed Our Understanding of Energy, Is Born
- Thomas Edison Files a Patent Application for the Phonograph
- Ephraim McDowell Performs a Pioneering Operation That Changes Abdominal Surgery
- The James Webb Space Telescope Launches on Its Journey to Explore the Universe
- The World Wide Web Takes Shape at CERN
- Carl Benz Successfully Runs the Engine That Helps Pave His Way to the Automobile
- Taipei 101 Opens as the World’s Tallest Skyscraper
- Thomas Edison Lights Up Menlo Park in a Landmark Public Demonstration