Joseph A. Walker

Joseph Albert Walker (20 February 1921 - 8 June 1966) was an American military test pilot; in 1963, he made two X-15 flights past the 100 kilometer edge of space, the only spaceplane flights past that threshold made until SpaceShipOne in 2004. These flights qualified him as an astronaut under both U.S. Air Force and Fédération Aéronautique Internationale rules. Joe Walker was the first person to enter space twice. Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, Walker earned a degree in physics from Washington and Jefferson College before entering the United States Army Air Force. He flew P-38 aircraft in World War II. After World War II, Walker spent 21 years working as a test pilot. In 1960, he made the first test flight of the X-15 aircraft; Walker would go on to fly the X-15 24 times, including the only two flights of the X-15 to exceed 100 kilometers in altitude, Flight 90 (19 July, 1963; 106 km) and Flight 91 (22 August, 1963; 108 km). One of the first Fellows of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Walker was killed on June 8, 1966, in a collision between his F-104 chase plane and an XB-70. Walker was married and had four children. Walker, Joseph A. Walker, Joseph A. Walker, Joseph Albert Walker, Joseph Albert Walker, Joseph

20 February

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years.

Events

- 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are annexed to the crown of Scotland.
- 1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
- 1724 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.
- 1725 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
- 1792 - The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
- 1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, was executed.
- 1816 - Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville debuts at Teatro Argentina, with a fiasco.
- 1835 - Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake
- 1864 - Battle of Olustee
- 1872 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
- 1873 - The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.
- 1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
- 1913 - King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
- 1921 - The film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
- 1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
- 1942 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
- 1943 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
- 1943 - The Paricutín volcano begins to form in Paricutín, México.
- 1944 - World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.
- 1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
- 1952 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
- 1952 - The film The African Queen opens at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.
- 1959 - The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
- 1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
- 1965 - Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
- 1974 - Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick claims he began experiencing intense gnostic visions on this date.
- 1976 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
- 1987 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, in the USA, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
- 1992 - Ross Perot announces his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live.
- 1992 - The FA Premier League is formed and takes over as the professional league in England from season 1992–93.
- 1998 - The afternoon newspaper Nashville Banner publishes its final edition.
- 2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
- 2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
- 2003 - In Rhode Island, in the USA, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.
- 2005 - Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
- 2005 - Jeff Gordon wins his third Daytona 500.

Births

- 1631 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (d. 1712)
- 1745 - Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
- 1751 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
- 1753 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)
- 1757 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)
- 1819 - Alfred Escher, Swiss politician, railroad entrepreneur (d. 1882)
- 1839 - Benjamin Waugh, American minister and founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)
- 1844 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)
- 1844 - Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
- 1848 - Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
- 1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1888 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
- 1893 - Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)
- 1901 - Muhammad Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)
- 1902 - Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
- 1904 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
- 1912 - Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)
- 1914 - John Daly, South African-born broadcaster (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (d. 1985)
- 1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, American clothing designer and entrepreneur
- 1925 - Robert Altman, American film director
- 1925 - Heinz Kluncker, German labor union leader
- 1926 - Richard Matheson, American author
- 1927 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer, and anti-Communist (d. 1986)
- 1927 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)
- 1927 - Sidney Poitier, American actor
- 1931 - Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1934 - Bobby Unser, American race car driver
- 1936 - Marj Dusay, American actress
- 1936 - Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1937 - Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 - Roger Penske, American race car driver
- 1937 - Nancy Wilson, American singer
- 1938 - Richard Beymer, American actor
- 1941 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer
- 1942 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player
- 1943 - Mike Leigh, British film director
- 1944 - Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1945 - Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1946 - Brenda Blethyn, English actress
- 1946 - Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
- 1947 - Peter Osgood, English footballer
- 1947 - Peter Strauss, American actor
- 1948 - Jennifer O'Neill, Brazilian-born actress
- 1949 - Ivana Trump, Czech skier, model and socialite
- 1950 - Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor
- 1951 - Edward Albert, American actor
- 1951 - Gordon Brown, British politician
- 1951 - Randy California, guitarist (d. 1997)
- 1954 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
- 1954 - Patty Hearst, American socialite and kidnapping victim
- 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- 1963 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- 1966 - Cindy Crawford, American model
- 1967 - Kurt Cobain, American musician (d. 1994)
- 1971 - Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
- 1975 - Brian Littrell, American musician (Backstreet Boys)
- 1976 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- 1977 - Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
- 1978 - Julia Jentsch, German actress
- 1980 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
- 1981 - Tony Hibbert, English footballer
- 1985 - Yulia Volkova, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)

Deaths

- 702 - Chan Bahlum II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
- 1171 - Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
- 1194 - King Tancred of Sicily
- 1258 - Al-Musta'sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad
- 1408 - Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)
- 1431 - Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
- 1513 - King Christian II of Denmark (b. 1455)
- 1579 - Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
- 1618 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
- 1626 - John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
- 1762 - Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- 1771 - Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
- 1773 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
- 1778 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
- 1790 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
- 1803 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)
- 1806 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)
- 1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)
- 1871 - Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)
- 1893 - P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)
- 1895 - Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer
- 1907 - Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1916 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)
- 1920 - Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)
- 1961 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
- 1966 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
- 1968 - Anthony Asquith, British film director and writer (b. 1902)
- 1969 - Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
- 1970 - Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
- 1972 - Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 1972 - Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
- 1975 - Robert Strauss, American politician and diplomat (b. 1918)
- 1976 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- 1980 - J.B. Rhine, American parapsychologist (b. 1895)
- 1981 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (b. 1904)
- 1985 - Clarence Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
- 1992 - Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)
- 1992 - Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1993 - Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
- 1996 - Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)
- 1996 - Tōru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
- 1999 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- 1999 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
- 2000 - Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)
- 2001 - Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2003 - Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
- 2003 - Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Harry Jacunski, American football player
- 2003 - Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White)
- 2005 - Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)
- 2005 - John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2005 - Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/20 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050220.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 19 - February 21 - January 20 - March 20 -- listing of all days ko:2월 20일 ms:20 Februari ja:2月20日 simple:February 20 th:20 กุมภาพันธ์

1921

1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 1 - In American football, California defeats Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
- January 2 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- January 2 - Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia - 244 dead
- January 2 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- January 20 - Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands
- February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
- February 27 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in Vienna
- February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt - On March 17 the Red Army crushes the rebellion and number of sailors flee to Finland
- March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
- March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
- March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- March 13 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
- March 17 - Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England. The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- March 18 - The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union ending Polish-Soviet war. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus.
- April 11 - The Emirate of Transjordan is created, with Abdullah I as emir.
- April 14 - In Britain, labour unions for mining, railway and transportation workers call for a strike - government threatens to call in the army
- April 24 - Referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany
- May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921
- 2 May-5 July - Third Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- May 5 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between Leicester City and Stockport County, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.
- May 6 - General strike begins in Norway
- May 8 - Death penalty abolished in Sweden
- May 14 - May 17 - Violent anti-European riots in Cairo and Alexandria
- May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
- May 31 - Race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
- June 1 - Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma kills 85 people.
- June 26 - In Britain, rain ends 100 days of drought
- July 1 - Coal strike ends in England
- July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
- July 11 - Mongolia becomes independent of China
- July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nichola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
- July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis
- July 22 - Irish Truce declared in Britain
- July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan - and Stanley Clifford Weyman...
- July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chairman of the Nazi Party
- July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
- August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
- August 5 - First radio broadcast of baseball game; Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA Pittsburgh
- August 11 - 35 degree Celsius in Breslau - heat wave continues elsewhere in Europe as well
- August 23 - King Faisal is crowned in Baghdad
- August 24 - Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near Hull, England - 41 dead
- August 26 - Rising prices cause riots in Munich
- August 29 - Assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law
- September 1 - Poplar Strike in London - 9 members of Poplar borough council are arrested
- September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
- September 8 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
- September 12 - Lotta Svärd founded in Finland.
- September 21 - Oppau explosion happened at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany - 500—600 dead.
- October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged started in Hungary.
- October 21 - Peace conference between Irish and United Kingdom begins in London.
- October 24 - Spanish army defeats rifkabyls.
- October 29 - Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project completed.
- November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík - most of the small police force is injured.
- November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
- December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
- December 16 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
- December 13 - In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
- December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
- Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to enter Canadian parliament
- Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
- Invention of the vibraphone.
- Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.

Fictitious Events

1921 is a song on the album Tommy by The Who.

Births

Date unknown

- Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d. 2001)

January

- January 5 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
- January 5 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 31 - Carol Channing, American actress
- January 31 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (d. 1959)

February

- February 4 - Betty Friedan, American feminist
- February 4 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
- February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d. 1996)
- February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
- February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
- February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)

March

- March 1 - Jack Clayton, British film director
- March 1 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
- March 1 - Richard Wilbur, American poet
- March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
- March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
- March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
- March 8 - Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
- March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- March 12 - Giovanni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- March 12 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- March 13 - Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
- March 13 - Cyril Poole, English cricketer (d. 1996)
- March 20 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer (d. 1973)
- March 21 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
- March 25 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- March 28 - Dirk Bogarde, English actor (d. 1999)

April-May

- April 1 - Beau Jack, American boxer (d. 2000)
- April 8 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- April 10 - Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Thomas Schelling, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 15 - Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- April 16 - Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (d. 2004)
- April 23 - Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
- May 2 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (d. 1992)
- May 5 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- May 6 - Erich Fried, Austrian author (d. 1988)
- May 9 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- May 9 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- May 12 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- May 12 - Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- May 17 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957)
- May 18 - Sir Michael Epstein, British medical researcher
- May 19 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
- May 20 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
- May 20 - Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
- May 21 - Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d. 1989)
- May 23 - James Blish, American science fiction author (d. 1975)
- May 25 - Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 25 - James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher
- May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
- May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)

June-August

- June 1 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d. 1985)
- June 8 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
- June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
- June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
- July 6- Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of U.S President Ronald Reagan
- July 10 - Harvey Ball, American designer (d. 2001)
- July 11 - Ilse Werner, German actress (d. 2005)
- July 13 - Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d. 2005)
- July 14 - Leon Garfield, English children's author (d. 1996)
- July 14 - Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 17 - František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
- July 17 - Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- July 19 - Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 22 - William Roth, U.S. Senator (d. 2003)
- July 30 - Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d. 2005)
- August 4 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- August 8 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (d. 1979)
- August 9 - J. James Exon Governor of Nebraska and U.S. Senator (d. 2005)
- August 19 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
- August 23 - Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 25 - Monty Hall, Canadian actor and game show host

September-December

- September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
- September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
- September 12 - Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer
- October 2 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
- October 5 - Bill Willis, American football player
- October 13 - Yves Montand, French singer and actor (d. 1991)
- October 18 - Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- October 19 - Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)
- October 25 - King Michael of Romania
- November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
- November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
- November 11 - Ron Greenwood, English football manager
- November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (d. 1997)
- November 22 - Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)
- November 23 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
- December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
- December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)

Deaths

- February 8 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
- February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- March 2 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- April 27 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
- May 5 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
- August 2 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- September 2 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
- September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
- September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
- October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter
- November 28 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b. 1844)
- December 16 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
- December 31 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Albert Einstein
- Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Anatole France
- Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange
- ko:1921년 ms:1921 ja:1921年 simple:1921 th:พ.ศ. 2464

8 June

June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining.

Events

- 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba.
- 536 - St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date).
- 793 - The first Viking raid on British soil at Lindisfarne where a set date for the raid is known
- 1405 - First execution in England of a Bishop (Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York) by a King (Henry IV)
- 1624 - An earthquake strikes Peru
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
- 1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys - Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George McClellan.
- 1866 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
- 1887 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
- 1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.
- 1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
- 1948 - Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater.
- 1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published.
- 1949 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
- 1950 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
- 1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits the U.S. city of Flint, Michigan, and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.
- 1953 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.
- 1959 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
- 1966 - One of the XB-70 Valkyrie prototypes is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross were both killed.
- 1967 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
- 1968 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1968 - The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1969 - After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs.
- 1974 - An F4 tornado strikes the U.S. city of Emporia, Kansas, killing six.
- 1984 - Homosexuality is decriminalised in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
- 1986 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
- 1992 - The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 1995 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
- 1996 - Panama becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1998 - Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the U.S. National Rifle Association.
- 1999 - War on Drugs: The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- 2001 - Popular editorial site suck.com, one of the first original content sites on the internet, publishes its final article, "Gone Fishin'."
- 2004 - Major Wikipedia database crash.
- 2004 - First Transit of Venus in this millennium.
- 2005 - First tropical system formed in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

Births

- 1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian scientist (d. 1712)
- 1671 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (d. 1751)
- 1717 - John Collins, American politician (d. 1795)
- 1724 - John Smeaton, English civil engineer (d. 1794)
- 1743 - Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian adventurer (d. 1795)
- 1810 - Robert Schumann, German composer (d. 1856)
- 1847 - Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)
- 1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (d. 1959)
- 1903 - Ralph Yarborough, U.S. Senator from Texas (d. 1996)
- 1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, French author (d. 1987)
- 1910 - John W. Campbell Jr., writer, publisher, and editor (d. 1971)
- 1910 - Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (d. 2003)
- 1916 - Francis Crick, English microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- 1917 - Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Robert Preston, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- 1921 - Suharto, President of Indonesia
- 1924 - Lyn Nofziger, American political operative
- 1925 - Barbara Bush, First Lady of the United States
- 1927 - LeRoy Neiman, American painter
- 1929 - Jerry Stiller, American comedian and actor
- 1930 - Robert Aumann, German-born mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
- 1933 - Joan Rivers, American comedienne and author
- 1934 - Millicent Martin, English singer and actress
- 1936 - James Darren, American actor and singer
- 1936 - Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 - Nancy Sinatra, American singer
- 1941 - Fuzzy Haskins, American musician (P Funk)
- 1942 - Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
- 1943 - Colin Baker, British actor
- 1944 - Boz Scaggs, American singer and songwriter
- 1947 - Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1949 - Emanuel Ax, Polish-born pianist
- 1950 - Sonia Braga, Brazilian actress
- 1951 - Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer and guitarist
- 1955 - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- 1955 - Griffin Dunne, American actor
- 1955 - Greg Ginn, American guitarist (Black Flag)
- 1957 - Scott Adams, American cartoonist
- 1958 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, American comedian, actor, and director
- 1960 - Mick Hucknall, English singer and songwriter (Simply Red)
- 1962 - Nick Rhodes, English musician (Duran Duran)
- 1966 - Julianna Margulies, American actress
- 1969 - Marcos Siega, American director
- 1970 - Kelli Williams, American actress
- 1971 - Troy Vincent, American football player
- 1972 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress
- 1972 - Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
- 1972 - Matthew Bellamy, British musician (Muse)
- 1972 - Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
- 1973 - Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
- 1977 - Kanye West, American rapper
- 1978 - Maria Menounos, American actress and television host

Deaths

- 218 - Macrinus, Roman Emperor
- 632 - Muhammad, prophet of Islam
- 1042 - Harthacanute, King of Denmark and England (b. 1018)
- 1376 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England (b. 1330)
- 1383 - Thomas de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros, English Crusader (b. 1338)
- 1384 - Kanami, Japanese actor (b. 1333)
- 1476 - George Neville, English archbishop and statesman
- 1505 - Hongzhi, Emperor of China (b. 1470)
- 1611 - Jean Bertaut, French poet (b. 1552)
- 1612 - Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (b. 1562)
- 1621 - Anne de Xainctonge, French saint (b. 1567)
- 1628 - Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher (b. 1547)
- 1714 - Sophia of Hanover, heir to the throne of Great Britain (b. 1630)
- 1716 - Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b. 1658)
- 1727 - August Hermann Francke, German protestant minister (b. 1663)
- 1768 - Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German classical scholar and archaeologist (b. 1717)
- 1771 - George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (b. 1716)
- 1795 - King Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)
- 1809 - Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer (b. 1737)
- 1845 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
- 1857 - Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright and satirist (b. 1803)
- 1874 - Cochise, Apache leader
- 1876 - George Sand, French author (b. 1804)
- 1924 - Andrew Irvine, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1902)
- 1924 - George Leigh Mallory, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1886)
- 1929 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (b. 1861)
- 1965 - Edmondo Rossoni, Italian fascist (b. 1884)
- 1966 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (b. 1890)
- 1969 - Robert Taylor, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1970 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (b. 1908)
- 1982 - Satchel Paige, baseball player (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
- 2000 - Jeff MacNelly, American political cartoonist (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
- 2004 - Mack Jones, baseball player (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances

- Roman Empire - second day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/6/8 Today in History: June 8] ---- June 7 - June 9 - May 8 - July 8 – listing of all days ko:6월 8일 ms:8 Jun ja:6月8日 simple:June 8 th:8 มิถุนายน

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S