1820 – 1st potatoes planted in Hawaii
1914 – Engagement between British cruiser HMS Gloucester and German cruisers SMS Breslau and SMS Goeben off Greece
1936 – Argentina wins the polo gold medal beating Great Britain 11-0 in the final at the Berlin Olympics; final time the sport is contested at the Olympics
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and the crew of the Kon-Tiki crash into a reef in the Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia after 101 days crossing the Pacific Ocean
1954 – Englishman Roger Bannister beats Australia’s John Landy in the mile at the Empire Games in Vancouver; first time 2 men run sub-4 minute mile in the same race
1964 – Turkey begins air attack on Greek Cypriots
1976 – Scientists in Pasadena, California, announce Viking I found strongest indications to date of possible life on Mars
1983 – Grete Waitz of Norway wins inaugural women’s marathon at the 1st world athletics championships in Helsinki, Finland
1987 – Lynne Cox becomes the 1st woman to swim from the US to the Soviet Union, 4.3 km across the Bering Sea in water temperature averaging 43 to 44 °F (6 to 7 °C)
1997 – STS 85 (Discovery 23) launches into orbit