Historical Events
1883 – French troops under lt-colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako Senegal
1945 – Richard Strauss completes his “Metamorphosis”
1953 – KFDX TV channel 3 in Wichita Falls, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1961 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)
1992 – Matt Young no-hits Cleveland, but loses 2-1
2016 – Breakthrough Starshot: Scientists and internet entrepreneurs, including Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg, announce interstellar project to send robot spacecraft to Alpha Centauri
Famous Birthdays
1904 – Harald Penrose, British test pilot, born in Hereford, England (d. 1996)
1924 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician (pioneered cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2003)
1934 – Heinz Schneiter, Swiss football player and manager, born in Thun, Switzerland (d. 2017)
1967 – Mellow Man Ace, Cuban-American rapper and actor (Only the Strong), born in Pinar del Río, Pinar del Río, Cuba
1971 – Tyrone Chatman, CFL linebacker (BC Lions)
1972 – Şebnem Ferah, Turkish singer (Volvox), born in Yalova, Turkey
Famous Deaths
238 – Gordian II, Roman co-Emperor with his father Gordian I, killed in battle at Carthage
1782 – Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
1942 – Johannes E Akkeringa, Dutch painter/etcher, dies at 80
1974 – Carl Jaffe, German actor (1st Man in Space, Escapement), dies at 72
1981 – Joe Louis, [Brown bomber], US heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49), dies of cardiac arrest at 66
1988 – Alan Paton, South African author (Cry, the Beloved Country, Too Late the Phalarope) and anti-apartheid activist, dies at 85