Historical Events
1884 – International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide and creates 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich Meridian
1930 – Blake and Razaf’s “Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930” premieres in NYC
1938 – Chester Carlson conducts the first successful experiment in electrophotography and later sells it to the Haloid Company, now known as Xerox Corporation, which names it xerography
1968 – Apollo 7 returns to Earth
1997 – NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky’s wife Janet is knocked unconscious and gets 2 stitches after plexiglass falls on her watching a game
Famous Birthdays
1894 – Méi Lánfāng [Lan], Chinese opera performer known as “Queen of Peking Opera” for his portrayal of female roles, born in Beijing, China (d. 1961)
1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German anti-Nazi theologian and pacifist, born in Pappenheim, Bavaria (d. 1993)
1920 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and advocate for psychedelic drug use, born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
1952 – Greg Hawkes, American rock keyboardist (The Cars – “Shake it Up”; “Drive”), born in Fulton, Maryland
1974 – Tim Kinsella, American singer-songwriter (Cap’n Jazz; Owls), and visual artist, born in Chicago, Illinois
Famous Deaths
1792 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer, dies at 67
1871 – Roderick Murchison, Scottish Geologist (Silurian system), dies at 79
1937 – Frank Damrosch, German-American author and music teacher (founded New York Musical Institute of Musical Art, later Julliard), dies at 88
2001 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcycle racer and journalist (“Motorcycle Sport”, “The History of Famous Makes of Motorcycle”), dies from a heart attack at 80
2020 – Matt Blair, American football linebacker (6 × Pro Bowl 1977–82; First-team All-Pro 1980; Minnesota Vikings), dies from dementia complications at 70