This is Entry 62: This Date in History 2009

Or: This Date is History!

Events:
98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
1142 - Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
1593 - Vatican opens seven year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.
1416 - Republic of Dubrovnik, as a first state in Europe, outlaw slavery
1606 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, and ending in their execution on January 31.
1678 - The first fire engine company in the United States went into service.
1785 - The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
1825 - The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears".
1870 - The first college sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University.
1880 - Thomas Edison files a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
1888 - In Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society is founded.
1900 - Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined
1926 - John Logie Baird makes the first television broadcast.
1939 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats.
1967 - Apollo program: Apollo 1 - Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
1967 - More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
1967 - The Doors self titled debut album is released.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War, Colonel William Nolde falls, becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.
1977 - Record company EMI sacks the controversial United Kingdom punk rock group the Sex Pistols.
1983 - Pilot shaft of World's longest subaqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō breaks through.
1983 - I was born in Seattle, Washington, USA.
1984 - Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world long jump record by 9¼ inches (23.5 centimeters) with a 28-foot, 10¼-inch (8.795-meter) jump.
1996 - Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
1997 - It is revealed that French museums have nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
1998 - American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on the Today Show calling the attacks against her husband part of a vast right-wing conspiracy.
2006 - Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

Births:
1443 - Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
1687 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
1701 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian (d. 1790)
1756 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
1805 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, queen consort of Saxony (d. 1877)
1832 - Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
1848 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
1850 - Edward J. Smith, English captain of the Titanic (d. 1912)
1908 - William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (d. 1993)
1921 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
1924 - Sabu Dastagir, Indian actor (d. 1963)
1928 - Michael Craig, British actor
1928 - Hans Modrow, a German politician, premier of East Germany
1940 - James Cromwell, American actor
1944 - Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
1946 - Nedra Talley, American singer (Ronettes)
1947 - Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer (d. 1999)
1951 - Brian Downey, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy)
1952 - Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, American football player
1954 - Peter Laird, American comic-book artist
1955 - John Roberts, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
1956 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
1957 - Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
1957 - Frank Miller, American comic book artist and writer and film director
1959 - Keith Olbermann, American news presenter
1961 - Margo Timmins, Canadian singer (Cowboy Junkies)
1961 - Gillian Gilbert, British musician (New Order)
1964 - Bridget Fonda, American actress
1965 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
1969 - Patton Oswalt, American actor and writer
1972 - Guillermo, Mexican-born American TV personality
1983 - Me!
1987 - Katy Rose, American pop singer

Deaths
98 - Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
661 - Ali, the final Sunni Rashidun and first Shia Imam
1595 - Sir Francis Drake, European explorer (b. c.1540)
1629 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
1688 - Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, grandmother of the Kangxi Emperor in Qing Dynasty China
1731 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (b. 1655)
1740 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
1814 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
1851 - John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, ornithologist, and painter (b. 1789)
1901 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
1910 - Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
1967 - Crew of Apollo 1: Roger Chaffee (b. 1935), Virgil "Gus" Grissom (b. 1926), Edward White (b. 1930)
1972 - Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
1973 - William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
1975 - Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
1993 - André the Giant, professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
2003 - Henryk Jabłoński, President of Poland (b. 1909)
2004 - Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
2004 - Salvador Laurel, 9th Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
2006 - Johannes Rau, 8th Bundespräsident (President of Germany) (b. 1931)
2006 - Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
2006 - Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (disappeared) (b. 1965)
2007 - Marcheline Bertrand, actress and mother of Angelina Jolie (b. 1950)
2008 - Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1910)

Holidays and observances
- UN: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
- United Kingdom: Holocaust Memorial Day.
- Germany: Gedenktag für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism).
- Poland: Dzień Pamięci Ofiar Nazizmu (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
- Italy: Giorno della Memoria (Memorial Day).
- Serbia: St. Sava Day.
- Denmark: Auschwitzdag (Auschwitz Day; commemoration day for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocide).
- Monaco: Day of Saint Devota, patron saint
- My Birthday.