1748 The ruins of Pompeii are rediscovered by Spaniard Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre
- 1816 Jane Austen declines writing advice from royal librarian Rev. James Stanier Clarke, suggesting that she write a historical romance of the house of Cobourg [1]
Internal-Combustion Engine
1826 Samuel Morey is issued the first U.S. patent for an internal-combustion engine, which he calls a “Gas or Vapour Engine"
- 1889 First dishwashing machine, invented by Josephine Cochrane, is marketed in Chicago newspaper
- 1905 "SOS" first adopted as a morse distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·) by German government
- 1927 First automatic record changer is introduced by the Victor Talking Machine Company
- 1948 "Big Bang" theory proposed in scientific journal "Physical Review" by American cosmologists Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe, and George Gamow
- 1957 BBC airs a three-minute April Fools' Day hoax featuring spaghetti-growing trees in Switzerland [1]
- 1960 TIROS 1, the first weather satellite, launches
- 1963 American television soap operas premiere: "General Hospital" (ABC) and "Doctors" (NBC)
Music History
1973 John Lennon and Yoko Ono form a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem is silence
- 1979 Warner Cable launches Nickelodeon, a basic cable channel featuring programming focused on children and teenagers
- 1990 It becomes illegal in Salem, Oregon, to be within 2 feet of nude dancers
- 2001 The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal
- 2002 The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so
- 2004 Google introduces Gmail: the launch is met with skepticism on account of the launch date
- 2013 The world’s first smelling TV screen is unveiled in Japan
Nobel Prize in Literature
2017 Bob Dylan receives his Nobel Prize for Literature at a private ceremony in Stockholm
2019 Japanese government announces the name of a new era 'Reiwa' for the next Emperor, Crown Prince Naruhito
- 2019 Major archaeological site announced discovered on a reef in the middle of Lake Titicaca, in Andes, dated 8th and 10th centuries AD from Tiwanaku state
- 2025 Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey delivers the longest speech in US Senate history, speaking for just over 25 hours, breaking previous record of Strom Thurmond set in 1957 [1]
