- 1620 First merry-go-round is seen at a fair in Philippopolis in the Ottoman Empire
1861 The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London
- 1877 Edwin T. Holmes installs the first telephone switchboard burglar alarm
1st Successful Submarine
1897 The first successful submarine that can run submerged for any considerable distance and combines electric and gasoline engines is launched in the USA by its designer John Philip Holland
Historic Publication
1900 "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is first published by L. Frank Baum with illustrations by William Wallace Denslow in Chicago
- 1939 First televised baseball game is broadcast on NBC, with Princeton University defeating Columbia University 2-1
Event of Interest
1961 Fidel Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers
Music History
1970 Anonymous buyer purchases one of the pairs of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" for $15,000 at MGM Studio auction, and donates them to the Smithsonian Institution
- 1980 V. S. Kumar Anandan from Sri Lanka balances on one foot for 33 hours (Guinness World Record)
Event of Interest
1984 Prince Charles calls proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversy on the role of the Royal Family and course of modern architecture.
- 1989 Longest cab ride at 14,000 miles costs $16,000 (later surpassed)
- 2009 Video game Minecraft is first released to the public while still in development
- 2010 Archaeologists announce the discovery of the oldest tomb in Mesoamerica at 2,700 years old, at Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico, containing the remains of a 50-year-old man [1]
Blurryface,
2015 "Blurryface," 4th studio album by Twenty One Pilots is released (1st album ever to have every track gold-certified)
Sports History
2020 Michael Jordan's autographed Air Nike 1s trainers from 1985 sell for a record $560,000 in an online auction
- 2023 Nepali Sherpa Kami Rita Sherpa (53) climbs Mt. Everest for a record 27th time [1]
- 2023 Scientists discover comb jellies (ctenophores) are the closest relative to the very first animals that evolved half a billion years ago, by focusing on groups of genes on chromosomes [1]
- 2023 The oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, The Codex Sassoon, from late 9th / early 10th century, sold for $38.1 million at Sotheby's in New York, one of the highest prices for a book at auction [1]
- 2023 World's oldest architectural plans revealed on two stone monoliths mapping huge prehistoric stone structures called desert kites - thought to trap wild animal herds, in Southeastern Jordan and Northern Saudi Arabia [1]
