1611

English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and seven others set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery and never seen again.

1633

Galileo Galilei recants his “heretical” position that the Earth orbiting the Sun was at odds with the Bible and church teaching (Vatican apologizes in Oct 1992 for how it handled the case).

1865

The Cherokee chief and Confederate general Stand Watie surrendered at the close of the American Civil War—one of the last Confederate commanders to do so.

1865

The CSS Shenandoah fires the last shot of the American Civil War in the Bering Strait to indicate surrender.

1868

American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes and two others were granted a patent for a typewriter.

1874

 Game of lawn tennis introduced by Welsh Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, introducing a rubber ball to bounce on grass.

1940

Sprinter Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals in a single Olympics, was born.

1955

 Walt Disney‘s animated film “Lady & the Tramp” released

1963

“Little” Stevie Wonder aged 13 releases his first single “Fingertips” (first live non-studio recording to go to No. 1 on Billboard).

1972

Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is enacted into law. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex.

1992

Mafia boss John Gotti, who was nicknamed the “Teflon Don” after escaping unscathed from several trials during the 1980s, is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on 14 accounts of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.

2013

34-year-old aerialist Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk a high wire across the Little Colorado River Gorge near Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. 

2016

The United Kingdom voted in a referendum to withdraw from the European Union, with 51.9 percent supporting Britain’s exit (“Brexit”) and 48.1 percent opposing the move; it marked the first time a country had decided to leave the organization.