Today in History

Historical Events

2007

Argentina swears in first female elected President. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner became the first elected female President of Argentina.

2001

Release of the first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The award winning movie called The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was directed by Peter Jackson and was based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

1948

U.N. General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document proclaimed, for the first time, fundamental human rights were to be universally protected.

1901

First Nobel prize awarded. Five years after the death of Swedish chemist and inventor, Alfred Nobel's, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.

1817

Mississippi becomes 20th state. Mississippi becomes the 20th state in the United States.

Famous Births

Born on this day

Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich

1956

American politician, 40th Governor of Illinois

Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen

1908

French composer, ornithologist

C. Rajagopalachari

C. Rajagopalachari

1878

Indian lawyer, politician, 1st Governor General of India

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

1830

American poet

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace

1815

English mathematician

Famous Deaths

Died on this day

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

2006

Chilean general, politician, 30th President of Chile

Franjo Tuđman

Franjo Tuđman

1999

Croatian general, politician, 1st President of Croatia

Otis Redding

Otis Redding

1967

American singer-songwriter, producer

Algernon Blackwood

Algernon Blackwood

1951

English author

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel

1896

Swedish chemist, engineer, invented dynamite, founded the Nobel Prize