622

Muslim Era begins – Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hijra).

1054

Humbert of Silva Candida, cardinal and papal legate, excommunicated Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, who retaliated by excommunicating the cardinal, which led to the schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople.

1377

Richard II was officially installed as king of England, almost a month after the death of his grandfather, Edward III.

1519

Public debate between Martin Luther and theologian Johann Eck at Pleissenburg Castle in Liepzig, during which Luther denies the divine right of the Pope.

1769

First Catholic mission in California dedicated.

1782

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” premieres in Vienna with Mozart conducting.

1862

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, an American journalist who led a crusade against lynching, was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

1882

First lady (1861–65) Mary Todd Lincoln—the wife of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States—died at age 63.

1940

Adolf Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion).

1945

The United States tested the first atomic bomb on this day in 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico, and the following month dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, hastening the end of World War II.

1935

The world’s first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the device, which sought to ease congestion, was designed by Carl C. Magee.

1941

American baseball player Joe DiMaggio set an MLB record for most consecutive games (56) with a hit.

1951

J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, which centered on the sensitive, rebellious adolescent Holden Caulfield, was published and later became a classic.

1969

Apollo 11 lifted off from NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and four days later two of its astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first humans to set foot on the Moon.

1979

Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq, and his brutal rule, which lasted 24 years, was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars with neighboring countries as well as atrocities against the Iraqi people.

1979

Jeffrey MacDonald stands trial in North Carolina for the murder of his wife and children nearly 10 years before.

1995

Amazon officially opens for business as an online bookseller.

1999

American publisher and lawyer John F. Kennedy, Jr., the only son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, died after the airplane he was piloting crashed off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; also killed were his wife and her sister.

2001

Jacques Rogge of Belgium was chosen to replace Juan António Samaranch as the president of the International Olympic Committee.

2002

President George W. Bush announces his plan for strengthening homeland security in the wake of the shocking September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

2004

Chicago officially opened its Millennium Park, which featured fountains, eye-catching sculptures, and a large outdoor concert facility designed by architect Frank Gehry.

2017

BBC announces first ever female Doctor Who will be played by Jodie Whittaker.

2017

American filmmaker George A. Romero—who was known for his horror films, notably Night of the Living Dead (1968), which launched a series of related movies—died at age 77.