2020
New coral reef 500m (1,640ft) high, taller than the Empire State Building, discovered north of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
1997
NBA announces hiring of Dee Kantner & Violet Palmer as 1st women to officiate a major-league all-male sports league.
1978
Bobby Orr scores his last career NHL goal (vs Detroit Red Wings)
1971
John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” in NYC.
1962
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
1958
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected Pope. He took the name John XXIII.
1954
Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to Ernest Hemingway.
1900
II Summer (Modern) Olympic Games, Paris, France: competition ends after 5 months; no opening or closing ceremonies conducted.
1886
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Cleveland.
1824
First classes begin at Montreal Medical Institute, Canada’s first medical school.
1636
Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts. The original name was Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was the first school of higher education in America.
1492
Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name “Juana”.