
1905 – 27-year-old clerk Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity, the relationship between space and time in equation E=mc².
1909 – Jack Johnson fights Tony Ross to a no decision in 6 rounds at Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to retain his heavyweight boxing title.
1918 – Prominent U.S. Socialist and Pacifist Eugene Debs is arrested on charges of denouncing the government, a violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.
1925 – Charles Jenkins is granted the U.S. patent for transmitting pictures over wireless (early television).
1933 – LPGA Western Open Golf, Olympia Fields Country Club: June Beebe beats Jane Weiller 3 & 2 to win the major tournament for the second time.
1936 – 40 hour work week law approved for federal employees.
1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With The Wind” is published.
1943 – Allied forces under General Douglas MacArthur begin Operation Cartwheel (island-hopping) in the southwest Pacific to try to destroy the Japanese base at Rabaul.
1948 – Cleveland Indians’ future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon no-hits Detroit Tigers 2-0.
1953 – First Chevrolet Corvette manufactured.
1960 – United States stops sugar import from Cuba.
1965 – National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle grants ownership of the Atlanta Falcons to Rankin Smith Sr., executive vice president of Life Insurance Company of Georgia, for a then-record $8.5 million.
1970 – IBM announces its System/370 mainframe computer.
1977 – President Jimmy Carter cancels B-1A bomber.
1984 – Longest pro football game when the Los Angeles Express beat the Michigan Panthers 27-21 in USFL playoffs in a game that lasted 93 minutes, 33 seconds.
1988 – Brooklyn, New York dedicated a bus depot honoring Jackie Gleason and his role as bus driver Ralph Kramden in “The Honeymooners.”
1994 – Pre-trial hearings open in Los Angeles against O.J. Simpson, who is accused of killing two people.
2004 – “Spider-Man 2,” directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, is released.
2012 – Mid-Atlantic storms in the United States kill 13 and leave millions without power in Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
2022 – Supreme Court ruling limits Environmental Protection Agency to regulate power plant pollution in case brought by West Virginia.
2023 – Supreme rules 6-3 that a graphic artist can refuse work from a same-sex couple in a defeat for gay rights.