Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
867 - Adrian II becomes Pope
872 - John VIII becomes Pope
1287 - Zuider Zee sea wall collapses, killing over 50,000 people
1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.
1790 - Alexander Hamilton proposes creation of a Bank of the United States
1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state
1896 - Glasgow Underground Railway, third in the world, opens (an accident closes it the same day and it only reopens in 1897)
1900 - Max Planck publishes his study of the quantum theory
1902 - First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean
1911 - First expedition reaches the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen
1947 - NASCAR founded
1959 - Motown, a famed record label whose roster included The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and many other musicians, was founded in Detroit, Michigan
1962 - Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Venus
1962 - The Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million, the highest insurance valuance for a painting in history
1964 - Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964 decided by U.S. Supreme Court
1991 - A rock slide takes off 10 metres of Mount Cook’s elevation in New Zealand
1999 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, announced his retirement
2003 - The news of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s capture is finally announced.
2003 - Celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.
2004 - The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, is officially opened

Births
1503 - Nostradamus, astrologer and mathematician (d. 1566)
1546 - Tycho Brahe, astronomer (d. 1601)
1896 - Jimmy Doolittle, American World War II General (d. 1993)
1897 - Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
1908 - Morey Amsterdam, comedian, actor (d. 1996)
1911 - Spike Jones, comedian, musician (d. 1965)
1932 - Charlie Rich, country music performer (d. 1995)
1946 - Patty Duke, actress
1947 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
1954 - Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR driver (d. 1993)

Deaths
1799 - George Washington, first President of the United States (b. 1732)
1861 - Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
1985 - Roger Maris, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1934)
1989 - Andrei D. Sakharov, physicist, Soviet dissident (b. 1921)

Holidays & observances
Feast of Saint John of the Cross (in the Roman Catholic Church and Church of England