Today In History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1600 - Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence
1884 - The Naval War College of the United States Navy was founded in Newport, Rhode Island
1995 - 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus, 47.9 light-years away from Earth, was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it

Births
1820 - Jenny Lind, singer (d. 1887)
1846 - George Westinghouse, American engineer, inventor (d. 1914)
1914 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the Kon-Tiki expedition (d. 2002)
1948 - Gerry Adams, Irish politician
1951 - Manfred Winkelhock, German auto racing driver (d. 1985)

Deaths
1892 - Alfred Tennyson, British poet laureate
1983 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, tenth bishop (seventh archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York (b. 1921)
1985 - Nelson Riddle, bandleader (b. 1921)
2002 - Claus von Amsberg (76), husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

Holidays & Observances
German-American Day (U.S. observance, since 1987)