Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1861 - The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington, as the Territorial University
1869 - The first issue of scientific journal Nature is published
1884 - U.S. presidential election, 1884: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms
1922 - In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings
1924 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming elected as the first woman governor in the United States
1948 - T.S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
1952 - U.S. presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson
1956 - Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush the Hungarian revolution that started on 23 October. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country
1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with a dog named Laika on board, becoming the first country to launch a living creature into orbit. The capsule was not designed to be retrievable and she died a few hours later from stress and overheating
1966 - Two thirds of Florence, Italy are submerged as the Arno and Po rivers flood; 113 people die, 30,000 are rendered homeless, and countless rennaisance artworks and books are destroyed
1980 - U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin
1993 - A series of fires destroy 1000 homes in southern California, causing between 500 million and 1 billion USD of damage. Half of the fires turn out to be arson
2003 - The largest ever solar flare is recorded. (X28)

Births
1470 - King Edward V of England, one of the two Princes in the Tower
1874 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander (d. 1920)
1879 - Will Rogers, American humorist and entertainer (d. 1935)
1916 - Walter Cronkite, news broadcaster
1918 - Art Carney, actor (d. 2003)
1923 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch businessman (d. 2002)
1937 - Loretta Swit, American actress

Deaths
1698 - Rasmus Bartholin, Danish mathematician
1847 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer
1924 - Gabriel Fauré, French composer