Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
235 - Anterus is elected Pope
1783 - In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, the marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight (flight time: 25 minutes, Maximum height: 100m, distance: 9 km)
1789 - North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state
1877 - Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound (this is considered to be Edison’s first great invention)
1922 - Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first woman United States Senator
1941 - The radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time (it would later become the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio program)
1942 - The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the “highway” was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however)
1953 - Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the “Piltdown Man”, held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax
1964 - The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic (at the time it was the world’s longest suspension bridge)
1964 - Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church’s ecumenical council closes
1969 - The first ARPANET link is established
1995 - Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery
1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 5,000 (5,023.55) for the first time

Births
1694 - François-Marie Arouet (later known as Voltaire), French philosopher (d. 1778)
1787 - Samuel Cunard, shipping magnate (d. 1865)
1854 - Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)
1920 - Stan Musial, Baseball Hall of Famer
1940 - Dr. John, musician
1965 - Björk, singer, songwriter, actress
1965 - Alexander Siddig, actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
1966 - Troy Aikman, American football star
1969 - Ken Griffey, Jr., baseball player

Deaths
1695 - Henry Purcell, composer
1993 - Bill Bixby, American actor, director