Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1777 - San Jose, California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. It is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California
1877 - Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time
1890 - In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24 to 0 in the first Army-Navy football game
1929 - US Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole
1944 - World War II: Albania is liberated from German occupation
1944 - The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas
1948 - The children's television program Kukla, Fran and Ollie debuts
1961 - Mercury-Atlas 5 is launched with Enos the chimp aboard (the spacecraft orbited the Earth twice and splashed-down off the coast of Puerto Rico)
1963 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
1965 - Canadian Satellite Alouette 2 is launched

Births
1797 - Gaetano Donizetti, opera composer (d. 1848)
1803 - Christian Doppler, physicist (d. 1853)
1832 - Louisa May Alcott, writer (d. 1888)
1849 - Sir Ambrose Fleming, physicist (d. 1945)
1898 - C. S. Lewis, writer (d. 1963)
1917 - Merle Travis, country music singer (d. 1983)
1927 - Vin Scully, baseball announcer
1933 - John Mayall, blues musician

Deaths
1268 - Pope Clement IV
1643 - Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer
1924 - Giacomo Puccini, composer
1954 - Enrico Fermi, physicist
1975 - Graham Hill, automobile racer
1979 - Zeppo Marx, actor, comedian (b. 1901)