Today in History

1969 The internet is born The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) awarded a contract to build a precursor of today’s world wide web to BBN Technologies. The date is widely considered as the internet’s symbolic birthday. 1990 An arson attack on the…

1994 The Rwandan genocide begins The assassination of Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Burundian President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, triggered a mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis with up to 1 million victims. 1965 The first commercial communications satellite is launched Intelsat I, also known…

1895 Oscar Wilde loses his criminal libel case triggered by accusations of homosexuality The Marquess of Queensbury had left his calling card in the Albemarle Club with the added inscription, “For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite” (sic). 1998 The world’s largest suspension bridge…

1979 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is executed The former President of Pakistan had been deposed by a coup d’etat. He was hanged despite international calls to stop the execution. 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen establish Microsoft Microsoft has developed into a multinational…

1948 Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan $12.4 billion was allocated to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II and prevent communists from seizing control. 1996 The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, is arrested The mathematician who was driven…