Today in History
-
1987 193 people die when a ferry capsizes in the North Sea
The Herald of Free Enterprise sank just minutes after leaving Zeebrugge, Belgium.
-
1967 Stalin’s daughter defects to the West
Svetlana Alliluyeva, the Soviet dictator’s daughter, sparked international outrage when she approached the US embassy in New Delhi and later became a naturalized US citizen.
-
1957 Ghana becomes the first African country to gain independence from colonial rule
Ghana was formed from the former British colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland. The country’s first leader was Kwame Nkrumah.
-
1899 The painkiller Asprin is registered as a trademark
Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist, discovered acetylsalicylic acid in 1897. Bayer now sells the medication, which is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines.
-
1869 The first periodic table of chemical elements is presented
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the system to the Russian Chemical Society on that day.
Births On This Day, March 6
-
1972 Shaquille O’Neal
American basketball player, actor, rapper
-
1946 David Gilmour
English singer-songwriter, guitarist
-
1936 Marion Barry
American politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia
-
1926 Alan Greenspan
American economist
-
1475 Michelangelo
Italian painter, sculptor
Deaths On This Day, March 6
-
2007 Jean Baudrillard
French philosopher
-
1986 Georgia O’Keeffe
American painter
-
1982 Ayn Rand
Russian/American author, philosopher
-
1900 Gottlieb Daimler
German engineer, and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft
-
1842 Constanze Mozart
German wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
