Important Events From This day in History – 8 May

Today in History

• 1984 Moscow announces that the USSR will not take part in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles

  Other countries that joined the boycott included Cuba, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Vietnam. The United States had not sent any athletes to the Summer Olympics in Moscow four years prior.

• 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler climb Mount Everest without oxygen supply

  Prior to the Italian and Austrian mountaineers’ ascent, it was thought to be impossible to conquer the world’s highest mountain without supplemental oxygen.

• 1970 The Beatles release the album Let It Be

  The recording was the last studio album ever released by the legendary English rock band.

• 1927 The White Bird and its crew mysteriously disappear

  Charles Nungesser and François Coli, two French aviators, took off from Paris in their Levasseur PL.8 biplane in an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Their disappearance is still unknown. Two weeks later, Charles Lindbergh succeeded.

• 1886 Coca-Cola is invented

  According to legend, Dr. John Styth Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, made the syrup in his backyard in a brass pot. It was originally intended to be a patent medicine. Coca-Cola is now one of the world’s most popular soft drinks, as well as one of the most recognizable trademarks.