Otto Lilienthal(German aviator whose work made a significant contribution to the success of the Wright Brothers)β
Robert Goddard(rocket scientist)β
Isaac Hayes(singer & songwriter)β
Events
Missouri, the second state to be created from the Louisiana Purchase, was admitted to the Union as the 24th stateβ
The Smithsonian Institution was established at the bequest of James Smithson; the reason for the bequest remains unknownβ
Alexander Graham Bell received the first long-distance phone call in Brantford, Ontario, from his father who was 8 miles away in Paris, Ontarioβ
The Canadian Bill of Rights was enactedβ
President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988β
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the 107th justice of the US Supreme Courtβ
First Earth/Space wedding. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), married Ekaterina Dmitriev, on Earthβ
For the first time in Canada, a court ordered a man to give his ex-wife monthly support payments for their dog. The man was told to pay $200 a month in alimony towards the upkeep of the couplesβ St. Bernardβ
Weather
A tornado hit Coney Island, New York, causing extensive damageβ
Frost was reported in Iowa and Chicagoβ
101.3 degrees F in Kent, Englandβ
-136 degrees F (-93.2 degrees C) recorded at the East Antarctic Plateau in Antarctica, making it the coldest temperature on Earth on record at the timeβ