1215 – King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta.
1667 – The first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
1752 – Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity.
1785 – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during an attempt to cross the English Channel.
1844 – Charles Goodyear received a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper became the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
1909 – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord’s and formed the ICC (Imperial Cricket Conference).
1911 – Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) was incorporated.
1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
1920 – Three black circus workers were attacked and lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota.
1934 – The U.S.’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded.
1954 – UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) was formed in Basle, Switzerland.
1974 – Kevin Gately, a second year maths student at the University of Warwick died as a result of injuries received during an anti facist rally in central London.
1994 – Israel and Vatican City established full diplomatic relations.
1996 – An IRA bomb injured over 200 people and devastated a large part of Manchester’s city centre.
2002 – Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.