The Off-Key Bard

The Bard's Desk

History

The past, told without putting you to sleep.

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This Day in History — The U.S. Constitution Is Signed
This Day in History — The Xerox 914 Photocopier Is Unveiled
This Day in History — Nazi Germany Enacts the Nuremberg Laws
This Day in History — ERMA Helps Bring Banking Into the Computer Age
This Day in History — Phineas Gage Survives an Iron Rod Through His Brain
This Day in History — The First Working Integrated Circuit
This Day in History — The First Public Demonstration of Remote Computing
This Day in History — The Large Hadron Collider Circulates Its First Proton Beam
This Day in History — The First Literal Computer Bug Is Recorded
This Day in History — The Great Galveston Hurricane
This Day in History — Philo Farnsworth Demonstrates Electronic Television
This Day in History — The First Circumnavigation of Earth Is Completed
This Day in History — Voyager 1 Launches
This Day in History — Pearl Street Station Switches On the Electric Age
This Day in History — Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
This Day in History — Britain Skips 11 Days to Fix Its Calendar
This Day in History — The Carrington Event Begins
This Day in History — The Great Charleston Earthquake
Haym Salomon
Roger Sherman
This Day in History — Jacobus van 't Hoff Is Born
This Day in History — Michael Faraday Discovers Electromagnetic Induction
John Hancock
This Day in History — William Herschel Discovers Enceladus
John Witherspoon
This Day in History — A Lunar Eclipse Changes the Course of a War
John Jay
Paul Revere
This Day in History — America's First Steamboat Patents Are Granted
Gouverneur Morris
This Day in History — Voyager 2 Makes Humanity's First Visit to Neptune
Robert Morris
This Day in History — Luna 11 Launches for the Moon
This Day in History — Eunice Foote Demonstrates the Heat-Trapping Power of Carbon Dioxide
Patrick Henry
Phillis Wheatley
This Day in History — Joe Walker Takes the X-15 Into Space
This Day in History — William Burroughs Patents His Calculating Machine
Thomas Paine
Marquis de Lafayette
This Day in History — Voyager 2 Begins Its Epic Journey
This Day in History — Photography Is Given to the World
John Dickinson
James Madison
This Day in History — Helium Is Discovered in the Sun
Crispus Attucks
This Day in History — Venera 7 Launches for Venus
Samuel Adams
This Day in History — Kittinger Steps From the Edge of Space
Baron von Steuben
This Day in History — The Wow! Signal
This Day in History — The First Satellite Photograph of Earth
Thomas Jefferson
This Day in History — The Coin-Operated Telephone Is Patented
George Mason
This Day in History — Echo 1A Takes Communications Into Space
Benjamin Franklin
Abigail Adams
This Day in History — Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil Patent Frequency-Hopping Technology
Nathanael Greene
This Day in History — Magellan Arrives at Venus
This Day in History — The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
John Adams
James Armistead Lafayette
This Day in History — Genesis Launches to Capture Pieces of the Sun
Alexander Hamilton
This Day in History — Viking 2 Arrives at Mars
This Day in History — Hiroshima and the Atomic Age
Mercy Otis Warren
George Washington
This Day in History — The Path to the First Quasar
Joe Biden
This Day in History — Europe and Asia Connected Beneath the Bosporus
Donald J. Trump (First Term)
This Day in History — MESSENGER Begins Its Journey to Mercury
Barack Obama
This Day in History — The Positron Is Photographed
George W. Bush
This Day in History — Oxygen Is Discovered
Bill Clinton
This Day in History — The First Drive on the Moon
George H. W. Bush
This Day in History — "In God We Trust" Becomes the U.S. Motto
This Day in History — NASA Is Established
Ronald Reagan
This Day in History — The First Photograph of a Solar Eclipse
Jimmy Carter
Gerald R. Ford
This Day in History — Insulin Is Successfully Isolated
This Day in History — Emmy Noether Changes Physics Forever
Richard Nixon
This Day in History — The First Woman Walks in Space
Lyndon B. Johnson
This Day in History — Apollo 11 Returns Home
John F. Kennedy
Dwight D. Eisenhower
This Day in History — Ford Sells Its First Automobile
This Day in History — Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Is Born
Harry S. Truman
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This Day in History — John Scopes Is Found Guilty
Herbert Hoover
This Day in History — Operation Valkyrie Fails
Calvin Coolidge
This Day in History — The Spark at Seneca Falls
This Day in History — Gemini 10 Launches
Warren G. Harding
This Day in History — The Spanish Civil War Begins
Woodrow Wilson
This Day in History — The Great Schism Begins
William Howard Taft
This Day in History — The Battle of Grunwald
Theodore Roosevelt
This Day in History — The Storming of the Bastille
William McKinley
This Day in History — The First FIFA World Cup Kicks Off
Grover Cleveland (Second Term)
Benjamin Harrison
This Day in History — Wild Bill Hickok's First Gunfight
This Day in History — When Common Soldiers Defeated Europe's Finest Cavalry
Grover Cleveland
Chester A. Arthur
This Day in History — Wyoming Joins the Union
James A. Garfield
This Day in History — USS Thresher Is Launched
This Day in History — The Roswell Incident Captures the World's Imagination
Rutherford B. Hayes
This Day in History — The Arrival of Sliced Bread
Ulysses S. Grant
Andrew Johnson
This Day in History — Jan Hus Is Executed
Abraham Lincoln
This Day in History — The Bikini Makes Its Debut
James Buchanan
This Day in History — The Statue of Liberty Is Presented
This Day in History — The Battle of Gettysburg Ends
Franklin Pierce
This Day in History — The Civil Rights Act Becomes Law
Millard Fillmore
This Day in History — The Walkman Changes How We Listen to Music
Zachary Taylor
This Day in History — Blondin Walks Across Niagara Falls
James K. Polk
John Tyler
This Day in History — The Townshend Acts
This Day in History — The Stonewall Riots Begin
William Henry Harrison
This Day in History — The Liberty Bell Comes Home
Martin Van Buren
Andrew Jackson
This Day in History — The First Smallpox Inoculations in the American Colonies
This Day in History — Custer's Last Stand
John Quincy Adams
This Day in History — The Dancing Plague Begins
James Monroe
James Madison
This Day in History — The Typewriter Is Patented
This Day in History — Galileo Recants Before the Inquisition
This Day in History — The First Ferris Wheel
Thomas Jefferson
This Day in History — Jaws Hits Theaters
John Adams
George Washington
This Day in History — Juneteenth