July 15
1799 - The Rosetta Stone, a key to deciphering ancient Egyptian scripts, was found at Fort Julien in the Nile Delta during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt.
1834 - The Spanish Inquisition was abolished more than 350 years after its creation.
1869 - Margarine was patented in France by Hippolyte Mege Mouries.
1870 - Georgia became the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1913 - Democrat Augustus Bacon of Georgia became the first person elected to the U.S. Senate under the terms of the recently ratified 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for popular election of senators.
1916 - The Boeing Company, originally known as Pacific Aero Products Co., was founded in Seattle.
1918 - The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
1940 - Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man who stood at 8 feet, 11.1 inches, died.
1948 - John J. Pershing, whose leadership in World War I earned him the title of General of the Armies of the United States, died in Washington, D.C. The rank awarded to Pershing is the highest in the United States military, and has only ever been awarded to two other individuals (George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, both posthumously).
1975 - Three American astronauts blasted off aboard an Apollo spaceship hours after two Soviet cosmonauts were launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a mission that included a linkup of the two ships in orbit.
1976 - A 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, California, by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. (The captives escaped unharmed; the kidnappers were caught.)
1996 - MSNBC, a 24-hour all-news network, made its debut on cable television and the internet.
1997 - Fashion designer Gianni Versace, 50, was shot dead outside his Miami Beach home; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan, 27, was found dead eight days later, a suicide. (Investigators believed Cunanan killed four other people before Versace in a cross-country rampage that began the previous March.)
2002 - John Walker Lindh, an American who’d fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to two felonies in a deal sparing him life in prison.
2006 - Twitter (now known as X) was launched to the public.
2010 - After 86 days of gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and several previous attempts to contain the flow, BP successfully caps its leaking oil well.
2019 - Avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years for killing one and injuring dozens of others when he deliberately drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
2020 - George Floyd’s family filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death, alleging the officers violated Floyd’s rights when they restrained him and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism and impunity to flourish in its police force. (The city would agree to pay $27 million to settle the lawsuit in March 2021.)
Birthdays
32 - Doina Barbaneagra (model)
34 - Alexander Calvert (actor)
34 - Damian Lillard (basketball player)
35 - Tristan "Mack" Wilds (actor/singer)
43 - Taylor Kinney (actor)
45 - Travis Fimmel (actor)
47 - Lana Parrilla (actress)
48 - Gabriel Iglesias (comedian)
48 - Diane Kruger (actress)
51 - Brian Austin Green (actor)
52 - Scott Foley (actor)
52 - Jim Rash (actor)
56 - Eddie Griffin (actor/comedian)
57 - Adam Savage (TV host)
61 - Brigitte Nielsen (actress)
63 - Forest Whitaker (actor)
64 - Willie Aames (actor)
64 - Kim Alexis (model)
72 - Terry O'Quinn (actor)
73 - Jesse "The Body" Ventura (professional wrestler/politician)
74 - Arianna Huffington (co-founder The Huffington Post)
75 - Richard Russo (author)
78 - Linda Ronstadt (singer)
80 - Millie Jackson (singer)
85 - Patrick Wayne (actor)
==============================
Today in Sports History - July 15
1876 - George Washington Bradley of St. Louis pitched the first no-hitter in baseball in a 2-0 win over Hartford.
1912 - American athlete Jim Thorpe wins the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon competition at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. (Thorpe's medal was stripped in 1913 for having played professional baseball; it was posthumously restored to him in 1982.)
1921 - Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees ties the MLB career home run record with his 138th. (Roger Connor set the mark in 1895.)
1973 - Nolan Ryan (California Angels) became the first pitcher in two decades to win two no-hitters in a season.
1973 - Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants becomes the 15th player in MLB history to hit 400 career home runs.
1985 - Baseball players voted to strike on August 6th if no contract was reached with baseball owners. The strike turned out to be just a one-day interruption.
2007 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-2, leading the Phillies to become the first franchise in North American major professional sports history with 10,000 all-time losses.
2018 - France defeats Croatia 4-2 to win the World Cup.
2018 - Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao stops WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round for his first knockout in nine years and his 60th career professional victory.
2019 - Tampa Bay Rays catcher Travis d'Arnaud becomes the first player in MLB history to hit three home runs while catching and batting leadoff in a game against the New York Yankees.
2023 - Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi officially signs with Major League Soccer's Inter Miami with a 2 1/2 year contract worth between $50-$60 million.
2023 - Czech left-hander Marketa Vondrousova becomes the first unseeded player to win the women's Wimbledon singles championship in the pro era.
1799 - The Rosetta Stone, a key to deciphering ancient Egyptian scripts, was found at Fort Julien in the Nile Delta during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt.
1834 - The Spanish Inquisition was abolished more than 350 years after its creation.
1869 - Margarine was patented in France by Hippolyte Mege Mouries.
1870 - Georgia became the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1913 - Democrat Augustus Bacon of Georgia became the first person elected to the U.S. Senate under the terms of the recently ratified 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for popular election of senators.
1916 - The Boeing Company, originally known as Pacific Aero Products Co., was founded in Seattle.
1918 - The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
1940 - Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man who stood at 8 feet, 11.1 inches, died.
1948 - John J. Pershing, whose leadership in World War I earned him the title of General of the Armies of the United States, died in Washington, D.C. The rank awarded to Pershing is the highest in the United States military, and has only ever been awarded to two other individuals (George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, both posthumously).
1975 - Three American astronauts blasted off aboard an Apollo spaceship hours after two Soviet cosmonauts were launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a mission that included a linkup of the two ships in orbit.
1976 - A 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, California, by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. (The captives escaped unharmed; the kidnappers were caught.)
1996 - MSNBC, a 24-hour all-news network, made its debut on cable television and the internet.
1997 - Fashion designer Gianni Versace, 50, was shot dead outside his Miami Beach home; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan, 27, was found dead eight days later, a suicide. (Investigators believed Cunanan killed four other people before Versace in a cross-country rampage that began the previous March.)
2002 - John Walker Lindh, an American who’d fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to two felonies in a deal sparing him life in prison.
2006 - Twitter (now known as X) was launched to the public.
2010 - After 86 days of gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and several previous attempts to contain the flow, BP successfully caps its leaking oil well.
2019 - Avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years for killing one and injuring dozens of others when he deliberately drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
2020 - George Floyd’s family filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death, alleging the officers violated Floyd’s rights when they restrained him and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism and impunity to flourish in its police force. (The city would agree to pay $27 million to settle the lawsuit in March 2021.)
Birthdays
32 - Doina Barbaneagra (model)
34 - Alexander Calvert (actor)
34 - Damian Lillard (basketball player)
35 - Tristan "Mack" Wilds (actor/singer)
43 - Taylor Kinney (actor)
45 - Travis Fimmel (actor)
47 - Lana Parrilla (actress)
48 - Gabriel Iglesias (comedian)
48 - Diane Kruger (actress)
51 - Brian Austin Green (actor)
52 - Scott Foley (actor)
52 - Jim Rash (actor)
56 - Eddie Griffin (actor/comedian)
57 - Adam Savage (TV host)
61 - Brigitte Nielsen (actress)
63 - Forest Whitaker (actor)
64 - Willie Aames (actor)
64 - Kim Alexis (model)
72 - Terry O'Quinn (actor)
73 - Jesse "The Body" Ventura (professional wrestler/politician)
74 - Arianna Huffington (co-founder The Huffington Post)
75 - Richard Russo (author)
78 - Linda Ronstadt (singer)
80 - Millie Jackson (singer)
85 - Patrick Wayne (actor)
==============================
Today in Sports History - July 15
1876 - George Washington Bradley of St. Louis pitched the first no-hitter in baseball in a 2-0 win over Hartford.
1912 - American athlete Jim Thorpe wins the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon competition at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. (Thorpe's medal was stripped in 1913 for having played professional baseball; it was posthumously restored to him in 1982.)
1921 - Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees ties the MLB career home run record with his 138th. (Roger Connor set the mark in 1895.)
1973 - Nolan Ryan (California Angels) became the first pitcher in two decades to win two no-hitters in a season.
1973 - Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants becomes the 15th player in MLB history to hit 400 career home runs.
1985 - Baseball players voted to strike on August 6th if no contract was reached with baseball owners. The strike turned out to be just a one-day interruption.
2007 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-2, leading the Phillies to become the first franchise in North American major professional sports history with 10,000 all-time losses.
2018 - France defeats Croatia 4-2 to win the World Cup.
2018 - Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao stops WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round for his first knockout in nine years and his 60th career professional victory.
2019 - Tampa Bay Rays catcher Travis d'Arnaud becomes the first player in MLB history to hit three home runs while catching and batting leadoff in a game against the New York Yankees.
2023 - Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi officially signs with Major League Soccer's Inter Miami with a 2 1/2 year contract worth between $50-$60 million.
2023 - Czech left-hander Marketa Vondrousova becomes the first unseeded player to win the women's Wimbledon singles championship in the pro era.
