A meteorite landed in a wheat field near Ensisheim, Alsace, in 1492. The London Gazette was published for the first time in 1665. Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives in 1916. Only four months after opening, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed when steady 42 mph wind caused the bridge to begin swaying. Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major US city (Cleveland) in 1967. Douglas Wilder became the first black governor of a US state (Virginia) in 1989. David Dinkins became the first black mayor of New York City, also in 1989 and Mary Robinson became the first female president of the Republic of Ireland in 1990.
Born today: Captain James Cook (1728-1779), Marie Curie (1867-1934), Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), Albert Camus (1913-1960), Mary Travers (1937-2009), Jean Shrimpton (1942), Joni Mitchell (1943), Danny Grewcock (1972) and Rio Ferdinand (1978).
It is National Day in northern Catalonia.
