Today is Monday, September 2nd, the 246th day of the yr 2024. There are 120 days left within the yr.
Today in history:
On September 2, 2013, American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the primary person to swim from Cuba to Florida without assistance from a shark cage on her fifth attempt.
Also on this date:
In 1666, the Great Fire of London broke out, destroying greater than 13,000 homes and a whole bunch of other buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral, over the subsequent three days.
In 1864, through the Civil War, Union General William T. Sherman’s troops occupied Atlanta.
In 1935, a Category 5 hurricane struck the Florida Keys on Labor Day, killing over 400 people.
In 1945, Japan officially surrendered in a ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which supported private and non-private educational institutions to advertise learning in areas reminiscent of mathematics and science.
In 1963, Alabama Governor George C. Wallace prevented the combination of Tuskegee High School by surrounding the constructing with cops.
In 1969, the yr considered by some to be the birth of the Internet, two interconnected computers on the University of California, Los Angeles transmitted test data over a 15-foot cable.
In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 aircraft crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia. All 229 passengers and crew lost their lives.
In 2005, 4 days after Hurricane Katrina, a National Guard convoy filled with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans.
In 2018, the 200-year-old Brazilian National Museum in Rio de Janeiro was hit by a serious fire as firefighters and museum staff raced to avoid wasting the historical relics.
In 2019, a fireplace engulfed a scuba diving boat anchored near an island off the coast of Southern California. The captain and 4 other crew members escaped the flames, but 34 people trapped underwater died.
Today's birthdays:
- Former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo., is 93.
- Horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 89.
- Former chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee and former commissioner of Major League Baseball, Peter Ueberroth, is 87 years old.
- Terry Bradshaw, a member of the Football Hall of Fame, is 76.
- Nate Archibald, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is 76.
- Actor Mark Harmon is 73.
- Jimmy Connors, member of the Tennis Hall of Fame, is 72.
- Eric Dickerson, a member of the Football Hall of Fame, is 64.
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is 62.
- Actor Keanu Reeves is 60.
- Lennox Lewis, member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, is 59.
- Actress Salma Hayek is 58.
- R&B singer K-Ci is 55.
- Electronic music DJ/producer Zedd is 35.
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