This Day in History – July 15, 2011

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte captured 1869 Margarine is patented in Paris, for use by French Navy 1870 Georgia becomes last confederate state to be readmitted to US 1870 Hudson’s Bay & Northwest Territories transferred to Canada 1870 Manitoba becomes 5th Canadian province & NW Territories created 1876 Baseballs 1st no-hitter, St Louis’ George W Bradley no-hits Hartford 1888 Bandai volcano (Japan) erupts for 1st time in 1,000 years 1904 1st Buddhist temple in US established, Los Angeles 1920 Ruth ties his record of 29 HRs in a season 1922 1st duck-billed platypus publicly exhibited in US, at NY zoo 1929 1st airport hotel opens-Oakland Ca 1933 Wiley Post began 1st solo flight around the world 1941 Florey & Heatley present freeze dried mold cultures (Pencillin) 1948 Pres Truman nominated for another term 1949 Czech tennis stars Jaroslav Drobny & Vladimir Cernik, defect to US 1952 1st transatlantic helicopter flight begins 1958 Pres Eisenhower sends US troops to Lebanon; they stay 3 months 1964 Barry M Goldwater (Sen-R-Az) nominated for president by Republicans 1965 US scientists display close-up photos of Mars from Mariner IV 1968 “One Life to Live” premieres on TV 1968 NJ Americans moved to Comack & become NY Nets (ABA) 1971 Pres Nixon announces he would visit People’s Rep of China 1973 Ray Davies, announces retirement from Kinks then attempts suicide 1975 Soyuz 19 & Apollo 18 launched; rendezvous 2 days later 1976 36-hr kidnapping of 26 schoolchildren & their bus driver in California 1980 Johnny Bench hits his 314th HR as a catcher; breaks Yogi Berra’s record 1980 A massive storm tears through western Wisconsin, causing US$160 million in damage. 1982 Body of Wendy Caulfield, 1st Green River victim, found near Seattle 1982 Columbia flies to Kennedy Space Center via Dyess AFB, Texas 1982 Senate confirms George Shultz as 60th sec of state by vote of 97-0 1983 A terrorist attack is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA at the Paris-Orly Airport in Paris; it leaves 8 people dead and 55 injured. 1987 John Poindexter testifies at Iran-Contra hearings 1991 US troops leave northern Iraq 1996 A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. 1997 In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home. 2002 “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. 2002 Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. 2003 AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day. 2009 Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes in northwestern Iran, killing all 153 aboard.]]]]> ]]>