On this date in

539 BCE King Cyrus the Great of Persia marched into Babylon and released the Jews from almost 70 years in exile.

1091 A tornado hit London.

1781 British General Cornwallis offered his surrender to American revolutionaries at Yorktown.

1888 Thomas Edison filed a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).

1931 Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion.

1933 Albert Einstein fled Nazi Germany and moved to the United States.

1956 Queen Elizabeth II opened the first commercial nuclear power plant in Cumbria, England.

1965 The New York World's Fair closed.

1979 Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1989 An earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area.

Born on this date:
Spring Byington (1886-1971)
Jean Arthur (1900-1991)
Irene Ryan (1902-1973)
Nathanael West (1903-1940)
Arthur Miller (1915-2005)
Rita Hayworth (1918-1987)
Montgomery Clift (1920-1966)
Tom Poston (1921-2007)
Charles McClendon (1923-2001)
Evel Knieval (1938-2007)
Howard Rollins (1950-1996)