On this date in

1520 Ferdinand Magellan discovered a body of water now known as the Strait of Magellan.

1797 The USS Constitution was launched in Boston Harbor.

1805 The British fleet commanded by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.

1824 Joseph Aspdin patented Portland cement.

1879 Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.

1944 The HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane in the first kamikaze attack.

1945 Argentine politican Juan Peron married actress Evita.

1959 The Guggenheim Museum opened in New York City.

1967 Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.

Born on this date:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896)
Guiseppe Glacosa (1847-1906)
Edna Purviance (1895-1958)
Georg Solti (1912-1997)
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)
Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
Natalee Holloway (1986-2005)