This Day in History Class

On this day in 1802, Aboriginal resistance leader Pemulwuy died. / On this day in 1966, NASA's lunar lander Surveyor 1 landed on the moon, marking the first time an American space probe made a successful soft-landing on the lunar surface.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1843, Isabella Baumfree took the name Sojourner Truth. Truth went on to become an abolitionist and advocate for Black and women's rights. / On this day in 1974, the Heimlich Maneuver was unveiled in an article in the journal Emergency Medicine.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1669, English naval administrator Samuel Pepys wrote his last diary entry. / On this day in 1578, the Roman catacombs were rediscovered by accident.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1953, Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay and climber Edmund Hillary became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain above sea level. / On this day in 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared its independence from Nigeria.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1919, a total solar eclipse experiment helped prove Einstein's recently proposed general theory of relativity. / On this day in 1453, Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Empire, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1912, Ruby Payne-Scott, the first female radio astronomer in Australia, was born. / On this day in 1831, abolitionist and religious leader Eliza Ann Gardner was born in New York.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1905, the Battle of Tsushima, part of the Russo-Japanese war, began. / On this day in 1930, the Chrysler Building in Manhattan was completed.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1914, dancer and Lindy Hop innovator Frankie Manning was born. / On this day in 1897, the novel "Dracula" was published.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1963, the Organization of African Unity was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. / On this day in 1925, Mexican writer Rosario Castellanos was born.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1956, the first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano, Switzerland. / On this day in 1940, a group of Stalinist agents attempted to assassinate Leon Trotsky. Less than three months later, another Stalinist agent killed Trotsky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.