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First Events in History

2013 Event - The world's first plastic gun, produced by a 3-D printer by Defense Distributed fires successfully in Austin, Texas. Security officials fear plastic weapons would not be detected at airport screenings

2013 Event - In Beijing, China, a seven-year old girl is confirmed as the first person in the country to catch the Influenza A virus subtype H7N9 bird flu

2013 Event - Northwest Africa 7325, a green meteorite found in Morocco, 2012, may have originated on planet Mercury; if scientists are correct, this will be the first known meteorite from Mercury

2013 Event - By a margin of 50-49, the U.S. Senate passes its first budget in four years

2013 Event - Alfred Xuereb, an Honorary Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, is selected by Pope Francis' to become his first private secretary

2013 Event - In Vatican City, Italy, Pope Francis delivers his first message at the Vatican, telling journalists wants "a poor Church, for the poor"

2013 Event - For the first time in its history, the European Parliament rejects a European Union budget

2013 Event - In Greenland, the Siumut party wins the parliamentary election, setting up Aleqa Hammond to become the country's first female Prime Minister

2013 Event - Falkland Island residents complete the first day of a two day sovereignty referendum, determining whether the islands should remain a British overseas territory

2013 Event - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft transmits images that for the very first time, allow scientists to create a 3D reconstruction of ancient water channels below the surface of Mars

2013 Event - The United Kingdom's bond credit rating is downgraded for the first time in history; Moody's Investor's Service changed the bond credit rating from AAA to AA1

2013 Event - Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network , with cars charging in less than 30 minutes

2013 Event - In racing, Danica Patrick becomes the first woman at the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to win pole position

2013 Event - Citing frail health, Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation effective February 28, 2013; he is the first Pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415

2013 Event - For the first time since launching Google Maps, Google extends its data coverage of North Korea, filling in previously blank areas on most of the country with detailed maps that identify landmarks

2013 Event - European Bioinformatics Institute scientists have successfully stored audio and text on fragments of DNA, and retrieved them with 99.99% accuracy - the first time in history DNA has been used for data storage

2013 Event - For the first time since the Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. announces it will officially recognize, and open diplomatic relations with, the new government of Somalia

2013 Event - NASA scientists achieve a first in laser communication when they successfully beam a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft orbiting the Moon

2013 Event - UK's oldest music retailer HMV calls in administrators after talks to rescue the company fail; the company which has over 4,500 employees, opened its first shop on Oxford Street in 1921

2013 Event - Artist Paul Emsley unveils the first official portrait of Catherine Duchess of Cambridge

2013 Event - For the first time since 1996, no candidates were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame

2012 Event - In his first political speech, marking the five-year anniversary of his mother's death, ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, vows to maintain democracy and fight militancy

2012 Event - Queen Elizabeth II shares her Christmas Message with her Commonwealth subjects, referencing the 'humbling' experience of her diamond jubilee celebrations and the 2012 Summer Olympics;the speech is the first to be broadcast in 3D

2012 Event - United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II attends a meeting of the Cabinet for the first time, receiving a gift honoring her Diamond Jubilee; this was first time a Cabinet meeting was attended by a British monarch since the reign of Queen Victoria

2012 Event - Outgoing U.S. Senator Jim DeMint is replaced by GOP Congressman Tim Scott, the first black senator from the South since 1881

2012 Event - The U.N. condemns North Korea for launching a long-range Unha rocket; North Korea claims its purpose is to put its first satellite into space, but critics say the launch is a disguised ballistic missile test

2012 Event - All members of the Commonwealth of Nations, who have the British Monarch as their head of state, agree to the Succession of the Crown Bill, enabling a female child, for the first time, to become monarch

2012 Event - In ceremonies held at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, is officially inactivated after a 51-year U.S. Naval career

2012 Event - Physics professor Enzo Di Fabrizio, of Magna Graecia University in Catanzaro, Italy, successfully takes the first direct photograph of DNA

2012 Event - Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein are listed first on 'Foreign Policy' magazine's 2012 Top 100 Global Thinkers

2012 Event - The United Kingdom plans to create new private and public sector universities; these will be the first universities the country has created in decades

2012 Event - Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly, veteran astronauts, are chosen to carry out the first year-long mission to the International Space Station in 2015

2012 Death - Joseph Murray, a Nobel prize winner, plastic surgeon and the first person to perform a kidney transplantation, dies at age 93

2012 Event - Burmese President Thein Sein and National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meet U.S. President Barack Obama, the country's first visit from a sitting U.S. President

2012 Event - Medical textbooks require rewriting after 39-year-old Canadian Scott Routley becomes the first person believed to be in a vegetative state to tell scientists he isn't in any pain

2012 Event - Britain's MP Nadine Dorries is suspended from the Conservative Party after deciding to become the first politician to appear on a reality TV series

2012 Event - Light from the first stars in the universe is detected by astronomers studying high-energy radiation data; the data suggests these stars existed as early as 500 million years after the 'big bang'

2012 Event - The New York Stock Exchange is reopened after a two-day closure due to Hurricane Sandy; this was the market's first weather-related two-day closure since the late 19th century

2012 Event - Noam Chomsky, a Jewish-American philosopher, linguist and human rights activist, visits Gaza for the first time, attending a seminar with Gazan thinkers and intellectuals

2012 Event - The Libyan parliament passes a vote of no confidence for Mustafa A.G. Abushagur, the first elected Prime Minister of Libya; Abdurrahim El-Keib again takes over the post

2012 Event - Venezuelans go to the polls to vote in the country's presidential election; President Hugo Chavez competes against Henrique Capriles Radonski of the opposing Justice First party

2012 Event - For the first time, Curiosity, the Mars rover, discovers what could be determined as direct evidence of a fast-moving stream bed, a prior watersource, on Mars

2012 Event - The 'Lamb of God', the first panels of the Ghent Altarpiece are secretly moved from Saint Bavo Cathedral for a five-year restoration at the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts; the panels are likely the most frequently stolen artwork in history

2012 Event - The U.S. commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and for the first time no special security alert is issued on the anniversary of the attacks

2012 Event - At the 2012 U.S. Open, Andy Murray of the U.K. wins the Men's Singles, defeating Serbia's Novak Djokovic; Murray becomes the first British player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry 76 years ago

2012 Event - For the first time, a browsable, analysable overview of four million functional elements of the human genome discovered to date, are made available to the public in the 'Encyclopedia of DNA Elements'

2012 Event - Curiosity, the Mars rover, broadcasts its first audio recording of a human voice from the surface of another planet

2012 Event - Lydia Ko, a 15-year old amateur golfer, wins the Canadian Women's Open; she is the youngest winner ever on the LPGA Tour and first amateur to win since JoAnne Carner in 1969

2012 Event - Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person on the Moon, dies at age 82

2012 Event - The United Kingdom's Treasury Committee of the House of Commons releases the first of two volumes reporting on the LIBOR fixing scandal

2012 Event - For the first time since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the United States plans to help clean up herbicide Agent Orange from areas in Vietnam

2012 Event - David Rudisha of Kenya becomes the first athlete at the 2012 Summer Olympics to set a new world track record and secures the 800m gold medal

2012 Event - South Africa's Oscar Pistorius becomes the first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games in the 400 meters

2012 Event - America's first female astronaut, Sally Ride, dies of pancreatic cancer at age 61

2012 Event - After placing first in the 2012 Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the famous competition

2012 Event - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves of Truvada, the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection

2012 Event - In Egypt, protesters throw tomatoes and shoes at U.S. Secretary of State's motorcade during her first visit to the country since President Mohamed Mursi was elected

2012 Event - The Rolling Stones, English rock band, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street, London

2012 Event - France O'Grady is appointed the first female General Secretary by Britain's Trade Union Congress

2012 Event - The first space-bound Orion spacecraft is unveiled in Cape Canaveral, FloridaFlorida by NASA and Lockheed Martin

2012 Event - The weight loss drug lorcaserin is approved by the FDA, the first weight loss drug to be approved since 1999

2012 Event - Elena Vesnina beats five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, in the first round at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships

2012 Event - Egypt's voters go to the polls for a second round of voting in their first presidential election

2012 Event - In Bulgaria, remains believed to be John the Baptist, are scientifically dated to be from the first century AD

2012 Event - Swedish doctors perform the world's first stem cell assisted vein transplant on a 10-year old girl

2012 Event - Israel announces it is deporting its first planeload of South Sudanese illegal migrants

2012 Event - A solar plane, called The Solar Impulse, lands in Morocco after completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the Sun

2012 Event - Madonna begins her MDNA Tour in Tel Aviv, Israel, the first of more than 65 cities she will perform at worldwide

2012 Event - The first commercial spacecraft, SpaceX Dragon, docks with the International Space Station when it completes docking at 12:02pm EDT

2012 Event - During the first three months of 2012, revised figures show that the U.K. economy shrunk by 0.3%

2012 Event - Sarah West, a British naval officer Commander is appointed commander of HMS Portland, the Royal Navy frigate; she is the first female officer to take command of a major British warship

2012 Event - Scientists in Kamchatka, Russia, report sighting the first adult white orca to be seen in the wild

2012 Event - U.S. company Google, Inc., announces its 2012 first quarter earnings rose by more than 24%, and net profits increased to $8.14 billion

2012 Event - The North Korean Workers party names Kin Jong Un First Secretary, with his father, Kim Jong IL delcared as the party's 'eternal' General Secretary

2012 Event - The first deployment of U.S. Marines arrives in Australia's city of Darwin in the Northern Territory

2012 Event - In Orlando, Golf pro Tiger Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament; this is his first PGA Tour victory since 2009

2012 Event - In Mexico, thousands in Guanajuato, come out to greet Pope Benedict XVI at the start of his first visit to Spanish-speaking Latin America

2012 Event - The first comprehensive map of the debris field of the RMS Titanic is revealed

2012 Event - IBM announces it is on the cusp of creating the world's first quantum computer

2012 Event - In New Zealand's city of Christchurch, thousands of people commemorate the first anniversary of the earthquake where 185 people died last year

2012 Event - The Guardian proclaims 'The Guard' has won its first annual film award

2012 Event - A children's story by James Joyce is published for the first time in Dublin; the story, 'The Cats of Copenhagen' is called an 'outrage'

2012 Event - Josefina Vazquez Mota is the first woman ever endorsed by a major Mexican party to run for President of Mexico

2012 Event - For the first time in nearly 17 years, Spain's unemployment number passes five million

2012 Event - In Egypt, protesters commemorate the first anniversary of the revolution

2012 Event - Finland holds the first round of its Presidential election

2012 Event - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the first stop of Ahmadinejad's Latin American tour

2011 Event - Tiger Woods wins the Chevron World Challenge, the first tournament he has won in over two years

2011 Event - Scientists in New Britain discover the first orchid known to flower at night, Bulbophyllum nocturnum, over the cost of Papua New Guinea

2011 Event - China makes its first orbital docking as its unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft successfully docks with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space station module

2011 Event - In Mexico, Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson opens the world's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America, with flights expected to being by 2013

2011 Event - In Poland, the Polish People's Party coalition becomes the first government to be reelected since Poland transitioned to democracy in 1989

2011 Event - Helle Thorning-Schmidt introduces the new coalition government, officially becoming Denmark's 41st and first female Prime Minister

2011 Event - The 8th largest search engine in the world, Russia's Yandex, marks its first venture outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) by expanding into Turkey

2011 Event - In Berlin, Social Democrats do well in a state election; the Pirate Party enters a state parliament for the first time, with the Free Democrats achieving 2% of the vote

2011 Event - NASA reveals its Space Launch System plan, intended to replace the Space Shuttle program with its first flight scheduled for 2017

2011 Event - First Air fails in an attempt to land a Boeing 737 in poor conditions; 12 of 15 people die after the plane crashes near Canada's Resolute Bay

2011 Event - New Zealand's highest mountain, the south ridge of Aoraki/Mount Cook, is renamed Hillary Ridge after Sir Edmund Hillary, first to conquer Mt. Everest

2011 Event - Standard &: Poor's rating agency downgrades U.S. sovereign debt; the downgrade is the first in the history of the United States

2011 Event - Thailand's parliament officially elects Yingluck Shinawatra as Prime Minister of Thailand; Yingluck is Thailand's first female Prime Minister

2011 Event - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro makes his first appearance outside of Havana since leaving office in 2006, visiting a mausoleum in Artemisa

2011 Event - Neptune completes its first orbit of the sun since the planet was discovered in 1846

2011 Event - In Borneo a previously extinct rainbow toad is rediscovered by scientists; the sighting is the first since its extinction was declared in 1924

2011 Event - In Bordeaux, France, and elderly woman becomes the first person to die from the recent e.coli outbreak

2011 Event - Tropical Storm Arlene, the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season's first tropical storm, lands near Cabo Rojo and brings heavy rain to Mexico and southern Texas

2011 Event - Pope Benedict XVI announces the launch of a new Vatican website, news.va; he also performs the first tweet ever made by a pope

2011 Event - The first condemnation of discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people is issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council

2011 Event - In the 2011 NBA Finals, he Dallas Mavericks win their first NBA title, winning 4 - 2 over the Miami Heat

2011 Event - Li Na becomes the first Asian tennis player to win a major title winning the 2011 French Open; Li Na is from the People's Republic of China

2011 Event - The Pope, Benedict XVI, becomes the first pontiff to participate in a televised interview session, pre-recorded for Italian television

2011 Event - In a Schrodinger's cat experiment, researchers in Japan and Australia successfully teleport wave packets of light; this is the first transfer of quantum information from one point to another

2011 Event - Kenya opens The Africa Carbon Exchange, the first carbon exchange in Africa to exchange carbon credits

2011 Event - The first full face transplant is performed by surgeons at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts

2011 Event - The Tokyo Stock Exchange falls more than five percent on the first day of trading following the 2011 Sendai earthquake

2011 Event - For the first time since 1979 Iranian Revolution, two ships from the Iran Navy are sent through the Suez Canal

2011 Event - North and South Korean officials meet for working-level military talks, the first Korean dialogue in eight months

2011 Event - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appoints Omar Suleiman Vice President, the first office existing under the President in 30 years

2011 Event - Lara Giddings becomes the first female Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania

2011 Event - North Korea plans to host its first ever golf tournament on a course frequented by leader Kim Jong-il

2011 Event - Haiti commemorates the first anniversary of the 2010 earthquake

2011 Event - Brazil swears in Dilma Rousseff, its first female president

2010 Event - The first snowfall in the last 128 years occurs in the U.S. city of Atlanta, Georgia; 500 flights are affected

2010 Event - A male Algerian is fined by a court in Nice for insulting the French national flag; this was the first such penalty ever to be administered

2010 Event - The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology announces it has developed the first ever spherical robot with telescopic arms

2010 Event - The first ever HIV infection is announced in the Cook Islands

2010 Event - The Leaf, one of the first mass market electric cars is launched by Nissan

2010 Event - For the first time in ten years, Burmese pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is reunited with her son

2010 Event - Germany holds its first pirate trial in 400 years, placing ten Somalia�s on trial for attacking a German ship

2010 Event - Jimmy Johnson becomes the first driver ever to win five straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships

2010 Event - Alaska's State Senator Lisa Murkowski becomes the first write-in candidate to successfully win an election since 1954

2010 Event - The Paris Masters final is won by Sweden's Robin Soderling, a first major win for the player, now ranked fourth in the world of tennis

2010 Event - The People's Republic of China announces it is taking its first census in ten years

2010 Event - The first black mayor of a town in the former Eastern Bloc of Europe, Peter Bossman, becomes Mayor of Piran, Slovenia

2010 Event - Over 250 people die as a result of the cholera outbreak in the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak; cholera is detected for the first time in Port-au-Prince

2010 Event - Naheed Nenshi, the first Muslim in Canada's history is elected mayor of Calgary in Alberta, Canada

2010 Event - Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, is canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Square

2010 Event - Florencio Avalos, the first of 33 miners trapped underground in the 2010 Copiapo mining accident is rescued from the mine

2010 Event - The first dedicated 3D TV channel in Europe, Sky 3D, launches in the UK

2010 Event - For the first time in two years, South Korea and North Korea reach an agreement to hold working-level military talks

2010 Event - The Medal of Honor is awarded for the first time since the Vietnam War; U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta received the medal for his actions during the War in Afghanistan

2010 Event - In Chile, 33 miners trapped half a mile beneath the surface make contact with their families for the first time in three weeks since the incidentally

2010 Event - Sumatra's Sinabung volcano erupts for the first time in 400 years, killing one and causing Indonesia to evacuate thousands of people

2010 Event - Sarah, Duchess of York, becomes the first Royal in history to suffer possible bankruptcy

2010 Event - The first democratic election in the history of Guinea is held

2010 Event - The inquiry into Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland, 1972, determined British paratroopers first the first shot without warning, and concocted lies to cover up their acts

2010 Event - Scientists at the Craig J. Venter Institute announce they have successfully created the world's first artificial lifeform by transplanting a synthesized genome into an existing cell

2010 Event - Alphalara itadori, a Japanese insect that combats invasive Japanese knotweed, is the first biocontrol agent approved by the European Union

2010 Event - The Vatican approves of Australian Mary MacKillop as their first saint for canonization

2010 Event - The Queen Mary 2 makes her first port call in China at the Port of Shanghai, since her maiden voyage in 2004

2010 Event - Men's freestyle skiing moguls competitor, Alexandre Bilodeau, wins the first gold medal Canada has ever won on home soil at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics

2010 Death - Florence Green, the last known female First World War veteran who served with the Women's RAF in 1918, dies at 108

2010 Event - Australian researchers discover the first plane taken to Antarctica in 1912

2009 Event - For the first time in 17 years, North Korea raises the value of its currency

2009 Event - Kosovo holds its first local election since declaring independence from Serbia

2009 Event - The "swine flu", the H1N1 influenza strain is the first condition deemed a global pandemic since the Hong Kong flu of 1967 - 1968

2009 Event - Iran launches first domestically made satellite, Omid, into orbit

2008 Event - Bhutan holds it's first public election

2008 Event - Oil reaches $100 per barrel for the first time

2006 Event - Dow closes above 12,000 for the first time

2006 Event - North Korea conducts first atomic weapons test

2006 Event - Dow closes above 11,800 for the first time

2006 Event - Stephen Harper, wins the election in Canada and is the first conservative Prime Minister in 12 years

2005 Event - First human face transplant is performed in France

2005 Event - Shuttle Discovery STS-114 launches, first flight since Columbia disaster

2005 Event - Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France

2005 Event - Steve Fossett flies the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer to a world record by completing the first non-stop, non-refueled, solo flight around the world

2005 Event - Parliamentary elections in Iraq, the first since 1958

2004 Death - Vaughn Meader, comic/musician, The First Family, dies at 62

2004 Death - Joseph James Zimmerman, inventor, invented the first electronic telephone answering machine in 1948, dies at 91

2004 Death - J. J. Jackson, DJ/VJ, first VJ on MTV, dies at 62

2004 Death - Olivia Goldsmith, writer, The First Wives Club, dies at 54

2003 Death - Gertrude Ederle, swimming celebrity/teacher, first woman, and fifth person, to swim the English Channel, dies at 97

2003 Death - Althea Gibson, tennis/golf great, first black woman to win Wimbledon, dies at 76

2003 Death - Maynard Jackson, lawyer/mayor, first black mayor of Atlanta, dies at 65

2003 Death - Ilan Ramon, astronaut, first Israeli in space, mission specialist on Columbia, STS-107, dies at 48

2003 Death - Kalpana Chawla, astronaut, first Asian Indian woman in space, payload specialist on the Columbia, STS-107, dies at 41

2002 Death - Joseph Nathan Kane, trivia expert, Famous First Facts, dies at 103

2002 Death - "General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr", Air Force General, first black general in the Air Force, dies at 89

2001 Death - Dr. Christiaan Barnard, surgeon, ", performed the first heart transplant, South Africa 1967, ", dies at 78

2001 Event - Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist by paying $20 million to fly on a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.

2001 Event - Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft becomes first vehicle to land on an asteroid (433 Eros)

2000 Death - Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first black American to win a Pulitzer Prize, dies at 83

2000 Event - Hilary Clinton is the first former First Lady elected to the Senate

1999 Death - Joe Adcock, first baseman, outfielder, played for Cincinnati Reds dies

1998 Death - Tom Bradley, mayor, first black mayor of LA, dies at 80

1998 Death - Cary Middlecoff, professional golfer with what is currently known as the PGA Tour in the 1940s, University of Mississippi's first golf All-American 1939, dies in Memphis, Tennessee at age 77

1998 Event - President Bill Clinton testifies before a grand jury investigating his conduct (first president to do so), and admits an 'inappropriate relationship' with Monica Lewinsky

1998 Death - Alan Shepard, astronaut, first American in space, dies at 74

1998 Event - First Lady Hilary Clinton blames charges that President Clinton had affairs part of a vast right-wing conspiracy

1997 Death - Dawn Steel, film maker, first woman to head a major Hollywood studio, responsible for 'Flashdance', 'Fatal Attraction', dies at 51

1997 Death - Diana, Princess of Wales, first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, mother of Princes William and Harry, noted for philanthropy, dies in Paris, at age 36, killed in a car crash

1997 Death - Mary Louise Smith, first woman to chair the Republican National Committee, dies at 82

1997 Event - First of America Senior Golf Classic

1997 Death - Michael Dorris, writer, scholar, first unmarried man to adopt child, Raynold Abel, wrote about Reynold in 'The Broken Cord', commits suicide in Concord, New Hampshire, at age 52

1996 Event - Liselotte Neumann wins First Bank Edina Realty LPGA Golf Classic

1996 Death - Peter Bird, ocean rower, first person to cross the Pacific ocean solo, trip from San Francisco to Great Barrier Reef, lasted 294 days, dies at age 49 at sea during an attempt to row across the Pacific

1995 Death - Phyllis Hyman, Phyllis Linda Hyman, soul singer, songwriter, actress, jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, disco genres, first solo Top Ten Hit, 'Can't We Fall In Love Again', received Tony-nomination for Broadway musical, Sophisticated Ladies, dies from suicide at 45

1994 Death - Jackie Kennedy, First Lady

1994 Death - Agatha Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (first female prime minister in Africa), assassinated, the day after President Habyarimana's plane was shot down, killing him and the president of Burundi

1992 Birthday - Miley Ray Cyrus, pop-rock singer, actress, 100 Most Influential People in the World list, Time magazine, 2008, star of Disney's 'Hannah Montana', debut album, 'Meet Miley Cyrus' had first top ten single, 'See You Again'

1991 Event - Monica Seles ends Steffi Graf's streak of 186 weeks ranked first

1987 Birthday - Blake Lively, born in Tarzana, California, actress, first role, Bridget, 'The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants', cast in CW television network series 'Gossip Girl', has appeared on covers of magazines Seventeen, Vogue

1986 Event - 6th Golden Raspberry Awards: Rambo: First Blood Part II wins

1986 Death - Ned Calmer, TV host (In the First Person), dies at 78

1983 Birthday - Jessica Lynch, born in Palatine, West Virginia, former Private First Class in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, captured by Iraqis, recovered by special ops forces

1982 Death - Hans Selye, endocrinologist, first to demonstrate the existence of biological stress, began stress research in 1926, published 7 popular books, 1,700 research papers, 15 monographs, dies in Montreal, Canada

1982 Birthday - Kelly Clarkson, born in Fort Worth, Texas, singer, songwriter, winner of first season of 'American Idol' television series, hits include, 'Thankful', 'Because of You'

1981 Death - Jessie Matthews, actress (Gangway, First a Girl), dies at 74

1979 Event - On a flight to Austin, TX, Daniel Okrent sketches out the first

1979 Birthday - Matt Nagle, born in Massachusetts, quadriplegic, first to use brain-computer interface to control movement

1978 Event - First dedicated oceanographic satellite, SEASAT 1, launched

1973 Birthday - Mark Larsen, born in Denmark, jockey, rode "Vetrotex" to victory in his first Danish Derby, son of Ole Larsen

1973 Birthday - David Blaine, born in Brooklyn, New York, illusionist, endurance artist, considered a modern-day Houdini, first television special titled, 'David Blaine; Street Magic'

1972 Event - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Quality First Golf Classic

1971 Birthday - Selena, born Selena Quintanilla-Perez, born in Lake Jackson, Texas, Mexican American singer, called 'The Queen of Tejano music', released first album at age 12

1968 Event - "Her First Roman" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater New York City after 17 performances

1968 Birthday - Tony Hawk, professional skateboarder, completed the first 2.5-revolution aerial spin, the 900, licensed the 'Tony Hawk' videogame series

1967 Event - Edward Brooke, born in Washington, D.C, Senator-R-Massachusetts 1967 - 1979, first African American to be elected to the Senate

1966 Death - Bobby Fuller, rocker, singer, guitarist, most famous single titled, I Fought the Law, written by Sonny Curtis, first top 40 hit, Let Her Dance, influences include The Beatles, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, found dead at 22

1966 Birthday - Shabba Ranks, born in Sturgetown, St. Ann, Jamaica, born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon, reggae singer, recording artist, sex symbol, popular dancehall DJ, toaster, successful U.S. crossover artist, became first Grammy-Award winning dancehall artist

1965 Birthday - Troy Neel, born in Freeport, Texas, professional baseball player, first baseman, hitter, played for Oakland Athletics, Orix BlueWave team in Japan

1965 Birthday - Kevin James, born in Stony Brook, New York, actor, comedian, appeared on ''The Late Show with David Letterman', films include, 'Hitch', 'Grown Ups', '50 First Dates'

1964 Birthday - Etsuko Inoue, born in Japan, professional tennis player, first to win women's tennis competition at the Asian Games, 1982

1964 Birthday - Michelle Obama, born in Chicago, Illinois, maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, first African-American First Lady of the United States, husband to Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, employed by Sidley Austin law firm and University of Chicago Medical Center

1961 Birthday - Randy Milligan, born in San Diego, California, professional baseball player, first baseman, played for New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds

1961 Birthday - Joan Delk, born in Tampa, Florida, LPGA golfer, 1995 First Bank Edina Realty-66th

1961 Birthday - Diana, Princess of Wales, born in Park House, England, first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, mother of Princes William and Harry, noted for philanthropy

1960 Birthday - Andy Van Slyke, born in Utica, New York, professional baseball player, outfielder, played for the St. Louis Cardinals, coached first base for the Detroit Tigers

1959 Event - "First Impressions" closes at Alvin Theater New York City after 84 performances

1958 Event - First 2 F-27 Fokker's Friendships delivered on Aer Lingus

1958 Death - Douglas Mawson, Antarctic explorer, geologist, member, Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, among first to reach South Magnetic Pole, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage, in Brighton, South Australia, at age 76

1958 Birthday - Ian Woosnam, born in Oswestry, England, nicknamed 'Woosie', 'Wee Welshman', 'Woosers', Welsh, professional golfer, played first European Tour, 1979, won Swiss Open, 1982, number one in Official World Golf Rankings in 1991, awarded O.B.E. 2007 New Years Honors List

1957 Birthday - Bernhard Langer, born in Anhausen, West Germany, professional golfer, two-time Masters champion, ranked as the world's first official number one player in 1986

1957 Birthday - Faith Daniels, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, news anchor, CBS News, at age 27 was one of the youngest national news anchors ever, first journalist to host daily talk show, A Closer Look, 1991

1956 Birthday - David Caruso, born in Forest Hills, New York, actor, producer, known for television series, 'CSI: Miami', appeared in films, 'First Blood', 'China Girl', 'An Officer and a Gentleman'

1955 Birthday - Bill Koch, born in Brattleboro, Vermont, skier, first U.S. world-class cross-country skier, won 1982 Cross-country skiing World Cup

1955 Birthday - Cary Middlecoff, born in Halls, Tennessee, professional golfer with what is currently known as the PGA Tour in the 1940s, University of Mississippi's first golf All-American 1939

1954 Birthday - Annette Guest, U.S. singer, First Choice

1954 Birthday - Sarah Lundy, born in America, horse trainer, won Sam F. Davis Stakes, Tampa Bay Downs, 1993, first female trainer to saddle a horse in the Belmont Stakes

1954 Birthday - Sonia Sotomayor, born in the Bronx, New York City, first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, third female Supreme Court justice

1953 Birthday - Warren Cromartie, born in Miami Beach, Florida, professional baseball player, outfielder, first baseman, played with the Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos

1953 Birthday - Benazir Bhutto, born in Pakistan, first woman elected prime minister, chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)

1953 Birthday - Jules Shear, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, musician, singer, performed with The Funky Kings, Raisins in the Sun, created, hosted, first 13 episodes of MTV series, Unplugged, song, All Through the Night, recorded by Cyndi Lauper, ranked number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, co-wrote title track for Everything's Different Now album, with Matthew Sweet

1952 Birthday - Dave Collins, born in Rapid City, South Dakota, professional baseball player, outfielder, first base coach for the Florida Marlins

1951 Birthday - Al Greenwood, keyboardist, Foreigner-Feels Like the First Time

1951 Birthday - Chris Smith, born in Barnet, London, Christopher Robert 'Chris' Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, politician, Labor Party, Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury, Cabinet minister, first openly gay MP member, HIV positive

1951 Birthday - Sally Ride, born in Encino, California, physicist, astronaut, first American woman crewmember in space on the Challenger, founded NASA's Office of Exploration

1951 Birthday - Barry Goudreau, born in America, guitarist, vocalist, original guitarist for Boston, the rock band, recorded his first solo LP using Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo, and Sib Hashian

1951 Birthday - Phil Neal, born in Irchester, Northamptonshire, professional soccer player, manger, right fullback, appeared in the first five of Liverpool's European Cup finals

1951 Birthday - Benny Ayala, born in Yauco, Puerto Rico, Benigno Ayala Felix, Major League Baseball player, played outfield, first base, designated hitter for New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals

1950 Birthday - Wally Lamb, born in America, author, novelist, featured in Oprah's Book Club, books include 'The Hour I First Believed' 'I'll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison', 'She's Come Undone', 'I Know This Much is True'

1950 Birthday - Phyllis Hyman, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Phyllis Linda Hyman, soul singer, songwriter, actress, jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, disco genres, first solo Top Ten Hit, 'Can't We Fall In Love Again', received Tony-nomination for Broadway musical, Sophisticated Ladies

1950 Birthday - Clarence Ellis, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, football player, safety, played with National Football League's Atlanta Falcons, drafted in first round of 1972 NFL Draft

1950 Birthday - Rochelle Fleming, U.S. soul vocalist, First Choice, Smarty Pants

1947 Birthday - Terry Williams, rocker, First Edition

1947 Birthday - Dominique Sanda, born in Paris, France, actress, 1900, First Love

1947 Birthday - Peter Bird, born in Britain, ocean rower, first person to cross the Pacific ocean solo, trip from San Francisco to Great Barrier Reef, lasted 294 days

1946 Birthday - Laura Bush, American First Lady

1946 Birthday - Dawn Steel, born in America, film maker, first woman to head a major Hollywood studio, responsible for 'Flashdance', 'Fatal Attraction'

1945 Birthday - Khaleda Zia, born in Dinajpur District, India, first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh 1991 - 1996, listed in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World 2006

1945 Birthday - Michael Dorris, born in Louisville, Kentucky, writer, scholar, first unmarried man to adopt child, Raynold Abel, wrote about Reynold in 'The Broken Cord'

1944 Birthday - Ted Templeman, born in Santa Cruz, musician, record producer, guitarist, vocalist, drummer, produced 'The Doobie Brothers' for Warner Brothers, 'Montrose', Carly Simon's 'Another Passenger', Van Halen's first album

1943 Birthday - Tarja Halonen, born in Kallio, Finland, politician, lawyer, Social Democratic Party, first female President of Finland

1943 Birthday - Burt Rutan, born in Estacada, Oregon, Elbert Leander Burt Rutan, inventor, aerospace engineer, created the Voyager, the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and SpaceShipOne, which entered space two times in fourteen days

1942 Birthday - Bobby Fuller, born in Baytown, Texas, rocker, singer, guitarist, most famous single titled, I Fought the Law, written by Sonny Curtis, first top 40 hit, Let Her Dance, influences include The Beatles, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran

1941 Death - Juanita Spellini, first women executed in California

1941 Birthday - Marina Ripa, Rome, Italy, countess/writer, My First 40 Years

1941 Birthday - Micki Grant, born in Chicago, Illinois, composer, singer, soprano, actress, writer, composer, appeared on NBC's Another World, became first African-American cast member of a daytime soap opera

1941 Birthday - Imants Kalnins, born in Riga, Latvia, composer, wrote six symphonies, first composer of intellectual rock music, Latvia's most important composer

1940 Birthday - Mary Rose Oakar, born in Cleveland, Ohio, politician, first Democratic woman elected to U.S. Congress, member, U.S. House of Representatives

1939 Birthday - O. V. Wright, born in Leno, Tennessee, singer, sang gospel, considered southern soul artist, first pop recording, 'That's How Strong My Love Is'

1938 Birthday - David Borden, born in Boston, Massachusetts, composer, minimalist music, jazz pianist, founded Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, the world's first synthesizer ensemble, wrote vocal, chamber ensemble, music, style similar to Phillip Glass, Terry Riley

1937 Birthday - Jim Hunt, born in Wilson, North Carolina, politician, Democratic Party, first and only four-term Governor of North Carolina 1976 - 2001

1936 Birthday - Wally Amos, born in Tallahassee, Florida, actor, speaker, co-wrote, 'The Power in You', founder, 'Famous Amos' chocolate chip cookie brand, first African-American talent agent, represented Diana Ross & the Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel

1934 Birthday - Ramon Sender, born in Madrid, Spain, composer, co-founder, San Francisco Tape Music Center, co-designed the first west coast synthesizer, the Buchla Box

1934 Birthday - Dionne Quintuplets, secluded quintuplets, born Annette, Alive Cecile, Alive Emelie, Dead 1954 Marie, Dead 1970 Yvonne, Alive, First known set of surviving quintuplets, these girls were treated as a side show

1934 Birthday - Jane Byrne, born in Chicago, Illinois, first female Mayor of Chicago, Illinois 1979 - 1983, served as head of consumer affairs

1933 Death - Henry Van Dyke, clergyman, educator, author, wrote poetry, hymns, essays, co-wrote first Presbyterian printed liturgy, 'The Common Book of Worship of 1906', served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg, dies

1933 Birthday - Costantinos Gavras, born in Greece, known as Costa-Gavras, French filmmaker, created political-themed films, known for fast-paced thriller titled Z, first film titled Missing, 1982

1932 Birthday - David Scott, born in San Antonio, Texas, astronaut, commander of Apollo 15 mission, seventh person to walk on the Moon, first person to drive on the Moon

1932 Birthday - Paul Erlich, born in Bad Homburg, Germany, scientist, immunologist, won Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, developed first antibacterial drug in modern medicine

1931 Birthday - Boris Yeltsin, born in Russia, first President of the Russian Federation, endorsed free market economies

1929 Death - Mary MacLane, author, individualistic style included feminist rhetoric, raw admissions, first book, 'The Story of Mary Mac Lane' published in 1902, sold 100,000 copies in the first month, dies at age 48, in Chicago, Illinois

1929 Birthday - Jackie Kennedy, First Lady

1927 Birthday - Joe Adcock, born in Coushatta, Louisiana, first baseman, outfielder, played for Cincinnati Reds, homered four times in a single game against Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field

1927 Birthday - Rosalynn Carter, American First Lady

1924 Death - Florence Harding, American First Lady

1923 Birthday - Wally Schirra, born in New Jersey, astronaut, flew in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, America's first three space programs

1921 Birthday - Dobrica Cosic, born in Velika Drenova, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, now Serbia, writer, political, national theorist, first president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1992 - 1993, called 'Father of the Nation'

1919 Birthday - Edmund Hillary, born in Auckland, New Zealand, mountaineer, explorer, first climber to summit Mount Everest

1919 Birthday - Ella Grasso, born in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Ella Giovanna Oliva Tambussi, politician, Democratic Party, first woman elected Governor of Connecticut, served 1975 - 1980

1919 Birthday - Ian Smith, born in Zimbabwe, founder, first Prime Minister of Rhodesia

1918 Death - Georgi Valentinovich Plechanow, pseudonym, Volgin, writer, author, organized Russia's first political demonstration, dies in Geneva, Switzerland, at age 60

1917 Death - Andrew Taylor Still, osteopath, successfully reduced fractures, founded first school of osteopathic medicine, died at age 89

1917 Birthday - Jane Wyman, born in Missouri, actress, film, television, Academy Award-winner, first wife of U.S. President Ronald Reagan

1913 Event - New York Giants score 10 in 10th to beat Phillies 11-10, Hooks Wiltse pitches the first nine innings for New York before wilting, and Christy Mathewson relieves

1913 Birthday - Tillie Olsen, born in Nebraska, writer, considered the first generation of American feminists

1912 Birthday - Lady Bird Johnson, born in Texas, First Lady of the United States, called "Lady Bird", beautified Washington, D.C.

1912 Birthday - Claudia Johnson, American First Lady

1911 Event - George Bernard Shaw's "Fanny's First Play," premieres in London

1909 Birthday - Bukka White, born in Houston, Mississippi, Booker T. Washington White, gave cousin B.B. King his first guitar, celebrated as National steel guitarist, wrote "Parchman Farm Blues"

1909 Event - Construction begins on first 100 houses in Ahuzat Bayit (Tel Aviv)

1907 Birthday - Renzo Cesana, Rome, Italy, TV host, First Date, Continental

1907 Birthday - Mascha Kaleko, born in Chrzanow, Austria, now Poland, writer, German language poet, first book 'Lyrisches Stenogrammheft' was burned in Nazi book burnings, wrote advertising copy while living in New York

1907 Birthday - Jessie Matthews, born in London, England, actress, Gangway, First a Girl

1907 Birthday - Hans Selye, born in Vienna, Austria, endocrinologist, first to demonstrate the existence of biological stress, began stress research in 1926, published 7 popular books, 1,700 research papers, 15 monographs

1906 Birthday - Albert Hofmann, born in Baden, Switzerland, scientist, first to synthesize, examine, study, the psychedelic effects of LSD

1901 Event - SDAP demands general voting right/abolishing First Chamber

1882 Birthday - Douglas Mawson, born in Yorkshire, England, Antarctic explorer, geologist, member, Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, among first to reach South Magnetic Pole

1881 Birthday - Mary MacLane, born in Winnipeg, Canada, author, individualistic style included feminist rhetoric, raw admissions, first book, 'The Story of Mary Mac Lane' published in 1902, sold 100,000 copies in the first month

1876 Death - Eliza Johnson, American First Lady

1864 Birthday - Franz Miller, becomes first Train Murderer

1863 Event - Very 1st First National Bank opens in Davenport, Iowa

1860 Birthday - Florence Harding, American First Lady

1856 Birthday - Georgi Valentinovich Plechanow, born in Tambov, Russia, pseudonym, Volgin, writer, author, organized Russia's first political demonstration

1852 Birthday - Henry Van Dyke, clergyman, educator, author, wrote poetry, hymns, essays, co-wrote first Presbyterian printed liturgy, 'The Common Book of Worship of 1906', served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg

1852 Death - Louisa Catherine Adams, American First Lady

1849 Death - Dolley Madison, wife of the 4th President of the United States, James Madison, First Lady of the United States, 1809 - 1817, acted as First Lady for Thomas Jefferson, portrait appears on United States Mint 1/2 ounce $10 gold coins, died at age 81 in Washington, D.C.

1828 Birthday - Andrew Taylor Still, born in Lee County, Virginia, osteopath, successfully reduced fractures, founded first school of osteopathic medicine

1818 Death - Abigail Adams, 2nd first lady (1797-1801), dies at 73

1810 Birthday - Eliza Johnson, American First Lady

1805 Event - Female Charitable Society, first woman's club in America

1789 Event - French States-General for It first since 1614 together

1775 Birthday - Louisa Catherine Adams, American First Lady

1768 Birthday - Dolley Madison, born in New Garden, North Carolina, wife of the 4th President of the United States, James Madison, First Lady of the United States, 1809 - 1817, acted as First Lady for Thomas Jefferson, portrait appears on United States Mint 1/2 ounce $10 gold coins

1744 Birthday - Abigail Adams, born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, 2nd first lady, 1797-1801

1732 Birthday - Martha Washington, born in the Province of Virginia, 1st American First Lady, 1789 - 1797

1731 Birthday - Martha Washington, American First Lady

661 Death - Ali ibn Abi Talib, the holiest meeting site of Islam, son-in-law, of prophet Muhammad, Muslim Sunni - Shi'a split occurred because Sunni's consider him 4th, last Rashidun, Shi'a's consider him first Imam, rightful successor to Muhammad, dies at age 62

599 Birthday - Ali ibn Abi Talib, born in Mecca, the holiest meeting site of Islam, son-in-law, of prophet Muhammad, Muslim Sunni - Shi'a split occurred because Sunni's consider him 4th, last Rashidun, Shi'a's consider him first Imam, rightful successor to Muhammad

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