A man in Oregon tried to break the world record for riding a bike underwater
Vittorio Innocente managed to pedal a modified bicycle 2,000 feet across the bottom of a lake while breathing through scuba gear. The attempt took 45...
October 21 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
1995
1994
North Korea and the United States signed an agreement requiring North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program
The Agreed Framework promised North Korea two light water reactors and fuel oil in exchange for freezing its plutonium program. The deal collapsed in...
1978
Australian pilot Frederick Valentich disappeared after reporting a UFO following his plane over Bass Strait
In his final radio transmission, Valentich described a large aircraft with four bright lights hovering above him, claiming "it's not an aircraft." The...
1972
Photographer Nick Ut captured the iconic "Napalm Girl" photograph during the Vietnam War
MajorThe Pulitzer Prize-winning image showed 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a road after being severely burned by a napalm attack. Ut rush...
1967
The March on the Pentagon brought 100,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters to Washington D.C.
Demonstrators attempted to "levitate" the Pentagon building through meditation and chanting, hoping to exorcise what they called the "evil spirits" wi...
1966
A coal slag heap collapsed in Aberfan, Wales, burying a school and killing 144 people, mostly children
After three weeks of heavy rain, the unstable waste tip slid down the mountain at 9:15 AM, engulfing the Pantglas Junior School and several houses. Of...
1959
The Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright opened in New York City
Wright's radical spiral design was controversial, with some artists complaining that the tilted walls made it difficult to hang paintings. The buildin...
1943
The Japanese kamikaze corps was formally established as a military tactic
Facing overwhelming American naval power, Japan organized pilots to deliberately crash explosive-laden aircraft into enemy ships. The first official k...
1907
The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst single-day percentage decline in history during the Panic of 1907
The index fell nearly 8.3% as a banking crisis triggered by failed speculation gripped Wall Street. J.P. Morgan personally organized a bailout, lockin...
1892
The first successful commercial grain elevator powered entirely by electricity opened in Buffalo, New York
This revolutionary facility could unload, weigh, and store grain at unprecedented speeds, processing entire ships in hours instead of days. Buffalo be...
1879
Thomas Edison successfully tested the first practical incandescent light bulb
MajorAfter testing thousands of materials, Edison's bulb using a carbonized cotton thread filament burned for 13.5 hours in his Menlo Park laboratory. This...
1833
Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes, was born in Stockholm
Nobel amassed a fortune from his 355 patents, with dynamite being the most famous and profitable. After a French newspaper mistakenly published his ob...
1805
The British Royal Navy decisively defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar
MajorAdmiral Lord Nelson commanded 27 British ships against 33 enemy vessels off the coast of Spain, securing British naval supremacy for over a century. N...
1797
The USS Constitution was launched in Boston, becoming the oldest commissioned warship still afloat
Nicknamed "Old Ironsides" after British cannonballs bounced off her thick oak hull during the War of 1812, the ship has never been defeated in battle....
1520
Ferdinand Magellan discovered a strait at the southern tip of South America, later named the Strait of Magellan
MajorAfter enduring violent storms and near-mutiny, Magellan found the treacherous passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The journey through...