A Florida man was arrested for throwing a live alligator through a Wendy's drive-thru window
Joshua James allegedly picked up the four-and-a-half-foot gator from the side of the road before hurling it at restaurant employees. He was charged wi...
February 14 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
2018
2013
A meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring over 1,500 people
The 20-meter asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded with the force of about 30 Hiroshima bombs. The shockwave shattered windows across six c...
2005
YouTube's domain name was activated, launching the video-sharing revolution
MajorThe site wouldn't upload its first video for another two months, but the domain registration marked the beginning of what would become the world's lar...
1990
The Voyager 1 spacecraft turned its camera around and photographed Earth from 3.7 billion miles away
The resulting 'Pale Blue Dot' image showed Earth as a tiny speck suspended in a sunbeam. Carl Sagan's reflection on the photo became one of the most f...
1974
A man hijacked a helicopter and tried to land it on the White House lawn to meet President Nixon
Robert Preston, an Army private, stole a helicopter from Fort Meade and flew it to Washington D.C. Secret Service agents opened fire as he hovered ove...
1962
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave Americans a televised tour of the White House
The hour-long special was watched by 56 million viewers across three networks. Jackie's charm and narration of the White House restoration project mad...
1946
ENIAC, the world's first general-purpose electronic computer, was publicly unveiled
MajorThe Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer weighed 30 tons, occupied 1,800 square feet, and used 18,000 vacuum tubes. It could perform 5,000 add...
1920
The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago
Formed just six months before women won the right to vote nationwide, the organization was created to help new women voters understand their civic res...
1912
Arizona became the 48th U.S. state, completing the contiguous United States
Arizona was the last of the continental states to join the union, six weeks after New Mexico. It would be nearly 50 years before Alaska and Hawaii com...
1895
Oscar Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' premiered in London
The comedy became Wilde's greatest theatrical success and is still performed worldwide today. Ironically, Wilde was arrested for 'gross indecency' jus...
1876
Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone
MajorBell filed his patent application just hours before rival Elisha Gray filed a similar intent. This timing proved crucial, as Bell's patent became one...
1849
James K. Polk became the first U.S. president to be photographed while in office
The daguerreotype was taken by Matthew Brady just weeks before Polk left office. Polk died just three months later, making his presidency one of the s...