Sherpa Temba Tsheri became the youngest person to climb Mount Everest at age 16
The Nepalese teenager reached the summit from the southeast ridge route, breaking the previous record. His achievement would be surpassed multiple tim...
May 24 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
2001
1980
Iran demanded $24 billion ransom for the release of American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
The demand included return of the late Shah's wealth and an apology from the United States. The hostage crisis had begun in November 1979 when Iranian...
1959
Two monkeys named Able and Baker became the first living beings to survive a space flight and return to Earth
The squirrel monkey and rhesus macaque rode a Jupiter rocket 300 miles into space at 10,000 mph before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. Able died...
1956
The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano, Switzerland, with seven countries competing
Switzerland won the inaugural contest with the song 'Refrain' performed by Lys Assia. Only seven countries participated in the first year, and the con...
1941
The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in the Battle of the Denmark Strait
MajorThe Hood exploded and sank in less than three minutes, killing all but three of her 1,418 crew members. This devastating loss shocked Britain, as the...
1935
The Cincinnati Reds played the first night game in Major League Baseball history at Crosley Field
President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned on the lights from the White House by pressing a button that sent a signal 500 miles to Cincinnati. The Reds de...
1883
The Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn for the first time
MajorAt the time of completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,595 feet. An estimated 150,000 people crossed the bridge on opening...
1844
Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message, 'What hath God wrought,' from Washington D.C. to Baltimore
MajorThe message, transmitted over a 40-mile wire, marked the beginning of the telecommunications era. Morse chose the biblical phrase from Numbers 23:23,...
1830
'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was published for the first time by Sarah Josepha Hale
The poem was allegedly based on a true incident involving a girl named Mary Sawyer who brought her pet lamb to school in Sterling, Massachusetts. The...
1819
Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace in London
MajorShe would go on to reign for 63 years and 216 days, making her the second-longest reigning British monarch after Elizabeth II. Victoria ascended to th...
1738
John Wesley experienced a spiritual conversion that led to the founding of Methodism
Wesley attended a Moravian meeting on Aldersgate Street in London where he felt his 'heart strangely warmed' while listening to a reading of Martin Lu...
1686
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, the physicist who invented the mercury thermometer
Fahrenheit developed the temperature scale that bears his name and is still used primarily in the United States today. He originally set 0°F as the te...
1626
Dutch colonists allegedly purchased Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of trade goods
MajorThe deal, equivalent to about $24, is often cited as history's greatest real estate bargain. However, historians note that the Native Americans likely...
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus's book 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' was published, proposing that the Earth revolves around the Sun
MajorLegend has it that Copernicus received a copy of the published book on his deathbed. His heliocentric model contradicted the prevailing geocentric vie...
