Discover What Happened Today in History
A catastrophic nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR. The explosion and fire released massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands and creating a large exclusion zone.
English colonists under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport made their first landing at Cape Henry in the Colony of Virginia. This event marked the beginning of the Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English colony in the Americas.
During the Spanish Civil War, the German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion, aiding Nationalist forces, bombed the Basque town of Guernica. The devastating aerial attack on civilians inspired Pablo Picasso's famous anti-war painting, 'Guernica'.
Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future King George VI), married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. She would later become the beloved Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
Dr. Jonas Salk announced the successful field trials for his inactivated polio vaccine on a national radio broadcast. This was a monumental step in medicine, leading to widespread vaccination that nearly eradicated the dreaded disease in many parts of the world.