Discover What Happened Today in History
A German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. The deaths of 1,198 passengers, including 128 Americans, turned international opinion against Germany and contributed to the U.S. entry into World War I.
Vietnamese Viet Minh forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap captured the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu after a 57-day siege. This decisive defeat ended French colonial rule in Indochina and led to the Geneva Accords.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, featuring the 'Ode to Joy' choral finale, premiered in Vienna. Despite being almost completely deaf, Beethoven conducted the performance, which was a triumph and remains one of the most influential works in Western music.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on its maiden voyage, STS-49. The mission's primary objective was to capture and repair the stranded Intelsat VI communications satellite, which required a record three-person spacewalk.
British radar scientist Geoffrey Dutton filed one of the earliest known patents for an integrated circuit, describing a method for manufacturing electronic circuits on a semiconductor slab. This concept was a crucial forerunner to the microchip revolution.