December 2nd, 2008

Today in History

1942:
Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1899:
Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.

1867:
In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

1804:
At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned as the first Emperor of France in a thousand years.

1755:
The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.