This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

September 13

1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.

1782 – American Revolutionary War: Franco-Spanish troops launch the unsuccessful "grand assault" during the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

1814 – In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem.

1848 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives an iron rod 1 1⁄4 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter being driven through his brain; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.

1862 – American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.

1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.

1985 – Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.

1987 – Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning.

1988 – Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure).

2001 – Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks.

Births

1851 – Walter Reed; 1857 – Milton S. Hershey; 1860 – John J. Pershing; 1903 – Claudette Colbert; 1911 – Bill Monroe; 1916 – Roald Dahl; 1924 – Scott Brady; 1925 – Mel Tormé; 1937 – Don Bluth; 1939 – Richard Kiel; 1944 – Peter Cetera; 1948 – Nell Carter; 1952 – Don Was; 1961 – Dave Mustaine; 1964 – Tavis Smiley; 1967 – Tim "Ripper" Owens; 1969 – Tyler Perry; 1971 – Stella McCartney; 1977 – Fiona Apple; 1978 – Peter Sunde

Deaths

81 – Titus; 1881 – Ambrose Burnside; 1996 – Tupac Shakur; 1998 – George Wallace; 2006 – Ann Richards; 2009 – Paul Burke; 2015 – Moses Malone



Assembled twice, posted once by a goddamned idiot who cannot have two thoughts in his head at the same time.