Today in History - October 31
October 31 in History
1517 – Martin Luther sends (or traditionally is said to post) his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg, criticizing Church practices such as the sale of indulgences and helping ignite the Protestant Reformation.
1541 – Michelangelo completes The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
1864 – Nevada is admitted to the Union as the 36th state (proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln), strengthening Republican support ahead of the election and during the Civil War.
1876 – The Great Backerganj Cyclone strikes the Bengal delta (modern Bangladesh), killing an estimated 200,000 people in one of history’s deadliest weather disasters.
1913 – The Lincoln Highway is dedicated as the first automobile highway across the United States, from New York to San Francisco.
1917 – Allied forces win the Battle of Beersheba in Palestine, featuring one of the last successful large-scale cavalry charges (by the Australian Light Horse). The same day, the British War Cabinet approves the Balfour Declaration supporting a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
1926 – Escape artist and magician Harry Houdini dies in Detroit of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix (widely linked to an unexpected punch to the abdomen days earlier).
1940 – The Battle of Britain is regarded as having ended, with the RAF preventing a German invasion of Britain.
1941 – Work on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed after 14 years. The same day, the USS Reuben James is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat near Iceland—the first U.S. Navy ship lost to enemy action in World War II (before the U.S. formally entered the war).
1961 – Joseph Stalin’s body is removed from Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square and reburied near the Kremlin Wall as part of de-Stalinization.
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards outside her New Delhi residence, triggering widespread anti-Sikh riots.
1992 – Pope John Paul II formally acknowledges that the Catholic Church erred in its 17th-century condemnation of Galileo Galilei.
1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into the Atlantic off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 people aboard.
2000 – The first long-duration crew (Expedition 1) launches toward the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TM-31, beginning continuous human presence in space.
2008 – Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the Bitcoin white paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” introducing the concept of the decentralized cryptocurrency.
2011 – The United Nations marks the approximate day the world’s human population reaches 7 billion (Day of Seven Billion).
October 31 is also observed as Halloween (All Hallows’ Eve) and as Reformation Day in many Protestant traditions.
Born on October 31
1632 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Milkmaid).
1795 – John Keats, English Romantic poet (Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn).
1860 – Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
1887 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese political and military leader (Republic of China).
1930 – Michael Collins, American astronaut (Apollo 11 Command Module pilot).
1931 – Dan Rather, American journalist and longtime CBS Evening News anchor.
1936 – Michael Landon, American actor and director (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie).
1950 – John Candy, Canadian actor and comedian (SCTV, Planes, Trains and Automobiles).
1950 – Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-British architect (Pritzker Prize winner; known for parametric and deconstructivist designs).
1950 – Jane Pauley, American broadcaster and journalist.
1951 – Nick Saban, American college football coach (multiple national championships at Alabama and LSU).
1961 – Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit).
1961 – Larry Mullen Jr., Irish drummer and founding member of U2.
1963 – Rob Schneider, American actor and comedian.
1963 – Dermot Mulroney, American actor.
1967 – Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle), American rapper (“Ice Ice Baby”).
1976 – Piper Perabo, American actress (Coyote Ugly, Covert Affairs).
1993 – Letitia Wright, British actress (Black Panther films, Small Axe).
2000 – Willow Smith, American singer, actress, and musician.
