
1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
1908 – The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1916: Conscription was introduced in Britain

1918 – The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars effective February 14.
1935- Canned beer went on sale for the first time, made by Krueger.
1933 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.
1965 โ Sir Winston Churchill died aged 90. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had died on the same date 70 years earlier.

1974 โ Togo dictator, Gnasingbe Eyadema claims to be the only survivor among three crew and three other passengers when his plane crashes near Sarakawa, Togo. In reality, others survived, but their identities are suppressed so Eyadema can claim โmystical powersโ to support a cult personality he is encouraging.

1984 Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s revolutionary computer Macintosh, two days after the groundbreaking commercial โ1984โ aired before a national TV audience and heralded the product’s impending release.

1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi) of Uranus.
Famous Birthdays:
1928- Desmond Morris, zoologist, 96
1941 – Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He is 83 today.

1941 – Dan Shechtman (Israeli scientist, Nobel Prize laureate is the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion โ Israel Institute of Technology, an Associate of the US Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory, and Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University. He is 83 today.

1947 – Michio Kaku is an American physicist, science communicator, futurologist, and writer of popular-science. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is 77 years today.

1957- Andrian Edmonson, actor, 67
1958 – Jools Holland, musician/TV presenter 66
1959 -Vic Reevescoedian, 65
1986 – Mischa Barton, actress, 38