This Week in History

June 15

1667: The first human blood transfusion was administered in Paris by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
1752: Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a thunderstorm, proving that lightning is electricity.
1992: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries.
2018: Physicist Stephen Hawking‘s ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey, London, between the remains of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
2019: Baseball jersey belonging to Babe Ruth becomes most expensive sports memorabilia when it sells for $5.64 million at an auction in New York.

June 16

1903: Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit.
1911: A stony meteorite weighing 1.7 pounds struck the Earth near Kilbourn, Wis., damaging a barn.
1939: Thousands of tiny frogs fell on Trowbridge, England, during a rainstorm.
2010: Bhutan became the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.
2016: Philadelphia is the first US city to pass a tax on sweetened drinks.
2017: Amazon announces it is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.

June 17

1885: The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor.
1977: Photographer Jack Eagen and comedian Rodney Dangerfield, both of New York City, signed the guest register at Austin F. Reedy American Legion Post 97 at 319 California Ave. in Libby, Mont. Under the ‘comments’ section, Dangerfield wrote, “No respect!”
1994: Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
2018: “The Incredibles 2” sets a box office record for an animated release, earning $180 million its opening weekend.

June 18

1858: Charles Darwin received a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that included nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin’s own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.
1873: Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election. (She never paid the fine.)
1983: Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, on the space shuttle Challenger.
1996: Lincoln, Mont., resident Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, was indicted on 10 criminal counts.

June 19

1846: The first officially recorded, organized baseball game was played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
1862: The U.S. Congress prohibited slavery in United States territories.
1910: The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Wash.
2018: General Electric is dropped form the Dow Jones Index, the last original member from 1907.
2019: US Senators receive a classified briefing on possible UFO sightings by the US Navy.

June 20
1787: At the Federal Convention in Philadelphia, Oliver Ellsworth moved to call the country the United States.
1837: Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne (she died in 1901).
1840: Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph.
1948: Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, made its television debut.

June 21

1789: New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and was admitted as the ninth U.S. state.
1948: Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
1982: John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
2004: SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
2009: Greenland assumed self-rule from Denmark.
2015: Hackers ground 1400 passengers by attacking IT system at Warsaw Chopin airport in Poland.
2018: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden becomes the second world leader to give birth in office, to a daughter.