May 21 - Slide

Slide

This Day In History

1502

The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer João da Nova.

1819

Velocipede first publicly exhibited in New York City.

1856

Sack of Lawrence.

1871

Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.

1881

The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C..

1927

Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1932

Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1951

The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.

2005

The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
2010
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year. 

Famous Birthdays

1471

Albrecht Dürer, German painter and printmaker (d. 1528)

1688

Alexander Pope, English poet (d. 1744)

1799

Mary Anning, British fossil collector and paleontologist (d. 1847).

1844

Henri Rousseau, French artist (d. 1910)

1878

Glenn Curtiss, American aviation engineer (d. 1930)

1903

Manly Wade Wellman, American writer (d. 1986)

1904

Fats Waller, American pianist (d. 1943)

1907

John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (d. 1979)

1917

Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (d. 1993)

1952

Mr. T, American actor

1960

Kent Hrbek, American baseball player

1967

Lisa Edelstein, American actress

1970

Dorsey Levens, American football player