Today In History

In 1880: Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric lamp.

In 1944: the Soviet Union announced the end of the siege of Leningrad.

In 1945: Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

In 1967: Astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

In 1973: The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

In 1977: The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests.