🗞️Today’s Headlines

Everything important that’s ever happened on October 16:

1978 ─ Karol Józef Wojtyła became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, taking the name Pope John Paul II.

1968 ─ Sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos were expelled from the Mexico City Olympics for raising a Black-power salute during their medal ceremony.

1964 ─ China detonated its first atomic bomb, marking its entry into the nuclear arms race.

1916 ─ Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the US, sparking the reproductive rights movement.

1869 ─ The Cardiff Giant, a supposed petrified man, was unearthed in New York and later exposed as a hoax.

1859 ─ Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the US arsenal at Harpers Ferry in an attempt to incite a slave rebellion.

1847 ─ Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell.

1846 ─ William Morton demonstrated the use of ether as an anesthetic, revolutionizing medical surgery.

1813 ─ Napoleon faced a decisive defeat against a coalition of European powers at the Battle of Leipzig.

🎂 Today’s Birthdays

On October 16, we’re singing to:

Noah Webster (1758) ─ An American lexicographer and educator best known for creating the dictionary that standardized American English spelling and usage. 

Oscar Wilde (1854) ─ An Irish author and playwright celebrated for his sharp wit, social satire, and works like The Importance of Being Earnest. 

Eugene O'Neill (1888) ─ An American dramatist and Nobel laureate in literature regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in American history for works like Long Day's Journey into Night.

 🪦Who Died Today?

On October 16, we’re saying goodbye to:

Marie-Antoinette (1793) ─ The queen of France and wife of Louis XVI, executed by guillotine during the French Revolution.

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