1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (with rinderpest in 2011 being the other).

2019 – First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China.

1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

 arighter2 wrote: 
Yup 80 years ago.

1941- Pearl Harbor 

1932 – German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.

On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was ratified:

2006 – NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

1969 – Altamont Free Concert: At a free concert performed by the Rolling Stones, eighteen-year old Meredith Hunter is stabbed to death by Hells Angels security guards.

1956 – The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time.

1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.

1973 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

1970 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.

1942 – World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1845 – Manifest destiny: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
a good point of reference and great reminder that we've come a long way

1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to that city's bus boycott.

1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.

1999 – Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.

 Red_Dragon wrote:

Yes, he played the "Julius F. Kelp/Buddy Love" character in the very first stage production of "The Nutty Professor".