March 14
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Featured Event
Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI debuts “Ten Most Wanted” list
On this day in 1950, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover introduced the infamous “Ten Most Wanted” list, which provided the names of the “worst of the worst” U.S. fugitives. The list has changed throughout the years based on crime trends in the country: the 1950s saw bank robbers and burglars for the most part, while lists during the civil unrest of the 1960s and early ’70s included political activists such as Angela Davis. Some other famous names on the list include Ted Bundy, Osama bin Laden, and James Earl Ray. The list has been described as crowdsourced law enforcement, because of its direct appeal to ordinary citizens. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Kansas Historical Society, copy and reuse restrictions apply (www.kansasmemory.org)
Born this day in 1833, Lucy Hobbs Taylor was initially denied admittance to dental college because of her gender, but in 1866 she became the first woman in the United States to earn a degree in dentistry.
Famous Birthdays
More on March 14
Kim Shiflett/NASA
2018
English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was best known for his work on the physics of black holes and for the book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988), died at age 76. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the galaxies and the Milky Way.]
© ID1974/Shutterstock.com
2004
Vladimir Putin, the intelligence officer and politician who became president of Russia in 1999 upon the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term as president this day in 2004.
© Ferd Kaufman—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
1964
In the first courtroom verdict to be televised in the United States, Jack Ruby was found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. [Read about nine infamous assassins and the world leaders they dispatched.]
U.S. Army Photo
1951
United Nations forces recaptured Seoul during the Korean War. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Korea.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1899
German military official Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, received a U.S. patent for a “navigable balloon”; the first zeppelin made its initial flight the following year. [Test your knowledge of early aviation.]
From "Karl Marx's Oekonomische Lehren", by Karl Kautsky, 1887
1883
Historian and revolutionary Karl Marx, who wrote (with Friedrich Engels) The Communist Manifesto (1848), died at age 64. [Watch a video about Karl Marx’s opposition to religion.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1879
German American physicist Albert Einstein, one of the most creative intellects in human history, known for his groundbreaking theories of relativity, was born in Ulm, Germany. [Watch an overview of Albert Einstein’s life and career.]
© Ken Brown /Shutterstock.com
1864
Celebrated American railroad engineer Casey Jones was born in southeastern Missouri. [Take our quiz about American industry and innovation.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1826
The first Pan-American conference convened in Panama with representatives from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Central America in attendance.
Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of George Hoadley, B.A. 1801, 1827.1
1794
American inventor Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin. [Test your knowledge of inventors and their inventions.]
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
1681
German composer Georg Philipp Telemann, who wrote both sacred and secular music but was most admired for his church compositions, was born in Magdeburg, Brandenburg. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about music composers.]