October 30
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1938
The day New York did not fall to Martian forces
At 8 pm Eastern Time on October 30, 1938, Orson Welles began a new episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was an adaptation of a literary classic: H.G. Wells’s novel of a Martian invasion, The War of the Worlds. The radio broadcast chronicled how a Martian war machine lands in New Jersey and then attacks New York City. The program is now remembered for causing a widespread panic. But did it really?
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Featured Event
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
Henry Tudor, who was crowned Henry VII on this day in 1485, founded the Tudor dynasty, ended the Wars of the Roses, used his children’s marriages to build alliances, and signed treaties that increased England’s power.
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.4.1
The first vice president and second president of the United States, John Adams, born this day in 1735 in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts, is regarded as one of the most significant statesmen of the Revolutionary era.
Famous Birthdays
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2018
American crime boss Whitey Bulger—who, as head of the Boston-area Winter Hill Gang, was a leading figure in organized crime from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s—was beaten to death by fellow inmates while in prison. [How well do you know mobster names?]
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2003
American basketball player LeBron James, who was drafted directly out of high school, made his NBA debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers. [See where LeBron James ranks on our list of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time.]
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1995
Voters in Quebec narrowly defeated a referendum that proposed sovereignty for the province within a new economic and political partnership with the rest of Canada. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Canada.]
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1974
Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle,” regaining the world heavyweight boxing title. [Test your knowledge of boxing.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1961
The Soviets detonated Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean; the largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded. [Take our quiz about weapons and warfare.]
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1944
Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Aaron Copland notable for its variations on the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” was danced for the first time by Martha Graham’s company. The ballet would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1945. [Learn more about the people, places, and events that shaped the 1940s.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1905
Emperor Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, bringing the end of unlimited autocracy in Russia and ushering in an era of constitutional monarchy. [Test your knowledge of Russian history.]
Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
1895
German bacteriologist and pathologist Gerhard Domagk, recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, was born. [Take our quiz about viruses, bacteria, and diseases.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1340
An allied force of Castilian and Portuguese Christians defeated the Muslim Marīnids of North Africa at the Battle of Río Salado. [Test your knowledge of historical battles.]
Marc Waelkens/Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project
130
The Roman emperor Hadrian officially founded the city of Antinoöpolis in ancient Egypt. [How much do you know about the Roman Empire?]