September 10
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1935
The man behind the can patents a spaghetti cooker
On this day in 1935, Italian immigrant Ettore “Hector” Boiardi patented a production spaghetti cooker for his factory. It was an unglamorous piece of equipment, but it was a sign of how far Hector’s business had come. You may know the company better as Chef Boyardee. There really was a Chef Boyardee, and this was his American dream.
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Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USW3-014905-D); Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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© North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy
John Smith chosen president of Jamestown
Having survived capture by Indians (reputedly through the efforts of Pocahontas, a chief’s daughter), John Smith became president of Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America, this day in 1608. [Test your knowledge of early America.]
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Courtesy, Arnold Palmer Enterprises; photograph, Eiko Oizumi
Arnold Palmer, born this day in 1929, was one of golf’s most successful players—he was the first to win the Masters Tournament four times—and was hugely popular, attracting a vast following known as Arnie’s Army.
Famous Birthdays
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2025
Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist, was shot and killed on a university campus in Utah.
© CERN
2008
The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, conducted its first test operation. [How does a particle accelerator work?]
Junko Kimura/Getty Images
2000
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats closed after 7,485 performances; it was the longest-running show on Broadway until it was surpassed by Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera in 2006. [Take our theatre quiz.]
Fox Broadcasting Company
1993
The TV series The X-Files, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, debuted on Fox, and it developed a huge cult following. [Sort fact from fiction in our pop culture quiz.]
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1988
By winning the U.S. Open, Steffi Graf completed the Grand Slam of tennis; she was the first woman to accomplish the feat since Margaret Court in 1970. [Test your knowledge of tennis.]
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1984
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1974
Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Africa.]
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1934
American professional baseball player Roger Maris, who held (1961–98) the record for most home runs (61) in a single season, was born. [How much do you know about baseball?]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1919
Austria and the Allied powers signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain, concluding World War I. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War I.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1880
The Makoko-De Brazza Treaty established French colonial rule of what is now the Republic of the Congo.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937 (accession no. 37.14.26); www.metmuseum.org
1846
American inventor Elias Howe was granted a patent for his sewing machine, which revolutionized garment manufacture in the factory and in the home. [Take our quiz about inventors and inventions.]
North Wind Picture Archives
1823
Venezuelan soldier and statesman Simón Bolívar is granted supreme authority of Peru by Congress. He served as dictator of Peru until 1826.
Library of Congress, Washington D.C. (Digital file no. cph 3a06427 )
1813
U.S. naval forces under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. [Take our history of war quiz.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1721
The Second Northern War (1700–21) was concluded by the Peace of Nystad. [Sort fact from fiction in our European history quiz.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1651
Japanese rebel Yui Shōsetsu committed suicide after the failure of his plot against the Tokugawa shogunate. [Test your knowledge of revolutions and plots.]
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (ID 540), kmska.be.
1419
John the Fearless, second duke of Burgundy, was killed during a meeting with the future king Charles VII at Montereau, France. [Take our quiz about French history.]