September 11
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2001
The first known victim of the 9/11 attacks
Mychal Judge, the son of Irish immigrants, a Roman Catholic priest, and a chaplain for the New York City Fire Department, rushed to the World Trade Center after the first plane hit during the September 11 attacks. He was inside the North Tower when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am, unleashing a massive rainfall of debris. Immediately after the collapse, firefighters and other first responders found Judge’s body in the rubble. Killed by the falling debris, he became the first identified casualty of 9/11.
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Featured Event
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World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked by terrorists
On this day in 2001, 19 militants associated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes in the United States, crashing three into buildings (the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania) and killing some 3,000 people. [Read a minute-by-minute account of the September 11 attacks.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Elliott and Fry Collection/Bassano Studios
You have to have something vicious in you to be a creative writer.… God save me from being ‘nice.’
D.H. Lawrence, born this day in 1885, was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century, known in particular for his novels Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1920).
Famous Birthdays
More on September 11
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2008
A major fire erupted in the Channel Tunnel, which runs under the English Channel and connects England with France, and the Chunnel (as it was sometimes called) did not resume full service until early the following year. [How much do you know about European history?]
AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
2002
American gridrion football player Johnny Unitas, considered one of the NFL’s all-time greatest quarterbacks, died in Maryland. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about American football.]
AP Images
1985
American professional baseball player Pete Rose registered his 4,192nd career hit, breaking the record set by Ty Cobb. [Take our baseball quiz.]
© Universal History Archive—Universal Images Group/Getty Images
1973
General Augusto Pinochet led a coup d’état in Chile, overthrowing the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Chile.]
Punkin—Whacko Inc/Kobal/Shutterstock.com
1967
The Carol Burnett Show debuted on CBS, and the variety and sketch comedy program, which featured Carol Burnett and her comedy troupe, became a Saturday-night staple. [Sort fact from fiction in our pop culture quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1944
Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Canada at the second Quebec Conference. [How much do you know about World War II?]
Hisham F. Ibrahim/Getty Images
1941
Construction began on the Pentagon, in Arlington county, Virginia; one of the largest office buildings in the world, it is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force. [Test your knowledge of military history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-05697)
1855
The 11-month Siege of Sevastopol ended after British and French troops finally captured the main naval base of the Russian Black Sea fleet during the Crimean War. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about wars throughout history.]
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
1814
U.S. naval forces under Thomas Macdonough defeated a larger British force at the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. [Take our quiz about U.S. history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1777
British forces led by General William Howe defeated the Americans at the Battle of the Brandywine during the American Revolution. [Test your knowledge of the American Revolution.]
Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London
1709
The duke of Marlborough led a British army of 100,000 men against a French army of 90,000 at the Battle of Malplaquet in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Luftburger
1697
Austrian forces won a decisive victory over an Ottoman army at the Battle of Zenta. [Take our quiz about the Ottoman Empire.]