On 13 October 1997, a jet-powered car driven by British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green streaked across Nevada's Black Rock Desert at speeds topping 764 mph, faster than the speed of sound. However, the car couldn't complete two runs within the 60 minutes required by record-keepers. He would go on to win the record 15 October.
In 54, A.D., Roman emperor Claudius the First died, after being poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.
In 1775, the United States Navy was born when the Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.
In 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia; builders laid the cornerstone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The name, "White House" was not adopted until 1818. The house, designed by James Hoban, would be three stories tall with more than 100 rooms.
In 1845, Texas ratified a state constitution.
In 1860, the first successful aerial photograph in the U.S. is taken from a balloon in Boston.
In 1884, Greenwich was accepted as the prime meridian for world time calculations.
In 1913, The first air passenger flight is made from Albany, New York to New York City.
In 1954, the U.S. Air Force authorizes the B-58, the first supersonic bomber.
In 1977, Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, became president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Goes on to debate Dan Quayle and Al Gore on this day in 1992.
In 1978, Tiros N, US's first third generation weather satellite, is launched.
In 1983, 15 years ago, the first cellular telephones were introduced.
In 1984, the space shuttle Challenger and its seven astronauts landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, ending a journey that featured the first space walk by an American woman, Kathy Sullivan.
In 1985, Thirteenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 6 is launched.
In 1985, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, the world's largest atom smasher, opens.
In 1987, the first military use of trained dolphins takes place by the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.
In 1993, Bell Atlantic Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. announce plans for a merger; the deal was worth $33 billion.
In 1996, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," called on Congress to investigate campaign contributions made to President Clinton's re-election campaign by the Lippo Group, an Indonesian banking conglomerate. Allegations would later surface that the Clinton Administration provided secret missile technology to China's People's Liberation Army in exchange for campaign contributions laundered by the Democratic National Committee.
Chris Carter: 1957 Writer, TV Producer, X-Files (hence "Ten Thirteen Productions")
Beverly Dr. Crusher: 2324 Fictious Character, of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Melinda Dillon: 1939 Movie Actress, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Agent Fox Mulder: 1961 Fictious Character, X-Files Agent (see also Chris Carter)
Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher: 1925 British Prime Minister, 1979 to 1990
Peter Barlow: 1776 Mathematician, English, Optician who invented two varieties of achromatic (non-colour-distorting) telescope lenses known as Barlow lenses.
Lenny Bruce: 1925 Comedian, Author, real name is: Leonard Alfred Schneider
Bruce Geller: 1930 TV Producer, Screen/Scriptwriter, Mannix, Mission Impossible
Molly Pitcher: 1754 Revolutionary, carried water to American soldiers during the battle of Monmouth; real name is: Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley
Rudolf Virchow: 1821 Scientist, German, Educator, Politician, Author, father of cellular pathology
Born 13 October
Herbert Lawrence Block: 1909 Editorial Cartoonist, b. in Chicago; also known as: Herblock; Washington Post
-- Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, 1928.
