July, 31st in History

[Spiritus Temporis]

Events

Thursday 31, 2003:
WON is shut down.

Saturday 31, 1999:
NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

Wednesday 31, 1996:
MIL-STD-1750A is declared inactive for use in new designs.

Friday 31, 1992:
A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain south of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.

Friday 31, 1987:
A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.

Saturday 31, 1976:
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1

Thursday 31, 1975:
In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

Tuesday 31, 1973:
A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89

Saturday 31, 1971:
Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.

Friday 31, 1964:
Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes).

Monday 31, 1961:
At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.

Tuesday 31, 1956:
Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first-class match (the previous best was seventeen.

Saturday 31, 1954:
First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.

Tuesday 31, 1951:
Japan Airlines is established.

Saturday 31, 1948:
At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

Tuesday 31, 1945:
Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

Thursday 31, 1941:
Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."

Friday 31, 1936:
The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics were to be held in Tokyo. However, the games were given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and were eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.

Thursday 31, 1930:
The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.

Thursday 31, 1919:
German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)

Tuesday 31, 1917:
The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.

Thursday 31, 1856:
Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.

Saturday 31, 1790:
First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

Tuesday 31, 1703:
Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

Sunday 31, 1667:
The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Sunday 31, 1588:
The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

Sunday 31, 1498:
On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

Thursday 31, 1423:
The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.

Monday 31, 1009:
Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV

Friday 31, 781:
The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781)

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/31-july/on-this-day.html


People born on July 31

1978:
Justin Wilson, American race car driver (b: July 31, 1978) (Biography of Justin Wilson)
Ira Losco, Maltese singer (b: July 31, 1978) (Biography of Ira Losco)

1977:
Tim Couch, American football player (b: July 31, 1977) (Biography of Tim Couch)

1976:
Annie Parisse, American actress (b: July 31, 1976) (Biography of Annie Parisse)

1974:
Jonathan Ogden, American football player (b: July 31, 1974) (Biography of Jonathan Ogden)
Emilia Fox, English actress (b: July 31, 1974) (Biography of Emilia Fox)

1971:
Gus Frerotte, American football player (b: July 31, 1971) (Biography of Gus Frerotte)

1969:
David Cash (Kid Kash), American professional wrestler (b: July 31, 1969) (Biography of David Cash)

1966:
Dean Cain, American actor (b: July 31, 1966) (Biography of Dean Cain)

1965:
J. K. Rowling, English novelist (b: July 31, 1965) (Biography of J. K. Rowling)
John Laurinaitis, American professional wrestler (b: July 31, 1965) (Biography of John Laurinaitis)

1964:
Jim Corr, Irish singer and musician (The Corrs) (b: July 31, 1964) (Biography of Jim Corr)

1962:
Wesley Snipes, American actor (b: July 31, 1962) (Biography of Wesley Snipes)
Kevin Greene, professional American football linebacker (b: July 31, 1962) (Biography of Kevin Greene)

1959:
Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist (b: July 31, 1959) (Biography of Stanley Jordan)

1958:
Bill Berry, American musician (R.E.M.) (b: July 31, 1958) (Biography of Bill Berry)
Mark Cuban, businessman, producer, and American football team owner (b: July 31, 1958) (Biography of Mark Cuban)

1952:
Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and Mayor of Fresno, California (b: July 31, 1952) (Biography of Alan Autry)
Helmuts Balderis, Latvian hockey player (b: July 31, 1952) (Biography of Helmuts Balderis)
João Barreiros, Portuguese writer (b: July 31, 1952) (Biography of João Barreiros)

1951:
Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player (b: July 31, 1951) (Biography of Evonne Goolagong)
Barry Van Dyke, American actor (b: July 31, 1951) (Biography of Barry Van Dyke)

1950:
Steve Miller, American writer (b: July 31, 1950) (Biography of Steve Miller (writer))

1946:
Bob Welch, American musician (b: July 31, 1946) (Biography of Bob Welch (musician))

1944:
Geraldine Chaplin, American actress (b: July 31, 1944) (Biography of Geraldine Chaplin)

1943:
William Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education (b: July 31, 1943) (Biography of William Bennett)
Susan Flannery, American actress (b: July 31, 1943) (Biography of Susan Flannery)

1941:
Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician (b: July 31, 1941 ; d: August 15, 2004) (Biography of Amarsinh Chaudhary)

1939:
France Nuyen, French actress (b: July 31, 1939) (Biography of France Nuyen)

1933:
Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer (b: July 31, 1933) (Biography of Cees Nooteboom)

1931:
Kenny Burrell, American guitarist (b: July 31, 1931) (Biography of Kenny Burrell)

1930:
Oleg Popov, Russian clown (b: July 31, 1930) (Biography of Oleg Popov)

1929:
Don Murray, American actor (b: July 31, 1929) (Biography of Don Murray (actor))

1923:
Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-born record company executive (b: July 31, 1923) (Biography of Ahmet Ertegun)

1921:
Whitney Young, American civil rights activist (b: July 31, 1921 ; d: March 11, 1971) (Biography of Whitney Young)

1919:
Primo Levi, Italian author and chemist (b: July 31, 1919 ; d: April 11, 1987) (Biography of Primo Levi)
Curt Gowdy, American sports announcer (b: July 31, 1919) (Biography of Curt Gowdy)

1918:
Paul D. Boyer, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b: July 31, 1918) (Biography of Paul D. Boyer)
Hank Jones, American pianist (b: July 31, 1918) (Biography of Hank Jones)

1916:
Bill Todman, American game show producer (b: July 31, 1916 ; d: July 29, 1979) (Biography of Bill Todman)

1914:
Louis de Funès, French actor and comedian (b: July 31, 1914) (Biography of Louis de Funes)

1912:
Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b: July 31, 1912) (Biography of Milton Friedman)
Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (b: July 31, 1912 ; d: November 10, 2003) (Biography of Irv Kupcinet)

1911:
George Liberace, American musician (b: July 31, 1911) (Biography of George Liberace)

1904:
Brett Halliday, American writer (b: July 31, 1904 ; d: February 4, 1977) (Biography of Brett Halliday)

1901:
Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (b: July 31, 1901 ; d: May 12, 1985) (Biography of Jean Dubuffet)

1887:
Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b: July 31, 1887 ; d: January 18, 1969) (Biography of Hans Freyer)

1860:
Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b: July 31, 1860) (Biography of Mary Vaux Walcott)

1843:
Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet (b: July 31, 1843) (Biography of Peter Rosegger)

1816:
George Henry Thomas, American general (b: July 31, 1816 ; d: March 28, 1870) (Biography of George Henry Thomas)

1803:
John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (b: July 31, 1803 ; d: March 8, 1889) (Biography of John Ericsson)

1704:
Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b: July 31, 1704 ; d: January 4, 1752) (Biography of Gabriel Cramer)

1702:
Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (b: July 31, 1702 ; d: December 8, 1768) (Biography of Jean Denis Attiret)

1598:
Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (b: July 31, 1598 ; d: June 10, 1654) (Biography of Alessandro Algardi)

1527:
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, (b: July 31, 1527 ; d: October 12, 1576) (Biography of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor)

1396:
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b: July 31, 1396 ; d: June 15, 1467) (Biography of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy)

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/31-july/births.html