On this Day

ON THIS DAY: Nasa’s spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars (1976)

On September 3, 1976, NASA’s Viking 2 spacecraft touched down on the surface of Mars, becoming the second mission to land successfully on the...

ON THIS DAY: The Great Fire of London (1666)

On this day in 1666, the Great Fire of London began in a bakery on Pudding Lane, quickly growing into one of the most...

ON THIS DAY: Germany invaded Poland (1939)

On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, unleashing the Second World War. Adolf Hitler justified the attack with the staged “Gleiwitz incident,” a...

ON THIS DAY: Hurricane Katrina strikes the US (2005)

On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 hurricane, unleashing one of the deadliest and costliest...

ON THIS DAY: Goethe (1749) and Tolstoy (1828) are born

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) Born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was one of Germany’s greatest literary figures...