History"> Today In History
• 1953: American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio.
• 1997: Following an anonymous tip, police enter a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California, and discover 39 victims of a mass suicide. The deceased–21 women and 18 men of varying ages–were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers and had no noticeable signs of blood or trauma. It was later revealed that the men and women were members of the “Heaven’s Gate” religious cult, whose leaders preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily “containers” and enter an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
• 1885 First movie film made. Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in Rochester, New York, begins manufacturing the first movie film on this day in 1885. The company was the first to produce, manufacture, and market reels of continuous film.
• 1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel published. This Side of Paradise is published, immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune.
Born On This Day
Diana Ross - 1944
Leonard Nimoy - 1931
