1781 – Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor, led the British naval forces in the burning and destruction of Richmond, Virginia, an important US city during the American Revolution.

1895 – Alfred Dreyfuss, an army officer in France who was convicted of treason, got sentenced to life in prison on Devil’s Island and he was stripped of his military rank

1896 – Reports in an Austrian newspaper credit Wilhelm Rontgen with the discovery of would later come to be known as x-rays.

1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, which is the world’s largest fraternity for black students and one of the oldest, was founded on this day at Indiana University.

1956 – Snoopy, the white and black beagle in the Peanuts comic strip, walks on two legs for the very first time.

1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives a speech to the US Congress in which he discusses an idea that later came to be known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

1961 – Mr. Ed – a show that ran for six seasons – debuted on CBS on this date.

1972 – The Space Shuttle program officially begins under the orders of President Richard Nixon.

1993 – Westly Allan Dodd, a convicted child sex killer, was hanged in 1993 in the state of Washington. This was the nation’s first legal hanging in nearly 30 years.

2005 – A team of astronomers discover Eris, the biggest known dwarf planet in our solar system. They used images that were taken at the Palomar Observatory in 2003 to make their discovery.

1592 – Shah Jahan, former Indian Emperor in Southern Asia
1876 – Konrad Adenauer, former Chancellor of West Germany
1900 – Yves Tanguy, French surrealist painter
1914 – George Reeves, American TV actor (Adventures of Superman)
1921 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss author (The Judge and His Hangman, Suspicion)
1928 – Walter Mondale, former US Presidential candidate and former Vice President
1932 – Umberto Eco, Italian philosopher and novelist
1941 – Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese film director and producer
1942 – Charlie Rose, journalist and talk show host
1946 – Diane Keaton, American actress (The Godfather, Father of the Bride, Sleeper)
1986 – Deepika Padukone, Indian film actress and model