Politician and diplomat Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was born on January 29, 1761, in Geneva, Switzerland. Gallatin’s aristocratic family included physicians, statesmen, and soldiers – one of his relatives commanded a battalion at the Battle of Yorktown.
On August 1, 1882, the first International Polar Year (IPY) began.
On July 20, 1969, the US effectively won the Space Race when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Eagle lunar module on the Moon’s surface.
On November 17, 1820, Nathaniel Palmer and his crew became the first Americans to see Antarctica.
On December 3, 1989, the USPS issued its first postal item to be produced with a hologram – a 25¢ stamped envelope picturing a space shuttle docking at a space station.
On March 1, 1872, president Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park, the first such park in the world.
On December 10, 1817, Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the 20th state.
On September 25, 1513, explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean.
On August 21, 1770, James Cook landed on the eastern coast of Australia and named the land New South Wales.