Tuesday, September 29th
The 272nd day of 2009.
There are 93 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Sept. 29, 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco for the next season. (Go to article.)
On Sept. 29, 1901, Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born physicist who helped develop America's first atomic weapons, was born. Following his death on Nov. 28, 1954, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On September 29, 1866, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Reconstruction. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1789 The U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
1829 London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.
1901 Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi was born in Rome.
1918 Allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough on the Hindenburg Line during World War I.
1943 General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson off Malta.
1954 New York Giants centerfielder Willie Mays made a running catch with his back to home plate on a 450-foot blast by Cleveland Indians batter Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the World Series. It is widely considered to be the greatest catch ever made.
1963 The second session of the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.
1978 Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment a little more than one month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.
1982 Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (The case remains unsolved.)
1988 The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.
1989 Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of battery for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer who had pulled her over.
2000 Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.
2005 John Roberts was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.
2005 New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from 85 days of federal detention after agreeing to testify in a criminal probe into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity.
2006 Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he'd sent to former House pages.
2008 The Dow Jones industrial average fell a record 777.68 points after the House defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue plan for the nation's financial system.
Current Birthdays
Gwen Ifill turns 54 years old today.
AP Photo/Charles Sykes Broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill turns 54 years old today.
87 Lizabeth Scott
Actress
85 Steve Forrest
Actor
78 Eddie Barth
Actor
78 Anita Ekberg
Actress
77 Robert Benton
Director, writer
74 Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock singer, musician
67 Ian McShane
Actor ("Deadwood")
67 Bill Nelson
U.S. senator, D-Fla.
67 Jean-Luc Ponty
Jazz violinist
65 Mike Post
TV, film theme composer
63 Patricia Hodge
Actress
61 Mark Farner
Rock musician (Grand Funk Railroad)
61 Bryant Gumbel
TV personality
61 Mike Pinera
Rock musician (Iron Butterfly)
59 Alvin Crow
Country singer
56 Drake Hogestyn
Actor
54 Ken Weatherwax
Actor ("The Addams Family")
53 Suzzy Roche
Singer (The Roches)
52 Andrew "Dice" Clay
Comedian
51 John Payne
Rock singer (Asia)
47 Roger Bart
Actor
46 Les Claypool
Rock singer, musician (Primus)
43 Jill Whelan
Actress ("The Love Boat")
41 Luke Goss
Actor
41 Brad Smith
Rock musician (Blind Melon)
40 Erika Eleniak
Actress
40 Devante Swing
R&B singer (Jodeci)
39 Brad Cotter
Country singer ("Nashville Star")
39 Emily Lloyd
Actress
39 Natasha Gregson Wagner
Actress
38 Rachel Cronin
Actress ("Ed")
36 Danick Dupelle
Country musician (Emerson Drive)
35 Alexis Cruz
Actor
29 Zachary Levi
Actor ("Chuck")
27 Katie McNeill
Country singer (3 of Hearts)
22 Josh Farro
Rock musician (Paramore)
Historic Birthdays
Enrico Fermi
9/29/1901 - 11/28/1954
Italian-born American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1938)
(Go to obit.)
57 Pompey The Great
9/29/106 BC - 9/28/48 BC
Roman statesman and general of the Roman Republic
68 John Leslie
9/29/1527 - 5/31/1596
Scottish bishop; advisor to Queen Mary
66 Francois Boucher
9/29/1703 - 5/30/1770
French painter, engraver and designer
47 Horatio Nelson
9/29/1758 - 10/21/1805
English naval commander
84 Caroline Yale
9/29/1848 - 7/2/1933
American educator of the deaf
54 Walther Rathenau
9/29/1867 - 6/24/1922
German statesman, industrialist and philosopher
80 Miguel Aleman
9/29/1902 - 5/14/1983
Mexican president (1946-52)
91 Greer Garson
9/29/1904 - 4/6/1996
English-born motion-picture actress
71 Trevor Howard
9/29/1913 - 1/7/1988
English stage and screen actor
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