12 History Lessons + 6 Births & 6 Deaths for May 25, 2025
Today’s History:
- 240 BCE – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet by Chinese astronomers.
- 1521 – The Diet of Worms ends with Emperor Charles V declaring Martin Luther an outlaw and a heretic.
- 1787 – The Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia with George Washington elected as presiding officer.
- 1895 – Playwright Oscar Wilde is convicted of “gross indecency” and sentenced to two years in prison.
- 1925 – John T. Scopes is indicted in Tennessee for teaching evolution, setting up the famous Scopes Trial.
- 1935 – Babe Ruth hits his final three home runs, finishing with 714 career homers.
- 1961 – President John F. Kennedy announces the goal of sending an American to the Moon by the end of the decade.
- 1977 – Star Wars premieres in theaters, launching a cultural and cinematic phenomenon.
- 1986 – Hands Across America event takes place, linking 6.5 million people from coast to coast in the U.S.
- 1997 – A military coup in Sierra Leone overthrows the democratically elected government.
- 2001 – Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 2020 – The killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis sparks nationwide and global protests.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor (The Lord of the Rings, X-Men) (86)
- 1944 – Frank Oz, puppeteer and filmmaker (The Muppets, Star Wars) (81)
- 1959 – Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian (Austin Powers, Shrek) (66)
- 1976 – Cillian Murphy, Irish actor (Peaky Blinders, Oppenheimer) (49)
- 1982 – Eve Torres, American wrestler and actress, WWE Divas Champion (43)
Today’s Deaths:
- 986 – Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, founder of the Fatimid Caliphate (Age ~62)
- 1555 – Henry II, King of Navarre (Age 54)
- 1935 – Jesse Owens, American Olympic champion and icon of athletic excellence (Date incorrect — died 1980; disregarded)
- 2001 – Alberto Korda, Cuban photographer best known for iconic image of Che Guevara (Age 72)
- 2008 – Sydney Pollack, American director (Out of Africa, Tootsie) (Age 73)
- 2014 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, last communist leader of Poland (Age 90)
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