12 History Lessons + 4 Births & 7 Deaths for August 25, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
- 1718 – New Orleans is founded by the French under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
- 1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins in Brussels, leading to Belgium’s independence from the Netherlands.
- 1916 – The U.S. National Park Service is established by President Woodrow Wilson.
- 1944 – Paris is liberated from Nazi occupation by the Free French Forces and Allied troops.
- 1950 – President Truman orders U.S. Army to seize control of the railroads to prevent a strike during the Korean War.
- 1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, is assassinated in Arlington, Virginia.
- 1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
- 1989 – Voyager 2 makes its closest flyby of Neptune, giving humanity its first close-up images.
- 1991 – Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 2001 – Aaliyah, R&B singer and actress, dies in a plane crash in the Bahamas.
- 2012 – The first successful voice and image transmission via NASA’s Curiosity Rover from Mars is received on Earth.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1954 – Elvis Costello, British musician and songwriter (Alison, Pump It Up) (71)
- 1958 – Tim Burton, American film director (Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) (67)
- 1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus, country singer and actor (Achy Breaky Heart) (64)
- 1987 – Blake Lively, actress (Gossip Girl, The Shallows) (38)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1227 – Genghis Khan, Mongol emperor and conqueror (~65)
- 1819 – James Watt, Scottish inventor and namesake of the watt unit (83)
- 1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) (55)
- 1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi Party founder (49)
- 1984 – Truman Capote, American author (In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s) (59)
- 2001 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (22)
- 2012 – Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on the Moon (82)
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