In 1783, the first manned balloon flight took place in Paris as Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier ascended in a basket attached to a tethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon, rising to about 75 feet.

1815 – Emperor Napoleon I begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1860, 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.

1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.

1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an important early oral contraceptive.

1951 – The first episode of I Love Lucy, a sitcom starring Lucille Ball, airs on CBS.

1956 – FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.

1965 – Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.

1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

1969 – In the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, over two million demonstrate nationally; about 250,000 in Washington D.C.

1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.

In 1989, South African officials released eight prominent political prisoners, including Walter Sisulu.

1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.

On Oct. 15, 1991, despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.

1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray of far higher energy than any before seen, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory.

In 1997, British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green twice drove a jet-powered car in the Nevada desert faster than the speed of sound, officially shattering the world's land-speed record.

2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

Ten years ago in 2008, Republican John McCain repeatedly assailed Democrat Barack Obama's character and campaign positions on taxes, abortion and more in a debate at Hofstra University; Obama parried each accusation, and leveled a few of his own, saying "100 percent" of McCain's campaign ads were negative.

2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.

2016 – 197 nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.

On this day One year ago, in 2017:

Actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write "Me too" as a status; within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #MeToo hashtag (using a phrase that had been introduced 10 years earlier by social activist Tarana Burke.)

Police in London investigated three new allegations of sexual assault against producer Harvey Weinstein, all made by the same woman.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL, alleging that he was still unsigned because of collusion by owners resulting from his protests during the national anthem.

Almanac - Monday 10/15/18

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