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Sistine Chapel ceiling opens to public

Born on This Day

Tim Cook

1960 -

American businessman who became CEO of the tech behemoth Apple after the 2011 death of Steve Jobs.

Lyle Lovett

1957 -

Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter who injected country music with elements of folk and jazz.

Toni Collette

1972 -

Versatile Australian actress best known for "The Sixth Sense," "Little Miss Sushine" and "Hereditary."

Tim Cook2015 Getty Images

Lyle LovettCorbis via Getty Images

Toni ColletteWireImage

1848

NOV1

Boston Female Medical College opens, becoming the first institution in the US teaching medical subjects to women. The first class had 12 students and 2 teachers.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on November 1st

Earthquake takes heavy toll on Lisbon

A devastating earthquake hits Lisbon, Portugal, killing as many as 50,000 people, on November 1, 1755. The city was virtually rebuilt from scratch following the widespread destruction. Lisbon was Portugal’s capital and largest city during the prosperous 18th century, when diamonds and gold from the Portuguese colony in Brazil made many in the country wealthy. […]

Stamp Act goes into effect in the American colonies

In the face of widespread opposition in the American colonies, the Stamp Act goes into effect. The taxation measure is designed to raise revenue for British military operations in America. Defense of the American colonies in the French and Indian War (1754-63) and Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-64) were costly affairs for Great Britain, and Prime Minister […]

John Paul Jones sets sail

On November 1, 1777, the USS Ranger, with a crew of 140 men under the command of John Paul Jones, leaves Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for the naval port at Brest, France, where it will stop before heading toward the Irish Sea to begin raids on British warships. This was the first mission of its kind […]

John Adams moves into White House

On November 1, 1800, President John Adams, in the last year of his only term as president, moved into the newly constructed President’s House, the original name for what is known today as the White House. Adams had been living in temporary digs at Tunnicliffe’s City Hotel near the half-finished Capitol building since June 1800, […]

George McClellan replaces Winfield Scott as Union Army leader

On November 1, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln names George B. McClellan the general in chief of the Union army, replacing the aged and infirm Winfield Scott.

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World’s first aerial bomb is dropped over Libya

On November 1, 1911, Italian army lieutenant Giulio Gavotti, while flying over Libya, tosses three grenades out of his plane over a Turkish camp, effectively dropping the world’s first aerial bomb. Just eight years after the Wright brothers in America had accomplished the world’s first flight, the Kingdom of Italy sent several aircraft into Libya, […]

Legendary western lawman is murdered

On November 1, 1924, William Tilghman is murdered by a corrupt Prohibition agent who resented Tilghman’s refusal to ignore local bootlegging operations. Tilghman, one of the famous marshals who enacted law and order in the West, was 71 years old. Known to both friends and enemies as “Uncle Billy,” Tilghman was one of the most […]

Palestinian American public intellectual Edward Said is born

Edward Said, the eminent Palestinian American public intellectual and the father of postcolonial studies, is born on November 1, 1935.

The first issue of “Ebony” magazine is published

The first issue of Ebony magazine—featuring profiles of writer Richard Wright and jazz singer Hazel Scott, and stories about African Americans in publishing, the color line in Brazil and a sale of African art in Philadelphia—is published on November 1, 1945. The monthly magazine chronicles Black life in America, including the fight for civil rights […]

First NBA game played

On November 1, 1946, the New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies in the first NBA game, 68-66. The Knickerbockers are led by guard Leo Gottlieb, who scored 14 points in the game played before 7,090 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Although they lost to the Knickerbockers (now known as the Knicks), the Huskies had the […]

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An assassination attempt threatens President Harry S. Truman

On November 1, 1950, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. Truman escaped unscathed. In the autumn of 1950, the White House was being renovated and President Truman and his family were living in the nearby Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue. On the […]

United States tests first hydrogen bomb

The United States detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. Following the successful Soviet detonation of an atomic device in September 1949, the United States accelerated its program to […]

Montreal’s Jacques Plante becomes first NHL goaltender to wear facemask

On November 1, 1959, the day after Halloween, Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens revolutionizes hockey by donning a facemask, the first NHL goaltender to do so in a regular-season game. Plante wears the custom-made fiberglas mask after suffering a badly cut nose and lip on a first-period shot by the New York Rangers’ Andy Bathgate. […]

European Union officially established

The Maastricht Treaty comes into effect on November 1, 1993, formally establishing the European Union (EU). The treaty was drafted in 1991 by delegates from the European Community meeting at Maastricht in the Netherlands and signed in 1992. The agreement called for a strengthened European parliament, the creation of a central European bank, and common […]

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