Today in History for 2nd January 2017:
Historical Events
533 – John II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1492 – Muhammad XII. (Boabdil) last Nasird ruler of Moorish fortress Alhambra surrenders to the Catholic Monarchs
1842 – 1st US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Penn
1918 – NHL Montreal Wanderers disband after Westmount arena burns down
1925 – Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region established (now in Tadzhik SSR)
1990 – Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15)
Famous Birthdays
1896 – Ernst-Lothar von Knorr, composer
1897 – Jim Londos, Greek wrestler (d. 1975)
1912 – Andre Ameller, composer
1951 – Alexander Pogrebinsky, Russian painter
1963 – David Cone, baseball pitcher (NY Mets/Tor Blue Jays/NY Yankees), born in Kansas City, Missouri
1972 – Lake Dawson, NFL wide receiver (KC Chiefs)
Famous Deaths
1893 – John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)
1960 – Fausto Coppi, Italian, ran world record 45,798 km, dies at 40
1970 – Piotr Rytel, Polish composer, dies at 85
2007 – Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
2012 – David Barron, British physicist and computer scientist, at 76 (b.1935)
2013 – Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Uruguayan football player, dies from a respiratory illness at 67