History of 15 June
1909 – Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.
1911 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.
1916 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
1917 – Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.
1919 – Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown won $50,000 for successfully completing the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic plane flight.
1938 – Johnny Vandemeer (Cincinnati Reds) pitched his second straight no-hitter.
1940 – The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.
1944 – American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.
1947 – The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.
1948 – Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn would be closed indefinitely “for repairs.”
1958 – Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.
1964 – The last French troops left Algeria.
1978 – King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.
1981 – The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.
1982 – In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.
1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.
1986 – Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, reported that the chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dismissed for mishandling the incident at the plant.
1992 – It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.
1992 – U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell “potato” with an “e” on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on a faulty flash card that had been written by the student’s teacher.
1994 – Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.
1999 – South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Billy Martin, American guitarist, songwriter, and illustrator
- 1981 – John Paintsil, Ghanaian footballer
- 1981 – Jeremy Reed, American baseball player
- 1982 – Katie Chapman, English footballer
- 1982 – Mike Delany, New Zealand rugby player
- 1982 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1983 – Julia Fischer, German violinist, and pianist
- 1983 – Laura Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1983 – Josh McGuire, Canadian fencer
- 1984 – Luke Hodge, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Eva Hrdinová, a Czech tennis player
- 1984 – Tim Lincecum, American baseball player
- 1984 – Mauro Rizzo, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Edison Toloza, Colombian footballer
- 1985 – Ashley Nicole Black, American comedian, actress, and writer
- 1985 – Nadine Coyle, Irish singer
- 1986 – James Maloney, Australian rugby league player
- 1986 – Trevor Plouffe, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ani Mijačika, a Croatian tennis player
- 1989 – Víctor Cabedo, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
- 1989 – Bryan Clauson, American race car driver (d. 2016)
- 1991 – Emily Harman, an American tennis player
- 1992 – Michał Kopczyński, Polish footballer
- 1992 – Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer
- 1992 – Dafne Schippers, Dutch heptathlete and sprinter
- 1993 – Kanna Arihara, Japanese singer
- 1993 – Irfan Hadzic, Bosnian footballer
- 1994 – Vincent Janssen, Dutch footballer
- 1994 – Inaki Williams, Basque footballer
- 1996 – Aurora Aksnes, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1997 – Madison Kocian, American gymnast