Chile's Puyehue volcanoerupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate.
Linguistic analysis confirms that American astronaut Neil Armstrong did not say the article a in the phrase one small step for a man when he walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8081817.stm (BBC)
The first transit of Venus since 1882 occurs the next one will occur in 2012.
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of "Martha Stewart Living".
Martha Stewart is indicted by a federal grand jury on nine criminal counts including securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in the U.S. government's investigation of her possible insider trading of ImClone Systems stock in December 2001. Just hours after this, she announces that she will quit as chairman and CEO of her company.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 9,000 for the first time since August 22, 2002.
An earthquake hits Bengkulu, Indonesia, leaving 94 dead.
Tuesday, June 4, 1996
The space rocketAriane 5 explodes 40 seconds after takeoff in French Guiana. The project costs European governments 7.5 billion US dollars over 11 years.
South Africa repeals the last legal foundations of apartheid, thhe laws that segregated places of residence and employment.
Monday, June 4, 1990
Violence breaks out in the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic between the majority Kyrgyz people and minority Uzbeks over the distribution of homestead land.
The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128-126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years.
Monday, June 4, 1973
A patent for the ATM! confirmed here is granted to Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
French President Charles De Gaulle visits Algeria.
Sunday, June 4, 1944
Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the , marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel has captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
June 7 ndash WWII: The Battle of Midway: The Japanese naval advance in the Pacific is halted.
WWII: Reinhard Heydrich succumbs to wounds sustained on May 27 from Czechoslovakian paratroopers acting in Operation Anthropoid.
Sunday, June 4, 1939
The "St. Louis", a ship carrying a cargo of 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death cs during the Holocaust.
Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
Monday, June 4, 1917
The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for "Julia Ward Howe"). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work "With Americans of Past and Present Days." Herbert Bayard Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the "New York World."
Sunday, June 4, 1916
The HMS "Hshire" sinks off the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with Lord Kitchener aboard.
The Brusilov Offensive, the height of Russian operations in WWI, begins with their breaking through Austro-Hungarian lines.
Wednesday, June 4, 1913
Emily Davison, a British suffragette, runs out in front of the King's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trled and dies 4 days later in the hospital, never having regained consciousness.
The Ford Quadricycle, the first Ford vehicle ever developed, is completed, eventually leading Henry Ford to build the empire that put America on wheels.
The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California via the First Transcontinental Railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.
Friday, June 4, 1875
Two American colleges play each other in arguably the first game of College Football Smith, R.A. Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.: Tufts University and Harvard University at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Mass..
Thursday, June 4, 1874
The flag of Estonia is taken as the flag of the Estonian Students Society in Otepää.
American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for U.S. Army troops to capture Memphis, Tennessee.
Saturday, June 4, 1859
Austro-Sardinian War ndash Battle of Magenta: The French and Sardinians defeat the Austrians.
Saturday, June 4, 1842
In South Africa, hunter Dick King rides into a British military base in Grahamstown to warn that the Boers have besieged Durban (he had left 11 days earlier). The British army dispatches a relief force.
The commission agrees to the rebel's terms: reduction of the alcabala and of the Indians' forced tribute, abolition of the new taxes on tobacco and prederence for Creoles over peninsulares in government positions.
Dutch East India Company ship "Batavia" is wrecked on a reef near Beacon Island off Western Australia on her maiden voyage to the Indies. Following mutiny among the survivors, two exiled murderers become the first Europeans to settle in Australia. Their subsequent fate is unknown.
Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan, beginning a period of peace which lasts nearly 250 years. Bands of Christian samurai support Ieyasu's enemies at the Battle of Osaka.
Walter Ralegh sends Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Outer Banks of Virginia (now North Carolina), with a view to establishing an English colony they locate Roanoke Island.ref name=tt
Sunday, May 25, 1561 (Julianian calendar)
Old St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London is badly damaged by fire and the spire is destroyed after being struck by lightning. The spire is not rebuilt.
A papal bull grants Sardegna and half of Corsica to Pisa.
At the battle of Fraga, the Castellan troops led by king Alfonso the Battler defeat the Almoravid army thanks to a timely intervention of a Norman crusader army from Tarragona led by Robert Burdet.
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona launches a raid against Almoravid-held territories in al-Andalus and pilages the country all the way to Cadiz.Gilbert Meynier (2010) "L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518)". Paris: La Découverte pp.86.
Wednesday, May 28, 1102 (Julianian calendar)
The Hohenbaden castle is built in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Following the Croatian military defeat of 1096, by the Pacta Conventa (contested) the Croatian nobles recognize Coloman of Hungary as their overlord, initiating the personal union between the two kingdoms.
Wang Shichong surrenders to Li Shimin following Dou Jiande's defeat.
Monday, June 1, 621 (Julianian calendar)
Muhammad is said to have visited heaven aboard the steed/unicorn with wings or Buraq, in the "Isra wal-Miraj", (the Night Journey), from Mecca and then to heaven from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, then back to Mecca.
