1778

English navigator Capt. James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the “Sandwich Islands.”

1911

The first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.

1943

During World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops.

1993

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.