Today’s Highlights

On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members: commander Rick Husband; pilot William McCool; payload commander Michael Anderson; mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark; and payload specialist Ilan Ramon.

On this date

1865: Abolitionist John S. Rock became the first Black lawyer admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1943: During World War II, one of America’s most highly decorated military units, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese Americans, was activated.

1959: Men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-to-1 margin in a referendum. (Swiss women finally gained the right to vote in 1971.)

1960: Four Black college students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they had been refused service.

1979: Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was welcomed home by millions in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Garrett Morris is 88. Princess Stephanie of Monaco is 60. Actor Sherilyn Fenn is 60. Comedian-actor Pauly Shore is 57. Actor Michael C. Hall is 54. Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell is 46. Mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey is 38. Actor Julia Garner is 31. Singer-actor Harry Styles is 31.