October 24

Today in History
• 79 - Mt. Vesuvius erupts, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and killing thousands
• 1492 - 24 Jews are burned at the stake in Mecklenburg, Germany
• 1648 - Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire
• 1836 - Earliest American patent for a phosphorus friction match by Alonzo Dwight Phillips
• 1861 - First US transcontinental telegram is sent (from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.)
• 1861 - West Virginia secedes from Virginia
• 1881 - Levi P Morton, US ambassador to France drives first rivet in Statue of Liberty
• 1901 - First woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (Anna Taylor)


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Dashain
• Janmostav of Srimatna Sankardev
• National Food Day
• National Jamaican Jerk Day
• United Nations Day
• Vijayadashami
• World Polio Day
• Zambia Independence Day

Birthdays
• 51-96 AD - Domitian, Roman Emperor (81-96)
• 1503 - Isabella of Portugal, Queen consort of Spain, Queen of the Romans
• 1632 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria
• 1855 - James S. Sherman, 27th Vice President of the United States (1909-1912)
• 1887 - Victoria von Battenberg, Queen of Spain as the wife of King Alfonso XIII
• 1911 - Nathaniel Wyeth, American chemist and inventor (created PET plastic beverage bottle)
• 1920 - Julius Youngner, American scientist, helped develop Salk polio vaccine
• 1930 - Sultan Ahmad Shah, 7th King of Malaysia (1979-84)