On November 24, 1807, Mohawk Chief Thayendanegea, also known by his English name, Joseph Brant, dies at his home in Burlington, Ontario. Before dying, he reportedly said, “Have pity on the poor Indians. If you have any influence with the great, endeavour to use it for their good.” Thayendanegea ranked among Britain’s best commanders during the […]

The groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin is published in England. "On the Origin of Species" set forth Darwin’s theory that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.”

The Federal Industrial Institution for Women, the first women’s federal prison, officially opens in Alderson, West Virginia. All women serving federal sentences of more than a year were to be brought here. Run by Dr. Mary B. Harris, the prison’s buildings, each named after social reformers, sat atop 500 acres. One judge described the prison […]

The crime lab that is now referred to as the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory officially opens in Washington, D.C., on November 24, 1932. The lab was initially operated out of a single room and had only one full-time employee, Agent Charles Appel. Agent Appel began with a borrowed microscope and a pseudo-scientific device called […]

On November 24, 1960, Philadelphia Warrior Wilt Chamberlain snags 55 rebounds in a game against the Boston Celtics and sets an NBA record for the most rebounds in a single game. The seven-foot-one-inch Chamberlain—often called “Wilt the Stilt,” a nickname he detested, or “The Big Dipper,” because he was so tall that he had to […]

A hijacker who became known as D.B. Cooper parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 into a raging thunderstorm over Washington State. He had $200,000 in ransom money in his possession. His brazen crime still stands as one of the most mysterious in history. Cooper commandeered the aircraft shortly after takeoff, showing a flight attendant something […]

On November 24, 1974, the fossils of an early human ancestor are discovered in northeastern Ethiopia. Soon nicknamed “Lucy,” the remains showed that human species were walking upright over three millions years ago.  The groundbreaking discovery was made by anthropology professor Donald Johanson and his research assistant Tom Gray at the Hadar paleontological site in northeastern […]

On November 24, 2017, a bomb ripped through a mosque in Egypt’s northern Sinai region as terrorists opened fire on those finishing Friday prayer at the al-Rawdah mosque. The attack killed 305 people—including 27 children—and wounded 120, in what was the deadliest terrorist strike in the country’s recent history. The bloody attack was a cruel […]