On This Day for August 24 - Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Yasser Arafat is featured, and more ~ Historian Fact

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On This Day for August 24 - Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Yasser Arafat is featured, and more

August 24, 2020 No comments

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August 24

FEATURED BIOGRAPHY

Yasser Arafat

FEATURED EVENT

79 ce

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2011: Amid health issues, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, and he died less than two months later. [Take our computers and technology quiz.]

True-colour image of Pluto, created from telescopic data collected between 1985 and 1990 during a period of mutual eclipses of Pluto and its moon Charon. Pluto's slightly reddish hue indicates that its surface does not comprise pure ices, though the nature of the material responsible for the colour remains to be determined.

2006: Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet after the International Astronomical Union approved a reclassification of the solar system. [How much do you know about Pluto?]

1989: Former baseball player and manager Pete Rose was banned from the sport after an investigation determined that he had bet on games, and he thereby became ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame; he later admitted to gambling on baseball. [Test your knowledge of baseball.]

1814: During the War of 1812, British forces captured Washington, D.C., and burned various government buildings, notably the Capitol and the Executive Mansion (now known as the White House). [Test your knowledge of U.S. history.]

To strengthen themselves against possible communist aggression, 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.

1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) entered into force, following the signing of its treaty four months earlier. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world organizations.]