On August 24, 79 AD after centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius
erupted in southern Italy, devastating the prosperous Roman cities
of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands. The cities,
buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud, were
never rebuilt and largely forgotten in the course of history.
In the 18th century, Pompeii and Herculaneum were rediscovered and
excavated, providing an unprecedented archaeological record of
the everyday life of an ancient civilization, startlingly preserved in
in sudden death.
On Sunday, at 8:32 a.m. PDT, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffered a massive eruption, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness.
USGS geologist Don Swanson (in red) and his colleague, Jim Moore, view a car filled with ash deposits from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. (USGS photo)
Harold R. "Harry" Truman (October 30, 1896 – May 18, 1980) Truman was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake.
One of the major disasters in 19th century around the world was the eruption of the volcano Krakatau in western Pacific Ocean, Indonesia.
The volcano erupted on this day in 1883 and killed thousand people on the other islands near it. The volcanic dust was thrown into the atmosphere and affected the weather around the world, and people as far away as Britain and the United States began to see bizarre red sunsets caused by particles in the atmosphere.
On this day in 1859, the first oil well was successfully drilled in the U.S. by Colonel Edwin L. Drake (below) near Titusville, PA.
Drake Well Museum in Titusville, PA is on the site where Edwin L. Drake drilled the world’s first oil well in 1859 and launched the modern petroleum industry.
It was on this day in 1979.
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten was born Prince Louis of Battenberg (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979)
President John F. Kennedy (left) Meets with Lord Louis Mountbatten (center) in 1961. Mountbatten was Chief of the Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces at the time.
Brian Epstein was found dead in his home from an overdose of sleeping pills on this day in 1967. Epstein first discovered The Beatles in November 1961.
Brian Samuel Epstein (September 19, 1934 – August 27, 1967)
Mount Vesuvius erupted killing approximately 20,000 people on this day in 79 AD. The cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum were buried in volcanic ash.
The above Photos of Plaster casts were made from actual victims trapped in the lava flows of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy.
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Florida City: Gary Davis cradles his chihuahua Boo Boo in front of his mobile home in the Goldcoaster Mobile Home Park the morning after Hurricane Andrew.
Washington, DC, was invaded by British forces that set fire to the White House and Capitol on this day in 1814.
An artists depiction of the White House ruins after the conflagration of August 24, 1814.
The planet Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union on this day in 2006. Pluto’s status was changed due to the IAU’s new rules for an object qualifying as a planet. Pluto met two of the three rules because it orbits the sun and is large enough to assume a nearly round shape. However, since Pluto has an oblong orbit and overlaps the orbit of Neptune it disqualified Pluto as a planet.
On this day in 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the U.S. non-stop. The trip from Los Angeles, CA to Newark, NJ, took about 19 hours.
