145 years ago today, Helen Keller was born with full sight and hearing in Alabama. But before the age of two, she was stricken with disease that left her deaf and blind.

81 years ago today, the inspirational United Nations Charter was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco

69 years ago today, the renegade travel host and chef Anthony Bourdain, was born.

30 years ago today, South Africa defeated New Zealand in the Final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

138 years ago today, The Rocky Mountains Park Act passed Canadian parliament, establishing Banff National Park, the nation’s largest and most famous park.

Needles 1,000 times thinner than a human hair could replace painful cancer biopsies and render obsolete the traditional methods of diagnosing diseases, according to new research.

Today is Record Store Day, first held in 2008 by independent record store owners as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture spinning every day in 1400 vinyl shops in the US—and thousands worldwide on six continents.

126 years ago today, Yasunari Kawabata was born. Winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the novelist is recognized as one of the foremost of his time, with titles such as Snow Country and Thousand Cranes held up in the country as masterpieces.

90 years ago today, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Bill Wilson—who, the previous day, drank his last drink.

On this day 110 years ago, the musician and innovator Les Paul was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin.