Daily Almanac: October 04, 2023

Sunrise/Sunset:

RISE: 7:45 a.m.
SET: 7:27 p.m.

High/Low Temperatures:

HIGH: 87 °F
LOW: 62 °F

Today is…:

• National Golf Day
• National Taco Day
• National Vodka Day

What Happened On This Day:

• 1957 World’s first artificial satellite launched. The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world’s oldest and largest space launch facility still in operation. The successful launch of Sputnik spurred the Space Race – a race between Cold War rivals USSR and US to gain supremacy in spaceflight.
• 1895 First US Open for Golf. The now annual event was played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island, for the first time. 11 people played the 36-hole competition in a single day. Horace Rawlins, a 21-year old Englishman won the tournament and took home a trophy and $150 cash.
• 1582 Last day of the Julian Calendar in Catholic countries. The next day, the Gregorian calendar took effect in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain by the order of Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar was put in place to realign events like equinoxes and solstices with the calendar, ensuring that Easter is always celebrated around the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox. Because of the new calendar, several days were skipped, and October 4 was followed by October 15. Today, the Gregorian calendar is the most used calendar around the world.

Births On This Day:

• 1895 Buster Keaton

American actor, director, producer
• 1822 Rutherford B. Hayes

American politician, 19th President of the United States

Deaths On This Day:

• 1974 Anne Sexton

American poet

• 1669 Rembrandt

Dutch painter