You are here

Home » News » On This Day

On This Day

  • 5-8-1794

    French Chemist Lavoisier executed by guillotine in the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. The next day Lagrange commented: "It took them only an instant to cut off that head, and a hundred years may not produce another like it."

    More information about:
    Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

  • 5-8-1960

    Pioneering Oxford topologist Henry Whitehead died while on a visit to Princeton, where he had earned his PhD in 1932.

    More information about:
    Henry Whitehead

  • 5-8-1961

    Astronaut Alan Shepard awarded by President Kennedy the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Flying Medal for making America's first space flight on May 5, 1961.

    More information about:
    Alan Shepard