MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2017: For the first time in nearly 40 years, the continental United States experienced a total solar eclipse, which was viewed from Oregon to South Carolina. [Test your knowledge of astronomy.]

2005: American electronic engineer Robert Moog—who invented the Moog electronic music synthesizer, which revolutionized rock , electronica, pop, and experimental music in the late 1960s and early '70s—died at age 71. [Take our quiz about inventions and inventors.]

1942: The animated film Bambi had its theatrical release in the United States, and it became a classic in the Disney canon, noted for its lush hand-drawn animation and sensitive affective narrative. [Take our Disney quiz.]

1911: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, Paris, by three Italian handymen; it was not recovered until 1913, and the media sensation helped make the Mona Lisa arguably the most famous painting in the world. [Who was the subject of the Mona Lisa?]

1858: The famous debates in Illinois between Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party nominee for the U.S. Senate, and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas of the Democratic Party began. [How much do you know about Abraham Lincoln?]

1991: Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.