1 of 4 | World Champion Chess champion Garry Kasparov plays against IBM’s Deep Blue computer at the Association for Computing Chess Challenge on February 11, 1996, in Philadelphia. On May 11, 1997, Kasparov was defeated by a computer, IBM’s Deep Blue, in a six-game match in New York. File Photo by Laurence Kesterson/UPI | License Photo
May 11 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1858, Minnesota joined the United States as the 32nd state.
In 1862, the Confederate navy destroyed its iron-clad vessel Merrimac to prevent it from falling into the hands of advancing Union forces.
In 1910, Glacier National Park in Montana was created by an act of Congress.
In 1924, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler merged their companies, forming Mercedes-Benz.
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
In 1928, the first regularly scheduled television programs were begun by station WGY in Schenectady, N.Y.
In 1963, bombings in Birmingham, Ala., against non-violent Civil Rights campaigners triggered a crisis which led to the involvement of federal troops.
In 1985, a fire engulfed a crowded wooden grandstand at the Bradford City soccer ground in England, killing 56 people.
In 1996, a ValuJet airliner crashed in the Florida Everglades, killing 110 people.
In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in a six-game rematch in New York. It was the second time the computer beat the world chess champion.
In 2009, Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was fired and replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal. McChrystal resigned a year later following a damning article in Rolling Stone.
In 2022, a U.S. Interior Department report said at least 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died while in boarding schools operated or supported by the U.S. government from 1819 to 1969.
In 2024, a solar storm produced dazzling nighttime light shows in locales where northern and southern lights seldom are visible as well as some power grid and communications complications.
File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI