Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 18, 1962, Dr. James D. Watson of the U.S. and Drs. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of Britain were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
On this date:
In 1685, King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes that had established legal toleration of France's Protestant population, the Huguenots. (The French Parliament recorded the new edict four days later.)
In 1858, the play "Our American Cousin" by Tom Taylor premiered at Laura Keene's theater in New York.
In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.
In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago was officially opened. (It could handle only one call at a time).
In 1898, the American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island to the U.S.
In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, N.J., at age 84.
In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.
In 1968, the U.S. Olympic Committee suspended Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a "black power" salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City.
In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.
In 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Mo., at age 97.
Ten years ago: Pope John Paul II celebrated a Mass at the Vatican marking the 20th anniversary of his election to the papacy. The New York Yankees defeated the San Diego Padres 9-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
