Calendar for July 22nd, 2012

1793: Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing north of Mexico

Born 1822: Gregor Mendel (geneticist)

Died 1832: Napoleon II of France

Born 1844: William Archibald Spooner (known for verbal inversions called "spoonerisms")

Born 1849: Emma Lazarus (poet)

1876: Maria Spelterini walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. She crossed with her ankles and wrists manacled to inject some drama

Born 1890: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (matriarch of the Kennedy family)

Born 1908: Amy Vanderbilt (journalist)

Died 1916: James Whitcomb Riley (poet)

Born 1923: Bob Dole (politician)

Born 1932: Oscar de la Renta (fashion desinger)

1933: Flying in his plane, the Winnie Mae, Wiley Post completed the first solo around-the-world flight

1934: John Dillinger, "Public Enemy No. 1," was shot and fatally wounded by a group of FBI agents

Born 1940: Alex Trebek (game show host)

Born 1947: Don Henley (singer)

Born 1947: Danny Glover (actor)

Born 1947: Albert Brooks (actor)

Born 1948: S.E. Hinton (author)

Born 1955: Willem Dafoe (actor)

Born 1968: Rhys Ifans (actor)

Born 1971: Kristine Lilly (soccer player)

1976: Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, becomes the first Olympic athlete to score a perfect 10

Died 1998: Corbett Monica (actor)

Died 2008: Estelle Getty (actress)