On this date in history…

(2021) American professional baseball player Hank Aaron, one of the game’s greatest hitters, died at the age of 86. (2018) American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who was best known for tales of science fiction and fantasy imbued with concern for character development and language, died at the age of 88. (2010) Struggling with ratings, Conan O’Brien left The Tonight Show after hosting his last episode of the late-night television program. (1998) One of the most notorious domestic terrorists in U.S. history, Theodore Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who killed three people and injured 22 in 16 attacks between 1979 and 1995, was sentenced to four terms of life in prison without parole. (1992) Serving as a payload specialist aboard the Discovery space shuttle, Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist to travel into space. (1973) On this day in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of its most momentous decisions, ruling in Roe v. Wade that a Texas statute criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman’s constitutional right of privacy. (1931) American singer and songwriter Sam Cooke, one of the most influential Black vocalists of the post-World War II era, was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. (1905) On what was later known as Bloody Sunday, Russian workers marching on St. Petersburg were fired on by Russian troops. (1901) Queen Victoria—who reigned for more than 60 years, during which time the British Empire reached the apex of its power—died at age 81. (1561) British statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon was born in York House, London.