National Mole Day does not pay tribute to the furry, tiny-eyed mammals.  Mole Day was created by chemistry teacher Maurice Oehler to help get students excited about learning chemistry.  A mole is a unit of measure for the amount of a chemical substance.  Mole Day begins at 6:02 a.m. on Oct. 23 — a time representative of Avogardo’s Number, 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power.

1973 Nixon’s Watergate Tapes

President Nixon agrees to turn over taped conversations regarding Watergate.

1987 Senate Committee Rejects Robert Bork

Senate votes against President Reagan’s Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

2001 First iPod 

Steve Jobs debuted Apple’s first model of the iPod.  The portable music device featured scroll wheel navigation and was priced at $400.

2002 Moscow Theater Siege

Terrorists demanding Chechnya’s independence hold hundreds of civilians hostage.  The standoff lasted for 57 hours. On Oct. 26, Russian police gassed the theater, knocking the rebels and hostages unconscious, before storming into the building.  Most of the Chechnyan rebels and 120 hostages were killed during the police raid.

Famous Birthdays

1893 Gummo Marx

1925 Johnny Carson

1942 Michael Crighton

1954 Ang Lee

1957 Martin Luther King III

1959 Nancy Grace

1959 Sam Raimi

1959 Wierd Al

1960 Randy Pausch

1962 Doug Flutie

1965 Augusten Burroughs

1976 Ryan Reynolds

1984 Meghan McCain

Jump back to Oct. 22: Day in History

View more videos from This Month in History: October.