February 15

On This Day In History
	1898: USS Maine destroyed, leading to Spanish-American War On this day in 1898, an explosion in Havana harbour sank the battleship USS Maine, killing 260 American seamen and precipitating the Spanish-American War, which originated in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain.
The half-submerged battleship Maine in the harbour of Havana, 1900.
Biography Of The Day
	Galileo Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Galileo, born this day in 1564, made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion and astronomy, as well as to the development of the scientific method.
Galileo Galilei, coloured line engraving after a drawing by Ottavio Leoni, c. 1624.
More Events On This Day In History
	1989 Under President Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan after occupying the country since 1979.
	1978 Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
	1933 An assassin's bullet meant for the U.S. president-elect, Franklin D. Roosevelt, wounded Mayor Anton J. Cermak of Chicago, who died three weeks later.
1764	1764 Auguste Chouteau settled St. Louis at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.