◆ On this day

August 16

5 sourced moments from August 16 in history: Queen Victoria sent the first transatlantic telegraph message (1858); Joseph Kittinger fell 4.5 minutes from 102,800 ft in 1960; Cyprus became independent from Britain on 16 August 1960, plus 2 more.

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5 things happened on August 16

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2009 Sports · Athletics

Usain Bolt's 9.58 seconds is the fastest 100m ever run

At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Usain Bolt didn't just win the 100m - he rewrote the limits of what a human sprint could be.

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1977 Culture & Arts · Music

Elvis Presley Died at Graceland

When the King of Rock and Roll collapsed at his Memphis mansion in 1977, a global wave of grief turned a home into a shrine.

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1960 Space · Space Exploration

Joseph Kittinger fell 4.5 minutes from 102,800 ft in 1960

An Air Force captain's 1960 balloon jump tested how pilots could survive bailing out near space, and his free-fall time has never been beaten.

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1960 History · Modern

Cyprus became independent from Britain on 16 August 1960

Independence ended 82 years of British rule, but Britain kept 2.7% of the island and Cypriots never voted on the deal that created their state.

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1858 Technology · Engineering

Queen Victoria sent the first transatlantic telegraph message

A 98-word royal greeting crawled beneath the ocean for sixteen hours, collapsing weeks of sea travel into a single day.

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