◆ On this day

August 19

4 sourced moments from August 19 in history: The daguerreotype was given freely to the world (1839); The First Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1909); Hitler Became Führer of Germany via Plebiscite (1934), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on August 19

newest first ↓

1960 Space · Space Exploration

Belka and Strelka were the first animals to survive orbit

On August 19, 1960, two Soviet stray dogs rode Sputnik 5 around Earth 17 times and came home alive, between two deadly failures.

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1934 Society & Economy · Politics & Law

Hitler Became Führer of Germany via Plebiscite

A staged 1934 vote fused Germany's top two offices into one man, sealing Hitler's grip with a veneer of popular consent.

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1909 Sports · Motorsport

The First Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Before the bricks and the famous 500, a short five-mile dash on crushed stone opened America's most storied racetrack.

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1839 Technology · Inventions

The daguerreotype was given freely to the world

France bought a photographic process, then handed it to the world royalty-free, and the modern image was born.

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