◆ On this day

July 31

4 sourced moments from July 31 in history: A hurricane swallowed a Spanish treasure fleet off Florida (1715); George Washington signed America's first patent (1790); Apollo 15 drove the first Moon car, but not the first rover (1971), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on July 31

newest first ↓

1991 Society & Economy · Politics & Law

The US and USSR signed the START nuclear arms treaty

In a Kremlin hall, two superpowers agreed to dismantle a third of the arsenals they had spent decades building.

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1971 Space · Space Exploration

Apollo 15 drove the first Moon car, but not the first rover

On July 31, 1971, David Scott and James Irwin took humanity's first drive on the Moon — eight months after a Soviet robot got there on wheels.

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1790 Technology · Inventions

George Washington signed America's first patent

The young United States issued patent number one in 1790 — for a better way to make potash from wood ashes.

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1715 Earth & Climate · Natural Disasters

A hurricane swallowed a Spanish treasure fleet off Florida

In 1715 a July hurricane sank eleven silver-laden Spanish ships off Florida, creating the coastline now called the Treasure Coast.

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