TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 6TH

1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830) is born.

1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1815 – New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to John Stevens.

1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.

1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948) is born.

1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004) is born.

1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945) is born.

1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008) is born.

1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.

1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.

1986 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (b. 1912) dies.

1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.

1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943) dies.

1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.