On this day in...

On this day in...
1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
1927 – The Grand Ole Opry premieres on radio.
1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded to halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
1948 – The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Births
1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
1939 – Dick Bavetta, American basketball referee
1956 – Rod Blagojevich, 40th Governor of Illinois
1974 – Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
1985 – Matt Forte, American football player

A skimpy list of birthdays today with a poet I've never read, a disgraced politician, a creepy chick from a band I don't like and my fantasy football running back. But then there's Dick Bavetta.