On this date in 1879, Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light bulb in a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

On this date in 1066, William the Conqueror and his fleet of approximately 600 ships arrived at Pevensey, Sussex, England, thus beginning the “Norman conquest.”

On this date in 1928, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he noticed that a bacteria-killing mold was growing in his laboratory.

On this date in 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach Earth’s moon as it crashed onto it.