Today is Thursday, August 16, the 229th day of 2016. There are 137 days left in the year.
1743 ― Earliest boxing code of rules formulated in England (Jack Broughton)
1863 ― Emancipation Proclamation signed
1870 ― Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion
1898 ― Roller coaster patented
1920 ― Ray Chapman, of the Indians is hit in the head by Yanks' Carl Mays pitch; he dies next day, only major league fatality
1959 ― USSR introduces installment buying
1985 ― Singer Madonna weds actor Sean Penn
1988 ― IBM introduces software for artificial intelligence
1988 ― Jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis
1990 ― Iraq orders 4,000 Britons and 2,500 Americans in Kuwait to leave Iraq