May 25

240 BC – The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet is documented in the Chinese chronicle 史記 – Shiji, Records of the Grand Historian.

1085 – During the Reconquista, the forces of Alfonso VI of Castile retake Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors.

1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.

1738 – King George II intervenes to end the armed conflict between Pennsylvania and Maryland colonies over their border and orders negotiations to begin that will later result in the Mason-Dixon Line.

1787 – After a quorum of seven states is finally secured, the U.S. Convention of the States formally convenes in Philadelphia, and elects George Washington as President of the convention.

1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, an ordnance warehouse on Beauregard Street, containing 200 tons of shells and powder, explodes, killing around 300 people and causing a fire that burns down the northern part of the city.

1925 – In Dayton, Tennessee, John T. Scopes is indicted for violating the Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state funded school.

1953 – At Frenchman Flat at the Nevada Test Site, the United States Army conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test, the Grable shot of Upshot–Knothole, firing a 15 kiloton device from an M65 ‘Atomic Annie’ Cannon.

1955 – An F5 force tornado strikes Udall, Kansas, killing 80 people and injuring another 273.

1961 – Speaking before a joint session of Congress, President Kennedy announces his goal to initiate a project to put a “man on the Moon” before the end of the decade.

1968 – The Gateway Arch, the tallest man made monument in the Western Hemisphere, is formally dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey

1978 – The first bomb set by the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski,  detonates at Northwestern University but only causes some minor injuries.

1979 – American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 looses its left engine and crashes during takeoff at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, killing all 271 passengers and crew on board, and 2 people on the ground.

1999 – The House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People’s Republic of China’s nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.

2001 – American adventurer Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2008 – NASA’s Phoenix lander touches down in the ‘Green Valley’ region within Vastitas Borealis of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.

2012 – The SpaceX Dragon supply ship becomes the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station.

2020 – George Floyd, under arrest for passing counterfeit money in Minneapolis, Minnesota, dies while in police custody. The arresting officer is later charged and convicted of murder.