Today is the 206th day of 2014 and the 35th day of summer.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing U.S. commonwealth.
In 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilization, was born in Manchester, England.
In 2005, two major unions, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, withdrew from the AFL-CIO.
In 2010, the website Wikileaks released the "Afghan War Diary," containing more than 75,000 secret documents from the United States' war in Afghanistan.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Knox (1750-1806), first U.S. secretary of war; Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), painter/illustrator; Eric Hoffer (1902-1983), philosopher; Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), biophysicist; Estelle Getty (1923-2008), actress; John Gibson (1946- ), radio/TV personality; Walter Payton (1954-1999), football player; Iman (1955- ), model/actress; Thurston Moore (1958- ), musician; Matt LeBlanc (1967- ), actor.
TODAY'S FACT: The Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft, while searching for potential landing sites for the Viking 2 Lander, snapped the famous "Face on Mars" photo of the planet's surface on this day in 1976.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1976, American Edwin Moses ran in his first international track and field event at the Montreal Olympics -- the 400m hurdles -- and won a gold medal with a world record-setting time of 47.64 seconds.
TODAY'S QUOTE: " A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business." -- Eric Hoffer
TODAY'S NUMBER: 3.1 million -- approximate combined membership of the Teamsters and the Service Employees International unions in 2014.
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (July 18) and new moon (July 26).