Today is the 255th day of 2015 and the 84th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson entered the river that would later bear his surname.

In 1940, four teenagers discovered prehistoric paintings, estimated to be 15,000 to 17,000 years old, in a cave in Lascaux, France.

In 1953, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts married Jaqueline Lee Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1992, Dr. Mae Carol Jemison, science mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, became the first African-American woman in space.

In 2011, the National September 11 Memorial opened to the public in New York City.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), journalist/critic; Jesse Owens (1913-1980), Olympic athlete; Ian Holm (1931- ), actor; George Jones (1931-2013), singer-songwriter; Barry White (1944-2003), singer-songwriter; Joe Pantoliano (1951- ), actor; Ben Folds (1966- ), singer-songwriter/musician; Louis C.K. (1967- ), actor/comedian; Jason Statham (1967- ), actor; Paul Walker (1973-2013), actor; Yao Ming (1980- ), basketball player; Jennifer Hudson (1981- ), actress/singer; Andrew Luck (1989- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Western series "Bonanza" premiered on NBC on this day in 1959.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Dwight "Doc" Gooden of the New York Mets threw his 246th strikeout, breaking the rookie record for strikeouts in a single season. He finished the season with 276, a record that still stands.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To the man with an ear for verbal delicacies -- the man who searches painfully for the perfect word, and puts the way of saying a thing above the thing said -- there is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." -- H.L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 76 -- bronze plates on the walls of the memorial pools at the September 11 Memorial and Museum, inscribed with 2,983 names: the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 terror attacks and the 6 victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Sept. 12).

Today is the 254th day of 2015 and the 83rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1857, Mormon guerrillas and Paiute Indians massacred 120 pioneers in Mountain Meadows, Utah.

In 1939, Canada made its first declaration of war, joining the Allies in opposition to Nazi Germany.

In 2001, hijacked planes crashed into New York City's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Virginia and a Pennsylvania field in terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

In 2012, a heavily armed militia attacked the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: O. Henry (1862-1910), short-story writer; D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), author; Paul "Bear" Bryant (1913-1983), football coach; Tom Landry (1924-2000), football coach; Brian De Palma (1940- ), film director; Virginia Madsen (1961- ), actress; Moby (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Harry Connick Jr. (1967- ), actor/singer-songwriter; Ludacris (1977- ), rapper/actor; Ed Reed (1978- ), football player; Aroldis Chapman (1988- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency because of a sitting president's death. During the term he served, after William Henry Harrison's month-long presidency, Tyler was often referred to slightingly as "His Accidency" or "Acting President."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's record with his 4,192nd career hit.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a women's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town." -- O. Henry, "The Fourth in Salvador"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,256 -- total career hits for Pete Rose, which remains the Major League Baseball record.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Sept. 5) and new moon (Sept. 12).

Today is the 253rd day of 2015 and the 82nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1846, Elias Howe patented the first sewing machine.

In 1977, France used a guillotine in carrying out a death sentence for the last time.

In 2002, Switzerland became a member of the United Nations.

In 2008, the Large Hadron Collider was powered up for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Adele Astaire (1896-1981), dancer; Arnold Palmer (1929- ), golfer; Charles Kuralt (1934-1997), TV journalist; Roger Maris (1934-1985), baseball player; Buck Buchanan (1940-1992), football player; Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), biologist/writer; Bill O'Reilly (1949- ), TV host/author; Chris Columbus (1958- ), film director; Colin Firth (1960- ), actor; Randy Johnson (1963- ), baseball player; Guy Ritchie (1968- ), filmmaker; Ryan Phillippe (1974- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The United Nations, which included 193 member states as of August 2015, began in 1945, when representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw the charter.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1972, the U.S. men's basketball team fell for the first time in Olympic competition, suffering a controversial 51-50 loss to the Soviet Union team on a last-second shot in the gold medal match.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I picture several reviewers of my own books as passing a long future lodged between Brutus and Judas in the jaws of Satan." -- Stephen Jay Gould, "An Urchin in the Storm"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 140 -- countries that have abolished the use of capital punishment in law or practice as of 2015, according to Amnesty International.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Sept. 5) and new moon (Sept. 12).