Today is the 282nd day of 2016 and the 17th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire leveled three square miles, leaving 100,000 homeless and more than 300 dead.

In 1945, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would share its knowledge of the atomic bomb exclusively with Britain and Canada.

In 2005, an earthquake on the border of India and Pakistan killed more than 75,000 people and left 3 million homeless.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883-1970), physiologist/physician; Frank Herbert (1920-1986), author; Harvey Pekar (1939-2010), writer; Jesse Jackson (1941- ), civil rights leader; Chevy Chase (1943- ), comedian/actor; R.L. Stine (1943- ), children's author; Sigourney Weaver (1949- ), actress; Jeremy Davies (1969- ), actor; Matt Damon (1970- ), actor; Nick Cannon (1980- ), actor/TV personality; Bruno Mars (1985- ), singer; Angus T. Jones (1993- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, a fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, (about 250 miles outside of Chicago) destroyed the town and claimed more than 1,200 lives.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect World Series game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I wanted to write literature that pushed people into their lives rather than helping people escape from them." -- Harvey Pekar

TODAY'S NUMBER: $26 billion -- estimated cost (in 2016 dollars) of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs, through August 1945.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Oct. 8).

Today is the 281st day of 2016 and the 16th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1896, The Wall Street Journal began publishing what is known today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a daily feature.

In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked in the Mediterranean by Palestinian terrorists.

In 1996, Fox News Channel was launched on cable TV.

In 2001, the United States and Great Britain began air strikes against strategic targets in Afghanistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Niels Bohr (1885-1962), physicist; Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975), spiritual/political leader; June Allyson (1917-2006), actress; Al Martino (1927-2009), singer/actor; Desmond Tutu (1931- ), archbishop/Nobel laureate; Thomas Keneally (1935- ), novelist; John Mellencamp (1951- ), singer-songwriter; Vladimir Putin (1952- ), Russian politician; Yo-Yo Ma (1955- ), cellist; Simon Cowell (1959- ), record executive/TV personality; Thom Yorke (1968- ), musician; Charles Woodson (1976- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2003, the sitting governor of California, Gray Davis, was voted out of office during a recall election. Actor and Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as the state's 38th governor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, running back Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke Jim Brown's career-rushing record of 12,312 yards during a 20-7 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Every valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are." -- Niels Bohr

TODAY'S NUMBER: 222 -- points scored by the Georgia Tech Engineers in a football game played on this day in 1916. Their opponents, the Cumberland College Bulldogs, were shut out. The final score of 222-0 marked the most lopsided game in college football history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Sept. 30) and first quarter moon (Oct. 8).

Today is the 280th day of 2016 and the 15th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1927, "The Jazz Singer," the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue, premiered in New York City.

In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur.

In 1981, Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Anwar Sadat was assassinated.

In 2000, Serbian and Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, who had been indicted by the United Nations in 1999 for crimes against humanity, resigned.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jenny Lind (1820-1887), opera singer; George Westinghouse (1846-1914), engineer/inventor; Le Corbusier (1887-1965), architect; Helen Wills Moody (1905-1998), tennis player; Carole Lombard (1908-1942), actress; Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), explorer; Leslie Moonves (1949- ), TV executive; Tony Dungy (1955- ), football coach; Elisabeth Shue (1963- ), actress; Ioan Gruffudd (1973- ), actor; Jeremy Sisto (1974- ), actor; Ricky Hatton (1978- ), boxer; Olivia Thirlby (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: George Westinghouse formed more than 60 companies to market his inventions, which were collectively estimated to have been worth $120 million in 1900.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1926, Babe Ruth hit three home runs in Game 4 of the World Series, setting a record that still stands and leading the New York Yankees to a 10-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy and I say: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture. Art enters in." -- Le Corbusier

TODAY'S NUMBER: 70 -- baseball seasons since the Chicago Cubs' last World Series appearance, in 1945. Superstitious fans attribute the Cubs' championship drought to "The Curse of the Billy Goat," which originated on this day in 1945, when Cubs fan Billy Sianis and his pet goat were ejected by Wrigley Field staff during Game 4 of the World Series between the Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Sept. 30) and first quarter moon (Oct. 8).