June 16

Persia's Last King Crowned

An eight-year-old inherits a doomed empire

At the age of just eight, Yazdegerd III ascended to the throne of the Sasanian Empire, becoming the final king of a Persian dynasty that had ruled for over four centuries. His reign would be consumed by the devastating Arab-Muslim conquest that swept across the Middle East with unstoppable force. Despite desperate resistance, the young king was unable to save his empire, and his murder in 651 brought to an end one of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world.

Barbara McClintock Was Born

A geneticist decades ahead of her time

In Hartford, Connecticut, Barbara McClintock was born -- the geneticist whose discovery of transposable elements, or 'jumping genes,' was so far ahead of its time that it took decades for the scientific community to appreciate its significance. Working with maize at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she demonstrated that genes could move within chromosomes, fundamentally challenging the prevailing understanding of genetics. Her Nobel Prize in 1983 was one of the most overdue in the award's history.

Psycho

Psycho, a psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (pictured) and based on a novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, premiered.