On This Day
What Happened on November 24 in History
8 events that happened on November 24, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1859
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in England.
The book set out the theory that living things change over generations through natural selection. It became one of the most influential scientific works ever written.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1863
Union troops captured Lookout Mountain above Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Known as the battle above the clouds, the fight on the mountain's slopes was part of the Union effort to break the Confederate siege of the city. The Confederates under Braxton Bragg had kept Union troops pinned in Chattanooga for nearly two months.
Source: history.com
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1932
The FBI opened its scientific crime detection laboratory in Washington, D.C.
The lab started in a single room with one full-time employee, Agent Charles Appel. His early equipment included a borrowed microscope.
Source: history.com
The Cold War
1963
Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police station.
Oswald, accused of assassinating President Kennedy two days earlier, was shot by the Dallas nightclub owner and died of his wound.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1974
Fossils of the early human ancestor nicknamed Lucy were found in Ethiopia.
Donald Johanson and Tom Gray made the find at Hadar. The skeleton showed that human ancestors walked upright more than three million years ago.
Source: history.com; iho.asu.edu
1991
Space shuttle Atlantis launched on STS-44, a Defense Department mission.
The crew deployed a Defense Support Program early warning satellite on the first day of the flight. Atlantis returned to Earth on December 1.
Source: nasa.gov
The Modern Era
2013
Iran and six world powers reached an interim deal in Geneva to limit Iran's nuclear program.
Under the Joint Plan of Action, Iran agreed to curb parts of its nuclear work for six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The deal opened talks that led to a broader agreement in 2015.
Source: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov
2017
Terrorists attacked a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai during Friday prayers.
A bombing and gunfire at the al-Rawdah mosque killed 305 people, among them 27 children. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt's recent history.
Source: history.com