On This Day: J. Robert Oppenheimer dies

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1841, the first filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It ended March 11.

In 1865, after a long Civil War siege, Union naval forces captured Charleston, S.C.

In 1930, dwarf planet Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.

In 1954, the Church of Scientology was established in Los Angeles.

In 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," died in Princeton, N.J., at the age of 62.

In 1979, snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first known time. It fell a second time in 2016.

In 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr., stock-car racing's top driver, was killed in a crash in the final turn of the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was 49.

File Photo by Cathy Kapulka/UPI

In 2003, nearly 200 people died and scores were injured in a South Korea subway fire set by a man authorities said apparently was upset at his doctors.

In 2004, 40 chemical and fuel-laden runaway rail cars derailed near Nishapur in northeastern Iran, producing an explosion that killed at least 300 people and injured hundreds of others.

File Photo by Ali Khal/UPI

In 2006, 16 people died in rioting in Nigeria over published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that enraged Muslims around the world.

In 2008, two of four masterpieces stolen from the Zurich museum a week earlier, a Monet and a van Gogh, were found in perfect condition in the back seat of an unlocked car in Zurich.

In 2013, eight men disguised as police disabled a security fence, drove two vehicles onto a Brussels airport tarmac and stole diamonds worth $50 million.

In 2014, violence erupted between protesters and security forces in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, eventually resulting in 98 dead with an estimated 15,000 injured and 100 believed missing.

In 2019, a group of states and advocacy organizations banded together to sue President Donald Trump over his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. He made the declaration so he could bypass Congress to fund a physical barrier on the border.

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI