On this day in 1609, Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
On this day in 1875, representatives from seventeen countries signed the Metre Convention which set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating international metrology and for coordinating the development of the metric system.
On this day in 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws in Colorado that would have prevented any jurisdiction in the state from taking any governmental action to protect homosexual citizens from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation.