On This Day: Wednesday July 6, 2005 This is the 187th day of the year, with 178 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: rabies Louis Pasteur is not as well know for this wonderful discovery - the first successful anti-rabies inoculation. On July 6, 1885, he saved the life of a nine-year-old boy, Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog. The experiment was an outstanding success, opening the road to protection from a terrible disease. In 1888, the Pasteur Institute was inaugurated in Paris for the purpose of undertaking fundamental research, prevention, and treatment of rabies. Holidays Malawi: Republic Day / Independence Day. Feast day of St Romulus of Fiesole, St Dominica, St Mary Goretti, St Goar, St Modwenna, St Godeleva, St Sexburga, and St Sisoes. Comoros: Independence Day. Lithuania: Day of Statehood. Events 1519 - Charles of Spain is elected Holy Roman emperor in Barcelona. 1699 - Pirate Captain William Kidd was captured in Boston, MA, and deported to England. 1777 - During the American Revolution, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga. 1885 - French scientist Louis Pasteur successfully tested an anti-rabies vaccine. 1917 - In World War I, forces led by Lawrence of Arabia captured Aqaba from the Turks. 1923 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed and its constitution instituted. 1933 - Baseball's first all-star game was held. 1941 - In Nazi-occupied Holland, Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family are forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of a warehouse. 1944 - In Hartford, CT, a fire broke out under the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, killing 167 people and injuring 682. 1953 - "Name That Tune" premiered on television. 1957 - Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title. 1967 - After its secession from Nigeria, the breakaway Republic of Biafra was attacked by Nigerian government forces, beginning the Biafran War. 1976 - The United States Naval Academy admitted women for the first time. Births 1747 - John Paul Jones, American naval officer. 1907 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican surrealist and expressionist painter. 1921 - Nancy Reagan (Anne Robbins-Davis), actress, wife of 40th US President. 1925 - Merv Griffin, singer, game show developer, broadcaster, producer. 1927 - Bill Haley, musician, singer. 1935 - 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), Tibetan religious leader, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. 1946 - George W. Bush, 43rd President of the US (2001-).