Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughe attend the 1934 Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley Research Center's Full-Scale Tunnel. On July 27, 1909, Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

On July 27, 1980, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, deposed shah of Iran, died in an Egyptian military hospital of cancer at age 60. UPI File Photo

Fireworks go off prior to the Olympic flame lighting at the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games on July 27, 2012. File Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI | License Photo

Bob Hope gets ready to plant a kiss on a bust of himself at a ceremony dedicating a building in his honor May 30, 1985. On July 27, 2003, the legendary comic died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, Calif. He was 100 years old. File Photo by Vince Mannino/UPI | License Photo

On July 27, 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37 president resigned less than two weeks later. (File Photo by Darryl Heikes/UPI | License Photo

July 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre, who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day.


In 1909, Orville Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time.

In 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950.

In 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37th president resigned less than two weeks later.

In 1980, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, deposed shah of Iran, died in an Egyptian military hospital of cancer at age 60.

In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, became the first American to win cycling's most famous contest, the Tour de France.

In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground.

In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people.

In 2002, nine coal miners were trapped 240 feet underground in southwestern Pennsylvania when a wall collapsed, inundating them with water. A three-day rescue operation saved them all.

In 2003, legendary comic Bob Hope died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, Calif. He was 100 years old.

In 2012, the Summer Olympics opened in London, with 10,820 athletes representing 204 countries.

In 2018, a report in the New Yorker accused CBS Chairman Les Moonves of sexual misconduct. He resigned from the network two months later.