Today in History — 2026-08-24

Porto

Porto, also known in English as Oporto, is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 273,476 people in a municipal area of 41.42 km2 (16 sq mi). As of 2025, the Porto metropolitan area has around 1.9 million people in an area of 2,395 km2 (925 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. It is recognized as a global city with a Gamma + rating from the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

More on this day

  • 2017: List of government space agencies Government space agencies are bodies established by national governments, or by regional agencies representing groups of countries, to advocate for and engage in activities relating to outer space, including the operation of space systems, and space exploration.
  • 1995: Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows and has since expanded into areas such as Internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, video gaming, and more. A Big Tech company, Microsoft is the largest software company by revenue, one of the most valuable public companies, and one of the most valuable brands globally.
  • 1998: Radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When triggered by an electromagnetic interrogation pulse from a nearby RFID reader device, the tag transmits digital data, usually an identifying inventory number, back to the reader. This number can be used to track inventory goods.
  • 2023: Discharge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan began being discharged into the Pacific Ocean on 11 March 2011, following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Three of the plant's reactors experienced meltdowns, leaving behind melted fuel debris. Water was introduced to prevent the meltdowns from progressing further. When cooling water, groundwater, and rain came into contact with the melted fuel debris, they became contaminated with radioactive nuclides, such as iodine-131, caesium-134, caesium-137, and strontium-90.
  • 2001: Air Transat Flight 236 Air Transat Flight 236 was a transatlantic flight bound for Lisbon, Portugal, from Toronto, Canada, that lost all engine power while flying over the Atlantic Ocean in the dark on August 24, 2001. The Airbus A330 ran out of fuel because of a fuel leak caused by improper maintenance. Captain Robert Piché, 48, and First Officer Dirk DeJager, 28, glided the plane to a successful emergency landing in the Azores, saving the lives of all 306 people on board. This was also the longest passenger aircraft glide without engines, gliding for nearly 65 nautical miles. Following this unusual aviation accident, this aircraft was nicknamed the "Azores Glider".
  • 1857: Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was the first financial crisis to spread rapidly throughout the United States. The world economy was more interconnected by the 1850s, which made the Panic of 1857 the first worldwide economic crisis. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the First Palmerston ministry circumvented the requirements of the Bank Charter Act 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation. Surfacing news of this circumvention set off the Panic in Britain.