On this day in history - June 1

What Happened On This Day – June 1

• 2009 Air France flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic

  All 228 people on board died in the crash. It took two years to find and recover the wreckage from the ocean floor.

• 1979 Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) ends 90 years of white rule

  In 1980, the Republic of Zimbabwe achieved sovereignty from the United Kingdom.

• 1974 The Heimlich maneuver is published

  Henry Heimlich is credited with developing the technique using abdominal thrusts to stop choking.

• 1945 The first group of Berlin women start clearing the rubble of World War II

  In Germany, the Trümmerfrauen are a well-known symbol for a new beginning after the total desolation in the aftermath of the war, and for the Wirtschaftswunder, the rapid reconstruction of Germany's economy through hard labor.

• 1831 The British explorer James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole

  It is the location where the Earth's magnetic field points directly downwards. It lies in the vicinity of the Geographic North Pole.