Today is the 339th day of 2015. There are 26 days left in the year. On this date:

•In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.

•In 1831, former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

•In 1848, President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

•In 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the U.S.

•In 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

•In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.

•In 1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union announced a bilateral space agreement on exchanging weather data from satellites, mapping Earth’s geomagnetic field and cooperating in the experimental relay of communications.

•In 1979, feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

•In 1984, the action comedy “Beverly Hills Cop,” starring Eddie Murphy, was released by Paramount Pictures.

•In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

•In 2005, the trial of Saddam Hussein resumed in Baghdad with gruesome testimony from witnesses who offered accounts of killings and torture.

•In 2010, on the eve of talks with six world powers, Iran announced that it had produced its first batch of locally mined uranium ore for enrichment.

•In 2014, President Barack Obama announced his choice of Ashton Carter to be the new U.S. secretary of defense.

Today’s birthdays: Singer Little Richard is 83. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett is 68. Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 50. Country singer Gary Allan is 48. Comedian-actress Margaret Cho is 47. Actor Frankie Muniz is 30.

— The Associated Press