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1656 |
Birth of British astronomer Edmund Halley (died 1742). He applied Newton’s laws of motion to a particular comet of 1682, and in 1705 he correctly predicted its return in 1758. |
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1740 |
Birth of James Boswell, QScottish diarist and biographer noted for his two-volume chronicle of the life of Samuel Johnson. |
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1762 |
The Austrians are defeated by the Prussians under Prince Henry at the battle of Freiburg. It was the only Prussian victory without Frederick II in command. |
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1787 |
Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni o sia Il Dissoluto Punito (Don Juan or the Rake Punished) has its first performance in Prague at the National Theatre. |
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1814 |
The first steam-powered warship, the USS Fulton, is launched at New York. It was designed by Robert Fulton. |
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1863 |
International Committee of the Red Cross is founded in Geneva. |
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1888 |
The Constantinople Convention on Free Navigation of the Suez Canal is signed. |
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1891 |
Fanny Brice, US comedienne and actress is born as Fanny Borach. She had a huge following for her burlesque appearances in the Ziegfeld follies. She also appeared in films, notably The Great Ziegfeld. |
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1917 |
Birth of Nam Cao real name Traàn Höõu Trí (died 1951), one of Vieät Nam’s most acclaimed writers of realistic prose. As a writer and journalist he took an active part in Vieät Nam’s resistance war against the French. He is best known for Chí Pheøo, Ñoâi Maét (Eyes) and Soáng Moøn (Subsistence). |
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1923 |
Turkey becomes a republic under its first president, nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk. |
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1926 |
Birth of Jon Vickers, Canadian operatic tenor; he was one of the great heroic tenors and was best known for his interpretations of Wagner and Verdi and for his role in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. |
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1929 |
Prices collapse at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. The day became known as "Black Tuesday" and led to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. |
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1933 |
Traffic lights first appear in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, with the meaning of the red light: stop, green light: go and yellow: be careful. |
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1940 |
Death of Vietnamese scholar Phan Boäi Chaâu (born 1867). He was leader of the Caàn Vöông movement against the French occupation when he was 19. He founded the Duy Taân (Renovation) Society in 1904, organised the sending of Vietnamese students to Japan in the Ñoâng Du (Voyage to the East) movement to seek support for the Vietnamese revolution. He founded the Vieät Nam Quoác Daân (Vieät Nam Nationalist) Party. He was also a poet, historian and playwright, with works including Haûi Ngoaïi Huyeát Thö (Letter from Abroad Written with Blood), Vieät Nam Vong Quoác Söû (History of the Loss of Vieät Nam) and Nguïc Trung Thö (Letter from Prison). |
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1942 |
Germans massacre 16,000 Jews in Pinsk, Russia. |
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1964 |
The United Republic of Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba changes its name to Tanzania. |
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1996 |
An auction of 8,000 Austrian Jewish artworks plundered by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis in World War Two takes place at the Vienna Museum for Applied Arts. Proceeds went to Austrian Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. |
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1997 |
The UN Security Council votes to impose air and travel sanctions against Angola’s UNITA movement and close its offices abroad as punishment for flouting peace accords. |
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1998 |
In South Africa the Truth Commission report is handed over to President Nelson Mandela; it held former president P.W. Botha, Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the ruling African National Congress all accountable for human rights violations. |
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1998 |
Veteran astronaut John Glenn, 77, blasts off aboard the space shuttle Discovery, 36 years after his first mission. |
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1999 |
The European Commission’s top scientists give British beef a clean bill of health, an unanimously reject evidence which France said supported an import ban over fears of mad cow disease. — VNS/REUTERS/AP |
