EVENTS
- 1848 – An upstream ice jam stops almost all water flow over Niagara Falls.
- 1912 – Robert Scott makes his final diary entry. Scott wrote: “We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far.” The British explorer and his companions died on an expedition to the South Pole.
- 1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death in the gas chamber. The sentence was never carried out because the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in 1972. The infamous criminal who ordered several murders continues to serve a life sentence.
- 1974 – The Terracotta Army belonging to the Qin Dynasty is discovered in Xi’an, China. The famous collection of some 8000 soldier sculptures, depicting Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s army, was located by local farmers when they were digging a water well.
Terracotta Army - 1974 – Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury.
- 1979 – In the U.S. Congress, the House Select Committee on Assassinations released its final report regarding the killings of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.
- 2004 – Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
- 2006 – Predicted total solar eclipse.
- 2010 – Two Chechen suicide bombers detonate their devices in the Moscow underground. 40 people died in the attack allegedly carried out by so-called “black widows”, or Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1790 – John Tyler (10th US President)
- 1867 – Cy Young (Baseball pitcher)
- 1895 – Ernst Jünger (German author)
- 1918 – Sam Walton (Founder of Walmart stores)
- 1943 – John Major (English banker, politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1949 – Michael Brecker (American saxophonist, composer)
- 1964 – Elle McPherson (Model)
Elle McPherson - 1968 – Lucy Lawless (Actress)
- 1976 – Jennifer Capriati (Tennis Player)
DEATHS
- 1772 – Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedish scientist)
- 1888 – Charles-Valentin Alkan (French composer)
- 1912 – Robert Falcon Scott (English navy officer, explorer)
Robert Falcon Scott - 1924 – Charles Villiers Stanford (Irish composer)
- 1982 – Walter Hallstein (German politician, diplomat, 1st President of the European Commission)
