EVENTS:
- 1799 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.
- 1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
- 1899 – Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
- 1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
- 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
- 1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
- 1932 – Thailand becomes a constitutional monarchy.
- 1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.
- 1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.
- 2016 – Two explosions outside a football stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, kill 38 people and injure 166 others.
BIRTHS:
- 1878 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian lawyer and politician, 45th Governor-General of India (d. 1972)
- 1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1933 – Larry Morris, American football player (d. 2012)
- 1934 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1935 – Terry Allcock, English footballer and cricketer
- 1948 – Jasuben Shilpi, Indian sculptor (d. 2013)
- 1950 – John Boozman, American football player, lawyer, and politician
- 1957 – Prem Rawat, Indian-American guru
- 1975 – Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
- 1979 – Iain Brunnschweiler, English cricketer
- 1983 – Lewis Buxton, English footballer
- 1986 – Matthew Bates, English footballer
- 1990 – Terrell Sinkfield, American football player
- 1991 – Eric Reid, American football player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Alfred Nobel Day or Nobeldagen (Sweden)
- Constitution Day (Thailand)
- Human Rights Day (International)
- International Animal Rights Day (International)
