EVENTS:
- 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
- 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
- 1834 – Wake Forest University is established.
- 1908 – The Panathinaikos athletic club is created
- 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
- 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
- 1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
- 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
- 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
- 2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.
- 2015 – A collision between a commuter train and a passenger vehicle kills six in Valhalla, New York.
- 2023 – 2023 Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.
BIRTHS:
- 1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
- 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
- 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
- 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
- 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
- 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
- 1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
- 1991 – Nikola Hofmanova, Austrian tennis player
