EVENTS:
- 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
- 1928 – C. V. Raman discovers Raman scattering.
- 1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
- 1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
- 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
- 2001 – Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
- 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
- 2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
- 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
- 2023 – Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.
- 2024 – Prime Minister Modi of India inaugurated the 2nd Space Port of India – Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport.
BIRTHS:
- 1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1929 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach
- 1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Foge Fazio, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
- 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
- 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1954 – Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager
- 1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
- 1977 – Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler
- 1985 – Tim Bresnan, English cricketer
- 1986 – Tendai Mzungu, Australian footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture. (Finland)
- National Science Day (India)
- Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan)
- Teachers’ Day (Arab states)
- World Tailors Day (international)
