EVENTS:
- 1668 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter magnitude scale causes 8,000 deaths in Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
- 1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
- 1958 – Pioneer 0, America’s first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
- 1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
- 1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1970 – Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
- 1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
- 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
- 2015 – A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.
- 2017 – Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.
- 2019 – A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.
BIRTHS:
- 1866 – Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Indian 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
- 1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
- 1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
- 1922 – Roy Tattersall, England cricketer (d. 2011)
- 1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1953 – Mick Malthouse, Australian footballer and coach
- 1963 – Shankar, Indian director and producer
- 1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 2003 – Nastasja Schunk, German tennis player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Independence Day, celebrates the proclamation of Indonesia’s independence from Japan in 1945.
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
- Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
- Flag Day (Bolivia)
