EVENTS:
- 79 – Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
- 1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
- 1931 – Resignation of the United Kingdom’s Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
- 1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
- 1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
- 2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term “planet” such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
- 2014 – A 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Napa, California, in the northern San Francisco Bay area, It was the largest earthquake to strike northern California since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
- 2016 – An earthquake strikes Central Italy with a magnitude of 6.2, with aftershocks being felt as far as Rome and Florence.
- 2017 – The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space.
- 2020 – Erin O’Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
- 2023 – Japan officially begins discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking international concerns and condemnation.
BIRTHS:
- 1851 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
- 1899 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Shivaram Rajguru, Indian activist (d. 1931)
- 1918 – Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Minister of External Affairs for India (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Anjali Devi, Indian actress and producer (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 – John Banaszak, American football player and coach
- 1959 – Adrian Kuiper, South African cricketer
- 1977 – Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
- 1986 – Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Indian actor
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Flag Day (Liberia)
- Independence Day or Den’ Nezalezhnosti, celebrates the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991.
- One of the three Mundus patet, a harvest feast involving the dead. (Roman Empire)
