EVENTS:
- 1875 – First telegraphic connection in Argentina.
- 1878 – The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton.
- 1879 – Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).
- 1927 – Nikola Tesla introduces six new inventions including a motor with onephase electricity
- 1964 – Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but turns down the honor.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 12.
- 2006 – A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a National referendum held in Panama.
- 2008 – India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1.
- 2015 – A teacher and a student are killed, and 2 students injured, in an attack at a high school in Trollhättan, Sweden.
BIRTHS:
- 1870 – Ivan Bunin, Russian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- 1873 – Rama Tirtha, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1906)
- 1881 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1903 – George Wells Beadle, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1919 – Doris Lessing, Iranian-English author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Helmut Senekowitsch, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 2007)
- 1946 – Deepak Chopra, Indian-American physician and author
- 1965 – Otis Smith, American football player and coach
- 1978 – Owais Shah, Pakistani-English cricketer
- 1988 – Parineeti Chopra, Indian actress and model
- 2001 – Brian Branch, American football player
- 2004 – Stefan Bajcetic, Spanish footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Spiritual New Year, in Eckankar
- Fechner Day, celebrated by Psychophysicists
- International Stuttering Awareness Day (International)
- Jidai Matsuri (Kyoto)
- Wombat Day
