EVENTS:
- 1735 – Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
- 1801 – French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
- 1921 – A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.
- 1930 – Australian cricketer Donald Bradman scores a world record 309 runs in one day, on his way to the highest individual Test innings of 334, during a Test match against England.
- 1962 – Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.
- 1972 – The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.
- 1979 – America’s first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
- 2006 – Mumbai train bombings: 209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
- 2012 – Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.
- 2015 – Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escapes from the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico, his second escape.
- 2021 – Richard Branson becomes the first civilian to be launched into space via his Virgin Galactic spacecraft.
BIRTHS:
- 1916 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- 1924 – Charlie Tully, Irish footballer (d. 1971)
- 1926 – Peter Bennett, Australian footballer (d. 2012)
- 1953 – Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Indian politician
- 1953 – Paul Priddy, English footballer
- 1959 – Dave Bennett, English footballer
- 1989 – Tobias Sana, Swedish footballer
- 1994 – Lucas Ocampos, Argentinian footballer
- 1994 – Anthony Milford, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1995 – Joey Bosa, American football player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
