EVENTS:
- 1498 – The 1498 Nankai earthquake generates a tsunami that washes away the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan; since then the Buddha has sat in the open air.
- 1848 – The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
- 1910 – The ocean liner SS France, later known as the “Versailles of the Atlantic”, is launched.
- 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
- 1977 – The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.
- 1982 – The National Football League players begin a 57-day strike.
- 1990 – South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
- 2002 – The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide.
- 2008 – A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
- 2011 – The United States military ends its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
- 2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, resulting in 2,975 deaths, US$90 billion in damage, and a major humanitarian crisis.
- 2018 – At least 161 people have died after a ferry capsized close to the pier on Ukara, an island in Lake Victoria. part of Tanzania.
- 2019 – Roughly four million people, mostly students, demonstrate across the world to address climate change. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden leads the demonstration in New York City.
BIRTHS:
- 1833 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)
- 1893 – Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (d. 1962)
- 1911 – Shriram Sharma, Indian philosopher and activist (d. 1991)
- 1923 – Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Indian actor and producer (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Dennis Viollet, English footballer and manager (d. 1999)
- 1935 – David Pegg, English footballer (d. 1958)
- 1935 – Jim Taylor , American football player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Markandey Katju, Indian judge
- 1949 – Mahesh Bhatt, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1981 – David McMillan, American football player (d. 2013)
- 1992 – Amidu Salifu, Ghanaian footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
