EVENTS:
- 1882 – Thomas Edison’s first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States.
- 1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.
- 1947 – Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations.
- 1949 – The Berlin Airlift ends.
- 1980 – Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
- 1990 – The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa.
- 1993 – An earthquake hits India’s Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Aurangabad division) in Maharashtra state leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.
- 2009 – The 2009 Sumatra earthquakes occur, killing over 1,115 people.
- 2016 – Hurricane Matthew becomes a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea since 2007.
- 2016 – Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million are recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.
BIRTHS:
- 1905 – Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Elie Wiesel, Romanian-American author, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 – Alan A’Court, English footballer and manager (d. 2009)
- 1939 – Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Kamalesh Sharma, Indian academic and diplomat, 5th Commonwealth Secretary General
- 1946 – Paul Sheahan, Australian cricketer and educator
- 1956 – Trevor Morgan, English footballer and manager
- 1962 – Prosenjit Chatterjee, Indian actor, director, and producer
- 1972 – Shaan, Indian singer and actor
- 1975 – Sammy Igoe, English footballer
- 1989 – André Weis, German footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Independence Day or Botswana Day, celebrate the independence of Botswana from United Kingdom in 1966.
- International Translation Day (International Federation of Translators)
- Blasphemy Day (United States, Canada, other countries)
- Recovery Day (Canada)
