EVENTS:
- 1169 – A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
- 1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
- 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
- 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
- 1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
- 1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
- 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
- 1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
- 1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
- 1998 – The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
- 2003 – The Bengali Hindus declare the independence of the Republic of Bangabhumi from Bangladesh.
- 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
- 2006 – A stampede occurs in the PhilSports Arena near Manila, killing 71 people.
- 2015 – A TransAsia Airways aircraft with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing at least 31 people.
- 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.
BIRTHS:
- 1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953)
- 1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
- 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
- 1922 – Bhimsen Joshi, Indian singer (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer and choreographer
- 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language
- 1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player and sportscaster
- 1974 – Urmila Matondkar, Indian actress
- 1984 – Sandeep Acharya, Indian singer (d. 2013)
- 1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
