1680 – Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch’s Comet/Newton’s Comet)
1896 – Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation
1908 – Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light
1920 – The Russian Bolshevik army occupies Sebastopol, ending anti-communist attempts to regain the government of Russia
1962 – The Ethiopian parliament and Eritrean Assembly voted unanimously for the abolition of Eritrea’s federal status, making Eritrea (independent since 1993) a simple province of the Ethiopian empire.
1969 – Apollo 12 was launched, carrying a crew of Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Alan L. Bean, and five days later the mission made the second landing on the Moon.
2002 – Chosen to succeed Richard Gephardt as leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi of California became the first woman to be named leader of either party in either house of Congress.
2008 – Elizabeth Warren is appointed to chair a Congressional Oversight Panel for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
2008 – Italy plunges into recession, its first since the start of 2005, after GDP contracts a steeper-than-expected 0.5% in the third quarter
2012 – A series of protests against austerity measures occur across Europe including Spain, Portugal, and Greece
2016 – 7.8 earthquake cuts off town of Kaikoura, New Zealand, raising sea bed by 4m, and killing 2 people
2017 – Zimbabwe Army seizes key sites in capital Harare following tensions over Robert Mugabe’s dismissal of vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa
2018 – UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet approves draft plan for country’s exit from the European Union (Brexit)
2018 – Astronomers announce discovery of Super-Earth planet (3.2x bigger than Earth) orbiting red dwarf Barnard’s star, 6 light years away
2018 – Jewellery that belonged to French Queen Marie Antoinette is auctioned off in Geneva, after not being seen for 200 years
Births & Deaths:
1915 – Educator, reformer, and first president and principal developer of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) Booker T. Washington, the most influential spokesman for African Americans in the late 19th and the early 20th century, died at age 59.
1935 – King Hussein, whose reign (1953–99) marked the shaping of the modern kingdom of Jordan, was born.
1948 – Prince Charles—heir apparent to the British throne, the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh—was born.
2014 – American politician Jane Byrne, who was the first woman to serve as mayor of Chicago (1979–83), died at age 81.
Film & TV:
1922 – BBC begins daily radio broadcasts from the 2LO transmitter at Marconi House
2006 – “Casino Royale”, 21st James Bond film premieres in London, starring Daniel Craig for the 1st time and Eva Green, premieres in London
2016 – “Moana” animated Disney film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker with voices by Auli’i Cravalho and The Rock premieres in Los Angeles
Music:
1960 – Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” reaches #1
Sport:
1993 – Don Shula becomes the coach with the most wins in NFL history
