1660 – English Convention Parliament meets and votes to restore Charles II
1792 – Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War
1945 – “Elbe Day” – US and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on the Elbe River during the invasion of Germany in WWII
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is published in “Nature” magazine
1954 – Bell labs announces the 1st Solar Battery made from silicon. It has about 6% efficiency.
1960 – 1st submerged circumnavigation of Earth completed by USS submarine Triton in 60 days, 21 hours
1967 – Abortion legalized in Colorado
1979 – Peace treaty between Israel & Egypt goes into effect
1980 – Announcement of US hostage rescue bungle in Iran
1990 – Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by space shuttle Discovery
1993 – Russia elects Boris Yeltsin leader
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union
2013 – The United Kingdom reopens its embassy in Somalia after 22 years
2018 – Indian religious leader Asaram Bapu is sentenced to life for raping a 16-year old girl
2019 – Former US Vice President Joe Biden announces his campaign for president via video
2019 – Microsoft becomes the third US firm to be listed with a market worth of 1 trillion, after Apple and Amazon
2019 – More than 1,600 civilians were killed in US-led coalition air and land strikes on Raqqa in 2017, according to Amnesty International and monitoring group Airwars
Film & TV:
1964 – 11th National Film Awards (India): “Shehar Aur Sapna” wins the Golden Lotus
Music:
1926 – Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot” premieres in Milan
Sport:
1950 – Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics)
