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. 1859 – Construction of the Suez Canal officially began; completed 10 years later, the waterway connected the Mediterranean and Red seas. 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. 1990 – Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery. 2014 – In a cost-saving measure, the water supply of Flint, Michigan, was switched from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River, causing a public health crisis as residents were exposed to dangerously high levels of lead. 2015 – A magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck near Kathmandu, Nepal, causing widespread damage and killing several thousand.
Births & Deaths: 1940 – Al Pacino, an American actor, best known for playing gangsters in movies like Scarface, Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon and Carlito’s Way, was born.
Sport: 1950 – Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics).
Music: 1926 – Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot” premieres in Milan.
TV & Film: 1964 – 11th National Film Awards (India): “Shehar Aur Sapna” wins the Golden Lotus.
