1520 – Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant
1684 – Isaac Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley
1799 – Metric system first adopted in France
1901 – First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy
1931 – Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
1935 – Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Irene Joliot-Curie (daughter of Marie Curie) and her husband Frédéric Joliot for the discovery of artificial radioactivity
1936 – Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson
1964 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo
1982 – A treaty codifying the Law of the Sea was signed by 117 countries.
1986 Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize
1996 – South African President Nelson Mandela signed a new constitution that completed a transition from a long period of white minority rule (apartheid) to full-fledged democracy.
2006 – Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, whose dictatorial reign (1974–90) in Chile was marked by the murder and torture of political opponents, died while facing charges of human rights abuses.
2007 – Argentine politician Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was sworn into office as Argentina’s first female elected president; she succeeded her husband, Néstor Kirchner.
2012 – Google begins selling US$99 laptops
2012 – 11 people are killed and 23 are injured after a bus falls into a roadside pond in Minquan County, China
2016 – Terrorist bomb attacks outside a stadium in Istanbul kill 38 and injure 166
2016 – Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at a ceremony he does not attend in Stockholm
2019 – Sydney, Australia, blanketed in smoke from nearby bush fires pushing air quality to 11 times hazardous levels
2019 – 1st fully electric commercial plane, a retro-fitted seaplane, completes test flight in Vancouver
2019 – Shooting at a New Jersey cemetery and a kosher supermarket leaves six dead, including the two shooters, in suspected anti-Semitic attack
2019 – Australian car maker Holden announces an end to Commodore production after 41 years
Births & Deaths:
1967 – American singer-songwriter Otis Redding, who was one of the great soul stylists of the 1960s, died in an airplane crash
2005 – American comedian and actor Richard Pryor, who revolutionized comedy with his frank and controversial style, died in Los Angeles
Film & TV:
1962 – David Lean’s film “Lawrence of Arabia”, based on life of T. E. Lawrence and starring Peter O’Toole, premieres at Odeon Leicester Square (Academy Awards Best Picture 1963)
1985 – “Out of Africa”, based on the book by Isak Dinesen, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford premieres in Los Angeles (Best Picture 1986)
2001 – “The Fellowship of the Ring” Lord of the Rings film directed by Peter Jackson and starring Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen premieres in London
Music:
2016 – Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at a ceremony he does not attend in Stockholm
Sport:
1831 – “Spirit of the Times” begins publishing in New York City, the premier sports journal of the 19th century
Via Britannica / On This Day
