Nothingandall: On this day in History

1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1442 - King Edward IV of England was born (d. 1483).
1489 - Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland dies (b. c. 1449). English politician.
1526 - O famoso padre e escritor Francisco Álvares, deixa Maçuá, nas Terras do Preste João.
1533 - Nicholas West dies (b. 1461). English bishop and diplomat.
1545 - Yi Sun-sin was born (d. 1598). Korean admiral.
1611 - Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the oldest existing university in Asia and the largest Catholic university in the world.
1630 - Charles Cotton was born (d. 1687). English poet.
1669 - Canonização de Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzi (02 Abr 1566 - 25 Mai 1607).
1686 - Michael Brokoff was born (d. 1721). Czech sculptor.
1695 - Henry Vaughan dies (b. 1621). Welsh poet.
1710 - Thomas Betterton dies. English actor.

1715 - Franz Sparry was born (d. 1767). Composer.

1716 - Louis de Montfort dies (b. 1673). French catholic priest.

1726 – Thomas Pitt dies (b. 1653). British Governor of Madras.

1741 - Magnus Julius De la Gardie dies (b. 1668). Swedish General and statesman.

1753 - Franz Karl Achard was born (d. 20 Apr 1821). German chemist who invented a process for the large-scale extraction of table sugar (sucrose) from beets, and in 1801, opened the first sugar-beet factory, in Silesia (now Poland).

1758 - James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Va. (d. 1831). 5th President of the United States.

1764 - Marie Joseph Chenier was born. French poet and dramatist.

1765 - Sylvestre François Lacroix was born. French mathematicien.

1772 - Johann Friedrich Struensee dies (b. 1737). Royal physician of Christian VII of Denmark.

1774 - Francis Baily was born (d. 30 Aug 1844). English astronomer who detected the phenomenon called "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse of the Sun on 15 May 1836.

1781 - Cornelius Harnett dies (b. 1723). American delegate to the Continental Congress.

1788 - Maryland becomes the 7th state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

1789 - Mutiny on the HMAV Bounty. Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors set adrift and rebel crew sets sail for Pitcairn Island.

1792 - France invades Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium), beginning the French Revolutionary War.

1796 - The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.

1799 - François Giroust dies. French composer.

1807 - Jacob Philipp Hackert dies (b. 15 Sep 1737). German painter, specialized in Landscapes.

1810 - Daniel Ullmann was born (d. 1892). American general.

1813 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov dies (b. 1745). Russian field marshal.

1816 - Johann Heinrich Abicht dies (b. 1862). German philosopher.

1819 - Ezra Abbot was born (d. 1884). American bible scholar.

1831 - Peter Guthrie Tait was born (d. 4 Jul 1901). Scottish physicist and mathematician who helped develop quaternions, an advanced algebra that gave rise to vector analysis and was instrumental in the development of modern mathematical physics.

1838 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser was born (d. 29 Jul 1913). Dutch jurist, Nobel Prize for Peace in 1911.

1841 - Peter Chanel dies (b. 1803). French saint.

1842 - Sir Charles Bell dies (b. Nov 1774). Scottish anatomist whose New Idea of Anatomy of the Brain (1811) has been called the "Magna Carta of neurology."

1846 - Jöns Oskar Backlund was born (29 Aug 1916). Swedish astronomer.

1853 - Ludwig Tieck dies (b. 1773). German writer.

1855 - José Malhoa was born in Caldas da Rainha (d. 26 Oct 1933). Portuguese painter.

1857 - Alberto de Oliveira was born at Palmital de Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro (d. 19 Jan 1937). Brazilian poet.

1858 - Johannes Peter Müller dies (b. 14 Jul 1801). German physiologist and anatomist, one of the greatest of 19th century who, with Magendie, is credited for establishing the science of physiology in its modern form.

1862 - American Civil War: Admiral David Farragut captures New Orleans, Louisiana.

1863 – Josiah Thomas was born (d. 1933). Australian politician.

1864 - Zinovios Valvis assume (pela 2º vez) o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Grécia.

1865 - Vital Brazil was born (d. 08 May 1950). Brazilian phisician and scientist.

1865 - Samuel Cunard dies (b. 1787). Canadian-born British shipping magnate.

1868 - Lucy Booth was born (d. 1953). The fifth daughter of William and Catherine Booth.

1868 - Georgy Voronoy was born (d. 1908). Russian mathematician.

1874 - Karl Kraus was born (d. 1936). Austrian journalist and author.

1878 - Lionel Barrymore was born (d. 15 Nov 1954). Academy Award-winning actor: A Free Soul [1930-31]; Dr. Kildare, Camille, Captains Courageous, Duel in the Sun, It’s a Wonderful Life, Key Largo, The Little Colonel .

1879 - Edgard Tytgat, was born. Painter, printmaker, and writer, who sprouted in Brussels, where died on 10 Jan 1957.

1882 - Alberto Pirelli was born. Italian industrialist.

1884 - James Henry Neel Reed, known as Henry Reed, was born in Appalachian Mountains of Monroe County, West Virginia. Reed was a master fiddler, banjoist, and harmonica player whose amazing repertoire consisted of hundreds of tunes, as well as multiple performance styles.

1886 - Ğabdulla Tuqay was born (d. 1913). Russian poet.

1886 - Inauguração do monumento aos Restauradores de 1640, no começo da Avenida da Liberdade, em Lisboa, actual Praça dos Restauradores.

1889 - António de Oliveira Salazar was born at Vimeiro, Santa Comba Dão (d. 1970). Premier, dictator of Portugal (1932-68).

1896 - Charlie Rivel was born (d. 1983). Clown.

1897 - Ye Jianying was born (d. 1986). Chinese general and politician.

1900 - Heinrich Müller was born (disappeared in 1945). Head of the Gestapo.

1900 - Bruno Apitz was born (d. 1979). German author.

1900 - Maurice Thorez was born. French comunist leader.

1900 - Jan Hendrik Oort was born (d. 5 Nov 1992). Dutch physicist and astronomer who was one of the most important figures in 20th-century efforts to understand the nature of the Milky Way Galaxy, who measured the rotation of the earth's galaxy and hypothesized an "Oort Cloud."

1902 - Using the ISO 8601 standard Year Zero definition for the Gregorian calendar preceded by the Julian calendar, the one billionth minute since the start of January 1, Year Zero occurred at 10:40 AM on this date.

1902 - Newton Heat LYR becomes Manchester United on this day.

1902 - Johan Borgen was born (d. 1979). Norwegian writer.

1903 - Josiah Willard Gibbs dies (b. 11 Feb 1839) . Theoretical physicist and chemist who was one of the greatest scientists in the U.S. in the 19th century. His application of thermodynamic theory converted a large part of physical chemistry from an empirical into a deductive science

1905 - Fitzhugh Lee dies (b. 1835). American Confederate general.

1905 - Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait dies (b. 05 Aug 1819). English /US painter, specialized in Animals.

1905 – Fitzhugh Lee dies (b. 1835). American Confederate general.

1906 - Kurt Gödel was born (d. 14 Jan 1978). Austrian-born US mathematician, logicien and author of Gödel's proof. He is best known for his proof of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems (1931).

1906 - Bart J. Bok was born (d. 7 Aug 1983). Bok was an astronomer, expert on the Milky Way Galaxy and for his study of "Bok globules," small dark clouds observable against the background of bright nebulae.

1906 – Paul Sacher was born (d. 1999). Swiss conductor.

1908 - Oskar Schindler was born (d. 1974). Austrian businessman.

1910 - Theodore Brown Rasmussen was born in Provo, Utah (d. 23 Jan 2002). American neurologist.

1910 - Sam Merwin, Jr. was born (d. 1996). American mystery fiction writer.

1910 - Edouard (Joseph Loius-Marie) van Beneden dies (b. 5 Mar 1846). Belgian embryologist and cytologist best known for his discoveries concerning fertilization in sex cells and chromosome numbers in body cells.

1910 - Francisco Keil do Amaral was born. Portuguese architect.

1911 - Lee Falk was born (d. 1999). American comic strip writer.

1912 - Odette Sansom was born (d. 1995). French resistance worker.

1914 - Philip E. High was born (d. 2006). Science fiction author.

1915 - Salvador Viniegra y Lasso dies (b. 23 Nov 1862). Spanish artist. O governo português atribuiu-lhe o colar e placa da ordem de Santiago.

1916 - Ferruccio Lamborghini was born (d. 20 Feb 1993). Italian automobile manufacturer who founded a luxury car company that produced some of the fastest, most expensive, and sought-after sports cars in the world.

1918 - Sidónio Pais is elected President of Portugal.

1919 - The first jump with the Army manually operated army parachute was made by Leslie LeRoy Irvin in Dayton, Ohio.

1920 - Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.

1921 - Rowland Evans was born (d. 2001). American journalist.

1922 – Alistair MacLean was born (d. 1987). Scottish novelist.

1922 - William Guarnere was born. WWII Veteran.

1923 - Horst-Eberhard Richter was born. Psychoanalyst.

1923 - The F.A cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United was played at Wembley, soon named the White Horse Final/ Inauguração do Estádio de Wembley com a disputa da Final da Taça de Inglaterra : Bolton 2-0 West Ham. O avançado David Jack apontou o primeiro golo logo aos 2 minutos.

1923 - Maria Madalena Perdigão was born. Portuguese cultural animator.

1924 - Donatas Banionis was born. Lithuanian actor.

1924 - Kenneth Kaunda was born. President of Zambia.

1925 - T. John Lesinski was born. Lieutenant Governor of Michigan.

1926 - Blossom Dearie was born. American jazz singer.

1926 - Harper Lee was born. American writer (To Kill a Mockingbird - 1960).

1926 - Zip the Pinhead [William Henry Jonhson] dies (b. 1857). American freak show. performer.

1928 - Eugene M. Shoemaker was born (d. 1997). American planetary scientist.

1928 – Yves Klein was born (d. 1962). French painter.

1928 - Brazil: Escola de Samba Estação Primeira de Mangueira is founded.

1929 - Club Emelec (Empresa de Electricidade) is founded in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

1930 - The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.

1930 – Carolyn Jones was born (d. 1983). American actress.

1930 - James Baker was born. American politician

1932 - A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.

1934 - Lois Duncan was born. American novelist.

1935 - O Metro de Moscovo é inaugurado - Moscow underground opens (81 km long).

1936 - King Fuad I of Egypt dies (b. 1868).

1937 - The Museum of Costume Arts opens in New York City.

1937 - Saddam Hussein was born (d. 2006). President of Iraq.

1937 - The first animated-cartoon electric sign was displayed on a building on Broadway in New York City. The sign was the creation of Douglas Leigh. It consisted of several thousand light bulbs and presented a four-minute show that featured a cavorting horse and ball-tossing cats.

1938 - Madge Sinclair was born (d. 20 Dec 1995). Jamaican Emmy Award-winning actress [Gabriel’s Fire [1990-91], Trapper John M.D., Roots, Ohara, Me and the Boys, Grandpa Goes to Washington, A Century of Women, The End of Innocence, Coming to America, Convoy, Conrack] .

1941 - Ann-Margret was born in Valsjobya Sweden. Actress: Carnal Knowledge, Tommy, Viva Las Vegas, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Bye, Bye, Birdie, Scarlett; singer: I Just Don’t Understand.

1941 - Iryna Zhylenko was born. Ukrainian poet.

1941 - K. Barry Sharpless was born. American chemist, Nobel laureate.

1941 - Lucien Aimar was born. French cyclist.

1941 – Nico Mastorakis was born. Greek filmmaker, director and radio producer.

1942 - Mike Brearley was born. English cricketer.

1943 - Jacques Dutronc was born. French singer and actor.

1944 - Alice Waters was born. American chef.

1944 - Elizabeth LeCompte was born. American theater director.

1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe was born. Belgian politician.

1944 - Bernardino Machado dies (b. 1851). President of Portugal.

1944 - Frank Knox dies (b. 1874). U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate.

1945 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by members of the Italian resistance movement while trying to flee Italy.

1945 - Roberto Farinacci dies (b. 1892). Italian fascist.

1946 – The religious leader and civil rights activist Father Divine marries Sweet Angel Divine Edna Rose Ritchings in a secret Washington, D.C. ceremony, officiated by the Rev. Albert E. Shadd.

1946 - Ginette Reno was born. French Canadian singer, songwriter and actress.

1946 - Louis Bachelier dies (b. 1870). French mathematician.

1947 - Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

1948 - Dorothée Berryman was born. French Canadian actress and singer.

1948 – Marcia Strassman was born. American actress.

1948 - Terry Pratchett was born. English author.

1949 – Former Philippine First Lady Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.

1949 - Bruno Kirby was born (d. 2006). American actor.

1949 – Indian Larry was born (d. 2004). American stuntsman.

1949 – Aurora Quezon dies shot (b. 1888). First Lady of the Philippines.

1950 - Bhumibol Adulyadej, got married with his queen, Queen Sirikit, after their quiet engagement in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 19, 1949.

1950 - Jay Leno was born. American comedian and talk-show host.

1950 - Willie Colón was born. Puerto Rican salsa legend.

1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO in order to run for President of the United States.

1952 - Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends.

1952 - Mary McDonnell was born. American actress.

1952 - Eduardo Viera dies. Argentinian writer.

1953 - Kim Gordon was born. American musician (Sonic Youth).

1953 – Roberto Bolaño was born. Chilean author and poet.

1954 – Ron Zook was born. American Football Coach.

1954 - Léon Jouhaux dies (b. 1879). French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

1955 - Paul Guilfoyle was born. American actor.

1955 - Nicky Gumbel was born. British author and priest.

1955 – Paul Guilfoyle was born. American actor.

1956 - Jimmy Barnes was born. Scottish-born singer.

1957 - Wilma Landkroon was born. Dutch singer.

1957 – Heinz "Pritzl" Bär dies (b. 1913). German fighter pilot.

1958 - Hal Sutton was born. American golfer.

1960 - Ian Rankin was born. Scottish novelist.

1960 - Joel H. Rosenthal was born. American political scientist.

1960 - Jón Páll Sigmarsson was born (d. 1993). Icelandic strength athlete.

1960 - John Cerutti was born (d. 2004). Baseball player and announcer.

1960 - Walter Zenga was born. Italian footballer (goalkeeper).

1960 - Carlos Ibáñez del Campo dies. President of Chile (1927-31 e 1952-58).

1960 - French president Charles de Gaulle resigns after his proposals for constitutional reforms are defeated in a national referendum.

1961 - Futoshi Matsunaga was born. Japanese serial killer.

1963 - Brasil derrota os Estados Unidos por 10 - 0 em jogo de futebol nos Jogos Panamericanos (Adilton marca 7 golos!).

1963 - Lloyd Eisler was born. Canadian figure skater.

1964 - Yemen : New Constitution is promulgated.

1964 - Barry Larkin was born. American baseball player.

1964 - Mark Steven Robinson was born. American director.

1964 - Noriyuki Iwadare was born. Japanese composer.

1964 - Rolf de Maré dies (b. 1888). Swedish art collector.

1965 - United States troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate Americans.

1965 - Steve Blum was born. American voice actor.

1966 - John Daly was born. American golfer.

1966 - Too $hort was born. American rapper.

1966 - Margarida Pinto Correia was born. Portuguese media personality.

1966 - 38th Academy Awards - "Sound of Music," Julie Christie and L Marvin win.

1967 - Expo 67 opens in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

1967 - World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army for religious reasons; he is later convicted of draft evasion and stripped of his title.

1967 - Kari Wührer was born. American actress.

1968 – Andy Flower was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.

1968 - Daisy Berkowitz was born. American musician (Marilyn Manson).

1968 - Howard Donald was born. British musician.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

1969 - Terence O'Neill announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

1970 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.

1970 - Diego Simeone was born. Argentine footballer.

1970 - Nicklas Lidström was born. Swedish hockey player.

1971 - Dutch social democratic party/D'66/DS'70 win parliamentary election.

1971 – Bridget Moynahan was born. American actress.

1972 – Joseph Bruce was born. American musician.

1972 - Violent J was born. Musician (Insane Clown Posse).

1973 – Over 6000 Mk. 82 500 pound bombs detonate over the course of 18 hours in a railyard in northern California. 5500 structures are damaged, and the town of Antelope, California ceases to exist, with every building being reduced to the foundation. This accident leads to the passing of the Transportation Safety Act of 1974 which makes the NTSB an independent agency.

1973 – Elisabeth Röhm was born. American actress.

1973 – Francisco Palencia was born. Mexican footballer.

1973 – Jorge Garcia was born. American actor

1973 - Pedro Pauleta [Pedro Miguel Correia Resendes Pauleta] was born in Ponta Delgada, Azores. Portuguese footballer.

1973 – Clas Thunberg dies (b. 1893). Finnish speed skater.

1973 - Jacques Maritain dies (b. 1882). French philosopher.

1974 - Mário Soares regressa a Portugal vindo do exílio em Paris, acompanhado de Tito de Morais e Ramos Costa.

1974 - Ricardo Araújo Pereira was born. Portuguese comedian (Gato Fedorento).

1974 - Penélope Cruz was born in Madrid. Spanish actress. See Penelope Cruz wallpaper here.

1974 - Richel Hersisia was born. Dutch boxer.

1974 - Vernon Kay was born. British TV/radio presenter.

1975 - Leopoldo Neves de Almeida dies. Portuguese sculptor.

1975 - Tom Donahue dies (b. 1928). American FM radio DJ (pioneer, freeform radio).

1977 - The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe being found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

1977 - The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.

1977 – Derrick Wayne Frazier was born (d. 2006). American convicted murderer.

1978 - President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan (b. 1909) is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by procommunist rebels.

1978 - Lauren Laverne was born. Disc jockey, television presenter and former singer

1978 - Nate Richert was born. American actor.

1978 – Sardar Mohammed Daoud dies (b. 1909). President of Afghanistan.

1979 - Bahram Radan was born. Iranian actor.

1980 - Josh Howard was born. Basketball player (Dallas Mavericks).

1981 - Galician current Statute of Autonomy.

1981 - Jessica Alba was born. American actress. See wallpaper here.

1982 - Manuel Félix Ribeiro dies. Founder of "Portuguese Cinemateca" (Cinemateca Portuguesa).

1982 - Nikki Grahame was born. Big Brother 7 Star.

1983 - Roger Johnson was born. English footballer.

1985 - Zhang Tianyi dies. Chinese writer.

1986 - Portugal: Maria Alberta Menéres, escritora portuguesa, recebe o Grande Prémio Gulbenkian da Literatura Infantil.

1986 - Mais de 6.000 estações de rádio mundiais tocam simultaneamente a música "We Are the World". Ken Kragen foi o promotor deste evento que arrecadou milhões de dólares para combater a fome na África.

1986 - United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve USS Coral Sea, on station across the "Line of Death" in the Gulf of Sidra off the coast of Libya. The transit began at 0300 and lasted 12 hours.

1986 - Russia announced the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (happened two days before).

1986 – George Nozuka was born. Canadian Singer/Songwriter.

1986 – Jennifer Palm Lundberg, reigning Miss World Sweden.

1986 – Roman Polák was born. Czech ice hockey player.

1986 - George Nozuka was born. Canadian singer/songwriter.

1987 - The 27-year old American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by US-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua. His death sets off a fierce debate in the United States.

1988 - Near Maui, Hawaii a flight attendant is sucked out of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 and falls to her death when an upper part of the plane's cabin area rips off in mid-flight. Metal fatigue is later found to be the cause of the failure.

1988 - B.W. Stevenson dies (b. 1949). American country singer.

1990 - After 6,237 performances, the Broadway musical A Chorus Line closes.

1991 - Nasa lança missão espacial STS-39 . Retorna em 06 Mai 1991.

1991 - Steve Broidy dies (b. 1905). American motion picture executive.

1992 - O presidente italiano Francesco Cossiga renuncia oficialmente ao cargo, mergulhando o país em sua pior crise constitucional desde o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Giovanni Spadolini torna-se presidente-interino.

1992 - Francis Bacon dies (b. 1909). Anglo-Irish abstract painter.

1992 - Iceberg Slim dies (b. 1918). American writer.

1993 - Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon, 30 soccer players die.

1993 - Jim Valvano dies (b. 1946). American basketball coach.

1994 - Former Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

1994 – Berton Roueché dies (b. 1910). American medical writer, The New Yorker magazine staff writer.

1995 - Argentina vence o Brasil por 2-0 e sagra-se Campeão do Mundo de Futebol - sub-20 no Qatar. Leonardo Biagini e Francisco Guerrero foram os marcadores dos golos.

1995 - Gas explosion in South Korean metro, 103 die.

1995 - Sri Lankaan BAE748 crashes at Palaly, 52 die.

1996 - Whitewater scandal: President Bill Clinton gives 4 1/2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

1996 - In Tasmania, Australia, Martin Bryant goes on a shooting spree, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 37 more.

1996 - Zanger Bob was born. Dutch singer.

1998 – Jerome Bixby dies (b. 1923). American writer.

1998 – Ramakant Desai dies (b. 1939). Indian cricketer.

1999 - Alf Ramsey dies (b. 1920). English football manager / Morte de Alf Ramsey, treinador da Inglaterra no Mundial de 1966, em que se sagrou Campeão do Mundo (com pena nossa de Portugal que perdeu 2-1 nas meias-finais).

1999 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow dies (b. 5 May 1921). American physicist who was a corecipient (with Nicolaas Bloembergen of the U.S. and Kai Siegbahn of Sweden) of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work in developing the laser and in laser spectroscopy.

1999 – Rory Calhoun dies (b. 1922). American actor.

2000 – Jerzy Einhorn dies (b. 1925). Polish-Swedish doctor, researcher and politician.

2000 - Penelope Fitzgerald dies (b. 1916). Writer.

2001 - Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.

2002 - Alexander Lebed dies (b. 1950). Russian General.

2002 – Lou Thesz dies (b. 1916). American wrestler.

2003 - Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store launches, selling 1 million songs in its first week.

2003 - Ildefonso Manuel Gil López dies. Spanish writer.

2005 - The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) enters into force.

2005 - Taraki Sivaram, a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka kidnapped in Colombo; his body was found the next day near the parliament.

2005 - Chris Candido dies (b. 1972). American wrestler.

2005 - Percy Heath dies (b. 1923). American jazz bassist (Modern Jazz Quartet).