On this day in History - Oct. 2

• 0939 - Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine dies.
• 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.
• 1263 - The battle of Largs fought between Norwegians and Scots.
• 1264 - Pope Urban IV dies.
• 1452 - King Richard III of England was born ( † 1485).
• 1470 - Isabella was born († 1485). Queen consort of Portugal and Princess of Asturias.
• 1535 - Jacques Cartier discovers Montreal, Quebec.
• 1538 - Saint Charles Borromeo was born (d. 1574). Italian cardinal.
• 1552 - Conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible.
• 1559 - Jacquet of Mantua dies (b. 1483). French composer.
• 1608 - First refracting telescope demonstrated to the Netherlands States General by Hans Lippershey.
• 1626 - Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar dies (b. 1567). Spanish diplomat.
• 1629 - Pierre de Bérulle dies (b. 1575). French cardinal and statesman.
• 1629 - Antonio Cifra dies (b. 1584). Italian composer.
• 1644 - François-Timoléon de Choisy was born (d. 1724). French writer.
• 1708 - Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles dies (b. 1650). French general.
• 1722 - Leopold Widhalm was born (d. 1776). Austrian luthier.
• 1724 - François-Timoléon de Choisy dies (b. 1644). French writer.
• 1725 - José Francisco Miguel António de Mendonça was born. 5th Patriarche of Lisbon
• 1737 - Francis Hopkinson was born (d. 1791). American author and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
• 1746 - Josiah Burchett dies. English Secretary of the Admiralty.
• 1764 - William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire dies. Prime Minister of Great Britain.
• 1768 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford was born (d. 1854). British general and politician.
• 1775 - Chiyo-ni dies (b. 1703). Japanese poet.
• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: British spy John Andre is hanged by American forces for his role in Benedict Arnold's plot to sell West Point to the British Army.
• 1782 - Charles Lee dies (b. 1732). British and U.S. general.
• 1786 - Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel dies (b. 1725). British admiral.
• 1789 - George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (the so-called "Bill of Rights") to the States for ratification.
• 1798 - King Charles Albert of Sardinia was born (d. 1849).
• 1800 - Nat Turner was born (d. 1831). American leader of slave uprising.
• 1803 - Samuel Adams dies (b. 1722). American patriot.
• 1804 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot dies (b. 1725). French inventor who built the first vehicule auto-propulsed of the world.
• 1814 - Chile: finaliza el desastre de Rancagua y comienza la reconquista del país de manos de los españoles.
• 1817 - Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov dies (b. 1744). Russian naval commander and admiral.
• 1828 - Charles Floquet was born (d. 1896). French statesman.
• 1832 - Edward Burnett Tylor was born (d. 1917). English anthropologist regarded as the founder of cultural anthropology.
• 1832 - Brasil: Fim do conflito da Revolução Constitucionalista.
• 1832 - Julius von Sachs was born in Breslau (d. 29 May 1897). German botanist whose work on nutrition, tropism (response to environmental stimuli), and transpiration of water greatly advanced the knowledge of plant physiology during the second half of the 19th century. He discovered chlorophyll, and its location in plant cells.
• 1833 - Rev. William Corby was born (d. 1897). American Catholic priest.
• 1835 - The Texas Revolution begins with the Battle of Gonzales: Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
• 1836 - Naturalist Charles Darwin returns to Falmouth, England aboard the HMS Beagle after a five-year journey collecting biological data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.
• 1846 - Eliza Maria Mosher was born (d. 16 Oct 1928). American physician and educator whose wide-ranging medical career included an educational focus on physical fitness and health maintenance.
• 1846 - Benjamin Waterhouse dies (b. 4 Mar 1754). American physician and scientist, a pioneer in smallpox vaccination.
• 1847 - Paul von Hindenburg was born (d. 1934). German officer and politician.
• 1848 - Georg August Goldfuss dies (b. 1782). German paléonthologist and zoologist.
• 1850 - Sarah Biffen dies (b. 1784). English painter.
• 1851 - The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass is demonstrated but proves to be a fake.
• 1851 - Ferdinand Foch was born (d. 1929). French soldier.
• 1852 - William Ramsay was born (d. 23 Jul 1916). Scottish chemist who discovered the "inert gases" neon, kripton and xenon, and co-discovered argon, radon, calcium and barium. 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemist laureate "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system".
• 1853 - François Jean Dominique Arago dies (b. 26 Feb 1786). French mathematician and physicist who discovered the principle of the production of magnetism by rotation of a non magnetic conductor.
• 1854 - Sir Patrick Geddes was born (d. 17 Apr 1932). Scottish biologist and sociologist who was one of the modern pioneers of the concept of town and regional plan.
• 1858 - Baron Gerard de Geer was born in Stocholm (d. 1943). Swedish geologist, originator of the varve-counting method used in geochronology.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Saltville - Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia, but are defeated by Confederate troops.
• 1865 - Sir Berkeley Moynihan was born (d. 1936). 1st Baron Moynihan (of Leeds), he was a British surgeon and teacher of medicine who was a noted authority on abdominal surgery.
• 1866 - The first tin can with a key opener was patented by J. Osterhoudt in New York City
• 1867 - Nilo Peçanha was born († 1924). President of Brazil.
• 1869 - Mahatma Gandhi was born in Porbandar (d. 30 Jan. 1948). Spiritual and political leader of Indian independence movement whose philosophy of nonviolence influenced movements around the world.
• 1870 - Plebiscito sanciona a anexação de Roma e do Lazio à Itália (v. Questão Romana).
• 1871 - Cordell Hull was born ( † 1955). United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1871 – Martha Brookes Hutcheson was born (d. 1959). American landscape architect.
• 1872 - Morgan State University founded.
• 1873 - Plum Warner was born (d. 1963). English cricketer.
• 1873 - Stephen Warfield Gambrill was born (d. 1924). U.S. Congressman for Maryland's 5th District.
• 1876 - Arnold Peter Møller was born in Dragør (d. 1965). Danish shipping magnate, businessman and founder of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in 1904
• 1878 - Conrad Schlumberger was born (d. 1936). German geophysicist and petroleum engineer noted for the invention, in 1927, of a method of continuous electric logging of boreholes.
• 1879 - Wallace Stevens was born (d. 1955). American poet.
• 1882 - Boris Shaposhnikov was born (d. 1945). Russian military commander.
• 1883 - Karl Terzaghi was born in Prague. Civil engineer who founded the branch of civil engineering science known as soil mechanics, a term he coined for the study of the properties of soil under stresses and under the action of flowing water.
• 1886 - Robert Julius Trumpler was born (d. 10 Sep 1956). Swiss-born U.S. astronomer who moved to the US in 1915 and worked at the Lick Observatory.
• 1889 - In Colorado, Nicholas Creede strikes it rich in silver during the last great silver boom of the American 1889 - In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
• 1890 - Groucho Marx was born († 1977). American comedian and actor.
• 1892 - Ernest Renan dies (b. 27 Feb 1823). French writer, philosopher and historian.
• 1893 – Leroy Shield was born (d. 1962). American film score and radio composer (Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy).
• 1895 - Bud Abbott was born (d. 1974). American comedian and actor.
• 1895 - Eugen Langen dies (b. 9 Oct 1833). German engineer who pioneered in building internal-combustion engines.
• 1896 - Liaqat Ali Khan was born (d. 1951). Pakistan's first Prime Minister (d. 1951)
• 1901 - Alice Prin was born (d. 1953). French singer and artist.
• 1901 - Charles Stark Draper was born (d. 25 Jul 1987). American aeronautical engineer, educator, and science administrator who , in 1939, became head of MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, which was a centre for the design of navigational and guidance systems for ships, airplanes, and missiles from World War II through the Cold War
• 1901 - Karl Rudolf König dies (b. 1832). German physicist.
• 1902 - Leopold Figl was born (d. 1965). Austrian politician.
• 1904 - Graham Greene was born (d. 1991). British novelist.
• 1904 - Lal Bahadur Shastri was born (d. 1966). Prime Minister of India.
• 1906 - Willy Ley was born ( d. 24 Jun 1969). German-American engineer who was a founder of the German Rocket Society.
• 1907 - Alexander R. Todd was born († 10 Jan 1997). British biochemist whose research on the structure and synthesis of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleotide coenzymes gained him the 1957 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
• 1911 - Jack Finney was born (d. 1995). American author.
• 1913 - Hermínia Silva was born in Lisbon (d. 13 Jun 1993). Portuguese fado singer. Click to download an extract of fado " A Tendinha".
• 1913 - Karl Miller was born (d. 1967). German footballer.
• 1914 - Bernarr Rainbow was born (d. 1998). English historian of music education, organist, and choir master.
• 1914 - Jack Parsons was born (d. 1952). American rocket scientist.
• 1916 - San Diego Zoo is founded.
• 1917 - Óscar Lopes was born in Leça da Palmeira. Portuguese professor and essayst.
• 1917 - Charles Drake was born (d. 1994). American actor.
• 1917 - Christian de Duve was born. Belgian cytologist biochemist who discovered lysosomes (the digestive organelles of the cell) and peroxisomes (organelles that are the site of metabolic processes involving hydrogen peroxide). He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Albert Claude and George Palade.
• 1919 - US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed.
• 1919 - James M. Buchanan was born. American economist.
• 1920 - Max Bruch dies. German composer.
• 1921 - Albert Scott Crossfield was born (d. 2006). American test pilot.
• 1921 - Robert Runcie was born (d. 2000). Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1924 - The Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the League of Nations.
• 1924 - Primeiro golo olímpico em futebol foi marcado num jogo entre Argentina e Uruguai.
• 1925 - Nasce, em S. João do Peso, Vila de Rei, José Cardoso Pires (m. 26 Out 1998). Escritor português, unanimemente considerado um dos maiores escritores portugueses do século XX, numa galeria onde podemos encontrar nomes como José Saramago ou António Lobo Antunes.
• 1925 - John Logie Baird performers first test of the working television system.
• 1926 - Jan Morris was born. English writer.
• 1927 - Svante Arrhenius dies (b. 19 Feb 1859). Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1903 "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation."
• 1928 - The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, was founded by Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
• 1928 - George "Spanky" McFarland was born (d. 1993). American actor.
• 1928 - Wolfhart Pannenberg was born. German theologian.
• 1929 - Cesare Maestri was born. Italian climber, famous for climbing Cerro Torre.
• 1929 - Howard Roberts was born (d. 992). American Jazz Guitarist, Educator, and Session Musician.
• 1929 - Moses Gunn was born (d. 1993). African-American actor.
• 1930 - Dave Barrett was born. Premier of British Columbia.
• 1932 - Maury Wills was born. American baseball player.
• 1933 - Phill Niblock was born. American composer, filmmaker and videographer.
• 1933 - Philipp Forchheimer dies (b. 7 Aug 1852). Austrian engineer who was a top contributor to the study of groundwater hydrology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• 1934 - Earl Wilson was born (d. 2005). American baseball player.
• 1935 - Italy - Mussolini troops - invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
• 1935 - Omar Sivori was born (d. 2005). Argentine football player.
• 1936 - Alcohol plant : the first alcohol power plant is established in Atchison, Kansas.
• 1936 - Dick Barnett was born. American basketball player.
• 1937 - Samuel R. Caldwell becomes the first person is the United States to be arrested on a marijuana charge.
• 1937 - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. was born (d. 2005). American attorney.
• 1938 - Tiberias massacre: Arabs murder 20 Jews.
• 1938 - Eddie Cochran was born (d. 1960). American singer.
• 1938 - Rex Reed was born. American movie critic and actor.
• 1938 - Waheed Murad was born (d. 1983). Pakistani film actor and director.
• 1938 - Alexandru Averescu dies (b. 1859). Romanian soldier and politician.
• 1939 - Norma Blum was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1940 - Gheorghe Gruia was born. Romanian handball player.
• 1940 - Freelan O. Stanley dies (b. 1 Jun 1849). American inventor, who with his twin brother Francis, were the most famous manufacturers of steam-driven automobiles. Francis previously had invented a photographic dry-plate process (1883), and as the Stanley Dry Plate Company the brothers had engaged in the manufacturing of the plates.
• 1941 - World War II: In Operation Typhoon, Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow.
• 1941 - Zareh Baronian was born. Armenian theologian.
• 1942 - Nuclear fission : the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated in Chicago.
• 1943 - Franklin Rosemont was born. American artist.
• 1944 - World War II: Holocaust: Nazi troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
• 1944 - Alcides Maya dies (b. 1878). Brazilian journalist, writer and politician.
• 1945 - Don McLean was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1946 – Eric Peterson was born. Canadian actor.
• 1946 - Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin was born. President of Council for National Security and Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Army.
• 1947 - Inauguração do MASP : Museu de Arte de S. Paulo (Brasil).
• 1947 - Peter D. Ouspensky dies (b. 1878). Russian mathematician and philosopher.
• 1948 - Avery Brooks was born. American actor.
• 1948 - Chris LeDoux was born (d. 2005). American musician and rodeo performer.
• 1948 - Donna Karan was born. American fashion designer.
• 1948 – Trevor Brooking was born. English footballer.
• 1949 - Annie Leibovitz was born. American photographer.
• 1949 - Richard Hell was born. American musician.
• 1950 - The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
• 1950 – Ian McNeice was born. English actor
• 1950 - Mike Rutherford was born. English musician (Genesis).
• 1950 - Persis Khambatta was born (d. 1998). Indian actress.
• 1951 - Romina Power was born. Italian singer.
• 1951 - Sting was born. British singer and actor.
• 1952 - Robin Riker was born. American actress.
• 1952 - Wahed Wafa was born. Afghan singer.
• 1954 - Lorraine Bracco was born. American actress.
• 1954 - Greg Jennings was born. Country musician (Restless Heart).
• 1955 - The ENIAC computer is deactivated at 11:45 PM.
• 1955 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts (last new episode aired on June 26, 1962).
• 1955 - Phil Oakey was born. British singer (The Human League).
• 1956 - Atomic clock : the Atomicron, the first atomic clock, was unveiled at the Overseas Press Club in New York City.
• 1956 - Freddie Jackson was born. R&B singer.
• 1957 - Wade Dooley was born. English rugby union player.
• 1958 - Guinea declares itself independent from France.
• 1958 - Robbie Nevil was born. Singer and producer.
• 1958 - Marie Stopes dies (b. 15 Oct 1880). Scottish scientist, educator and birth control advocate was born in Edinburgh.
• 1959 - The Twilight Zone pilot premieres.
• 1960 - Inauguração do Estádio do Morumbi.
• 1960 – Al Connelly was born. Canadian musician and songwriter.
• 1960 - Glenn Anderson was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1960 - Joe Sacco was born. Maltese cartoonist.
• 1960 - Robbie Nevil was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1962 - Johnny Carson debuts as host of The Tonight Show.
• 1962 – Aziz M. Osman was born. Malaysian actor and director.
• 1962 - Patrícia Melo was born in Assis, São Paulo. Brazilian writer.
• 1962 – Sigtryggur Baldursson was born. Icelandic drummer (The Sugarcubes).
• 1962 - Boris Y. Bukreev dies (b. 1859). Soviet mathematician.
• 1963 - Golpe de Estado nas Honduras.
• 1963 - Hurricane devastates Haiti.
• 1964 - Dirk Brinkmann was born. German field hockey player.
• 1964 - Sam Bockarie was born. RUF Rebel Military Commander.
• 1966 - Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoai was born (d. 2000). Samoan professional wrestler.
• 1966 - Richard Edwin Shope dies (b. 25 Dec 1901). American animal pathologist and virologist
• 1967 - Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.
• 1967 - Bud Gaugh was born. American musician (Sublime).
• 1967 - Frankie Fredericks was born. Namibian athlete.
• 1967 - Gillian Welch was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1967 - Thomas Muster was born in Leibnitz. Austrian tennis star, 1995 French Open winner.
• 1968 - A peaceful student demonstration in Mexico City ends in the Tlatelolco massacre. More than 25 people have been killed during a vicious gun battle in Mexico City just days before the Olympic Games are due to begin.
• 1968 - Birth of sextuplets stuns Britain: A woman has given birth to six babies in what is being hailed as the first recorded case of live sextuplets in Britain (BBC).
• 1968 - Glen Wesley was born. Canadian ice hockey players
• 1968 - Jana Novotná was born. Czech tennis player.
• 1968 - Jeff Martin was born. Canadian singer/songwriter.
• 1968 - Kelly Willis was born. Country singer.
• 1968 - Victoria Derbyshire was born. British radio presenter,
• 1968 - Marcel Duchamp dies (b. 1887). French painter and sculptor.
• 1969 - Damon Gough was born. English singer.
• 1969 - Mitch English was born. American actor.
• 1970 - A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado killing 31 people.
• 1970 - Kelly Ripa was born. American actress and television host.
• 1970 - Colin Rivas was born. Galician artist.
• 1970 - Dion Allen was born. R&B singer (Az Yet).
• 1970 - Maribel Verdú was born. Spanish actress.
• 1971 - Tiffany was born. American singer.
• 1971 - James Root was born. American guitarist (Slipknot).
• 1971 - Bola de Nieve dies (b. 1911). Cuban singer, pianist, and songwriter.
• 1972 - Referendum na Dinamarca decide adesão à CEE.
• 1972 - Tara Dawn Holland was born. Miss America 1997.
• 1972 - Miguel Brito was born. Portuguese A Minha Matilde & Ca. (blog) webmaster.
• 1973 - Dalida Chammai was born. Miss Lebanon Universe 1997.
• 1973 - Lene was born. Norwegian singer (ex-Aqua).
• 1973 - Efren Ramirez was born. American actor.
• 1973 - Scott Schoeneweis was born. American baseball player.
• 1973 - Maria Wetterstrand was born. Swedish politician.
• 1973 - Proof was born (d. 2006). American rapper (D12).
• 1973 - Paavo Nurmi dies (b. 1897). Finnish runner.
• 1973 - Paul Hartman dies (b. 1904). American actor.
• 1974 - Mark Porter was born (d. 2006). New Zealand racing driver.
• 1974 - Paul Teutul Jr. was born. Co-Star of American Chopper.
• 1974 - Sam Roberts was born. Canadian singer and songwriter.
• 1974 - Simon Gregson was born. British actor (Coronation Street)
• 1974 - Vasily Shukshin dies (b. 1929) Russian writer, actor, screenwriter, and director
• 1975 - Kumaraswami Kamaraj dies (b. 1903). Indian Political leader, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
• 1976 - Mandisa was born. American singer
• 1976 - Jason Dodson was born. American political consultant and teacher of esotericism
• 1977 - Em Genebra, Anabela Chaves, violinista portuguesa, conquista o 1.o Prémio Internacional de Execução Musical.
• 1977 - Leon del Muerte was born. American guitarist.
• 1978 - Baseball: Bucky Dent hits a home run for the New York Yankees to defeat the Boston Red Sox in a one-game play off at Fenway Park. The home run was Dent's 5th of the season.
• 1978 - Ayumi Hamasaki was born. Japanese singer.
• 1979 - Francisco Fonseca was born. Mexican footballer.
• 1979 - Maja Ivarsson was born. Lead singer, The Sounds.
• 1979 - Primož Brezec was born. Slovenian basketball player.
• 1980 - Filipe Teixeira was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1980 - Rodrigo Scarpa was born. Brazilian humourist.
• 1980 - Shane Andrus was born. American football player.
• 1981 - Luke Wilkshire was born. Australian footballer.
• 1981 - Toro was born. Taiwanese singer.
• 1981 - Hazel Scott dies (b. 1920). West Indian-born singer.
• 1981 - Harry Golden dies (b. 1902). American journalist.
• 1982 - George Pettit was born. Canadian singer (Alexisonfire).
• 1985 - Rock Hudson dies of AIDS (b. 1925). American actor.
• 1985 - Em Portugal, eleições gerais dão ao PDS 30% dos votos, ao PS 20,5%, ao PRD 18%, à APU 15,5% e ao CDS 10,5%.
• 1986 - Camilla Belle was born. American actress.
• 1987 - Dia Frampton was born. American singer (Meg & Dia).
• 1987 - Phil Kessel was born. American ice hockey player Boston Bruins.
• 1987 - Peter Medawar dies (b. 1915). Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1987 - Madeleine Carroll dies (b. 1906). British-born actress.
• 1988 - South Korea: In Seúl XXIV Olimpic Games closed.
• 1988 - Alec Issigonis dies (b. 1906). Greek-British car designer, developer of the Mini.
• 1989 - George Francis Hotz was born. American Hacker, first iPhone hack.
• 1990 - A Chinese airline Boeing 737-247 is hijacked; after landing at Guangzhou it crashes into two airliners on the ground, killing 132.
• 1990 - Dave Ross was born. All Around Boss and Half-Decent Runner.
• 1990 - Dean Bouzanis was born. Australian soccer player.
• 1992 - The Carandiru Massacre takes place after a riot in the Carandiru prison system in São Paulo, Brazil.
• 1992 - Renúncia de Fernando Collor, presidente do Brasil, após sofrer impeachment em 29 de setembro. Empossa o cargo seu vice Itamar Franco.
• 1993 - President Yeltsin declares a State of Emergency in Moscow.
• 1993 - Tara Lynne Barr was born. American actress.
• 1994 - Portugal: Ao largo de Leixões, mil toneladas de crude são derramadas pelo petroleiro Cercal.
• 1994 - Harriet Hilliard Nelson dies (b. 1909). American actress.
• 1995 - Iron Maiden lança o álbum The X Factor.
• 1996 - The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• 1996 - An AeroPerú Boeing 757 crashes in Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Lima, Peru
• 1996 - Lance Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer that spreads to his liver, lungs, and brain.
• 1996 - Robert Bourassa dies (b. 1933). Politician, premier of Quebec.
• 1997 - European Union: The Amsterdam Treaty is signed.
• 1997 - Brasil: Refundação do Partido Trabalhista Nacional.
• 1997 - Terceira e última visita do Papa João Paulo II ao Brasil.
• 1998 - Gene Autry dies (b. 1907). American singer, actor, and entrepreneur.
• 1998 - Olivier Gendebien dies (b. 1924). Belgian racing driver.
• 1999 - Heinz G. Konsalik dies (b. 1921). German novelist.
• 2000 - The science fiction TV-series Andromeda Ascendet premiered, it ended on May 13, 2005.
• 2001 - Bankruptcy of Swissair –The company liquidates and the airline is replaced by SWISS.
• 2001 - First palindromic MM-DD-YYYY date since August 31, 1380.
• 2001 - The NATO backs US military strikes, following 9/11.
• 2001 - Franz Biebl dies (b. 1906). German composer.
• 2002 - The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks.
• 2002 - Heinz von Foerster dies (b. 1911). Austrian-born physicist and philosopher.
• 2003 - John Maxwell Coetzee South-African writer gets the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 2003 - John T. Dunlop dies (b. 1914). U.S. Secretary of Labor.
• 2004 - American Samoa joins the North American Numbering Plan.
• 2005 - Ethan Allen Boating Accident: The Ethan Allen tour boat capsizes on Lake George in Upstate New York, killing twenty people.
• 2005 - NFL plays first regular season game outside United States when the Arizona CardinalsSan Francisco 49ers 31-14 in Mexico City, Mexico
• 2005 - Bert Eriksson dies (b. 1931). Belgian neo-Nazi
• 2005 - Nipsey Russell dies (b. 1918). American comedian.
• 2005 - August Wilson dies (b. 1945). American playwright.
• 2006 - Five school girls are murdered by Charles Carl Roberts in a shooting at an Amish schoolNickel Mines, Pennsylvania before Roberts commits suicide.
• 2006 - Helen Chenoweth-Hage dies (b. 1938). American politician.
• 2006 - Tamara Dobson dies (b. 1947). American actress.
• 2006 - Paul Halmos dies (b. 1916). Hungarian-born American mathematician.
• 2007 - President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea walks across the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea on his way to the second Inter-Korean Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
• 2007 - Christopher Derrick dies (b. 1921). British writer.
• 2007 - Dan Keating dies (b. 1902). Irish politician.
• 2007 - Tawn Mastrey dies (b. 1954). American disc jockey.
• 2007 - Tex Coulter dies (b. 1924). American football player.
• 2008 - Choi Jin-sil dies (b. 1968). South Korean actress.
• 2008 - Rob Guest dies (b. 1950). New Zealand entertainer.
• 2009 - Rio de Janeiro is elected the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
• 2009 - The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland is approved at the second attempt, permitting the state to ratify the European Union's Treaty of Lisbon.
• Guinea - Independence Day (from France, 1958).
• India - Gandhi Jayanti (birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, 1869).
• French Republican Calendar - Pomme de terre (Potato) Day, eleventh day in the Month of Vendémiaire.
• Roman Catholic Church - Memorial of Guardian Angels, Leodegar.
• International Day of Non-Violence.