1572 – Elizabeth I of England issues a proclamation which revokes all commissions on account of the frauds which they had fostered.
1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
1880 – Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.
1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati was born.
1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
1955 – Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
1971 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
2000 – The last original “Peanuts” comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.
2004 – The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
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