2008 - Edie Adams, American singer and Broadway actress (b. 1927)
2008 - Jack Narz, American game show host (b. 1922)
Events
533 - Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.
1552 - Khanate of Kazan is conquered by troops of Ivan Grozny.
1764 - Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1815 - Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
1863 - American Civil War: The CSS H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley.
1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Glasgow is fought, resulting in the surrender of Glasgow, Missouri, and its Union garrison, to the Confederacy.
1878 - The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
1880 - Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
1888 - The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by the investigators.
1894 - The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying.
1904 - The Russian Baltic Fleet leaves Reval, Estonia for Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
1917 - World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.
1928 - The airship, the Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
1932 - Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
1934 - The Soviet Republic of China collapses when Chiang Kai-shek's National Revolutionary Army successfully encircle Ruijin, forcing the fleeing Communists to begin the Long March.
1938 - The District of Columbia formally adopts a design for its flag.
1939 - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
1944 - The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes over the power in Hungary.
1945 - World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.
1946 - Nuremberg Trials: Hermann Göring poisons himself the night before his execution.
1951 - Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes synthesized the first oral contraceptive.
1953 - British nuclear test Totem 1 detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
1965 - Vietnam War: The National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States to result in arrest under a new law.
1966 - Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
1970 - Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
1971 - The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia.
1973 - The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Gabon are established.
1981 - Professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson leads what is thought to be the first audience wave in Oakland, California.
1987 - The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
1989 - Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
1990 - Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
1997 - The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom).
1997 - The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
2001 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
2003 - China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.
2003 - The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi runs into a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
