46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.
1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera.
1580 – Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth.
1687 – The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed by an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who are besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
1777 – American Revolution: British troops occupy Philadelphia.
1789 – Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
1934 – Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
RMS Queen Mary sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, Queen Mary along with her sister ship, RMS Queen Elizabeth, were built as part of Cunard’s planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York City. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced in that role by Queen Elizabeth.
1954 – Japanese rail ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
1959 – Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1969 – Abbey Road, the last recorded album by The Beatles, is released.
1983 – Soviet nuclear false alarm incident: Military officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike.
2008 – Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel. Leaping from a helicopter at an altitude of 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) over Calais, France, Rossy crossed the English Channel with a single jet-powered wing strapped on his back, wearing only a helmet and a flight suit for protection, on 26 September 2008. Reaching speeds of over 125 miles per hour, he made the 22-mile flight to England in 13 minutes.
2009 – Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.
Births
1329 – Anne of Bavaria (d. 1353)
1774 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and environmentalist
1874 – Lewis Hine, American photographer and activist (d. 1940)
1888 – T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
1898 – George Gershwin, born in Brooklyn was an American composer and pianist. Among his best-known works are Rhapsody in Blue (1924), An American in Paris (1928) as well as the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). (d. 1937)
1914 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness expert
Deaths
1716 – Antoine Parent, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1666)
1820 – Daniel Boone, American hunter and explorer (b. 1734)
1868 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1790)
1902 – Levi Strauss, German-American businessman, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (b. 1829)
1952 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (b. 1863)
1984 – Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1948)
2008 – Paul Newman, the American actor, film director, entrepreneur, professional race car driver and team owner, environmentalist, activist and philanthropist. He was a co-founder of Newman’s Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.As of December 2015, these donations totaled over US$460 million(b. 1925)