390 BC – Roman-Gaulic Wars: Battle of the Allia – a Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome
64 – Great Fire of Rome begins under the Emperor Nero
1334 – The bishop of Florence blesses the first foundation stone for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by the artist Giotto di Bondone
1536 – Pope’s authority declared void in England
1743 – First half-page newspaper ad is published (NY Weekly Journal)
1870 – Pontifical infalliability proclaimed
1942 – Test flight of German Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jet engines for the first time
1963 – Failed military coup in Syria
1966 – Carl Sagan turns 1 billion seconds old
1972 – Egyptian president Anwar Sadat expels 20,000 Russian military aids
1986 – Videotapes released showing Titanic’s sunken remains
1994 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy collides with Jupiter
2013 – Detroit, Michigan, files for bankruptcy to become the largest US municipal bankruptcy at $18.5 Billion
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Giacomo Balla was an Italian painter and a key proponent of Futurism. In his painting he depicted light, movement and speed.
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Birthdays
1635 – Robert Hooke, Isle of Wight, Scientist (Micrographia)
1871 – Giacomo Balla, Italian painter (Dog at a Rope)
1895 – George Machine Gun Kelly [Georgio Barnes], Memphis Tennessee, American gangster, (d. 1954)
1897 – E. A. D. Eldridge, British racing driver (d. 1935)
1918 – Nelson Mandela, Qunu South Africa, political prisoner (ANC)/President (1994-1999)/ Nobel (1993)
1921 – John H Glenn Jr, Cambridge OH, astronaut (Mer 7, sk:STS 95)/(Sen-D-Oh)
1937 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas) (d. 2005)
1950 – Richard Branson, London, British music enterperneur (Virgin Atlantic)
Deaths
1817 – Jane Austen, English novelist, dies at 41
1954 – George Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster, dies at 59
1958 – Henry Farman, French aviation pioneer (double decker), dies at 84
1997 – Eugene Shoemaker, astronomer (Shoemaker-Levy comet), dies at 69