World History & Politics
- 1809 – Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. President) was born in Kentucky.
- 1809 – Charles Darwin, naturalist and author of On the Origin of Species, was born in England.
- 1818 – Chile formally proclaimed its independence from Spain.
- 1909 – The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded in the United States.
- 1912 – Emperor Puyi abdicated, marking the end of China’s Qing Dynasty and over 2,000 years of imperial rule.
- 2002 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević began at The Hague for war crimes.
Science & Technology
- 1878 – Frederick Thayer patented the baseball catcher’s mask, improving player safety.
- 2001 – NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft landed on asteroid Eros, the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
Arts & Culture
- 1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City.
- 1994 – Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream was stolen from a museum in Oslo (it was later recovered).
Sports
- 2010 – The Winter Olympic Games opened in Vancouver, Canada.
