2012: Cycling's governing body strips Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. The International Cycling Union acted after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a detailed report accusing Armstrong of systematic doping, and it banned him from the sport for life. The wins, from 1999 to 2005, had made him one of the most celebrated athletes in the world. He admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey a few months later.
2010: WikiLeaks publishes a huge cache of secret U.S. military reports on the Iraq War. The site, founded by Australian Julian Assange as an outlet for classified and confidential material, released nearly 400,000 field reports, at the time the largest leak of classified military records in U.S. history. It followed a release of tens of thousands of documents on the war in Afghanistan earlier that year. The disclosures set off a worldwide debate over government secrecy and press freedom.
2008: India launches Chandrayaan-1, its first mission to the Moon. The probe lifted off from the Sriharikota space center on India's own rocket and went into orbit around the Moon. Its instruments helped detect water on the Moon, including traces in the thin lunar atmosphere. The mission marked India's arrival as a serious space power.
1975: The Soviet probe Venera 9 lands on Venus. The spacecraft survived the planet's crushing pressure and extreme heat long enough to send back the first pictures ever taken from the surface of another planet. The black-and-white images showed a rocky landscape under a cloudy sky.
1964: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre is named winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and turns it down. The philosopher, playwright, and novelist, a leading figure of existentialism, became the first person to voluntarily decline the literature prize. He said a writer should not let himself be turned into an institution by accepting official honors.
1962: President John F. Kennedy tells the nation that the Soviet Union has placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. In a televised address, Kennedy announced a naval quarantine of the island and demanded that the weapons be removed. The standoff brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. It ended six days later when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles.
1934: FBI agents shoot and kill bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd in Ohio. Floyd, one of the most notorious outlaws of the Depression era, was cornered in a farm field near East Liverpool, Ohio. He had been named Public Enemy No. 1 after John Dillinger was killed that summer. Some people in rural Oklahoma saw him as a Robin Hood figure.
1910: American doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen is convicted of murdering his wife in London. Crippen and his companion Ethel Le Neve had fled Britain by ship, and he became one of the first fugitives caught with the help of wireless telegraphy when the captain recognized him and radioed police. He was found guilty at his trial and was hanged in a British prison the following month.
1907: A run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York sets off the Panic of 1907. Depositors rushed to withdraw their money, and the fear spread to banks and the stock market across the country. Financier J.P. Morgan organized other bankers to shore up the system. The crisis led Congress to create the Federal Reserve in 1913.
1906: French painter Paul Cézanne dies at 67. The Post-Impressionist master died in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence after falling ill while painting outdoors. His bold use of shape and color paved the way for Cubism, and Picasso and others called him the father of modern art.
1883: The original Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York City. The theater on Broadway opened with a performance of Charles Gounod's opera Faust. The Metropolitan Opera grew into one of the most famous opera companies in the world and moved to Lincoln Center in 1966.
1879: Thomas Edison successfully tests a practical incandescent light bulb. At his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, a bulb with a carbonized cotton thread filament glowed for more than 13 hours. Edison went on to improve the design and build the electric power systems that brought light into homes and businesses.
1836: Sam Houston is sworn in as the first elected president of the Republic of Texas. Houston had commanded the Texan army that defeated Mexican forces at the Battle of San Jacinto that April, winning Texas its independence. The inauguration took place in Columbia, Texas. He later served as a U.S. senator and governor after Texas joined the Union.
1797: André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump. The French balloonist, who had worked to promote the use of balloons by the military, rose over Paris in a hydrogen balloon and cut himself loose at about 3,200 feet (1,000 meters). He landed safely beneath his silk parachute, though the swinging basket made for a rough ride down.
Born on This Day
1998: Roddy Ricch, American rapper Turns 28. His hit “The Box” spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020.
1992: 21 Savage, British-American rapper Turns 34. Grammy-winning Atlanta rapper featured on Post Malone's chart-topping “Rockstar.”
1975: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, American actor Turns 51. Played Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family.
1973: Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball player Turns 53. Hall of Fame outfielder who set the single-season hits record with the Seattle Mariners.
1969: Spike Jonze, American filmmaker Directed Being John Malkovich and won an Oscar for writing Her.
1968: Shaggy, Jamaican reggae singer Turns 58. Known for the hits “It Wasn't Me” and “Boombastic.”
1968: Shelby Lynne, American singer-songwriter Country and soul singer who won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2001.
1964: TobyMac, American singer and rapper Turns 62. Grammy-winning Christian music star and former member of dc Talk.
1963: Brian Boitano, American figure skater Won the men's gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
1962: Bob Odenkirk, American actor and comedian Turns 64. Played lawyer Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
1952: Jeff Goldblum, American actor Turns 74. Starred in Jurassic Park, The Fly, and Independence Day.
1946: Deepak Chopra, Indian-American author Best-selling writer on alternative medicine and spirituality.
1945: Leslie West, American rock guitarist and singer Frontman of the band Mountain, best known for “Mississippi Queen.”
1943: Catherine Deneuve, French actress Screen icon of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Belle de Jour.
1942: Annette Funicello, American actress and singer Original Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club and star of the beach party movies.
1942: Bobby Fuller, American rock singer Led the Bobby Fuller Four, famous for “I Fought the Law.”
1938: Christopher Lloyd, American actor Turns 88. Played Doc Brown in Back to the Future and Jim on Taxi.
1938: Derek Jacobi, English actor Turns 88. Starred in I, Claudius and appeared in Gladiator.
1917: Joan Fontaine, British-American actress Starred in Rebecca and won the Best Actress Oscar for Suspicion.
1903: Curly Howard, American comedian The beloved “Nyuk nyuk nyuk” member of the Three Stooges.
