- The first Apple iPhones were sold. (2007) Apple sold almost 200,000 phones on its first day of sales. More than 50 million phones have been sold worldwide. The iPhone was Time magazine's Invention of the Year for 2007 and is considered by most to have revolutionized the smartphone industry.
- The U.S. shuttle Atlantis made its first flight to dock with the Russian space station Mir, creating the largest man-made satellite. (1995) Atlantis made seven such flights to dock with Mir from 1995 to 1997. When docked, the two created the largest space craft to orbit the Earth at the time.
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment. (1972) The ruling was made in the Furman v. Georgia case but the moratorium on capital punishment ended in 1976 with the Supreme Court's ruling in the Gregg v. Georgia, which allowed the death penalty in certain situations.
- U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter to physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer encouraging him and his team to meet the deadline for creating the atomic bomb. (1943) In the letter, written to smooth over issues Oppenheimer was having with the leader of the Manhattan Project, President Roosevelt said, "Whatever the enemy may be planning, American science will be equal to the challenge." The first atomic bomb was detonated two year later at a testing site in New Mexico. It later was used by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 in Japan.
- The worst railway disaster in Canada's history kills 99 people. (1864) The train failed to stop at an open bridge and plunged into the the Richelieu River near Quebec. The St-Hilaire train disaster is still Canada's worst train crash in history.
- Randy Johnson struck out batter number 4,000. (2004) Johnson, who was playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks, was the fourth pitcher in history to pass this milestone.
- British authorities kill 2,700 Jews. (1946) Britain killed them in Palestine for alleged terrorism.
- The United States Interstate Highway system was established. (1956) President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act into law, which provided $25 billion U.S. Dollars to construct 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of highway.
- A department store collapsed in South Korea, killing 501 people and injuring 937. (1995) The Sampoong Department Store in Seoul collapsed due to a structural flaw. The collapse is the worst peacetime disaster in South Korea's history.
- The Globe Theatre burned down. (1613) The famed Shakespeare theater was replaced after it burned down, but it was later closed in 1642. A new Globe Theatre was constructed in 1997 very close to the original site.
- American actress Katharine Hepburn died. (2003) Hepburn holds the record for winning the most Oscar awards for her performances. She is listed as the greatest female star in American film history on the American Film Institutes (AFI) rankings. She was 96.
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