Important Days
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Important Events
1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
2016 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
2018 – Computer analysts report two major security vulnerabilities, named “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” affecting the microprocessors of almost all computers in the world.
2019 – Chang’e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airpor
Birth/Birth Anniversary
1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677)
1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752)
1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799)1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897)
1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015)
1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
Death/Death Anniversary
1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1618)
1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (b. 1925)
1992 – Judith Anderson, British actress (b. 1897)
2002 – Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer (b. 1920)
2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1923)
2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
2014 – George Goodman, American economist and author (b. 1930)
2014 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (b. 1921)
2015 – Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (b. 1936)
2015 – Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (b. 1919)
2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (b. 1932)
2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1928)
2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1957)
2017 – H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (b. 1958)
2018 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer (b. 1933)
2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (b. 1957)