Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on its way back to Earth. All 7 astronauts were killed in the disaster.

Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 year in exile. His triumphant return marked the beginning of the Iranian Revolution.

Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War's best-known pictures. The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.

Four black students start the Greensboro sit-ins. Their refusal to leave a “whites only” lunch counter was a milestone in the fight against racial segregation in the United States.

The first fascicle of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published. The book contained entries A to Ant.