Pakistan detonates five atom bombs. The nuclear tests came as a response to India's tests just days earlier. Fearing a devastating conflict between the two nuclear powers, a number of countries, including the U.S. and Japan, imposed economic sanctions.

Mathias Rust lands on the Red Square in Moscow. The 19-year old West German amateur pilot illegally landed his Cessna in the heart of the Russian capital at the height of the Cold War.

Amnesty International is founded. The publication of Peter Benenson's article “The forgotten prisoners” is commonly considered the organization's birth hour. Amnesty International is one of the world's most influential human rights organizations.

Volkswagen (VW) is founded. The automobile manufacturer whose name means “People's Car” in German is one of the world's biggest. It produced classics like the VW Golf and the VW Beetle.

Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication. In this landmark paper, the British computer pioneer described the Turing Machine and defined the inherent limits of computation.