Today in History
Historical Events
20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall. On this day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the last soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish ex-president and Noble Prize winner Lech Walesa walked through Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Darmstadtium created for the first time. The heavily radioactive element with an atomic number of 110 and symbol Ds, was created at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (Institute for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany, the city after which the element is named.
Youngest person to become World Chess Champion. 22-year-old Russian Gary Kasparov won the 13th World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest World Chess Champion.
Rolling Stone makes its debut. The biweekly popular culture magazine was founded by Jann Simon Wenner in San Francisco. The magazine launched the careers of many famous authors and published the early versions of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Night of broken glass. A pogrom against Jewish businesses, synagogues, and Jews in Germany and Austria was carried out by Sturmabteilung troops and civilians. The series of attacks that killed about 70 people and put 30,000 jews in prison is known as night of broken glass or Kristallnacht
Famous Births
Born on this day

Alessandro Del Piero
1974
Italian footballer

Chris Jericho
1970
American/Canadian wrestler, singer-songwriter, actor

Carl Sagan
1934
American astronomer, author

Anne Sexton
1928
American poet

Spiro Agnew
1918
American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States
Famous Deaths
Died on this day

K. R. Narayanan
2005
Indian politician, 10th President of India

Stieg Larsson
2004
Swedish writer

Charles de Gaulle
1970
French general, politician, President of France

Ibn Saud
1953
Saudi Arabian king

Neville Chamberlain
1940
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom