1761
William Carey, the first English missionary to India, was born. He taught at the newly founded Fort William College at Calcutta from 1801 till his death and helped found the Serampore Press, which made the Bible accessible to over 300 million people.
1780
Indian Governor General Warren Hastings duel with Francis to settle personal and official quarrels. Francis was wounded but survived.
1909
Madanlal Dhingra, famous revolutionary, was hanged at Paintanville Jail for assassinating Wyle and Lal Kaka.
1915
Charles F. Kettering, co-founder of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) in Dayton, Ohio, was issued U.S. Patent No. 1,150,523 for his “engine-starting device”–the first electric ignition device for automobiles–on August 17, 1915.
1944
Indian Viceroy Viscount Wavell rejected Gandhi‘s request to discuss war support in return for Indian independence.
1947
The first British troop left for England after Indian independence.
1958
Sir John Hubert Marshal, excavator of Mohan-Jo-Daro and Takshashila, died.
1962
East German guards gun down a young man trying to escape across the Berlin Wall into West Berlin and left him to bleed to death. It was one of the ugliest incidents to take place at one of the ugliest symbols of the Cold War.
1970
The first microwave link, which was set up without foreign assistance, was commissioned between Asansol, Dhanbad and Ranchi.
1978
The Double Eagle II completes the first transatlantic balloon flight when it lands in a barley field near Paris, 137 hours after lifting off from Preque Isle, Maine. The helium-filled balloon was piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman and flew 3,233 miles in the six-day odyssey.
1985
Rajiv Gandhi announced Punjab state elections in India.
1994
Opposition ends Parliament boycott.
1997
Leander-Mahesh duo won International ATP doubles in Connecticut.
1997
I K Gujral, Prime Minister, said that Queen Elizabeth should not go to Amritsar, scene of Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, during her visit to India in October.
1998
National Human Rights Commission recommended compulsory registration of marriages in a bid to check child marriages.
1998
On this day in 1998, President Bill Clinton became the first sitting president to testify before the Office of Independent Council as the subject of a grand-jury investigation.
1999
On this day in 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed more than 17,000 people and left more than 250,000 homeless. The immense disaster exposed serious problems with government and building contractors in Turkey.
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