Torvalds unveils the initial Linux kernel release (1991), and Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union (1991). Born on this day: Sean Connery, Ivan the Terrible and Tim Burton. Died: Friedrich Nietzsche, Neil Armstrong and Michael Faraday.
27 events, 63 births and 70 deaths on this date.
Finnish engineer Linus Torvalds shares an early version of the operating system kernel he wrote, which grows into Linux. The kernel he began then became widely used and earned him major engineering awards.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0Belarus formally broke away from the Soviet Union as the union was collapsing in 1991. The Belarusian Supreme Soviet's declaration ended some 70 years of Soviet rule, setting the country on its own path as a sovereign state.
Zimbabwe became a member of the United Nations, a few months after independence from white minority rule had brought majority government to the country. The move gave the newly formed state a full seat among the world's nations alongside its independent neighbours.
Galileo showed Venice's lawmakers a telescope he had built himself, an instrument that would soon be turned on the heavens. He later used an improved version to observe Jupiter's four largest moons.
After a journey of more than twelve years, the NASA probe Voyager 2 flew past Neptune, the most distant planet of the time. Its images settled the question of whether the planet had rings, showing they were real.
Nasa's Voyager 1 probe became the first human-made craft to pass beyond the heliosphere, the bubble of solar wind surrounding the Sun. Launched in 1977, it had been sending back data from a region no spacecraft had reached before, and scientists confirmed the crossing using its instruments.
For the full day, download Chunks today. Every date, the stories behind them, and a new day each morning. Free to start.
Scottish actor who became the first screen James Bond, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. He later won an Oscar for The Untouchables, becoming the first Scottish actor to take a major Academy Award.
Rob Bogaerts for Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
Ivan IV was the first ruler to take the title of tsar of all Russia, crowned at sixteen in 1547. He expanded Russian control over the Volga and built a standing army, but his reign was marked by brutal purges and violence.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Tim Burton is an American filmmaker known for gothic, whimsical films such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Batman. He began as an animator before becoming one of Hollywood's most distinctive directors.
Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
German philosopher who questioned received morality, religion and truth, and wrote in aphorisms and poetry. After a 1889 collapse he spent his last years in the care of his family, dying in 1900.
Friedrich Hermann Hartmann · Public domain
Neil Armstrong commanded Apollo 11 and became the first human to set foot on the Moon in 1969. Before NASA he had flown as a Korean War naval aviator and test pilot, and he later taught at university.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Michael Faraday was a self-taught English scientist who showed how magnetism could produce electricity, the principle behind electric motors and generators. He also discovered benzene and gave us words like anode, cathode and ion.
Thomas Phillips · Public domain
Download on iOS
Download on Android