Today:
1. 1836: The Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico.
2. 1903: In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opened.
3. 1933: The film “King Kong” had its world premiere in New York City.
4. 1962: American Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single basketball game for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks.
5. 1972: The Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to explore outer space.
6. 1983: Compact Disc players and discs were released for the first time in the United States and other markets.
7. 2004: NASA’s MER-A (Spirit) rover successfully landed on Mars.
8. 2012: The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Telescope, Herschel, discovered water vapor around a young star, confirming the presence of water in the early stages of star formation.
9. 2018: Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, leading to increased tensions between the United Kingdom and Russia.