Today:
1346: The English captured King David II of Scotland at the Battle of Neville’s Cross. He was imprisoned for eleven years.
1777: British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American forces at Saratoga, New York. This was a major turning point in the American Revolutionary War.
1814: The London Beer Flood occurred when vats of beer ruptured, sending a wave of porter through the streets and resulting in eight deaths.
1931: Gangster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion in Chicago.
1933: Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, arrived in the United States.
1941: The U.S. destroyer Kearny was torpedoed by a German U-boat, becoming the first American warship to be hit by hostile fire in World War II before the U.S. officially entered the war.
1956: The first commercial nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall in England by Queen Elizabeth II.
1973: The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) began an oil embargo against nations that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
1979: Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor in Calcutta, India.
1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.9, struck the San Francisco Bay Area, causing 63 deaths and significant damage.