Historical Events - September 5

1800  – French troops occupying Malta surrendered to the British.

1960 – Mohammad Ali won the Gold medal at the Light heavyweight boxing competition in Rome Olympics.

1972 – Black September at Munich Olympics. 11 Israeli athletes died when Palestinian terrorists struck at the Munich Olympics early today.

1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

1980 – The world’s longest tunnel road was opened in Switzerland, stretching 10 miles (16km) between Goshenen and Airolo.

1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle discovery, lands after its maiden voyage.

2008 – Both the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage were clear of sea ice for the first time in recorded history.

 

Famous Birthdays  – September 5

973 – Al Biruni, Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been variously called the “founder of Indology”, “Father of Comparative Religion”, “Father of modern geodesy”, and the first anthropologist.

1638 – Louis XIV, King of France, and Navarra.

1850 – American distiller and founder of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey distillery.

1888 – Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher, eminent writer, India’s second vice president, and second president. His birthday is celebrated as Teacher’s Day in India.

1902 – Darryl F. Zanuck, an American film producer who began his career writing stories for Rin Tin Tin, Hollywood star dog.

1907 – Jayant Pandurang Naik, Indian educator. A great humanist, freedom fighter, polymath, encyclopedic thinker, and socialist educationist. He founded the Indian Institute of Education in 1948. He also was an Educational Adviser to the Government of India.

1920 – Leelavati Bhagavat, Indian author. Best known for her books for children.

1939 – Claudette Colvin, a retired American nurse aide who was a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement.

1946 – Freddie Mercury, British lead singer of the band Queen.

1952 – Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Indian film producer, director, and screenplay writer. His better-known films include Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Munna Bhai film series (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.and Lage Raho Munna Bhai), 3 Idiots, and PK.

1963 – Yogendra Yadav, Indian social scientist, psephologist, and politician. Yadav is a founding member of Swaraj Abhiyan and Jai Kisan Andolan.

1971 – Irshaad Kamil, Indian poet, and lyricist.

1976 – Pankaj Tripathi, Indian actor.

1979 – Ayaan Ali Khan, Indian sarod player.

Death Anniversaries – September 5

1902 – Rudolf Virchow, German, doctor, anthropologist, and biologist. Known as “the father of modern pathology.”

1918 – Ratanji Jamsetji Tata, Indian financier, and philanthropist.

1969 – Josh White, American blues singer, and guitarist.

1986 – Neeraja Bhanot, an Indian head purser who died while saving passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 which had been hijacked by terrorists during a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986.

1991 – Sharad Joshi, a Hindi poet, writer, satirist and a dialogue and scriptwriter in Hindi films and television.

1995 – Salil Chaudhary, an Indian songwriter, music director, lyricist, writer, and poet. He predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam films. He went on to compose music for films in 13 languages.

1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, and missionary. Noble Prize laureate and honored with India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

2016 – Duane Edgar Graveline, an American physician, and NASA astronaut. He was one of the six scientists selected in 1965, in NASA’s fourth group of astronauts, for the Apollo program.

2017 – Gauri Lankesh, an Indian journalist-turned-activist.