Historical Events -  September 16

1620– A group of Puritans separatists had set sail from Plymouth today in the Mayflower, bound for the New World and religious freedom. 

1908– In the USA, Buick and Oldsmobile merged under the name General Motors. General Motors Corporation was founded. 

1945– The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong came to an end in World War II.

1959– Charles de Gaulle, French president of the new fifth Republican and former head of the committee of National Liberation in Algiers, offered Algeria an independence referendum.

1961– Pakistan established its Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission with Abdus Salam as its head.

1963– Malaysia became independent and a mob of more than 100,000 burned down the British Embassy in celebration.

1975– Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia.

1987– 70 countries signed an agreement in Montreal today to curb the threat from industrial gases to the ozone layer.

Famous Birthdays– September 16

1387 – Henry V, the English king who defeated the French at Agincourt.

1853 – Albrecht Kossel, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate. ‘a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics.’

1888 – W.O. Bentley, English engineer, and car racer. He was the founder of Bentley Motors Limited.

1916 – M.S. Subbulakshmi, the first Indian musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. She also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award.

1923 – Lee Kuan Yew, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore.

1925 – B. B. King, American blues guitarist, and inspiration of a whole generation of a rock musician.

1945 – P. Chidambaram, an Indian politician, and lawyer. He was the former Union Minister of Finance of India.

1955 – George Alexander Muthoot, Indian entrepreneur. He is Managing Director of Muthoot Groups.

1968 – Marc Anthony, American singer, actor, and producer.

1971 – Prasoon Joshi, Indian lyricist, poet, and marketer.

1992 – Nick Jones, American singer, and actor. He married to Indian-American actress Priyanka Chopra.

Death anniversaries – September 16

1380 – Charles V, King of France.

1701 – James II, King of England.

1824 – King Louis XVIII, king of France. He attempted to be a moderate constitutional monarch who was thwarted by the ultra-royalists.

1925 – Alexander Friedmann, Russian physicist, and mathematician. He is best known for his pioneering theory that the universe was expanding, governed by a set of equations he developed now known as the Friedmann equations.

1932 – Sir Ronald Ross, a British medical doctor. He was the first British to won the Nobel Prize. He received the award for his work on the transmission of malaria.

1984 – Louis Réard, French engineer and fashion designer, created the bikini. 

2005 – Gordon Gould, American physicist and academic, invented the laser. 

2010 – Robert Joseph White, an American neurosurgeon. He is best known for his head transplants on living monkeys.

2017 – Arjan Singh, Marshal of the Indian Air Force. He served as the 3rd Chief of the Air Staff from 1964 to 1969, leading the Air Force through the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.