photo: The New York Times
455 – Emperor Avitus enters Rome with a Gallic army and consolidates his power.
1776 – Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.
1792 – French Revolution: The National Convention declares France a republic and abolishes the absolute monarchy.
1934 – A large typhoon hits western Honshu, Japan, killing 3,036 people.
1937 – J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published.
1938 – The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people. The storm formed off the coast of Africa on September 9, becoming a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Long Island on September 21.
1942 – The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.
1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation #1081, placing the entire country under martial law and marking the beginning of his authoritarian rule.
1976 – Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.
1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.
2003 – The Galileo mission is terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
2013 – al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people.
Births
1415 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1493)
1645 – Louis Jolliet, Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
1866 – H. G. Wells, English historian, author, and critic (d. 1946)
1902 – Allen Lane, English publisher, founded Penguin Books (d. 1970)
1912 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
1945 – Jerry Bruckheimer, film and television producer
1947 – Stephen King, American author and screenwriter
1950 – Bill Murray, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Samantha Power, Irish-born American journalist, academic, and diplomat, 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Deaths
19 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (b. 70 BC)
1576 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician, physician, and astrologer