Historical Events
1936 – International communist conference members in Prague arrange create International Brigades to help the Republican Government in the Spanish Civil War
1953 – Cuban pirate radio station’s first transmission in Santiago de Cuba
1963 – US Syncom 2, the first geosynchronous communications satellite, launches
1965 – Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1978 – 11th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at El Cortez Hotel
Famous Birthdays
1829 – Auguste Beernaert, 14th Prime Minister of Belgium (1884-94) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1909, born in Ostend, Belgium (d. 1912)
1909 – Vivian Vance [Jones], American stage and screen actress (I Love Lucy – “Ethel Mertz”; The Lucy Show – “Viv”), born in Cherryvale, Kansas (d. 1979)
1917 – Bertil Nordahl, Swedish soccer midfielder and manager (15 caps; Atalanta; Olympic gold 1948), born in Hörnefors, Sweden (d. 1998)
1944 – Rimantas Stankevičius, Lithuanian cosmonaut, born in Marijampolė, Lithuania (d. 1990)
1969 – Jonty Rhodes, South African cricket batsman (brilliant fielder), born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Famous Deaths
1728 – John Friend, physician/politician, dies
1925 – Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (Begriffsschrift), dies at 76
1960 – Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist known for the Michaelis–Menten equation for enzyme kinetics, dies at 81
1996 – Arthur McDonald, Royal Air Force officer and radar pioneer, dies at 93
2012 – Franz West, Austrian artist, dies at 65