Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1831

Naturalist Charles Darwin set out from Plymouth, England, on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped formed the basis of his theories on evolution.

1900

Prohibitionist Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas.

1927

The musical play ''Show Boat,'' with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

1927

Defeated in his struggle for power against Josef Stalin, Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

1932

Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

1945

The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations. The International Monetary Fund and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development were created.

1947

The children's TV program ''Howdy Doody'' made its debut on NBC.

1949

Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1960

The French move a step closer to developing a compact nuclear bomb after a third test in the Sahara desert.

1965

Four men are dead and nine are still missing after Britain's first North Sea drilling rig capsizes.

1968

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, returned safely to Earth.

1970

''Hello, Dolly!'' closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844 performances.

1978

King Juan Carlos ratified Spain's first democratic constitution in nearly five decades.

1979

Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal. It was the beginning of a 10-year war.

1985

At least 16 people are killed and more than 100 injured during twin terrorist attacks in Rome and Vienna.

1996

Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

1997

A leading protestant paramilitary, Billy Wright, is shot dead at the maximum security Maze prison in Northern Ireland.

2002

North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

2004

Ukraine's "orange revolutionaries" celebrate as opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko is declared winner of the presidential election.

1571

Johannes Kepler, German astronomer.

1822

Louis Pasteur, French scientist who developed pasteurization process, rabies vaccination.

1901

Marlene Dietrich (Maria von Losch), German-born actress.

1926

Lee Salk, American child psychologist.

1981

Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, singer, and pianist.

1985

American naturalist Dian Fossey, who had studied gorillas in the wild, was found hacked to death at a research station in Rwanda.