Today in History
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1991 South Ossetia declares independence
The Republic of South Ossetia is the name given to the disputed region of Georgia. Georgia did not recognize the declaration of independence, and the South Ossetia War ensued. Only a few countries recognize it as a sovereign state, including Russia and Venezuela.
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1975 East Timor independence
East Timor declared its independence from Portugal
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1967 First pulsar observed
Cambridge University graduate student Jocelyn Bell and her advisor Antony Hewish were the first to observe and discover pulsars. Pulsars are neutron-magnetized stars that spin quickly and emit radiation.
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1964 NASA launches Mariner 4
The first spacecraft to make a flyby of Mars was the first to send images of a planet back to Earth.
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1943 Tehran Conference begins
The Tehran Conference between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union got underway at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran. The conference addressed the Axis powers in Europe and Asia, as well as plans for a second front against the Germans in France during WWII.
Births On This Day, November 28
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1962 Jon Stewart
American comedian, actor, television host
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1820 Friedrich Engels
German philosopher
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1628 John Bunyan
English preacher, author
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1489 Margaret Tudor
English wife of James IV of Scotland
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1118 Manuel I Komnenos
Byzantine Emperor
Deaths On This Day, November 28
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2010 Leslie Nielsen
Canadian/American actor
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1968 Enid Blyton
English author
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1954 Enrico Fermi
Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
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1859 Washington Irving
American historian, author
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1680 Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Italian sculptor, painter