1994 Sinking of MS Estonia
MS Estonia, a passenger and car ferry, sank in the Baltic Sea killing more than 800 passengers. It is considered to be the worst maritime peacetime disaster of the 20th century.
1991 Coup in Haiti
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed in a military coup. Aristide had been elected in a national election held 8 months before the coup.
1972 First Canadian Satellite
Canada launched its first ever satellite, Alouette 1, on this day from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. A joint venture between NASA and Defence Research and Development Canada, the satellite was sent to study the Earth’s ionosphere.
1954 CERN established
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, popularly known as CERN, was established by 12 European governments.
1941 Babi Yar massacre
About 33,000 Soviet Jews were killed at the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev by the Nazis in a two-day massacre that started on this day.
Births On This Day – September 29
1961 Julia Gillard
Australian politician, 27th Prime Minister of Australia
1951 Michelle Bachelet
Chilean politician, 34th President of Chile
1936 Silvio Berlusconi
Italian politician, 50th Prime Minister of Italy
1901 Enrico Fermi
Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1511 Michael Servetus
Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer
Deaths On This Day – September 29
2009 Pavel Popovich
Soviet astronaut
1997 Roy Lichtenstein
American painter, sculptor
1981 Bill Shankly
Scottish footballer, manager
1973 W. H. Auden
English/American poet
1902 Émile Zola
French author, critic
