Important Events From Today in History – 01 September

Today in History

• 2004 350 people and children are killed in a massacre in Beslan, North Ossetia

  Armed Chechen insurgents kidnapped over 1000 people, including schoolchildren, from a school. The insurgents sought international recognition for an independent Chechnya. The hostage situation lasted three days before Russian troops stormed the school.

• 1985 The Wreck of the sunk ship Titanic is found in the North Atlantic Ocean

  The wreck was discovered by a French-American expedition group on 14 April 1912, during her first voyage from Southampton, UK, to New York City, US.

• 1979 Pioneer 11 makes its closest approach to Saturn

  The NASA-built space probe was the first to fly by Saturn, passing at a distance of 13,000 miles (21,000 km). Following its flyby, the probe embarked on a journey beyond the Solar System. A few weeks later, all contact with it was lost.

• 1952 Life magazine publishes parts of the Old Man And The Sea

  The novel, written by American author Ernest Hemingway, tells the story of an elderly man and his fishing misadventures. Within a few days of the excerpt’s publication, 5 million copies of the magazine had been sold.

• 1914 Passenger Pigeons become extinct

  Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon known to man, died at the Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, Ohio effectively making Passenger Pigeons extinct.