Today in History

The world’s longest doubles ping-pong match ends after 101 hours.

The U.S. Federal Reserve begins issuing $2 bicentennial notes.

An oxygen tank explodes on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing and jeopardizing the lives of the three-man crew.

Sidney Poitier becomes the first black individual to win an Oscar for best actor.

The U.N. General Assembly condemns South Africa because of apartheid.

The first navigational satellite is launched into Earth’s orbit.

Vienna falls to Soviet troops.

Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial.

German troops capture Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Seamus Heaney, Irish poet, Nobel laureate.

The first flight over Mount Everest is completed by Lord Clydesdale.

John Gerard Braine, British novelist (Room at the Top).

British forces kill hundreds of Indian nationalists in the Amritsar Massacre.

Eudora Welty, Southern writer (Delta Wedding, The Optimist’s Daughter).

Samuel Beckett, playwright, Nobel Prize winner (Waiting for Godot).