ON THIS DAY
1854
Florence Nightingale and 38 nurses arrive at a hospital in the Crimea to care for British troops.
1862
Richard Gatling gets a US patent for his revolving gun with 10 parallel barrels that can fire 1200 shots a minute.
1879
African-American Thomas Elkins patents a refrigerating apparatus (No. 221,222) designed for chilling.
1922
British archaeologist Howard Carter (above) discovers the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen.
1923
Hooligans loot Melbourne during a police strike. Volunteer guards restore order.
1930
Phar Lap wins the Melbourne Cup by three lengths, three days after gunmen tried to shoot the fouryear-old gelding. Spectators applaud the odds-on winner.
1934
Charles Kingsford Smith and P.G. (Patrick Gordon) “Bill’’ Taylor arrive at Oakland, California, from Brisbane via Honolulu in the Lady Southern Cross after the first west-east crossing of the Pacific.
1942
After 12 days of fighting, the second battle of El Alamein ends with Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in retreat.
1956
Soviet tanks invade Hungary as aircraft bomb the capital Budapest. Hungarians had revolted at Soviet-style rule.
1966
Kevin John Simmonds, a murderer who escaped jail and was captured in 1959 in a huge manhunt, is found hanged at Grafton Jail at 31.
2008
Democrat Barack Obama, 47, is elected President of the United States, becoming the first African-American man chosen for the job. The former lawyer defeats John McCain.
2010
A Rolls-Royce engine explodes on Qantas flight 32 above Indonesia’s Batam Island soon after takeoff from Singapore. Skilful flying saves the 469 people on board.