1456 - 23rd recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1534 - Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River
1781 - George Stephenson, Newcastle England, inventor (RR locomotive)
1812 - Johann G Galle, German astronomer (discovered Neptune)
1875 - Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (b. 1795)
1956 - Heavy earthquake strikes Afghanistan, 400 killed
1980 - Soyuz T-2 returns to Earth
