Japanese Emperor Akihito—according to tradition, the 125th direct descendant of Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor—was formally enthroned on this day in 1990, nearly two years after the death of his father, Hirohito.
| 1980: | | | The U.S. space probe Voyager 1 reached the planet Saturn. |
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| 1968: | | Baseball player Sammy Sosa was born in the Dominican Republic. |
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| 1930: | | The first Round Table Conference, called by the British government to consider the future constitution of India, opened in London. |
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| 1918: | | | One day after Emperor Charles's abdication, the National Assembly of Austria resolved unanimously that “German Austria is a democratic republic” and “German Austria is a component part of the German republic.” |
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| 1912: | | Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas was assassinated by the anarchist Manuel Pardiñas. |
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| 1859: | | The first flying trapeze act was performed—by Jules Léotard, without a net, in Paris. |
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| 1833: | | The great Leonid meteor shower, in which hundreds of thousands of meteors were observed in one night, was seen all over North America, initiating the first serious study of meteor showers. |
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