Summary of the Day ✨ 10 September (10/09)
On this day, tragedy struck as American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a university speech while simultaneously marking a historic milestone with the launch of Polaris Dawn, the first private crewed spaceflight featuring a spacewalk. The day also saw Hurricane Irma devastating Florida as a Category 4 storm, the activation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN for groundbreaking scientific research, and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returning home after seven years in exile.
Historical Events 📜
- 2025: American right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk is assassinated while onstage at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
- 2024: Polaris Dawn, the first private crewed spaceflight to involve a spacewalk, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 2017: Hurricane Irma makes landfall on Cudjoe Key, Florida as a Category 4, after causing catastrophic damage throughout the Caribbean. Irma resulted in 134 deaths and $77.2 billion (2017 USD) in damage.
- 2008: The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.
- 2007: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years in exile, following a military coup in October 1999.
- 2002: Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, becomes a full member of the United Nations.
- 2001: Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.
- 2001: During his appearance on the British TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, contestant Charles Ingram reaches the £1 million top prize, but it was later revealed that he had cheated to the top prize by listening to coughs from his wife and another contestant.
- 2000: Operation Barras successfully frees six British soldiers held captive for over two weeks and contributes to the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War.
- 1977: Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.
- 1976: A British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident and an Inex-Adria DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, killing 176.
- 1974: Guinea-Bissau gains independence from Portugal.
- 1967: The people of Gibraltar vote to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.
- 1961: In the Italian Grand Prix, a crash causes the death of German Formula One driver Wolfgang von Trips and 15 spectators who are hit by his Ferrari, the deadliest accident in F1 history.
- 1960: At the Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila becomes the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet.
Famous Births 👶
- 2004: Gabriel Bateman, American actor[citation needed]
- 2001: Armando Broja, Albanian-born English footballer
- 2001: Nick Cross, American football player
- 1999: Laura Taylor, Australian swimmer
- 1999: jschlatt, American YouTuber and singer
- 1998: Anna Blinkova, Russian tennis player
- 1998: Sheck Wes, American rapper
- 1997: Brooke Henderson, Canadian golfer
- 1997: Troy Terry, American ice hockey player
- 1995: Jack Grealish, English footballer
- 1995: Matt Rife, American comedian and actor
- 1993: Sam Kerr, Australian footballer
- 1992: Ricky Ledo, American basketball player
- 1992: Ayub Masika, Kenyan footballer
- 1991: Sam Morsy, Egyptian footballer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Frankie Beverly, American soul/funk singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (born 1946)
- 2024: Jim Sasser, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Ambassador to China (born 1936)
- 2023: Ian Wilmut, British embryologist (born 1944)
- 2020: Diana Rigg, British actress (born 1938)
- 2015: Norman Farberow, American psychologist and academic (born 1918)
- 2015: Adrian Frutiger, Swiss typeface designer (born 1928)
- 2015: Antoine Lahad, Lebanese general (born 1927)
- 2014: Emilio Botín, Spanish banker and businessman (born 1934)
- 2014: Richard Kiel, American actor (born 1939)
- 2014: Edward Nelson, American mathematician and academic (born 1932)
- 2014: George Spencer, American baseball player (born 1926)
- 2014: Paul K. Sybrowsky, American religious leader and academic (born 1944)
- 2013: John Hambrick, American journalist and actor (born 1940)
- 2013: Ibrahim Makhous, Syrian politician, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1925)
- 2013: Josef Němec, Czech boxer (born 1933)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Amerindian Heritage Day (Guyana)
- Children’s Day (Honduras)
- Christian feast day:
Alexander Crummell (Episcopal Church) - Christian feast day:
Aubert - Christian feast day:
Blessed Thomas Tsugi, Charles Spinola, and Martyrs of Nagasaki - Christian feast day:
Edmund James Peck (Anglican Church of Canada) - Christian feast day:
Nicholas of Tolentino - Christian feast day:
Theodard of Maastricht - Christian feast day:
September 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Gibraltar National Day
- Saint George’s Caye Day (Belize)
- Teachers’ Day (China)
- World Suicide Prevention Day