On this day, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolate the radioactive substance radium from the mineral pinchblende in their laboratory in Paris. The Curies discovered radium in 1898, along with another element that Marie named polonium, in honor of her native Poland. For their groundbreaking work on radioactivity, the Curies were awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1906, Pierre Curie died, but Marie continued her work, isolating pure radium in 1910, which earned her a second Nobel, the 1911 prize in chemistry. Marie Sklodowska Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, had become the first person to win it twice. Radium was later used to treat cancer and was important in the development of nuclear physics.
1994
Israeli and PLO negotiators draw up an agreement to transfer civilian government powers to Palestinians in Gaza and Jericho.
1990
In Poland, Lech Walessa is re-elected chairman of the worker's union, Solidarity.
1989
Scientists say the Earth has narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.
1987
Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat calls for a sovereign Palestinian state "with Jerusalem as its capital".
1972
Astronauts aboard Apollo 16 make a safe landing on the Moon.
1970
US President Richard Nixon announces that 150,000 American troops are to be withdrawn from the fighting in Vietnam.
1945
World War II: Soviet troops enter the outskirts of Berlin.
1887
In France, the world's first motor race takes place along the banks of the River Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly.
1821
Edgar Allan Poe's book, 'Murders In The Rue Morgue, considered to be the world's first modern detective story, is published in America.
1792
France declares war on Austria.
1770
Captain James Cook discovers New South Wales in Australia.
1657
The Spanish Fleet is destroyed in the Battle at Santa Cruz by an English Fleet commanded by Admiral Blake.
1534
Elizabeth Barton, the Maid of Kent, is executed along with five of her associates after being found guilty of treason.
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