On This Day in History

As Beatlemania swept the United States, the Beatles (pictured) made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show before a record-breaking audience, beginning a musical phenomenon known as the British Invasion.

An earthquake registering 6.6 Mw struck the northern San Fernando Valley near the Los Angeles district of Sylmar, killing 65 people.

The spacecraft and crew of the Soviet Soyuz 17 mission returned to earth after 29 days in orbit at the Salyut 4 station.

The Australian Defence Force (ensign pictured) was formed by the integration of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Researchers at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, first created the chemical element copernicium.

Breaking a seventeen-month ceasefire, the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a powerful truck bomb in the London Docklands, killing two people and injuring more than a hundred others.

The American submarine USS Greeneville collided with the Ehime Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by a high school, sinking the latter ship and killing nine people on board.

Two commuter trains collided head-on at Bad Aibling in southeastern Germany, killing 12 people and injuring 85.

Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu won the Four Continents Championships to become the only man to complete a Super Slam.