2007

After being launched, the American spacecraft Phoenix made a landing on Mars a year later. The presence of water ice beneath the planet’s surface was one of its most significant findings.

1961

Former US president, Barack Obama was born

1962

The first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award seven times and one of the most successful pitchers in baseball history, Roger Clemens, was born in Dayton, Ohio.

1956

On August 4, 1956, APSARA, India’s first nuclear research reactor, was put into service.  Homi Bhabha, the mother of India’s nuclear programme, oversaw its design and construction at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai.

1914

Britain entered World War I and declared war on Germany in reaction to the German invasion of Belgium.

1901

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is regarded as the greatest trumpeter in jazz history. He is a natural musician with prodigious talent.