STS 44 Atlantis 10 was launched into space.
It was the US’s 7th spacecraft launch.
Source
Abel Tasman became the first European to discover Tasmania and named it Van Diemen's Land.
Ireland ended its ban on divorce.
Taylor Swift won six awards at the American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Artist of the Decade.
Charles Darwin published his revolutionary work, On the Origin of Species.
Astronomers Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree recorded the first known observation of a transit of Venus across the sun.
