More than 69,000 people lost their lives to a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan, China.
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The United States and Canada formed NORAD – the North American Air Defense Command.
The first university in the New World, the National University of San Marcos, was founded in Lima, Peru.
After encountering many difficulties, Nathan Stubblefield was finally granted a US patent for his new version of a wireless telephone.
The first-ever quadraphonic concert was held.
The US Commerce Department decided that hurricane names would no longer be only female.
