1831

Birth of James Clerk Maxwell (died 1879), British physicist. Educated at Edinburgh and Cambridge, he published the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in 1873, expounding a set of four equations that were applicable to electricity, magnetism, and light. He predicted the existence of radio waves, worked on the kinetic theory of gases and studied colour perception.

1878

The Congress of Berlin, assembly of representatives of Germany, Russia, Austria Hungary, Great Britain, France, Italy and the Ottoman Empire, is held to revise the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had concluded the Russo Turkish War in March 1878.

1927

Death of Luong Van Can (born 1854) whose aliases are On Nhu and Son Lao, Vietnamese patriotic scholar. He was the founder of the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc School in Ha Noi, and one of the leaders of the Duy Tan movement in Viet Nam in the early days of the French conquest.

1971

The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers, a top secret study on the US involvement in Viet Nam which strengthens domestic opposition to the war.

Geraldine Brodrick gives birth to nine babies in Australia, one of the few recorded instances of nonuplets.

1990

East Germany begins the final demolition of the Berlin Wall, knocking out concrete slabs all over the city to re-open streets sealed off since the Cold War barrier built in 1961.

1998

Brazilian architect Lucio Costa, a pioneer of Latin American modernist design who planned the Brazillian capital Brasilia, dies aged 96.

2003

The 105-delegate European Convention completes 16 months of work by endorsing a new draft constitution for the European Union. — AP/REUTERS