September 10: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Margaret Atwood published “The Testaments,” a sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which she released 15 years prior.

Archaeologists and scientists discovered a new human-like species inside caves in South Africa.

The species named Homo Naledi closely resemble modern-day humans and are thought to live in Africa three million years ago.

The CERN Large Hadron Collider was powered up for the first time.

The Large Hadron Collider, built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is the world's largest and most sophisticated high-energy particle collider. It wasn't tested for another fourteen months due to damage it sustained while powering up.

Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.

It was officially released in the US on October 15, 1999, and reached $100.8 million at the box office.

The pilot episode of the science-fiction series “The X-Files” aired on FOX in the US & Canada.

Nirvana released their lead single, “Smells like Teen Spirit,” which is often dubbed the “anthem for apathetic kids” of Generation X.

Hamida Djandoubi, the “Pimp Killer,” was the last person executed by guillotine in France.

Djandoubi was sentenced to death for kidnapping, torturing, and murdering a 22-year-old girl. His execution was the last in Western Europe and the last beheading anywhere in the West.

Mike the Headless Chicken lost his head.

A farmer axed his head off in Colorado on this day but missed an important vein and the brain stem in order. Because of this, Mike lived for another 18 months before dying.

Buckingham Palace, London, was blasted during The Blitz mass air bombings by Germany.

George Smith, a London taxi driver, became the first person ever to be fined for drunk driving.

George Mary Searle discovered the asteroid 55 Pandora.

Inventor Elias Howe was awarded the patent for the lockstitch sewing machine.

The Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed between the Kingdom of Prussia and the United States of America.

It was the first treaty signed by a European power with the United States since the American Revolutionary War.

An earthquake known as “The Lesser Judgment Day” hit Constantinople.

The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and forty-five days of aftershocks. It's estimated that 1,000 to 13,000 people died.