September 21: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch stepped down as the chair of Fox and News Corp at the age of 92, choosing to pass the reins to his son, Lachlan.

The Netflix limited series about the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was released.

"Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" followed the infamous Milwaukee serial killer, aiming to tell the gruesome story through the experience of his victims.

Widespread forest fires in Indonesia caused the skies to turn red.

The fires destroyed 800,000 acres of land in just the first eight months of 2019 alone.

A report published claimed that the fossils of Dickinsonia were the oldest animals to roam the planet.

The report explains that they were alive 558 million years ago, making them one of the first animals to live on earth.

A Jellyfish was discovered and became the first-known animal that sleeps and doesn’t have a brain.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan gave $3 billion to fight and end all diseases.

Donations would be made over a decade to further medical research to try and end all diseases by the end of the century.

The survival movie “Into the Wild,” starring Emile Hirsch, premiered at the Rome Film Festival.

Rockband Green Day released their seventh album, “American Idiot.”

After 14 years in space, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was intentionally destroyed in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The Galileo spacecraft was a space probe designed to study Jupiter and its moons. Launched on October 18, 1989, it became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet. Galileo's mission was initially planned to last eight years but managed to keep functioning until it all but ran out of fuel. It was only due to this that it was crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere, as it would not be able to be controlled anymore without fuel.

Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom.

English author J. R. R. Tolkien released his critically acclaimed book “The Hobbit.”

Sir Cecil Herbert Edward Chubb became the last private owner of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England.

He purchased the ruins for just £6,600 and later donated them to the British Government in 2018.

In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeated Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao.

The battle allowed Western forces to take the capital Beijing and eventually defeat the Qing Empire.

The Great Fire of New York ended.

The fire occurred on the West Side of New York City, located on the southern end of the island of Manhattan. The fire destroyed between 10-25% of buildings in the city. It is unknown how the fire started, but as it happened in the early days of the revolutionary war, it is assumed that it was deliberately started.

Benedetto Odescalchi was elected as Pope Innocent XI.