September 25: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to 5 years in jail for financing his political campaign with funds from Libya.

David Attenborough gained one million followers on Instagram within 4 hours and 45 minutes of his first post.

The famed British naturalist broke the record for the fastest time to reach a million followers on the social media platform. The previous record-holder was Jennifer Aniston, with a time of 5 hours and 16 minutes.

Designer Michael Kors purchased the luxury fashion brand Versace for $2.1 billion.

China finished building the world’s largest radio telescope at 1,640 feet (500 meters) long.

Los Angeles Judge approved Caitlyn Jenner to change her name from Bruce and her gender to female.

NASA launched the Mars Observer, a space probe designed to study Mars’ geology and climate.

The Mars Observer was a modified version of a standard communications satellite and was equipped with a wide range of instruments to study Mars in detail. Contact was lost with the probe just under a year after its launch as it was preparing to enter Mars' orbit.

Belize became a member of the United Nations.

The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal began.

Paul Galvin and his brother Joseph founded Motorola as the “Galvin Manufacturing Co.” in Chicago, Illinois.

Henry Ford changed employees’ working schedules to 8-hour days, 5 days a week.

Around this time, some people worked 100 hours a week., The changes came with no reductions to their salaries.

Sequoia National Park was established in the Sierra Nevada region of California, USA, by the National park service.

The US congress proposed the addition of twelve changes to the US Constitution.

Changes 3 - 12 would go on to be the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791.

The first printing press was set up in New England, US.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge occurred between the English army and a Norwegian force.

The English won the battle by defeating and killing all the Norweigan soldiers. This battle has often been remembered as marking the end of the Viking age.