9th October
1855 American inventor Isaac Singer patents sewing machine motor
1930 1st transcontinental flight by a woman completed, Laura Ingalls
10th October
1928 Chiang Kai-shek becomes Director of the State Council of China
1964 Guru Dutt Indian Bollywood actor, one of the greatest film directors dies at 39
2000 Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka dies of a heart attack at 84
11th October
1737 Earthquake kills 300,000 and destroys half of Calcutta, India
1984 1st spacewalk by US woman (Dr. Kathryn D Sullivan)
2001 Caribbean writer V.S. Naipaul is awarded the Noble Prize for Literature
12th October
1492 Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador
1859 Self-proclaimed Emperor of the USA, Emperor Norton issues edict abolishing the US Congress
13th October
1911 Ashok Kumar [Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly], Indian actor was born.
2006 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to banker Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their microlending practices
14th October
1884 George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film
1956 Indian social reformer B.R. Ambedkar and 500,000 supporters convert to Buddhism in Nagpur
1991 Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi wins Nobel Peace Prize
15th October
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on the island of St Helena to begin his exile
1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany during WWI at Vincennes near Paris
