Attempted coup against Gorbachev
On this day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985–91) and president of the Soviet Union (1990–91), was briefly ousted in a coup by communist hard-liners. 1991.
The search engine company Google Inc. raised $1.66 billion in its initial public offering; in an unusual move, the shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. 2004.
American theoretical physical chemist Linus Pauling—the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962)—died at age 93. 1994.
Some 90 percent of German voters approved a referendum that made Adolf Hitler “Führer und Reichskanzler” (“leader and chancellor”). 1934.
Philo Farnsworth (born August 19, 1906, Beaver, Utah, U.S.—died March 11, 1971, Salt Lake City, Utah) was an American inventor who developed the first all-electronic television system.
