On this day:
1930: Attempted raid on British armoury in Chittagong in Bengal province, British India by revolutionaries led by Surya Sen
1949: Ireland becomes an independent republic
1951: The European Coal and Steel Community, a precursor of the European Union, is established
Born on this day:
1964: Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian
Gone on this day:
1955: Albert Einstein, German/American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate