Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president.
Phoolan Devi, a serving Member of Parliament, was assassinated by shooting in New Delhi, India.
Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
In accord with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, Israel begins its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.
Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.
The African Regroupment Party holds its first congress in Cotonou.
The Tunisian King Muhammad VIII al-Amin is replaced by President Habib Bourguiba.
The Crossroads Baker device is the first underwater nuclear weapon test.
World War II: Operation Spring near Caen is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war.
World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the King (encouraged by the Grand Council of Fascism) and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
World War II: 136 Greek civilians are murdered by soldiers of the German 1st Mountain Division in the village of Mousiotitsa, Greece.
Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross.
Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom in 37 minutes.
Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
American author Jack London embarks on a sailing trip to take part in the Klondike's gold rush, from which he wrote his first successful stories.
The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank.
American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery, in the wake of the defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.