September 8 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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September

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France and Prussia sign the 1808 Treaty of Paris

Also on September 8

French authorities surrender Montreal

Bach premieres the solo cantata BWV 35

This Week in History

Egypt holds a multicandidate presidential election

The Soviet Union recognizes the Baltic states’ independence

Augusto Pinochet survives an ambush in Chile

Japanese troops withdraw from Milne Bay

AI History Recreations

Politics

France and Prussia sign the 1808 Treaty of Paris

War & Conflict

French authorities surrender Montreal

Space

An Indian PSLV launches SPOT-6 and a Japanese microsatellite

Technology

India tests a scramjet in flight

History

Stanislav Petrov Assesses a False Nuclear Alarm

Melbourne’s Herald appears for the last time as a separate paper

China Conducts Its First Nuclear Test

Crime & Justice

France uses the guillotine for the last time

Mary Ann Nichols is killed in Whitechapel

Britain carries out its final executions

Science

CERN circulates the first beam in the Large Hadron Collider

Galle and d’Arrest identify Neptune at Berlin Observatory

Eight People Entered Biosphere 2

Medicine & Health

An electron microscope reveals the shape of Ebola virus

Ether Day: The Demonstration That Changed Surgery

Surgeons Perform the First Partial Face Transplant

Nature & Disasters

Scientists announce the identification of the olinguito

Loma Prieta: The Earthquake That Shook the Bay Area

Aberfan: A Mining Waste Tip Collapses Onto a Village

Exploration

Cabrillo Enters San Diego Bay

Stanley Meets Livingstone at Ujiji

Abel Tasman's Expedition Reaches Tasmania

Sport

Don Larsen’s Perfect Game: No Hits, No Walks, No Baserunners

Reggie Jackson’s Three Home Runs Seal a World Series

Muhammad Ali Wins the Rumble in the Jungle

Art & Literature

Jeeves and Bertie appear in an early Wodehouse story

The rebuilt Covent Garden theater opens in London

Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published

Music

Bach premieres the solo cantata BWV 35

Mahler’s Eighth Symphony premieres in Munich

Wagner’s Lohengrin premieres in Weimar

Film & TV

The first completed Cannes Film Festival opens

Pather Panchali opens in Calcutta

Nickelodeon debuts its original Nicktoons

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

Collections

The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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