Events in History
Spring Temple Buddha Completed
Sep 1 Spring Temple Buddha statue of Vairocana Buddha, then the world's tallest statue at 128 meters (420 ft), completed in Zhaocun township, Henan, China
- Sep 7 US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- Sep 8 Latvia joins its northern neighbor Estonia in recession as GDP falls 0.2% in the second quarter from the first quarter, when it fell 0.3%; property markets and construction have suffered in both Baltic states
- Sep 10 The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland
- Sep 13 Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
- Sep 16 Rentrer en soi announces that they would be breaking up.
- Sep 17 The IAU named another dwarf planet, Haumea
- Sep 21 Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Event of Interest
Sep 21 President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa resigns from office, effective September 25
- Sep 21 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel formally resigns from office, effective as soon as his successor Tzipi Livni has successfully assembled a new government.
- Sep 25 China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
- Sep 25 The "Celtic Tiger" slides into recession for the first time in over two decades, recording a 0.5% fall in second quarter GDP, following a 0.3% decline in the first quarter
- Sep 26 Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel.
- Sep 27 CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
- Sep 29 Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, its largest single-day point loss, following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual
Birthdays in History
- Sep 29 Emma Tallulah Behn, Norwegian royal family member, daughter of Princess Marta Luisa
Deaths in History
- Sep 2 Denis Rooke, British engineer and CEO (British Gas), dies at 84
- Sep 3 Donald Blakeslee, American aviator who led 4th Fighter Group during World War II, dies at 90
- Sep 9 Warith Deen Muhammad, American religious leader (b. 1933)
- Sep 12 Bob Quinn, Australian Football Hall of Fame rover (All Australian captain 1947; SA captain 1945-47; Magarey Medal 1938, 45; Port Adelaide FC), dies at 93
- Sep 12 David Foster Wallace, American author and essayist (b. 1962)
- Sep 14 Domagoj Kapeć, Croatian hockeyplayer (b. 1989)
- Sep 19 David Jones, English director (Betrayal), dies at 74
- Sep 22 Thomas Doerflein, German Zookeeper (b. 1963)
- Sep 23 Peter Leonard, Australian journalist and newsreader, dies of cancer at 66
- Sep 24 Bengt Anderberg, Swedish poet and writer (Kain), dies at 88
- Sep 29 Hayden Carruth, American poet (The Crow and the Heart), dies at 87
- Sep 29 Relus ter Beek, Dutch Labour Party politician (House of Representatives, 1971-89; Minister of Defense, 1989-94; Queen's Commissioner of Drenthe, 1995-2008), dies of lung cancer at 64
- Sep 30 Christa Reinig, German poet and writer (Idleness is the Root of All Love, The Tightrope Walker), dies at 82
- Sep 30 Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, Singaporean opposition leader and former Secretary-General of Singapore's Worker's Party, dies at 82
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
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Scientists