644: Umar ibn al-Khattab, second Muslim caliph, is killed in Medina by Lu’lu, an enslaved Persian captive

1534: English parliament passes the Act of Supremacy making Henry VIII and all subsequent monarchs the Head of the Church of England

1620: Great Patent granted to Plymouth Colony

1640: English Long Parliament forms

1906: International Radiotelegraph Conference in Berlin selects “SOS” (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal as the worldwide standard for help

1957: Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard, a mostly-Siberian husky, the 1st animal in space

1970: US President Richard Nixon promises gradual troop removal of Vietnam

Source: Onthisday.com