On This Day:

1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: The Battle of Gettysburg began during the American Civil War, lasting three days.

1903, France: The first Tour de France bicycle race began, organized by the newspaper L'Auto.

1935, London, England: Sir Allen Lane founded Penguin Books, revolutionizing the book industry by producing affordable, high-quality paperbacks.

1968, New Zealand: The Wahine ferry disaster occurred during a fierce storm in Wellington Harbour.

1979, Japan: Sony introduced the Walkman, a portable cassette player that revolutionized personal music listening.

1991: Phil Zimmermann released Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a data encryption program for securing emails and files.

1996, Scotland: The birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, was announced by scientists at the Roslin Institute.

1997, Hong Kong: Sovereignty over Hong Kong was officially transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, ending over 150 years of British rule.

2002, Switzerland: The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

2018: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect, impacting global data privacy practices.

On this day:

1520, Tenochtitlán: Spanish forces under Hernán Cortés driven out by Aztecs during La Noche Triste, suffering significant casualties.

1905, Germany: Albert Einstein published "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," introducing the theory of special relativity.

1908, Siberia, Russia: The Tunguska event, caused by the airburst of a comet or meteoroid, flattened 2,000 sq km of forest.

1936, Pittsburgh, USA: Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" was published, becoming an instant bestseller and earning the Pulitzer Prize.

1947, USA: Bell Laboratories demonstrated the transistor, invented by Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley.

1954, USA: Dr. Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant between identical twins.

1966, UK: The British pound was devalued by Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government to address economic challenges, impacting the global economy and highlighting the effects of monetary policy.

1994, New York: Romania defeated Argentina 3-2 in a memorable World Cup match at the Rose Bowl, showcasing the Romanian team's skill and leading to a major upset in the tournament.

2009, Sweden: The Pirate Bay founders were fined and jailed for copyright infringement, highlighting the legal challenges of digital piracy and the struggle between digital freedom and intellectual property rights.

2011: Cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox was hacked, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins.