1796-Carl Friedrich Gauss discovers that every positive integer is representable as a sum of at most three triangular numbers
1940-Battle of Britain begins as Nazi forces attack shipping convoys in the English Channel
1985-French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, to prevent it from interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.
1991-Battle of Britain is sworn in as the first elected President of the Russian Federation
2012-The American Episcopal Church becomes the first to approve a rite for blessing gay marriages