On this day in the year 1918 of the common era (CE), Russia is declared a Soviet Republic, and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics is born.
On this day in the year 1939 CE the first nuclear fission experiment (splitting of a uranium atom) is conducted in the United States, in basement of Pupin Hall, by a team of researchers that included Enrico Fermi at Columbia University in New York, New York.
On the day in 1945 CE the New York Yankees are sold by the Ruppert estate to construction magnate Del Webb and partners: Dan Topping and Larry MacPhail for $2.8 million dollars; fifty-four years later the owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner. meets with pope John Paul II.
In 1959 CE, pope John XXIII opens the second Vatican full ecumenical council of the Catholic Church.
In 1971 CE, Charles Manson and three female followers are convicted of the Tate-La Bianca murders; eight years later the first documented case of a robot killing a human occurs in the United States.
