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Benjamin Franklin invented his Franklin stove.

Captain James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running into it.

The Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain. (The Committee was made up of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman.)

The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.

A prospector laid claim to a silver deposit in a six-mile canyon in Nevada – a claim that later turned out to be the multimillion-dollar Comstock Lode.

Johnny Vander Meer, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, pitched his first of two consecutive no-hitters.   The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Bees (later, the Braves), 3-0, at Crowley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Four days later, he would pitch his second no-hitter.

After defying a federal court order to allow two blacks to enroll at the University of Alabama, Governor George Wallace relented following a confrontation with federal troops.

An elderly Buddhist monk named Thich Quong Duc seated himself in a major intersection of downtown Saigon, and amid a gathering crowd, set fire to his gasoline-soaked robes. This incident set off demonstrations throughout South Vietnam for the ouster of President Ngo Dinh Diem.

The International Poetry Incarnation met at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Notables included Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael Horovitz and William S. Burroughs.

Denver International Airport opened, replacing Stapleton International Airport.

The movie The Matrix was released.