This Day In History : February 8

1984 Russian Federation

Soyuz T-10 Launches with Crew of 3 to Salyut 7

On February 8, 1984, Soyuz T-10 was launched, carrying a crew of three to the Salyut 7 space station. This mission contributed to long-duration spaceflight studies and advancements in orbital operations.

Also on This Day in History February 8

Discover what happened on February 8 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.

Births on This Day, February 8
  • 1834 Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

    Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements.

  • 1794 Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge

    German chemist considered to be the originator of the widely used analytic technique of paper chromatography. 

  • 1866 Moses Gomberg

    Russian-born American chemist who initiated the study of free radicals in chemistry when in 1900 he prepared the first authentic one, triphenylmethyl.

  • 1825 Henri Giffard

    Baptiste Henry Jacques Giffard was a French engineer who built the first successful airship. 

  • 1906 Chester F. Carlson

    He was an American physicist who invented xerography (22 Oct 1938), an electrostatic dry-copying process that found applications ranging from office copying to reproducing out-of-print books.

Deaths on This Day, February 8
  • 1921 Peter Alekseyevich Kropotkin

    Russian geographer and revolutionist, who combined biological and historical fact to arrive at his theory of Mutual Aid (1902).

  • 1957 John von Neumann

    Hungarian-American mathematician who made important contributions in quantum physics, logic, meteorology, and computer science.

  • 1964 Ernst Kretschmer

    German psychiatrist who attempted to correlate body build and physical constitution with personality characteristics and mental illness.

  • 1946 Felix Hoffmann

    German chemist who discovered aspirin, while a researcher for Bayer & Co. At first, he considered pharmacy but turned to chemistry.

  • 1974 Fritz Zwicky

    Swiss-American astronomer and physicist who proposed the existence of dark matter accounting for additional mass universe in the universe.

1969

Meteorite

In 1969, pieces of a large meteorite were recovered in Chihuahua, Mexico. It fell at 1:05 am as a huge fireball that scattering several tons of material over an area measuring 48 by 7 km.
1862

India’s Jamalpur locomotive works

In 1862, the East Indian Railway set up the first full-fledged railway workshop facility in India at Jamalpur.
1974

Skylab mission end

In 1974, the third and final astronaut crew returned from the U.S. earth-orbiting Skylab Space Station, completing their mission in space that began on 16 Nov 1973.
1971

NASDAQ Holds Its First Trading Day

On February 8, 1971, the NASDAQ stock market held its first trading day. This event introduced the world's first electronic stock market, revolutionizing the way securities are traded.
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