Discover · History

On this day — July 21

A hand-curated thread of what happened on this date, across centuries.

2025

Milestone

A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka

Bangladesh, killing 35 people and injuring 173.

2024

Politics

U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election

endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as she launches her own presidential campaign.

2023

Broadcasting

The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures

Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer, are released in theaters on the same day and audiences, instead of creating a rivalry between the extremely dissimilar films, instead attend and praise both as an informal, surreal double feature.

2019

Milestone

Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong

Triad members indiscriminately beat civilians returning from protests while police failed to take action.

2012

Milestone

Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.

2011

Milestone

NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

2010

Politics

U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

2008

Politics

Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.

2005

Milestone

Four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupt part of London's public transport system.

2001

Disaster

At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi

Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect.

1995

Milestone

Third Taiwan Strait Crisis

The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.

1990

Milestone

Taiwan's military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.

1983

Milestone

The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station

Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).

1979

Milestone

Jay Silverheels

a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1977

Politics

A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka

U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election

The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures

Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong

Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.

NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.

Four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupt part of London's public transport system.

At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi

Third Taiwan Strait Crisis

Taiwan's military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.

The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station

Jay Silverheels

The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.