Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and human-rights campaigner, dies 

US Mariner II sent the first close-up pictures of the planet Venus back to Earth 

A Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen became the first to reach the South Pole - 35 days ahead of Captain Scott 

South Pole 1st reached, by Norwegian Roald Amundsen 

First table tennis tournament is held (London Royal Aquarium) 

Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory 

Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and mathematician, is born