Louis Pasteur diesThe French chemist who tied germs to disease, developed vaccines against anthrax and rabies, and gave his name to pasteurization died near Paris at 72.September 28 in history
A scientist's death, a film star's birth, a broken Arab union, a Hollywood satire, and a rocket that reached orbit on its last chance.
September 28 spans more than a century of endings and fresh starts. In 1895 Louis Pasteur died near Paris, leaving behind vaccines against rabies and anthrax and a word, pasteurization, still in everyday use. Thirty-nine years later, in 1934, Brigitte Bardot was born in the same city. She grew into the face of French cinema in the 1950s and 1960s before trading films for a long campaign on behalf of animals.
Politics and spectacle fill the later years. In 1961 Syrian officers seized Damascus at dawn and, by midnight, had ended their country’s union with Egypt. Forty years on, in 2001, Ben Stiller’s Zoolander poked fun at the fashion world from theaters in a country still shaken by the September 11 attacks. And in 2008, on a small island in the Pacific, SpaceX’s Falcon 1 finally reached orbit on its fourth try, a success that kept the young company alive.
Louis Pasteur diesThe French chemist who tied germs to disease, developed vaccines against anthrax and rabies, and gave his name to pasteurization died near Paris at 72.
Brigitte Bardot is bornThe Paris-born actress became France's most famous film star of the 1950s and 1960s, then gave up cinema for a long, outspoken fight for animals.
Syria breaks from Egypt after a coupA dawn uprising by Syrian officers in Damascus ended the three-year union with Nasser's Egypt and brought back an independent Syrian state.
Zoolander opensBen Stiller's fashion-world satire reached theaters two weeks after September 11, stumbled with critics, then grew into a widely quoted comedy.
Falcon 1 becomes the first private rocket to reach orbitOn its fourth try, SpaceX's small Falcon 1 reached orbit, a first for a privately developed liquid-fueled rocket and a lifeline for a company low on cash.