On this day in 1983, Compact Discs and players were released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela was elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
On this day in 1998, data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicated that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
On this day in 2012, a tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.