Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the commercial aircraft strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.

The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.

Central African President David Dacko is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba.

J. Robert Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder publish the Oppenheimer–Snyder model, proving for the first time in contemporary physics how black holes could develop.

The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.