On This Day: 14 November

14 November in world history

• 2010Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race of the season, becoming the youngest Formula One champion.
• 2008The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C.
• 2003Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object Sedna.
• 2001War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
• 1995As a result of budget conflicts between President Bill Clinton and the United States Congress led by Newt Gingrich, the federal government was forced to shut down non-essential services.
• 1992In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashed near Nha Trang, killing 30 people.
• 1990After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland.
• 1978France conducts the Aphrodite nuclear test as 25th in the group of 29 1975–78 French nuclear tests.
• 1977During a British House of Commons debate, Labour MP Tam Dalyell poses what would become known as the West Lothian question, referring to issues related to devolution in the United Kingdom.
• 1973In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.
• 1970Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board.
• 1969Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.
• 1967American physicist Theodore Maiman was given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser.
• 1965Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.
• 1941Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sank as she was being towed to Gibraltar for repairs.
• 1940World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed.
• 1910Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher.
• 1851Moby-Dick, an epic novel by American writer Herman Melville, was first published in the United States.

Born on 14 November

• 1991Thinzar Shunlei Yi, Burmese activist
• 1946Bharathan, Indian director and screenwriter (died 1998)India
• 1945Vikram Gokhale, Indian actor and director (died 2022)India
• 1908Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1957)
• 1895Walter Jackson Freeman II, American physician and psychiatrist (died 1972)
• 1889Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (died 1964)India

Died on 14 November

• 2015K. S. Gopalakrishnan, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1929)India
• 1997Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster (born 1916)
• 1977A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian monk and guru, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (born 1896)India
• 1844John Abercrombie, Scottish physician and philosopher (born 1780)

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 14 November in history?

2010: Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race of the season, becoming the youngest Formula One champion. 2008: The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C. 2003: Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object Sedna. 2001: War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.

Which famous people were born on 14 November?

Thinzar Shunlei Yi, Burmese activist (1991); Bharathan, Indian director and screenwriter (died 1998) (1946); Vikram Gokhale, Indian actor and director (died 2022) (1945); Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1957) (1908).

Which day is observed on 14 November?

Children's Day & World Diabetes Day; Children's Day, celebrated on the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru (previously on November 20). (India); Anniversary of the Movement of Readjustment (Guinea-Bissau); Day of the Colombian Woman (Colombia); Mobile Brigade Day (Indonesia).