Sept 1
1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, the longest of any major European monarch
1785 Mozart publishes his 6th String Quartet, Opus 10 in Vienna
1878 First female telephone operator starts work, Emma Nutt, for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston
1905 Wilfrid Laurier oversees Alberta and Saskatchewan joining the Confederation of Canada as its 8th and 9th provinces, both separated from the Northwest Territories
1914 The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio
1939 World War II begins when Germany invades Poland by attacking the Free City of Danzig
1941 Jews living in Germany are required to wear a yellow Star of David
1951 US, Australia, and New Zealand sign the ANZUS mutual defense treaty
1954 "Rear Window," directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, is released by Paramount Pictures
1962 United Nations announces Earth's population has hit 3 billion
1969 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi deposes King Idris in the Libyan Revolution
1972 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland, in the most publicized world title match ever played; Fischer becomes the first American to win the title