On October 8, 2009, two people die and more than a dozen others are hospitalized following a botched sweat lodge ceremony at a retreat run by motivational speaker and author James Arthur Ray near Sedona, Arizona.

On October 8, 2004, Kenyan environmental justice organizer Wangari Maathai receives a Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace,” becoming the first African woman to win the award.

The Office of Homeland Security is founded on October 8, 2001, less than one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Communist delegation in Paris rejects President Richard Nixon’s October 7 proposal as “a maneuver to deceive world opinion.

On October 8, 1970, one of Russia’s best-known contemporary writers, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

On October 8, 1957, bible-school-dropout-tuned-rockabilly-pianist Jerry Lee Lewis laid down the definitive version of “Great Balls Of Fire,” amid a losing battle with his conscience—and with the legendary Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records.

On Oct. 8, 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees throws the only perfect game in World Series history.

On Oct. 8, 1945, Raytheon Manufacturing Company filed a patent for what’s now a staple kitchen appliance in homes around the world: the microwave oven.

On October 8, 1918, United States Corporal Alvin C.

On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire, now considered the most devastating fire in United States history, burns in Wisconsin.