Updated September 1, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II.
On Sept. 2, 1948, Christa McAuliffe, the American teacher who died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion, was born. Following her death on Jan. 28, 1986, her obituary appeared in The Times.
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Historic Birthdays
Christa McAuliffe 9/2/1948 – 1/28/1986 American teacher; died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion.Go to obituary »
81 Ernst Curtius 9/2/1814 – 7/11/1896
German archaeologist; directed the excavation of Olympia79 Lucretia Hale 9/2/1820 – 6/12/1900
American novelist and writer of children’s books81 Giovanni Verga 9/2/1840 – 1/27/1922
Italian novelist, short story writer and playwright65 A. G. Spalding 9/2/1850 – 9/9/1915
American baseball player and sporting-goods manufacturer78 Wilhelm Ostwald 9/2/1853 – 4/4/1932
Russian-born German Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1909)79 Frederick Soddy 9/2/1877 – 9/22/1956
English Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1921)67 Werner Blomberg 9/2/1878 – 3/22/1946
German general and minister of war under Hitler81 Cleveland Amory 9/2/1917 – 10/14/1998
American critic, historian and journalist57 Martha Mitchell 9/2/1918 – 5/31/1976
American figure in the Watergate scandal
