Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 19, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 84 degrees (1971)
- Low temperature: 21 degrees (1992)
- Precipitation: 2.22 inches (1885)
- Snowfall: 3.8 inches (1989)
1970: Gene Lewis was fatally shot in the Criminal Courts Building after trying to escape using a handgun smuggled into a judge’s library inside a hollowed out book of poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Lewis had been sentenced to death in the slaying of security guard James Wilson, 26.
1983: University of Chicago astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize in physics (shared with William Alfred Fowler).
Fifty years prior, Chandrasekhar’s colleagues discounted his theory of the existence of white dwarfs, dying stars that collapse into bodies of extreme density and low light. The University of Chicago astrophysicist, who was a native of India but became a U.S. citizen in 1953, discovered white dwarfs while on a steamer ship en route from his home country to England in 1930. Astronomers, however, have since proved that white dwarfs are among the most common stars in the cosmos.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Nobel Prize winners with Chicago connections
At the time of the award announcement, Chandrasekhar was more proud of his work on black holes, which are the remains of collapsed stars far larger than white dwarfs. Others praised his dedication to students. Chandrasekhar became the second person in his family to be named a Nobel laureate. His uncle, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, discovered a form of light-scattering known as the Raman effort, for which he won a Nobel Prize in 1930.
1987: Starbucks opened its first Chicago location at 219 W. Jackson Blvd. The bar featured a variety of coffees and espresso drinks as well as steamed cider, cocoa and mineral water. One shot of espresso was 81 cents, including tax.
1988: Leon M. Lederman, head of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, won the Nobel Prize in physics (to be shared with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger).
2007: Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane — top pick in the NHL draft — scored his first career goal in a 5-3 victory against the Colorado Avalanche at the United Center.
The goal and two assists made Kane the team’s leading scorer with seven points.
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