- 4 October 1957 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite
- 7 October 1826 – The Granite Railway (pictured), the first railroad to use the railway turntable and the railroad switch, begins operations
- 8 October 2013 – Peter Higgs and Francois Englert win the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the Higgs Boson
- 28 October 1793 – Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the Cotton gin, dramatically altering the economy of the Southern United States