Events in History
Event of Interest
1497 Italian explorer John Cabot returns to Bristol from North America (Newfoundland) - first European to do so since the Vikings
John Cabot
- 1538 Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Event of Interest
1600 Henry IV of France invades Savoy after negotiations break down over Saluzzo, controlled by Savoy since 1588
- 1601 Spanish garrison of Meurs surrender to earl Mauritius
- 1623 Maffeo Barberini elected Pope Urban VIII
- 1625 Earl Earnest Casimir appointed as viceroy of Groningen
- 1661 The Treaty of The Hague is signed whereby the Dutch Republic sells New Holland (Brazil) for 63 tonnes of gold to Portugal
- 1675 Russian Tsar Alexis bans foreign hair styles to those below the nobility
Historic Expedition
1699 HMS Roebuck, captained by William Dampier, lands at Shark Bay, Western Australia on the first British scientific expedition to Australia
William Dampier
- 1726 Treaty of Alliance between the Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Charles VI and the Russian Empire signed at Vienna
- 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia begins debate on the first draft of the Constitution
- 1806 Holy Roman Empire ends; it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Francis II renounces the title, becoming Emperor of Austria.
- 1815 US flotilla ends piracy by Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli
- 1819 Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States
- 1821 1st edition of "Courrier of Pays-Bas" newspaper published in Brussels
Victory in Battle
1824 Battle at Junan - Simon Bolívar's army defeats the Spanish
Simón Bolívar
- 1825 Bolivia gains independence from Peru (National Day)
- 1845 The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg
- 1856 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben)
- 1861 US Congress passes First Confiscation Act
- 1861 Lexington, Kentucky - Union military camp forms in neutral state
- 1861 The British annex Lagos, Nigeria
- 1862 Confederate ironclad "Arkansas" is badly damaged in Union attack
- 1864 Confederate forces evacuate Fort Powell in Mobile Bay, Alabama
- 1870 Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beats France
- 1890 At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the 1st person to be executed by electric chair
- 1896 France annexes Madagascar
- 1901 Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation
- 1905 26.7 cm rainfall at Princeton, Indiana (state record)
- 1909 Alice Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip
- 1910 NYC Mayor Wm J Gaynor seriously wounded during assassination attempt
- 1914 WWI: Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
- 1914 WWI: French cavalry enters Belgium
- 1914 WWI: German Zeppelin bombs Liege, 9 killed
- 1914 WWI: Serbia declares war against Germany
- 1914 Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I
- 1915 The British land more troops at Suvla Bay on the northern shore of Gallipoli in an effort to break the stalemate on the peninsula during WWI
- 1917 World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins
- 1918 Ferdinand Foch becomes Marshal of France during WWI
- 1918 World War I: Second Battle of the Marne ends
- 1919 1st air flight over a major body of water in Australia (Harry Butler)
- 1919 Romanian forces bring down Hungarian Soviet Republic in Budapest
- 1921 Clason Point, Bronx to College Point, Queens muni ferry system begins
- 1923 Henry Sullivan becomes 3rd person and first American to swim English Channel (27 hours 25 minutes Dover-Calais)
- 1923 Gustav Stresemann is named chancellor and foreign minister during riots and strikes in Germany
- 1926 American Gertrude Ederle (20) becomes 1st woman to swim English Channel in 14 hours, 39 minutes, a record for male or female
- 1929 Young Plan, which sought to settle German reparations debts after World War I, is agreed
- 1930 Supreme Court Justice John Force Crater disappears in NYC
- 1930 Remains of balloon expedition of Solamon August Andrées to North Pole in 1897, found at Kvit oya Spitsbergen
- 1934 US troops leave Haiti, which had been occupied since 1915
Event of Interest
1937 Franco's artillery fires on Madrid
Francisco Franco
Event of Interest
1942 Hermann Goering proclaims occupied areas "thoroughly empty to plunder"
Hermann Goering
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
1945 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay"
Learn More >>
- 1946 US officially submits to jurisdiction of World Court
- 1948 Willem Drees forms Socialist government (KVP/Social Democratics/CHU/Liberal) in the Netherlands
- 1951 Typhoon floods kill 4,800 in Manchuria
- 1951 The National Museum of Racing opens in Congress Park at Saratoga Springs, N.Y
- 1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
- 1960 The UN Security Council lay down rules which would allow UN forces to enter Congo
- 1961 Gherman S. Titov is the 2nd Russian in space aboard Vostok 2 (17 orbits)
- 1961 1st case of motion sickness in space reported
- 1962 Jamaica becomes independent after 300 years of British rule
Event of Interest
1965 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act prohibiting voting discrimination against minorities
Lyndon B. Johnson
Jimmie Lee Jackson
- 1966 Salazarbrug over Tag opens (longest suspension bridge in Europe)
- 1966 US citizens demonstrate against war in Vietnam
- 1967 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Pro comperto sane
- 1970 Italian government of Mariano Rumor resigns
- 1970 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1974 Explosion and fire destroy Great Northern RR yard in Wenatchee, Washington
- 1976 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port Qasim, Karachi
- 1979 Marcus Hooper, 12, becomes then youngest person to swim English Channel
- 1980 University adm declares 5 Pac-10 schools ineligible for conference titles and post-season play due to transcript and curriculum abuses
- 1981 Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron freed
- 1981 NASA launches Fltsatcom-5, it failed
- 1982 WQXI (Atlanta) is 1st to use Harris Corp AM stereo system
- 1982 Three ANC members are sentenced to death in South Africa
- 1983 Supertanker Castillo de Bellvar catches fire and sinks northwest of Capetown, South Africa
- 1983 Bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of ANC, explodes at a synagogue in Johannesburg, South Africa
- 1984 203.05 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
- 1985 19th space shuttle mission (51-F), Challenger 8, lands at Edwards AFB
- 1985 STS 51-I vehicle moves to launch pad
- 1986 Phil Katz releases PKARC version 1.0, for IBM
Birthdays in History
- 1180 Go-Toba, 82nd Emperor of Japan, born in Kyōto, Japan (d. 1239)
- 1504 Matthew "Nosey" Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, born in Norwich, England (d. 1575)
- 1609 Richard Bennett, English Colonial Governor of Virginia, born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset (d. 1675)
- 1638 Nicolas Malebranche, French rationalist philosopher, born in Paris (d. 1715)
- 1644 Louise de La Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV (1661-67), born in Tours, France (d. 1710)
- 1651 François Fénelon, French Roman Catholic theologian and writer (Playing for Time), born in Sainte-Mondane, France (d. 1715)
- 1656 Claude de Forbin, French naval commander, born in Gardanne, France (d. 1733)
- 1666 Maria Sophia of Neuburg, Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Peter II from 1687-99), born in Schloss Benrath, Düsseldorf (d. 1699)
- 1697 Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (1742-45), born in Brussels
- 1715 Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer, born in Aix-en-Provence, France (d. 1747)
- 1766 William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist (famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium), born in East Dereham, Norfolk, England (d. 1828)
- 1775 Louis Antoine, French Duke of Angoulême and General of France, born in Palace of Versailles, France (d. 1844)
- 1775 Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician, born in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland (d. 1847)
- 1800 Catherine Beecher, American educator (championed higher education for women), born in East Hampton, New York (1878)
- 1804 Justinus van der Brugghen, Dutch lawyer and minister of Justice (1856-58), born in Nijmegen, Netherlands (d. 1863)
Alfred Tennyson
1809 Alfred Tennyson, British Poet Laureate of Great Britain (Charge of the Light Brigade), born in Somersby, Lincolnshire (d. 1892)
Alfred Tennyson
- 1811 Judah P. Benjamin, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State and 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, born in Christiansted, Danish West Indies (d. 1884)
- 1819 Samuel Powhatan Carter, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Elizabethton, Tennessee (d. 1891)
- 1826 Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (Robbery Under Arms), born in London (d. 1915)
- 1844 Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born in Windsor Castle, Windsor, England (d. 1900)
- 1859 Arthur Berson, German meteorologist (Balloon flights, Amazon), born in Nowy Sącz (d. 1942)
Edith Roosevelt
1861 Edith Roosevelt [Carrow], US First Lady and wife of Teddy Roosevelt, born in Norwich, Connecticut (d. 1948)
Edith Roosevelt
- 1868 Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (L'Otage-1909), born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France (d. 1955)
- 1871 Emanuel Querido, Dutch author and publisher (N.V. Em. Querido Uitgeversmaatschappij), born in Amsterdam (d. 1943)
- 1873 John Wesley Work Jr., 1st African-American collector of folk songs and spirituals, born in Nashville, Tennessee (or 1871) (d. 1925)
- 1874 Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (specialized in anomalous phenomena), born in Albany, New York (d. 1932)
- 1877 Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 1952)
- 1879 Joseph Wirth, 5th Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Germany (Stalin Peace Prize), born in Freiburg im Breisgau, German Empire (d. 1956)
Alexander Fleming
1881 Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist (invented penicillin; Nobel Prize 1945), born in Lochfield, Scotland (d. 1955)
Alexander Fleming
- 1881 Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist, born in Freeport, Illinois (d. 1972)
- 1882 Gerrit Hendrik Kersten, Dutch vicar and founder (Calvinist party), born in Deventer, Netherlands (d. 1948)
- 1883 Scott Nearing, American sociologist, pacifist and author (The Good Life), born in Morris Run, Pennsylvania (d. 1983)
- 1885 Jozef M E Meeus, Belgian director H-Heart union
Inez Milholland
1886 Inez Milholland, American suffragist (National Woman's Party), labor lawyer and socialist, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1916)
Inez Milholland
- 1889 George Kenney, American Air Force General (d. 1977)
- 1889 John Middleton Murry, English poet and literary critic (Between Two Worlds), born in London, England (d. 1957)
- 1891 William Slim, British general (d. 1970)
- 1893 Guthrie McClintic, Broadway producer/dir (Winterset), born in Seattle, Washington
- 1893 Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1900 Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist (d. 2003)
- 1902 Vladimir M Kirshon, Russian playwright (Ultimatum Factory) [OS]
- 1902 Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger (d. 1935)
- 1904 M Revis, [Willem Fisherman], author (Gelakte Brain)
- 1908 James Lees-Milne, English writer and architectural historian, born in Wickhamford, Worcestershire (d. 1997)
- 1908 Sol Adler, economist Sinophile
- 1910 Charles Crichton, British director (Battle of Sexes)
- 1910 William J Law, sailor
- 1914 Susan Cowdy, ornithologist
- 1916 Dom Mintoff, Maltese Prime Minister (1955-58, 1971-84), born in Bormla, Malta (d. 2012)
- 1922 Freddie Laker, CEO (Laker airlines)
- 1923 William B Williams, DJ (WNEW, Sammy & Company), born in Babylon, New York
- 1923 Jess Collins, American artist (d. 2004)
- 1926 Christa Reinig, German poet and writer (Idleness is the Root of All Love, The Tightrope Walker), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2008)
- 1926 J[anet] O[pal] Jeppson, [nee Janet Asimov], author (2nd Experiment)
- 1927 William David Ford, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1965- )
- 1929 Roch La Salle, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
- 1932 Howard Hodgkin, British abstract painter, born in London (d. 2017)
- 1934 John Storey Bonington, UK, mountain climber (Annapurna I in 1970)
- 1934 Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, UK, sci-fi author (Chthon, Phthor)
- 1940 Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician, President of Dagestan
- 1941 Lyle Berman, American poker player
- 1942 George Jung [Boston George], American convicted drug felon whose story was portrayed in the biopic "Blow", born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1943 Jon Postel, American computer scientist (d. 1998)
- 1945 Ron Jones, British TV director (d. 1995)
- 1946 Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean politician
- 1948 Michael Peters, choreographer (What's Love Got to Do with It)
- 1949 Joyce McKinney, Avery County NC, Miss Wyoming (1972)
- 1949 Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman
- 1949 Clarence Richard Silva, Catholic Bishop of Honolulu
- 1950 Winston E Scott, USN Commander/astronaut (STS 72, 87), born in Miami, Florida
- 1954 Carl C Perkins, American politician (Rep-D-KY, 1984-93), born in Washington, D.C.
- 1957 Jim McGreevey, American politician
- 1961 Carol Norman, Ardmore Oklahoma, bowler (LPBT Rookie of Year 1982)
- 1963 Charles Ingram, English former British Army major known for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, born in Derbyshire, England
- 1967 Archbishop Alexy (Bondarenko), Ukrainian-born theologian
- 1975 Renate Götschl, Austrian alpine skier
- 1976 Parmeso Emekrasha, Buddhist Monk
- 1976 Travis Kalanick, American entrepreneur (Red Swoosh, Uber), born in Los Angeles, California
- 1981 Travis McCoy, American alternative hip-hop artist
Weddings in History
Deaths in History
- 258 Saint Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), beheaded under orders of Emperor Valerian
- 523 Hormisdas, Pope (514-23) reunited Eastern and Western Churches, dies
- 966 Berengarius II, markgraaf of Ivrea/king of Italy (950-963)
- 1162 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona
- 1195 Henry de Leeuw, duke of Saxon/Bayern, dies
- 1221 Dominicus, Italian religious order founder (Dominicans)
- 1272 Stefanus V, prince of Transylvania/king of Hungary (1270-72), dies
- 1414 King Ladislas of Naples (b. 1377)
- 1458 Callixtus III, [Alfonso the Borja], Pope (1455-58), dies at 79
- 1623 Anne Hathaway, wife of English playwright William Shakespeare, dies aged 66 or 67
- 1628 Johannes Junius, Mayor of Bamberg (b. 1573)
Ben Jonson
1637 Ben Jonson, English playwright and poet, dies at 65
Ben Jonson
- 1645 Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant, dies at 70
- 1657 Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Polish-Lithuanian noble
- 1660 Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (Las Meninas), dies at 61
- 1661 Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld, French abbess (Port-Royal de Paris), dies at about 70
- 1666 Tsjerk Hiddes de Vries, Dutch admiral, dies in battle at 43
- 1679 John Snell, British royalist, dies at 49 or 50
- 1695 François de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris, dies at 69
- 1718 Jacob F Muller, [Sjako/Jaco], German Dutch thief 'the Robin Hood of Amsterdam', beheaded at 28
- 1727 François Valentijn, Dutch vicar and writer (Old and New East-India), dies at 61
- 1746 Christian VI, King of Denmark and Norway, dies at 46
- 1753 Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (b. 1711)
- 1759 Eugene Aram, English philologist (b. 1704)
- 1783 Willem Bachiene, Dutch vicar, theologist, geographer and astronomer, dies at 70
- 1794 Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, British politician (b. 1714)
- 1815 James A. Bayard (elder), United States Senator from Delaware (b. 1767)
- 1820 Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, Duchess of York and Albany, dies at 53
- 1828 Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman, dies of a fever at 43
- 1850 Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)
- 1862 Francisco Acuña de Figueroa, Uruguayan poet (Toraidas), dies at 71
- 1866 John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818)
- 1881 James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), dies at 60
- 1884 Robert Spear Hudson, English businessman, dies at 71
- 1886 Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian, dies at 45
- 1893 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
- 1900 Wilhelm Liebknecht, German socialist (Social Democratic Party), dies at 74
- 1914 Ellen Axson Wilson, US 1st Lady (1913-14), dies during Woodrow Wilson's 1st term of Bright's Disease at 54
- 1920 Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, first flight in independent Poland (b. 1890)
- 1934 Hermann Glauert, British aerodynamicist, dies at 41
- 1937 Annie E F Horniman, England, theater owner (Abbey Theatre), dies at 76
- 1937 Ferdinand CS Schiller, British philosopher (Mind!), dies at 72
- 1937 Annie Horniman, English theater owner (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), dies at 76
- 1945 Hiram Johnson, American progressive politician, US Senator, Governor of California (1911-17), dies at 78
- 1945 Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
- 1954 Theo Van Reijn, Dutch sculptor and lithograph, dies at 70
- 1961 Jozef E Van Roey, Flemish cardinal/archbishop of Mechelen, dies at 87
- 1965 Aksel Sandemose, writer, dies
- 1966 Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, sci-fi author (Space Lords), dies at 53
- 1966 Cordwainer Smith, American writer (b. 1913)
- 1968 Ernest Burnelle, Belgian politician (Communist Party of Belgium (PCB)), dies at 60
- 1969 Theodor W. Adorno, German philosopher and sociologist, dies at 65
Fulgencio Batista
1973 Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, Cuban Dictator (1940-58), dies at 72
Fulgencio Batista
- 1978 Edward Durrell Stone, US architect, dies at 76
- 1986 Emilio Fernandez, director (La Choca, Flor Silvestre), dies at 82
- 1986 Manfred Hausmann, writer, dies at 87
- 1986 William J Schroeder, (longest-survivor with permanent artificial) heart, dies at 54, after 620 days with Jarvik VII man-made pump)
- 1987 Ira C Eaker, commandant USAF in Europe (WWII), dies at 91
- 1988 Anatoli S Levchenko, cosmonaut (TM-4), dies of brain tumor at 47
- 1988 J Skelly Wright, American judge (anti-segregationist), dies at 77
- 1990 Jacques Soustelle, Fren ethnology/minister of Information, dies at 78
- 1990 Mário Pinto de Andrade, Angolan poet and politician who founded the Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dies at 62
- 1990 Robert Alex, shot to death by robber at 31
- 1991 Shapour Bakhtiar, premier Iran (1979), dies in Paris
- 1991 Roland Michener, 20th Governor General of Canada (1967-74), dies at 91
- 1993 Milt Thompson, American astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15), NASA test pilot and chief-engineer, dies at 67
- 1995 Paul James Nunn, mountaineer, dies at 52
- 1996 Buland al-Haidary, Iraqi poet (Passages to Exile), dies at 69
- 1996 Hernan Siles Zuazo, President of Bolivia (1956-60, 1982-85), dies at 82
- 1996 Muhammad al-Badr, magnate of Northern Yemen (1962), dies
- 1996 Ossie Raymond Clark, fashion designer, dies at 54
- 1996 Richard Murphey Goodwin, economist, dies at 83
- 1998 André Weil, French mathematician (foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry), dies at 92
- 2001 Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
- 2001 Wilhelm Mohnke, one of the original 120 members of the Nazi SS-Staff Guard (b. 1911)
- 2002 Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
- 2005 Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
- 2007 Heinz Barth, German convicted war criminal (SS) (b. 1920)
- 2007 Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (number theory), dies at 90
- 2009 Willibrordus S. Rendra, Indonesian poet (Ballad orang-orang tertjina), dies at 73
- 2011 Mark Hatfield, American politician (29th Governor of Oregon), dies at 89
- 2011 Fe del Mundo, Filipino pediatrician and National Scientist of the Philippines, dies at 99
- 2012 Sir Bernard Lovell, English radio astronomer, dies at 98
- 2012 Robert Hughes, Australian art critic and writer (Barcelona), dies at 74
- 2016 Helen Delich Bentley, American politician (Rep-R-MD, 1985-950, dies at 92
- 2018 Joël Robuchon, French chef, world record for Michelin stars (32), dies of cancer at 73
- 2018 Margaret Heckler, American politician (15th U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services (1983-85)), dies at 87