Events in History
Event of Interest
138 Antoninus Pius succeeds Hadrian as Emperor of Rome
Antoninus Pius
Hadrian
- 911 Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy
- 1156 Siege of Shirakawa-den in Japan
- 1244 Khwarezmian Tatars sack Jerusalem, decimating the city's Christian population and driving out Jews
- 1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) near Kortrijk, Belgium. Flemish coalition defeat French army
- 1346 Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
- 1347 Heir to the Bohemian throne elected German anti-king Charles IV
- 1405 Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time
- 1423 Arnold van Egmont becomes Duke of Gelre
- 1476 Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances
- 1525 Trial against "heretic" John Pistorius at The Hague
Excommunication
1533 Pope Clement VII excommunicates England's King Henry VIII
Henry VIII
- 1536 The Convocation of the clergy subscribe to the Ten Articles, beliefs of the English Church under Henry VIII
- 1576 Martin Frobisher sights Greenland
- 1588 French King Henri III accept demands of Catholic League
Event of Interest
1616 Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
Samuel de Champlain
Event of Interest
1663 Oxford mathematician John Wallis gives a lecture on Euclid’s parallel postulate, first Western attempt to derive the parallel postulate as a theorem
John Wallis
- 1673 Netherlands & Denmark sign defense treaty
- 1690 Battle of Drogheda Boyne (William III beats deposed James II)
- 1708 Battle at Oudenaarde: Great Alliance beats France
- 1735 Mathematical calculations suggest that it was on this day that Pluto moved from the ninth to the eighth most distant 'planet' from the Sun for the last time before 1979
- 1740 Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Tsarina Anne
- 1750 Halifax, Nova Scotia, is almost completely destroyed by fire.
Event of Interest
1776 Captain James Cook begins his third voyage
James Cook
- 1781 Thomas Hutchins designated Geographer of US
Event of Interest
1789 French King Louis XVI dismisses finance minister Jacques Necker, sparking riots in Paris
Louis XVI
Jacques Necker
Event of Interest
1804 Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel
Alexander Hamilton
Aaron Burr
Historic Publication
1811 Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoir on the molecular content of gases
Amedeo Avogadro
- 1812 US invades Canada (Detroit frontier)
Event of Interest
1818 English poet John Keats writes "In the Cottage Where Burns is Born", "Lines Written in the Highlands", and "Gadfly"
John Keats
- 1848 Edmund Hickly gets 1st known 10 wicket innings (Kent v England)
- 1848 London's Waterloo Station opens
- 1861 Battle of Laurel Mountain Virginia - General Morris forces retreat of rebels
- 1861 Battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia - Rosecrans forces rebels to surrender
- 1862 Lincoln appoints General Halleck general-in-chief
- 1863 Battle at Green River, Kentucky (Morgan's Ohio Raid)
- 1863 Japanese battle cruiser shoots at Dutch warship Medusa, kills 4
- 1864 Confederate forces led by General Jubal Early begin invasion of Washington, D.C. with the Battle of Fort Stevens
- 1877 Kate Edger becomes New Zealand’s first woman graduate and first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts
- 1882 British fleet bombards Alexandria
- 1888 118°F (48°C), Bennett, Colorado (state record)
- 1888 Pennsylvania's Monongehela River rises 32' after 24 hour rainfall
- 1889 Tijuana in Mexico becomes a city
Historic Invention
1892 US Patent Office says Joseph Swan rather than Thomas Edison, invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp
Thomas Edison
Event of Interest
1896 Wilfrid Laurier sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Canada
Wilfrid Laurier
Event of Interest
1902 British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury resigns
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Event of Interest
1905 Black intellectuals and activists lead by W.E.B. Du Bois organize the civil rights Niagara Movement
W.E.B. Du Bois
- 1906 The Gillette-Brown murder inspires Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy"
- 1915 German cruiser Königsberg sinks off Dar-es-Salam
- 1916 US Congress passes Federal Aid Road Act
- 1916 Battle of Verdun: Germany launches an offensive on Fort Souville in France but are defeated by artillery and machine gunners
- 1919 Dutch 2nd chamber approves 8-hour day and no Sunday work
- 1920 East and West Prussia vote in a plebiscite to become part of Germany, though a slice of West Prussia will be handed to Poland to provide a 'Polish Corridor'
- 1921 Mongolia gains independence from China (National Day)
- 1924 Muslim-Hindu rebellion in Delhi, India
- 1925 Queen Wilhelmina names H Colijn head of government
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Event of Interest
1940 Marshall Philippe Petain, French hero of World War I, becomes head of the Vichy collaborationist government of France
Philippe Pétain
Event of Interest
1943 Counter attack by Hermann Goering's Armoured division in Sicily
Hermann Goering
- 1943 US 45th Division occupies airport Comiso Sicily
- 1943 US 82nd Airborne division shot at by "friendly fire" in Sicily
- 1943 Massacres of Poles in Volhynia.
- 1944 Franklin Roosevelt announces that he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States
- 1946 Kingman Douglass ends term as deputy director of CIA
- 1948 1st air bombing of Jerusalem
Presidential Convention
1952 General Eisenhower nominated as Republican US presidential candidate
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1954 1st White Citizens Council organizes in Indianola, Mississippi
- 1955 Congress authorizes all US currency to say "In God We Trust"
- 1955 New USAF Academy dedicated at Lowry AFB in Colorado with 300 cadets
- 1960 Czechoslovakia adopts Constitution
- 1960 Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta and Niger declare independence
- 1960 Moise Tsjombe declares Congolese county Katanga independent
Historic Publication
1960 "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is first published by J. B. Lippincott & Co.
Harper Lee
- 1961 Gene Kiniski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
- 1962 1st transatlantic TV transmission via satellite (Telstar I)
- 1962 Brothers Hank snd Tommie Aaron homer in same inning
- 1962 Cosmonaut Micolaev set then record longest space flight - 4 days
- 1962 Fred Baldasare is 1st to swim English Channel underwater (scuba)
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1963 South-African ANC Walter Sisulu/Andrew Mlangeni/Govan Mbeki arrested
Event of Interest
1965 Israeli Mapai-party nominates David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
- 1968 Start of Colin Cowdrey's 100th Test, 1st person to reach the milestone
- 1971 Chilean parliament nationalizes American copper mines
- 1971 The Irish Republican Army set off a number of bombs in the centre of Belfast injuring a number of people
- 1973 Brazilian Boeing 707 crashes near Paris, 122 killed
- 1974 House Judiciary Committee releases evidence on Watergate inquiry
Birthdays in History
- 154 Bardaisan [Bardesanes], Syrian astrologer and theologist, born in Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia
Robert the Bruce
1274 Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (1306-1329) and national hero, born in Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire (d. 1329)
Robert the Bruce
- 1366 Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England and wife of Richard II, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (d. 1394)
- 1540 Adolf van Nassau, German son of William I and Juliana of Stolberg, born in Dillenburg, Germany (d. 1568)
- 1558 Robert Greene, English writer (Friar Bacon), born in Norwich, England (d. 1592)
- 1561 Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet and writer, born in Córdoba, Spain (d. 1627)
- 1603 Kenelm Digby, English philosopher and diplomat, born in Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, England (d. 1665)
- 1628 Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese warlord, born in Mito, Japan (d. 1701)
- 1657 Frederick I, King of Prussia (1701-13), born in Königsberg, Prussia (d. 1713)
- 1662 Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1691-1714), born in Munich (d. 1726)
- 1694 Charles-Antoine Coypel, French carpet designer, born in Paris (d. 1752)
- 1697 Jean-Baptiste-Bourguignon d'Anville, French geographer and cartographer, born in Paris (d. 1782)
- 1709 Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Swedish chemist and mineralogist, born in Stora Mellösa, Närke (d. 1785)
- 1723 Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer, born in Bort-les-Orgues, France (d. 1799)
- 1738 Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen and Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, born in Moritzburg, Electorate of Saxony (d. 1822)
- 1751 Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway, born in Leicester House, London, England (d. 1775)
- 1754 Thomas Bowdler, British physician and writer (Family Shakespeare), born in Ashley, Somerset, England (d. 1825)
John Quincy Adams
1767 John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (D) (1825-1829), born in Braintree, Massachusetts (d. 1848)
John Quincy Adams
- 1810 Eugène Simonis, Belgian sculptor, born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1882)
- 1811 Joseph Lanman, American naval officer (Union Navy), born in Norwich, Connecticut (d. 1874)
- 1811 William Robert Grove, Welsh physicist and inventor of the first fuel cell, born in Swansea, Wales (d. 1896)
- 1816 French-Andries Durlet, Belgian sculptor and architect, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1867)
- 1825 Edward Henry Hobson, American merchant, banker, politician, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Greensburg, Kentucky (d. 1901)
- 1826 Alexander Afanasyev, Russian ethnographer and folklorist, born in Boguchar, Voronezh Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1871)
- 1832 Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician (Prime Minister of Greece for 7 times from 1875-1895), born in Nafplion, Greece (d. 1896)
- 1834 James McNeill Whistler, American artist (Whistler's Mother), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1903)
- 1838 John Wanamaker, American merchant (Wanamakers Department Store), pioneer in marketing and Postmaster General, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1922)
- 1841 William Paul Roberts, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Gates County, North Carolina (d. 1910)
- 1844 Peter I Karadjordjevic, King of Serbia/Yugoslavia (1903-21), born in Belgrade, Ottoman Tributary Principality of Serbia (d. 1921)
- 1846 Léon Bloy, French novelist and essayist, born in Périgueux, France (d. 1917)
- 1850 Annie Armstrong, American missionary leader, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1938)
- 1851 Millie & Christine McCoy, American siamese twins born slaves in Whiteville, North Carolina (d.1912)
- 1860 Johannes van Laar, Dutch chemist (thermodynamics), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1938)
- 1861 George W. Norris, U.S. Senator noted for his advocacy of political reform and of public ownership of hydroelectric-power plants, born in Sandusky, Ohio (d. 1944)
- 1864 Petar Danov, Bulgarian spiritual teacher, born in Nikolaevka, Bulgaria (d. 1944)
- 1866 Richard Beer-Hofmann, Austrian writer, born in Vienna (d. 1945)
- 1866 Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1953)
- 1871 Stjepan Radic, founder/leader (Croatian Farmers' Party)
- 1885 Roger de la Fresnaye, French sculptor/painter
- 1886 Boris Grigoriev, Russian painter (d. 1939)
- 1888 Carl Schmitt, German nazi-lawyer (Verfassungslehre)
- 1888 Lyman Bryson, Valentine Nebr, educator (UN Casebook)
- 1889 Alfred E Green, Perris CA, director (Copacabana, Jolson Story)
- 1890 Arthur W Tedder of Glenguin, British air marshal (WWII)
- 1890 Georg Annenkov, Russian/French painter
- 1894 Walter Wanger, [Feuchtwanger], US producer (Stagecoach)
- 1895 Dolly Wilde, English socialite (d. 1941)
- 1897 Bull Connor, American law enforcement official (d. 1973)
- 1898 Hendrik J Pos, Dutch philosopher/CEO (Committee of Watchfulness)
- 1898 Herman de Man, [Salomon H Hamburger], Dutch writer/Radio Orange
E. B. White
1899 E. B. White, American writer (Charlotte's Web, Elements of Style), born in Mount Vernon, New York (d. 1985)
E. B. White
- 1902 Leo Collard, Belgian minister of Education (1946/54-58)
- 1902 Samuel Abraham Goldsmith, Dutch/US phycist
- 1903 Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (d. 1976)
- 1906 Herbert Wehner, German communist/anti-communist politician (SPD)
- 1909 Jacques Clemens, Dutch Catholic priest, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 2018)
- 1910 John Francis Boyd, journalist
- 1913 Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, American sci-fi author (Space Lords)
- 1913 Cordwainer Smith, American writer (d. 1966)
- 1915 Colin Kelly, American B-17 Flying Fortress pilot and 1st US air hero during WW II, born in Madison, Florida (d. 1941)
- 1915 George Ivan Smith, diplomat
- 1916 Gough Whitlam, Australian politician (Prime Minister, 1972-1975), born in Kew, Melbourne (d. 2014)
- 1918 Venetia Burney [Phair], British woman credited with naming Clyde Tombaugh's discovered planet "Pluto" (1930), born in Oxford, United Kingdom (d. 2009)
- 1924 Claus Bremer, German dramatist, born in Hamburg (d. 1996)
- 1924 César Lattes, Brazilian physicist (d. 2005)
- 1926 Ralph D Abernathy, American president (SCLC)
- 1926 Frederick Buechner, American author
- 1928 Nic Jonk, sculptor/painter (Jonas & the Whale)
- 1929 David Kelly, Irish actor (Grandpa Joe-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fawlty Towers), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 2012)
- 1930 Harold Bloom, American literary critic, born in the Bronx, New York (d. 2019)
- 1931 Hans Klein, politician
- 1931 Herman de Vries, Dutch sculptor
- 1931 Tullio Regge, Italian physicist
- 1933 Olga Havlova, political activist
Giorgio Armani
1934 Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer (American Gigolo), born in Piacenza, Italy
Giorgio Armani
- 1935 Oliver Napier, Northern Irish politician
- 1937 Pai Hsien-yung, Taiwanese writer (Taipei People), born in Guilin, China
- 1939 Seth Gaaikema, Dutch night club performer
- 1940 Terry Patchett, politician
- 1940 Yvon Charbonneau, French Canadian union leader and politician
- 1944 Peter de Savary, English financier/multi-millionaire
- 1944 Myra Gale Brown, former wife of Jerry Lee Lewis
- 1945 Patrick Joseph McGrath, Catholic bishop
- 1946 Edward J Markey, (Rep-D-MA, 1976- )
- 1947 Bo Lundgren, Swedish politician
- 1950 Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistani nuclear physicist
- 1951 Lawrence J Delucas, PhD/astronaut (STS 50), born in Syracuse, New York
- 1952 John Kettley, English weather forecaster
- 1960 Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-born American criminal famous for kidnapping 3 women between 2002-4, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico (d. 2013)
- 1964 Kyrill, Prince of Preslav, titular Bulgarian royal family
- 1968 Michael Geist, Canadian academic
- 1983 Evan Roberts, American radio broadcaster
- 1987 Matej Gaspar, Yugoslavia, 5,000,000,000th person (UN)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1867 Businesswoman Hetty Green (32) weds Edward Henry Green
Hetty Green
Wedding of Interest
1877 Scientist and inventor Alexander Graham Bell (30) weds Mabel Hubbard (19) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Alexander Graham Bell
Deaths in History
- 155 Pius I, bishop of Rome (approx 140-155) saint and martyr, dies
- 472 Anthemius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
- 937 King Rudolph II of Burgundy
- 969 Olga of Kiev, Regent and ruler of Kievan Rus, dies at about 79
- 1174 Amalrik I, [Morri], French King of Jerusalem, dies
- 1183 Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
- 1302 Jacques de Châtillon, count of Saint-Pol/gov of Flaanders, dies
- 1302 Pierre Flote, French 1st legist/chancellor of king Philip IV, dies
- 1302 Robert II, Count of Artois and French soldier, dies in the Battle of the Golden Spurs at 51
- 1382 Nicholas van Oresme, French philosopher/bishop of Lisieux, dies at 62
- 1502 Francisco de Bobadilla, Spanish soldier and second Governor of the Indies (1499-1502), dies during a storm at sea (born about 1450)
- 1535 Joachim I Nestor, ruler (Brandenburg), dies at 51
- 1540 Jan Szapolyai, anti-king of Hungarian, dies
- 1553 Mauritius, duke/monarch of Saksen (1547-53), dies of injuries at 32
- 1581 Peder Skram, Danish senator and naval hero
- 1593 Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1st surrealist painter, dies (birth date unkn)
- 1649 Margaret Coventry, 1st English earl of Shaftesbury, dies
- 1667 John Fox, Amsterdam writer, buried
- 1679 William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)
- 1686 Michel Anguier, French sculptor, dies at 75
- 1688 King Narai of Siam (b. 1629)
- 1690 Friedrich H duke van Schomberg, marshal, dies in battle at 75
- 1766 Elizabeth Farnese, wife of Philip V of Spain (b. 1692)
- 1774 Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, Irish-born New York pioneer
- 1775 Simon Boerum, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
- 1797 Ienăchiţă Văcărescu, Wallachian writer (b. 1740)
- 1806 James Smith, Irish/US attorney/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 87
- 1825 Thomas P. Grosvenor, American Revolutionary War soldier (b. 1744)
- 1844 Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (b. 1800)
- 1847 Joachim le Sage ten Broek, Dutch notary and publicist, dies at 71
- 1866 James Henry Lane, US General during Civil War (Union) and Senator (Kansas), commits suicide at 52
- 1874 Xavier de Mérode, Belgium minister to the Pope in Rome, dies at 54
- 1876 Ottho Gerhard Heldring, Dutch preacher and reformer (Heldring Institutions), dies at 72
- 1882 Eugène Simonis, Belgian sculptor, dies on 72nd birthday
- 1889 Gyula Reviczky, Hungarian author and poet, dies at 34
- 1896 Ernst Curtius, German archaeologist/historian (Olympia), dies at 81
- 1898 Charles Chanoine, French lt/mass murderer in Senegal, dies
- 1909 Simon Newcomb, celestial mechanics authority (Stars), dies at 74
- 1914 Julius Rodenberg [Levy], German writer (Die Deutsche Rundschau), dies at 83
- 1916 Rik Wouters, Belgian painter and sculptor (Doll Virgin), dies at 33
- 1921 Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist and inventor, dies at 75
- 1942 Simon de la Bella, Dutch president (NVV), dies in Dachau
- 1944 Wolfgang Redlich, German major/pilot, dies in battle
- 1948 Gerhard Kittel, German anti-semite theologist, dies
Aga Khan III
1957 Aga Khan III, Pakistani 48th Shia Iman, dies at 79
Aga Khan III
- 1958 Karel Wellens, Flemish painter, dies at 69
Owen D. Young
1962 Owen D. Young, American industrialist (RCA) and diplomat (Young Plan), dies at 87
Owen D. Young
- 1964 Maurice Thorez, French politician and secretary-general (French Communist Party), dies at 64
- 1966 Delmore Schwartz, American poet, short story writer and critic (Shenandoah), dies at 52
- 1967 Guy Favreau, French Canadian lawyer, politician and judge (b. 1917)
- 1971 John W. Campbell, American sci-fi writer (Space Beyond), dies at 61
- 1974 Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1891)
- 1975 Kurt Pinthus, German-American writer, dies at 89
- 1979 Claude Wagner, French-Canadian judge and politician, dies at 54
- 1983 Ross Macdonald [Kenneth Millar], American-Canadian detective novelist (Goodbye Look), dies at 67
- 1987 Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, American Rosh Yeshiva (b. 1901)
- 1988 Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger, British sociologist and criminologist, dies at 91
- 1991 Hitoshi Igarashi, Japanese interpreter (Satanic Verses), murdered
- 1992 Annette Fischer, Danish chairman Amnesty International, dies in a car crash at 46
- 1992 Antoon Hubben, Dutch Mayor of Maasbree and trade union leader, dies at 73
- 1993 Deng Yingchao, high ranking communist China official, dies at 88
- 1993 Henri van Soede, sub commandant (WWII), dies at about 83
- 1993 Kelly Ahrendt, 1st death by rabies in NY since 1954, dies
- 1993 Sergey Vozovikov, cosmonaut, dies during underwater test at 34
- 1994 Alan David Melville, polymath, dies at 82
Gary Kildall
1994 Gary Kildall, American computer scientist, creator of CP/M, dies at 52
Gary Kildall
- 1994 James Topping, author of CP/M, dies at 52
- 1994 Wim Jurg, corrector/chairman (Werelddambond FMJD), dies at 49
- 1995 John Cruickshank, French scholar, dies at 70
- 1996 Martin Corbett, English gay rights activist (Gay Liberation Front, OutRage!), dies of AIDS at 51
- 2000 Pedro Mir, Dominican poet (b. 1913)
- 2000 Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 78
- 2004 Laurance Rockefeller, American CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank) and philanthropist, dies at 94
- 2007 Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
- 2007 Alfonso López Michelsen, 24th President of Colombia (1974-78), dies at 94
- 2007 Glenda Adams, Australian author (b. 1939)
- 2007 Ed Mirvish, American-Canadian businessman (Honest Ed's) and philanthropist, dies at 92
- 2008 Michael DeBakey, Lebanese-American cardiac surgeon and artificial heart pioneer, dies at 99
- 2009 Ji Xianlin, Chinese linguist and paleographer (b.1911)
- 2013 Eugene Wilkinson, American naval officer, dies at 94
- 2013 Robert Crichton-Brown, Australian businessman and CEO (Rothmans International), dies at 93
- 2015 Satoru Iwata, Japanese CEO of Nintendo (Nintendo DS and Wii), dies of cancer at 55
- 2015 Claudia Alexander, Canadian-born American NASA Scientist (led Galileo mission to Jupiter), dies of cancer at 56