Events in History
- 649 Theodore I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1027 Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks
- 1264 Battle of Lewes, 2nd Barons' War: Simon de Montfort the younger, Earl of Leicester, defeats English King Henry III
Royal Coronation
1483 Coronation of Charles VIII of France ("Charles the Affable")
Charles VIII
Assassination
1610 Henry IV of France is assassinated by fanatical Catholic François Ravaillac who stabs him to death in the streets of Paris
- 1638 Admiral Adam Westerwolt conquers Batticaloa, Ceylon
Event of Interest
1702 Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Warsaw
Charles XII
Constitution of the United States
1787 Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution
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Event of Interest
1796 English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire
Edward Jenner
- 1800 Friedrich von Schiller's "Macbeth" premieres in Weimar
Historic Expedition
1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition commissioned by Thomas Jefferson sets out from St Louis for Pacific Coast
Meriwether Lewis
Thomas Jefferson
William Clark
Historic Invention
1853 Gail Borden, land surveyor, newspaper publisher and inventor, patents his process for condensed milk
Gail Borden
- 1861 The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite, strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain
- 1862 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph
- 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi takes place
- 1868 Japanese Boshin War: end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō
- 1874 1st admission charge at a football game, Harvard beats Uni of McGill (Montreal) 3-0
- 1878 Vaseline is granted a patent (U.S. Patent 127,568)
- 1879 The first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrive in Fiji aboard the Leonidas
- 1884 Anti-Monopoly party forms in US
- 1889 The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London
Event of Interest
1890 British sailor David Beatty is promoted to sub-lieutenant
David Beatty
Treaty of Interest
1897 Great Britain signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
Menelik II
Event of Interest
1903 President Theodore Roosevelt visits San Francisco
Theodore Roosevelt
- 1907 Sweden adopts universal suffrage for elections to its lower house and proportional representation for both houses
- 1908 1st passenger flight in an airplane
- 1910 Canada authorizes issuing of silver dollar coins
- 1913 Frans Hals museum opens in Haarlem, Netherlands
- 1914 Chic Jim Scott no-hits Cleve, gives up 2 hits in 10th & loses 1-0
- 1919 Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical In hac tanta
- 1921 Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death in Ohio
Benito Mussolini
Historic Publication
1925 Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs Dalloway" is published by The Hogarth Press
Virginia Woolf
- 1927 Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg
- 1927 The University of Chicago's local collegiate organization, Phi Sigma, becomes incorporated under Illinois law as Eta Sigma Phi, the National Honorary Classical Fraternity
- 1928 John McGraw is knocked down by a taxicab & suffers a broken leg
- 1931 Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration
- 1932 "We Want Beer!" parade in NY
- 1935 LA's Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US
- 1935 Plebiscite in the Philippines ratifies independence agreement
- 1939 Lina Medina of Peru becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five
- 1940 British Local Defence Volunteers forms, an armed citizen militia designed to support the British Army during the Second World War. It is later renamed the Home Guard.
- 1940 Admiral Johannes Furstner, Royal Dutch Navy, departs to England
- 1940 German breakthrough at Sedan
- 1940 Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
- 1940 Nazis bomb Rotterdam (600-900 dead), Netherlands surrenders to Germany
- 1941 3,600 Parisian Jews arrested
- 1942 US Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) forms
- 1943 Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine
- 1944 91 German bombers harass Bristol
- 1944 British troops occupy Kohima
Erwin Rommel
Adolf Hitler
Event of Interest
1945 Physician Joseph G. Hamilton injects misdiagnosed cancer patient Albert Stevens (CAL-1) with 131 kBq (3.55 µCi) of plutonium without his knowledge. Stevens lives another 20 years, surviving the highest known accumulated radiation dose in any human
Albert Stevens
Joseph Gilbert Hamilton
Israeli Declaration of Independence
1948 Israel declares independence from British administration
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Event of Interest
1948 Golda Meir (Meyerson) is one of the signatories of Israel’s independence declaration
Golda Meir
Historic Invention
1949 US President Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
Harry Truman
- 1950 Pitts Johnny Hopp goes 6 for 6 including 2 HRs
- 1954 Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
- 1955 US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
- 1955 Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania
- 1960 USSR launch 1st (unmanned) space capsule
- 1960 Virgil Thomson's "Missa Pro Defunctis" premieres in Potsdam, NY
- 1961 Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama
Event of Interest
1962 Ex-president of Yugoslavia Milovan Djilas sentenced to 5 years in jail
Milovan Djilas
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
- 1962 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan elected second President of India
- 1963 Kuwait is 111th member of the United Nations
- 1965 2nd Chinese atom bomb explodes
- 1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1966 1st reported monitoring of pirate radio station WBBH (NJ)
Event of Interest
1968 Czech government announces liberalizing reforms under Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubček
Event of Interest
1968 RAF-leader Andreas Baader sentenced to 3 years in West Berlin
Andreas Baader
- 1969 Abortion & contraception legalized in Canada
- 1969 Last Chevrolet Corvair built
- 1970 Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U, Miss)
- 1970 Harry A Blackmun appointed to US Supreme Court
- 1970 NYC local newspaper "Our Town" begins publishing
- 1970 Red Army Faction leader Andreas Baader freed after serving 2 years in West Berlin
- 1970 The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
- 1972 A 13 year old Catholic girl is shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Ballymurphy, Belfast
Birthdays in History
- 1316 Charles IV, King of Bohemia (1346-78) and Holy Roman Emperor (1355-78). Dies 1378
- 1553 Margaret of Valois, Queen of France, wife of Henry IV (1572-99), daughter of Henry II, born in Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (d. 1615)
- 1666 Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
- 1679 Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow, Danish astronomer
- 1699 Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian field marshal (d. 1786)
- 1701 William Emerson, English mathematician (d. 1782)
- 1710 Adolf Frederik, King of Sweden (1751-70)
- 1725 Ludovico Manin, Venetian politician, last Doge of Venice (1789-97), born in Venice, Republic of Venice (d. 1802)
- 1727 Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (Blue Boy), baptized
- 1737 George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, British statesman (d. 1806)
- 1752 Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist (d. 1828)
- 1752 Timothy Dwight, American theologian (d. 1817)
- 1771 Robert Owen, Welsh factory owner and utopian socialist, born in Newtown, Wales (d. 1858)
- 1781 Friedrich von Raumer, German historian and parliamentarian
- 1798 Frantisek Palacky, Czech historian
- 1814 Charles Beyer, German-British locomotive engineer (d. 1876)
- 1817 Alexander Kaufmann, German poet (d. 1893)
- 1830 George Pierce Doles, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
- 1832 Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (d. 1903)
- 1836 James Patrick Major, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1877)
- 1846 Arnold Kerdijk, Dutch lib politician/founder (Social Weekly newspaper)
- 1846 Pieter W A Cort van de Linden, Dutch premier (1913-18)
- 1863 John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician and founder of the Fields Medal, born in Hamilton, Ontario (d. 1932)
- 1867 Kurt Eisner, German premier of revolutionary Bavaria (1918-19)
Magnus Hirschfeld
1868 Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and gay rights advocate, born in Kolberg, Prussia (d. 1935)
Magnus Hirschfeld
- 1872 Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinals (d. 1961)
- 1880 Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
- 1881 G. Murray Hulbert, American politician (d. 1950)
- 1883 Jan Olieslagers, Belgian aviation pioneer (Antwerp Devil)
- 1883 Julian Eltinge, American vaudeville star, female impersonator, born in Newtownville, Massachusetts (d. d. 1941)
- 1893 Louis Verneuil, French playwright (d. 1952)
- 1897 Ed Ricketts, American marine biologist (d. 1948)
- 1899 Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (d. 1993)
- 1900 Hal Borland, American author (d. 1978)
- 1900 Edgar Wind, German art historian (d. 1971)
- 1901 Robert Ritter, German psychologist (d. 1951)
- 1904 Hans Albert Einstein, American professor (d. 1973)
- 1904 Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (d. 1961)
- 1905 Jean Daniélou, French cardinal (d. 1974)
- 1906 Hastings Kamuzu Banda, president of Malawi (1964-94)
- 1907 Mohammed Ayub Khan, general/premier/president (Pakistan)
- 1907 Hans von der Groeben, German diplomat (d. 2005)
- 1907 Johnny Moss, American poker player (d. 1995)
- 1911 J Borremans, Belgian politician (communist)/MP
- 1912 Marguerite Fawdry, museum curator
- 1916 Marco Zanuso, Italian architect
- 1917 Herta Ryder, literary agent
- 1919 Heloise Bowles, columnist Heloise's mother (Hints from Heloise)
- 1919 Maarten Vrolijk, Dutch soc-dem party minister (CRM 1965-66)
- 1919 Solange Chaput-Rolland, French-Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2001)
- 1919 John Hope, American meteorologist (d. 2002)
- 1922 Agha Hasan Abedi, banker
Franjo Tuđman
1922 Franjo Tuđman, Croatian politician and President of Croatia (1990-1999), born in Veliko Trgovišće, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (d. 1999)
Franjo Tuđman
- 1923 Diane Arbus [Nemerov], American photographer (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar), born in NYC, New York (d. 1971) [1]
- 1923 Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician
- 1924 Sonia d’Artois, British Canadian WWII resistance agent, born in Eastchurch, Kent (d. 2014)
- 1924 Brad Anderson, American cartoonist (Marmaduke), born in Jamestown, New York (d. 2015)
- 1927 Herbert W. Franke, Austrian writer
- 1928 Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch scientist and inventor
- 1929 Barbara Branden, Canadian writer and lecturer, (d. 2013)
- 1930 Edward V "Ned" Regan, Planfield NJ, (Controller-R-NY, 1978- )
- 1930 Phillipo Seed, social work academic
- 1932 Robert Bechtle, American painter
- 1939 M N Fathulin, cosmonaut
- 1940 Chay Blyth, English sailor (Alone in Order to the World)
- 1940 'H'. Jones, British Soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
- 1942 Byron L Dorgan, (Rep-D-ND, 1981- )
- 1942 Lord McAlpine, English contractor/multi-millionaire
- 1943 Alan B Mollohan, (Rep-D-WV, 1983- )
- 1943 Elizabeth Ray, Marshall NC, congressman Wayne Hays' lover
- 1943 Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland
- 1947 Karin Struck, German feminist writer, born in Groß Kiesow
- 1950 Jill Stein, American physician, activist and Green Party nominee for President (2016), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1952 Donald R McMonagle, Mjr USAF/astronaut (STS 39, 54, 66), born in Flint, Michigan
- 1953 Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia
- 1954 Jens Sparschuh, German writer
- 1956 Gillian [Marucha] Bradshaw, American sci-fi author (Hawk of May)
- 1956 Steve Hogarth, Kendal England, vocals (Marillion-Clutching at Straws)
- 1957 William G Gregory, Lockport NY, Mjr USAF/Astronaut (STS 67)
- 1964 James M. Kelly, Capt USAF/astronaut, born in Burlington, Iowa
- 1965 Eoin Colfer, Irish writer
- 1971 Sofia Coppola, American director (Lost in Translation), born in NYC, New York
- 1972 Mark Ruskell, England-born Scottish politician
- 1975 Nicki Sørensen, Danish road cyclist
- 1984 Gary Ablett Jr, Australian Rules Football midfielder (Brownlow Medal 2009, 13; 8-time All Australian; Geelong, Gold Coast), born in Moriac, Victoria
Mark Zuckerberg
1984 Mark Zuckerberg, American internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Facebook, born in White Plains, New York
Mark Zuckerberg
- 1996 Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ, born in Amstelveen, Netherlands
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1771 King of France Louis XVIII weds princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy at the Palace of Versailles
Louis XVIII
Wedding of Interest
1962 Princess Sophia of Greece weds Don Juan Carlos of Spain
Juan Carlos I
Wedding of Interest
1994 Software salesman Todd Beamer (25) weds Lisa Brosious in Peekskill, New York
Todd Beamer
- 2004 Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (35), eldest son of Margrethe II of Denmark and heir apparent, marries Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (32), at Copenhagen Cathedral
Deaths in History
- 347 Pachomius, Egyptian monastery founder/abbot (Coenobieten), dies
- 649 Theodore, Greek Pope (642-49) (excommunicated by Paul II), dies
- 964 John XII [Octavianus], Pope (955-64), dies
- 1470 Charles VIII of Sweden, King of Sweden (1448–57, 1464–65 and 1467-70) and Norway (1449–50), dies at 60
- 1565 Nicolaus von Amsdorf, German reformation theologist, dies at 81
- 1574 Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru, dies at 95
- 1608 Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
Henry IV of France
1610 Henry IV, 1st Bourbon King of Navarra (1572-1610) and France (1589-1610), assassinated at 56
Louis XIII
1643 Louis XIII, King of France (1610-43), dies at 41
Louis XIII
- 1649 Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (b. 1600)
- 1667 Georges de Scudéry, French writer and dramatist (L'Amour tyrannique), dies at 65
- 1688 Antoine Furetière, French writer (b. 1619)
- 1726 John B Wellekens, poet/painter (Wedding Guests), dies
- 1726 Moshe Darshan, Rabbi/author (Torat Ahsam), dies
- 1742 Dominique Marie Valet, French RC/old-catholic bishop, dies at 64
- 1754 Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (L’École des Mères), dies at 62
- 1761 Thomas Simpson, English mathematician (rule of Simpson), dies at 50
- 1818 Matthew Lewis, English novelist (The Monk), dies at 42
- 1832 John van Speijk, Dutch heroic sailor, buried
- 1860 Ludwig Bechstein, German writer (b. 1801)
- 1864 William N Green Jr, Union brigadier general, dies
- 1868 John Newton Brown, American publisher and Baptist teacher, dies at 64
- 1873 Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)
- 1878 Ookubo Toshimichi, Japanese statesman, samurai, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (b. 1830)
- 1887 Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
- 1887 William Burnham Woods, American politician, judge, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 62
- 1889 Volney E. Howard, American politician, dies at 79
- 1893 Earnest E Kummer, German mathematician (surface of Kummer), dies at 83
- 1893 Johan T Buys, Dutch lawyer, dies at 65
- 1906 Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and statesman (b. 1829)
- 1912 August Strindberg, Swedish writer (Deaddans), dies at 63
- 1912 Frederik VIII C W K, King of Denmark (1906-12), dies at 68
- 1918 James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American newspaper publisher (b. 1841)
Henry John Heinz
1919 Henry John Heinz, German-American entrepreneur who founded prepared-foods company (H.J. Heinz Company-57 varieties), dies at 74
Henry John Heinz
- 1923 Charles de Freycinet, French prime minister (b. 1828)
- 1925 Henry Rider Haggard, British author (King Solomon's Mines, She, Dawn), dies at 68
- 1930 Władysław Orkan [Franciszek Ksawery Smaciarz], Polish author (Nowele Zebrane), dies at 54
- 1931 David Belasco, American theatrical producer (b. 1853)
- 1931 Denys Finch Hatton, English big-game hunter, dies at 44
Magnus Hirschfeld
1935 Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and gay rights advocate, dies of a heart attack at 67
Magnus Hirschfeld
- 1936 Edmund Allenby, Viscount Allenby, English Fieldmarshal, General in Egypt during WWI, dies at 74
- 1936 Samuel Pierre l'Honoré Naber, Dutch rear-admiral and librarian, dies at 71
- 1940 Eddy [Charles E] du Platform, writer/poet, dies
- 1940 Emma Goldman, American anarchist and author (Living My Life), dies at 70
- 1940 Jacob van Gelderen, economist/sociologist/SDAP-2nd-Chamber, dies at 49
- 1940 Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (Forum, New Elite), suicide at 38
- 1940 Edgar du Perron, Dutch author and poet (Land of Origin), dies at 40
- 1940 Willem Johannes Leyds, Dutch-South Africa lawyer and diplomat (State Secretary of the South African Republic), dies at 81
- 1943 Henri La Fontaine, Belgian international lawyer (Nobel 1913), dies at 89
- 1945 Heber J. Grant, 7th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 88
- 1947 John Ray Sinnock, US chief engraver (1925-47), dies at 59
- 1953 Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Japanese-American painter, etcher and lithographer, dies at 59
- 1954 Heinz Guderian, German general during WWII, dies at 65
- 1955 Betty Ann Davies, dies at 44
- 1956 Robert Willem Pieter Peereboom, Dutch editor in chief (Haarlem Newspaper), dies at 64
- 1957 Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)
- 1965 Frances Perkins, American politician and 1st woman to hold cabinet-level position (Labor 1933-45), dies at 83
- 1966 Georgia BD Camp Johnson, American poet/playwright, dies at 88
- 1966 Megan Lloyd George, English politician (1st female MP for Welsh - Carmarthen), dies at 64
- 1968 Husband Edward Kimmel, commandant US Ocean fleet WW II, dies at 86
- 1973 Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet, dies at 67
- 1975 Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-American television pioneer (Alexanderson alternator), dies at 97
- 1978 Bill Lear, American engineer, manufacturer and CEO (Lear Jet Corp), dies at 75
- 1979 Paul van 't Veeer, Dutch journalist/writer (Vrije Volk), dies at 57
- 1982 Baron Mariel-Henri Jaspar, Belgian minister/ambassador, dies
- 1983 Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican attorney and President of Mexico (1946-52), dies at 80
- 1983 Roger J. Traynor, American judge (b. 1900)
- 1984 Walter Rauff, German colonel (b. 1906)
- 1985 Mohammed Munir, Indonesian worker's union leader, executed
- 1988 Willem Drees, Dutch statesman of the Labour Party (PvdA) and Prime Minister of the Netherlands, dies at 101
- 1991 Ast Fonteyne, Flemish lecture artist, dies
- 1991 Herman Niels, Flemish radio director, dies
Jiang Qing
1991 Jiang Qing [Madame Mao], Chinese communist and wife of Mao Zedong, commits suicide at 77
Jiang Qing
- 1991 John Edward Craven, dies
- 1991 Shintaro Abe, minister of Exterior of Japan (1982-86), dies
- 1993 Patrick Haemers, Belgian criminal, commits suicide at 40
- 1993 William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (Hearst Newspapers) and 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 85
- 1995 Maezumi Hakuyu Taizan Koun, teacher (Zen Buddhism), dies at 64
- 1995 Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1972 for ribonuclease,) dies at 79
- 1996 Edward John Gurney, American politician, US senator (1969-74), dies at 82
- 1996 Qazaleh Alizadeh, writer, dies at 48
- 1996 Vera Chapman, English writer and Tolkien Society founder, dies at 98
- 1997 Harry Blackstone, Jr., American stage magician (Blackstone Book of Magic & Illusion), dies of cancer at 62
- 1997 Princess Caradja-Kretzulesco, descendant of Dracula, dies at 76
- 1998 Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist (b. 1890)
- 2000 Obuchi Keizo, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- 2003 William Jackson [Pepper LaBeija], American drag queen and fashion designer, dies of a heart attack at 54
- 2006 Stanley Kunitz, American poet (b. 1905)
- 2007 Mary Goldsmith, American ceramist (b. 1908)
- 2007 Ülo Jõgi, Estonian freedom fighter (b. 1921)
- 2010 Goh Keng Swee, former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918)
- 2014 Stephen Sutton, English cancer blogger (Stephen's Story), dies at 19
- 2017 Elske ter Veld, Dutch politician (State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment), dies at 72
- 2018 Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (The Right Stuff), dies at 88
- 2019 Grumpy Cat [Tardar Sauce], American cat internet celebrity, dies following complications from urinary tract infection at 7