Events

2021

The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.

2020

A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.

2013

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.

2011

Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.

2008

The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.

2005

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.

2001

Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.

2000

Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.

1999

The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.

1995

Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.

1993

The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.

1989

A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.

1985

Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.

1976

A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.

1975

India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.

1975

South Vietnamese forces withdraw from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.

1973

The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.

1971

Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.

1971

Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.

1971

Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.

1960

Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.

1956

Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.

1943

World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.

1942

World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.

1936

The Jaffa riots commence, initiating the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.

1927

Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.

1925

Colo-Colo, the most successful and popular soccer football team in the South American nation of Chile, was founded at the El Llano Stadium in San Miguel, Santiago, by footballer David Arellano and some of his teammates who had also left the Deportes Magallanes club.

1903

The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.

1861

American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.

1839

The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.

1818

French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.

1810

Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.

1809

An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.

1782

John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy.

1775

American Revolutionary War: The war begins during the Battles of Lexington and Concord with a victory of American minutemen and other militia over British forces, later referred to as the "shot heard round the world".

1775

American Revolutionary War: Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston begins with American militias blocking land access to the British-held city.

1770

Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.

1770

Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.

1713

With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717.

1677

The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.

1608

In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.

1572

England and France sign an alliance against Spain in the treaty of Blois.

1539

The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.

1529

Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protest the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.

1506

The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which about two thousand Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.

1042

Following the attempt of Byzantine Emperor Michael V Kalaphates to depose his wife and empress Zoe Porphyrogenita, a popular uprising in Constantinople breaks out with the intention to restore her.

1024

Election of Pope John XIX following the death of his brother Pope Benedict VIII.

531

Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).

65

The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested.

Births

2016

The Rizzler, American internet personality

2007

Ben Kindel, Canadian ice hockey player

2003

Jackson Merrill, American baseball player

2002

Loren Gray, American singer and internet personality

2001

Dalton Knecht, American basketball player

2001

PinkPantheress, British singer-songwriter and record producer

1999

Sebastian Kris, Australian-NewZealand rugby league player

1991

Kelly Olynyk, Canadian basketball player

1990

Jackie Bradley Jr., American baseball player

1990

Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer

1989

Simu Liu, Canadian actor

1987

Joe Hart, English footballer

1987

Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player

1986

Candace Parker, American basketball player

1983

Joe Mauer, American baseball player

1982

Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter

1982

Ali Wong, American comedian and actress

1981

Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor

1981

Lise Klaveness, Norwegian footballer and lawyer, president of the Norwegian Football Federation

1981

Troy Polamalu, American football player

1979

Kate Hudson, American actress

1978

James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1978

Amanda Sage, American-Austrian painter and educator

1976

Michelle Feldman, American bowler

1975

Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer and coach

1974

Madeleine Peyroux, American French jazz and blues singer-songwriter

1972

Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, Brazilian footballer

1970

Kelly Holmes, English athlete and double Olympic champion

1968

Ashley Judd, American actress

1968

Mswati III, King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland)

1966

Véronique Gens, French soprano and actress

1966

Paul Reiffel, Australian cricketer and umpire

1965

Suge Knight, American record executive

1960

Gustavo Petro, Colombian politician, 34th and current President of Colombia

1960

Frank Viola, American baseball player and coach

1957

Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries

1956

Anne Glover, Scottish biologist and academic

1954

Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager (died 2023)

1952

Simon Cowell, English conservationist and author (died 2024)

1951

Jóannes Eidesgaard, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands

1946

Tim Curry, English actor and singer

1944

James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

1944

Bernie Worrell, American keyboard player and songwriter (died 2016)

1943

Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (died 2014)

1941

Michel Roux, French-English chef and author (died 2020)

1939

Clay Shaw, American accountant, judge, and politician (died 2013)

1939

Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (died 2026)

1937

Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author (died 2017)

1937

Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines

1936

Wilfried Martens, Belgian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Belgium (died 2013)

1935

Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (died 2002)

1933

Dickie Bird, English cricketer and umpire (died 2025)

1933

Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (died 1967)

1932

Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor (died 2023)

1931

Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist and author (died 2004)

1928

John Horlock, English engineer and academic (died 2015)

1928

Azlan Shah of Perak, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (died 2014)

1928

Richard Garwin, American physicist (died 2025)

1928

Alexis Korner, British blues musician and radio broadcaster (died 1984)

1927

Cora Sue Collins, American child actress (died 2025)

1925

Hugh O'Brian, American actor (died 2016)

1922

Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (died 1993)

1921

Anna Lee Aldred, American jockey (died 2006)

1921

Leon Henkin, American logician (died 2006)

1921

Roberto Tucci, Italian Jesuit leader, cardinal, and theologian (died 2015)

1920

Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (died 2015)

1920

Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (died 2013)

1920

Ragnar Ulstein, Norwegian journalist and war historian (died 2019)

1917

Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (died 2012)

1913

Ken Carpenter, American discus thrower and coach (died 1984)

1912

Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)

1908

Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (died 1990)

1903

Eliot Ness, American law enforcement agent (died 1957)

1902

Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author and screenwriter (died 1989)

1900

Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (died 1978)

1900

Richard Hughes, English author, poet, and playwright (died 1976)

1900

Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (died 1991)

1900

Rhea Silberta, American Yiddish songwriter and singing teacher (died 1959)

1899

George O'Brien, American actor (died 1985)

1899

Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (died 1968)

1898

Constance Talmadge, American actress and producer (died 1973)

1897

Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (died 1970)

1897

Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese super-centenarian, oldest verified man ever (died 2013)

1894

Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (died 1966)

1892

Germaine Tailleferre, French composer and educator (died 1983)

1891

Françoise Rosay, French actress (died 1974)

1889

Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (died 1946)

1885

Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (died 1975)

1883

Henry Jameson, American soccer player (died 1938)

1883

Richard von Mises, Austrian-American mathematician and physicist (died 1953)

1882

Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (died 1954)

1879

Arthur Robertson, Scottish runner (died 1957)

1877

Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (died 1934)

1874

Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (died 1952)

1873

Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (died 1967)

1872

Alice Salomon, German social reformer (died 1948)

1863

Hemmo Kallio, Finnish actor (died 1940)

1861

Amalie Andersen, Norwegian actress (died 1924)

1835

Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (died 1888)

1832

José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916)

1831

Mary Louise Booth, American writer, editor and translator (died 1889)

1814

Louis Amédée Achard, French journalist and author (died 1875)

1806

Sarah Bagley, American labor organizer (died 1889)

1793

Ferdinand I of Austria (died 1875)

1787

Deaf Smith, American soldier (died 1837)

1785

Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (died 1858)

1758

William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish admiral (died 1831)

1757

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (died 1833)

1734

Karl von Ordóñez, Austrian violinist and composer (died 1786)

1721

Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (died 1793)

1715

James Nares, English organist and composer (died 1783)

1686

Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (died 1750)

1665

Jacques Lelong, French author (died 1721)

1658

Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German husband of Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (died 1716)

1655

George St Lo(e), Royal Navy officer and administrator (died 1718)

1633

Willem Drost, Dutch painter (died 1659)

1613

Christoph Bach, German musician (died 1661)

1603

Michel Le Tellier, French politician, French Minister of Defence (died 1685)

1593

Sir John Hobart, 2nd Baronet, English politician (died 1647)

1452

Frederick IV, King of Naples (died 1504)

Deaths

2026

George Ariyoshi, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii (born 1926)

2024

Daniel Dennett, American philosopher and author (born 1942)

2023

Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor (born 1998)

2023

Ron Hamilton, American musician (born 1950)

2022

Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian (born 1903)

2021

Walter Mondale, American politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States (born 1928)

2021

Jim Steinman, American composer, lyricist (born 1947)

2020

Ian Whitcomb, English singer-songwriter (born 1941)

2017

Lu Chao-Hsuan, Taiwanese guitarist, performer and educator. (born 1929)

2016

Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (born 1918)

2015

Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (born 1919)

2015

Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (born 1924)

2013

François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)

2013

Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (born 1924)

2012

Levon Helm, American musician and actor (born 1940)

2011

Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (born 1946)

2009

J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (born 1930)

2007

Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (born 1932)

2006

Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (born 1921)

2004

Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (born 1925)

2004

John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (born 1920)

2004

Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (born 1922)

2002

Reginald Rose, American writer (born 1920)

2000

Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (born 1918)

1999

Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian-German SS officer (born 1919)

1998

Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)

1993

David Koresh, American cult leader (born 1959)

1993

George S. Mickelson, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of South Dakota (born 1941)

1992

Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (born 1917)

1991

Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (born 1905)

1989

Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (born 1907)

1988

Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (born 1901)

1975

Percy Lavon Julian, American chemist and academic (born 1899)

1971

Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (born 1913)

1967

Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (born 1876)

1966

Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland; the Prime Minister of Finland (born 1881)

1961

Max Hainle, German swimmer (born 1882)

1960

Beardsley Ruml, American economist and statistician (born 1894)

1955

Jim Corbett, British-Indian colonel, hunter, and author (born 1875)

1952

Steve Conway, British singer (born 1921)

1950

Ernst Robert Curtius, French-German philologist and scholar (born 1886)

1949

Ulrich Salchow, Danish-Swedish figure skater (born 1877)

1941

Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (born 1878)

1940

Jack McNeela, Irish Republican Army, died on hunger strike

1937

Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English cartographer and politician (born 1856)

1937

William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and zoologist (born 1865)

1930

Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian businessman and politician (born 1827)

1926

Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian-Swiss statistician and theorist (born 1874)

1916

Ephraim Shay, American engineer, designed the Shay locomotive (born 1839)

1915

Thomas Playford, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (born 1837)

1914

Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (born 1839)

1909

Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (born 1836)

1906

Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859)

1906

Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (born 1850)

1903

Oliver Mowat, Canadian politician, third Premier of Ontario, eighth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (born 1820)

1901

Alfred Horatio Belo, American publisher, founded The Dallas Morning News (born 1839)

1893

Martin Körber, Estonian-German pastor, composer, and conductor (born 1817)

1882

Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (born 1809)

1881

Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1804)

1854

Robert Jameson, Scottish mineralogist and academic (born 1774)

1840

Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (born 1777)

1833

James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, Bahamian-English admiral and politician, 36th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (born 1756)

1831

Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (born 1765)

1824

Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (born 1788)

1813

Benjamin Rush, American physician and educator (born 1745)

1791

Richard Price, Welsh-English preacher and philosopher (born 1723)

1776

Jacob Emden, German rabbi and author (born 1697)

1768

Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (born 1697)

1739

Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician and academic (born 1682)

1733

Elizabeth Hamilton, countess of Orkney (born 1657)

1689

Christina, queen of Sweden (born 1626)

1686

Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish historian and playwright (born 1610)

1629

Sigismondo d'India, Italian composer (born 1582)

1619

Jagat Gosain, Mughal empress (born 1573)

1618

Thomas Bastard, English priest and author (born 1566)

1608

Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English poet, playwright, and politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1536)

1588

Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (born 1528)

1578

Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (born 1530)

1567

Michael Stifel, German monk and mathematician (born 1487)

1560

Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (born 1497)

1431

Adolph III, count of Waldeck (born 1362)

1405

Thomas West, 1st Baron West, English nobleman (born 1335)

1390

Robert II, king of Scotland (born 1316)

1321

Gerasimus I, patriarch of Constantinople

1054

Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1002)

1044

Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine

1013

Hisham II, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (born 966)

1012

Ælfheah of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint (born 954)

843

Judith of Bavaria, Frankish empress

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