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July 29 in History
- 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.
- 238 – The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor.
- 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.
- 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire’s second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week.
- 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany).
- 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6.
- 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
- 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
- 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
- 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- 1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
- 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
- 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
- 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
- 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning “Memoir on the Diffraction of Light”, precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
- 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
- 1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
- 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
- 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
- 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.
- 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
- 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
- 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
- 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
- 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
- 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
- 1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
- 1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
- 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
- 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
- 1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
- 1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
- 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- 1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
- 1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
- 1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
- 1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
- 1973 – During the Dutch Grand Prix driver Roger Williamson was killed in the race, after a suspected tire failure caused the car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.
- 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
- 1980 – Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.
- 1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
- 1981 – After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
- 1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
- 1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
- 1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
- 1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
- 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
- 2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.
- 2013 – Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.
- 2019 – Prison riot between rival gangs broke out in Brazil, at least 57 people have been killed.
Births on July 29
- 869 – Muhammad al-Mahdi, Iraqi 12th Imam (d. 941)
- 996 – Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman (d. 1075)
- 1166 – Henry II, French nobleman and king of Jerusalem (d. 1197)
- 1356 – Martin the Elder, king of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (d. 1410)
- 1537 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, Spanish nobleman (d. 1590)
- 1573 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania-Stettin (d. 1618)
- 1580 – Francesco Mochi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
- 1605 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymn-writer (d. 1659)
- 1646 – Johann Theile, German organist and composer (d. 1724)
- 1744 – Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (d. 1830)
- 1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1845)
- 1797 – Daniel Drew, American businessman and financier (d. 1879)
- 1801 – George Bradshaw, English cartographer and publisher (d. 1853)
- 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (d. 1859)
- 1806 – Horace Abbott, American businessman and banker (d. 1887)
- 1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1900)
- 1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor (d. 1893)
- 1841 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (d. 1912)
- 1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (d. 1901)
- 1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (d. 1918)
- 1846 – Isabel, Brazilian princess (d. 1921)
- 1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (d. 1923)
- 1860 – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, English politician, 8th Governor of Queensland (d. 1940)
- 1867 – Berthold Oppenheim, Moravian rabbi (d. 1942)
- 1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (d. 1946)
- 1871 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian writer and journalist (d. 1930)
- 1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, lawyer, and politician (d. 1957)
- 1874 – J. S. Woodsworth, Canadian minister and politician (d. 1942)
- 1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress and acting teacher (d. 1949)
- 1878 – Don Marquis, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
- 1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (d. 1942)
- 1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Ralph Austin Bard, American financier and politician, 2nd Under Secretary of the Navy (d. 1975)
- 1885 – Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
- 1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (d. 1951)
- 1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (d. 1982)
- 1891 – Bernhard Zondek, German-Israeli gynecologist and academic (d. 1966)
- 1892 – William Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
- 1896 – Maria L. de Hernández, Mexican-American rights activist (d. 1986)
- 1897 – Neil Ritchie, Guyanese-English general (d. 1983)
- 1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
- 1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker and political activist (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1976)
- 1900 – Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (d. 1980)
- 1900 – Don Redman, American composer, and bandleader (d. 1964)
- 1904 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1982)
- 1904 – J. R. D. Tata, French-Indian pilot and businessman, founded Tata Motors and Tata Global Beverages (d. 1993)
- 1905 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
- 1905 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1961)
- 1905 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (d. 2006)
- 1906 – Thelma Todd, American actress and singer (d. 1935)
- 1907 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer (d. 1996)
- 1909 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American author (d. 1997)
- 1909 – Chester Himes, American-Spanish author (d. 1984)
- 1910 – Gale Page, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1911 – Foster Furcolo, American lawyer and politician, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Erich Priebke, German war criminal, leader of the 1944 Ardeatine massacre (d. 2013)
- 1914 – Irwin Corey, American actor and activist (d. 2017)
- 1915 – Bruce R. McConkie, American colonel and religious leader (d. 1985)
- 1915 – Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
- 1916 – Budd Boetticher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Charlie Christian, American guitarist (d. 1942)
- 1916 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (d. 2004)
- 1917 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Don Ingalls, American writer and producer (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Edwin O’Connor, American journalist and author (d. 1968)
- 1918 – Mary Lee Settle, American novelist, essayist, and memoirist (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Neville Jeffress, Australian businessman (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Richard Egan, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1921 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (d. 2012)
- 1923 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Gordon Mitchell, American bodybuilder and actor (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Lloyd Bochner, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Robert Horton, American actor (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Harold W. Kuhn, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Ted Lindsay, Canadian ice hockey player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer
- 1926 – Robert Kilpatrick, Baron Kilpatrick of Kincraig, Scottish physician, academic, and politician (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Harry Mulisch, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Paul Taylor, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Kjell Karlsen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2020)
- 1932 – Leslie Fielding, English diplomat
- 1932 – Nancy Kassebaum, American businesswoman and politician
- 1933 – Lou Albano, Italian-American wrestler, manager, and actor (d. 2009)
- 1933 – Colin Davis, English race car driver (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Robert Fuller, American actor and rancher
- 1933 – Randy Sparks, American folk singer-songwriter and musician (The New Christy Minstrels)
- 1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor and conductor (d. 2019)
- 1936 – Elizabeth Dole, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Labor
- 1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate
- 1938 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (d. 2005)
- 1938 – Jean Rochon, Canadian physician and politician
- 1940 – Betty Harris, American chemist
- 1940 – Winnie Monsod, Filipina economist and political commentator
- 1941 – Jennifer Dunn, American engineer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1941 – Goenawan Mohamad, Indonesian poet and playwright
- 1941 – David Warner, English actor
- 1942 – Doug Ashdown, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1943 – David Taylor, English snooker player and sportscaster
- 1944 – Jim Bridwell, American rock climber and mountaineer
- 1945 – Sharon Creech, American author and educator
- 1945 – Mircea Lucescu, Romanian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1946 – Ximena Armas, Chilean painter
- 1946 – Stig Blomqvist, Swedish race car driver
- 1946 – Neal Doughty, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1946 – Alessandro Gogna, Italian mountaineer and adventurer
- 1946 – Diane Keen, English actress
- 1946 – Aleksei Tammiste, Estonian basketball player
- 1947 – Dick Harmon, American golfer and coach (d. 2006)
- 1948 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1949 – Leslie Easterbrook, American actress
- 1949 – Jamil Mahuad, Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Ecuador
- 1950 – Jenny Holzer, American painter, author, and dancer
- 1951 – Susan Blackmore, English psychologist and theorist
- 1951 – Dan Driessen, American baseball player and coach
- 1951 – Dean Pitchford, American actor, director, screenwriter, and composer
- 1952 – Norman Blackwell, Baron Blackwell, English businessman and politician
- 1952 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player and sportscaster
- 1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Greek politician
- 1953 – Ken Burns, American director and producer
- 1953 – Geddy Lee, Canadian musician
- 1953 – Frank McGuinness, Irish poet and playwright
- 1953 – Tim Gunn, American television host and actor
- 1954 – Patti Scialfa, American musician
- 1955 – Jean-Hugues Anglade, French actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1955 – Dave Stevens, American illustrator (d. 2008)
- 1955 – Stephen Timms, English politician, Minister of State for Competitiveness
- 1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxer, trainer, and sportscaster
- 1956 – Ronnie Musgrove, American lawyer and politician, 62nd Governor of Mississippi
- 1956 – Faustino Rupérez, Spanish cyclist
- 1957 – Liam Davison, Australian author and educator (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Viktor Gavrikov, Lithuanian-Swiss chess player (d. 2016)
- 1957 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast and coach
- 1958 – Gail Dines, English-American author, activist, and academic
- 1958 – Simon Nye, English screenwriter and producer
- 1958 – Cynthia Rowley, American fashion designer
- 1959 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor, singer, and producer
- 1959 – Ruud Janssen, Dutch blogger and illustrator
- 1959 – Dave LaPoint, American baseball player and manager
- 1959 – John Sykes, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Didier Van Cauwelaert, French author
- 1962 – Carl Cox, English DJ and producer
- 1962 – Frank Neubarth, German footballer and manager
- 1962 – Scott Steiner, American wrestler
- 1962 – Vincent Rousseau, Belgian runner
- 1963 – Hans-Holger Albrecht, Belgian-German businessman
- 1963 – Jim Beglin, Irish footballer and sportscaster
- 1963 – Julie Elliott, English politician
- 1963 – Azeem Hafeez, Pakistani cricketer
- 1963 – Alexandra Paul, American actress and producer
- 1963 – Graham Poll, English footballer, referee, and journalist
- 1964 – Jaanus Veensalu, Estonian footballer
- 1965 – Luis Alicea, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
- 1965 – Dean Haglund, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1965 – Adam Holloway, English captain and politician
- 1965 – Stan Koziol, American soccer player (d. 2014)
- 1965 – Chang-Rae Lee, South Korean-American author and academic
- 1965 – Xavier Waterkeyn, Australian author
- 1965 – Woody Weatherman, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1966 – Sally Gunnell, English hurdler and sportscaster
- 1966 – Stuart Lampitt, English cricketer
- 1966 – Martina McBride, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1968 – Gideon Henderson, English geologist and academic
- 1968 – Paavo Lötjönen, Finnish cellist and educator
- 1970 – Adele Griffin, American author
- 1970 – Andi Peters, English journalist, actor, and producer
- 1970 – John Rennie, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1971 – Andrea Philipp, German sprinter
- 1972 – Wil Wheaton, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Stephen Dorff, American actor and producer
- 1973 – Denis Urubko, Kazakh mountaineer
- 1975 – Yoshihiro Akiyama, Japanese mixed martial artist
- 1975 – Lanka de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1975 – Corrado Grabbi, Italian footballer
- 1975 – Jaanus Sirel, Estonian footballer
- 1978 – Mike Adams, American baseball player
- 1978 – Marina Lazarovska, Macedonian tennis player
- 1979 – Karim Essediri, Tunisian footballer
- 1979 – Ronald Murray, American basketball player
- 1979 – Juris Umbraško, Latvian basketball player
- 1980 – Ryan Braun, Canadian-American baseball player
- 1980 – Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
- 1980 – Ben Koller, American drummer
- 1980 – John Morris, Australian rugby league player
- 1981 – Fernando Alonso, Spanish race car driver
- 1981 – Andrés Madrid, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Troy Perkins, American soccer player
- 1982 – Janez Aljančič, Slovenian footballer
- 1982 – Jônatas Domingos, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Allison Mack, American actress and criminal
- 1983 – Jason Belmonte, Australian bowler
- 1983 – Inés Gómez Mont, Mexican journalist and actress
- 1983 – Alexei Kaigorodov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Jerious Norwood, American football player
- 1983 – Elise Testone, American singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Oh Beom-seok, South Korean footballer
- 1984 – Chad Billingsley, American baseball player
- 1984 – Wilson Palacios, Honduran footballer
- 1985 – Besart Berisha, Albanian footballer
- 1985 – Okinoumi Ayumi, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1985 – Simon Santoso, Indonesian badminton player
- 1988 – Tarjei Bø, Norwegian biathlete
- 1989 – Grit Šadeiko, Estonian heptathlete
- 1991 – Dale Copley, Australian rugby league player
- 1991 – Irakli Logua, Russian footballer
- 1992 – Karen Torrez, Bolivian swimmer
- 1993 – Nicole Melichar, American tennis player
- 1994 – Liam O’Brien, Canadian ice hockey player
Deaths on July 29
- 238 – Balbinus, Roman emperor (b. 165)
- 238 – Pupienus, Roman emperor (b. 178)
- 451 – Tuoba Huang, prince of Northern Wei (b. 428)
- 796 – Offa of Mercia (b. 730)
- 846 – Li Shen, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
- 1030 – Olaf II of Norway (b. 995)
- 1095 – Ladislaus I of Hungary (b. 1040)
- 1099 – Pope Urban II (b. 1042)
- 1108 – Philip I of France (b. 1052)
- 1236 – Ingeborg of Denmark, Queen of France (b. 1175)
- 1326 – Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (b. 1259)
- 1504 – Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby (b. 1435)
- 1507 – Martin Behaim, German-Bohemian geographer and astronomer (b. 1459)
- 1573 – John Caius, English physician and academic (b. 1510)
- 1612 – Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat (b. 1554)
- 1644 – Pope Urban VIII (b. 1568)
- 1752 – Peter Warren, Irish admiral and politician (b. 1703)
- 1781 – Johann Kies, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1713)
- 1792 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
- 1813 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (b. 1771)
- 1833 – William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (b. 1759)
- 1839 – Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician and engineer (b. 1755)
- 1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1791)
- 1856 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (b. 1810)
- 1857 – Thomas Dick, Scottish minister, astronomer, and author (b. 1774)
- 1887 – Agostino Depretis, Italian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1813)
- 1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1853)
- 1895 – Floriano Peixoto, Brazilian general and politician, 2nd President of Brazil (b. 1839)
- 1900 – Umberto I of Italy (b. 1844)
- 1908 – Marie Adam-Doerrer (b. 1838)
- 1913 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and jurist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1838)
- 1918 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (b. 1863)
- 1924 – Sotirios Krokidas, Greek educator and politician, 110th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1852)
- 1934 – Didier Pitre, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1883)
- 1938 – Nikolai Krylenko, Russian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Prosecutor General of the Russian SFSR (b. 1885)
- 1950 – Joe Fry, English race car driver (b. 1915)
- 1951 – Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded Galatasaray S.K. (b. 1886)
- 1954 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
- 1960 – Hasan Saka, Turkish politician, 7th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Ronald Fisher, English biologist and statistician (b. 1890)
- 1962 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian-American flute player and educator (b. 1875)
- 1964 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (b. 1885)
- 1966 – Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigerian general and politician, 2nd Head of State of Nigeria (b. 1924)
- 1966 – Adekunle Fajuyi, Nigerian colonel (b. 1926)
- 1970 – John Barbirolli, English cellist and conductor (b. 1899)
- 1973 – Norm Smith, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1915)
- 1973 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (b. 1948)
- 1974 – Cass Elliot, American singer (b. 1941)
- 1974 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (b. 1899)
- 1976 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)
- 1978 – Andrzej Bogucki, Polish actor, operetta singer, and songwriter (b. 1904)
- 1979 – Herbert Marcuse, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1898)
- 1979 – Bill Todman, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
- 1981 – Robert Moses, American urban planner, designed the Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway (b. 1888)
- 1982 – Harold Sakata, American wrestler and actor (b. 1920)
- 1982 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (b. 1889)
- 1983 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1983 – Raymond Massey, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 1983 – David Niven, English military officer and actor (b. 1910)
- 1984 – Fred Waring, American television host and bandleader (b. 1900)
- 1987 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Indian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1894)
- 1990 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian academic and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911)
- 1992 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1952)
- 1994 – John Britton, American physician (b. 1925)
- 1994 – Dorothy Hodgkin, Egyptian-English biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1995 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Ric Nordman, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1919)
- 1996 – Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1920)
- 1996 – Jason Thirsk, American singer and bass player (b. 1967)
- 1998 – Jerome Robbins, American director, producer, and choreographer (b. 1918)
- 2001 – Edward Gierek, Polish soldier and politician (b. 1913)
- 2001 – Wau Holland, German computer scientist, co-founded Chaos Computer Club (b. 1951)
- 2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean soldier, founded the Revolutionary United Front (b. 1937)
- 2004 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress and singer (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (b. 1940)
- 2007 – Michel Serrault, French actor (b. 1928)
- 2007 – Tom Snyder, American journalist and talk show host (b. 1936)
- 2007 – Marvin Zindler, American journalist (b. 1921)
- 2008 – Bruce Edward Ivins, American scientist and bio-defense researcher (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Charles E. Wicks, American chemist and academic (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Tatiana Egorova, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1970)
- 2012 – August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (b. 1921)
- 2012 – James Mellaart, English archaeologist and author (b. 1925)
- 2012 – John Stampe, Danish footballer and coach (b. 1957)
- 2013 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1986)
- 2013 – Peter Flanigan, American banker and civil servant (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Tony Gaze, Australian soldier, pilot, and race car driver (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Munir Hussain, Indian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1929)
- 2014 – M. Caldwell Butler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Giorgio Gaslini, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
- 2014 – María Antonia Iglesias, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1945)
- 2014 – Péter Kiss, Hungarian engineer and politician (b. 1959)
- 2014 – Idris Muhammad, American drummer and composer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Thomas R. St. George, American soldier and author (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Antony Holland, English-Canadian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Peter O’Sullevan, Anglo-Irish sportscaster (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Mike Pyle, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Franklin H. Westervelt, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1930)
- 2018 – Oliver Dragojević, a Croatian recording artist (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Josip Peruzovic, Yugoslav-born American professional wrestler (b. 1947)
Holidays and observances on July 29
- Christian feast day:
- Lupus of Troyes
- Martha of Bethany (Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Church)
- Mary of Bethany
- Olaf II of Norway
- Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix
- July 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Somer’s Day can fall, while August 4 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before the first Monday in August. (Bermuda)
- International Tiger Day
- Mohun Bagan Day (India)
- National Anthem Day (Romania)
- National Thai Language Day (Thailand)
- Ólavsøka or Olsok, opening of the Løgting session. (Faroe Islands and the Nordic countries)
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June 25 in History
- 524 – The Franks are defeated by the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce.
- 841 – In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
- 1258 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Acre, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet sailing to relieve Acre.
- 1530 – At the Diet of Augsburg the Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and Electors of Germany.
- 1658 – Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- 1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.
- 1741 – Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary.
- 1786 – Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
- 1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1848 – A photograph of the June Days uprising becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.
- 1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
- 1900 – The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China.
- 1906 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania millionaire Harry Thaw shoots and kills prominent architect Stanford White.
- 1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
- 1910 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.
- 1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.
- 1935 – Colombia–Soviet Union relations are established.
- 1938 – Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the first President of Ireland.
- 1940 – World War II: The French armistice with Germany comes into effect.
- 1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
- 1943 – The left-wing German Jewish exile Arthur Goldstein is murdered in Auschwitz.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic countries, begins.
- 1944 – World War II: United States Navy and British Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.
- 1944 – The final page of the comic Krazy Kat is published, exactly two months after its author George Herriman died.
- 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
- 1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
- 1960 – Cold War: Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
- 1975 – Mozambique achieves independence from Portugal.
- 1975 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of internal emergency in India.
- 1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- 1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
- 1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
- 1991 – Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence by referendum from Yugoslavia.
- 1993 – Kim Campbell is sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
- 1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
- 1997 – The National Hockey League approved expansion franchises for Nashville (1998), Atlanta (1999), Columbus (2000), and Minneapolis-Saint Paul (2000).
- 1998 – In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
- 2017 – The World Health Organization estimates that Yemen has over 200,000 cases of cholera.
Births on June 25
- 1242 – Beatrice of England (d. 1275)
- 1328 – William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (d. 1397)
- 1371 – Joanna II of Naples (d. 1435)
- 1484 – Bartholomeus V. Welser, German banker (d. 1561)
- 1526 – Elisabeth Parr, Marchioness of Northampton (d. 1565)
- 1560 – Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
- 1568 – Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden (d. 1597)
- 1612 – John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (d. 1634)
- 1709 – Francesco Araja, Italian composer (d. 1762)
- 1715 – Joseph Foullon de Doué, French soldier and politician, Controller-General of Finances (d. 1789)
- 1755 – Natalia Alexeievna of Russia (d. 1776)
- 1799 – David Douglas, Scottish-English botanist and explorer (d. 1834)
- 1814 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist and engineer (d. 1896)
- 1825 – James Farnell, Australian politician, 8th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1888)
- 1852 – Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (d. 1926)
- 1858 – Georges Courteline, French author and playwright (d. 1929)
- 1860 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer and conductor (d. 1956)
- 1863 – Émile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat (d. 1935)
- 1864 – Walther Nernst, German chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- 1866 – Eloísa Díaz, Chilean doctor and Chile’s first female physician (d. 1950)
- 1874 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (d. 1944)
- 1884 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (d. 1917)
- 1884 – Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German-French art collector and historian (d. 1979)
- 1886 – Henry H. Arnold, American general (d. 1950)
- 1887 – George Abbott, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1887 – Frigyes Karinthy, Hungarian author, poet, and journalist (d. 1938)
- 1892 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese microbiologist and general (d. 1959)
- 1894 – Hermann Oberth, Romanian-German physicist and engineer (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Kay Sage, American painter and poet (d. 1963)
- 1900 – Marta Abba, Italian actress (d. 1988)
- 1900 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer (d. 1969)
- 1900 – Georgia Hale, American silent film actress and real estate investor (d. 1985)
- 1900 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Harold Roe Bartle, American businessman and politician, 47th Mayor of Kansas City (d. 1974)
- 1902 – Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu of Japan (d. 1953)
- 1903 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 1950)
- 1903 – Anne Revere, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1905 – Rupert Wildt, German-American astronomer and academic (d. 1976)
- 1907 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and academic (d. 2000)
- 1911 – William Howard Stein, American chemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- 1912 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Cyril Fletcher, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
- 1917 – Nils Karlsson, Swedish skier (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Claude Seignolle, French author (d. 2018)
- 1918 – P. H. Newby, English soldier and author (d. 1997)
- 1920 – Lassie Lou Ahern, American actress (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Celia Franca, English-Canadian ballerina and choreographer, founded the National Ballet of Canada (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Johnny Smith, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Sam Francis, American soldier and painter (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Jamshid Amouzegar, 43rd Prime Minister of Iran (d. 2016)
- 1924 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Dimitar Isakov, Bulgarian football player
- 1924 – Madan Mohan, Iraqi-Indian composer and director (d. 1975)
- 1924 – William J. Castagna, American lawyer and judge
- 1925 – Clifton Chenier, American singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 1987)
- 1925 – June Lockhart, American actress
- 1925 – Clay Evans, American Baptist pastor (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Robert Venturi, American architect and academic (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Virginia Patton, American actress and businesswoman
- 1926 – Margaret Anstee, English diplomat (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author and poet (d. 1973)
- 1926 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Stig Sollander, Swedish Alpine skier (d. 2019)
- 1927 – Antal Róka, Hungarian runner (d. 1970)
- 1927 – Chuck Smith, American pastor, founded the Calvary Chapel (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Arnold Wolfendale, English astronomer and academic
- 1928 – Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
- 1928 – John A. Wickham Jr., United States Army general
- 1928 – Michel Brault, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Peyo, Belgian author and illustrator, created The Smurfs (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Bill Russo, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Alex Toth, American animator and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1929 – Eric Carle, American author and illustrator
- 1929 – Francesco Marchisano, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1931 – V. P. Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (d. 2008)
- 1932 – Peter Blake, English painter and illustrator
- 1932 – Tim Parnell, English race car driver (d. 2017)
- 1932 – George Sluizer, French-Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, designed the Porto School of Architecture
- 1934 – Jean Geissinger, American baseball player (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Jack W. Hayford, American minister and author
- 1934 – Beatriz Sheridan, Mexican actress and director (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Ray Butt, English television producer and director (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Salihu Ibrahim, Nigerian Army Officer (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Taufiq Ismail, Indonesian poet and activist
- 1935 – Larry Kramer, American author, playwright, and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (d. 2020)
- 1935 – Don Demeter, American professional baseball player
- 1935 – Tony Lanfranchi, English race car driver (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Judy Howe, American artistic gymnast
- 1935 – Charles Sheffield, English-American mathematician, physicist, and author (d. 2002)
- 1936 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian engineer and politician, 3rd President of Indonesia (d. 2019)
- 1936 – Bert Hölldobler, German biologist and entomologist
- 1937 – Eddie Floyd, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
- 1937 – Derek Foster, Baron Foster of Bishop Auckland, English politician (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Doreen Wells, English ballerina and actress
- 1939 – Allen Fox, American tennis player and coach
- 1940 – Judy Amoore, Australian runner
- 1940 – Mary Beth Peil, American actress and singer
- 1940 – A. J. Quinnell, English-Maltese author (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Clint Warwick, English bass player (d. 2004)
- 1941 – Denys Arcand, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1941 – John Albert Raven, Scottish academic and ecologist
- 1942 – Nikiforos Diamandouros, Greek academic and politician
- 1942 – Willis Reed, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1942 – Michel Tremblay, Canadian author and playwright
- 1944 – Robert Charlebois, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1944 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Baba Gana Kingibe, Nigerian politician
- 1945 – Harry Womack, American singer (d. 1974)
- 1946 – Roméo Dallaire, Dutch-Canadian general and politician
- 1946 – Allen Lanier, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Ian McDonald, English guitarist and saxophonist
- 1947 – John Hilton, English table tennis player
- 1947 – John Powell, American discus thrower
- 1947 – Jimmie Walker, American actor and comedian
- 1949 – Richard Clarke, Irish archbishop
- 1949 – Patrick Tambay, French race car driver
- 1949 – Yoon Joo-sang, South Korean actor
- 1950 – Marcello Toninelli, Italian author and screenwriter
- 1951 – Eva Bayer-Fluckiger, Swiss mathematician and academic
- 1952 – Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal
- 1952 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
- 1952 – Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1952 – Alan Green, Northern Irish sportscaster
- 1952 – Kristina Abelli Elander, Swedish artist
- 1953 – Olivier Ameisen, French-American cardiologist and educator (d. 2013)
- 1953 – Ian Davis, Australian cricketer
- 1954 – Mario Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1954 – David Paich, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
- 1954 – Lina Romay, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Daryush Shokof, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1954 – Sonia Sotomayor, American lawyer and judge
- 1955 – Vic Marks, English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (d. 2018)
- 1956 – Frank Paschek, German long jumper
- 1956 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
- 1956 – Craig Young, Australian rugby player and coach
- 1957 – Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1958 – George Becali, Romanian businessman, politician
- 1959 – Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper and educator
- 1959 – Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1959 – Bobbie Vaile, Australian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1996)
- 1960 – Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, English-Scottish journalist and author
- 1960 – Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1960 – Craig Johnston, South African-Australian footballer and photographer
- 1960 – Laurent Rodriguez, French rugby player
- 1961 – Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, producer and singer
- 1963 – John Benjamin Hickey, American actor
- 1963 – Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author
- 1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
- 1963 – Mike Stanley, American baseball player
- 1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Phil Emery, Australian cricketer
- 1964 – Johnny Herbert, English race car driver and sportscaster
- 1964 – John McCrea, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1964 – Greg Raymer, American poker player and lawyer
- 1965 – Napole Polutele, French politician
- 1965 – Kerri Pottharst, Australian beach volleyball player
- 1965 – Joseph Hii Teck Kwong, Malaysian bishop
- 1966 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American basketball player
- 1967 – Tracey Spicer, Australian journalist
- 1968 – Adrian Garvey, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player
- 1968 – Vaios Karagiannis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1969 – Hunter Foster, American actor and singer
- 1969 – Zim Zum, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1970 – Ariel Gore, American journalist and author
- 1970 – Roope Latvala, Finnish guitarist
- 1970 – Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete and politician
- 1970 – Aaron Sele, American baseball player and scout
- 1971 – Karen Darke, English cyclist and author
- 1971 – Jason Gallian, Australian-English cricketer and educator
- 1971 – Rod Kafer, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish-Scottish footballer and manager
- 1971 – Michael Tucker, American baseball player
- 1972 – Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
- 1972 – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan engineer and politician
- 1973 – René Corbet, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Milan Hnilička, Czech ice hockey player
- 1973 – Jamie Redknapp, English footballer and coach
- 1974 – Nisha Ganatra, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Glen Metropolit, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer
- 1975 – Linda Cardellini, American actress
- 1975 – Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach
- 1975 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- 1975 – Michele Merkin, American model and television host
- 1976 – José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer
- 1976 – Iestyn Harris, Welsh rugby player and coach
- 1976 – Carlos Nieto, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
- 1976 – Neil Walker, American swimmer
- 1978 – Aramis Ramírez, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1978 – Luke Scott, American baseball player
- 1978 – Marcus Stroud, American football player
- 1979 – Marko Albert, Estonian swimmer and triathlete
- 1979 – Richard Hughes, Scottish footballer
- 1979 – Busy Philipps, American actress
- 1981 – Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
- 1982 – Rain, South Korean singer and actor
- 1982 – Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player
- 1983 – Todd Cooper, English swimmer
- 1983 – Marc Janko, Austrian footballer
- 1984 – Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer
- 1985 – Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer
- 1986 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer and actress
- 1986 – Seda Tokatlıoğlu, Turkish volleyball player
- 1988 – Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Miguel Layún, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1989 – Jack Cork, English footballer
- 1989 – Edgar Morais, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1989 – Rafael Morais, Portuguese actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipino actress
- 1991 – Liisi Rist, Estonian cyclist
- 1991 – Anna Zaja, German tennis player
- 1996 – Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazilian-American race car driver
- 1996 – Sione Mata’utia, Australian rugby league player
- 1996 – Lele Pons, Latina-American Internet personality
- 1998 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer
- 2006 – Mckenna Grace, American actress
Deaths on June 25
- 635 – Gao Zu, Chinese emperor (b. 566)
- 841 – Gerard of Auvergne, Frankish nobleman
- 841 – Ricwin of Nantes, Frankish nobleman
- 891 – Sunderolt, German archbishop
- 931 – An Chonghui, Chinese general
- 1014 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unready
- 1031 – Sheng Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 972)
- 1134 – Niels, king of Denmark (b. 1065)
- 1218 – Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1160)
- 1291 – Eleanor of Provence, queen of England (b. 1223)
- 1337 – Frederick III, king of Sicily (b. 1272)
- 1394 – Dorothea of Montau, German hermitess (b. 1347)
- 1483 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier and translator (b. 1440)
- 1483 – Richard Grey, half brother of Edward V of England (b. 1458)
- 1522 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1451)
- 1533 – Mary Tudor, queen of France (b. 1496)
- 1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1541)
- 1593 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (b. 1541)
- 1634 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (b. 1576)
- 1638 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1602)
- 1665 – Sigismund Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1630)
- 1669 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (b. 1616)
- 1671 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (b. 1598)
- 1673 – Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan, French captain (b. 1611)
- 1686 – Simon Ushakov, Russian painter and educator (b. 1626)
- 1715 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and politician (b. 1646)
- 1767 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (b. 1681)
- 1798 – Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, painter, and architect (b. 1721)
- 1822 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German composer, critic, and jurist (b. 1776)
- 1835 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746)
- 1838 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774)
- 1861 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823)
- 1866 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (b. 1803)
- 1868 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (b. 1811)
- 1870 – David Heaton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
- 1875 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
- 1876 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (b. 1845)
- 1876 – Boston Custer, American civilian army contractor (b. 1848)
- 1876 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (b. 1839)
- 1876 – Thomas Custer, American officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1845)
- 1876 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American officer (b. 1840)
- 1882 – François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806)
- 1884 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (b. 1858)
- 1886 – Jean-Louis Beaudry, Canadian businessman and politician, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809)
- 1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 5th President of France (b. 1837)
- 1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853)
- 1912 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-British painter (b. 1836)
- 1916 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1844)
- 1917 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (b. 1884)
- 1918 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1867)
- 1922 – Satyendranath Dutta, Indian poet and author (b. 1882)
- 1937 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)
- 1939 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (b. 1913)
- 1943 – Arthur Goldstein, German Jewish left-wing activist (c. 1887)
- 1944 – Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian jurist and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871)
- 1944 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1906)
- 1947 – Jimmy Doyle, American boxer (b. 1924)
- 1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
- 1949 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871)
- 1949 – James Steen, American water polo player (b. 1876)
- 1950 – Maurice O’Sullivan, Irish police officer and author (b. 1904)
- 1958 – Alfred Noyes, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1880)
- 1959 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938)
- 1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
- 1968 – Tony Hancock, English comedian and actor (b. 1924)
- 1971 – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician, biologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880)
- 1972 – Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (b. 1890)
- 1974 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893)
- 1976 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (b. 1909)
- 1977 – Olave Baden-Powell, British Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting leader (b. 1889)
- 1977 – Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1894)
- 1979 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (b. 1906)
- 1981 – Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Peruvian painter and political activist (b. 1888)
- 1983 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1916)
- 1984 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (b. 1926)
- 1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1962)
- 1990 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and murderer (b. 1940)
- 1992 – Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965)
- 1995 – Warren E. Burger, Fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat, British Ambassador to South Africa (b. 1914)
- 1997 – Jacques Cousteau, French oceanographer and explorer (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (b. 1934)
- 2003 – Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Morton Coutts, New Zealand inventor (b. 1904)
- 2005 – John Fiedler, American actor and voice artist (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Kâzım Koyuncu, Turkish singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1971)
- 2006 – Jaap Penraat, Dutch-American humanitarian (b. 1918)
- 2007 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Jeeva, Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1963)
- 2008 – Lyall Watson, South African anthropologist and ethologist (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (b. 1947)
- 2009 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (b. 1958)
- 2009 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
- 2010 – Alan Plater, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Richard B. Sellars, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1915)
- 2011 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Goff Richards, English composer and conductor (b. 1944)
- 2011 – Margaret Tyzack, English actress (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Shigemitsu Dandō, Japanese academic and jurist (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Campbell Gillies, Scottish jockey (b. 1990)
- 2012 – George Randolph Hearst, Jr., American businessman (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Lucella MacLean, American baseball player (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Edgar Ross, American boxer (b. 1949)
- 2013 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Catherine Gibson, Scottish swimmer (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Robert E. Gilka, American photographer and journalist (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Harry Parker, American rower and coach (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Green Wix Unthank, American soldier and judge (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Nigel Calder, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Ana María Matute, Spanish author and academic (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Ivan Plyushch, Ukrainian agronomist and politician (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Patrick Macnee, English actor (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (b. 1940)
- 2016 – Adam Small, South African writer of apartheid-period (b. 1936)
- 2018 – Richard Benjamin Harrison, American businessman and reality television personality (b. 1941)
- 2018 – David Goldblatt, South African photographer of apartheid-period (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances on June 25
- Arbor Day (Philippines)
- Christian feast day:
- David of Munktorp
- Eurosia
- Maximus (Massimo) of Turin
- Philipp Melanchthon (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)
- Prosper of Aquitaine
- Prosper of Reggio
- William of Montevergine
- June 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Mozambique from Portugal in 1975.
- National Catfish Day (United States)
- Statehood Day (Slovenia)
- Statehood Day (Virginia)
- Teacher’s Day (Guatemala)
- World Vitiligo Day
-
May 7 in History
- 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.
- 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.
- 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
- 1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
- 1544 – The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.
- 1664 – Louis XIV of France begins construction of the Palace of Versailles.
- 1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.
- 1697 – Stockholm’s royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.
- 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
- 1763 – Pontiac’s War begins with Pontiac’s attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.
- 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
- 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision.
- 1832 – Greece’s independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.
- 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
- 1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America’s oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
- 1864 – The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
- 1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
- 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
- 1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan‘s control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.
- 1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
- 1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
- 1920 – Morecambe Football Club was founded during a meeting at the West View Hotel on the town’s promenade.
- 1930 – The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed.
- 1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco’s forces.
- 1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
- 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
- 1945 – World War II: Last German U boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland.
- 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany’s participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
- 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded
- 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
- 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.
- 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).
- 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
- 1976 – The Honda Accord is officially launched.
- 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
- 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
- 1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.
- 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald’s Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first “fast-food murder” in Canada.
- 1994 – Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.
- 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
- 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft apparently inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
- 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
- 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.
- 2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.
- 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
- 2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.
Births on May 7
- Before 160 – Julia Maesa, Roman noblewoman (d. 224)
- 1488 – John III of the Palatinate, archbishop of Regensburg (d. 1538)
- 1530 – Louis, Prince of Condé (d. 1569)
- 1553 – Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (d. 1618)
- 1605 – Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (d. 1681)
- 1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician, 10th Mayor of New York City (d. 1700)
- 1700 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician (d. 1772)
- 1701 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (d. 1759)
- 1711 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1776)
- 1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, French-Austrian field marshal (d. 1797)
- 1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian police officer and general (d. 1814)
- 1748 – Olympe de Gouges, French playwright and philosopher (d. 1793)
- 1763 – Józef Poniatowski, Polish general (d. 1813)
- 1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1820)
- 1774 – William Bainbridge, American commodore (d. 1833)
- 1787 – Jacques Viger, Canadian archaeologist and politician, 1st mayor of Montreal (d. 1858)
- 1812 – Robert Browning, English poet and playwright (d. 1889)
- 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (d. 1897)
- 1836 – Joseph Gurney Cannon, American lawyer and politician, 40th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1926)
- 1837 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (d. 1875)
- 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and educator (d. 1893)
- 1845 – Mary Eliza Mahoney, American nurse and activist (d. 1926)
- 1847 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
- 1857 – William A. MacCorkle, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
- 1860 – Tom Norman, English businessman (d. 1930)
- 1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
- 1875 – Bill Hoyt, American pole vaulter (d. 1951)
- 1880 – Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (d. 1972)
- 1881 – George E. Wiley, American cyclist (d. 1954)
- 1882 – Willem Elsschot, Belgian author and poet (d. 1960)
- 1885 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1889 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (d. 1943)
- 1891 – Harry McShane, Scottish engineer and activist (d. 1988)
- 1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (d. 1982)
- 1892 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
- 1893 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey coach and manager (d. 1985)
- 1896 – Kathleen McKane Godfree, English tennis and badminton player (d. 1992)
- 1899 – Alfred Gerrard, English sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
- 1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1903 – Jimmy Ball, Canadian sprinter (d. 1988)
- 1904 – Kurt Weitzmann, German-American historian and author (d. 1993)
- 1906 – Eric Krenz, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1931)
- 1909 – Edwin H. Land, American scientist and inventor, co-founded the Polaroid Corporation (d. 1991)
- 1909 – Dorothy Sunrise Lorentino, Native American teacher (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Rıfat Ilgaz, Turkish author, poet, and educator (d. 1993)
- 1912 – Pannalal Patel, Indian author (d. 1989)
- 1913 – John Spencer Hardy, American general (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Simon Ramo, American physicist and engineer (d. 2016)
- 1914 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat. British Ambassador to South Africa (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Huw Wheldon, Welsh-English broadcaster (d. 1986)
- 1916 – W. B. Young, Scottish rugby player and physician (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Domenico Bartolucci, Italian cardinal and composer (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (d. 2020)
- 1917 – David Tomlinson, English actor (d. 2000)
- 1919 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress, 25th First Lady of Argentina (d. 1952)
- 1920 – Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (d. 1985)
- 1921 – Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
- 1921 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (d. 1985)
- 1922 – Darren McGavin, American actor and director (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Joe O’Donnell, American photographer and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1923 – Anne Baxter, American actress (d. 1985)
- 1923 – Jim Lowe, American singer-songwriter, disc jockey, and radio host (d. 2016)
- 1923 – Bülent Ulusu, Turkish admiral and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Albert Band, French-American director and producer (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Lauri Vaska, Estonian-American chemist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
- 1930 – Totie Fields, American comedian and author (d. 1978)
- 1930 – Babe Parilli, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1930 – John Smith, Baron Kirkhill, English politician
- 1931 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Gene Wolfe, American author (d. 2019)
- 1932 – Jordi Bonet, Spanish-Canadian painter and sculptor (d. 1979)
- 1932 – Alan Cuthbert, English pharmacologist and academic (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Pete Domenici, American lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Albuquerque (d. 2017)
- 1932 – Derek Taylor, English journalist and author (d. 1997)
- 1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1935 – Avraham Heffner, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Michael Hopkins, English architect
- 1936 – Robin Hanbury-Tenison, English explorer and author
- 1936 – Tony O’Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman
- 1936 – Jimmy Ruffin, American soul singer (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Eddie Clayton, English footballer
- 1937 – Claude Raymond, Canadian baseball player and coach
- 1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1939 – Ruggero Deodato, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1939 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch economist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Johnny Maestro, American pop/doo-wop singer (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Clive Soley, Baron Soley, English politician
- 1940 – Angela Carter, English novelist and short story writer (d. 1992)
- 1940 – Dave Chambers, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1941 – Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury, English lawyer and judge
- 1943 – Terry Allen, American singer and painter
- 1943 – Harvey Andrews, English singer-songwriter and poet
- 1943 – John Bannon, Australian academic and politician, 39th Premier of South Australia (d. 2015)
- 1943 – Peter Carey, Australian novelist and short story writer
- 1945 – Christy Moore, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Robin Strasser, American actress
- 1946 – Thelma Houston, American R&B/disco singer and actress
- 1946 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (d. 2015)
- 1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer
- 1946 – Michael Rosen, English author and poet
- 1946 – Brian Turner, English chef and television host
- 1949 – Kathy Ahern, American golfer (d. 1996)
- 1949 – Deborah Butterfield, American sculptor
- 1950 – John Dowling Coates, Australian lawyer, sports administrator and businessman
- 1950 – Randall “Tex” Cobb, American boxer and actor
- 1950 – Tim Russert, American television journalist and lawyer (d. 2008)
- 1953 – Pat McInally, American football player and coach
- 1953 – Ian McKay, English sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
- 1954 – Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
- 1954 – Joanna Haigh, English meteorologist and physicist
- 1954 – Amy Heckerling, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1955 – Clément Gignac, Canadian politician
- 1955 – Ben Poquette, American basketball player
- 1955 – Axel Zwingenberger, German pianist and songwriter
- 1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch jurist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1956 – Anne Dudley, English pianist and composer
- 1956 – Nicholas Hytner, English director and producer
- 1956 – Jean Lapierre, Canadian talk show host and politician
- 1956 – Calum MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician
- 1957 – Kristina M. Johnson, American business executive, engineer, academic and government official
- 1958 – Mikhail Biryukov, Russian footballer and manager
- 1958 – Mark G. Kuzyk, American physicist and academic
- 1958 – Anne Marie Rafferty, English nurse and academic
- 1959 – Michael E. Knight, American actor
- 1959 – Tony Sealy, English footballer, forward and manager
- 1959 – Heiki Valk, Estonian archeologist and academic
- 1960 – Adam Bernstein, American director and screenwriter
- 1960 – Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, Iraqi-English surgeon and academic
- 1960 – Almudena Grandes, Spanish author
- 1961 – Hans-Peter Bartels, German politician
- 1961 – Sue Black, Scottish anthropologist and academic
- 1961 – Ivar Must, Estonian composer and producer
- 1962 – Tony Campbell, American basketball player and coach
- 1962 – Judith Donath, American computer scientist and academic
- 1963 – Johnny Lee Middleton, American bass player and songwriter
- 1964 – Ronnie Harmon, American football player
- 1964 – Denis Mandarino, Brazilian guitarist, composer, and painter
- 1964 – Leslie O’Neal, American football player
- 1965 – Reuben Davis, American football player
- 1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1999)
- 1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Huang Zhihong, Chinese shot putter
- 1967 – Martin Bryant, Australian mass murderer
- 1967 – Adam Price, Danish chef and screenwriter
- 1967 – Joe Rice, American colonel and politician
- 1968 – Traci Lords, American actress and singer
- 1968 – Lisa Raitt, Canadian lawyer and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Transport
- 1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Jun Falkenstein, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
- 1971 – Reidar Horghagen, Norwegian drummer
- 1971 – Dave Karpa, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1971 – Thomas Piketty, French economist
- 1972 – Peter Dubovský, Czech-Slovak footballer (d. 2000)
- 1972 – Frank Trigg, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
- 1973 – Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter and producer
- 1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
- 1974 – Ian Pearce, English footballer and assistant manager
- 1973 – Lawrence Johnson, American pole vaulter
- 1975 – Ashley Cowan, English cricketer
- 1976 – Calvin Booth, American basketball player
- 1976 – Berke Hatipoğlu, Turkish guitarist and songwriter
- 1976 – Stacey Jones, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1976 – Andrea Lo Cicero, Italian rugby player
- 1976 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2005)
- 1976 – Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Minister of Justice (2015-2019)
- 1977 – Elton Flatley, Australian rugby player
- 1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian guitarist, drummer, and songwriter
- 1978 – James Carter, American hurdler
- 1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
- 1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
- 1983 – Phionah Atuhebwe, Ugandan vaccinologist and immunization expert
- 1984 – James Loney, American baseball player
- 1984 – Alex Smith, American football player
- 1984 – Kevin Owens, Canadian wrestler
- 1985 – Jarrad Hickey, Australian rugby league player
- 1985 – Drew Neitzel, American basketball player
- 1986 – Matt Helders, English drummer
- 1987 – Asami Konno, Japanese singer
- 1987 – Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
- 1987 – Mark Reynolds, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – David Schlemko, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Eino Puri, Estonian footballer
- 1988 – Sander Puri, Estonian footballer
- 1989 – Earl Thomas, American football player
- 1995 – Seko Fofana, French born Ivorian international footballer
- 1997 – Daria Kasatkina, Russian tennis player
- 1998 – Jesse Puljujärvi, Finnish ice hockey player
Deaths on May 7
- 721 – John of Beverley, bishop of York
- 833 – Ibn Hisham, Egyptian Muslim historian
- 973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 912)
- 1014 – Bagrat III, 1st King of Georgia (b. 960)
- 1092 – Remigius de Fécamp, English monk and bishop
- 1166 – William I of Sicily
- 1202 – Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
- 1205 – Ladislaus III of Hungary (b. 1201)
- 1234 – Otto I, Duke of Merania (b. c. 1180)
- 1243 – Hugh d’Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel
- 1427 – Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English priest (b. 1352)
- 1494 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1471)
- 1523 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (b. 1481)
- 1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
- 1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer and theologian (b. 1564)
- 1667 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer (b. 1616)
- 1682 – Feodor III of Russia (b. 1661)
- 1685 – Bajo Pivljanin (b. 1630)
- 1718 – Mary of Modena (b. 1658)
- 1793 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1722)
- 1800 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer (b. 1728)
- 1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English general and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1737)
- 1815 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1739)
- 1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1750)
- 1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter and educator (b. 1774)
- 1868 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1778)
- 1872 – Alexander Loyd, American carpenter and politician, 4th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1876 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman, historian, and author (b. 1795)
- 1887 – C. F. W. Walther, German-American religious leader and theologian (b. 1811)
- 1896 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (b. 1861)
- 1902 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest and saint (b. 1818)
- 1917 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (b. 1896)
- 1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German pianist and composer (b. 1857)
- 1924 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (b. 1897/1898)
- 1925 – William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, English businessman and politician (b. 1851)
- 1937 – Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain and author (b. 1886)
- 1938 – Octavian Goga, Romanian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1881)
- 1940 – George Lansbury, English journalist and politician (b. 1859)
- 1941 – James George Frazer, Scottish-English anthropologist and academic (b. 1854)
- 1942 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
- 1943 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish colonel and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1880)
- 1946 – Herbert Macaulay, Nigerian journalist and politician (b. 1864)
- 1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (b. 1889)
- 1967 – Margaret Larkin, American writer and poet (b. 1899)
- 1958 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1880)
- 1976 – Alison Uttley, English children’s book writer (b. 1884)
- 1978 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
- 1986 – Haldun Taner, Turkish playwright and author (b. 1915)
- 1987 – Colin Blakely, Northern Irish actor (b. 1930)
- 1987 – Paul Popham, American soldier and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (b. 1941)
- 1990 – Sam Tambimuttu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
- 1994 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Ray McKinley, American drummer, singer, and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra) (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
- 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American captain, actor, and producer (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (b. 1912)
- 2004 – Waldemar Milewicz, Polish journalist (b. 1956)
- 2005 – Tristan Egolf, American author and activist (b. 1971)
- 2005 – Peter Rodino, American captain and politician (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1980)
- 2006 – Richard Carleton, Australian journalist (b. 1943)
- 2006 – Joan C. Edwards, American singer and philanthropist (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Isabella Blow, English magazine editor (b. 1958)
- 2007 – Diego Corrales, American boxer (b. 1977)
- 2007 – Octavian Paler, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader, founded the Nation of Yahweh (b. 1935)
- 2009 – David Mellor, English designer (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Danny Ozark, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (b. 1957)
- 2011 – Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
- 2011 – Big George, English songwriter, producer, and radio host (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Sammy Barr, Scottish trade union leader (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Ferenc Bartha, Hungarian economist and politician (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Dennis E. Fitch, American captain and pilot (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1948)
- 2013 – George Sauer, Jr., American football player (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Colin Pillinger, English astronomer, chemist, and academic (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Dick Welteroth, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Frank DiPascali, American businessman (b. 1956)
- 2015 – John Dixon, Australian-American author, and illustrator (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances on May 7
- Christian feast day:
- Agathius of Byzantium
- Agostino Roscelli
- Pope Benedict II
- Flavia Domitilla
- Gisela of Hungary
- Harriet Starr Cannon (Episcopal Church (USA))
- John of Beverley
- Rose Venerini
- Stanislaus (Roman Martyrology)
- May 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Defender of the Fatherland Day (Kazakhstan)
- Dien Bien Phu Victory Day (Vietnam)
- Radio Day, commemorating the work of Alexander Popov (Russia, Bulgaria)
-
April 23 in History
- 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
- 599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
- 711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
- 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
- 1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
- 1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
- 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
- 1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
- 1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
- 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
- 1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
- 1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
- 1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
- 1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
- 1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
- 1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, in Chicago.
- 1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
- 1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
- 1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
- 1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
- 1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
- 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
- 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
- 1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
- 1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
- 1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
- 1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
- 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
- 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- 1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
- 1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- 2005 – The first ever YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
- 2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
- 2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
- 2019 – The 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.
Births on April 23
- 1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
- 1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
- 1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
- 1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
- 1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
- 1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
- 1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
- 1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
- 1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
- 1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
- 1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
- 1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
- 1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
- 1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
- 1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
- 1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
- 1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
- 1748 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
- 1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
- 1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
- 1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
- 1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
- 1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
- 1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
- 1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
- 1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
- 1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
- 1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
- 1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
- 1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
- 1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
- 1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
- 1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
- 1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
- 1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
- 1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
- 1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
- 1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965)
- 1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
- 1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
- 1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
- 1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
- 1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
- 1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
- 1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
- 1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
- 1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
- 1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
- 1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
- 1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
- 1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
- 1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
- 1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
- 1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
- 1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
- 1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
- 1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
- 1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
- 1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
- 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
- 1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
- 1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
- 1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
- 1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
- 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
- 1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
- 1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
- 1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
- 1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
- 1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
- 1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
- 1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
- 1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
- 1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
- 1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
- 1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
- 1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
- 1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director
- 1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
- 1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
- 1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
- 1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
- 1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
- 1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
- 1949 – David Cross, English violinist
- 1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
- 1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
- 1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
- 1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
- 1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
- 1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
- 1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
- 1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
- 1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- 1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
- 1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
- 1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
- 1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
- 1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
- 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
- 1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
- 1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
- 1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
- 1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
- 1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
- 1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
- 1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
- 1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
- 1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
- 1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
- 1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
- 1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
- 1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
- 1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
- 1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
- 1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
- 1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
- 1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
- 1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
- 1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
- 1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
- 1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
- 1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
- 1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
- 1971 – Uli Herzner, German-American fashion designer
- 1972 – Pierre Labrie, Canadian poet and playwright
- 1972 – Peter Dench, English photographer and journalist
- 1972 – Amira Medunjanin, singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Carlos Dengler, American bass player
- 1974 – Michael Kerr, New Zealand-German rugby player
- 1975 – Bobby Shaw, American football player
- 1976 – Aaron Dessner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1977 – John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
- 1977 – David Kidwell, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
- 1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – John Oliver, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Kal Penn, Indian-American actor
- 1977 – Bram Schmitz, Dutch cyclist
- 1977 – Lee Young-pyo, South Korean international footballer
- 1978 – Gezahegne Abera, Ethiopian runner
- 1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
- 1979 – Jaime King, American actress and model
- 1979 – Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and television personality
- 1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
- 1982 – Tony Sunshine, American singer-songwriter
- 1983 – Leon Andreasen, Danish international footballer
- 1983 – Daniela Hantuchová, Slovak tennis player
- 1983 – Ian Henderson, English rugby league player
- 1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
- 1984 – Jesse Lee Soffer, American actor
- 1985 – Angel Locsin, Filipino actress, producer, and fashion designer
- 1986 – Sven Kramer, Dutch speed skater
- 1986 – Alysia Montaño, American runner
- 1986 – Rafael Fernandes, Brazilian baseball player
- 1987 – Michael Arroyo, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1987 – John Boye, Ghanaian footballer
- 1987 – Emily Fox, American basketball player
- 1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
- 1988 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
- 1988 – Signe Ronka, Canadian figure skater
- 1988 – Lenka Wienerová, Slovak tennis player
- 1989 – Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
- 1990 – Rui Fonte, Portuguese footballer, winger
- 1990 – Dev Patel, English actor
- 1991 – Nathan Baker, English footballer
- 1991 – Caleb Johnson, American singer-songwriter
- 1991 – Paul Vaughan, Australian-Italian rugby league player
- 1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1994 – Song Kang, South Korean actor
- 1995 – Gigi Hadid, American fashion model and television personality
- 1997 – Zach Apple, American swimmer
Deaths on April 23
- 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275)
- 711 – Childebert III, Frankish king (b. 670)
- 725 – Wihtred of Kent (b. 670)
- 871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
- 915 – Yang Shihou, Chinese general
- 944 – Wichmann the Elder, Saxon nobleman
- 990 – Ekkehard II, Swiss monk and abbot
- 997 – Adalbert of Prague, Czech bishop, missionary, and saint (b. 956)
- 1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
- 1014 – Domnall mac Eimín, Mormaer of Mar
- 1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
- 1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
- 1151 – Adeliza of Louvain (b. 1103)
- 1170 – Minamoto no Tametomo, Japanese samurai (b. 1139)
- 1196 – Béla III of Hungary (b. c.1148)
- 1200 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (b. 1130)
- 1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
- 1262 – Aegidius of Assisi, companion of Saint Francis of Assisi
- 1307 – Joan of Acre (b. 1272)
- 1400 – Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, English politician and nobleman (b. c. 1338)
- 1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
- 1501 – Domenico della Rovere, Catholic cardinal (b. 1442)
- 1554 – Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet (b. 1523)
- 1605 – Boris Godunov, Russian ruler (b. 1551)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (b. 1564)
- 1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
- 1695 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet and author (b. 1621)
- 1702 – Margaret Fell, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1614)
- 1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general and politician (b. 1706)
- 1784 – Solomon I of Imereti (b. 1735)
- 1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (b. 1741)
- 1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French lawyer and politician (b. 1721)
- 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780)
- 1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral and explorer (b. 1768)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet and author (b. 1770)
- 1889 – Jules Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly, French author and critic (b. 1808)
- 1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (b. 1815)
- 1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
- 1907 – Alferd Packer, American prospector (b. 1842)
- 1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- 1936 – Teresa de la Parra, French-Venezuelan author (b. 1889)
- 1951 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1959 – Bak Jungyang, Korean politician
- 1965 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (b. 1891)
- 1966 – George Ohsawa, Japanese founder of the Macrobiotic diet (b. 1893)
- 1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and author (b. 1897)
- 1983 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (b. 1908)
- 1984 – Red Garland, American pianist (b. 1923)
- 1985 – Sam Ervin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1896)
- 1985 – Frank Farrell, Australian rugby league player and policeman (b. 1916)
- 1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
- 1986 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1922)
- 1986 – Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
- 1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, Nepalese politician, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
- 1993 – Cesar Chavez, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
- 1995 – Howard Cosell, American lawyer and journalist (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Riho Lahi, Estonian journalist (b. 1904)
- 1995 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (b. 1904)
- 1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
- 1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (b. 1899)
- 1997 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1907)
- 1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
- 1998 – Thanassis Skordalos, Greek singer-songwriter and lyra player (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer (b. 1910)
- 2004 – Herman Veenstra, Dutch water polo player (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Robert Farnon, Canadian-English trumpet player, composer and conductor (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Al Grassby, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1928)
- 2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
- 2005 – Romano Scarpa, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
- 2005 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player, coach and educator (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Phil Walden, American record producer and manager, co-founder of Capricorn Records (b. 1940)
- 2007 – Paul Erdman, Canadian-American economist and author (b. 1932)
- 2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian and author (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930)
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (b. 1931)
- 2010 – Peter Porter, Australian-born British poet (b. 1929)
- 2011 – James Casey, English comedian, radio scriptwriter and producer (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Tom King, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1943)
- 2011 – Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, English businessman and politician (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of State (b. 1924)
- 2011 – John Sullivan, English screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
- 2012 – Lillemor Arvidsson, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 34th Governor of Gotland (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Billy Bryans, Canadian drummer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Chris Ethridge, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Raymond Thorsteinsson, Canadian geologist and paleontologist (b. 1921)
- 2012 – LeRoy T. Walker, American football player and coach (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Bob Brozman, American guitarist (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Tony Grealish, English footballer (b. 1956)
- 2013 – Antonio Maccanico, Italian banker and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Kathryn Wasserman Davis, American philanthropist and scholar (b. 1907)
- 2014 – Benjamín Brea, Spanish-Venezuelan saxophonist, clarinet player, and conductor (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Michael Glawogger, Austrian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1959)
- 2014 – Jaap Havekotte, Dutch speed skater and producer of ice skates (b. 1912)
- 2014 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (b. 1911)
- 2014 – F. Michael Rogers, American general (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Patric Standford, English composer and educator (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Ray Jackson, Australian activist (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Canadian Senate (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Jim Steffen, American football player (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Francis Tsai, American author and illustrator (b. 1967)
- 2016 – Inge King, German-born Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
- 2016 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Thai politician, Prime Minister from 1995–1996 (b. 1932)
- 2019 – Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick, American soprano singer and presenter (b.1983)
Holidays and observances on April 23
- Castile and León Day (Castile and León)
- Christian feast day:
- Adalbert of Prague
- Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus
- George
- Blessed Giles of Assisi
- Gerard of Toul
- Ibar of Beggerin (Meath)
- Toyohiko Kagawa (Episcopal and Lutheran Church)
- April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which the first day of Children’s Day can fall, while April 29 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday of April. (Colombia)
- Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
- International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
- Khongjom Day (Manipur)
- National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
- Navy Day (China)
- St George’s Day (England) and its related observances:
- Canada Book Day (Canada)
- La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
- World Book Day
- UN English Language Day (United Nations)
-
April 11 in History
- 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
- 1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.
- 1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: French forces led by Gaston de Foix win the Battle of Ravenna.
- 1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: A French army defeats Habsburg forces at the Battle of Ceresole, but fails to exploit its victory.
- 1689 – William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Great Britain.
- 1713 – War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War): Treaty of Utrecht.
- 1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig
- 1809 – An incomplete British victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Basque Roads results in the court-martial of James, Lord Gambier.
- 1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time.
- 1856 – Second Battle of Rivas: Juan Santamaría burns down the hostel where William Walker’s filibusters are holed up.
- 1868 – Former shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.
- 1876 – The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized.
- 1881 – Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women.
- 1908 – SMS Blücher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.
- 1909 – The city of Tel Aviv is founded.
- 1921 – Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan.
- 1945 – World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.
- 1951 – Korean War: President Harry Truman relieves General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of overall command in Korea.
- 1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.
- 1955 – The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang.
- 1957 – United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.
- 1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
- 1963 – Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in terris, the first encyclical addressed to all Christians instead of only Catholics, and which described the conditions for world peace in human terms.
- 1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected President by the National Congress.
- 1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people.
- 1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
- 1968 – Assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement.
- 1970 – Apollo 13 is launched.
- 1976 – The Apple I is created.
- 1977 – London Transport’s Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
- 1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
- 1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.
- 1986 – FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed.
- 1987 – The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.
- 1990 – Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.
- 1993 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs.
- 2001 – The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter, is released.
- 2002 – The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.
- 2002 – Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the Presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed.
- 2006 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran’s claim to have successfully enriched uranium.
- 2007 – Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others.
- 2011 – An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus kills 15 people and injures 204 others.
- 2012 – A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake was VII (Very strong). Ten were killed, twelve were injured, and a non-destructive tsunami was observed on the island of Nias.
- 2018 – An Ilyushin Il-76 which was owned and operated by the Algerian Air Force crashes near Boufarik, Algeria, killing 257.
Births on April 11
- 145 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 211)
- 1184 – William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg (d. 1213)
- 1348 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385)
- 1357 – John I of Portugal (d. 1433)
- 1370 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1428)
- 1374 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England (d. 1398)
- 1493 – George I, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1531)
- 1591 – Bartholomeus Strobel, Silezian painter (d. 1650)
- 1592 – John Eliot, English lawyer and politician (d. 1632)
- 1644 – Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1724)
- 1658 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish peer (d. 1712)
- 1683 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer and conductor (d. 1738)
- 1715 – John Alcock, English organist and composer (d. 1806)
- 1721 – David Zeisberger, Czech-American clergyman and missionary (d. 1808)
- 1722 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1771)
- 1749 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, French miniaturist and portrait painter (d. 1803)
- 1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist (d. 1824)
- 1770 – George Canning, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
- 1794 – Edward Everett, English-American educator and politician, 15th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1865)
- 1798 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1854)
- 1819 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor (d. 1895)
- 1825 – Ferdinand Lassalle, German philosopher and jurist (d. 1864)
- 1827 – Jyotirao Phule, Indian scholar, philosopher, and activist (d. 1890)
- 1854 – Hugh Massie, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
- 1856 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1903)
- 1859 – Stefanos Thomopoulos, Greek historian and author (d. 1939)
- 1862 – William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1938)
- 1862 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 44th United States Secretary of State (d. 1948)
- 1864 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (d. 1943)
- 1866 – Bernard O’Dowd, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1953)
- 1867 – Mark Keppel, American educator (d. 1928)
- 1869 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal (d. 1943)
- 1871 – Gyula Kellner, Hungarian runner (d. 1940)
- 1873 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1955)
- 1876 – Paul Henry, Irish painter (d. 1958)
- 1876 – Ivane Javakhishvili, Georgian historian and academic (d. 1940)
- 1879 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German astronomer and optician (d. 1935)
- 1887 – Jamini Roy, Indian painter (d. 1972)
- 1893 – Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (d. 1971)
- 1896 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1967)
- 1899 – Percy Lavon Julian, African-American chemist and academic (d. 1975)
- 1900 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian journalist and author (d. 1989)
- 1903 – Misuzu Kaneko, Japanese poet (d. 1930)
- 1904 – K. L. Saigal, Indian singer and actor (d. 1947)
- 1905 – Attila József, Hungarian poet and educator (d. 1937)
- 1906 – Dale Messick, American author and illustrator (d. 2005)
- 1907 – Paul Douglas, American actor (d. 1959)
- 1908 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (d. 2007)
- 1908 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1997)
- 1908 – Dan Maskell, English tennis player and sportscaster (d. 1992)
- 1908 – Leo Rosten, Polish-American author and academic (d. 1997)
- 1910 – António de Spínola, Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (d. 1996)
- 1912 – John Levy, American bassist and businessman (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (d. 2006)
- 1914 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator, director, and producer (d. 1987)
- 1914 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician, 17th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2003)
- 1914 – Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, American mathematician (d. 1988)
- 1916 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian-Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1916 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (d. 2001)
- 1917 – David Westheimer, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2005)
- 1918 – Richard Wainwright, English soldier and politician (d. 2003)
- 1919 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (d. 2015)
- 1920 – Emilio Colombo, Italian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013)
- 1920 – William Royer, American soldier and politician (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Jim Hearn, American baseball player (d. 1998)
- 1921 – Jack Rayner, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Arved Viirlaid, Estonian-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2015)
- 1923 – George J. Maloof, Sr., American businessman (d. 1980)
- 1924 – Mohammad Naseem, Pakistani-English activist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Yuriy Lituyev, Russian hurdler and commander (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
- 1925 – Viktor Masing, Estonian botanist and ecologist (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman, founded Quebecor (d. 1997)
- 1926 – David Manker Abshire, American commander and diplomat, United States Permanent Representative to NATO (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Karl Rebane, Estonian physicist and academic (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Lokesh Chandra, Indian historian
- 1928 – Ethel Kennedy, American philanthropist
- 1928 – Edwin Pope, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Nicholas F. Brady, American businessman and politician, 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1930 – Walter Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2018)
- 1930 – Anton LaVey, American occultist, founded the Church of Satan (d. 1997)
- 1931 – Lewis Jones, Welsh rugby player and coach
- 1932 – Joel Grey, American actor, singer, and dancer
- 1933 – Tony Brown, American journalist and academic
- 1934 – Mark Strand, Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Ron Pember, English actor, director and playwright
- 1935 – Richard Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
- 1936 – Brian Noble, English bishop (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Jill Gascoine, English actress and author
- 1938 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Michael Deaver, American politician, Deputy White House Chief of Staff (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Reatha King, American chemist and businesswoman
- 1939 – Luther Johnson, American singer and guitarist
- 1939 – Louise Lasser, American actress
- 1940 – Col Firmin, Australian politician (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Thomas Harris, American author and screenwriter
- 1940 – Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (d. 1998)
- 1941 – Ellen Goodman, American journalist and author
- 1941 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Hattie Gossett, American writer
- 1942 – James Underwood, English pathologist and academic
- 1943 – John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich, English businessman and politician
- 1943 – Harley Race, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2019)
- 1944 – Peter Barfuß, German footballer
- 1944 – John Milius, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1945 – John Krebs, Baron Krebs, English zoologist and academic
- 1946 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (d. 2015)
- 1946 – Bob Harris, English journalist and radio host
- 1947 – Lev Bulat, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (d. 2016)
- 1947 – Uli Edel, German director and screenwriter
- 1947 – Frank Mantooth, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
- 1947 – Peter Riegert, American actor, screenwriter and film director
- 1947 – Michael T. Wright, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
- 1949 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (d. 2011)
- 1950 – Bill Irwin, American actor and clown
- 1951 – Paul Fox, English singer and guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1952 – Nancy Honeytree, American singer and guitarist
- 1952 – Indira Samarasekera, Sri Lankan engineer and academic
- 1952 – Peter Windsor, English-Australian journalist and sportscaster
- 1953 – Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium
- 1953 – Andrew Wiles, English mathematician and academic
- 1954 – Abdullah Atalar, Turkish engineer and academic
- 1954 – Aleksandr Averin, Azerbaijani cyclist and coach
- 1954 – Francis Lickerish, English guitarist and composer
- 1954 – David Perrett, Scottish psychologist and academic
- 1954 – Ian Redmond, English biologist and conservationist
- 1954 – Willie Royster, American baseball player (d. 2015)
- 1955 – Kevin Brady, American lawyer and politician
- 1955 – Michael Callen, American singer-songwriter and AIDS activist (d. 1993)
- 1955 – Micheal Ray Richardson, American basketball player and coach
- 1958 – Stuart Adamson, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
- 1958 – Lyudmila Kondratyeva, Russian sprinter
- 1959 – Pierre Lacroix, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1959 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-American lawyer and judge
- 1959 – Zahid Maleque, Bangladeshi politician
- 1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter
- 1961 – Vincent Gallo, American actor, director, producer, and musician
- 1961 – Doug Hopkins, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
- 1961 – Nobuaki Kakuda, Japanese martial artist
- 1962 – Franck Ducheix, French fencer
- 1962 – Mark Lawson, English journalist and author
- 1963 – Billy Bowden, New Zealand cricketer and umpire
- 1963 – Waldemar Fornalik, Polish footballer and manager
- 1963 – Elizabeth Smylie, Australian tennis player
- 1964 – Steve Azar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – John Cryer, English journalist and politician
- 1964 – Johann Sebastian Paetsch, American cellist
- 1964 – Bret Saberhagen, American baseball player and coach
- 1964 – Patrick Sang, Kenyan runner
- 1966 – Steve Scarsone, American baseball player and manager
- 1966 – Shin Seung-hun, South Korean singer-songwriter
- 1966 – Lisa Stansfield, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Sergei Lukyanenko, Kazakh-Russian journalist and author
- 1969 – Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Michael von Grünigen, Swiss skier
- 1970 – Trevor Linden, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1970 – Delroy Pearson, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1971 – John Leech, English politician
- 1971 – Oliver Riedel, German bass player
- 1972 – Balls Mahoney, American wrestler (d. 2016)
- 1972 – Allan Théo, French singer
- 1972 – Jason Varitek, American baseball player and manager
- 1973 – Jennifer Esposito, American actress
- 1973 – Olivier Magne, French rugby player
- 1974 – Àlex Corretja, Spanish tennis player and coach
- 1974 – Ashot Danielyan, Armenian weightlifter
- 1974 – David Jassy, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1974 – Zöe Lucker, English actress
- 1974 – Tom Thacker, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1974 – Trot Nixon, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Olga Hostáková, Czech tennis player
- 1975 – Walid Soliman, Tunisian author and translator
- 1976 – Kelvim Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1977 – Ivonne Teichmann, German runner
- 1978 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1979 – Malcolm Christie, English footballer
- 1979 – Sebastien Grainger, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Michel Riesen, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1979 – Josh Server, American actor
- 1980 – Keiji Tamada, Japanese footballer
- 1980 – Mark Teixeira, American baseball player
- 1981 – Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
- 1981 – Alexandre Burrows, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Veronica Pyke, Australian cricketer
- 1982 – Ian Bell, English cricketer
- 1982 – Peeter Kümmel, Estonian skier
- 1983 – Jennifer Heil, Canadian skier
- 1983 – Rubén Palazuelos, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – Nicky Pastorelli, Dutch race car driver
- 1984 – Kelli Garner, American actress
- 1984 – Nikola Karabatić, French handball player
- 1985 – Pablo Hernández Domínguez, Spanish footballer
- 1985 – Will Minson, Australian footballer
- 1986 – Sarodj Bertin, Haitian model and human rights lawyer
- 1986 – Dai Greene, Welsh hurdler
- 1986 – Lena Schöneborn, German pentathlete
- 1987 – Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1987 – Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Leland Irving, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Torrin Lawrence, American sprinter (d. 2014)
- 1989 – Zola Jesus, American singer
- 1990 – Dimitrios Anastasopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1990 – Thulani Serero, South African footballer
- 1991 – Thiago Alcântara, Spanish footballer
- 1991 – Brennan Poole, American racing driver
- 1996 – Dele Alli, English international footballer
- 1997 – Georgia Bohl, Australian swimmer
- 1997 – Miriam Kolodziejová, a Czech tennis player
Deaths on April 11
- 618 – Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (b. 569)
- 678 – Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 610)
- 924 – Herman I, chancellor and archbishop of Cologne
- 1034 – Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine emperor (b. 968)
- 1077 – Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (b. 1014)
- 1079 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków (b. 1030)
- 1165 – Stephen IV, king of Hungary and Croatia
- 1240 – Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (b. 1172)
- 1447 – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1377)
- 1512 – Gaston de Foix, French military commander (b. 1489)
- 1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader (b. 1521)
- 1587 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)
- 1609 – John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, English noble (b. 1533)
- 1612 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian and author (b. 1535)
- 1612 – Edward Wightman, English minister and martyr (b. 1566)
- 1626 – Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (b. 1568)
- 1712 – Richard Simon, French priest and critic (b. 1638)
- 1723 – John Robinson, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1650)
- 1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Polish-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1718)
- 1798 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet and academic (b. 1725)
- 1856 – Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier (b. 1831)
- 1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (b. 1824)
- 1873 – Edward Canby, American general (b. 1817)
- 1890 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (b. 1808)
- 1890 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (b. 1862)
- 1894 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist (b. 1832)
- 1895 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (b. 1830)
- 1902 – Wade Hampton III, American general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1818)
- 1903 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (b. 1878)
- 1906 – James Anthony Bailey, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1847)
- 1906 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Armed Forces Journal and The Galaxy Magazine (b. 1839)
- 1908 – Henry Bird, English chess player and author (b. 1829)
- 1916 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (b. 1864)
- 1918 – Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (b. 1841)
- 1926 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and academic (b. 1849)
- 1939 – Kurtdereli Mehmet, Turkish wrestler (b. 1864)
- 1953 – Kid Nichols, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
- 1954 – Paul Specht, American violinist and bandleader (b. 1895)
- 1958 – Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter and educator (b. 1875)
- 1960 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress (b. 1878)
- 1962 – Ukichiro Nakaya, Japanese physicist and academic (b. 1900)
- 1962 – George Poage, American hurdler and educator (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Thomas Farrell, American general (b. 1891)
- 1967 – Donald Sangster, Jamaican lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1911)
- 1970 – Cathy O’Donnell, American actress (b. 1923)
- 1970 – John O’Hara, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1905)
- 1974 – Ernst Ziegler, German actor (b. 1894)
- 1977 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’, Indian author and activist (b. 1921)
- 1980 – Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turkish journalist and producer (b. 1935)
- 1981 – Caroline Gordon, American author and critic (b. 1895)
- 1983 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904)
- 1984 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1910)
- 1985 – Bunny Ahearne, Irish-born English businessman (b. 1900)
- 1985 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (b. 1898)
- 1985 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908)
- 1987 – Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (b. 1919)
- 1990 – Harold Ballard, Canadian businessman (b. 1903)
- 1991 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
- 1991 – Bruno Hoffmann. German glass harp player (b. 1913)
- 1992 – James Brown, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
- 1992 – Eve Merriam, American author and poet (b. 1916)
- 1992 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, sculptor, and engraver (b. 1920)
- 1996 – Jessica Dubroff, American pilot (b. 1988)
- 1997 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (b. 1899)
- 1997 – Wang Xiaobo, contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist (b. 1952)
- 1999 – William H. Armstrong, American author and educator (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (b. 1945)
- 2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (b. 1921)
- 2003 – Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (b. 1900)
- 2005 – André François, Romanian-French cartoonist, painter, and sculptor (b. 1915)
- 2005 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (b. 1907)
- 2006 – June Pointer, American singer (b. 1953)
- 2006 – DeShaun Holton, American rapper and actor (b. 1973)
- 2007 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Loïc Leferme, French diver (b. 1970)
- 2007 – Janet McDonald, American lawyer and author (b. 1954)
- 2007 – Ronald Speirs, Scottish-American colonel (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Merlin German, American sergeant (b. 1985)
- 2009 – Gerda Gilboe, Danish actress and singer (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (b. 1927)
- 2010 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (b. 1948)
- 2011 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (b. 1981)
- 2012 – Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Roger Caron, Canadian criminal and author (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Tippy Dye, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Hal McKusick, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Agustin Roman, American bishop (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1953)
- 2013 – Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Thomas Hemsley, English actor and singer (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Gilles Marchal, French singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
- 2013 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Edna Doré, English actress (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Bill Henry, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Lou Hudson, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Myer S. Kripke, American rabbi and scholar (b. 1914)
- 2014 – Sergey Nepobedimy, Russian engineer (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Jimmy Gunn, American football player (b. 1948)
- 2015 – Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1952)
- 2015 – François Maspero, French journalist and author (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Hanut Singh, Indian general (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Tekena Tamuno, Nigerian historian and academic (b. 1932)
- 2017 – J. Geils, American singer and guitarist (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (b. 1945)
- 2020 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician (b. 1937)
Holidays and observances on April 11
- Christian feast day:
- Antipas of Pergamum (Greek Orthodox Church)
- Gemma Galgani
- Godeberta
- Guthlac of Crowland
- George Selwyn (Anglicanism)
- Stanislaus of Szczepanów
- April 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica)
- International Louie Louie Day
- World Parkinson’s Day
-
February 14 in History
- 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
- 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
- 1014 – Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1130 – Pope Innocent II is elected.
- 1349 – Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg.
- 1400 – Richard II of England dies, most probably from starvation, in Pontefract Castle, on the orders of Henry Bolingbroke.
- 1530 – Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.
- 1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
- 1556 – Coronation of Akbar.
- 1655 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
- 1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
- 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
- 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
- 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
- 1804 – Karađorđe leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
- 1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
- 1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
- 1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.
- 1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
- 1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
- 1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
- 1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
- 1900 – British forces begin the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
- 1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
- 1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.
- 1912 – The U.S. Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.
- 1919 – The Polish–Soviet War begins.
- 1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
- 1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
- 1929 – Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s gang, are murdered in Chicago.
- 1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
- 1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
- 1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
- 1944 – World War II: In the Action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
- 1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
- 1945 – World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by an American squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet’s Vistula–Oder Offensive.
- 1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans
- 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.
- 1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.
- 1949 – The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.
- 1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
- 1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
- 1966 – Australian currency is decimalized.
- 1979 – In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
- 1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
- 1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
- 1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
- 1990 – Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes in Bangalore, India.
- 1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later become famous as Pale Blue Dot.
- 1998 – An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.
- 2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
- 2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
- 2005 – In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri’s motorcade drives through the city.
- 2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos City, all in the Philippines.
- 2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
- 2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.
- 2011 – As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a ‘Day of Rage’.
- 2018 – Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
- 2018 – A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 15 injuries.
- 2019 – Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.
Births on February 14
- 1404 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)
- 1408 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel (d. 1435)
- 1452 – Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Siena (d. 1512)
- 1468 – Johannes Werner, German priest and mathematician (d. 1522)
- 1483 – Babur, Moghul emperor (d. 1530)
- 1490 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educationist of the Reformation (d. 1556)
- 1513 – Domenico Ferrabosco, Italian composer (d. 1573)
- 1545 – Lucrezia de’ Medici, Duchess of Ferrara (d. 1561)
- 1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
- 1614 – John Wilkins, English bishop, academic and natural philosopher (d. 1672)
- 1625 – Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, Swedish princess (d. 1687)
- 1628 – Valentine Greatrakes, Irish faith healer (d. 1683)
- 1640 – Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (d. 1693)
- 1670 – Rajaram Raj Bhonsle, third Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1700)
- 1679 – Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, German organist and composer (d. 1735)
- 1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French author and playwright (d. 1754)
- 1701 – Enrique Flórez, Spanish historian and author (d. 1773)
- 1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
- 1782 – Eleanora Atherton, English philanthropist (d. 1870)
- 1784 – Heinrich Baermann, German clarinetist (d. 1847)
- 1799 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter and illustrator (d. 1842)
- 1800 – Emory Washburn, American historian, lawyer, and politician, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
- 1808 – Michael Costa, Italian-English conductor and composer (d. 1884)
- 1813 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (d. 1884)
- 1819 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American journalist and politician, invented the typewriter (d. 1890)
- 1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American general and politician (d. 1886)
- 1828 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (d. 1885)
- 1835 – Piet Paaltjens, Dutch minister and poet (d. 1894)
- 1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (d. 1914)
- 1846 – Julian Scott, American soldier and drummer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1901)
- 1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, American physician, minister, and activist (d. 1919)
- 1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (d. 1934)
- 1855 – Frank Harris, Irish author and journalist (d. 1931)
- 1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., American engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel (d. 1896)
- 1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German lawyer and politician, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (d. 1954)
- 1869 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- 1878 – Julius Nieuwland, Belgian priest, chemist and academic (d. 1936)
- 1882 – John Barrymore, American actor (d. 1942)
- 1884 – Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor and director (d. 1947)
- 1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1974)
- 1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh-English painter and author (d. 1956)
- 1890 – Dick Richards Welsh international footballer, forward
- 1891 – Katherine Stinson, American aviator (d. 1977)
- 1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech commander and politician (d. 1948)
- 1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and producer (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Wilhelm Burgdorf, German general (d. 1945)
- 1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
- 1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
- 1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
- 1900 – Jessica Dragonette, American singer (d. 1980)
- 1903 – Stuart Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1905 – Thelma Ritter, American actress and singer (d. 1969)
- 1907 – Johnny Longden, English-American jockey and trainer (d. 2003)
- 1911 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch physician and inventor (d. 2009)
- 1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Hungarian lawyer, explorer, and author (d. 1988)
- 1913 – Mel Allen, American sportscaster (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Woody Hayes, American football player and coach (d. 1987)
- 1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American trade union leader (d. 1975)
- 1913 – James Pike, American bishop (d. 1969)
- 1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general (d. 2010)
- 1916 – Sally Gray, English actress and singer (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director and producer (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
- 1921 – Hugh Downs, American journalist, game show host, and producer
- 1921 – Hazel McCallion, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 3rd Mayor of Mississauga
- 1923 – Jay Hebert, American golfer (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma (d. 2017)
- 1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian-Australian model and actress (d. 2007)
- 1928 – William Allain, American soldier and politician, 58th Governor of Mississippi (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor and director (d. 1982)
- 1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2006)
- 1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor and director (d. 2005)
- 1932 – Harriet Andersson, Swedish actress
- 1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
- 1935 – David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, Scottish academic and diplomat, 27th Governor of Hong Kong
- 1936 – Anna German, Polish singer (d. 1982)
- 1937 – John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, English politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1937 – Magic Sam, American singer and guitarist (d. 1969)
- 1939 – Razzy Bailey, American country music singer-songwriter and musician
- 1939 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
- 1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 – James Maynard, American businessman, co-founded Golden Corral
- 1941 – Donna Shalala, American academic and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1941 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
- 1942 – Michael Bloomberg, American businessman and politician, 108th Mayor of New York City
- 1942 – Andrew Robinson, American actor and director
- 1942 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1962)
- 1943 – Eric Andersen, American singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Maceo Parker, American saxophonist
- 1943 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (d. 2007)
- 1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist and author
- 1944 – Alan Parker, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish race car driver (d. 1978)
- 1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
- 1945 – Rod Masterson, American lieutenant and actor (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, Nauru politician, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
- 1946 – Gregory Hines, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
- 1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
- 1947 – Judd Gregg, American lawyer and politician, 76th Governor of New Hampshire
- 1948 – Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American actress and dancer
- 1948 – Pat O’Brien, American journalist and author
- 1948 – Wally Tax, Dutch singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1948 – Teller, American magician and actor
- 1950 – Roger Fisher, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1951 – Terry Gross, American radio host and producer
- 1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer and manager
- 1952 – Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2019)
- 1954 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Carol Kalish, American publisher (d. 1991)
- 1956 – Howard Davis Jr., American boxer and trainer (d. 2015)
- 1956 – Dave Dravecky, American baseball player
- 1956 – Katharina Fritsch, German sculptor and academic
- 1957 – Alan Hunter, American television host and actor
- 1957 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano and actress
- 1957 – Alan Smith, English bishop
- 1958 – Grant Thomas, Australian footballer and coach
- 1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano and actress
- 1960 – Philip Jones, English admiral
- 1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player and businessman
- 1960 – Meg Tilly, American actress and author
- 1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor, director, and producer
- 1963 – John Marzano, American baseball player (d. 2008)
- 1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist and sportscaster
- 1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player and agent
- 1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Greek-English businessman, founded easyJet
- 1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian-Swiss tennis player
- 1967 – Mark Rutte, Dutch businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1968 – Jules Asner, American model and television host
- 1968 – Chris Lewis, Guyanese-English cricketer
- 1968 – Scott McClellan, American civil servant and author, 25th White House Press Secretary
- 1969 – Meg Hillier, English journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
- 1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
- 1970 – Sean Hill, American ice hockey player
- 1970 – Simon Pegg, English actor, director, and producer
- 1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipino talk show host, actress, and producer
- 1971 – Gheorghe Mureșan, Romanian basketball player
- 1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player and coach
- 1972 – Musōyama Masashi, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1972 – Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress and singer
- 1972 – Jaan Tallinn, Estonian computer programmer, co-developed Skype
- 1972 – Rob Thomas, American singer-songwriter
- 1973 – H. D. Ackerman, South African cricketer
- 1973 – Tyus Edney, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (d. 2009)
- 1973 – Annalisa Buffa, Italian mathematician
- 1974 – Valentina Vezzali, Italian fencer and politician
- 1976 – Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1976 – Rie Rasmussen, Danish model, film director, writer, photographer, and actress
- 1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist
- 1977 – Jim Jefferies, Australian comedian and actor
- 1977 – Darren Purse, English footballer
- 1977 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)
- 1977 – Anna Erschler, Russian mathematician
- 1977 – Robert J. Jackson Jr., American law professor
- 1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
- 1978 – Darius Songaila, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
- 1980 – Josh Senter, American screenwriter and producer
- 1980 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress and producer
- 1981 – Matteo Brighi, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Randy de Puniet, French motorcycle racer
- 1981 – Brad Halsey, American baseball player (d. 2014)
- 1982 – Marián Gáborík, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1982 – John Halls, English footballer and model
- 1982 – Lenka Tvarošková, Slovak tennis player
- 1983 – Callix Crabbe, Virgin Islander baseball player
- 1983 – Rocky Elsom, Australian rugby player
- 1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer
- 1985 – Karima Adebibe, English model and actress
- 1985 – Tyler Clippard, American baseball player
- 1985 – Heart Evangelista, Filipino singer and actress
- 1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss international footballer, centre back
- 1985 – Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
- 1986 – Michael Ammermüller, German race car driver
- 1986 – Oliver Lee, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1986 – Gao Lin, Chinese footballer
- 1987 – Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer
- 1987 – Tom Pyatt, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – David Wheater, English footballer
- 1988 – Katie Boland, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1988 – Ángel Di María, Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Siim Liivik, Estonian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Asia Nitollano, American singer and dancer
- 1989 – Néstor Calderón, Mexican footballer
- 1989 – Adam Matuszczyk, Polish footballer
- 1989 – Emma Miskew, Canadian curler
- 1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Jurij Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1989 – Kristian Thomas, English gymnast
- 1990 – Sefa Yılmaz, German-Turkish footballer
- 1991 – Daniela Mona Lambin, Estonian footballer
- 1991 – Chris Rowney, English footballer
- 1992 – Christian Eriksen, Danish footballer
- 1992 – Freddie Highmore, English actor
- 1996 – Lucas Hernandez, French footballer
Deaths on February 14
- 869 – Cyril, Greek missionary bishop (b. 827)
- 945 – Lian Chongyu, Chinese general
- 945 – Zhu Wenjin, Chinese emperor
- 1009 – Bruno of Querfurt, German missionary bishop
- 1010 – Fujiwara no Korechika, Japanese nobleman (b. 974)
- 1140 – Leo I, Armenian prince
- 1140 – Sobĕslav I, duke of Bohemia
- 1164 – Sviatoslav Olgovich, Kievan prince
- 1229 – Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, king of the Isles
- 1317 – Margaret of France, queen of England
- 1400 – Richard II, king of England (b. 1367)
- 1440 – Dietrich of Oldenburg, German nobleman
- 1489 – Nicolaus von Tüngen, prince-bishop of Warmia
- 1528 – Edzard I, German nobleman (b. 1462)
- 1549 – Il Sodoma, Italian painter (b. 1477)
- 1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal (b. 1517)
- 1676 – Abraham Bosse, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1602)
- 1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, queen of Spain (b. 1688)
- 1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, English lawyer and politician Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
- 1744 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (b. 1682)
- 1779 – James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1728)
- 1780 – William Blackstone, English jurist and politician (b. 1723)
- 1782 – Singu Min, Burmese king (b. 1756)
- 1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and politician 5th Governor of Delaware (b. 1732)
- 1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican general and politician, 2nd President of Mexico (b. 1782)
- 1831 – Henry Maudslay, English engineer (b. 1771)
- 1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (b. 1815)
- 1881 – Fernando Wood, American merchant and politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (b. 1812)
- 1884 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (b. 1813)
- 1885 – Jules Vallès, French journalist and author (b. 1832)
- 1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (b. 1820)
- 1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (b. 1814)
- 1901 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1819)
- 1910 – Giovanni Passannante, Italian anarchist (b. 1849)
- 1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1880)
- 1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and lawyer (b. 1875)
- 1930 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1853)
- 1933 – Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (b. 1864)
- 1942 – Adnan Saidi, Malayan lieutenant (b. 1915)
- 1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (b. 1899)
- 1943 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1862)
- 1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player and manager (b. 1876)
- 1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi politician (b. 1901)
- 1950 – Karl Guthe Jansky, American physicist and engineer (b. 1905)
- 1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)
- 1958 – Abdur Rab Nishtar, Pakistani politician, 2nd Governor of Punjab (b. 1899)
- 1959 – Baby Dodds, American drummer (b. 1898)
- 1967 – Sig Ruman, German-American actor (b. 1884)
- 1969 – Vito Genovese, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
- 1970 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (b. 1880)
- 1974 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer and coach (b. 1903)
- 1975 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and eugenicist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1887)
- 1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (b. 1881)
- 1979 – Adolph Dubs, American lieutenant and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (b. 1920)
- 1983 – Lina Radke, German runner and coach (b. 1903)
- 1986 – Edmund Rubbra, English composer and conductor (b. 1901)
- 1987 – Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1904)
- 1988 – Frederick Loewe, German-American composer (b. 1901)
- 1989 – James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (b. 1900)
- 1989 – Vincent Crane, English pianist (b. 1943)
- 1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet serial killer (b. 1936)
- 1994 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (b. 1932)
- 1995 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor and playwright (b. 1923)
- 1995 – U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1907)
- 1996 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (b. 1919)
- 1999 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer and politician, 12th White House Counsel (b. 1925)
- 1999 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1933)
- 2002 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1922)
- 2002 – Mick Tucker, English drummer (b. 1947)
- 2003 – Johnny Longden, English jockey and trainer (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
- 2005 – Rafic Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1944; assassinated)
- 2006 – Lynden David Hall, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1974)
- 2007 – Ryan Larkin, Canadian animator and director (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Gareth Morris, English flute player and educator (b. 1920)
- 2009 – Bernard Ashley, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Laura Ashley plc (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Louie Bellson, American drummer and composer (b. 1924)
- 2010 – Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
- 2010 – Dick Francis, Welsh jockey and author (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Linnart Mäll, Estonian historian, orientalist, and translator (b. 1938)
- 2011 – George Shearing, English-American pianist and composer (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Mike Bernardo, South African boxer and martial artist (b. 1969)
- 2012 – Tonmi Lillman, Finnish drummer and producer (b. 1973)
- 2012 – Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Péter Rusorán, Hungarian swimmer, water polo player, and coach (b. 1940)
- 2013 – Glenn Boyer, American historian and author (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher and scholar (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Tom Finney, English footballer (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Chris Pearson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Mike Stepovich, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Alaska Territory (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Philip Levine, American poet and academic (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach (b. 1920)
- 2016 – Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English lieutenant, engineer, and politician (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Steven Stucky, American composer and academic (b. 1949)
- 2018 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician and diplomat, Prime Minister and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1939)
- 2018 – Morgan Tsvangirai, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (b. 1952).
Holidays and observances on February 14
- Christian feast day:
- Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe (Roman Catholic Church)
- Manchan
- Valentine (Valentine’s Day)
- February 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Statehood Day (Arizona, United States)
- Statehood Day (Oregon, United States)
- Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Armenian Apostolic Church)
- Parents’ Worship Day (parts of India)
-
February 9 in History
- 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
- 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.
- 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
- 1654 – The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
- 1778 – Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1788 – The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.
- 1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as President of the United States.
- 1849 – The new Roman Republic is declared.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.
- 1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
- 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
- 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.
- 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.
- 1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
- 1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
- 1920 – Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.
- 1922 – Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1934 – The Balkan Entente is formed.
- 1941 – World War II: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.
- 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
- 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
- 1943 – World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
- 1945 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.
- 1945 – World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attacked a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway.
- 1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
- 1951 – Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea
- 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
- 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a “record-busting” audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.
- 1965 – The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
- 1971 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
- 1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the USA’s Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
- 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.
- 1978 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1986 – Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
- 1991 – Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
- 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London’s Canary Wharf, killing two people.
- 1996 – Copernicium is discovered, by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.
- 2016 – Two passenger trains collided in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people died, and 85 others were injured.
- 2018 – Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.
Births on February 9
- 1060 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1130)
- 1274 – Louis of Toulouse, French bishop (d. 1297)
- 1313 – Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile, Portuguese infanta (d. 1357)
- 1344 – Meinhard III, count of Tyrol (d. 1363)
- 1441 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and painter (d. 1501)
- 1533 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (d. 1611)
- 1579 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1639)
- 1651 – Procopio Cutò, French entrepreneur (d. 1727)
- 1666 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish field marshal (d. 1737)
- 1711 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (d. 1762)
- 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809)
- 1741 – Henri-Joseph Rigel, German-French composer (d. 1799)
- 1748 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1817)
- 1763 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1830)
- 1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848)
- 1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
- 1775 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1856)
- 1781 – Johann Baptist von Spix, German biologist and explorer (d. 1826)
- 1783 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1852)
- 1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German engineer, invented Gabelsberger shorthand (d. 1849)
- 1800 – Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)
- 1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (d. 1886)
- 1815 – Federico de Madrazo, Spanish painter (d.1894)
- 1834 – Felix Dahn, German lawyer, historian, and author (d. 1912)
- 1826 – Keʻelikōlani, Hawaiian royal and governor (d. 1883)
- 1837 – José Burgos, Filipino priest and revolutionary (d. 1872)
- 1839 – Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1896)
- 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (d. 1929)
- 1846 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman and financier (d. 1904)
- 1847 – Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh-English clergyman and theologian (d. 1902)
- 1854 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (d. 1929)
- 1856 – Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1921)
- 1859 – Akiyama Yoshifuru, Japanese general (d. 1930)
- 1863 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (d. 1933)
- 1864 – Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
- 1865 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English-French actress (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (d. 1949)
- 1867 – Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (d. 1916)
- 1871 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (d. 1910)
- 1874 – Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 1925)
- 1876 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1963)
- 1878 – Jack Kirwan, Irish international footballer (d. 1959)
- 1880 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
- 1883 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1935)
- 1885 – Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (d. 1960)
- 1889 – Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1928)
- 1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
- 1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1987)
- 1895 – Hermann Brill, German lawyer and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (d. 1959)
- 1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian captain and pilot (d. 1935)
- 1898 – Jūkichi Yagi, Japanese poet and educator (d. 1927)
- 1901 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1901 – James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)
- 1905 – David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, English hurdler and politician (d. 1981)
- 1906 – André Kostolany, Hungarian-French economist and journalist (d. 1999)
- 1907 – Trường Chinh, Vietnamese politician, 4th President of Vietnam (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
- 1909 – Heather Angel, English-American actress (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1955)
- 1909 – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- 1911 – William Orlando Darby, American general (d. 1945)
- 1912 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (d. 1968)
- 1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
- 1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
- 1916 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Lloyd Noel Ferguson, African American chemist (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1922 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Brendan Behan, Irish rebel, poet, and playwright (d. 1964)
- 1923 – Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1925 – John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian
- 1925 – Burkhard Heim, German physicist and academic (d. 2001)
- 1926 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Richard A. Long, American historian and author (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist
- 1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003)
- 1931 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1989)
- 1931 – Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Robert Morris, American sculptor and painter (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager
- 1932 – Gerhard Richter, German painter and photographer
- 1935 – Lionel Fanthorpe, English-Welsh priest, journalist, and author
- 1936 – Clive Swift, English actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Ron Logan, Disney theatrical producer and professor
- 1939 – Mahala Andrews, British vertebrae palaeontologist (d. 1997)
- 1939 – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer
- 1939 – Janet Suzman, South African-British actress and director
- 1940 – Brian Bennett, English drummer and songwriter
- 1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian novelist, essayist, and linguist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer
- 1941 – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician
- 1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1943 – Barbara Lewis, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor
- 1943 – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 – Derryn Hinch, New Zealand-Australian radio and television host and politician
- 1944 – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
- 1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and former fashion model
- 1945 – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese cell biologist, 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
- 1945 – Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic
- 1946 – Bob Eastwood, American golfer
- 1946 – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy
- 1947 – Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer and diplomat
- 1947 – Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Major Harris, American R&B singer (d. 2012)
- 1947 – Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (d. 2019)
- 1948 – Guy Standing, English economist and academic
- 1949 – Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer and journalist
- 1949 – Judith Light, American actress
- 1950 – Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician
- 1951 – David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer
- 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster
- 1953 – Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
- 1953 – Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary, priest, and martyr (d. 1985)
- 1953 – Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek
- 1954 – Jo Duffy, American author
- 1954 – Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1954 – Kevin Warwick, English cybernetics scientist
- 1955 – Jerry Beck, American historian and author
- 1955 – Jimmy Pursey, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
- 1956 – Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia
- 1957 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1958 – Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer
- 1958 – Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host
- 1960 – Holly Johnson, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1960 – David Simon, American journalist, author, screenwriter, and television producer
- 1960 – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut
- 1961 – John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1962 – Anik Bissonnette, Canadian ballerina
- 1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist
- 1963 – Peter Rowsthorn, Australian comedian and actor
- 1963 – Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1964 – Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager
- 1964 – Dewi Morris, English rugby player
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1964 – Alejandro Ávila, Mexican telenovela actor
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Dieter Baumann, German runner
- 1966 – Harald Eia, Norwegian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Dan Shulman, Canadian sportscaster
- 1967 – Gaston Browne, Antiguan and Barbudan Prime Minister
- 1968 – Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver
- 1968 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
- 1969 – Jimmy Smith, American football player
- 1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1971 – Matt Gogel, American golfer
- 1971 – Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1972 – Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1973 – Svetlana Boginskaya, Belarusian gymnast
- 1973 – Colin Egglesfield, American actor
- 1973 – Makoto Shinkai, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1974 – Brad Maynard, American football player
- 1974 – Amber Valletta, American model
- 1974 – John Wallace, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Kurt Asle Arvesen, Norwegian cyclist and coach
- 1975 – Clinton Grybas, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
- 1975 – Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1976 – Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1979 – Akinori Iwamura, Japanese baseball player
- 1979 – Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
- 1980 – Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress
- 1980 – Manu Raju, American journalist
- 1981 – Tom Hiddleston, English actor, producer, and musical performer
- 1981 – Daisuke Sekimoto, Japanese wrestler
- 1982 – Domingo Cisma, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Jameer Nelson, American basketball player
- 1982 – Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1982 – Chris Weale, English footballer and manager
- 1983 – Mikel Arruabarrena, Spanish footballer
- 1984 – Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer
- 1984 – Shōhōzan Yūya, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1985 – David Gallagher, American actor
- 1987 – Sam Coulson, English guitarist
- 1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor
- 1987 – Davide Lanzafame, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete
- 1988 – Lotte Friis, Danish swimmer
- 1989 – Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
- 1990 – Tariq Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1991 – Logan Ryan, American football player
- 1992 – Kyle Feldt, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Mitchell Frei, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Avan Jogia, Canadian actor
- 1993 – Niclas Füllkrug, German footballer
- 1995 – André Burakovsky, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1995 – Mario Pašalić, Croatian footballer
- 1997 – Saquon Barkley, American football player
Deaths on February 9
- 966 – Ono no Michikaze, Japanese calligrapher (b. 894)
- 967 – Sayf al-Dawla, emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
- 978 – Luitgarde, duchess consort of Normandy
- 1011 – Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
- 1014 – Yang Yanzhao, Chinese general
- 1135 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1075)
- 1199 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1147)
- 1251 – Matthias II, duke of Lorraine
- 1407 – William I, margrave of Meissen (b. 1343)
- 1450 – Agnès Sorel, French mistress of Charles VII of France (b. 1421)
- 1555 – John Hooper, English bishop and martyr (b. 1495)
- 1555 – Rowland Taylor, English priest and martyr (b. 1510)
- 1588 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (b. 1526)
- 1600 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1542)
- 1619 – Lucilio Vanini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1585)
- 1640 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1612)
- 1670 – Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
- 1675 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
- 1709 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (b. 1664)
- 1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)
- 1803 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier, poet, and philosopher (b. 1716)
- 1857 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and translator (b. 1798)
- 1874 – Jules Michelet, French historian, philosopher, and academic (b. 1798)
- 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)
- 1903 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (b. 1816)
- 1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1872)
- 1928 – William Gillies, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Queensland (b. 1868)
- 1930 – Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (b. 1846)
- 1932 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and banker (b. 1869)
- 1932 – A.K. Golam Jilani, Bangladeshi soldier and activist (b. 1904)
- 1945 – Ella D. Barrier, American educator (b. 1852)
- 1950 – Ted Theodore, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Queensland (b. 1884)
- 1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)
- 1957 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (b. 1868)
- 1960 – Alexandre Benois, Russian painter and critic (b. 1870)
- 1960 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1965 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and educator (b. 1874)
- 1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)
- 1969 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)
- 1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Company (b. 1894)
- 1978 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Allen Tate, American poet and academic (b. 1899)
- 1980 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and author (b. 1900)
- 1981 – M. C. Chagla, Indian jurist and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1900)
- 1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
- 1984 – Yuri Andropov, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
- 1989 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese illustrator, animator, and producer (b. 1928)
- 1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
- 1995 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
- 1995 – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911)
- 2001 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the windscreen wiper (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
- 2008 – Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian painter, poet, and sculptor (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (b. 1939)
- 2012 – O. P. Dutta, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2012 – John Hick, English philosopher and academic (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Joe Moretti, Scottish-South African guitarist and songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Jimmy Smyth, Irish hurler (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Gabriel Axel, Danish actor, director, and producer (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Logan Scott-Bowden, English general (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Liu Han, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (b. 1965)
- 2015 – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916)
- 2016 – Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb military commander (b. 1948)
- 2017 – André Salvat, French Army colonel (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Reg E. Cathey, American actor of stage, film, and television (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Nebojša Glogovac, Serbian actor (b. 1969)
- 2018 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic composer (b. 1969)
- 2018 – John Gavin, American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (b. 1931)
- 2020 – Sergiy Vilkomir, Ukrainian-born computer scientist (b. 1956)
Holidays and observances on February 9
- Christian feast day:
- Alto of Altomünster
- Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
- Ansbert of Rouen
- Apollonia
- Bracchio
- Blessed Leopold of Alpandeire
- Maron (Maronite Church)
- Miguel Febres Cordero
- Nebridius
- Sabinus of Canosa
- Teilo (Wales)
- February 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Clean Monday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of Great Lent. (Eastern Christianity)
- Earliest day on which People’s Sunday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent. (Malta)
- St. Maroun’s Day (public holiday in Lebanon)
-
February 3 in History
- 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
- 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
- 1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
- 1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
- 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
- 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
- 1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
- 1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
- 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
- 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
- 1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
- 1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
- 1834 – Wake Forest University is established (as Wake Forest Institute) in North Carolina, United States.
- 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
- 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
- 1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of 7 lives.
- 1917 – First World War: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
- 1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
- 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
- 1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
- 1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
- 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
- 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
- 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
- 1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
- 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
- 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
- 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change”, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
- 1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
- 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
- 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
- 1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
- 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
- 1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
- 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
- 1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
- 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
- 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
- 2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.
Births on February 3
- 1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
- 1392 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and military commander (d. 1455)
- 1428 – Helena Palaiologina, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1458)
- 1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
- 1504 – Scipione Rebiba, Italian cardinal (d. 1577)
- 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
- 1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
- 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (d. 1755)
- 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
- 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
- 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier and politician, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
- 1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
- 1763 – Caroline von Wolzogen, German author (d. 1847)
- 1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
- 1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)
- 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
- 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general and politician (d. 1891)
- 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
- 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
- 1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement
- 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
- 1817 – Émile Prudent, French pianist and composer (d. 1863)
- 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician and educator (d. 1910)
- 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1894)
- 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
- 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
- 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
- 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
- 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
- 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
- 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
- 1867 – Charles Henry Turner, American biologist, educator and zoologist (d. 1923)
- 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
- 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, (d. 1946)
- 1878 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
- 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian pharmacist and poet (d. 1914)
- 1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
- 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
- 1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1978)
- 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
- 1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
- 1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 1973)
- 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
- 1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
- 1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
- 1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
- 1907 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (d. 1997)
- 1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
- 1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
- 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
- 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (d. 1990)
- 1914 – Mary Carlisle, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
- 1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler and hammer thrower (d. 1998)
- 1917 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi and general (d. 1994)
- 1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor and producer (d. 2007)
- 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner, baseball player, and manager (d. 1994)
- 1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician and author (d. 2016)
- 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
- 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Shelley Berman, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
- 1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German soldier and politician, 8th Mayor of Berlin
- 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician, 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2003)
- 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
- 1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1936 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984)
- 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
- 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1938 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
- 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler and trainer
- 1941 – Howard Phillips, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
- 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American soul/R&B singer (d. 2018)
- 1943 – Eric Haydock, English bass player (d. 2019)
- 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
- 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
- 1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist, essayist, and poet
- 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor and director
- 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author and playwright (d. 2015)
- 1949 – Jim Thorpe, American golfer
- 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
- 1950 – Grant Goldman, Australian radio and television host (d. 2020)
- 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
- 1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
- 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and comedian
- 1957 – Eric Lander, American mathematician, geneticist, and academic
- 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
- 1958 – Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist
- 1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist and academic
- 1959 – Óscar Iván Zuluaga, Colombian economist and politician, 67th Colombian Minister of Finance
- 1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (d. 2018)
- 1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler and trainer
- 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
- 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
- 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
- 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
- 1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
- 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress and producer
- 1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
- 1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
- 1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach
- 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
- 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1968 – Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer
- 1969 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (d. 2015)
- 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
- 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
- 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
- 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish pianist and composer
- 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist and producer
- 1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
- 1977 – Daddy Yankee, American-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
- 1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
- 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
- 1979 – Paul Franks, English cricketer and coach
- 1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
- 1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
- 1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
- 1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
- 1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
- 1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
- 1986 – Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress
- 1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
- 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
- 1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
- 1990 – Martin Taupau, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1991 – Corey Norman, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player
Deaths on February 3
- AD 6 – Ping, emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
- 456 – Sihyaj Chan K’awiil II, ruler of Tikal
- 639 – K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I, ruler of Piedras Negras
- 699 – Werburgh, English nun and saint
- 865 – Ansgar, Frankish archbishop (b. 801)
- 929 – Guy, margrave of Tuscany
- 938 – Zhou Ben, Chinese general (b. 862)
- 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
- 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and England (b. 960)
- 1116 – Coloman, king of Hungary
- 1161 – Inge I, king of Norway (b. 1135)
- 1252 – Sviatoslav III, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1196)
- 1399 – John of Gaunt, Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1340)
- 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1386)
- 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
- 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
- 1537 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513)
- 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian and author (b. 1513)
- 1618 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania (b. 1573)
- 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1564)
- 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1648)
- 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Spanish statesman and economist (b. 1723)
- 1813 – Juan Bautista Cabral, Argentinian sergeant (b. 1789)
- 1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
- 1832 – George Crabbe, English surgeon and poet (b. 1754)
- 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
- 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
- 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
- 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
- 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
- 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
- 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
- 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
- 1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
- 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (b. 1887)
- 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
- 1955 – Vasily Blokhin, Russian general (b. 1895)
- 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and academic (b. 1871)
- 1956 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (b. 1916)
- 1959 – The Day the Music Died
- The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
- Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
- 1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Scottish-Australian captain and politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
- 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
- 1963 – Benjamin R. Jacobs (b. 1879)
- 1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
- 1969 – C. N. Annadurai, Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
- 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican activist and academic (b. 1920)
- 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and engineer (b. 1873)
- 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
- 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
- 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
- 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Gwen Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1950)
- 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian biologist and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
- 2005 – Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (b. 1904)
- 2006 – Al Lewis, American actor and activist (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Frances Reid, American actress (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
- 2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
- 2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (b. 1921)
- 2013 – James Muri, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1923)
- 2016 – József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (b. 1945)
- 2016 – Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1931)
- 2019 – Julie Adams, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Kristoff St. John, American actor (b. 1966)
- 2020 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances on February 3
- Christian feast day:
- Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Ansgar
- Berlinda of Meerbeke
- Blaise
- Celsa and Nona
- Claudine Thévenet
- Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
- Hadelin
- Margaret of England
- Werburgh
- February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
- Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
- Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
- Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
- Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
- Martyrs’ Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
- Setsubun (Japan)
- Veterans’ Day (Thailand)