48 BC – Pompey is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy upon arriving in Egypt.
235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.
935 – Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.
995 – Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.
1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
1106 – King Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
1238 – King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors. Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
1322 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
1538 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California.
1779 – American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 – American Revolution: American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.
1787 – The Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly-written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.
1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted. It will be made public on 13 October.
1844 – Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1867 – Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, having also been the capital of Ontario’s predecessors since 1796.
1868 – The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
1871 – The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.
1889 – The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter.
1892 – The first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.
1893 – Foundation of the Portuguese football club FC Porto.
1901 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.
1912 – The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Protestant Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.
1912 – Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.
1918 – World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.
1919 – Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska.
1924 – The first aerial circumnavigation is completed by a team from the US Army.
1928 – Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.
1939 – World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.
1941 – World War II: The Drama uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.
1941 – Ted Williams achieves a .406 batting average for the season, and becomes the last major league baseball player to bat .400 or better.
1944 – World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.
1951 – CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.
1961 – A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
1970 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
1971 – The Parliament of the UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1973 – The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT’s alleged involvement in the coup d’état in Chile.
1975 – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
1986 – The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.
1991 – The Strategic Air Command stands down from alert all ICBMs scheduled for deactivation under START I, as well as its strategic bomber force.
1992 – A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew.
1994 – The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
1995 – Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.
1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
2000 – Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al-Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 – Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit.
2009 – The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1400 people.
2012 – Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants.
2014 – The 2014 Hong Kong protests begin in response to restrictive political reforms imposed by the NPC in Beijing.
2016 – The 2016 South Australian blackout occurs, lasting up to three days in some areas.
2018 – The 7.5 Mw 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami, leaves 4,340 dead and 10,679 injured.
2018 – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the international project Tree of Peace was established (September, 28). One of the trees was planted personally by Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic.
Births on September 28
551 BC – Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. (d. 479 BC)
616 – Javanshir, King of Caucasian Albania (d. 680)
1494 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1545)
1555 – Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Marshal of France (d. 1623)
1573 – Théodore de Mayerne, Swiss physician (d. 1654)
1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1694)
1681 – Johann Mattheson, German composer, lexicographer, and diplomat (d. 1764)
1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1774)
1705 – Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
1735 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1811)
1746 – William Jones, English-Welsh philologist and scholar (d. 1794)
1765 – Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (d. 1814)
1803 – Prosper Mérimée, French archaeologist, historian, and author (d. 1870)
1809 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
1819 – Narcís Monturiol, Spanish engineer and publisher (d. 1885)
1821 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American minister and politician (d. 1874)
1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter and educator (d. 1889)
1824 – Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet and critic (d. 1897)
1836 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber, invented the ballcock (d. 1910)
1838 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian national saint (d. 1918)
1841 – Georges Clemenceau, French journalist, physician, and politician, 85th Prime Minister of France (d. 1929)
1844 – Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1852 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
1852 – Isis Pogson, British astronomer and meteorologist (d. 1945)
1856 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (d. 1923)
1860 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist (d. 1934)
1861 – Amélie of Orléans, queen consort of Portugal (d. 1951)
1867 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, Japanese lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
1867 – James Edwin Campbell, American poet, editor, short story writer and educator (d. 1896)
1868 – Evelyn Beatrice Hall, English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire, and wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre (d. 1956)
1877 – Albert Young, American boxer and promoter (d. 1940)
1878 – Joseph Ruddy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
1870 – Florent Schmitt, French composer and critic (d. 1958)
1881 – Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (d. 1950)
1882 – Mart Saar, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1963)
1885 – Emil Väre, Finnish wrestler, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
1887 – Avery Brundage, American businessman, 5th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1975)
1889 – Jack Fournier, American baseball player and coach (d. 1973)
1890 – Florence Violet McKenzie, Australian electrical engineer (d. 1982)
1892 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (d. 1967)
1893 – Hilda Geiringer, Austrian mathematician (d. 1973)
1893 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek author, poet, and playwright (d. 1984)
1898 – Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (d. 1957)
1900 – Isabel Pell, American socialite, fought as part of the French Resistance during WWII (d. 1951)
1901 – William S. Paley, American broadcaster, founded CBS (d. 1990)
1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
1903 – Haywood S. Hansell, American general (d. 1988)
1905 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
1907 – Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast and physician (d. 1997)
1907 – Bhagat Singh, Indian activist (d. 1931)
1909 – Al Capp, American author and illustrator (d. 1979)
1910 – Diosdado Macapagal, Filipino lawyer and politician, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
1910 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1942)
1913 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (d. 2007)
1913 – Alice Marble, American tennis player (d. 1990)
1914 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American refugee and singer (d. 2014)
1915 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)
1916 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (d. 1977)
1916 – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Ukrainian-Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2008)
1918 – Ángel Labruna, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
1918 – Arnold Stang, American actor (d. 2009)
1919 – Doris Singleton, American actress (d. 2012)
1922 – Larry Munson, American sportscaster (d. 2011)
1923 – Tuli Kupferberg, American singer, poet, and writer (d. 2010)
1923 – John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (d. 2007)
1923 – William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
1924 – Rudolf Barshai, Russian-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 2010)
1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian-French actor and singer (d. 1996)
1925 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist, founded the CRAY Computer Company (d. 1996)
1925 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
1925 – Martin David Kruskal, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2006)
1926 – Jerry Clower, American soldier, comedian, and author (d. 1998)
1928 – Koko Taylor, American singer (d. 2009)
1929 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer and composer
1930 – Tommy Collins, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
1930 – Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist, author, and academic (d. 2019)
1932 – Jeremy Isaacs, Scottish screenwriter and producer
1932 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, and director (d. 1973)
1933 – Joe Benton, English soldier and politician
1933 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor and educator (d. 2006)
1933 – Johnny “Country” Mathis, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
1935 – Bruce Crampton, Australian golfer
1935 – David Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick, English diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations
1935 – Ronald Lacey, English actor (d. 1991)
1936 – Emmett Chapman, American guitarist, invented the Chapman Stick
1936 – Eddie Lumsden, Australian rugby league player (d. 2019)
1936 – Robert Wolders, Dutch television actor (d. 2018)
1937 – Alice Mahon, English trade union leader and politician
1937 – Glenn Sutton, American country music songwriter and record producer (d. 2007)
1938 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
1939 – Stuart Kauffman, American biologist and academic
1941 – David Lewis, American philosopher and academic (d. 2001)
1941 – Edmund Stoiber, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Bavaria
1942 – Pierre Clémenti, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1942 – Edward “Little Buster” Forehand, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1943 – Warren Lieberfarb, American businessman
1943 – George W. S. Trow, American novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
1943 – Nick St. Nicholas, German-Canadian bass player
1944 – Richie Karl, American golfer
1944 – Marcia Muller, American journalist and author
1945 – Marielle Goitschel, French skier
1945 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter and journalist (d. 2011)
1945 – Fusako Shigenobu, Japanese activist, founded the Japanese Red Army
1946 – Tom Bower, English journalist and author
1946 – Majid Khan, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
1947 – Bob Carr, Australian journalist and politician, 37th Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1947 – Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh
1947 – Jon Snow, English journalist and academic
1947 – Rhonda Hughes, American mathematician and academic
1949 – Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Paul Burgess, English drummer
1950 – Christina Hoff Sommers, American author and philosopher
1950 – John Sayles, American novelist, director, and screenwriter
1951 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2015)
1952 – Christopher Buckley, American satirical novelist
1952 – Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Greek basketball player and coach
1952 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model and actress (d. 2012)
1952 – Andy Ward, English drummer
1953 – Otmar Hasler, Liechtensteiner educator and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
1954 – Steve Largent, American football player and politician
1954 – George Lynch, American guitarist and songwriter
1954 – John Scott, English rugby player
1954 – Margot Wallström, Swedish politician and diplomat, 42nd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
1955 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian sociologist and politician, 15th Canadian Minister of the Environment
1955 – Mercy Manci, Xhosa sangoma and HIV activist from South Africa
1955 – Kenny Kirkland, American pianist (d. 1998)
1956 – Martha Isabel Fandiño Pinilla, Colombian-Italian mathematician and author
1957 – Bill Cassidy, American politician and physician
1959 – Ron Fellows, Canadian race car driver
1959 – Laura Bruce, American artist
1960 – Gary Ayres, Australian footballer and coach
1960 – Tom Byrum, American golfer
1960 – Frank Hammerschlag, German footballer and manager
1960 – Gus Logie, Trinidadian cricketer
1960 – Kamlesh Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, English politician
1960 – Jennifer Rush, American singer-songwriter
1960 – Socrates Villegas, Filipino archbishop
1961 – Helen Grant, English lawyer and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
1961 – Gregory Jbara, American actor and singer
1961 – Quentin Kawānanakoa, American lawyer and politician
1961 – Anne White, American tennis player
1962 – Grant Fuhr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Laurie Rinker, American golfer
1962 – Dietmar Schacht, German footballer and manager
1962 – Chuck Taylor, American journalist
1963 – Steve Blackman, American wrestler and martial artist
1963 – Érik Comas, French race car driver
1963 – Greg Weisman, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Claudio Borghi, Argentinian footballer and manager
1964 – Gregor Fisken, Scottish race car driver
1964 – Janeane Garofalo, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
1964 – Paul Jewell, English footballer and manager
1964 – Mārtiņš Roze, Latvian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
1966 – Scott Adams, American football player (d. 2013)
1966 – Maria Canals-Barrera, Cuban-American actress
1966 – Puri Jagannadh, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – Mira Sorvino, American actress
1967 – Moon Zappa, American actress and author
1968 – Francois Botha, South African boxer and mixed martial artist
1968 – Mika Häkkinen, Finnish race car driver
1968 – Trish Keenan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1968 – Sean Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2008)
1968 – Rob Moroso, American race car driver (d. 1990)
1968 – Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress and producer
1969 – Kerri Chandler, electronic music producer and DJ
1969 – Marcel Dost, Dutch decathlete
1969 – Ben Greenman, American journalist and author
1969 – Piper Kerman, American author and memoirist
1969 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1969 – Sascha Maassen, German race car driver
1969 – Angus Robertson, Scottish politician
1969 – Nico Vaesen, Belgian footballer
1970 – Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
1970 – Mike DeJean, American baseball player
1970 – Gualter Salles, Brazilian race car driver
1971 – Joseph Arthur, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – George Eustice, English lawyer and politician
1971 – Braam van Straaten, South African rugby player
1971 – Alan Wright, English footballer and manager
1972 – Dita Von Teese, American model and dancer
1973 – Brian Rafalski, American ice hockey player
1974 – Marco Di Loreto, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Mariya Kiselyova, Russian swimmer
1974 – Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer and coach
1974 – Shane Webcke, Australian rugby league player and coach
1975 – Stuart Clark, Australian cricketer and manager
1975 – Isamu Jordan, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.
1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and is never rebuilt.
1615 – Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
1745 – Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great’s Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1760 – Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada, taken from the Acadians.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
1784 – Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated).
1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1802 – King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
1812 – Following Louisiana’s admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
1825 – General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States.
1855 – Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps.
1859 – Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army.
1862 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
1878 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V’s horse at The Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness, and dies four days later.
1916 – World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.
1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
1919 – Women’s rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1920 – Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
1928 – The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents.
1932 – Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers lead a coup d’état establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile.
1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. The Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1943 – A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505: The first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 – World War II: The United States Fifth Army captures Rome, although much of the German Fourteenth Army is able to withdraw to the north.
1961 – Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
1967 – Seventy-two people are killed when a Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes at Stockport in England.
1970 – Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1975 – The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.
1979 – Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
1983 – Gordon Kahl, who killed two US Marshals in Medina, North Dakota on February 13, is killed in a shootout in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff, after a four-month manhunt.
1986 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1988 – Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500.
1989 – Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with between 241 and 1,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).
1989 – Solidarity’s victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
1989 – Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission.
1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.
Births on June 4
1394 – Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (d. 1430)
1489 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
1563 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith (d. 1624)
1604 – Claudia de’ Medici, Italian daughter of Christina of Lorraine (d. 1648)
1665 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian captain (d. 1733)
1694 – François Quesnay, French economist and physician (d. 1774)
1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and businessman (d. 1776)
1738 – George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1820)
1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scottish soldier, designed the Ferguson rifle (d. 1780)
1754 – Miguel de Azcuénaga, Argentinian soldier (d. 1833)
1754 – Franz Xaver von Zach, Slovak astronomer and academic (d. 1832)
1787 – Constant Prévost, French geologist and academic (d. 1856)
1801 – James Pennethorne, English architect, designed Victoria Park (d. 1871)
1821 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1897)
1829 – Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (d. 1903)
1854 – Solko van den Bergh, Dutch target shooter (d. 1916)
1860 – Alexis Lapointe, Canadian runner (d. 1924)
1861 – William Propsting, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1937)
1866 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish journalist and politician (d. 1952)
1867 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish general and politician, 6th President of Finland (d. 1951)
1873 – Nictzin Dyalhis, American author (d.1942)
1877 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1879 – Mabel Lucie Attwell, English author and illustrator (d. 1964)
1880 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962)
1885 – Arturo Rawson, Argentinian general and politician, 26th President of Argentina (d. 1952)
1887 – Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949)
1889 – Beno Gutenberg, German-American seismologist (d. 1960)
1903 – Yevgeny Mravinsky, Russian conductor (d. 1988)
1904 – Bhagat Puran Singh, Indian publisher, environmentalist, and philanthropist (d. 1992)
1907 – Jacques Roumain, Haitian journalist and politician (d. 1944)
1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
1907 – Patience Strong, English poet and journalist (d. 1990)
1910 – Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (d. 1999)
1912 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (d. 1993)
1915 – Walter Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2006)
1915 – Modibo Keïta, Malian educator and politician, 1st President of Mali (d. 1977)
1915 – Nils Kihlberg, Swedish actor, singer, and director (d. 1965)
1916 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
1916 – Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (d. 2014)
1917 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1921 – Milan Komar, Slovenian-Argentinian philosopher and academic (d. 2006)
1921 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
1923 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (d. 2007)
1923 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese karateka (d. 1994)
1924 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Samoan politician, 5th Prime Minister of Samoa (d. 1999)
1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor and director (d. 2006)
1925 – Antonio Puchades, Spanish footballer (d. 2013)
1926 – Robert Earl Hughes, American who was the heaviest human being recorded in the history of the world during his lifetime (d. 1958)
1926 – Ain Kaalep, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2020)
1926 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (d. 2015)
1927 – Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1927 – Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American therapist and author
1929 – Karolos Papoulias, Greek lawyer and politician, 5th President of Greece
1930 – George Chesworth, English air marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Moray (d. 2017)
1930 – Morgana King, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
1930 – Viktor Tikhonov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
1931 – Gustav Nossal, Austrian-Australian biologist and academic
1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Oliver Nelson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1975)
1932 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand author and playwright (d. 2004)
1934 – Monica Dacon, Vincentian educator and politician, 6th Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1934 – Daphne Sheldrick, Kenyan-British conservationist and author (d. 2018)
1935 – Colette Boky, Canadian soprano and actress
1935 – Berhanu Dinka, Ethiopian economist and diplomat (d. 2013)
1936 – Vince Camuto, American fashion designer and businessman, co-founded Nine West (d. 2015)
1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor
1937 – Freddy Fender, American singer and guitarist (d. 2006)
1937 – Mortimer Zuckerman, Canadian-American businessman and publisher, founded Boston Properties
1938 – John Harvard, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2016)
1938 – Art Mahaffey, American baseball player
1939 – Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, Anglo-Irish peer (d. 2014)
1939 – Denis de Belleval, Canadian civil servant and politician
1939 – Henri Pachard, American director and producer (d. 2008)
1939 – George Reid, Scottish journalist and politician, 2nd Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
1940 – Ludwig Schwarz, Slovak-Austrian bishop
1941 – Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright and screenwriter
1942 – Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer
1942 – Bill Rowe, Canadian lawyer and politician
1943 – John Burgess, Australian radio and television host
1943 – Sandra Haynie, American golfer
1943 – Tom Jaine, English author
1944 – Roger Ball, Scottish saxophonist and songwriter
1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer-songwriter and actress
1945 – Anthony Braxton, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer
1945 – Daniel Topolski, English rower and coach (d. 2015)
1945 – Gordon Waller, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
1947 – Viktor Klima, Austrian businessman and politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria
1948 – Bob Champion, English jockey
1948 – Sandra Post, Canadian golfer and sportscaster
1948 – Jürgen Sparwasser, German footballer and manager
1949 – Gabriel Arcand, Canadian actor
1949 – Mark B. Cohen, American lawyer and politician
1950 – Raymond Dumais, Canadian bishop (d. 2012)
1951 – Leigh Kennedy, American author
1951 – Bronisław Malinowski, Polish runner (d. 1981)
1951 – Melanie Phillips, English journalist and author
1951 – Wendy Pini, American author and illustrator
1951 – David Yip, English actor and playwright
1952 – Bronisław Komorowski, Polish historian and politician, 5th President of Poland
1952 – Dambudzo Marechera, Zimbabwean author and poet (d. 1987)
1953 – Linda Lingle, American journalist and politician, 6th Governor of Hawaii
1953 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish musician and songwriter (d. 1979)
1953 – Susumu Ojima, Japanese businessman, founded Huser
1953 – Paul Samson, English guitarist and producer (d. 2002)
1954 – Raphael Ravenscroft, English saxophonist and composer (d. 2014)
1954 – Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor and voice actor
1955 – Val McDermid, Scottish author
1955 – Mary Testa, American singer and actress
1956 – Keith David, American actor
1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist and author
1956 – Terry Kennedy, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Joyce Sidman, American author and poet
1957 – Neil McNab, Scottish footballer
1959 – Juan Camacho, Bolivian runner
1959 – Georgios Voulgarakis, Greek politician, 21st Greek Minister for Culture
1960 – Miloš Đelmaš, Serbian footballer and manager
1960 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, American author
1960 – Paul Taylor, American guitarist and keyboard player
1960 – Bradley Walsh, English television presenter, comedian, singer and former footballer
1961 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and producer
1961 – Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Hungary
1962 – Krzysztof Hołowczyc, Polish race car driver
1962 – Zenon Jaskuła, Polish cyclist
1962 – John P. Kee, American singer-songwriter and pastor
1962 – Junius Ho, Hong Kong solicitor and politician
1963 – Sean Fitzpatrick, New Zealand rugby union player
1963 – Jim Lachey, American football player and sportscaster
1963 – Xavier McDaniel, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Sean Pertwee, English actor
1964 – Kōji Yamamura, Japanese animator, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
1965 – Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player and preacher
1966 – Cecilia Bartoli, Italian soprano and actress
1966 – Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2017)
1966 – Bill Wiggin, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
1967 – Robert S. Kimbrough, American colonel and astronaut
1968 – Roger Lim, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Niurka Montalvo, Cuban-Spanish long jumper
1968 – Al B. Sure!, American R&B singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1968 – Scott Wolf, American actor
1969 – Horatio Sanz, Chilean-American actor and comedian
1970 – Deborah Compagnoni, Italian skier
1970 – Richie Hawtin, English-Canadian DJ and producer
1970 – Dave Pybus, English bass player and songwriter
1970 – Izabella Scorupco, Polish-Swedish actress and model
1971 – Joseph Kabila, Congolese soldier and politician, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1971 – Mike Lee, American lawyer and politician
1971 – Shoji Meguro, Japanese director and composer
1971 – Karl Martin Sinijärv, Estonian journalist and poet
1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor and producer
1972 – Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey defenseman
1972 – Rob Huebel, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Mikey Whipwreck, American wrestler and trainer
1974 – Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni, Indian chef (d. 2012)
1974 – Darin Erstad, American baseball player and coach
1974 – Andrew Gwynne, English lawyer and politician
1974 – Janette Husárová, Slovak tennis player
1974 – Buddy Wakefield, American poet and author
1975 – Russell Brand, English comedian and actor
1975 – Henry Burris, American football player
1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist
1975 – Dinanath Ramnarine, Trinidadian cricketer
1975 – Alex Wharf, English cricketer
1976 – Kasey Chambers, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician
1976 – Nenad Zimonjić, Serbian tennis player
1977 – Dionisis Chiotis, Greek footballer
1977 – Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer
1977 – Roman Miroshnichenko, Ukrainian guitarist and composer
1977 – Roland G. Fryer Jr., American economist and professor
1978 – Robin Lord Taylor, American actor
1979 – Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
1979 – Daniel Vickerman, South African-Australian rugby player (d. 2017)
1980 – François Beauchemin, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Jennifer Carroll, Canadian swimmer
1981 – Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer
1981 – Natalia Vodopyanova, Russian basketball player
1982 – Abel Kirui, Kenyan runner
1982 – Ronnie Prude, American-Canadian football player
1983 – Romaric, Ivorian footballer
1983 – Emmanuel Eboué, Ivorian footballer
1983 – Olha Saladuha, Ukrainian triple jumper
1984 – Enrico Rossi Chauvenet, Italian footballer
1984 – Rainie Yang, Taiwanese actress
1984 – Ian White, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Leon Botha, South African painter and DJ (d. 2011)
1985 – Anna-Lena Grönefeld, German tennis player
1985 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
1985 – Lukas Podolski, German footballer
1985 – Oddvar Reiakvam, Norwegian politician
1987 – Luisa Zissman, English businesswoman
1987 – Mollie King, English singer-songwriter and model
1988 – Matt Bartkowski, American ice hockey defenseman
1988 – Kimberley Busteed, Australian model
1989 – Federico Erba, Italian footballer
1989 – Paweł Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower
1990 – Zac Farro, American singer and drummer
1990 – Evan Spiegel, American Internet entrepreneur
1991 – Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer
1991 – Matt McIlwrick, New Zealand rugby league player
1991 – Ben Stokes, New Zealand-English cricketer
1993 – Jonathan Huberdeau, Canadian ice hockey player
1995 – Shiori Tamai, Japanese singer
1999 – Kim So-hyun, South Korean actress
2004 – Mackenzie Ziegler, American dancer, singer, actress and model
Deaths on June 4
756 – Shōmu, Japanese emperor (b. 701)
863 – Charles, archbishop of Mainz
895 – Li Xi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
946 – Guaimar II (Gybbosus), Lombard prince
956 – Muhammad III of Shirvan, Muslim ruler
1039 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 990)
1102 – Władysław I Herman, Polish nobleman (b. c. 1044)
1134 – Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1106)
1135 – Emperor Huizong of Song (b. 1082)
1206 – Adela of Champagne (b. 1140)
1246 – Isabella of Angoulême (b. 1188)
1257 – Przemysł I of Greater Poland (b. 1221)
1394 – Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (b.c. 1368)
2013 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (b. 1916)
2013 – Joey Covington, American drummer (b. 1945)
2013 – Hermann Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer, handball player, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
2013 – Will Wynn, American football player (b. 1949)
2014 – George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (b. 1919)
2014 – Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean journalist and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1928)
2014 – Sydney Templeman, Baron Templeman, English lawyer and judge (b. 1920)
2014 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2015 – Marguerite Patten, English economist and author (b. 1915)
2015 – Leonid Plyushch, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1938)
2015 – Jabe Thomas, American race car driver (b. 1930)
2015 – Anne Warburton, British academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to Denmark (b. 1927)
2016 – Carmen Pereira, Bissau-Guinean politician (b. 1937)
2017 – Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances on June 4
Birthday of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim & Flag Day celebration of the Finnish Defence Forces (Finland)
Christian feast day:
Filippo Smaldone
Francis Caracciolo
Optatus
Petroc of Cornwall
Quirinus of Sescia
Saturnina
June 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. (Tonga)
Flag Day (Estonia)
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (International)
National Unity Day (Hungary)
Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 Memorial Day (International)
307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
Births on January 8
1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator