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June 28 in History
- 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul.
- 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
- 1461 – Edward, Earl of March, is crowned King Edward IV of England.
- 1519 – Charles V is elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1575 – Sengoku period of Japan: The combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu are victorious in the Battle of Nagashino.
- 1635 – Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.
- 1651 – The Battle of Berestechko between Poland and Ukraine starts.
- 1709 – Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.
- 1745 – A New England colonial army captures the French fortifications at Louisbourg (New Style).
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Sullivan’s Island ends with the American victory, leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: The American Continentals engage the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse resulting in standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness.
- 1797 – French troops disembark in Corfu, beginning the French rule in the Ionian Islands.
- 1807 – Second British invasion of the Río de la Plata; John Whitelocke lands at Ensenada on an attempt to recapture Buenos Aires and is defeated by the locals.
- 1838 – Coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
- 1841 – The Paris Opera Ballet premieres Giselle in the Salle Le Peletier.
- 1846 – Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone.
- 1855 – Sigma Chi fraternity is founded in North America.
- 1859 – The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
- 1865 – The Army of the Potomac is disbanded.
- 1880 – Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is captured at Glenrowan.
- 1881 – The Austro–Serbian Alliance of 1881 is secretly signed.
- 1882 – The Anglo-French Convention of 1882 marks the territorial boundaries between Guinea and Sierra Leone.
- 1894 – Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.
- 1895 – The United States Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis’s claim to Barony of Arizona is “wholly fictitious and fraudulent.”
- 1896 – An explosion in the Newton Coal Company’s Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.
- 1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.
- 1904 – The SS Norge runs aground on Hasselwood Rock in the North Atlantic 430 kilometres (270 mi) northwest of Ireland. More than 635 people die during the sinking.
- 1911 – The Nakhla meteorite, the first one to suggest signs of aqueous processes on Mars, falls to Earth, landing in Egypt.
- 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo; this is the casus belli of World War I.
- 1917 – World War I: Greece joins the Allied powers.
- 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
- 1921 – Serbian King Alexander I proclaims the new constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution.
- 1922 – The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.
- 1926 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
- 1936 – The Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang is formed in northern China.
- 1940 – Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union after facing an ultimatum.
- 1942 – World War II: Nazi Germany starts its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.
- 1945 – Poland’s Soviet-allied Provisional Government of National Unity is formed over a month after V-E Day.
- 1948 – Cold War: The Tito–Stalin Split results in the expulsion of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from the Cominform.
- 1948 – Boxer Dick Turpin beats Vince Hawkins at Villa Park in Birmingham to become the first black British boxing champion in the modern era.
- 1950 – Korean War: Suspected communist sympathizers (between 60,000 to 200,000) are executed in the Bodo League massacre.
- 1950 – Korean War: Packed with its own refugees fleeing Seoul and leaving their 5th Division stranded, South Korean forces blow up the Hangang Bridge in an attempt to slow North Korea’s offensive. The city falls later that day.
- 1950 – Korean War: North Korean Army conducts the Seoul National University Hospital massacre.
- 1956 – in Poznań, workers from HCP factory go to the streets, sparking one of the first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe.
- 1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
- 1969 – Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
- 1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.
- 1976 – The Angolan court sentences US and UK mercenaries to death sentences and prison terms in the Luanda Trial.
- 1978 – The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions.
- 1981 – A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of the Islamic Republican Party.
- 1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.
- 1989 – On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.
- 1997 – Holyfield–Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield’s ear.
- 2001 – Slobodan Milošević is extradited to the ICTY in The Hague to stand trial.
- 2004 – Iraq War: Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
- 2009 – Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis.
- 2016 – A terrorist attack in Turkey’s Istanbul Atatürk Airport kills 42 people and injures more than 230 others.
Births on June 28
- 751 – Carloman I, king of the Franks (d. 771)
- 1243 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (d. 1304)
- 1444 – Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1487)
- 1476 – Pope Paul IV (d. 1559)
- 1490 – Albert of Brandenburg, German archbishop (d. 1545)
- 1491 – Henry VIII of England (d. 1547)
- 1503 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian author and poet (d. 1556)
- 1547 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1599)
- 1557 – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (d. 1595)
- 1560 – Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1657)
- 1573 – Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, English noble (d. 1644)
- 1577 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter and diplomat (d. 1640)
- 1582 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (d. 1662)
- 1604 – Heinrich Albert, German composer and poet (d. 1651)
- 1641 – Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d’Arquien, consort to King John III Sobieski (d. 1716)
- 1653 – Muhammad Azam Shah, Mughal emperor (d. 1707)
- 1703 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (d. 1791)
- 1712 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher and polymath (d. 1778)
- 1719 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1785)
- 1734 – Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, French organist and composer (d. 1794)
- 1742 – William Hooper, American physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1790)
- 1824 – Paul Broca, French physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (d. 1880)
- 1825 – Emil Erlenmeyer, German chemist (d. 1909)
- 1831 – Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1907)
- 1836 – Emmanuel Rhoides, Greek journalist and author (d. 1904)
- 1844 – John Boyle O’Reilly, Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer (d. 1890)
- 1852 – Charles Cruft, English showman, founded Crufts Dog Show (d. 1938)
- 1867 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)
- 1873 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1875 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1879 – Wilhelm Steinkopf, German chemist (d. 1949)
- 1880 – John Meyers, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1971)
- 1883 – Pierre Laval, French soldier and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Lamina Sankoh, Sierra Leonean banker and politician (d. 1964)
- 1888 – George Challenor, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1947)
- 1888 – Stefi Geyer, Hungarian violinist and educator (d. 1956)
- 1891 – Esther Forbes, American historian and author (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Carl Spaatz, American general (d. 1974)
- 1892 – Carl Panzram, American serial killer (d. 1930)
- 1893 – August Zamoyski, Polish-French sculptor (d. 1970)
- 1894 – Francis Hunter, American tennis player (d. 1981)
- 1902 – Richard Rodgers, American playwright and composer (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Maria Goeppert Mayer, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Jimmy Mundy, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1907 – Yvonne Sylvain, First female Haitian physician (d. 1989)
- 1909 – Eric Ambler, English author and screenwriter (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Franz Antel, Austrian director and producer (d. 2007)
- 1913 – George Lloyd, English soldier and composer (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Walter Oesau, German colonel and pilot (d. 1944)
- 1914 – Aribert Heim, Austrian SS physician and Nazi war criminal (d. 1992)
- 1917 – A. E. Hotchner, American author and playwright (d. 2020)
- 1918 – William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, Scottish-English politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1999)
- 1919 – Joseph P. Lordi, American government official (d. 1983)
- 1920 – Clarissa Eden, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1921 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Hans Frauenfelder, American physicist and biophysicist
- 1923 – Pete Candoli, American trumpet player (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Adolfo Schwelm Cruz, Argentinian racing driver (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Gaye Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2010)
- 1926 – George Booth, American cartoonist
- 1926 – Mel Brooks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1926 – Robert Ledley, American academic and inventor (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Correlli Barnett, English historian and author
- 1927 – Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Hans Blix, Swedish politician and diplomat, 33rd Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1928 – Patrick Hemingway, American writer
- 1928 – Harold Evans, English-American historian and journalist
- 1928 – Peter Heine, South African cricketer (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Cyril Smith, English politician (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Alfred Miodowicz, Polish politician
- 1930 – William C. Campbell, Irish-American biologist and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 – Itamar Franco, Brazilian engineer and politician, 33rd President of Brazil (d. 2011)
- 1930 – Jack Gold, English director and producer (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Hans Alfredson, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1931 – Junior Johnson, American race car driver (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1933 – Gusty Spence, Northern Irish loyalist and politician (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Robert Carswell, Baron Carswell, Northern Irish lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
- 1934 – Roy Gilchrist, Jamaican cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1934 – Bette Greene, American journalist and author
- 1934 – Carl Levin, American lawyer and politician
- 1934 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French journalist and cartoonist (d. 2015)
- 1935 – John Inman, English actor (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Chuck Howley, American football player
- 1937 – George Knudson, Canadian golfer (d. 1989)
- 1937 – Fernand Labrie, Canadian endocrinologist and academic
- 1937 – Ron Luciano, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1995)
- 1938 – John Byner, American actor and comedian
- 1938 – Leon Panetta, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of Defense
- 1938 – S. Sivamaharajah, Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher and politician (d. 2006)
- 1938 – Simon Douglas-Pennant, 7th Baron Penrhyn, British baron
- 1939 – Klaus Schmiegel, German chemist
- 1940 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Al Downing, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist and academic, developed the OBJ language (d. 2006)
- 1941 – David Johnston, Canadian academic, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor General of Canada
- 1942 – Chris Hani, South African politician (d. 1993)
- 1942 – Hans-Joachim Walde, German decathlete (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Frank Zane, American professional bodybuilder and author
- 1943 – Jens Birkemose, Danish painter
- 1943 – Donald Johanson, American paleontologist and academic
- 1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1945 – Ken Buchanan, Scottish boxer
- 1945 – David Knights, English bass player and producer
- 1945 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1989)
- 1945 – Türkan Şoray, Turkish actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1946 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (d. 2008)
- 1946 – Bruce Davison, American actor and director
- 1946 – David Duckham, English rugby player
- 1946 – Robert Xavier Rodríguez, American classical composer
- 1946 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (d. 1991)
- 1946 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (d. 1989)
- 1947 – Mark Helprin, American novelist and journalist
- 1947 – Laura Tyson, American economist and academic
- 1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress
- 1948 – Sergei Bodrov, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1948 – Deborah Moggach, English author and screenwriter
- 1948 – Daniel Wegner, Canadian-American psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1949 – Don Baylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1950 – Philip Fowke, English pianist and educator
- 1950 – Mauricio Rojas, Chilean-Swedish economist and politician
- 1950 – Chris Speier, American baseball player and coach
- 1951 – Mick Cronin, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1951 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Lalla Ward, English actress and author
- 1952 – Enis Batur, Turkish poet and author
- 1952 – Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, French physician and author
- 1954 – A. A. Gill, Scottish author and critic (d. 2016)
- 1954 – Alice Krige, South African actress
- 1955 – Shirley Cheriton, British actress
- 1956 – Amira Hass, Israeli journalist and author
- 1956 – Noel Mugavin, Australian footballer and coach
- 1957 – Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1957 – Georgi Parvanov, Bulgarian historian and politician, 4th President of Bulgaria
- 1957 – Mike Skinner, American race car driver
- 1957 – Jim Spanarkel, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1958 – Donna Edwards, American lawyer and politician
- 1958 – Félix Gray, Tunisian-French singer-songwriter
- 1959 – Clint Boon, English singer and keyboard player
- 1959 – John Shelley, British illustrator
- 1960 – John Elway, American football player and manager
- 1960 – Roland Melanson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player and coach
- 1962 – Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu, Romanian long jumper
- 1962 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (d. 2013)
- 1962 – Ann-Louise Skoglund, Swedish hurdler
- 1963 – Peter Baynham, Welsh actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1964 – Christina Ashcroft, Canadian sport shooter
- 1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1964 – Bernie McCahill, New Zealand rugby player
- 1964 – Dan Stains, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1964 – Steve Williamson, English saxophonist and composer
- 1965 – Jessica Hecht, American actress
- 1965 – Tiaan Strauss, South African rugby player
- 1966 – Peeter Allik, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 2019)
- 1966 – Bobby Bare Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1966 – John Cusack, American actor and screenwriter
- 1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress
- 1967 – Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician, 7th Canadian Minister of Health
- 1967 – Gil Bellows, Canadian actor and producer
- 1967 – Zhong Huandi, Chinese runner
- 1967 – Lars Riedel, German discus thrower
- 1968 – Chayanne, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1969 – Tichina Arnold, American actress and singer
- 1969 – Stéphane Chapuisat, Swiss footballer
- 1969 – Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler
- 1970 – Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer and coach
- 1970 – Tom Merritt, American journalist
- 1970 – Mike White, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Lorenzo Amoruso, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Fabien Barthez, French footballer
- 1971 – Bobby Hurley, American basketball player and coach
- 1971 – Ron Mahay, American baseball player and scout
- 1971 – Elon Musk, South African-born American businessman
- 1971 – Aileen Quinn, American actress and singer
- 1972 – Ngô Bảo Châu, Vietnamese-French mathematician and academic
- 1972 – Chris Leslie, English politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1972 – Geeta Tripathee, Nepali poet, lyricist and literary critic
- 1972 – Alessandro Nivola, American actor
- 1973 – Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower
- 1973 – Corey Koskie, Canadian baseball player
- 1974 – Rob Dyrdek, American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and reality television star
- 1975 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish singer-songwriter, and guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1976 – Shinobu Asagoe, Japanese tennis player
- 1976 – Seth Wescott, American snowboarder
- 1977 – Chris Spurling, American baseball player
- 1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1977 – Harun Tekin, Turkish singer and guitarist
- 1978 – Simon Larose, Canadian tennis player
- 1979 – Randy McMichael, American football player
- 1979 – Neil Shanahan, Irish racing driver (d. 1999)
- 1979 – Florian Zeller, French author and playwright
- 1980 – Jevgeni Novikov, Estonian footballer
- 1981 – Savage, New Zealand rapper
- 1981 – Michael Crafter, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Guillermo Martínez, Cuban javelin thrower
- 1981 – Brandon Phillips, American baseball player
- 1982 – Ibrahim Camejo, Cuban long jumper
- 1985 – Phil Bardsley, English footballer
- 1985 – Colt Hynes, American baseball player
- 1986 – Kellie Pickler, American singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Sonata Tamošaitytė, Lithuanian hurdler
- 1987 – Terrence Williams, American basketball player
- 1989 – Jason Clark, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Andrew Fifita, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – David Fifita, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Julia Zlobina, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater
- 1989 – Markiplier, American internet personality
- 1989 – Nicole Rottmann, Austrian tennis player
- 1991 – Seohyun, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress
- 1991 – Kevin De Bruyne, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Kang Min-hyuk, South Korean singer, drummer, and actor
- 1992 – Oscar Hiljemark, Swedish footballer
- 1992 – Elaine Thompson, Jamaican sprinter
- 1993 – Bradley Beal, American basketball player
- 1994 – Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan
- 1994 – Emily Blue, American singer-songwriter
- 1996 – Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player
- 1996 – Larissa Werbicki, Canadian rower
- 1999 – Markéta Vondroušová, Czech tennis player
- 2002 – Marta Kostyuk, Ukrainian tennis player
Deaths on June 28
- 202 – Yuan Shao, Chinese warlord
- 548 – Theodora I, Byzantine empress
- 572 – Alboin, King of the Lombards
- 683 – Leo II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 611)
- 767 – Paul I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 700)
- 928 – Louis the Blind, Holy Roman emperor (b. 880)
- 975 – Cyneweard, bishop of Wells
- 1031 – Taira no Tadatsune, Japanese governor
- 1061 – Floris I, count of Holland
- 1175 – Andrey Bogolyubsky, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1111)
- 1189 – Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony, (b. 1156)
- 1194 – Xiao Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1127)
- 1385 – Andronikos IV, Byzantine emperor (b. 1348)
- 1497 – James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley, English rebel leader (b. c. 1463)
- 1575 – Yonekura Shigetsugu, Japanese samurai
- 1586 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian author and reformer (b. 1508)
- 1598 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (b. 1527)
- 1607 – Domenico Fontana, Italian architect (b. 1543)
- 1716 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1665)
- 1757 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I (b. 1687)
- 1798 – John Henry Colclough, Irish revolutionary (b. c. 1769)
- 1813 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (b. 1755)
- 1834 – Joseph Bové, Russian architect, designed the Triumphal Arch of Moscow (b. 1784)
- 1836 – James Madison, American academic and politician, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751)
- 1880 – Texas Jack Omohundro, American soldier and hunter (b. 1846)
- 1881 – Jules Armand Dufaure, French politician, 33rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1798)
- 1889 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (b. 1818)
- 1892 – Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and politician, Greek Foreign Minister (b. 1810)
- 1913 – Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Brazil (b. 1841)
- 1914 – Sophie, duchess of Hohenberg (b. 1868)
- 1914 – Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria (b. 1863)
- 1915 – Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1917 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and educator (b. 1868)
- 1922 – Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1885)
- 1929 – Edward Carpenter, English poet and philosopher (b. 1844)
- 1936 – Alexander Berkman, American author and activist (d. 1870)
- 1939 – Douglas H. Johnston, governor of the Chickasaw Nation (b. 1856)
- 1940 – Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and politician (b. 1896)
- 1944 – Friedrich Dollmann, German general (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, Turkish journalist (b. 1879)
- 1947 – Stanislav Kostka Neumann, Czech writer, poet and journalist (b. 1875)
- 1960 – Jake Swirbul, American businessman, co-founded the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (b. 1898)
- 1962 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (b. 1903)
- 1962 – Cy Morgan, American baseball player (b. 1878)
- 1965 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, bandleader, and composer (b. 1905)
- 1966 – Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Turkish historian and politician, 21st Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Franz Stangl, Austrian SS officer (b. 1908)
- 1974 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (b. 1890)
- 1975 – Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, Greek architect (b. 1913)
- 1975 – Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
- 1978 – Clifford Dupont, English-Rhodesian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Rhodesia (b. 1905)
- 1980 – José Iturbi, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1895)
- 1981 – Terry Fox, Canadian runner and activist (b. 1958)
- 1983 – Alf Francis, German-English motor racing mechanic and racing car constructor (b. 1918)
- 1984 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician (b. 1917)
- 1985 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (b. 1905)
- 1989 – Joris Ivens, Dutch journalist, director, and producer (b. 1898)
- 1992 – Guy Nève, Belgian racing driver (b. 1955)
- 1992 – Mikhail Tal, Latvian chess player (b. 1936)
- 1995 – Petri Walli, Finnish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
- 2000 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher and author (b. 1902)
- 2003 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (b. 1912)
- 2005 – Brenda Howard, American activist (b. 1946)
- 2005 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1976)
- 2006 – Jim Baen, American publisher, founded Baen Books (b. 1943)
- 2006 – Peter Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1919)
- 2006 – George Unwin, English pilot and commander (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Eugene B. Fluckey, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Kiichi Miyazawa, Japanese lawyer and politician, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1919)
- 2009 – A. K. Lohithadas, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1955)
- 2009 – Billy Mays, American TV personality (b. 1958)
- 2010 – Robert Byrd, American lawyer and politician (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Richard Isay, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Leontine T. Kelly, American bishop (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Robert Sabatier, French author and poet (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Ted Hood, American sailor and architect (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Tamás Katona, Hungarian historian and politician (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Kenneth Minogue, New Zealand-Australian political scientist and academic (b. 1930)
- 2013 – F. D. Reeve, American author and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – David Rubitsky, American sergeant (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Seymour Barab, American cellist and composer (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Jim Brosnan, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2014 – On Kawara, Japanese painter (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Meshach Taylor, American actor (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Jope Seniloli, Fijian politician, Vice-President of Fiji (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Wally Stanowski, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
- 2016 – Scotty Moore, American guitarist (b. 1931)
- 2016 – Pat Summitt, American women’s college basketball head coach (b. 1952)
- 2016 – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (b. 1931)
- 2018 – Harlan Ellison, American writer (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances on June 28
- Christian feast day:
- Basilides and Potamiana
- Irenaeus of Lyon (Western Christianity)
- Heimerad
- Blessed Maria Pia Mastena
- Paulus I
- Vincenza Gerosa
- June 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Ukraine)
- Earliest day on which Vardavar can fall, while August 1 is the latest; celebrated on the 14th weeks after Easter (Armenia)
- Family Day (Vietnam)
- Poznań Remembrance Day (Poland)
- Vidovdan, celebrating St. Vitus and an important day in Serbian history. (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Tau Day, a day similar to Pi Day celebrating the number Tau, which is equivalent to 2*Pi.
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May 23 in History
- 1430 – Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to raise the Siege of Compiègne.
- 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
- 1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
- 1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg, and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
- 1609 – Official ratification of the Second Virginia Charter takes place.
- 1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
- 1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
- 1706 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy at the Battle of Ramillies.
- 1788 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
- 1793 – Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1829 – Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
- 1844 – Declaration of the Báb the evening before the 23rd: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith; Bahá’ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
- 1863 – The General German Workers’ Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.
- 1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- 1900 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
- 1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
- 1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
- 1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.
- 1932 – In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
- 1934 – Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
- 1934 – The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
- 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
- 1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
- 1945 – World War II: Germany’s Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.
- 1948 – Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
- 1949 – Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.
- 1960 – A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.
- 1992 – Italy’s most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
- 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released.
- 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
- 2002 – The “55 parties” clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
- 2006 – Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
- 2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
- 2013 – A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.
- 2014 – Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in a killing spree near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
- 2015 – At least 46 people are killed as a result of floods caused by a tornado in Texas and Oklahoma.
- 2016 – Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, killed at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
- 2016 – Eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people were killed and at least 200 people injured.
- 2017 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute’s attack in Marawi.
Births on May 23
- 635 – K’inich Kan Bahlam II, Mayan king (d. 702)
- 675 – Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II, King of Mutharaiyar dynasty, Tamil Nadu, India
- 1052 – Philip I of France (d. 1108)
- 1100 – Emperor Qinzong of Song (d. 1161)
- 1127 – Uijong of Goryeo, Korean monarch of the Goryeo dynasty (d. 1173)
- 1330 – Gongmin of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 1374)
- 1586 – Paul Siefert, German composer and organist (d. 1666)
- 1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1682)
- 1614 – Bertholet Flemalle, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1675)
- 1617 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
- 1629 – William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, noble of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1663)
- 1707 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (d. 1778)
- 1718 – William Hunter, Scottish-English anatomist and physician (d. 1783)
- 1729 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and educator (d. 1799)
- 1730 – Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Prussian prince and general (d. 1813)
- 1734 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologer (d. 1815)
- 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1801)
- 1789 – Franz Schlik, Austrian earl and general (d. 1862)
- 1790 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1842)
- 1790 – James Pradier, French neoclassical sculptor (d. 1852)
- 1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1870)
- 1795 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed the Upper Brook Street Chapel and Halifax Town Hall (d. 1860)
- 1800 – Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1877)
- 1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (d. 1850)
- 1817 – Manuel Robles Pezuela, Unconstitutional Mexican interim president (d. 1862)
- 1820 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer, designed the Eads Bridge (d. 1887)
- 1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 1891)
- 1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1881)
- 1834 – Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis, Latvian architect (d. 1891)
- 1834 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (d. 1890)
- 1837 – Anatole Mallet, Swiss mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1919)
- 1837 – Józef Wieniawski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1912)
- 1838 – Amaldus Nielsen, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
- 1840 – George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
- 1844 – `Abdu’l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (d. 1921)
- 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (d. 1896)
- 1855 – Isabella Ford, English author and activist (d. 1924)
- 1861 – József Rippl-Rónai, Hungarian painter (d. 1927)
- 1863 – Władysław Horodecki, Polish architect (d. 1930)
- 1864 – William O’Connor, American fencer (d. 1939)
- 1865 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian jurist and politician, 11th President of Brazil (d. 1942)
- 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1966)
- 1882 – William Halpenny, Canadian pole vaulter (d. 1960)
- 1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1939)
- 1884 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist and demographer (d. 1965)
- 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (d. 1963)
- 1887 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian sailor and captain (d. 1951)
- 1888 – Adriaan Roland Holst, Dutch writer (d. 1976)
- 1888 – Zack Wheat, American baseball player and police officer (d. 1972)
- 1889 – Ernst Niekisch, German educator and politician (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Herbert Marshall, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
- 1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
- 1892 – Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British peer and grandfather of Diana Spencer (d. 1975)
- 1896 – Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (d. 1966)
- 1897 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (d. 1937)
- 1898 – Scott O’Dell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Josef Terboven, German soldier and politician (d. 1945)
- 1899 – Jeralean Talley, American super-centenarian (d. 2015)
- 1900 – Hans Frank, German lawyer and politician (d. 1946)
- 1900 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German lawyer and theorist (d. 1954)
- 1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Hélène Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
- 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, American author and educator (d. 1952)
- 1910 – Hugh Casson, English architect and academic (d. 1999)
- 1910 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and comedian (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (d. 1962)
- 1910 – Artie Shaw, American clarinet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Lou Brouillard, Canadian boxer (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Paul Augustin Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
- 1911 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
- 1912 – Jean Françaix, French pianist and composer (d. 1997)
- 1912 – John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1914 – Harold Hitchcock, English visionary landscape artist (d. 2009)
- 1914 – Celestine Sibley, American journalist and author (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist, journalist, and prominent Catholic layperson (d. 1981)
- 1915 – S. Donald Stookey, American physicist and chemist, invented CorningWare (d. 2014)
- 1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1997)
- 1919 – Robert Bernstein, American author and playwright (d. 1988)
- 1919 – Ruth Fernández, Puerto Rican contralto and a member of the Puerto Rican Senate (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Helen O’Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
- 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Catalan-Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Irving Millman, American virologist and microbiologist (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1926 – Basil Salvadore D’Souza, Indian bishop (d. 1996)
- 1926 – Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African activist and politician (d. 1995)
- 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
- 1928 – Nigel Davenport, English actor (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish-Austrian actress (d. 1982)
- 1930 – Friedrich Achleitner, German poet and critic (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Barbara Barrie, American actress
- 1932 – Kevork Ajemian, Syrian-French journalist and author (d. 1998)
- 1933 – Joan Collins, English actress
- 1933 – Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
- 1934 – Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author (d. 2009)
- 1936 – Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
- 1936 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
- 1939 – Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1939 – Reinhard Hauff, German director and screenwriter
- 1940 – Bjorn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (d. 2002)
- 1940 – Gérard Larrousse, French race car driver
- 1940 – Cora Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
- 1941 – Zalman King, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Rod Thorn, American basketball player, coach, and executive
- 1942 – Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher, author, and academic
- 1942 – Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao, Indian director, screenwriter, and choreographer
- 1943 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
- 1944 – John Newcombe, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
- 1945 – Padmarajan, Indian director, screenwriter, and author (d. 1991)
- 1946 – David Graham, Australian golfer
- 1947 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and translator (d. 1995)
- 1948 – Myriam Boyer, French actress, director, and producer
- 1949 – Daniel DiNardo, American cardinal
- 1949 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (d. 2019)
- 1950 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2017)
- 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
- 1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek economist and politician, 185th Prime Minister of Greece
- 1952 – Martin Parr, English photographer and journalist
- 1954 – Gerry Armstrong, Northern Irish international footballer, striker
- 1954 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer and actor
- 1955 – Luka Bloom, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Andrea Pazienza, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 1988)
- 1956 – Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician and diplomat, Foreign Minister of Austria
- 1956 – Buck Showalter, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1958 – Mitch Albom, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
- 1958 – Drew Carey, American actor, game show host, and entrepreneur
- 1958 – Lea DeLaria, American actress and singer
- 1959 – Marcella Mesker, Dutch tennis player and sportscaster
- 1960 – Linden Ashby, American actor
- 1961 – Daniele Massaro, Italian footballer and manager
- 1961 – Norrie May-Welby, Scottish Australian gender activist
- 1962 – Karen Duffy, American actress
- 1963 – Viviane Baladi, Swiss mathematician
- 1964 – Ruth Metzler, Swiss lawyer and politician
- 1965 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
- 1965 – Tom Tykwer, German director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
- 1965 – Melissa McBride, American actress
- 1965 – Paul Sironen, Australian rugby league player
- 1966 – Graeme Hick, Zimbabwean-English cricketer and coach
- 1966 – Gary Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1967 – Luís Roberto Alves, Mexican footballer
- 1967 – Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician
- 1968 – Guinevere Turner, American actress and screenwriter
- 1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Bryan Herta Autosport
- 1971 – George Osborne, English journalist and politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver
- 1972 – Martin Saggers, English cricketer and umpire
- 1973 – Maxwell, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1974 – Jewel, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet
- 1974 – Manuela Schwesig, German politician, German Federal Minister of Family Affairs
- 1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1977 – Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
- 1978 – Scott Raynor, American drummer
- 1979 – Rasual Butler, American basketball player (d. 2018)
- 1979 – Brian Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Ben Ross, Australian rugby league player
- 1983 – Silvio Proto, Belgian-Italian footballer
- 1984 – Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
- 1985 – Sebastián Fernández, Uruguayan footballer
- 1985 – Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russian tennis player
- 1985 – Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
- 1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
- 1986 – Ryan Coogler, American film director and screenwriter
- 1986 – Alexei Sitnikov, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater
- 1986 – Alice Tait, Australian swimmer
- 1986 – Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Gracie Otto, Australian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1987 – Bray Wyatt, American wrestler
- 1988 – Rosanna Crawford, Canadian biathlete
- 1988 – Angelo Ogbonna, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Morgan Pressel, American golfer
- 1989 – Ezequiel Schelotto, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Dan Evans, British tennis player
- 1990 – Kristina Kucova, Slovakian tennis player
- 1990 – Oliver Venno, Estonian volleyball player
- 1991 – Aaron Donald, American football player
- 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter
- 1991 – César Pinares, Chilean footballer
- 1996 – Katharina Althaus, German ski jumper
- 1996 – Emmanuel Boateng, Ghanaian footballer
- 1996 – Razvan Marin, Romanian footballer
- 1997 – Pedro Chirivella, Spanish footballer
- 1997 – Coy Craft, American footballer
- 1997 – Joe Gomez, English footballer
- 1997 – Gustaf Nilsson, Swedish footballer
- 1997 – Sam Timmins, New Zealand basketball player
- 1998 – Sérgio Sette Câmara, Brazilian race car driver
- 1998 – Ross Cunningham, Scottish footballer
- 1998 – Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter
- 1998 – Luca De La Torre, American footballer
- 1998 – Steve Lacy, American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
- 2000 – Felipe Drugovich, Brazilian race car driver
- 2000 – Jaxson Hayes, American basketball player
Deaths on May 23
- 230 – Urban I, pope of the Catholic Church
- 922 – Li Sizhao, Chinese general and governor
- 962 – Guibert of Gembloux, Frankish abbot (b. 892)
- 1125 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
- 1304 – Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer
- 1338 – Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel, English noble (b. 1287)
- 1370 – Toghon Temür, Mongol emperor (b. 1320)
- 1423 – Antipope Benedict XIII (b. 1328)
- 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian friar and preacher (b. 1452)
- 1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shōgun (b. 1466)
- 1524 – Ismail I, First Emperor of Safavid Empire (b. 1487)
- 1591 – John Blitheman, English organist and composer (b. 1525)
- 1662 – John Gauden, English bishop (b. 1605)
- 1670 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
- 1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (b. 1622)
- 1701 – William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
- 1749 – Abraham ben Abraham, Polish martyr (b. 1700)
- 1752 – William Bradford, English-American printer (b. 1663)
- 1754 – John Wood, the Elder, English architect, designed The Circus and Queen Square (b. 1704)
- 1783 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
- 1813 – Géraud Duroc, French general and diplomat (b. 1772)
- 1815 – Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American clergyman and botanist (b. 1753)
- 1841 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
- 1855 – Charles Robert Malden, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1797)
- 1857 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (b. 1789)
- 1868 – Kit Carson, American general (b. 1809)
- 1886 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian and academic (b. 1795)
- 1893 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian politician (b. 1805)
- 1895 – Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1798)
- 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian director, playwright, and poet (b. 1828)
- 1908 – François Coppée, French poet and author (b. 1842)
- 1920 – Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (b. 1856)
- 1921 – August Nilsson, Swedish shot putter and tug of war competitor (b. 1872)
- 1934 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (b. 1909)
- 1934 – Mihkel Martna, Estonian journalist and politician (b. 1860)
- 1934 – Bonnie Parker, American criminal (b. 1910)
- 1937 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company and Rockefeller University (b. 1839)
- 1938 – Frederick Ruple, Swiss-American painter (b. 1871)
- 1942 – Panagiotis Toundas, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1886)
- 1945 – Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician, Reich Minister of the Interior (b. 1900)
- 1947 – Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss author and poet (b. 1878)
- 1949 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Gustav Suits, Latvian-Estonian poet and politician (b. 1883)
- 1960 – Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor, created Neon lighting (b. 1870)
- 1962 – Louis Coatalen, French engineer (b. 1879)
- 1963 – August Jakobson, Estonian author and politician (b. 1904)
- 1965 – David Smith, American sculptor (b. 1906)
- 1975 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and actor (b. 1894)
- 1979 – S. Selvanayagam, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (b. 1932)
- 1981 – Gene Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 1981 – Rayner Heppenstall, English author and poet (b. 1911)
- 1981 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1898)
- 1981 – David Lewis, Belarusian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
- 1986 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1989 – Georgy Tovstonogov, Russian director and producer (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Karl Koch, German computer hacker (b. 1965)
- 1991 – Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
- 1991 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1907)
- 1991 – Fletcher Markle, Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1921)
- 1992 – Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (b. 1948)
- 1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (b. 1939)
- 1994 – Olav Hauge, Norwegian poet (b. 1908)
- 1996 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1934)
- 1998 – Telford Taylor, American general and lawyer (b. 1908)
- 1999 – Owen Hart, Canadian-American wrestler (b. 1965)
- 2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer and journalist (b. 1912)
- 2006 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1921)
- 2008 – Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (b. 1967)
- 2008 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1935)
- 2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (b. 1946)
- 2010 – José Lima, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1972)
- 2010 – Simon Monjack, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1970)
- 2011 – Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (b. 1978)
- 2012 – Paul Fussell, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Epy Guerrero, Dominican baseball player, coach, and scout (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Hayri Kozakçıoğlu, Turkish police officer and politician, 15th Governor of Istanbul Province (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Flynn Robinson, American basketball player (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Mikhail Egorovich Alekseev, Russian linguist and academic (b. 1949)
- 2014 – Madhav Mantri, Indian cricketer (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Anne Meara, American actress, comedian and playwright (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Aleksey Mozgovoy, Ukrainian sergeant (b. 1975)
- 2015 – Alicia Nash, Salvadoran-American physicist and engineer (b. 1933)
- 2015 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Roger Moore, English actor (b. 1927)
- 2020 – Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1997)
Holidays and observances on May 23
- Christian feast day:
- Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Desiderius of Vienne
- Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi
- Julia of Corsica
- Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Quintian, Lucius and Julian
- William of Perth
- May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Germany)
- Earliest day on which Declaration of the Báb can fall, while May 24 is the latest; observed on ‘Aẓamat 8 (Bahá’í Faith)
- Earliest day on which National Heroes’ Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Monday of May. (Turks and Caicos Islands)
- Labour Day (Jamaica)
- Students’ Day (Mexico)
- World Turtle Day
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April 26 in History
- 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
- 1478 – The Pazzi family attack Lorenzo de’ Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.
- 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
- 1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
- 1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
- 1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces
- 1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
- 1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L’Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.
- 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the date of Confederate Memorial Day for two states.
- 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
- 1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded
- 1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
- 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
- 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
- 1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
- 1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
- 1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
- 1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
- 1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
- 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army are liberated in Baguio City and they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
- 1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
- 1956 – SS Ideal X, the world’s first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
- 1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
- 1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.
- 1962 – NASA’s Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
- 1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
- 1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
- 1966 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
- 1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
- 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
- 1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world’s first human open fetal surgery.
- 1982 – Fifty-seven people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
- 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
- 1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
- 1989 – People’s Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
- 1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak’s end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year’s only F5 tornado.
- 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
- 2002 – Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
- 2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
- 2018 – American comedian Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault.
Births on April 26
- 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (d. 180)
- 757 – Hisham I of Córdoba (d. 796)
- 764 – Al-Hadi, Iranian caliph (d. 786)
- 1284 – Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (d. 1324)
- 1319 – King John II of France (d. 1364)
- 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and academic (d. 1600)
- 1575 – Marie de’ Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
- 1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and politician (d. 1720)
- 1648 – Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
- 1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (d. 1754)
- 1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1796)
- 1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (d. 1802)
- 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1853)
- 1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1866)
- 1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (d. 1851)
- 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (d. 1862)
- 1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (d. 1863)
- 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1889)
- 1804 – Charles Goodyear, American banker, lawyer, and politician (d. 1876)
- 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (d. 1903)
- 1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (d. 1867)
- 1856 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
- 1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and educator (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (d. 1959)
- 1877 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1950)
- 1878 – Rafael Guízar y Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (d. 1938)
- 1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (d. 1917)
- 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- 1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (d. 1939)
- 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet and publicist (d. 1913)
- 1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
- 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1951)
- 1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician (d. 1987)
- 1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (d. 1967)
- 1896 – Ernst Udet, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
- 1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (d. 1967)
- 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian-English saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1958)
- 1900 – Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder and calligrapher (d. 1969)
- 1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (d. 1985)
- 1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
- 1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (d. 1991)
- 1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, 177th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
- 1905 – Jean Vigo, French director and screenwriter (d. 1934)
- 1907 – Ilias Tsirimokos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
- 1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
- 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
- 1911 – Paul Verner, German soldier and politician (d. 1986)
- 1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Bernard Malamud, Jewish American novelist and short story writer (d. 1986)
- 1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Eyvind Earle, American artist, author, and illustrator (d. 2000)
- 1916 – Ken Wallis, English commander, engineer, and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (d. 1999)
- 1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player and coach (d. 1992)
- 1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower (d. 2019)
- 1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch sprinter and long jumper (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 2008)
- 1922 – J. C. Holt, English historian and academic (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)
- 1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer (d. 2019)
- 1924 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (d. 1998)
- 1925 – Vladimir Boltyansky, Russian mathematician, educator and author (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Frank Hahn, British economist (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Granny Hamner, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner and sportscaster
- 1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (d. 2008)
- 1931 – John Cain Jr., Australian politician, 41st Premier of Victoria (d. 2019)
- 1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (d. 2010)
- 1932 – Shirley Cawley, English long jumper
- 1932 – Frank D’Rone, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- 1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
- 1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican-American general (d. 2005)
- 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 – Patricia Reilly Giff, American author and educator
- 1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
- 1940 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby league player (d. 2018)
- 1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
- 1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
- 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor
- 1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic
- 1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
- 1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and academic, designed the Therme Vals
- 1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (d. 2007)
- 1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian race car driver
- 1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
- 1946 – Ralph Coates, English international footballer (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
- 1946 – Alberto Quintano, Chilean footballer
- 1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
- 1951 – John Battle, English politician
- 1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
- 1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
- 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
- 1956 – Koo Stark, American actress and photographer
- 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish race car driver
- 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
- 1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
- 1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
- 1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer
- 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Chris Mars, American artist
- 1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
- 1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
- 1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
- 1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
- 1963 – Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
- 1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
- 1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
- 1965 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
- 1967 – Glenn Thomas Jacobs, American professional wrestler, actor, businessman and politician
- 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress and singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
- 1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
- 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 47th First Lady of the United States
- 1970 – Kristen R. Ghodsee, American ethnographer and academic
- 1970 – Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian race car driver
- 1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
- 1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
- 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
- 1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
- 1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
- 1973 – Óscar García Junyent, Spanish footballer and coach
- 1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician, songwriter, record producer
- 1975 – Rahul Verma, Indian social worker and activist
- 1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
- 1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
- 1977 – Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut
- 1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
- 1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist and author
- 1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
- 1978 – Joe Crede, American baseball player
- 1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
- 1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
- 1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
- 1980 – Marlon King, English footballer
- 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress and journalist
- 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor and producer
- 1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch pop and jazz singer
- 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English rapper and producer
- 1981 – Sandra Schmitt, German skier (d. 2000)
- 1982 – Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
- 1983 – José María López, Argentinian race car driver
- 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American soldier
- 1984 – Emily Wickersham, American actress
- 1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
- 1985 – Andrea Koch Benvenuto, Chilean tennis player
- 1986 – Lior Refaelov, Israeli footballer
- 1986 – Sean Evans, American YouTuber and producer
- 1986 – Yuliya Zaripova, Russian runner
- 1987 – Jorge Andújar Moreno, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Ben Spina, Australian rugby league player
- 1988 – Manuel Viniegra, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Gareth Evans, English footballer
- 1989 – Melvin Ingram, American football player
- 1990 – Mitch Rein, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Nevin Spence, Northern Irish rugby player (d. 2012)
- 1991 – Lazaros Fotias, Greek footballer
- 1991 – Peter Handscomb, Australian cricketer
- 1991 – Will Heard, British singer and songwriter
- 1991 – Isaac Liu, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1991 – Ignacio Lores Varela, Uruguayan footballer
- 1991 – Srdjan Pejicic, Canadian/Bosnian basketball player
- 1991 – Wojciech Pszczolarski, Polish bicycle racer
- 1992 – Aaron Judge, American baseball player
- 1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian race car driver
Deaths on April 26
- 499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (b. 467)
- 645 – Richarius, Frankish monk and saint (b. 560)
- 680 – Muawiyah I, Umayyad caliph (b. 602)
- 757 – Pope Stephen II (b. 715)
- 893 – Chen Jingxuan, general of the Tang Dynasty
- 962 – Adalbero I, bishop of Metz
- 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
- 1366 – Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1392 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (b. 1338)
- 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
- 1478 – Giuliano de’ Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1453)
- 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1465)
- 1558 – Jean Fernel, French physician (b. 1497)
- 1686 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (b. 1622)
- 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1651)
- 1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish nun and educator, founded the Presentation Sisters (b. 1718)
- 1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian general (b. 1721)
- 1809 – Bernhard Schott, German music publisher (b. 1748)
- 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
- 1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
- 1895 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian-English author and poet (b. 1860)
- 1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
- 1915 – John Bunny, American actor (b. 1863)
- 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (b. 1887)
- 1932 – William Lockwood, English cricketer (b. 1868)
- 1934 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1876)
- 1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1893)
- 1945 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (b. 1909)
- 1945 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (b. 1871)
- 1946 – James Larkin White, American miner, explorer, and park ranger (b. 1882)
- 1950 – George Murray Hulbert, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1881)
- 1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (b. 1868)
- 1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (b. 1868)
- 1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and author (b. 1882)
- 1968 – John Heartfield, German illustrator and photographer (b. 1891)
- 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founded aikido (b. 1883)
- 1970 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister and author (b. 1886)
- 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, striptease dancer, and writer (b. 1911)
- 1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress and philanthropist (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
- 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (b. 1913)
- 1976 – Armstrong Sperry, American author and illustrator (b. 1897)
- 1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer (b. 1893)
- 1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
- 1984 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
- 1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
- 1987 – Shankar, Indian composer and conductor (b. 1922)
- 1987 – John Silkin, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (b. 1923)
- 1989 – Lucille Ball, American model, actress, comedian, and producer (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer and conductor (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
- 1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist and historian, (b. 1901)
- 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1931)
- 1994 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese martial artist, founded Kyokushin kaikan (b. 1923)
- 1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1957)
- 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (b. 1961)
- 2003 – Rosemary Brown, Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (b. 1984)
- 2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1904)
- 2004 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2005 – Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian graphic designer and academic (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Urs Felber, Swiss engineer and businessman (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Terence Spinks, English boxer and trainer (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Jacqueline Brookes, American actress and educator (b. 1930)
- 2013 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Paul Robeson, Jr., American historian and author (b. 1927)
- 2014 – DJ Rashad, American electronic musician, producer and DJ (b. 1979)
- 2015 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances on April 26
- Chernobyl disaster related observances:
- Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
- Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes (Russia)
- Christian feast day:
- Aldobrandesca (or Alda)
- Franca Visalta
- Lucidius of Verona
- Our Lady of Good Counsel
- Pope Anacletus and Marcellinus
- Riquier
- Paschasius Radbertus
- Peter of Rates (or of Braga)
- Robert Hunt (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Stephen of Perm, see also Old Permic Alphabet Day
- Trudpert
- April 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, United States)
- Union Day (Tanzania)
- World Intellectual Property Day
-
March 2 in History
- 537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.
- 986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks.
- 1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë.
- 1458 – George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.
- 1476 – Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchâtel.
- 1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England.
- 1498 – Vasco da Gama’s fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.
- 1561 – Mendoza, Argentina, is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro del Castillo.
- 1657 – Great Fire of Meireki: A fire in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, caused more than 100,000 deaths; it lasted three days
- 1717 – The Loves of Mars and Venus is the first ballet performed in England.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units arrest the Royal Governor of Georgia James Wright and attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in the Battle of the Rice Boats.
- 1791 – Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
- 1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
- 1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
- 1808 – The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
- 1811 – Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.
- 1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.
- 1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.
- 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.
- 1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, begins.
- 1865 – East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand.
- 1867 – The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.
- 1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.
- 1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.
- 1896 – The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
- 1901 – United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
- 1901 – The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
- 1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
- 1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
- 1919 – The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
- 1933 – The film King Kong opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
- 1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.
- 1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.
- 1941 – World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joins the Axis Pact.
- 1943 – World War II: Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.
- 1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected the President of North Vietnam.
- 1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
- 1955 – Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy announces the creation of the Peace Corps in a nationally televised broadcast.
- 1962 – In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d’état.
- 1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.
- 1965 – The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
- 1968 – Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.
- 1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.
- 1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
- 1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
- 1977 – Libya becomes the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People’s Congress adopted the “Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People”.
- 1978 – Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
- 1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
- 1989 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
- 1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
- 1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.
- 1992 – Start of the war in Transnistria.
- 1992 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the United Nations.
- 1995 – Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.
- 1995 – Yahoo! is incorporated.
- 1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
- 2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
- 2004 – War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
- 2012 – A tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.
- 2017 – The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson were officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.
Births on March 2
- 480 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian Christian saint (d. 543 or 547)
- 1316 – Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
- 1409 – Jean II, Duke of Alençon (d. 1476)
- 1432 – Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach, countess consort of Hanau (d. 1457)
- 1453 – Johannes Engel, German doctor, astronomer and astrologer (d. 1512)
- 1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
- 1481 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
- 1545 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (d. 1613)
- 1577 – George Sandys, English traveller, colonist and poet (d. 1644)
- 1628 – Cornelis Speelman, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1684)
- 1651 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer and poet (d. 1730)
- 1705 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1793)
- 1740 – Nicholas Pocock, English naval painter (d.1821)
- 1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (d. 1794)
- 1769 – DeWitt Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
- 1770 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (d. 1826)
- 1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American physician and politician, 15th United States Secretary of War (d. 1851)
- 1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1863)
- 1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian-Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1844)
- 1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
- 1816 – Alexander Bullock, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
- 1817 – János Arany, Hungarian journalist and poet (d. 1882)
- 1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
- 1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1884)
- 1829 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, lawyer, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1906)
- 1836 – Henry Billings Brown, American lawyer and judge (d. 1913)
- 1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer, art collector, and philanthropist (d. 1914)
- 1846 – Marie Roze, French soprano (d. 1926)
- 1849 – Robert Means Thompson, American commander, lawyer, and businessman (d. 1930)
- 1859 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (d. 1916)
- 1860 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (d. 1961)
- 1862 – John Jay Chapman, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1933)
- 1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
- 1878 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American sailor and race car driver (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Willis H. O’Brien, American animator and director (d. 1962)
- 1886 – Kurt Grelling, German logician and philosopher (d. 1942)
- 1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (d. 1950)
- 1901 – Grete Hermann, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1984)
- 1902 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (d. 1972)
- 1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist and academic (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Dr. Seuss, American children’s book writer, poet, and illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Marc Blitzstein, American composer and songwriter (d. 1964)
- 1905 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic (d. 1985)
- 1908 – Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
- 1909 – Mel Ott, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1958)
- 1912 – Henry Katzman, American pianist, composer, and painter (d. 2001)
- 1913 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch television host and author (d. 1971)
- 1913 – Mort Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1958)
- 1914 – Martin Ritt, American actor and film director (d. 1990)
- 1915 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Ceylon (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1986)
- 1917 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (d. 1967)
- 1917 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
- 1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Eddie Lawrence, American actor, singer, and playwright (d. 2014)
- 1919 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Ernst Haas, Austrian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
- 1922 – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1922 – Bill Quackenbush, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Frances Spence, American computer programmer (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Robert H. Michel, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
- 1923 – Dave Strack, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Renos Apostolidis, Greek philologist, author, and critic (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Bernard Agré, Ivorian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Murray Rothbard, American economist and historian (d. 1995)
- 1927 – Roger Walkowiak, French cyclist and economist (d. 2017)
- 1930 – John Cullum, American actor and singer
- 1930 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish journalist and translator (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Dottie Rambo, American singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
- 1935 – Gene Stallings, American football player and coach
- 1936 – Haroon Ahmed, Pakistani-English engineer and academic
- 1936 – John Tusa, Czech-English journalist and academic
- 1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian soldier and politician, 5th President of Algeria
- 1938 – Ricardo Lagos, Chilean economist, lawyer, and politician, 33rd President of Chile
- 1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1997)
- 1938 – Clark Gesner, American author and composer (d. 2002)
- 1939 – Jan Howard Finder, American author and academic (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer (d. 2019)
- 1941 – John Cornell, Australian actor, director, and producer
- 1941 – David Satcher, American admiral and physician, 16th Surgeon General of the United States
- 1942 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
- 1942 – Claude Larose, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian architect and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Iran
- 1942 – Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Derek Woodley, English footballer (d. 2002)
- 1943 – George Layton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1943 – Peter Straub, American author and poet
- 1943 – Robert Williams, American painter and cartoonist
- 1945 – Derek Watkins, English trumpet player and composer (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Nelson Ned, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Harry Redknapp, English footballer and manager
- 1948 – Larry Carlton, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1948 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1995)
- 1948 – Jeff Kennett, Australian journalist and politician, 43rd Premier of Victoria
- 1948 – Carmen Lawrence, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Western Australia
- 1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (d. 1983)
- 1952 – Mark Evanier, American author and screenwriter
- 1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress and comedian
- 1953 – Russ Feingold, American lawyer and politician
- 1954 – Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1955 – Dale Bozzio, American pop-rock singer-songwriter
- 1955 – Jay Osmond, American singer, drummer, actor, and TV/film producer
- 1955 – Ken Salazar, American lawyer and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1955 – Steve Small, Australian cricketer
- 1956 – John Cowsill, American musician, songwriter, and producer
- 1956 – Mark Evans, Australian rock bass player
- 1957 – Hossein Dehghan, Iranian general and politician, Iranian Minister of Defense
- 1957 – Dito Tsintsadze, Georgian film director and screenwriter
- 1957 – Mark Dean, American inventor and computer engineer
- 1958 – Kevin Curren, South African-American tennis player
- 1958 – Ian Woosnam, English-Welsh golfer
- 1959 – Larry Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1961 – Simone Young, Australian conductor, director, and composer
- 1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
- 1962 – Paul Farrelly, English journalist and politician
- 1962 – Tom Nordlie, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1962 – Brendan O’Connor, Australian politician, Australian Minister for Employment
- 1962 – Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
- 1962 – Gabriele Tarquini, Italian race car driver
- 1963 – Alvin Youngblood Hart, American singer and guitarist
- 1963 – Anthony Albanese, Australian politician, 15th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
- 1963 – Vidyasagar (composer), Indian composer, musician and singer
- 1964 – Laird Hamilton, American surfer and actor
- 1964 – Mike Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1987)
- 1965 – Ron Gant, American baseball player and journalist
- 1965 – Lembit Öpik, Northern Irish politician
- 1966 – Ann Leckie, American author
- 1966 – Simon Reevell, English lawyer and politician
- 1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor and producer
- 1970 – James Purnell, English politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- 1970 – Ciriaco Sforza, Swiss footballer and manager
- 1970 – Wibi Soerjadi, Dutch pianist and composer
- 1971 – Dave Gorman, English comedian, author and television presenter
- 1971 – Method Man, American rapper, record producer and actor
- 1972 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1973 – Dejan Bodiroga, Serbian basketball player
- 1973 – Trevor Sinclair, English footballer and manager
- 1974 – Hayley Lewis, Australian swimmer and television host
- 1975 – Daryl Gibson, New Zealand rugby player
- 1977 – Dominique Canty, American basketball player and coach
- 1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1977 – Stephen Parry, English swimmer and sportscaster
- 1977 – Andrew Strauss, South African-English cricketer
- 1978 – Gabby Eigenmann, Filipino actor and singer
- 1978 – Lee Hodges, English footballer and manager
- 1978 – Tomáš Kaberle, Czech ice hockey player
- 1979 – Damien Duff, Irish international footballer, winger
- 1979 – Gayatri Asokan, Indian playback singer
- 1979 – Jim Troughton, English cricketer
- 1979 – Nicky Weaver, English footballer
- 1980 – Chris Barker, English footballer and manager (d. 2020)
- 1980 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress and screenwriter
- 1981 – Lance Cade, American wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1981 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
- 1982 – Kevin Kurányi, German footballer
- 1982 – Henrik Lundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1982 – Ben Roethlisberger, American football player
- 1982 – Corey Webster, American football player
- 1983 – Deuce, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1983 – Lisandro López, Argentinian footballer
- 1983 – Jay McClement, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Glen Perkins, American baseball player
- 1983 – Ryan Shannon, American ice hockey player
- 1985 – Reggie Bush, American football player
- 1985 – Suso Santana, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Jonathan D’Aversa, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Jonas Jerebko, Swedish basketball player
- 1988 – Édgar Andrade, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – James Arthur, English singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012
- 1988 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver
- 1988 – Chris Rainey, American football player
- 1988 – Geert Arend Roorda, Dutch footballer
- 1989 – Alemão, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Toby Alderweireld, Belgian international footballer, defender
- 1989 – André Bernardes Santos, Portuguese footballer
- 1989 – Marcel Hirscher, Austrian skier
- 1989 – Shane Vereen, American football player
- 1989 – Chris Woakes, English cricketer
- 1990 – Rauno Alliku, Estonian footballer
- 1990 – Malcolm Butler, American football player
- 1990 – Josh McGuire, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Tiger Shroff, Indian actor
- 1991 – Nick Franklin, American baseball player
- 1992 – Jack Stockwell, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Ange-Freddy Plumain, French footballer
- 1997 – Becky G, American singer and actress
- 2010 – Hailey Dawson, American with a 3D-printed robotic hand
- 2016 – Prince Oscar, duke of Skåne and prince of Sweden
Deaths on March 2
- 274 – Mani, Persian prophet and founder of Manichaeism (b. 216)
- 672 – Chad of Mercia, English bishop and saint (b. 634)
- 986 – Lothair, king of West Francia (b.941)
- 968 – William, archbishop of Mainz (b. 929)
- 1009 – Mokjong, king of Goryeo (b. 980)
- 1127 – Charles the Good, Count of Flanders (b. 1084)
- 1316 – Marjorie Bruce, Scottish daughter of Robert the Bruce (b. 1296)
- 1333 – Wladyslaw I, king of Poland (b. 1261)
- 1589 – Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal and diplomat (b. 1520)
- 1619 – Anne of Denmark, queen of Scotland (b. 1574)
- 1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (b. 1662)
- 1755 – Louis de Rouvroy, French duke and diplomat (b. 1675)
- 1791 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (b. 1703)
- 1793 – Carl Gustaf Pilo, Swedish-Danish painter and academic (b. 1711)
- 1797 – Horace Walpole, English historian and politician (b. 1717)
- 1829 – Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Mexican revolutionary (b. ca. 1773)
- 1830 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, German physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (b. 1755)
- 1835 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
- 1840 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (b. 1758)
- 1855 – Nicholas I, Russian emperor (b. 1796)
- 1864 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (b. 1842)
- 1865 – Carl Sylvius Völkner, German-New Zealand priest and missionary (b. 1819)
- 1880 – John Benjamin Macneill, Irish engineer (b. 1790)
- 1895 – Berthe Morisot, French painter (b. 1841)
- 1895 – Isma’il Pasha, Egyptian politician (b. 1830)
- 1896 – Jubal Early, American general (b. 1816)
- 1921 – Champ Clark, American lawyer and politician, 41st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1850)
- 1930 – D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1885)
- 1938 – Ben Harney, American pianist and composer (b. 1871)
- 1939 – Howard Carter, English archaeologist and historian (b. 1874)
- 1943 – Gisela Januszewska, Jewish-Austrian physician (b.1867)
- 1944 – Ida Maclean, British biochemist, the first woman admitted to the London Chemical Society (b. 1877)
- 1945 – Emily Carr, Canadian painter and author (b. 1871)
- 1946 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (b. 1895)
- 1946 – George E. Stewart, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1872)
- 1947 – Frans Johan Louwrens Ghijsels, Dutch architect and urban planner (b. 1882)
- 1949 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (b. 1879)
- 1953 – James Lightbody, American runner (b. 1882)
- 1957 – Selim Sırrı Tarcan, Turkish educator and politician (b. 1874)
- 1958 – Fred Merkle, American baseball player and manager (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (b. 1866)
- 1967 – José Martínez Ruiz, Spanish author and critic (b. 1873)
- 1972 – Léo-Ernest Ouimet, Canadian director and producer (b. 1877)
- 1979 – Christy Ring, Irish hurler (b. 1920)
- 1982 – Philip K. Dick, American philosopher and author (b. 1928)
- 1987 – Randolph Scott, American actor and director (b. 1898)
- 1987 – Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian geographer and academic (b. 1935)
- 1991 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (b. 1937)
- 1994 – Anita Morris, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1943)
- 1999 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (b. 1939)
- 2000 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler (b. 1963)
- 2003 – Hank Ballard, American singer-songwriter (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Malcolm Williamson, Australian pianist and composer (b. 1931)
- 2004 – Cormac McAnallen, Irish footballer (b. 1980)
- 2004 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (b. 1916)
- 2004 – Marge Schott, American businesswoman (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Martin Denny, American pianist and composer (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Thomas S. Kleppe, American soldier and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Clem Labine, American baseball player (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Ivan Safronov, Russian colonel and journalist (b. 1956)
- 2007 – Henri Troyat, Russian-French historian and author (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Jeff Healey, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1966)
- 2009 – João Bernardo Vieira, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
- 2010 – Winston Churchill, English journalist and politician (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Lawrence Anthony, South African environmentalist, explorer, and author (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Van T. Barfoot, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Norman St John-Stevas, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1929)
- 2012 – James Q. Wilson, American political scientist and academic (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Peter Harvey, Australian journalist (b. 1944)
- 2013 – Giorgos Kolokithas, Greek basketball player (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Shabnam Shakeel, Pakistani poet and author (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Ryhor Baradulin, Belarusian poet and translator (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Dean Hess, American minister and colonel (b. 1917)
- 2015 – Dave Mackay, Scottish-English footballer and manager (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Mal Peet, English author and illustrator (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Benoît Lacroix, Canadian priest, historian, and philosopher (b. 1915)
- 2016 – Aubrey McClendon, American businessman (b. 1959)
- 2018 – Billy Herrington, American actor (b. 1969)
- 2018 – Lin Hu, Chinese lieutenant general (b. 1927)
- 2019 – Mike Oliver, British sociologist, disability rights activist (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances on March 2
- Air Force Day (Sri Lanka)
- Baloch Culture Day (Balochistan)
- Christian feast day:
- Agnes of Bohemia
- Angela of the Cross
- Blessed Charles the Good, Count of Flanders
- Chad of Mercia (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church)
- John Maron
- March 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Feast of ‘Alá (Loftiness), First day of the 19th month of the Bahá’í calendar (Bahá’í Faith) and first day of the Baha’i Nineteen Day Fast
- Jamahiriya Day (Libya)
- Peasants’ Day (Myanmar)
- Texas Independence Day
- Victory at Adwa Day (Ethiopia)
-
February 10 in History
- 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
- 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
- 1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
- 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
- 1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o’ Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
- 1712 – Huilliches in Chiloé rebel against Spanish encomenderos.
- 1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
- 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
- 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
- 1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
- 1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
- 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
- 1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
- 1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
- 1920 – About 75 % of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
- 1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
- 1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launches the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope to overthrow French protectorate over Vietnam.
- 1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
- 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
- 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
- 1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
- 1940 – Cartoon characters Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.
- 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin, capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies.
- 1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
- 1947 – The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
- 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
- 1962 – Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
- 1962 – Roy Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
- 1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
- 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
- 1972 – Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
- 1984 – Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.
- 1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
- 1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
- 2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
- 2007 – Then Illinois senator Barack Obama announces his candidacy for president in the 2008 elections, which he later goes on to win.
- 2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
- 2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
- 2016 – South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.
- 2018 – 19 people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double-decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.
Births on February 10
- 1486 – George of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1529)
- 1499 – Thomas Platter, Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
- 1514 – Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Milan (d. 1579)
- 1606 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1663)
- 1609 – John Suckling, English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
- 1627 – Cornelis de Bie, Flemish poet and jurist (d. 1715)
- 1685 – Aaron Hill, English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
- 1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
- 1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
- 1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton, American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
- 1775 – Charles Lamb, English poet and essayist (d. 1834)
- 1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
- 1795 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
- 1797 – George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall (d. 1883)
- 1821 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
- 1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
- 1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
- 1843 – Adelina Patti, Italian-French opera singer (d. 1919)
- 1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
- 1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
- 1847 – Nabinchandra Sen, Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
- 1859 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
- 1867 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
- 1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
- 1868 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
- 1869 – Royal Cortissoz, American art critic (d. 1948)
- 1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932)
- 1881 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
- 1883 – Edith Clarke, American electrical engineer (d. 1959)
- 1883 – H.V. Hordern, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
- 1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
- 1890 – Fanny Kaplan, Ukrainian-Russian activist (d. 1918)
- 1890 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
- 1892 – Alan Hale Sr., American actor and director (d. 1950)
- 1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
- 1893 – Bill Tilden, American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
- 1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
- 1897 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
- 1897 – John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
- 1898 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (d. 1992)
- 1902 – Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1903 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
- 1903 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
- 1904 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
- 1905 – Walter A. Brown, American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
- 1905 – Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
- 1906 – Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
- 1907 – Anthony Cottrell, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
- 1908 – Jean Coulthard, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Min Thu Wun, Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
- 1910 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
- 1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Vladimir Zeldin, Russian actor (d. 2016)
- 1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
- 1920 – Alex Comfort, English physician and author (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Neva Patterson, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1920 – José Manuel Castañón, Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
- 1922 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
- 1922 – José Gabriel da Costa later known as Mestre Gabriel, Brazilian spiritual leader, founder of the União do Vegetal (d. 1971)
- 1923 – Allie Sherman, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Max Ferguson, Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Pierre Mondy, French actor and director (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Leontyne Price, American operatic soprano
- 1929 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1929 – Jim Whittaker, American mountaineer
- 1929 – Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer
- 1930 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Robert Wagner, American actor and producer
- 1931 – James Edward Maceo West, American inventor and acoustician
- 1932 – Barrie Ingham, English-American actor (d. 2015)
- 1933 – Richard Schickel, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Faramarz Payvar, Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
- 1935 – Theodore Antoniou, Greek composer and conductor (d. 2018)
- 1937 – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
- 1937 – Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1939 – Adrienne Clarkson, Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
- 1939 – Deolinda Rodríguez de Almeida, Angolan nationalist (d. 1967)
- 1940 – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper
- 1940 – Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
- 1941 – Michael Apted, English director and producer
- 1944 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
- 1944 – Frank Keating, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
- 1944 – Frances Moore Lappé, American author and activist
- 1944 – Rufus Reid, American bassist and composer
- 1945 – Delma S. Arrigoitia, Puerto Rican historian, author, educator and lawyer
- 1947 – Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer and jurist
- 1947 – Butch Morris, American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Nicholas Owen, English journalist
- 1949 – Nigel Olsson, English rock drummer and singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
- 1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer
- 1951 – Bob Iger, American media executive
- 1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
- 1955 – Jim Cramer, American television personality, pundit, and author
- 1955 – Greg Norman, Australian golfer and sportscaster
- 1956 – Enele Sopoaga, Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
- 1957 – Katherine Freese, American astrophysicist and academic
- 1959 – John Calipari, American basketball player and coach
- 1960 – Jim Kent, American biologist, computer programmer, academic
- 1961 – Alexander Payne, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – George Stephanopoulos, American television journalist
- 1962 – Randy Velischek, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1962 – Cliff Burton, American heavy metal bassist (d. 1986)
- 1963 – Lenny Dykstra, American baseball player
- 1964 – Glenn Beck, American journalist, producer, and author
- 1966 – Natalie Bennett, Australian-English journalist and politician
- 1966 – Daryl Johnston, American football player and sportscaster
- 1967 – Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer
- 1967 – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster
- 1967 – Vince Gilligan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1968 – Peter Popovic, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
- 1968 – Garrett Reisman, American engineer and astronaut
- 1969 – Joe Mangrum, American painter and sculptor
- 1969 – James Small, South African rugby player (d. 2019)
- 1970 – Melissa Doyle, Australian journalist and author
- 1970 – Noureddine Naybet, Moroccan international footballer, central defender and manager
- 1970 – Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist and author
- 1971 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
- 1972 – Michael Kasprowicz, Australian cricketer
- 1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, English businesswoman and politician
- 1974 – Elizabeth Banks, American actress
- 1974 – Ty Law, American football player
- 1974 – Ivri Lider, Israeli singer
- 1974 – Henry Paul, New Zealand rugby player and coach
- 1976 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player and coach
- 1976 – Keeley Hawes, English actress
- 1977 – Salif Diao, Senegalese footballer
- 1979 – Joey Hand, American race car driver
- 1980 – César Izturis, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1980 – Enzo Maresca, Italian footballer
- 1980 – Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Uzo Aduba, American actress
- 1981 – Stephanie Beatriz, American actress
- 1981 – Andrew Johnson, English international footballer, forward and club ambassador
- 1981 – Holly Willoughby, English model and television host
- 1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter
- 1982 – Tarmo Neemelo, Estonian footballer
- 1982 – Hamad Al-Tayyar, Kuwaiti footballer
- 1982 – Iafeta Paleaaesina, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1983 – Vic Fuentes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1984 – Greg Bird, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Alex Gordon, American baseball player
- 1984 – Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress
- 1985 – Selçuk İnan, Turkish footballer
- 1985 – Paul Millsap, American basketball player
- 1986 – Jeff Adrien, American basketball player
- 1986 – Josh Akognon, American basketball player
- 1986 – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer
- 1986 – Roberto Jiménez Gago, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Viktor Troicki, Serbian tennis player
- 1987 – Jakub Kindl, Czech ice hockey player
- 1987 – Facundo Roncaglia, Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Francesco Acerbi, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Liam Hendriks, Australian baseball player
- 1990 – Barbara Guarischi, Italian cyclist
- 1990 – Choi Soo-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
- 1991 – Rebecca Dempster, Scottish footballer
- 1991 – Emma Roberts, American actress
- 1992 – Haruka Nakagawa, Japanese singer and actress
- 1992 – Reinhold Yabo, German footballer
- 1993 – Max Kepler, German baseball player
- 1993 – Filip Twardzik, Czech footballer
- 1993 – Luis Madrigal, Mexican footballer
- 1994 – Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer and member of Red Velvet
- 1995 – Carolane Soucisse, Canadian ice dancer
- 1996 – Emanuel Mammana, Argentinian footballer
- 1997 – Lilly King, American swimmer
- 1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
- 1997 – Nadia Podoroska, Argentinian tennis player
- 2000 – Yara Shahidi, American actress and model
Deaths on February 10
- 547 – Scholastica, Christian nun
- 1127 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
- 1163 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
- 1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
- 1242 – Saint Verdiana, Italian recluse (b. 1182)
- 1280 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
- 1306 – John “the Red” Comyn, Scottish nobleman
- 1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
- 1346 – Blessed Clare of Rimini (b. 1282)
- 1471 – Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1413)
- 1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
- 1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg, German noble (b. 1460)
- 1567 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1545)
- 1576 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)
- 1686 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
- 1755 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
- 1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and author (b. 1702)
- 1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
- 1837 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
- 1854 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general. President three times (1844–1854) (b. 1792)
- 1857 – David Thompson, English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
- 1865 – Heinrich Lenz, Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
- 1879 – Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
- 1887 – Ellen Wood, English author (b. 1814)
- 1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)
- 1904 – John A. Roche, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
- 1906 – Ezra Butler Eddy, American-Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
- 1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (b. 1827)
- 1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek long jumper (b. 1888)
- 1917 – John William Waterhouse, English soldier and painter (b. 1849)
- 1918 – Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1842)
- 1918 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
- 1920 – Henry Strangways, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of South Australia (b. 1832)
- 1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1928 – José Sánchez del Río, Mexican martyr and saint (b. 1913)
- 1932 – Edgar Wallace, English author and screenwriter (b. 1875)
- 1939 – Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
- 1944 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and chess player (b. 1870)
- 1945 – Anacleto Díaz, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1878)
- 1950 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Leonora Speyer, American poet and violinist (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Emmanouil Tsouderos, Greek banker and politician, 132nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1882)
- 1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
- 1960 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
- 1966 – Billy Rose, American composer and songwriter (b. 1899)
- 1967 – Dionysios Kokkinos, Greek historian and author (b. 1884)
- 1975 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek sailor and poet (b. 1910)
- 1979 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Alex Haley, American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
- 1993 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1929)
- 1995 – Paul Monette, American author, poet, and activist (b. 1945)
- 1997 – Brian Connolly, Scottish musician, lead singer The Sweet (b. 1945)
- 2000 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian and writer (b. 1949)
- 2001 – Abraham Beame, American academic and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
- 2001 – Buddy Tate, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- 2003 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (b. 1910)
- 2003 – Albert J. Ruffo, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of San Jose (b. 1908)
- 2003 – Ron Ziegler, American politician, 14th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
- 2005 – Arthur Miller, American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1915)
- 2006 – James Yancey, American record producer and rapper (b. 1974)
- 2008 – Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
- 2010 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Trevor Bailey, English cricketer and journalist (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Lloyd Morrison, New Zealand banker and businessman, founded H. R. L. Morrison & Co (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Jeffrey Zaslow, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
- 2013 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (b. 1927)
- 2013 – David Hartman, American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, founded the Shalom Hartman Institute (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Stuart Hall, Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Naseer Aruri, Palestinian scholar and activist (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Deng Liqun, Chinese theorist and politician (b. 1915)
- 2016 – Fatima Surayya Bajia, Indian-Pakistani author and playwright (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor (b. 1943)
- 2019 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances on February 10
- Christian feast day:
- Austrebertha
- Charalambos
- José Sánchez del Río
- Scholastica
- February 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck (Malta)
- Fenkil Day (Eritrea)
- Kurdish Authors Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (Italy)
-
February 7 in History
- 457 – Leo I the Thracian becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
- 1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later king Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
- 1313 – King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom
- 1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a “Bonfire of the vanities”.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
- 1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
- 1807 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen’s Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.
- 1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
- 1813 – In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Îles de Los, the frigates Aréthuse and Amelia batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.
- 1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
- 1842 – Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
- 1854 – A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.
- 1863 – HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
- 1894 – The Cripple Creek miner’s strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.
- 1898 – Dreyfus affair: Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse…!.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
- 1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.
- 1904 – A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
- 1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
- 1943 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
- 1944 – World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
- 1951 – Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
- 1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
- 1974 – Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
- 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
- 1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
- 1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
- 1991 – Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
- 1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launched a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
- 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
- 1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- 1997 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
- 1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
- 2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history.
- 2012 – President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
- 2013 – The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.
- 2014 – Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.
- 2016 – North Korea launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
Births on February 7
- 574 – Prince Shōtoku of Japan (d. 622)
- 1102 – Empress Matilda, Holy Roman Empress, and claimant to the English throne (probable; d. 1167)
- 1478 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1535)
- 1487 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1557)
- 1500 – João de Castro, viceroy of Portuguese India (d. 1548)
- 1612 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (d. 1683)
- 1622 – Vittoria della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1694)
- 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia (d. 1740)
- 1722 – Azar Bigdeli, Iranian anthologist and poet (d. 1781)
- 1726 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English painter (d. 1766)
- 1741 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss-English painter and academic (d. 1825)
- 1758 – Benedikt Schack, Czech tenor and composer (d. 1826)
- 1796 – Thomas Gregson, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (baptism date; d. 1874)
- 1802 – Louisa Jane Hall, American poet, essayist, and literary critic (d. 1892)
- 1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)
- 1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (d. 1870)
- 1825 – Karl Möbius, German zoologist and ecologist (d. 1908)
- 1834 – Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, French architect (d. 1895)
- 1837 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
- 1864 – Arthur Collins, American baritone singer (d. 1933)
- 1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
- 1870 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish psychologist and therapist (d. 1937)
- 1871 – Wilhelm Stenhammar, Swedish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1927)
- 1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
- 1877 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and geneticist (d. 1947)
- 1878 – Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (d. 1936)
- 1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (d. 1953)
- 1887 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1889 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish-American engineer and theorist (d. 1976)
- 1893 – Joseph Algernon Pearce, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Nicanor Abelardo, Filipino pianist, composer and teacher (d. 1934)
- 1895 – Anita Stewart, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1901 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (d. 1989)
- 1904 – Ernest E. Debs, American politician, California State Assembly member, Los Angeles city councilman, and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (d. 2002)
- 1905 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and author (d. 1940)
- 1905 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
- 1906 – Puyi, Chinese emperor (d. 1967)
- 1906 – Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, Russian engineer, founded the Antonov Aircraft Company (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Manmath Nath Gupta, Indian journalist and author (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Amedeo Guillet, Italian soldier (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Russell Drysdale, English-Australian painter (d. 1981)
- 1915 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor and singer (d. 2002)
- 1916 – Frank Hyde, Australian rugby player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Jock Mahoney, American actor and stuntman (d. 1989)
- 1919 – Desmond Doss, American army corporal and combat medic, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Oscar Brand, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2016)
- 1920 – An Wang, Chinese-American engineer and businessman, founded Wang Laboratories (d. 1990)
- 1921 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
- 1922 – Hattie Jacques, English actress (d. 1980)
- 1923 – Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Bill Hoest, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress
- 1927 – Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-Russian runner and coach (d. 1975)
- 1927 – Lalo Ríos, Mexican actor (d. 1973)
- 1928 – Lincoln D. Faurer, American general (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Jim Langley, English international footballer, full back and manager (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Gay Talese, American journalist and memoirist
- 1932 – Alfred Worden, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2020)
- 1933 – K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Sri Lankan Minister of Finance (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Eddie Fenech Adami, Maltese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Malta
- 1934 – King Curtis, American saxophonist and producer (d. 1971)
- 1934 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Cliff Jones, Welsh international footballer, winger
- 1935 – Herb Kohl, American businessman and politician
- 1935 – Jörg Schneider, Swiss actor and author (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Jas Gawronski, Italian journalist and politician
- 1937 – Peter Jay, English economist, journalist, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1937 – Juan Pizarro, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1940 – Tony Tan, Singaporean academic and politician, 7th President of Singapore
- 1941 – Kevin Crossley-Holland, English author and poet
- 1943 – Eric Foner, American historian, author, and academic
- 1943 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (d. 2007)
- 1945 – Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player and journalist
- 1946 – Héctor Babenco, Argentinian-Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1946 – Sammy Johns, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Haitian priest and activist (d. 2009)
- 1949 – Jacques Duchesneau, Canadian police officer and politician
- 1949 – Joe English, American drummer and songwriter
- 1950 – Karen Joy Fowler, American author
- 1953 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player and poet (d. 1998)
- 1954 – Dieter Bohlen, German singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Rolf Benirschke, American football player and game show host
- 1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor and director (d. 2017)
- 1956 – John Nielsen, Danish racing driver
- 1956 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Carney Lansford, American baseball player and coach
- 1958 – Giuseppe Baresi, Italian footballer and manager
- 1958 – Terry Marsh, English boxer and politician
- 1958 – Matt Ridley, English journalist, author, and politician
- 1959 – Mick McCarthy, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
- 1960 – Robert Smigel, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – James Spader, American actor and producer
- 1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – David Bryan, American keyboard player and songwriter
- 1962 – Eddie Izzard, English comedian, actor, and producer
- 1963 – Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, American Naval officer and astronaut
- 1964 – Ashok Banker, Indian journalist, author, and screenwriter
- 1965 – Chris Rock, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Kristin Otto, German swimmer
- 1968 – Peter Bondra, Ukrainian-Slovak ice hockey player and manager
- 1968 – Sully Erna, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Mark Tewksbury, Canadian swimmer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Andrew Micallef, Maltese painter and musician
- 1971 – Anita Tsoy, Russian singer-songwriter
- 1972 – Robyn Lively, American actress
- 1973 – Juwan Howard, American basketball player and coach
- 1974 – J Dilla, American rapper and producer (d. 2006)
- 1974 – Nujabes, Japanese record producer, DJ, composer and arranger (d. 2010)
- 1974 – Steve Nash, South African-Canadian basketball player
- 1975 – Wes Borland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1975 – Alexandre Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Rémi Gaillard, French comedian and actor
- 1976 – Chito Miranda, Filipino singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Japanese footballer
- 1978 – David Aebischer, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1978 – Endy Chávez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American model, actor, producer, and entrepreneur
- 1978 – Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian football player
- 1979 – Daniel Bierofka, German footballer and coach
- 1979 – Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1979 – Sam J. Miller, American author
- 1981 – Darcy Dolce Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Lee Ok-sung, South Korean boxer
- 1982 – Osamu Mukai, Japanese actor
- 1982 – Mickaël Piétrus, French basketball player
- 1983 – Sho Kamogawa, Japanese footballer
- 1983 – Christian Klien, Austrian race car driver
- 1983 – Federico Marchetti, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Trey Hardee, American decathlete
- 1985 – Tina Majorino, American actress
- 1988 – Ai Kago, Japanese singer and actress
- 1989 – Nick Calathes, Greek basketball player
- 1989 – Elia Viviani, Italian cyclist
- 1989 – Isaiah Thomas, American basketball player
- 1990 – Gianluca Lapadula, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Dalilah Muhammad, American hurdler
- 1990 – Steven Stamkos, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Ryan O’Reilly, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Sergi Roberto, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Ksenia Stolbova, Russian figure skater
- 1992 – Maimi Yajima, Japanese singer and actress
- 1993 – Chris Mears, English diver
- 1994 – Riley Barber, American ice hockey player
- 1995 – Roberto Osuna, Mexican baseball player
- 1996 – Pierre Gasly, French racing driver
- 1997 – Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer
Deaths on February 7
- 199 – Lü Bu, Chinese warlord
- 318 – Jin Mindi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 300)
- 999 – Boleslaus II the Pious, Duke of Bohemia (b. 932)
- 1045 – Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (b. 1009)
- 1065 – Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim (b. c. 1010)
- 1127 – Ava, German poet (b. 1060)
- 1165 – Marshal Stephen of Armenia
- 1259 – Thomas, Count of Flanders
- 1317 – Robert, Count of Clermont (b. 1256)
- 1320 – Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków (b. 1250)
- 1333 – Nikko, Japanese priest, founder of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (b. 1246)
- 1520 – Alfonsina de’ Medici, Regent of Florence (b. 1472)
- 1560 – Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Florentine sculptor (b. 1493)
- 1603 – Bartholomäus Sastrow, German politician (b. 1520)
- 1626 – William V, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1548)
- 1642 – William Bedell, English bishop and academic (b. 1571)
- 1693 – Paul Pellisson, French lawyer and author (b. 1624)
- 1736 – Stephen Gray, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1666)
- 1779 – William Boyce, English organist and composer (b. 1711)
- 1799 – Qianlong Emperor of China (b. 1711)
- 1801 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish-German painter and academic (b. 1726)
- 1819 – August Wilhelm Hupel, German-Estonian linguist and author (b. 1737)
- 1823 – Ann Radcliffe, English author (b. 1764)
- 1837 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (b. 1778)
- 1849 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (b. 1797)
- 1862 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1787)
- 1864 – Vuk Karadžić, Serbian philologist and linguist (b. 1787)
- 1871 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (b. 1797)
- 1873 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish author (b. 1814)
- 1878 – Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
- 1891 – Marie Louise Andrews, American story writer and journalist (b. 1849)
- 1897 – Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and engineer (b. 1847)
- 1919 – William Halford, English-American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1841)
- 1920 – Alexander Kolchak, Russian admiral and explorer (b. 1874)
- 1920 – Charles Langelier, Canadian journalist, judge, and politician (b. 1850)
- 1921 – John J. Gardner, American politician (b. 1845)
- 1937 – Elihu Root, American lawyer and politician, 38th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1938 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (b. 1868)
- 1939 – Boris Grigoriev, Russian painter and illustrator (b. 1886)
- 1942 – Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator and stage designer (b. 1876)
- 1944 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano and actress (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Nap Lajoie, American baseball player and manager (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Daniel François Malan, South African minister and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Guitar Slim, American singer and guitarist (b. 1926)
- 1960 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1903)
- 1963 – Learco Guerra, Italian cyclist and manager (b. 1902)
- 1964 – Sofoklis Venizelos, Greek captain and politician, 133rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1894)
- 1968 – Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 1972 – Walter Lang, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 1979 – Josef Mengele, German SS officer and physician (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (b. 1923)
- 1990 – Alan Perlis, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1922)
- 1990 – Alfredo M. Santos, Filipino general (b. 1905)
- 1991 – Amos Yarkoni, Israeli colonel (b. 1920)
- 1994 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer and conductor (b. 1913)
- 1996 – Phillip Davidson, American general (b. 1915)
- 1999 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- 1999 – Bobby Troup, American actor, pianist, and composer (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician and politician (b. 1947)
- 2001 – Dale Evans, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1912)
- 2001 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and pilot (b. 1906)
- 2003 – Augusto Monterroso, Guatemalan author (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Atli Dam, Faroese engineer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Princess Durru Shehvar of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (b. 1924)
- 2010 – Franco Ballerini, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1964)
- 2012 – Harry Keough, American soccer player and coach (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Krsto Papić, Croatian director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Doug Mohns, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Billy Casper, American golfer and architect (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Marshall Rosenberg, American psychologist and author (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2015 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (b. 1922)
- 2017 – Richard Hatch, American actor (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Hans Rosling, Swedish academic (b. 1948)
- 2017 – Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian philosopher (b. 1939)
- 2019 – John Dingell, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Albert Finney, English actor (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Jan Olszewski, Polish politician, 3rd Prime Minister (b. 1930)
- 2019 – Frank Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances on February 7
- Christian feast day:
- Richard the Pilgrim
- Blessed Eugénie Smet
- Blessed Pope Pius IX
- Chrysolius
- Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph
- Colette of Corbie
- February 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church Typically observed on the Sunday closest to January 25 (O.S.)/February 7 (N.S.)
- Independence Day (Grenada), celebrates the independence of Grenada from the United Kingdom in 1974.
- National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
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January 9 in History
- 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
- 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
- 1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song dynasty.
- 1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
- 1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.
- 1760 – Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.<refFrançois Xavier Wendel (1991). Wendel’s memoirs on the origin, growth and present state of Jat power in Hindustan (1768). Institut français de Pondichéry. p. 61.</ref>
- 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the Constitution.
- 1792 – Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed.
- 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
- 1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
- 1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul’s Cathedral.
- 1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
- 1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process.
- 1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
- 1857 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
- 1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
- 1861 – American Civil War: “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
- 1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
- 1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- 1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
- 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
- 1914 – The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.
- 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
- 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
- 1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
- 1921 – Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.
- 1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
- 1923 – Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations’ decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.
- 1927 – A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
- 1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
- 1945 – World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.
- 1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
- 1960 – President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
- 1961 – British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London.
- 1964 – Martyrs’ Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
- 1965 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
- 1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
- 1992 – The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.
- 1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
- 1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
- 2004 – An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history.
- 2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh.
- 2005 – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
- 2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.
- 2011 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, killing 77 people.
- 2014 – An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
- 2015 – The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes.
- 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill.
Births on January 9
- 727 – Emperor Daizong of Tang (d. 779)
- 1418 – Juan Ramón Folch III de Cardona, Aragonese admiral (d. 1485)
- 1475 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and author (d. 1507)
- 1554 – Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)
- 1571 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, French commander (d. 1621)
- 1590 – Simon Vouet, French painter (d. 1649)
- 1606 – William Dugard, English printer (d. 1662)
- 1624 – Empress Meishō of Japan (d. 1696)
- 1645 – Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, English noble and politician (d. 1712)
- 1674 – Reinhard Keiser, German composer (d. 1739)
- 1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (d. 1766)
- 1728 – Thomas Warton, English poet, historian, and critic (d. 1790)
- 1735 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (d. 1823)
- 1745 – Caleb Strong, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
- 1753 – Luísa Todi, Portuguese soprano and actress (d. 1833)
- 1773 – Cassandra Austen, English painter and illustrator (d. 1845)
- 1778 – Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Turkish Ney player and composer (d. 1846)
- 1811 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English journalist and author (d. 1856)
- 1818 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (d. 1881)
- 1819 – James Francis, English-Australian businessman and politician, 9th Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
- 1822 – Carol Benesch, Czech-Romanian architect, designed the Peleș Castle (d. 1896)
- 1823 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1908)
- 1829 – Thomas William Robertson, English director and playwright (d. 1871)
- 1829 – Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer (d. 1857)
- 1832 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Canadian journalist and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)
- 1839 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and academic (d. 1906)
- 1848 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
- 1849 – John Hartley, English tennis player (d. 1935)
- 1854 – Lady Randolph Churchill, American-born wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
- 1856 – Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)
- 1859 – Carrie Chapman Catt, American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women (d. 1947)
- 1864 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1926)
- 1868 – S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1939)
- 1870 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Hayim Nahman Bialik, Ukrainian-Austrian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1934)
- 1873 – Thomas Curtis, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 1944)
- 1873 – John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1938)
- 1875 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (d. 1942)
- 1879 – John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1958)
- 1881 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
- 1881 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1956)
- 1885 – Charles Bacon, American runner and hurdler (d. 1968)
- 1886 – Lloyd Loar, American sound engineer and instrument designer (d. 1943)
- 1889 – Vrindavan Lal Verma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1969)
- 1890 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (d. 1938)
- 1890 – Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (d. 1935)
- 1891 – August Gailit, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1960)
- 1892 – Eva Bowring, American lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
- 1893 – Edwin Baker, Canadian soldier and educator, co-founded the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (d. 1968)
- 1896 – Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-English conductor and director (d. 1971)
- 1897 – Karl Löwith, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1973)
- 1898 – Gracie Fields, English actress and singer (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Harald Tammer, Estonian journalist and weightlifter (d. 1942)
- 1900 – Richard Halliburton, American journalist and author (d. 1939)
- 1901 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1991)
- 1901 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Rudolf Bing, American impresario and businessman (d. 1997)
- 1902 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint, founded Opus Dei (d. 1975)
- 1907 – Eldred G. Smith, American patriarch (d. 2013)
- 1907 – Earl W. Renfroe, African American orthodontist, educator, and activist (d. 2000)
- 1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and author (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Malta (d. 2008)
- 1909 – Patrick Peyton, Irish-American priest, television personality, and activist (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Tom Evenson, English runner (d. 1997)
- 1912 – Ralph Tubbs, English architect, designed the Dome of Discovery (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Richard Nixon, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
- 1914 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
- 1915 – Anita Louise, American actress (d. 1970)
- 1916 – Fernando Lamas, Argentinian-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1982)
- 1916 – Vic Mizzy, American soldier, pianist, and composer (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and golfer (d. 2005)
- 1919 – William Morris Meredith, Jr., American poet and academic (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Clive Dunn, English actor (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Hakim Said, Pakistani scholar and politician, 20th Governor of Sindh (d. 1998)
- 1921 – Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
- 1921 – Lister Sinclair, Indian-Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, 1st President of Guinea (d. 1984)
- 1924 – Sergei Parajanov, Georgian-Armenian director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Len Quested, English footballer defender and manager (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1926 – Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2002)
- 1928 – Judith Krantz, American novelist (d. 2019)
- 1928 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and politician (d. 1994)
- 1929 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Heiner Müller, German poet, playwright, and director (d. 1995)
- 1931 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American author and critic (d. 2008)
- 1933 – Robert García, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Roy Dwight, English footballer, outside forward
- 1933 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-English journalist and author
- 1934 – Bart Starr, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
- 1935 – Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Dick Enberg, American sportscaster (d. 2017)
- 1935 – John Graham, New Zealand rugby player and educator (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Brian Harradine, Australian politician (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American author
- 1936 – Marko Veselica, Croatian academic and politician (d. 2017)
- 1938 – Claudette Boyer, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Susannah York, English actress and activist (d. 2011)
- 1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)
- 1940 – Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss journalist and politician, 86th President of the Swiss Confederation
- 1941 – Joan Baez, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
- 1941 – Gilles Vaillancourt, Canadian politician
- 1942 – John Dunning, American author
- 1942 – Judy Malloy, American poet and author
- 1943 – Robert Drewe, Australian author and playwright
- 1943 – Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1943 – Scott Walker, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 2019)
- 1944 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Jimmy Page, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1944 – Mihalis Violaris, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actor
- 1945 – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Syrian-Armenian scholar and politician, 1st President of Armenia
- 1946 – Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Indian historian and academic (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Mogens Lykketoft, Danish politician, 45th Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1947 – Ronnie Landfield, American painter and educator
- 1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1948 – Jan Tomaszewski, Polish footballer, manager, and politician
- 1950 – Alec Jeffreys, English geneticist and academic
- 1950 – David Johansen, American musician and actor
- 1950 – Sandy Martin, American actress
- 1951 – Crystal Gayle, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1952 – Kaushik Basu, Indian economist and academic
- 1952 – Hugh Bayley, English politician
- 1952 – Mike Capuano, American lawyer and politician
- 1953 – Javad Alizadeh, Iranian cartoonist and painter
- 1954 – Philippa Gregory, Kenyan-English author and academic
- 1955 – Michiko Kakutani, American journalist and critic
- 1955 – J.K. Simmons, American actor
- 1956 – Waltraud Meier, German soprano and actress
- 1956 – Imelda Staunton, English actress and singer
- 1958 – Stephen Neale, English philosopher and academic
- 1959 – Mark Martin, American race car driver and coach
- 1959 – Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1959 – Otis Nixon, American baseball player
- 1960 – Lisa Walters, Canadian golfer
- 1961 – Didier Camberabero, French rugby player
- 1961 – Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter and producer
- 1961 – Henry Omaga-Diaz, Filipino journalist
- 1962 – Ray Houghton, Scottish-born footballer
- 1963 – Irwin McLean, Northern Irish biologist and academic
- 1964 – Stan Javier, Dominican baseball player and manager
- 1965 – Iain Dowie, English-Northern Irish footballer and coach
- 1965 – Eric Erlandson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1965 – Haddaway, Trinidadian-German singer and musician
- 1965 – Andrei Nazarov, Estonian decathlete and coach
- 1965 – Joely Richardson, English actress
- 1966 – Stephen Metcalfe, English politician
- 1967 – Matt Bevin, American politician, 62nd governor of Kentucky
- 1967 – Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer
- 1967 – Dave Matthews, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1967 – Gary Teichmann, South African rugby player
- 1968 – Jimmy Adams, Jamaican cricketer and coach
- 1968 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
- 1968 – Mardi Lunn, Australian golfer
- 1968 – Giorgos Theofanous, Greek-Cypriot composer and producer
- 1970 – Lara Fabian, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1971 – Angie Martinez, American rapper, actress, and radio host
- 1971 – Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author and critic
- 1971 – Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 – Jay Powell, American baseball player
- 1972 – Rawson Stovall, American video game producer and author
- 1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor
- 1975 – James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
- 1976 – Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player
- 1978 – Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer and manager
- 1978 – Chad Johnson, American football player and actor
- 1978 – AJ McLean, American singer
- 1980 – Édgar Álvarez, Honduran footballer
- 1980 – Sergio García, Spanish golfer
- 1980 – Luke Patten, Australian rugby league player and referee
- 1980 – Francisco Pavón, Spanish footballer
- 1980 – Wang Zulan, Hong Kong singer
- 1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager
- 1982 – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
- 1984 – Drew Brown, American musician and songwriter
- 1984 – Benjamin Danso, German rugby player
- 1985 – Juan Francisco Torres, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Jéferson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Uwe Hünemeier, German footballer
- 1986 – Amanda Mynhardt, South African netball player
- 1987 – Sam Bird, English race car driver
- 1987 – Lucas Leiva, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Jami Puustinen, Finnish footballer
- 1988 – Katherine Copely, American ice dancer
- 1988 – Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Lee Yeon-hee, South Korean actress
- 1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player
- 1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress
- 1989 – Michaëlla Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
- 1989 – Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete
- 1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
- 1990 – Justin Blackmon, American football player
- 1991 – Edon Hasani, Albanian football player
- 1991 – Alvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter
- 1993 – Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete
- 1993 – Marcus Peters, American football player
- 1993 – Kevin Korjus, Estonian race car driver
- 1995 – Braden Uele, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1999 – Shannon Tavarez, American actress (d. 2010)
Deaths on January 9
- 710 – Adrian of Canterbury, abbot and scholar
- 1150 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (b. 1119)
- 1202 – Birger Brosa, Jarl of Sweden
- 1282 – Abû ‘Uthmân Sa’îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi, Minorcan ruler (b. 1204)
- 1283 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese general and scholar (b. 1236)
- 1367 – Giulia della Rena, Italian saint (b. 1319)
- 1450 – Adam Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester
- 1463 – William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, English soldier (b. 1405)
- 1499 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
- 1511 – Demetrios Chalkokondyles, Greek scholar and academic (b. 1423)
- 1514 – Anne of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France and Louis XII of France (b. 1477)
- 1529 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (b. 1472)
- 1534 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (b. 1477)
- 1543 – Guillaume du Bellay, French general and diplomat (b. 1491)
- 1561 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)
- 1571 – Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French admiral (b. 1510)
- 1598 – Jasper Heywood, English poet and scholar (b. 1553)
- 1612 – Leonard Holliday, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1550)
- 1622 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (b. 1576)
- 1757 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1657)
- 1762 – Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (b. 1678)
- 1766 – Thomas Birch, English historian and author (b. 1705)
- 1799 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1718)
- 1800 – Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
- 1805 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American physician and politician (b. 1723)
- 1843 – William Hedley, English engineer (b. 1773)
- 1848 – Caroline Herschel, German-English astronomer (b. 1750)
- 1856 – Neophytos Vamvas, Greek cleric and educator (b. 1770)
- 1858 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician; 4th President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1798)
- 1873 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (b. 1808)
- 1876 – Samuel Gridley Howe, American physician and activist (b. 1801)
- 1878 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
- 1895 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American-English businessman (b. 1812)
- 1901 – Richard Copley Christie, English lawyer and academic (b. 1830)
- 1908 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, illustrator, and painter (b. 1832)
- 1908 – Abraham Goldfaden, Russian actor, playwright, and author (b. 1840)
- 1911 – Edwin Arthur Jones, American violinist and composer (b. 1853)
- 1911 – Edvard Rusjan, Italian-Slovene pilot and engineer (b. 1886)
- 1917 – Luther D. Bradley, American cartoonist (b. 1853)
- 1918 – Charles-Émile Reynaud, French scientist and educator, invented the Praxinoscope (b. 1844)
- 1923 – Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1888)
- 1924 – Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sri Lankan civil servant and politician (b. 1853)
- 1927 – Houston Stewart Chamberlain, English-German philosopher and author (b. 1855)
- 1930 – Edward Bok, Dutch-American journalist and author (b. 1863)
- 1931 – Wayne Munn, American football player and wrestler (b. 1896)
- 1936 – John Gilbert, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1899)
- 1939 – Johann Strauss III, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1866)
- 1941 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek runner (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Shigekazu Shimazaki, Japanese admiral and pilot (b. 1908)
- 1945 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1890)
- 1945 – Osman Cemal Kaygılı, Turkish journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1890)
- 1946 – Countee Cullen, American poet and playwright (b. 1903)
- 1947 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (b. 1893)
- 1960 – Elsie J. Oxenham, English author and educator (b. 1880)
- 1961 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1964 – Halide Edib Adıvar, Turkish author and academic (b. 1884)
- 1971 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player and scout (b. 1876)
- 1972 – Ted Shawn, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
- 1975 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1897)
- 1975 – Pyotr Novikov, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1901)
- 1979 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect, designed the Tour de la Bourse and Pirelli Tower (b. 1891)
- 1981 – Kazimierz Serocki, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1922)
- 1984 – Bob Dyer, American-Australian radio and television host (b. 1909)
- 1985 – Robert Mayer, German-English businessman and philanthropist (b. 1879)
- 1987 – Arthur Lake, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1988 – Peter L. Rypdal, Norwegian fiddler and composer (b. 1909)
- 1989 – Bill Terry, American baseball player and manager (b. 1898)
- 1990 – Spud Chandler, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1907)
- 1990 – Cemal Süreya, Turkish poet and journalist (b. 1931)
- 1992 – Steve Brodie, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1992 – Bill Naughton, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1910)
- 1993 – Paul Hasluck, Australian historian and politician, 17th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1905)
- 1994 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Souphanouvong, Laotian politician, 1st President of Laos (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Peter Cook, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 1996 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (b. 1923)
- 1996 – Abdullah al-Qasemi, Saudi atheist, writer, and intellectual (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Edward Osóbka-Morawski, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Jesse White, American actor (b. 1917)
- 1998 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Imi Lichtenfeld, Slovakian-Israeli martial artist, founded Krav Maga (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer and academic (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Nigel Tranter, Scottish historian and author (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Maurice Prather, American photographer and director (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Will McDonough, American journalist (b. 1935)
- 2004 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and academic (b. 1909)
- 2006 – Andy Caldecott, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1964)
- 2006 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (b. 1977)
- 2007 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French anthropologist and historian (b. 1914)
- 2008 – Johnny Grant, American radio host and producer (b. 1923)
- 2008 – John Harvey-Jones, English businessman and television host (b. 1924)
- 2009 – Rob Gauntlett, English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1987)
- 2009 – T. Llew Jones, Welsh author and poet (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Makinti Napanangka, Australian painter (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Brian Curvis, Welsh boxer (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Augusto Gansser-Biaggi, Swiss geologist and academic (b. 1910)
- 2012 – William G. Roll, German-American psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Malam Bacai Sanhá, Guinea-Bissau politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1947)
- 2012 – László Szekeres, Hungarian physician and academic (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Brigitte Askonas, Austrian-English immunologist and academic (b. 1923)
- 2013 – James M. Buchanan, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Robert L. Rock, American businessman and politician, 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Indiana (b. 1927)
- 2013 – John Wise, Canadian farmer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Agriculture (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Amiri Baraka, American poet, playwright, and academic (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Josep Maria Castellet, Spanish poet and critic (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Paul du Toit, South African painter and sculptor (b. 1965)
- 2014 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Michel Jeury, French author (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Robert V. Keeley, Lebanese-American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Greece (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Józef Oleksy, Polish economist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster and businessman, founded the Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Roy Tarpley, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 2016 – John Harvard, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Angus Scrimm, American actor and author (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Zygmunt Bauman, Polish sociologist (b. 1925)
- 2018 – Kato Ottio, Papua New Guinean rugby league player (b. 1994)
- 2019 – Verna Bloom, American actress (b. 1938)
- 2019 – Paul Koslo, German-Canadian actor (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances on January 9
- Christian feast day:
- Adrian of Canterbury
- Berhtwald
- Translation of the Black Nazarene (Manila, Philippines)
- Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow
- Julia Chester Emery (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Stephen (old calendar Eastern Orthodox)
- January 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Start of Hōonkō (Nishi Honganji) January 9–16 (Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism)
- Martyrs’ Day (Panama)
- Non-Resident Indian Day (India)