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    September 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    It is the last day of the third quarter, the midway point of the second half of the year.

    • 489 – The Ostrogoths under Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time.
    • 737 – The Turgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus, and capture their baggage train.
    • 1399 – Henry IV is proclaimed king of England.
    • 1520 – Suleiman the Magnificent is proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1541 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance.
    • 1551 – A coup by the military establishment of Japan’s Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned.
    • 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: France and Spain defeat Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell’Olmo, but soon have to withdraw from Sardinia anyway.
    • 1791 – The first performance of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute takes place two months before his death.
    • 1791 – France’s National Constituent Assembly is dissolved, to be replaced the next day by the National Legislative Assembly
    • 1882 – Thomas Edison’s first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation.
    • 1888 – Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
    • 1906 – The Royal Galician Academy, the Galician language’s biggest linguistic authority, starts working in La Coruña, Spain.
    • 1907 – The McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S. President William McKinley and his family, is dedicated in Canton, Ohio.
    • 1909 – The Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania makes a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that will not be bettered for 20 years.
    • 1915 – World War I: Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire.
    • 1922 – The University of Alabama opens the American football season with a 110–0 victory over the Marion Military Institute, which still stands as Alabama’s record for largest margin of victory and as their only 100 point game.
    • 1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.
    • 1931 – Start of “Die Voortrekkers” youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
    • 1935 – The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
    • 1938 – Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, whereby Germany annexes the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
    • 1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlaws “intentional bombings of civilian populations”.
    • 1939 – World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
    • 1939 – NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Babi Yar massacre comes to an end.
    • 1943 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy is dedicated by President Roosevelt.
    • 1945 – The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43
    • 1947 – The 1947 World Series is the first to be televised, to include an African-American player, to exceed $2 million in receipts, to see a pinch-hit home run, and to have six umpires on the field.
    • 1947 – Pakistan joins the United Nations.
    • 1949 – The Berlin Airlift ends.
    • 1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world’s first nuclear-powered vessel.
    • 1962 – Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the National Farm Workers Association.
    • 1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules.
    • 1965 – The Lockheed L-100, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules, is introduced.
    • 1965 – In Indonesia, a coup by the 30 September Movement is crushed, leading to a mass anti-communist purge, with over 500,000 people killed.
    • 1966 – Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana.
    • 1967 – The BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service are replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively, BBC Radio 1 is also launched.
    • 1968 – The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.
    • 1970 – Jordan makes a deal with the PFLP for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson’s Field hijackings.
    • 1972 – Roberto Clemente records the 3,000th and final hit of his career.
    • 1975 – The AH-64 Apache makes its first flight. Eight years later, the first production model rolled out of the assembly line.
    • 1977 – Because of NASA budget cuts and dwindling power reserves, the Apollo program’s ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down.
    • 1980 – Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
    • 1990 – The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa.
    • 1993 – The 6.2 Mw  Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000.
    • 1994 – Aldwych tube station (originally Strand Station) of the London Underground closes after eighty-eight years in service.
    • 1994 – Ongar railway station, the furthest London Underground from central London, closes.
    • 1999 – The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of two technicians in Japan’s second-worst nuclear accident.
    • 2000 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah is shot and killed on the second day of the Second Intifada.
    • 2004 – The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, is retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat itself is retired.
    • 2005 – Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in a Danish newspaper.
    • 2009 – The 7.6 Mw  Sumatra earthquake leaves 1,115 people dead.
    • 2016 – Hurricane Matthew becomes a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea since 2007.
    • 2016 – Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million are recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.

    Births on September 30

    • 1207 – Rumi, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1273)
    • 1227 – Pope Nicholas IV (d. 1292)
    • 1530 – Girolamo Mercuriale, Italian philologist and physician (d. 1606)
    • 1550 – Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1631)
    • 1622 – Johann Sebastiani, German composer (d. 1683)
    • 1689 – Jacques Aubert, French violinist and composer (d. 1753)
    • 1700 – Stanisław Konarski, Polish monk, poet, and playwright (d. 1773)
    • 1710 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1771)
    • 1714 – Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French epistemologist and philosopher (d. 1780)
    • 1732 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1804)
    • 1743 – Christian Ehregott Weinlig, German cantor and composer (d. 1813)
    • 1765 – José María Morelos, Mexican priest and general (d. 1815)
    • 1800 – Decimus Burton, English architect, designed the Pharos Lighthouse (d. 1881)
    • 1813 – John Rae, Scottish physician and explorer (d. 1893)
    • 1814 – Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, American feminist, educator, and philanthropist (d. 1900)
    • 1827 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (d. 1918)
    • 1832 – Ann Jarvis, American activist, co-founded Mother’s Day (d. 1905)
    • 1836 – Remigio Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian politician, 56th President of Peru (d. 1894)
    • 1852 – Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1924)
    • 1861 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded Wrigley Company (d. 1932)
    • 1863 – Reinhard Scheer, German admiral (d. 1928)
    • 1870 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker and philanthropist (d. 1948)
    • 1870 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)
    • 1882 – Hans Geiger, German physicist and academic (d. 1945)
    • 1883 – Bernhard Rust, German educator and politician (d. 1945)
    • 1883 – Nora Stanton Blatch Barney, American civil engineer, architect, and suffragist (d. 1971)
    • 1887 – Lil Dagover, Indonesian-German actress (d. 1980)
    • 1893 – Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 1964)
    • 1895 – Lewis Milestone, Moldovan-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1980)
    • 1897 – Gaspar Cassadó, Spanish cellist and composer (d. 1966)
    • 1897 – Alfred Wintle, Russian-English soldier and politician (d. 1966)
    • 1897 – Charlotte Wolff, German-English physician and psychotherapist (d. 1986)
    • 1898 – Renée Adorée, French-American actress (d. 1933)
    • 1898 – Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois (d. 1977)
    • 1898 – Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, German-American author and illustrator (d. 1986)
    • 1901 – Thelma Terry, American bassist and bandleader (d. 1966)
    • 1904 – Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1905 – Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Michael Powell, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1906 – Mireille Hartuch, French singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1996)
    • 1908 – David Oistrakh, Ukrainian-Russian violinist and educator (d. 1974)
    • 1910 – Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish captain (d. 1962)
    • 1911 – Gustave Gilbert, American psychologist (d. 1977)
    • 1912 – Kenny Baker, American singer and actor (d. 1985)
    • 1913 – Bill Walsh, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1975)
    • 1915 – Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Yuri Lyubimov, Russian actor and director (d. 2014)
    • 1917 – Buddy Rich, American drummer, bandleader, and actor (d. 1987)
    • 1918 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army captain (d. 1995)
    • 1918 – René Rémond, French historian and economist (d. 2007)
    • 1919 – Roberto Bonomi, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1992)
    • 1919 – Elizabeth Gilels, Ukrainian-Russian violinist and educator (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – William L. Guy, American lieutenant and politician, 26th Governor of North Dakota (d. 2013)
    • 1919 – Patricia Neway, American soprano and actress (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish-English actress (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Aldo Parisot, Brazilian-American cellist and educator (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Lamont Johnson, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Donald Swann, Welsh-English pianist and composer (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – Truman Capote, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1925 – Arkady Ostashev, Russian engineer and educator (d. 1998)
    • 1926 – Heino Kruus, Estonian basketball player and coach (d. 2012)
    • 1926 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2010)
    • 1927 – W. S. Merwin, American poet and translator (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Elie Wiesel, Romanian-American author, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Ray Willsey, Canadian-American football player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Carol Fenner, American author and illustrator (d. 2002)
    • 1929 – Vassilis Papazachos, Greek seismologist and academic
    • 1929 – Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Filipino politician, diplomat and writer (d. 2017)
    • 1929 – Dorothee Sölle, German theologian and author (d. 2003)
    • 1931 – Angie Dickinson, American actress
    • 1931 – Teresa Gorman, English educator and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Shintaro Ishihara, Japanese author, playwright, and politician, Governor of Tokyo
    • 1932 – Johnny Podres, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
    • 1933 – Michel Aoun, Lebanese general and politician, President of Lebanon
    • 1933 – Cissy Houston, American singer
    • 1934 – Alan A’Court, English footballer and manager (d. 2009)
    • 1934 – Udo Jürgens, Austrian-Swiss singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Anna Kashfi, Indian-American actress (d. 2015)
    • 1935 – Johnny Mathis, American singer and actor
    • 1936 – Jim Sasser, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Ambassador to China
    • 1936 – Sevgi Soysal, Turkish author (d. 1976)
    • 1937 – Jurek Becker, Polish-German author (d. 1997)
    • 1937 – Valentyn Sylvestrov, Ukrainian pianist and composer
    • 1937 – Gary Hocking, Rhodesian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
    • 1938 – Alan Hacker, English clarinet player and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1939 – Len Cariou, Canadian actor
    • 1939 – Anthony Green, English painter and academic
    • 1939 – Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1940 – Claudia Card, American philosopher and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Harry Jerome, Canadian sprinter (d. 1982)
    • 1940 – Dewey Martin, Canadian-American drummer (d. 2009)
    • 1941 – Samuel F. Pickering, Jr., American author and educator
    • 1941 – Kamalesh Sharma, Indian academic and diplomat, 5th Commonwealth Secretary General
    • 1941 – Reine Wisell, Swedish race car driver
    • 1942 – Gus Dudgeon, English record producer (d. 2002)
    • 1942 – Frankie Lymon, American singer-songwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1943 – Johann Deisenhofer, German-American biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1943 – Marilyn McCoo, American singer
    • 1943 – Philip Moore, English organist and composer
    • 1943 – Ian Ogilvy, English-American actor, playwright, and author
    • 1944 – Diane Dufresne, Canadian singer and painter
    • 1944 – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (d. 2006)
    • 1944 – Red Robbins, American basketball player (d. 2009)
    • 1945 – Richard Edwin Hills, English astronomer and academic
    • 1945 – Ehud Olmert, Israeli lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Israel
    • 1946 – Fran Brill, American actress, singer, and puppeteer
    • 1946 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, English academic and politician, Leader of the House of Lords
    • 1946 – Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1946 – Jochen Mass, German race car driver
    • 1946 – Paul Sheahan, Australian cricketer and educator
    • 1946 – Claude Vorilhon, French journalist, founded Raëlism
    • 1947 – Marc Bolan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1977)
    • 1947 – Rula Lenska, English actress
    • 1948 – Craig Kusick, American baseball player and coach (d. 2006)
    • 1950 – Laura Esquivel, Mexican author and screenwriter
    • 1950 – Victoria Tennant, English actress and dancer
    • 1951 – John Lloyd, English screenwriter and producer
    • 1951 – Barry Marshall, Australian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1951 – Simon White, English astrophysicist and academic
    • 1952 – John Lombardo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Matt Abts, American drummer
    • 1953 – Deborah Allen, American country music singer-songwriter, author, and actress
    • 1954 – Basia, Polish singer-songwriter and record producer
    • 1954 – Scott Fields, American guitarist and composer
    • 1954 – Patrice Rushen, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1955 – Andy Bechtolsheim, German engineer, co-founded Sun Microsystems
    • 1955 – Frankie Kennedy, Northern Irish flute player (d. 1994)
    • 1956 – Trevor Morgan, English footballer and manager
    • 1957 – Fran Drescher, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Marty Stuart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1959 – Ettore Messina, Italian basketball player and coach
    • 1960 – Julia Adamson, Canadian-English keyboard player, composer, and producer
    • 1960 – Nicola Griffith, English-American author
    • 1960 – Miki Howard, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1960 – Blanche Lincoln, American politician
    • 1961 – Gary Coyne, Australian rugby league player
    • 1961 – Eric Stoltz, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1961 – Mel Stride, English politician
    • 1961 – Eric van de Poele, Belgian race car driver
    • 1963 – David Barbe, American bass player and producer
    • 1964 – Trey Anastasio, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer
    • 1964 – Monica Bellucci, Italian actress and fashion model
    • 1965 – Omid Djalili, English comedian, actor, and producer
    • 1966 – Gary Armstrong, Scottish rugby player
    • 1966 – Markus Burger, German pianist, composer, and educator
    • 1967 – Emmanuelle Houdart, Swiss-French author and illustrator
    • 1969 – Gintaras Einikis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1969 – Chris von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1991)
    • 1970 – Tony Hale, American actor and producer
    • 1970 – Damian Mori, Australian footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Jenna Elfman, American actress and producer
    • 1972 – Jamal Anderson, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Ari Behn, Danish-Norwegian author and playwright (d. 2019)
    • 1972 – John Campbell, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1972 – Mayumi Kojima, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1972 – José Lima, Dominican-American baseball player (d. 2010)
    • 1974 – Jeremy Giambi, American baseball player
    • 1974 – Tom Greatrex, English politician
    • 1974 – Ben Phillips, English cricketer
    • 1974 – Daniel Wu, American–born Hong Kong actor, director, and producer
    • 1975 – Jay Asher, American author
    • 1975 – Marion Cotillard, French-American actress and singer
    • 1975 – Carlos Guillén, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1975 – Laure Pequegnot, French skier
    • 1975 – Christopher Jackson, American actor, singer, musician, and composer
    • 1976 – Georgie Bingham, British radio and television presenter
    • 1977 – Roy Carroll, Northern Irish goalkeeper and manager
    • 1977 – Nick Curran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2012)
    • 1978 – Małgorzata Glinka-Mogentale, Polish female volleyball player
    • 1979 – Cameron Bruce, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1979 – Andy van der Meyde, Dutch footballer
    • 1980 – Martina Hingis, Czechoslovakia-born Swiss tennis player
    • 1980 – Milagros Sequera, Venezuelan tennis player
    • 1981 – Cecelia Ahern, Irish author
    • 1981 – Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast
    • 1982 – Lacey Chabert, American actress
    • 1982 – Ryane Clowe, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Yan Stastny, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Dmytro Boyko, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1983 – Boniek Forbes, Guinea-Bissau footballer
    • 1983 – Andreea Răducan, Romanian gymnast
    • 1984 – Georgios Eleftheriou, Greek footballer
    • 1985 – Adam Cooney, Australian footballer
    • 1985 – David Gower, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Téa Obreht, Serbian-American author
    • 1985 – Cristian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1985 – T-Pain, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1986 – Olivier Giroud, French footballer
    • 1986 – Martin Guptill, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1986 – Ben Lovett, Welsh musician and songwriter
    • 1986 – Cristián Zapata, Colombian footballer
    • 1987 – Aida Garifullina, Russian operatic soprano
    • 1988 – Eglė Staišiūnaitė, Lithuanian hurdler
    • 1989 – André Weis, German footballer
    • 1991 – Thomas Röhler, German javelin thrower
    • 1992 – Ezra Miller, American actor and singer
    • 1994 – Aliya Mustafina, Russian gymnast
    • 1996 – Jacob Host, Australian rugby league player
    • 1997 – Yana Kudryavtseva, Russian gymnast
    • 1997 – Max Verstappen, Dutch Formula One driver
    • 1998 – Trevor Moran, American youtuber and singer
    • 2002 – Maddie Ziegler, American dancer and actress
    • 2002 – Levi Miller, Australian actor and model

    Deaths on September 30

    • 420 – Jerome, Roman priest, theologian, and saint (b. 347)
    • 653 – Honorius of Canterbury, Italian archbishop and saint
    • 940 – Fan Yanguang, Chinese general
    • 954 – Louis IV of France (b. 920)
    • 1101 – Anselm IV, Italian archbishop
    • 1246 – Yaroslav II of Vladimir (b. 1191)
    • 1288 – Leszek II the Black, Polish prince, Duke of Łęczyca, Sieradz, Kraków, Sandomierz (b. 1241)
    • 1440 – Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, Welsh soldier and politician (b. 1362)
    • 1487 – John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1400)
    • 1551 – Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese daimyō (b. 1507)
    • 1560 – Melchior Cano, Spanish theologian (b. 1525)
    • 1572 – Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish priest and saint, 3rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1510)
    • 1581 – Hubert Languet, French diplomat and reformer (b. 1518)
    • 1626 – Nurhaci, Chinese emperor (b. 1559)
    • 1628 – Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, English poet and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1554)
    • 1770 – Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1695)
    • 1770 – George Whitefield, English-American priest and theologian (b. 1714)
    • 1865 – Samuel David Luzzatto, Italian poet and scholar (b. 1800)
    • 1891 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (b. 1837)
    • 1897 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (b. 1873)
    • 1910 – Maurice Lévy, French mathematician and engineer (b. 1838)
    • 1942 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German captain and pilot (b. 1919)
    • 1943 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (b. 1864)
    • 1946 – Takashi Sakai, Japanese general and politician, Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1887)
    • 1955 – James Dean, American actor (b. 1931)
    • 1959 – Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (b. 1877)
    • 1961 – Onésime Gagnon, Canadian scholar and politician, 20th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1888)
    • 1973 – Peter Pitseolak, Canadian photographer and author (b. 1902)
    • 1974 – Carlos Prats, Chilean general and politician, Chilean Minister of Defense (b. 1915)
    • 1977 – Mary Ford, American singer and guitarist (b. 1924)
    • 1978 – Edgar Bergen, American actor and ventriloquist (b. 1903)
    • 1985 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (b. 1900)
    • 1985 – Simone Signoret, French actress (b. 1921)
    • 1986 – Nicholas Kaldor, Hungarian-British economist (b. 1908)
    • 1987 – Alfred Bester, American author and screenwriter (b. 1913)
    • 1988 – Al Holbert, American race car driver (b. 1946)
    • 1989 – Virgil Thomson, American composer and critic (b. 1896)
    • 1990 – Rob Moroso, American race car driver (b. 1968)
    • 1990 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-Canadian journalist and author (b. 1930)
    • 1990 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
    • 1991 – Toma Zdravković, Serbian singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
    • 1994 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1998 – Marius Goring, English actor (b. 1912)
    • 1998 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player and poet (b. 1953)
    • 1998 – Robert Lewis Taylor, American soldier and author (b. 1912)
    • 2002 – Göran Kropp, Swedish race car driver and mountaineer (b. 1966)
    • 2002 – Hans-Peter Tschudi, Swiss lawyer and politician, 63rd President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Yusuf Bey, American activist, founded Your Black Muslim Bakery (b. 1935)
    • 2003 – Ronnie Dawson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
    • 2003 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1944)
    • 2004 – Gamini Fonseka, Sri Lankan actor, director, and politician (b. 1936)
    • 2004 – Jacques Levy, American director and songwriter (b. 1935)
    • 2004 – Michael Relph, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 2008 – J. B. Jeyaretnam, Singaporean lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Stephen J. Cannell, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1941)
    • 2011 – Anwar al-Awlaki, American-Yemeni terrorist (b. 1971)
    • 2011 – Ralph M. Steinman, Canadian-American immunologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Turhan Bey, Austrian actor and producer (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Bobby Jaggers, American wrestler and engineer (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Clara Stanton Jones, American librarian (b. 1913)
    • 2012 – Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian-American figure skater (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament (b. 1956)
    • 2013 – Janet Powell, Australian educator and politician (b. 1942)
    • 2014 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Guido Altarelli, Italian-Swiss physicist and academic (b. 1941)
    • 2015 – Claude Dauphin, French businessman (b. 1951)
    • 2015 – Göran Hägg, Swedish author and critic (b. 1947)
    • 2017 – Monty Hall, American game show host (b. 1921)
    • 2018 – Kim Larsen, Danish rock musician (b. 1945)
    • 2018 – Geoffrey Hayes, British television presenter and actor (b. 1942)
    • 2018 – Sonia Orbuch, Polish resistance fighter during the Second World War and Holocaust educator. (b. 1925)
    • 2019 – Victoria Braithwaite, British research scientist who proved fish feel pain (b. 1967)

    Holidays and observances on September 30

    • Agricultural Reform (Nationalization) Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
    • Birth of Morelos (Mexico)
    • Boy’s Day (Poland)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Gregory the Illuminator
      • Honorius of Canterbury
      • Jerome
      • September 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day (Botswana) or Botswana Day, celebrates the independence of Botswana from United Kingdom in 1966.
    • International Translation Day (International Federation of Translators)
    • Orange Shirt Day (Canada)

  • June 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
    • 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II.
    • 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
    • 1184 – The naval Battle of Fimreite is won by the Birkebeiner pretender Sverre Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson takes the Norwegian throne and King Magnus V of Norway is killed.
    • 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.
    • 1219 – Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lindanise (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia.
    • 1246 – With the death of Frederick II, Duke of Austria, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
    • 1300 – The city of Bilbao is founded.
    • 1312 – At the Battle of Rozgony, King Charles I of Hungary wins a decisive victory over the family of Palatine Amade Aba.
    • 1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
    • 1410 – In a decisive battle at Onon River, the Mongol forces of Oljei Temur were decimated by the Chinese armies of the Yongle Emperor.
    • 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.
    • 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine.
    • 1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
    • 1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
    • 1670 – The first stone of Fort Ricasoli is laid down in Malta.
    • 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
    • 1776 – Delaware Separation Day: Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
    • 1800 – The Provisional Army of the United States is dissolved.
    • 1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
    • 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
    • 1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
    • 1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
    • 1846 – The Oregon Treaty extends the border between the United States and British North America, established by the Treaty of 1818, westward to the Pacific Ocean.
    • 1859 – Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between American and British/Canadian settlers.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
    • 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) of the Arlington estate (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
    • 1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
    • 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
    • 1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
    • 1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan’s history kills more than 22,000 people.
    • 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City’s East River kills 1,000.
    • 1916 – United States President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
    • 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
    • 1920 – Following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, Northern Schleswig is transferred from Germany to Denmark.
    • 1921 – Bessie Coleman earns her pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent.
    • 1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
    • 1936 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
    • 1937 – A German expedition led by Karl Wien loses sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. It is the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany’s takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
    • 1944 – World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan’s South Seas Mandate.
    • 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America.
    • 1970 – Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
    • 1972 – Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
    • 1977 – After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections took place in Spain.
    • 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
    • 1985 – Rembrandt’s painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
    • 1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people.
    • 1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries.
    • 1994 – Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
    • 1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a powerful truck bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, devastating the city centre and injuring 200 people.
    • 2001 – Leaders of the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
    • 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls.
    • 2013 – A bomb explodes on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people and wounding 22 others.

    Births on June 15

    • 1330 – Edward, the Black Prince of England (d. 1376)
    • 1479 – Lisa del Giocondo, Italian model, subject of the Mona Lisa (d. 1542)
    • 1519 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1536)
    • 1542 – Richard Grenville, English captain and explorer (d. 1591)
    • 1549 – Elizabeth Knollys, English noblewoman (d. 1605)
    • 1553 – Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
    • 1605 – Thomas Randolph, English poet and playwright (d. 1635)
    • 1618 – François Blondel, French architect (d. 1686)
    • 1623 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)
    • 1624 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (d. 1704)
    • 1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)
    • 1645 – Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician (d. 1712)
    • 1749 – Georg Joseph Vogler, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1814)
    • 1754 – Juan José Elhuyar, Spanish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1796)
    • 1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist and entomologist (d. 1809)
    • 1763 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1826)
    • 1763 – Kobayashi Issa, Japanese priest and poet (d. 1827)
    • 1765 – Martin Baum, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Cincinnati (d. 1831)
    • 1765 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1831)
    • 1767 – Rachel Jackson, American wife of Andrew Jackson (d. 1828)
    • 1777 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh physician and academic (d. 1841)
    • 1789 – Josiah Henson, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1883)
    • 1792 – Thomas Mitchell, Scottish-Australian colonel and explorer (d. 1855)
    • 1801 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (d. 1883)
    • 1805 – William B. Ogden, American businessman and politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1877)
    • 1809 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet and historian (d. 1866)
    • 1835 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress, painter, and poet (d. 1868)
    • 1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1907)
    • 1848 – Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, Indian bishop and saint (d. 1902)
    • 1872 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (d. 1950)
    • 1875 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-Canadian skier (d. 1987)
    • 1878 – Margaret Abbott, Indian-American golfer (d. 1955)
    • 1881 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army (d. 1945)
    • 1884 – Harry Langdon, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
    • 1886 – Frank Clement, British racing driver (d. 1970)
    • 1888 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (d. 1921)
    • 1890 – Georg Wüst, German oceanographer and academic (d. 1977)
    • 1894 – Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and conductor (d. 1981)
    • 1894 – Nikolai Chebotaryov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1947)
    • 1898 – Hubertus Strughold, German-American physiologist and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher and academic (d. 1984)
    • 1900 – Otto Luening, German-American composer and conductor (d. 1996)
    • 1901 – Elmar Lohk, Russian-Estonian architect (d. 1963)
    • 1902 – Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – Gordon Welchman, English-American mathematician and author (d. 1985)
    • 1906 – Léon Degrelle, Belgian SS officer (d. 1994)
    • 1907 – James Robertson Justice, English actor and educator (d. 1975)
    • 1909 – Elena Nikolaidi, Greek-American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1910 – David Rose, English-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Wilbert Awdry, English author, co-created Thomas the Tank Engine (d. 1997)
    • 1913 – Tom Adair, American songwriter, composer, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
    • 1914 – Yuri Andropov, Russian politician (d. 1984)
    • 1914 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (d. 1999)
    • 1914 – Hilda Terry, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
    • 1915 – Nini Theilade, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and educator (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American biologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
    • 1916 – Olga Erteszek, Polish-American fashion designer (d. 1989)
    • 1916 – Horacio Salgán, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2016)
    • 1916 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
    • 1917 – John Fenn, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
    • 1917 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1917 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – François Tombalbaye, Chadian politician, 1st President of Chad (d. 1975)
    • 1920 – Keith Andrews, American race car driver (d. 1957)
    • 1920 – Alla Kazanskaya, Russian actress (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Sam Sniderman, Canadian businessman, founded Sam the Record Man (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1921 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
    • 1922 – Jaki Byard, American pianist and composer (d. 1999)
    • 1923 – Erland Josephson, Swedish actor and director (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Ninian Stephen, English-Australian lieutenant, judge, and politician, 20th Governor-General of Australia (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Hédi Fried, Swedish author and psychologist
    • 1924 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
    • 1925 – Richard Baker, English journalist and author (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Attilâ İlhan, Turkish poet, author, and critic (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Alfred Duraiappah, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (d. 1975)
    • 1927 – Ross Andru, American illustrator (d. 1993)
    • 1927 – Ibn-e-Insha, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (d. 1978)
    • 1927 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (d. 1995)
    • 1930 – Miguel Méndez, American author and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Joseph Gilbert, English air marshal
    • 1931 – Brian Sewell, English art dealer and critic (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – David Alliance, Baron Alliance, Iranian-English businessman and politician
    • 1932 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Indian singer (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
    • 1933 – Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iranian politician, 2nd President of Iran (d. 1981)
    • 1933 – Predrag Koraksić Corax, Serbian political caricaturist
    • 1934 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American R&B singer
    • 1936 – William Levada, American cardinal
    • 1937 – Pierre Billon, Swiss-Canadian author and screenwriter
    • 1937 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
    • 1938 – Billy Williams, American baseball player and coach
    • 1939 – Ward Connerly, American activist and businessman, founded the American Civil Rights Institute
    • 1941 – Neal Adams, American illustrator
    • 1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1994)
    • 1942 – Ian Greenberg, Canadian broadcaster, founded Astral Media
    • 1942 – John E. McLaughlin, American diplomat
    • 1942 – Peter Norman, Australian sprinter (d. 2006)
    • 1943 – Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor (d. 2017)
    • 1943 – Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish politician, 38th Prime Minister of Denmark
    • 1944 – Robert D. Keppel, American police officer and academic
    • 1945 – Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipino judge and politician (d. 2016)
    • 1945 – Robert Sarah, Guinean cardinal
    • 1945 – Lawrence Wilkerson, American colonel
    • 1946 – Noddy Holder, English rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
    • 1946 – John Horner, American paleontologist and academic
    • 1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
    • 1947 – John Hoagland, American photographer and journalist (d. 1984)
    • 1948 – Mike Holmgren, American football player and coach
    • 1948 – Alan Huckle, English politician and diplomat, Governor of Anguilla
    • 1948 – Henry McLeish, Scottish footballer, academic, and politician, 2nd First Minister of Scotland
    • 1949 – Dusty Baker, American baseball player and manager
    • 1949 – Simon Callow, English actor and director
    • 1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1949 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
    • 1950 – Uğur Erdener, Turkish ophthalmologist and professor
    • 1950 – Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghanaian nurse and politician
    • 1950 – Deney Terrio, American choreographer and host of the television musical variety series Dance Fever
    • 1950 – Lakshmi Mittal, Indian-English businessman
    • 1951 – Jane Amsterdam, American magazine and newspaper editor (Manhattan, inc., New York Post)
    • 1951 – Vance A. Larson, American painter (d. 2000)
    • 1951 – John Redwood, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1951 – Steve Walsh, American rock singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1952 – Satya Pal Jain, Indian lawyer and politician, Additional Solicitor General of India
    • 1953 – Vilma Bardauskienė, Lithuanian long jumper
    • 1953 – Marc Brickman, American lighting and production designer
    • 1953 – Eje Elgh, Swedish racing driver and sportscaster
    • 1953 – Xi Jinping, Chinese engineer and politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China
    • 1953 – Raphael Wallfisch, English cellist and educator
    • 1954 – Jim Belushi, American actor
    • 1954 – Terri Gibbs, American country music singer and keyboard player
    • 1954 – Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan humanitarian
    • 1954 – Zdeňka Šilhavá, Czech discus thrower and shot putter
    • 1954 – Beverley Whitfield, Australian swimmer (d. 1996)
    • 1955 – Polly Draper, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Julie Hagerty, American model and actress
    • 1956 – Yevgeny Kiselyov, Russian-Ukrainian journalist
    • 1956 – Lance Parrish, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1958 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
    • 1958 – Riccardo Paletti, Italian racing driver (d. 1982)
    • 1959 – Alan Brazil, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
    • 1959 – Eileen Davidson, American model and actress
    • 1960 – Michèle Laroque, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Marieke van Doorn, Dutch field hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – Dave McAuley, Irish boxer and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Scott Norton, American wrestler
    • 1962 – Brad Armstrong, American wrestler (d. 2012)
    • 1962 – Chris Morris, English actor, satirist, director, and producer
    • 1962 – Andrea Rost, Hungarian soprano
    • 1963 – Marina Azyabina, Russian hurdler
    • 1963 – Mario Gosselin, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Helen Hunt, American actress, director, and producer
    • 1964 – Courteney Cox, American actress and producer
    • 1964 – Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Annelies Bredael, Belgian rower
    • 1965 – Karim Massimov, Kazakhstani politician, 7th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
    • 1965 – Adam Smith, American lawyer and politician
    • 1966 – Raimonds Vējonis, Latvian politician, 9th President of Latvia
    • 1968 – Károly Güttler, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1969 – Jesse Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1969 – Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1969 – Idalis DeLeón, American singer and actress
    • 1969 – Nasos Galakteros, Greek basketball player
    • 1969 – Oliver Kahn, German footballer and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer
    • 1969 – Cédric Pioline, French tennis player
    • 1970 – Christian Bauman, American soldier and author
    • 1970 – David Bayssari, Australian rugby league player
    • 1970 – Gaëlle Méchaly, French soprano
    • 1970 – Leah Remini, American actress and producer
    • 1970 – Žan Tabak, Croatian basketball player and coach
    • 1971 – Christos Myriounis, Greek basketball player
    • 1971 – Jake Busey, American actor, musician, and film producer
    • 1972 – Justin Leonard, American golfer
    • 1972 – Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
    • 1973 – Tore Andre Flo, Norwegian footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Neil Patrick Harris, American actor and singer
    • 1973 – Pia Miranda, Australian actress
    • 1976 – Jiří Ryba, Czech decathlete
    • 1977 – Michael Doleac, American basketball player and manager
    • 1978 – Wilfred Bouma, Dutch footballer
    • 1978 – Zach Day, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Yulia Nestsiarenka, Belarusian sprinter
    • 1979 – Christian Rahn, German footballer
    • 1979 – Charles Zwolsman, Jr., Dutch racing driver
    • 1980 – David Lyons, Australian rugby player
    • 1981 – John Paintsil, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1982 – Mike Delany, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1982 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1983 – Julia Fischer, German violinist and pianist[citation needed]
    • 1983 – Laura Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist[citation needed]
    • 1983 – Josh McGuire, Canadian fencer
    • 1984 – Luke Hodge, Australian footballer
    • 1984 – Eva Hrdinová, Czech tennis player
    • 1984 – Tim Lincecum, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Edison Toloza, Colombian footballer
    • 1985 – Ashley Nicole Black, American comedian, actress, and writer
    • 1986 – James Maloney, Australian rugby league player
    • 1986 – Trevor Plouffe, American baseball player
    • 1989 – Víctor Cabedo, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
    • 1989 – Bryan Clauson, American race car driver (d. 2016)
    • 1992 – Michał Kopczyński, Polish footballer
    • 1992 – Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer
    • 1992 – Dafne Schippers, Dutch heptathlete and sprinter
    • 1993 – Irfan Hadžić, Bosnian footballer
    • 1994 – Inaki Williams, Basque footballer
    • 1997 – Madison Kocian, American gymnast

    Deaths on June 15

    • 923 – Robert I of France (b. 866)
    • 948 – Romanos I Lekapenos, Byzantine Emperor (b. c. 870)
    • 952 – Murong Yanchao, Chinese general
    • 960 – Eadburh of Winchester, English princess and saint
    • 970 – Adalbert, bishop of Passau
    • 991 – Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 960)
    • 1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
    • 1184 – Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway (b. 1156)
    • 1189 – Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159)
    • 1246 – Frederick II, Duke of Austria (b. 1219)
    • 1337 – Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)
    • 1341 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1297)
    • 1381 – John Cavendish, English lawyer and judge (b. 1346)
    • 1381 – Wat Tyler, English rebel leader (b. 1341)
    • 1383 – John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1292)
    • 1383 – Matthew Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor
    • 1389 – Lazar of Serbia (b. 1329)
    • 1389 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1319)
    • 1389 – Miloš Obilić, Serbian knight.
    • 1416 – John, Duke of Berry (b. 1340)
    • 1467 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396)
    • 1521 – Tamás Bakócz, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1442)
    • 1614 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English courtier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1540)
    • 1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English minister and politician (b. 1674)
    • 1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
    • 1772 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (b. 1694)
    • 1844 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1777)
    • 1849 – James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (b. 1795)
    • 1858 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (b. 1795)
    • 1888 – Frederick III, German Emperor (b. 1831)
    • 1889 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1850)
    • 1890 – Unryū Kyūkichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 10th Yokozuna (b. 1822)
    • 1917 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and academic (b. 1867)
    • 1934 – Alfred Bruneau, French cellist and composer (b. 1857)
    • 1938 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
    • 1941 – Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist and physician (b. 1873)
    • 1941 – Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author (b. 1875)
    • 1945 – Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, Austrian diplomat
    • 1961 – Giulio Cabianca, Italian racing driver (b. 1923)
    • 1961 – Peyami Safa, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1899)
    • 1962 – Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1877)
    • 1967 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1885)
    • 1968 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (b. 1880)
    • 1968 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1925)
    • 1971 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
    • 1976 – Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1896)
    • 1984 – Meredith Willson, American playwright, composer, and conductor (b. 1902)
    • 1985 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (b. 1927)
    • 1989 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
    • 1989 – Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
    • 1991 – Happy Chandler, American businessman and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1898)
    • 1991 – Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
    • 1992 – Chuck Menville, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 1992 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (b. 1939)
    • 1993 – John Connally, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1917)
    • 1993 – James Hunt, English racing driver and sportscaster (b. 1947)
    • 1994 – Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1925)
    • 1995 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and inventor, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (b. 1903)
    • 1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
    • 1996 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (b. 1911)
    • 1996 – Dick Murdoch, American wrestler (b. 1946)
    • 1999 – Omer Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1906)
    • 2000 – Jules Roy, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1907)
    • 2001 – Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (b. 1909)
    • 2002 – Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (b. 1918)
    • 2003 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian-American actor (b. 1911)
    • 2004 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician and mayor of İzmir (b. 1952)
    • 2005 – Suzanne Flon, French actress (b. 1918)
    • 2006 – Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (b. 1922)
    • 2006 – Herb Pearson, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1910)
    • 2008 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – Phillip D. Cagan, American economist and author (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Capitola Dickerson, American pianist and educator (b. 1913)
    • 2012 – Barry MacKay, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1935)
    • 2012 – Israel Nogueda Otero, Mexican economist and politician, 10th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1935)
    • 2012 – Jerry Tubbs, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Heinz Flohe, German footballer and manager (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – José Froilán González, Argentinian racing driver (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Dennis O’Rourke, Australian director and producer (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
    • 2014 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Casey Kasem, American radio host, producer, and voice actor, co-created American Top 40 (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Daniel Keyes, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman, founded the Tracinda Corporation (b. 1917)
    • 2016 – Lois Duncan, American author (b. 1934)
    • 2018 – Matt “Guitar” Murphy, American Blues guitarist (The Blues Brothers) (b. 1929)
    • 2019 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director (b. 1923)

    Holidays and observances on June 15

    • Arbor Day (Costa Rica)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus)
      • Alice (or Adelaide) of Schaerbeek
      • Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock
      • Blessed Clement Vismara
      • Edburga of Winchester
      • Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)
      • Germaine Cousin
      • Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes)
      • Trillo
      • Vitus (Guy), Modestus and Crescentia
      • June 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Valdemar and Reunion Day (Flag Day) (Denmark)
    • Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while June 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday in June. (United States, and most other countries.)
    • Engineer’s Day (Italy)
    • Global Wind Day (international)
    • National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
    • National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)

  • June 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.
    • 1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and is never rebuilt.
    • 1615 – Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
    • 1745 – Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great’s Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession.
    • 1760 – Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada, taken from the Acadians.
    • 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
    • 1784 – Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated).
    • 1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
    • 1802 – King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
    • 1812 – Following Louisiana’s admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
    • 1825 – General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States.
    • 1855 – Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps.
    • 1859 – Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
    • 1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
    • 1878 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
    • 1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
    • 1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
    • 1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V’s horse at The Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness, and dies four days later.
    • 1916 – World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.
    • 1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
    • 1919 – Women’s rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
    • 1920 – Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
    • 1928 – The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents.
    • 1932 – Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers lead a coup d’état establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile.
    • 1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. The Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
    • 1943 – A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
    • 1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505: The first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
    • 1944 – World War II: The United States Fifth Army captures Rome, although much of the German Fourteenth Army is able to withdraw to the north.
    • 1961 – Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
    • 1967 – Seventy-two people are killed when a Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes at Stockport in England.
    • 1970 – Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
    • 1975 – The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.
    • 1979 – Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
    • 1983 – Gordon Kahl, who killed two US Marshals in Medina, North Dakota on February 13, is killed in a shootout in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff, after a four-month manhunt.
    • 1986 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
    • 1988 – Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500.
    • 1989 – Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
    • 1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with between 241 and 1,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).
    • 1989 – Solidarity’s victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
    • 1989 – Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
    • 1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission.
    • 1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
    • 2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.

    Births on June 4

    • 1394 – Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (d. 1430)
    • 1489 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
    • 1563 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith (d. 1624)
    • 1604 – Claudia de’ Medici, Italian daughter of Christina of Lorraine (d. 1648)
    • 1665 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian captain (d. 1733)
    • 1694 – François Quesnay, French economist and physician (d. 1774)
    • 1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and businessman (d. 1776)
    • 1738 – George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1820)
    • 1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scottish soldier, designed the Ferguson rifle (d. 1780)
    • 1754 – Miguel de Azcuénaga, Argentinian soldier (d. 1833)
    • 1754 – Franz Xaver von Zach, Slovak astronomer and academic (d. 1832)
    • 1787 – Constant Prévost, French geologist and academic (d. 1856)
    • 1801 – James Pennethorne, English architect, designed Victoria Park (d. 1871)
    • 1821 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1897)
    • 1829 – Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (d. 1903)
    • 1854 – Solko van den Bergh, Dutch target shooter (d. 1916)
    • 1860 – Alexis Lapointe, Canadian runner (d. 1924)
    • 1861 – William Propsting, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1937)
    • 1866 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish journalist and politician (d. 1952)
    • 1867 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish general and politician, 6th President of Finland (d. 1951)
    • 1873 – Nictzin Dyalhis, American author (d.1942)
    • 1877 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
    • 1879 – Mabel Lucie Attwell, English author and illustrator (d. 1964)
    • 1880 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962)
    • 1885 – Arturo Rawson, Argentinian general and politician, 26th President of Argentina (d. 1952)
    • 1887 – Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949)
    • 1889 – Beno Gutenberg, German-American seismologist (d. 1960)
    • 1903 – Yevgeny Mravinsky, Russian conductor (d. 1988)
    • 1904 – Bhagat Puran Singh, Indian publisher, environmentalist, and philanthropist (d. 1992)
    • 1907 – Jacques Roumain, Haitian journalist and politician (d. 1944)
    • 1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
    • 1907 – Patience Strong, English poet and journalist (d. 1990)
    • 1910 – Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (d. 1999)
    • 1912 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (d. 1993)
    • 1915 – Walter Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2006)
    • 1915 – Modibo Keïta, Malian educator and politician, 1st President of Mali (d. 1977)
    • 1915 – Nils Kihlberg, Swedish actor, singer, and director (d. 1965)
    • 1916 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
    • 1916 – Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (d. 2014)
    • 1917 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – Milan Komar, Slovenian-Argentinian philosopher and academic (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1923 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese karateka (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Samoan politician, 5th Prime Minister of Samoa (d. 1999)
    • 1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor and director (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Antonio Puchades, Spanish footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Robert Earl Hughes, American who was the heaviest human being recorded in the history of the world during his lifetime (d. 1958)
    • 1926 – Ain Kaalep, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2020)
    • 1926 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
    • 1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American therapist and author
    • 1929 – Karolos Papoulias, Greek lawyer and politician, 5th President of Greece
    • 1930 – George Chesworth, English air marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Moray (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – Morgana King, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
    • 1930 – Viktor Tikhonov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1931 – Gustav Nossal, Austrian-Australian biologist and academic
    • 1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004)
    • 1932 – Oliver Nelson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1975)
    • 1932 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand author and playwright (d. 2004)
    • 1934 – Monica Dacon, Vincentian educator and politician, 6th Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
    • 1934 – Daphne Sheldrick, Kenyan-British conservationist and author (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Colette Boky, Canadian soprano and actress
    • 1935 – Berhanu Dinka, Ethiopian economist and diplomat (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Vince Camuto, American fashion designer and businessman, co-founded Nine West (d. 2015)
    • 1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor
    • 1937 – Freddy Fender, American singer and guitarist (d. 2006)
    • 1937 – Mortimer Zuckerman, Canadian-American businessman and publisher, founded Boston Properties
    • 1938 – John Harvard, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2016)
    • 1938 – Art Mahaffey, American baseball player
    • 1939 – Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, Anglo-Irish peer (d. 2014)
    • 1939 – Denis de Belleval, Canadian civil servant and politician
    • 1939 – Henri Pachard, American director and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1939 – George Reid, Scottish journalist and politician, 2nd Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
    • 1940 – Ludwig Schwarz, Slovak-Austrian bishop
    • 1941 – Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright and screenwriter
    • 1942 – Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer
    • 1942 – Bill Rowe, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1943 – John Burgess, Australian radio and television host
    • 1943 – Sandra Haynie, American golfer
    • 1943 – Tom Jaine, English author
    • 1944 – Roger Ball, Scottish saxophonist and songwriter
    • 1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1945 – Anthony Braxton, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer
    • 1945 – Daniel Topolski, English rower and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1945 – Gordon Waller, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
    • 1947 – Viktor Klima, Austrian businessman and politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria
    • 1948 – Bob Champion, English jockey
    • 1948 – Sandra Post, Canadian golfer and sportscaster
    • 1948 – Jürgen Sparwasser, German footballer and manager
    • 1949 – Gabriel Arcand, Canadian actor
    • 1949 – Mark B. Cohen, American lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Raymond Dumais, Canadian bishop (d. 2012)
    • 1951 – Leigh Kennedy, American author
    • 1951 – Bronisław Malinowski, Polish runner (d. 1981)
    • 1951 – Melanie Phillips, English journalist and author
    • 1951 – Wendy Pini, American author and illustrator
    • 1951 – David Yip, English actor and playwright
    • 1952 – Bronisław Komorowski, Polish historian and politician, 5th President of Poland
    • 1952 – Dambudzo Marechera, Zimbabwean author and poet (d. 1987)
    • 1953 – Linda Lingle, American journalist and politician, 6th Governor of Hawaii
    • 1953 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish musician and songwriter (d. 1979)
    • 1953 – Susumu Ojima, Japanese businessman, founded Huser
    • 1953 – Paul Samson, English guitarist and producer (d. 2002)
    • 1954 – Raphael Ravenscroft, English saxophonist and composer (d. 2014)
    • 1954 – Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor and voice actor
    • 1955 – Val McDermid, Scottish author
    • 1955 – Mary Testa, American singer and actress
    • 1956 – Keith David, American actor
    • 1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist and author
    • 1956 – Terry Kennedy, American baseball player and manager
    • 1956 – Joyce Sidman, American author and poet
    • 1957 – Neil McNab, Scottish footballer
    • 1959 – Juan Camacho, Bolivian runner
    • 1959 – Georgios Voulgarakis, Greek politician, 21st Greek Minister for Culture
    • 1960 – Miloš Đelmaš, Serbian footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, American author
    • 1960 – Paul Taylor, American guitarist and keyboard player
    • 1960 – Bradley Walsh, English television presenter, comedian, singer and former footballer
    • 1961 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1961 – Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Hungary
    • 1962 – Krzysztof Hołowczyc, Polish race car driver
    • 1962 – Zenon Jaskuła, Polish cyclist
    • 1962 – John P. Kee, American singer-songwriter and pastor
    • 1962 – Junius Ho, Hong Kong solicitor and politician
    • 1963 – Sean Fitzpatrick, New Zealand rugby union player
    • 1963 – Jim Lachey, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Xavier McDaniel, American basketball player and coach
    • 1964 – Sean Pertwee, English actor
    • 1964 – Kōji Yamamura, Japanese animator, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
    • 1965 – Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player and preacher
    • 1966 – Cecilia Bartoli, Italian soprano and actress
    • 1966 – Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2017)
    • 1966 – Bill Wiggin, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1967 – Robert S. Kimbrough, American colonel and astronaut
    • 1968 – Roger Lim, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Niurka Montalvo, Cuban-Spanish long jumper
    • 1968 – Al B. Sure!, American R&B singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1968 – Scott Wolf, American actor
    • 1969 – Horatio Sanz, Chilean-American actor and comedian
    • 1970 – Deborah Compagnoni, Italian skier
    • 1970 – Richie Hawtin, English-Canadian DJ and producer
    • 1970 – Dave Pybus, English bass player and songwriter
    • 1970 – Izabella Scorupco, Polish-Swedish actress and model
    • 1971 – Joseph Kabila, Congolese soldier and politician, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
    • 1971 – Mike Lee, American lawyer and politician
    • 1971 – Shoji Meguro, Japanese director and composer
    • 1971 – Karl Martin Sinijärv, Estonian journalist and poet
    • 1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor and producer
    • 1972 – Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey defenseman
    • 1972 – Rob Huebel, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Mikey Whipwreck, American wrestler and trainer
    • 1974 – Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni, Indian chef (d. 2012)
    • 1974 – Darin Erstad, American baseball player and coach
    • 1974 – Andrew Gwynne, English lawyer and politician
    • 1974 – Janette Husárová, Slovak tennis player
    • 1974 – Buddy Wakefield, American poet and author
    • 1975 – Russell Brand, English comedian and actor
    • 1975 – Henry Burris, American football player
    • 1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist
    • 1975 – Dinanath Ramnarine, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1975 – Alex Wharf, English cricketer
    • 1976 – Kasey Chambers, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician
    • 1976 – Nenad Zimonjić, Serbian tennis player
    • 1977 – Dionisis Chiotis, Greek footballer
    • 1977 – Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer
    • 1977 – Roman Miroshnichenko, Ukrainian guitarist and composer
    • 1977 – Roland G. Fryer Jr., American economist and professor
    • 1978 – Robin Lord Taylor, American actor
    • 1979 – Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
    • 1979 – Daniel Vickerman, South African-Australian rugby player (d. 2017)
    • 1980 – François Beauchemin, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Jennifer Carroll, Canadian swimmer
    • 1981 – Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer
    • 1981 – Natalia Vodopyanova, Russian basketball player
    • 1982 – Abel Kirui, Kenyan runner
    • 1982 – Ronnie Prude, American-Canadian football player
    • 1983 – Romaric, Ivorian footballer
    • 1983 – Emmanuel Eboué, Ivorian footballer
    • 1983 – Olha Saladuha, Ukrainian triple jumper
    • 1984 – Enrico Rossi Chauvenet, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Rainie Yang, Taiwanese actress
    • 1984 – Ian White, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Leon Botha, South African painter and DJ (d. 2011)
    • 1985 – Anna-Lena Grönefeld, German tennis player
    • 1985 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
    • 1985 – Lukas Podolski, German footballer
    • 1985 – Oddvar Reiakvam, Norwegian politician
    • 1987 – Luisa Zissman, English businesswoman
    • 1987 – Mollie King, English singer-songwriter and model
    • 1988 – Matt Bartkowski, American ice hockey defenseman
    • 1988 – Kimberley Busteed, Australian model
    • 1989 – Federico Erba, Italian footballer
    • 1989 – Paweł Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower
    • 1990 – Zac Farro, American singer and drummer
    • 1990 – Evan Spiegel, American Internet entrepreneur
    • 1991 – Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Matt McIlwrick, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1991 – Ben Stokes, New Zealand-English cricketer
    • 1993 – Jonathan Huberdeau, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1995 – Shiori Tamai, Japanese singer
    • 1999 – Kim So-hyun, South Korean actress
    • 2004 – Mackenzie Ziegler, American dancer, singer, actress and model

    Deaths on June 4

    • 756 – Shōmu, Japanese emperor (b. 701)
    • 863 – Charles, archbishop of Mainz
    • 895 – Li Xi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
    • 946 – Guaimar II (Gybbosus), Lombard prince
    • 956 – Muhammad III of Shirvan, Muslim ruler
    • 1039 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 990)
    • 1102 – Władysław I Herman, Polish nobleman (b. c. 1044)
    • 1134 – Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1106)
    • 1135 – Emperor Huizong of Song (b. 1082)
    • 1206 – Adela of Champagne (b. 1140)
    • 1246 – Isabella of Angoulême (b. 1188)
    • 1257 – Przemysł I of Greater Poland (b. 1221)
    • 1394 – Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (b.c. 1368)
    • 1453 – Andronikos Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, Byzantine commander
    • 1463 – Flavio Biondo, Italian historian and author (b. 1392)
    • 1472 – Nezahualcoyotl, Aztec poet (b. 1402)
    • 1585 – Muretus, French philosopher and author (b. 1526)
    • 1608 – Francis Caracciolo, Italian Catholic priest (b. 1563)
    • 1622 – Péter Révay, Hungarian soldier and historian (b. 1568)
    • 1647 – Canonicus, Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett (b. 1565)
    • 1663 – William Juxon, English archbishop and academic (b. 1582)
    • 1798 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and author (b. 1725)
    • 1801 – Frederick Muhlenberg, American minister and politician, 1st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1750)
    • 1809 – Nicolai Abildgaard, Danish neoclassical and history painter, sculptor and architect (b. 1743)
    • 1830 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (b. 1795)
    • 1872 – Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Dutch historian, jurist, and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1798)
    • 1875 – Eduard Mörike, German pastor and poet (b. 1804)
    • 1876 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire, 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1830)
    • 1922 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (b. 1864)
    • 1925 – Margaret Murray Washington, American Academic (b. 1865)
    • 1926 – Fred Spofforth, Australian-English cricketer and coach (b. 1853)
    • 1928 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)
    • 1929 – Harry Frazee, American director, producer, and agent (b. 1881)
    • 1931 – Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, Sharif and Emir of Mecca, King of the Hejaz (b. 1853/54)
    • 1933 – Ahmet Haşim, Turkish poet and author (b. 1884)
    • 1939 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (b. 1900)
    • 1941 – Wilhelm II, German Emperor (b. 1859)
    • 1942 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer and politician (b. 1904)
    • 1951 – Serge Koussevitzky, Russian-American bassist, composer, and conductor (b. 1874)
    • 1956 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress and producer (b. 1881)
    • 1962 – Clem McCarthy, American sportscaster (b. 1882)
    • 1967 – Linda Eenpalu, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1890)
    • 1968 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)
    • 1970 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (b. 1911)
    • 1971 – György Lukács, Hungarian historian and philosopher (b. 1885)
    • 1973 – Maurice René Fréchet, French mathematician and academic (b. 1878)
    • 1973 – Murry Wilson, American songwriter, producer, and manager (b. 1917)
    • 1981 – Leslie Averill, New Zealand doctor and soldier (b. 1897)
    • 1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
    • 1990 – Stiv Bators, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1949)
    • 1992 – Carl Stotz, American businessman, founded Little League Baseball (b. 1910)
    • 1993 – Bernard Evslin, American writer (b. 1922)
    • 1994 – Derek Leckenby, English musician (b. 1943)
    • 1997 – Ronnie Lane, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1946)
    • 1998 – Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (b. 1903)
    • 2002 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian architect and politician, 42nd President of Peru (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Steve Lacy, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (b. 1921)
    • 2007 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1937)
    • 2007 – Bill France, Jr., American businessman (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2010 – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (b. 1910)
    • 2011 – Juan Francisco Luis, Virgin Islander sergeant and politician, 23rd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1940)
    • 2011 – Andreas P. Nielsen, Danish author and composer (b. 1953)
    • 2012 – Peter Beaven, New Zealand architect, designed the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Pedro Borbón, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1946)
    • 2012 – Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Guatemalan cardinal (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Herb Reed, American violinist (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (b. 1916)
    • 2013 – Joey Covington, American drummer (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Hermann Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer, handball player, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
    • 2013 – Will Wynn, American football player (b. 1949)
    • 2014 – George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean journalist and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Sydney Templeman, Baron Templeman, English lawyer and judge (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Marguerite Patten, English economist and author (b. 1915)
    • 2015 – Leonid Plyushch, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Jabe Thomas, American race car driver (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Anne Warburton, British academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to Denmark (b. 1927)
    • 2016 – Carmen Pereira, Bissau-Guinean politician (b. 1937)
    • 2017 – Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist (b. 1931)

    Holidays and observances on June 4

    • Birthday of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim & Flag Day celebration of the Finnish Defence Forces (Finland)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Filippo Smaldone
      • Francis Caracciolo
      • Optatus
      • Petroc of Cornwall
      • Quirinus of Sescia
      • Saturnina
      • June 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. (Tonga)
    • Flag Day (Estonia)
    • International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (International)
    • National Unity Day (Hungary)
    • Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 Memorial Day (International)

  • May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
    • 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
    • 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
    • 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.
    • 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
    • 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV.
    • 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
    • 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host.
    • 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
    • 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
    • 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
    • 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
    • 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.
    • 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.
    • 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
    • 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
    • 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
    • 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day.
    • 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
    • 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
    • 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
    • 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
    • 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.
    • 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ends in failure.
    • 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
    • 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
    • 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
    • 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.
    • 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246.
    • 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.
    • 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world’s most destructive earthquakes.
    • 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
    • 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
    • 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
    • 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
    • 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.
    • 1957 – South Africa’s government approves of racial separation in universities.
    • 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.
    • 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
    • 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
    • 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later.
    • 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
    • 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
    • 1967 – L’Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.
    • 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
    • 1969 – Apollo 10’s lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon’s surface.
    • 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
    • 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.
    • 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
    • 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
    • 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
    • 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
    • 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
    • 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.
    • 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
    • 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.
    • 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
    • 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737.
    • 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).
    • 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
    • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
    • 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d’état, following six months of political turmoil.
    • 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
    • 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
    • 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
    • 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.

    Births on May 22

    • 626 – Itzam K’an Ahk I, Mayan king (d. 686)
    • 1009 – Su Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1066)
    • 1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
    • 1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)
    • 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
    • 1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
    • 1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
    • 1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
    • 1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
    • 1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter (d. 1808)
    • 1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
    • 1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
    • 1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
    • 1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
    • 1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
    • 1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
    • 1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
    • 1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
    • 1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
    • 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
    • 1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
    • 1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
    • 1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
    • 1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
    • 1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1895)
    • 1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
    • 1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
    • 1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
    • 1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
    • 1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
    • 1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
    • 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
    • 1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
    • 1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
    • 1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
    • 1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
    • 1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
    • 1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
    • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
    • 1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
    • 1887 – A. W. Sandberg, Danish film director and screenwriter (d. 1938)
    • 1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
    • 1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
    • 1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
    • 1900 – Juan Arvizu, Mexican lyric opera tenor and bolero vocalist (d.1985)
    • 1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
    • 1902 – Jack Lambert, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
    • 1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
    • 1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
    • 1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
    • 1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
    • 1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (d. 1989)
    • 1908 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
    • 1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
    • 1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
    • 1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
    • 1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
    • 1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
    • 1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
    • 1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
    • 1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – George S. Hammond, American scientist (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
    • 1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
    • 1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
    • 1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Kenny Ball, English jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and bandleader (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
    • 1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
    • 1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
    • 1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
    • 1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
    • 1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
    • 1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
    • 1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
    • 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
    • 1940 – Mick Tingelhoff, American Pro Football Hall of Famer
    • 1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
    • 1942 – Roger Brown, American basketball player (d. 1997)
    • 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
    • 1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
    • 1942 – Richard Oakes, Native American civil rights activist (d. 1972)
    • 1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
    • 1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player
    • 1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
    • 1945 – Bob Katter, Australian politician
    • 1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
    • 1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
    • 1946 – Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Russian-Ukrainian astronomer
    • 1948 – Tomás Sánchez, Cuban painter and engraver
    • 1948 – Nedumudi Venu, Indian actor and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Cheryl Campbell, English actress
    • 1949 – Valentin Inzko, Austrian diplomat
    • 1950 – Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
    • 1953 – François Bon, French writer
    • 1953 – Cha Bum-kun, South Korean footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Paul Mariner, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1954 – Barbara May Cameron, Native American human rights activist (d. 2002)
    • 1954 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1956 – Lucie Brock-Broido, American poet (d. 2018)
    • 1957 – Lisa Murkowski, American lawyer and politician
    • 1959 – David Blatt, Israeli-American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and performer
    • 1959 – Kwak Jae-yong, South Korean director and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Mehbooba Mufti, Indian politician
    • 1960 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Brian Pillman, American football player and wrestler (d. 1997)
    • 1963 – Claude Closky, French contemporary artist
    • 1965 – Jay Carney, American journalist, 29th White House Press Secretary
    • 1966 – Johnny Gill, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1966 – Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese director and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Graham Linehan, Irish comedian, actor, and author
    • 1969 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, American lawyer and politician
    • 1970 – Naomi Campbell, English model
    • 1970 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
    • 1972 – Max Brooks, American author and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Danish actor
    • 1974 – Garba Lawal, Nigerian footballer
    • 1974 – Henrietta Ónodi, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
    • 1974 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian politician
    • 1975 – Salva Ballesta, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Christian Vande Velde, American cyclist
    • 1978 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
    • 1978 – Katie Price, English television personality and glamour model
    • 1979 – Maggie Q, American actress
    • 1979 – Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-American actress
    • 1980 – Sharice Davids, American politician
    • 1980 – Lucy Gordon, British actress and model (d. 2009)
    • 1981 – Daniel Bryan, American wrestler
    • 1981 – Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer (d. 2015)
    • 1981 – Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
    • 1982 – Erin McNaught, Australian model and actress
    • 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater
    • 1982 – Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer
    • 1983 – Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist
    • 1984 – Karoline Herfurth, German actress
    • 1984 – Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer
    • 1984 – Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
    • 1985 – Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
    • 1985 – Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress
    • 1986 – Julian Edelman, American football player
    • 1986 – Matt Jarvis, English footballer
    • 1986 – Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater
    • 1987 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
    • 1987 – Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
    • 1988 – Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress
    • 1989 – Corey Dickerson, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Wyatt Roy, Australian politician
    • 1991 – Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer
    • 1991 – Suho, South Korean singer and actor
    • 1992 – Anna Baryshnikov, American actress
    • 1994 – Florian Luger, Austrian male model
    • 1998 – Samile Bermannelli, Brazilian fashion model
    • 1999 – Camren Bicondova, American actress
    • 1999 – Femke Huijzer, Dutch model

    Deaths on May 22

    • 192 – Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (b. 138)
    • 337 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (b. 272)
    • 748 – Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 683)
    • 1067 – Constantine X, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1006)
    • 1068 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
    • 1310 – Saint Humility, founder of the Vallumbrosan religious order of nuns (b. c.1226)
    • 1409 – Blanche of England, sister of King Henry V (b. 1392)
    • 1455 – Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
    • 1455 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, Lancastrian commander (b. 1414)
    • 1455 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English commander (b. 1393)
    • 1457 – Rita of Cascia, Italian nun and saint (b. 1381)
    • 1490 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English administrator, nobleman and magnate (b. 1416)
    • 1538 – John Forest, English friar and martyr (b. 1471)
    • 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (b. 1483)
    • 1545 – Sher Shah Suri, Indian ruler (b. 1486)
    • 1553 – Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1495)
    • 1602 – Renata of Lorraine (b. 1544)
    • 1609 – Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff, Dutch captain (b. 1573)
    • 1666 – Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
    • 1667 – Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
    • 1745 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general (b. 1671)
    • 1760 – Baal Shem Tov, Polish rabbi and author (b. 1700)
    • 1772 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian and academic (b. 1687)
    • 1795 – Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (b. 1725)
    • 1802 – Martha Washington, First, First Lady of the United States (b. 1731)
    • 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist and diplomat (b. 1755)
    • 1859 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
    • 1861 – Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
    • 1868 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
    • 1885 – Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1802)
    • 1901 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (b. 1869)
    • 1910 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (b. 1864)
    • 1932 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish activist, landlord, and playwright, co-founded the Abbey Theatre (b. 1852)
    • 1933 – Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Mongolian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
    • 1938 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
    • 1939 – Ernst Toller, German playwright and author (b. 1893)
    • 1939 – Jiří Mahen, Czech author and playwright (b. 1882)
    • 1954 – Chief Bender, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1884)
    • 1965 – Christopher Stone, English radio host (b. 1882)
    • 1966 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
    • 1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (b. 1902)
    • 1967 – Charlotte Serber, American Librarian of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site (b. 1911)
    • 1972 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (b. 1904)
    • 1972 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
    • 1974 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (b. 1903)
    • 1975 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
    • 1982 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (b. 1899)
    • 1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
    • 1985 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (b. 1909)
    • 1988 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1914)
    • 1989 – Steven De Groote, South African pianist and educator (b. 1953)
    • 1990 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)
    • 1991 – Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1899)
    • 1991 – Stan Mortensen, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 1992 – Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (b. 1909)
    • 1993 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
    • 1997 – Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
    • 1998 – John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (b. 1926)
    • 1998 – José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1910)
    • 2000 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
    • 2004 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
    • 2005 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
    • 2005 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
    • 2006 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
    • 2008 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1970)
    • 2012 – Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Velimir “Bata” Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (b. 1981)
    • 2019 – Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (b. 1923)
    • 2020 – Denise Cronenberg, Canadian costume designer (b. 1938)

    Holidays and observances on May 22

    • Abolition Day (Martinique)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Castus and Emilius
      • Fulk
      • Humilita
      • Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
      • Quiteria
      • Rita of Cascia
      • Romanus of Subiaco
      • May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Harvey Milk Day (California)
    • International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
    • United States National Maritime Day
    • National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
    • Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
    • Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine)
    • Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.
    • World Goth Day

  • March 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaves up to 20,000 dead.
    • 1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade.
    • 1241 – First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city.
    • 1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.
    • 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1608 – Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.
    • 1644 – The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.
    • 1741 – New York governor George Clarke’s complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.
    • 1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
    • 1793 – The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.
    • 1793 – Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.
    • 1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
    • 1848 – March Revolution: In Berlin there is a struggle between citizens and military, costing about 300 lives.
    • 1850 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time.
    • 1871 – Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris.
    • 1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.
    • 1892 – Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; it was later named after him as the Stanley Cup.
    • 1900 – AFC Ajax Amsterdam, The Netherlands’s biggest and most successful football club, was founded.
    • 1902 – Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic.
    • 1913 – King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.
    • 1915 – World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.
    • 1921 – The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.
    • 1921 – The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.
    • 1922 – In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.
    • 1925 – The Tri-State Tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.
    • 1937 – The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children.
    • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.
    • 1938 – Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities.
    • 1940 – World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
    • 1942 – The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.
    • 1944 – Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers.
    • 1948 – Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito–Stalin Split.
    • 1953 – An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing 265 people.
    • 1959 – The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.
    • 1962 – The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.
    • 1965 – Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
    • 1967 – The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast.
    • 1968 – Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
    • 1969 – The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.
    • 1970 – Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
    • 1971 – Peru: a landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.
    • 1980 – A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.
    • 1990 – Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.
    • 1990 – In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
    • 1994 – Bosnia’s Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
    • 1996 – A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people.
    • 1997 – The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board.
    • 2014 – The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.
    • 2015 – The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. 23 people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded.

    Births on March 18

    • 1075 – Al-Zamakhshari, Persian scholar and theologian (d. 1144)
    • 1395 – John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, English military commander (d. 1447)
    • 1495 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France (d. 1533)
    • 1548 – Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter (d. 1616)
    • 1552 – Polykarp Leyser the Elder, German theologian (d. 1610)
    • 1555 – Francis, Duke of Anjou (d. 1584)
    • 1578 – Adam Elsheimer, German painter (d. 1610)
    • 1590 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (d. 1649)
    • 1597 – Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, French religious leader, founded the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal (d. 1659)
    • 1603 – Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (d. 1697)
    • 1609 – Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1670)
    • 1634 – Madame de La Fayette, French author (d. 1693)
    • 1640 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)
    • 1657 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (d. 1743)
    • 1690 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1764)
    • 1701 – Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Swedish East India Company (d. 1776)
    • 1733 – Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, German author and bookseller (d. 1811)
    • 1780 – Miloš Obrenović, Serbian prince (d. 1860)
    • 1782 – John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (d. 1850)
    • 1789 – Charlotte Elliott, English poet, hymn writer, editor (d. 1871)
    • 1798 – Francis Lieber, German-American jurist and philosopher (d. 1872)
    • 1800 – Harriet Smithson, Irish actress, the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz (d. 1854)
    • 1813 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (d. 1864)
    • 1814 – Jacob Bunn, American businessman (d. 1897)
    • 1819 – James McCulloch, Scottish-Australian politician, 5th Premier of Victoria (d. 1893)
    • 1820 – John Plankinton, American businessman and industrialist, also noted for philanthropy (d. 1891)
    • 1823 – Antoine Chanzy, French general (d. 1883)
    • 1828 – Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1908)
    • 1837 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908)
    • 1840 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)
    • 1842 – Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (d. 1898)
    • 1844 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (d. 1908)
    • 1846 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (d. 1904)
    • 1848 – Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, American architect and engineer (d. 1938)
    • 1858 – Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (d. 1913)
    • 1862 – Eugène Jansson, Swedish painter (d. 1915)
    • 1863 – William Sulzer, American lawyer and politician, 39th Governor of New York (d. 1941)
    • 1869 – Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1940)
    • 1870 – Agnes Sime Baxter, Canadian mathematician (d. 1917)
    • 1874 – Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (d. 1948)
    • 1877 – Edgar Cayce, American mystic and psychic (d. 1945)
    • 1877 – Clem Hill, Australian cricketer and engineer (d. 1945)
    • 1878 – Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (d. 1956)
    • 1882 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (d. 1973)
    • 1884 – Bernard Cronin, English-Australian journalist and author (d. 1968)
    • 1886 – Edward Everett Horton, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1970)
    • 1890 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (d. 1969)
    • 1893 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (d. 1978)
    • 1893 – Wilfred Owen, English soldier and poet (d. 1918)
    • 1901 – Manly Palmer Hall, Canadian mystic, author and philosopher (d. 1990)
    • 1901 – William Johnson, American painter (d. 1970)
    • 1903 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1944)
    • 1903 – E. O. Plauen, German cartoonist (d. 1944)
    • 1904 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1926)
    • 1904 – Margaret Tucker, Australian author and activist (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Thomas Townsend Brown, American physicist and engineer (d. 1985)
    • 1905 – Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958)
    • 1907 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Loulou Gasté, French composer (d. 1995)
    • 1909 – Ernest Gallo, American businessman, co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery (d. 2007)
    • 1909 – C. Walter Hodges, English author and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1967)
    • 1912 – Art Gilmore, American voice actor and announcer (d. 2010)
    • 1913 – René Clément, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1913 – Werner Mölders, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
    • 1915 – Richard Condon, American author and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1922 – Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist and academic (d. 2006)
    • 1922 – Fred Shuttlesworth, American activist, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Andy Granatelli, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Alessandro Alessandroni, Italian musician (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – James Pickles, English journalist, lawyer, and judge (d. 2010)
    • 1926 – Peter Graves, American actor and director (d. 2010)
    • 1927 – John Kander, American pianist and composer
    • 1927 – George Plimpton, American journalist and actor (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – Lillian Vernon, German-American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Lillian Vernon Company (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines
    • 1929 – Samuel Pisar, Polish-American lawyer and author (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – James J. Andrews, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1931 – John Fraser, Scottish actor
    • 1932 – John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 2009)
    • 1933 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1934 – Roy Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1983)
    • 1934 – Charley Pride, American country music singer and musician
    • 1935 – Ole Barndorff-Nielsen, Danish mathematician and statistician
    • 1935 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (d. 2016)
    • 1936 – F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1937 – Rudi Altig, German cyclist and sportscaster (d. 2016)
    • 1937 – Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d. 1975)
    • 1938 – Carl Gottlieb, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1938 – Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor and producer (d. 2017)
    • 1938 – Kenny Lynch, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2019)
    • 1938 – Timo Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver (d. 2017)
    • 1938 – Machiko Soga, Japanese actress (d. 2006)
    • 1939 – Ron Atkinson, English footballer and manager
    • 1939 – Jean-Pierre Wallez, French violinist and conductor
    • 1941 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1942 – Kathleen Collins, African-American filmmaker and playwright (d. 1988)
    • 1943 – Dennis Linde, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1944 – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Frank McRae, American football player and actor
    • 1944 – Dick Smith, Australian publisher and businessman, founded Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic
    • 1945 – Hiroh Kikai, Japanese photographer
    • 1945 – Michael Reagan, American journalist and radio host
    • 1945 – Susan Tyrrell, American actress (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2009)
    • 1946 – Michel Leclère, French race car driver
    • 1947 – Patrick Barlow, English actor and playwright
    • 1947 – Patrick Chesnais, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1947 – David Lloyd, English cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster
    • 1947 – B. J. Wilson, English rock drummer (d. 1990)
    • 1948 – Guy Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1948 – Brian Lloyd, Welsh footballer
    • 1948 – Eknath Solkar, Indian cricketer (d. 2005)
    • 1949 – Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture
    • 1950 – James Conlon, American conductor and educator
    • 1950 – Brad Dourif, American actor
    • 1950 – Linda Partridge, English geneticist and academic
    • 1950 – Larry Perkins, Australian race car driver
    • 1951 – Paul Barber, English actor
    • 1951 – Ben Cohen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben and Jerry’s
    • 1951 – Bill Frisell, American guitarist and composer
    • 1951 – Timothy N. Philpot, American lawyer, author, and judge
    • 1952 – Will Durst, American journalist and actor
    • 1952 – Pat Eddery, Irish jockey and trainer (d. 2015)
    • 1952 – Bernie Tormé, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
    • 1952 – Mike Webster, American football player (d. 2002)
    • 1953 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (d. 2015)
    • 1953 – Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer
    • 1955 – Francis G. Slay, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of St. Louis
    • 1955 – Jeff Stelling, English journalist and game show host
    • 1956 – Rick Martel, Canadian wrestler
    • 1956 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey, American madam (d. 2008)
    • 1956 – Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier
    • 1957 – Christer Fuglesang, Swedish physicist and astronaut
    • 1958 – Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist and author (d. 1990)
    • 1959 – Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp
    • 1960 – Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
    • 1960 – Guy Carbonneau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1960 – James Plaskett, Cypriot-English chess player
    • 1961 – Grant Hart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1962 – Michael Andrews, Australian rugby league player
    • 1962 – Irene Cara, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
    • 1962 – Brian Fisher, American baseball player
    • 1962 – Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor and martial artist
    • 1962 – James McMurtry, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1962 – Etsushi Toyokawa, Japanese actor and director
    • 1962 – Volker Weidler, German race car driver and engineer
    • 1963 – Jeff LaBar, American guitarist
    • 1963 – Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer
    • 1964 – Bonnie Blair, American speed skater
    • 1964 – Alex Caffi, Italian race car driver
    • 1964 – Jo Churchill, British politician
    • 1964 – Courtney Pine, English saxophonist and clarinet player
    • 1964 – Isabel Noronha, Mozambican film director
    • 1966 – Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1966 – Peter Jones, English businessman
    • 1966 – Brian Watts, Canadian golfer
    • 1967 – Miki Berenyi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1968 – Prince Eudes, Duke of Angoulême
    • 1968 – Miguel Herrera, Mexican footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Temur Ketsbaia, Georgian footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Paul Marsden, English businessman and politician
    • 1969 – Andy Cutting, English accordion player and composer
    • 1969 – Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player
    • 1969 – Shaun Udal, English cricketer
    • 1970 – Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress
    • 1971 – Wayne Arthurs, Australian tennis player
    • 1971 – Mike Bell, American wrestler (d. 2008)
    • 1971 – Mariaan de Swardt, South African-American tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Kitty Ussher, English economist and politician
    • 1972 – Dane Cook, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
    • 1972 – Reince Priebus, American lawyer and politician
    • 1973 – Luci Christian, American voice actress and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Laure Savasta, French basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1974 – Stuart Zender, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1975 – Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer
    • 1975 – Brian Griese, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1975 – Kimmo Timonen, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer
    • 1976 – Giovanna Antonelli, Brazilian actress and producer
    • 1976 – Tomo Ohka, Japanese baseball player
    • 1976 – Scott Podsednik, American baseball player
    • 1976 – Mike Quackenbush, American wrestler, trainer, and author, founded Chikara wrestling promotion
    • 1977 – Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Danny Murphy, English international footballer, midfielder and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Fernando Rodney, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1977 – Willy Sagnol, French footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Terrmel Sledge, American baseball player and coach
    • 1978 – Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1978 – Brooke Hanson, Australian swimmer
    • 1978 – Brian Scalabrine, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Jonas Wallerstedt, Swedish footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1979 – Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality
    • 1980 – Sébastien Frey, French footballer
    • 1980 – Sophia Myles, English actress
    • 1980 – Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
    • 1981 – Tora Berger, Norwegian biathlete
    • 1981 – Fabian Cancellara, Swiss cyclist
    • 1981 – Leslie Djhone, French sprinter
    • 1981 – Jang Na-ra, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1981 – Kasib Powell, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Tom Starke, German footballer
    • 1981 – Doug Warren, American soccer player
    • 1981 – Lovro Zovko, Croatian tennis player
    • 1982 – Mantorras, Angolan footballer
    • 1982 – Chad Cordero, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Timo Glock, German race car driver
    • 1982 – Adam Pally, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1983 – Ethan Carter III, American wrestler
    • 1983 – Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, French tennis player
    • 1983 – Andy Sonnanstine, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Tomasz Stolpa, Polish footballer
    • 1984 – Simone Padoin, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Rajeev Ram, American tennis player
    • 1984 – Vonzell Solomon, American singer and actress
    • 1985 – Ana Beatriz, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1985 – Marvin Humes, English singer
    • 1985 – Vince Lia, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Lykke Li, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1986 – Abdennour Chérif El-Ouazzani, Algerian footballer
    • 1987 – Rebecca Soni, American swimmer
    • 1989 – Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer
    • 1989 – Lily Collins, English-American actress
    • 1989 – Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer
    • 1989 – Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1989 – Paul Marc Rousseau, Canadian guitarist and producer
    • 1989 – Ming Xi, Chinese model
    • 1991 – Dylan Mattingly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1991 – Sam Williams, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – Ryan Truex, American race car driver
    • 1992 – Takuya Terada, Japanese singer, actor, and model
    • 1997 – Ciara Bravo, American actress
    • 1997 – Rieko Ioane, New Zealand rugby union player

    Deaths on March 18

    • 978 – Edward the Martyr, English king (b. 962)
    • 1076 – Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy (b. 1018)
    • 1086 – Anselm of Lucca, Italian bishop (b. 1036)
    • 1227 – Pope Honorius III (b. 1148)
    • 1272 – John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (b. 1246)
    • 1308 – Yuri I of Galicia
    • 1314 – Jacques de Molay, Frankish knight (b. 1244)
    • 1314 – Geoffroy de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar
    • 1321 – Matthew III Csák, Hungarian oligarch (b. c.1260/5)
    • 1582 – Juan Jauregui, attempted assassin of William I of Orange (b. 1562)
    • 1675 – Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1606)
    • 1689 – John Dixwell, English soldier and politician (b. 1607)
    • 1745 – Robert Walpole, English scholar and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1676)
    • 1768 – Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist and clergyman (b. 1713)
    • 1781 – Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1727)
    • 1823 – Jean-Baptiste Bréval, French cellist and composer (b. 1753)
    • 1835 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (b. 1769)
    • 1845 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and missionary (b. 1774)
    • 1871 – Augustus De Morgan, Indian-English mathematician and academic (b. 1806)
    • 1898 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American author and activist (b. 1826)
    • 1900 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (b. 1835)
    • 1907 – Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1827)
    • 1913 – George I of Greece (b. 1845)
    • 1918 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (b. 1847)
    • 1930 – Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (b. 1863)
    • 1936 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek journalist, lawyer, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1864)
    • 1939 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English businessman, founded Lunn Poly (b. 1859)
    • 1941 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (b. 1884)
    • 1947 – William C. Durant, American businessman, co-founded General Motors and Chevrolet (b. 1861)
    • 1954 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (b. 1868)
    • 1956 – Louis Bromfield, American environmentalist and author (b. 1896)
    • 1962 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (b. 1880)
    • 1964 – Sigfrid Edström, Swedish businessman, 4th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1870)
    • 1965 – Farouk of Egypt (b. 1920)
    • 1973 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian philologist and poet (b. 1880)
    • 1977 – Marien Ngouabi, Congolese politician, President of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1938)
    • 1977 – Carlos Pace, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1944)
    • 1978 – Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 1978 – Peggy Wood, American actress (b. 1892)
    • 1980 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1900)
    • 1982 – Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (b. 1901)
    • 1983 – Umberto II of Italy (b. 1904)
    • 1984 – Charley Lau, American baseball player and coach (b. 1933)
    • 1986 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Billy Butterfield, American trumpet player and cornet player (b. 1917)
    • 1990 – Robin Harris, American comedian (b. 1953)
    • 1993 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English-American economist and activist (b. 1910)
    • 1996 – Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
    • 2000 – Eberhard Bethge, German theologian and academic (b. 1909)
    • 2001 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1935)
    • 2002 – R. A. Lafferty, American soldier and author (b. 1914)
    • 2003 – Karl Kling, German race car driver (b. 1910)
    • 2003 – Adam Osborne, Thai-English engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (b. 1939)
    • 2004 – Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Dan Gibson, Canadian photographer and cinematographer (b. 1922)
    • 2007 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1948)
    • 2008 – Anthony Minghella, English director and screenwriter (b. 1954)
    • 2009 – Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian journalist and blogger (b. 1980)
    • 2009 – Natasha Richardson, English-American actress (b. 1963)
    • 2010 – Fess Parker, American actor and businessman (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Furman Bisher, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – William R. Charette, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – William G. Moore Jr., American general (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – George Tupou V of Tonga (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – Muhammad Mahmood Alam, Pakistani general and pilot (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Henry Bromell, American novelist, screenwriter, and director (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Clay Ford, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, Nigerian author, playwright, and academic (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Kaiser Kalambo, Zambian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (b. 1943)
    • 2015 – Zhao Dayu, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1961)
    • 2015 – Thomas Hopko, American priest and theologian (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Grace Ogot, Kenyan nurse, journalist, and politician (b. 1930)
    • 2016 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (b. 1939)
    • 2016 – Jan Němec, Czech director and screenwriter (b. 1936)
    • 2016 – Tray Walker, American football player (b. 1992)
    • 2016 – Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (b. 1961)
    • 2017 – Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2020 – Alfred Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot (b. 1932)

    Holidays and observances on March 18

    • Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation (Mexico)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Alexander of Jerusalem
      • Anselm of Lucca
      • Cyril of Jerusalem
      • Edward the Martyr
      • Fridianus
      • Salvator
      • March 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • The earliest date on which Holy Wednesday can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the week before Easter. (Christianity)
    • Flag Day (Aruba)
    • Gallipoli Memorial Day (Turkey)
    • Men’s and Soldiers’ Day (Mongolia)
    • Ordnance Factories’ Day (India)
    • Sheelah’s Day (Ireland, Canada, Australia)
    • Teacher’s Day (Syria)

  • February 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
    • 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
    • 1246 – The siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.
    • 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.
    • 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
    • 1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
    • 1710 – Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
    • 1728 – Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire defeats Asaf Jah I in the Battle of Palkhed.
    • 1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
    • 1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec).
    • 1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing six people, including two United States Cabinet members.
    • 1847 – The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua.
    • 1849 – Regular steamship service from the east to the west coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
    • 1867 – Seventy years of Holy See–United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.
    • 1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1874 – One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
    • 1893 – The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
    • 1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
    • 1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day “Siege of Ladysmith” is lifted.
    • 1904 – S.L. Benfica is founded in Portugal.
    • 1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
    • 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
    • 1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
    • 1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
    • 1939 – The erroneous word “dord” is discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
    • 1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
    • 1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
    • 1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
    • 1948 – Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots and looting in Accra.
    • 1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April’s Nature (pub. April 2).
    • 1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
    • 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
    • 1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
    • 1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.
    • 1972 – China–United States relations: The United States and China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
    • 1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
    • 1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
    • 1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.
    • 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
    • 1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
    • 1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
    • 1993 – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and six Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
    • 1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the 1993 Australian federal election.
    • 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
    • 1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
    • 1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
    • 1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
    • 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
    • 2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participate in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947.
    • 2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
    • 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.

    Births on February 28

    • 1119 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (d. 1150)
    • 1155 – Henry the Young King, son and heir of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
    • 1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway (d. 1283)
    • 1518 – Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Duke of Brittany (d. 1536)
    • 1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (d. 1592)
    • 1535 – Cornelius Gemma, Dutch astronomer and astrologer (d. 1578)
    • 1552 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss mathematician and clockmaker (d. 1632)
    • 1612 – John Pearson, English bishop, theologian, and scholar (d. 1686)
    • 1627 – Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1703)
    • 1675 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
    • 1683 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French entomologist and academic (d. 1757)
    • 1704 – Louis Godin, French astronomer and academic (d. 1760)
    • 1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (d. 1759)
    • 1724 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1807)
    • 1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist, and geographer (d. 1876)
    • 1812 – Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
    • 1820 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
    • 1833 – Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
    • 1840 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
    • 1848 – Arthur Giry, French historian and academic (d. 1899)
    • 1851 – Samuel W. McCall, American journalist and politician, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
    • 1858 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (d. 1941)
    • 1865 – Wilfred Grenfell, English physician and missionary (d. 1940)
    • 1866 – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1949)
    • 1873 – William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor (d. 1912)
    • 1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1929)
    • 1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
    • 1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher, lawyer, and politician, Mexican Secretary of Public Education (d. 1959)
    • 1883 – Seán Mac Diarmada, Irish rebel leader (d. 1916)
    • 1884 – Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
    • 1887 – William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter (d. 1966)
    • 1894 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1964)
    • 1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director (d. 1974)
    • 1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
    • 1898 – Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish footballer (d. 1969)
    • 1900 – Wolf Hirth, German pilot and engineer, co-founded Schempp-Hirth (d. 1959)
    • 1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
    • 1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
    • 1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
    • 1908 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
    • 1909 – Stephen Spender, English author and poet (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Otakar Vávra, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1915 – Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
    • 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
    • 1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
    • 1916 – Cesar Climaco, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Mayor of Zamboanga City (d. 1984)
    • 1917 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (d. 2007)
    • 1919 – Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls (d. 2013)
    • 1919 – Brian Urquhart, English soldier and diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
    • 1920 – Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish soldier, pilot, and architect (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French pilot, engineer, and author (d. 2006)
    • 1922 – Yuri Lotman, Russian-Estonian historian and scholar (d. 1993)
    • 1923 – Charles Durning, American soldier and actor (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Harry H. Corbett, Burmese-English actor (d. 1982)
    • 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American author and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1928 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (d. 1976)
    • 1928 – Tom Aldredge, American actor (d. 2011)
    • 1928 – Sylvia del Villard, actress, dancer, choreographer and Afro-Puerto Rican activist (d. 1990)
    • 1929 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
    • 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect, designed 8 Spruce Street and Walt Disney Concert Hall
    • 1929 – John Montague, American-Irish poet and academic (d. 2016)
    • 1929 – Rangaswamy Srinivasan, Indian-American physical chemist and inventor
    • 1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi academic and politician, 14th President of Bangladesh (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Peter Alliss, English golfer and sportscaster
    • 1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
    • 1931 – Len Newcombe, Welsh footballer, outside forward and scout (d. 1996)
    • 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor, singer, and jazz musician (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist and politician
    • 1934 – Willie Bobo, American Latin Jazz/Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist (d. 1983)
    • 1937 – Jeff Farrell, American swimmer
    • 1938 – Foge Fazio, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
    • 1939 – John Fahey, American guitarist (d. 2001)
    • 1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan philosopher and scholar (d. 1987)
    • 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1939 – Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director
    • 1940 – Aldo Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
    • 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
    • 1940 – Joe South, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer (d. 2012)
    • 1942 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1969)
    • 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1943 – Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1943 – Hans Dijkstal, Egyptian-Dutch educator and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2010)
    • 1943 – Donnie Iris, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress and dancer
    • 1944 – Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer and manager
    • 1944 – Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer (d. 2013)
    • 1945 – Mimsy Farmer, American-French actress and sculptor
    • 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
    • 1945 – Linda Preiss Rothschild, American mathematician and academic
    • 1946 – Philip Bailhache, English lawyer and politician
    • 1946 – Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Syreeta Wright, African-American singer songwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
    • 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1948 – Mike Figgis, English director, screenwriter, and composer
    • 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author
    • 1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
    • 1948 – Alfred Sant, Maltese politician, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
    • 1951 – Bill Cratty, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
    • 1951 – Debora Green, American physician convicted of murder
    • 1953 – Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1953 – Ricky Steamboat, American wrestler, referee, and trainer
    • 1954 – Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1955 – Adrian Dantley, American basketball player and coach
    • 1955 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer
    • 1956 – Terry Leahy, English businessman
    • 1956 – Guy Maddin, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
    • 1957 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 1996)
    • 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, English chef and author
    • 1957 – Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1957 – John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Cindy Wilson, American singer-songwriter
    • 1958 – Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican criminal and narcotics trafficker (d. 2012)
    • 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian journalist and activist (d. 2009)
    • 1958 – Jeanne Mas, Spanish-French singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1958 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (d. 2010)
    • 1959 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman and lobbyist
    • 1959 – Megan McDonald, American librarian and author
    • 1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress
    • 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician
    • 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish-British boxer
    • 1962 – Gary Belcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
    • 1964 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan sprinter and cyclist
    • 1965 – Colum McCann, Irish-American author and academic
    • 1965 – Norman Smiley, English-American wrestler and trainer
    • 1966 – Vincent Askew, American basketball player and coach
    • 1966 – Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
    • 1966 – Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
    • 1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager
    • 1967 – Martin Tielli, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1969 – Sean Farrel, English footballer, forward
    • 1969 – Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver
    • 1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
    • 1969 – Patrick Monahan, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1970 – Daniel Handler, American journalist, author, and accordion player
    • 1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner
    • 1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese pianist and composer
    • 1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor and director
    • 1972 – Rory Cochrane, American actor
    • 1972 – Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1973 – Scott McLeod, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver
    • 1973 – Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler
    • 1974 – Lee Carsley, English-Irish footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Alexander Zickler, German footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
    • 1976 – Ali Larter, American actress
    • 1977 – Jason Aldean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler
    • 1978 – Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
    • 1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver
    • 1979 – Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
    • 1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
    • 1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
    • 1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-Canadian boxer
    • 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
    • 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Brian Bannister, American baseball player and scout
    • 1982 – Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model and actress
    • 1984 – Noureen DeWulf, American actress
    • 1984 – Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress
    • 1985 – Tim Bresnan, English cricketer
    • 1985 – Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
    • 1985 – Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
    • 1986 – Travis Stevens, American judoka
    • 1987 – Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
    • 1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1989 – Carlos Dunlap, American football player
    • 1989 – Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Kevin Proctor, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Angelababy, Chinese actress
    • 1990 – Takayasu Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1994 – Jake Bugg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1994 – Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer
    • 1999 – Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player

    Deaths on February 28

    • 628 – Khosrow II, Shah of Iran – Sasanian Empire (b. c. 570)
    • 911 – Abu Abdallah al-Shi’i, Muslim Shia imam
    • 1105 – Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (b. c. 1042)
    • 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230)
    • 1326 – Leopold I, Duke of Austria (b. 1290)
    • 1453 – Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
    • 1510 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer (b. 1450)
    • 1551 – Martin Bucer, German Protestant reformer (b. 1491)
    • 1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian and author (b. 1505)
    • 1621 – Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
    • 1648 – Christian IV of Denmark (b. 1577)
    • 1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
    • 1788 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1725)
    • 1857 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic (b. 1809)
    • 1869 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French author and poet (b. 1790)
    • 1879 – Hortense Allart, Italian-French author (b. 1801)
    • 1891 – George Hearst, American businessman and politician (b. 1820)
    • 1916 – Henry James, American novelist, short writer, and critic (b. 1843)
    • 1925 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st President of Germany (b. 1871)
    • 1929 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician and immunologist (b. 1874)
    • 1932 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (b. 1851)
    • 1935 – Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1847)
    • 1936 – Charles Nicolle, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
    • 1941 – Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
    • 1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
    • 1959 – Maxwell Anderson, American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1888)
    • 1963 – Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India (b. 1884)
    • 1966 – Charles Bassett, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1931)
    • 1966 – Elliot See, American commander, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927)
    • 1967 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine (b. 1898)
    • 1977 – Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, American actor and comedian (b. 1905)
    • 1978 – Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
    • 1978 – Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
    • 1983 – Winifred Atwell, Trinidadian pianist (b. 1910 or 1914)
    • 1987 – Stephen Tennant, English author (b. 1906)
    • 1991 – Wassily Hoeffding, Finnish-American statistician and theorist (b. 1914)
    • 1993 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911)
    • 1993 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress and dancer (b. 1909)
    • 1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish comedian and actor (b. 1952)
    • 1998 – Arkady Shevchenko, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1930)
    • 2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (b. 1926)
    • 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadorian general and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (b. 1914)
    • 2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author (b. 1921)
    • 2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian sergeant (b. 1982)
    • 2005 – Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (b. 1941)
    • 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
    • 2007 – Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-English businessman, founded the Forte Group (b. 1908)
    • 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1946)
    • 2008 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (b. 1904)
    • 2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio host (b. 1918)
    • 2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
    • 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Frisner Augustin, Haitian drummer and composer (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Jim Green, American-Canadian educator and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Hal Roach, Irish comedian and author (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Neil McCorkell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Lee Lorch, American mathematician and activist (b. 1915)
    • 2015 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – George Kennedy, American actor (b. 1925)
    • 2017 – Pierre Pascau, Mauritian-Canadian journalist (b. 1938)
    • 2019 – André Previn, German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. (b. 1929)
    • 2020 – Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe’s (b. 1930)
    • 2020 – Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician (b. 1923)
    • 2020 – Sir Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (b. 1917)

    Holidays and observances on February 28

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abercius (martyr)
      • Anna Julia Cooper and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Hilarius
      • Mar Abba
      • Oswald of Worcester
      • Romanus of Condat
      • Rufinus
      • February 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Rare Disease Day can fall, while February 29 is the latest; observed on the last day of February (international)
    • The third day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn’t in all years)
    • Día de Andalucía (Andalusia, Spain)
    • Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture. (Finland)
    • National Science Day (India)
    • Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan)
    • Teachers’ Day (Arab states)

  • February 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor
    • 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II
    • 1336 – Four thousand defenders of Pilenai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
    • 1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000–1500 soldiers surrender after the Last invasion of Britain.
    • 1831 – Battle of Olszynka Grochowska, part of Polish November Uprising against Russian Empire.
    • 1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
    • 1843 – Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet Affair (1843).
    • 1848 – Provisional government in revolutionary France, by Louis Blanc’s motion, guarantees workers’ rights.
    • 1856 – A Peace conference opens in Paris after the Crimean War.
    • 1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discover what is now called the Calaveras Skull – human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, and elephants had co-existed.
    • 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.
    • 1875 – Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty China begins his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi’s regency.
    • 1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
    • 1912 – Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
    • 1916 – World War I: The Germans capture Fort Douaumont during the Battle of Verdun.
    • 1918 – German occupation of Estonia during World War I: Pernau, Reval, and Pskov are captured.
    • 1919 – Oregon places a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
    • 1921 – Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
    • 1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.
    • 1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.
    • 1933 – The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be designed from the start of construction as an aircraft carrier.
    • 1939 – The first of 2​1⁄2 million Anderson air raid shelters appeared in North London.
    • 1941 – February strike: In the occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis.
    • 1947 – The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council. The Prussian government had already been abolished by the Preußenschlag of 1932.
    • 1948 – Cold War: The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.
    • 1951 – The first Pan American Games were officially opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina by President Juan Perón.
    • 1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
    • 1956 – Cold War: In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
    • 1964 – North Korean Prime Minister Kim Il-sung calls for the removal of feudalistic land ownership aimed at turning all cooperative farms into state-run ones.
    • 1968 – Vietnam War: One hundred thirty-five unarmed citizens of Hà My village in South Vietnam’s Qu?ng Nam Province are killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what would come to be known as the Hà My massacre.
    • 1980 – The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.
    • 1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines’ first woman president.
    • 1987 – Southern Methodist University’s football program is the first college football program to be banned from competition by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.
    • 1991 – Gulf War: An Iraqi scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania.
    • 1991 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is abolished.
    • 1992 – Khojaly massacre: About 613 civilians are killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
    • 1994 – Mosque of Abraham massacre: In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring 125 more before being subdued and beaten to death by survivors.
    • 1997 – Yi Han-yong, a North Korean defector, was murdered by unidentified assailants in Bundang, South Korea.
    • 2009 – Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.
    • 2009 – Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashed during landing at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, primarily due to a faulty radio altimeter, resulting in the death of nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.
    • 2015 – At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan.
    • 2016 – Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston.

    Births on February 25

    • 1259 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal and Urraca of Castile (d. 1321)
    • 1337 – Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1383)
    • 1475 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the House of York (d. 1499)
    • 1540 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English aristocrat and courtier (d. 1614)
    • 1543 – Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, Emir of Bitlis (d. 1603)
    • 1591 – Friedrich Spee, German poet and author (d. 1635)
    • 1643 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1695)
    • 1663 – Peter Anthony Motteux, French-English author, playwright and translator (d. 1718)
    • 1670 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1720)
    • 1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist and pathologist (d. 1771)
    • 1707 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright and composer (d. 1793)
    • 1714 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1792)
    • 1728 – John Wood, the Younger, English architect, designed the Royal Crescent (d. 1782)
    • 1752 – John Graves Simcoe, English-Canadian general and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (d. 1806)
    • 1755 – François René Mallarmé, French lawyer and politician (d. 1835)
    • 1778 – José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (d. 1850)
    • 1806 – Emma Catherine Embury, American author and poet (d. 1863)
    • 1809 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (d. 1873)
    • 1812 – Carl Christian Hall, Danish lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1888)
    • 1816 – Giovanni Morelli, Italian historian and critic (d. 1891)
    • 1833 – John St. John, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Kansas (d. 1916)
    • 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)
    • 1842 – Karl May, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)
    • 1845 – George Reid, Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1918)
    • 1855 – Cesário Verde, Portuguese poet and author (d. 1886)
    • 1856 – Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, German historian and academic (d. 1915)
    • 1856 – Mathias Zdarsky, Czech-Austrian skier, painter, and sculptor (d. 1940)
    • 1857 – Robert Bond, Canadian politician; first Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d. 1927)
    • 1860 – William Ashley, English historian and academic (d. 1927)
    • 1865 – Andranik, Armenian general (d. 1927)
    • 1866 – Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1952)
    • 1869 – Phoebus Levene, Russian-American biochemist and physician (d. 1940)
    • 1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian-American tenor; the most popular operatic tenor of the early 20th century and the first great recording star. (d. 1921)
    • 1877 – Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist and scholar (d. 1935)
    • 1881 – William Z. Foster, American union leader and politician (d. 1961)
    • 1881 – Alexei Rykov, Russian politician, Premier of Russia (d. 1938)
    • 1883 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (d. 1981)
    • 1885 – Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (d. 1969)
    • 1888 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
    • 1890 – Myra Hess, English pianist and educator (d. 1965)
    • 1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (d. 1969)
    • 1898 – William Astbury, physicist and molecular biologist (d. 1961)
    • 1901 – Vince Gair, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Queensland (d. 1980)
    • 1901 – Zeppo Marx, American comedian (the youngest of the Marx Brothers) and theatrical agent (d. 1979)
    • 1903 – King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and coach; rated one of the 100 greatest NHL players (d. 1986)
    • 1905 – Perry Miller, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1963)
    • 1906 – Mary Coyle Chase, American journalist and playwright; author of Harvey (d. 1981)
    • 1907 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (d. 1948)
    • 1908 – Mary Locke Petermann, cellular biochemist (d. 1975)
    • 1908 – Frank G. Slaughter, American physician and author (d. 2001)
    • 1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American journalist and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1913 – Jim Backus, American actor and screenwriter; the voice of Mr. Magoo (d. 1989)
    • 1913 – Gert Fröbe, German actor; title role in Goldfinger (d. 1988)
    • 1917 – Anthony Burgess, English author, playwright, and critic (d. 1993)
    • 1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player; winner of three major titles, 1939–1941 (d. 1995)
    • 1919 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player and executive (d. 2016)
    • 1920 – Philip Habib, American academic and diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (d. 1992)
    • 1921 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1970)
    • 1921 – Andy Pafko, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Molly Reilly, Canadian aviator (d. 1980)
    • 1924 – Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Shehu Shagari, former President of Nigeria (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Lisa Kirk, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
    • 1926 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic; noted for contributions to algebraic number theory (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – Ralph Stanley, American bluegrass singer and banjo player; member of International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Paul Elvstrøm, Danish yachtsman; winner of four Olympic gold medals, 1948–1960 (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., prominent African-American civil rights advocate, author, and federal court judge (d. 1998)
    • 1928 – Larry Gelbart, American author and screenwriter; creator and producer of M*A*S*H TV series (d. 2009)
    • 1928 – Richard G. Stern, American author and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Tony Brooks, English racing driver; six Formula One victories, second in 1959 World Championship
    • 1932 – Faron Young, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist; member of Country Music Hall of Fame (d. 1996)
    • 1934 – Tony Lema, American golfer; winner of the 1964 Open Championship (d. 1966)
    • 1935 – Oktay Sinanoglu, Turkish physical chemist and molecular biophysicist; two-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Tom Courtenay, award-winning English actor
    • 1937 – Bob Schieffer, American political author, journalist and TV interviewer
    • 1938 – Herb Elliott, Australian 1500 metres runner; 1960 Olympic champion and world record holder
    • 1938 – Farokh Engineer, Indian international cricketer; successful as batsman and wicketkeeper
    • 1940 – Ron Santo, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – David Puttnam, English film producer and academic
    • 1943 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and film producer; lead guitarist of The Beatles (d. 2001)
    • 1944 – François Cevert, French racing driver (d. 1973)
    • 1946 – Jean Todt, French racing driver and team manager; FIA President, 2009–2021
    • 1947 – Lee Evans, American sprinter and athletics coach; two gold medals and world 400m record at 1968 Olympics
    • 1949 – Amin Maalouf, Lebanese-French journalist and author
    • 1950 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish skier; 1972 Olympic slalom champion (d. 2006)
    • 1950 – Neil Jordan, Irish film director, screenwriter and author
    • 1950 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentinian politician; 51st President of Argentina, 2003–2007 (d. 2010)
    • 1951 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter and coach; four Olympic medals and two world records
    • 1952 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle road racing champion; holds record for most wins (26) at the Isle of Man TT (d. 2000)
    • 1953 – José María Aznar, Spanish politician; Prime Minister of Spain, 1996–2004
    • 1958 – Kurt Rambis, American basketball player and coach; four-time NBA Finals champion
    • 1962 – Birgit Fischer, German kayaker; winner of eight Olympic gold medals
    • 1963 – Paul O’Neill, American baseball player and sportscaster; five-time World Series champion
    • 1967 – Ed Balls, British politician; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
    • 1968 – Oumou Sangaré, Grammy Award-winning Malian Wassoulou musician
    • 1971 – Sean Astin, American actor, director and producer
    • 1974 – Dominic Raab, British politician; First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
    • 1981 – Park Ji-sung, South Korean footballer; the most successful Asian player with 19 career trophies
    • 1982 – Flavia Pennetta, Italian tennis player; winner of the 2015 US Open
    • 1988 – Tom Marshall, British photo colouriser and artist
    • 1999 – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italian international footballer; youngest goalkeeper to play for Italy

    Deaths on February 25

    • 806 – Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople
    • 891 – Fujiwara no Mototsune, Japanese regent (b. 836)
    • 944 – Lin Ding, Chinese official and chancellor
    • 1246 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Welsh king (b. 1212)
    • 1321 – Beatrice d’Avesnes, consort of Henry VI, Count of Luxembourg
    • 1495 – Sultan Cem, Ottoman politician (b. 1459)
    • 1522 – William Lily, English scholar and educator (b. 1468)
    • 1536 – Berchtold Haller, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1492)
    • 1536 – Jacob Hutter, founder of the Hutterites
    • 1547 – Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara (b. 1490)
    • 1558 – Eleanor of Austria (b. 1498)
    • 1600 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist and saint (b. 1502)
    • 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1566)
    • 1634 – Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general and politician (b. 1583)
    • 1655 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish poet and scholar (b. 1580)
    • 1682 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (b. 1639)
    • 1710 – Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, French soldier and explorer (b. 1639)
    • 1713 – Frederick I of Prussia (b. 1657)
    • 1723 – Christopher Wren, English architect, designed St Paul’s Cathedral (b. 1632)
    • 1756 – Eliza Haywood, English actress and poet (b. 1693)
    • 1796 – Samuel Seabury, American bishop (b. 1729)
    • 1798 – Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat (b. 1716)
    • 1805 – Thomas Pownall, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1722)
    • 1819 – Francisco Manoel de Nascimento, Portuguese-French poet and educator (b. 1734)
    • 1822 – William Pinkney, American politician and diplomat, 7th United States Attorney General (b. 1764)
    • 1831 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German author and playwright (b. 1752)
    • 1841 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1783)
    • 1850 – Daoguang Emperor of China (b. 1782)
    • 1852 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and lyricist (b. 1779)
    • 1865 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (b. 1813)
    • 1870 – Henrik Hertz, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1797)
    • 1875 – Thomas Reynolds, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of South Australia (b. 1818)
    • 1877 – Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepalese ruler (b. 1816)
    • 1878 – Townsend Harris, American merchant, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (b. 1804)
    • 1888 – Josif Pancic, Serbian botanist and academic (b. 1814)
    • 1899 – Paul Reuter, German-English journalist and businessman, founded Reuters (b. 1816)
    • 1906 – Anton Arensky, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1861)
    • 1910 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter and educator (b. 1820)
    • 1911 – Friedrich Spielhagen, German author, theorist, and translator (b. 1829)
    • 1912 – William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)
    • 1914 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (b. 1820)
    • 1915 – Charles Edwin Bessey, American botanist, author, and academic (b. 1845)
    • 1916 – David Bowman, Australian politician (b. 1860)
    • 1920 – Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy, French archaeologist and engineer (b. 1844)
    • 1922 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (b. 1869)
    • 1928 – William O’Brien, Irish journalist and politician (b. 1852)
    • 1934 – Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, American botanist and academic (b. 1857)
    • 1934 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (b. 1873)
    • 1945 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian author, poet, and photographer (b. 1893)
    • 1950 – George Minot, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
    • 1953 – Sergei Winogradsky, Ukrainian-Russian microbiologist and ecologist (b. 1856)
    • 1957 – Mark Aldanov, Russian author and critic (b. 1888)
    • 1957 – Bugs Moran, American mob boss (b. 1893)
    • 1963 – Melville J. Herskovits, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1895)
    • 1964 – Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1887)
    • 1964 – Hinrich Lohse, German politician (b. 1896)
    • 1964 – Grace Metalious, American author (b. 1924)
    • 1970 – Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter and academic (b. 1903)
    • 1971 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
    • 1972 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (b. 1889)
    • 1975 – Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (b. 1897)
    • 1978 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (b. 1920)
    • 1980 – Robert Hayden, American poet and academic (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright, and poet (b. 1911)
    • 1996 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-American physician and author (b. 1940)
    • 1997 – Andrei Sinyavsky, Russian journalist and publisher (b. 1925)
    • 1998 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1914)
    • 1999 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – A. R. Ammons, American poet and critic (b. 1926)
    • 2001 – Donald Bradman, Australian international cricketer; holder of world record batting average (b. 1908)
    • 2005 – Peter Benenson, English lawyer, founded Amnesty International (b. 1921)
    • 2010 – Ihsan Dogramaci, Turkish pediatrician and academic (b. 1915)
    • 2012 – Louisiana Red, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Harve Bennett, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic; noted ichthyologist (b. 1922)
    • 2020 – Dmitry Yazov, last Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1924)

    Holidays and observance on February 25

    Christian feast day

    Further information: February 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Æthelberht of Kent
    • Blessed Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás
    • Gerland of Agrigento
    • John Roberts, writer and missionary
    • Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani
    • Saint Walpurga (she was canonised on 1 May and Walpurgis Night is celebrated 30 April)

  • February 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    February 8 in History

    • 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
    • 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
    • 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
    • 1347 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.
    • 1575 – Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.
    • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
    • 1590 – Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva is tortured by the Inquisition in Mexico, charged with concealing the practice Judaism of his sister and her children.
    • 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I and the revolt is quickly crushed.
    • 1693 – The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
    • 1807 – After two days of bitter fighting, the Russians under Bennigsen and the Prussians under L’Estocq concede the Battle of Eylau to Napoleon.
    • 1817 – Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
    • 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
    • 1865 – Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
    • 1879 – Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
    • 1879 – The England cricket team led by Lord Harris is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
    • 1885 – The first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii.
    • 1887 – The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
    • 1904 – Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
    • 1904 – Aceh War: Dutch Colonial Army’s Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch military campaign to capture Gayo Highland, Alas Highland, and Batak Highland in Dutch East Indies’ Northern Sumatra region, which ends with genocide to Acehnese and Bataks people.
    • 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
    • 1915 – D. W. Griffith’s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
    • 1922 – United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House.
    • 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
    • 1942 – World War II: Dutch Colonial Army General Destruction Unit (AVC, Algemene Vernielings Corps) burns Banjarmasin, South Borneo to avoid Japanese capture.
    • 1945 – World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
    • 1945 – World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet inmates from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom by hijacking the camp commandant’s Heinkel He 111.
    • 1946 – The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.
    • 1946 – The People’s Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North, establishing the communist-controlled Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea.
    • 1950 – Cold War: The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
    • 1955 – The Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolishes the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km2) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
    • 1960 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
    • 1962 – Charonne massacre. Nine trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.
    • 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
    • 1963 – The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba’ath Party.
    • 1965 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
    • 1968 – American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town’s only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
    • 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
    • 1971 – South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.
    • 1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
    • 1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
    • 1981 – Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
    • 1983 – The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia’s second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
    • 1986 – Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people.
    • 1989 – Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport (Azores) killing all 144 passengers on board.
    • 1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.
    • 1993 – An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide in mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.
    • 1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
    • 2005 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.
    • 2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.
    • 2013 – A blizzard disrupts transportation and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
    • 2014 – A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

    Births on February 8

    • 120 – Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (probable; d. 175)
    • 412 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (probable; d. 485)
    • 882 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt (d. 946)
    • 1191 – Yaroslav II of Vladimir (d. 1246)
    • 1291 – Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1357)
    • 1405 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1453)
    • 1487 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1550)
    • 1514 – Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar (d. 1570)
    • 1552 – Agrippa d’Aubigné, French poet and soldier (d. 1630)
    • 1577 – Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar (d. 1640)
    • 1591 – Guercino, Italian painter (d. 1666)
    • 1685 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author (d. 1770)
    • 1700 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1782)
    • 1720 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1750)
    • 1741 – André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer (d. 1813)
    • 1762 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1820)
    • 1764 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1846)
    • 1792 – Caroline Augusta of Bavaria (d. 1873)
    • 1798 – Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia (d. 1849)
    • 1807 – Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist (d. 1889)
    • 1817 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (d. 1872)
    • 1819 – John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (d. 1900)
    • 1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (d. 1891)
    • 1822 – Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist (d. 1894)
    • 1825 – Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1892)
    • 1828 – Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1905)
    • 1829 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1902)
    • 1830 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1876)
    • 1834 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1907)
    • 1850 – Kate Chopin, American author (d. 1904)
    • 1860 – Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist (d. 1937)
    • 1866 – Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (d. 1947)
    • 1876 – Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (d. 1907)
    • 1878 – Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (d. 1965)
    • 1880 – Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (d. 1916)
    • 1880 – Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director (d. 1931)
    • 1882 – Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1908)
    • 1883 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (d. 1950)
    • 1884 – Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor (d. 1953)
    • 1886 – Charlie Ruggles, American actor (d. 1970)
    • 1888 – Edith Evans, English actress (d. 1976)
    • 1888 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (d. 1970)
    • 1890 – Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1960)
    • 1893 – Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1977)
    • 1894 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1897 – Zakir Hussain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (d. 1969)
    • 1899 – Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
    • 1903 – Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress (d. 1977)
    • 1903 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
    • 1906 – Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography (d. 1968)
    • 1909 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (d. 2012)
    • 1911 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author (d. 1979)
    • 1913 – Betty Field, American actress (d. 1973)
    • 1913 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1914 – Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (d. 1974)
    • 1915 – Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1997)
    • 1918 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (d. 2003)
    • 1921 – Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2011)
    • 1921 – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (d. 2020)
    • 1921 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (d. 1996)
    • 1925 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Neal Cassady, American author and poet (d. 1968)
    • 1926 – Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress
    • 1930 – Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director (d. 1987)
    • 1931 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
    • 1932 – Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman (d. 2005)
    • 1932 – John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1933 – Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
    • 1937 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1937 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2016)
    • 1939 – Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist
    • 1940 – Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician (d. 1999)
    • 1940 – Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
    • 1941 – Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
    • 1941 – Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1941 – Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1942 – Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
    • 1942 – Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist
    • 1947 – J. Richard Gott, American astronomer and academic
    • 1948 – Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
    • 1949 – Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1952 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1953 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
    • 1954 – Joe Maddon, American baseball coach and manager
    • 1955 – John Grisham, American lawyer and author
    • 1955 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (d. 2018)
    • 1956 – Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1957 – Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
    • 1958 – Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
    • 1958 – Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
    • 1959 – Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
    • 1959 – Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
    • 1959 – Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
    • 1960 – Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines
    • 1960 – Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1961 – Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1963 – Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
    • 1964 – Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
    • 1964 – Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
    • 1964 – Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
    • 1966 – Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1966 – Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
    • 1969 – Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
    • 1969 – Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
    • 1969 – Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
    • 1970 – Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
    • 1970 – John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1970 – Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
    • 1971 – Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
    • 1972 – Big Show, American wrestler and actor
    • 1974 – Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
    • 1976 – Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1976 – Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
    • 1977 – Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
    • 1978 – Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
    • 1979 – Aaron Cook, American baseball player
    • 1980 – William Jackson Harper, American actor
    • 1981 – Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1981 – Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
    • 1983 – Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
    • 1983 – Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1983 – Jim Verraros, American singer and actor
    • 1984 – Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canadian skier
    • 1984 – Cecily Strong, American actress
    • 1984 – Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
    • 1985 – Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
    • 1985 – Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1987 – Javi García, Spanish footballer
    • 1987 – Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
    • 1988 – Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1989 – Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1989 – Julio Jones, American football player
    • 1989 – Courtney Vandersloot, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Emily Scarratt, English rugby union player
    • 1990 – Klay Thompson, American professional basketball player
    • 1991 – Aristidis Soiledis, Greek footballer
    • 1991 – Roberto Soriano, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer and actor with the boy band Infinite.
    • 1992 – Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
    • 1992 – Carl Jenkinson, English-Finnish footballer
    • 1994 – Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
    • 1994 – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1995 – Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
    • 1996 – Kenedy, Brazilian footballer

    Deaths on February 8

    • 538 – Severus of Antioch, patriarch of Antioch
    • 1135 – Elvira of Castile, Queen of Sicily (b.c. 1100)
    • 1204 – Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1182)
    • 1229 – Ali ibn Hanzala, sixth Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma’ilism
    • 1250 – Robert I, Count of Artois (b. 1216)
    • 1250 – William II Longespée, English martyr (b. 1212)
    • 1265 – Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)
    • 1285 – Theodoric of Landsberg (b. 1242)
    • 1296 – Przemysł II of Poland (b. 1257)
    • 1314 – Helen of Anjou, queen of Serbia (b. 1236)
    • 1382 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (b. 1328)
    • 1537 – Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, Italian humanitarian (b. 1481)
    • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542)
    • 1599 – Robert Rollock, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1555)
    • 1623 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (b. 1546)
    • 1676 – Alexis of Russia (b. 1629)
    • 1696 – Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)
    • 1709 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1658)
    • 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
    • 1749 – Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
    • 1750 – Aaron Hill, English playwright and poet (b. 1685)
    • 1768 – George Dance the Elder, English architect, designed St Leonard’s and St Botolph’s Aldgate (b. 1695)
    • 1772 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (b. 1719)
    • 1849 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (b. 1781)
    • 1849 – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (b. 1800)
    • 1856 – Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist and academic (b. 1773)
    • 1907 – Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1854)
    • 1910 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian philosopher and activist (b. 1854)
    • 1914 – Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer (b. 1828)
    • 1915 – François Langelier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1838)
    • 1921 – George Formby Sr, English actor and singer (b. 1876)
    • 1921 – Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist (b. 1842)
    • 1928 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (b. 1857)
    • 1932 – Yordan Milanov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (b. 1867)
    • 1935 – Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
    • 1936 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)
    • 1945 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer and coach (b. 1866)
    • 1956 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (b. 1862)
    • 1957 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
    • 1957 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)
    • 1959 – William J. Donovan, American head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (b. 1883)
    • 1960 – J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic (b. 1911)
    • 1960 – Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral (b. 1880)
    • 1963 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1964 – Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
    • 1968 – Maurice Maillot, French actor (b. 1906)
    • 1972 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1905)
    • 1975 – Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
    • 1977 – Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (b. 1901)
    • 1979 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
    • 1980 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
    • 1982 – John Hay Whitney, American financier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1904)
    • 1985 – William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Swallow Sidecar Company (b. 1901)
    • 1987 – Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress (b. 1905)
    • 1990 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
    • 1992 – Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant (b. 1918)
    • 1992 – Denny Wright, British guitarist (b. 1924)
    • 1994 – Raymond Scott, American pianist and composer (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Del Ennis, American baseball player (b. 1925)
    • 1997 – Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider (b. 1968)
    • 1998 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1998 – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health (b. 1912)
    • 1998 – Julian Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
    • 1999 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (b. 1919)
    • 2000 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1918)
    • 2000 – Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)
    • 2001 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (b. 1936)
    • 2004 – Julius Schwartz, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan sailor and politician (b. 1944)
    • 2006 – Elton Dean, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
    • 2006 – Thierry Fortineau, French actor (b. 1953)
    • 2006 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
    • 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)
    • 2007 – Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – John Murtha, American colonel and politician (b. 1932)
    • 2011 – Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1909)
    • 2012 – Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
    • 2012 – Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi and author (b. 1912)
    • 2012 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – James DePreist, American conductor and educator (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (b. 1918)
    • 2014 – Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (b. 1988)
    • 2014 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (b. 1939)
    • 2016 – Amelia Bence, Argentine actress (b. 1914)
    • 2016 – Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer (Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku) (b. 1998)
    • 2017 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite, television presenter, model, and charity patron (b. 1971)
    • 2017 – Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on February 8

    • Christian feast day:
      • Cuthmann of Steyning
      • Elffled of Whitby
      • Gerolamo Emiliani
      • Josephine Bakhita
      • Juventius of Pavia
      • Meingold of Huy
      • Stephen of Muret
      • February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Feast of Orthodoxy can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated 42 days before Easter. (Orthodoxy)
    • Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions, most celebrate on February 15)
    • Prešeren Day (Slovenia)
    • Propose Day

  • February 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    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)