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

    • 484 BC – Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in ancient Rome
    • AD 70 – Titus and his armies breach the walls of Jerusalem. (17th of Tammuz in the Hebrew calendar).
    • 756 – An Lushan Rebellion: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is ordered by his Imperial Guards to execute chancellor Yang Guozhong by forcing him to commit suicide or face a mutiny. General An Lushan has other members of the emperor’s family killed.
    • 1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.
    • 1149 – The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem.
    • 1207 – King John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop Stephen Langton.
    • 1240 – Swedish–Novgorodian Wars: A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.
    • 1381 – John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hanged, drawn, and quartered in the presence of King Richard II of England.
    • 1410 – Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War: Battle of Grunwald: The allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the army of the Teutonic Order.
    • 1482 – Muhammad XII is crowned the twenty-second and last Nasrid king of Granada.
    • 1738 – Baruch Laibov and Alexander Voznitzin are burned alive in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vonitzin had converted to Judaism with Laibov’s help, with the consent of Empress Anna Ivanovna.
    • 1741 – Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
    • 1789 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris.
    • 1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign.
    • 1806 – Pike Expedition: United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the west.
    • 1815 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon.
    • 1823 – A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy.
    • 1834 – The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years.
    • 1838 – Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage.
    • 1862 – The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. The encounter changed the complexion of warfare on the Mississippi and helped to reverse Rebel fortunes on the river in the summer of 1862.
    • 1870 – Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
    • 1870 – Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are established from these vast territories.
    • 1888 – The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
    • 1910 – In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer’s disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer.
    • 1916 – In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
    • 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
    • 1920 – The Polish Parliament establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite.
    • 1922 – Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan.
    • 1927 – Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
    • 1946 – State of North Borneo, today in Sabah, Malaysia, annexed by the United Kingdom.
    • 1954 – First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series.
    • 1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.
    • 1959 – The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
    • 1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.
    • 1971 – The United Red Army is founded in Japan.
    • 1974 – In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d’état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
    • 1975 – Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first joint Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was both the last launch of an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets.
    • 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his “malaise speech”.
    • 1983 – An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured.
    • 1996 – A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport.
    • 1998 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine.
    • 2002 – “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
    • 2002 – Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
    • 2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
    • 2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
    • 2014 – A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others.
    • 2016 – Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup.

    Births on July 15

    • 980 – Ichijō, Japanese emperor (d. 1011)
    • 1273 – Ewostatewos, Ethiopian monk and saint (d. 1352)
    • 1353 – Vladimir the Bold, Russian prince (d. 1410)
    • 1359 – Antonio Correr, Italian cardinal (d. 1445)
    • 1442 – Boček IV of Poděbrady, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1496)
    • 1455 – Queen Yun, Korean queen (d. 1482)
    • 1471 – Eskender, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1494)
    • 1478 – Barbara Jagiellon, duchess consort of Saxony and Margravine consort of Meissen (d. 1534)
    • 1573 – Inigo Jones, English architect, designed the Queen’s House (d. 1652)
    • 1600 – Jan Cossiers, Flemish painter (d. 1671)
    • 1606 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and etcher (d. 1669)
    • 1611 – Jai Singh I, maharaja of Jaipur (d. 1667)
    • 1613 – Gu Yanwu, Chinese philologist and geographer (d. 1682)
    • 1631 – Jens Juel, Danish politician and diplomat, Governor-general of Norway (d. 1700)
    • 1631 – Richard Cumberland, English philosopher (d. 1718)
    • 1638 – Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1693)
    • 1704 – August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German bishop and theologian (d. 1792)
    • 1779 – Clement Clarke Moore, American author, poet, and educator (d. 1863)
    • 1793 – Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, American educator, author, editor (d. 1884)
    • 1796 – Thomas Bulfinch, American mythologist (d. 1867)
    • 1799 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of Alabama (d. 1882)
    • 1800 – Sidney Breese, American jurist and politician (d. 1878)
    • 1808 – Henry Edward Manning, English cardinal (d. 1892)
    • 1812 – James Hope-Scott, English lawyer and academic (d. 1873)
    • 1817 – Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, English engineer, designed the Forth Bridge (d. 1898)
    • 1827 – W. W. Thayer American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Oregon (d. 1899)
    • 1848 – Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (d. 1923)
    • 1850 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian-American nun and saint (d. 1917)
    • 1852 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (d. 1920)
    • 1858 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English political activist and suffragist (d. 1928)
    • 1864 – Marie Tempest, English actress and singer (d. 1942)
    • 1865 – Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Anglo-Irish businessman and publisher, founded the Amalgamated Press (d. 1922)
    • 1865 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian-German mathematician and theorist (d. 1945)
    • 1867 – Jean-Baptiste Charcot, French physician and explorer (d. 1936)
    • 1871 – Doppo Kunikida, Japanese journalist, author, and poet (d. 1908)
    • 1880 – Enrique Mosca, Argentinian lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
    • 1887 – Wharton Esherick, American sculptor (d. 1970)
    • 1892 – Walter Benjamin, German philosopher and critic (d. 1940)
    • 1893 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (d. 1969)
    • 1893 – Dick Rauch, American football player and coach (d. 1970)
    • 1894 – Tadeusz Sendzimir, Polish-American engineer (d. 1989)
    • 1899 – Seán Lemass, Irish soldier and politician, 4th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Jean Rey, Belgian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the European Commission (d. 1983)
    • 1903 – Walter D. Edmonds, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
    • 1903 – K. Kamaraj, Indian journalist and politician (d. 1975)
    • 1904 – Rudolf Arnheim, German-American psychologist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1905 – Dorothy Fields, American songwriter (d. 1974)
    • 1905 – Anita Farra, Italian actress (d. 2008)
    • 1906 – R. S. Mugali, Indian poet and academic (d. 1993)
    • 1906 – Rudolf Uhlenhaut, English-German engineer (d. 1989)
    • 1909 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (d. 1992)
    • 1911 – Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, English geographer and politician, Secretary of State for Air (d. 1994)
    • 1913 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1963)
    • 1913 – Hammond Innes, English journalist and author (d. 1998)
    • 1913 – Abraham Sutzkever, Russian poet and author (d. 2010)
    • 1914 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, Pakistani economist, scholar, and activist (d. 1999)
    • 1914 – Howard Vernon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1996)
    • 1915 – Albert Ghiorso, American chemist and academic (d. 2010)
    • 1915 – Kashmir Singh Katoch, Indian army officer (d. 2007)
    • 1916 – Sumner Gerard, American politician and diplomat (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Robert Conquest, English-American historian, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1917 – Joan Roberts, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
    • 1917 – Nur Muhammad Taraki, Afghan journalist and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1918 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
    • 1918 – Brenda Milner, English-Canadian neuropsychologist and academic
    • 1919 – Fritz Langanke, German lieutenant (d. 2012)
    • 1919 – Iris Murdoch, Anglo-Irish British novelist and philosopher (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Jack Beeson, American pianist and composer (d. 2010)
    • 1921 – Henri Colpi, Swiss-French director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Robert Bruce Merrifield, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Jean Heywood, British actress (d. 2019)
    • 1922 – Leon M. Lederman, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Jean-Pierre Richard, French writer (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Francisco de Andrade, Portuguese sailor
    • 1924 – Jeremiah Denton, American admiral and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Marianne Bernadotte, Swedish actress and philanthropist
    • 1925 – Philip Carey, American actor (d. 2009)
    • 1925 – Taylor Hardwick, American architect, designed Haydon Burns Library and Friendship Fountain Park (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – D. A. Pennebaker, American documentary filmmaker (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Evan Hultman, American politician
    • 1925 – Antony Carbone, American actor
    • 1925 – Pandel Savic, American football player (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Driss Chraïbi, Moroccan-French journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentinian general and politician, 44th President of Argentina (d. 2003)
    • 1926 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1926 – Sir John Graham, 4th Baronet, English diplomat (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Nan Martin, American actress (d. 2010)
    • 1927 – Carmen Zapata, American actress (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Håkon Brusveen, Norwegian cross-country skier
    • 1928 – Carl Woese, American microbiologist and biophysicist (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Viramachaneni Vimla Devi, Indian parliamentarian (d. 1967)
    • 1929 – Charles Anthony, American tenor and actor (d. 2012)
    • 1929 – Francis Bebey, Cameroonian-French guitarist (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Ian Stewart, Scottish race car driver (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – Jacques Derrida, Algerian-French philosopher and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1930 – Richard Garneau, Canadian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Stephen Smale, American mathematician and computer scientist
    • 1930 – Einosuke Akiya, Japanese Buddhist leader
    • 1931 – Clive Cussler, American archaeologist and author (d. 2020)
    • 1931 – Joanna Merlin, American actress and casting director
    • 1931 – Jacques-Yvan Morin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
    • 1932 – Ed Litzenberger, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – Guido Crepax, Italian author and illustrator (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – M. T. Vasudevan Nair, Indian author and screenwriter
    • 1934 – Harrison Birtwistle, English composer and academic
    • 1934 – Eva Krížiková, Czech actress (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Risto Jarva, Finnish director and producer (d. 1977)
    • 1935 – Donn Clendenon, American baseball player and lawyer (d. 2005)
    • 1935 – Alex Karras, American football player, wrestler, and actor (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Ken Kercheval, American actor and director (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – George Voinovich, American lawyer and politician, 65th Governor of Ohio (d. 2016)
    • 1937 – Prabhash Joshi, Indian journalist (d. 2009)
    • 1938 – Ernie Barnes, American football player, actor, and painter (d. 2009)
    • 1938 – Carmen Callil, Australian publisher, founded Virago Press
    • 1938 – Barry Goldwater, Jr., American lawyer and politician
    • 1939 – Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Portuguese economist and politician, 19th President of the Portuguese Republic
    • 1940 – Denis Héroux, Canadian director and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and convicted murderer (d. 1990)
    • 1940 – Robert Winston, English surgeon, academic, and politician
    • 1942 – Vivian Malone Jones, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Northern Irish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
    • 1944 – Millie Jackson, American singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1945 – David Arthur Granger, Guyanese politician, 9th President of Guyana
    • 1945 – Peter Lewis (musician), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Jürgen Möllemann, German soldier and politician, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (d. 2003)
    • 1946 – Linda Ronstadt, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1946 – Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei
    • 1947 – Peter Banks, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1947 – Lydia Davis, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
    • 1947 – Pridiyathorn Devakula, Thai economist and politician, Thai Minister of Finance
    • 1947 – Roky Erickson, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2019)
    • 1948 – Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1948 – Dimosthenis Kourtovik, Greek anthropologist and critic
    • 1948 – Artimus Pyle, American rock drummer and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
    • 1949 – Carl Bildt, Swedish politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Sweden
    • 1949 – Trevor Horn, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1949 – Richard Russo, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter
    • 1950 – Colin Barnett, Australian economist and politician, 29th Premier of Western Australia
    • 1950 – Arianna Huffington, Greek-American journalist and publisher (The Huffington Post)
    • 1951 – Gregory Isaacs, Jamaican-English singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1951 – Jesse Ventura, American wrestler, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of Minnesota
    • 1952 – David Pack, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1952 – Celia Imrie, English actress
    • 1952 – Terry O’Quinn, American actor
    • 1952 – Marky Ramone, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1952 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
    • 1953 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haitian priest and politician, 49th President of Haiti
    • 1953 – Sultanah Haminah, Malaysian royal consort
    • 1953 – Mohamad Shahrum Osman, Malaysian politician
    • 1953 – Alicia Bridges, American singer-songwriter
    • 1954 – John Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
    • 1954 – Jeff Jarvis, American journalist and blogger
    • 1954 – Giorgos Kaminis, American-Greek lawyer and politician, 78th Mayor of Athens
    • 1954 – Mario Kempes, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1956 – Ashoke Sen, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
    • 1956 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Joy Division) (d. 1980)
    • 1956 – Nicholas Harberd, British botanist, educator and academician
    • 1956 – Barry Melrose, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Steve Mortimer, Australian rugby league player, coach, and administrator
    • 1956 – Joe Satriani, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1956 – Wayne Taylor, South African race car driver
    • 1958 – Gary Heale, English footballer and coach
    • 1958 – Mac Thornberry, American lawyer and politician
    • 1959 – Vincent Lindon, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Kim Alexis, American fashion model
    • 1961 – Lolita Davidovich, Canadian actress
    • 1961 – Jean-Christophe Grangé, French journalist and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Scott Ritter, American soldier and international weapons inspector
    • 1961 – Forest Whitaker, American actor
    • 1962 – Nikos Filippou, Greek basketball player and manager
    • 1962 – Michelle Ford, Australian swimmer
    • 1963 – Brigitte Nielsen, Danish-Italian actress
    • 1963 – Steve Thomas, English-Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1965 – Alistair Carmichael, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
    • 1965 – Gero Miesenböck, Austrian neuroscientist and educator
    • 1965 – David Miliband, English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
    • 1966 – Jason Bonham, English singer-songwriter and drummer
    • 1966 – Irène Jacob, French-Swiss actress
    • 1967 – Adam Savage, American actor and special effects designer
    • 1967 – Elbert West, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1968 – Eddie Griffin, American comedian, actor, and producer
    • 1969 – Ain Tammus, Estonian footballer and coach
    • 1970 – Tarkan Gözübüyük, Turkish bass player and producer
    • 1972 – Scott Foley, American actor
    • 1973 – Brian Austin Green, American actor
    • 1975 – Cherry, American wrestler and manager
    • 1975 – Danny Law, English cricketer
    • 1975 – Ben Pepper, Australian basketball player
    • 1976 – Steve Cunningham, American boxer
    • 1976 – Marco Di Vaio, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Diane Kruger, German actress and model
    • 1976 – Gabriel Iglesias, Mexican-American comedian and voice actor
    • 1977 – André Nel, South African cricketer
    • 1977 – Lana Parrilla, American actress
    • 1977 – John St. Clair, American football player
    • 1977 – Ray Toro, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Miguel Olivo, Dominican baseball player
    • 1979 – Laura Benanti, American actress and singer
    • 1979 – Alexander Frei, Swiss footballer
    • 1979 – Edda Garðarsdóttir, Icelandic footballer
    • 1979 – Renata Kučerová, Czech tennis player
    • 1980 – Reggie Abercrombie, American baseball player
    • 1980 – BxB Hulk, Japanese professional wrestler
    • 1980 – Jonathan Cheechoo, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Julia Perez, Indonesian singer and actress (d. 2017)
    • 1981 – Alou Diarra, French footballer
    • 1981 – Petros Klampanis, Greek bassist and composer
    • 1981 – Marius Stankevičius, Lithuanian footballer
    • 1982 – Alan Pérez, Spanish cyclist
    • 1982 – Neemia Tialata, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1982 – Aída Yéspica, Venezuelan model and actress
    • 1983 – Nelson Merlo, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1983 – Will Rudge, English cricketer
    • 1983 – Heath Slater, American wrestler
    • 1984 – Angelo Siniscalchi, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Veronika Velez-Zuzulová, Slovak skier
    • 1985 – Sanjeev, Tamil actor
    • 1985 – Tomer Kapon, Israeli actor
    • 1986 – Tyler Kennedy, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Riki Christodoulou, English race car driver
    • 1989 – Steven Jahn, German footballer
    • 1989 – Alisa Kleybanova, Russian tennis player
    • 1989 – Anthony Randolph, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Zach Bogosian, American ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Damian Lillard, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Danilo, Brazilian footballer
    • 1991 – Derrick Favors, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Evgeny Tishchenko, Russian boxer
    • 1992 – Tobias Harris, American basketball player
    • 1992 – Hokutōfuji Daiki, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1992 – Wayde van Niekerk, South African sprinter
    • 1993 – Håvard Nielsen, Norwegian footballer

    Deaths on July 15

    • 756 – Yang Guifei, consort of Xuan Zong (b. 719)
    • 998 – Abū al-Wafā’ Būzjānī, Persian mathematician and astronomer (b. 940)
    • 1015 – Vladimir the Great, Grand prince of Kievan Rus’ (b. c. 958)
    • 1274 – Bonaventure, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1221)
    • 1291 – Rudolf I of Germany (b. 1218)
    • 1299 – King Eric II of Norway (b. c. 1268)
    • 1381 – John Ball, English Lollard priest
    • 1388 – Agnes of Durazzo, titular Latin empress consort of Constantinople (d. 1313)
    • 1397 – Catherine of Henneberg, German ruler (b. c. 1334)
    • 1406 – William, Duke of Austria
    • 1410 – Ulrich von Jungingen, German Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (b. 1360)
    • 1445 – Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland
    • 1542 – Lisa del Giocondo, subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa (b. 1479)
    • 1544 – René of Châlon (b. 1519)
    • 1571 – Shimazu Takahisa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1514)
    • 1609 – Annibale Carracci, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1560)
    • 1614 – Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, French soldier, historian, and author (b. 1540)
    • 1655 – Girolamo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1570)
    • 1685 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, Dutch-English general and politician, Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull (b. 1649)
    • 1750 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (b. 1686)
    • 1765 – Charles-André van Loo, French painter (b. 1705)
    • 1767 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and composer (b. 1746)
    • 1789 – Jacques Duphly, French harpsichord player and composer (b. 1715)
    • 1828 – Jean-Antoine Houdon, French sculptor (b. 1741)
    • 1839 – Winthrop Mackworth Praed, English poet and politician (b. 1802)
    • 1844 – Claude Charles Fauriel, French philologist and historian (b. 1772)
    • 1851 – Juan Felipe Ibarra, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1787)
    • 1857 – Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1791)
    • 1858 – Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)
    • 1883 – General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (b. 1838)
    • 1885 – Rosalía de Castro, Spanish author and poet (b. 1837)
    • 1890 – Gottfried Keller, Swiss author, poet, and playwright (b. 1819)
    • 1898 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1825)
    • 1904 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (b. 1860)
    • 1919 – Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
    • 1929 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1874)
    • 1930 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1845)
    • 1931 – Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian-German economist and mathematician (b. 1868)
    • 1932 – Bahíyyih Khánum, Iranian writer and leader in the Baha’i faith (b. 1846)
    • 1932 – Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, South African poet and politician (b. 1873)
    • 1933 – Irving Babbitt, American scholar, critic, and academic (b. 1865)
    • 1933 – Freddie Keppard, American cornet player (b. 1890)
    • 1940 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and physician (b. 1857)
    • 1940 – Robert Wadlow, American giant, 8″11′ 271 cm (b.1918)
    • 1942 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1910)
    • 1944 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (b. 1885)
    • 1946 – Razor Smith, English cricketer and coach (b. 1877)
    • 1947 – Walter Donaldson, American soldier and songwriter (b. 1893)
    • 1948 – John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
    • 1953 – Geevarghese Mar Ivanios, Indian archbishop, founded the Order of the Imitation of Christ (b. 1882)
    • 1957 – James M. Cox, American publisher and politician, 46th Governor of Ohio (b. 1870)
    • 1957 – Vasily Maklakov, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1869)
    • 1959 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer and academic (b. 1880)
    • 1959 – Vance Palmer, Australian author and critic (b. 1885)
    • 1960 – Set Persson, Swedish politician (b. 1897)
    • 1960 – Lawrence Tibbett, American singer and actor (b. 1896)
    • 1961 – John Edward Brownlee, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Alberta (b. 1884)
    • 1961. – Nina Bari, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)
    • 1965 – Francis Cherry, American lawyer and politician, 35th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1908)
    • 1966 – Seyfi Arkan, Turkish architect (b. 1903)
    • 1974 – Christine Chubbuck, American journalist (b. 1944)
    • 1976 – Paul Gallico, American journalist and author (b. 1897)
    • 1977 – Donald Mackay, Australian businessman and activist (b. 1933)
    • 1979 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican academic and politician, 29th President of Mexico, 1964-1970 (b. 1911)
    • 1981 – Frédéric Dorion, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1982 – Bill Justis, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1926)
    • 1986 – Billy Haughton, American harness racer and trainer (b. 1923)
    • 1988 – Eleanor Estes, American librarian, author, and illustrator (b. 1906)
    • 1989 – Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (b. 1956)
    • 1990 – Zaim Topčić, Yugoslav and Bosnian writer (b. 1920)
    • 1990 – Margaret Lockwood, English actress (b. 1916)
    • 1990 – Omar Abu Risha, Syrian poet and diplomat, 4th Syrian Ambassador to the United States (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – Bert Convy, American actor, singer, and game show host (b. 1933)
    • 1992 – Hammer DeRoburt, Nauruan educator and politician, 1st President of Nauru (b. 1922)
    • 1992 – Chingiz Mustafayev, Azerbaijani journalist and author (b. 1960)
    • 1997 – Justinas Lagunavičius, Lithuanian basketball player (b. 1924)
    • 1997 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, founded Versace (b. 1946)
    • 1998 – S. Shanmuganathan, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1960)
    • 2000 – Louis Quilico, Canadian opera singer and educator (b. 1925)
    • 2001 – C. Balasingham, Sri Lankan lawyer and civil servant (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (b. 1953)
    • 2003 – Elisabeth Welch, American actress and singer (b. 1904)
    • 2006 – Robert H. Brooks, American businessman, founder of Hooters and Naturally Fresh, Inc. (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, Iranian archaeologist and academic (b. 1942)
    • 2008 – György Kolonics, Hungarian canoe racer (b. 1972)
    • 2010 – James E. Akins, American politician and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Friedrich Wilhelm Schnitzler, German landowner and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Googie Withers, British-Australian actress (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Boris Cebotari, Moldovan footballer (b. 1975)
    • 2012 – Tsilla Chelton, Israeli-French actress (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Grant Feasel, American football player (b. 1960)
    • 2012 – David Fraser, English general (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Yoichi Takabayashi, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Ninos Aho, Syrian-American poet and activist (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Henry Braden, American lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
    • 2013 – Tom Greenwell, American lawyer and judge (b. 1956)
    • 2013 – Earl Gros, American football player (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Noël Lee, Chinese-American pianist and composer (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Meskerem Legesse, Ethiopian runner (b. 1986)
    • 2013 – John T. Riedl, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1962)
    • 2014 – Óscar Acosta, Honduran author, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – James MacGregor Burns, American historian, political scientist, and author (b. 1918)
    • 2014 – Saúl Lara, Spanish footballer (b. 1982)
    • 2014 – Edward Perl, American neuroscientist and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Masahiko Aoki, Japanese-American economist and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Wan Li, Chinese politician, 4th Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1916)
    • 2015 – Aubrey Morris, British actor (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Dave Somerville, Canadian singer (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Martin Landau, American film and television actor (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on July 15

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Anne-Marie Javouhey
      • Bernhard II, Margrave of Baden-Baden
      • Bonaventure
      • Dispersion of the Apostles (No longer officially celebrated by the Catholic Church)
      • Donald of Ogilvy
      • Edith of Polesworth
      • Edith of Wilton
      • Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
      • Plechelm
      • Quriaqos and Julietta
      • Swithun
      • Vladimir the Great (Eastern Orthodox; Catholic Church)
      • July 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera can fall, while July 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday of July. (Puerto Rico)
    • Earliest day on which Galla Bayramy can fall, while July 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday of July. (Turkmenistan)
    • Earliest day on which Marine Day can fall, while July 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday of July. (Japan)
    • Earliest day on which President’s Day (Botswana) can fall, while July 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday of July.
    • Elderly Men Day (Kiribati)
    • Festival of Santa Rosalia (Palermo, Sicily)
    • Sultan’s Birthday (Brunei Darussalam)

  • May 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 330 – Constantinople is consecrated.
    • 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.
    • 912 – Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch–Hanoverian army.
    • 1792 – Robert Gray commands the first expedition to sail into the Columbia River.
    • 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
    • 1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
    • 1833 – The Lady of the Lake strikes an iceberg off Newfoundland and sinks with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.
    • 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.
    • 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
    • 1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd state of the United States.
    • 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
    • 1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
    • 1894 – Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.
    • 1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
    • 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
    • 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes.
    • 1960 – Adolf Eichmann is captured by the Mossad in Argentina.
    • 1963 – Racist bombings in Birmingham, Alabama, disrupt nonviolence in the Birmingham campaign and precipitate a crisis involving federal troops.
    • 1970 – The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
    • 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg’s charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
    • 1985 – Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
    • 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
    • 1996 – After the aircraft’s departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
    • 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
    • 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
    • 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
    • 2010 – David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country’s first coalition government since the Second World War.
    • 2011 – An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
    • 2013 – Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
    • 2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
    • 2016 – One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.

    Births on May 11

    • 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (d. 1637)
    • 1715 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (d. 1739)
    • 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840)
    • 1797 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (d. 1867)
    • 1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1893)
    • 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
    • 1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
    • 1869 – Archibald Warden, English tennis player (d. 1943)
    • 1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (d. 1943)
    • 1875 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (d. 1912)
    • 1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
    • 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
    • 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1963)
    • 1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945)
    • 1889 – Paul Nash, British painter (d. 1946)
    • 1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958)
    • 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984)
    • 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
    • 1895 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (d. 1978)
    • 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (d. 1978)
    • 1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer and academic (d. 1955)
    • 1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
    • 1901 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-English poet and author (d. 1988):7
    • 1901 – Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (d. 1967)
    • 1902 – Edna Ernestine Kramer, American mathematician (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
    • 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Lise de Baissac, Mauritian-born SOE agent, war hero (d. 2004)
    • 1905 – Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (d. 1964)
    • 1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989
    • 1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Indian-Pakistani author and screenwriter (d. 1955)
    • 1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
    • 1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1921 – Robin Barbour, Scottish minister and author (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1925 – Edward J. King, American football player and politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
    • 1927 – Bernard Fox, British actor (d. 2016)
    • 1927 – Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic (d. 2002)
    • 1930 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1995)
    • 1932 – Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
    • 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
    • 1934 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Jack Twyman, American basketball player (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1937 – Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian Olympic and world champion foil fencer
    • 1938 – Narendra Patel, Baron Patel, Tanzanian-English obstetrician, academic, and politician
    • 1941 – Eric Burdon, English musician
    • 1941 – Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
    • 1944 – John Benaud, Australian cricketer
    • 1948 – Jack Cantoni, French rugby player (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-English politician
    • 1950 – Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
    • 1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)
    • 1951 – Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
    • 1954 – John Gregory, English footballer and manager
    • 1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician, 49th Mayor of New Haven
    • 1957 – Mike Nesbitt, Northern Irish journalist and politician
    • 1962 – Steve Bono, American football player
    • 1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
    • 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1967 – Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
    • 1970 – Harold Ford, Jr., American lawyer and politician
    • 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist
    • 1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach
    • 1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner
    • 1974 – Darren Ward, English-Welsh footballer and coach
    • 1974 – Tony Warner, English born Trinidadian international footballer and coach
    • 1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, American rapper and record producer/executive
    • 1977 – Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Bobby Roode, Canadian professional wrestler
    • 1978 – Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
    • 1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2013)
    • 1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
    • 1983 – Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (d. 2014)
    • 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model
    • 1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
    • 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
    • 1987 – Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor
    • 1987 – Monica Roșu, Romanian gymnast
    • 1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
    • 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Alyssa Brown, Canadian artistic gymnast
    • 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican international footballer
    • 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
    • 1992 – Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
    • 1992 – Pablo Sarabia, Spanish footballer
    • 1993 – Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
    • 1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
    • 1995 – Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
    • 1999 – Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress
    • 1999 – Kaitlyn Dias, American actress and voice artist

    Deaths on May 11

    • 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (b. 1552)
    • 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)
    • 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
    • 1779 – John Hart, American lawyer and politician (b. 1711)
    • 1812 – Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
    • 1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
    • 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (b. 1777)
    • 1882 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1816)
    • 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801)
    • 1908 – Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
    • 1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873):xix
    • 1918 – George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (b. 1861)
    • 1920 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1878)
    • 1920 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (b. 1837)
    • 1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
    • 1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (b. 1864)
    • 1938 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (b. 1858)
    • 1955 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
    • 1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)
    • 1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888):169
    • 1967 – James E. Brewton, American painter (b. 1930)
    • 1979 – Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
    • 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
    • 1983 – Zenna Henderson, American writer (b. 1917)
    • 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (b. 1900)
    • 1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (b. 1894)
    • 1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912)
    • 1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
    • 2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952)
    • 2002 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1912)
    • 2002 – Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 2003 – Noel Redding, English bass player (b. 1945)
    • 2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908)
    • 2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)
    • 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (b. 1913)
    • 2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (b. 1953)
    • 2009 – Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (b. 1939)
    • 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915)
    • 2010 – Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (b. 1904)
    • 2011 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (b. 1977)

    Holidays and observances on May 11

    • Christian feast day:
      • Anthimus of Rome
      • Gangulphus of Burgundy
      • Majolus of Cluny
      • Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints
      • May 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • National Technology Day (India)
    • Statehood Day (Minnesota)
    • Vietnam Human Rights Day (Vietnam)

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

    • 1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
    • 1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
    • 1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.
    • 1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
    • 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
    • 1703 – The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
    • 1789 – Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.
    • 1806 – The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
    • 1820 – Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.
    • 1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.
    • 1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.
    • 1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.
    • 1858 – The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
    • 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
    • 1889 – Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.
    • 1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.
    • 1908 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
    • 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.
    • 1925 – The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.
    • 1930 – The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the extermination of the Kulaks.
    • 1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
    • 1942 – World War II: Battle of Ambon. Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are massacred at Laha airfield. Three-fourths of remaining POWs will not have survived by the end of the war, including 250 men who will be shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
    • 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
    • 1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
    • 1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
    • 1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
    • 1959 – The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
    • 1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
    • 1960 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
    • 1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh’s military junta in South Vietnam.
    • 1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
    • 1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
    • 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
    • 1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
    • 1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
    • 1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
    • 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.
    • 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
    • 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
    • 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.
    • 2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

    Births on January 30

    • 58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
    • 133 – Didius Julianus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 193)
    • 1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494)
    • 1520  – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
    • 1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)
    • 1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638)
    • 1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658)
    • 1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
    • 1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
    • 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)
    • 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773)
    • 1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
    • 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778)
    • 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
    • 1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864)
    • 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838)
    • 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
    • 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899)
    • 1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899)
    • 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
    • 1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932)
    • 1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
    • 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)
    • 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
    • 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
    • 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
    • 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
    • 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937)
    • 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
    • 1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)
    • 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
    • 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983)
    • 1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
    • 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
    • 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
    • 1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000)
    • 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
    • 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
    • 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976)
    • 1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018)
    • 1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999)
    • 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
    • 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
    • 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
    • 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
    • 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
    • 1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005)
    • 1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
    • 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996)
    • 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
    • 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011)
    • 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
    • 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
    • 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
    • 1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973)
    • 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998)
    • 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
    • 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician
    • 1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
    • 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
    • 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense
    • 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
    • 1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
    • 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
    • 1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic
    • 1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge
    • 1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016)
    • 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
    • 1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue
    • 1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author
    • 1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
    • 1948 – Nick Broomfield, English director and producer
    • 1948 – Miles Reid, English mathematician and academic
    • 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer
    • 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
    • 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995)
    • 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer
    • 1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator
    • 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
    • 1955 – Tom Izzo, American basketball player and coach
    • 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster
    • 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
    • 1958 – Derek White, Scottish rugby player
    • 1959 – Cynthia Carter, Welsh journalist, author, and academic
    • 1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018)
    • 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
    • 1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan
    • 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
    • 1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1968 – Felipe VI of Spain
    • 1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer, midfielder and manager
    • 1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
    • 1972 – Jill McGill, American golfer
    • 1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
    • 1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
    • 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
    • 1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese musician and singer
    • 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
    • 1977 – Dan Hinote, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler
    • 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer
    • 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
    • 1981 – Jonathan Bender, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
    • 1981 – Afonso Alves, Brazilian footballer
    • 1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
    • 1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian race car driver
    • 1982 – Jorge Cantú, Mexican baseball player
    • 1984 – Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1984 – Arthur Chu, Asian-American columnist and former Jeopardy! contestant
    • 1984 – Kid Cudi, American entertainer
    • 1985 – Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
    • 1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
    • 1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
    • 1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
    • 1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
    • 1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
    • 1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor and director
    • 1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
    • 1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
    • 1990 – Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
    • 1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
    • 1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
    • 1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
    • 1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
    • 1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
    • 1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
    • 1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2015)

    Deaths on January 30

    • 680 – Balthild, Frankish queen (b. 626)
    • 970 – Peter I of Bulgaria
    • 1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
    • 1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
    • 1240 – Pelagio Galvani, Leonese lawyer and cardinal (b. 1165)
    • 1314 – Nicholas III of Saint Omer
    • 1344 – William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (b. 1301)
    • 1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (b. 1330)
    • 1497 – Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
    • 1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese historian and philosopher (b. 1502)
    • 1606 – Everard Digby, English criminal (b. 1578)
    • 1606 – John Grant, English conspirator (b. 1570)
    • 1606 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1565)
    • 1649 – Charles I of England (b. 1600)
    • 1664 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (b. 1599)
    • 1730 – Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
    • 1770 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)
    • 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
    • 1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
    • 1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1778)
    • 1867 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (b. 1831)
    • 1869 – William Carleton, Irish author (b. 1794)
    • 1881 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (b. 1844)
    • 1889 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary (b. 1858)
    • 1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
    • 1928 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
    • 1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866)
    • 1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
    • 1947 – Frederick Blackman, English botanist and physiologist (b. 1866)
    • 1948 – Arthur Coningham, Australian air marshal (b. 1895)
    • 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule (b. 1869)
    • 1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
    • 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (b. 1875)
    • 1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss painter (b. 1878)
    • 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman; founded the Heinkel Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
    • 1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician and engineer (b. 1894)
    • 1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (b. 1899)
    • 1966 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (b. 1912)
    • 1968 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
    • 1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
    • 1974 – Olav Roots, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1910)
    • 1977 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (b. 1883)
    • 1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
    • 1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
    • 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
    • 1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
    • 1994 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (b. 1912)
    • 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
    • 1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
    • 2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French soldier and actor (b. 1911)
    • 2001 – Johnnie Johnson, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Martyn Bennett, Canadian-Scottish violinist (b. 1971)
    • 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American author and activist (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and academic (b. 1950)
    • 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Marcial Maciel, Mexican-American priest, founded the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi (b. 1920)
    • 2009 – H. Guy Hunt, American soldier, pastor, and politician, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
    • 2010 – Fadil Ferati, Kosovar accountant and politician (b. 1960)
    • 2011 – John Barry, English composer and conductor (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Frank Aschenbrenner, American football player and soldier (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Doeschka Meijsing, Dutch author (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – George Witt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Stefan Bałuk, Polish general and photographer (b. 1914)
    • 2014 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (b. 1937)
    • 2014 – Arthur Rankin, Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Ülo Kaevats, Estonian academic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
    • 2016 – Frank Finlay, English actor (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Francisco Flores Pérez, Salvadorian politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
    • 2016 – Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (b. 1923)
    • 2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (b. 1982)
    • 2019 – Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on January 30

    • Christian Feast Day:
      • Adelelmus of Burgos
      • Aldegonde
      • Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)
      • Armentarius of Pavia
      • Balthild
      • Charles, King and Martyr (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)
      • Hippolytus of Rome
      • Hyacintha Mariscotti
      • Martina
      • Matthias of Jerusalem
      • Mutien-Marie Wiaux
      • Savina
      • Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox), and its related observances:
        • Teacher’s Day (Greece)
      • January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Azerbaijani customs (Azerbaijan)
    • Day of Saudade (Brazil)
    • Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)
    • Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, and its related observances:
      • Martyrs’ Day (India)
      • School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
      • Start of the Season for Nonviolence January 30 – April 4

  • January 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.
    • 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
    • 1653 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
    • 1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
    • 1749 – The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark’s oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
    • 1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
    • 1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
    • 1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
    • 1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
    • 1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
    • 1870 – Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.
    • 1871 – In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe’s forces bring about a Prussian retreat.
    • 1885 – Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop
    • 1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
    • 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
    • 1913 – An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.
    • 1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
    • 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
    • 1938 – The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
    • 1944 – World War II: Top Ace Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
    • 1945 – World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
    • 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
    • 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
    • 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
    • 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
    • 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
    • 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
    • 1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
    • 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
    • 1961 – Cold War: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba over the latter’s nationalization of American assets.
    • 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
    • 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
    • 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
    • 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.
    • 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
    • 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
    • 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
    • 1994 – More than seven million people from the former apartheid Homelands receive South African citizenship.
    • 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
    • 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
    • 2000 – Final daily edition of the Peanuts comic strip.
    • 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
    • 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
    • 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
    • 2015 – Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
    • 2016 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
    • 2019 – Chang’e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
    • 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

    Births on January 3

    • 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC)
    • 169 – Lü Bu, Chinese general and warlord (d. 199)
    • 1196 – Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
    • 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591)
    • 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677)
    • 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782)
    • 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796)
    • 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752)
    • 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792)
    • 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
    • 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863)
    • 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861)
    • 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880)
    • 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898)
    • 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857)
    • 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854)
    • 1810 – Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897)
    • 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891)
    • 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900)
    • 1821 – Karel Dežman, Slovenian archaeologist, botanist, and politician, Mayor of Ljubljana (d. 1889)
    • 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897)
    • 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867)
    • 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889)
    • 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935)
    • 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921)
    • 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914)
    • 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899)
    • 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904)
    • 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939)
    • 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936)
    • 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946)
    • 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957)
    • 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960)
    • 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
    • 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960)
    • 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
    • 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963)
    • 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948)
    • 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912)
    • 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950)
    • 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
    • 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914)
    • 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973)
    • 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
    • 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961)
    • 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Carlos Keller, Chilean historian, academic, and politician (d. 1974)
    • 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985)
    • 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963)
    • 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
    • 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986)
    • 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000)
    • 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936)
    • 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002)
    • 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010)
    • 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994)
    • 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Vernon A. Walters, American general and diplomat, 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
    • 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977)
    • 1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
    • 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
    • 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997)
    • 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009)
    • 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
    • 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor
    • 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation
    • 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
    • 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
    • 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer
    • 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author
    • 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008)
    • 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    • 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician
    • 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014)
    • 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician
    • 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006)
    • 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008)
    • 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007)
    • 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006)
    • 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002)
    • 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
    • 1944 – Blanche d’Alpuget, Australian author
    • 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1946 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2002)
    • 1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player
    • 1947 – Zulema, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer
    • 1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman
    • 1950 – Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic
    • 1950 – Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder
    • 1951 – Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge
    • 1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State
    • 1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid
    • 1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1952 – Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator
    • 1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author
    • 1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives
    • 1953 – Peter Taylor, English football winger and manager
    • 1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean actor, director, and producer
    • 1960 – Russell Spence, English racing driver
    • 1962 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
    • 1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician
    • 1963 – Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1963 – Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright
    • 1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach
    • 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
    • 1969 – Michael Caines, English chef
    • 1969 – Lorenzo Fertitta, American entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter
    • 1969 – Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver
    • 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
    • 1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder
    • 1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress
    • 1973 – Dan Harmon, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer
    • 1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
    • 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
    • 1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician (Daft Punk), and producer
    • 1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress, writer, and mathematician
    • 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
    • 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer
    • 1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach
    • 1977 – A. J. Burnett, American baseball player
    • 1977 – Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
    • 1978 – Dominic Wood, English comedian and former magician
    • 1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete
    • 1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
    • 1980 – David Tyree, American football player
    • 1980 – Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1980 – Mary Wineberg, American sprinter
    • 1981 – Eli Manning, American football playe
    • 1982 – Peter Clarke, English footballer
    • 1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
    • 1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1984 – Billy Mehmet, English-Irish footballer
    • 1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1985 – Evan Moore, American football player
    • 1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
    • 1986 – Greg Nwokolo, Indonesian footballer
    • 1986 – Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russian pole vaulter
    • 1987 – Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
    • 1987 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
    • 1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
    • 1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – J. R. Hildebrand, American racing driver
    • 1989 – Ben Matulino, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
    • 1990 – Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
    • 1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
    • 1991 – Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
    • 1991 – Sébastien Faure, French footballer
    • 1991 – Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
    • 1994 – Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
    • 1997 – Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler
    • 2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist

    Deaths on January 3

    • 236 – Anterus, the pope of the Catholic Church
    • 323 – Yuan of Yin, Chinese emperor (b. 276)
    • 1027 – Fujiwara no Yukinari, Japanese calligrapher (b. 972)
    • 1028 – Fujiwara no Michinaga, Japanese nobleman (b. 966)
    • 1098 – Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
    • 1322 – Philip V, king of France (b. 1292)
    • 1437 – Catherine of Valois, queen consort of Henry V (b. 1401)
    • 1501 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic (b. 1441)
    • 1543 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer and navigator (b. 1499)
    • 1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)
    • 1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1618)
    • 1656 – Mathieu Molé, French politician (b. 1584)
    • 1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1608)
    • 1701 – Louis I, prince of Monaco (b. 1642)
    • 1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1634)
    • 1743 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter and architect (b. 1657)
    • 1777 – William Leslie, Scottish captain (b. 1751)
    • 1779 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and lawyer (b. 1712)
    • 1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
    • 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
    • 1826 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (b. 1770)
    • 1871 – Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian priest and saint (b. 1805)
    • 1875 – Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1817)
    • 1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, English author (b. 1805)
    • 1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives (b. 1824)
    • 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
    • 1911 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (b. 1851)
    • 1915 – James Elroy Flecker, English poet, author, and playwright (b. 1884)
    • 1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American general and politician (b. 1831)
    • 1922 – Wilhelm Voigt, German criminal (b. 1849)
    • 1923 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author (b. 1883)
    • 1927 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1856)
    • 1931 – Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
    • 1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
    • 1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1896)
    • 1943 – Walter James, Australian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
    • 1944 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (b. 1873)
    • 1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author (b. 1877)
    • 1945 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and explorer (b. 1879)
    • 1946 – William Joyce, American-British pro-Axis propaganda broadcaster (b. 1906)
    • 1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1864)
    • 1956 – Dimitrios Vergos, Greek wrestler, weightlifter, and shot putter (b. 1886)
    • 1956 – Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
    • 1958 – Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general (b. 1877)
    • 1959 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, author, and translator (b. 1887)
    • 1960 – Eric P. Kelly, American journalist, author, and academic (b. 1884)
    • 1962 – Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (b. 1893)
    • 1965 – Milton Avery, American painter (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1944)
    • 1967 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (b. 1874)
    • 1967 – Reginald Punnett, British scientist (b. 1875)
    • 1967 – Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer (b. 1911)
    • 1969 – Jean Focas, Greek-French astronomer (b. 1909)
    • 1969 – Tzavalas Karousos, Greek-French actor (b. 1904)
    • 1970 – Gladys Aylward, English missionary and humanitarian (b. 1902)
    • 1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (b. 1925)
    • 1975 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1880)
    • 1975 – James McCormack, American general (b. 1910)
    • 1977 – William Gropper, American lithographer, cartoonist, and painter (b. 1897)
    • 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
    • 1980 – Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan author (b. 1910)
    • 1980 – George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1915)
    • 1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (b. 1883)
    • 1988 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-German poet and author (b. 1901)
    • 1989 – Sergei Sobolev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
    • 1992 – Judith Anderson, British actress (b. 1897)
    • 2002 – Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Jimmy Stewart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1931)
    • 2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat, 2nd Indian National Security Adviser (b. 1936)
    • 2006 – Steve Rogers, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1954)
    • 2006 – Bill Skate, Papua New Guinean politician, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
    • 2007 – János Fürst, Hungarian violinist and conductor (b. 1935)
    • 2007 – William Verity, Jr., American businessman and politician, 27th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Choi Yo-sam, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
    • 2009 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
    • 2010 – Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator (b. 1914)
    • 2012 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Bob Weston, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 2013 – Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – William Maxson, American general (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – George Goodman, American economist and author (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (b. 1919)
    • 2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1957)
    • 2017 – H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (b. 1958)
    • 2018 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer (b. 1933)
    • 2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
    • 2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (b. 1957)

    Holidays and observances on January 3

    • Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d’état (Burkina Faso)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Daniel of Padua
      • Genevieve
      • Holy Name of Jesus
      • Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
      • Pope Anterus
      • William Passavant (Episcopal Church)
      • January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)
    • Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan)
    • The first day of Nakhatsenendyan toner, celebrated until January 5 (Armenia).
    • The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)