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May 6 in History
- 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.
- 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.
- 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.
- 1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
- 1659 – English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.
- 1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.
- 1757 – Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years’ War.
- 1757 – The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757).
- 1757 – English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
- 1782 – Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
- 1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
- 1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
- 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1857 – The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by the Army of Northern Virginia.
- 1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
- 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.
- 1882 – The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
- 1906 – The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).
- 1910 – George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.
- 1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.
- 1916 – Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs’ Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.
- 1916 – Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.
- 1933 – The Deutsche Studentenschaft attacked Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.
- 1935 – New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.
- 1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
- 1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1941 – At California’s March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
- 1941 – The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
- 1942 – World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- 1945 – World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
- 1945 – World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
- 1949 – EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.
- 1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
- 1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
- 1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.
- 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
- 1975 – During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian Genocide.
- 1976 – The 6.5 Mw Friuli earthquake affected Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured.
- 1983 – The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
- 1984 – One hundred three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
- 1988 – All thirty-six passengers and crew were killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashed into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.
- 1994 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
- 1996 – The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
- 1997 – The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history.
- 1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
- 1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.
- 1999 – The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
- 2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
- 2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio-interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.
- 2010 – In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
- 2013 – Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.
Births on May 6
- 973 – Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1024)
- 1464 – Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Polish princess (d. 1512)
- 1493 – Girolamo Seripando, Italian theologian and cardinal (d. 1563)
- 1501 – Marcellus II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1555)
- 1574 – Innocent X, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1655)
- 1580 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, French noble (d. 1637)
- 1635 – Johann Joachim Becher, German physician and alchemist (d. 1682)
- 1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French author and playwright (d. 1747)
- 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Italian-French cellist and composer (d. 1755)
- 1713 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher and academic (d. 1780)
- 1714 – Anton Raaff, German tenor (d. 1797)
- 1742 – Jean Senebier, Swiss pastor and physiologist (d. 1809)
- 1758 – André Masséna, French general (d. 1817)
- 1758 – Maximilien Robespierre, French lawyer and politician (d. 1794)
- 1769 – Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
- 1769 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
- 1781 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher and author (d. 1832)
- 1797 – Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
- 1800 – Roman Sanguszko, Polish general (d. 1881)
- 1827 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (d. 1891)
- 1836 – Max Eyth, German engineer and author (d. 1906)
- 1843 – Grove Karl Gilbert, American geologist and academic (d. 1918)
- 1848 – Henry Edward Armstrong, English chemist and academic (d. 1937)
- 1851 – Aristide Bruant, French singer and actor (d. 1925)
- 1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1939)
- 1856 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (d. 1920)
- 1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1931)
- 1868 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (d. 1927)
- 1869 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and central banker, 8th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (d. 1932)
- 1870 – Walter Rutherford, Scottish golfer (d. 1936)
- 1871 – Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1871 – Christian Morgenstern, German author and poet (d. 1914)
- 1872 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1934)
- 1872 – Djemal Pasha, Ottoman general (d. 1922)
- 1879 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
- 1879 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (d. 1929)
- 1880 – Winifred Brunton, English-South African painter and illustrator (d. 1959)
- 1880 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German-Swiss painter (d. 1938)
- 1883 – Alberto Collo, Italian actor (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and author (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian soldier and politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (d. 1946)
- 1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
- 1896 – Rolf Maximilian Sievert, Swedish physicist and academic (d. 1966)
- 1897 – Paul Alverdes, German author and poet (d. 1979)
- 1898 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1945)
- 1902 – Harry Golden, Ukrainian-American journalist and author (d. 1981)
- 1902 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1957)
- 1903 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (d. 1977)
- 1904 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Catherine Lacey, English actress (d. 1979)
- 1904 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1905 – Philip N. Krasne, American lawyer and producer (d. 1999)
- 1906 – André Weil, French mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
- 1907 – Weeb Ewbank, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
- 1911 – Guy des Cars, French journalist and author (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (d. 1993)
- 1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1985)
- 1915 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1997)
- 1917 – Kal Mann, American songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1918 – Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and first president of the United Arab Emirates (d. 2004)
- 1919 – André Guelfi, French race car driver (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Marguerite Piazza, American soprano and actress (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Erich Fried, Austrian-German author, poet, and translator (d. 1988)
- 1922 – Camille Laurin, Canadian psychiatrist and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Harry Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
- 1924 – Nestor Basterretxea, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Patricia Helen Kennedy, American socialite, activist, and author (d. 2006)
- 1924 – Denny Wright, English guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1992)
- 1926 – Gilles Grégoire, Canadian politician, co-founded the Parti Québécois (d. 2006)
- 1929 – Rosemary Cramp, English archaeologist and academic
- 1929 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
- 1929 – John Taylor, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Willie Mays, American baseball player and coach
- 1931 – Louis Gambaccini, American government official (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Ahmet Haxhiu, Kosovan activist (d. 1994)
- 1932 – Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2020)
- 1934 – Richard Shelby, American lawyer and politician
- 1937 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Eddie C. Campbell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Chet Allen, American child actor (d. 1984)
- 1942 – Ariel Dorfman, Argentinian author, playwright, and academic
- 1943 – Andreas Baader, German terrorist, co-founded the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
- 1943 – Milton William Cooper, American theorist and author (d. 2001)
- 1943 – Wolfgang Reinhardt, German pole vaulter (d. 2011)
- 1943 – James Turrell, American sculptor and illustrator
- 1944 – Anton Furst, English-American production designer and art director (d. 1991)
- 1944 – Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1945 – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American country singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
- 1945 – Bob Seger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
- 1947 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher and author
- 1947 – Ljubomir Vračarević, Serbian martial artist, founded Real Aikido (d. 2013)
- 1948 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2013)
- 1950 – Jeffery Deaver, American journalist and author
- 1951 – Samuel Doe, Liberian sergeant and politician, 21st President of Liberia (d. 1990)
- 1952 – Gerrit Zalm, Dutch economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1953 – Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (d. 1986)
- 1953 – Tony Blair, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1953 – Michelle Courchesne, Canadian urban planner and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
- 1953 – Ülle Rajasalu, Estonian politician
- 1953 – Graeme Souness, Scottish international footballer and manager
- 1953 – Lynn Whitfield, American actress and producer
- 1954 – Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
- 1954 – Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician, 120th Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1954 – Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican author and poet
- 1954 – Ain Lutsepp, Estonian actor and politician
- 1955 – Nicholas Alexander, 7th Earl of Caledon, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Armagh
- 1955 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
- 1955 – John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
- 1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos, Greek actor and screenwriter
- 1956 – Cindy Lovell, American educator and writer
- 1956 – Roland Wieser, German race walker and coach
- 1958 – Randall Stout, American architect, designed the Taubman Museum of Art (d. 2014)
- 1959 – Andreas Busse, German runner
- 1959 – Charles Hendry, English politician
- 1960 – Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
- 1960 – Keith Dowding, English political scientist, philosopher, and academic
- 1960 – Roma Downey, Irish-American actress and producer
- 1960 – John Flansburgh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Aleksei Lotman, Estonian biologist and politician
- 1960 – Anne Parillaud, French actress
- 1961 – Oleksandr Apaychev, Ukrainian decathlete and coach
- 1961 – George Clooney, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Tom Hunter, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
- 1961 – Gina Riley, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Frans Timmermans, Dutch politician and diplomat, First Vice President of the European Commission
- 1962 – Tom Brake, English politician
- 1962 – Brad Izzard, Australian rugby league player
- 1963 – Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina
- 1965 – Leslie Hope, Canadian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1968 – Worku Bikila, Ethiopian runner
- 1968 – Lætitia Sadier, French singer and keyboard player
- 1969 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1970 – Roland Kun, Nauruan politician
- 1970 – Kavan Smith, Canadian actor
- 1971 – Chris Shiflett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1972 – Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 – Naoko Takahashi, Japanese runner
- 1974 – Bernard Barmasai, Kenyan runner
- 1974 – Daniela Bártová, Czech pole vaulter and gymnast
- 1975 – Alan Richardson, English cricketer and coach
- 1976 – Dean Chandler, English footballer
- 1976 – Iván de la Peña, Spanish footballer
- 1977 – Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
- 1977 – Marc Chouinard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Mark Eaton, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1977 – Chantelle Newbery, Australian diver
- 1978 – John Abraham, American football player
- 1978 – Tony Estanguet, French slalom canoeist
- 1978 – Fredrick Federley, Swedish journalist and politician
- 1978 – Alexandr Fedorov, Russian bodybuilder
- 1979 – Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
- 1979 – Jan Erik Mikalsen, Norwegian composer
- 1979 – Jon Montgomery, Canadian skeleton racer and television host
- 1980 – Brooke Bennett, American swimmer
- 1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek professional basketball player
- 1980 – Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Matthew Whiley, English cricketer
- 1982 – Jason Witten, American football player
- 1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author
- 1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
- 1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious leader, the 17th Karmapa Lama
- 1983 – Fredrik Sjöström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Juan Pablo Carrizo, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
- 1986 – Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
- 1987 – Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Meek Mill, American rapper
- 1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress
- 1988 – Ryan Anderson, American basketball player
- 1988 – Dakota Kai, New Zealander profesional wrestler
- 1989 – Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
- 1989 – Jesse Hughes, Canadian DJ and producer
- 1990 – José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1992 – Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Byun Baekhyun, South Korean musician and actor
- 1992 – Jonas Valančiūnas, Lithuanian professional basketball player
- 1993 – Gustavo Gómez, Paraguayan footballer
- 1994 – Mateo Kovačić, Austrian-Croatian footballer
- 1997 – Duncan Scott, Scottish swimmer
- 2019 – Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, British royal
Deaths on May 6
- 698 – Eadberht, bishop of Lindisfarne
- 850 – Ninmyō, Japanese emperor (b. 808)
- 932 – Qian Liu, Chinese warlord and king (b. 852)
- 988 – Dirk II, count of Frisia and Holland
- 1002 – Ealdwulf, Archbishop of York, Abbot of Peterborough and Bishop of Worcester
- 1187 – Ruben III, Prince of Armenia (b. 1145)
- 1236 – Roger of Wendover, Benedictine monk and chronicler
- 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, English commander (b. 1438)
- 1471 – Thomas Tresham, Speaker of the House of Commons
- 1475 – Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter (b. 1415)
- 1483 – Queen Jeonghui, Korean regent (b. 1418)
- 1502 – James Tyrrell, English knight (b. 1450)
- 1527 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne (b.1490)
- 1540 – Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar (b. 1492)
- 1596 – Giaches de Wert, Flemish-Italian composer (b. 1535)
- 1631 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library (b. 1570)
- 1638 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch-French bishop and theologian (b. 1585)
- 1708 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop (b. 1623)
- 1757 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1683)
- 1757 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
- 1782 – Christine Kirch, German astronomer and academic (b. 1696)
- 1840 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (b. 1792)
- 1859 – Alexander von Humboldt, German geographer and explorer (b. 1769)
- 1862 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1877 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Swedish-Finnish poet and hymn-writer (b. 1804)
- 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke, Irish civil servant (b. 1829)
- 1882 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1836)
- 1902 – Bret Harte, American author and poet (b. 1836)
- 1905 – Robert Herbert, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Queensland (b. 1831)
- 1907 – Emanuele Luigi Galizia, Maltese architect and civil engineer (b. 1830)
- 1910 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
- 1919 – L. Frank Baum, American novelist (b. 1856)
- 1939 – Konstantin Somov, Russian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1869)
- 1949 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian-French poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1951 – Élie Cartan, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1869)
- 1952 – Maria Montessori, Italian-Dutch physician and educator (b. 1870)
- 1959 – Maria Dulęba, Polish actress (b. 1881)
- 1959 – Ragnar Nurkse, Estonian-American economist and academic (b. 1907)
- 1961 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1963 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (b. 1881)
- 1963 – Ted Weems, American violinist, trombonist, and bandleader (b. 1901)
- 1963 – Monty Woolley, American raconteur, actor, and director (b. 1888)
- 1967 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (b. 1885)
- 1970 – Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)
- 1973 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
- 1975 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1892)
- 1980 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean writer (b. 1910)
- 1983 – Ezra Jack Keats, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
- 1983 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (b. 1922)
- 1984 – Mary Cain, American journalist and politician (b. 1904)
- 1984 – Bonner Pink, English politician (b. 1912)
- 1987 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1913)
- 1989 – Earl Blaik, American football player and coach (b. 1897)
- 1990 – Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1991 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (b. 1901)
- 1993 – Ann Todd, English actress and producer (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)
- 2000 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Murray Adaskin, Canadian violinist, composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1906)
- 2002 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1932)
- 2002 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician (b. 1948)
- 2002 – Bjørn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (b. 1940)
- 2003 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Virginia Capers, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
- 2004 – Philip Kapleau, American monk and educator (b. 1912)
- 2004 – Barney Kessel, American guitarist and composer (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
- 2006 – Lorne Saxberg, Canadian journalist (b. 1958)
- 2007 – Enéas Carneiro, Brazilian physician and politician (b. 1938)
- 2007 – Curtis Harrington, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Kevin Grubb, American race car driver (b. 1978)
- 2010 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1926)
- 2012 – James R. Browning, American lieutenant, lawyer, and judge (b. 1918)
- 2012 – James Isaac, American director and producer (b. 1960)
- 2012 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and author (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Giulio Andreotti, Italian journalist and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Severo Aparicio Quispe, Peruvian bishop (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Michelangelo Spensieri, Italian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
- 2014 – Wil Albeda, Dutch economist and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs (b. 1925)
- 2014 – William H. Dana, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Billy Harrell, American baseball player and scout (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Antony Hopkins, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Maria Lassnig, Austrian painter and academic (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Farley Mowat, Canadian environmentalist and author (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Novera Ahmed, Bangladeshi sculptor (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Denise McCluggage, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Jim Wright, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Patrick Ekeng, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1990)
- 2016 – Reg Grundy, Australian businessman (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances on May 6
- Christian Feast Day:
- Dominic Savio
- Evodius of Antioch (Roman Catholic Church)
- François de Laval
- Gerard of Lunel
- Lucius of Cyrene
- Petronax of Monte Cassino
- St George’s Day related observances (Eastern Orthodox Church):
- Day of Bravery, also known as Gergyovden (Bulgaria)
- Đurđevdan (Gorani, Roma)
- Police Day (Georgia)
- Yuri’s Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church)
- St John before the Latin Gate
- May 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Military Spouse Day can fall, while May 12 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Mother’s Day (United States)
- International No Diet Day
- Martyrs’ Day (Gabon)
- Martyrs’ Day (Lebanon and Syria)
- Teachers’ Day (Jamaica)
- The first day of Hıdırellez (Turkey)
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April 30 in history
- 311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.
- 313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire.
- 642 – Chindasuinth is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and bishops.
- 1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois.
- 1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
- 1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.
- 1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.
- 1598 – Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
- 1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
- 1636 – Eighty Years’ War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
- 1671 – Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.
- 1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
- 1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
- 1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
- 1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
- 1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.
- 1871 – The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
- 1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York’s first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.
- 1897 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
- 1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
- 1904 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1905 – Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
- 1925 – Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.
- 1927 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women’s federal prison in the United States.
- 1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
- 1937 – The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
- 1938 – The animated cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit, an early version of Bugs Bunny.
- 1939 – The 1939–40 New York World’s Fair opens.
- 1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s N.Y. World’s Fair opening day ceremonial address.
- 1943 – World War II: The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.
- 1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
- 1945 – World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9000 American and British airmen.
- 1947 – In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
- 1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
- 1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.
- 1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force.
- 1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
- 1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
- 1966 – The Church of Satan is formed in The Black House, San Francisco.
- 1973 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that White House Counsel John Dean has been fired and that other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, have resigned.
- 1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
- 1980 – Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
- 1980 – The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
- 1982 – The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.
- 1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
- 1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
- 2000 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
- 2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
- 2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.
- 2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- 2009 – Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen’s Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.
- 2012 – An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 103 people.
- 2013 – Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
- 2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others.
Births on April 30
- 1245 – Philip III of France (d. 1285)
- 1310 – King Casimir III of Poland (d. 1368)
- 1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)
- 1383 – Anne of Gloucester, English countess, granddaughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1438)
- 1425 – William III, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1482)
- 1504 – Francesco Primaticcio, Italian painter (d. 1570)
- 1553 – Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)
- 1623 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop and saint (d. 1708)
- 1651 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint (d. 1719)
- 1662 – Mary II of England (d. 1694)
- 1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (d. 1709)
- 1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
- 1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (d. 1806)
- 1758 – Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese commander and politician (d. 1802)
- 1770 – David Thompson, English-Canadian cartographer and explorer (d. 1857)
- 1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1855)
- 1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (d. 1879)
- 1829 – Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist and academic (d. 1884)
- 1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist (d. 1940)
- 1857 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1920)
- 1865 – Max Nettlau, German historian and academic (d. 1944)
- 1866 – Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel, American pioneer dentist (d. 1936)
- 1869 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, designed the IG Farben Building and Großes Schauspielhaus (d. 1936)
- 1870 – Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (d. 1948)
- 1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
- 1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish priest and author (d. 1949)
- 1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (d. 1937)
- 1877 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (d. 1917)
- 1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American memoirist (d. 1967)
- 1878 – Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (d. 1948)
- 1880 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish cartoonist (d. 1967)
- 1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech soldier and author (d. 1923)
- 1883 – Luigi Russolo, Italian painter and composer (d. 1947)
- 1884 – Olof Sandborg, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
- 1888 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet, critic, and academic (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Harold Breen, Australian public servant (d. 1966)
- 1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German soldier and politician, 14th German Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1946)
- 1895 – Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic, and diplomat (d. 1960)
- 1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist (d. 1972)
- 1896 – Hans List, Austrian scientist and businessman, founded the AVL Engineering Company (d. 1996)
- 1897 – Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)
- 1900 – Erni Krusten, Estonian author and poet (d. 1984)
- 1901 – Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
- 1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic professor of law and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)
- 1908 – Frank Robert Miller, Canadian air marshal and politician (d. 1997)
- 1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor and educator (d. 1992)
- 1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
- 1910 – Levi Celerio, Filipino pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 2002)
- 1914 – Charles Beetham, American middle-distance runner (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor, and painter (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician and engineer (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
- 1917 – Bea Wain, American singer (d. 2017)
- 1920 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver and pilot (d. 1994)
- 1920 – Tom Moore, British army officer and fundraiser
- 1921 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Anton Murray, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
- 1923 – Percy Heath, American bassist (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Uno Laht, Estonian KGB officer and author (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1960)
- 1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Cloris Leachman, American actress and comedian
- 1928 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author and academic (d. 2000)
- 1928 – Orlando Sirola, Italian tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1930 – Félix Guattari, French psychotherapist and philosopher (d. 1992)
- 1933 – Charles Sanderson, Baron Sanderson of Bowden, English politician
- 1934 – Jerry Lordan, English singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
- 1934 – Don McKenney, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1937 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
- 1938 – Gary Collins, American actor and talk show host (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak director and screenwriter
- 1938 – Larry Niven, American author and screenwriter
- 1940 – Jeroen Brouwers, Dutch journalist and writer
- 1940 – Michael Cleary, Australian rugby player and politician
- 1941 – Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1941 – Max Merritt, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
- 1942 – Sallehuddin of Kedah, Sultan of Kedah
- 1943 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)
- 1943 – Bobby Vee, American pop singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
- 1944 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1945 – J. Michael Brady, British radiologist
- 1945 – Annie Dillard, American novelist, essayist, and poet
- 1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2001)
- 1945 – Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1946 – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
- 1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
- 1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer
- 1947 – Paul Fiddes, English theologian and academic
- 1947 – Finn Kalvik, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer and manager
- 1947 – Mats Odell, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Financial Markets
- 1948 – Wayne Kramer, American guitarist and singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Pierre Pagé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1948 – Margit Papp, Hungarian athlete
- 1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball player and manager
- 1949 – António Guterres, Portuguese academic and politician, 114th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations
- 1949 – Karl Meiler, German tennis player (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Jacques Audiard, French director and screenwriter
- 1952 – Jack Middelburg, Dutch motorcycle racer (d. 1984)
- 1953 – Merrill Osmond, American singer and bass player
- 1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1954 – Kim Darroch, English diplomat, UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
- 1954 – Frank-Michael Marczewski, German footballer
- 1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and environmentalist
- 1955 – David Kitchin, English lawyer and judge
- 1955 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter
- 1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director and screenwriter
- 1957 – Wonder Mike, American rapper and songwriter
- 1958 – Charles Berling, French actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
- 1960 – Geoffrey Cox, English lawyer and politician
- 1960 – Kerry Healey, American academic and politician, 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
- 1961 – Arnór Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
- 1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1963 – Andrew Carwood, English tenor and conductor
- 1963 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
- 1964 – Tony Fernandes, Malaysian-Indian businessman, co-founded Tune Group
- 1964 – Ian Healy, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
- 1964 – Lorenzo Staelens, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1964 – Abhishek Chatterjee, Indian actor
- 1965 – Daniela Costian, Romanian-Australian discus thrower
- 1965 – Adrian Pasdar, American actor
- 1966 – Jeff Brown, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player and coach
- 1967 – Phil Chang, Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor
- 1969 – Warren Defever, American bass player and producer
- 1969 – Justine Greening, English accountant and politician, Secretary of State for International Development
- 1969 – Paulo Jr., Brazilian bass player
- 1972 – Takako Tokiwa, Japanese actress
- 1973 – Leigh Francis, English comedian and actor
- 1974 – Christian Tamminga, Dutch athlete
- 1975 – Johnny Galecki, American actor
- 1976 – Davian Clarke, Jamaican sprinter
- 1976 – Amanda Palmer, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1976 – Daniel Wagon, Australian rugby league player
- 1977 – Jeannie Haddaway, American politician
- 1977 – Meredith L. Patterson, American technologist, journalist, and author
- 1978 – Liljay, Taiwanese singer
- 1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Luis Scola, Argentinian basketball player
- 1980 – Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer
- 1981 – Nicole Kaczmarski, American basketball player
- 1981 – John O’Shea, Irish footballer
- 1981 – Kunal Nayyar, British-Indian actor
- 1981 – Justin Vernon, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer
- 1982 – Kirsten Dunst, American actress
- 1982 – Drew Seeley, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1983 – Chris Carr, American football player
- 1983 – Tatjana Hüfner, German luger
- 1983 – Marina Tomić, Slovenian hurdler
- 1983 – Troy Williamson, American football player
- 1984 – Seimone Augustus, American basketball player
- 1984 – Shawn Daivari, American wrestler and manager
- 1984 – Risto Mätas, Estonian javelin thrower
- 1984 – Lee Roache, English footballer
- 1985 – Brandon Bass, American basketball player
- 1985 – Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model
- 1985 – Ashley Alexandra Dupré, American journalist, singer, and prostitute
- 1986 – Dianna Agron, American actress and singer
- 1986 – Martten Kaldvee, Estonian biathlete
- 1987 – Alipate Carlile, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Chris Morris, South African cricketer
- 1987 – Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer
- 1988 – Andy Allen, Australian chef
- 1988 – Sander Baart, Dutch field hockey player
- 1988 – Liu Xijun, Chinese singer
- 1988 – Oh Hye-ri, South Korean taekwondo athlete
- 1989 – Jang Wooyoung, South Korean singer and actor
- 1990 – Jonny Brownlee, English triathlete
- 1990 – Mac DeMarco, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1990 – Kaarel Kiidron, Estonian footballer
- 1991 – Chris Kreider, American ice hockey player
- 1992 – Travis Scott, American rapper and producer
- 1992 – Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer
- 1993 – Dion Dreesens, Dutch swimmer
- 1993 – Martin Fuksa, Czech canoeist
- 1994 – Chae Seo-jin, South Korean actress
- 1994 – Wang Yafan, Chinese tennis player
- 1996 – Luke Friend, English singer
- 1997 – Adam Ryczkowski, Polish footballer
- 1999 – Jorden van Foreest, Dutch chess grandmaster
- 2000 – Yui Hiwatashi, Japanese singer
- 2003 – Jung Yun-Seok, South Korean actor
Deaths on April 30
- AD 65 – Lucan, Roman poet (b. 39)
- 125 – An, Chinese emperor (b. 94)
- 535 – Amalasuntha, Ostrogothic queen and regent
- 783 – Hildegard of the Vinzgau, Frankish queen
- 1002 – Eckard I, German nobleman
- 1030 – Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghaznavid emir (b. 971)
- 1063 – Ren Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1010)
- 1131 – Adjutor, French knight and saint
- 1305 – Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer (b. 1267)
- 1341 – John III, duke of Brittany (b. 1286)
- 1439 – Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English commander (b. 1382)
- 1524 – Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, French soldier (b. 1473)
- 1544 – Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1488)
- 1550 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (b. 1516)
- 1632 – Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, Bavarian general (b. 1559)
- 1632 – Sigismund III Vasa, Swedish-Polish son of John III of Sweden (b. 1566)
- 1637 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (b. 1571)
- 1655 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
- 1660 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (b. 1576)
- 1672 – Marie of the Incarnation, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Ursulines of Quebec (b. 1599)
- 1696 – Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (b. 1640)
- 1712 – Philipp van Limborch, Dutch theologian and author (b. 1633)
- 1736 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and author (b. 1668)
- 1758 – François d’Agincourt, French organist and composer (b. 1684)
- 1792 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1718)
- 1795 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and author (b. 1716)
- 1806 – Onogawa Kisaburō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 5th Yokozuna (b. 1758)
- 1841 – Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish philologist and author (b. 1758)
- 1847 – Charles, Austrian commander and duke of Teschen (b. 1771)
- 1863 – Jean Danjou, French captain (b. 1828)
- 1865 – Robert FitzRoy, English admiral, meteorologist, and politician, 2nd Governor of New Zealand (b. 1805)
- 1870 – Thomas Cooke, Canadian bishop and missionary (b. 1792)
- 1875 – Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer, and cartographer (b. 1766)
- 1879 – Emma Smith, American religious leader (b. 1804)
- 1883 – Édouard Manet, French painter (b. 1832)
- 1891 – Joseph Leidy, American paleontologist and author (b. 1823)
- 1900 – Casey Jones, American engineer (b. 1863)
- 1903 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and activist (b. 1831)
- 1910 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (b. 1856)
- 1936 – A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (b. 1859)
- 1939 – Frank Haller, American boxer (b. 1883)
- 1943 – Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist and academic (b. 1860)
- 1943 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist (b. 1858)
- 1953 – Jacob Linzbach, Estonian linguist and author (b. 1874)
- 1956 – Alben W. Barkley, American lawyer and politician, 35th Vice President of the United States (b. 1877)
- 1970 – Jacques Presser, Dutch historian, writer and poet (b. 1899)
- 1970 – Inger Stevens, Swedish-American actress (b. 1934)
- 1972 – Gia Scala, English-American model and actress (b. 1934)
- 1973 – Václav Renč, Czech poet and playwright (b. 1911)
- 1974 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (b. 1900)
- 1980 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist and politician, 1st Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1898)
- 1982 – Lester Bangs, American journalist and author (b. 1949)
- 1983 – George Balanchine, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
- 1983 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (b. 1897)
- 1986 – Robert Stevenson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
- 1989 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 1993 – Tommy Caton, English footballer (b. 1962)
- 1994 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (b. 1960)
- 1994 – Richard Scarry, American author and illustrator (b. 1919)
- 1995 – Maung Maung Kha, Burmese colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Nizar Qabbani, Syrian-English poet, publisher, and diplomat (b. 1926)
- 2000 – Poul Hartling, Danish politician, 36th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, German philanthropist, founded the Gründerzeit Museum (b. 1928)
- 2003 – Mark Berger, American economist and academic (b. 1955)
- 2003 – Possum Bourne, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1956)
- 2005 – Phil Rasmussen, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesian author and academic (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Kevin Mitchell, American football player (b. 1971)
- 2007 – Tom Poston, American actor, comedian, and game show panelist (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Gordon Scott, American film and television actor (b. 1926)
- 2008 – John Cargher, English-Australian journalist and author (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Juancho Evertsz, Dutch Antillean politician (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Henk Nijdam, Dutch cyclist (b. 1935)
- 2011 – Dorjee Khandu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (b. 1955)
- 2011 – Evald Okas, Estonian painter (b. 1915)
- 2011 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist, author, and painter (b. 1911)
- 2012 – Tomás Borge, Nicaraguan poet and politician, co-founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (b. 1985)
- 2012 – Giannis Gravanis, Greek footballer (b. 1958)
- 2012 – Benzion Netanyahu, Russian-Israeli historian and academic (b. 1910)
- 2012 – Sicelo Shiceka, South African politician (b. 1966)
- 2013 – Roberto Chabet, Filipino painter and sculptor (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Shirley Firth, Canadian skier (b. 1953)
- 2013 – Viviane Forrester, French author and critic (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Mike Gray, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Khaled Choudhury, Indian painter and set designer (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Julian Lewis, English biologist and academic (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Carl E. Moses, American businessman and politician (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Ian Ross, Australian journalist (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Lennart Bodström, Swedish politician (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1938)
- 2015 – Steven Goldmann, Canadian director and producer (b. 1961)
- 2016 – Daniel Berrigan, American priest and activist (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Harry Kroto, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
- 2019 – Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (b. 1944)
- 2020 – Tony Allen, Nigerian drummer and composer (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances on April 30
- Armed Forces Day (Georgia)
- Birthday of the King Carl XVI Gustaf, one of the official flag days of Sweden.
- Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion)
- Children’s Day (Mexico)
- Christian feast day:
- Adjutor
- Aimo
- Amator, Peter and Louis
- Donatus of Evorea
- Eutropius of Saintes
- Marie Guyart (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Marie of the Incarnation (Ursuline)
- Maximus of Rome
- Blessed Miles Gerard
- Pomponius of Naples
- Pope Pius V
- Quirinus of Neuss
- Sarah Josepha Hale (Episcopal Church)
- Suitbert the Younger
- April 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Consumer Protection Day (Thailand)
- Earliest day on which Ascension Day can fall, while June 3 is the latest; celebrated 40 days after Easter (Christianity), and its related observances:
- Festa della Sensa (Venice)
- Global Day of Prayer (Western Christianity)
- Sheep Festival (Cameroon)
- Honesty Day (United States)
- International Jazz Day (UNESCO)
- Martyrs’ Day (Pakistan)
- May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1):
- Beltane begins at sunset in the Northern hemisphere, Samhain begins at sunset in the Southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
- Carodejnice (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
- Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe)
- National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)
- Reunification Day (Vietnam)
- Russian State Fire Service Day (Russia)
- Teachers’ Day (Paraguay)
-
April 17 in History
- 1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
- 1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II.
- 1362 – Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege.
- 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
- 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
- 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
- 1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.
- 1861 – The state of Virginia’s secession convention votes to secede from the United States, later becoming the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson’s Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
- 1869 – Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.
- 1876 – Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.
- 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
- 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
- 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
- 1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
- 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
- 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People’s Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
- 1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
- 1946 – The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
- 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom’s first National Park.
- 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1969 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
- 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- 1971 – The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
- 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d’état in Afghanistan.
- 1982 – Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
- 1992 – The Katina P is deliberately run aground off of Maputo, Mozambique and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
- 2006 – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
- 2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
- 2014 – NASA’s Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
Births on April 17
- 44 – Pope Evaristus (d. 107)
- 1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
- 1455 – Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (d. 1538)
- 1497 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador, conquered northern Chile (d. 1553)
- 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
- 1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
- 1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
- 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
- 1635 – Edward Stillingfleet, British theologian and scholar (d. 1699)
- 1676 – Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
- 1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
- 1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
- 1734 – Taksin, King of Thailand (d. 1782)
- 1741 – Samuel Chase, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1811)
- 1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1828)
- 1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian commander (d. 1805)
- 1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
- 1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (d. 1868)
- 1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (d. 1840)
- 1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (d. 1888)
- 1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect and philanthropist (d. 1876)
- 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and inventor of baseball (d. 1892)
- 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1900)
- 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
- 1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French businessman and politician, 53rd Prime Minister of France (d. 1911)
- 1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
- 1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
- 1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (d. 1927)
- 1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1941)
- 1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
- 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (d. 1961)
- 1878 – Demetrios Petrokokkinos, Greek tennis player (d. 1942)
- 1879 – Henri Tauzin, French hurdler (d. 1918)
- 1882 – Artur Schnabel, Jewish-Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
- 1888 – Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (d. 1954)
- 1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American soldier and author (d. 1948)
- 1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
- 1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
- 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
- 1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
- 1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
- 1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (d. 1976)
- 1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (d. 1975)
- 1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American journalist and actor (d. 1960)
- 1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded Kaiser Permanente (d. 1984)
- 1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
- 1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister of Defence (d. 1990)
- 1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
- 1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
- 1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author and poet (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Lester Rodney, American soldier and journalist (d. 2009)
- 1912 – Marta Eggerth, Jewish-Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1914 – George Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
- 1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
- 1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (d. 1999)
- 1916 – Win Maung, 3rd President of Union of Myanmar (d. 1989)
- 1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (d. 1981)
- 1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world’s first female prime minister (d. 2000)
- 1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2016)
- 1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
- 1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
- 1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian lyric tenor (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Harry Reasoner, American soldier and journalist (d. 1991)
- 1924 – Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant
- 1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
- 1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
- 1926 – Joan Lorring, British actress (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Margot Honecker, East German politician and First Lady (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Victor Lownes, American businessman (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
- 1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
- 1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian accountant and politician
- 1929 – James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader
- 1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster
- 1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
- 1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon and academic
- 1935 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman (d. 2019)
- 1938 – Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
- 1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
- 1938 – Ronald H. Miller, American theologian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist and author (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
- 1940 – Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
- 1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (d. 1983)
- 1940 – John McCririck, English journalist (d. 2019)
- 1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano and actress
- 1940 – Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome
- 1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
- 1942 – Buster Williams, American jazz bassist
- 1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic
- 1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author
- 1947 – Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish lawyer and judge
- 1947 – Richard Field, English lawyer and judge
- 1947 – Sherrie Levine, American photographer
- 1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
- 1948 – Alice Harden, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
- 1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner
- 1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress
- 1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player and businessman
- 1952 – Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)
- 1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
- 1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander (d. 2000)
- 1952 – John Robertson, Scottish businessman and politician
- 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
- 1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler and actor (d. 2015)
- 1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
- 1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
- 1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer
- 1956 – Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge
- 1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
- 1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, American disc jockey
- 1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter
- 1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge
- 1957 – Frank McDonough, British historian
- 1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
- 1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
- 1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter
- 1960 – Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter
- 1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor union leader
- 1961 – Norman Cowans, Jamaican-English cricketer
- 1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer
- 1962 – Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer
- 1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1964 – Rachel Notley, Canadian politician
- 1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
- 1966 – Vikram, Indian actor and singer
- 1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
- 1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Ian Jones, New Zealand rugby player
- 1967 – Barnaby Joyce, Australian politician, 17th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
- 1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
- 1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1968 – Eric Lamaze, Canadian jockey
- 1968 – Roger Twose, New Zealand cricketer
- 1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer and trainer
- 1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
- 1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
- 1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
- 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japanese footballer and referee
- 1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
- 1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
- 1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and fashion designer
- 1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
- 1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler and long jumper
- 1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
- 1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist, and pianist
- 1978 – Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, German skier
- 1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress
- 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
- 1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper
- 1980 – Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer
- 1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager
- 1981 – Jenny Meadows, English runner
- 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
- 1981 – Chris Thompson, English runner
- 1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
- 1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
- 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
- 1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
- 1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
- 1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model
- 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
- 1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
- 1988 – Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
- 1989 – Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter
- 1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
- 1992 – Lachlan Maranta, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1994 – Alanna Goldie, Canadian fencer
- 1996 – Lorna Fitzgerald, British actress
Deaths on April 17
- 485 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (b. 412)
- 617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
- 648 – Xiao, empress of the Sui Dynasty
- 744 – Al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 706)
- 818 – Bernard of Italy, Frankish king (b. 797)
- 858 – Benedict III, pope of the Catholic Church
- 1071 – Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (b. c. 1045)
- 1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
- 1111 – Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (b. 1027)
- 1298 – Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1237)
- 1321 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1259)
- 1331 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (b. 1257)
- 1344 – Constantine II, King of Armenia
- 1355 – Marin Falier, Doge of Venice (b. 1285)
- 1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
- 1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
- 1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (b. 1500)
- 1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
- 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (b. 1656)
- 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
- 1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
- 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
- 1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (b. 1648)
- 1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
- 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
- 1799 – Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (b. 1728)
- 1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (b. 1758)
- 1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
- 1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
- 1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
- 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
- 1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
- 1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
- 1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1863)
- 1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
- 1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
- 1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
- 1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
- 1946 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (b. 1874)
- 1948 – Suzuki Kantarō, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
- 1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (b. 1900)
- 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
- 1961 – Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (b. 1899)
- 1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
- 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1939)
- 1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- 1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
- 1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1988 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (b. 1900)
- 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
- 1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
- 1996 – Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (b. 1905)
- 1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b. 1941)
- 2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
- 2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
- 2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1934)
- 2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
- 2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
- 2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
- 2006 – Henderson Forsythe, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
- 2011 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Leila Berg, English journalist and author (b. 1917)
- 2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
- 2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (b. ≈1910)
- 2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (b. 1957)
- 2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (b. 1921)
- 2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Chyna, American wrestler (b. 1969)
- 2016 – Doris Roberts, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2018 – Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (b. 1925)
- 2018 – Carl Kasell, American radio personality (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (b. 1949)
Holidays and observances on April 17
- Christian feast day:
- Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
- Stephen Harding
- April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Store Bededag or General Prayer Day can fall, while May 13 is the latest; observed on the 4th Friday after Easter. (Denmark)
- Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
- FAO Day (Iraq)
- Flag Day (American Samoa)
- Malbec World Day
- Women’s Day (Gabon)
- World Hemophilia Day
-
April 15 in History
- 769 – The Lateran Council condemned the Council of Hieria and anathematized its iconoclastic rulings.
- 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
- 1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne.
- 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
- 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.
- 1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.
- 1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
- 1736 – Foundation of the Kingdom of Corsica.
- 1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel receives its premiere performance in London, England.
- 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
- 1783 – Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.
- 1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.
- 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
- 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President upon Lincoln’s death.
- 1892 – The General Electric Company is formed.
- 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
- 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
- 1907 – Triangle Fraternity is founded at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
- 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
- 1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
- 1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
- 1924 – Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
- 1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.
- 1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.
- 1942 – The George Cross is awarded “to the island fortress of Malta” by King George VI.
- 1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
- 1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line.
- 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
- 1955 – McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
- 1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
- 1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 onboard.
- 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
- 1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
- 1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
- 1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang’s death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
- 1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
- 2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others.
- 2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.
- 2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians were gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
- 2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.
Births on April 15
- 68 BC – Gaius Maecenas, Roman politician (d. 8 BC)
- 1282 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1329)
- 1367 – Henry IV of England (d. 1413)
- 1442 – John Paston, English noble (d. 1479)
- 1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1519)
- 1469 – Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru (d. 1539)
- 1552 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1626)
- 1563 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth Sikh leader (d. 1606)
- 1588 – Claudius Salmasius, French author and scholar (d. 1653)
- 1592 – Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal (d. 1675)
- 1641 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and geographer (d. 1722)
- 1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1691)
- 1646 – Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
- 1684 – Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
- 1688 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (d. 1758)
- 1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1783)
- 1710 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
- 1741 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter and soldier (d. 1827)
- 1771 – Nicolas Chopin, French-Polish educator (d. 1844)
- 1772 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French biologist and zoologist (d. 1844)
- 1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer and academic (d. 1864)
- 1795 – Maria Schicklgruber, mother of Alois Hitler and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler (d.1847)
- 1800 – James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (d. 1862)
- 1808 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1892)
- 1809 – Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (d. 1877)
- 1817 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1885)
- 1828 – Jean Danjou, French captain (d. 1863)
- 1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (d. 1908)
- 1841 – Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (d. 1921)
- 1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (d. 1919)
- 1843 – Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1916)
- 1856 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (d. 1910)
- 1858 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (d. 1917)
- 1861 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (d. 1929)
- 1863 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (d. 1914)
- 1874 – George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (d. 1954)
- 1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1875 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (d. 1953)
- 1877 – Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (d. 1947)
- 1878 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1956)
- 1879 – Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
- 1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
- 1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1886 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (d. 1921)
- 1887 – William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (d. 1953)
- 1888 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (d. 1904)
- 1889 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (d. 1975)
- 1889 – A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
- 1890 – Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat’s eye (d. 1976)
- 1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (d. 1983)
- 1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
- 1894 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (d. 1937)
- 1895 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (d. 1980)
- 1895 – Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (d. 1941)
- 1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (d. 1973)
- 1901 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
- 1901 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1986)
- 1901 – René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
- 1902 – Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
- 1903 – John Williams, English-American actor (d. 1983)
- 1904 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
- 1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1908 – eden ahbez, Scottish-American songwriter and recording artist (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (d. 1997)
- 1912 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1916 – Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
- 1916 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1917 – Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1917 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (d. 1944)
- 1917 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
- 1918 – Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (d. 1993)
- 1920 – Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (d. 2015)
- 1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (d. 2009)
- 1922 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Hasrat Jaipuri, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Harold Washington, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
- 1922 – Graham Whitehead, English racing driver (d. 1981)
- 1923 – Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (d. 1966)
- 1923 – Robert DePugh, American activist, founded the Minutemen (an anti-Communist organization) (d. 2009)
- 1924 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1980)
- 1924 – Rikki Fulton, Scottish comedian (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Neville Marriner, English violinist and conductor (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Robert Mills, American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
- 1929 – Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Georges Descrières, French actor (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Icelandic educator and politician, 4th President of Iceland
- 1931 – Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Irish civil servant
- 1931 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
- 1933 – Roy Clark, American musician and television personality (d. 2018)
- 1933 – David Hamilton, English-French photographer and director (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress and producer (d. 1995)
- 1935 – Stavros Paravas, Greek actor and producer (d. 2008)
- 1936 – Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
- 1937 – Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
- 1938 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
- 1938 – Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician (d. 2016)
- 1939 – Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor
- 1939 – Desiré Ecaré, Ivorian filmmaker (d. 2009)
- 1940 – Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician
- 1940 – Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model, beauty queen and 1958 Miss World
- 1940 – Willie Davis, American baseball player and actor (d. 2010)
- 1940 – Robert Lacroix, Canadian economist and academic
- 1941 – Howard Berman, American lawyer and politician
- 1942 – Francis X. DiLorenzo, American bishop (d. 2017)
- 1942 – Walt Hazzard, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1942 – Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
- 1942 – Tim Lankester, English economist and academic
- 1943 – Pınar Kür, Turkish author, playwright, and academic
- 1943 – Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 – Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater, English politician
- 1943 – Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (d. 2006)
- 1944 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Russian-Chechen general and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (d. 1996)
- 1944 – Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer, guitarist, and producer
- 1946 – John Lloyd, Scottish journalist and author
- 1946 – Pete Rouse, American politician, White House Chief of Staff
- 1947 – Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American screenwriter and producer
- 1947 – Martin Broughton, English businessman
- 1947 – Lois Chiles, American model and actress
- 1947 – David Omand, English civil servant and academic
- 1947 – Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish nurse and politician, Swedish Minister for Social Security
- 1947 – Woolly Wolstenholme, English singer and keyboard player (d. 2010)
- 1948 – Christopher Brown, English historian, curator, and academic
- 1948 – Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
- 1948 – Phil Mogg, English singer-songwriter and musician
- 1949 – Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1949 – Craig Zadan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
- 1950 – Josiane Balasko, French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1950 – Amy Wright, American actress
- 1950 – Karel Kroupa, Czech football player
- 1951 – Heloise, American journalist and author
- 1951 – John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut
- 1951 – Stuart Prebble, English journalist and producer
- 1951 – Marsha Ivins, American engineer and astronaut
- 1952 – Kym Gyngell, Australian actor, comedian, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Brian Muir, English sculptor and set designer
- 1952 – Avital Ronell, Czech-American philosopher and academic
- 1955 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (d. 1997)
- 1955 – Joice Mujuru, Zimbabwean politician
- 1956 – Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach
- 1957 – Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach
- 1958 – Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1958 – John Bracewell, New Zealand cricketer
- 1958 – Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1958 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English actor, author, poet, and playwright
- 1959 – Fruit Chan, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1959 – Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1959 – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter
- 1960 – Pierre Aubry, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Susanne Bier, Danish director and screenwriter
- 1960 – Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist and sportscaster
- 1960 – Tony Jones, English snooker player
- 1961 – Neil Carmichael, English academic and politician
- 1961 – Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist
- 1961 – Dawn Wright, American geographer and oceanographer
- 1962 – Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician
- 1962 – Tom Kane, American voice actor
- 1963 – Alex Crawford, Nigerian-South African journalist
- 1963 – Manzoor Elahi, Pakistani cricketer
- 1963 – Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1964 – Andre Joubert, South African rugby player
- 1964 – Lee Kernaghan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer
- 1965 – Kevin Stevens, American ice hockey player
- 1966 – Samantha Fox, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1966 – Mott Green, American businessman (d. 2013)
- 1967 – Frankie Poullain, Scottish bass player and songwriter
- 1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist
- 1968 – Ben Clarke, English rugby player and coach
- 1968 – Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner
- 1968 – Ed O’Brien, English guitarist
- 1969 – Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
- 1969 – Kaisa Roose, Estonian pianist and conductor
- 1969 – Jimmy Waite, Canadian-German ice hockey player and coach
- 1970 – Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach
- 1971 – Philippe Carbonneau, French rugby player
- 1971 – Finidi George, Nigerian footballer
- 1971 – Jason Sehorn, American football player
- 1971 – Josia Thugwane, South African runner
- 1971 – Karl Turner, English lawyer and politician
- 1972 – Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
- 1972 – Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
- 1974 – Kim Min-kyo, South Korean actor and director
- 1974 – Danny Pino, American actor and screenwriter
- 1974 – Mike Quinn, American football player
- 1974 – Douglas Spain, American actor, director, and producer
- 1974 – Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player
- 1975 – Sarah Teichmann, German-American biophysicist and immunologist
- 1976 – Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1976 – Darius Regelskis, Lithuanian footballer
- 1976 – Kęstutis Šeštokas, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1976 – Steve Williams, English rower
- 1977 – Sudarsan Pattnaik, Indian sculptor
- 1977 – Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
- 1978 – Milton Bradley, American baseball player
- 1978 – Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
- 1978 – Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1978 – Chris Stapleton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Patrick Carney, American drummer, musician, and producer
- 1980 – James Foster, English cricketer
- 1980 – Raül López, Spanish basketball player
- 1980 – Willie Mason, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
- 1980 – Aida Mollenkamp, American chef and author
- 1980 – Billy Yates, American football player
- 1981 – Andrés D’Alessandro, Argentinian footballer
- 1982 – Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
- 1982 – Anthony Green, American singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
- 1983 – Matt Cardle, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1983 – Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (d. 2014)
- 1983 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist
- 1984 – Antonio Cromartie, American football player
- 1984 – Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Tom Heaton, English footballer
- 1986 – Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer
- 1988 – Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player
- 1988 – Steven Defour, Belgian footballer
- 1988 – Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher
- 1989 – Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Emma Watson, English actress
- 1991 – Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor
- 1991 – Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater
- 1992 – Jeremy McGovern, Australian rules football player
- 1994 – Brodie Grundy, Australian rules football player
- 1994 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter
- 1995 – Leander Dendoncker, Belgian footballer
- 1999 – Denis Shapovalov, Canadian tennis player
- 2001 – Shanti Dope, Filipino rapper
Deaths on April 15
- 628 – Suiko, emperor of Japan (b. 554)
- 943 – Liu Bin, emperor of Southern Han (b. 920)
- 956 – Lin Yanyu, Chinese court official and eunuch
- 1053 – Godwin, Earl of Wessex (b. 1001)
- 1136 – Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (b. 1094)
- 1220 – Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (b. 1157)
- 1237 – Richard Poore, English ecclesiastic
- 1415 – Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek philosopher and translator (b. 1355)
- 1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1377)
- 1502 – John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (b. 1443)
- 1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)
- 1610 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (b. 1546)
- 1632 – George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1580)
- 1652 – Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, Russian patriarch
- 1659 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymnwriter (b. 1605)
- 1719 – Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, French wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
- 1754 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1676)
- 1761 – Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Court of Session (b. 1682)
- 1761 – William Oldys, English historian and author (b. 1696)
- 1764 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (b. 1679)
- 1765 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian chemist and physicist (b. 1711)
- 1788 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- 1793 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1718)
- 1854 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773)
- 1861 – Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (b. 1792)
- 1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
- 1888 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (b. 1822)
- 1889 – Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (b. 1840)
- 1898 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician
- 1912 – Victims of the Titanic disaster:
- Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
- John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel, businessman, and author (b. 1864)
- Archibald Butt, American general and journalist (b. 1865)
- Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (b. 1875)
- Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
- Henry B. Harris, American producer and manager (b. 1866)
- Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (b. 1878)
- James Paul Moody, English Sixth Officer (b. 1887)
- William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish First Officer (b. 1873)
- Jack Phillips, English telegraphist (b. 1887)
- Edward Smith, English Captain (b. 1850)
- William Thomas Stead, English journalist (b. 1849)
- Ida Straus, German-American businesswoman (b. 1849)
- Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (b. 1845)
- John B. Thayer, American business and sportsman (b. 1862)
- Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer (b. 1872)
- 1917 – János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (b. 1839)
- 1927 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (b. 1868)
- 1938 – César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (b. 1892)
- 1942 – Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (b. 1880)
- 1943 – Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (b. 1882)
- 1944 – Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (b. 1901)
- 1945 – Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (b. 1895)
- 1948 – Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (b. 1892)
- 1949 – Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
- 1962 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (b. 1912)
- 1963 – Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (b. 1903)
- 1966 – Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan
- 1967 – Totò, Italian comedian (b. 1898)
- 1971 – Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
- 1971 – Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (b. 1886)
- 1979 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1912)
- 1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (b. 1904)
- 1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- 1982 – Arthur Lowe, English actor (b. 1915)
- 1984 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)
- 1986 – Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1910)
- 1988 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 1989 – Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
- 1990 – Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1993 – John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (b. 1908)
- 1998 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
- 1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1925)
- 1999 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (b. 1944)
- 2000 – Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (b. 1925)
- 2001 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
- 2002 – Damon Knight, American author and critic (b. 1922)
- 2002 – Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1917)
- 2004 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Brant Parker, American illustrator (b. 1920)
- 2008 – Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1924)
- 2009 – László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
- 2009 – Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Jack Herer, American author and activist (b. 1939)
- 2010 – Michael Pataki, American actor and director (b. 1938)
- 2011 – Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1975)
- 2012 – Paul Bogart, American director and producer (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (b. 1968)
- 2013 – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (b. 1928)
- 2014 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1966)
- 2015 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Clifton James, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2017 – Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (b. 1899)
- 2018 – R. Lee Ermey, American actor (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances on April 15
- Christian feast day:
- Abbo II of Metz
- Father Damien (The Episcopal Church)
- Hunna
- Paternus of Avranches
- April 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of the Sun (North Korea)
- Earliest day on which Sechseläuten can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in April. (Zürich)
- Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
- Hillsborough Disaster Memorial (Liverpool, England)
- Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
- National American Sign Language Day (United States)
- One Boston Day (United States)
- Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)
- Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States, Philippines)
- Universal Day of Culture
- World Art Day
-
April 9 in History
- 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
- 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite Christological position.
- 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
- 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
- 1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
- 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
- 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
- 1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
- 1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
- 1511 – St John’s College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
- 1585 – The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departs England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony.
- 1609 – Eighty Years’ War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
- 1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the “Expulsion of the Moriscos”.
- 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of the Saintes begins.
- 1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
- 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
- 1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
- 1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world’s first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
- 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
- 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
- 1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
- 1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
- 1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
- 1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
- 1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan’s 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.
- 1945 – Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anti-Nazi dissident and spy, by the Nazi regime.
- 1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.
- 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
- 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
- 1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
- 1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
- 1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.
- 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.
- 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
- 1952 – Hugo Ballivián’s government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines
- 1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.
- 1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.
- 1960 – Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.
- 1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
- 1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
- 1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
- 1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
- 1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
- 1976 – The EMD F40PH diesel locomotive enters revenue service with Amtrak.
- 1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
- 1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
- 1989 – Tbilisi massacre: an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
- 1990 – An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
- 1990 – Thirteen thousand members of the Dene and Métis tribes sign a land claim agreement for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.
- 1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: The Battle of Košare begins.
- 2003 – Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
- 2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor’s Guildhall.
- 2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
- 2013 – A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.
- 2013 – At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.
- 2014 – A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
- 2017 – The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
- 2017 – After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.
Births on April 9
- 1285 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Emperor Renzong of Yuan (d. 1320)
- 1458 – Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (d. 1524)
- 1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
- 1586 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
- 1597 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (d. 1670)
- 1598 – Johann Crüger, Sorbian-German composer and theorist (d. 1662)
- 1624 – Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (d. 1679)
- 1627 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (d. 1693)
- 1634 – Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (d. 1696)
- 1648 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
- 1649 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1685)
- 1654 – Samuel Fritz, Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (d. 1725?)
- 1680 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright (d. 1754)
- 1686 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1721)
- 1691 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (d. 1761)
- 1717 – Georg Matthias Monn, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1750)
- 1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist and academic (d. 1831)
- 1773 – Étienne Aignan, French author and academic (d. 1824)
- 1794 – Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (d. 1881)
- 1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and philologist (d. 1884)
- 1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)
- 1807 – James Bannerman, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1868)
- 1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (d. 1867)
- 1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and cinematographer (d. 1904)
- 1835 – Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
- 1835 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (d. 1913)
- 1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian-English composer and educator (d. 1916)
- 1848 – Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz, Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (d. 1906)
- 1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general and politician (d. 1937)
- 1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Polish-American mathematician and engineer (d. 1923)
- 1867 – Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (d. 1932)
- 1872 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
- 1875 – Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (d. 1912)
- 1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
- 1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1946)
- 1882 – Otz Tollen, German actor (d. 1965)
- 1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
- 1887 – Konrad Tom, Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (d. 1957)
- 1888 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American talent manager (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d.1967)
- 1893 – Victor Gollancz, English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (d. 1967)
- 1893 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian linguist, author, and scholar (d. 1963)
- 1895 – Mance Lipscomb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
- 1895 – Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1975)
- 1897 – John B. Gambling, American radio host (d. 1974)
- 1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football player and coach (d. 1965)
- 1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer, actor, and activist (d. 1976)
- 1900 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
- 1901 – Jean Bruchési, Canadian historian and author (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Paul Willis, American actor and director (d. 1960)
- 1902 – Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
- 1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1904 – Sharkey Bonano, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1972)
- 1905 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
- 1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
- 1906 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician and leader of the Labour Party (d. 1963)
- 1906 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (d. 1997)
- 1908 – Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (d. 1980)
- 1909 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (d. 1997)
- 1915 – Daniel Johnson Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
- 1916 – Julian Dash, American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1974)
- 1916 – Heinz Meyer, German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (d. 1987)
- 1916 – Bill Leonard, American journalist (d. 1994)
- 1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German songwriter and poet (d. 1965)
- 1917 – Ronnie Burgess, Welsh international footballer left-half and manager (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Henry Hewes, American theater writer (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (d. 2008)
- 1919 – J. Presper Eckert, American engineer, invented the ENIAC (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
- 1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Carl Amery, German author and activist (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Leonard Levy, American historian and author (d. 2006)
- 1924 – Arthur Shaw, English professional footballer (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
- 1926 – Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (d. 2019)
- 1927 – Tiny Hill, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
- 1928 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Tom Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician
- 1929 – Sharan Rani Backliwal, Indian sarod player and scholar (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (d. 1993)
- 1929 – Paule Marshall, American author and academic (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (d. 2014)
- 1930 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist and academic (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Jim Fowler, American zoologist and television host (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (d. 2011)
- 1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
- 1932 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (d. 2006)
- 1932 – Peter Moores, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
- 1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor and producer
- 1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Fern Michaels, American author
- 1933 – Richard Rose, American political scientist and academic
- 1933 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (d. 1994)
- 1934 – Bill Birch, New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
- 1934 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
- 1934 – Mariya Pisareva, Russian high jumper
- 1935 – Aulis Sallinen, Finnish composer and academic
- 1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
- 1936 – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
- 1936 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (d. 1988)
- 1937 – Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
- 1937 – Marty Krofft, Canadian screenwriter and producer
- 1937 – Valerie Singleton, English television and radio host
- 1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
- 1940 – Hans-Joachim Reske, German sprinter
- 1940 – Jim Roberts, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1941 – Kay Adams, American singer-songwriter
- 1942 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1942 – Margo Smith, American singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Leila Khaled, Palestinian activist
- 1943 – Terry Knight, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
- 1944 – Joe Brinkman, American baseball player and umpire
- 1944 – Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg, German shot putter
- 1945 – Steve Gadd, American drummer and percussionist[9]
- 1946 – Nate Colbert, American baseball player[10]
- 1946 – Alan Knott, English cricketer[11]
- 1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician[12]
- 1946 – David Webb, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1947 – Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Italian economist and academic
- 1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
- 1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer
- 1949 – Tony Cragg, English sculptor
- 1952 – Robert Clark, American author
- 1952 – Bruce Robertson, New Zealand rugby player
- 1952 – Tania Tsanaklidou, Greek singer and actress
- 1953 – John Howard, English singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1953 – Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (d. 2017)
- 1954 – Ken Kalfus, American journalist and author
- 1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor
- 1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- 1955 – Yamina Benguigui, Algerian-French director and politician
- 1955 – Joolz Denby, English poet and author
- 1956 – Miguel Ángel Russo, Argentinian footballer and coach
- 1956 – Nigel Shadbolt, English computer scientist and academic
- 1956 – Vahur Sova, Estonian architect
- 1956 – Marina Zoueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
- 1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer and architect (d. 2011)
- 1957 – Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
- 1957 – Jamie Redfern, English-born Australian television presenter, and pop singer
- 1958 – Tony Sibson, English boxer
- 1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author
- 1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
- 1960 – Jaak Aab, Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
- 1961 – Mark Kelly, Irish keyboard player
- 1961 – Kirk McCaskill, Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
- 1962 – John Eaves, American production designer and illustrator
- 1962 – Ihor Podolchak, Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Imran Sherwani, English field hockey player
- 1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1963 – Marc Jacobs, American-French fashion designer
- 1963 – Joe Scarborough, American journalist, lawyer, and politician
- 1964 – Rob Awalt, German-American football player
- 1964 – Juliet Cuthbert, Jamaican sprinter
- 1964 – Peter Penashue, Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
- 1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American author
- 1964 – Rick Tocchet, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
- 1965 – Helen Alfredsson, Swedish golfer
- 1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
- 1965 – Jeff Zucker, American businessman
- 1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster
- 1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
- 1967 – Natascha Engel, German-English translator and politician
- 1967 – Sam Harris, American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
- 1968 – Jay Chandrasekhar, American actor, comedian, writer and director
- 1969 – Barnaby Kay, English actor
- 1969 – Linda Kisabaka, German runner
- 1970 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1971 – Peter Canavan, Irish footballer and manager
- 1971 – Leo Fortune-West, English footballer and manager
- 1971 – Austin Peck, American actor
- 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
- 1972 – Bernard Ackah, German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
- 1972 – Siiri Vallner, Estonian architect
- 1974 – Megan Connolly, Australian actress (d. 2001)
- 1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer
- 1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer and manager
- 1975 – David Gordon Green, American director and screenwriter
- 1976 – Kyle Peterson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Gerard Way, American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
- 1978 – Kousei Amano, Japanese actor
- 1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1979 – Jeff Reed, American football player
- 1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
- 1980 – Sarah Ayton, English sailor
- 1980 – Luciano Galletti, Argentinian footballer
- 1980 – Albert Hammond Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1981 – A. J. Ellis, American baseball player
- 1981 – Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
- 1981 – Dennis Sarfate, American baseball player
- 1981 – Eric Harris, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
- 1982 – Jay Baruchel, Canadian actor
- 1982 – Carlos Hernández, Costa Rican footballer
- 1982 – Kathleen Munroe, Canadian-American actress
- 1983 – Ryan Clark, Australian actor
- 1984 – Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian runner[13]
- 1984 – Adam Loewen, Canadian baseball player
- 1984 – Óscar Razo, Mexican footballer
- 1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
- 1985 – David Robertson, American baseball player
- 1986 – Mike Hart, American football player
- 1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
- 1987 – Kassim Abdallah, French-Comorian footballer
- 1987 – Graham Gano, American football player
- 1987 – Craig Mabbitt, American singer
- 1987 – Jesse McCartney, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1987 – Jarrod Mullen, Australian rugby league player
- 1987 – Jazmine Sullivan, American singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Michel Alves Baroni, Brazilian footballer
- 1988 – Jeremy Metcalfe, English racing driver
- 1989 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
- 1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
- 1990 – Ryan Williams, American football player
- 1991 – Ryan Kelly, American basketball player
- 1991 – Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer
- 1992 – Joshua Ledet, American singer
- 1994 – Joey Pollari, American actor
- 1995 – Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player
- 1995 – Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer
- 1996 – Jayden Brailey, Australian rugby league player[14]
- 1996 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder[15]
- 1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress[16]
- 1999 – Montero Lamar Hill, American rapper[17]
- 2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer[18]
Deaths on April 9
- 585 BC – Jimmu, emperor of Japan (b. 711 BC)
- AD 93 – Yuan An, Chinese scholar and politician
- 436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese general and politician
- 491 – Zeno, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 425)
- 682 – Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari, Egyptian politician, Governor of Egypt (b. 616)
- 715 – Constantine, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 664)
- 1024 – Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 980)
- 1137 – William X, duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
- 1241 – Henry II, High Duke of Poland (b. 1196)
- 1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (b. 1261)
- 1327 – Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (ca. 1296)
- 1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)
- 1484 – Edward of Middleheim, prince of Wales (b. 1473)
- 1550 – Alqas Mirza, Safavid prince (b. 1516)[19]
- 1553 – François Rabelais, French monk and scholar (b. 1494)
- 1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish priest and scholar (b. 1510)
- 1626 – Francis Bacon, English jurist and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1561)
- 1654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
- 1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (b. 1618)
- 1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1667)
- 1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (b. 1679)
- 1761 – William Law, English priest and theologian (b. 1686)
- 1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)
- 1804 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1732)
- 1806 – William V, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (b. 1748)
- 1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
- 1876 – Charles Goodyear, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1804)
- 1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
- 1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist and academic (b. 1786)
- 1909 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (b. 1840)
- 1915 – Raymond Whittindale, English rugby player (b. 1883)
- 1917 – James Hope Moulton, English philologist and scholar (b. 1863)
- 1922 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German entomologist and explorer (b. 1866)
- 1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
- 1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1855)
- 1940 – Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
- 1944 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1920)
- 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (b. 1906)
- 1945 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
- 1945 – Johann Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
- 1945 – Hans Oster, German general (b. 1887)
- 1945 – Karl Sack, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1896)
- 1945 – Hans von Dohnányi, Austrian-German lawyer and jurist (b. 1902)
- 1948 – George Carpenter, Australian 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
- 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Colombian Minister of National Education (b. 1903)
- 1951 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (b. 1862)
- 1953 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (b. 1877)
- 1953 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and television host (b. 1891)
- 1953 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
- 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
- 1961 – Zog I of Albania (b. 1895)
- 1963 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist (b. 1891)
- 1963 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
- 1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (b. 1896)
- 1976 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1903)
- 1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
- 1976 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (b. 1891)
- 1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883)
- 1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
- 1982 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1896)
- 1988 – Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
- 1988 – Hans Berndt, German footballer (b. 1913)
- 1988 – Dave Prater, American singer (b. 1937)
- 1991 – Forrest Towns, American hurdler and coach (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Joseph B. Soloveitchik, American rabbi and philosopher (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Richard Condon, American author and publicist (b. 1915)
- 1997 – Mae Boren Axton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
- 1997 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
- 1998 – Tom Cora, American cellist and composer (b. 1953)
- 1999 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Nigerien general and politician, President of Niger (b. 1949)
- 2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)
- 2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)
- 2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian soldier, mathematician, and academic (b. 1891)
- 2003 – Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
- 2006 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, manager (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Egon Bondy, Czech philosopher and poet (b. 1930)
- 2007 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (b. 1907)
- 2009 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
- 2010 – Zoltán Varga, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1945)
- 2011 – Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, Bahraini journalist (b. 1971)
- 2011 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Malcolm Thomas, Welsh rugby player and cricketer (b. 1929)
- 2013 – David Hayes, American sculptor and painter (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Greg McCrary, American football player (b. 1952)
- 2013 – Mordechai Mishani, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
- 2013 – McCandlish Phillips, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Gil Askey, American trumpet player, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Chris Banks, American football player (b. 1973)
- 2014 – Rory Ellinger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, academic, and politician (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Aelay Narendra, Indian politician (b. 1946)
- 2014 – A. N. R. Robinson, Trinbagonian politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Serbian author (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Margaret Rule, British marine archaeologist (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Nina Companeez, French director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 2015 – Alexander Dalgarno, English physicist and academic (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Ivan Doig, American journalist and author (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Chinese-American academic (b. 1909)
- 2016 – Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
- 2017 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, writer, and satirist (b. 1948)
Holidays and observances on April 9
- Christian feast day:
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Anglicanism, Lutheranism)
- Gaucherius
- Materiana
- Waltrude
- April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
- Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- Bataan Day or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
- Constitution Day (Kosovo)
- Day of National Unity (Georgia)
- Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
- Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
- Martyr’s Day (Tunisia)
- National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
- Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
- Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)
-
April 2 in History
- 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.
- 1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
- 1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
- 1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
- 1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.
- 1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
- 1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.
- 1900 – The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
- 1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, Saint Petersburg.
- 1902 – “Electric Theatre”, the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
- 1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country’s first national census.
- 1912 – The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
- 1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
- 1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
- 1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
- 1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
- 1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.
- 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
- 1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
- 1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
- 1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
- 1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
- 1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
- 1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
- 1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
- 1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
- 1989 – ASUS corporation is founded.
- 1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
- 1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
- 1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
- 2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
- 2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
- 2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
- 2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
- 2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
- 2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area in what has been called the “largest burglary in English legal history.”
Births on April 2
- 742 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)
- 1473 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
- 1545 – Elisabeth of Valois (d. 1568)
- 1565 – Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
- 1586 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveler (d. 1652)
- 1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess (d. 1665)
- 1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
- 1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
- 1653 – Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
- 1696 – Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1778)
- 1719 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
- 1725 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian explorer and author (d. 1798)
- 1788 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet and author (d. 1862)
- 1788 – Wilhelmine Reichard, German balloonist (d. 1848)
- 1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871)
- 1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840)
- 1798 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and academic (d. 1874)
- 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1875)
- 1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875)
- 1814 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
- 1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Jacob Nash Victor, American engineer (d. 1907)
- 1838 – Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
- 1840 – Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (d. 1902)
- 1841 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (d. 1926)
- 1842 – Dominic Savio, Italian Catholic saint, adolescent student of Saint John Bosco (d. 1857)
- 1861 – Iván Persa, Slovenian priest and author (d. 1935)
- 1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
- 1869 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (d. 1928)
- 1875 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (d. 1940)
- 1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942)
- 1884 – J. C. Squire, English poet, author, and historian (d. 1958)
- 1891 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish entertainer (d. 1957)
- 1891 – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 1976)
- 1891 – Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (d. 1958)
- 1896 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (d. 1936)
- 1898 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
- 1898 – Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (d. 1940)
- 1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1942)
- 1900 – Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1970)
- 1900 – Alfred Strange, English footballer (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Jan Tschichold, German-Swiss graphic designer and typographer (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Alphonse-Marie Parent, Canadian priest and educator (d. 1970)
- 1907 – Harald Andersson, American-Swedish discus thrower (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Luke Appling, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
- 1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980)
- 1910 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian spiritual medium (d. 2002)
- 1914 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
- 1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981)
- 1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Jack Stokes, English animator and director (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1922 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Gloria Henry, American actress
- 1923 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
- 1923 – G. Spencer-Brown, English mathematician, psychologist, and author (d. 2016)
- 1924 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1925 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television host (d. 1987)
- 1926 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Kenneth Tynan, English author and critic (d. 1980)
- 1928 – Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
- 1928 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (d. 1991)
- 1928 – Roy Masters, English-American radio host
- 1928 – David Robinson, Northern Irish horticulturist and academic (d. 2004)
- 1929 – Ed Dorn, American poet and educator (d. 1999)
- 1930 – Roddy Maude-Roxby, English actor
- 1931 – Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian javelin thrower (d. 1986)
- 1932 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1933 – György Konrád, Hungarian sociologist and author
- 1934 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Brian Glover, English wrestler and actor (d. 1997)
- 1934 – Carl Kasell, American journalist and game show host (d. 2018)
- 1934 – Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
- 1934 – Dovid Shmidel, Austrian-born Israeli rabbi
- 1936 – Shaul Ladany, Serbian-Israeli race walker and engineer
- 1937 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1938 – John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of The Salvation Army
- 1938 – Booker Little, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1961)
- 1938 – Al Weis, American baseball player
- 1939 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1939 – Anthony Lake, American academic and diplomat, 18th United States National Security Advisor
- 1939 – Lise Thibault, Canadian journalist and politician, 27th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
- 1940 – Donald Jackson, Canadian figure skater and coach
- 1940 – Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (d. 1981)
- 1940 – Penelope Keith, English actress
- 1941 – Dr. Demento, American radio host
- 1941 – Sonny Throckmorton, American country singer-songwriter
- 1942 – Leon Russell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Roshan Seth, Indian-English actor
- 1943 – Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce, South African-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
- 1943 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (d. 2007)
- 1943 – Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Antonio Sabàto, Sr., Italian actor
- 1944 – Bill Malinchak, American football player
- 1945 – Jürgen Drews, German singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Guy Fréquelin, French race car driver
- 1945 – Linda Hunt, American actress
- 1945 – Reggie Smith, American baseball player and coach
- 1945 – Don Sutton, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1945 – Anne Waldman, American poet
- 1946 – Richard Collinge, New Zealand cricketer
- 1946 – David Heyes, English politician
- 1946 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (d. 2014)
- 1946 – Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (d. 1997)
- 1947 – Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1947 – Tua Forsström, Finnish writer
- 1947 – Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Camille Paglia, American author and critic
- 1948 – Roald Als, Danish author and illustrator
- 1948 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (d. 2012)
- 1948 – Daniel Okrent, American journalist and author
- 1948 – Joan D. Vinge, American author
- 1949 – Paul Gambaccini, American-English radio and television host
- 1949 – Bernd Müller, German footballer
- 1949 – Pamela Reed, American actress
- 1949 – David Robinson, American drummer
- 1950 – Lynn Westmoreland, American politician
- 1951 – Ayako Okamoto, Japanese golfer
- 1952 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist
- 1952 – Will Hoy, English race car driver (d. 2002)
- 1952 – Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1953 – Jim Allister, Northern Irish lawyer and politician
- 1953 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, 20th and 21st-century U.S. Navy aviator
- 1953 – Malika Oufkir, Moroccan Berber writer
- 1953 – Debralee Scott, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1953 – James Vance, American author and playwright (d. 2017)
- 1954 – Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1954 – Donald Petrie, American actor and director
- 1955 – Michael Stone, Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary
- 1957 – Caroline Dean, English biologist and academic
- 1957 – Hank Steinbrenner, American businessman, co-owner of the New York Yankees
- 1958 – Stefano Bettarello, Italian rugby player
- 1958 – Larry Drew, American basketball player and coach
- 1959 – Gelindo Bordin, Italian runner
- 1959 – David Frankel, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1959 – Juha Kankkunen, Finnish race car driver
- 1959 – Yves Lavandier, French director and producer
- 1959 – Badou Ezzaki, Moroccan footballer and manager
- 1960 – Linford Christie, Jamaican-English sprinter
- 1960 – Brad Jones, Australian race car driver
- 1960 – Pascale Nadeau, Canadian journalist
- 1961 – Buddy Jewell, American singer-songwriter
- 1961 – Christopher Meloni, American actor
- 1961 – Keren Woodward, English singer-songwriter
- 1962 – Pierre Carles, French director and producer
- 1962 – Billy Dean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Clark Gregg, American actor
- 1963 – Karl Beattie, English director and producer
- 1963 – Mike Gascoyne, English engineer
- 1964 – Pete Incaviglia, American baseball player and coach
- 1964 – Jonathon Sharkey, American wrestler
- 1965 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (d. 2012)
- 1966 – Bill Romanowski, American football player and actor
- 1966 – Teddy Sheringham, English international footballer, striker and coach
- 1967 – Greg Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Phil Demmel, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1969 – Ajay Devgan, Indian actor, director, and producer
- 1971 – Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1971 – Jason Lewry, English cricketer
- 1971 – Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Remo D’Souza, Indian choreographer and dancer
- 1972 – Calvin Davis, American sprinter and hurdler
- 1972 – Zane Lamprey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Dmitry Lipartov, Russian footballer
- 1973 – Roselyn Sánchez, Puerto Rican-American actress
- 1973 – Aleksejs Semjonovs, Latvian footballer
- 1974 – Tayfun Korkut, Turkish football manager and former player
- 1975 – Randy Livingston, American basketball player
- 1975 – Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, German rower
- 1976 – Andreas Anastasopoulos, Greek shot putter
- 1976 – Rory Sabbatini, South African golfer
- 1976 – Pattie Mallette, Canadian author and film producer
- 1977 – Per Elofsson, Swedish skier
- 1977 – Michael Fassbender, German-Irish actor and producer
- 1977 – Hanno Pevkur, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice
- 1978 – Scott Lynch, American author
- 1978 – Ethan Smith, American actor, director, and producer
- 1979 – Jesse Carmichael, American keyboard player
- 1980 – Avi Benedi, Israeli singer and songwriter
- 1980 – Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist
- 1980 – Gavin Heffernan, Canadian director and screenwriter
- 1980 – Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- 1980 – Wairangi Koopu, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1980 – Carlos Salcido, Mexican international footballer, defender
- 1981 – Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor
- 1982 – Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Jeremy Bloom, American football player and skier
- 1982 – Jack Evans, American wrestler
- 1982 – David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player
- 1983 – Yung Joc, American rapper
- 1983 – Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- 1984 – Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player
- 1984 – Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver
- 1984 – Jérémy Morel, French footballer
- 1985 – Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player
- 1985 – Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
- 1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
- 1986 – Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player
- 1986 – Lee DeWyze, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer
- 1987 – Marc Pugh, English footballer
- 1988 – Jesse Plemons, American actor
- 1990 – Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
- 1990 – Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer
- 1991 – Quavo, American rapper
- 1993 – Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
- 1997 – Dillon Bassett, American race car driver
- 1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer
Deaths on April 2
- 670 – Hasan ibn Ali the second Shia Imam (b. 624)
- 870 – Æbbe the Younger, Frankish abbess
- 872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general
- 968 – Yuan Dezhao, Chinese chancellor (b. 891)
- 991 – Bardas Skleros, Byzantine general
- 1118 – Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem
- 1244 – Henrik Harpestræng, Danish botanical and medical author
- 1272 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English husband of Sanchia of Provence (b. 1209)
- 1335 – Henry of Bohemia (b. 1265)
- 1412 – Ruy González de Clavijo, Spanish explorer and author
- 1416 – Ferdinand I, king of Aragon (b. 1379)
- 1502 – Arthur, prince of Wales (b. 1486)
- 1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
- 1511 – Bernard VII, Lord of Lippe, German nobleman (b. 1428)
- 1640 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (b. 1595)
- 1657 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
- 1657 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French priest, founded the Society of Saint-Sulpice (b. 1608)
- 1672 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino missionary and saint (b. 1654)
- 1672 – Diego Luis de San Vitores, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1627)
- 1720 – Joseph Dudley, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1647)
- 1742 – James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
- 1747 – Johann Jacob Dillenius, German-English botanist and mycologist (b. 1684)
- 1754 – Thomas Carte, English historian and author (b. 1686)
- 1787 – Thomas Gage, English general and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1719)
- 1791 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French journalist and politician (b. 1749)
- 1801 – Thomas Dadford, Jr., English engineer (b. 1761)
- 1803 – Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1721)
- 1817 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author and academic (b. 1740)
- 1827 – Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and educator (b. 1776)
- 1845 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1763)
- 1865 – A. P. Hill, American general (b. 1825)
- 1872 – Samuel Morse, American painter and academic, invented the Morse code (b. 1791)
- 1891 – Albert Pike, American lawyer and general (b. 1809)
- 1891 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek playwright and politician, 249th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1823)
- 1894 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (b. 1803)
- 1896 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (b. 1852)
- 1914 – Paul Heyse, German author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- 1917 – Bryn Lewis, Welsh international rugby player (b.1891)
- 1923 – Topal Osman, Turkish colonel (b. 1883)
- 1928 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- 1930 – Zewditu I of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
- 1933 – Ranjitsinhji, Indian cricketer (b. 1872)
- 1936 – Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (b. 1862)
- 1948 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (b. 1907)
- 1953 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
- 1966 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (b. 1899)
- 1972 – Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)
- 1972 – Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese martial artist and educator (b. 1887)
- 1974 – Georges Pompidou, French banker and politician, 19th President of France (b. 1911)
- 1977 – Walter Wolf, German academic and politician (b. 1907)
- 1987 – Buddy Rich, American drummer, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1917)
- 1989 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (b. 1939)
- 1992 – Juanito, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1954)
- 1992 – Jan van Aartsen, Dutch politician (b. 1909)
- 1994 – Betty Furness, American actress, consumer advocate, game show panelist, television journalist and television personality (b. 1916)
- 1994 – Marc Fitch, British historian and philanthropist (b. 1908)
- 1995 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- 1997 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese director and producer (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Rob Pilatus, American-German singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
- 2001 – Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Levi Celerio, Filipino composer and songwriter (b. 1910)
- 2002 – John R. Pierce, American engineer and author (b. 1910)
- 2003 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
- 2004 – John Argyris, Greek computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Lillian O’Donnell, American crime novelist (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
- 2006 – Lloyd Searwar, Guyanese anthologist and diplomat (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Henry L. Giclas, American astronomer and academic (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran(b. 1898)
- 2009 – Albert Sanschagrin, Canadian bishop (b. 1911)
- 2009 – Bud Shank, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Chris Kanyon, American wrestler (b. 1970)
- 2011 – John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican sculptor and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Mauricio Lasansky, American graphic designer and academic (b. 1914)
- 2013 – Fred, French author and illustrator (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Milo O’Shea, Irish-American actor (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Glyn Jones, South African actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Urs Widmer, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1938)
- 2015 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 2015 – Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician, Governor of Limburg (b. 1954)
- 2016 – Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (b. 1996)
Holidays and observances on April 2
- Christian feast day:
- Abundius of Como
- Amphianus of Lycia
- Æbbe the Younger
- Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology)
- Francis of Paola
- Francisco Coll Guitart
- Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Nicetius of Lyon
- Pedro Calungsod
- Theodosia of Tyre
- Urban of Langres
- April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- International Children’s Book Day (International)
- Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
- Unity of Peoples of Russia and Belarus Day (Belarus)
- World Autism Awareness Day (International)
-
March 28 in History
- AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
- 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Didius Julianus.
- 364 – Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor.
- 1566 – The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta’s capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
- 1737 – The Marathas under Baji Rao I attack and defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Delhi.
- 1776 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
- 1794 – Allies under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeat French forces at Le Cateau.
- 1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia.
- 1801 – Treaty of Florence is signed, ending the war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Naples.
- 1802 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.
- 1809 – Peninsular War: France defeats Spain in the Battle of Medellín.
- 1814 – War of 1812: In the Battle of Valparaíso, two American naval vessels are captured by two Royal Navy vessels of equal strength.
- 1842 – First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai.
- 1854 – Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.
- 1860 – First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.
- 1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory. The battle began on March 26.
- 1871 – The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
- 1883 – Tonkin Campaign: French victory in the Battle of Gia Cuc.
- 1910 – Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion, after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.
- 1920 – Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 affects the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.
- 1933 – The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airliner lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.
- 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege.
- 1941 – World War II: Britain’s Mediterranean Fleet sinks three heavy cruisers and two destroyers of Italy’s Regia Marina.
- 1942 – World War II: A British combined force permanently disables the Louis Joubert Lock in Saint-Nazaire in order to keep the German battleship Tirpitz away from the mid-ocean convoy lanes.
- 1946 – Cold War: The United States Department of State releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
- 1951 – First Indochina War: In the Battle of Mạo Khê, French Union forces, led by World War II hero Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, inflict a defeat on Việt Minh forces commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp.
- 1959 – The State Council of the People’s Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.
- 1968 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students.
- 1969 – Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece.
- 1970 – An earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time, killing 1,086 and injuring 1,260.
- 1978 – The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
- 1979 – A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.
- 1979 – The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan’s government by 1 vote, precipitating a general election.
- 1990 – United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
- 1994 – In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill 146 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.
- 2003 – In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.
- 2005 – An earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), leaving 915–1,314 people dead and 340–1,146 injured.
- 2006 – Massive protests are mounted against France’s First Employment Contract law, meant to reduce youth unemployment.
Births of March 28
- 931 – Liu Chengyou, emperor of Later Han (d. 951)
- 1097 – Atsiz, Abbasid caliph (d. 1156)
- 1416 – Jodha of Mandore, Ruler of Marwar (d. 1489)
- 1468 – Charles I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1490)
- 1472 – Fra Bartolomeo, Italian painter (d. 1517)
- 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
- 1515 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1582)
- 1522 – Albert the Warlike, German prince (d. 1557)
- 1527 – Isabella Markham, English courtier (d. 1579)
- 1591 – William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English earl (d. 1668)
- 1592 – John Amos Comenius, Czech bishop and educator (d. 1670)
- 1599 – Witte de With, Dutch captain (d. 1658)
- 1613 – Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang of China (d. 1688)
- 1621 – Heinrich Schwemmer, German composer and educator (d. 1696)
- 1638 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch botanist and anatomist (d. 1731)
- 1652 – Samuel Sewall, English judge (d. 1730)
- 1725 – Andrew Kippis, English minister and author (d. 1795)
- 1727 – Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, (d. 1777)
- 1743 – Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, Russian academic and politician (d. 1810)
- 1750 – Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan general and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 1816)
- 1760 – Thomas Clarkson, English activist (d. 1846)
- 1773 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (d. 1844)
- 1793 – Henry Schoolcraft, American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist (d. 1864)
- 1795 – Georg Heinrich Pertz, German historian and author (d. 1876)
- 1806 – Thomas Hare, English lawyer and political scientist (d. 1891)
- 1811 – John Neumann, Czech-American bishop and saint (d. 1860)
- 1815 – Arsène Houssaye, French author and poet (d. 1896)
- 1818 – Wade Hampton III, American general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (d. 1902)
- 1819 – Joseph Bazalgette, English architect and engineer, designed the Hammersmith Bridge and Battersea Bridge (d. 1891)
- 1828 – Melchior Anderegg, Swiss mountain guide (d. 1914)
- 1832 – Henry D. Washburn, American politician, general and explorer (d. 1871)
- 1836 – Frederick Pabst, German-American brewer, founded the Pabst Brewing Company (d. 1904)
- 1840 – Emin Pasha, German-Jewish Egyptian physician and politician (d. 1892)
- 1847 – Gyula Farkas, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1930)
- 1849 – James Darmesteter, French historian and author (d. 1894)
- 1850 – Kyrle Bellew, English theatre actor (d. 1911)
- 1851 – Bernardino Machado, Portuguese academic and politician, 3rd President of Portugal (d. 1944)
- 1862 – Aristide Briand, French politician, Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
- 1866 – Jimmy Ross, Scottish footballer (d. 1902)
- 1868 – Maxim Gorky, Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1936)
- 1871 – Willem Mengelberg, Dutch-Swiss conductor (d. 1951)
- 1873 – John Geiger, American rower (d. 1956)
- 1878 – Abraham Walkowitz, Russian-American painter (d. 1965)
- 1879 – Terence MacSwiney, Irish republican politician and hunger striker; Lord Mayor of Cork (d. 1920)
- 1881 – Martin Sheridan, Irish-American discus thrower and jumper (d. 1918)
- 1884 – Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1951)
- 1886 – Gustave Mesny, French general (d. 1945)
- 1890 – Paul Whiteman, American violinist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1967)
- 1892 – Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Tom Maguire, Irish general (d. 1993)
- 1893 – Spyros Skouras, Greek-American businessman (d. 1971)
- 1894 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain (d. 1941)
- 1895 – Ángela Ruiz Robles, Spanish teacher, writer and inventor, pioneer of the electronic book (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Christian Herter, American politician, 53rd United States Secretary of State (d. 1966)
- 1895 – Donald Grey Barnhouse, American pastor and theologian (d. 1960)
- 1895 – Spencer W. Kimball, American religious leader, 12th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1985)
- 1897 – Sepp Herberger, German footballer and manager (d. 1977)
- 1897 – Tillie Voss, American football player (d. 1975)
- 1899 – Gussie Busch, American businessman (d. 1989)
- 1899 – Harold B. Lee, American religious leader, 11th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1973)
- 1899 – Buck Shaw, American football player and coach (d. 1977)
- 1900 – Edward Wagenknecht, American critic and educator (d. 2004)
- 1902 – Flora Robson, English actress (d. 1984)
- 1902 – Jaromír Vejvoda, Czech fiddler and composer (d. 1988)
- 1903 – Rudolf Serkin, Czech-American pianist and educator (d. 1991)
- 1904 – Isabel Cuchí Coll, Puerto Rican author and journalist (d. 1993)
- 1905 – Pandro S. Berman, American production manager and producer (d. 1996)
- 1905 – Marlin Perkins, American zoologist and television host (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Murray Adaskin, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2002)
- 1906 – Robert Allen, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1906 – Dorothy Knowles, South African-English author, fencer and academic (d. 2010)
- 1907 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (d. 2005)
- 1907 – Norrey Ford, English author (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Irving Paul Lazar, American lawyer and talent agent (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Nelson Algren, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Frederick Baldwin Adams, Jr., American librarian and art collector (d. 2001)
- 1910 – Jimmie Dodd, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
- 1910 – Ingrid of Sweden, (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Consalvo Sanesi, Italian race car driver (d. 1998)
- 1912 – A. Bertram Chandler, English-Australian author (d. 1984)
- 1912 – Marina Raskova, Russian pilot and navigator (d. 1943)
- 1913 – Kazuo Taoka, Japanese crime boss (d. 1981)
- 1913 – Toko Shinoda, Japanese artist
- 1914 – Edward Anhalt, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Bohumil Hrabal, Czech author (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Kenneth Richard Norris, Australian entomologist and academic (d. 2003)
- 1914 – Edmund Muskie, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 58th United States Secretary of State (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Everett Ruess, American explorer, poet, and painter (d. 1934)
- 1915 – Jay Livingston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Claude Bertrand, Canadian neurosurgeon and scholar (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Edward Amy, Canadian soldier (d. 2011)
- 1919 – Jacob Avshalomov, American composer and conductor (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Tom Brooks, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Eileen Crofton, British physician and author (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Vic Raschi, American baseball player and coach (d. 1988)
- 1921 – Harold Agnew, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor and author (d. 1999)
- 1921 – Herschel Grynszpan, German assassin of Ernst vom Rath (d. 1960)
- 1921 – Walter Neugebauer, Croatian-German author and illustrator (d. 1992)
- 1922 – Neville Bonner, Australian politician (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Grace Hartigan, American painter and educator (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Joey Maxim, American boxer and actor (d. 2001)
- 1922 – B. Neminathan, Sri Lankan politician
- 1923 – Paul C. Donnelly, American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Thad Jones, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1986)
- 1924 – Freddie Bartholomew, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1924 – Fred Flanagan, Australian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Russian actor (d. 1994)
- 1925 – Dorothy DeBorba, American child actress (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Polly Umrigar, Indian cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Theo Colborn, American zoologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Marianne Fredriksson, Swedish journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Vina Mazumdar, Indian academic and activist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-American political activist and analyst; 10th United States National Security Advisor (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Alexander Grothendieck, German-French mathematician and theorist (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Paul England, Australian race car driver and engineer (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Robert Ashley, American soldier and composer (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Jerome Isaac Friedman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 – Elizabeth Bainbridge, English soprano
- 1933 – Tete Montoliu, Spanish pianist (d. 1997)
- 1933 – Frank Murkowski, American soldier, banker, and politician, 8th Governor of Alaska
- 1934 – Lester R. Brown, American environmentalist, founded the Earth Policy Institute and Worldwatch Institute
- 1934 – Laurie Taitt, Guyanese-English hurdler (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Frank Judd, Baron Judd, English politician, Secretary of State for International Development
- 1935 – Michael Parkinson, English journalist and author
- 1935 – Józef Szmidt, Polish triple jumper
- 1936 – Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian novelist, playwright, and essayist Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 – Hans-Jürgen Bäsler, German footballer (d. 2002)
- 1939 – Dov Frohman, Israeli electrical engineer and business executive
- 1940 – Tony Barber, English-Australian television host
- 1940 – Luis Cubilla, Uruguayan footballer and coach (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Daniel Dennett, American philosopher and academic
- 1942 – Kitanofuji Katsuaki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 52nd Yokozuna
- 1942 – Neil Kinnock, Welsh politician, Vice-President of the European Commission
- 1942 – Mike Newell, English director and producer
- 1942 – Samuel Ramey, American opera singer
- 1942 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (d. 1998)
- 1942 – Jerry Sloan, American basketball player and coach
- 1943 – Richard Eyre, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1943 – Conchata Ferrell, American actress
- 1944 – Rick Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1944 – Ken Howard, American actor (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Rodrigo Duterte, Filipino politician, 16th President of the Philippines
- 1945 – Johnny Famechon, French-Australian boxer
- 1945 – Björn Hamilton, Swedish engineer and politician
- 1946 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (d. 2014)
- 1946 – Henry Paulson, American banker and politician, 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1946 – Alejandro Toledo, Peruvian economist and politician, 48th President of Peru
- 1947 – Greg Thompson, Canadian educator and politician, 25th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2019)
- 1948 – John Evan, English keyboard player and songwriter
- 1948 – Janice Lynde, American actress
- 1948 – Dianne Wiest, American actress
- 1948 – Milan Williams, American keyboard player (d. 2006)
- 1949 – Ronnie Ray Smith, American sprinter (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Keith Ashfield, Canadian politician (d. 2018)
- 1952 – Tony Brise, English race car driver (d. 1975)
- 1953 – Melchior Ndadaye, Burundian banker and politician, 4th President of Burundi (d. 1993)
- 1953 – Rosemary Ashe, British actress and singer
- 1954 – Donald Brown, American pianist and educator
- 1955 – John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice, Northern Irish psychiatrist and politician, 1st Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
- 1955 – Reba McEntire, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1956 – Susan Ershler, American mountaineer and author
- 1957 – Harvey Glance, American sprinter and coach
- 1958 – Edesio Alejandro, Cuban composer
- 1958 – Elisabeth Andreassen, Swedish-Norwegian singer
- 1958 – Bart Conner, American gymnast and sportscaster
- 1958 – Curt Hennig, American wrestler, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2003)
- 1959 – Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rican politician, President of Costa Rica
- 1959 – Chiaki Morosawa, Japanese anime screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1959 – Chris Myers, American journalist and sportscaster
- 1960 – Chris Barrie, British actor and comedian
- 1960 – José Maria Neves, Cape Verdeian politician, Prime Minister of Cape Verde
- 1960 – Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, French-Belgian author and playwright
- 1961 – Byron Scott, American basketball player and coach
- 1962 – Jure Franko, Slovenian skier
- 1962 – Simon Bazalgette, English businessman
- 1963 – Jan Masiel, Polish politician
- 1964 – Karen Lumley, English politician
- 1966 – Cheryl James, American rapper and actress
- 1967 – John Ziegler, German-American radio host and director
- 1968 – Iris Chang, Chinese-American journalist and author (d. 2004)
- 1968 – Nasser Hussain, Indian-English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1968 – Colin Brazier, English journalist
- 1969 – Rodney Atkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1969 – Brett Ratner, American director and producer
- 1970 – Vince Vaughn, American actor
- 1970 – Jennifer Weiner, American journalist and author
- 1971 – Christianne Meneses Jacobs, Nicaraguan-American journalist and educator
- 1971 – Orfeh, American singer, songwriter and actress
- 1972 – Nick Frost, English actor and screenwriter
- 1972 – Keith Tkachuk, American ice hockey player
- 1973 – Björn Kuipers, Dutch footballer and referee
- 1975 – Fabrizio Gollin, Italian race car driver
- 1975 – Kate Gosselin, American television personality
- 1975 – Iván Helguera, Spanish footballer
- 1975 – Shanna Moakler, American model
- 1976 – Dave Keuning, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Lauren Weisberger, American author
- 1978 – Nathan Cayless, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1979 – Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi film actor, producer, singer and media personality
- 1980 – Cho Seung-woo, South Korean actor
- 1980 – David Lee, English footballer
- 1980 – Rasmus Seebach, Danish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1980 – Luke Walton, American basketball player
- 1981 – Lindsay Frimodt, American fashion model
- 1981 – Edwar Ramírez, American baseball player
- 1981 – Julia Stiles, American actress
- 1983 – Ladji Doucouré, French sprinter and hurdler
- 1984 – Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi actor
- 1984 – Christopher Samba, Congolese footballer
- 1984 – Nikki Sanderson, English actress
- 1985 – Stefano Ferrario, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Sauli Koskinen, Finnish TV host and entertainer
- 1985 – Steve Mandanda, French footballer
- 1985 – Stanislas Wawrinka, Swiss tennis player
- 1986 – Bowe Bergdahl, American sergeant
- 1986 – Lady Gaga, American singer-songwriter, dancer, producer, and actress
- 1986 – J-Kwon, American rapper
- 1986 – Amaia Salamanca, Spanish actress
- 1986 – Barbora Strýcová, Czech tennis player
- 1987 – Jean-Paul Adela, Seychellois footballer
- 1987 – Yohan Benalouane, French-Tunisian footballer
- 1987 – Simeon Jackson, Canadian soccer player
- 1987 – Kagney Linn Karter, American pornographic actress
- 1987 – Yotam Solomon, Israeli/American fashion designer
- 1987 – Mary Kate Wiles, American actress
- 1988 – Ryan Kalish, American baseball player
- 1988 – Lacey Turner, English actress
- 1989 – Afrikan Boy, English rapper
- 1989 – David Goodwillie, Scottish footballer
- 1989 – Lukas Jutkiewicz, English footballer
- 1989 – Mira Leung, Canadian figure skater
- 1989 – Marek Suchý, Czech footballer
- 1990 – Zac Clarke, Australian footballer
- 1990 – Zoella (Zoe Sugg), English Youtuber
- 1991 – Amy Bruckner, American actress
- 1991 – Lisa-Maria Moser, Austrian tennis player
- 1991 – Marie-Philip Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Ondřej Palát, Czech ice hockey player
- 1992 – Sergi Gómez, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Lucho Ayala, Filipino actor
- 1994 – Jackson Wang, Hong Kong rapper
- 1995 – Jonathan Drouin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1996 – Matt Renshaw, English-Australian cricketer
- 2004 – Anna Shcherbakova, Russian figure skater (two-time Russian National Champion – ’19 & ’20)
Deaths of March 28
- 193 – Pertinax, Roman emperor (b. 126)
- 741 – Hatsusebe, Japanese princess
- 965 – Arnulf I, count of Flanders
- 966 – Flodoard, Frankish canon and chronicler
- 1072 – Ordulf, Duke of Saxony (b. 1022)
- 1134 – Saint Stephen Harding, founder of the Cistercian order
- 1239 – Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (b. 1180)
- 1241 – Valdemar II of Denmark (b. 1170)
- 1254 – William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby (b. 1193)
- 1285 – Pope Martin IV (b. 1220)
- 1346 – Venturino of Bergamo, Dominican preacher (b. 1304)
- 1461 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford (b. 1435)
- 1563 – Heinrich Glarean, Swiss poet and theorist (b. 1488)
- 1566 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian historian and diplomat (b. 1486)
- 1583 – Magnus, Duke of Holstein (b. 1540)
- 1584 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian king (b. 1530)
- 1687 – Constantijn Huygens, Dutch poet and composer (b. 1596)
- 1794 – Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1743)
- 1818 – Antonio Capuzzi, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1755)
- 1865 – Petrus Hofman Peerlkamp, Dutch scholar and critic (b. 1786)
- 1866 – Solomon Foot, American lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
- 1868 – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1797)
- 1870 – George Henry Thomas, American general (b. 1816)
- 1874 – Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish-German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1795)
- 1881 – Modest Mussorgsky, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1839)
- 1893 – Edmund Kirby Smith, American general (b. 1824)
- 1900 – Piet Joubert, South African soldier and politician (b. 1831 or 1834)
- 1910 – Édouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor (b. 1838)
- 1917 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, American painter (b. 1847)
- 1923 – Charles Hubbard, American archer (b. 1849)
- 1927 – Joseph-Médard Émard, Canadian archbishop (b. 1853)
- 1929 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet and songwriter (b. 1859)
- 1929 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Quebec (b. 1861)
- 1934 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and educator (b. 1891)
- 1941 – Marcus Hurley, American basketball player and cyclist (b. 1883)
- 1941 – Kavasji Jamshedji Petigara, Indian police officer (b. 1877)
- 1941 – Virginia Woolf, English novelist, essayist, short story writer, and critic (b. 1882)
- 1942 – Miguel Hernández, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1910)
- 1943 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1873)
- 1944 – Stephen Leacock, English-Canadian political scientist and author (b. 1869)
- 1947 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (b. 1897)
- 1949 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (b. 1889)
- 1953 – Jim Thorpe, American football player and coach (b. 1887)
- 1958 – W. C. Handy, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1873)
- 1962 – Hugo Wast, Argentinian author and screenwriter (b. 1883)
- 1963 – Antonius Bouwens, Dutch target shooter (b. 1876)
- 1965 – Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (b. 1888)
- 1965 – Jack Hoxie, American actor (b. 1885)
- 1969 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Robert Hunter, American golfer (b. 1886)
- 1972 – Donie Bush, American baseball player, manager, and team owner (b. 1887)
- 1974 – Arthur Crudup, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1905)
- 1974 – Dorothy Fields, American songwriter (b. 1905)
- 1974 – Françoise Rosay, French actress (b. 1891)
- 1976 – Richard Arlen, American actor (b. 1898)
- 1977 – Eric Shipton, Sri Lankan-English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1907)
- 1980 – Dick Haymes, Argentinian-American actor and singer (b. 1918)
- 1982 – William Giauque, Canadian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1984 – Carmen Dragon, American conductor and composer (b. 1914)
- 1985 – Marc Chagall, Russian-French painter and poet (b. 1887)
- 1986 – Virginia Gilmore. American actress (b. 1919)
- 1987 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (b. 1905)
- 1992 – Nikolaos Platon, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1909)
- 1993 – Scott Cunningham, American author (b. 1956)
- 1994 – Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-French playwright and critic (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Shin Kanemaru, Japanese politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1914)
- 1999 – Franco Gasparri, Italian actor (b. 1948)
- 2000 – Anthony Powell, English soldier and author (b. 1905)
- 2001 – Moe Koffman, Canadian flute player, saxophonist, and composer (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Peter Ustinov, English-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Moura Lympany, English-Monacan pianist (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Robin Spry, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
- 2006 – Pro Hart, Australian painter (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Vethathiri Maharishi, Indian philosopher and author (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Charles Schepens, Belgian-American ophthalmologist and author (b. 1912)
- 2006 – Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Maurice Jarre, French-American composer and conductor (b. 1924)
- 2010 – June Havoc, American actress, dancer, and director (b. 1912)
- 2011 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (b. 1917)
- 2012 – John Arden, English author and playwright (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Alexander Arutiunian, Armenian pianist and composer (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Addie L. Wyatt, African American labor leader (b. 1924)
- 2013 – George E. P. Box, English-American statistician and educator (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Manuel García Ferré, Spanish-Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Richard Griffiths, English actor (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Art Malone, American race car driver (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Hugh McCracken, American guitarist, harmonica player, and producer (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Heinz Patzig, German footballer and manager (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Bob Teague, American college football star and television news-reporter (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Gus Triandos, American baseball player and scout (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Robert Zildjian, American businessman, founded Sabian (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Jeremiah Denton, American admiral and politician (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Lorenzo Semple, Jr., American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Avraham Yaski, Israeli architect and academic (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Chuck Brayton, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Joseph Cassidy, Canadian-English priest and academic (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Miroslav Ondříček, Czech cinematographer (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Gene Saks, American actor and director (b. 1921)
- 2016 – James Noble, American actor (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances on March 28
- Christian feast day:
- Stephen Harding
- Guntram
- Priscus
- Pope Sixtus III
- Tuotilo
- March 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commemoration of Sen no Rikyū (Schools of Japanese tea ceremony)
- Serfs Emancipation Day (Tibet)
- Teachers’ Day (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
-
March 27 in History
- 1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
- 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
- 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.
- 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
- 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
- 1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.
- 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
- 1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican army massacres 342 Texas POWs at Goliad, Texas.
- 1866 – President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866. His veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9.
- 1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
- 1884 – A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.
- 1886 – Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
- 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
- 1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
- 1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
- 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war’s first major Chinese victory over Japan.
- 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
- 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
- 1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
- 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
- 1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
- 1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
- 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.
- 1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
- 1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, leads to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
- 1981 – The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
- 1986 – A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
- 1990 – The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.
- 1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People’s Republic of China.
- 1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
- 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
- 2000 – A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one person and injures 71 others.
- 2002 – Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover seder in Netanya, Israel.
- 2002 – Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors; 19 other people are injured.
- 2004 – HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
- 2009 – The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.
- 2014 – Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
- 2015 – Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
- 2016 – A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
- 2020 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.
Births on March 27
- 972 – Robert II, king of France (d. 1031)
- 1401 – Albert III, duke of Bavaria (d. 1460)
- 1416 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded Order of the Minims (d. 1507)
- 1546 – Johannes Piscator, German theologian (d. 1625)
- 1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)
- 1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
- 1679 – Domenico Lalli, Italian poet and librettist (d. 1741)
- 1681 – Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish-Italian cardinal (d. 1760)
- 1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (d. 1762)
- 1710 – Joseph Abaco, Belgian cellist and composer (d. 1805)
- 1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and author (d. 1779)
- 1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian historian and theologian (d. 1795)
- 1724 – Jane Colden, American botanist and author (d. 1766)
- 1745 – Lindley Murray, American-English Quaker and grammarian (d. 1826)
- 1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and composer (d. 1767)
- 1746 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican-French lawyer and politician (d. 1785)
- 1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)
- 1781 – Alexander Vostokov, Estonian-Russian philologist and academic (d. 1864)
- 1784 – Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian philologist, orientalist, and author (d. 1842)
- 1785 – Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)
- 1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1863)
- 1801 – Alexander Barrow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1846)
- 1802 – Charles-Mathias Simons, German-Luxembourger jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1874)
- 1809 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French engineer, urban planner, and politician (d. 1891)
- 1811 – Edward William Cooke, English painter and illustrator (d. 1880)
- 1814 – Charles Mackay, Scottish journalist, anthologist, and author (d. 1889)
- 1820 – Edward Augustus Inglefield, English admiral and explorer (d. 1894)
- 1822 – Henri Murger, French novelist and poet (d. 1861)
- 1824 – Virginia Minor, American women’s suffrage activist (d. 1894)
- 1839 – John Ballance, Irish-New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893)
- 1843 – George Frederick Leycester Marshall, English colonel and entomologist (d. 1934)
- 1844 – Adolphus Greely, American general and explorer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1935)
- 1845 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
- 1845 – Jakob Sverdrup, Norwegian bishop and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs (d. 1899)
- 1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
- 1851 – Ruperto Chapí, Spanish composer, co-founded Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (d. 1909)
- 1851 – Vincent d’Indy, French composer and educator (d. 1931)
- 1852 – Jan van Beers, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1927)
- 1854 – Giovanni Battista Grassi, Italian physician, zoologist, and entomologist (d. 1925)
- 1855 – William Libbey, American target shooter, colonel, mountaineer, geographer, geologist, and archaeologist (d. 1927)
- 1857 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician, eugenicist, and academic (d. 1936)
- 1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer and footballer (d. 1927)
- 1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American-Swiss scholar and academic (d. 1924)
- 1862 – Jelena Dimitrijević, Serbian short story writer, novelist, poet, traveller, social worker, feminist and polyglot (d. 1945)
- 1862 – Arturo Berutti, Argentinian composer (d. 1938)
- 1863 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1933)
- 1866 – John Allan, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Victoria (d. 1936)
- 1868 – Patty Hill, American songwriter and educator (d. 1946)
- 1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician, 2nd Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1938)
- 1869 – J. R. Clynes, English trade unionist and politician, Home Secretary (d. 1949)
- 1871 – Heinrich Mann, German author and poet (d. 1950)
- 1871 – Joseph G. Morrison, American captain and Nazarene minister (d. 1939)
- 1871 – Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician, Minister of Labour (d. 1948)
- 1875 – Albert Marquet, French painter (d. 1947)
- 1877 – Oscar Grégoire, Belgian water polo player and swimmer (d. 1947)
- 1878 – Kathleen Scott, British sculptor (d. 1947)
- 1879 – Sándor Garbai, Hungarian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1947)
- 1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
- 1879 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourger-American painter and photographer (d. 1973)
- 1881 – Arkady Averchenko, Russian playwright and satirist (d. 1925)
- 1882 – Thomas Graham Brown, Scottish mountaineer and physiologist (d. 1965)
- 1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)
- 1884 – Gordon Thomson, English rower and lieutenant (d. 1953)
- 1885 – Julio Lozano Díaz, Honduran accountant and politician, 40th President of Honduras (d. 1957)
- 1885 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (d. 1961)
- 1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian politician (d. 1934)
- 1886 – Wladimir Burliuk, Ukrainian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
- 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect, designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building (d. 1969)
- 1887 – Väinö Siikaniemi, Finnish javelin thrower, poet, and translator (d. 1932)
- 1888 – George Alfred Lawrence Hearne, English-South African cricketer (d. 1978)
- 1889 – Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (d. 1974)
- 1889 – Leonard Mociulschi, Romanian general (d. 1979)
- 1890 – Harald Julin, Swedish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (d. 1974)
- 1891 – Lajos Zilahy, Hungarian novelist and playwright (d. 1974)
- 1891 – Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, Belarusian-Lithuanian architect, journalist, and diplomat, created the Flag of Belarus (d. 1959)
- 1892 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
- 1892 – Thorne Smith, American author (d. 1934)
- 1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (d. 1947)
- 1893 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1981)
- 1893 – George Beranger, Australian-American actor and director (d. 1973)
- 1894 – René Fonck, French colonel and pilot (d. 1953)
- 1895 – Roland Leighton, English soldier and poet (d. 1915)
- 1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1958)
- 1897 – Fred Keating, American magician, stage and film actor (d. 1961)
- 1899 – Francis Ponge, French poet and author (d. 1988)
- 1899 – Herbert Arthur Stuart, German-Swiss physicist and academic (d. 1974)
- 1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress and producer (d. 1983)
- 1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator and screenwriter (d. 2000)
- 1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
- 1901 – Eisaku Satō, Japanese politician, 61st Prime Minister of Japan, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian journalist and poet (d. 1971)
- 1902 – Sidney Buchman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1975)
- 1902 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (d. 1998)
- 1903 – Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexican poet and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1905 – Leroy Carr, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1935)
- 1905 – Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, German general (d. 1980)
- 1905 – Elsie MacGill, Canadian-American author and engineer (d. 1980)
- 1906 – Pee Wee Russell, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 1969)
- 1909 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (d. 1994)
- 1909 – Ben Webster, American saxophonist (d. 1973)
- 1909 – Valery Marakou, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1937)
- 1910 – Ai Qing, Chinese poet and author (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Veronika Tushnova, Russian poet and physician (d. 1965)
- 1912 – James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (d. 1945)
- 1914 – Richard Denning, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1914 – Budd Schulberg, American author, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th United States Secretary of State (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Colin Rowe, English-American architect, theorist and academic (d. 1999)
- 1921 – Phil Chess, Czech-American record producer, co-founded Chess Records (d. 2016)
- 1921 – Moacir Barbosa Nascimento, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Harold Nicholas, American actor and dancer (d. 2000)
- 1922 – Dick King-Smith, English author (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Stefan Wul, French author and surgeon (d. 2003)
- 1922 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, and sculptor (d. 2007)
- 1923 – Shūsaku Endō, Japanese author (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Louis Simpson, Jamaican-American poet, translator, and academic (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (d. 1990)
- 1924 – Ian Black, Scottish international footballer, goalkeeper and lawn bowls player (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Margaret K. Butler, American mathematician and computer programmer (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Frank O’Hara, American writer (d. 1966)
- 1927 – Sylvia Anderson, English voice actress, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Anthony Lewis, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (d. 2007)
- 1928 – Jean Dotto, French cyclist (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (d. 1988)
- 1929 – Reg Evans, Australian actor (d. 2009)
- 1930 – Daniel Spoerri, Romanian-Swiss photographer, writer and artist
- 1931 – David Janssen, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1980)
- 1932 – Junior Parker, American singer and harmonica player (d. 1971)
- 1932 – Bailey Olter, Micronesian politician, 3rd President of the Federated States of Micronesia (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Lê Văn Hưng, South Vietnamese Brigadier general (d. 1975)
- 1934 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist, author, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Stanley Rother, American Roman Catholic priest and missionary (d. 1981)
- 1935 – Julian Glover, English actor
- 1936 – Malcolm Goldstein, American violinist and composer
- 1937 – Alan Hawkshaw, English keyboard player and songwriter
- 1939 – Jay Kim, South Korean-American engineer and politician
- 1939 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver and businessman
- 1940 – Sandro Munari, Italian race car driver
- 1940 – Austin Pendleton, American actor, director, and playwright
- 1941 – Ivan Gašparovič, Slovak lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Slovakia
- 1941 – Liese Prokop, Austrian pentathlete and politician, Austrian Minister of the Interior (d. 2006)
- 1942 – Michael Jackson, English journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1942 – John Sulston, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Michael York, English actor
- 1943 – Mike Curtis, American football player and coach (d. 2020)
- 1944 – Jesse Brown, American marine and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2002)
- 1944 – Bryan Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1946 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (d. 1999)
- 1947 – Oliver Friggieri, Maltese author, critic, poet and philosopher
- 1947 – Brian Jones, English balloonist and pilot
- 1947 – Walt Mossberg, American journalist
- 1948 – Jens-Peter Bonde, Danish lawyer and politician
- 1950 – Tony Banks, English keyboardist and songwriter
- 1950 – Petros Efthymiou, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs
- 1950 – Maria Ewing, African-American soprano
- 1950 – Chris Stewart, English musician and author
- 1950 – Terry Yorath, Welsh international footballer, Midfielder and international manager
- 1951 – Andrei Kozyrev, Belgian-Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia
- 1952 – Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austrian skier
- 1952 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)
- 1953 – Herman Ponsteen, Dutch cyclist
- 1954 – Gerard Batten, English lawyer and politician
- 1955 – Patrick McCabe, Irish writer
- 1955 – Mariano Rajoy, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
- 1955 – Susan Neiman, Jewish American-German philosopher and author
- 1956 – Leung Kwok-hung, Hong Kong activist and politician
- 1956 – Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross country skier
- 1957 – Kostas Vasilakakis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1957 – Stephen Dillane, English actor
- 1958 – Didier de Radiguès, Belgian race car driver and motorcycle racer
- 1959 – Andrew Farriss, Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist
- 1960 – Hans Pflügler, German footballer
- 1960 – Renato Russo, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1961 – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league player and coach
- 1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss professional cyclist
- 1962 – Jann Arden, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1962 – Brett French, Australian rugby league player
- 1962 – Rob Hollink, Dutch poker player
- 1962 – John O’Farrell, English journalist and author
- 1962 – Brad Wright, American-Spanish basketball player
- 1962 – Kevin J. Anderson, American science fiction writer
- 1963 – Cory Blackwell, American basketball player
- 1963 – Randall Cunningham, American football player, coach, and pastor
- 1963 – Filippos Sachinidis, Greek-Canadian economist and politician
- 1963 – Gary Stevens, English-Australian footballer and physiotherapist
- 1963 – Quentin Tarantino, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
- 1963 – Xuxa, Brazilian actress, singer, businesswoman and television presenter
- 1965 – Gregor Foitek, Swiss race car driver
- 1966 – Žarko Paspalj, Serbian basketball player
- 1967 – Talisa Soto, American actress
- 1968 – Irina Belova, Russian heptathlete
- 1969 – Gianluigi Lentini, Italian footballer and manager
- 1969 – Pauley Perrette, American actress
- 1970 – Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran (d. 2001)
- 1970 – Derek Aucoin, Canadian baseball player
- 1970 – Mariah Carey, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1970 – Brent Fitz, Canadian-American multi-instrumentalist and recording artist
- 1970 – Jarrod McCracken, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress
- 1970 – Uwe Rosenberg, German game designer, created Bohnanza
- 1971 – David Coulthard, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
- 1971 – Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor
- 1972 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Surinamese-Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
- 1972 – Charlie Haas, American professional wrestler
- 1973 – Roger Telemachus, South African cricketer
- 1974 – Marek Citko, Polish footballer and manager
- 1974 – George Koumantarakis, Greek-South African footballer
- 1974 – Gaizka Mendieta, Spanish footballer
- 1975 – Andrew Blowers, New Zealand rugby player
- 1975 – Kim Felton, Australian golfer
- 1975 – Jeff Palmer, American gay porn actor and singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Fergie, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1975 – Christian Fiedler, German footballer and manager
- 1976 – Roberta Anastase, Romanian politician, 57th President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania
- 1976 – Danny Fortson, American basketball player
- 1976 – Adrian Anca, Romanian footballer
- 1977 – Vítor Meira, Brazilian race car driver
- 1978 – Gabriel Paraschiv, Romanian footballer
- 1978 – Marius Bakken, Norwegian runner
- 1978 – Amélie Cocheteux, French tennis player
- 1979 – Tom Palmer, English rugby union player
- 1979 – Mohsen Moeini, Iranian author and director
- 1979 – Imran Tahir, Pakistani-South African cricketer
- 1979 – Jennifer Wilson, Zimbabwean-South African field hockey player
- 1980 – Sean Ryan, American football player
- 1980 – Michaela Paštiková, Czech tennis player
- 1980 – Maksim Shevchenko, Kazakhstani footballer
- 1981 – Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
- 1981 – Akhil Kumar, Indian boxer
- 1981 – Jukka Keskisalo, Finnish runner
- 1981 – Hilda Kibet, Kenyan runner
- 1982 – Shawn Beveney, Guyanese footballer
- 1983 – Yuliya Golubchikova, Russian pole vaulter
- 1983 – Vasily Koshechkin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Román Martínez, Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Adam Ashley-Cooper, Australian rugby player
- 1984 – Ben Franks, Australian-born New Zealand rugby player
- 1984 – Brett Holman, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Dustin Byfuglien, American ice hockey player
- 1985 – Danny Vukovic, Australian footballer
- 1986 – Manuel Neuer, German footballer
- 1987 – Jefferson Bernárdez, Honduran footballer
- 1987 – Samuel Francis, Nigerian-Qatari sprinter
- 1987 – Polina Gagarina, Russian singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Buster Posey, American baseball player
- 1988 – Jessie J, English singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Atsuto Uchida, Japanese footballer
- 1988 – Brenda Song, American actress
- 1988 – Mauro Goicoechea, Uruguayan footballer
- 1988 – Holliday Grainger, English actress
- 1989 – Matt Harvey, American baseball player
- 1989 – Camilla Lees, New Zealand netball player
- 1990 – Erdin Demir, Swedish-Turkish footballer
- 1990 – Ben Hunt, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Nicolas Nkoulou, Cameroonian footballer
- 1990 – Luca Zuffi, Swiss footballer
- 1990 – Kimbra, New Zealand musician
- 1990 – Brodha V, Indian Rapper and Music Producer
- 1992 – Marc Muniesa, Spanish footballer
- 1995 – Bill Tuiloma, New Zealand footballer
Deaths on March 27
- 710 – Rupert of Salzburg, Austrian bishop and saint (b. 660)
- 853 – Haymo of Halberstadt, German bishop and author (b. 778)
- 913 – Du Xiao, chancellor of Later Liang
- 913 – Zhang empress of Later Liang
- 916 – Alduin I, Frankish nobleman
- 965 – Arnulf I, Count of Flanders (born c. 890)
- 973 – Hermann Billung, Frankish lieutenant (b. 900)
- 1045 – Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara’i, Fatimid vizier
- 1184 – Giorgi III, King of Georgia
- 1248 – Maud Marshal, English countess (b. 1192)
- 1350 – Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)
- 1378 – Pope Gregory XI (b. 1336)
- 1462 – Vasily II of Moscow (b. 1415)
- 1472 – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop and poet (b. 1434)
- 1482 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1457)
- 1564 – Lütfi Pasha, Turkish historian and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1488)
- 1572 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian polymath (b. c. 1523)
- 1598 – Theodor de Bry, Belgian-German engraver, goldsmith, and publisher (b. 1528)
- 1613 – Sigismund Báthory (b. 1573)
- 1615 – Margaret of Valois (b. 1553)
- 1621 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian cardinal (b. 1554)
- 1624 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (b. 1578)
- 1625 – James VI and I of the United Kingdom (b. 1566)
- 1635 – Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)
- 1676 – Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier, and diplomat (b. 1597)
- 1679 – Abraham Mignon, Dutch painter (b. 1640)
- 1697 – Simon Bradstreet, English businessman and politician, 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1603)
- 1729 – Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1679)
- 1757 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1717)
- 1770 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (b. 1696)
- 1848 – Gabriel Bibron, French zoologist and herpetologist (b. 1805)
- 1849 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, Irish-Canadian politician, 35th Governor General of Canada (b. 1776)
- 1850 – Wilhelm Beer, Prussian astronomer and banker (b. 1797)
- 1864 – Jean-Jacques Ampère, French philologist and academic (b. 1800)
- 1869 – James Harper, American publisher and politician, 65th Mayor of New York City (b. 1795)
- 1875 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, Peruvian soldier and politician, President of Peru (b. 1808)
- 1875 – Edgar Quinet, French historian and academic (b. 1803)
- 1878 – George Gilbert Scott, English architect, designed the Albert Memorial and St Mary’s Cathedral (b. 1811)
- 1886 – Henry Taylor, English poet and playwright (b. 1800)
- 1889 – John Bright, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1811)
- 1890 – Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
- 1898 – Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian philosopher and activist (b. 1817)
- 1900 – Joseph A. Campbell, American businessman, founded the Campbell Soup Company (b. 1817)
- 1910 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American ichthyologist, zoologist, and engineer (b. 1835)
- 1913 – Richard Montgomery Gano, American minister, physician, and general (b. 1830)
- 1918 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1838)
- 1918 – Martin Sheridan, Irish-American discus thrower and jumper (b. 1881)
- 1921 – Harry Barron, English general and politician, 16th Governor of Western Australia (b. 1847)
- 1922 – Nikolay Sokolov, Russian composer and educator (b. 1859)
- 1923 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (b. 1842)
- 1925 – Carl Neumann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1832)
- 1926 – Kick Kelly, American baseball player, manager, and umpire (b. 1856)
- 1926 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
- 1927 – Joe Start, American baseball player and manager (b. 1842)
- 1927 – Klaus Berntsen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1844)
- 1928 – Leslie Stuart, English organist and composer (b. 1863)
- 1931 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (b. 1867)
- 1934 – Francis William Reitz, South African lawyer and politician, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1844)
- 1938 – William Stern, German-American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1871)
- 1940 – Michael Joseph Savage, Australian-New Zealand politician, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)
- 1942 – Julio González, Catalan sculptor and painter (b. 1876)
- 1943 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Vincent Hugo Bendix, American engineer and businessman, founded Bendix Corporation (b. 1881)
- 1945 – Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1866)
- 1946 – Karl Groos, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1861)
- 1949 – Elisheva Bikhovski, Israeli-Russian poet (b. 1888)
- 1952 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (b. 1894)
- 1956 – Évariste Lévi-Provençal, French orientalist and historian (b. 1894)
- 1958 – Leon C. Phillips, American lawyer and politician, 11th Governor of Oklahoma (b. 1890)
- 1960 – Gregorio Marañón, Spanish physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
- 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
- 1968 – Vladimir Seryogin, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1922)
- 1973 – Mikhail Kalatozov, Georgian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1903)
- 1974 – Eduardo Santos, Colombian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of Colombia (b. 1888)
- 1975 – Arthur Bliss, English conductor and composer (b. 1891)
- 1976 – Georg August Zinn, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Hesse (b. 1901)
- 1977 – Shirley Graham Du Bois, American author, playwright, and composer (b. 1896)
- 1977 – Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)
- 1977 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch airline pilot (b. 1927)
- 1978 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded the White Spot (b. 1902)
- 1978 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey (b. 1922)
- 1978 – Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1920)
- 1980 – Steve Fisher, American author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 1981 – Jakob Ackeret, Swiss engineer and academic (b. 1898)
- 1982 – Fazlur Khan, Bangladeshi-American engineer and architect, designed the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (b. 1929)
- 1987 – William Bowers, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1916)
- 1988 – Charles Willeford, American author, poet, and critic (b. 1919)
- 1989 – May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
- 1989 – Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (b. 1898)
- 1990 – Percy Beard, American hurdler and coach (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1992 – Colin Gibson, English footballer (b. 1923)
- 1992 – Lang Hancock, Australian businessman (b. 1909)
- 1992 – James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (b. 1906)
- 1993 – Kamal Hassan Ali, Egyptian general and politician, Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1921)
- 1993 – Paul László, Hungarian-American architect and interior designer (b. 1900)
- 1994 – Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist (b. 1912)
- 1994 – Lawrence Wetherby, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1908)
- 1995 – René Allio, French director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Lane Dwinell, American businessman and politician, 69th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Ella Maillart, Swiss skier, sailor, field hockey player, and photographer (b. 1903)
- 1998 – David McClelland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1917)
- 1999 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (b. 1946)
- 2000 – George Allen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1914)
- 2000 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1942)
- 2002 – Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
- 2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2002 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
- 2003 – Edwin Carr, New Zealand composer and educator (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Robert Merle, French author (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (b. 1913)
- 2006 – Dan Curtis, American director and producer (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish author (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Rudolf Vrba, Czech Holocaust survivor and educator (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (b. 1962)
- 2007 – Nancy Adams, New Zealand botanist and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Dick Giordano, American illustrator (b. 1932)
- 2011 – Clement Arrindell, Nevisian judge and politician, 1st Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Farley Granger, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist and feminist (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Yvonne Brill, Canadian-American scientist and engineer (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Fay Kanin, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Richard N. Frye, American scholar and academic (b. 1920)
- 2014 – James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defense and first United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Johnny Helms, American trumpet player, bandleader, and educator (b. 1935)
- 2015 – T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Mother Angelica, American Roman Catholic religious leader and media personality (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances on March 27
- Christian feast day:
- Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
- Amador of Portugal
- Augusta of Treviso
- Charles Henry Brent (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh
- John of Egypt
- Philetus
- Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730.
- Rupert of Salzburg
- Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
- March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Armed Forces Day (Myanmar)
- International whisk(e)y day
- World Theatre Day (International)
-
March 14 in History
- 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.
- 1647 – Thirty Years’ War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
- 1663 – According to his own account, Otto von Guericke completes his book De Vacuo.
- 1674 – The Third Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of Ronas Voe results in the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam being captured with a death toll of up to 300 Dutch crew and soldiers.
- 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans.
- 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
- 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in London.
- 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
- 1903 – Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first national wildlife refuge in the US, is established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
- 1920 – In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany.
- 1926 – The El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica, kills 248 people and wounds another 93 when a train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, India’s first talking film, is released.
- 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.
- 1942 – Anne Miller becomes the first American patient to be treated with penicillin, under the care of Orvan Hess and John Bumstead.
- 1943 – The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto is completed.
- 1945 – The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany.
- 1951 – Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time.
- 1961 – A USAF B-52 bomber crashes near near Yuba City, California whilst carrying nuclear weapons.
- 1964 – Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy.
- 1967 – The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1978 – The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon.
- 1980 – LOT Flight 7 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
- 1982 – The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London.
- 1988 – In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands.
- 1995 – Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle.
- 2006 – The 2006 Chadian coup d’état attempt ends in failure.
- 2007 – The Nandigram violence in Nandigram, West Bengal results in the deaths of at least 14 people.
- 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet.
- 2019 – Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1000 deaths.
Births on March 14
- 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
- 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)
- 1800 – James Bogardus, American inventor and architect (d. 1874)
- 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (d. 1822)
- 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1849)
- 1813 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1892)
- 1820 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (d. 1878)
- 1822 – Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1889)
- 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French poet and critic (d. 1891)
- 1833 – Frederic Shields, English painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
- 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist and educator (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (d. 1910)
- 1836 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (d. 1865)
- 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (d. 1903)
- 1844 – Umberto I of Italy (d. 1900)
- 1844 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (d. 1881)
- 1847 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (d. 1871)
- 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
- 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1915)
- 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (d. 1925)
- 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (d. 1920)
- 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, American lawyer and politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1925)
- 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (d. 1951)
- 1863 – Casey Jones, American engineer (d. 1900)
- 1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (d. 1933)
- 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, English author and playwright (d. 1951)
- 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1969)
- 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (d. 1918)
- 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964)
- 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French publisher, founded Shakespeare and Company (d. 1962)
- 1898 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter and illustrator (d. 1954)
- 1899 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (d. 1992)
- 1901 – Sid Atkinson, South African hurdler and long jumper (d. 1977)
- 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (d. 2010)
- 1905 – Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1983)
- 1906 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (d. 1972)
- 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American designer of military aircraft (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher and academic (d. 1961)
- 1908 – Philip Conrad Vincent, English engineer and businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (d. 1991)
- 1912 – Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2001)
- 1912 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr. American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1994)
- 1912 – W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1914 – Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver and businessman, founded Petty Enterprises (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
- 1916 – Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1917 – Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Zoia Horn, American librarian (d. 2014)
- 1919 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created Dennis the Menace (d. 2001)
- 1920 – Dorothy Tyler-Odam, English high jumper (d. 2014)
- 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
- 1925 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (d. 2013)
- 1926 – François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Frank Borman, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (d. 1980)
- 1929 – Bob Goalby, American golfer
- 1932 – Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia
- 1933 – Michael Caine, English actor and author
- 1933 – Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
- 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
- 1934 – Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army
- 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer
- 1937 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Eleanor Bron, English actress and screenwriter
- 1938 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2016)
- 1938 – John Gleeson, Australian cricketer (d. 2016)
- 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor
- 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter
- 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1942 – Rita Tushingham, English actress
- 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress and singer (d. 1994)
- 1944 – Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor
- 1944 – Václav Nedomanský, Czech ice hockey player and manager
- 1944 – Bobby Smith, English footballer and manager
- 1944 – Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Jasper Carrott, English comedian, actor, and game show host
- 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist
- 1946 – William Lerach, American securities and class action attorney
- 1946 – Wes Unseld, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1947 – Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (d. 1993)
- 1947 – William J. Jefferson, American lawyer and politician
- 1947 – Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1948 – Tom Coburn, American physician and politician (d. 2020)
- 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1948 – Theo Jansen, Dutch sculptor
- 1950 – Rick Dees, American actor and radio host
- 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben & Jerry’s
- 1953 – Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1956 – Alexey Pajitnov, Russian video game designer and computer engineer, creator of Tetris
- 1956 – Butch Wynegar, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Tad Williams, American author
- 1958 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- 1959 – Laila Robins, American actress
- 1959 – Tamara Tunie, American actress
- 1960 – Heidi Hammel, American astronomer and academic
- 1961 – Garry Jack, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1961 – Mike Lazaridis, Turkish–Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded BlackBerry Limited
- 1963 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1965 – Kevin Brown, American baseball player and coach
- 1965 – Aamir Khan, Indian film actor, producer, and director
- 1965 – Billy Sherwood, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1965 – Kevin Williamson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Jonas Elmer, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Elise Neal, American actress and producer
- 1968 – Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
- 1969 – Larry Johnson, American basketball player and actor
- 1970 – Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1972 – Irom Chanu Sharmila, Indian poet and activist
- 1973 – Rohit Shetty, Indian film director and producer
- 1974 – Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Steve Harper, English footballer and referee
- 1975 – Dmitri Markov, Belarusian-Australian pole vaulter
- 1976 – Phil Vickery, English rugby player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Vadims Fjodorovs, Latvian footballer and coach
- 1977 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (d. 2011)
- 1977 – Jeremy Paul, New Zealand-Australian rugby player
- 1978 – Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
- 1979 – Nicolas Anelka, French footballer and manager
- 1979 – Chris Klein, American actor
- 1979 – Sead Ramović, German-Bosnian footballer
- 1980 – Aaron Brown, English footballer and coach
- 1980 – Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby player
- 1981 – Bobby Jenks, American baseball player
- 1981 – George Wilson, American football player
- 1982 – Carlos Marinelli, Argentinian footballer
- 1982 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (d. 2008)
- 1983 – Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
- 1986 – Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1986 – Jessica Gallagher, Australian skier and cyclist
- 1986 – Andy Taylor, English footballer
- 1988 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player
- 1988 – Rico Freimuth, German decathlete
- 1989 – Kevin Lacroix, Canadian race car driver
- 1990 – Joe Allen, Welsh footballer
- 1990 – Tamás Kádár, Hungarian footballer
- 1990 – Haru Kuroki, Japanese actress
- 1990 – Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Icelandic footballer
- 1991 – Emir Bekrić, Serbian hurdler
- 1991 – László Szűcs, Hungarian footballer
- 1991 – Steven Zellner, German footballer
- 1993 – Philipp Ziereis, German footballer
- 1994 – Ansel Elgort, American actor and DJ
- 1996 – Batuhan Altıntaş, Turkish footballer
- 1997 – Simone Biles, American gymnast
- 2008 – Abby Ryder Fortson, American actress
Deaths on March 14
- 840 – Einhard, Frankish scholar
- 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim, Saxon queen (b. c. 896)
- 1555 – John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (b. 1485)
- 1647 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)
- 1648 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (b. 1584)
- 1696 – Jean Domat, French lawyer and jurist (b. 1625)
- 1748 – George Wade, Irish field marshal and politician (b. 1673)
- 1757 – John Byng, British admiral and politician, 11th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1704)
- 1791 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and critic (b. 1725)
- 1803 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (b. 1724)
- 1811 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735)
- 1823 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general and politician, French Minister of War (b. 1739)
- 1860 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (b. 1802)
- 1877 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian general and politician, 17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (b. 1793)
- 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1818)
- 1884 – Quintino Sella, Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finances (b. 1827)
- 1932 – George Eastman, American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (b. 1854)
- 1953 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak Communist politician and 14th President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1896)
- 1957 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot activist (b. 1938)
- 1965 – Marion Jones Farquhar, American tennis player (b. 1879)
- 1968 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (b. 1892)
- 1969 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American painter, illustrator, and educator (b. 1898)
- 1973 – Howard H. Aiken, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
- 1975 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
- 1976 – Busby Berkeley, American director and choreographer (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American activist and philanthropist (b. 1917)
- 1980 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Indonesia (b. 1902)
- 1980 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (b. 1928)
- 1984 – Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (b. 1892)
- 1991 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (b. 1950)
- 1995 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1997 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1999 – John Broome, American author (b. 1913)
- 2003 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian-American painter (b. 1945)
- 2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French engineer and businessman (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French educator and activist (b. 1912)
- 2008 – Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Peter Graves, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Pierre Schoendoerffer, French director and screenwriter (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general and politician, 4th President of Malta (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Jack Greene, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Aramais Sahakyan, Armenian poet and author (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, Cambodian Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Tony Benn, English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Meir Har-Zion, Israeli commander (b. 1934)
- 2016 – John W. Cahn, German-American metallurgist and academic (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Peter Maxwell Davies, English composer and conductor (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Suranimala Rajapaksha, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
- 2018 – Jim Bowen, English stand-up comedian and TV personality (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Marielle Franco, Brazilian politician and human rights activist (b. 1979)
- 2018 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (b. 1942)
- 2018 – Liam O’Flynn, Irish uileann piper (b. 1945)
- 2019 – Jake Phelps, American skateboarder and Thrasher editor-in-chief (b. 1962)
Holidays and observances on March 14
- Christian feast day:
- Leobinus
- March 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Andorra)
- Heroes’ Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
- Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)
- Nanakshahi New Year, first day of the month of Chet (Sikhism)
- Pi Day
- Summer Day (Albania)
- White Day on which men give gifts to women; complementary to Valentine’s Day (Japan and other Asian nations)
-
March 5 in History
- 363 – Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
- 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
- 1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
- 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.
- 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus’s book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.
- 1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
- 1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
- 1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa.
- 1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
- 1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
- 1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.
- 1860 – Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.
- 1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala.
- 1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
- 1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.
- 1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.
- 1931 – The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed.
- 1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
- 1936 – First flight of K5054, the first prototype Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom.
- 1940 – Six high-ranking members of Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung.
- 1943 – First Flight of the Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first combat jet aircraft.
- 1944 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR.
- 1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
- 1953 – Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
- 1960 – Indonesian President Sukarno dismissed the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaced with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members.
- 1963 – American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.
- 1965 – March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.
- 1966 – BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
- 1970 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
- 1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
- 1978 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
- 1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by “off the scale” gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
- 1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world.
- 1982 – Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.
- 2003 – In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.
- 2012 – Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.
Births on March 5
- 1133 – Henry II of England (d. 1189)
- 1224 – Saint Kinga of Poland (d. 1292)
- 1324 – David II of Scotland (d. 1371)
- 1326 – Louis I of Hungary (d. 1382)
- 1340 – Cansignorio della Scala, Lord of Verona (d. 1375)
- 1451 – William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English Earl (d. 1491)
- 1512 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher (d. 1594)
- 1523 – Rodrigo de Castro Osorio, Spanish cardinal (d. 1600)
- 1527 – Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1603)
- 1539 – Christoph Pezel, German theologian (d. 1604)
- 1563 – John Coke, English civil servant and politician (d. 1644)
- 1575 – William Oughtred, English minister and mathematician (d. 1660)
- 1585 – John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)
- 1585 – Frederick I, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (d. 1638)
- 1637 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter and engineer (d. 1712)
- 1658 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French explorer and politician, 3rd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1730)
- 1693 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian and scholar (d. 1754)
- 1696 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)
- 1703 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1768)
- 1713 – Edward Cornwallis, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (d. 1776)
- 1713 – Frederick Cornwallis, English archbishop (d. 1783)
- 1723 – Princess Mary of Great Britain (d. 1773)
- 1733 – Vincenzo Galeotti, Italian-Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1816)
- 1739 – Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American colonel and physician (d. 1819)
- 1748 – Jonas Carlsson Dryander, Swedish botanist and biologist (d. 1810)
- 1748 – William Shield, English violinist and composer (d. 1829)
- 1750 – Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d’Ansse de Villoison, French scholar and academic (d. 1805)
- 1751 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech organist, composer, and educator (d. 1829)
- 1774 – Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse, Danish organist and composer (d. 1842)
- 1779 – Benjamin Gompertz, English mathematician and statistician (d. 1865)
- 1785 – Carlo Odescalchi, Italian cardinal (d. 1841)
- 1794 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (d. 1872)
- 1794 – Robert Cooper Grier, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1870)
- 1814 – Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian and academic (d. 1889)
- 1800 – Georg Friedrich Daumer, German poet and philosopher (d. 1875)
- 1815 – John Wentworth, American journalist and politician, 19th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1888)
- 1817 – Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist, academic, and politician, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (d. 1894)
- 1830 – Étienne-Jules Marey, French physiologist and chronophotographer (d. 1904)
- 1830 – Charles Wyville Thomson, Scottish historian and zoologist (d. 1882)
- 1834 – Félix de Blochausen, Luxembourgian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1915)
- 1834 – Marietta Piccolomini, Italian soprano (d. 1899)
- 1853 – Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)
- 1862 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (d. 1934)
- 1867 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 14th Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)
- 1869 – Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal (d. 1952)
- 1870 – Frank Norris, American journalist and author (d. 1902)
- 1870 – Evgeny Paton, French-Ukrainian engineer (d. 1953)
- 1871 – Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-Russian economist and philosopher (d. 1919)
- 1871 – Konstantinos Pallis, Greek general and politician, Minister Governor-General of Macedonia (d. 1941)
- 1873 – Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian skier and explorer (d. 1961)
- 1874 – Henry Travers, English-American actor (d. 1965)
- 1875 – Harry Lawson, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Victoria (d. 1952)
- 1876 – Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, English lawyer and politician, 8th Lord Chief Justice of England (d. 1947)
- 1876 – Elisabeth Moore, American tennis player (d. 1959)
- 1879 – William Beveridge, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic (d. 1963)
- 1879 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
- 1880 – Sergei Natanovich Bernstein, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1968)
- 1882 – Dora Marsden, English author and activist (d. 1960)
- 1883 – Pauline Sperry, American mathematician (d. 1967)
- 1885 – Marius Barbeau, Canadian ethnographer and academic (d. 1969)
- 1886 – Dong Biwu, Chinese judge and politician, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1975)
- 1886 – Freddie Welsh, Welsh boxer (d. 1927)
- 1887 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian guitarist and composer (d. 1959)
- 1894 – Henry Daniell, English-American actor (d. 1963)
- 1898 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1976)
- 1898 – Misao Okawa, Japanese super-centenarian (d. 2015)
- 1900 – Lilli Jahn, Jewish German doctor (d. 1944)
- 1900 – Johanna Langefeld, German guard and supervisor of three Nazi concentration camps (d. 1974)
- 1901 – Friedrich Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg (d. 1971)
- 1901 – Julian Przyboś, Polish poet, essayist and translator (d. 1970)
- 1904 – Karl Rahner, German priest and theologian (d. 1984)
- 1905 – László Benedek, Hungarian-American director and cinematographer (d. 1992)
- 1908 – Fritz Fischer, German historian and author (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Irving Fiske, American author and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1908 – Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
- 1910 – Momofuku Ando, Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, founded Nissin Foods (d. 2007)
- 1910 – Ennio Flaiano, Italian author, screenwriter, and critic (d. 1972)
- 1912 – Jack Marshall, New Zealand colonel, lawyer, and politician, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1988)
- 1915 – Henry Hicks, Canadian academic and politician, 16th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1990)
- 1915 – Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician and academic (d. 2002)
- 1918 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
- 1918 – Red Storey, Canadian football player, referee, and sportscaster (d. 2006)
- 1918 – James Tobin, American economist and academic (d. 2002)
- 1920 – José Aboulker, Algerian surgeon and activist (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Rachel Gurney, English actress (d. 2001)
- 1920 – Wang Zengqi, Chinese writer (d. 1997)
- 1921 – Elmer Valo, American baseball player and coach (d. 1998)
- 1922 – James Noble, American actor (d. 2016)
- 1922 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
- 1923 – Juan A. Rivero, Puerto Rican biologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Laurence Tisch, American businessman, co-founded the Loews Corporation (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Roger Marche, French footballer (d. 1997)
- 1927 – Jack Cassidy, American actor and singer (d. 1976)
- 1927 – Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, Scottish businessman and politician
- 1928 – J. Hillis Miller, American academic and critic
- 1929 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish race car driver (d. 2015)
- 1929 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1967)
- 1930 – John Ashley, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Del Crandall, American baseball player and manager
- 1931 – Fred, French author and illustrator (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Barry Tuckwell, Australian horn player and educator (d. 2020)
- 1932 – Paul Sand, American actor
- 1933 – Walter Kasper, German cardinal and theologian
- 1934 – Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist and psychologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 – Letizia Battaglia, Italian photographer and journalist
- 1935 – Philip K. Chapman, Australian-American astronaut and engineer
- 1936 – Canaan Banana, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
- 1936 – Dale Douglass, American golfer
- 1936 – Dean Stockwell, American actor
- 1937 – Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian general and politician, 5th President of Nigeria
- 1938 – Paul Evans, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1938 – Lynn Margulis, American biologist and academic (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Fred Williamson, American football player, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1939 – Samantha Eggar, English actress
- 1939 – Tony Rundle, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Tasmania
- 1939 – Benyamin Sueb, Indonesian actor and comedian (d. 1995)
- 1939 – Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef
- 1940 – Tom Butler, English bishop
- 1940 – Ken Irvine, Australian rugby league player (d. 1990)
- 1940 – Graham McRae, New Zealand race car driver
- 1940 – Sepp Piontek, German footballer and manager
- 1941 – Des Wilson, New Zealand-English businessman and activist
- 1942 – Felipe González, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
- 1942 – Mike Resnick, American author and editor (d. 2020)
- 1942 – David Watkins, Welsh rugby player
- 1943 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
- 1944 – Peter Brandes, Danish painter and sculptor
- 1944 – Roy Gutman, American journalist and author
- 1945 – Wilf Tranter, English footballer
- 1946 – Richard Bell, Canadian pianist (d. 2007)
- 1946 – Guerrino Boatto, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 2018)
- 1946 – Graham Hawkins, English footballer and manager (d. 2016)
- 1946 – Murray Head, English actor and singer
- 1947 – Clodagh Rodgers, Northern Irish singer and actress
- 1947 – Kent Tekulve, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1948 – Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1984)
- 1948 – Eddy Grant, Guyanese-British singer-songwriter and musician
- 1948 – Richard Hickox, English conductor and scholar (d. 2008)
- 1948 – Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
- 1948 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2011)
- 1949 – Bernard Arnault, French businessman, philanthropist, and art collector
- 1949 – Franz Josef Jung, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Defence
- 1949 – Tom Russell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1951 – Rodney Hogg, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1952 – Petar Borota, Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2010)
- 1952 – Mike Squires, American baseball player and scout
- 1953 – Katarina Frostenson, Swedish poet and author
- 1953 – Michael J. Sandel, American philosopher and academic
- 1953 – Tokyo Sexwale, South African businessman and politician, 1st Premier of Gauteng
- 1954 – Marsha Warfield, American actress
- 1954 – João Lourenço, Angolan president
- 1955 – Penn Jillette, American magician, actor, and author
- 1956 – Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
- 1956 – Christopher Snowden, English engineer and academic
- 1957 – Mark E. Smith, English singer, songwriter and musician (d. 2018)
- 1957 – Ray Suarez, American journalist and author
- 1958 – Volodymyr Bezsonov, Ukrainian footballer and manager
- 1958 – Bob Forward, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1958 – Andy Gibb, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1988)
- 1959 – Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Armenia (d. 1999)
- 1960 – Paul Drayson, Baron Drayson, English businessman and politician, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology
- 1963 – Joel Osteen, American pastor, author, and television host
- 1964 – Bertrand Cantat, French singer-songwriter
- 1964 – Gerald Vanenburg, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1965 – José Semedo, Portuguese footballer and coach
- 1966 – Oh Eun-sun, South Korean mountaineer
- 1966 – Bob Halkidis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1966 – Michael Irvin, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
- 1966 – Aasif Mandvi, Indian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Zachery Stevens, American singer-songwriter
- 1968 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian businessman and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Hungary
- 1968 – Theresa Villiers, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
- 1969 – Paul Blackthorne, English actor and producer
- 1969 – Danny King, English author and playwright
- 1969 – Moussa Saïb, Algerian footballer and manager
- 1969 – M.C. Solaar, Afro-French rapper
- 1970 – Mike Brown, American basketball player and coach
- 1970 – John Frusciante, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1970 – Yuu Watase, Japanese illustrator
- 1971 – Greg Berry, English footballer and coach
- 1971 – Jeffrey Hammonds, American baseball player and scout
- 1971 – Yuri Lowenthal, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Filip Meirhaeghe, Belgian cyclist
- 1971 – Mark Protheroe, Australian rugby league player
- 1973 – Yannis Anastasiou, Greek footballer and manager
- 1973 – Nelly Arcan, Canadian author (d. 2009)
- 1973 – Juan Esnáider, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1973 – Ryan Franklin, American baseball player
- 1973 – Nicole Pratt, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1973 – Špela Pretnar, Slovenian skier
- 1974 – Kevin Connolly, American actor and director
- 1974 – Jens Jeremies, German footballer
- 1974 – Eva Mendes, American model and actress
- 1975 – Luciano Burti, Brazilian race car driver and sportscaster
- 1975 – Sasho Petrovski, Australian footballer
- 1975 – Chris Silverwood, English cricketer and coach
- 1976 – Neil Jackson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1976 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
- 1976 – Paul Konerko, American baseball player
- 1976 – Norm Maxwell, New Zealand rugby player
- 1977 – Taismary Agüero, Cuban-Italian volleyball player
- 1978 – Jared Crouch, Australian footballer
- 1978 – Mike Hessman, American baseball player and coach
- 1978 – Kimberly McCullough, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1978 – Carlos Ochoa, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Martin Axenrot, Swedish drummer
- 1979 – Lee Mears, English rugby player
- 1980 – Shay Carl, American businessman, co-founded Maker Studios
- 1981 – Barret Jackman, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Paul Martin, American ice hockey player
- 1982 – Dan Carter, New Zealand rugby player
- 1982 – Philipp Haastrup, German footballer
- 1983 – Édgar Dueñas, Mexican footballer
- 1984 – Branko Cvetković, Serbian basketball player
- 1984 – Guillaume Hoarau, French footballer
- 1985 – David Marshall, Scottish footballer
- 1985 – Brad Mills, American baseball player
- 1985 – Kenichi Matsuyama, Japanese actor
- 1986 – Alexandre Barthe, French footballer
- 1986 – Matty Fryatt, English footballer
- 1987 – Anna Chakvetadze, Russian tennis player
- 1987 – Chris Cohen, English footballer
- 1988 – Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba, Algerian footballer
- 1990 – Danny Drinkwater, English footballer
- 1990 – Mason Plumlee, American basketball player
- 1990 – Alex Smithies, English footballer
- 1991 – Ramiro Funes Mori, Argentinian footballer
- 1991 – Daniil Trifonov, Russian pianist and composer
- 1993 – El Hadji Ba, French footballer
- 1993 – Joshua Coyne, American violinist and composer
- 1993 – Harry Maguire, English footballer
- 1994 – Daria Gavrilova, Russian-Australian tennis player
- 1994 – Kyle Schwarber, American baseball player
- 1996 – Taylor Hill, American model
- 1996 – Emmanuel Mudiay, Congolese basketball player
- 1997 – Milena Venega, Cuban rower
- 1998 – Bo Bichette, American baseball player
- 1999 – Madison Beer, American singer, songwriter and producer.
- 2007 – Roman Griffin Davis, British actor, second youngest Golden Globe recipient.
Deaths on March 5
- 254 – Pope Lucius I (b. 200)
- 824 – Suppo I, Frankish nobleman
- 1239 – Hermann Balk, German knight
- 1410 – Matthew of Kraków, Polish reformer (b. 1335)
- 1417 – Manuel III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1364)
- 1534 – Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter and educator (b. 1489)
- 1539 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1487)
- 1599 – Guido Panciroli, Italian historian and jurist (b. 1523)
- 1611 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1533)
- 1622 – Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)
- 1695 – Henry Wharton, English writer and librarian (b. 1664)
- 1726 – Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1655)
- 1770 – Crispus Attucks, American slave (b. 1723)
- 1778 – Thomas Arne, English composer and educator (b. 1710)
- 1815 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologist (b. 1734)
- 1827 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1749)
- 1827 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1745)
- 1829 – John Adams, English sailor and mutineer (b. 1766)
- 1849 – David Scott, Scottish historical painter (b. 1806)
- 1876 – Marie d’Agoult, German-French historian and author (b. 1805)
- 1893 – Hippolyte Taine, French historian and critic (b. 1828)
- 1895 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1831)
- 1895 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, English general and scholar (b. 1810)
- 1907 – Friedrich Blass, German philologist, scholar, and academic (b. 1843)
- 1925 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1859)
- 1927 – Franz Mertens, Polish-Austrian mathematician and academic (b. 1840)
- 1929 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick (b. 1854)
- 1934 – Reşit Galip, Turkish academic and politician, 6th Turkish Minister of National Education (b. 1893)
- 1935 – Roque Ruaño, Spanish priest and engineer (b. 1877)
- 1940 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher and academic (b. 1868)
- 1944 – Max Jacob, French poet and author (b. 1876)
- 1945 – Lena Baker, African American maid and murderer (b. 1900)
- 1947 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1883)
- 1950 – Edgar Lee Masters, American poet, author, and playwright (b. 1868)
- 1950 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (b. 1907)
- 1953 – Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1897)
- 1953 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1891)
- 1953 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1878)
- 1955 – Antanas Merkys, Lithuanian lawyer and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Lithuania (b. 1888)
- 1963 – Patsy Cline, American singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
- 1963 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1913)
- 1963 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)
- 1965 – Chen Cheng, Chinese general and politician, 27th Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1897)
- 1965 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1904)
- 1966 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet, author, and translator (b. 1889)
- 1967 – Mischa Auer, Russian-American actor (b. 1905)
- 1967 – Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian political scientist and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1882)
- 1967 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)
- 1971 – Allan Nevins, American journalist and author (b. 1890)
- 1973 – Robert C. O’Brien, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
- 1974 – John Samuel Bourque, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1894)
- 1974 – Billy De Wolfe, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1974 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American businessman (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1889)
- 1977 – Tom Pryce, Welsh race car driver (b. 1949)
- 1980 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (b. 1912)
- 1981 – Yip Harburg, American songwriter and composer (b. 1896)
- 1982 – John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)
- 1984 – Pierre Cochereau, French organist and composer (b. 1924)
- 1984 – Tito Gobbi, Italian operatic baritone (b. 1913)
- 1984 – William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)
- 1988 – Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian and actor (b. 1933)
- 1990 – Gary Merrill, American actor and director (b. 1915)
- 1995 – Vivian Stanshall, English singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1943)
- 1996 – Whit Bissell, American character actor (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American writer (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Jean Dréville, French director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
- 1999 – Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (b. 1922)
- 2000 – Lolo Ferrari, French dancer, actress and singer (b. 1963)
- 2005 – David Sheppard, English cricketer and bishop (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German computer scientist and author (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Charles B. Pierce, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 2010 – Richard Stapley, British actor and writer (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Paul Haines, New Zealand-Australian author (b. 1970)
- 2012 – Philip Madoc, Welsh-English actor (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 2012 – William O. Wooldridge, American sergeant (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Paul Bearer, American wrestler and manager (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Duane Gish, American biochemist and academic (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Geoff Edwards, American actor and game show host (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Ailsa McKay, Scottish economist and academic (b. 1963)
- 2014 – Leopoldo María Panero, Spanish poet and translator (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Ola L. Mize, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Vlada Divljan, Serbian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
- 2015 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudanese activist and politician (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (b. 1941)
- 2016 – Al Wistert, American football player and coach (b. 1920)
- 2017 – Kurt Moll, German opera singer (b. 1938)
Holidays and observances on March 5
- Christian feast day:
- Ciarán of Saigir
- John Joseph of the Cross
- Piran
- Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea
- Thietmar of Minden
- March 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Custom Chief’s Day (Vanuatu)
- Day of Physical Culture and Sport (Azerbaijan)
- Learn from Lei Feng Day (China)
- St Piran’s Day (Cornwall)