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May 10 in History
- 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
- 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
- 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
- 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
- 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
- 1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
- 1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
- 1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
- 1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
- 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
- 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
- 1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
- 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
- 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
- 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
- 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
- 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
- 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
- 1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
- 1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
- 1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
- 1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
- 1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
- 1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
- 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
- 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
- 1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
- 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
- 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
- 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
- 1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
- 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
- 1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
- 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
- 1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
- 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
- 1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
- 1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
- 2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- 2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
- 2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
- 2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Births on May 10
- 874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
- 955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
- 1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
- 1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
- 1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
- 1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
- 1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
- 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
- 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
- 1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
- 1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
- 1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
- 1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
- 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
- 1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
- 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
- 1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
- 1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
- 1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
- 1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
- 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
- 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
- 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
- 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
- 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
- 1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
- 1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
- 1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
- 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
- 1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
- 1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
- 1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
- 1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
- 1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
- 1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
- 1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
- 1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
- 1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
- 1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
- 1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
- 1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
- 1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
- 1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
- 1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
- 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
- 1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
- 1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
- 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
- 1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
- 1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
- 1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
- 1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
- 1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
- 1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
- 1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
- 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
- 1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
- 1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
- 1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
- 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
- 1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
- 1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
- 1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
- 1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
- 1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
- 1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
- 1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
- 1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
- 1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
- 1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
- 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
- 1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
- 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
- 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
- 1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
- 1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
- 1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
- 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
- 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
- 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
- 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
- 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
- 1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
- 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
- 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
- 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
- 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
- 1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
- 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
- 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
- 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
- 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
- 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
- 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
- 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
- 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
- 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player
Deaths on May 10
- 1299 – Theingapati, heir to the Pagan Kingdom
- 1403 – Katherine Swynford, widow of John of Gaunt
- 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
- 1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1433)
- 1521 – Sebastian Brant, German author (b. 1457)
- 1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
- 1569 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (b. 1500)
- 1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
- 1717 – John Hathorne, American merchant and politician (b. 1641)
- 1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1670)
- 1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
- 1787 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (b. 1715)
- 1794 – Élisabeth of France, French princess and youngest sibling of Louis XVI (b.1764)
- 1798 – George Vancouver, English navigator and explorer (b. 1757)
- 1807 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (b. 1725)
- 1818 – Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (b. 1735)
- 1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
- 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (b. 1760)
- 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
- 1868 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (b. 1808)
- 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1826)
- 1891 – Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (b. 1817)
- 1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (b. 1863)
- 1910 – Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1826)
- 1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
- 1945 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1898)
- 1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1899)
- 1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (b. 1881)
- 1965 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1894)
- 1968 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (b. 1929)
- 1974 – Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (b. 1894)
- 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
- 1982 – Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (b. 1916)
- 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (b. 1902)
- 1990 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (b. 1916)
- 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator
- 2000 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
- 2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (b. 1937)
- 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
- 2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
- 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)
- 2018 – David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (b. 1914)
- 2019 – Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (b. 1951)
Holidays and observances on May 10
- Children’s Day (Maldives)
- Christian feast day:
- Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus
- Calepodius
- Catald
- Comgall
- Damien of Molokai
- Gordianus and Epimachus
- Job (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)
- John of Ávila
- May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
- Constitution Day (Micronesia)
- Earliest possible day on which Pentecost can fall, while June 13 is the latest; celebrated 50 days after Easter Day.(Christianity)
- Golden Spike Day (Promontory, Utah)
- Mother’s Day (Guatemala, and Mexico)
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May 8 in History
- 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
- 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
- 589 – Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.
- 1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
- 1450 – Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
- 1516 – A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murdered Emperor Lê Tương Dực and fled, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended.
- 1541 – Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River(then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
- 1788 – King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements.
- 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.
- 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
- 1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
- 1877 – At Gilmore’s Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
- 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
- 1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
- 1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play.
- 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
- 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
- 1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.
- 1921 – The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.
- 1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
- 1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
- 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
- 1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
- 1942 – World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
- 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims comes into effect.
- 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
- 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
- 1945 – The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- 1946 – Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.
- 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
- 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
- 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
- 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
- 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
- 1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
- 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
- 1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances.
- 1987 – The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
- 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the “worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history”.
- 1997 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao’an International Airport, killing 35 people.
- 2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
Births on May 8
- 1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
- 1427 – John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1470)
- 1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
- 1492 – Andrea Alciato, Italian jurist and writer (d. 1550)
- 1508 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562)
- 1521 – Peter Canisius, Dutch-Swiss priest and saint (d. 1597)
- 1551 – Thomas Drury, English government informer and swindler (d. 1603)
- 1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
- 1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish politician (d. 1698)
- 1628 – Angelo Italia, Sicilian Jesuit and architect (d. 1700)
- 1629 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (d. 1697)
- 1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German field marshal and politician (d. 1706)
- 1639 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian artist (d. 1709)
- 1641 – Nicolaes Witsen, Mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1717)
- 1653 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1734)
- 1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1726)
- 1698 – Henry Baker, English naturalist (d. 1774)
- 1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
- 1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (d. 1811)
- 1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (d. 1794)
- 1745 – Carl Stamitz, German violinist and composer (d. 1801)
- 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and rebel leader (d. 1811)
- 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
- 1815 – Edward Tompkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 1872)
- 1818 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian pharmacist and politician, 3rd Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1896)
- 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1885)
- 1824 – William Walker, American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (d. 1860)
- 1825 – George Bruce Malleson, English-Indian colonel and author (d. 1898)
- 1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1828 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898)
- 1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (d. 1869)
- 1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter and academic (d. 1910)
- 1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Canadian judge, author, and songwriter (d. 1920)
- 1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist and mycologist (d. 1909)
- 1846 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (d. 1919)
- 1850 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1915)
- 1853 – Dan Brouthers, American baseball player and manager (d. 1932)
- 1856 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, president for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913. (d. 1952)
- 1858 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (d. 1924)
- 1858 – J. Meade Falkner, English author and poet (d. 1932)
- 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (d. 1925)
- 1867 – Margarete Böhme, German novelist (d. 1939)
- 1879 – Wesley Coe, American shot putter, discus thrower, and tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
- 1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
- 1885 – Thomas B. Costain, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1965)
- 1892 – Adriaan Pelt, Dutch journalist and diplomat (d. 1981)
- 1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (d. 1967)
- 1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player and coach (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English rugby player and sportscaster (d. 1963)
- 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American businessman (d. 1962)
- 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop (d. 1979)
- 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American critic, essayist, and editor (d. 1972)
- 1898 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960)
- 1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality (d. 1959)
- 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1899 – Jacques Heim, French fashion designer (d. 1967)
- 1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
- 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Fernandel, French actor and singer (d. 1971)
- 1903 – Mary Stewart, Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch, British politician and educator (d. 1984)
- 1904 – John Snagge, English journalist (d. 1996)
- 1905 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1965)
- 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1977)
- 1910 – George Male, English footballer (d. 1998)
- 1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American author and publisher (d. 1975)
- 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1981)
- 1911 – Wilhelm Friedrich de Gaay Fortman, Dutch jurist and politician, Dutch Minister of The Interior (d. 1997)
- 1911 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1938)
- 1912 – George Woodcock, Canadian author and poet (d. 1995)
- 1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984)
- 1913 – Sid James, South African-English actor and singer (d. 1976)
- 1915 – Milton Meltzer, American historian and author (d. 2009)
- 1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian water polo player, lawyer, and businessman (d. 2016)
- 1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritual leader and educator (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Ramananda Sengupta, Indian cinematographer (d. 2017)
- 1917 – John Anderson, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Kansas (d. 2014)
- 1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author and poet (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (d. 2000)
- 1922 – Mary Q. Steele, American naturalist and author (d. 1992)
- 1924 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan author and academic (d. 1989)
- 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzanian politician, 2nd President of Tanzania
- 1926 – David Attenborough, English environmentalist and television host
- 1926 – David Hurst, German actor (d. 2019)
- 1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor (d. 2017)
- 1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1927 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Robert Conley, American journalist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Ted Sorensen, American lawyer, 8th White House Counsel (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Ethel D. Allen, American physician and politician (d. 1981)
- 1929 – Girija Devi, Indian classical singer (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Claude Castonguay, Canadian banker and politician
- 1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Heather Harper, Northern Irish soprano (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Doug Atkins, American football player (d. 2015)
- 1930 – René Maltête, French photographer and poet (d. 2000)
- 1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet, essayist, and translator
- 1932 – Julieta Campos, Cuban-Mexican author and translator (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
- 1932 – Harry Wells, Australian rugby league player
- 1934 – Leonard Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann, South African-English lawyer and judge
- 1934 – Maurice Norman, English footballer
- 1934 – David Williamson, Baron Williamson of Horton, English soldier and politician (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland, Scottish politician
- 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager
- 1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese author
- 1936 – Haljand Udam, Estonian orientalist and academic (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Bernard Cleary, Canadian journalist, academic, and politician
- 1937 – Mike Cuellar, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
- 1938 – Javed Burki, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
- 1938 – Jean Giraud, French author and illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010)
- 1940 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1940 – James Blyth, Baron Blyth of Rowington, English businessman and academic
- 1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian lawyer and politician, 47th Canadian Minister of Justice
- 1940 – Emilio Delgado, Mexican-American actor, “Sesame Street”
- 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1985)
- 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1941 – John Fred, American singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1941 – Bill Lockyer, American academic and politician, 30th Attorney General of California
- 1941 – James Traficant, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Martin Dobkin, Canadian doctor and politician, 2nd Mayor of Mississauga
- 1942 – Robin Hobbs, English cricketer
- 1942 – Norman Lamont, Scottish banker and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1942 – Pierre Morency, Canadian poet and playwright
- 1942 – Terry Neill, Irish footballer and manager
- 1943 – Pat Barker, English author
- 1943 – Johnny Greaves, Australian rugby league player
- 1943 – Jon Mark, English-New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer
- 1943 – Danny Whitten, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
- 1944 – Gary Glitter, English singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Bill Legend, English drummer
- 1945 – Arthur Docters van Leeuwen, Dutch jurist and politician
- 1945 – Mike German, Baron German, Welsh educator and politician, Deputy First Minister for Wales
- 1945 – Janine Haines, Australian politician (d. 2004)
- 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American pianist and composer
- 1946 – André Boulerice, Canadian politician
- 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, English philosopher, author, and academic
- 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – Felicity Lott, English soprano
- 1947 – John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, Scottish historian and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
- 1948 – Steve Braun, American baseball player and coach
- 1948 – Stephen Stohn, American-Canadian lawyer and producer
- 1949 – David Vines, Australian economist and academic
- 1950 – Robert Mugge, American director and producer
- 1950 – Lepo Sumera, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2000)
- 1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
- 1951 – Mike D’Antoni, American basketball player and coach
- 1951 – Chris Frantz, American drummer and producer
- 1952 – Peter McNab, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer
- 1954 – Pam Arciero, American puppeteer and voice actress
- 1954 – David Keith, American actor and director
- 1954 – John Michael Talbot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Stephen Furst, American actor and director (d. 2017)
- 1955 – Mladen Markač, Croatian general
- 1955 – Keith Osgood, English footballer
- 1956 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor and martial artist
- 1957 – Bill Cowher, American football player and coach
- 1957 – Rino Katase, Japanese actress
- 1957 – Gary Lunn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 6th Canadian Minister of Natural Resources
- 1958 – Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
- 1958 – Simone Kleinsma, Dutch actress and singer
- 1958 – Brooks Newmark, American-English businessman and politician, Lord of the Treasury
- 1958 – Lovie Smith, American football player and coach
- 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player and sportscaster
- 1959 – David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland, English politician
- 1959 – Ikue Sakakibara, Japanese actress and singer
- 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer and coach
- 1960 – Eric Brittingham, American bass player
- 1961 – Bill de Blasio, American politician, 109th Mayor of New York City
- 1961 – Gert Kruys, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1961 – Vallo Reimaa, Estonian academic and politician
- 1961 – David Winning, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Natalia Molchanova, Russian diver (d. 2015)
- 1962 – David Sole, Scottish rugby player
- 1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1963 – Anthony Field, Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
- 1963 – Izabela Kloc, Polish politician
- 1963 – Aleksandr Kovalenko, Belarusian triple jumper
- 1963 – Rick Zombo, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1964 – Päivi Alafrantti, Finnish javelin thrower
- 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress and director
- 1964 – Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
- 1964 – Nathalie Roy, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1964 – Dave Rowntree, English drummer and animator
- 1964 – Metin Tekin, Turkish footballer, manager, and journalist
- 1966 – Cláudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer and coach
- 1967 – Viviana Durante, Italian ballerina and actress
- 1967 – Angus Scott, British sports television presenter
- 1968 – Teet Kask, Estonian ballet dancer and choreographer
- 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Canadian politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
- 1968 – Johan Pehrson, Swedish lawyer and politician
- 1969 – Jonny Searle, English rower
- 1969 – Akebono Tarō, American-Japanese sumo wrestler, the 64th Yokozuna
- 1969 – John Timu, New Zealand rugby player
- 1970 – Michael Bevan, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
- 1970 – Luis Enrique, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1971 – Chuck Huber, American voice actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Candice Night, American singer-songwriter
- 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1972 – Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese author and illustrator
- 1973 – Jesús Arellano, Mexican footballer
- 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Marge Kõrkjas, Estonian swimmer
- 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
- 1974 – Christian XXX, American pornographic star
- 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1975 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1975 – Gastón Mazzacane, Argentinian race car driver
- 1975 – Dmitri Ustritski, Estonian footballer
- 1976 – Gonçalo Abecasis, Portuguese-American biochemist and academic
- 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian rapper, harmonica player, and actor (d. 2011)
- 1977 – Theodoros Papaloukas, Greek basketball player
- 1977 – Kathrin Bringmann, German mathematician and academic
- 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 – Jang Woo-hyuk, South Korean rapper and dancer
- 1979 – Ole Morten Vågan, Norwegian bassist
- 1980 – Keyon Dooling, American basketball player
- 1980 – Panagiotis Kafkis, Greek basketball player
- 1980 – Evgeny Lebedev, Russian-English publisher and philanthropist
- 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Benny Yau, Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer
- 1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
- 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian hurdler
- 1981 – Björn Dixgård, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Manny Gamburyan, Armenian-American mixed martial artist
- 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
- 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai kick-boxer
- 1982 – Christina Cole, English actress
- 1982 – Adrián González, American baseball player
- 1982 – Uğur Yıldırım, Turkish-Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentinian-German rugby player
- 1983 – Bershawn Jackson, American hurdler
- 1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
- 1983 – Vicky McClure, English actress
- 1984 – David King, English figure skater
- 1985 – Tommaso Ciampa, American wrestler
- 1985 – Silvia Stroescu, Romanian gymnast
- 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Usama Young, American football player
- 1986 – Pemra Özgen, Turkish tennis player
- 1986 – Galen Rupp, American runner
- 1986 – Marvell Wynne, American soccer player
- 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
- 1987 – Aarne Nirk, Estonian hurdler
- 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
- 1987 – Kurt Tippett, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Tanel Kurbas, Estonian basketball player
- 1988 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English footballer
- 1989 – Lars Eller, Danish ice hockey player
- 1989 – Dinesh Patel, Indian baseball player
- 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
- 1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player
- 1991 – Valentijn Lietmeijer, Dutch basketball player
- 1991 – Anamaria Tămârjan, Romanian gymnast
- 1992 – Kevin Hayes, American ice hockey player
- 1993 – Pat Cummins, Australian cricketer
- 1996 – 6ix9ine, American rapper
- 2001 – Jordyn Huitema, Canadian soccer player
- 2003 – Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco
Deaths on May 8
- 535 – Pope John II
- 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. 550)
- 685 – Pope Benedict II
- 997 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 939)
- 1157 – Ahmed Sanjar, Seljuk sultan (b. 1086)
- 1192 – Ottokar IV, duke of Styria (b. 1163)
- 1220 – Richeza of Denmark, queen of Sweden
- 1278 – Duan Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1269)
- 1319 – Haakon V, king of Norway (b. 1270)
- 1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
- 1538 – Edward Foxe, English bishop and academic (b. 1496)
- 1551 – Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Poland (b. 1520)
- 1668 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nun and saint (b. 1632)
- 1766 – Samuel Chandler, English minister and author (b. 1693)
- 1773 – Ali Bey al-Kabir, Egyptian sultan (b. 1728)
- 1781 – Richard Jago, English priest and poet (b. 1715)
- 1782 – Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1699)
- 1785 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1719)
- 1785 – Pietro Longhi, Italian painter (b. 1701)
- 1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1723)
- 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist and biologist (b. 1743)
- 1819 – Kamehameha I, king of the Hawaiian Islands
- 1822 – John Stark, American general (b. 1728)
- 1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian guitarist, cellist, and composer (b. 1781)
- 1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and politician, Russian Minister of Police (b. 1770)
- 1842 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (b. 1790)
- 1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest, 21st Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1785)
- 1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-English mystic and author (b. 1831)
- 1891 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1816)
- 1893 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and president, 1880–1884 (b. 1833)
- 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (b. 1848)
- 1907 – Edmund G. Ross, American soldier and politician, 13th Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1826)
- 1925 – John Beresford, Irish polo player (b. 1847)
- 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Natalie, queen consort of Serbia (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (b. 1858)
- 1942 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1890)
- 1943 – Mordechai Anielewicz, Polish commander (b. 1919)
- 1944 – Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Frank Bourne, British soldier, last survivor of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift (b. 1854)
- 1945 – Wilhelm Rediess, German SS officer (b. 1900)
- 1945 – Bernhard Rust, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1883)
- 1945 – Josef Terboven, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1898)
- 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (b. 1858)
- 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician, Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1900)
- 1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician and immunologist (b. 1865)
- 1952 – William Fox, Austrian businessman, founded Fox Theatres (b. 1879)
- 1959 – John Fraser, Canadian soccer player (b. 1881)
- 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, Indian-English mathematician and academic (b. 1904)
- 1965 – Wally Hardinge, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)
- 1969 – Remington Kellogg, American zoologist and paleontologist (b. 1892)
- 1972 – Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (b. 1880)
- 1972 – Beatrice Helen Worsley, Mexican-Canadian computer scientist (b. 1921)
- 1975 – Avery Brundage, American businessman and art collector (b. 1887)
- 1980 – Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (b. 1920)
- 1981 – Uri Zvi Greenberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
- 1982 – Neil Bogart, American record producer, co-founded Casablanca Records (b. 1943)
- 1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
- 1983 – John Fante, American author and screenwriter (b. 1909)
- 1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1890)
- 1984 – Gino Bianco, Italian-Brazilian race car driver (b. 1916)
- 1985 – Karl Marx, German conductor and composer (b. 1897)
- 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (b. 1918)
- 1985 – Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
- 1986 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and author (b. 1922)
- 1987 – Doris Stokes, English psychic and author (b. 1920)
- 1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer and educator (b. 1924)
- 1991 – Jean Langlais, French pianist and composer (b. 1907)
- 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Czech-Austrian pianist and educator (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 1993 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (b. 1923)
- 1994 – George Peppard, American actor and producer (b. 1928)
- 1995 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (b. 1953)
- 1996 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
- 1996 – Luis Miguel Dominguín, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Larry Levis, American poet, author, and critic (b. 1946)
- 1996 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (b. 1912)
- 1998 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler (b. 1915)
- 1998 – Charles Rebozo, American banker and businessman (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1999 – Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
- 1999 – Soeman Hs, Indonesian author and educator (b. 1904)
- 2000 – Pita Amor, Mexican poet and author (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Dédé Fortin, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
- 2000 – Henry Nicols, American activist (b. 1973)
- 2003 – Elvira Pagã, Brazilian vedette, singer, and artist (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Jean Carrière, French author (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1981)
- 2006 – Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer and author (b. 1938)
- 2007 – Philip R. Craig, American author and poet (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Carson Whitsett, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
- 2008 – Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1918)
- 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982)
- 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Bud Shrake, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Everett Lilly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Jerry McMorris, American businessman (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Stacy Robinson, American football player (b. 1962)
- 2012 – Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Ampon Tangnoppakul, Thai criminal (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (b. 1911)
- 2013 – Jeanne Cooper, American actress (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Bryan Forbes, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
- 2013 – Hugh J. Silverman, American philosopher and theorist (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Ken Whaley, Austrian-English bass player (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Nancy Malone, American actress, director, and producer (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Yago Lamela, Spanish long jumper (b. 1977)
- 2014 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – R. Douglas Stuart Jr., American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Norway (b. 1916)
- 2014 – Joseph P. Teasdale, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Missouri (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Zeki Alasya, Turkish actor and director (b. 1943)
- 2015 – Mwepu Ilunga, Congolese footballer (b. 1949)
- 2015 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli sculptor and painter (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Juan Schwanner, Hungarian-Chilean footballer and manager (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Atanas Semerdzhiev, Bulgarian soldier and politician, 1st Vice President of Bulgaria (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Tom M. Apostol, American analytic number theorist (b. 1923)
- 2016 – William Schallert, American actor; president (1979–81) of the Screen Actors Guild (b. 1922)
- 2018 – Big Bully Busick, American professional wrestler (b. 1954)
- 2018 – Anne V. Coates, British film editor (Lawrence of Arabia, The Elephant Man, Erin Brockovich), Oscar winner (1963) (b. 1925)
- 2019 – Sprent Dabwido, President of Nauru from 2011 to 2013 (b. 1972)
Holidays and observances on May 8
- Christian feast day:
- Amato Ronconi
- Apparition of Saint Michael
- Arsenius the Great
- Desideratus
- Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine
- Julian of Norwich (Anglican, Lutheran)
- Magdalene of Canossa
- Our Lady of Luján
- Peter of Tarentaise
- Blessed Teresa Demjanovich (Ruthenian Catholic Church)
- May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Romania)
- Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (United States and others)
- Earliest day on which State Flag and State Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
- Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday of May (site of the WFTO) (International)
- Emancipation Day (Columbus, Mississippi)
- Furry Dance (Helston, UK)
- Liberation Day (Czech Republic)
- Miguel Hidalgo’s birthday (Mexico)
- Parents’ Day (South Korea)
- Truman Day (Missouri)
- Veterans Day (Norway)
- Victory in Europe Day, and its related observances (Europe):
- Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, continues to May 9
- White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
- World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)
-
May 4 in History
- 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
- 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
- 1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
- 1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
- 1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
- 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
- 1686 – The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
- 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
- 1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.
- 1814 – Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
- 1814 – King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.
- 1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
- 1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.
- 1869 – The Naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
- 1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- 1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
- 1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
- 1912 – Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.
- 1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
- 1926 – The United Kingdom general strike begins.
- 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.
- 1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
- 1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
- 1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.
- 1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.
- 1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.
- 1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
- 1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.
- 1961 – American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
- 1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).
- 1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
- 1972 – The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
- 1978 – The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
- 1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
- 1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.
- 1990 – Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation.
- 1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
- 1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
- 2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).
- 2007 – Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.
- 2014 – Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.
Births on May 4
- 1006 – Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1088)
- 1008 – Henry I, king of France (d. 1060)
- 1559 – Alice Spencer, English noblewoman (d. 1637)
- 1634 – Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (d. 1660)
- 1649 – Chhatrasal, Indian ruler (d. 1731)
- 1654 – Kangxi Emperor, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
- 1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (d. 1731)
- 1677 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d.1749)
- 1715 – Richard Graves, English minister and author (d. 1804)
- 1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, and sailor (d. 1799)
- 1752 – John Brooks, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
- 1757 – Manuel Tolsá, Spanish sculptor and first director of the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City (d. 1816)
- 1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
- 1770 – François Gérard, French painter (d. 1837)
- 1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
- 1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)
- 1796 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1862)
- 1796 – William H. Prescott, American historian and scholar (d. 1859)
- 1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, American wife of John Tyler, 11th First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
- 1820 – John Whiteaker, American soldier, judge, and politician, 1st Governor of Oregon (d. 1902)
- 1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Canadian physician and politician, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
- 1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist, anatomist, and academic (d. 1895)
- 1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, English-American historian, photographer, and academic (d. 1908)
- 1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
- 1827 – John Hanning Speke, English soldier and explorer (d. 1864)
- 1851 – Thomas Dewing, American painter (d. 1938)
- 1852 – Alice Liddell, English model (d. 1934)
- 1855 – Greyfriars Bobby, faithful dog (d. 1872)
- 1883 – Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
- 1884 – Richard Baggallay, English army officer and cricketer (d. 1975)
- 1887 – Andrew Dasburg, French-American painter (d. 1979)
- 1889 – Francis Spellman, American cardinal (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian painter (d. 1945)
- 1902 – Ronnie Aird, English cricketer and administrator (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Cola Debrot, Dutch physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1981)
- 1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (d. 1951)
- 1905 – Al Dexter, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
- 1906 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1987)
- 1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American soldier and playwright, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1996)
- 1907 – Walter Walsh, American target shooter and FBI agent (d. 2014)
- 1908 – Wolrad Eberle, German decathlete (d. 1949)
- 1911 – Evald Seepere, Estonian boxer (d. 1990)
- 1913 – John Broome, American author (d. 1999)
- 1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
- 1916 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Richard Proenneke, American soldier, carpenter, and meteorologist (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Edward T. Cone, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
- 1917 – Nick Joaquin, Filipino writer, journalist and historian (d. 2004)
- 1918 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
- 1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese soldier and politician, 64th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
- 1919 – Dory Funk, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1973)
- 1919 – Basil Yamey, South African-English economist and academic
- 1921 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
- 1921 – John van Kesteren, Dutch-American tenor and actor (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Paul-Émile Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Ed Cassidy, American jazz and rock drummer (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and producer (d. 1986)
- 1923 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (d. 2012)
- 1923 – John Toner, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1926 – David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, English politician
- 1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet, translator, and publisher
- 1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (d. 2020)
- 1928 – Betsy Rawls, American golfer
- 1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German race car driver (d. 1961)
- 1929 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)
- 1930 – Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family
- 1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano (d. 2017)
- 1931 – Jan Pesman, Dutch speed skater (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor and educator (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Thomas Stuttaford, English physician, journalist, and politician (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Harlon Hill, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Alexander MacAra, Scottish epidemiologist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (d. 2007)
- 1936 – El Cordobés, Spanish bullfighter
- 1936 – Med Hondo, Mauritanian filmmaker and actor (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Ron Carter, American bassist and educator
- 1937 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Wim Verstappen, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1938 – Tyrone Davis, American blues and soul singer (d. 2005)
- 1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican journalist, author, and critic (d. 2010)
- 1938 – Gillian Tindall, English historian and author
- 1939 – Neil Fox, English rugby league player and coach
- 1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Leon Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1940 – Robin Cook, American physician and author
- 1940 – Peter Gregg, American race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
- 1941 – George Will, American journalist and author
- 1942 – Nickolas Ashford, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2011)
- 1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
- 1943 – Mihail Chemiakin, Russian painter and sculptor
- 1943 – Prasanta Pattanaik, Indian economist and academic
- 1944 – Steve Liebmann, Australian radio and television host
- 1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (d. 2019)
- 1945 – Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer and journalist
- 1946 – John Barnard, English car designer
- 1946 – Gary Bauer, American political activist
- 1946 – John Watson, British race car driver
- 1947 – John Bosley, Canadian businessman and politician, 31st Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons
- 1947 – Ronald Sørensen, Dutch historian and politician
- 1947 – Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician, 17th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1948 – Alison Britton, English sculptor and educator
- 1948 – Hurley Haywood, American race car driver
- 1948 – King George Tupou V of Tonga, (d. 2012)
- 1949 – Graham Swift, English novelist and short story writer
- 1950 – Darryl Hunt, English bass player
- 1951 – Colin Bass, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1951 – Colleen Hanabusa, American lawyer and politician
- 1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1952 – Belinda Green, Australian beauty queen and 1972 Miss World
- 1953 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
- 1954 – Ryan Cayabyab, Filipino pianist, composer, and conductor
- 1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American astronaut and engineer
- 1956 – David Guterson, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
- 1956 – Ken Oberkfell, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Jaak Huimerind, Estonian architect
- 1957 – Kathy Kreiner, Canadian skier
- 1957 – Peter Sleep, Australian cricketer
- 1957 – Marijke Vos, Dutch educator and politician
- 1958 – Delbert Fowler, American football player
- 1958 – Keith Haring, American painter (d. 1990)
- 1958 – Jane Kennedy, English politician
- 1958 – Caroline Spelman, English politician, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- 1959 – Valdemaras Chomičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
- 1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1959 – Bob Tway, American golfer
- 1960 – Werner Faymann, Austrian politician, 28th Chancellor of Austria
- 1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1964 – Silvia Costa, Cuban high jumper
- 1966 – Gary Elkins, English footballer and manager
- 1966 – Jane McGrath, English-Australian activist, co-founded the McGrath Foundation (d. 2008)
- 1967 – Kate Garraway, English journalist
- 1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress and singer
- 1969 – Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Franz Resch, Austrian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Gregg Alexander, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1970 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor and producer
- 1970 – Giovanni Mirabassi, Italian jazz musician
- 1970 – Dawn Staley, American basketball player
- 1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer and coach
- 1971 – Joe Borowski, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Miles Stewart, Australian triathlete
- 1972 – Manny Aybar, Dominican baseball player
- 1972 – Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter
- 1973 – Matthew Barnaby, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentinian footballer and coach
- 1973 – John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1974 – Miguel Cairo, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
- 1974 – Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
- 1976 – Ben Grieve, American baseball player
- 1976 – Rory Hamill, Northern Irish international footballer
- 1976 – Jason Michaels, American baseball player
- 1976 – Indrek Visnapuu, Estonian basketball player and coach
- 1977 – John Tripp, Canadian-German ice hockey player
- 1978 – Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist
- 1978 – Igor Biscan, Croatian footballer
- 1978 – Brett Burton, Australian footballer
- 1978 – Vladimíra Uhlířová, Czech tennis player
- 1979 – Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer
- 1979 – Kristin Harmel, American journalist and author
- 1979 – Marie Poissonnier, French pole vaulter
- 1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player
- 1980 – Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
- 1981 – Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1982 – Kleopas Giannou, Greek footballer
- 1982 – Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
- 1982 – Giorgos Tsiaras, Greek basketball player
- 1983 – Dan Christian, Australian cricketer
- 1983 – Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Robert Zwinkels, Dutch footballer
- 1984 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2007)
- 1984 – Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee
- 1984 – Sarah Meier, Swiss figure skater
- 1984 – Montell Owens, American football player
- 1984 – Kevin Slowey, American baseball player
- 1985 – Ravi Bopara, English cricketer
- 1985 – Anthony Fedorov, Ukrainian-born American singer and actor
- 1985 – Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Lester “Bo” McCalebb, American-Macedonian professional basketball player
- 1985 – Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper
- 1986 – Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – George Hill, American basketball player
- 1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1988 – Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer
- 1989 – Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
- 1989 – Henna Lindholm, Finnish figure skater
- 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
- 1989 – Aris Tatarounis, Greek basketball player
- 1989 – James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
- 1990 – Irina Falconi, American tennis player
- 1990 – Ryan Morgan, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Duvashen Padayachee, Australian race car driver
- 1990 – Andrea Torres, Filipino actress and model
- 1991 – Brianne Jenner, Canadian women’s ice hockey player
- 1992 – Victor Oladipo, American basketball player
- 1993 – Jānis Bērziņš, Latvian basketball player
- 1994 – Abi Masatora, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1994 – Joseph Tapine, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1996 – Pelayo Roza, Spanish sprint canoeist
Deaths on May 4
- 408 – Venerius, archbishop of Milan
- 784 – Arbeo, bishop of Freising
- 1003 – Herman II, duke of Swabia
- 1038 – Gotthard of Hildesheim, German bishop (b. 960)
- 1406 – Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence (b. 1331)
- 1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish rebel leader
- 1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son and heir of Henry VI of England (b. 1453)
- 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (b. 1438)
- 1483 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford (b. 1457)
- 1506 – Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
- 1519 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
- 1535 – John Houghton, Carthusian monk and saint
- 1562 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (b. 1525)
- 1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
- 1571 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1511)
- 1604 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
- 1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)
- 1615 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (b. 1561)
- 1626 – Arthur Lake, English bishop and scholar (b. 1569)
- 1677 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
- 1684 – John Nevison, English criminal (b. 1639)
- 1729 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
- 1734 – James Thornhill, English painter and politician (b. 1675)
- 1737 – Eustace Budgell, English journalist and politician (b. 1686)
- 1774 – Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, Prussian nobleman (b. 1714)
- 1776 – Jacques Saly, French painter and sculptor (b. 1717)
- 1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American politician (b. 1718)
- 1799 – Tipu, ruler of Mysore (b. 1750)
- 1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
- 1816 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
- 1824 – Joseph Joubert, French author (b. 1754)
- 1826 – Sebastián Kindelán y O’Regan, colonial governor of East Florida, Santo Domingo and Cuba (b. 1757)
- 1839 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
- 1858 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (b. 1773)
- 1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1771)
- 1880 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- 1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
- 1903 – Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary IMRO (b. 1872)
- 1912 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with discovering sex chromosomes (b. 1861)
- 1916 – Ned Daly, Irish rebel commander (Easter Rising) (b. 1891)
- 1916 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (b. 1851)
- 1916 – Joseph Plunkett, Irish rebel and writer (b. 1887)
- 1916 – Willie Pearse, Irish rebel (b. 1891)
- 1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general and politician (b. 1880)
- 1922 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (b. 1888)
- 1923 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1877)
- 1924 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (b. 1858)
- 1938 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese founder of judo (b. 1860)
- 1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
- 1941 – Chris McKivat, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1880)
- 1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880)
- 1953 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (b. 1876)
- 1955 – George Enescu, Romanian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1881)
- 1964 – Karl Robert Pusta, Estonian politician, 4th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Osbert Sitwell, English-Italian author and poet (b. 1892)
- 1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
- 1973 – Jane Bowles, American author and playwright (b. 1917)
- 1975 – Moe Howard, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1897)
- 1976 – Frank Strahan, Australian public servant (b. 1886)
- 1980 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- 1981 – C. Loganathan, Sri Lankan banker (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1911)
- 1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
- 1985 – Fikri Sönmez, Turkish tailor and politician (b. 1938)
- 1985 – Clarence Wiseman, English-Canadian 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- 1987 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and harmonica player (b. 1942)
- 1987 – Cathryn Damon, American actress (b. 1930)
- 1988 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (b. 1891)
- 1990 – Emily Remler, American guitarist (b. 1957)
- 1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (b. 1902)
- 1992 – Gregor Mackenzie, Scottish politician (b. 1927)
- 1993 – France Štiglic, Slovenian film director and screenwriter (b. 1919)
- 1995 – Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (b. 1922)
- 2000 – Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist and academic (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American model, wife of Robert Blake (b. 1956)
- 2004 – David Reimer, Canadian victim of a botched circumcision and transgender reassignment surgery (b. 1965)
- 2005 – David Hackworth, American colonel and journalist (b. 1930)
- 2008 – Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Sammy McCrory, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (b. 1964)
- 2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
- 2013 – Otis R. Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (b. 1948)
- 2013 – Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (b. 1914)
- 2013 – César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (b. 1983)
- 2014 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1947)
- 2014 – Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1948)
- 2015 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (b. 1913)
- 2015 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundian politician (b. 1946)
- 2020 – Don Shula, American football player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2020 – Greg Zanis, American carpenter and activist (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances on May 4
- Anti-Bullying Day (United Nations)
- Bird Day (United States)
- Cassinga Day (Namibia)
- Christian feast day:
- Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla
- Blessed Michal Giedroyc
- English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era (Church of England)
- F. C. D. Wyneken (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
- Florian
- Gotthard of Hildesheim
- José María Rubio
- Judas Cyriacus
- Monica of Hippo (1960 Roman Catholic Calendar)
- Sacerdos of Limoges
- Venerius of Milan
- May 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Dave Brubeck Day
- Death of Milan Rastislav Štefánik Day (Slovakia)
- Greenery Day (Japan)
- International Firefighters’ Day
- May Fourth Movement commemorations:
- Literary Day (Republic of China)
- Youth Day (China)
- Remembrance Day for Martyrs and Disabled (Afghanistan)
- Remembrance of the Dead (Netherlands)
- Restoration of Independence day (Latvia)
- Star Wars Day (International observance)
- World Give Day
- World Naked Gardening Day
- Youth Day (Fiji)
-
May 2 in History
- 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter
- 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
- 1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
- 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
- 1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
- 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
- 1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
- 1625 – Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia, arrives at Beilul from Goa.
- 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
- 1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
- 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
- 1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
- 1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
- 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
- 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
- 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.
- 1879 – The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
- 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
- 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
- 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
- 1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
- 1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
- 1933 – Germany’s independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.
- 1941 – Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
- 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.
- 1945 – World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.
- 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
- 1945 – World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.
- 1952 – A De Havilland Comet makes the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, from London to Johannesburg.
- 1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
- 1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship’s hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
- 1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
- 1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
- 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.
- 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
- 1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.
- 1989 – Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
- 1994 – A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
- 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
- 1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.
- 1999 – Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
- 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
- 2004 – The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.
- 2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
- 2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
- 2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
- 2012 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
- 2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.
Births on May 2
- 1360 – Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
- 1402 – Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1445)
- 1451 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1508)
- 1458 – Eleanor of Viseu (d. 1525)
- 1476 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (d. 1536)
- 1533 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (d. 1596)
- 1551 – William Camden, English historian and topographer (d. 1623)
- 1567 – Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (d. 1603)
- 1579 – Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shōgun (d. 1632)
- 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German priest and scholar (d. 1680)
- 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
- 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French painter and architect (d. 1766)
- 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (d. 1782)
- 1707 – Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (d. 1747)
- 1729 – Catherine the Great of Russia (d. 1796)
- 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)
- 1740 – Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
- 1750 – John André, English soldier and spy (d. 1780)
- 1752 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (d. 1790)
- 1754 – Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
- 1772 – Novalis, German author and poet (d. 1801)
- 1773 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher and poet (d. 1845)
- 1797 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (d. 1864)
- 1802 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (d. 1870)
- 1806 – Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (d. 1876)
- 1810 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (d. 1874)
- 1813 – Caroline Leigh Gascoigne, English novelist and poet (d. 1883)
- 1815 – William Buell Richards, Canadian lawyer and judge, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1889)
- 1822 – Jane Miller Thengberg, Scottish-Swedish governess and educator (d. 1902)
- 1828 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist and photographer (d. 1915)
- 1830 – Otto Staudinger, German entomologist and author (d. 1900)
- 1843 – Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (d. 1929)
- 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author and playwright (d. 1927)
- 1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist, physician, and academic (d. 1936)
- 1860 – Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian Zionist philosopher, journalist and author (d. 1904)
- 1865 – Clyde Fitch, American playwright (d. 1909)
- 1867 – Giuseppe Morello, Italian-American mobster (d. 1930)
- 1873 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (d. 1944)
- 1879 – James F. Byrnes, American stenographer and politician, 49th United States Secretary of State (d. 1972)
- 1880 – Bill Horr, American football player, discus thrower, and coach (d. 1955)
- 1882 – Isabel González, Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans’ American citizenship (d. 1971)
- 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (d. 1966)
- 1886 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (d. 1956)
- 1887 – Vernon Castle, English-American dancer (d. 1918)
- 1887 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
- 1889 – Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1959)
- 1890 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (d. 1965)
- 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918)
- 1894 – Norma Talmadge, leading US actress of the silent era (d. 1957)
- 1894 – Joseph Henry Woodger, English biologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1981)
- 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American playwright and lyricist (d. 1943)
- 1897 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
- 1898 – Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (d. 1989)
- 1901 – Bob Wyatt, English cricketer (d. 1995)
- 1901 – Edouard Zeckendorf, Belgian doctor, army officer and mathematician (d. 1983)
- 1901 – Willi Bredel, German writer (d. 1964)
- 1902 – Brian Aherne, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Werner Finck, German Kabarett comedian, actor and author (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (d. 1998)
- 1904 – Bill Brandt, German-English photographer and journalist (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Alan Rawsthorne, British composer (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Charlotte Armstrong, American author (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (d. 1979)
- 1907 – Pinky Lee, American comedian and television host (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Frank Rowlett, American cryptologist (d. 1998)
- 1909 – Teddy Stauffer, Swiss bandleader, musician, and actor (d. 1991)
- 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
- 1910 – Edmund Bacon, American urban planner, architect, educator, and author (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Axel Springer, German journalist and publisher, founded Axel Springer AG (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Karl Adam, German rowing coaches (d. 1976)
- 1912 – Marten Toonder, Dutch comic strip creator (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Nigel Patrick, English actor and director (d. 1981)
- 1913 – Pietro Frua, Italian coachbuilder and car designer (d. 1983)
- 1913 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (d. 1993)
- 1915 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Peggy Mount, English actress (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder
- 1917 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian journalist and activist (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian singer and sitar player (d. 1983)
- 1920 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, soldier, and pilot (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Jacob Gilboa, Israeli composer (d. 2007)
- 1921 – B. B. Lal, Indian archaeologist
- 1921 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (d. 2007)
- 1922 – A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born American journalist and author (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Serge Reggiani, Italian-born French singer and actor (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Albert Nordengen, Norwegian banker and politician (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Jamal Abro, Pakistani lawyer and author (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Arthur Clues, Australian rugby league player (d. 1998)
- 1924 – Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan (d. 2018)
- 1925 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Gérard D. Levesque, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Ray Barrett, Australian actor and singer (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Amos Kenan, Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright and novelist (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Michael Broadbent, British wine critic and writer (d. 2020)
- 1928 – Hans Trass, Estonian ecologist and botanist (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, French writer and translator of German origin
- 1928 – Horst Stein, German conductor (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Édouard Balladur, Turkish-French economist and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of France
- 1929 – James Dillion, American discus thrower (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan (d. 1972)
- 1930 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter and critic (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Marco Pannella, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Phil Bruns, American actor and stuntman (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Martha Grimes, American author and poet
- 1932 – Maury Allen, American journalist, actor, and author (d. 2010)
- 1933 – Bunk Gardner, American musician
- 1933 – Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- 1934 – Manfred Durniok, German film producer, director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1935 – Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (d.1958)
- 1936 – Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, English singer and pianist
- 1936 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (d. 1972)
- 1937 – Klaus Enders, German motorcycle sidecar racer (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Lorenzo Music, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1937 – Gisela Elsner, German writer (d. 1992)
- 1938 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
- 1939 – Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and engineer
- 1939 – Ernesto Castano, Italian football player
- 1940 – Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, Surinamese politician
- 1941 – Tony Adamowicz, American race car driver (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Bruce Cameron, Scottish bishop
- 1941 – Clay Carroll, American baseball player
- 1941 – Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman
- 1942 – Wojciech Pszoniak, Polish film and theater actor
- 1944 – Robert G. W. Anderson, English chemist, historian, and curator
- 1945 – Randy Cain, American soul singer (d. 2009)
- 1945 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
- 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-American model, actress, and activist
- 1945 – Goldy McJohn, Canadian keyboard player (d. 2017)
- 1946 – Peter L. Benson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1946 – David Suchet, English actor
- 1947 – James Dyson, English businessman, founded the Dyson Company
- 1947 – Lynda Myles, English screenwriter and producer
- 1947 – Philippe Herreweghe, Belgian conductor
- 1948 – Larry Gatlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1949 – Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and author
- 1949 – Alfons Schuhbeck, German celebrity chef, author and businessman
- 1950 – Simon Gaskell, English chemist and academic
- 1950 – Duncan Gay, Australian businessman and politician
- 1950 – Lou Gramm, American singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Richard Ground, English lawyer and judge (d. 2014)
- 1950 – Fausto Silva, Brazilian television presenter
- 1951 – John Glascock, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
- 1952 – Chris Anderson, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1952 – Christine Baranski, American actress and singer
- 1952 – Isla St Clair, Scottish singer and actress
- 1953 – Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director
- 1953 – Jamaal Wilkes, American basketball player
- 1954 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer and conductor
- 1954 – Dawn Primarolo, English politician
- 1954 – Stephen Venables, English mountaineer and author
- 1955 – Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- 1955 – Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
- 1956 – Régis Labeaume, Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City
- 1958 – Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese songwriter and producer
- 1958 – Stanislav Levý, Czech footballer and manager
- 1958 – David O’Leary, English-Irish footballer and manager
- 1959 – Alan Best, Canadian animator, director, and producer
- 1959 – Tony Wakeford, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Stephen Daldry, English director and producer
- 1961 – Steve James, English snooker player
- 1961 – Sophie Thibault, Canadian journalist
- 1961 – Phil Vickery, English chef and author
- 1962 – Elizabeth Berridge, American actress
- 1962 – Michael Grandage, English director and producer
- 1962 – Jimmy White, English snooker player
- 1965 – Félix José, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1966 – Uwe Freiler, German footballer
- 1966 – Margus Kolga, Estonian diplomat
- 1966 – Belinda Stronach, Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician
- 1967 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
- 1967 – Mika Brzezinski, American journalist and author
- 1967 – David Rocastle, English footballer (d. 2001)
- 1968 – Jeff Agoos, Swiss-American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster
- 1968 – Julia Hartley-Brewer, English broadcaster and columnist
- 1968 – Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1969 – Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1970 – Marco Walker, Swiss footballer and coach
- 1971 – Musashimaru Kōyō, Samoan-American sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna
- 1971 – Fatima Yusuf, Nigerian sprinter
- 1972 – Paul Adcock, English footballer
- 1972 – Ahti Heinla, Estonian programmer and businessman, co-developed Skype
- 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, American-Canadian wrestler, actor, and producer
- 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German director and screenwriter
- 1974 – Horacio Carbonari, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1974 – Andy Johnson, English-Welsh footballer
- 1974 – Janek Meet, Estonian footballer
- 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model
- 1975 – Joe Wilkinson, English comedian, actor and writer
- 1976 – Jeff Gutt, American singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
- 1977 – Jan Fitschen, German runner
- 1977 – Luke Hudson, American baseball player
- 1977 – Fredrik Malm, Swedish journalist and politician
- 1977 – Jenna von Oÿ, American actress and singer
- 1977 – Kalle Palander, Finnish skier
- 1978 – Melvin Ely, American basketball player
- 1978 – Mike Weaver, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Ioannis Kanotidis, Greek footballer
- 1979 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish-American actress, presenter and VJ (d. 2011)
- 1980 – Tim Borowski, German footballer
- 1980 – Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
- 1980 – Ellie Kemper, American actress, comedian and writer
- 1980 – Zat Knight, English footballer
- 1980 – Artūras Masiulis, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1980 – Troy Murphy, American basketball player
- 1980 – Lassaâd Ouertani, Tunisian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1980 – Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Vincent Tong, Canadian actor, singer, voice actor and director
- 1981 – Robert Buckley, American actor
- 1981 – Chris Kirkland, English footballer
- 1981 – Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1981 – Matt Murray, English footballer
- 1981 – Rina Satō, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1982 – Timothy Benjamin, Welsh sprinter
- 1982 – Johan Botha, South African cricketer
- 1983 – Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer
- 1983 – Tina Maze, Slovenian skier
- 1983 – Daniel Sordo, Spanish race car driver
- 1983 – Ove Vanebo, Norwegian politician
- 1984 – Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer
- 1984 – Thabo Sefolosha, Swiss basketball player
- 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1985 – Kyle Busch, American race car driver
- 1985 – Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player
- 1985 – Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
- 1987 – Saara Aalto, Finnish singer and actress
- 1987 – Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1987 – Pat McAfee, American football player
- 1987 – Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Justin Young, English singer and songwriter
- 1988 – Neftalí Feliz, Dominican baseball player
- 1988 – Stephen Henderson, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Jeanette Pohlen, American basketball player
- 1990 – Kay Panabaker, American actress
- 1990 – Paul George, American basketball player
- 1991 – Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer
- 1992 – Sunmi, South Korean singer
- 1992 – María Teresa Torró Flor, Spanish tennis player
- 1993 – Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist
- 1993 – Isyana Sarasvati, Indonesian singer
- 1993 – Huang Zitao, Chinese singer and rapper
- 1996 – Cherprang Areekul, Thai singer
- 1996 – Julian Brandt, German footballer
- 1996 – Schuyler Bailar, American swimmer
- 2015 – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, British royal, and fourth in line to the British throne
Deaths on May 2
- 373 – Athanasius of Alexandria, Egyptian bishop and saint (b. 298)
- 649 – Marutha of Tikrit, Persian theologian of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b. 565)
- 821 – Liu Zong, general of the Tang Dynasty
- 907 – Boris I of Bulgaria
- 1219 – Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
- 1230 – William de Braose, English son of Reginald de Braose (b. 1197)
- 1293 – Meir of Rothenburg, German rabbi (b. c.1215)
- 1300 – Blanche of Artois (b. 1248)
- 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (b. 1396)
- 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452)
- 1564 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (b. 1500)
- 1627 – Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer and educator (b. 1560)
- 1667 – George Wither, English poet and author (b. 1588)
- 1683 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and mathematician (b. 1613)
- 1711 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (b. 1641)
- 1799 – Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (b. 1740)
- 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast (b. 1762)
- 1810 – Henry Jerome de Salis, English priest (b. 1740)
- 1819 – Mary Moser, English painter and academic (b. 1744)
- 1857 – Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810)
- 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer and educator (b. 1791)
- 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser, German-American businessman, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (b. 1805)
- 1880 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer, co-created Australian rules football (b. 1835)
- 1885 – Terézia Zakoucs, Hungarian-Slovene author (b. 1817)
- 1915 – Clara Immerwahr, German chemist (b. 1870)
- 1918 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1889)
- 1925 – Antun Branko Šimić, Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet (b. 1898)
- 1927 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (b. 1866)
- 1929 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879)
- 1941 – Penelope Delta, Greek author (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Martin Bormann, German politician (b. 1900)
- 1945 – Joe Corbett, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1875)
- 1947 – Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920)
- 1953 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (b. 1863)
- 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1908)
- 1963 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, peer, politician, poet, author and newspaper editor (b. 1884)
- 1964 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (b. 1879)
- 1969 – Franz von Papen, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
- 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
- 1974 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (b. 1878)
- 1977 – Nicholas Magallanes, American principal dancer and charter member of the New York City Ballet (b. 1922)
- 1979 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1980 – Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (b. 1891)
- 1980 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
- 1984 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (b. 1918)
- 1984 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Attilio Bettega, Italian race car driver (b. 1951)
- 1985 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1909)
- 1986 – Sergio Cresto, American race car driver (b. 1956)
- 1986 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
- 1989 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author (b. 1902)
- 1989 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
- 1990 – David Rappaport, English-American actor (b. 1951)
- 1991 – Gauri Shankar Rai, Indian Politician(b.1924)
- 1991 – Ronald McKie, Australian journalist and author (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Wilbur Mills, American lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
- 1993 – André Moynet, French race car driver, pilot, and politician (b. 1921)
- 1994 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, American poet and author (b. 1903)
- 1995 – John Bunting, Australian public servant and diplomat, (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
- 1997 – John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher and academic (b. 1921)
- 1998 – hide, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1964)
- 1998 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
- 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1998 – Lord Voldemort, English wizard and terrorist (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1903)
- 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
- 2000 – Sundar Popo, Indo-Trinidadian musician (b. 1943)
- 2002 – W. T. Tutte, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean journalist and politician, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Louis Rukeyser, American journalist and author (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Brad McGann, New Zealand director and screenwriter (b. 1964)
- 2008 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Izold Pustõlnik, Ukrainian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1938)
- 2009 – Marilyn French, American author and academic (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1951)
- 2009 – Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (b. 1943)
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Fernando Lopes, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Tufan Miñnullin, Russian playwright and politician (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician, Indonesian Minister of Health (b. 1955)
- 2012 – Akira Tonomura, Japanese physicist, author, and academic (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Ernie Field, English boxer (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Joseph P. McFadden, American bishop (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Dvora Omer, Israeli author and educator (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (b. 1980)
- 2013 – Charles Banks Wilson, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Žarko Petan, Slovenian director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1945)
- 2015 – Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian-Lithuanian ballerina, choreographer, actress, and director (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Ruth Rendell, English author (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, activist, and Black Panther (b. 1947)
- 2020 – Arif Wazir, Pakistani politician, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (b. 1982)
Holidays and observances on May 2
- Christian feast day:
- Athanasius of Alexandria (Western Christianity)
- Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
- Germanus of Normandy
- May 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- International Harry Potter Day
- The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá’í Faith) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March equinox, see List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar)
- Anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising (Community of Madrid, Spain)
- Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo (Bhutan)
- Flag Day (Poland)
- Indonesia National Education Day
- Teachers’ Day (Iran) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March Equinox, see List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar)
-
April 28 in history
- 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire.
- 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
- 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
- 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
- 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
- 1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
- 1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.
- 1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
- 1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.
- 1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.
- 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
- 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
- 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
- 1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
- 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
- 1920 – Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
- 1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
- 1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
- 1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.
- 1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
- 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
- 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
- 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.
- 1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.
- 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
- 1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.
- 1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to “forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship” and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
- 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
- 1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
- 1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
- 1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
- 1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
- 1978 – President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
- 1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
- 1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
- 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
- 1993 – A Zambia Air Force DHC-5 Buffalo crashes off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, killing all 30 passengers, which included the entire Zambia national football team.
- 1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
- 1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
- 1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.
- 2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.
Births on April 28
- AD 32 – Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
- 1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (d. 1472)
- 1442 – Edward IV, king of England (d. 1483)
- 1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (d. 1598)
- 1573 – Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (d. 1650)
- 1604 – Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (d. 1662)
- 1623 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (d. 1707)
- 1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet and author (d. 1687)
- 1676 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (d. 1751)
- 1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1767)
- 1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
- 1761 – Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
- 1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
- 1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (d. 1884)
- 1827 – William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1904)
- 1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
- 1848 – Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1909)
- 1854 – Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (d. 1923)
- 1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
- 1863 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1933)
- 1863 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (d. 1929)
- 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (d. 1940)
- 1868 – Lucy Booth, English composer (d. 1953)
- 1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1908)
- 1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
- 1874 – Sidney Toler, American actor and director (d. 1947)
- 1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1938)
- 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954)
- 1886 – Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
- 1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (d. 1918)
- 1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1970)
- 1896 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (d. 1948)
- 1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (d. 1963)
- 1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)
- 1900 – Heinrich Müller, German SS officer (d. 1945)
- 1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1992)
- 1901 – H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1978)
- 1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (d. 1981)
- 1908 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (d. 1974)
- 1909 – Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (d. 1988)
- 1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Rose Murphy, American singer (d. 1989)
- 1914 – Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (d. 2011)
- 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Carolyn Cassady, American author (d. 2013)
- 1923 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, 1st President of Zambia
- 1925 – T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1996)
- 1925 – John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic
- 1926 – James Bama, American artist and illustrator
- 1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (d. 1991)
- 1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
- 1928 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (d. 1997)
- 1930 – James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State
- 1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1933 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player
- 1935 – Jimmy Wray, Scottish boxer and politician (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
- 1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1937 – John White, Scottish international footballer(d. 1964)
- 1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995)
- 1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
- 1941 – John Madejski, English businessman and academic
- 1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
- 1943 – Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician
- 1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer
- 1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of the Walloon Region
- 1944 – Alice Waters, American chef and author
- 1946 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (d. 2015)
- 1946 – Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1946 – Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist
- 1947 – Christian Jacq, French historian and author
- 1947 – Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
- 1947 – Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist
- 1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
- 1949 – Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge
- 1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
- 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (d. 2006)
- 1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican-American trombonist and producer
- 1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
- 1950 – Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster
- 1951 – Tim Congdon, English economist and politician
- 1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
- 1952 – Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
- 1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (d. 2003)
- 1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1953 – Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (d. 2013)
- 1954 – Timothy Curley, American educator
- 1954 – Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
- 1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality
- 1954 – Ron Zook, American football player and coach
- 1955 – Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist
- 1955 – Dieter Rubach, German bass player
- 1956 – Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Wilma Landkroon, Dutch singer
- 1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
- 1960 – Tom Browning, American baseball player
- 1960 – Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
- 1960 – Phil King, English bass player
- 1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish author
- 1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (d. 1993)
- 1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager
- 1963 – Sandrine Dumas, French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach
- 1963 – Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic
- 1964 – Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer
- 1964 – Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer
- 1964 – Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic
- 1964 – Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
- 1964 – L’Wren Scott, American model and fashion designer (d. 2014)
- 1965 – Jennifer Rardin, American author (d. 2010)
- 1966 – John Daly, American golfer
- 1966 – Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor
- 1967 – Chris White, English engineer and politician
- 1968 – Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1968 – Andy Flower, South-African-Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
- 1969 – LeRon Perry Ellis, American basketball player
- 1970 – Richard Fromberg, Australian tennis player
- 1970 – Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player and scout
- 1970 – Diego Simeone, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1971 – Brad McEwan, Australian journalist
- 1972 – Violent J, American rapper
- 1972 – Helena Tulve, Estonian composer
- 1972 – Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1973 – Jorge Garcia, American actor and producer
- 1973 – Earl Holmes, American football player and coach
- 1973 – Andrew Mehrtens, South African-New Zealand rugby player
- 1974 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer
- 1974 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1974 – Richel Hersisia, Dutch boxer
- 1974 – Vernon Kay, English radio and television host
- 1974 – Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer and journalist
- 1975 – Michael Walchhofer, Austrian skier
- 1976 – Shane Jurgensen, Australian cricketer
- 1978 – Lauren Laverne, English singer and television host
- 1978 – Robert Oliveri, American actor
- 1978 – Nate Richert, American actor
- 1979 – Scott Fujita, American football player and sportscaster
- 1980 – Bradley Wiggins, English cyclist
- 1981 – Jessica Alba, American model and actress
- 1981 – Pietro Travagli, Italian rugby player
- 1982 – Nikki Grahame, English model and journalist
- 1982 – Chris Kaman, American basketball player
- 1983 – Josh Brookes, Australian motorcycle racer
- 1983 – David Freese, American baseball player
- 1983 – Roger Johnson, English footballer
- 1983 – Graham Wagg, English cricketer
- 1983 – Thomas Waldrom, New Zealand-English rugby player
- 1984 – Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer
- 1985 – Lucas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper
- 1985 – Deividas Stagniūnas, Lithuanian ice dancer
- 1986 – Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1987 – Ryan Conroy, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – Samantha Akkineni, Indian actress and model
- 1987 – Bradley Johnson, English footballer
- 1987 – Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer
- 1988 – Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer
- 1988 – Juan Manuel Mata, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Katariina Tuohimaa, Finnish tennis player
- 1989 – Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1989 – Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer
- 1990 – Niels-Peter Mørck, Danish footballer
- 1992 – Blake Bortles, American football player
- 1992 – DeMarcus Lawrence, American football player
- 1993 – Craig Garvey, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Eva Samková, Czech snowboarder
- 1995 – Jonathan Benteke, Belgian footballer
- 1995 – Melanie Martinez, American singer
Deaths on April 28
- 224 – Artabanus V of Parthia (b. 191)
- 948 – Hu Jinsi, Chinese general and prefect
- 988 – Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen
- 1109 – Abbot Hugh of Cluny (b. 1024)
- 1192 – Conrad of Montferrat (b. 1140)
- 1197 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth (b. 1132)
- 1257 – Shajar al-Durr, sovereign sultana of Egypt
- 1260 – Luchesius Modestini, founding member of the Third Order of St. Francis
- 1400 – Baldus de Ubaldis, Italian jurist (b. 1327)
- 1489 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1449)
- 1533 – Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
- 1643 – Francisco de Lucena, Portuguese politician (b. 1578)
- 1710 – Thomas Betterton, English actor and manager (b. 1630)
- 1716 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (b. 1673)
- 1726 – Thomas Pitt, English merchant and politician (b. 1653)
- 1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (b. 1668)
- 1772 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, German physician and politician (b. 1737)
- 1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (b. 1723)
- 1813 – Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
- 1816 – Johann Heinrich Abicht, German philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1762)
- 1841 – Peter Chanel, French priest, missionary, and martyr (b. 1803)
- 1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German author and poet (b. 1773)
- 1858 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (b. 1801)
- 1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English businessman, founded Cunard Line (b. 1787)
- 1881 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
- 1883 – John Russell, English hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
- 1902 – Cyprien Tanguay, Canadian priest and historian (b. 1819)
- 1903 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American scientist (b. 1839)
- 1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, American general and politician, 40th Governor of Virginia (b. 1835)
- 1925 – Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
- 1928 – May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist (b. 1860)
- 1929 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (b. 1879)
- 1936 – Fuad I of Egypt (b. 1868)
- 1944 – Mohammed Alim Khan, Manghud ruler (b. 1880)
- 1944 – Frank Knox, American journalist and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Roberto Farinacci, Italian soldier and politician (b. 1892)
- 1945 – Hermann Fegelein, German general (b. 1906)
- 1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1883)
- 1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and academic (b. 1870)
- 1954 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- 1956 – Fred Marriott, American race car driver (b. 1872)
- 1957 – Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
- 1962 – Bennie Osler, South African rugby player (b. 1901)
- 1963 – Wilhelm Weber, German gymnast (b. 1880)
- 1970 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (b. 1893)
- 1976 – Richard Hughes, American author and poet (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Ricardo Cortez, American actor (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Sepp Herberger, German footballer and coach (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan commander and politician, 1st President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)
- 1980 – Tommy Caldwell, American bass player (b. 1949)
- 1987 – Ben Linder, American engineer and activist (b. 1959)
- 1991 – Steve Broidy, American film producer (b. 1905)
- 1992 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter (b. 1909)
- 1993 – Diva Diniz Corrêa, Brazilian zoologist (b. 1918)
- 1993 – Jim Valvano, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
- 1994 – Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (b. 1910)
- 1996 – Lester Sumrall, American minister, founded LeSEA (b. 1913)
- 1997 – Ann Petry, American novelist (b. 1908)
- 1998 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
- 1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Alf Ramsey, English footballer and manager (b. 1920)
- 1999 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician and politician (b. 1925)
- 2000 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English author and poet (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (b. 1950)
- 2002 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Percy Heath, American bassist (b. 1923)
- 2005 – Chris Candido, American wrestler (b. 1971)
- 2005 – Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (b. 1959)
- 2006 – Steve Howe, American baseball player (b. 1958)
- 2007 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2007 – René Mailhot, Canadian journalist (b. 1942)
- 2007 – Tommy Newsom, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Bertha Wilson, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina and actress (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Richard Pratt, Polish-Australian businessman (b. 1934)
- 2011 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and author (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Al Ecuyer, American football player (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Patricia Medina, English actress (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Milan N. Popović, Serbian psychiatrist and author (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Aberdeen Shikoyi, Kenyan rugby player (b. 1985)
- 2013 – Brad Lesley, American baseball player (b. 1958)
- 2013 – Fredrick McKissack, American author (b. 1939)
- 2013 – John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
- 2013 – János Starker, Hungarian-American cellist and educator (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Bernie Wood, New Zealand journalist and author (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Barbara Fiske Calhoun, American cartoonist and painter (b. 1919)
- 2014 – William Honan, American journalist and author (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Dennis Kamakahi, American guitarist and composer (b. 1953)
- 2014 – Edgar Laprade, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Idris Sardi, Indonesian violinist and composer (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby player (b. 1981)
- 2015 – Antônio Abujamra, Brazilian actor and director (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Marcia Brown, American author and illustrator (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Michael J. Ingelido, American general (b. 1916)
- 2016 – Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Mariano Gagnon, American Catholic priest and author (b. 1929)
- 2018 – James Hylton, American race car driver (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Richard Lugar, American politician (b.1932)
- 2019 – John Singleton, American film director (b. 1968)
Holidays and observances on April 28
- Christian feast day:
- Aphrodisius and companions
- Gianna Beretta Molla
- Kirill of Turov (Orthodox, added to Roman Martyrology in 1969)
- Louis de Montfort
- Pamphilus of Sulmona
- Peter Chanel
- Vitalis and Valeria of Milan
- April 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Lawyers’ Day (Odisha, India)
- Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)
- National Heroes Day (Barbados)
- Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)
- Sardinia Day (Sardinia)
- Workers’ Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international)
- National Day of Mourning (Canada)
-
April 27 in history
- 33 BC – Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, celebrates a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania.
- 395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
- 629 – Shahrbaraz is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
- 711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
- 1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol’s Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
- 1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.
- 1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
- 1522 – Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeat a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca.
- 1539 – Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
- 1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
- 1578 – Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favourites of Henry III of France and two favorites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
- 1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world.
- 1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
- 1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers’ Register.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
- 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ Hymn).
- 1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York.
- 1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
- 1865 – The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state’s land grant institution.
- 1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time.
- 1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
- 1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
- 1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.
- 1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
- 1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
- 1941 – World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as “National Democrats”) and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation.
- 1945 – World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.
- 1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
- 1953 – Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
- 1960 – Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
- 1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.
- 1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
- 1974 – Ten thousand march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
- 1978 – Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
- 1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
- 1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
- 1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster.
- 1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
- 1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
- 1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
- 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
- 1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
- 1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
- 1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
- 2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft had its maiden test flight.
- 2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
- 2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
- 2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
- 2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. 205 tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
- 2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.
- 2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.
Births on April 27
- 85 BC – Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC)
- 1468 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503)
- 1564 – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632)
- 1556 – François Béroalde de Verville, French writer (d. 1626)
- 1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (d. 1631)
- 1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670-1699) (d. 1714)
- 1654 – Charles Blount, English deist and philosopher (d. 1693)
- 1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
- 1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790)
- 1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek-French philosopher and scholar (d. 1833)
- 1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1836)
- 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (d. 1797)
- 1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist, and writer (d. 1863)
- 1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
- 1812 – William W. Snow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1886)
- 1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
- 1820 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1903)
- 1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
- 1840 – Edward Whymper, English-French mountaineer, explorer, author, and illustrator (d. 1911)
- 1848 – Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
- 1850 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (d. 1921)
- 1853 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (d. 1914)
- 1857 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1914)
- 1861 – William Arms Fisher, American composer and music historian (d. 1948)
- 1866 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
- 1875 – Frederick Fane, Irish-born, English cricketer (d. 1960)
- 1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958)
- 1882 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
- 1888 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
- 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1893 – Draža Mihailović, Serbian general (d. 1946)
- 1893 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1939)
- 1894 – George Petty, American painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
- 1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
- 1896 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1963)
- 1896 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (d. 1978)
- 1896 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor of nylon (d. 1937)
- 1898 – Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
- 1899 – Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
- 1900 – August Koern, Estonian politician and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs in exile (d. 1989)
- 1902 – Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
- 1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (d. 1972)
- 1904 – Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
- 1905 – John Kuck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Yiorgos Theotokas, Greek author and playwright (d. 1966)
- 1910 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)
- 1911 – Bruno Beger, German anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 2009)
- 1911 – Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter and footballer (d. 1965)
- 1912 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (d. 2001)
- 1912 – Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
- 1913 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (d. 2004)
- 1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician, author, and academic (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Luz Long, German long jumper and soldier (d. 1943)
- 1916 – Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player and manager (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (d. 2001)
- 1918 – Sten Rudholm, Swedish lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
- 1920 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (d. 1997)
- 1920 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet and translator (d. 2010)
- 1921 – Robert Dhéry, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Sheila Scott, English nurse and pilot (d. 1988)
- 1923 – Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Vernon B. Romney, American lawyer and politician, 14th Attorney General of Utah (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Derek Chinnery, English broadcaster (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Tim LaHaye, American minister, activist, and author (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Basil A. Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 59th Secretary of State of New York (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Alan Reynolds, English painter and educator (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Joe Moakley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2001)
- 1929 – Nina Ponomaryova, Russian discus thrower and coach (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist and educator
- 1932 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
- 1932 – Pik Botha, South African lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 8th South African Ambassador to the United States (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, music historian, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40 (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Chuck Knox, American football coach (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert, English police officer and politician, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Ron Morris, American pole vaulter and coach
- 1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, English singer and illustrator (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1937 – Robin Eames, Irish Anglican archbishop
- 1937 – Richard Perham, English biologist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Earl Anthony, American bowler and sportscaster (d. 2001)
- 1938 – Alain Caron, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
- 1939 – Judy Carne, English actress and comedian (d. 2015)
- 1939 – Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
- 1941 – Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian
- 1941 – Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Indian archaeologist
- 1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
- 1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
- 1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer
- 1943 – Helmut Marko, Austrian race car driver and manager
- 1944 – Michael Fish, English meteorologist and journalist
- 1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Herb Pedersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Martin Chivers, English footballer and manager
- 1945 – Jack Deverell, English general
- 1945 – Helen Hodgman, Scottish-Australian author
- 1945 – Terry Willesee, Australian journalist and television host
- 1945 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Franz Roth, German footballer
- 1947 – G. K. Butterfield, African-American soldier, lawyer, and politician
- 1947 – Nick Greiner, Hungarian-Australian politician, 37th Premier of New South Wales
- 1947 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
- 1947 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
- 1947 – Ann Peebles, American soul singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Frank Abagnale Jr., American security consultant and criminal
- 1948 – Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1948 – Kate Pierson, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1949 – Grant Chapman, Australian businessman and politician
- 1950 – Jaime Fresnedi, Filipino politician
- 1950 – Paul Lockyer, Australian journalist (d. 2011)
- 1951 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Larry Elder, American lawyer and talk show host
- 1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
- 1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish race car driver and politician
- 1953 – Arielle Dombasle, French-American actress and model
- 1954 – Frank Bainimarama, Fijian commander and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Fiji
- 1954 – Herman Edwards, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1954 – Mark Holden, Australian singer, actor, and lawyer
- 1955 – Gudrun Berend, German hurdler (d. 2011)
- 1955 – Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman
- 1956 – Bryan Harvey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1956 – Jeff Probyn, English rugby player, coach, and manager
- 1957 – Willie Upshaw, American baseball player and manager
- 1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
- 1959 – Marco Pirroni, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1960 – Mike Krushelnyski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Andrew Schlafly, American lawyer and activist, founded Conservapedia
- 1962 – Ángel Comizzo, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1962 – Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower and coach
- 1962 – Im Sang-soo, South Korean director and screenwriter
- 1962 – Andrew Selous, English soldier and politician
- 1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
- 1965 – Anna Chancellor, English actress
- 1966 – Peter McIntyre, Australian cricketer
- 1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese illustrator
- 1967 – Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands
- 1967 – Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer, and educator
- 1967 – Erik Thomson, Scottish-New Zealand actor
- 1967 – Jason Whitlock, American football player and journalist
- 1968 – Dana Milbank, American journalist and author
- 1969 – Cory Booker, African-American lawyer and politician
- 1969 – Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
- 1971 – Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
- 1972 – Nigel Barker, English photographer and author
- 1972 – Almedin Civa, Bosnian footballer and coach
- 1973 – Duško Adamović, Serbian footballer
- 1973 – Sharlee D’Angelo, Swedish bass player and songwriter
- 1973 – Sébastien Lareau, Canadian tennis player
- 1974 – Frank Catalanotto, American baseball player
- 1974 – Richard Johnson, Australian footballer
- 1975 – Rabih Abdullah, American football player
- 1975 – Chris Carpenter, American baseball player and manager
- 1975 – Pedro Feliz, Dominican baseball player
- 1975 – Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japanese ski jumper
- 1976 – Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist
- 1976 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
- 1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
- 1976 – Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter, and critic
- 1979 – Will Boyd, American bass player
- 1979 – Natasha Chokljat, Australian netball player
- 1979 – Vladimir Kozlov, Ukrainian wrestler
- 1980 – Sybille Bammer, Austrian tennis player
- 1980 – Talitha Cummins, Australian journalist
- 1980 – Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1981 – Joey Gathright, American baseball player
- 1981 – Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
- 1982 – François Parisien, Canadian cyclist
- 1982 – Alexander Widiker, German rugby player
- 1983 – Ari Graynor, American actress and producer
- 1983 – Martin Viiask, Estonian basketball player
- 1984 – Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Daniel Holdsworth, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Patrick Stump, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1985 – José António de Miranda da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian runner
- 1986 – Jenna Coleman, English actress
- 1986 – Hayley Mulheron, Scottish netball player
- 1986 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
- 1987 – Taylor Chorney, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Elliott Shriane, Australian speed skater
- 1987 – William Moseley, English actor
- 1987 – Wang Feifei, Chinese singer and actress
- 1988 – Joeri Dequevy, Belgian footballer
- 1988 – Kris Thackray, English footballer
- 1988 – Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Lizzo, American singer and rapper
- 1989 – Lars Bender, German footballer
- 1989 – Sven Bender, German footballer
- 1989 – Tim Glasby, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Dmytro Kozban, Ukrainian footballer
- 1990 – Trude Raad, Norwegian deaf track and field athlete
- 1991 – Isaac Cuenca, Spanish footballer
- 1991 – Eric Fukusaki, Peruvian singer
- 1991 – Lara Gut, Swiss skier
- 1992 – Keenan Allen, American football player
- 1994 – Corey Seager, American baseball player
- 1995 – Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis player
- 1997 – Josh Onomah, English footballer
Deaths on April 27
- 630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
- 1160 – Rudolf I, Count of Bregenz (b. 1081)
- 1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
- 1321 – Nicolò Albertini, Italian cardinal statesman (b. c. 1250)
- 1353 – Simeon of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir
- 1403 – Maria of Bosnia, Countess of Helfenstein (b. 1335)
- 1404 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
- 1463 – Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer (b. 1480)
- 1599 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
- 1605 – Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
- 1607 – Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, Governor of Lecale (b. 1560)
- 1613 – Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
- 1656 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1596)
- 1694 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
- 1695 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1640)
- 1702 – Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
- 1782 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (b. 1710)
- 1813 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
- 1873 – William Macready, English actor and manager (b. 1793)
- 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (b. 1803)
- 1893 – John Ballance, Irish-born New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1839)
- 1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian businessman and politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
- 1915 – John Labatt, Canadian businessman (b. 1838)
- 1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1872)
- 1932 – Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
- 1936 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1857)
- 1937 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (b. 1891)
- 1938 – Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1952 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and statistician (b. 1865)
- 1961 – Roy Del Ruth, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
- 1962 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani lawyer and politician, Pakistani Minister of the Interior (b. 1873)
- 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
- 1967 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand farmer, founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (b. 1884)
- 1969 – René Barrientos, Bolivian soldier, pilot, and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
- 1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish rebel and actor (b. 1896)
- 1972 – Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
- 1973 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian race car driver and polo player (b. 1914)
- 1977 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 1988 – Fred Bear, American hunter and author (b. 1902)
- 1989 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (b. 1894)
- 1992 – Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (b. 1911)
- 1995 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (b. 1921)
- 1996 – William Colby, American diplomat, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1920)
- 1996 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
- 1998 – John Bassett, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1915)
- 1998 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
- 1998 – Anne Desclos, French journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (b. 1924)
- 1999 – Al Hirt, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian, author, and academic (b. 1923)
- 1999 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b. 1914)
- 2002 – George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
- 2002 – Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1909)
- 2006 – Julia Thorne, American author (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (b. 1983)
- 2009 – Feroz Khan (actor), Indian Actor, Film Director & Producer (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Daniel E. Boatwright, American soldier and politician (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Bill Skowron, American baseball player (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Aída Bortnik, Argentinian screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Lorraine Copeland, Scottish archaeologist (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Antonio Díaz Jurado, Spanish footballer (b. 1969)
- 2013 – Jérôme Louis Heldring, Dutch journalist and author (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician, Kenyan Minister of Justice (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Harry Firth, Australian race car driver and manager (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Gene Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Alexander Rich, American biologist, biophysicist, and academic (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Vinod Khanna, Indian actor, producer and politician (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1938)
Holidays and observances on April 27
- Christian feast days:
- Anthimus of Nicomedia
- Assicus
- Floribert of Liège
- John of Constantinople
- Liberalis of Treviso
- Pollio
- Rafael Arnáiz Barón
- Virgin of Montserrat
- Zita
- April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
- Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
- Flag Day (Moldova)
- Freedom Day (South Africa)
- UnFreedom Day (South Africa, unofficial)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960.
- King’s Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday)
- National Veterans’ Day (Finla
-
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 14 in History
- 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius.
- AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
- AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital with four Roman legions.
- 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
- 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
- 972 – Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome.
- 1028 – Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected King of Germany.
- 1205 – Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
- 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.
- 1341 – Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V, Marquess of Saluzzo.
- 1434 – The foundation stone of Nantes Cathedral, France is laid.
- 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
- 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
- 1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years’ War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
- 1699 – Khalsa: The Sikh religion was formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
- 1775 – The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
- 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
- 1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
- 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
- 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day.
- 1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
- 1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas.
- 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
- 1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.
- 1900 – The Exposition Universelle begins.
- 1902 – James Cash Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
- 1906 – The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
- 1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, U.S., fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.
- 1909 – A massacre is organized by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population of Cilicia.
- 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th).
- 1927 – The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada – the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
- 1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
- 1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
- 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.
- 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
- 1941 – World War II: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.
- 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
- 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
- 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
- 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.
- 1978 – Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
- 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
- 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
- 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
- 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
- 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
- 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
- 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
- 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
- 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
- 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
- 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in Jama Masjid, Delhi injure 13 people.
- 2010 – Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
- 2014 – Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others.
- 2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.
- 2016 – In Japan, the foreshock of Kumamoto earthquakes occurs.
Births on April 14
- 1126 – Averroes, Spanish physician and philosopher (d. 1198)
- 1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
- 1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (d. 1414)
- 1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (d. 1598)
- 1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1632)
- 1578 – Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
- 1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1695)
- 1668 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
- 1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (d. 1717)
- 1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (d. 1783)
- 1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (d. 1788)
- 1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
- 1741 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (d. 1762)
- 1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799)
- 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)
- 1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-President of Texas (d. 1870)
- 1800 – John Appold, English engineer (d. 1865)
- 1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898)
- 1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (d. 1887)
- 1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (d. 1901)
- 1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900)
- 1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (d. 1941)
- 1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (d. 1923)
- 1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
- 1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (d. 1960)
- 1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936)
- 1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (d. 1940)
- 1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1905)
- 1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1929)
- 1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (d. 1953)
- 1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934)
- 1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1936)
- 1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (d. 1956)
- 1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (d. 1928)
- 1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (d. 1975)
- 1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (d. 1956)
- 1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1962)
- 1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
- 1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (d. 2002)
- 1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
- 1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (d. 1999)
- 1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (d. 1987)
- 1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (d. 1999)
- 1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (d. 1975)
- 1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (d. 1971)
- 1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (d. 1978)
- 1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (d. 1998)
- 1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
- 1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
- 1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (d. 2013)
- 1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1975)
- 1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
- 1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
- 1926 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
- 1926 – Liz Renay, American actress and author (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Dany Robin, French actress and singer (d. 1995)
- 1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2013)
- 1930 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral
- 1931 – Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1932 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1932 – Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire
- 1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver
- 1933 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Yuri Oganessian, Armenian-Russian nuclear physicist
- 1934 – Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist
- 1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician
- 1935 – John Oliver, English bishop
- 1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss historian and author
- 1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Bobby Nichols, American golfer
- 1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer
- 1937 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Mahmud Esad Coşan, Turkish author and academic (d. 2001)
- 1940 – Julie Christie, English actress and activist
- 1940 – David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, English archbishop and academic
- 1940 – Richard Thompson, English physician and academic
- 1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
- 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (d. 2003)
- 1942 – Valentin Lebedev, Russian engineer and astronaut
- 1942 – Björn Rosengren, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
- 1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist
- 1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoan economist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Samoa
- 1945 – Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1945 – Roger Frappier, Canadian producer, director and screenwriter
- 1946 – Mireille Guiliano, French-American author
- 1946 – Michael Sarris, Cypriot economist and politician, Cypriot Minister of Finance
- 1946 – Knut Kristiansen, Norwegian pianist and orchestra leader
- 1947 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Bob Massie, Australian cricketer
- 1948 – Berry Berenson, American model, actress, and photographer (d. 2001)
- 1948 – Anastasios Papaligouras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
- 1949 – Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator
- 1949 – DeAnne Julius, American-British economist and academic
- 1949 – Chris Langham, English actor and screenwriter
- 1949 – Chas Mortimer, English motorcycle racer
- 1949 – John Shea, American actor and director
- 1950 – Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist
- 1950 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian author (d. 2016)
- 1951 – Milija Aleksic, English footballer (d. 2012)
- 1951 – José Eduardo González Navas, Spanish politician
- 1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator
- 1951 – Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, English politician
- 1952 – Kenny Aaronson, American bass player
- 1952 – Mickey O’Sullivan, Irish footballer and manager
- 1952 – David Urquhart, Scottish bishop
- 1954 – Sue Hill, English pathologist and civil servant
- 1954 – Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese director, screenwriter, and illustrator
- 1956 – Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Croatian Parliament (d. 2012)
- 1957 – Lothaire Bluteau, Canadian actor
- 1957 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor
- 1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
- 1959 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (d. 2015)
- 1959 – Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Canadian actress
- 1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian
- 1960 – Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese historian and journalist
- 1960 – Osamu Sato, Japanese graphic artist, programmer, and composer
- 1960 – Tina Rosenberg, American journalist and author
- 1960 – Pat Symcox, South African cricketer
- 1961 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor and director
- 1961 – Daniel Clowes, American cartoonist and screenwriter
- 1962 – Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete
- 1964 – Brian Adams, American wrestler (d. 2007)
- 1964 – Jeff Andretti, American race car driver
- 1964 – Greg Battle, American-Canadian football player
- 1964 – Stuart Duncan, American bluegrass musician
- 1964 – Jeff Hopkins, Welsh international footballer and manager
- 1964 – Gina McKee, English actress
- 1965 – Tom Dey, American director and producer
- 1965 – Alexandre Jardin, French author
- 1965 – Craig McDermott, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1966 – André Boisclair, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1966 – Jan Boklöv, Swedish ski jumper
- 1966 – David Justice, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Greg Maddux, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1967 – Nicola Berti, Italian international footballer
- 1967 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
- 1967 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1967 – Barrett Martin, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
- 1967 – Julia Zemiro, French-Australian actress, comedian, singer and writer
- 1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
- 1969 – Brad Ausmus, American baseball player and manager
- 1969 – Martyn LeNoble, Dutch-American bass player
- 1969 – Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist
- 1970 – Steve Avery, American baseball player
- 1970 – Shizuka Kudō, Japanese singer and actress
- 1971 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1971 – Carlos Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1971 – Gregg Zaun, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Paul Devlin, English-Scottish footballer and manager
- 1972 – Roberto Mejía, Dominican baseball player
- 1972 – Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (d. 2015)
- 1973 – Roberto Ayala, Argentinian footballer
- 1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
- 1973 – Hidetaka Suehiro, Japanese video game director and writer
- 1973 – David Miller, American tenor
- 1974 – Da Brat, American rapper
- 1975 – Lita, American wrestler
- 1975 – Luciano Almeida, Brazilian footballer
- 1975 – Avner Dorman, Israeli-American composer and academic
- 1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
- 1976 – Christian Älvestam, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Georgina Chapman, English model, actress, and fashion designer, co-founded Marchesa
- 1976 – Anna DeForge, American basketball player
- 1976 – Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player
- 1976 – Nadine Faustin-Parker, Hatian hurdler
- 1976 – Jason Wiemer, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Nate Fox, American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1977 – Martin Kaalma, Estonian footballer
- 1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress and producer
- 1977 – Rob McElhenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete
- 1979 – Iain Balshaw, English rugby player
- 1979 – Rebecca DiPietro, American wrestler and model
- 1979 – Marios Elia, Cypriot footballer
- 1979 – Ross Filipo, New Zealand rugby player
- 1979 – Noé Pamarot, French footballer
- 1979 – Patrick Somerville, American novelist and short story writer
- 1979 – Kerem Tunçeri, Turkish basketball player
- 1980 – Win Butler, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Jeremy Smith, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1981 – Mustafa Güngör, German rugby player
- 1981 – Amy Leach, English director and producer
- 1982 – Uğur Boral, Turkish footballer
- 1982 – Larissa França, Brazilian volleyball player
- 1983 – Simona La Mantia, Italian triple jumper
- 1983 – James McFadden, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – William Obeng, Ghanaian-American football player
- 1983 – Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player
- 1984 – Blake Costanzo, American football player
- 1984 – Charles Hamelin, Canadian speed skater
- 1984 – Harumafuji Kōhei, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 70th Yokozuna
- 1984 – Adán Sánchez, American-Mexican musician (d. 2004)
- 1984 – Tyler Thigpen, American football player
- 1985 – Grant Clitsome, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Matt Derbyshire, English footballer
- 1986 – Goran Gogić, Serbian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1987 – Michael Baze, American jockey (d. 2011)
- 1987 – Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer
- 1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner
- 1987 – Korina Perkovic, German tennis player
- 1988 – Roberto Bautista Agut, Spanish tennis player
- 1988 – Eric Gryba, Canadian ice hockey defenseman
- 1988 – Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete
- 1988 – Vasileios Pliatsikas, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Brad Sinopoli, Canadian football player
- 1989 – Joe Haden, American football player
- 1990 – Markus Smarzoch, German footballer
- 1992 – Frederik Sørensen, Danish footballer
- 1996 – Abigail Breslin, American actress
Deaths on April 14
- 911 – Pope Sergius III, pope of the Roman Catholic Church
- 1070 – Gerard, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1030)
- 1099 – Conrad, Bishop of Utrecht (b. before 1040)
- 1132 – Mstislav I of Kiev (b. 1076)
- 1279 – Bolesław the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland (b. 1224)
- 1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1275)
- 1345 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of The United Kingdom (b. 1287)
- 1424 – Lucia Visconti, English countess (b. 1372)
- 1433 – Lidwina, Dutch saint (b. 1380)
- 1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English commander and politician (b. 1428)
- 1471 – John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)
- 1480 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (b. c. 1415)
- 1488 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)
- 1574 – Louis of Nassau (b. 1538)
- 1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1534)
- 1587 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1548)
- 1599 – Henry Wallop, English politician (b. 1540)
- 1609 – Gasparo da Salò, Italian violin maker (b. 1540)
- 1662 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (b. 1582)
- 1682 – Avvakum, Russian priest and saint (b. 1620)
- 1721 – Michel Chamillart, French politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1652)
- 1740 – Lady Catherine Jones, English philanthropist (b.1672)
- 1759 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (b. 1685)
- 1785 – William Whitehead, English poet and playwright (b. 1715)
- 1792 – Maximilian Hell, Slovak-Hungarian astronomer and priest (b. 1720)
- 1843 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1801)
- 1864 – Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (b. 1777)
- 1888 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (b. 1824)
- 1910 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1856)
- 1911 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1880)
- 1911 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1836)
- 1912 – Henri Brisson, French politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (b. 1835)
- 1914 – Hubert Bland, English activist, co-founded the Fabian Society (b. 1855)
- 1916 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women’s rights activist (b. 1847)
- 1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish physician and linguist, created Esperanto (b. 1859)
- 1919 – Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1837)
- 1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (b. 1856)
- 1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-Russian actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1893)
- 1931 – Richard Armstedt, German philologist, historian, and educator (b. 1851)
- 1935 – Emmy Noether, German-American mathematician and academic (b. 1882)
- 1938 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (b. 1893)
- 1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (b. 1907)
- 1950 – Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1879)
- 1951 – Al Christie, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
- 1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer and scholar (b. 1860)
- 1963 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian monk and historian (b. 1893)
- 1964 – Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian-Dutch mathematician and theorist (b. 1876)
- 1964 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
- 1968 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)
- 1969 – Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Spanish actress (b. 1900)
- 1975 – Günter Dyhrenfurth, German-Swiss mountaineer, geologist, and explorer (b. 1886)
- 1975 – Fredric March, American actor (b. 1897)
- 1976 – José Revueltas, Mexican author and activist (b. 1914)
- 1978 – Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
- 1978 – F. R. Leavis, English educator and critic (b. 1895)
- 1983 – Pete Farndon, English bassist (The Pretenders) (b. 1952)
- 1983 – Gianni Rodari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1920)
- 1986 – Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and philosopher (b. 1908)
- 1990 – Thurston Harris, American singer (b. 1931)
- 1990 – Olabisi Onabanjo, Nigerian politician, 3rd Governor of Ogun State (b. 1927)
- 1992 – Irene Greenwood, Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist (b. 1898)
- 1994 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist and scholar (b. 1897)
- 1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1911)
- 1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
- 1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (b. 1924)
- 2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (b. 1962)
- 2000 – August R. Lindt, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
- 2000 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (b. 1918)
- 2001 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1939)
- 2001 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish politician (b. 1941)
- 2004 – Micheline Charest, English-Canadian television producer, co-founded the Cookie Jar Group (b. 1953)
- 2006 – Mahmut Bakalli, Kosovo politician (b. 1936)
- 2007 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (b. 1930)
- 2007 – René Rémond, French historian and economist (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Tommy Holmes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and voice actor (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Maurice Druon, French author (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (b. 1932)
- 2010 – Alice Miller, Polish-French psychologist and author (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Peter Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1962)
- 2011 – Jean Gratton, Canadian Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Émile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (b. 1986)
- 2013 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Colin Davis, English conductor and educator (b. 1927)
- 2013 – R. P. Goenka, Indian businessman, founded RPG Group (b. 1930)
- 2013 – George Jackson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Armando Villanueva, Peruvian politician, 121st Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1915)
- 2013 – Charlie Wilson, American politician (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Nina Cassian, Romanian poet and critic (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Crad Kilodney, American-Canadian author (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and author (b. 1942)
- 2015 – Mark Reeds, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1960)
- 2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal and theologian (b. 1921)
- 2019 – Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (b.1935)
Holidays and observances on April 14
- Ambedkar Jayanti (India)
- Black Day (South Korea)
- Christian feast day:
- Anthony, John, and Eustathius
- Bénézet
- Henry Beard Delany (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Domnina of Terni
- Lidwina
- Peter González
- Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus
- April 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commemoration of Anfal Genocide Against the Kurds (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- Day of Mologa (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia)
- Day of the Georgian language (Georgia)
- Dhivehi Language Day (Maldives)
- N’Ko Alphabet Day (Mande speakers)
- Pan American Day (several countries in The Americas)
- South and Southeast Asian New Year, celebrated on the sidereal vernal equinox. (see April 13):
- Assamese New Year, or Bohag Bihu (India’s Assam Valley)
- Bengali New Year, or Pohela Boishakh (Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state)
- Burmese New Year, or Thingyan (Myanmar)
- Hindu and Sikh New Year, or Vaisakhi (Punjab region)
- Khmer New Year, or Chol Chnam Thmey (Cambodia)
- Lao New Year, or Pi Mai Lao (Laos)
- Mahl New Year, or Alathu Aharudhuvas (Maldives and India’s Lakshadweep and Kerala state)
- Maithili New Year, or Jude Sheetal (Mithila region)
- Malayali New Year, or Vishu (India’s Kerala state)
- Nepali New Year, or Navabarsha / Vaishak Ek (Nepal)
- Oriya/Odia New Year, or Pana Sankranti (India’s Odisha state)
- Sinhalese New Year, or Aluth Avurudhu (Sri Lanka)
- Tamil New Year, or Puthandu (India’s Tamil Nadu state)
- Thai New Year, or Songkran, celebrated from 13 to 15 April (Thailand)
- Tuluva New Year, or Bisu (India’s Karnataka state)
- The first day of Takayama Spring Festival (Takayama, Gifu, Japan)
- Youth Day (Angola)
-
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 6 in History
- 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
- 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
- 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
- 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
- 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
- 1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, an illegitimate son of Peter I of Portugal, is made king John I of Portugal.
- 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
- 1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
- 1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
- 1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
- 1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
- 1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
- 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
- 1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
- 1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
- 1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
- 1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
- 1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
- 1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan’s debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign.
- 1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
- 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
- 1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
- 1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
- 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
- 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
- 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary’s claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
- 1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
- 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson’s address to Congress).
- 1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
- 1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
- 1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
- 1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
- 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
- 1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
- 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Slater’s Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
- 1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
- 1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
- 1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
- 1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
- 1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Leadership Election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon after.
- 1970 – Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
- 1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
- 1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
- 1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Waterloo”, launching their international career.
- 1979 – Student protests break out in Nepal.
- 1984 – Members of Cameroon’s Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
- 1992 – The Bosnian War begins.
- 1994 – The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
- 1997 – In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occurs when a group of young people abduct and kidnap a religious family before shooting them dead on a rural suburban road.
- 1998 – Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
- 1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
- 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
- 2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
- 2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
- 2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
- 2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
- 2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.
- 2012 – Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.
- 2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an “aggression”, adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
- 2018 – A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.
Births on April 6
- 1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, d. 1204)
- 1342 – Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa
- 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
- 1573 – Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (d. 1643)
- 1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
- 1651 – André Dacier, French scholar and academic (d. 1722)
- 1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
- 1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (d. 1742)
- 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (d. 1741)
- 1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
- 1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (d. 1759)
- 1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1772)
- 1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (d. 1807)
- 1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
- 1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
- 1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (d. 1853)
- 1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
- 1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
- 1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (d. 1888)
- 1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
- 1815 – Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1883)
- 1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
- 1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
- 1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
- 1824 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
- 1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (d. 1898)
- 1844 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1913)
- 1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
- 1852 – Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (d. 1921)
- 1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
- 1857 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (d. 1922)
- 1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (d. 1945)
- 1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (d. 1897)
- 1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (d. 1934)
- 1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
- 1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
- 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
- 1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
- 1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
- 1886 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
- 1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
- 1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
- 1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
- 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
- 1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 1981)
- 1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
- 1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (d. 1920)
- 1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
- 1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
- 1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
- 1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
- 1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
- 1904 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (d. 1966)
- 1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (d. 1994)
- 1909 – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (d. 1965)
- 1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
- 1910 – Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
- 1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- 1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (d. 1993)
- 1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
- 1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (d. 1987)
- 1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
- 1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
- 1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (d. 1998)
- 1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1921 – Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Herb Thomas, American race car driver (d. 2000)
- 1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
- 1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
- 1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
- 1928 – James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (d. 1972)
- 1929 – André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
- 1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
- 1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
- 1933 – Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium
- 1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
- 1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
- 1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
- 1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic
- 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician
- 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
- 1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (d. 2016)
- 1938 – Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor
- 1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1939 – John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive
- 1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
- 1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (d. 2011)
- 1941 – Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic
- 1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
- 1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager
- 1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
- 1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1942 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic
- 1943 – Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player
- 1943 – Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
- 1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (d. 2017)
- 1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
- 1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician
- 1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor and director
- 1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
- 1949 – Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (d. 2016)
- 1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
- 1949 – Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat
- 1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 – Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (d. 2007)
- 1950 – Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (d. 2001)
- 1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
- 1951 – Pascal Rogé, French pianist
- 1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian
- 1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
- 1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author
- 1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
- 1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
- 1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
- 1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
- 1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer
- 1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer
- 1956 – Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician
- 1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
- 1956 – Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer
- 1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
- 1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
- 1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach
- 1957 – Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
- 1957 – Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
- 1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
- 1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut
- 1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
- 1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
- 1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player
- 1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish actor and screenwriter
- 1961 – Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager
- 1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic
- 1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
- 1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador
- 1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
- 1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
- 1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
- 1967 – Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
- 1967 – Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic
- 1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
- 1968 – Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic
- 1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
- 1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
- 1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
- 1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
- 1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
- 1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
- 1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
- 1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
- 1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
- 1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
- 1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
- 1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
- 1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
- 1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
- 1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist
- 1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
- 1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
- 1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
- 1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
- 1978 – Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist
- 1978 – Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
- 1978 – Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
- 1978 – Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter
- 1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
- 1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
- 1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
- 1979 – Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster
- 1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
- 1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
- 1980 – Antonio Thomas, American wrestler
- 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
- 1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
- 1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player
- 1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
- 1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
- 1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
- 1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
- 1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1983 – James Wade, English darts player
- 1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
- 1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
- 1984 – Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player
- 1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
- 1985 – Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor
- 1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
- 1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
- 1986 – Goeido Gotaro, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
- 1987 – Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer
- 1987 – Heidi Mount, American model
- 1987 – Juan Adriel Ochoa, Mexican footballer
- 1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
- 1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American model
- 1988 – Jucilei, Brazilian footballer
- 1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
- 1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer
- 1988 – Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rican-American model and television host, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008
- 1990 – Lachlan Coote, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Charlie McDermott, American actor
- 1990 – Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer
- 1992 – Ken, South Korean singer
- 1992 – Julie Ertz, American soccer player
- 1994 – Adrián Alonso, Mexican actor
- 1995 – Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player
- 1998 – Peyton List, American actress and model
Deaths on April 6
- 861 – Prudentius, bishop of Troyes
- 885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary and saint (b. 815)
- 887 – Pei Che, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
- 943 – Liu Churang, Chinese general and chief of staff (b. 881)
- 943 – Nasr II, ruler (amir) of the Samanid Empire (b. 906)
- 1147 – Frederick II, duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
- 1199 – Richard I, king of England (b. 1157)
- 1231 – William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
- 1250 – Guillaume de Sonnac, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1252 – Peter of Verona, Italian priest and saint (b. 1206)
- 1340 – Basil, emperor of Trebizond (Turkey)
- 1362 – James I, count of La Marche (b. 1319)
- 1376 – Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (b. 1310)
- 1490 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490 (b. 1443)
- 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
- 1523 – Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1479)
- 1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
- 1551 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (b. 1484)
- 1571 – John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop and academic (b. 1512)
- 1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1532)
- 1593 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (b. 1550)
- 1605 – John Stow, English historian and author (b. 1525)
- 1621 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (b. 1539)
- 1641 – Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (b. 1581)
- 1655 – David Blondel, French minister, historian, and scholar (b. 1591)
- 1676 – John Winthrop the Younger, English politician, 1st Governor of Connecticut (b. 1606)
- 1686 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (b. 1614)
- 1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch-English painter (b. 1633)
- 1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (b. 1690)
- 1790 – Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
- 1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter and educator (b. 1757)
- 1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (b. 1802)
- 1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek philosopher and scholar (b. 1748)
- 1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (b. 1763)
- 1860 – James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1778)
- 1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (b. 1803)
- 1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
- 1886 – William Edward Forster, English businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1818)
- 1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
- 1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician, 6th County Governor of Møre og Romsdal (b. 1849)
- 1913 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (b. 1835)
- 1923 – Kabalega, King of Bunyoro (b.1853)
- 1927 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (b. 1850)
- 1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (b. 1869)
- 1944 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (b. 1874)
- 1947 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (b. 1896)
- 1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
- 1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (b. 1905)
- 1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1895)
- 1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
- 1963 – Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1897)
- 1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
- 1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
- 1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
- 1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
- 1983 – Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
- 1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
- 1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1955)
- 1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
- 1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (b. 1908)
- 2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- 2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (b. 1963)
- 2003 – David Bloom, American journalist (b. 1963)
- 2003 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (b. 1949)
- 2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
- 2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Lou Berberet, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1977)
- 2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, American soldier and diplomat (b. 1917)
- 2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor and director (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (b. 1916)
- 2009 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1982)
- 2010 – Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (b. 1945)
- 2010 – Corin Redgrave, English actor (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Roland Guilbault, American admiral (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter and illustrator (b. 1958)
- 2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist and academic (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Sheila Scotter, Australian fashion designer and journalist (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian physician and politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Chuck Stone, American soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (b. 1943)
- 2015 – Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
- 2015 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Michael O’Donnell, British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances on April 6
- Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty. (Thailand)
- Christian feast day:
- Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach (Lutheran Church).
- Brychan
- Eutychius of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Marcellinus of Carthage
- Pope Celestine I (Catholic Church)
- Pope Sixtus I
- April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
- National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)
- New Beer’s Eve (United States)
- Tartan Day (United States & Canada)