Skip to content
-
- 61 BC – Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday.
- 1011 – Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, archbishop of Canterbury, as a prisoner.
- 1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades.
- 1267 – The Treaty of Montgomery recognises Llywelyn ap Gruffudd as Prince of Wales, but only as a vassal of King Henry III.
- 1364 – English forces defeat the French in Brittany, ending the War of the Breton Succession.
- 1578 – Tegucigalpa, capital city of Honduras, is claimed by the Spaniards.
- 1637 – 42-year-old Lorenzo Ruiz dies.
- 1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city’s architecture.
- 1789 – The United States Department of War first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
- 1789 – The 1st United States Congress adjourns.
- 1829 – The Metropolitan Police of London, later also known as the Met, is founded.
- 1848 – The Battle of Pákozd is a stalemate between Hungarian and Croatian forces, and is the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution.
- 1850 – The papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae restores the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales.
- 1855 – The Philippine port of Iloilo is opened to world trade by the Spanish administration.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm is fought.
- 1864 – The Treaty of Lisbon defines the boundaries between Spain and Portugal and abolishes the Couto Misto microstate.
- 1885 – The first practical public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England.
- 1907 – The cornerstone is laid at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (better known as Washington National Cathedral) in Washington, D.C.
- 1911 – Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
- 1918 – World War I: Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonica.
- 1918 – The Hindenburg Line is broken by an Allied attack.
- 1918 – Germany’s Supreme Army Command tells the Kaiser and the Chancellor to open negotiations for an armistice.
- 1923 – The British Mandate for Palestine takes effect, creating Mandatory Palestine.
- 1923 – The French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon takes effect.
- 1923 – The First American Track & Field championships for women are held.
- 1932 – Chaco War: Last day of the Battle of Boquerón between Paraguay and Bolivia.
- 1940 – Two Avro Ansons collide in mid-air over New South Wales, Australia, remain locked together, then land safely.
- 1941 – World War II: German forces, with the aid of local Ukrainian collaborators, begin the two-day Babi Yar massacre.
- 1949 – The Communist Party of China writes the Common Programme for the future People’s Republic of China.
- 1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed.
- 1957 – The Kyshtym disaster is the third-worst nuclear accident ever recorded.
- 1971 – Oman joins the Arab League.
- 1972 – China–Japan relations: Japan establishes diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.
- 1975 – WGPR becomes the first black-owned-and-operated television station in the US.
- 1979 – The dictator Francisco Macias of Equatorial Guinea is shot by soldiers from Western Sahara.
- 1988 – NASA launches STS-26, the first mission since the Challenger disaster.
- 1990 – Construction of the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (better known as Washington National Cathedral) is completed in Washington, D.C.
- 1990 – The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
- 1991 – A Haitian coup d’état occurs.
- 1992 – Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello is impeached.
- 2004 – The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar distances of Earth.
- 2004 – Burt Rutan’s Ansari SpaceShipOne performs a successful spaceflight, the first of two required to win the Ansari X Prize.
- 2006 – A Boeing 737 and an Embraer 600 collide in mid-air, killing 154 people and triggering a Brazilian aviation crisis.
- 2007 – Calder Hall, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, is demolished in a controlled explosion.
- 2009 – The 8.1 Mw Samoa earthquake results in a tsunami that kills 189 and injures hundreds.
- 2011 – The special court in India convicted all 269 accused officials for atrocity on Dalits and 17 for rape in the Vachathi case.
- 2013 – Over 42 people are killed by members of Boko Haram at the College of Agriculture in Nigeria.
- 2016 – Eleven days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army conducts “surgical strikes” against suspected militants in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
- 2019 – Violence and low turnout mar the 2019 Afghan presidential election.
- 2019 – At least 59 people are reported dead due to monsoon rains in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. 350 people have died this year due to rain in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Births on September 29
- 106 BC – Pompey, Roman general and politician (d. 48 BC)
- 929 – Qian Chu, Chinese king (Ten Kingdoms) (d. 988)
- 1240 – Margaret of England, Queen consort of Scots (d. 1275)
- 1276 – Christopher II of Denmark (d. 1332)
- 1373 – Margaret of Bohemia, Burgravine of Nuremberg (d. 1410)
- 1402 – Fernando, the Saint Prince, of Portugal (d. 1443)
- 1403 – Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brzeg-Legnica and Cieszyn, German princess (d. 1449)
- 1460 – Louis II de la Trémoille, French military leader (d. 1525)
- 1463 – Louis I, Count of Löwenstein, founder of the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim (d. 1523)
- 1511 – Michael Servetus, Spanish physician, cartographer, and theologian (d. 1553)
- 1527 – John Lesley, Scottish bishop (d. 1596)
- 1538 – Joan Terès i Borrull, Spanish archbishop and academic (d. 1603)
- 1547 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1616)
- 1548 – William V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1626)
- 1561 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (d. 1615)
- 1574 – Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, Scottish nobleman and politician (d. 1624)
- 1602 – Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, English military leader (d. 1668)
- 1636 – Thomas Tenison, English archbishop (d. 1715)
- 1639 – William Russell, Lord Russell, English politician (d. 1683)
- 1640 – Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor and educator (d. 1720)
- 1674 – Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, French flute player and composer (d. 1763)
- 1678 – Adrien Maurice de Noailles, French soldier and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1766)
- 1691 – Richard Challoner, English bishop (d. 1781)
- 1703 – François Boucher, French painter and set designer (d. 1770)
- 1718 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian soldier and politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1783)
- 1725 – Robert Clive, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire (d. 1774)
- 1758 – Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, English admiral (d. 1805)
- 1766 – Charlotte, Princess Royal of England (d. 1828)
- 1786 – Guadalupe Victoria, Mexican general, lawyer, and politician, 1st President of Mexico (d. 1843)
- 1803 – Mercator Cooper, American captain and explorer (d. 1872)
- 1803 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1850)
- 1808 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
- 1810 – Elizabeth Gaskell, English author (d. 1865)
- 1816 – Paul Féval, père, French author and playwright (d. 1887)
- 1832 – Joachim Oppenheim, rabbi and author (d. 1891)
- 1832 – Miguel Miramón, Unconstitutional president of Mexico, 1859-1860 (d. 1867)
- 1843 – Mikhail Skobelev, Russian general (d. 1882)
- 1844 – Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 10th President of Argentina (d. 1909)
- 1853 – Luther D. Bradley, American cartoonist (d. 1917)
- 1863 – Hugo Haase, German lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1919)
- 1864 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher and author (d. 1936)
- 1866 – Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Ukrainian historian, academic, and politician (d. 1934)
- 1876 – Charlie Llewellyn, South African cricketer (d. 1964)
- 1880 – Liberato Pinto, Portuguese colonel and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1949)
- 1881 – Ludwig von Mises, Austrian-American economist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1973)
- 1882 – Lilias Armstrong, English phonetician (d. 1937)
- 1885 – George Scott, English footballer (d. 1916)
- 1891 – Ian Fairweather, Scottish-Australian painter (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Clarence Ashley, American singer, guitarist, and banjo player (d. 1967)
- 1895 – Joseph Banks Rhine, American botanist and parapsychologist (d. 1980)
- 1895 – Roscoe Turner, American pilot (d. 1970)
- 1897 – Herbert Agar, American journalist and historian (d. 1980)
- 1898 – Trofim Lysenko, Ukrainian-Russian biologist and agronomist (d. 1976)
- 1899 – László Bíró, Hungarian-Argentinian journalist and inventor, invented the ballpoint pen (d. 1985)
- 1899 – Billy Butlin, South African-English businessman, founded Butlins (d. 1980)
- 1901 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian poet, philosopher, and activist (d. 1981)
- 1901 – Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- 1903 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican lawyer and civilian politician, 46th President of Mexico (1946-1952) (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Diana Vreeland, American journalist (d. 1989)
- 1904 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1907 – Gene Autry, American singer, actor, and businessman (d. 1998)
- 1907 – George W. Jenkins, American businessman, founded Publix (d. 1996)
- 1908 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter and educator (d. 1967)
- 1910 – Bill Boyd, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
- 1910 – Virginia Bruce, American actress (d. 1982)
- 1911 – Charles Court, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Western Australia (d. 2007)
- 1912 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Trevor Howard, English actor (d. 1988)
- 1913 – Stanley Kramer, American director and producer (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Vincent DeDomenico, American businessman, founded the Napa Valley Wine Train (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Oscar Handlin, American historian and academic (d. 2011)
- 1915 – Brenda Marshall, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1916 – Carl Giles, English cartoonist (d. 1995)
- 1919 – Kira Zvorykina, Belarusian chess player (d. 2014)
- 1920 – Peter D. Mitchell, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1920 – Václav Neumann, Czech violinist and conductor (d. 1995)
- 1921 – John Ritchie, New Zealand composer and educator (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Albie Roles, English footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Lizabeth Scott, American actress (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Stan Berenstain, American author and illustrator (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Bum Phillips, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Steve Forrest, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Paul MacCready, American engineer, founded AeroVironment (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Chuck Cooper, American basketball player (d. 1984)
- 1926 – Pete Elliott, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Adhemar da Silva, Brazilian triple jumper and actor (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Sherwood Johnston, American race car driver (d. 2000)
- 1927 – Pete McCloskey, American colonel and politician
- 1927 – Barbara Mertz, American historian and author (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English lieutenant, engineer, and politician (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Brajesh Mishra, Indian politician and diplomat, 1st Indian National Security Advisor (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean journalist and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Richard Bonynge, Australian pianist and conductor
- 1930 – Colin Dexter, English author and educator (d. 2017)
- 1931 – James Cronin, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Paul Oestreicher, German-English priest and theologian
- 1932 – Robert Benton, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1932 – Paul Giel, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1933 – Samora Machel, Mozambican commander and politician, 1st President of Mozambique (d. 1986)
- 1934 – Skandor Akbar, American wrestler and manager (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Hungarian-American psychologist and academic
- 1934 – Lance Gibbs, Guyanese cricketer and manager
- 1934 – Stuart M. Kaminsky, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1934 – Lindsay Kline, Australian cricketer (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Jerry Lee Lewis, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1936 – Silvio Berlusconi, Italian businessman and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Italy
- 1936 – James Fogle, American author (d. 2012)
- 1936 – Hal Trosky, Jr., American baseball player (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Dave Harper, English footballer (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Wim Kok, Dutch union leader and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Fikret Abdić, Bosnian economist and politician
- 1939 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (d. 2001)
- 1939 – Larry Linville, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1939 – Rhodri Morgan, Welsh politician, 2nd First Minister of Wales (d. 2017)
- 1940 – Brute Force, American singer-songwriter
- 1940 – Carlos Morales Troncoso, Dominican politician, 34th Vice President of the Dominican Republic (d. 2014)
- 1941 – David Steele, English cricketer
- 1942 – Felice Gimondi, Italian cyclist
- 1942 – Madeline Kahn, American actress and singer (d. 1999)
- 1942 – Ian McShane, English actor
- 1942 – Bill Nelson, American captain and politician
- 1942 – Jean-Luc Ponty, French violinist and composer
- 1942 – Janet Powell, Australian educator and politician (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Steve Tesich, Serbian-American screenwriter and playwright (d. 1996)
- 1943 – Wolfgang Overath, German footballer
- 1943 – Lech Wałęsa, Polish electrician and politician, 2nd President of Poland, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 – Mike Post, American composer and producer
- 1945 – Kyriakos Sfetsas, Greek composer and poet
- 1945 – Nadezhda Chizhova, Russian shot putter
- 1946 – Patricia Hodge, English actress
- 1947 – Ülo Kaevats, Estonian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 2015)
- 1947 – S. H. Kapadia, Indian lawyer, judge, and politician, 38th Chief Justice of India (d. 2016)
- 1947 – Gary Wetzel, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient
- 1948 – Mark Farner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1948 – Bryant Gumbel, American journalist and sportscaster
- 1948 – Theo Jörgensmann, German clarinet player and composer
- 1948 – Mike Pinera, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1949 – George Dalaras, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Ken Macha, American baseball player and manager
- 1951 – Michelle Bachelet, Chilean physician and politician, 34th President of Chile
- 1951 – Pier Luigi Bersani, Italian educator and politician, 6th President of Emilia-Romagna
- 1951 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1977)
- 1951 – Maureen Caird, Australian-New Zealand hurdler
- 1951 – Mike Enriquez, Filipino journalist and radio commentator
- 1952 – Roy Campbell, Jr., American trumpet player (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Gábor Csupó, Hungarian-American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Klasky Csupo
- 1952 – Richard Hodges, English archaeologist and academic
- 1952 – Max Sandlin, American lawyer, judge, and politician
- 1952 – Takanosato Toshihide, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 59th Yokozuna (d. 2011)
- 1953 – Warren Cromartie, American baseball player, coach, and radio host
- 1953 – Jean-Claude Lauzon, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1953 – Lawrence Reed, American economist and author
- 1954 – Uwe Jahn, German footballer and manager
- 1954 – Mark Mitchell, Australian actor
- 1955 – Ann Bancroft, American explorer and author
- 1955 – Gareth Davies, Welsh rugby player and academic
- 1955 – Joe Donnelly, American politician and lawyer
- 1955 – Benoît Ferreux, French actor and director
- 1955 – Gwen Ifill, American journalist (d. 2016)
- 1956 – Sebastian Coe, English sprinter and politician
- 1956 – Jenny Morris, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Suzzy Roche, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1957 – Chris Broad, English cricketer and referee
- 1957 – Sokratis Malamas, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Mark Nicholas, English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1960 – Julian Armour, American-Canadian cellist and educator
- 1960 – Kenneth Hansen, Swedish race car driver
- 1960 – Alan McGee, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1960 – Hubert Neuper, Austrian ski jumper
- 1960 – John Paxson, American basketball player and coach
- 1960 – David Sammartino, American wrestler and trainer
- 1960 – Andy Slaughter, English politician
- 1960 – Carol Welsman, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1961 – Julia Gillard, Welsh-Australian lawyer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Australia
- 1961 – Stephanie Miller, American comedian and radio host
- 1962 – Roger Bart, American actor
- 1963 – Dave Andreychuk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1963 – Les Claypool, American bass player, singer, songwriter, and producer
- 1964 – Brad Lohaus, American basketball player
- 1966 – Hersey Hawkins, American basketball player and coach
- 1966 – Ben Miles, English actor
- 1967 – Brett Anderson, English singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Sara Sankey, English badminton player
- 1968 – Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator
- 1968 – Luke Goss, English actor
- 1968 – Matt Goss, English singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Erika Eleniak, American model and actress
- 1969 – DeVante Swing, American singer-songwriter, and producer
- 1969 – Aleks Syntek, Mexican singer-songwriter and producer
- 1970 – Russell Peters, Canadian comedian, actor, and producer
- 1970 – Yoshihiro Tajiri, Japanese wrestler and trainer
- 1970 – Natasha Gregson Wagner, American actress
- 1970 – Kushboo, South Indian actress and producer
- 1971 – Yitzhak Yedid, Israeli-Australian composer & pianist
- 1971 – Tanoka Beard, American basketball player
- 1971 – Mackenzie Crook, English actor and screenwriter
- 1971 – Theodore Shapiro, American composer
- 1972 – Oliver Gavin, English race car driver
- 1973 – Foivos Delivorias, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1973 – Shannon Larratt, Canadian publisher, founded BMEzine (d. 2013)
- 1973 – Scout Niblett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1974 – Brian Ash, American screenwriter and producer
- 1974 – Matt Hullum, American actor, director, and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth
- 1974 – James Lance, British actor
- 1975 – Albert Celades, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1976 – Darren Byfield, English-Jamaican footballer
- 1976 – Kelvin Davis, English footballer
- 1976 – Óscar Sevilla, Spanish cyclist
- 1976 – Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer and politician
- 1977 – Eric Barton, American football player
- 1977 – Wade Brookbank, Canadian ice hockey player and scout
- 1977 – Debelah Morgan, American singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Jake Westbrook, American baseball player
- 1978 – Mohini Bhardwaj, American gymnast and coach
- 1978 – Gunner McGrath, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Karen Putzer, Italian skier
- 1978 – Kurt Nilsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Orhan Ak, Turkish footballer
- 1979 – Takumi Beppu, Japanese cyclist and manager
- 1979 – Artika Sari Devi, Indonesian model and actress
- 1979 – Shelley Duncan, American baseball player and manager
- 1979 – Jaime Lozano, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Patrick Agyemang, English footballer
- 1980 – Dallas Green, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Zachary Levi, American actor and singer
- 1981 – Aris Galanopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1981 – Shane Smeltz, German-New Zealand footballer
- 1982 – Matt Giteau, Australian rugby player
- 1982 – Amy Williams, English skeleton racer
- 1983 – Lisette Oropesa, American soprano and actress
- 1984 – Per Mertesacker, German footballer
- 1985 – Calvin Johnson, American football player
- 1985 – Niklas Moisander, Finnish footballer
- 1985 – Dani Pedrosa, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1985 – Magnus Gangstad Jørgensen, Norwegian music producer
- 1986 – Lisa Foiles, American actress and journalist
- 1986 – Mark Fraser, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Matt Lashoff, American ice hockey player
- 1986 – Isaac Makwala, Botswanan sprinter
- 1986 – Benoît Pouliot, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – David Del Rio, American actor and director
- 1988 – Kevin Durant, American basketball player
- 1988 – Justin Nozuka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Theo Adams, English photographer and director
- 1989 – Adore Delano, American drag queen and singer
- 1989 – Yevhen Konoplyanka, Ukrainian footballer
- 1989 – Aaron Martin, English footballer
- 1989 – Andrea Poli, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Fatima Lodhi, Pakistani social activist
- 1990 – Doug Brochu, American voice actor
- 1990 – Gerphil Flores, Filipina classical crossover singer and Asia’s Got Talent finalist
- 1990 – Lena Wermelt, German footballer
- 1991 – Adem Ljajić, Serbian footballer
- 1991 – Martin Jensen, Danish musician
- 1993 – Lee Hong-bin, South Korean singer
- 1993 – Viktor Romanenkov, Estonian figure skater
- 1993 – Oleg Vernyayev, Ukrainian artistic gymnast
- 1998 – Vera Lapko, Belarusian tennis player
- 1999 – Choi Ye-na, South Korean singer and dancer
Deaths on September 29
- 722 – Leudwinus, Frankish archbishop and saint (b. 660)
- 855 – Lothair I, Roman emperor (b. 795)
- 1186 – William of Tyre, Archbishop of Tyre (b. c. 1130)
- 1225 – Arnaud Amalric, Papal legate who allegedly promoted mass murder
- 1298 – Guido I da Montefeltro, Italian military strategist (b. 1223)
- 1304 – John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, English general (b. 1231)
- 1360 – Joanna I of Auvergne, queen consort of France (b. 1326)
- 1364 – Charles I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1319)
- 1382 – ‘Izz al-Din ibn Rukn al-Din Mahmud, malik of Sistan
- 1501 – Andrew Stewart, Scottish bishop (b. 1442)
- 1560 – Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1496)
- 1622 – Conrad Vorstius, German-Dutch Remonstrant theologian (b. 1569)
- 1634 – Henry Hyde, English politician and lawyer (b.c. 1563)
- 1637 – Lorenzo Ruiz, Filipino martyr and saint (b. 1600)
- 1642 – René Goupil, French missionary and saint (b. 1608)
- 1642 – William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire (b. 1561)
- 1703 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French-English soldier, author, and critic (b. 1610)
- 1800 – Michael Denis, Austrian poet and author (b. 1729)
- 1804 – Michael Hillegas, American politician, 1st Treasurer of the United States (b. 1728)
- 1833 – Ferdinand VII of Spain (b. 1784)
- 1862 – William “Bull” Nelson, American general (b. 1824)
- 1887 – Bernhard von Langenbeck, German surgeon and academic (b. 1810)
- 1889 – Louis Faidherbe, French general and politician (b. 1818)
- 1900 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American lawyer and politician (b. 1814)
- 1902 – William McGonagall, Scottish poet and actor (b. 1825)
- 1902 – Émile Zola, French journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1840)
- 1908 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1839)
- 1910 – Winslow Homer, American painter, illustrator, and engraver (b. 1836)
- 1913 – Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the diesel engine (b. 1858)
- 1918 – Lawrence Weathers, decorated WWI Australian soldier (b. 1890).
- 1925 – Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1851)
- 1927 – Arthur Achleitner, German journalist and author (b. 1858)
- 1927 – Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
- 1928 – John Devoy, Irish-American Fenian rebel leader (b. 1842)
- 1930 – Ilya Repin, Ukrainian-Russian painter and illustrator (b. 1844)
- 1937 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (b. 1877)
- 1937 – Ray Ewry, American triple jumper (b. 1873)
- 1937 – Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer and water polo player (b. 1878)
- 1951 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer player and coach (b. 1864)
- 1952 – John Cobb, English race car driver and pilot (b. 1899)
- 1967 – Carson McCullers, American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet (b. 1917)
- 1970 – Edward Everett Horton, American actor (b. 1886)
- 1973 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1907)
- 1975 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (b. 1890)
- 1981 – Bill Shankly, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1913)
- 1982 – Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (b. 1912)
- 1986 – Prince George Valdemar of Denmark (b. 1920)
- 1987 – Henry Ford II, American businessman (b. 1917)
- 1988 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Gussie Busch, American businessman (b. 1899)
- 1989 – Georges Ulmer, Danish-French singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1919)
- 1993 – Gordon Douglas, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Roy Lichtenstein, American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 1998 – Tom Bradley, American lieutenant and politician, 38th Mayor of Los Angeles (b. 1917)
- 1999 – Jean-Louis Millette, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
- 2000 – John Grant, English journalist and politician (b. 1932)
- 2001 – Mabel Fairbanks, American figure skater and coach (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese general and politician, 5th President of South Vietnam (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Richard Sainct, French motorcycle racer (b. 1970)
- 2004 – Patrick Wormald, English historian (b. 1947)
- 2005 – Patrick Caulfield, English painter and academic (b. 1936)
- 2005 – Austin Leslie, American chef and author (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Walter Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer and manager (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Michael A. Monsoor, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1981)
- 2006 – Louis-Albert Vachon, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Yıldırım Aktuna, Turkish psychiatrist and politician, Turkish Minister of Health (b. 1930)
- 2008 – Hayden Carruth, American poet and critic (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Pavel Popovich, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Tony Curtis, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Greg Giraldo, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1965)
- 2011 – Sylvia Robinson, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Hathloul bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Neil Smith, Scottish geographer and academic (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, American publisher (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Harold Agnew, American physicist and engineer (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Anton Benning, German lieutenant (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Pete T. Cenarrusa, American soldier, pilot, and politician, Secretary of State of Idaho (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Carl Joachim Classen, German scholar and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – L. C. Greenwood, American football player (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Bob Kurland, American basketball player and politician (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Miguel Boyer, Spanish economist and politician (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (b. 1983)
- 2014 – Stan Monteith, American surgeon and author (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Luis Nishizawa, Mexican painter and educator (b. 1918)
- 2014 – John Ritchie, New Zealand composer and educator (b. 1921)
- 2014 – George Shuba, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Hellmuth Karasek, Czech-German journalist, author, and critic (b. 1934)
- 2015 – William Kerslake, American wrestler and engineer (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Jean Ter-Merguerian, French-Armenian violinist (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Phil Woods, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931)
- 2016 – Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipina politician (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Tom Alter, Indian actor (b. 1950)
- 2018 – Otis Rush, American blues guitarist and singer (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances on September 29
- Christian feast day:
- Rhipsime
- September 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. One of the four quarter days in the Irish calendar. (England and Ireland). Called Michaelmas in some western liturgical traditions
- Day of Machine-Building Industry Workers (Russia)
- Inventors’ Day (Argentina)
- Victory of Boquerón Day (Paraguay)
- World Heart Day
-
June 26 in History
- 4 AD – Augustus adopts Tiberius.
- 221 – Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar.
- 363 – Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sasanian Empire.
- 684 – Pope Benedict II is chosen.
- 699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic and apothecary who will later be regarded as the founder of a folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.
- 1243 – Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Köse Dağ.
- 1295 – Przemysł II crowned king of Poland, following Ducal period. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.
- 1407 – Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
- 1409 – Western Schism: The Roman Catholic Church is led into a double schism as Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XII in Avignon.
- 1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Edward, Earl of March, land in England with a rebel army and march on London.
- 1483 – Richard III becomes King of England.
- 1522 – Ottomans begin the second Siege of Rhodes.
- 1541 – Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
- 1579 – Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory begins.
- 1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great’s son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.
- 1723 – After a siege and bombardment by cannon, Baku surrenders to the Russians.
- 1740 – A combined force of Spanish, free blacks and allied Indians defeat a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
- 1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft.
- 1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover.
- 1843 – Treaty of Nanking comes into effect, Hong Kong Island is ceded to the British “in perpetuity”.
- 1848 – End of the June Days Uprising in Paris.
- 1857 – The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London.
- 1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States.
- 1886 – Henri Moissan isolated elemental Fluorine for the first time.
- 1889 – Bangui is founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac in what was then the upper reaches of the French Congo.
- 1906 – The first Grand Prix motor race is held at Le Mans.
- 1909 – The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
- 1917 – World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat four months later.
- 1918 – World War I: Allied forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.
- 1924 – The American occupation of the Dominican Republic ends after eight years.
- 1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island.
- 1934 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.
- 1936 – Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.
- 1940 – World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.
- 1941 – World War II: Soviet planes bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day.
- 1942 – The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
- 1944 – World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter.
- 1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California.
- 1948 – Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.
- 1948 – William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
- 1948 – Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is published in The New Yorker magazine.
- 1952 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.
- 1953 – Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.
- 1955 – The South African Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown.
- 1959 – Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavy weight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.
- 1960 – The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland.
- 1960 – Madagascar gains its independence from France.
- 1963 – Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.
- 1967 – Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
- 1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
- 1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
- 1977 – Elvis Presley held his final concert in Indianapolis, Indiana at Market Square Arena.
- 1978 – Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish.
- 1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People’s Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.
- 1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d’état.
- 1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 2000 – The Human Genome Project announces the completion of a “rough draft” sequence.
- 2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
- 2006 – Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.
- 2007 – Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.
- 2008 – A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.
- 2012 – The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people.
- 2013 – Riots in China’s Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others.
- 2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 2015 – Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks.
- 2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Births on June 26
- 12 BC – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (d. 14)
- 1399 – John, Count of Angoulême (d. 1467)
- 1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1612)
- 1581 – San Pedro Claver, Spanish Jesuit saint (d. 1654)
- 1600 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish-born bishop and viceroy of New Spain (d. 1659)
- 1681 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden (d. 1708)
- 1689 – Edward Holyoke, American pastor and academic (d. 1769)
- 1694 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1768)
- 1699 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French businesswoman (d. 1777)
- 1702 – Philip Doddridge, English hymn-writer and educator (d. 1751)
- 1703 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (d. 1767)
- 1726 – Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia (d. 1796)
- 1730 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (d. 1817)
- 1764 – Jan Paweł Łuszczewski, Polish politician (d. 1812)
- 1796 – Jan Paweł Lelewel, Polish painter and engineer (d. 1847)
- 1798 – Wolfgang Menzel, German poet and critic (d. 1873)
- 1817 – Branwell Brontë, English painter and poet (d. 1848)
- 1819 – Abner Doubleday, American general (d. 1893)
- 1821 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian soldier, journalist, and politician, 6th President of Argentina (d. 1906)
- 1824 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (d. 1907)
- 1835 – Thomas W. Knox, American journalist and author (d. 1896)
- 1839 – Sam Watkins, American soldier and author (d. 1901)
- 1852 – Daoud Corm, Lebanese painter (d. 1930)
- 1854 – Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1937)
- 1865 – Bernard Berenson, Lithuanian-American historian and author (d. 1959)
- 1866 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and banker (d. 1923)
- 1869 – Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish journalist and author (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (d. 1957)
- 1880 – Mitchell Lewis, American actor (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Ya’akov Cohen, Israeli linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1960)
- 1892 – Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1893 – Dorothy Fuldheim, American journalist and news anchor(d. 1989)
- 1895 – George Hainsworth, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1950)
- 1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and businessman (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Chesty Puller, US general (d. 1971)
- 1899 – Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1901 – Stuart Symington, American lieutenant and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Air Force (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Hugues Cuénod, Swiss tenor and educator (d. 2010)
- 1903 – Big Bill Broonzy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1958)
- 1904 – Frank Scott Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
- 1904 – Peter Lorre, Slovak-American actor and singer (d. 1964)
- 1905 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (d. 1985)
- 1906 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer (d. 1974)
- 1906 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and educator (d. 2008)
- 1907 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (d. 1973)
- 1909 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager (d. 1997)
- 1909 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (d. 1985)
- 1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American golfer and basketball player (d. 1956)
- 1911 – Bronisław Żurakowski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Aimé Césaire, French poet, author, and politician (d. 2008)
- 1913 – Maurice Wilkes, English computer scientist and physicist (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Laurie Lee, English author and poet (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, European royalty (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Paul Castellano, American gangster (d. 1985)
- 1915 – George Haigh, English professional footballer (d. 2019)
- 1915 – Charlotte Zolotow, American author and poet (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Virginia Satir, American psychotherapist and author (d. 1988)
- 1916 – Giuseppe Taddei, Italian actor and singer (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Idriz Ajeti, Albanian albanologist (d. 2019)
- 1918 – Leo Rosner, Polish-born Austrian Jewish musician (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Raleigh Rhodes, American combat fighter pilot (d. 2007)
- 1918 – J. B. Fuqua, American entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2006)
- 1919 – Richard Neustadt, American political scientist and academic (d. 2003)
- 1919 – Jimmy Newberry, American pitcher (d. 1983)
- 1919 – George Athan Billias, American historian (d. 2018)
- 1919 – Donald M. Ashton, English art director (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Jean-Pierre Roy, Canadian-American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Violette Szabo, French-British secret agent (d. 1945)
- 1921 – Robert Everett, American computer scientist (d. 2018)
- 1922 – Walter Farley, American author (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Enzo Apicella, English artist, cartoonist, designer, and restaurateur (d. 2018)
- 1923 – Franz-Paul Decker, German conductor (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Ed Bearss, American veteran of World War II
- 1924 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (d. 2010)
- 1924 – James W. McCord Jr., CIA officer (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Pavel Belyayev, Russian soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1970)
- 1925 – Wolfgang Unzicker, German chess player (d. 2006)
- 1925 – Jean Frydman, French resistant and businessman
- 1926 – Kenny Baker, American fiddler (d.2011)
- 1926 – Mahendra Bhatnagar, Indian poet
- 1926 – Fernando Mönckeberg Barros, Chilean surgeon
- 1926 – Dinu Zamfirescu, Romanian politician
- 1927 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet (d. 2011)
- 1928 – Jacob Druckman, American composer and academic (d. 1996)
- 1928 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, Japanese inventor
- 1928 – Bill Sheffield, American politician; 5th Governor of Alaska
- 1928 – Samuel Belzberg, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2018)
- 1929 – June Bronhill, Australian soprano and actress (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Fred Bruemmer, Latvian-Canadian photographer and author (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Milton Glaser, American illustrator and graphic designer
- 1930 – Jackie Fargo, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Wolfgang Schwanitz, East German secret police
- 1931 – Colin Wilson, English philosopher and author (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Robert Colbert, American actor
- 1932 – Dame Marguerite Pindling, Bahamian politician; Governor-General of the Bahamas
- 1932 – Don Valentine, American venture capitalist (d. 2019)
- 1933 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Gene Green, American baseball player (d. 1981)
- 1933 – David Winnick, English politician
- 1934 – Dave Grusin, American pianist and composer
- 1934 – Toru Goto, Japanese swimmer
- 1935 – Carlo Facetti, Italian race car driver
- 1935 – Sandro Riminucci, Italian basketball player
- 1935 – Dwight York, American singer
- 1936 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Hal Greer, American basketball player (d. 2018)
- 1936 – Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, Scottish politician (d. 2020)
- 1936 – Edith Pearlman, American short story writer
- 1936 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Nancy Willard, American author and poet (d. 2017)
- 1937 – Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Reggie Workman, American bassist and composer
- 1938 – Neil Abercrombie, American sociologist and politician, 7th Governor of Hawaii
- 1938 – Billy Davis Jr., American pop-soul singer
- 1938 – Gerald North, American climatologist and academic
- 1939 – Chuck Robb, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th Governor of Virginia
- 1939 – Zainuddin Maidin, Malaysian politician (d. 2018)
- 1941 – Yves Beauchemin, Canadian author and academic
- 1942 – J.J. Dillon, American wrestler and manager
- 1942 – Gilberto Gil, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and politician, Brazilian Minister of Culture
- 1943 – Georgie Fame, English singer, pianist, and keyboard player
- 1943 – Warren Farrell, American author and educator
- 1944 – Gennady Zyuganov, Russian colonel and politician
- 1946 – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (d. 2013)
- 1949 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (d. 2015)
- 1949 – Adrian Gurvitz, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1949 – Mary Styles Harris, American biologist and geneticist
- 1951 – Gary Gilmour, Australian cricketer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Gordon McQueen, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1952 – Olive Morris, Jamaican-English civil rights activist (d. 1979)
- 1954 – Luis Arconada, Spanish footballer
- 1955 – Mick Jones, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Gedde Watanabe, American actor
- 1956 – Chris Isaak, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1956 – Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic
- 1956 – Patrick Mercer, English colonel and politician
- 1957 – Al Hunter Ashton, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Philippe Couillard, Canadian surgeon and politician, 31st Premier of Quebec
- 1957 – Patty Smyth, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1959 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and screenwriter
- 1960 – Mark Durkan, Irish politician
- 1961 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist
- 1961 – Terri Nunn, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1962 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1963 – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian-Swiss businessman and philanthropist
- 1963 – Mark McClellan, American economist and politician
- 1963 – Harriet Wheeler, English singer-songwriter
- 1964 – Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver
- 1966 – Dany Boon, French actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Kirk McLean, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Jürgen Reil, American drummer
- 1967 – Inha Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper
- 1967 – Olivier Dahan, French director and screenwriter
- 1968 – Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Icelandic lecturer and politician, 6th President of Iceland
- 1968 – Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer
- 1968 – Shannon Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Colin Greenwood, English bass player and songwriter
- 1969 – Ingrid Lempereur, Belgian swimmer
- 1969 – Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter
- 1969 – Mike Myers, American baseball player
- 1970 – Paul Thomas Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Paul Bitok, Kenyan runner
- 1970 – Irv Gotti, American record producer, co-founded Murder Inc Records
- 1970 – Sean Hayes, American actor
- 1970 – Adam Ndlovu, Zimbabwean footballer
- 1970 – Chris O’Donnell, American actor
- 1970 – Nick Offerman, American actor
- 1971 – Max Biaggi, Italian motorcycle racer
- 1972 – Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper and police officer
- 1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1974 – Derek Jeter, American baseball player
- 1974 – Jason Kendall, American baseball player
- 1975 – Chris Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Terry Skiverton, English footballer and manager
- 1976 – Ed Jovanovski, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Pommie Mbangwa, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster
- 1976 – Chad Pennington, American football player and sportscaster
- 1976 – Dave Rubin, American political commentator
- 1977 – Quincy Lewis, American basketball player
- 1979 – Ryō Fukuda, Japanese race car driver
- 1979 – Walter Herrmann, Argentinian basketball player
- 1979 – Ryan Tedder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1980 – Hamílton Hênio Ferreira Calheiros, Togolese footballer
- 1980 – Michael Jackson, English footballer
- 1980 – Jason Schwartzman, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
- 1980 – Chris Shelton, American baseball player
- 1980 – Michael Vick, American football player
- 1981 – Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler
- 1981 – Paolo Cannavaro, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Kanako Kondō, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1981 – Takashi Toritani, Japanese baseball player
- 1982 – Zuzana Kučová, Slovak tennis player
- 1983 – Vinícius Rodrigues Almeida, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Nick Compton, South African-English cricketer
- 1983 – Toyonoshima Daiki, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1983 – Felipe Melo, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Antonio Rosati, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Indila, French singer
- 1984 – José Juan Barea, Puerto Rican-American basketball player
- 1984 – Yankuba Ceesay, Gambian footballer
- 1984 – Elijah Dukes, American baseball player
- 1984 – Raymond Felton, American basketball player
- 1984 – Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan runner
- 1984 – Jūlija Tepliha, Latvian figure skater
- 1984 – Deron Williams, American basketball player
- 1984 – Preslava, Bulgarian singer
- 1985 – Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader, 17th Karmapa Lama
- 1986 – Duvier Riascos, Colombian footballer
- 1987 – Carlos Iaconelli, Brazilian race car driver
- 1987 – Samir Nasri, French footballer
- 1988 – Oliver Stang, German footballer
- 1990 – Belaynesh Oljira, Ethiopian runner
- 1990 – Igor Subbotin, Estonian footballer
- 1991 – Houssem Chemali, French footballer
- 1991 – Diego Falcinelli, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Dustin Martin, Australian rules footballer
- 1992 – Joel Campbell, Costa Rican footballer
- 1992 – Rudy Gobert, French basketball player
- 1992 – Jennette McCurdy, American actress and singer-songwriter
- 1993 – Ariana Grande, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1994 – Hollie Arnold, English javelin thrower
- 1994 – Leonard Carow, German actor
- 1997 – Baek Ye-rin, South Korean singer
- 1997 – Callum Taylor, English cricketer
- 2002 – Chandler Smith, American racing driver
- 2009 – Yesha Camile, Filipino child actress
Deaths on June 26
- 116 BC – Ptolemy VIII, king of Egypt
- 363 – Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor (b. 332)
- 405 – Vigilius, bishop of Trent (b. 353)
- 822 – Saichō, Japanese Buddhist monk (b. 767)
- 969 – George El Mozahem, Egyptian martyr (b. 940)
- 985 – Ramiro III, king of León
- 1090 – Jaromír, bishop of Prague
- 1095 – Robert, bishop of Hereford
- 1265 – Anne of Bohemia, duchess of Silesia (b. 1203 or 1204)
- 1274 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (b. 1201)
- 1487 – John Argyropoulos, Byzantine philosopher and scholar (b. 1415)
- 1541 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer and politician, Governor of New Castile (b. c. 1471)
- 1574 – Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard of Henry II of France (b. 1530)
- 1688 – Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher and academic (b. 1617)
- 1752 – Giulio Alberoni, Spanish cardinal (b. 1664)
- 1757 – Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1784 – Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (b. 1728)
- 1793 – James Dickey, Irish revolutionary (b. 1776)
- 1793 – Gilbert White, English ornithologist and ecologist (b. 1720)
- 1795 – Johannes Jährig, German linguist and translator (b. 1747)
- 1808 – Ludwik Tyszkiewicz, Polish poet and politician (b. 1748)
- 1810 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon (b. 1740)
- 1830 – George IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
- 1836 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier and composer (b. 1760)
- 1856 – Max Stirner, German philosopher and author (b. 1806)
- 1870 – Armand Barbès, French lawyer and politician (b. 1809)
- 1878 – Mercedes of Orléans (b. 1860)
- 1879 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (b. 1821)
- 1883 – Edward Sabine, Irish-English astronomer, geophysicist, and ornithologist (b. 1788)
- 1918 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and author (b. 1843)
- 1922 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (b. 1848)
- 1927 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (b. 1841)
- 1932 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (b. 1900)
- 1932 – William Murray McPherson, Australian politician, 31st Premier of Victoria (b. 1865)
- 1938 – James Weldon Johnson, American poet, lawyer and politician (b. 1871)
- 1938 – Daria Pratt, American golfer (b. 1859)
- 1939 – Ford Madox Ford, English novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1873)
- 1943 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- 1945 – Emil Hácha, Czech lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1872)
- 1946 – Max Kögel, German SS officer (b. 1895)
- 1946 – Yōsuke Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1880)
- 1947 – R. B. Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870)
- 1949 – Kim Koo, South Korean educator and politician, 13th President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (b. 1876)
- 1955 – Engelbert Zaschka, German engineer (b. 1895)
- 1956 – Clifford Brown, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1930)
- 1956 – Richie Powell, American pianist (b. 1931)
- 1957 – Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (b. 1878)
- 1957 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist and poet (b. 1909)
- 1958 – George Orton, Canadian runner and hurdler (b. 1873)
- 1958 – Andrija Štampar, Croatian physician and scholar (b. 1888)
- 1964 – Léo Dandurand, American-Canadian businessman (b. 1889)
- 1967 – Françoise Dorléac, French actress and singer (b. 1942)
- 1975 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint (b. 1902)
- 1979 – Akwasi Afrifa, Ghanaian soldier and politician, 3rd Head of State of Ghana (b. 1936)
- 1989 – Howard Charles Green, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Public Works (b. 1895)
- 1990 – Anni Blomqvist, Finnish author (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (b. 1921)
- 1993 – Roy Campanella, American baseball player and coach (b. 1921)
- 1993 – William H. Riker, American political scientist and academic (b. 1920)
- 1994 – Jahanara Imam, Bangladeshi author and activist (b. 1929)
- 1996 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (b. 1958)
- 1996 – Necmettin Hacıeminoğlu, Turkish linguist and academic (b. 1932)
- 1997 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
- 1998 – Hacı Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
- 2002 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Arnold Brown, English-Canadian 11th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913)
- 2003 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975)
- 2003 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
- 2003 – Strom Thurmond, American general, lawyer, and politician, 103rd Governor of South Carolina (b. 1902)
- 2004 – Ott Arder, Estonian poet and translator (b. 1950)
- 2004 – Yash Johar, Indian film producer, founded Dharma Productions (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Tõnno Lepmets, Estonian basketball player (b. 1938)
- 2005 – Richard Whiteley, English journalist and game show host (b. 1943)
- 2006 – Tommy Wonder, Dutch magician (b. 1953)
- 2007 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer, founded Liz Claiborne (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Joey Sadler, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Algirdas Brazauskas, Lithuanian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (b. 1932)
- 2010 – Harald Keres, Estonian physicist and academic (b. 1912)
- 2011 – Edith Fellows, American actress (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Sverker Åström, Swedish diplomat, Swedish Permanent Representative to the United Nations (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Pat Cummings, American basketball player (b. 1956)
- 2012 – Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Mario O’Hara, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
- 2012 – Doris Singleton, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Risley C. Triche, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Henrik Otto Donner, Finnish trumpet player and composer (b. 1939)
- 2013 – Edward Huggins Johnstone, Brazilian-American sergeant and judge (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Byron Looper, American politician (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Justin Miller, American baseball player (b. 1977)
- 2013 – Marc Rich, Belgian-American businessman (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Howard Baker, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 12th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Bill Frank, American-Canadian football player (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Rollin King, American businessman, co-founded Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Bob Mischak, American football player and coach (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Julius Rudel, Austrian-American conductor (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Yevgeny Primakov, Ukrainian-Russian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Chris Thompson, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1952)
Holidays and observances on June 26
- Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
- Christian feast day:
- Anthelm of Belley
- David the Dendrite
- Hermogius
- Isabel Florence Hapgood (Episcopal Church)
- Jeremiah (Lutheran)
- John and Paul
- José María Robles Hurtado (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Josemaría Escrivá
- Mar Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Pelagius of Córdoba
- Vigilius of Trent
- June 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Flag Day (Romania)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Madagascar from France in 1960. (Madagascar)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of British Somaliland from the British in 1960. (Somalia)
- International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (International)
- International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (International)
- Ratcatcher’s Day (Hamelin, Germany)
- Sunthorn Phu Day (Thailand)
- World Refrigeration Day (International)
-
June 25 in History
- 524 – The Franks are defeated by the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce.
- 841 – In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
- 1258 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Acre, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet sailing to relieve Acre.
- 1530 – At the Diet of Augsburg the Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and Electors of Germany.
- 1658 – Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- 1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.
- 1741 – Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary.
- 1786 – Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
- 1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1848 – A photograph of the June Days uprising becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.
- 1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
- 1900 – The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China.
- 1906 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania millionaire Harry Thaw shoots and kills prominent architect Stanford White.
- 1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
- 1910 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.
- 1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.
- 1935 – Colombia–Soviet Union relations are established.
- 1938 – Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the first President of Ireland.
- 1940 – World War II: The French armistice with Germany comes into effect.
- 1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
- 1943 – The left-wing German Jewish exile Arthur Goldstein is murdered in Auschwitz.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic countries, begins.
- 1944 – World War II: United States Navy and British Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.
- 1944 – The final page of the comic Krazy Kat is published, exactly two months after its author George Herriman died.
- 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
- 1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
- 1960 – Cold War: Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
- 1975 – Mozambique achieves independence from Portugal.
- 1975 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of internal emergency in India.
- 1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- 1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
- 1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
- 1991 – Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence by referendum from Yugoslavia.
- 1993 – Kim Campbell is sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
- 1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
- 1997 – The National Hockey League approved expansion franchises for Nashville (1998), Atlanta (1999), Columbus (2000), and Minneapolis-Saint Paul (2000).
- 1998 – In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
- 2017 – The World Health Organization estimates that Yemen has over 200,000 cases of cholera.
Births on June 25
- 1242 – Beatrice of England (d. 1275)
- 1328 – William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (d. 1397)
- 1371 – Joanna II of Naples (d. 1435)
- 1484 – Bartholomeus V. Welser, German banker (d. 1561)
- 1526 – Elisabeth Parr, Marchioness of Northampton (d. 1565)
- 1560 – Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
- 1568 – Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden (d. 1597)
- 1612 – John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (d. 1634)
- 1709 – Francesco Araja, Italian composer (d. 1762)
- 1715 – Joseph Foullon de Doué, French soldier and politician, Controller-General of Finances (d. 1789)
- 1755 – Natalia Alexeievna of Russia (d. 1776)
- 1799 – David Douglas, Scottish-English botanist and explorer (d. 1834)
- 1814 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist and engineer (d. 1896)
- 1825 – James Farnell, Australian politician, 8th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1888)
- 1852 – Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (d. 1926)
- 1858 – Georges Courteline, French author and playwright (d. 1929)
- 1860 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer and conductor (d. 1956)
- 1863 – Émile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat (d. 1935)
- 1864 – Walther Nernst, German chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- 1866 – Eloísa Díaz, Chilean doctor and Chile’s first female physician (d. 1950)
- 1874 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (d. 1944)
- 1884 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (d. 1917)
- 1884 – Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German-French art collector and historian (d. 1979)
- 1886 – Henry H. Arnold, American general (d. 1950)
- 1887 – George Abbott, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1887 – Frigyes Karinthy, Hungarian author, poet, and journalist (d. 1938)
- 1892 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese microbiologist and general (d. 1959)
- 1894 – Hermann Oberth, Romanian-German physicist and engineer (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Kay Sage, American painter and poet (d. 1963)
- 1900 – Marta Abba, Italian actress (d. 1988)
- 1900 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer (d. 1969)
- 1900 – Georgia Hale, American silent film actress and real estate investor (d. 1985)
- 1900 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Harold Roe Bartle, American businessman and politician, 47th Mayor of Kansas City (d. 1974)
- 1902 – Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu of Japan (d. 1953)
- 1903 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 1950)
- 1903 – Anne Revere, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1905 – Rupert Wildt, German-American astronomer and academic (d. 1976)
- 1907 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and academic (d. 2000)
- 1911 – William Howard Stein, American chemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- 1912 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Cyril Fletcher, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
- 1917 – Nils Karlsson, Swedish skier (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Claude Seignolle, French author (d. 2018)
- 1918 – P. H. Newby, English soldier and author (d. 1997)
- 1920 – Lassie Lou Ahern, American actress (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Celia Franca, English-Canadian ballerina and choreographer, founded the National Ballet of Canada (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Johnny Smith, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Sam Francis, American soldier and painter (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Jamshid Amouzegar, 43rd Prime Minister of Iran (d. 2016)
- 1924 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Dimitar Isakov, Bulgarian football player
- 1924 – Madan Mohan, Iraqi-Indian composer and director (d. 1975)
- 1924 – William J. Castagna, American lawyer and judge
- 1925 – Clifton Chenier, American singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 1987)
- 1925 – June Lockhart, American actress
- 1925 – Clay Evans, American Baptist pastor (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Robert Venturi, American architect and academic (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Virginia Patton, American actress and businesswoman
- 1926 – Margaret Anstee, English diplomat (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author and poet (d. 1973)
- 1926 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Stig Sollander, Swedish Alpine skier (d. 2019)
- 1927 – Antal Róka, Hungarian runner (d. 1970)
- 1927 – Chuck Smith, American pastor, founded the Calvary Chapel (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Arnold Wolfendale, English astronomer and academic
- 1928 – Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
- 1928 – John A. Wickham Jr., United States Army general
- 1928 – Michel Brault, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Peyo, Belgian author and illustrator, created The Smurfs (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Bill Russo, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Alex Toth, American animator and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1929 – Eric Carle, American author and illustrator
- 1929 – Francesco Marchisano, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1931 – V. P. Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (d. 2008)
- 1932 – Peter Blake, English painter and illustrator
- 1932 – Tim Parnell, English race car driver (d. 2017)
- 1932 – George Sluizer, French-Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, designed the Porto School of Architecture
- 1934 – Jean Geissinger, American baseball player (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Jack W. Hayford, American minister and author
- 1934 – Beatriz Sheridan, Mexican actress and director (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Ray Butt, English television producer and director (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Salihu Ibrahim, Nigerian Army Officer (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Taufiq Ismail, Indonesian poet and activist
- 1935 – Larry Kramer, American author, playwright, and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (d. 2020)
- 1935 – Don Demeter, American professional baseball player
- 1935 – Tony Lanfranchi, English race car driver (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Judy Howe, American artistic gymnast
- 1935 – Charles Sheffield, English-American mathematician, physicist, and author (d. 2002)
- 1936 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian engineer and politician, 3rd President of Indonesia (d. 2019)
- 1936 – Bert Hölldobler, German biologist and entomologist
- 1937 – Eddie Floyd, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
- 1937 – Derek Foster, Baron Foster of Bishop Auckland, English politician (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Doreen Wells, English ballerina and actress
- 1939 – Allen Fox, American tennis player and coach
- 1940 – Judy Amoore, Australian runner
- 1940 – Mary Beth Peil, American actress and singer
- 1940 – A. J. Quinnell, English-Maltese author (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Clint Warwick, English bass player (d. 2004)
- 1941 – Denys Arcand, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1941 – John Albert Raven, Scottish academic and ecologist
- 1942 – Nikiforos Diamandouros, Greek academic and politician
- 1942 – Willis Reed, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1942 – Michel Tremblay, Canadian author and playwright
- 1944 – Robert Charlebois, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1944 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Baba Gana Kingibe, Nigerian politician
- 1945 – Harry Womack, American singer (d. 1974)
- 1946 – Roméo Dallaire, Dutch-Canadian general and politician
- 1946 – Allen Lanier, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Ian McDonald, English guitarist and saxophonist
- 1947 – John Hilton, English table tennis player
- 1947 – John Powell, American discus thrower
- 1947 – Jimmie Walker, American actor and comedian
- 1949 – Richard Clarke, Irish archbishop
- 1949 – Patrick Tambay, French race car driver
- 1949 – Yoon Joo-sang, South Korean actor
- 1950 – Marcello Toninelli, Italian author and screenwriter
- 1951 – Eva Bayer-Fluckiger, Swiss mathematician and academic
- 1952 – Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal
- 1952 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
- 1952 – Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1952 – Alan Green, Northern Irish sportscaster
- 1952 – Kristina Abelli Elander, Swedish artist
- 1953 – Olivier Ameisen, French-American cardiologist and educator (d. 2013)
- 1953 – Ian Davis, Australian cricketer
- 1954 – Mario Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1954 – David Paich, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
- 1954 – Lina Romay, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Daryush Shokof, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1954 – Sonia Sotomayor, American lawyer and judge
- 1955 – Vic Marks, English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (d. 2018)
- 1956 – Frank Paschek, German long jumper
- 1956 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
- 1956 – Craig Young, Australian rugby player and coach
- 1957 – Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1958 – George Becali, Romanian businessman, politician
- 1959 – Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper and educator
- 1959 – Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1959 – Bobbie Vaile, Australian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1996)
- 1960 – Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, English-Scottish journalist and author
- 1960 – Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1960 – Craig Johnston, South African-Australian footballer and photographer
- 1960 – Laurent Rodriguez, French rugby player
- 1961 – Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, producer and singer
- 1963 – John Benjamin Hickey, American actor
- 1963 – Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author
- 1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
- 1963 – Mike Stanley, American baseball player
- 1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Phil Emery, Australian cricketer
- 1964 – Johnny Herbert, English race car driver and sportscaster
- 1964 – John McCrea, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1964 – Greg Raymer, American poker player and lawyer
- 1965 – Napole Polutele, French politician
- 1965 – Kerri Pottharst, Australian beach volleyball player
- 1965 – Joseph Hii Teck Kwong, Malaysian bishop
- 1966 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American basketball player
- 1967 – Tracey Spicer, Australian journalist
- 1968 – Adrian Garvey, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player
- 1968 – Vaios Karagiannis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1969 – Hunter Foster, American actor and singer
- 1969 – Zim Zum, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1970 – Ariel Gore, American journalist and author
- 1970 – Roope Latvala, Finnish guitarist
- 1970 – Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete and politician
- 1970 – Aaron Sele, American baseball player and scout
- 1971 – Karen Darke, English cyclist and author
- 1971 – Jason Gallian, Australian-English cricketer and educator
- 1971 – Rod Kafer, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish-Scottish footballer and manager
- 1971 – Michael Tucker, American baseball player
- 1972 – Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
- 1972 – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan engineer and politician
- 1973 – René Corbet, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Milan Hnilička, Czech ice hockey player
- 1973 – Jamie Redknapp, English footballer and coach
- 1974 – Nisha Ganatra, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Glen Metropolit, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer
- 1975 – Linda Cardellini, American actress
- 1975 – Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach
- 1975 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- 1975 – Michele Merkin, American model and television host
- 1976 – José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer
- 1976 – Iestyn Harris, Welsh rugby player and coach
- 1976 – Carlos Nieto, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
- 1976 – Neil Walker, American swimmer
- 1978 – Aramis Ramírez, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1978 – Luke Scott, American baseball player
- 1978 – Marcus Stroud, American football player
- 1979 – Marko Albert, Estonian swimmer and triathlete
- 1979 – Richard Hughes, Scottish footballer
- 1979 – Busy Philipps, American actress
- 1981 – Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
- 1982 – Rain, South Korean singer and actor
- 1982 – Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player
- 1983 – Todd Cooper, English swimmer
- 1983 – Marc Janko, Austrian footballer
- 1984 – Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer
- 1985 – Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer
- 1986 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer and actress
- 1986 – Seda Tokatlıoğlu, Turkish volleyball player
- 1988 – Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Miguel Layún, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1989 – Jack Cork, English footballer
- 1989 – Edgar Morais, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1989 – Rafael Morais, Portuguese actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipino actress
- 1991 – Liisi Rist, Estonian cyclist
- 1991 – Anna Zaja, German tennis player
- 1996 – Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazilian-American race car driver
- 1996 – Sione Mata’utia, Australian rugby league player
- 1996 – Lele Pons, Latina-American Internet personality
- 1998 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer
- 2006 – Mckenna Grace, American actress
Deaths on June 25
- 635 – Gao Zu, Chinese emperor (b. 566)
- 841 – Gerard of Auvergne, Frankish nobleman
- 841 – Ricwin of Nantes, Frankish nobleman
- 891 – Sunderolt, German archbishop
- 931 – An Chonghui, Chinese general
- 1014 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unready
- 1031 – Sheng Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 972)
- 1134 – Niels, king of Denmark (b. 1065)
- 1218 – Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1160)
- 1291 – Eleanor of Provence, queen of England (b. 1223)
- 1337 – Frederick III, king of Sicily (b. 1272)
- 1394 – Dorothea of Montau, German hermitess (b. 1347)
- 1483 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier and translator (b. 1440)
- 1483 – Richard Grey, half brother of Edward V of England (b. 1458)
- 1522 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1451)
- 1533 – Mary Tudor, queen of France (b. 1496)
- 1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1541)
- 1593 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (b. 1541)
- 1634 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (b. 1576)
- 1638 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1602)
- 1665 – Sigismund Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1630)
- 1669 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (b. 1616)
- 1671 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (b. 1598)
- 1673 – Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan, French captain (b. 1611)
- 1686 – Simon Ushakov, Russian painter and educator (b. 1626)
- 1715 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and politician (b. 1646)
- 1767 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (b. 1681)
- 1798 – Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, painter, and architect (b. 1721)
- 1822 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German composer, critic, and jurist (b. 1776)
- 1835 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746)
- 1838 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774)
- 1861 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823)
- 1866 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (b. 1803)
- 1868 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (b. 1811)
- 1870 – David Heaton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
- 1875 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
- 1876 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (b. 1845)
- 1876 – Boston Custer, American civilian army contractor (b. 1848)
- 1876 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (b. 1839)
- 1876 – Thomas Custer, American officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1845)
- 1876 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American officer (b. 1840)
- 1882 – François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806)
- 1884 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (b. 1858)
- 1886 – Jean-Louis Beaudry, Canadian businessman and politician, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809)
- 1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 5th President of France (b. 1837)
- 1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853)
- 1912 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-British painter (b. 1836)
- 1916 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1844)
- 1917 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (b. 1884)
- 1918 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1867)
- 1922 – Satyendranath Dutta, Indian poet and author (b. 1882)
- 1937 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)
- 1939 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (b. 1913)
- 1943 – Arthur Goldstein, German Jewish left-wing activist (c. 1887)
- 1944 – Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian jurist and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871)
- 1944 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1906)
- 1947 – Jimmy Doyle, American boxer (b. 1924)
- 1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
- 1949 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871)
- 1949 – James Steen, American water polo player (b. 1876)
- 1950 – Maurice O’Sullivan, Irish police officer and author (b. 1904)
- 1958 – Alfred Noyes, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1880)
- 1959 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938)
- 1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
- 1968 – Tony Hancock, English comedian and actor (b. 1924)
- 1971 – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician, biologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880)
- 1972 – Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (b. 1890)
- 1974 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893)
- 1976 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (b. 1909)
- 1977 – Olave Baden-Powell, British Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting leader (b. 1889)
- 1977 – Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1894)
- 1979 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (b. 1906)
- 1981 – Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Peruvian painter and political activist (b. 1888)
- 1983 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1916)
- 1984 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (b. 1926)
- 1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1962)
- 1990 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and murderer (b. 1940)
- 1992 – Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965)
- 1995 – Warren E. Burger, Fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat, British Ambassador to South Africa (b. 1914)
- 1997 – Jacques Cousteau, French oceanographer and explorer (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (b. 1934)
- 2003 – Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Morton Coutts, New Zealand inventor (b. 1904)
- 2005 – John Fiedler, American actor and voice artist (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Kâzım Koyuncu, Turkish singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1971)
- 2006 – Jaap Penraat, Dutch-American humanitarian (b. 1918)
- 2007 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Jeeva, Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1963)
- 2008 – Lyall Watson, South African anthropologist and ethologist (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (b. 1947)
- 2009 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (b. 1958)
- 2009 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
- 2010 – Alan Plater, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Richard B. Sellars, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1915)
- 2011 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Goff Richards, English composer and conductor (b. 1944)
- 2011 – Margaret Tyzack, English actress (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Shigemitsu Dandō, Japanese academic and jurist (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Campbell Gillies, Scottish jockey (b. 1990)
- 2012 – George Randolph Hearst, Jr., American businessman (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Lucella MacLean, American baseball player (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Edgar Ross, American boxer (b. 1949)
- 2013 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Catherine Gibson, Scottish swimmer (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Robert E. Gilka, American photographer and journalist (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Harry Parker, American rower and coach (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Green Wix Unthank, American soldier and judge (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Nigel Calder, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Ana María Matute, Spanish author and academic (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Ivan Plyushch, Ukrainian agronomist and politician (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Patrick Macnee, English actor (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (b. 1940)
- 2016 – Adam Small, South African writer of apartheid-period (b. 1936)
- 2018 – Richard Benjamin Harrison, American businessman and reality television personality (b. 1941)
- 2018 – David Goldblatt, South African photographer of apartheid-period (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances on June 25
- Arbor Day (Philippines)
- Christian feast day:
- David of Munktorp
- Eurosia
- Maximus (Massimo) of Turin
- Philipp Melanchthon (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)
- Prosper of Aquitaine
- Prosper of Reggio
- William of Montevergine
- June 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Mozambique from Portugal in 1975.
- National Catfish Day (United States)
- Statehood Day (Slovenia)
- Statehood Day (Virginia)
- Teacher’s Day (Guatemala)
- World Vitiligo Day
-
May 13 in History
- 1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love.
- 1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially married at Greenwich.
- 1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
- 1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
- 1779 – War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel).
- 1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal system of justice.
- 1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the “First Fleet”) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- 1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city.
- 1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights.
- 1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
- 1861 – Pakistan’s (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri.
- 1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
- 1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- 1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”), Empire of Brazil abolishes slavery.
- 1909 – The first Giro d’Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner.
- 1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.
- 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
- 1940 – World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech to the House of Commons.
- 1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
- 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
- 1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia.
- 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
- 1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone.
- 1951 – The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru.
- 1952 – The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting.
- 1954 – The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place.
- 1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
- 1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
- 1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.
- 1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
- 1967 – Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.
- 1969 – May 13 Incident involving sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 1971 – Over 900 unarmed Bengali Hindus are murdered in the Demra massacre.
- 1972 – Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
- 1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.
- 1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
- 1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
- 1985 – Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
- 1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
- 1990 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade).
- 1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People’s Republic of China.
- 1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.
- 1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
- 1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
- 1998 – India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
- 2005 – Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates.
- 2006 – São Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil.
- 2011 – Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others.
- 2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40.
- 2013 – American physician Kermit Gosnell is found guilty in Pennsylvania of murdering three infants born alive during attempted abortions, involuntary manslaughter of a woman during an abortion procedure, and other charges.
- 2014 – An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners.
Births on May 13
- 1024 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot and saint (d. 1109)
- 1179 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (d. 1201)
- 1221 – Alexander Nevsky, Russian prince and saint (d. 1263)
- 1254 – Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (d. 1321)
- 1453 – Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, Scottish princess (d. 1488)
- 1588 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and historian (d. 1654)
- 1597 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (d. 1655)
- 1638 – Richard Simon, French priest and scholar (d. 1712)
- 1699 – Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)
- 1712 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician and diplomat (d. 1772)
- 1713 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1765)
- 1717 – Maria Theresa, Archduchess, Queen, and Empress; Austrian wife of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1780)
- 1730 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)
- 1735 – Horace Coignet, French violinist and composer (d. 1821)
- 1742 – Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (d. 1798)
- 1753 – Lazare Carnot, French general, mathematician, and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1823)
- 1792 – Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)
- 1794 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)
- 1795 – Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist and chronologist (d. 1875)
- 1811 – Juan Bautista Ceballos, President of Mexico (1853) (b. 1859)
- 1822 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (d. 1902)
- 1830 – Zebulon Baird Vance, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
- 1832 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and author (d. 1864)
- 1840 – Alphonse Daudet, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1897)
- 1842 – Arthur Sullivan, English composer (d. 1900)
- 1853 – Vaiben Louis Solomon, Australian politician, 21st Premier of South Australia (d. 1908)
- 1856 – Tom O’Rourke, American boxer and manager (d. 1938)
- 1857 – Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
- 1868 – Sumner Paine, American target shooter (d. 1904)
- 1869 – Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Turkish writer (d. 1944)
- 1877 – Robert Hamilton, Scottish international footballer (d. 1948)
- 1881 – Lima Barreto, Brazilian journalist and author (d. 1922)
- 1881 – Joe Forshaw, American runner (d. 1964)
- 1882 – Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (d. 1963)
- 1883 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek-American pathologist, invented the pap smear (d. 1962)
- 1884 – Oskar Rosenfeld, Jewish-Austrian writer and Holocaust victim (d.1944)
- 1885 – Mikiel Gonzi, Maltese archbishop (d. 1984)
- 1887 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (d. 1951)
- 1888 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (d. 1993)
- 1894 – Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, Icelandic politician, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
- 1895 – Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist, parapsychologist, and author (d. 1964)
- 1901 – Murilo Mendes, Brazilian poet and telegrapher (d. 1975)
- 1904 – Louis Duffus, Australian-South African cricketer and journalist (d. 1984)
- 1905 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th President of India (d. 1977)
- 1907 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (d. 1989)
- 1908 – Eugen Kapp, Estonian composer and educator (d. 1996)
- 1909 – Ken Darby, American composer and conductor (d. 1992)
- 1911 – Robert Middleton, American actor (d. 1977)
- 1911 – Maxine Sullivan, American singer and actress (d. 1987)
- 1912 – Gil Evans, Canadian-American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1988)
- 1912 – Judah Nadich, American colonel and rabbi (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Robert Dorning, English actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Theo Helfrich, German racing driver (d. 1978)
- 1913 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (d. 1980)
- 1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
- 1914 – Johnnie Wright, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1914 – Antonia Ferrín Moreiras, Spanish mathematician, academic, and astronomer (d. 2009)
- 1916 – Sachidananda Routray, Indian Oriya-language poet (d. 2004)
- 1918 – Balasaraswati, Indian dancer and instructor (d. 1984)
- 1918 – Gwyn Howells, Australian public servant (d. 1997)
- 1920 – Gareth Morris, English flute player (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Michael Ainsworth, English cricketer (d. 1978)
- 1922 – Otl Aicher, German graphic designer and typographer (d. 1991)
- 1922 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Ruth Adler Schnee, German-American textile designer and interior designer
- 1924 – Theodore Mann, American director and producer (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Harry Schwarz, South African anti-apartheid leader, lawyer, and Ambassador (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Archie Scott Brown, Scottish race car driver (d. 1958)
- 1927 – Fred Hellerman, American folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Herbert Ross, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
- 1928 – Enrique Bolaños, Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua
- 1928 – Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1929 – John Galvin, American general (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Mike Gravel, American lieutenant and politician
- 1930 – José Jiménez Lozano, Spanish journalist and author
- 1930 – Vernon Shaw, Dominican politician, 5th President of Dominica (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Jim Jones, American cult leader, founder of the Peoples Temple (d. 1978)
- 1931 – Sydney Lipworth, South African-English lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist
- 1933 – John Roseboro, American baseball player and coach (d. 2002)
- 1934 – Ehud Netzer, Israeli archaeologist, architect, and academic (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Leon Wagner, American baseball player and actor (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Dominic Cossa, American opera singer
- 1935 – Jan Saudek, Czech photographer and painter
- 1935 – Kája Saudek, Czech author and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Bill Rompkey, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2017)
- 1937 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor, invented the wind-up radio (d. 2018)
- 1937 – Roch Carrier, Canadian librarian and author
- 1937 – Zohra Lampert, American actress
- 1937 – Beverley Owen, American actress (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (d. 1995)
- 1938 – Giuliano Amato, Italian academic and politician, 48th Prime Minister of Italy
- 1938 – Laurent Beaudoin, Canadian businessman
- 1938 – Anna Cropper, British actress (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Francine Pascal, American author and playwright
- 1938 – Buck Taylor, American actor
- 1939 – Hildrun Claus, German long jumper
- 1939 – Peter Frenkel, German race walker and coach
- 1939 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
- 1940 – Bruce Chatwin, English author (d. 1989)
- 1940 – Kōkichi Tsuburaya, Japanese runner (d. 1968)
- 1941 – Senta Berger, Austrian actress
- 1941 – Joe Brown, English singer and musician
- 1941 – Jody Conradt, American basketball player and coach
- 1941 – Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
- 1942 – Leighton Gage, American author (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Roger Young, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1943 – Anthony Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, English lawyer and judge
- 1943 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1944 – Sir Crispin Agnew, 11th Baronet, Scottish explorer, lawyer, and judge
- 1944 – Robert L. Crawford Jr., American actor
- 1944 – Carolyn Franklin, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
- 1944 – Armistead Maupin, American author, screenwriter, and actor
- 1945 – Lasse Berghagen, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1945 – Magic Dick, American blues-rock harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player
- 1945 – Lou Marini, American saxophonist and composer
- 1946 – Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor and author (d. 2017)
- 1946 – Jean Rondeau, French race car driver and constructor (d. 1985)
- 1946 – Marv Wolfman, American author
- 1947 – Charles Baxter, American novelist, essayist, and poet
- 1947 – Edgar Burcksen, Dutch-American film editor
- 1948 – Sheila Jeffreys, English-Australian political scientist, author, and academic
- 1948 – Dean Meminger, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1949 – Jane Glover, English conductor and scholar
- 1949 – Zoë Wanamaker, American-British actress
- 1949 – Philip Kruse, Norwegian trumpeter and orchestra leader
- 1950 – Andy Cunningham, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1950 – Danny Kirwan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
- 1950 – Joe Johnston, American film director and effects artist
- 1950 – Manning Marable, American author and academic (d. 2011)
- 1950 – Bobby Valentine, American baseball player and manager
- 1950 – Stevie Wonder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1951 – Rosie Boycott, English journalist and author
- 1951 – Sharon Sayles Belton, American politician, 45th Mayor of Minneapolis
- 1951 – Anand Modak, Indian composer and director (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Herman Philipse, Dutch philosopher and academic
- 1951 – Selina Scott, English journalist, producer, and author
- 1951 – Paul Thompson, English drummer
- 1952 – John Kasich, American politician, 69th Governor of Ohio
- 1952 – Mary Walsh, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Londa Schiebinger, American academic and author
- 1953 – Zlatko Burić, Croat-Danish actor
- 1953 – Gerry Sutcliffe, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
- 1953 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
- 1953 – Harm Wiersma, Dutch draughts player and politician
- 1953 – Ruth A. David, American electrical engineer
- 1954 – Johnny Logan, Australian-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Richard Madeley, English journalist and author
- 1956 – Fred Melamed, American actor
- 1956 – Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party
- 1957 – Alan Ball, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1957 – Frances Barber, English actress
- 1957 – Mark Heap, English actor
- 1957 – David Hill, English organist and conductor
- 1957 – Mar Roxas, Filipino economist and politician, 24th Filipino Secretary of the Interior
- 1957 – Koji Suzuki, Japanese author and screenwriter
- 1958 – Anthony Ray Parker, American actor
- 1961 – Siobhan Fallon Hogan, American actress
- 1961 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player, wrestler, and actor
- 1962 – Paul Burstow, English politician
- 1962 – Nick Hurd, English businessman and politician, Minister for Civil Society
- 1963 – Andrea Leadsom, English politician
- 1963 – Wally Masur, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1964 – Stephen Colbert, American comedian and talk show host
- 1964 – Chris Maitland, English drummer
- 1964 – Tom Verica, American actor, television director, and producer
- 1965 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountaineer (d. 2006)
- 1965 – Tasmin Little, English violinist and educator
- 1965 – János Marozsán, Hungarian footballer
- 1965 – Hikari Ōta, Japanese comedian and actor
- 1965 – José Rijo, Dominican baseball player
- 1965 – Lari White, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (d. 2018)
- 1966 – Alison Goldfrapp, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1966 – Darius Rucker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Tish Cyrus, American actress and film producer
- 1967 – Shon Greenblatt, American actor
- 1967 – Tommy Gunn, pornographic actor
- 1967 – Chuck Schuldiner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
- 1967 – Melanie Thornton, American-German singer (d. 2001)
- 1968 – Miguel Ángel Blanco, Spanish politician (d. 1997)
- 1968 – Susan Floyd, American actress
- 1968 – Scott Morrison, Australian politician, 30th Prime Minister of Australia
- 1968 – PMD, American rapper
- 1968 – Dmitriy Shevchenko, Russian discus thrower and coach
- 1969 – Buckethead, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1969 – Nikos Aliagas, French-Greek journalist and television host
- 1970 – Doug Evans, American football player
- 1970 – Robert Maćkowiak, Polish sprinter
- 1971 – Imogen Boorman, English actress and martial artist
- 1971 – Rob Fredrickson, American football player
- 1971 – Espen Lind, Norwegian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1971 – Tom Nalen, American football player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Stefaan Maene, Belgian swimmer
- 1972 – Darryl Sydor, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1972 – Pieta van Dishoeck, Dutch rower
- 1973 – Eric Lewis, American pianist
- 1973 – Bridgett Riley, American boxer and stuntwoman
- 1975 – Jamie Allison, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Cristian Bezzi, Italian rugby player and coach
- 1975 – Brian Geraghty, American actor
- 1976 – Mark Delaney, Welsh footballer and manager
- 1976 – Trajan Langdon, American basketball player and scout
- 1976 – Ana Popović, Serbian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Magdalena Walach, Polish actress
- 1977 – Ilse DeLange, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Anthony Q. Farrell, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter
- 1977 – Robby Hammock, American baseball player and coach
- 1977 – Neil Hopkins, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – James Middlebrook, English cricketer
- 1977 – Samantha Morton, English actress and director
- 1977 – Brian Thomas Smith, American actor and producer
- 1977 – Pusha T, American rapper
- 1978 – Brooke Anderson, American journalist
- 1978 – Mike Bibby, American basketball player and coach
- 1978 – Ryan Bukvich, American baseball player
- 1978 – Germán Magariños, Argentinian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – Dilshan Vitharana, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1978 – Barry Zito, American baseball player
- 1978 – Nuwan Zoysa, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1979 – Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland
- 1979 – Steve Mildenhall, English footballer
- 1979 – Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Ukrainian footballer
- 1980 – L. J. Smith, American football player
- 1981 – Luciana Berger, English politician
- 1981 – Nicolas Jeanjean, French rugby player
- 1981 – Sunny Leone, Canadian American actress, model, and pornstar
- 1981 – Michael Mantenuto, American actor (d. 2017)
- 1981 – Shaun Phillips, American football player
- 1981 – Ryan Piers Williams, American actor and film director
- 1982 – Albert Crusat, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Larry Fonacier, Filipino basketball player
- 1982 – Oguchi Onyewu, American soccer player
- 1983 – Natalie Cassidy, English actress and singer
- 1983 – Anita Görbicz, Hungarian handball player
- 1983 – Johnny Hoogerland, Dutch cyclist
- 1983 – Grégory Lemarchal, French singer (d. 2007)
- 1983 – Jacob Reynolds, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer
- 1984 – J. B. Cox, American baseball player
- 1984 – Benny Dayal, Indian singer
- 1984 – Dawn Harper, American hurdler
- 1984 – Caroline Rotich, Kenyan runner
- 1985 – Javier Balboa, Spanish-Equatoguinean footballer
- 1985 – Jaroslav Halák, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1985 – David Hernandez, American baseball player
- 1985 – Carolina Luján, Argentine chess player
- 1985 – Iwan Rheon, Welsh actor and singer
- 1985 – Travis Zajac, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Lena Dunham, American actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1986 – Eun-Hee Ji, South Korean golfer
- 1986 – Robert Pattinson, English actor
- 1986 – Alexander Rybak, Belarusian-Norwegian singer-songwriter, violinist, and actor
- 1986 – Scott Sutter, English footballer
- 1986 – Nino Schurter, Swiss cyclist
- 1986 – Kris Versteeg, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Antonio Adán, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Hugo Becker, French actor
- 1987 – Matt Doyle, American actor and singer
- 1987 – Laura Izibor, Irish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1987 – Candice King, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1987 – Sandro Mareco, Argentine chess player
- 1987 – Hunter Parrish, American actor and singer
- 1987 – Marianne Vos, Dutch cyclist
- 1987 – Charlotte Wessels, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Bobby Shuttleworth, American soccer player
- 1988 – Paulo Avelino, Filipino actor and singer
- 1988 – Didier Cohen, Australian DJ, producer and media personality
- 1988 – Casey Donovan, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1989 – P. K. Subban, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Mychal Givens, American baseball player
- 1991 – Jennifer Beattie, Scottish footballer
- 1991 – Anders Fannemel, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1992 – Bill Arnold, American ice hockey player
- 1992 – Willson Contreras, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1992 – Josh Papalii, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Georgina García Pérez, Spanish tennis player
- 1993 – Stefan Kraft, Austrian ski jumper
- 1993 – Debby Ryan, American actress and singer
- 1993 – Romelu Lukaku, Belgian footballer
- 1993 – Siim-Tanel Sammelselg, Estonian ski jumper
- 1993 – Tones and I, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1994 – Łukasz Moneta, Polish footballer
- 1997 – Reimis Smith, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on May 13
- 189 – Emperor Ling of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 156)
- 1112 – Ulric II, Margrave of Carniola
- 1176 – Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
- 1285 – Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros
- 1312 – Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
- 1573 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyō (b. 1521)
- 1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch politician (b. 1547)
- 1704 – Louis Bourdaloue, French preacher and author (b. 1632)
- 1726 – Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (b. 1659)
- 1782 – Daniel Solander, Swedish-English botanist and phycologist (b. 1736)
- 1807 – Eliphalet Dyer, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1721)
- 1809 – Beilby Porteus, English bishop (b. 1731)
- 1832 – Georges Cuvier, French zoologist and academic (b. 1769)
- 1835 – John Nash, English architect, designed the Royal Pavilion (b. 1752)
- 1866 – Nikolai Brashman, Czech-Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1796)
- 1878 – Joseph Henry, American physicist and academic (b. 1797)
- 1884 – Cyrus McCormick, American businessman, co-founded the International Harvester Company (b. 1809)
- 1885 – Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (b. 1809)
- 1903 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (b. 1864)
- 1916 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (b. 1859)
- 1921 – Jean Aicard, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1848)
- 1926 – Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian-American bishop (b. 1857)
- 1929 – Arthur Scherbius, German electrical engineer, invented the Enigma machine (b. 1878)
- 1930 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian scientist, explorer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- 1938 – Charles Édouard Guillaume, Swiss-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- 1941 – Frederick Christian, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1941 – Ōnishiki Uichirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 26th Yokozuna (b. 1891)
- 1945 – Tubby Hall, American drummer (b. 1895)
- 1946 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (b. 1869)
- 1947 – Sukanta Bhattacharya, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1926)
- 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (b. 1920)
- 1957 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1886)
- 1961 – Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1962 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dentist (b. 1893)
- 1962 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (b. 1910)
- 1963 – Alois Hudal, Austrian-Italian bishop (b. 1885)
- 1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1974 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican poet and diplomat (b. 1902)
- 1974 – Arthur J. Burks, American colonel and author (b. 1898)
- 1975 – Bob Wills, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1905)
- 1977 – Mickey Spillane, American mobster (b. 1934)
- 1985 – Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1985 – Richard Ellmann, American literary critic and biographer (b. 1918)
- 1988 – Chet Baker, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1929)
- 1992 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
- 1994 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver (b. 1920)
- 1994 – John Swainson, Canadian-American jurist and politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (b. 1925)
- 1995 – Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (b. 1921)
- 1999 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Saudi Arabian scholar and academic (b. 1910)
- 1999 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer and journalist (b. 1902)
- 2000 – Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 2000 – Jumbo Tsuruta, Japanese wrestler (b. 1951)
- 2001 – Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (b. 1939)
- 2002 – Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress and author (b. 1925)
- 2002 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
- 2005 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (b. 1921)
- 2005 – George Dantzig, American mathematician and academic (b. 1914)
- 2006 – Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian and scholar (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
- 2008 – Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1930)
- 2008 – Ron Stone, American journalist and author (b. 1936)
- 2009 – Frank Aletter, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Meir Brandsdorfer, Belgian rabbi (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian skier and mountaineer (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1982)
- 2011 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1930)
- 2011 – Bruce Ricker, American director and producer (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Arsala Rahmani Daulat, Afghan politician (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-American theologian, author, and academic (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Lee Richardson, English speedway rider (b. 1979)
- 2012 – Don Ritchie, Australian humanitarian (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Nguyễn Văn Thiện, Vietnamese bishop (b. 1906)
- 2013 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, author, and actress (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Otto Herrigel, Namibian lawyer and politician (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Jagdish Mali, Indian photographer (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Chuck Muncie, American football player (b. 1953)
- 2013 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (b. 1973)
- 2013 – Lynne Woolstencroft, Canadian politician (b. 1943)
- 2014 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Malik Bendjelloul, Swedish director and producer (b. 1977)
- 2014 – J. F. Coleman, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Ron Stevens, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
- 2014 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (b. 1948)
- 2015 – Earl Averill, Jr., American baseball player (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Robert Drasnin, American clarinet player and composer (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (b. 1928)
- 2015 – David Sackett, American-Canadian physician and academic (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Gainan Saidkhuzhin, Russian cyclist (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Margot Kidder, Canadian-American actress (b. 1948)
- 2019 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (b. 1922)
- 2019 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist, and politician (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances on May 13
- Abbotsbury Garland Day (Dorset, England)
- Christian feast day:
- Our Lady of Fátima
- Gerard of Villamagna
- Glyceria
- John the Silent (Roman Catholic)
- Julian of Norwich (Roman Catholic)
- Frances Perkins (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Servatius
- May 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Rotuma Day (Rotuma)
-
March 7 in History
- 161 – Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius.
- 1277 – The University of Paris issues the last in a series of condemnations of various philosophical and theological theses.
- 1573 – A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman–Venetian War and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands.
- 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
- 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.
- 1827 – Brazilian marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina.
- 1827 – Shrigley abduction: Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future politician in colonial New Zealand.
- 1850 – Senator Daniel Webster gives his “Seventh of March” speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces engage Confederate troops at the Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
- 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the “telephone”.
- 1900 – The German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore.
- 1902 – Second Boer War: Boers, led by Koos de la Rey, inflict the biggest defeat upon the British since the beginning of the war, at Tweebosch.
- 1914 – Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania to begin his reign as King.
- 1936 – Prelude to World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
- 1941 – Günther Prien and the crew of German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappear without a trace.
- 1945 – World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen.
- 1950 – Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.
- 1951 – Korean War: Operation Ripper: United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
- 1951 – Iranian prime minister Ali Razmara is assassinated by Khalil Tahmasebi, a member of the Islamic fundamentalist Fada’iyan-e Islam, inside a mosque in Tehran.
- 1965 – Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers is brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.
- 1967 – The Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (MPRS), Indonesia’s provisional parliament, revoked Sukarno’s mandate as President of Indonesia.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnamese military begin Operation Truong Cong Dinh to root out Viet Cong forces from the area surrounding Mỹ Tho.
- 1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of then East Pakistan (present day-Bangladesh), delivers his historic 7th March speech in the Racecourse Field (Now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka.
- 1986 – Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.
- 1987 – Lieyu massacre: Taiwanese military massacre of 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees at Donggang, Lieyu, Kinmen.
- 1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a fight over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
- 1993 – The tugboat Thomas Hebert sank off the coast of New Jersey, USA.
- 2006 – The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.
- 2007 – The British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.
- 2009 – The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and injures two other soldiers and two civilians at Massereene Barracks, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since the end of The Troubles.
Births on March 7
- 189 – Publius Septimius Geta, Roman emperor (d. 211)
- 942 – Mu’ayyad al-Dawla, Buyid emir (d. 983)
- 1437 – Anna of Saxony, Electress of Brandenburg (d. 1512)
- 1481 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1537)
- 1482 – Fray Thomas de San Martín, Roman Catholic prelate and bishop (d. 1555)
- 1543 – John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern, German prince and reigning count palatine of Simmern (d. 1592)
- 1556 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and author (d. 1621)
- 1671 – Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish outlaw (d. 1734)
- 1678 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Superga (d. 1736)
- 1693 – Clement XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1769)
- 1715 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German soldier and poet (d. 1759)
- 1723 – Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (d. 1725)
- 1730 – Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, French soldier and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1807)
- 1765 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, invented photography (d. 1833)
- 1785 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian author and poet (d. 1873)
- 1788 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and biochemist (d. 1878)
- 1792 – John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871)
- 1811 – Increase A. Lapham, American botanist and author (d. 1875)
- 1837 – Henry Draper, American physician and astronomer (d. 1882)
- 1839 – Ludwig Mond, German-born chemist and British industrialist who discovered the metal carbonyls (d. 1909)
- 1841 – William Rockhill Nelson, American businessman and publisher, founded The Kansas City Star (d. 1915)
- 1843 – Marriott Henry Brosius, American senator (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and author (d. 1926)
- 1850 – Champ Clark, American lawyer and politician, 41st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1921)
- 1850 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Austrian-Czech sociologist and politician, 1st President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1937)
- 1857 – Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- 1872 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (d. 1944)
- 1873 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (d. 1959)
- 1875 – Maurice Ravel, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1937)
- 1878 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (d. 1927)
- 1885 – Milton Avery, American painter (d. 1965)
- 1885 – John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, English admiral (d. 1971)
- 1886 – Virginia Pearson, American actress (d. 1958)
- 1886 – G. I. Taylor, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1975)
- 1886 – Wilson Dallam Wallis, American anthropologist (d. 1970)
- 1888 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-American journalist and author (d. 1977)
- 1888 – Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, Dutch lawyer and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1978)
- 1894 – Ana María O’Neill, Puerto Rican scholar and activist (d. 1981)
- 1895 – Dorothy de Rothschild, English philanthropist and activist (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Heinz Rühmann, German actor (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Maud Lewis, Canadian folk artist (d. 1970)
- 1904 – Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1969)
- 1904 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer (d. 1942)
- 1908 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress (d. 1973)
- 1910 – Will Glickman, American playwright (d. 1983)
- 1911 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian modern poet, journalist and author (d. 1987)
- 1911 – Stefan Kisielewski, Polish libertarian writer and politician (d. 1991)
- 1912 – Adile Ayda, Turkish engineer and diplomat (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Dollard Ménard, Canadian general (d. 1997)
- 1915 – Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
- 1917 – Janet Collins, American ballerina and choreographer (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Betty Holberton, American engineer and programmer (d. 2001)
- 1922 – Olga Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian journalist and author (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Peter Murphy, English footballer, inside left (d. 1975)
- 1922 – Andy Phillip, American basketball player and coach (d. 2001)
- 1924 – Morton Bard, American psychologist (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Bill Boedeker, American football player (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Rene Gagnon, American soldier (d. 1979)
- 1925 – Richard Vernon, British actor (d. 1997)
- 1927 – James Broderick, American actor and director (d. 1982)
- 1929 – Dan Jacobson, South African-English author and critic (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and politician (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Robert Trotter, Scottish actor and photographer (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer and accountant (d. 1998)
- 1933 – Ed Bouchee, American baseball player (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Willard Scott, American television personality and actor
- 1936 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Georges Perec, French author and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1938 – David Baltimore, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 – Janet Guthrie, American professional race car driver, first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500
- 1939 – Danyel Gérard, French singer-songwriter
- 1940 – Daniel J. Travanti, American actor
- 1941 – Piers Paul Read, English historian and author
- 1942 – Michael Eisner, American businessman
- 1942 – Tammy Faye Messner, American evangelist, television personality, and talk show host (d. 2007)
- 1943 – Chris White, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1944 – Ranulph Fiennes, English soldier and explorer
- 1944 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
- 1945 – Bob Herbert, American journalist
- 1945 – Arthur Lee, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2006)
- 1945 – Elizabeth Moon, American lieutenant and author
- 1946 – John Heard, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
- 1947 – Helen Eadie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Walter Röhrl, German race car driver
- 1949 – Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician, Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare
- 1950 – Billy Joe DuPree, American football player
- 1950 – Franco Harris, American football player and businessman
- 1950 – J. R. Richard, American baseball player and minister
- 1952 – William Boyd, Ghanaian-English author and screenwriter
- 1952 – Ernie Isley, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Viv Richards, Antiguan cricketer and footballer
- 1952 – Lynn Swann, American football player, sportscaster, and politician
- 1954 – Eva Brunne, Swedish bishop
- 1955 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
- 1956 – Bryan Cranston, American actor, director, and producer
- 1956 – Andrea Levy, English author (d. 2019)
- 1957 – Robert Harris, English journalist and author
- 1957 – Mark Richards, Australian surfer
- 1957 – Tomás Yarrington, Mexican economist and politician, Governor of Tamaulipas
- 1958 – Rick Bass, American author and environmentalist
- 1958 – Rik Mayall, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1958 – Merv Neagle, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
- 1959 – Tom Lehman, American golfer
- 1959 – Donna Murphy, American actress and singer
- 1960 – Joe Carter, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1960 – Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player and coach
- 1960 – Jim Spivey, American runner and coach
- 1961 – David Rutley, English businessman and politician
- 1961 – Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, French politician
- 1962 – Taylor Dayne, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1963 – Mike Eagles, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1963 – E. L. James, English author
- 1964 – Bret Easton Ellis, American author and screenwriter
- 1964 – Wanda Sykes, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
- 1965 – Steve Beuerlein, American football player and sportscaster
- 1965 – Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer
- 1966 – Terry Carkner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1966 – Tony Daly, Australian rugby player
- 1967 – Muhsin al-Ramli, Iraqi author, poet, translator, and academic
- 1967 – Ruthie Henshall, English actress, singer, and dancer
- 1967 – Ai Yazawa, Japanese author and illustrator
- 1968 – Jeff Kent, American baseball player
- 1969 – Massimo Lotti, Italian footballer
- 1969 – Hideki Noda, Japanese race car driver
- 1970 – Rachel Weisz, English-American actress and producer
- 1971 – Peter Sarsgaard, American actor
- 1971 – Matthew Vaughn, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1972 – Craig Polla-Mounter, Australian rugby league player
- 1973 – Jason Bright, Australian race car driver
- 1973 – Sébastien Izambard, French tenor and producer
- 1973 – Işın Karaca, English-Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1974 – Jenna Fischer, American actress
- 1974 – Facundo Sava, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1977 – Ronan O’Gara, Irish rugby player and coach
- 1977 – Paul Cattermole, British singer and actor
- 1978 – Jaqueline Jesus, Brazilian psychologist and activist
- 1979 – Rodrigo Braña, Argentinian footballer
- 1979 – Amanda Somerville, American singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Murat Boz, Turkish singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Eric Godard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Laura Prepon, American actress
- 1981 – Brent Kite, Australian rugby league player
- 1983 – Manucho, Angolan footballer
- 1983 – Sebastián Viera, Uruguayan footballer
- 1984 – Mathieu Flamini, French footballer
- 1984 – Lindsay McCaul, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Andre Fluellen, American football player
- 1985 – Cameron Prosser, Australian swimmer
- 1985 – Gerwyn Price, Welsh darts player
- 1986 – Ben Griffin, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Hatem Ben Arfa, French footballer
- 1987 – Niclas Bergfors, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Larry Asante, American football player
- 1991 – Michele Rigione, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Chase Kalisz, American swimmer
- 1995 – Jerome Binnom-Williams, English footballer
- 1995 – Aboubakar Kamara, French footballer, forward
- 1996 – Liam Donnelly, Northern Irish footballer
Deaths on March 7
- 161 – Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor (b. 86)
- 413 – Heraclianus, Roman politician and failed usurper
- 851 – Nominoe, King (or duke) of Brittany
- 974 – John of Gorze, Frankish abbot and diplomat
- 1226 – William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1176)
- 1274 – Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italian priest and philosopher (b. 1225)
- 1393 – Bogislaw VI, Duke of Pomerania (b.c. 1350)
- 1407 – Francesco I Gonzaga, ruler of Mantua
- 1517 – Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (b. 1482)
- 1550 – William IV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1493)
- 1578 – Margaret Douglas, English daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (b. 1515)
- 1625 – Johann Bayer, German lawyer and cartographer (b. 1572)
- 1724 – Pope Innocent XIII (b. 1655)
- 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1680)
- 1778 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (b. 1720)
- 1809 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (b. 1753)
- 1810 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, English admiral (b. 1750)
- 1838 – Robert Townsend, American spy (b. 1753)
- 1897 – Harriet Ann Jacobs, African American Abolitionist and author (b. 1813)
- 1904 – Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist and petrologist (b. 1828)
- 1913 – Pauline Johnson, Canadian poet and author (b. 1861)
- 1920 – Jaan Poska, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1866)
- 1928 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (b. 1851)
- 1932 – Aristide Briand, French journalist and politician, Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1934 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (b. 1875)
- 1938 – Andreas Michalakopoulos, Greek politician, 116th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
- 1947 – Lucy Parsons, American communist anarchist labor organizer (b. c 1853)
- 1949 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player, physician, and politician (b. 1884)
- 1952 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1893)
- 1954 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- 1957 – Wyndham Lewis, English painter and critic (b. 1882)
- 1961 – Govind Ballabh Pant, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Alice B. Toklas, American writer (b. 1877)
- 1971 – Richard Montague, American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1930)
- 1973 – Lalo Ríos, Mexican actor (b. 1927)
- 1975 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1895)
- 1976 – Wright Patman, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1893)
- 1981 – Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
- 1982 – Ida Barney, American astronomer, mathematician, and academic (b. 1886)
- 1983 – Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor and composer (b. 1912)
- 1986 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York State Attorney General (b. 1904)
- 1988 – Divine, American drag queen and film actor (b. 1945)
- 1991 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1993 – Tony Harris, South African cricketer (b. 1916)
- 1993 – J. Merrill Knapp, American musicologist (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Martti Larni, Finnish writer (b. 1909)
- 1993 – Carlo Mazzarella, Italian actor and journalist (b. 1919)
- 1993 – Angelo Piccaluga, Italian footballer (b. 1906)
- 1993 – Eleanor Sanger, American television producer (b. 1929)
- 1993 – Josef Steindl, Austrian economist (b. 1912)
- 1993 – Frank Wells, Australian rules footballer (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Stanley Kubrick, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903)
- 2004 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941)
- 2005 – John Box, English production designer and art director (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Debra Hill, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1950)
- 2006 – Gordon Parks, American photographer, director, and composer (b. 1912)
- 2006 – Ali Farka Touré, Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Ronnie Wells, American singer and educator (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Ravi, Indian director and composer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Włodzimierz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1957)
- 2013 – Peter Banks, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Sybil Christopher, Welsh actress (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Damiano Damiani, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Frederick B. Karl, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Claude King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Anatoly Borisovich Kuznetsov, Russian actor and director (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Ned O’Gorman, American poet and educator (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Victor Shem-Tov, Israeli lawyer and politician, 8th Israeli Minister of Health (b. 1915)
- 2015 – G. Karthikeyan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
- 2015 – F. Ray Keyser, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 72nd Governor of Vermont (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (b. 1951)
- 2017 – Lynne Stewart, American attorney and activist (b. 1939)
Holidays and observances on March 7
- Christian feast day:
- Blessed José Olallo
- Blessed Leonid Feodorov (Russian Greek Catholic Church)
- Perpetua and Felicity
- Pierre-Henri Dorie, Siméon-François Berneux (part of The Korean Martyrs)
- March 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Liberation of Sulaymaniyah (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- Teacher’s Day (Albania)
-
February 7 in History
- 457 – Leo I the Thracian becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
- 1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later king Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
- 1313 – King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom
- 1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a “Bonfire of the vanities”.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
- 1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
- 1807 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen’s Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.
- 1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
- 1813 – In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Îles de Los, the frigates Aréthuse and Amelia batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.
- 1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
- 1842 – Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
- 1854 – A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.
- 1863 – HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
- 1894 – The Cripple Creek miner’s strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.
- 1898 – Dreyfus affair: Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse…!.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
- 1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.
- 1904 – A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
- 1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
- 1943 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
- 1944 – World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
- 1951 – Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
- 1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
- 1974 – Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
- 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
- 1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
- 1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
- 1991 – Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
- 1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launched a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
- 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
- 1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- 1997 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
- 1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
- 2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history.
- 2012 – President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
- 2013 – The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.
- 2014 – Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.
- 2016 – North Korea launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
Births on February 7
- 574 – Prince Shōtoku of Japan (d. 622)
- 1102 – Empress Matilda, Holy Roman Empress, and claimant to the English throne (probable; d. 1167)
- 1478 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1535)
- 1487 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1557)
- 1500 – João de Castro, viceroy of Portuguese India (d. 1548)
- 1612 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (d. 1683)
- 1622 – Vittoria della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1694)
- 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia (d. 1740)
- 1722 – Azar Bigdeli, Iranian anthologist and poet (d. 1781)
- 1726 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English painter (d. 1766)
- 1741 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss-English painter and academic (d. 1825)
- 1758 – Benedikt Schack, Czech tenor and composer (d. 1826)
- 1796 – Thomas Gregson, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (baptism date; d. 1874)
- 1802 – Louisa Jane Hall, American poet, essayist, and literary critic (d. 1892)
- 1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)
- 1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (d. 1870)
- 1825 – Karl Möbius, German zoologist and ecologist (d. 1908)
- 1834 – Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, French architect (d. 1895)
- 1837 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
- 1864 – Arthur Collins, American baritone singer (d. 1933)
- 1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
- 1870 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish psychologist and therapist (d. 1937)
- 1871 – Wilhelm Stenhammar, Swedish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1927)
- 1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
- 1877 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and geneticist (d. 1947)
- 1878 – Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (d. 1936)
- 1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (d. 1953)
- 1887 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1889 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish-American engineer and theorist (d. 1976)
- 1893 – Joseph Algernon Pearce, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Nicanor Abelardo, Filipino pianist, composer and teacher (d. 1934)
- 1895 – Anita Stewart, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1901 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (d. 1989)
- 1904 – Ernest E. Debs, American politician, California State Assembly member, Los Angeles city councilman, and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (d. 2002)
- 1905 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and author (d. 1940)
- 1905 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
- 1906 – Puyi, Chinese emperor (d. 1967)
- 1906 – Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, Russian engineer, founded the Antonov Aircraft Company (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Manmath Nath Gupta, Indian journalist and author (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Amedeo Guillet, Italian soldier (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Russell Drysdale, English-Australian painter (d. 1981)
- 1915 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor and singer (d. 2002)
- 1916 – Frank Hyde, Australian rugby player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Jock Mahoney, American actor and stuntman (d. 1989)
- 1919 – Desmond Doss, American army corporal and combat medic, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Oscar Brand, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2016)
- 1920 – An Wang, Chinese-American engineer and businessman, founded Wang Laboratories (d. 1990)
- 1921 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
- 1922 – Hattie Jacques, English actress (d. 1980)
- 1923 – Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Bill Hoest, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress
- 1927 – Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-Russian runner and coach (d. 1975)
- 1927 – Lalo Ríos, Mexican actor (d. 1973)
- 1928 – Lincoln D. Faurer, American general (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Jim Langley, English international footballer, full back and manager (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Gay Talese, American journalist and memoirist
- 1932 – Alfred Worden, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2020)
- 1933 – K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Sri Lankan Minister of Finance (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Eddie Fenech Adami, Maltese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Malta
- 1934 – King Curtis, American saxophonist and producer (d. 1971)
- 1934 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Cliff Jones, Welsh international footballer, winger
- 1935 – Herb Kohl, American businessman and politician
- 1935 – Jörg Schneider, Swiss actor and author (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Jas Gawronski, Italian journalist and politician
- 1937 – Peter Jay, English economist, journalist, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1937 – Juan Pizarro, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1940 – Tony Tan, Singaporean academic and politician, 7th President of Singapore
- 1941 – Kevin Crossley-Holland, English author and poet
- 1943 – Eric Foner, American historian, author, and academic
- 1943 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (d. 2007)
- 1945 – Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player and journalist
- 1946 – Héctor Babenco, Argentinian-Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1946 – Sammy Johns, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Haitian priest and activist (d. 2009)
- 1949 – Jacques Duchesneau, Canadian police officer and politician
- 1949 – Joe English, American drummer and songwriter
- 1950 – Karen Joy Fowler, American author
- 1953 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player and poet (d. 1998)
- 1954 – Dieter Bohlen, German singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Rolf Benirschke, American football player and game show host
- 1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor and director (d. 2017)
- 1956 – John Nielsen, Danish racing driver
- 1956 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Carney Lansford, American baseball player and coach
- 1958 – Giuseppe Baresi, Italian footballer and manager
- 1958 – Terry Marsh, English boxer and politician
- 1958 – Matt Ridley, English journalist, author, and politician
- 1959 – Mick McCarthy, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
- 1960 – Robert Smigel, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – James Spader, American actor and producer
- 1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – David Bryan, American keyboard player and songwriter
- 1962 – Eddie Izzard, English comedian, actor, and producer
- 1963 – Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, American Naval officer and astronaut
- 1964 – Ashok Banker, Indian journalist, author, and screenwriter
- 1965 – Chris Rock, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Kristin Otto, German swimmer
- 1968 – Peter Bondra, Ukrainian-Slovak ice hockey player and manager
- 1968 – Sully Erna, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Mark Tewksbury, Canadian swimmer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Andrew Micallef, Maltese painter and musician
- 1971 – Anita Tsoy, Russian singer-songwriter
- 1972 – Robyn Lively, American actress
- 1973 – Juwan Howard, American basketball player and coach
- 1974 – J Dilla, American rapper and producer (d. 2006)
- 1974 – Nujabes, Japanese record producer, DJ, composer and arranger (d. 2010)
- 1974 – Steve Nash, South African-Canadian basketball player
- 1975 – Wes Borland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1975 – Alexandre Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Rémi Gaillard, French comedian and actor
- 1976 – Chito Miranda, Filipino singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Japanese footballer
- 1978 – David Aebischer, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1978 – Endy Chávez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American model, actor, producer, and entrepreneur
- 1978 – Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian football player
- 1979 – Daniel Bierofka, German footballer and coach
- 1979 – Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1979 – Sam J. Miller, American author
- 1981 – Darcy Dolce Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Lee Ok-sung, South Korean boxer
- 1982 – Osamu Mukai, Japanese actor
- 1982 – Mickaël Piétrus, French basketball player
- 1983 – Sho Kamogawa, Japanese footballer
- 1983 – Christian Klien, Austrian race car driver
- 1983 – Federico Marchetti, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Trey Hardee, American decathlete
- 1985 – Tina Majorino, American actress
- 1988 – Ai Kago, Japanese singer and actress
- 1989 – Nick Calathes, Greek basketball player
- 1989 – Elia Viviani, Italian cyclist
- 1989 – Isaiah Thomas, American basketball player
- 1990 – Gianluca Lapadula, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Dalilah Muhammad, American hurdler
- 1990 – Steven Stamkos, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Ryan O’Reilly, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Sergi Roberto, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Ksenia Stolbova, Russian figure skater
- 1992 – Maimi Yajima, Japanese singer and actress
- 1993 – Chris Mears, English diver
- 1994 – Riley Barber, American ice hockey player
- 1995 – Roberto Osuna, Mexican baseball player
- 1996 – Pierre Gasly, French racing driver
- 1997 – Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer
Deaths on February 7
- 199 – Lü Bu, Chinese warlord
- 318 – Jin Mindi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 300)
- 999 – Boleslaus II the Pious, Duke of Bohemia (b. 932)
- 1045 – Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (b. 1009)
- 1065 – Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim (b. c. 1010)
- 1127 – Ava, German poet (b. 1060)
- 1165 – Marshal Stephen of Armenia
- 1259 – Thomas, Count of Flanders
- 1317 – Robert, Count of Clermont (b. 1256)
- 1320 – Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków (b. 1250)
- 1333 – Nikko, Japanese priest, founder of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (b. 1246)
- 1520 – Alfonsina de’ Medici, Regent of Florence (b. 1472)
- 1560 – Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Florentine sculptor (b. 1493)
- 1603 – Bartholomäus Sastrow, German politician (b. 1520)
- 1626 – William V, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1548)
- 1642 – William Bedell, English bishop and academic (b. 1571)
- 1693 – Paul Pellisson, French lawyer and author (b. 1624)
- 1736 – Stephen Gray, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1666)
- 1779 – William Boyce, English organist and composer (b. 1711)
- 1799 – Qianlong Emperor of China (b. 1711)
- 1801 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish-German painter and academic (b. 1726)
- 1819 – August Wilhelm Hupel, German-Estonian linguist and author (b. 1737)
- 1823 – Ann Radcliffe, English author (b. 1764)
- 1837 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (b. 1778)
- 1849 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (b. 1797)
- 1862 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1787)
- 1864 – Vuk Karadžić, Serbian philologist and linguist (b. 1787)
- 1871 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (b. 1797)
- 1873 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish author (b. 1814)
- 1878 – Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
- 1891 – Marie Louise Andrews, American story writer and journalist (b. 1849)
- 1897 – Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and engineer (b. 1847)
- 1919 – William Halford, English-American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1841)
- 1920 – Alexander Kolchak, Russian admiral and explorer (b. 1874)
- 1920 – Charles Langelier, Canadian journalist, judge, and politician (b. 1850)
- 1921 – John J. Gardner, American politician (b. 1845)
- 1937 – Elihu Root, American lawyer and politician, 38th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1938 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (b. 1868)
- 1939 – Boris Grigoriev, Russian painter and illustrator (b. 1886)
- 1942 – Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator and stage designer (b. 1876)
- 1944 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano and actress (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Nap Lajoie, American baseball player and manager (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Daniel François Malan, South African minister and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1874)
- 1959 – Guitar Slim, American singer and guitarist (b. 1926)
- 1960 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1903)
- 1963 – Learco Guerra, Italian cyclist and manager (b. 1902)
- 1964 – Sofoklis Venizelos, Greek captain and politician, 133rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1894)
- 1968 – Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 1972 – Walter Lang, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 1979 – Josef Mengele, German SS officer and physician (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (b. 1923)
- 1990 – Alan Perlis, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1922)
- 1990 – Alfredo M. Santos, Filipino general (b. 1905)
- 1991 – Amos Yarkoni, Israeli colonel (b. 1920)
- 1994 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer and conductor (b. 1913)
- 1996 – Phillip Davidson, American general (b. 1915)
- 1999 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- 1999 – Bobby Troup, American actor, pianist, and composer (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician and politician (b. 1947)
- 2001 – Dale Evans, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1912)
- 2001 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and pilot (b. 1906)
- 2003 – Augusto Monterroso, Guatemalan author (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Atli Dam, Faroese engineer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Princess Durru Shehvar of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (b. 1924)
- 2010 – Franco Ballerini, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1964)
- 2012 – Harry Keough, American soccer player and coach (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Krsto Papić, Croatian director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Doug Mohns, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Billy Casper, American golfer and architect (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Marshall Rosenberg, American psychologist and author (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2015 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (b. 1922)
- 2017 – Richard Hatch, American actor (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Hans Rosling, Swedish academic (b. 1948)
- 2017 – Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian philosopher (b. 1939)
- 2019 – John Dingell, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Albert Finney, English actor (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Jan Olszewski, Polish politician, 3rd Prime Minister (b. 1930)
- 2019 – Frank Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances on February 7
- Christian feast day:
- Richard the Pilgrim
- Blessed Eugénie Smet
- Blessed Pope Pius IX
- Chrysolius
- Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph
- Colette of Corbie
- February 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church Typically observed on the Sunday closest to January 25 (O.S.)/February 7 (N.S.)
- Independence Day (Grenada), celebrates the independence of Grenada from the United Kingdom in 1974.
- National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
-
February 6 in History
- AD 60 – The earliest date for which the day of the week is known. A graffito in Pompeii identifies this day as a dies Solis (Sunday). In modern reckoning, this date would have been a Wednesday.
- 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
- 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.
- 1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
- 1778 –New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1806 – Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.
- 1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
- 1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
- 1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
- 1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
- 1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
- 1851 – The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
- 1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
- 1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
- 1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
- 1919 – The American Legion is founded.
- 1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.
- 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
- 1934 – Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
- 1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
- 1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
- 1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
- 1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.
- 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
- 1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- 1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
- 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
- 1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
- 1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
- 1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.
- 1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
- 1996 – Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
- 1996 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.
- 1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
- 2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
- 2006 – Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
- 2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
- 2018 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.
Births on February 6
- 885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan (d. 930)
- 1402 – Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1458)
- 1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)
- 1453 – Girolamo Benivieni, Florentine poet (d. 1542)
- 1465 – Scipione del Ferro, Italian mathematician and theorist (d. 1526)
- 1536 – Sassa Narimasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1588)
- 1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian murderer (d. 1599)
- 1582 – Mario Bettinus, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1657)
- 1608 – António Vieira, Portuguese priest and philosopher (d. 1697)
- 1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (d. 1644)
- 1612 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1694)
- 1643 – Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, Prussian politician, 1st Minister President of Prussia (d. 1712)
- 1649 – Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp, German noblewoman (d. 1728)
- 1664 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1703)
- 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)
- 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (d. 1714)
- 1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1726)
- 1719 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1759)
- 1726 – Patrick Russell, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (d. 1805)
- 1732 – Charles Lee, English-American general (d. 1782)
- 1736 – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, German-Austrian sculptor (d. 1783)
- 1744 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
- 1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830)
- 1753 – Évariste de Parny, French poet and author (d. 1814)
- 1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1758 – Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Belarusian-Polish poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1841)
- 1769 – Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, Austrian general (d. 1862)
- 1772 – George Murray, Scottish general and politician, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (d. 1830)
- 1778 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (d. 1827)
- 1781 – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, Irish general and politician, Governor of Saint Lucia (d. 1844)
- 1796 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist and geologist (d. 1861)
- 1797 – Joseph von Radowitz, Prussian general and politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (d. 1853)
- 1799 – Imre Frivaldszky, Hungarian botanist and entomologist (d. 1870)
- 1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
- 1802 – Charles Wheatstone, English-French physicist and cryptographer (d. 1875)
- 1811 – Henry Liddell, English priest, author, and academic (d. 1898)
- 1814 – Auguste Chapdelaine, French missionary and saint (d. 1856)
- 1818 – William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (d. 1901)
- 1820 – Thomas C. Durant, American railroad tycoon (d. 1885)
- 1829 – Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, French architect, designed the La Santé Prison and Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge (d. 1914)
- 1832 – John Brown Gordon, American general and politician, 53rd Governor of Georgia (d. 1904)
- 1833 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author and academic (d. 1906)
- 1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
- 1834 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist and academic (d. 1913)
- 1834 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian-German soprano (d. 1889)
- 1834 – Wilhelm von Scherff, German general and author (d. 1911)
- 1838 – Henry Irving, English actor and manager (d. 1905)
- 1838 – Israel Meir Kagan, Lithuanian-Polish rabbi and author (d. 1933)
- 1839 – Eduard Hitzig, German neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1907)
- 1842 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
- 1843 – Inoue Kowashi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 1895)
- 1843 – Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet and philologist, co-founded the Society for Psychical Research (d. 1901)
- 1845 – Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (d. 1912)
- 1847 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (d. 1918)
- 1852 – C. Lloyd Morgan, English zoologist and psychologist (d. 1936)
- 1852 – Vasily Safonov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1918)
- 1861 – Nikolay Zelinsky, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1953)
- 1864 – John Henry Mackay, Scottish-German philosopher and author (d. 1933)
- 1866 – Karl Sapper, German linguist and explorer (d. 1945)
- 1872 – Robert Maillart, Swiss engineer, designed the Salginatobel Bridge and Schwandbach Bridge (d. 1940)
- 1874 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
- 1875 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)
- 1876 – Henry Blogg, English fisherman and sailor (d. 1954)
- 1879 – Othon Friesz, French painter (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Magnús Guðmundsson, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1937)
- 1879 – Edwin Samuel Montagu, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1924)
- 1879 – Carl Ramsauer, German physicist and author (d. 1955)
- 1880 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (d. 1931)
- 1884 – Marcel Cohen, French linguist and scholar (d. 1974)
- 1887 – Josef Frings, German cardinal (d. 1978)
- 1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (d. 1988)
- 1890 – James McGirr, Australian politician, 28th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Maximilian Fretter-Pico, German general (d. 1984)
- 1892 – William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1893 – Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan (d. 1985)
- 1894 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand-English lexicographer and academic (d. 1979)
- 1894 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician (d. 1953)
- 1895 – María Teresa Vera, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
- 1898 – Harry Haywood, American soldier and politician (d. 1985)
- 1899 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1968)
- 1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1902 – George Brunies, American trombonist (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist and composer (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (d. 1982)
- 1905 – Jan Werich, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1980)
- 1906 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Geo Bogza, Romanian poet and journalist (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Michael Maltese, American actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Roman Czerniawski, Polish air force officer and spy (d. 1985)
- 1910 – Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
- 1910 – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-American gangster (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
- 1912 – Christopher Hill, English historian and author (d. 2003)
- 1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Kavi Pradeep, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1998)
- 1916 – John Crank, English mathematician and physicist (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Louis-Philippe de Grandpré, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
- 1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
- 1918 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author and painter (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Carl Neumann Degler, American historian and author (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Patrick Macnee, English-American actor and costume designer (d. 2015)
- 1922 – Denis Norden, English actor, screenwriter, and television host (d. 2018)
- 1922 – Haskell Wexler, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1981)
- 1924 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Jin Yong, Hong Kong author and publisher, founded Ming Pao (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Walker Edmiston, American actor and puppeteer (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist and academic (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan author and critic (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Valentin Yanin, Russian historian and author (d. 2020)
- 1930 – Jun Kondo, Japanese physicist and academic
- 1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model
- 1931 – Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (d. 2017)
- 1932 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier and anarchist (d. 1959)
- 1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1933 – Leslie Crowther, English comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 1996)
- 1936 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
- 1938 – Fred Mifflin, Canadian admiral and politician, 19th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Jean Beaudin, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2019)
- 1939 – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, activist and public speaker
- 1939 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author
- 1940 – Petr Hájek, Czech mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
- 1940 – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian and actor
- 1941 – Stephen Albert, American pianist and composer (d. 1992)
- 1941 – Dave Berry, English pop singer
- 1941 – Gigi Perreau, American actress and director
- 1942 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Charlie Coles, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Ahmad-Jabir Ahmadov Ismail oghlu, Azerbaijani philosopher and academic
- 1942 – James Loewen, American sociologist and historian
- 1942 – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (d. 2012)
- 1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
- 1943 – Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
- 1944 – Christine Boutin, French politician, French Minister of Housing and Urban Development
- 1944 – Willie Tee, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2007)
- 1944 – Michael Tucker, American actor and producer
- 1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
- 1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Jim Turner, American captain and politician
- 1947 – Bill Staines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Charlie Hickcox, American swimmer (d .2010)
- 1949 – Mike Batt, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1949 – Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
- 1949 – Jim Sheridan, Irish director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Timothy M. Dolan, American cardinal
- 1950 – Punky Meadows, American rock guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, coach, and politician
- 1952 – Viktor Giacobbo, Swiss actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Ricardo La Volpe, Argentinian footballer, manager, and coach
- 1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- 1955 – Michael Pollan, American journalist, author, and academic
- 1955 – Bruno Stolorz, French rugby player and coach
- 1956 – Jerry Marotta, American drummer
- 1957 – Andres Lipstok, Estonian economist and politician, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs
- 1957 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
- 1957 – Simon Phillips, English drummer and producer
- 1957 – Robert Townsend, American actor and director
- 1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (d. 2004)
- 1960 – Jeremy Bowen, Welsh journalist
- 1960 – Megan Gallagher, American actress
- 1961 – Michael Bolt, Australian rugby league player
- 1961 – Cam Cameron, American football player and coach
- 1961 – Bill Lester, American race car driver
- 1961 – Yury Onufriyenko, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1962 – Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
- 1962 – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1963 – David Capel, English cricketer
- 1963 – Scott Gordon, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1963 – Quentin Letts, English journalist and critic
- 1964 – Laurent Cabannes, French rugby player
- 1964 – Gordon Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
- 1964 – Colin Miller, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1964 – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director
- 1965 – Jan Svěrák, Czech actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1967 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
- 1968 – Adolfo Valencia, Colombian footballer
- 1968 – Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer and producer
- 1969 – David Hayter, American actor and screenwriter
- 1969 – Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1969 – Tim Sherwood, English international footballer midfielder and manager
- 1969 – Bob Wickman, American baseball player
- 1970 – Per Frandsen, Danish footballer and manager
- 1970 – Tim Herron, American golfer
- 1971 – Brad Hogg, Australian cricketer
- 1971 – Carlos Rogers, American basketball player
- 1972 – Stefano Bettarini, Italian footballer
- 1972 – David Binn, American football player
- 1974 – Aljo Bendijo, Filipino journalist
- 1975 – Chad Allen, American baseball player and coach
- 1975 – Orkut Büyükkökten, Turkish computer scientist and engineer, created Orkut
- 1975 – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
- 1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder and educator
- 1976 – Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast and coach
- 1977 – Josh Stewart, American actor
- 1978 – Yael Naim, French-Israeli singer-songwriter
- 1979 – Dan Bălan, Moldovan singer-songwriter and producer
- 1980 – Kerry Jeremy, Antiguan cricketer
- 1980 – Kim Poirier, Canadian actress, singer, and producer
- 1980 – Luke Ravenstahl, American politician, 58th Mayor of Pittsburgh
- 1981 – Ricky Barnes, American golfer
- 1981 – Calum Best, American-English model and actor
- 1981 – Shim Eun-jin, South Korean singer and actress
- 1981 – Alison Haislip, American actress and producer
- 1981 – Jens Lekman, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Ty Warren, American football player
- 1982 – Tank, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Alice Eve, English actress
- 1982 – Elise Ray, American gymnast
- 1983 – Melrose Bickerstaff, American model and fashion designer
- 1983 – Brodie Croyle, American football player
- 1983 – Dimas Delgado, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – S. Sreesanth, Indian cricketer
- 1983 – Jamie Whincup, Australian race car driver
- 1984 – Darren Bent, English international footballer, forward
- 1984 – Piret Järvis, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1984 – Antoine Wright, American basketball player
- 1985 – Ben Creagh, Australian rugby league player
- 1985 – Kris Humphries, American basketball player
- 1986 – Dane DeHaan, American actor
- 1986 – Yunho, South Korean singer and actor
- 1988 – Bailey Hanks, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1989 – Craig Cathcart, Northern Irish footballer
- 1989 – Jonny Flynn, American basketball player
- 1990 – Adam Henrique, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Jermaine Kearse, American football player
- 1990 – Aida Rybalko, Lithuanian figure skater
- 1991 – Tobias Eisenbauer, Austrian ice dancer
- 1991 – Ida Njåtun, Norwegian speed skater
- 1991 – Eva Wacanno, Dutch tennis player
- 1991 – Fei Yu, Chinese footballer
- 1992 – Víctor Mañón, Mexican footballer
- 1993 – Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011
- 1993 – Tinashe, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1994 – Charlie Heaton, British actor and musician
- 1995 – Leon Goretzka, German footballer
- 1995 – Sam McQueen, English footballer
Deaths on February 6
- 743 – Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph (b. 691)
- 797 – Donnchad Midi, Irish king (b. 733)
- 891 – Photios I of Constantinople (b. 810)
- 1140 – Thurstan, Archbishop of York
- 1155 – King Sigurd II of Norway (b. 1133)
- 1215 – Hōjō Tokimasa, Japanese shikken of the Kamakura bakufu (b. 1138)
- 1378 – Joanna of Bourbon (b. 1338)
- 1411 – Esau de’ Buondelmonti, ruler of Epirus
- 1497 – Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1410)
- 1515 – Aldus Manutius, Italian publisher, founded the Aldine Press (b. 1449)
- 1519 – Lorenz von Bibra, Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Würzburg (b. 1459)
- 1539 – John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)
- 1585 – Edmund Plowden, English lawyer and scholar (b. 1518)
- 1593 – Jacques Amyot, French author and translator (b. 1513)
- 1593 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (b. 1517)
- 1597 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1529)
- 1612 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1538)
- 1617 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1553)
- 1625 – Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1584)
- 1685 – Charles II of England (b. 1630)
- 1695 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1643)
- 1740 – Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
- 1775 – William Dowdeswell, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1721)
- 1783 – Capability Brown, English gardener and architect (b. 1716)
- 1793 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian-French playwright (b. 1707)
- 1804 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (b. 1733)
- 1807 – John Reid, Scottish general (b. 1721)
- 1833 – Pierre André Latreille, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1762)
- 1834 – Richard Lemon Lander, English explorer (b. 1804)
- 1865 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (b. 1836)
- 1899 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1874)
- 1899 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)
- 1902 – John Colton, English-Australian politician, 13th Premier of South Australia (b. 1823)
- 1916 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (b. 1867)
- 1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (b. 1862)
- 1929 – Maria Christina of Austria (b. 1858)
- 1931 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (b. 1861)
- 1932 – John Earle, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1865)
- 1938 – Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Jaan Soots, Estonian general and politician, 7th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1880)
- 1951 – Gabby Street, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1882)
- 1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
- 1958 – victims of the Munich air disaster
- – Geoff Bent, English footballer (b. 1932)
- – Roger Byrne, English footballer (b. 1929)
- – Eddie Colman, English footballer (b. 1936)
- – Walter Crickmer, English footballer and manager (b. 1900)
- – Mark Jones, English footballer (b. 1933)
- – David Pegg, English footballer (b. 1935)
- – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (b. 1913)
- – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (b. 1932)
- 1963 – Piero Manzoni, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1933)
- 1964 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (b. 1869)
- 1967 – Martine Carol, French actress (b. 1920)
- 1972 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Ritwik Ghatak, Bangladeshi-Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 1976 – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1928)
- 1981 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 1982 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (b. 1894)
- 1985 – James Hadley Chase, English-Swiss soldier and author (b. 1906)
- 1986 – Frederick Coutts, Scottish 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
- 1986 – Dandy Nichols, English actress (b. 1907)
- 1986 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
- 1987 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1929)
- 1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)
- 1990 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
- 1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- 1991 – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
- 1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1994 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (b. 1917)
- 1995 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (b. 1926)
- 1998 – Falco, Austrian pop-rock musician (b. 1957)
- 1999 – Don Dunstan, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of South Australia (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Jimmy Roberts, American tenor (b. 1924)
- 2000 – Phil Walters, American race car driver (b. 1916)
- 2001 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino theoretician and activist (b. 1953)
- 2002 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and economist (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Karl Haas, German-American pianist, conductor, and radio host (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Lew Burdette, American baseball player and coach (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Willye White, American runner and long jumper (b. 1939)
- 2008 – Tony Rolt, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Philip Carey, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2009 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Gary Moore, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)
- 2012 – David Rosenhan, American psychologist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Antoni Tàpies, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Janice E. Voss, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1956)
- 2013 – Chokri Belaid, Tunisian lawyer and politician (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Menachem Elon, German-Israeli academic and jurist (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Vasiľ Biľak, Slovak politician (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Maxine Kumin, American author and poet (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Vaçe Zela, Albanian-Swiss singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
- 2015 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Alan Nunnelee, American lawyer and politician (b. 1958)
- 2015 – Pedro León Zapata, Venezuelan cartoonist (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Dan Gerson, American screenwriter (b. 1966)
- 2016 – Dan Hicks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2017 – Irwin Corey, American comedian and actor (b. 1914)
- 2017 – Inge Keller, German actress (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Alec McCowen, English actor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby union footballer (b. 1971)
Holidays and observances on February 6
- Christian feast day:
- Amand
- Dorothea of Caesarea
- Hildegund, O.Praem.
- Jacut
- Mateo Correa Magallanes (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Mél of Ardagh
- Paul Miki and Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan
- Relindis (Renule) of Maaseik
- Vedastus
- February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations)
- Ronald Reagan Day (California, United States)
- Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden)
- Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840.
-
February 1 in History
- 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
- 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
- 1662 – The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
- 1713 – The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman sultan’s order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
- 1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
- 1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
- 1814 – Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
- 1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
- 1864 – Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war.
- 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
- 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
- 1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.
- 1897 – Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
- 1908 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
- 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
- 1924 – Russia–United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution.
- 1942 – World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.
- 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
- 1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
- 1942 – Mao Zedong makes a speech on “Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature”, which puts into motion the Yan’an Rectification Movement.
- 1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
- 1946 – The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
- 1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
- 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.
- 1968 – Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
- 1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.
- 1972 – Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- 1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
- 1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
- 1989 – The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
- 1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.
- 1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.
- 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
- 1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
- 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
- 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
- 2004 – Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
- 2005 – King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
- 2009 – The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government.
- 2012 – Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said.
- 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, is opened to the public.
Births on February 1
- 1261 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1326)
- 1435 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (d. 1472)
- 1447 – Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1504)
- 1459 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (d. 1508)
- 1462 – Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (d. 1516)
- 1552 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1634)
- 1561 – Henry Briggs, British mathematician (d. 1630)
- 1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and scholar (d. 1689)
- 1648 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (d. 1724)
- 1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729)
- 1663 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino nun, founded the Religious of the Virgin Mary (d. 1748)
- 1666 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (d.1732)
- 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (d. 1733)
- 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1768)
- 1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German pianist and composer (d. 1765)
- 1761 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (d. 1836)
- 1763 – Thomas Campbell, Irish minister and theologian (d. 1854)
- 1796 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss minister, poet, and educator (d. 1865)
- 1801 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (d. 1881)
- 1820 – George Hendric Houghton, American clergyman and theologian (d. 1897)
- 1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish organist and composer (d. 1898)
- 1844 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (d. 1924)
- 1851 – Durham Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat (d. 1908)
- 1858 – Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (d. 1942)
- 1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
- 1866 – Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (d. 1924)
- 1868 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
- 1870 – Erik Adolf von Willebrand, Finnish physician (d. 1949)
- 1872 – Clara Butt, English opera singer (d. 1936)
- 1872 – Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1949)
- 1873 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1901)
- 1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1929)
- 1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (d. 1955)
- 1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak journalist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (d. 1944)
- 1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (d. 1966)
- 1882 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
- 1884 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player and physician (d. 1949)
- 1884 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1937)
- 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant, pilot, and author (d. 1947)
- 1890 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1942)
- 1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
- 1894 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman (d. 1980)
- 1897 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (d. 1985)
- 1898 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and author (d. 2012)
- 1901 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (d. 2011)
- 1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1902 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (d. 1947)
- 1902 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1967)
- 1904 – S.J. Perelman, American humorist and screenwriter (d. 1979)
- 1905 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Günter Eich, German author and songwriter (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian pianist and composer (d. 1993)
- 1908 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Louis Rasminsky, Canadian economist and banker (d. 1998)
- 1909 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Chinese general and politician (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
- 1917 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player and soldier (d. 1944)
- 1918 – Muriel Spark, Scottish playwright and poet (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Mike Scarry, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Zao Wou-Ki, Chinese-French painter (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Teresa Mattei, Italian feminist partisan and politician (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017)
- 1921 – Patricia Robins, British writer and WAAF officer (d. 2016).
- 1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Ben Weider, Canadian businessman, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (d. 2008)
- 1924 – Richard Hooker, American novelist (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Sam Edwards, Welsh physicist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American academic and politician (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi judge and politician, 12th President of Bangladesh
- 1930 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudanese activist and politician (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Nicolae Breban, Romanian author, poet, and playwright
- 1936 – Tuncel Kurtiz, Turkish actor, playwright, and director (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Azie Taylor Morton, American educator and politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Don Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1937 – Garrett Morris, American actor and comedian
- 1938 – Jimmy Carl Black, American drummer and singer (d. 2008)
- 1938 – Jacky Cupit, American golfer
- 1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, author, and academic
- 1939 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 1978)
- 1939 – Paul Gillmor, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
- 1939 – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Jerry Spinelli, American author
- 1942 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1942 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
- 1942 – David Sincock, Australian cricketer
- 1944 – Petru Popescu, Romanian-American director, producer, and author
- 1944 – Burkhard Ziese, German footballer and manager (d. 2010)
- 1945 – Serge Joyal, Canadian lawyer and politician, 50th Secretary of State for Canada
- 1945 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Mary Jane Reoch, American cyclist (d. 1993)
- 1946 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Karen Krantzcke, Australian tennis player (d. 1977)
- 1947 – Adam Ingram, Scottish computer programmer and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
- 1947 – Normie Rowe, Australian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
- 1948 – Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
- 1950 – Mike Campbell, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1950 – Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician, 4th Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs
- 1950 – Rich Williams, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1951 – Sonny Landreth, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Chuck Dukowski, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1956 – Exene Cervenka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Gilbert Hernandez, American author and illustrator
- 1958 – Luther Blissett, Jamaican-English footballer and manager
- 1958 – Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
- 1961 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut
- 1961 – Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician (d. 2018)
- 1962 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2004)
- 1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese painter and sculptor
- 1964 – Jani Lane, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1964 – Mario Pelchat, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1964 – Linus Roache, English actor
- 1965 – Stéphanie of Monaco, designer, singer and princess
- 1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (d. 1993)
- 1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
- 1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player
- 1967 – Meg Cabot, American author and screenwriter
- 1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentinian footballer
- 1969 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 2012)
- 1969 – Brian Krause, American actor and screenwriter
- 1969 – Franklyn Rose, Jamaican cricketer
- 1969 – Patrick Wilson, American drummer
- 1970 – Yasuyuki Kazama, Japanese racing driver
- 1970 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (d. 2000)
- 1971 – Harald Brattbakk, Norwegian footballer and pilot
- 1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor and producer
- 1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer
- 1973 – Andrew DeClercq, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Óscar Pérez Rojas, Mexican footballer
- 1974 – Walter McCarty, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Martijn Reuser, Dutch footballer
- 1976 – Phil Ivey, American poker player
- 1976 – Mat Rogers, Australian rugby player
- 1977 – Lari Ketner, American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1977 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (d. 2011)
- 1978 – Tim Harding, Australian singer and actor
- 1978 – K’naan, Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist
- 1979 – Valentín Elizalde, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1979 – Jason Isbell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player
- 1980 – Moisés Muñoz, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2005)
- 1981 – Hins Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Christian Giménez, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
- 1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player
- 1982 – Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
- 1983 – Heather DeLoach, American actress
- 1983 – Kevin Martin, American basketball player
- 1983 – Jurgen Van den Broeck, Belgian cyclist
- 1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
- 1985 – Dean Shiels, Irish footballer
- 1986 – Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater
- 1986 – Lauren Conrad, American fashion designer and author
- 1987 – Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer
- 1987 – Moises Henriques, Portuguese-Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Austin Jackson, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist and actress
- 1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Brett Anderson, American baseball player
- 1989 – Ricky Pinheiro, Portuguese footballer
- 1991 – Kyle Palmieri, American hockey player
- 1993 – Diego Mella, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Joe Boyce, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter
Deaths on February 1
- 583 – Kan B’alam I, ruler of Palenque (b. 524)
- 772 – Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
- 850 – Ramiro I, king of Asturias
- 992 – Jawhar as-Siqilli, Fatimid statesman
- 1222 – Alexios Megas Komnenos, first Emperor of Trebizond
- 1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
- 1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
- 1501 – Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)
- 1542 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)
- 1563 – Menas of Ethiopia
- 1590 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian and academic (b. 1527)
- 1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
- 1718 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1660)
- 1733 – Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (b. 1670)
- 1734 – John Floyer, English physician and author (b. 1649)
- 1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (b. 1657)
- 1750 – Bakar of Georgia (b. 1699)
- 1761 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French priest and historian (b. 1682)
- 1768 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (b. 1685)
- 1793 – William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1717)
- 1832 – Archibald Murphey, American judge and politician (b. 1777)
- 1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1797)
- 1871 – Alexander Serov, Russian composer and critic (b. 1820)
- 1893 – George Henry Sanderson, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
- 1897 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826)
- 1903 – Sir George Stokes, Anglo-Irish physicist, mathematician, and politician (b. 1819)
- 1907 – Léon Serpollet, French businessman (b. 1858)
- 1908 – Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
- 1922 – William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872)
- 1924 – Maurice Prendergast, American painter (b. 1858)
- 1928 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
- 1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and politician, 128th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
- 1940 – Philip Francis Nowlan, American author, created Buck Rogers (b. 1888)
- 1940 – Zacharias Papantoniou, Greek journalist and critic (b. 1877)
- 1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (b. 1872)
- 1949 – Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1880)
- 1949 – Herbert Stothart, American conductor and composer (b. 1885)
- 1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
- 1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1959 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (b. 1873)
- 1966 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and journalist (b. 1885)
- 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
- 1968 – Echol Cole and Robert Walker – sparking the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
- 1970 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
- 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1976 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1878)
- 1979 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
- 1981 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American engineer and businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (b. 1892)
- 1981 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1908)
- 1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1987 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1989 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (b. 1918)
- 1992 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Ray Crawford, American race car driver, pilot, and businessman (b. 1915)
- 1997 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (b. 1916)
- 1999 – Paul Mellon, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1907)
- 2001 – André D’Allemagne, Canadian political scientist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2002 – Aykut Barka, Turkish geologist and academic (b. 1951)
- 2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress and singer (b. 1925)
- 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia crew
- Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1959)
- David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1956)
- Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American engineer and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Laurel Clark, American captain, surgeon, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1957)
- William C. McCool, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1954)
- 2003 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer and bandleader (b. 1922)
- 2004 – Suha Arın, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 2005 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American playwright and composer (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Beto Carrero, Brazilian actor and businessman (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Don Cornelius, American television host and producer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Helene Hale, American politician (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Ed Koch, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Shanu Lahiri, Indian painter and educator (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Cecil Womack, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
- 2014 – Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Vasily Petrov, Russian marshal (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Rene Ricard, American poet, painter, and critic (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Monty Oum, American animator, director, and screenwriter (b. 1981)
- 2016 – Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, Guatemalan general and politician, 27th President of Guatemala (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Desmond Carrington, British actor and broadcaster (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Barys Kit, Belarusian rocket scientist (b. 1910)
- 2018 – Mowzey Radio, Ugandan singer and songwriter (b. 1985)
- 2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (b. 1961)
- 2019 – Clive Swift, English actor (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Wade Wilson, American football player and coach (b. 1959)
Holidays and observances on February 1
- Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)
- Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
- Christian feast day:
- Astina (Syrian Church)
- Blessed Candelaria of San José
- Brigid, patron saint of Ireland (Saint Brigid’s Day)
- Verdiana
- February 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico)
- Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
- Heroes Day (Rwanda)
- Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere)
- Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
- National Freedom Day (United States)
- The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada)