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365

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

  • 48 BC – Pompey is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy upon arriving in Egypt.
  • 235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
  • 351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
  • 365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.
  • 935 – Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.
  • 995 – Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.
  • 1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
  • 1106 – King Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
  • 1238 – King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors. Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
  • 1322 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
  • 1538 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
  • 1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California.
  • 1779 – American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
  • 1781 – American Revolution: American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.
  • 1787 – The Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly-written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.
  • 1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted. It will be made public on 13 October.
  • 1844 – Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
  • 1867 – Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, having also been the capital of Ontario’s predecessors since 1796.
  • 1868 – The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
  • 1871 – The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.
  • 1889 – The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter.
  • 1892 – The first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.
  • 1893 – Foundation of the Portuguese football club FC Porto.
  • 1901 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.
  • 1912 – The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Protestant Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.
  • 1912 – Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.
  • 1918 – World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.
  • 1919 – Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska.
  • 1924 – The first aerial circumnavigation is completed by a team from the US Army.
  • 1928 – Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
  • 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.
  • 1939 – World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.
  • 1941 – World War II: The Drama uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.
  • 1941 – Ted Williams achieves a .406 batting average for the season, and becomes the last major league baseball player to bat .400 or better.
  • 1944 – World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.
  • 1951 – CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.
  • 1961 – A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
  • 1970 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
  • 1971 – The Parliament of the UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
  • 1973 – The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT’s alleged involvement in the coup d’état in Chile.
  • 1975 – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
  • 1986 – The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.
  • 1991 – The Strategic Air Command stands down from alert all ICBMs scheduled for deactivation under START I, as well as its strategic bomber force.
  • 1992 – A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew.
  • 1994 – The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
  • 1995 – Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.
  • 1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
  • 2000 – Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al-Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
  • 2008 – Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit.
  • 2009 – The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1400 people.
  • 2012 – Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants.
  • 2014 – The 2014 Hong Kong protests begin in response to restrictive political reforms imposed by the NPC in Beijing.
  • 2016 – The 2016 South Australian blackout occurs, lasting up to three days in some areas.
  • 2018 – The 7.5 Mw 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami, leaves 4,340 dead and 10,679 injured.
  • 2018 – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the international project Tree of Peace was established (September, 28). One of the trees was planted personally by Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic.

Births on September 28

  • 551 BC – Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. (d. 479 BC)
  • 616 – Javanshir, King of Caucasian Albania (d. 680)
  • 1494 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1545)
  • 1555 – Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Marshal of France (d. 1623)
  • 1573 – Théodore de Mayerne, Swiss physician (d. 1654)
  • 1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1694)
  • 1681 – Johann Mattheson, German composer, lexicographer, and diplomat (d. 1764)
  • 1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1774)
  • 1705 – Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
  • 1735 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1811)
  • 1746 – William Jones, English-Welsh philologist and scholar (d. 1794)
  • 1765 – Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (d. 1814)
  • 1803 – Prosper Mérimée, French archaeologist, historian, and author (d. 1870)
  • 1809 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
  • 1819 – Narcís Monturiol, Spanish engineer and publisher (d. 1885)
  • 1821 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American minister and politician (d. 1874)
  • 1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter and educator (d. 1889)
  • 1824 – Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet and critic (d. 1897)
  • 1836 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber, invented the ballcock (d. 1910)
  • 1838 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian national saint (d. 1918)
  • 1841 – Georges Clemenceau, French journalist, physician, and politician, 85th Prime Minister of France (d. 1929)
  • 1844 – Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
  • 1852 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
  • 1852 – Isis Pogson, British astronomer and meteorologist (d. 1945)
  • 1856 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (d. 1923)
  • 1860 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist (d. 1934)
  • 1861 – Amélie of Orléans, queen consort of Portugal (d. 1951)
  • 1867 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, Japanese lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
  • 1867 – James Edwin Campbell, American poet, editor, short story writer and educator (d. 1896)
  • 1868 – Evelyn Beatrice Hall, English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire, and wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre (d. 1956)
  • 1877 – Albert Young, American boxer and promoter (d. 1940)
  • 1878 – Joseph Ruddy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
  • 1870 – Florent Schmitt, French composer and critic (d. 1958)
  • 1881 – Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (d. 1950)
  • 1882 – Mart Saar, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1963)
  • 1885 – Emil Väre, Finnish wrestler, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
  • 1887 – Avery Brundage, American businessman, 5th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1975)
  • 1889 – Jack Fournier, American baseball player and coach (d. 1973)
  • 1890 – Florence Violet McKenzie, Australian electrical engineer (d. 1982)
  • 1892 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (d. 1967)
  • 1893 – Hilda Geiringer, Austrian mathematician (d. 1973)
  • 1893 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek author, poet, and playwright (d. 1984)
  • 1898 – Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (d. 1957)
  • 1900 – Isabel Pell, American socialite, fought as part of the French Resistance during WWII (d. 1951)
  • 1901 – William S. Paley, American broadcaster, founded CBS (d. 1990)
  • 1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
  • 1903 – Haywood S. Hansell, American general (d. 1988)
  • 1905 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
  • 1907 – Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast and physician (d. 1997)
  • 1907 – Bhagat Singh, Indian activist (d. 1931)
  • 1909 – Al Capp, American author and illustrator (d. 1979)
  • 1910 – Diosdado Macapagal, Filipino lawyer and politician, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
  • 1910 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1942)
  • 1913 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (d. 2007)
  • 1913 – Alice Marble, American tennis player (d. 1990)
  • 1914 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American refugee and singer (d. 2014)
  • 1915 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)
  • 1916 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (d. 1977)
  • 1916 – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Ukrainian-Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Ángel Labruna, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
  • 1918 – Arnold Stang, American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1919 – Doris Singleton, American actress (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Larry Munson, American sportscaster (d. 2011)
  • 1923 – Tuli Kupferberg, American singer, poet, and writer (d. 2010)
  • 1923 – John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Rudolf Barshai, Russian-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 2010)
  • 1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian-French actor and singer (d. 1996)
  • 1925 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist, founded the CRAY Computer Company (d. 1996)
  • 1925 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
  • 1925 – Martin David Kruskal, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Jerry Clower, American soldier, comedian, and author (d. 1998)
  • 1928 – Koko Taylor, American singer (d. 2009)
  • 1929 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer and composer
  • 1930 – Tommy Collins, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
  • 1930 – Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist, author, and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1932 – Jeremy Isaacs, Scottish screenwriter and producer
  • 1932 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, and director (d. 1973)
  • 1933 – Joe Benton, English soldier and politician
  • 1933 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor and educator (d. 2006)
  • 1933 – Johnny “Country” Mathis, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
  • 1935 – Bruce Crampton, Australian golfer
  • 1935 – David Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick, English diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations
  • 1935 – Ronald Lacey, English actor (d. 1991)
  • 1936 – Emmett Chapman, American guitarist, invented the Chapman Stick
  • 1936 – Eddie Lumsden, Australian rugby league player (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Robert Wolders, Dutch television actor (d. 2018)
  • 1937 – Alice Mahon, English trade union leader and politician
  • 1937 – Glenn Sutton, American country music songwriter and record producer (d. 2007)
  • 1938 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
  • 1939 – Stuart Kauffman, American biologist and academic
  • 1941 – David Lewis, American philosopher and academic (d. 2001)
  • 1941 – Edmund Stoiber, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Bavaria
  • 1942 – Pierre Clémenti, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1942 – Edward “Little Buster” Forehand, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
  • 1943 – Warren Lieberfarb, American businessman
  • 1943 – George W. S. Trow, American novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
  • 1943 – Nick St. Nicholas, German-Canadian bass player
  • 1944 – Richie Karl, American golfer
  • 1944 – Marcia Muller, American journalist and author
  • 1945 – Marielle Goitschel, French skier
  • 1945 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter and journalist (d. 2011)
  • 1945 – Fusako Shigenobu, Japanese activist, founded the Japanese Red Army
  • 1946 – Tom Bower, English journalist and author
  • 1946 – Majid Khan, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
  • 1947 – Bob Carr, Australian journalist and politician, 37th Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1947 – Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh
  • 1947 – Jon Snow, English journalist and academic
  • 1947 – Rhonda Hughes, American mathematician and academic
  • 1949 – Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1950 – Paul Burgess, English drummer
  • 1950 – Christina Hoff Sommers, American author and philosopher
  • 1950 – John Sayles, American novelist, director, and screenwriter
  • 1951 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2015)
  • 1952 – Christopher Buckley, American satirical novelist
  • 1952 – Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1952 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model and actress (d. 2012)
  • 1952 – Andy Ward, English drummer
  • 1953 – Otmar Hasler, Liechtensteiner educator and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
  • 1954 – Steve Largent, American football player and politician
  • 1954 – George Lynch, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1954 – John Scott, English rugby player
  • 1954 – Margot Wallström, Swedish politician and diplomat, 42nd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
  • 1955 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian sociologist and politician, 15th Canadian Minister of the Environment
  • 1955 – Mercy Manci, Xhosa sangoma and HIV activist from South Africa
  • 1955 – Kenny Kirkland, American pianist (d. 1998)
  • 1956 – Martha Isabel Fandiño Pinilla, Colombian-Italian mathematician and author
  • 1957 – Bill Cassidy, American politician and physician
  • 1959 – Ron Fellows, Canadian race car driver
  • 1959 – Laura Bruce, American artist
  • 1960 – Gary Ayres, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1960 – Tom Byrum, American golfer
  • 1960 – Frank Hammerschlag, German footballer and manager
  • 1960 – Gus Logie, Trinidadian cricketer
  • 1960 – Kamlesh Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, English politician
  • 1960 – Jennifer Rush, American singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Socrates Villegas, Filipino archbishop
  • 1961 – Helen Grant, English lawyer and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
  • 1961 – Gregory Jbara, American actor and singer
  • 1961 – Quentin Kawānanakoa, American lawyer and politician
  • 1961 – Anne White, American tennis player
  • 1962 – Grant Fuhr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Laurie Rinker, American golfer
  • 1962 – Dietmar Schacht, German footballer and manager
  • 1962 – Chuck Taylor, American journalist
  • 1963 – Steve Blackman, American wrestler and martial artist
  • 1963 – Érik Comas, French race car driver
  • 1963 – Greg Weisman, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Claudio Borghi, Argentinian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Gregor Fisken, Scottish race car driver
  • 1964 – Janeane Garofalo, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Paul Jewell, English footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Mārtiņš Roze, Latvian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1966 – Scott Adams, American football player (d. 2013)
  • 1966 – Maria Canals-Barrera, Cuban-American actress
  • 1966 – Puri Jagannadh, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Mira Sorvino, American actress
  • 1967 – Moon Zappa, American actress and author
  • 1968 – Francois Botha, South African boxer and mixed martial artist
  • 1968 – Mika Häkkinen, Finnish race car driver
  • 1968 – Trish Keenan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
  • 1968 – Sean Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2008)
  • 1968 – Rob Moroso, American race car driver (d. 1990)
  • 1968 – Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress and producer
  • 1969 – Kerri Chandler, electronic music producer and DJ
  • 1969 – Marcel Dost, Dutch decathlete
  • 1969 – Ben Greenman, American journalist and author
  • 1969 – Piper Kerman, American author and memoirist
  • 1969 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1969 – Sascha Maassen, German race car driver
  • 1969 – Angus Robertson, Scottish politician
  • 1969 – Nico Vaesen, Belgian footballer
  • 1970 – Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
  • 1970 – Mike DeJean, American baseball player
  • 1970 – Gualter Salles, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1971 – Joseph Arthur, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1971 – George Eustice, English lawyer and politician
  • 1971 – Braam van Straaten, South African rugby player
  • 1971 – Alan Wright, English footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Dita Von Teese, American model and dancer
  • 1973 – Brian Rafalski, American ice hockey player
  • 1974 – Marco Di Loreto, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Mariya Kiselyova, Russian swimmer
  • 1974 – Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Shane Webcke, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1975 – Stuart Clark, Australian cricketer and manager
  • 1975 – Isamu Jordan, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1975 – Lenny Krayzelburg, Russian-American swimmer
  • 1976 – Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist and politician
  • 1977 – Ireneusz Marcinkowski, Polish footballer
  • 1977 – Pak Se-ri, South Korean golfer
  • 1977 – Young Jeezy, American rapper
  • 1978 – Ben Edmondson, Australian cricketer
  • 1979 – Bam Margera, American skateboarder, actor, and stuntman
  • 1979 – Taki Tsan, American-Greek rapper and producer
  • 1980 – Marlon Parmer, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Greg Anderson, American pianist and composer
  • 1981 – Willy Caballero, Argentine footballer
  • 1981 – José Calderón, Spanish basketball player
  • 1981 – Jorge Guagua, Ecuadorian footballer
  • 1981 – Iracema Trevisan, Brazilian bass player
  • 1982 – Aleksandr Anyukov, Russian footballer
  • 1982 – Abhinav Bindra, Indian target shooter
  • 1982 – Ray Emery, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2018)
  • 1982 – Ranbir Kapoor, Indian actor and director
  • 1982 – Nolwenn Leroy, French singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1982 – Emeka Okafor, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Dustin Penner, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Aivar Rehemaa, Estonian skier
  • 1982 – Anderson Varejão, Brazilian basketball player
  • 1982 – St. Vincent, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1983 – Stefan Moore, English footballer
  • 1983 – John Schwalger, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1984 – Jenny Omnichord, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Luke Pomersbach, Australian cricketer
  • 1984 – Naim Terbunja, Kosovan-Swedish boxer
  • 1984 – Melody Thornton, American singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1984 – Mathieu Valbuena, French footballer
  • 1984 – Ryan Zimmerman, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Shindong, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1985 – Alina Ibragimova, Russian-English violinist
  • 1986 – Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer
  • 1986 – Meskerem Legesse, Ethiopian runner (d. 2013)
  • 1986 – Dominic Waters, American basketball player
  • 1987 – Pierre Becken, German footballer
  • 1987 – Gary Deegan, Irish footballer
  • 1987 – Hilary Duff, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1987 – Chloë Hanslip, English violinist
  • 1987 – Viktoria Leks, Estonian high jumper
  • 1988 – Marin Čilić, Croatian tennis player
  • 1988 – Esmée Denters, Dutch singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Aleks Vrteski, Australian footballer
  • 1988 – Worakls, French DJ and electronic musician
  • 1989 – Çağla Büyükakçay, Turkish tennis player
  • 1989 – Darius Johnson-Odom, American basketball player
  • 1989 – Mark Randall, English footballer
  • 1990 – Phoenix Battye, Australian rugby player
  • 1992 – Khem Birch, Canadian professional basketball player
  • 1992 – Adam Thompson, English-Northern Irish footballer
  • 1992 – Kōko Tsurumi, Japanese gymnast
  • 1993 – Jodie Williams, English sprinter
  • 1995 – Jason Williams, English footballer

Deaths on September 28

  • 48 BC – Pompey, Roman general and politician (b. 106 BC)
  • 782 – Leoba, Anglo-Saxon nun
  • 935 – Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia
  • 980 – Minamoto no Hiromasa, Japanese nobleman (b. 918)
  • 1197 – Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1165)
  • 1213 – Gertrude of Merania, queen consort of Hungaria (b. 1185)
  • 1330 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (b. 1292)
  • 1429 – Cymburgis of Masovia, duchess consort of Austria (b. 1394)
  • 1582 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian and scholar (b. 1506)
  • 1596 – Margaret Clifford, countess of Derby (b. 1540)
  • 1618 – Josuah Sylvester, English poet and translator (b. 1563)
  • 1687 – Francis Turretin, Swiss-Italian theologian and academic (b. 1623)
  • 1694 – Gabriel Mouton, French mathematician and theologian (b. 1618)
  • 1702 – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, French-English lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1640)
  • 1742 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (b. 1663)
  • 1829 – Nikolay Raevsky, Russian general and politician (b. 1771)
  • 1844 – Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and politician (b. 1769)
  • 1859 – Carl Ritter, German geographer and academic (b. 1779)
  • 1873 – Émile Gaboriau, French journalist and author (b. 1832)
  • 1891 – Herman Melville, American author and poet (b. 1819)
  • 1895 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (b. 1822)
  • 1899 – Giovanni Segantini, Austrian painter (b. 1858)
  • 1914 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (b. 1863)
  • 1915 – Saitō Hajime, Japanese samurai (b. 1844)
  • 1918 – Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1858)
  • 1918 – Freddie Stowers, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1896)
  • 1925 – Paul Vermoyal, French actor (b. 1888)
  • 1935 – William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, and producer, invented the Kinetoscope (b. 1860)
  • 1938 – Charles Duryea, American engineer and businessman, founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company (b. 1861)
  • 1943 – Sam Ruben, American chemist and academic (b. 1913)
  • 1943 – Filippo Illuminato, Italian partisan, Gold Medal of Military Valour (b. 1930)
  • 1949 – Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens (b. 1881)
  • 1953 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and scholar (b. 1889)
  • 1956 – William Boeing, American businessman, founded the Boeing Company (b. 1881)
  • 1957 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan violinist and composer (b. 1888)
  • 1959 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)
  • 1962 – Roger Nimier, French soldier and author (b. 1925)
  • 1964 – Harpo Marx, American comedian, actor, and singer (b. 1888)
  • 1966 – André Breton, French author and poet (b. 1896)
  • 1970 – John Dos Passos, American novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright (b. 1896)
  • 1970 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Egypt (b. 1918)
  • 1978 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
  • 1979 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist and engineer (b. 1921)
  • 1981 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan journalist and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1908)
  • 1982 – Mabel Albertson, American actress (b. 1901)
  • 1984 – Cihad Baban, Turkish journalist, author, and politician (b. 1911)
  • 1989 – Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
  • 1990 – Larry O’Brien, American businessman and politician, 57th United States Postmaster General (b. 1917)
  • 1991 – Miles Davis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1926)
  • 1993 – Peter De Vries, American editor and novelist (b. 1910)
  • 1993 – Alexander A. Drabik, American sergeant (b. 1910)
  • 1994 – Urmas Alender, Estonian singer (b. 1953)
  • 1994 – José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1946)
  • 1994 – Harry Saltzman, Canadian production manager and producer (b. 1915)
  • 1994 – K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor and comedian (b. 1917)
  • 1999 – Escott Reid, Canadian academic and diplomat (b. 1905)
  • 2000 – Pierre Trudeau, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)
  • 2002 – Patsy Mink, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
  • 2002 – Hartland Molson, Canadian captain and politician (b. 1907)
  • 2003 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player and golfer (b. 1927)
  • 2003 – Elia Kazan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
  • 2003 – George Odlum, Saint Lucian politician and diplomat (b. 1934)
  • 2004 – Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Constance Baker Motley, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1921)
  • 2007 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (b. 1930)
  • 2007 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (b. 1913)
  • 2009 – Guillermo Endara, Panamanian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1936)
  • 2009 – Ulf Larsson, Swedish actor and director (b. 1956)
  • 2010 – Kurt Albert, German mountaineer and photographer (b. 1954)
  • 2010 – Arthur Penn, American director and producer (b. 1922)
  • 2010 – Dolores Wilson, American soprano and actress (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Avraham Adan, Israeli general (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Chris Economaki, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Brajesh Mishra, Indian politician and diplomat, 1st Indian National Security Advisor (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – James Emanuel, American-French poet and scholar (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Jonathan Fellows-Smith, South African cricketer and rugby player (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – George Amon Webster, American singer and pianist (b. 1945)
  • 2014 – Dannie Abse, Welsh physician, poet, and author (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Joseph H. Alexander, American colonel and historian (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Sheila Faith, English dentist and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Tim Rawlings, English footballer and manager (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Petr Skoumal, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1938)
  • 2015 – Alexander Faris, Irish composer and conductor (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Walter Dale Miller, American rancher and politician, 29th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1925)
  • 2015 – Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
  • 2016 – Agnes Nixon, American television writer and director (b. 1922)
  • 2016 – Gary Glasberg, American television writer and producer (b. 1966)
  • 2016 – Shimon Peres, Polish-Israeli statesman and politician, 9th President of Israel (b. 1923)
  • 2016 – Gloria Naylor, American novelist (b. 1950)
  • 2017 – Daniel Pe’er, Israeli television host and newsreader (b. 1943)
  • 2018 – Predrag Ejdus, Serbian actor (b. 1947)
  • 2019 – José José, 71, Mexican singer (El Principe de la Canción or The Prince of Song), pancreas cancer (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances on September 28

  • Christian feast day:
    • Aaron of Auxerre
    • Annemund
    • Conval
    • Eustochium
    • Exuperius
    • Faustus of Riez
    • John of Dukla
    • Leoba
    • Lorenzo Ruiz
    • Paternus of Auch
    • Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Simón de Rojas
    • Wenceslas
    • September 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
  • Czech Statehood Day (Czech Republic)
  • Freedom from Hunger Day
  • International Day for Universal Access to Information
  • National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography (Philippines)
  • Teachers’ Day (Taiwan and Chinese-Filipino schools in the Philippines), ceremonies dedicated to Confucius are also observed.
  • World Rabies Day (International)

September 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day, Uncategorized

July 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
  • 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope.
  • 285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.
  • 365 – The 365 Crete earthquake affects the Greek island of Crete with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing a destructive tsunami that affects the coasts of Libya and Egypt, especially Alexandria. Many thousands were killed.
  • 905 – King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeats the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking his oath (see 902).
  • 1242 – Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan.
  • 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.
  • 1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
  • 1568 – Eighty Years’ War: Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.
  • 1645 – Qing dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.
  • 1656 – The Raid on Málaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
  • 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
  • 1774 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.
  • 1798 – French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon’s forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.
  • 1831 – Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army.
  • 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
  • 1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
  • 1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
  • 1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.
  • 1907 – The passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 people.
  • 1919 – The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
  • 1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
  • 1925 – Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
  • 1944 – World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10.
  • 1944 – World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are tortured and executed in Berlin, Germany, for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
  • 1949 – The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
  • 1952 – The 7.3 Mw  Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
  • 1954 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
  • 1959 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative.
  • 1959 – Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
  • 1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike is elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, becoming the world’s first female head of government
  • 1961 – Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
  • 1969 – Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon.
  • 1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
  • 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130.
  • 1973 – In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.
  • 1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.
  • 1977 – The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.
  • 1979 – Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • 1983 – The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
  • 1990 – Taiwan’s military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.
  • 1995 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People’s Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
  • 2001 – At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect.
  • 2005 – July 2005 London bombings occur.
  • 2008 – Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first president of Nepal.
  • 2011 – NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
  • 2012 – Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.

Births on July 21

  • 541 – Emperor Wen of Sui, emperor of the Sui Dynasty (d. 604)
  • 1030 – Kyansittha, King of Burma (d. 1112)
  • 1414 – Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)
  • 1462 – Queen Jeonghyeon, Korean royal consort (d. 1530)
  • 1476 – Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (d. 1534)
  • 1476 – Anna Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1497)
  • 1515 – Philip Neri, Italian Roman Catholic saint (d. 1595)
  • 1535 – García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete, Royal Governor of Chile (d. 1609)
  • 1616 – Anna de’ Medici, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1676)
  • 1620 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)
  • 1648 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (d. 1689)
  • 1654 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino catechist and sacristan; later canonized (d. 1672)
  • 1664 – Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (d. 1721)
  • 1693 – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1768)
  • 1710 – Paul Möhring, German physician, botanist, and zoologist (d. 1792)
  • 1783 – Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (d. 1853)
  • 1808 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian, academic, and politician (d. 1864)
  • 1810 – Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist and physicist (d. 1878)
  • 1811 – Robert Mackenzie, Scottish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1873)
  • 1816 – Paul Reuter, German-English journalist, founded Reuters (d. 1899)
  • 1858 – Maria Christina of Austria (d. 1929)
  • 1858 – Lovis Corinth, German painter (d. 1925)
  • 1858 – Alfred Henry O’Keeffe, New Zealand painter and educator (d. 1941)
  • 1863 – C. Aubrey Smith, English-American cricketer and actor (d. 1948)
  • 1866 – Carlos Schwabe, Swiss Symbolist painter and printmaker (d. 1926)
  • 1870 – Emil Orlík, Czech painter, etcher, and lithographer (d. 1932)
  • 1875 – Charles Gondouin, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1947)
  • 1880 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak astronomer, general, and politician (d. 1919)
  • 1882 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian author and illustrator (d. 1967)
  • 1885 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1948)
  • 1891 – Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower and soldier (d. 1969)
  • 1893 – Hans Fallada, German author (d. 1947)
  • 1896 – Sophie Bledsoe Aberle, Native American anthropologist, physician and nutritionist (d. 1996)
  • 1898 – Sara Carter, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
  • 1899 – Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
  • 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
  • 1900 – Isadora Bennett, American theatre manager and modern dance publicity agent (d. 1980)
  • 1903 – Russell Lee, American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
  • 1903 – Roy Neuberger, American businessman and financier, co-founded Neuberger Berman (d. 2010)
  • 1908 – Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (d. 1996)
  • 1911 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and theorist (d. 1980)
  • 1911 – Umashankar Joshi, Indian author, poet, and scholar (d. 1988)
  • 1914 – Aleksander Kreek, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1977)
  • 1917 – Alan B. Gold, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2005)
  • 1920 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
  • 1920 – Isaac Stern, Polish violinist and conductor (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Jean Daniel, Algerian-French-Jewish journalist and author (d. 2020)
  • 1921 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (d. 2000)
  • 1921 – John Horsley, English actor (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, Zulu sangoma (d. 2020)
  • 1922 – Kay Starr, American singer (d. 2016)
  • 1922 – Mollie Sugden, English actress (d. 2009)
  • 1923 – Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1923 – Queenie Watts, English actress and singer (d. 1980)
  • 1924 – Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 7th Governor of Balochistan
  • 1924 – Don Knotts, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Paul Burke, American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1925 – Johnny Peirson, Canadian hockey player
  • 1926 – Norman Jewison, Canadian actor, director, and producer
  • 1926 – Bill Pertwee, English actor (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Karel Reisz, Czech-English director and producer (d. 2002)
  • 1928 – Sky Low Low, Canadian wrestler (d. 1998)
  • 1929 – Bob Orton, American wrestler (d. 2006)
  • 1930 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1930 – Helen Merrill, American singer
  • 1931 – Sonny Clark, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
  • 1931 – Plas Johnson, American saxophonist
  • 1931 – Leon Schidlowsky, Chilean-Israeli painter and composer
  • 1932 – Kaye Stevens, American singer and actress (d. 2011)
  • 1933 – John Gardner, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 1982)
  • 1934 – Chandu Borde, Indian cricketer and manager
  • 1934 – Jonathan Miller, English actor, director, and author (d. 2019)
  • 1935 – Norbert Blüm, German businessman and politician
  • 1935 – Moe Drabowsky, Polish-American baseball player and coach (d. 2006)
  • 1937 – Eduard Streltsov, Soviet footballer (d. 1990)
  • 1938 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1995)
  • 1938 – Anton Kuerti, Austrian-Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor
  • 1938 – Janet Reno, American lawyer and politician, 79th United States Attorney General (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Jamey Aebersold, American saxophonist and educator
  • 1939 – Kim Fowley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and manager (d. 2015)
  • 1939 – John Negroponte, English-American diplomat, 23rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations
  • 1943 – Fritz Glatz, Austrian race car driver (d. 2002)
  • 1943 – Edward Herrmann, American actor (d. 2014)
  • 1943 – Henry McCullough, Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1944 – John Atta Mills, Ghanaian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Ghana (d. 2012)
  • 1944 – Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian author and academic (d. 2017)
  • 1944 – Paul Wellstone, American academic and politician (d. 2002)
  • 1945 – Wendy Cope, English poet, critic, and educator
  • 1945 – Geoff Dymock, Australian cricketer
  • 1945 – Barry Richards, South African cricketer
  • 1946 – Ken Starr, American lawyer and judge, 39th Solicitor General of the United States
  • 1946 – Timothy Harris, American author, screenwriter and producer
  • 1947 – Chetan Chauhan, Indian cricketer and politician
  • 1948 – Art Hindle, Canadian actor and director
  • 1948 – Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1948 – Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
  • 1949 – Christina Hart, American playwright and actress
  • 1949 – Hirini Melbourne, New Zealand singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2003)
  • 1950 – Ubaldo Fillol, Argentinian footballer and coach
  • 1950 – Susan Kramer, Baroness Kramer, English politician, Minister of State for Transport
  • 1951 – Richard Gozney, English politician and diplomat, 30th Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, 139th Governor of Bermuda
  • 1951 – Robin Williams, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
  • 1952 – John Barrasso, American physician and politician
  • 1952 – Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Malaysian economist
  • 1953 – Eric Bazilian, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer (The Hooters)
  • 1953 – Jeff Fatt, Australian keyboard player and actor
  • 1953 – Bernie Fraser, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1953 – Brian Talbot, English footballer and manager
  • 1955 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 2003)
  • 1955 – Dannel Malloy, American lawyer and politician, 88th Governor of Connecticut
  • 1955 – Henry Priestman, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
  • 1955 – Taco, Indonesian-born Dutch singer and entertainer
  • 1955 – Béla Tarr, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Michael Connelly, American author
  • 1957 – Stefan Löfven, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Sweden
  • 1957 – Jon Lovitz, American comedian, actor, and producer
  • 1958 – Dave Henderson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
  • 1959 – Gene Miles, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1959 – Reha Muhtar, Turkish journalist
  • 1959 – Paul Vautin, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Amar Singh Chamkila, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1960 – Veselin Matić, Serbian basketball player and coach
  • 1960 – Fritz Walter, German footballer
  • 1961 – Morris Iemma, Australian politician, 40th Premier of New South Wales
  • 1961 – Jim Martin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Victor Adebowale, Baron Adebowale, English businessman
  • 1963 – Kevin Poole, English footballer and manager
  • 1963 – Giant Silva, Brazilian basketball player, mixed martial artist, and wrestler
  • 1964 – Steve Collins, Irish boxer and actor
  • 1964 – Ross Kemp, English actor and producer
  • 1964 – Jens Weißflog, German ski jumper and journalist
  • 1965 – Guðni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer and lawyer
  • 1965 – Mike Bordick, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Arija Bareikis, American actress
  • 1966 – Sarah Waters, Welsh author and academic
  • 1968 – Brandi Chastain, American soccer player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Aditya Srivastava, Indian actor
  • 1968 – Lyle Odelein, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1969 – Godfrey, American comedian and actor
  • 1969 – Klaus Graf, German race car driver
  • 1969 – Emerson Hart, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1969 – Isabell Werth, German equestrian
  • 1970 – Michael Fitzpatrick, American singer-songwriter
  • 1971 – Emmanuel Bangué, French long jumper
  • 1971 – Charlotte Gainsbourg, English-French actress and singer
  • 1971 – Nitzan Shirazi, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1972 – Korey Cooper, American singer and guitarist
  • 1972 – Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan marathon runner
  • 1974 – Geoff Jenkins, American baseball player and coach
  • 1974 – René Reinumägi, Estonian actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1975 – Christopher Barzak, American author and educator
  • 1975 – Cara Dillon, Irish singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Ravindra Pushpakumara, Sri Lankan cricketer
  • 1975 – Mike Sellers, American football player
  • 1976 – Jaime Murray, English actress
  • 1977 – Paul Casey, English golfer
  • 1978 – Justin Bartha, American actor
  • 1978 – Anderson da Silva Gibin, Brazilian footballer
  • 1978 – Josh Hartnett, American actor
  • 1978 – Julian Huppert, English academic and politician
  • 1978 – Damian Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1978 – Gary Teale, Scottish footballer
  • 1979 – David Carr, American football player
  • 1979 – Tamika Catchings, American basketball player
  • 1979 – Luis Ernesto Michel, Mexican footballer
  • 1979 – Andriy Voronin, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1980 – Justin Griffith, American football player
  • 1980 – Sandra Laoura, French skier
  • 1980 – CC Sabathia, American baseball player
  • 1980 – Yvonne Sampson, Australian journalist and sportscaster
  • 1981 – Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1981 – Anabelle Langlois, Canadian figure skater
  • 1981 – Joaquín, Spanish footballer
  • 1981 – Romeo Santos, American singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
  • 1982 – Jason Cram, Australian swimmer
  • 1982 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese newscaster and actress (d. 2017)
  • 1984 – Jurrick Juliana, Dutch footballer
  • 1984 – Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
  • 1985 – Mati Lember, Estonian footballer
  • 1985 – Von Wafer, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Anthony Annan, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1986 – Rebecca Ferguson, American-English singer-songwriter
  • 1986 – Jason Thompson, American basketball player
  • 1987 – Bilel Mohsni, French footballer
  • 1987 – Jesús Zavala, Mexican footballer
  • 1988 – KB, American rapper
  • 1988 – DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player
  • 1988 – Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer (d. 2016)
  • 1989 – Marco Fabián, Mexican footballer
  • 1989 – Juno Temple, English actress
  • 1990 – Chris Martin, English footballer
  • 1990 – Jason Roy, English cricketer
  • 1990 – Erislandy Savón, Cuban amateur heavyweight boxer
  • 1990 – Franck Elemba, Congolese athlete
  • 1991 – Sara Sampaio, Portuguese model
  • 1992 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
  • 1996 – Mikael Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian footballer
  • 1998 – Thomas Preining, Austrian racing driver

Deaths on July 21

  • 658 – K’an II, Mayan ruler (b. 588)
  • 710 – Li Guo’er, princess of the Tang dynasty
  • 710 – Wei, empress of the Tang Dynasty
  • 710 – Shangguan Wan’er, Chinese poet (b. 664)
  • 987 – Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou
  • 1259 – Gojong of Goryeo
  • 1403 – Henry Percy, English soldier (b. 1364)
  • 1403 – Sir Walter Blount, English soldier, standard-bearer of Henry IV
  • 1403 – Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, English soldier
  • 1425 – Manuel II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1350)
  • 1552 – Antonio de Mendoza, Spanish politician, 1st Viceroy of New Spain (b. 1495)
  • 1688 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1610)
  • 1793 – Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, French admiral, explorer, and politician (b. 1739)
  • 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and songwriter (b. 1759)
  • 1798 – François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b. 1733)
  • 1798 – Anthony Perry, Irish rebel leader (b. ca. 1760)
  • 1868 – William Bland, Australian surgeon and politician (b. 1789)
  • 1878 – Sam Bass, American outlaw (b. 1851)
  • 1880 – Hiram Walden, American general and politician (b. 1800)
  • 1889 – Nelson Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1813)
  • 1899 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1833)
  • 1920 – Fiammetta Wilson, English astronomer and educator (b. 1864)
  • 1932 – Bill Gleason, American baseball player (b. 1858)
  • 1934 – Hubert Lyautey, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1854)
  • 1938 – Owen Wister, American lawyer and author (b. 1860)
  • 1941 – Bohdan Lepky, Ukrainian poet and scholar (b. 1872)
  • 1943 – Charley Paddock, American runner and actor (b. 1900)
  • 1943 – Louis Vauxcelles, French Jewish art critic (b. 1870)
  • 1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German soldier (b. 1907)
  • 1946 – Gualberto Villarroel, Bolivian soldier and politician, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1908)
  • 1948 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (b. 1904)
  • 1952 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, president for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913. (b. 1856)
  • 1966 – Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Vienna Circle member (b. 1884)
  • 1967 – Jimmie Foxx, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1907)
  • 1967 – Albert Lutuli, South African academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
  • 1967 – Basil Rathbone, South African-American actor and singer (b. 1892)
  • 1968 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1878)
  • 1970 – Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b. 1907)
  • 1970 – Bob Kalsu, American football player and lieutenant (b. 1945)
  • 1972 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter and sailor (b. 1889)
  • 1972 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1928)
  • 1977 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (b. 1907)
  • 1982 – Dave Garroway, American journalist and actor (b. 1913)
  • 1991 – Paul Warwick, English race car driver (b. 1969)
  • 1994 – Marijac, French author and illustrator (b. 1908)
  • 1997 – Olaf Kopvillem, Estonian-Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1926)
  • 1998 – Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
  • 1998 – Robert Young, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
  • 2000 – Marc Reisner, American environmentalist and author (b. 1948)
  • 2002 – Esphyr Slobodkina, Russian-American author and illustrator (b. 1908)
  • 2003 – John Davies, English-New Zealand runner and coach (b. 1938)
  • 2004 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1929)
  • 2004 – Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • 2005 – Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer and actor (b. 1941)
  • 2005 – Lord Alfred Hayes, English-American wrestler and manager (b. 1928)
  • 2006 – Mako Iwamatsu, Japanese-American actor and singer (b. 1933)
  • 2006 – Ta Mok, Cambodian soldier and monk (b. 1926)
  • 2007 – Dubravko Škiljan, Croatian linguist and academic (b. 1949)
  • 2008 – Donald Stokes, English businessman (b. 1914)
  • 2010 – Luis Corvalán, Chilean educator and politician (b. 1916)
  • 2010 – Ralph Houk, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1919)
  • 2010 – John E. Irving, Canadian businessman (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-American journalist and author (b. 1941)
  • 2012 – Marie Kruckel, American baseball player (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Ali Podrimja, Albanian poet and author (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – James D. Ramage, American admiral and pilot (b. 1916)
  • 2012 – Angharad Rees, English-born Welsh actress (b. 1944)
  • 2012 – Don Wilson, English cricketer and coach (b. 1937)
  • 2013 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1988)
  • 2013 – Lourembam Brojeshori Devi, Indian martial artist (b. 1981)
  • 2013 – Det de Beus, Dutch field hockey player (b. 1958)
  • 2013 – Luis Fernando Rizo-Salom, Colombian-French composer and educator (b. 1971)
  • 2013 – Fred Taylor, American football player and coach (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Louise Abeita, Isleta Pueblo (Native American) writer, poet, and educator (b. 1926)
  • 2014 – Dan Borislow, American businessman, invented the magicJack (b. 1961)
  • 2014 – Lettice Curtis, English engineer and pilot (b. 1915)
  • 2014 – Hans-Peter Kaul, German lawyer and judge (b. 1943)
  • 2014 – Rilwanu Lukman, Nigerian engineer and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Kevin Skinner, New Zealand rugby player and boxer (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Robert Broberg, Swedish singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1931)
  • 2015 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American physician (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Czesław Marchaj, Polish-English sailor and academic (b. 1918)
  • 2015 – Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (b. 1949)
  • 2016 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (b. 1949)
  • 2017 – John Heard, American film and television actor (b. 1946)
  • 2018 – Alene Duerk, U.S. Navy first female admiral (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances on July 21

  • Christian feast day:
    • Albert John Luthuli (Episcopal Church)
    • Arbogast
    • Barhadbesciabas
    • Carlos of Brazil (Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church)
    • Daniel (Catholic Church)
    • Lawrence of Brindisi
    • Praxedes
    • Victor of Marseilles
    • July 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam)
  • Belgian National Day (Belgium)
  • Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)
  • Summer Kazanskaya (Russia)

July 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

  • 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
  • 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
  • 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
  • 1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification.
  • 1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is “depolarized” by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
  • 1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
  • 1841 – The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
  • 1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
  • 1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
  • 1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
  • 1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
  • 1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
  • 1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
  • 1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
  • 1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.
  • 1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empire.
  • 1899 – German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
  • 1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
  • 1918 – Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
  • 1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).
  • 1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
  • 1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
  • 1944 – Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.
  • 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
  • 1949 – Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
  • 1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
  • 1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
  • 1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
  • 1976 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
  • 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
  • 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
  • 2002 – 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
  • 2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
  • 2017 – SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

Births on March 30

  • 892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
  • 1135 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (April 6 also proposed, d. 1204)
  • 1326 – Ivan II of Moscow (d. 1359)
  • 1432 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (d. 1481)
  • 1510 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (d. 1566)
  • 1551 – Salomon Schweigger, German theologian (d. 1622)
  • 1606 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1647)
  • 1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
  • 1640 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1695)
  • 1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer and educator (d. 1779)
  • 1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
  • 1750 – John Stafford Smith, English organist and composer (d. 1836)
  • 1793 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1877)
  • 1805 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann, German-Swedish linguist and botanist (d. 1887)
  • 1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (d. 1899)
  • 1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)
  • 1820 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
  • 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
  • 1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
  • 1853 – Arnoldo Sartorio, German composer, pianist, and teacher (d. 1936)
  • 1857 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (d. 1926)
  • 1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
  • 1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
  • 1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
  • 1874 – Josiah McCracken, American hammer thrower, shot putter, and football player (d. 1962)
  • 1874 – Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
  • 1875 – Thomas Xenakis, Greek-American gymnast (d. 1942)
  • 1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
  • 1880 – Seán O’Casey, Irish dramatist, playwright, and memoirist (d. 1964)
  • 1882 – Melanie Klein, Jewish Austrian-English psychologist and author (d. 1960)
  • 1888 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1957)
  • 1891 – Chunseong, Korean monk, writer and philosopher (d. 1977)
  • 1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1945)
  • 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1960)
  • 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (d. 1918)
  • 1892 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (d. 1968)
  • 1894 – Tommy Green, English race walker (d. 1975)
  • 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer, founded Ilyushin Aircraft Company (d. 1977)
  • 1895 – Jean Giono, French author and poet (d. 1970)
  • 1895 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (d. 1975)
  • 1895 – Charlie Wilson, English footballer (d. 1971)
  • 1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Indian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
  • 1902 – Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 2007)
  • 1902 – Ted Heath, English trombonist and composer (d. 1969)
  • 1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)
  • 1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)
  • 1905 – Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman (d. 1992)
  • 1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (d. 1994)
  • 1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish soldier, mathematician, and academic (d. 1940)
  • 1911 – Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist and academic (d. 2002)
  • 1912 – Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Agriculture (d. 2004)
  • 1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
  • 1913 – Richard Helms, American soldier and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2002)
  • 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1913 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general, physician, and politician, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)
  • 1915 – Pietro Ingrao, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1917 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1995)
  • 1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
  • 1919 – Robin M. Williams, New Zealand mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Turhan Bey, American actor (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Arthur Wightman, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1986)
  • 1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman, founded IKEA (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Wally Grout, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
  • 1928 – Robert Badinter, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice
  • 1928 – Colin Egar, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2008)
  • 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Ray Musto, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian runner (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – John Astin, American actor
  • 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and academic, designed Haas House (d. 2014)
  • 1935 – Karl Berger, German pianist and composer
  • 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
  • 1935 – Gordon Mumma, American composer
  • 1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1937 – Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, English businessman
  • 1938 – John Barnhill, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, founded the World Economic Forum
  • 1940 – Norman Gifford, English cricketer
  • 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player and educator
  • 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
  • 1941 – Graeme Edge, English singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1941 – Ron Johnston, English geographer and academic
  • 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistani lawyer and politician, President of Pakistan
  • 1941 – Bob Smith, American soldier and politician
  • 1942 – Ruben Kun, Nauruan lawyer and politician, 14th President of Nauru (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Tane Norton, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1942 – Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor
  • 1943 – Jay Traynor, American pop and doo-wop singer (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Mark Wylea Erwin, American businessman and diplomat
  • 1944 – Brian Wilshire, Australian radio host
  • 1945 – Eric Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter
  • 1947 – Dick Roche, Irish politician, Minister of State for European Affairs
  • 1947 – Terje Venaas, Norwegian bassist
  • 1948 – Nigel Jones, Baron Jones of Cheltenham, English computer programmer and politician
  • 1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver and team owner, founded Jordan Grand Prix
  • 1948 – Mervyn King, English economist and academic
  • 1948 – Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, American rock singer
  • 1949 – Liza Frulla, Canadian talk show host and politician, 3rd Minister of Canadian Heritage
  • 1949 – Dana Gillespie, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1949 – Naomi Sims, American model and author (d. 2009)
  • 1950 – Janet Browne, English-American historian and academic
  • 1950 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor
  • 1950 – Grady Little, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1950 – Warren Snowdon, Australian educator and politician, 39th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
  • 1951 – Paul Da Vinci, English singer-songwriter
  • 1952 – Stuart Dryburgh, English-New Zealand cinematographer
  • 1952 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1955 – Randy VanWarmer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
  • 1956 – Bill Butler, Scottish educator and politician
  • 1956 – Juanito Oiarzabal, Spanish mountaineer
  • 1956 – Shahla Sherkat, Iranian journalist and author
  • 1957 – Marie-Christine Koundja, Chadian author and diplomat
  • 1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor and comedian
  • 1958 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and stand-up comedian
  • 1958 – Joey Sindelar, American golfer
  • 1959 – Martina Cole, English television host and author
  • 1960 – Laurie Graham, Canadian skier
  • 1960 – Bill Johnson, American skier (d. 2016)
  • 1961 – Mike Thackwell, New Zealand racing driver
  • 1961 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 1999)
  • 1962 – Mark Begich, American politician
  • 1962 – MC Hammer, American rapper and actor
  • 1962 – Gary Stevens, English international footballer, defender and manager
  • 1963 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Mongolian journalist and politician, 4th President of Mongolia
  • 1963 – Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
  • 1963 – Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, Greek footballer
  • 1964 – Vlado Bozinovski, Macedonian-Australian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host
  • 1966 – Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess player and author
  • 1966 – Dmitry Volkov, Russian swimmer
  • 1966 – Leonid Voloshin, Russian triple jumper
  • 1967 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1967 – Richard Hutten, Dutch furniture designer
  • 1967 – Julie Richardson, New Zealand tennis player
  • 1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1969 – Troy Bayliss, Australian motorcycle racer
  • 1970 – Tobias Hill, English poet and author
  • 1970 – Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian food/agriculture researcher and author
  • 1971 – Mari Holden, American cyclist
  • 1971 – Mark Consuelos, American actor and television personality
  • 1972 – Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
  • 1972 – Emerson Thome, Brazilian footballer and scout
  • 1972 – Karel Poborský, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Adam Goldstein, American keyboard player, DJ, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1973 – Jan Koller, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Kareem Streete-Thompson, Caymanian-American long jumper
  • 1974 – Martin Love, Australian cricketer
  • 1975 – Paul Griffen, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
  • 1976 – Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Obadele Thompson, Barbadian sprinter
  • 1976 – Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish politician, Minister for Education of Denmark
  • 1977 – Abhishek Chaubey, Indian director and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Paweł Czapiewski, Polish runner
  • 1978 – Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player and coach
  • 1978 – Bok van Blerk, South African singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1979 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1979 – Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1980 – Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
  • 1981 – Jammal Brown, American football player
  • 1981 – Andrea Masi, Italian rugby player
  • 1982 – Mark Hudson, English footballer
  • 1982 – Philippe Mexès, French footballer
  • 1982 – Javier Portillo, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Jason Dohring, American actor
  • 1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
  • 1984 – Mario Ančić, Croatian tennis player
  • 1984 – Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
  • 1985 – Giacomo Ricci, Italian racing driver
  • 1986 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Trent Barreta, American wrestler
  • 1987 – Calum Elliot, Scottish footballer
  • 1987 – Kwok Kin Pong, Hong Kong footballer
  • 1987 – Marc-Édouard Vlasic, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Will Matthews, Australian rugby league player
  • 1988 – Thanasis Papazoglou, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Richard Sherman, American football player
  • 1988 – Larisa Yurkiw, Canadian alpine skier
  • 1989 – Chris Sale, American baseball player
  • 1989 – João Sousa, Portuguese tennis player
  • 1990 – Thomas Rhett, American country music singer and songwriter
  • 1990 – Michal Březina, Czech figure skater
  • 1992 – Palak Muchhal, Indian playback singer
  • 1993 – Anitta, Brazilian singer and entertainer
  • 1994 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer
  • 1997 – Cha Eun-woo, South Korean singer and actor, A member of the South Korean boy band, Astro
  • 1998 – Kalyn Ponga, Australian rugby league player
  • 2000 – Colton Herta, American race car driver

Deaths on March 30

  • 116 – Quirinus of Neuss, Roman martyr and saint
  • 365 – Ai of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 341)
  • 943 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (b. 889)
  • 987 – Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (b. 960)
  • 1180 – Al-Mustadi, Caliph (b. 1142)
  • 1202 – Joachim of Fiore, Italian mystic and theologian (b. 1135)
  • 1465 – Isabella of Clermont, queen consort of Naples (b. c. 1424)
  • 1472 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)
  • 1486 – Thomas Bourchier, English cardinal (b. 1404)
  • 1526 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
  • 1540 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German cardinal (b. 1469)
  • 1559 – Adam Ries, German mathematician and academic (b. 1492)
  • 1587 – Ralph Sadler, English politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1507)
  • 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet and playwright (b. 1592)
  • 1689 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish atheist and philosopher (b. 1634)
  • 1707 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French general and engineer (b. 1633)
  • 1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1695)
  • 1783 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist and physician (b. 1718)
  • 1804 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1718)
  • 1806 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (b. 1757)
  • 1830 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1763)
  • 1840 – Beau Brummell, English-French fashion designer (b. 1778)
  • 1842 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (b. 1755)
  • 1864 – Louis Schindelmeisser, German clarinet player, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
  • 1873 – Bénédict Morel, Austrian-French psychiatrist and physician (b. 1809)
  • 1879 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (b. 1815)
  • 1886 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Premier of Quebec (b. 1838)
  • 1896 – Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician, 55th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1832)
  • 1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
  • 1925 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and author (b. 1861)
  • 1935 – Romanos Melikian, Armenian composer (b. 1883)
  • 1936 – Conchita Supervía, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1895)
  • 1940 – Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet Scottish soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1876)
  • 1943 – Jan Bytnar, Polish lieutenant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1921)
  • 1943 – Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish sergeant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1920)
  • 1945 – Béla Balogh, Hungarian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
  • 1949 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
  • 1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricketer (b. 1909)
  • 1950 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
  • 1952 – Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1905)
  • 1955 – Harl McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899)
  • 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English author and poet (b. 1875)
  • 1959 – Daniil Andreyev, Russian mystic and poet (b. 1906)
  • 1959 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (b. 1894)
  • 1959 – Riccardo Zanella, Italian politician (b. 1875)
  • 1960 – Joseph Haas, German composer and educator (b. 1879)
  • 1961 – Philibert Jacques Melotte, English astronomer (b. 1880)
  • 1963 – Aleksandr Gauk, Russian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
  • 1964 – Nella Larsen, American nurse and author (b. 1891)
  • 1965 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
  • 1966 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (b. 1902)
  • 1966 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
  • 1966 – Erwin Piscator, German director and producer (b. 1893)
  • 1967 – Frank Thorpe, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
  • 1967 – Jean Toomer, American poet and novelist (b. 1894)
  • 1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (b. 1934)
  • 1970 – Heinrich Brüning, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
  • 1972 – Mahir Çayan, Turkish politician (b. 1946)
  • 1972 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
  • 1973 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish pilot and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1973 – Yves Giraud-Cabantous, French racing driver (b. 1904)
  • 1975 – Peter Bamm, German journalist and author (b. 1897)
  • 1977 – Levko Revutsky, Ukrainian composer and educator (b. 1889)
  • 1978 – George Paine, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
  • 1978 – Memduh Tağmaç, Turkish general (b. 1904)
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (b. 1916)
  • 1979 – Ray Ventura, French pianist and bandleader (b. 1908)
  • 1981 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1889)
  • 1984 – Karl Rahner, German-Austrian priest and theologian (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – Harold Peary, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
  • 1986 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
  • 1986 – John Ciardi, American poet and etymologist (b. 1916)
  • 1988 – Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1908)
  • 1990 – Harry Bridges, Australian-born American activist and trade union leader (b. 1901)
  • 1992 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1919)
  • 1993 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter (b. 1916)
  • 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
  • 1995 – Rozelle Claxton, American pianist (b. 1913)
  • 1995 – Tony Lock, English-Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1929)
  • 1995 – Paul A. Rothchild, American record producer (b. 1935)
  • 1996 – Hugh Falkus, English pilot and author (b. 1917)
  • 1996 – Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (b. 1916)
  • 2000 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (b. 1915)
  • 2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
  • 2002 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and lyricist (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
  • 2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Russian banker and politician, 11th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
  • 2004 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist and author (b. 1908)
  • 2004 – Hubert Gregg, English actor and director (b. 1914)
  • 2004 – Michael King, New Zealand historian and author (b. 1945)
  • 2004 – Timi Yuro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2005 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 1926)
  • 2005 – Milton Green, American hurdler and soldier (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Fred Korematsu, American political activist (b. 1919)
  • 2005 – O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
  • 2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (b. 1968)
  • 2006 – Red Hickey, American football player and coach (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – John McGahern, Irish author and educator (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – John Roberts, Canadian political scientist, academic, and politician, 46th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1933)
  • 2008 – Roland Fraïssé, French mathematical logician (b. 1920)
  • 2008 – David Leslie, Scottish racing driver (b. 1953)
  • 2008 – Richard Lloyd, English racing driver (b. 1945)
  • 2008 – Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photographer and journalist (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (b. 1922)
  • 2010 – Martin Sandberger, German SS officer (b. 1911)
  • 2012 – Janet Anderson Perkin, Canadian baseball player and curler (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Aquila Berlas Kiani, Indian-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Francesco Mancini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Granville Semmes, American businessman, founded 1-800-Flowers (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Leonid Shebarshin, Russian KGB officer (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Bobby Parks, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
  • 2013 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Edith Schaeffer, Chinese-Swiss religious leader and author, co-founded L’Abri (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Bob Turley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Ray Hutchison, American lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Kate O’Mara, English actress (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2015 – Roger Slifer, American author, illustrator, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2018 – Bill Maynard, English actor (b. 1928)
  • 2020 – Bill Withers, American musician (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on March 30

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blessed Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy
    • Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
    • John Climacus
    • Mamertinus of Auxerre
    • Quirinus of Neuss
    • Thomas Son Chasuhn, Marie-Nicolas-Antoine Daveluy (part of The Korean Martyrs)
    • Tola of Clonard
    • March 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which the first day of Hocktide can fall, while April 3 is the latest; observed on the second Monday after Easter. (Hungerford, England; popular in medieval England)
  • Land Day (Palestine)
  • National Doctors’ Day (United States)
  • Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
  • School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)

March 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2016, 2020, and 2024. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth’s revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in most of the world. Lunisolar calendars (whose months are based on the phases of the Moon) instead add a leap or intercalary month

In the Gregorian calendar, years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day. Thus, 1700, 1800, and 1900 did not contain a leap day; neither will 2100, 2200, and 2300. Conversely, 1600 and 2000 did and 2400 will. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. Years not containing a leap day are called common years. In the Chinese calendar, this day will only occur in years of the monkey, dragon, and rat.

A leap day is observed because the Earth’s period of orbital revolution around the Sun takes approximately six hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth’s position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. The Julian calendar used in Christendom until the 16th century added a leap day every four years; but this rule adds too many days (roughly three every 400 years), making the equinoxes and solstices shift gradually to earlier dates. By the 16th century the vernal equinox had drifted to March 11, so the Gregorian calendar was introduced both to shift it back by omitting several days, and to reduce the number of leap years via the aforementioned century rule to keep the equinoxes more or less fixed and the date of Easter consistently close to the vernal equinox.

Leap days can present a particular problem in computing known as the leap year bug when February 29 is not handled correctly in logic that accepts or manipulates dates. For example, this has happened with ATMs and Microsoft’s cloud system Azure.

Leap years

Although most modern calendar years have 365 days, a complete revolution around the Sun (one solar year) takes approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (or, for simplicity’s sake, approximately 365 days and 6 hours, or 365.25 days) .An extra 23 hours, 15 minutes, and 4 seconds thus accumulates every four years (again, for simplicity’s sake, approximately an extra 24 hours, or 1 day, every four years), requiring that an extra calendar day be added to align the calendar with the Sun’s apparent position. Without the added day, in future years the seasons would occur later in the calendar, eventually leading to confusion about when to undertake activities dependent on weather, ecology, or hours of daylight.

Solar years are actually slightly shorter than 365 days and 6 hours (365.25 days), which had been known since the 2nd century BC when Hipparchus stated that it lasted 365 + 1/4 − 1/300 days, but this was ignored by Julius Caesar and his astronomical adviser Sosigenes. The Gregorian calendar corrected this by adopting the length of the tropical year stated in three medieval sources, the Alfonsine tables, De Revolutionibus, and the Prutenic Tables, truncated to two sexagesimal places, 365 14/60 33/3600 days or 365 + 1/4 − 3/400 days or 365.2425 days. The length of the tropical year in 2000 was 365.24217 mean solar daysAdding a calendar day every four years, therefore, results in an excess of around 44 minutes every four years, or about 3 days every 400 years. To compensate for this, three days are removed every 400 years. The Gregorian calendar reform implements this adjustment by making an exception to the general rule that there is a leap year every four years. Instead, a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year unless that year is also divisible by 400. This means that the years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years, while the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, and 2500 are not leap years.

Modern (Gregorian) calendar

The Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20,871 weeks including 97 leap days (146,097 days). Over this period, February 29 falls on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday 13 times; Friday and Saturday 14 times; and Monday and Wednesday 15 times. Except for a century mark that is not a multiple of 400, consecutive leap days fall in order Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday, Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, and repeats again.

Early Roman calendar

Adding a leap day (after 23 February) shifts the commemorations in the 1962 Roman Missal.

The calendar of the Roman king Numa Pompilius had only 355 days (even though it was not a lunar calendar) which meant that it would quickly become unsynchronized with the solar year. An earlier Roman solution to this problem was to lengthen the calendar periodically by adding extra days to February, the last month of the year. February consisted of two parts, each with an odd number of days. The first part ended with the Terminalia on the 23rd, which was considered the end of the religious year, and the five remaining days formed the second part. To keep the calendar year roughly aligned with the solar year, a leap month, called Mensis Intercalaris (“intercalary month”), was added from time to time between these two parts of February. The (usual) second part of February was incorporated in the intercalary month as its last five days, with no change either in their dates or the festivals observed on them. This followed naturally because the days after the Ides (13th) of February (in an ordinary year) or the Ides of Intercalaris (in an intercalary year) both counted down to the Kalends of March (i.e. they were known as “the nth day before the Kalends of March”). The Nones (5th) and Ides of Intercalaris occupied their normal positions.

The third-century writer Censorinus says:

When it was thought necessary to add (every two years) an intercalary month of 22 or 23 days, so that the civil year should correspond to the natural (solar) year, this intercalation was in preference made in February, between Terminalia [23rd]and Regifugium [24th].

Julian reform

The set leap day was introduced in Rome as a part of the Julian reform in the 1st century BCE. As before, the intercalation was made after February 23. The day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the “bis sextum“—literally ‘twice sixth’, since February 24 was ‘the sixth day before the Kalends of March’ using Roman inclusive counting (March 1 was the Kalends of March and was also the first day of the calendar year). Inclusive counting initially caused the Roman priests to add the extra day every three years instead of four; Augustus was compelled to omit leap years for a few decades to return the calendar to its proper position. Although there were exceptions, the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually regarded as the intercalated or “bissextile” day since the 3rd century CE. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages, although this has only been formally enacted in Sweden and Finland. In Britain, the extra day added to leap years remains notionally the 24th, although the 29th remains more visible on the calendar.

Born on February 29

A person born on February 29 may be called a “leapling”, a “leaper”, or a “leap-year baby”. Some leaplings celebrate their birthday in non-leap years on either February 28 or March 1, while others only observe birthdays on the authentic intercalary date, February 29.

Legal status: The effective legal date of a leapling’s birthday in non-leap years varies between jurisdictions.

In the United Kingdom and its former colony Hong Kong, when a person born on February 29 turns 18, they are considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.

In New Zealand, a person born on February 29 is deemed to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years, for the purposes of Driver Licensing under §2(2) of the Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Rule 1999. The net result is that for drivers aged 75, or over 80, their driver licence expires at the end of the last day of February, even though their birthday would otherwise fall on the first day in March in non-leap years. Otherwise, New Zealand legislation is silent on when a person born on February 29 has their birthday, although case law would suggest that age is computed based on the number of years elapsed, from the day after the date of birth, and that the person’s birth day then occurs on the last day of the year period. This differs from English common law where a birthday is considered to be the start of the next year, the preceding year ending at midnight on the day preceding the birthday. While a person attains the same age on the same day, it also means that, in New Zealand, if something must be done by the time a person attains a certain age, that thing can be done on the birthday that they attain that age and still be lawful.

In Taiwan, the legal birthday of a leapling is February 28 in common years:

If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years does not commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there is no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month.

Thus, in England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29 will have legally reached 18 years old on March 1. If they were born in Taiwan they legally become 18 on February 28, a day earlier.

In the United States, according to John Reitz, a professor of law at the University of Iowa, there is no “… statute or general rule that has anything to do with leap day.” Reitz speculates that “March 1 would likely be considered the legal birthday in non-leap years of someone born on leap day,”using the same reasoning as described for the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. However, for the purposes of Social Security, a person attains the next age the day before the anniversary of birth. Therefore, Social Security would recognize February 28 as the change in age for leap year births, not March 1

In fiction

There are many instances in children’s literature where a person’s claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting only their leap-year birthdays.

A similar device is used in the plot of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance: as a child, Frederic was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday. Having passed his 21st year, he leaves the pirate band and falls in love. However, since he was born on February 29, his 21st birthday will not arrive until he is eighty-eight (since 1900 was not a leap year), so he must leave his fiancée and return to the pirates.

Since 1967, February 29 has been the official birthday of Superman, but not Clark Kent.

February 29 in History

  • 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.
  • 1644 – Abel Tasman’s second Pacific voyage begins.
  • 1704 – Queen Anne’s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
  • 1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar.
  • 1720 – Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24.
  • 1752 – King Alaungpaya founds Konbaung Dynasty, the last dynasty of Burmese monarchy.
  • 1768 – Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation.
  • 1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails: Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
  • 1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
  • 1912 – The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.
  • 1916 – Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
  • 1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.
  • 1920 – Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution.
  • 1936 – February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.
  • 1940 – 12th Academy Awards: For her performance as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
  • 1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
  • 1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden’s Consul General in San Francisco.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
  • 1960 – The 5.7 Mw  Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir, and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
  • 1980 – Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
  • 1984 – Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
  • 1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with one hundred other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
  • 1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay.
  • 1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.
  • 1996 – Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew die.
  • 1996 – Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
  • 2000 – Second Chechen War: Eighty-four Russian paratroopers are killed in a rebel attack on a guard post near Ulus Kert.
  • 2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup.
  • 2008 – The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence decides to withdraw Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan “immediately” after a leak leads to his deployment being reported by foreign media.
  • 2008 – Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.
  • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction is completed. It is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and the second-tallest artificial structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.

Births on February 29

  • 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
  • 1528 – Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1579)
  • 1528 – Domingo Báñez, Spanish theologian (d. 1604)
  • 1572 – Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (d. 1638)
  • 1576 – Antonio Neri, Florentine priest and glassmaker (d. 1614)
  • 1640 – Benjamin Keach, Particular Baptist preacher and author whose name was given to Keach’s Catechism (d. 1704)
  • 1692 – John Byrom, English poet and educator (d. 1763)
  • 1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-English dancer (d. 1822)
  • 1736 – Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, founded the Shakers (d. 1784)
  • 1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
  • 1812 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (d. February 29, 1880)
  • 1828 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1921)
  • 1836 – Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908)
  • 1852 – Frank Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian lawyer and judge, 4th Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1936)
  • 1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (d. 1929)
  • 1876 – William Stewart, Scottish footballer
  • 1884 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1941)
  • 1892 – Augusta Savage, American sculptor (d. 1962)
  • 1896 – Morarji Desai, Indian civil servant and politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
  • 1896 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
  • 1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1957)
  • 1904 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
  • 1908 – Balthus, French-Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 2001)
  • 1908 – Dee Brown, American historian and author (d. 2002)
  • 1908 – Alf Gover, English cricketer and coach (d. 2001)
  • 1908 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (d. 1968)
  • 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
  • 1916 – James B. Donovan, American lawyer (d. 1970)
  • 1916 – Leonard Shoen, founder of U-Haul Corp. (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – Fyodor Abramov, Russian author and critic (d. 1983)
  • 1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1920 – James Mitchell, American actor and dancer (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (d. 2016)
  • 1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and academic (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Rolland W. Redlin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
  • 1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge and politician, 14th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 2001)
  • 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, Salvadoran politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2017)
  • 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Joss Ackland, English actor
  • 1928 – Jean Adamson, British writer and illustrator
  • 1928 – Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist, and author
  • 1928 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist, co-created the Logo programming language (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Masten Gregory, American race car driver (d. 1985)
  • 1932 – Reri Grist, American soprano and actress
  • 1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
  • 1932 – Gavin Stevens, Australian cricketer
  • 1936 – Jack Lousma, American colonel, astronaut, and politician
  • 1936 – Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
  • 1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1936 – Nh. Dini, Indonesian writer (d. 2018)
  • 1940 – Sonja Barend, Dutch talk show host
  • 1940 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople
  • 1940 – William H. Turner, Jr., American horse trainer
  • 1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian physicist and politician
  • 1944 – Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Nicholas Frayling, English priest and academic
  • 1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008)
  • 1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian author and illustrator
  • 1944 – Lennart Svedberg, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1972).
  • 1948 – Hermione Lee, English author, critic, and academic
  • 1948 – Manoel Maria, Brazilian footballer
  • 1948 – Patricia A. McKillip, American author
  • 1948 – Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
  • 1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American journalist and producer
  • 1952 – Tim Powers, American author and educator
  • 1952 – Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
  • 1952 – Bart Stupak, American police officer and politician
  • 1956 – Jonathan Coleman, English-Australian radio and television host
  • 1956 – Bob Speller, Canadian businessman and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Agriculture
  • 1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
  • 1960 – Lucian Grainge, English businessman
  • 1960 – Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Dave Brailsford, English cyclist and coach
  • 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
  • 1964 – Mervyn Warren, American tenor, composer, and producer
  • 1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player and coach
  • 1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress and model
  • 1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player and coach
  • 1968 – Howard Tayler, American author and illustrator
  • 1968 – Eugene Volokh, Ukrainian-American lawyer and educator
  • 1968 – Frank Woodley, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1972 – Mike Pollitt, English footballer and coach
  • 1972 – Sylvie Lubamba, Italian showgirl
  • 1972 – Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-American model and actor
  • 1972 – Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain
  • 1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (d. 2002)
  • 1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter
  • 1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American activist and educator (d. 1994)
  • 1976 – Vonteego Cummings, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Gehad Grisha, Egyptian soccer referee
  • 1976 – Katalin Kovács, Hungarian sprint kayaker
  • 1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
  • 1980 – Çağdaş Atan, Turkish footballer and coach
  • 1980 – Chris Conley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1980 – Patrick Côté, Canadian mixed martial artist
  • 1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Rubén Plaza, Spanish cyclist
  • 1980 – Peter Scanavino, American actor
  • 1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster
  • 1984 – Rica Imai, Japanese model and actress
  • 1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer
  • 1984 – Nuria Martínez, Spanish basketball player
  • 1984 – Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
  • 1984 – Rakhee Thakrar, English actress
  • 1984 – Dennis Walger, German rugby player
  • 1984 – Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Mark Foster, American singer, songwriter and musician
  • 1988 – Lena Gercke, German model and television host
  • 1988 – Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
  • 1988 – Brent Macaffer, Australian Rules footballer
  • 1988 – Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Milan Melindo, Filipino boxer
  • 1992 – Sean Abbott, Australian cricketer
  • 1992 – Ben Hampton, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Eric Kendricks, American football player
  • 1992 – Caitlin EJ Meyer, American actress
  • 1996 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1996 – Reece Prescod, British sprinter
  • 1996 – Claudia Williams, New Zealand tennis player
  • 2000 – Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer

Deaths on February 29

  • 468 – Pope Hilarius
  • 992 – Oswald of Worcester, Anglo-Saxon archbishop and saint (b. 925)
  • 1212 – Hōnen, Japanese monk, founded Jōdo-shū (b. 1133)
  • 1460 – Albert III, Duke of Bavaria-Munich (b. 1401)
  • 1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish Protestant reformer and martyr (b. 1504)
  • 1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer and diplomat (b. 1540)
  • 1600 – Caspar Hennenberger, German pastor, historian and cartographer (b. 1529)
  • 1604 – John Whitgift, English archbishop and academic (b. 1530)
  • 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
  • 1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English physicist and philosopher (b. 1683)
  • 1792 – Johann Andreas Stein, German piano builder (b. 1728)
  • 1820 – Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German historian and critic (b. 1743)
  • 1848 – Louis-François Lejeune, French general, painter and lithographer (b. 1775)
  • 1852 – Matsudaira Katataka, Japanese daimyō (b. 1806)
  • 1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
  • 1880 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (b. February 29, 1812)
  • 1908
    • Pat Garrett, American sheriff (b. 1850)
    • John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
  • 1920 – Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
  • 1928
    • Adolphe Appia, Swiss architect and theorist (b. 1862)
    • Ina Coolbrith, American poet and librarian (b. 1841)
  • 1940 – E. F. Benson, English archaeologist and author (b. 1867)
  • 1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (b. 1861)
  • 1948
    • Robert Barrington-Ward, English lawyer and journalist (b. 1891)
    • Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
  • 1952 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese politician and diplomat, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations (b. 1888)
  • 1956 – Elpidio Quirino, Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
  • 1960
    • Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (b. 1903)
    • Walter Yust, American journalist and author (b. 1894)
  • 1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
  • 1968
    • Lena Blackburne, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1886)
    • Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet and educator (b. 1886)
  • 1972 – Tom Davies, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
  • 1976 – Florence P. Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
  • 1980
    • Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
    • Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
  • 1984 – Ludwik Starski, Polish screenwriter and songwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1988 – Sidney Harmon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1907)
  • 1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet and author (b. 1897)
  • 1996
    • Wes Farrell, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
    • Ralph Rowe, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1924)
  • 2000 – Dennis Danell, American guitarist (b. 1961)
  • 2004
    • Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (b. 1923)
    • Jerome Lawrence, American playwright and author (b. 1915)
    • Harold Bernard St. John, Barbadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
    • Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (b. 1943)
  • 2008
    • Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
    • Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1917)
    • Akira Yamada, Japanese scholar and philosopher (b. 1922)
  • 2012
    • Roland Bautista, American guitarist (b. 1951)
    • Davy Jones, English singer, guitarist and actor (b. 1945)
    • Sheldon Moldoff, American illustrator (b. 1920)
    • P. K. Narayana Panicker, Indian social leader (b. 1930)
  • 2016
    • Wenn V. Deramas, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1966)
    • Gil Hill, American police officer, actor and politician (b. 1931)
    • Josefin Nilsson, Swedish singer (b. 1969)
    • Louise Rennison, English author (b. 1951)
    • Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistani assassin (b. 1985)

Holidays and observances on February 29

  • As a Christian feast day:
    • Auguste Chapdelaine (one of the Martyr Saints of China)
    • Oswald of Worcester (in leap year only)
    • Saint John Cassian
    • February 29 in the Orthodox church
  • The fourth day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (observed on this date only if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz falls on March 21)
  • Rare Disease Day (in leap years; celebrated in common years on February 28)
  • Bachelor’s Day (Ireland, United Kingdom)

Folk traditions

There is a popular tradition known as Bachelor’s Day in some countries allowing a woman to propose marriage to a man on February 29If the man refuses, he then is obliged to give the woman money or buy her a dress. In upper-class societies in Europe, if the man refuses marriage, he then must purchase 12 pairs of gloves for the woman, suggesting that the gloves are to hide the woman’s embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. In Ireland, the tradition is supposed to originate from a deal that Saint Bridget struck with Saint Patrick.

In the town of Aurora, Illinois, single women are deputized and may arrest single men, subject to a four-dollar fine, every February 29.

In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day.

February 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

General Science & Ability | Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-III)

Click HERE for Q.No.1-50
Click HERE for Q.No.51-100

101) Which type of star is maintained by the pressure of an electron gas?
(a) Main Sequence Star
(b) White Dwarf
(c) Neutron Star
(d) Black Hole
Answer: (b)
White dwarfs are stars supported by pressure of degenerate electron gas. i.e. in their interiors thermal energy kT is much smaller then Fermi energy Ep. We shall derive the equations of structure of white dwarfs, sometimes called degenerate dwarfs, in the limiting case when their thermal pressure may be neglected, but the degenerate electron gas may be either non-relativistic. somewhat relativistic. or ultra-relativistic.

102) Which of the following first hypothesized that the Earth orbited the sun?
(a) Alexander the Great
(b) Copernicus
(c) Socrates
(d) Tycho Brahe
Answer: (b)
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.

103) The LAST manned moon flight was made in what year?
(a) 1971 (b) 1972
(c) 1973 (d) 1974
Answer: (b)
The last manned landing Apollo 17 on the Moon to date, which took place on December 11, 1972, was made by Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt who was also the first scientist on the Moon.

104) A planet is said to be at aphelion when it is:
(a) closest to the sun
(b) farthest from the sun
(c) at it’s highest point above the ecliptic
(d) at it’s lowest point below the ecliptic
Answer: (b)

105) The word Albedo refers to which of the following?
(a) The wobbling motion of a planet
(b) The amount of light a planet reflects
(c) The phase changes of a planet
(d) The brightness of a star
Answer: (b)
Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. The albedo effect when applied to the Earth is a measure of how much of the Sun’s energy is reflected back into space. Overall, the Earth’s albedo has a cooling effect. (The term ‘albedo’ is derived from the Latin for ‘whiteness’).

106) A pulsar is actually a:
(a) black hole
(b) white dwarf
(c) red giant
(d) neutron star
Answer: (d)

107) Astronomers use Cepheid’s principally as measures of what? Is it:
(a) size
(b) speed
(c) chemical composition
(d) distance
Answer: (d)

108) Where are most asteroids located? Is it between:
(a) Jupiter and Saturn
(b) Mars and Venus
(c) Earth and Mars
(d) Mars and Jupiter
Answer: (d)

109) The precession of the Earth refers to the:
(a) change from night to day.
(b) Earth’s motion around the sun.
(c) change in orientation of the Earth’s axis.
(d) effect of the moon on the Earth’s orbit.
Answer: (c)
Precession is the change in orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis. The precession cycle takes about 19,000 – 23,000 years. Precession is caused by two factors: a wobble of the Earth’s axis and a turning around of the elliptical orbit of the Earth itself (Thomas, 2002). Obliquity affected the tilt of the Earth’s axis, precession affects the direction of the Earth’s axis. The change in the axis location changes the dates of perihelion (closest distance from sun) and aphelion (farthest distance from sun), and this increases the seasonal contrast in one hemisphere while decreasing it in the other hemisphere ( Kaufman, 2002). currently, the Earth is closest to the sun in the northern hemisphere winter, which makes the winters there less severe (Thomas, 2002). Another consequence of precession is a shift in the celestial poles. 5000 years ago the North Star was Thuban in the constellation Draco. Currently the North Star is Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor.

110) The Magellanic cloud is a:
(a) nebula
(b) galaxy
(c) super nova remnant
(d) star cluster
Answer: (b)

111) The comet known as Halley’s Comet has an average period of:
(a) 56 years
(b) 66 years
(c) 76 years
(d) 86 years
Answer: (c)
Halley’s Comet orbits the Sun every 76.0 years and has an orbital eccentricity of 0.97. Comet Halley was visible in 1910 and again in 1986. Its next perihelion passage will be in early 2062.

112) Which one of the following planets has no moons?
(a) Mars
(b) Neptune
(c) Venus
(d) Jupiter
Answer: (c)

113) The rocks that enter the earth’s atmosphere and blaze a trail all the way to the ground and do not burn up completely are known as:
(a) meteorites
(b) meteors
(c) asteroids
(d) none of these
Answer: (a)
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and impact with the Earth’s surface

114) 95% of the Martian atmosphere is composed of what substance?
(a) Carbon dioxide
(b) Nitrogen
(c) Argon
(d) Carbon monoxide
Answer: (a)
The atmosphere of Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, and it is 95 percent carbon dioxide.

115) What is the motion called when a planet seems to be moving westward in the sky?
(a) Retrograde
(b) Parallax
(c) Opcentric
(d) Reverse parallax
Answer: (a)
Retrograde motion, in astronomy, describes the orbit of a celestial body that runs counter to the direction of the spin of that body which it orbits. Apparent retrograde motion, in astronomy, is the apparent motion of planets as observed from a particular vantage point.

116) In what year did Galileo first use an optical telescope to study the moon?
(a) 1492 (b) 1611
(c) 1212 (d) 1743
Answer: (b)

117) Geocentric means around:
(a) Jupiter (b) the Earth
(c) the Moon (d) the Sun
Answer: (b)

118) The Pythagoreans appear to have been the first to have taught that the Earth is:
(a) at the center of the Universe.
(b) spherical in shape.
(c) orbits around the sun.
(d) flat with sharp edges.
Answer: (b)

119) A device which would not work on the Moon is:
(a) thermometer
(b) siphon
(c) spectrometer
(d) spring balance
Answer: (b)
Siphons will not work in the International Space Station where there is air but no gravity, but neither will they work on the Moon where there is gravity but no air

120) Of the following colors, which is bent least in passing through aprism?
(a) orange (b) violet
(c) green (d) red
Answer: (d)

121) In a reflecting telescope where in the tube is the objective mirror placed?
(a) the top to the tube
(b) the middle of the tube
(c) the bottom of the tube
(d) the side of the tube
Answer: (c)

122) What does it mean when someone says that comets have eccentric orbits? Does it mean
(a) they have open orbits
(b) they have nearly circular orbits
(c) their orbits are unpredictable
(d) the sun is far from the foci of their orbits
Answer: (d)

123) What causes the gas tail of a comet to always point away from the sun?
(a) solar wind
(b) air pressure
(c) centrifugal force
(d) gravity
Answer: (a)

124) What are Saturn’s rings composed of?
(a) completely connected solid masses
(b) billions of tiny solid particles
(c) mixtures of gases
(d) highly reflective cosmic clouds
Answer: (b)

125) Of the following, which is the only planet which CANNOT be seen with the unaided eye?
(a) Jupiter
(b) Mars
(c) Neptune
(d) Saturn
Answer: (c)
The ice giant Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. Nearly 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles) from the Sun, Neptune orbits the Sun once every 165 years. It is invisible to the naked eye because of its extreme distance from Earth. In 2011 Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.

126) Accretion is:
(a) the gradual accumulation of matter in one location usually due to gravity.
(b) the process of moon formation for planets.
(c) the process of matter accumulation due to centripetal force.
(d) the disintegration of matter.
Answer: (b)

127) A blue shift means a Doppler shift of light from a(an)
(a) receding star.
(b) blue star.
(c) approaching star.
(d) fixed star.
Answer: (c)
In the Doppler effect for visible light, the frequency is shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum when the light source (such as a star) is approaching.

128) The first and largest asteroid discovered was:
(a) Pallas.
(b) Juno.
(c) Ceres.
(d) Trojan.
Answer: (c)

129) The Crab Nebula consists of the remnants of a supernova which was observed by:
(a) Brahe in 1572.
(b) Kepler and Galileo in 1604.
(c) the Chinese in 1054 A.D.
(d) several ancient civilizations in 236 B.C.
Answer: (c)
The Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova noted by Earth-bound chroniclers in 1054 A.D., is filled with mysterious filaments that are are not only tremendously complex, but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. The Crab Nebula spans about 10 light-years. In the nebula’s very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second.

130) The atmosphere of Venus contains mostly
(a) oxygen
(b) carbon dioxide
(c) nitrogen
(d) water
Answer: (b)
The atmosphere of Venus is composed of about 96% carbon dioxide, with most … various other corrosive compounds, and the atmosphere contains little water.

131) On the celestial sphere, the annual path of the Sun is called
(a) the eclipse path.
(b) ecliptic.
(c) diurnal.
(d) solstice.
Answer: (b)
The ecliptic is an imaginary line on the sky that marks the annual path of the sun. It is the projection of Earth’s orbit onto the celestial sphere.

132) The angular distance between a planet and the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, is called
(a) angle of inclination.
(b) elongation.
(c) latitude.
(d) opposition.
Answer: (b)
Elongation is the angular distance between the sun, and another object such a moon or a planet as seen from earth. There are several special names for these angular distances. The different names of these angles depend on the status, inferior or superior, of the planet. The planets closer to the sun than the earth are called inferior planets. The planets farther away from the sun than earth are called superior planets.
Elongation is measured from earth as the angle between the sun and the planet. Sometimes the apparent relative position of a planet in relation to the sun is called the aspect, or configuration, of a planet.

133) Which of the following has the highest density?
(a) Earth
(b) Venus
(c) Mars
(d) Jupiter
Answer: (a)
Earth has the highest density of any planet in the Solar System, at 5.514 g/cm3. This is considered the standard by which other planet’s densities are measured. In addition, the combination of Earth’s size, mass and density also results in a surface gravity of 9.8 m/s². This is also used as a the standard (one g) when measuring the surface gravity of other planets.

134) Which of the following planets is NOT a terrestrial planet?
(a) Earth
(b) Jupiter
(c) Mars
(d) Mercury
Answer: (b)
The term terrestrial planet is derived from the Latin “Terra” (i.e. Earth). Terrestrial planets are therefore those that are “Earth-like”, meaning they are similar in structure and composition to planet Earth. All those planets found within the Inner Solar System – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – are examples of terrestrial planets. Each are composed primarily of silicate rock and metal, which is differentiated between a dense, metallic core and a silicate mantle.

135) Why do we see lunar eclipses much more often than solar eclipses?
(a) Lunar eclipses occur more often than solar eclipses.
(b) Lunar eclipses last longer than solar eclipses.
(c) The lunar eclipse is visible to much more of the Earth than a solar eclipse.
(d) The moon is closer to the Earth than the sun.
Answer: (c)
Lunar and solar eclipses occur with about equal frequency. Lunar eclipses are more widely visible because Earth casts a much larger shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse than the Moon casts on Earth during a solar eclipse. As a result, we are more likely to see a lunar eclipse than a solar eclipse.

136) A star like object with a very large red shift is a
(a) Neutron star.
(b) Nova.
(c) Quasar.
(d) Supernova.
Answer: (c)
Quasars: In the 1930’s, Edwin Hubble discovered that all galaxies have a positive redshift. In other words, all galaxies were receding from the Milky Way.

137) The apparent magnitude of an object in the sky describes its
(a) Size
(b) Magnification
(c) Brightness
(d) Distance
Answer: (c)

138) The Van Allen belts are:
(a) caused by the refraction of sunlight like rainbows.
(b) charged particles trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field.
(c) caused by the reflection of polar snow.
(d) caused by precession.
Answer: (b)
The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earth’s magnetic field. They can wax and wane in response to incoming energy from the sun, sometimes swelling up enough to expose satellites in low-Earth orbit to damaging radiation.

139) A coordinate system based on the ecliptic system is especially useful for the studies of
(a) Planets
(b) Stars
(c) The Milky Way
(d) Galaxies
Answer: (a)

140) The mean distance of the earth from the sun in astronomical units is:
(a) 3.7 (b) 10
(c) 1 (d) 101
Answer: (c)
In astronomy, an astronomical unit is defined as the average distance from the Sun to the Earth, or about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). You can abbreviate astronomical unit as AU.
Since the distances in astronomy are so vast, astronomers use this measurement to bring the size of numbers down.
For example, Earth is 1 au from the Sun, and Mars is 1.523 AU. That’s much easier than saying that Mars is 227,939,000 km away from the Sun.

141) What process produces a star’s energy?
(a) hydrogen and oxygen combustion
(b) nuclear fusion
(c) neutron beta decay
(d) nuclear fission
Answer: (b)
The enormous luminous energy of the stars comes from nuclear fusion processes in their centers. Depending upon the age and mass of a star, the energy may come from proton-proton fusion, helium fusion, or the carbon cycle.

142) What is the most distant object in the sky that the human eye can see without optical instruments?
(a) The Horsehead Nebula
(b) The Andromeda Galaxy
(c) The Sagittarius Constellation
(d) The Aurora Borealis
Answer: (b)
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way and is one of a few galaxies that can be seen unaided from the Earth. In approximately 4.5 billion years the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are expected to collide and the result will be a giant elliptical galaxy. Andromeda is accompanied by 14 dwarf galaxies, including M32, M110, and possibly M33 (The Triangulum Galaxy).

143) Which civilization developed and implemented the first solar calendar?
(a) Babylonian
(b) Greek
(c) Egyptian
(d) Aztec
Answer: (c)
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun and is based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun. The Egyptians appear to have been the first to develop a solar calendar, using as a fixed point the annual sunrise reappearance of the Dog Star — Sirius, or Sothis — in the eastern sky, which coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile River. They constructed a calendar of 365 days, consisting of 12 months of 30 days each, with 5 days added at the year’s end. The Egyptians’ failure to account for the extra fraction of a day, however, caused their calendar to drift gradually into error.

144) What is the HOTTEST region of the sun?
(a) The core
(b) The photosphere
(c) The chromospheres
(d) The corona
Answer: (d)
The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun, starting at about 1300 miles (2100 km) above the solar surface (the photosphere) The temperature in the corona is 500,000 K (900,000 degrees F, 500,000 degrees C) or more, up to a few million K. The corona cannot be seen with the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse, or with the use of a coronagraph. The corona does not have an upper limit.
A study published in 2012 in Nature Communications by researchers at Northumbria University found a possible mechanism that causes some stars to have a corona that is almost 200 times hotter than their photosphere (the star’s surface).

145) The same side of the moon always faces the Earth because:
(a) the moon is not rotating about its axis.
(b) the moon’s motion was fixed at its creation by the laws of inertia.
(c) tidal forces keep the moon’s rotation and orbiting motion in sync with each other.
(d) the moon’s magnetic poles keep aligned with the Earth’s magnetic field.
Answer: (b)

146) The resolving power of a telescope depends on the:
(a) focal ratio
(b) diameter of the objective
(c) magnification
(d) focal length
Answer: (b)
The resolving power of a telescope depends on the diameter of the telescope’s light-gathering apparatus, or objective. In a refracting telescope, the objective lens is the first lens the light passes through. In a reflecting telescope, the objective is the telescope’s primary mirror. In a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, the objective is also the primary mirror. As the diameter of the telescope’s objective increases, the resolving power increases.

147) On a clear, dark, moonless night, approximately how many stars can be seen with the naked eye?
(a) 300 (b) 1,000
(c) 3,000 (d) 10,000
Answer: (c)
On any clear dark moonless night a person can see about 3000 stars of our galaxy without the aid of a telescope

148) The study of the origin and evolution of the universe is known as:
(a) Tomography
(b) cystoscopy
(c) cryology
(d) cosmology
Answer: (d)
Cosmology is the branch of astronomy involving the origin and evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to today and on into the future. According to NASA, the definition of cosmology is “the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole.”

149) According to Kepler’s Laws, all orbits of the planets are:
(a) ellipses
(b) parabolas
(c) hyperbolas
(d) square
Answer: (a)
Johannes Kepler, working with data painstakingly collected by Tycho Brahe without the aid of a telescope, developed three laws which described the motion of the planets across the sky.
1. The Law of Orbits: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus.
2. The Law of Areas: A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
3. The Law of Periods: The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.
Kepler’s laws were derived for orbits around the sun, but they apply to satellite orbits as well.

General Science & Ability | Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-III) Read More »

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A

Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-I) | General Science & Ability

The universe, Galaxy, Light Year, Solar System, Sun, Earth, Astronomical System of Units

1) The biggest planet in our solar system is (CSS 2013)

(a) Venus
(b) Pluto
(c) Jupiter
(d) None of these
Answer: (c)
In terms of mass, volume, and surface area, Jupiter is the biggest planet in our Solar System by a wide margin.
Size and Mass:
Jupiter’s mass, volume, surface area and mean circumference are 1.8981 x 1027 kg, 1.43128 x 1015 km3, 6.1419 x 1010 km2, and 4.39264 x 105 km respectively. To put that in perspective, Jupiter diameter is roughly 11 times that of Earth, and 2.5 the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System combined.

2) The universe is ———-. (CSS 1996)

(a) Stationary
(b) Expanding
(c) Contracting
(d) None of these
Answer: (b)
In June 2016, NASA and ESA scientists reported that the universe was found to be expanding 5% to 9% faster than thought earlier, based on studies using the Hubble Space Telescope

3) The atmosphere of moon consists of: (CSS 2013)

(a) . 90% Hydrogen, 10% Nitrogen
(b) . 80%Nitrogen, 20% Hydrogen
(c) 60% Nitrogen, 40%inert gases
(d) None of these
Answer: (d)
The Moon has no atmosphere. None. That’s why astronauts have to wear their spacesuits when they get outside of their spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.
Atmosphere of the Moon might be electro statically levitated moon dust. These tiny particles are constantly leaping up and down off the surface of the Moon.

4) Who gave the first evidence of the Big- Bang theory?

(a) Edwin Hubble
(b) Albert Einstein
(c) S. Chandrasekhar
(d) Stephen Hawking
Answer: (a)
The Hubble Space Telescope was named after astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953), who made some of the most important discoveries in modern astronomy. Dr. Hubble determined that the farther a galaxy is from Earth, the faster it appears to move away. This notion of an “expanding” universe formed the basis of the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe began with an intense burst of energy at a single moment in time — and has been expanding ever since.

5) Which one of the following planets has largest number of natural satellites or moons?

(a) Jupiter
(b) Mars
(c) Saturn
(d) Venus
Answer: (a)
In the Solar System, there are 179 satellites. A majority of those moons belong to the planet of Jupiter, the second most belonging to Saturn.

6) Which of the following planets rotates clock wise?

(a) Mars
(b) Jupiter
(c) Venus
(d) Mercury
Answer: (c)
Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. Venus (radius 3,760.4 miles) is similar to Earth (radius 3,963.19 miles) in size and structure but spins very slowly; a day on Venus is 243 Earth days long.

7) Which of the following order is given to the planets of solar system on the basis of their sizes?

(a) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
(b) Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Earth
(c) Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn
(d) Earth, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter
Answer: (a)
Jupiter (69,911 km / 43,441 miles) – 1,120% the size of Earth
Saturn (58,232 km / 36,184 miles) – 945% the size of Earth
Uranus (25,362 km / 15,759 miles) –400% the size of Earth
Neptune (24,622 km / 15,299 miles) – 388% the size of Earth
Earth (6,371 km / 3,959 miles)

8) The time taken by the Sun to revolve around the center of our galaxy is

(a) 50 Million years
(b) 100 Million years
(c) 250 Million years
(d) 365 Million years
Answer: (c)
the Sun is dragging us around the galaxy at around 800,000km/h, taking around 250 million years to complete a single orbit.
That means our Solar System has made around 18 complete circuits since it was formed around 4.5 billion years ago.

9): The planet having the largest diameter is

(a) Earth
(b) Jupiter
(c) Venus
(d) Uranus
Answer: (b)
Jupiter is composed primarily of gaseous and liquid matter. It is the largest of the four giant planets in the Solar System and hence its largest planet. It has a diameter of 142,984 km (88,846 mi) at its equator

10) The planet Mercury completes one rotation around the sun is (CSS 2010)

(a) 88 days
(b) 365 days
(c) 98 days
(d) 60 days
(e) None of these
Answer: (a)
A year on Mercury is just 88 days long. One solar day (the time from noon to noon on the planet’s surface) on Mercury lasts the equivalent of 176 Earth days while the sidereal day (the time for 1 rotation in relation to a fixed point) lasts 59 Earth days. Mercury is nearly tidally locked to the Sun and over time this has slowed the rotation of the planet to almost match its orbit around the Sun. Mercury also has the highest orbital eccentricity of all the planets with its distance from the Sun ranging from 46 to 70 million km.

11) The biggest planet in our solar system is (CSS 2013)

(a) Venus
(b) Pluto
(c) Jupiter
(d) None of these
Answer: (c)
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter has a mean radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers), about a tenth that of the sun. However, its rapid rotation — it spins once every 9.8 hours

12) The atmosphere of moon consists of: (CSS 2013)

(a) 90% Hydrogen, 10% Nitrogen
(b) 80%Nitrogen, 20% Hydrogen
(c) 60% Nitrogen, 40%inert gases
(d) None of these
Answer: (d)
The Apollo 17 mission deployed an instrument called the Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE) on the moon’s surface. It detected small amounts of a number of atoms and molecules including helium, argon, and possibly neon, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide.

13) Which of the following explains the reason why there is no total eclipse of the sun? (CSS 2009)

(a) Size of the earth in relation to that of moon
(b) Orbit of moon around earth
(c) Direction of rotation of earth around sun
(d) Area of the sun covered by the moon
(e) None of these
Answer: (d)
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth’s surface.

14) The sun produces most of its energy by (CSS 2012)

(a) Nuclear fusion which involves converting “H” to “He”
(b) Nuclear fission involving the burning of uranium & plutonium
(c) Nuclear fission involving the combining of uranium and palladium
(d) None of these
Answer: (a)
Sun, like all stars, is able to create energy because it is essentially a massive fusion reaction.
The core of the Sun is the region that extends from the center to about 20–25% of the solar radius. It is here, in the core, where energy is produced by hydrogen atoms (H) being converted into molecules of helium (He) This is possible thanks to the extreme pressure and temperature that exists within the core, which are estimated to be the equivalent of 250 billion atmospheres (25.33 trillion KPa) and 15.7 million kelvin, respectively.

15) Although the mass of a man on moon remains same as on the earth he will (CSS 2012)

(a) Be much happier there
(b) Weigh one sixth as much
(c) Weigh twice as much
(d) None of these
Answer: (b)
The Moon’s gravity is one sixth of the Earth’s gravity. A 120 kg astronaut weighs 1200 N on Earth. On the Moon they would weigh only 200 N. The astronaut’s mass is 120kg wherever they are.

16) The planet of the solar system which has maximum numbers of Moon is: (CSS 2011)

(a) Jupiter
(b) Venus
(c) Saturn
(d) Uranus
(e) None of these
Answer: (a)

17): The earth rotates 011 its axis from_

(a) North to south
(b) South to north
(c) East to west
(d) West to east
Answer: (d)
The Earth rotates from the west towards east. As viewed from North Star or polestar Polaris, the Earth turns counter-clockwise. The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth’s axis of rotation meets its surface.

18): Name two planets which revolve around their axis from east to west

(a) Earth and Venus
(b) Mars and Earth
(c) Venus and Uranus
(d) Mars and Uranus
Answer: (c)
Planets have no light of their own and all of them expect Venus and Uranus, rotate upon their axis from west to east.

19) Our sun is classified as (CSS 2012)

(a) A Blue giant
(b) A Yellow dwarf
(c) Supernova
(d) None of these
Answer: (b)
The sun is classified as a G-type main-sequence star, or G dwarf star, or more imprecisely, a yellow dwarf. Actually, the sun — like other G-type stars — is white, but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere. Stars generally get bigger as they grow older

20): Name the planet which revolve approximately 90 degree with its orbital plane_.

(a) Neptune
(b) Venus
(c) Uranus
(d) Jupiter
Answer: (c)
Unlike any other planet, Uranus rotates on its side. That is, the rotation axis is tilted approximately 90 degrees relative to the planet’s orbital plane.

21): The hottest planet of our solar system is
(a) Mercury
(b) Venus
(c) Mars
(d) Earth
Answer: (b)
Venus’s thick atmosphere made up mainly of CO2 makes it the hottest planet in the solar system. Mercury is colder because it’s atmosphere is thin.

22): Which of the following constellation contains Pole Star?

(a) Orion
(b) Ursa Major
(c) Ursa Minor
(d) Scorpio
Answer: (b)

23): All the stars appear to move from

(a) North to south
(b) South to north
(c) East to west
(d) West to east
Answer: (c)
Every day, the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to rise in the east and set in the west. Actually, these celestial objects aren’t moving that fast, but Earth is. It spins on its axis from west to east approximately every 24 hours.
Because we are standing on Earth’s surface, we move along with it. To us, it appears as if everything in the sky is moving from east to west.

24): The body burning like a star and coming towards the earth

(a) Comet
(b) Meteor
(c) Ceres
(d) Satellites
Answer: (b)
Fleeting trails of light are called meteors or shooting stars and they are created by small particles, some no bigger than a grain of rice, as they are completely burned up high in the atmosphere: about 100 km (or 60 miles) above the Earth. They are over literally in the blink of an eye. Space debris is collectively termed meteoroids, those larger fragments that reach the ground are called meteorites. Very big meteoroids are also known as asteroids. If one collides with Earth it would cause a major catastrophe.

25) Which of the following is not true?

(a) Planets rotate on their own axis.
(b) Planets do not emit light.
(c) Some planets are gaseous and some are rocky
(d) Most of the planets have rings around them.
Answer: (d)

26) Which is the brightest planet?

(a) Mars
(b) Jupiter
(c) Venus
(d) Saturn
Answer: (c)
Venus is so bright because its thick clouds reflect most of the sunlight that reaches it (about 70%) back into space, and because it is the closest planet to Earth. Venus can often be seen within a few hours after sunset or before sunrise as the brightest object in the sky (other than the moon)

27) The stars in space are ___.

(a) Uniformly spread out.
(b) Distributed completely at random
(c) Chiefly in the Milky Way
(d) Mostly contained within widely separated galaxies
Answer: (d)

28) “Black holes” refer to: (CSS 2009)

(a) Hole occurring in heavenly bodies
(b) Bright spots on the sun
(c) Collapsing objects of high density
(d) Collapsing of low density
(e) None of these
Answer: (c)

29) The Milky Way is _____.

( a) a gas cloud in the solar system
(b) a gas cloud in the galaxy of which the sun is a member
(c) the galaxy of which the sun is a member
(d) a nearby galaxy
Answer: (c)

30) Relative to the center of our galaxy, ____.

( a) its starts are stationary
(b) its stars move entirely at random
(c) its stars revolve
(d) Population I starts are stationary and Population II star revolve
Answer: (c)

31) Evidence of various kinds suggests that at the center of our galaxy is a ___.

( a) Quasar
(b) Pulsar
(c) Neutron star
(d) Black hole
Answer: (d)
A supermassive black hole (SMBH) is the largest type of black hole, in the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses (M☉), and is found in the centre of almost all currently known massive galaxies. In the case of the Milky Way, the SMBH corresponds with the location of Sagittarius A*

32) A radio telescope is basically a (an) __.

(a) device for magnifying radio waves
(b) Telescope remotely controlled by radio
(c) Directional antenna connected to a sensitive radio receiver
(d) Optical telescope that uses electronic techniques to produce an image
Answer: (c)
Radio telescope is an astronomical instrument consisting of a radio receiver and an antenna system that is used to detect radio-frequency radiation emitted by extraterrestrial sources. Because radio wavelengths are much longer than those of visible light, radio telescopes must be very large in order to attain the resolution of optical telescopes.
The first radio telescope, built in 1937 by Grote Reber of Wheaton

33) Sun is a: (CSS 2011)

(a) Planet
(b) Comet
(c) Satellite
(d) Aurora
(e) None of these
Answer: (e)
The Sun (or Sol), is the star at the centre of our solar system
The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system. It contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System (Jupiter contains most of the rest).

34) The age of the solar system is (CSS 2011)

(a) 4.5 billion years
(b) 5.5 billion years
(c) 6.5 billion years
(d) 7.5 billion years
(e) None of these
Answer: (e)
By studying several things, mostly meteorites, and using radioactive dating techniques, specifically looking at daughter isotopes, scientists have determined that the Solar System is 4.6 billion years old. Well, give or take a few million years. That age can be extended to most of the objects and material in the Solar System.

35) An eclipse of the sun occurs when (CSS 2011)

(a) The moon is between the sun and the earth
(b) The sun is between the earth and the moon
(c) The earth is between the sun and the moon
(d) The earth casts its shadow on the moon
(e) None of these
Answer: (a)
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth’s surface.

36) Founder of modern astronomy was: (CSS 2009)

(a) Archimedes
(b) William Gilbert
(c) Nicolaus Copernicus
(d) Michael Faraday
(e) None of these
Answer: (c)
Considered today to be the father of modern astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland.

37) Orbital period of the planet Mercury around the sun is: (CSS 2009)

(a) 88 days
(b) 365 days
(c) 2 years
(d) 98 days
(e) None of these
Answer: (a)
Mercury has an orbital period of 88 days (87.969 to be exact), which means a single year is 88 Earth days – or the equivalent of about 0.241 Earth years. But here’s the thing. Because of Mercury’s slow rotation (once every 58.646 days) and its rapid orbital speed (47.362 km/s), one day on Mercury actually works out to 175.96 Earth days.

38) Primary cosmic rays are composed largely of very fast ___.

( a) Protons
(b) Neutrons
(c) Electrons
(d) Gamma rays
Answer: (a)
Of primary cosmic rays, which originate outside of Earth’s atmosphere, about 99% are the nuclei (stripped of their electron shells) of well-known atoms, and about 1% are solitary electrons (similar to beta particles). Of the nuclei, about 90% are simple protons, i. e. hydrogen nuclei; 9% are alpha particles, identical to helium nuclei, and 1% are the nuclei of heavier elements, called HZE ions

39) Cosmic rays ____.

(a) Circulate freely through space
(b) are trapped in our galaxy by electric fields
(c) are trapped in our galaxy by magnetic fields
(d) are trapped in our galaxy by gravitational fields
Answer: (c)

40) The red shift in the spectral lines of light reaching us from other galaxies implies that these galaxies ______.

( a) are moving closer to one another
(b) are moving farther apart from one another
(c) are in rapid rotation
(d) Consist predominantly of red giant stars
Answer: (b)

41) According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the universe _____.

( a) Must be expanding
(b) Must be contracting
(c) Must be either expanding or contracting
(d) May be neither expanding nor contracting
Answer: (c)

42) Supernova explosions have no connection with _______.

( a) The formation of heavy elements
(b) Cosmic rays
(c) Pulsars
(d) Quasars
Answer: (d)

43) Current ideas suggest that what is responsible for the observed properties of a quasar is a massive ____.

(a) Neutron star
(b) Black hole
(c) Spiral galaxy
(d) Star cluster
Answer: (b)

44) The age of the universe is probably in the neighborhood of ______.

( a) 15 million years
(b) 4 ½ billion years
(c) 15 billion years
(d) 30 billion years
Answer: (c)

45) The term big bang refers to ___.

( a) the origin of the universe
(b) the ultimate fate of the universe
(c) a supernova explosion
(d) the formation of a quasar
Answer: (a)

46) The elements heavier than hydrogen and helium of which the planets are composed probably came from the __.
( a) Sun
(b) Debris of supernova explosions that occurred before the solar system came into being
(c) Big bang
(d) Big crunch
Answer: (b)

47) Today the universe apparently contains ____.

( a) Only matter
(b) Only antimatter
(c) Equal amounts of matter and antimatter
(d) Slightly more matter than antimatter
Answer: (a)

48) Radiation from the early history of the universe was Doppler-shifted by the expansion of the universe until today it is in the form of _______.

( a) X-rays
(b) Ultraviolet waves
(c) Infrared waves
(d) Radio waves
Answer: (d)

49) Present evidence suggests that most of the mass of the universe is in the form of ______.

( a) Dark matter
(b) Luminous matter
(c) Cosmic rays
(d) Black holes
Answer: (a)

50) It is likely that the planets, satellites, and other members of the solar system were formed ________.

(a) Together with the sun
(b) Later than the sun from material it ejected
(c) Later than the sun from material it captured from space
(d) Elsewhere and were captured by the sun
Answer: (a)

Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-I) | General Science & Ability Read More »

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A

Triple Centuries In Test Cricket Quiz

1) Who was the first cricketer to hit a triple century in a Test and create a record for highest number of runs by an individual in a Test Innings?
a) Andrew Sandham
b) C. B. Fry
c) Jack Hobbs
d) Leary Constantine

2) Who broke the previous record by scoring 334 runs in a Test Innings?
a) Donald George Bradman
b) Hanif Mohammed
c) Michael Colin Cowdrey
d) Vijay Samuel Hazare

3) How many runs were scored by Leonard Hutton to create a new world record?
a) 302
b) 336
c) 337
d) 364

4) Who could not complete his triple century against South Africa in a Test Innings and remained 299 not out as the last batting partner was run out?
a) Lawrence Rowe
b) Sunil Gavaskar
c) Donald George Bradman
d) Peter May

5) Who broke Leonard Hutton’s record by scoring 365 not out?
a) Rohan Kanhai
b) Clive Lloyd
c) Conrad Hunte
d) Garfield Sobers

6) How many runs were scored by Brian Charles Lara when he overtook the previous record that had stood for 36 years 1 month and 16 days?
a) 373
b) 375
c) 374
d) 371

7) Who broke Brian Charles Lara’s record by scoring 380?
a) Kim Hughes
b) Matthew Hayden
c) Ricky Ponting
d) Adam Gilchrist

8) Brian Charles Lara was back again to claim the world record to his name. How many runs did he score?
a) 381
b) 384
c) 390
d) 400 not out

9) Who of the following has not hit two triple centuries in Tests?
a) Brian Charles Lara
b) Donald George Bradman
c) Walter Hammond
d) Virender Sehwag

10) Who batted 970 minutes when scoring 337 runs?
a) John Edrich
b) Hanif Mohammad
c) Robert Simpson
d) Anthony Greig

Triple Centuries In Test Cricket Quiz Answers

1) Who was the first cricketer to hit a triple century in a Test and create a record for highest number of runs by an individual in a Test Innings?
a) Andrew Sandham

2) Who broke the previous record by scoring 334 runs in a Test Innings?
a) Donald George Bradman

3) How many runs were scored by Leonard Hutton to create a new world record?
d) 364

4) Who could not complete his triple century against South Africa in a Test Innings and remained 299 not out as the last batting partner was run out?
c) Donald George Bradman

5) Who broke Leonard Hutton’s record by scoring 365 not out?
d) Garfield Sobers

6) How many runs were scored by Brian Charles Lara when he overtook the previous record that had stood for 36 years 1 month and 16 days?
b) 375

7) Who broke Brian Charles Lara’s record by scoring 380?
b) Matthew Hayden

8) Brian Charles Lara was back again to claim the world record to his name. How many runs did he score?
d) 400 not out

9) Who of the following has not hit two triple centuries in Tests?
c) Walter Hammond

10) Who batted 970 minutes when scoring 337 runs?
b) Hanif Mohammad

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MCQs / Q&A, Sports, Test, World

Day by Day Current Affairs (August 29, 2018)

 August 29, 2018; National Current Affairs

  1. Cabinet forms six bodies to execute reforms agenda
  • In a move to implement its 100-day plan of `change`, the federal cabinet on August 28, 2018 set up six committees to introduce reforms in different sectors and to carve out a new province from Punjab, besides appointing the Intelligence Bureau (IB) director general and the head of National Counterterrorism Authority (Nacta).
  • The cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, also decided to expedite the process of the merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
  • The cabinet decided to appoint Nacta chairman Dr Mohammad Suleman Khan (a grade-22 officer of the police service) as IB director general, while commandant of the National Police Academy Mehr Khalig Dad Lak, also a grade 22 officer, has been appointed as Nacta chairman in his place.
  • Another task force was formed on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law reforms with main focus to retrieve national wealth laundered to other countries. Another task force constituted on Criminal Procedure Code reforms was asked to give its recommendations within 90 days to address the problems being faced by antiterrorism courts.
  • Other task forces were set up for introducing austerity measures, reforms in civil services /federal government restructuring, civil laws and the health sector.
  • One of the important decisions made in the meeting was that the government would not remove any official working on a contractual basis.
  1. Pakistan, India to begin talks on water disputes today
  • A nine-member delegation led by the Indian water commissioner arrived on August 28, 2018 for talks with their Pakistani counterparts on water disputes on the platform of the Pakistan-India Permanent Indus Commission.
  • Pakistan Water Commissioner Syed Mohammad Mehar Ali Shah welcomed the delegation, headed by Indian Water Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Saxena, at the Wagah border.
  • The two-day deliberations on water disputes will begin on August 29, 2018 (today). The talks will be held at the offices of the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) in Lahore.
  • The Indian team was earlier supposed to arrive here for talks in July but the visit was rescheduled in view of the July 25 general elections.
  • The water commissioners of the neighbouring countries are required to meet twice a year and arrange technical visits to projects` sites and critical river headworks.
  • A government official said they would raise their concerns over the construction of 1,000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnal hydroelectric projects on the River Chenab by New Delhi, ignoring Islamabad`s objections to their designs.
  1. Senate panel okays idea of criminalising enforced disappearances
  • A Senate committee on August 28, 2018 approved the idea of criminalising enforced disappearances.
  • Chairman of the Senate`s Functional Committee on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar gave the Ministry ofHuman Rights a month to engage all stakeholders to draft a bill for criminalising enforced disappearances and making it a punishable offence.
  • The directive came after the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, retired Justice Javed Iqbal, urged the committee to goforlegalsanctions torecover all missing persons. The meeting was informed that at presentallcases ofenforced disappearances were registered under Section 365 of the penal code which dealt with kidnapping.
  1. FBR gets new chief
  • The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government on August 28, 2018 posted a senior officer of Pakistan Administration Services (PAS), Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, as chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
  • Mr Khan has also been given the additional post of secretary Revenue Division.
  • The outgoing FBR head, Ms Rukhsana Yasmin, who was posted as the first woman chairperson of the board on July 2 by the interim government, currently awaits directives on her new posting.
  • Dr Jehanzeb has served in Punjab for 10 years. He was serving as the secretary Board of Investment after being transferred by interim provincial government.
  • Previously, he has served as the chairman Planning and Development Board during the PML-N government.
  • PTI has emerged as the third consecutive party after PPP and PML-N to have posted non-tax officers from PAS to head FBR right at the start of their respective terms.
  • The PPP government had posted PAS officers including Sohail Ahmed, followed by Salman Siddique as chairmen FBR, while the PML-N government followed the previous government`s tradition when it posted Tariq Bajwa, a senior officer of PAS as chairman FBR.
  1. `2.2m abortions per year indicate unmet contraceptive demand`
  • A representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on August 28, 2018 said 2.2 million abortions were carried out in Pakistan every year which clearly showed that there was an unmet demand for contraceptives in the country.
  • `Imagine how difficult it would be for a woman in Pakistan to go for an abortion. It shows that she did not want pregnancy but we failed to provide her the contraceptive. It is not acceptable at all and we need to do something to avoid such pregnancies,` Dr Hassan Mohtashami said at the launch of Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS). The survey was conducted by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS).
  • Dr Mohtashami said though Pakistan maynot achieve the commitment of family planning by 2020 it was not about an international commitment rather about the health of women.
  • As many as 34pc women were using any kind of contraceptives. The use of modern contraceptives was highest in Islamabad and lowest in Balochistan. The trend of unmet need for family planning has decreased from 31pc (in 1990) to 17pc. Under-five mortality rate is 74 per 1,000 children and the infant mortality rate is 62 per 1,000 live births. Around 66pc children received all vaccines and only four per cent did not get any vaccine.
  1. `Education, health emergency` in Balochistan
  • The Balochis tan government has decided to impose health and education emergency in the province and bring maximum entities in tax net through widening the working of the Balochistan Revenue Authority to increase provincial financial resources for reducing deficit of the current budget.
  • These decisions were made in the maiden meeting of the six-party alliance coalition`s cabinet here on August 28, 2018, which lasted for several hours with Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani in the Chair.
  • The newly inducted minister, Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, announced the decisions after the cabinet meeting.

August 29, 2018; International Current Affairs

  1. Russia to hold biggest exercises since Cold War
  • Russia will next month hold its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union, Defence Minister Sergei Sholgu said on August 28, 2018, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies.
  • The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia`s naval fleets, and all of its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.
  • The manoeuvres will take place at a time of heightened tension between the West and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the Nato military alliance on its western flank.
  • Nato says it has beefed up its forces in eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Ukraine`s Crimea in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.
  1. American poet Sonia Sanchez wins $100,000 prize
  • Poet and author Sonia Sanchez has won a $100,000 lifetime achievement prize. The Academy of American Poets announced on August 28, 2018 that Sanchez is this year’s winner of the Wallace Stevens Award. Sanchez, 83, is known for such collections as Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems.
  • Also on August 28, 2018, five young poets received fellowships worth more than $25,000 apiece.
  • On August 28, 2018, the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Magazine announced this year’s winners of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. The poets are Safia Elhillo, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Sam Sax, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, and Paul Tran. With prize money totaling $129,000, each will be given $25,800.
  • The fellowship was started in 1989. Winners must be between age 21 and 31 and the money is meant to give them time to write and study poetry. Work from each of the five winners will appear in the December issue of Poetry Magazine.

August 29, 2018; Sports Current Affairs

  1. Pakistan down arch-rivals India in volleyball, thrash BD in hockey
  • Of the three victories for Pakistan at the Asian Games on August 28, 2018, there was little doubt that the one by the volleyball team was the sweetest.
  • After all this was against arch-rivals India, even if it was a 9-12th place playoff.
  • On a day when the hockey team produced yet another commanding performance, recording their fifth straight win, and the squash team won its third consecutive match, it was the 3-1 volleyball victory over India that was most celebrated.
  • In a contest lasting 100 minutes, Pakistan came back from a set down to win 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23 and will now face China in a 7-10th place playoff.
  • Pakistan closed their Pool `B` campaign in hockey with a perfect record after another big win, thrashing Bangladesh 5-0 to set up asemi-final against Japan on August 30, 2018. Atig Arshad and Mubashar Ali both scored two goals each while Ali Shan added the other goal.
  1. PCB unveils dates of Australia, NZ series in UAE
  • Australia will play their first Test since the infamous ball-tampering saga on the ill-fated tour of South Africa last March when Pakistan host them in the United Arab Emirates in a two-match series from Oct 7 besides three Twenty20 Internationals.
  • New Zealand then arrive in the UAE to take on Pakistan in three Tests, three One-day Internationals, and as many Twenty20 Internationals.
  • According to the schedule announced on August 28, 2018 by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Australia open their tour with a four-day first-class fixture against Pakistan `A` at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
  • Pakistan, who are currently the top ranked side in the shortest format, would be playing six T20 Internationals in the space of 12 days since they also host New Zealand in three matches from Oct 31 to Nov 4.
  • The forthcoming months are probably Pakistan`s busiest in the lead-up to the 2019 ICC World Cup in England because Sarfraz Ahmed`s men kickstart the international season with the Asia Cup in the UAE from Sept 15 before playing Australia and New Zealand.

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Current Affairs, Sports, Test, World