221 – Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar.
363 – Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sasanian Empire.
684 – Pope Benedict II is chosen.
699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic and apothecary who will later be regarded as the founder of a folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.
1243 – Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Köse Dağ.
1295 – Przemysł II crowned king of Poland, following Ducal period. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.
1407 – Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
1409 – Western Schism: The Roman Catholic Church is led into a double schism as Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XII in Avignon.
1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Edward, Earl of March, land in England with a rebel army and march on London.
1483 – Richard III becomes King of England.
1522 – Ottomans begin the second Siege of Rhodes.
1541 – Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
1579 – Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory begins.
1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great’s son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.
1723 – After a siege and bombardment by cannon, Baku surrenders to the Russians.
1740 – A combined force of Spanish, free blacks and allied Indians defeat a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft.
1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover.
1843 – Treaty of Nanking comes into effect, Hong Kong Island is ceded to the British “in perpetuity”.
1848 – End of the June Days Uprising in Paris.
1857 – The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London.
1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States.
1886 – Henri Moissan isolated elemental Fluorine for the first time.
1889 – Bangui is founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac in what was then the upper reaches of the French Congo.
1906 – The first Grand Prix motor race is held at Le Mans.
1909 – The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
1917 – World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat four months later.
1918 – World War I: Allied forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.
1924 – The American occupation of the Dominican Republic ends after eight years.
1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island.
1934 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.
1936 – Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.
1940 – World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.
1941 – World War II: Soviet planes bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day.
1942 – The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
1944 – World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter.
1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California.
1948 – Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.
1948 – William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
1948 – Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is published in The New Yorker magazine.
1952 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.
1953 – Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.
1955 – The South African Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown.
1959 – Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavy weight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.
1960 – The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland.
1960 – Madagascar gains its independence from France.
1963 – Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.
1967 – Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
1977 – Elvis Presley held his final concert in Indianapolis, Indiana at Market Square Arena.
1978 – Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish.
1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People’s Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.
1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d’état.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2000 – The Human Genome Project announces the completion of a “rough draft” sequence.
2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
2006 – Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.
2007 – Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.
2008 – A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.
2012 – The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people.
2013 – Riots in China’s Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others.
2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2015 – Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks.
2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Births on June 26
12 BC – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (d. 14)
1399 – John, Count of Angoulême (d. 1467)
1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1612)
1581 – San Pedro Claver, Spanish Jesuit saint (d. 1654)
1600 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish-born bishop and viceroy of New Spain (d. 1659)
1681 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden (d. 1708)
1689 – Edward Holyoke, American pastor and academic (d. 1769)
1694 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1768)
1699 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French businesswoman (d. 1777)
1702 – Philip Doddridge, English hymn-writer and educator (d. 1751)
1703 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (d. 1767)
1726 – Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia (d. 1796)
1730 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (d. 1817)
1764 – Jan Paweł Łuszczewski, Polish politician (d. 1812)
1796 – Jan Paweł Lelewel, Polish painter and engineer (d. 1847)
1798 – Wolfgang Menzel, German poet and critic (d. 1873)
1817 – Branwell Brontë, English painter and poet (d. 1848)
1819 – Abner Doubleday, American general (d. 1893)
1821 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian soldier, journalist, and politician, 6th President of Argentina (d. 1906)
1824 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (d. 1907)
1835 – Thomas W. Knox, American journalist and author (d. 1896)
1839 – Sam Watkins, American soldier and author (d. 1901)
1852 – Daoud Corm, Lebanese painter (d. 1930)
1854 – Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1937)
1865 – Bernard Berenson, Lithuanian-American historian and author (d. 1959)
1866 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and banker (d. 1923)
1869 – Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish journalist and author (d. 1954)
1878 – Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (d. 1957)
1880 – Mitchell Lewis, American actor (d. 1956)
1881 – Ya’akov Cohen, Israeli linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1960)
1892 – Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1893 – Dorothy Fuldheim, American journalist and news anchor(d. 1989)
1895 – George Hainsworth, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1950)
1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and businessman (d. 1978)
1898 – Chesty Puller, US general (d. 1971)
1899 – Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1901 – Stuart Symington, American lieutenant and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Air Force (d. 1988)
1902 – Hugues Cuénod, Swiss tenor and educator (d. 2010)
1903 – Big Bill Broonzy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1958)
1904 – Frank Scott Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
1904 – Peter Lorre, Slovak-American actor and singer (d. 1964)
1905 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (d. 1985)
1906 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer (d. 1974)
1906 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and educator (d. 2008)
1907 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (d. 1984)
1908 – Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (d. 1973)
1909 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager (d. 1997)
1909 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (d. 1985)
1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American golfer and basketball player (d. 1956)
1911 – Bronisław Żurakowski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2009)
1913 – Aimé Césaire, French poet, author, and politician (d. 2008)
1913 – Maurice Wilkes, English computer scientist and physicist (d. 2010)
1914 – Laurie Lee, English author and poet (d. 1997)
1914 – Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, European royalty (d. 2001)
1915 – Paul Castellano, American gangster (d. 1985)
1915 – George Haigh, English professional footballer (d. 2019)
1915 – Charlotte Zolotow, American author and poet (d. 2013)
1916 – Virginia Satir, American psychotherapist and author (d. 1988)
1916 – Giuseppe Taddei, Italian actor and singer (d. 2010)
1917 – Idriz Ajeti, Albanian albanologist (d. 2019)
1918 – Leo Rosner, Polish-born Austrian Jewish musician (d. 2008)
1918 – Raleigh Rhodes, American combat fighter pilot (d. 2007)
1918 – J. B. Fuqua, American entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2006)
1919 – Richard Neustadt, American political scientist and academic (d. 2003)
1919 – Jimmy Newberry, American pitcher (d. 1983)
1919 – George Athan Billias, American historian (d. 2018)
1919 – Donald M. Ashton, English art director (d. 2004)
1920 – Jean-Pierre Roy, Canadian-American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1921 – Violette Szabo, French-British secret agent (d. 1945)
1921 – Robert Everett, American computer scientist (d. 2018)
1922 – Walter Farley, American author (d. 1989)
1922 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (d. 2013)
1922 – Enzo Apicella, English artist, cartoonist, designer, and restaurateur (d. 2018)
1923 – Franz-Paul Decker, German conductor (d. 2014)
1923 – Ed Bearss, American veteran of World War II
1924 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (d. 2010)
1924 – James W. McCord Jr., CIA officer (d. 2017)
1925 – Pavel Belyayev, Russian soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1970)
1925 – Wolfgang Unzicker, German chess player (d. 2006)
1925 – Jean Frydman, French resistant and businessman
1926 – Kenny Baker, American fiddler (d.2011)
1926 – Mahendra Bhatnagar, Indian poet
1926 – Fernando Mönckeberg Barros, Chilean surgeon
1926 – Dinu Zamfirescu, Romanian politician
1927 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet (d. 2011)
1928 – Jacob Druckman, American composer and academic (d. 1996)
1928 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, Japanese inventor
1928 – Bill Sheffield, American politician; 5th Governor of Alaska
1928 – Samuel Belzberg, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2018)
1929 – June Bronhill, Australian soprano and actress (d. 2005)
1929 – Fred Bruemmer, Latvian-Canadian photographer and author (d. 2013)
1929 – Milton Glaser, American illustrator and graphic designer
1930 – Jackie Fargo, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013)
1930 – Wolfgang Schwanitz, East German secret police
1931 – Colin Wilson, English philosopher and author (d. 2013)
1931 – Robert Colbert, American actor
1932 – Dame Marguerite Pindling, Bahamian politician; Governor-General of the Bahamas
1932 – Don Valentine, American venture capitalist (d. 2019)
1933 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (d. 2014)
1933 – Gene Green, American baseball player (d. 1981)
1933 – David Winnick, English politician
1934 – Dave Grusin, American pianist and composer
1934 – Toru Goto, Japanese swimmer
1935 – Carlo Facetti, Italian race car driver
1935 – Sandro Riminucci, Italian basketball player
1935 – Dwight York, American singer
1936 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (d. 2014)
1936 – Hal Greer, American basketball player (d. 2018)
1936 – Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, Scottish politician (d. 2020)
1936 – Edith Pearlman, American short story writer
1936 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (d. 2015)
1936 – Nancy Willard, American author and poet (d. 2017)
1937 – Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1937 – Reggie Workman, American bassist and composer
1938 – Neil Abercrombie, American sociologist and politician, 7th Governor of Hawaii
1938 – Billy Davis Jr., American pop-soul singer
1938 – Gerald North, American climatologist and academic
1939 – Chuck Robb, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th Governor of Virginia
1939 – Zainuddin Maidin, Malaysian politician (d. 2018)
1941 – Yves Beauchemin, Canadian author and academic
1942 – J.J. Dillon, American wrestler and manager
1942 – Gilberto Gil, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and politician, Brazilian Minister of Culture
1943 – Georgie Fame, English singer, pianist, and keyboard player
1943 – Warren Farrell, American author and educator
1944 – Gennady Zyuganov, Russian colonel and politician
1946 – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (d. 2013)
1949 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (d. 2015)
1949 – Adrian Gurvitz, English singer-songwriter and producer
1949 – Mary Styles Harris, American biologist and geneticist
1951 – Gary Gilmour, Australian cricketer and manager (d. 2014)
1952 – Gordon McQueen, Scottish footballer and manager
1952 – Olive Morris, Jamaican-English civil rights activist (d. 1979)
1954 – Luis Arconada, Spanish footballer
1955 – Mick Jones, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Gedde Watanabe, American actor
1956 – Chris Isaak, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1956 – Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic
1956 – Patrick Mercer, English colonel and politician
1957 – Al Hunter Ashton, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1957 – Philippe Couillard, Canadian surgeon and politician, 31st Premier of Quebec
1957 – Patty Smyth, American singer-songwriter and musician
1959 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and screenwriter
1960 – Mark Durkan, Irish politician
1961 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist
1961 – Terri Nunn, American singer-songwriter and actress
1962 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1963 – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian-Swiss businessman and philanthropist
1963 – Mark McClellan, American economist and politician
1963 – Harriet Wheeler, English singer-songwriter
1964 – Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver
1966 – Dany Boon, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Kirk McLean, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Jürgen Reil, American drummer
1967 – Inha Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper
1967 – Olivier Dahan, French director and screenwriter
1968 – Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Icelandic lecturer and politician, 6th President of Iceland
1968 – Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer
1968 – Shannon Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Colin Greenwood, English bass player and songwriter
1969 – Ingrid Lempereur, Belgian swimmer
1969 – Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter
1969 – Mike Myers, American baseball player
1970 – Paul Thomas Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Paul Bitok, Kenyan runner
1970 – Irv Gotti, American record producer, co-founded Murder Inc Records
1970 – Sean Hayes, American actor
1970 – Adam Ndlovu, Zimbabwean footballer
1970 – Chris O’Donnell, American actor
1970 – Nick Offerman, American actor
1971 – Max Biaggi, Italian motorcycle racer
1972 – Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper and police officer
1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Derek Jeter, American baseball player
1974 – Jason Kendall, American baseball player
1975 – Chris Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Terry Skiverton, English footballer and manager
1976 – Ed Jovanovski, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Pommie Mbangwa, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster
1976 – Chad Pennington, American football player and sportscaster
1976 – Dave Rubin, American political commentator
1977 – Quincy Lewis, American basketball player
1979 – Ryō Fukuda, Japanese race car driver
1979 – Walter Herrmann, Argentinian basketball player
1979 – Ryan Tedder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.
1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.
1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
1866 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor becomes the first American woman to graduate from dental school.
1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
1919 – German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country’s first constitution.
1921 – Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup.
1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.1934 – Augusto Sandino is executed.
1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national “volunteers” in the Spanish Civil War.
1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.
1945 – World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.
1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera”, the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to “set the people free”.
1952 – The Bengali Language Movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1958 – The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated while giving a talk at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.
1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
2013 – At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.
Births on February 21
921 – Abe no Seimei, Japanese astrologer (d. 1005)
1397 – Isabella of Portugal (d. 1471)
1462 – Joanna la Beltraneja, princess of Castile (d. 1530)
1484 – Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
1498 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English Earl (d. 1549)
1541 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1599)
1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German astronomer, composer, and theorist (d. 1615)
1559 – Nurhaci, Manchu emperor (d. 1626)
1609 – Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian military commander (d. 1680)
1621 – Rebecca Nurse, Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (d. 1692)
1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, English admiral and politician (d. 1781)
1728 – Peter III of Russia (d. 1762)
1783 – Catharina of Württemberg (d. 1835)
1788 – Francis Ronalds, British scientist, inventor and engineer who was knighted for developing the first working electric telegraph (d. 1873)
1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1857)
1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (d. 1876)
1801 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (d. 1890)
1817 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1893)
1821 – Charles Scribner I, American publisher, founded Charles Scribner’s Sons (d. 1871)
1836 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (d. 1891)
1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh-English sculptor and academic (d. 1952)
1865 – John Haden Badley, English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (d. 1967)
1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1934)
1875 – Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian, oldest verified person ever (d. 1997)
1878 – Mirra Alfassa, French-Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
1881 – Kenneth J. Alford, English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (d. 1945)
1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (d. 1957)
1887 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of War (d. 1945)
1888 – Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (d. 1965)
1892 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1949)
1893 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (d. 1979)
1893 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian chemist and academic (d. 1955)
1895 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
1896 – Nirala, Indian poet and author (d. 1961)
1900 – Jeanne Aubert, French singer and actress (d. 1988)
1902 – Arthur Nock, English theologian and academic (d. 1963)
1903 – Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (d. 1977)
1903 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (d. 1976)
1907 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
1910 – Douglas Bader, English captain and pilot (d. 1982)
1912 – Arline Judge, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (d. 1999)
1914 – Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
1914 – Jean Tatlock, American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1944)
1915 – Claudia Jones, Trinidad-British journalist and activist (d. 1964)
1915 – Ann Sheridan, American actress and singer (d. 1967)
1915 – Anton Vratuša, Prime Minister of Slovenia (1978–1980) (d. 2017)
1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (d. 1996)
1917 – Tadd Dameron, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
1921 – John Rawls, American philosopher and academic (d. 2002)
1921 – Richard T. Whitcomb, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2009)
1924 – Thelma Estrin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
1924 – Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean educator and politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (d. 2019)
1924 – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst (d. 1980)
1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1925 – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1927 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
1929 – Chespirito, Mexican actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1933 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2003)
1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
1935 – Richard A. Lupoff, American author
1936 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1996)
1937 – Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (d. 2015)
1937 – Harald V of Norway
1938 – Bobby Charles, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1938 – Kel Tremain, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1992)
1940 – Peter Gethin, English race car driver (d. 2011)
1940 – John Lewis, American activist and politician
1942 – Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian and academic (d. 2013)
1942 – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, director, and screenwriter
1943 – David Geffen, American businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
1945 – Maurice Bembridge, English golfer
1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress and singer
1946 – Anthony Daniels, English actor and producer
1946 – Alan Rickman, English actor and director (d. 2016)
1946 – Bob Ryan, American journalist and author
1947 – Johnny Echols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Olympia Snowe, American politician
1948 – Bill Slayback, American baseball player and singer (d. 2015)
1949 – Frank Brunner, American illustrator
1949 – Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1949 – Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
1950 – Larry Drake, American actor (d. 2016)
1951 – Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (d. 2006)
1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
1952 – Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat, former Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations (d. 2017)
1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress and singer
1953 – William Petersen, American actor and producer
1954 – Christina Rees, British politician
1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, and producer
1958 – Jake Burns, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Kim Coates, Canadian actor
1958 – Alan Trammell, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1959 – José María Cano, Spanish singer-songwriter and painter
1960 – Plamen Oresharski, Bulgarian economist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria
1960 – Steve Wynn, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor and businessman
1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist
1962 – David Foster Wallace, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2008)
1963 – William Baldwin, American actor
1963 – Ranking Roger, English singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2019)
1963 – Greg Turner, New Zealand golfer
1964 – Mark Kelly, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
1964 – Scott Kelly, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
1965 – Mark Ferguson, Australian journalist
1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner and coach
1967 – Sari Essayah, Finnish athlete and politician
1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Manic Street Preachers)
1969 – Aunjanue Ellis, American actress and producer
1969 – Petra Kronberger, Austrian skier
1969 – Tony Meola, American soccer player and manager
1969 – Cathy Richardson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1970 – Eric Wilson, American bass player and drummer
1971 – Pierre Fulke, Swedish golfer
1972 – Seo Taiji, South Korean singer-songwriter
1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Brian Rolston, American ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
1975 – Scott Miller, Australian swimmer
1976 – Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Michael McIntyre, English comedian, actor and television presenter
1977 – Jonathan Safran Foer, American novelist
1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
1977 – Owen King, American author
1977 – Kevin Rose, American businessman and television host, founded Digg