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 July 19 in history
- AD 64 – The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city.
- 484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is recognized in Antioch and makes it his capital.
- 711 – Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle of Guadalete: Umayyad forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King Roderic.
- 939 – Battle of Simancas: King Ramiro II of León defeats the Moorish army under Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III near the city of Simancas.
- 998 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Battle of Apamea: Fatimids defeat a Byzantine army near Apamea.
- 1333 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Halidon Hill: The English win a decisive victory over the Scots.
- 1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: The first Siege of Boulogne begins.
- 1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
- 1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.
- 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.
- 1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
- 1702 – Great Northern War: A numerically superior Polish-Saxon army of Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive position, is defeated by a Swedish army half its size under the command of King Charles XII in the Battle of Klissow.
- 1817 – Unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian-American Company, Georg Anton Schäffer is forced to admit defeat and leave Kauai.
- 1821 – Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom.
- 1832 – The British Medical Association is founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.
- 1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and screw propeller, becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
- 1845 – Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed four firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings.
- 1848 – Women’s rights: A two-day Women’s Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid: At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.
- 1864 – Taiping Rebellion: Third Battle of Nanking: The Qing dynasty finally defeats the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
- 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.
- 1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.
- 1903 – Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
- 1916 – World War I: Battle of Fromelles: British and Australian troops attack German trenches as part of the Battle of the Somme.
- 1936 – Spanish Civil War: The CNT and UGT call a general strike in Spain – mobilizing workers’ militias against the Nationalist forces.
- 1940 – World War II: Battle of Cape Spada: The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.
- 1940 – Field Marshal Ceremony: First occasion in World War II, that Hitler appointed field marshals due to military achievements.
- 1940 – World War II: Army order 112 forms the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.
- 1942 – World War II: The Second Happy Time of Hitler’s submarines comes to an end, as the increasingly effective American convoy system compels them to return to the central Atlantic.
- 1943 – World War II: Rome is heavily bombed by more than 500 Allied aircraft, inflicting thousands of casualties.
- 1947 – Prime Minister of the shadow Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and eight others are assassinated.
- 1947 – Korean politician Lyuh Woon-hyung is assassinated.
- 1952 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1961 – Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.
- 1963 – Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 meters (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Khánh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.
- 1969 – Chappaquiddick incident: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.
- 1972 – Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units help the Omani government against Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat.
- 1976 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- 1977 – The world’s first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal was transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time (ET).
- 1979 – The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
- 1979 – The oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress collides with another oil tanker, causing the largest ever ship-borne oil spill.
- 1980 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
- 1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
- 1982 – In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University of Beirut, is kidnapped.
- 1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.
- 1985 – The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
- 1989 – United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 111.
- 1992 – A car bomb kills Judge Paolo Borsellino and five members of his escort.
- 1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year paramilitary campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
- 2014 – Gunmen in Egypt’s western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.
 Births on July 19
- 810 – Muhammad al-Bukhari, Persian scholar (d. 870)
- 1223 – Baibars, sultan of Egypt (d. 1277)
- 1420 – William VIII, Marquess of Montferrat (d. 1483)
- 1569 – Conrad Vorstius, Dutch theologian (d. 1622)
- 1670 – Richard Leveridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 1758)
- 1688 – Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian missionary and painter (d. 1766)
- 1744 – Heinrich Christian Boie, German author and poet (d. 1806)
- 1759 – Marianna Auenbrugger, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1782)
- 1759 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (d. 1833)
- 1771 – Thomas Talbot, Irish-Canadian colonel and politician (d. 1853)
- 1794 – José Justo Corro, Mexican politician and president, (1836-1837) (d. 1864)
- 1789 – John Martin, English painter, engraver, and illustrator (d. 1854)
- 1800 – Juan José Flores, Venezuelan general and politician, 1st President of Ecuador (d. 1864)
- 1814 – Samuel Colt, American businessman, founded the Colt’s Manufacturing Company (d. 1862)
- 1819 – Gottfried Keller, Swiss author, poet, and playwright (d. 1890)
- 1822 – Princess Augusta of Cambridge (d. 1916)
- 1827 – Mangal Pandey, Indian soldier (d. 1857)
- 1834 – Edgar Degas, French painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1917)
- 1835 – Justo Rufino Barrios, Guatemalan president (d. 1885)
- 1842 – Frederic T. Greenhalge, English-American lawyer and politician, 38th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
- 1846 – Edward Charles Pickering, American astronomer and physicist (d. 1919)
- 1849 – Ferdinand Brunetière, French scholar and critic (d. 1906)
- 1865 – Georges Friedel, French mineralogist and crystallographer (d. 1933)
- 1865 – Charles Horace Mayo, American surgeon, founded the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939)
- 1860 – Lizzie Borden, American woman, tried and acquitted for the murders of her parents in 1892 (d. 1927)
- 1868 – Florence Foster Jenkins, American soprano and educator (d. 1944)
- 1869 – Xenophon Stratigos, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister of Transport (d. 1927)
- 1875 – Alice Dunbar Nelson, African-American poet and activist (d. 1935)
- 1876 – Joseph Fielding Smith, American religious leader, 10th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1972)
- 1877 – Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (d. 1949)
- 1881 – Friedrich Dessauer, German physicist and philosopher (d. 1963)
- 1883 – Max Fleischer, Austrian-American animator and producer (d. 1972)
- 1886 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-Israeli mathematician and academic (d. 1957)
- 1888 – Enno Lolling, German physician (d. 1945)
- 1890 – George II of Greece (d. 1947)
- 1892 – Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1957)
- 1893 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1930)
- 1894 – Aleksandr Khinchin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
- 1894 – Khawaja Nazimuddin, Bangladeshi-Pakistani politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1965)
- 1894 – Percy Spencer, American physicist and inventor of the microwave oven (d. 1969)
- 1895 – Xu Beihong, Chinese painter and academic (d. 1953)
- 1896 – Reginald Baker, English film producer (d. 1985)
- 1896 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish physician and novelist (d. 1981)
- 1896 – Bob Meusel, American baseball player and sailor (d. 1977)
- 1898 – Herbert Marcuse, German-American sociologist and philosopher (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay, Indian physician, author, poet, and playwright (d. 1979)
- 1902 – Samudrala Raghavacharya, Indian singer, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968)
- 1904 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, American lawyer and farmer (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Isabel Jewell, American actress (d. 1972)
- 1908 – Daniel Fry, American contactee (d. 1992)
- 1909 – Balamani Amma, Indian poet and author (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Peter Leo Gerety, American prelate (d. 2016)
- 1914 – Marius Russo, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Åke Hellman, Finnish painter (d. 2017)
- 1916 – Phil Cavarretta, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
- 1917 – William Scranton, American captain and politician, 13th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Patricia Medina, English-American actress (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Miltos Sachtouris, Greek poet and author (d. 2005)
- 1919 – Ron Searle, English-Canadian soldier, publisher, and politician, 4th Mayor of Mississauga (d. 2015)
- 1920 – Robert Mann, American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2018)
- 1920 – Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (d. 2015)
- 1921 – Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (d. 2013)
- 1921 – André Moynet, French soldier, race car driver, and politician (d. 1993)
- 1921 – Elizabeth Spencer, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 2019)
- 1921 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
- 1922 – George McGovern, American lieutenant, historian, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Rachel Robinson, American professor, registered nurse, and the widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson
- 1923 – Theo Barker, English historian (d. 2001)
- 1923 – Alex Hannum, American basketball player and coach (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Joseph Hansen, American author and poet (d. 2004)
- 1923 – William A. Rusher, American lawyer and journalist (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Lon Simmons, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Stanley K. Hathaway, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Pat Hingle, American actor and producer (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Arthur Rankin Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Sue Thompson, American singer
- 1926 – Helen Gallagher, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1928 – Samuel John Hazo, American author
- 1928 – Choi Yun-chil, South Korean long-distance runner and a two-time national champion in the marathon.
- 1929 – Gaston Glock, Austrian engineer and businessman, co-founded Glock Ges.m.b.H.
- 1929 – Orville Turnquest, Bahamian politician
- 1932 – Buster Benton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1932 – Jan Lindblad, Swedish biologist and photographer (d. 1987)
- 1934 – Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Portuguese lawyer and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1980)
- 1935 – Nick Koback, American baseball player and golfer (d. 2015)
- 1936 – David Colquhoun, English pharmacologist and academic
- 1937 – George Hamilton IV, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Richard Jordan, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1938 – Jayant Narlikar, Indian astrophysicist and astronomer
- 1938 – Tom Raworth, English poet and academic (d. 2017)
- 1941 – Vikki Carr, American singer and actress
- 1941 – Neelie Kroes, Dutch politician and diplomat, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society
- 1943 – Han Sai Por, Singaporean sculptor and academic
- 1944 – Tim McIntire, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
- 1944 – Andres Vooremaa, Estonian chess player
- 1945 – Paule Baillargeon, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1946 – Alan Gorrie, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (Average White Band)
- 1946 – Ilie Năstase, Romanian tennis player and politician
- 1947 – André Forcier, Canadian director and screenwriter
- 1947 – Hans-Jürgen Kreische, German footballer and manager
- 1947 – Bernie Leadon, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1947 – Brian May, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and astrophysicist
- 1948 – Keith Godchaux, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 1980)
- 1949 – Kgalema Motlanthe, South African politician, 3rd President of South Africa
- 1950 – Per-Kristian Foss, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Finance
- 1950 – Freddy Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Adrian Noble, English director and screenwriter
- 1951 – Abel Ferrara, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1990)
- 1952 – Jayne Anne Phillips American novelist and short story writer
- 1954 – Mark O’Donnell, American playwright (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Steve O’Donnell, American screenwriter and producer
- 1954 – Srđa Trifković, Serbian-American journalist and historian
- 1955 – Roger Binny, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1955 – Dalton McGuinty, Canadian lawyer and politician, 24th Premier of Ontario
- 1956 – Mark Crispin, American computer scientist, designed the IMAP (d. 2012)
- 1958 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
- 1958 – Robert Gibson, American wrestler
- 1958 – David Robertson, American conductor
- 1959 – Juan J. Campanella, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Atom Egoyan, Egyptian-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Kevin Haskins, English drummer and songwriter
- 1961 – Harsha Bhogle, Indian journalist and author
- 1961 – Maria Filatova, Russian gymnast
- 1961 – Lisa Lampanelli, American comedian, actress, and author
- 1961 – Benoît Mariage, Belgian director and screenwriter
- 1961 – Hideo Nakata, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Campbell Scott, American actor, director, and producer
- 1962 – Anthony Edwards, American actor and director
- 1963 – Thomas Gabriel Fischer, Swiss musician
- 1963 – Garth Nix, Australian author
- 1964 – Teresa Edwards, American basketball player
- 1964 – Masahiko Kondō, Japanese singer-songwriter and race car driver
- 1965 – Evelyn Glennie, Scottish musician
- 1965 – Claus-Dieter Wollitz, German footballer and manager
- 1967 – Yael Abecassis, Israeli model and actress
- 1967 – Jean-François Mercier, Canadian comedian, screenwriter, and television host
- 1968 – Robb Flynn, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1968 – Pavel Kuka, Czech footballer and manager
- 1968 – Jim Norton, American comedian, actor, and author
- 1969 – Matthew Libatique, American cinematographer
- 1970 – Bill Chen, American poker player and software designer
- 1970 – Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish lawyer and politician, First Minister of Scotland
- 1971 – Rene Busch, Estonian tennis player and coach
- 1971 – Vitali Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer and politician, Mayor of Kiev
- 1971 – Michael Modest, American wrestler
- 1971 – Catriona Rowntree, Australian television host
- 1971 – Lesroy Weekes, Montserratian cricketer
- 1972 – Ebbe Sand, Danish footballer and manager
- 1973 – Martin Powell, English keyboard player and songwriter
- 1973 – Scott Walker, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1974 – Rey Bucanero, Mexican wrestler
- 1974 – Francisco Copado, German footballer and manager
- 1974 – Josée Piché, Canadian ice dancer
- 1974 – Vince Spadea, American tennis player
- 1974 – Preston Wilson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Luca Castellazzi, Italian footballer
- 1976 – Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor
- 1976 – Gonzalo de los Santos, Uruguayan footballer and manager
- 1977 – Jean-Sébastien Aubin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Tony Mamaluke, American wrestler and manager
- 1977 – Ed Smith, English cricketer and journalist
- 1979 – Rick Ankiel, American baseball player
- 1979 – Josué Anunciado de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1979 – Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1979 – Luke Young, English footballer
- 1980 – Xavier Malisse, Belgian tennis player
- 1980 – Giorgio Mondini, Italian race car driver
- 1981 – Nenê, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – David Bernard, Jamaican cricketer
- 1981 – Mark Gasnier, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
- 1981 – Jimmy Gobble, American baseball player
- 1981 – Grégory Vignal, French footballer
- 1982 – Christopher Bear, American drummer
- 1982 – Phil Coke, American baseball player
- 1982 – Jared Padalecki, American actor
- 1982 – Jess Vanstrattan, Australian footballer
- 1983 – Helen Skelton, English television host and actress
- 1983 – Fedor Tyutin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Andrea Libman, Canadian voice actress
- 1984 – Adam Morrison, American basketball player
- 1984 – Ryan O’Byrne, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Lewis Price, Welsh footballer
- 1985 – LaMarcus Aldridge, American basketball player
- 1985 – Zhou Haibin, Chinese footballer
- 1985 – Marina Kuzina, Russian basketball player
- 1985 – Hadi Norouzi, Iranian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1986 – Leandro Greco, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Jon Jones, American mixed martial artist
- 1987 – Marc Murphy, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Shane Dawson, American comedian and actor
- 1988 – Kevin Großkreutz, German footballer
- 1988 – Jakub Kovář, Czech ice hockey player
- 1989 – Sam McKendry, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1991 – Eray İşcan, Turkish footballer
- 1992 – Jake Nicholson, English footballer
- 1994 – Christian Welch, Australian rugby league player
- 1998 – Erin Cuthbert, footballer
- 1998 – Ronaldo Vieira, Bissau-Guinean footballer
 Deaths on July 19
- 514 – Symmachus, pope of the Catholic Church
- 806 – Li Shigu, Chinese general (b. 778)
- 973 – Kyunyeo, Korean monk and poet (b. 917)
- 998 – Damian Dalassenos, Byzantine general (b. 940)
- 1030 – Adalberon, French bishop
- 1234 – Floris IV, Dutch nobleman (b. 1210)
- 1249 – Jacopo Tiepolo, doge of Venice
- 1333 – John Campbell, Scottish nobleman
- 1333 – Alexander Bruce, Scottish nobleman
- 1333 – Sir Archibald Douglas, Scottish nobleman
- 1333 – Maol Choluim II, Scottish nobleman
- 1333 – Kenneth de Moravia, 4th Earl of Sutherland
- 1374 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (b. 1304)
- 1415 – Philippa of Lancaster, Portuguese queen (b. 1360)
- 1543 – Mary Boleyn, English daughter of Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1499)
- 1631 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher and academic (b. 1550)
- 1742 – William Somervile, English poet and author (b. 1675)
- 1810 – Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prussian queen (b. 1776)
- 1814 – Matthew Flinders, English navigator and cartographer (b. 1774)
- 1824 – Agustín de Iturbide, Mexican general and emperor (b. 1783)
- 1838 – Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (b. 1785)
- 1850 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (b. 1810)
- 1855 – Konstantin Batyushkov, Russian poet and translator (b. 1787)
- 1857 – Stefano Franscini, Swiss statistician and politician (b. 1796)
- 1878 – Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1847)
- 1896 – Abraham H. Cannon, American publisher and religious leader (b. 1859)
- 1913 – Clímaco Calderón, Colombian lawyer and politician, 15th President of Colombia (b. 1852)
- 1925 – John Indermaur, British lawyer (b. 1851)
- 1930 – Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1844)
- 1933 – Kaarle Krohn, Finnish historian and academic (b. 1863)
- 1939 – Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet and author (b. 1850)
- 1943 – Yekaterina Budanova, Russian captain and pilot (b. 1916)
- 1947 – U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (b. 1898)
- 1947 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician (b. 1915)
- 1947 – Lyuh Woon-hyung, South Korean politician (b. 1886)
- 1963 – William Andrew, English priest (b. 1884)
- 1965 – Syngman Rhee, South Korean journalist and politician, 1st President of South Korea (b. 1875)
- 1967 – Odell Shepard, American poet and politician, 66th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut (b. 1884)
- 1969 – Stratis Myrivilis, Greek soldier and author (b. 1890)
- 1974 – Ernő Schwarz, Hungarian-American soccer player and coach (b. 1904)
- 1975 – Lefty Frizzell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
- 1977 – Karl Ristikivi, Estonian geographer, author, and poet (b. 1912)
- 1980 – Margaret Craven, American journalist and author (b. 1901)
- 1980 – Nihat Erim, Turkish jurist and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1912)
- 1980 – Hans Morgenthau, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1904)
- 1981 – Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (b. 1919)
- 1982 – Hugh Everett III, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1930)
- 1984 – Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress (b. 1896)
- 1984 – Aziz Sami, Iraqi writer and translator (b. 1895)
- 1985 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish author (b. 1938)
- 1989 – Kazimierz Sabbat, Polish businessman and politician, President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1913)
- 1990 – Eddie Quillan, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1992 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian lawyer and judge (b. 1940)
- 1994 – Victor Barbeau, Canadian author and academic (b. 1896)
- 1998 – Elmer Valo, Polish-American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1921)
- 2002 – Dave Carter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
- 2002 – Alan Lomax, American historian, scholar, and activist (b. 1915)
- 2003 – Bill Bright, American evangelist and author, founded the Campus Crusade for Christ (b. 1921)
- 2003 – Pierre Graber, Swiss politician, President of the Swiss National Council (b. 1908)
- 2004 – Sylvia Daoust, Canadian sculptor (b. 1902)
- 2004 – J. Gordon Edwards, American entomologist, mountaineer, and DDT advocate (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Francis A. Marzen, American priest, and journalist (b. 1924)
- 2004 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Edward Bunker, American author and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2006 – Jack Warden, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2007 – A. K. Faezul Huq, Bangladeshi journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1945)
- 2007 – Roberto Fontanarrosa, Argentinian cartoonist (b. 1944)
- 2008 – Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian comedian and actress (b. 1907)
- 2009 – Frank McCourt, American author and educator (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Henry Surtees, English race car driver (b. 1991)
- 2010 – Cécile Aubry, French actress, author, television screenwriter and director (b. 1928)
- 2010 – Jon Cleary, Australian author and playwright (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Humayun Ahmed, Bangladeshi director and playwright (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Tom Davis, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (b. 1912)
- 2012 – Omar Suleiman, Egyptian general, and politician, 16th Vice President of Egypt (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Sylvia Woods, American businesswoman, co-founded Sylvia’s Restaurant of Harlem (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Valiulla Yakupov, Islamic cleric (b. 1963)
- 2013 – Mikhail Gorsheniov, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1973)
- 2013 – Geeto Mongol, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Mel Smith, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1952)
- 2013 – Bert Trautmann, German footballer and manager (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Phil Woosnam, Welsh-American soccer player and manager (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Peter Ziegler, Swiss geologist and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Leyla Erbil, Turkish author (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Rubem Alves, Brazilian theologian (b. 1933)
- 2014 – David Easton, Canadian-American political scientist and academic (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Paul M. Fleiss, American pediatrician and author (b. 1933)
- 2014 – James Garner, American actor (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Jerzy Jurka, Polish biologist (b. 1950)
- 2014 – Ray King, English footballer and manager (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Ingemar Odlander, Swedish journalist (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Harry Pougher, English cricketer (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Leen Vleggeert, Dutch politician (b. 1931)
- 2014 – John Winkin, American baseball player, coach, and journalist (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Van Alexander, American composer and conductor (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Galina Prozumenshchikova, Ukrainian-Russian swimmer and journalist (b. 1948)
- 2015 – Carmino Ravosa, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Gennadiy Seleznyov, Russian journalist and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Duma (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Garry Marshall, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Jon Schnepp, American producer, director, voice actor, editor, writer, cartoonist, animator, and cinematographer (b. 1967)
- 2018 – Denis Ten, Kazakhstani figure skater (b. 1993)
- 2019 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (b. 1944)
 Holidays and observances on July 19
- Christian feast day:
- Arsenius (Catholic Church)
- Bernold, Bishop of Utrecht
- Justa and Rufina
- Kirdjun (or Abakerazum)
- Macrina the Younger, Sister of St. Basil the Great
- Symmachus
- July 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Martyrs’ Day (Myanmar)
- Sandinista Day or Liberation Day (Nicaragua)
 
 
 
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 July 8 in History
- 1099 – Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch.
- 1283 – Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.
- 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
- 1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
- 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
- 1709 – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden’s status as a major power in Europe.
- 1716 – The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
- 1730 – An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile’s coastline.
- 1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
- 1760 – British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
- 1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
- 1776 – Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
- 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
- 1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
- 1853 – The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.
- 1859 – King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.
- 1864 – Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishi’s planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.
- 1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.
- 1876 – The Hamburg massacre prior to the 1876 United States presidential election results in the deaths of six African-Americans of the Republican Party, along with one white assailant.
- 1879 – Sailing ship USS Jeannette departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.
- 1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
- 1892 – St. John’s, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
- 1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
- 1912 – Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
- 1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
- 1933 – The first rugby union test match between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa is played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.
- 1937 – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.
- 1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.
- 1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
- 1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
- 1962 – Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.
- 1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
- 1968 – The Chrysler wildcat strike begins in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
- 1972 – Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.
- 1980 – The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park.
- 1982 – A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months.
- 1988 – The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.
- 1994 – Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
- 2003 – Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing 116 of the 117 people on board.
- 2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
- 2014 – Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.
 Births on July 8
- 1478 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1550)
- 1528 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (d. 1580)
- 1538 – Alberto Bolognetti, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
- 1545 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (d. 1568)
- 1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1653)
- 1621 – Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (d. 1695)
- 1760 – Christian Kramp, French mathematician and academic (d. 1826)
- 1766 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
- 1779 – Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter and architect (d. 1851)
- 1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer (d. 1907)
- 1830 – Frederick W. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)
- 1831 – John Pemberton, American chemist and pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola (d. 1888)
- 1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1914)
- 1838 – Eli Lilly, American soldier, chemist, and businessman, founded Eli Lilly and Company (d. 1898)
- 1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (d. 1917)
- 1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company (d. 1937)
- 1851 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1941)
- 1851 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (d. 1916)
- 1857 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist (d. 1911)
- 1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (d. 1945)
- 1876 – Alexandros Papanastasiou, Greek sociologist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
- 1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (d. 1961)
- 1885 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1977)
- 1885 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (d. 1948)
- 1890 – Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American painter (d. 1973)
- 1892 – Richard Aldington, English author and poet (d. 1962)
- 1892 – Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)
- 1893 – R. Carlyle Buley, American historian and author (d. 1968)
- 1894 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1895 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1898 – Melville Ruick, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1900 – George Antheil, American pianist, composer, and author (d. 1959)
- 1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic (d. 2008)
- 1905 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and director (d. 1997)
- 1906 – Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the IDS Center and PPG Place (d. 2005)
- 1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and actor (d. 1975)
- 1908 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
- 1908 – V. K. R. Varadaraja Rao, Indian economist, politician, professor and educator (d. 1991)
- 1909 – Alan Brown, English soldier (d. 1971)
- 1909 – Ike Petersen, American football back (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general (d. 2001)
- 1911 – Ken Farnes, English cricketer (d. 1941)
- 1913 – Alejandra Soler, Spanish politician (d. 2017)
- 1914 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Billy Eckstine, American singer and trumpet player (d. 1993)
- 1915 – Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general (d. 2019)
- 1915 – Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general (d. 2005)
- 1916 – Jean Rouverol, American author, actress and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1917 – Pamela Brown, English actress (d. 1975)
- 1917 – Faye Emerson, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1917 – J. F. Powers, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Irwin Hasen, American illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1918 – Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot (d. 2002)
- 1918 – Julia Pirie, British spy working for MI5 (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Edward B. Giller, U.S Major General (d. 2017)
- 1918 – Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1919 – Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman (d. 1995)
- 1921 – John Money, New Zealand psychologist and sexologist, responsible for controversial sexual identity study on David Reimer (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 2019)
- 1924 – Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Charles C. Droz, American politician
- 1925 – Marco Cé, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Arthur Imperatore Sr., Italian-American businessman from New Jersey
- 1925 – Bill Mackrides, American football quarterback (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Dominique Nohain, French actor, screenwriter and director (d. 2017)
- 1926 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (d. 2014)
- 1926 – John Dingell, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2019)
- 1926 – Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
- 1926 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and author (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Maurice Hayes, Irish educator and politician (d. 2017)
- 1927 – Khensur Lungri Namgyel, Tibetan religious leader
- 1927 – Bob Beckham, American country singer (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Balakh Sher Mazari, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1930 – Jerry Vale, American singer (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Antonio Lamer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Raquel Correa, Chilean journalist (d. 2012)
- 1934 – Marty Feldman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1934 – Edward D. DiPrete, American politician
- 1935 – John David Crow, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Steve Lawrence, American actor and singer
- 1935 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2010)
- 1938 – Diane Clare, English actress (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Ed Lumley, Canadian businessman and politician, 8th Canadian Minister of Communications
- 1940 – Joe B. Mauldin, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1941 – Dario Gradi, Italian-English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1942 – Phil Gramm, American economist and politician
- 1944 – Jaimoe, American drummer
- 1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor and singer
- 1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician, 91st President of the Swiss Confederation
- 1947 – Kim Darby, American actress
- 1947 – Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1947 – Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian religious leader, founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
- 1948 – Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Ruby Sales, American civil-rights activist
- 1949 – Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-American chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur
- 1949 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 2009)
- 1951 – Alan Ashby, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
- 1951 – Anjelica Huston, American actress and director
- 1952 – Larry Garner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1952 – Jack Lambert, American football player and sportscaster
- 1952 – Marianne Williamson, American author and activist
- 1956 – Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Carlos Cavazo, Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter
- 1957 – Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian journalist and author
- 1958 – Kevin Bacon, American actor and musician
- 1958 – Andreas Carlgren, Swedish educator and politician, 8th Swedish Minister for the Environment
- 1958 – Tzipi Livni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 18th Justice Minister of Israel
- 1959 – Pauline Quirke, English actress
- 1960 – Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1961 – Ces Drilon, Filipino journalist
- 1961 – Andrew Fletcher, English keyboard player
- 1961 – Toby Keith, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1961 – Karl Seglem, Norwegian saxophonist and record producer
- 1962 – Joan Osborne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Mark Christopher, American director and screenwriter
- 1964 – Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player and manager
- 1965 – Dan Levinson, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and bandleader
- 1966 – Ralf Altmeyer, German-Chinese virologist and academic
- 1966 – Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician
- 1967 – Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer
- 1968 – Billy Crudup, American actor
- 1968 – Shane Howarth, New Zealand rugby player and coach
- 1969 – Sugizo, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- 1970 – Beck, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1970 – Sylvain Gaudreault, Canadian educator and politician
- 1970 – Todd Martin, American tennis player and coach
- 1971 – Neil Jenkins, Welsh rugby player and coach
- 1972 – Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 – Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
- 1972 – Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor
- 1974 – Hu Liang, Chinese field hockey player
- 1976 – Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer
- 1976 – David Kennedy, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1976 – Ellen MacArthur, English sailor
- 1977 – Christian Abbiati, Italian footballer
- 1977 – Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist
- 1977 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor, director, and producer
- 1977 – Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
- 1978 – Urmas Rooba, Estonian footballer
- 1979 – Mat McBriar, American football player
- 1979 – Ben Jelen, Scottish-American singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Eric Chouinard, American-Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
- 1981 – Wolfram Müller, German runner
- 1981 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
- 1982 – Sophia Bush, American actress and director
- 1982 – Hakim Warrick, American basketball player
- 1983 – John Bowker, American baseball player
- 1983 – Rich Peverley, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Jaime Garcia, Mexican baseball player
- 1986 – Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
- 1988 – Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
- 1988 – Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist
- 1988 – Dave Taylor, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Yarden Gerbi, Israeli Judo champion
- 1989 – Tor Marius Gromstad, Norwegian footballer (d. 2012)
- 1991 – Virgil van Dijk, Dutch footballer
- 1992 – Ariel Camacho, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1992 – Son Heung-min, Korean footballer
- 1992 – Xander Mobus, American voice actor
- 1997 – Bryce Love, American football player
- 1997 – Lauran Hibberd, English singer-songwriter
- 1998 – Jaden Smith, American actor and rapper
 Deaths on July 8
- 689 – Kilian, Irish bishop
- 810 – Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (b. 773)
- 873 – Gunther, archbishop of Cologne
- 900 – Qatr al-Nada, wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu’tadid
- 901 – Grimbald, French-English monk and saint (b. 827)
- 975 – Edgar the Peaceful, English king (b. 943)
- 1153 – Pope Eugene III (b. 1087)
- 1253 – Theobald I of Navarre (b. 1201)
- 1261 – Adolf IV of Holstein, Count of Schauenburg
- 1390 – Albert of Saxony, Bishop of Halberstadt and German philosopher (b. circa 1320)
- 1538 – Diego de Almagro, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1475)
- 1623 – Pope Gregory XV (b. 1554)
- 1689 – Edward Wooster, English-American settler (b. 1622)
- 1695 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1629)
- 1716 – Robert South, English preacher and theologian (b. 1634)
- 1721 – Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1649)
- 1784 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1735)
- 1794 – Richard Mique, French architect (b. 1728)
- 1820 – Octavia Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor (b. 1816)
- 1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and playwright (b. 1792)
- 1850 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
- 1859 – Oscar I of Sweden (b. 1799)
- 1873 – Franz Xaver Winterhalter, German painter and lithographer (b. 1805)
- 1887 – Ben Holladay, American businessman (b. 1819)
- 1895 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist (b. 1821)
- 1905 – Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer (b. 1834)
- 1913 – Louis Hémon, French-Canadian author (b. 1880)
- 1917 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
- 1930 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1856)
- 1933 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (b. 1863)
- 1934 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (b. 1848)
- 1939 – Havelock Ellis, English psychologist and author (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, historian, and politician (b. 1874)
- 1942 – Louis Franchet d’Espèrey, Algerian-French general (b. 1856)
- 1942 – Refik Saydam, Turkish physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1881)
- 1943 – Jean Moulin, French soldier (b. 1899)
- 1950 – Othmar Spann, Austrian sociologist, economist, and philosopher (b. 1878)
- 1952 – August Alle, Estonian lawyer, author, and poet (b. 1890)
- 1956 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and critic (b. 1881)
- 1965 – Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author (b. 1881)
- 1968 – Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player (b. 1882)
- 1971 – Kurt Reidemeister, German mathematician connected to the Vienna Circle (b. 1893)
- 1972 – Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and politician (b. 1936)
- 1973 – Gene L. Coon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
- 1973 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Education Minister of Israel (b. 1884)
- 1973 – Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer and coach (b. 1877)
- 1979 – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 1979 – Michael Wilding, English actor (b. 1912)
- 1979 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1981 – Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (b. 1902)
- 1985 – Phil Foster, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
- 1986 – Skeeter Webb, American baseball player and manager (b. 1909)
- 1987 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet and author (b. 1896)
- 1988 – Ray Barbuti, American runner and football player (b. 1905)
- 1990 – Howard Duff, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1991 – James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1994 – Christian-Jaque, French director and screenwriter (b. 1904)
- 1994 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean commander and politician, President of North Korea (b. 1912)
- 1994 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (b. 1927)
- 1994 – Dick Sargent, American actor (b. 1930)
- 1996 – Irene Prador, Austrian-born actress and writer (b. 1911)
- 1998 – Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist (b. 1905)
- 1999 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
- 2001 – John O’Shea, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Ward Kimball, American animator and trombonist (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Paula Danziger, American author and educator (b. 1944)
- 2005 – Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (b. 1911)
- 2006 – June Allyson, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Chandra Shekhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Jack B. Sowards, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1929)
- 2008 – John Templeton, American-born British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Midnight, American singer-songwriter (b. 1962)
- 2011 – Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (b. 1924)
- 2011 – Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Muhammed bin Saud Al Saud, Saudi Arabian politician (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Gyang Dalyop Datong, Nigerian physician and politician (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Martin Pakledinaz, American costume designer (b. 1953)
- 2013 – Dick Gray, American baseball player (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Edmund Morgan, American historian and author (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Claudiney Ramos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1980)
- 2013 – Rubby Sherr, American physicist and academic (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Sundri Uttamchandani, Indian author (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Brett Walker, American songwriter and producer (b. 1961)
- 2014 – Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, Brazilian lawyer and politician (b. 1930)
- 2014 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Ben Pangelinan, Guamanian businessman and politician (b. 1956)
- 2014 – Howard Siler, American bobsledder and coach (b. 1945)
- 2014 – Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (b. 1953)
- 2015 – Ken Stabler, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1945)
- 2015 – James Tate, American poet (b. 1943)
- 2016 – Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Tab Hunter, American actor, pop singer, film producer and author (b. 1931)
 Holidays and observances on July 8
- Christian Feast Day:
- Abda and Sabas
- Auspicius of Trier
- Grimbald
- Kilian, Totnan, and Colman
- Peter and Fevronia Day (Russian Orthodox)
- Procopius of Scythopolis
- Sunniva and companions
- Theobald of Marly
- July 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day (Ukraine)
 
 
 
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		February 13 in History
- 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.
- 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
- 1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
- 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
- 1503 – Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
- 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
- 1660 – With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.
- 1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
- 1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
- 1726 – Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.
- 1755 – Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into 2: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
- 1849 – The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.
- 1861 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
- 1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.
- 1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.
- 1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- 1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
- 1931 – The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.
- 1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
- 1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
- 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
- 1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the “high-water mark” of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
- 1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.
- 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
- 1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed “Gerboise Bleue”, France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
- 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
- 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
- 1975 – Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.
- 1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
- 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1⁄2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
- 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
- 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
- 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).
- 1999 – The last hockey game is played in Maple Leaf Gardens: the Toronto Maple Leafs lose 6–2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
- 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 944.
- 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
- 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
- 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
- 2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
- 2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
- 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
- 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
 Births on February 13
- 1440 – Hartmann Schedel, German physician (d. 1514)
- 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
- 1469 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (d. 1549)
- 1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (d. 1542)
- 1523 – Valentin Naboth, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1593)
- 1539 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (d. 1582)
- 1569 – Johann Reinhard I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1625)
- 1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
- 1602 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1637)
- 1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (d. 1731)
- 1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
- 1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician (d. 1792)
- 1721 – John Reid, Scottish general (d. 1807)
- 1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist (d. 1793)
- 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (d. 1834)
- 1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (d. 1835)
- 1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1844)
- 1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (d. 1859)
- 1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French general (d. 1888)
- 1815 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, editor, poet and critic (d. 1857)
- 1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American general and politician, 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
- 1834 – Heinrich Caro, Sephardic Jewish Polish-German chemist and academic (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader (d. 1908)
- 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1895)
- 1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Hugo Becker, German cellist and composer (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (d. 1905)
- 1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player and umpire (d. 1933)
- 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (d. 1949)
- 1880 – Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, Jewish-English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1965)
- 1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
- 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian actor and director (d. 1922)
- 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (d. 1961)
- 1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of Harry S. Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
- 1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian playwright and critic (d. 1919)
- 1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
- 1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and director (d. 1974)
- 1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (d. 1985)
- 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (d. 1942)
- 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
- 1898 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist and academic (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and theorist (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Georgy Beriev, Georgian-Russian engineer, founded the Beriev Aircraft Company (d. 1979)
- 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher and author (d. 1994)
- 1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino-American singer and actress (d. 2004)
- 1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Indian-Pakistani poet and journalist (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Jean Muir, American actress and educator (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Harald Riipalu, Russian-Estonian commander (d. 1961)
- 1912 – Margaretta Scott, English actress (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Khalid of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
- 1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (d. 1947)
- 1916 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist (d. 1987)
- 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)
- 1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football player and coach (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
- 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French pianist and composer (d. 1968)
- 1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Francis Pym, Baron Pym, Welsh soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American soldier, judge, and politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier
- 1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, Military Leader of Panama (d. 1981)
- 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author, and academic
- 1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician, 2nd President of Cameroon
- 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
- 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer (d. 2019)
- 1934 – George Segal, American actor
- 1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese author and academic (d. 1992)
- 1937 – Angelo Mosca, American-Canadian football player and wrestler
- 1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- 1940 – Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, Mayor of Rotterdam
- 1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter and photographer (d. 2010)
- 1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor, director, and producer
- 1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Donald E. Williams, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2016)
- 1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic
- 1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
- 1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati
- 1945 – Marian Dawkins, English biologist and academic
- 1945 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author
- 1945 – William Sleator, American author and composer (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American sergeant and politician, 23rd Attorney General of Connecticut
- 1946 – Janet Finch, English sociologist and academic
- 1946 – Colin Matthews, English composer and educator
- 1947 – Stephen Hadley, American soldier and diplomat, 21st United States National Security Advisor
- 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
- 1947 – Bogdan Tanjević, Montenegrin-Bosnian professional basketball coach
- 1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
- 1949 – Peter Kern, Austrian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Vera Baird, English lawyer and politician
- 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
- 1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American bass player (d. 2014)
- 1953 – Akio Sato, Japanese wrestler and manager
- 1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer, judge, and politician
- 1956 – Peter Hook, English singer, songwriter, bass player, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
- 1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer and author
- 1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
- 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian publisher and activist
- 1958 – Jean-François Lisée, Canadian journalist and politician
- 1958 – Derek Riggs, English painter and illustrator
- 1958 – Øivind Elgenes, Norwegian vocalist, guitarist and composer
- 1959 – Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian footballer and referee
- 1960 – John Healey, English journalist and politician
- 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football player and coach
- 1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player and author
- 1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – cEvin Key, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboard player, and producer
- 1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Baby Doll, American wrestler and manager
- 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress
- 1964 – Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain, and astronaut
- 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Employment
- 1965 – Peter O’Neill, Papua New Guinean accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
- 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor and producer
- 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1966 – Freedom Williams, American rapper and singer
- 1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
- 1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
- 1969 – Joyce DiDonato, American soprano and actress
- 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1971 – Sonia Evans, English singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
- 1972 – Virgilijus Alekna, Lithuanian discus thrower
- 1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
- 1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American rapper and actor
- 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Ben Collins, English race car driver
- 1975 – Katie Hopkins, English media personality and columnist
- 1976 – Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver
- 1976 – Shannon Nevin, Australian rugby league player
- 1977 – Randy Moss, American football player and coach
- 1978 – Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French countertenor
- 1979 – Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian murderer
- 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Rachel Reeves, English economist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress and fashion designer
- 1980 – Carlos Cotto, Puerto Rican-American wrestler and boxer
- 1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Even Helte Hermansen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
- 1982 – Michael Turner, American football player
- 1983 – Mike Nickeas, Canadian baseball player
- 1983 – Anna Watkins, English rower
- 1984 – Hinkelien Schreuder, Dutch swimmer
- 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
- 1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
- 1986 – Aqib Talib, American football player
- 1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Ryan Goins, American baseball player
- 1988 – Eddy Pettybourne, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
- 1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
- 1991 – Eliaquim Mangala, French footballer
- 1991 – Junior Roqica, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1991 – Vianney, French singer
- 1994 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer
 Deaths on February 13
- 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi) of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty (b. AD 79)
- 721 – Chilperic II, Frankish king (b. 672)
- 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish king (probable; b. 810)
- 921 – Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia
- 936 – Xiao Wen, empress of the Liao Dynasty
- 942 – Muhammad ibn Ra’iq, Abbasid emir and regent
- 988 – Adalbert Atto, Lombard nobleman
- 1021 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 985)
- 1130 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1060
- 1141 – Béla II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1110)
- 1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian grand prince (b. 1113)
- 1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1192)
- 1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1259)
- 1351 – Kō no Morofuyu, Japanese general
- 1539 – Isabella d’Este, Italian noblewoman (b. 1474)
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, English wife of Henry VIII of England (executed;b. 1521)
- 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1500)
- 1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish priest and scholar (b. 1515)
- 1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman and theologian (b. 1507)
- 1660 – Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden (b. 1622)
- 1662 – Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (b. 1596)
- 1693 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (b. 1627)
- 1727 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (b. 1666)
- 1728 – Cotton Mather, American minister and author (b. 1663)
- 1732 – Charles-René d’Hozier, French historian and author (b. 1640)
- 1741 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer and theorist (b. 1660)
- 1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1711)
- 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French lawyer and politician, Foreign Minister of France (b. 1717)
- 1813 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- 1818 – George Rogers Clark, American general (b. 1752)
- 1826 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1745)
- 1831 – Edward Berry, English admiral (b. 1768)
- 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1809)
- 1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher and poet (b. 1773)
- 1877 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (b. 1815)
- 1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
- 1888 – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (b. 1814)
- 1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (b. 1791)
- 1893 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican intellectual and journalist (b. 1834)
- 1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
- 1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
- 1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1864)
- 1942 – Otakar Batlička, Czech journalist (b. 1895)
- 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian lawyer, judge, and politician, 11th President of Brazil (b. 1865)
- 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (b. 1875)
- 1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American minister and author (b. 1877)
- 1952 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1896)
- 1954 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1890)
- 1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician and philosopher (b. 1878)
- 1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, English activist, co-founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (b. 1880)
- 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
- 1964 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1896)
- 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1902)
- 1967 – Yoshisuke Aikawa, entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founded Nissan Motor Company (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (1932-1934) (b. 1889)
- 1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1968 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (b. 1911)
- 1973 – Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, Dutch architect and educator (b. 1883)
- 1975 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general and politician, 4th President of Nigeria (b. 1938)
- 1976 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (b. 1904)
- 1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1984 – Cheong Eak Chong, Singaporean entrepreneur (b. 1888)
- 1986 – Yuri Ivask, Russian-American poet and critic (b. 1907)
- 1989 – Wayne Hays, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor and illustrator (b. 1900)
- 1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1914)
- 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (b. 1921)
- 2000 – John Leake, English soldier (b. 1949)
- 2002 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Kid Gavilán, Cuban-American boxer (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist; 7th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1916)
- 2004 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1942)
- 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician, 2nd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
- 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (b. 1907)
- 2006 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher and author (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American captain and politician (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, English air marshal (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 2009 – Edward Upward, English author and educator (b. 1903)
- 2010 – Lucille Clifton, American poet and academic (b. 1936)
- 2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Louise Cochrane, American-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Daniel C. Gerould, American playwright and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Gerry Day, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Miles J. Jones, American pathologist and physician (b. 1952)
- 2013 – Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch judge and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Andrée Malebranche, Haitian artist (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Yuko Tojo, Japanese activist and politician (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Richard Møller Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Ralph Waite, American actor and activist (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Faith Bandler, Australian activist and author (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (b. 1923)
- 2016 – O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet and academic (b. 1931)
- 2016 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Ricardo Arias Calderón, Panamanian politician, Vice President (1990–1992) (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Aileen Hernandez, American union organizer and activist (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Seijun Suzuki, Japanese filmmaker (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, North Korean politician (b. 1971)
- 2017 – E-Dubble, American rapper (b. 1982)
- 2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, French-born Danish royal (b. 1934)
 Holidays and observances on February 13
- Children’s Day (Myanmar)
- Christian feast day:
- Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Beatrice of Ornacieux
- Castor of Karden
- Catherine of Ricci
- Ermenilda of Ely
- Fulcran
- Jordan of Saxony
- Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)
- February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- World Radio Day
 
 
 
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		February 6 in History
- AD 60 – The earliest date for which the day of the week is known. A graffito in Pompeii identifies this day as a dies Solis (Sunday). In modern reckoning, this date would have been a Wednesday.
- 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
- 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.
- 1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
- 1778 –New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1806 – Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.
- 1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
- 1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
- 1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
- 1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
- 1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
- 1851 – The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
- 1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
- 1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
- 1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
- 1919 – The American Legion is founded.
- 1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.
- 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
- 1934 – Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
- 1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
- 1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
- 1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
- 1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.
- 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
- 1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- 1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
- 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
- 1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
- 1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
- 1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.
- 1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
- 1996 – Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
- 1996 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.
- 1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
- 2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
- 2006 – Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
- 2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
- 2018 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.
 Births on February 6
- 885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan (d. 930)
- 1402 – Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1458)
- 1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)
- 1453 – Girolamo Benivieni, Florentine poet (d. 1542)
- 1465 – Scipione del Ferro, Italian mathematician and theorist (d. 1526)
- 1536 – Sassa Narimasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1588)
- 1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian murderer (d. 1599)
- 1582 – Mario Bettinus, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1657)
- 1608 – António Vieira, Portuguese priest and philosopher (d. 1697)
- 1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (d. 1644)
- 1612 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1694)
- 1643 – Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, Prussian politician, 1st Minister President of Prussia (d. 1712)
- 1649 – Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp, German noblewoman (d. 1728)
- 1664 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1703)
- 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)
- 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (d. 1714)
- 1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1726)
- 1719 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1759)
- 1726 – Patrick Russell, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (d. 1805)
- 1732 – Charles Lee, English-American general (d. 1782)
- 1736 – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, German-Austrian sculptor (d. 1783)
- 1744 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
- 1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830)
- 1753 – Évariste de Parny, French poet and author (d. 1814)
- 1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1758 – Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Belarusian-Polish poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1841)
- 1769 – Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, Austrian general (d. 1862)
- 1772 – George Murray, Scottish general and politician, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (d. 1830)
- 1778 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (d. 1827)
- 1781 – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, Irish general and politician, Governor of Saint Lucia (d. 1844)
- 1796 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist and geologist (d. 1861)
- 1797 – Joseph von Radowitz, Prussian general and politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (d. 1853)
- 1799 – Imre Frivaldszky, Hungarian botanist and entomologist (d. 1870)
- 1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
- 1802 – Charles Wheatstone, English-French physicist and cryptographer (d. 1875)
- 1811 – Henry Liddell, English priest, author, and academic (d. 1898)
- 1814 – Auguste Chapdelaine, French missionary and saint (d. 1856)
- 1818 – William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (d. 1901)
- 1820 – Thomas C. Durant, American railroad tycoon (d. 1885)
- 1829 – Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, French architect, designed the La Santé Prison and Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge (d. 1914)
- 1832 – John Brown Gordon, American general and politician, 53rd Governor of Georgia (d. 1904)
- 1833 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author and academic (d. 1906)
- 1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
- 1834 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist and academic (d. 1913)
- 1834 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian-German soprano (d. 1889)
- 1834 – Wilhelm von Scherff, German general and author (d. 1911)
- 1838 – Henry Irving, English actor and manager (d. 1905)
- 1838 – Israel Meir Kagan, Lithuanian-Polish rabbi and author (d. 1933)
- 1839 – Eduard Hitzig, German neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1907)
- 1842 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
- 1843 – Inoue Kowashi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 1895)
- 1843 – Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet and philologist, co-founded the Society for Psychical Research (d. 1901)
- 1845 – Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (d. 1912)
- 1847 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (d. 1918)
- 1852 – C. Lloyd Morgan, English zoologist and psychologist (d. 1936)
- 1852 – Vasily Safonov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1918)
- 1861 – Nikolay Zelinsky, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1953)
- 1864 – John Henry Mackay, Scottish-German philosopher and author (d. 1933)
- 1866 – Karl Sapper, German linguist and explorer (d. 1945)
- 1872 – Robert Maillart, Swiss engineer, designed the Salginatobel Bridge and Schwandbach Bridge (d. 1940)
- 1874 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
- 1875 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)
- 1876 – Henry Blogg, English fisherman and sailor (d. 1954)
- 1879 – Othon Friesz, French painter (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Magnús Guðmundsson, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1937)
- 1879 – Edwin Samuel Montagu, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1924)
- 1879 – Carl Ramsauer, German physicist and author (d. 1955)
- 1880 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (d. 1931)
- 1884 – Marcel Cohen, French linguist and scholar (d. 1974)
- 1887 – Josef Frings, German cardinal (d. 1978)
- 1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (d. 1988)
- 1890 – James McGirr, Australian politician, 28th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Maximilian Fretter-Pico, German general (d. 1984)
- 1892 – William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1893 – Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan (d. 1985)
- 1894 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand-English lexicographer and academic (d. 1979)
- 1894 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician (d. 1953)
- 1895 – María Teresa Vera, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
- 1898 – Harry Haywood, American soldier and politician (d. 1985)
- 1899 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1968)
- 1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1902 – George Brunies, American trombonist (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist and composer (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (d. 1982)
- 1905 – Jan Werich, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1980)
- 1906 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Geo Bogza, Romanian poet and journalist (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Michael Maltese, American actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Roman Czerniawski, Polish air force officer and spy (d. 1985)
- 1910 – Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
- 1910 – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-American gangster (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
- 1912 – Christopher Hill, English historian and author (d. 2003)
- 1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Kavi Pradeep, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1998)
- 1916 – John Crank, English mathematician and physicist (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Louis-Philippe de Grandpré, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
- 1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
- 1918 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author and painter (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Carl Neumann Degler, American historian and author (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Patrick Macnee, English-American actor and costume designer (d. 2015)
- 1922 – Denis Norden, English actor, screenwriter, and television host (d. 2018)
- 1922 – Haskell Wexler, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1981)
- 1924 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Jin Yong, Hong Kong author and publisher, founded Ming Pao (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Walker Edmiston, American actor and puppeteer (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist and academic (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan author and critic (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Valentin Yanin, Russian historian and author (d. 2020)
- 1930 – Jun Kondo, Japanese physicist and academic
- 1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model
- 1931 – Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (d. 2017)
- 1932 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier and anarchist (d. 1959)
- 1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1933 – Leslie Crowther, English comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 1996)
- 1936 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
- 1938 – Fred Mifflin, Canadian admiral and politician, 19th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Jean Beaudin, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2019)
- 1939 – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, activist and public speaker
- 1939 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author
- 1940 – Petr Hájek, Czech mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
- 1940 – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian and actor
- 1941 – Stephen Albert, American pianist and composer (d. 1992)
- 1941 – Dave Berry, English pop singer
- 1941 – Gigi Perreau, American actress and director
- 1942 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Charlie Coles, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Ahmad-Jabir Ahmadov Ismail oghlu, Azerbaijani philosopher and academic
- 1942 – James Loewen, American sociologist and historian
- 1942 – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (d. 2012)
- 1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
- 1943 – Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
- 1944 – Christine Boutin, French politician, French Minister of Housing and Urban Development
- 1944 – Willie Tee, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2007)
- 1944 – Michael Tucker, American actor and producer
- 1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
- 1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Jim Turner, American captain and politician
- 1947 – Bill Staines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Charlie Hickcox, American swimmer (d .2010)
- 1949 – Mike Batt, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1949 – Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
- 1949 – Jim Sheridan, Irish director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Timothy M. Dolan, American cardinal
- 1950 – Punky Meadows, American rock guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, coach, and politician
- 1952 – Viktor Giacobbo, Swiss actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Ricardo La Volpe, Argentinian footballer, manager, and coach
- 1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- 1955 – Michael Pollan, American journalist, author, and academic
- 1955 – Bruno Stolorz, French rugby player and coach
- 1956 – Jerry Marotta, American drummer
- 1957 – Andres Lipstok, Estonian economist and politician, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs
- 1957 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
- 1957 – Simon Phillips, English drummer and producer
- 1957 – Robert Townsend, American actor and director
- 1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (d. 2004)
- 1960 – Jeremy Bowen, Welsh journalist
- 1960 – Megan Gallagher, American actress
- 1961 – Michael Bolt, Australian rugby league player
- 1961 – Cam Cameron, American football player and coach
- 1961 – Bill Lester, American race car driver
- 1961 – Yury Onufriyenko, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1962 – Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
- 1962 – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1963 – David Capel, English cricketer
- 1963 – Scott Gordon, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1963 – Quentin Letts, English journalist and critic
- 1964 – Laurent Cabannes, French rugby player
- 1964 – Gordon Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
- 1964 – Colin Miller, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1964 – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director
- 1965 – Jan Svěrák, Czech actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1967 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
- 1968 – Adolfo Valencia, Colombian footballer
- 1968 – Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer and producer
- 1969 – David Hayter, American actor and screenwriter
- 1969 – Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1969 – Tim Sherwood, English international footballer midfielder and manager
- 1969 – Bob Wickman, American baseball player
- 1970 – Per Frandsen, Danish footballer and manager
- 1970 – Tim Herron, American golfer
- 1971 – Brad Hogg, Australian cricketer
- 1971 – Carlos Rogers, American basketball player
- 1972 – Stefano Bettarini, Italian footballer
- 1972 – David Binn, American football player
- 1974 – Aljo Bendijo, Filipino journalist
- 1975 – Chad Allen, American baseball player and coach
- 1975 – Orkut Büyükkökten, Turkish computer scientist and engineer, created Orkut
- 1975 – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
- 1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder and educator
- 1976 – Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast and coach
- 1977 – Josh Stewart, American actor
- 1978 – Yael Naim, French-Israeli singer-songwriter
- 1979 – Dan Bălan, Moldovan singer-songwriter and producer
- 1980 – Kerry Jeremy, Antiguan cricketer
- 1980 – Kim Poirier, Canadian actress, singer, and producer
- 1980 – Luke Ravenstahl, American politician, 58th Mayor of Pittsburgh
- 1981 – Ricky Barnes, American golfer
- 1981 – Calum Best, American-English model and actor
- 1981 – Shim Eun-jin, South Korean singer and actress
- 1981 – Alison Haislip, American actress and producer
- 1981 – Jens Lekman, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Ty Warren, American football player
- 1982 – Tank, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Alice Eve, English actress
- 1982 – Elise Ray, American gymnast
- 1983 – Melrose Bickerstaff, American model and fashion designer
- 1983 – Brodie Croyle, American football player
- 1983 – Dimas Delgado, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – S. Sreesanth, Indian cricketer
- 1983 – Jamie Whincup, Australian race car driver
- 1984 – Darren Bent, English international footballer, forward
- 1984 – Piret Järvis, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1984 – Antoine Wright, American basketball player
- 1985 – Ben Creagh, Australian rugby league player
- 1985 – Kris Humphries, American basketball player
- 1986 – Dane DeHaan, American actor
- 1986 – Yunho, South Korean singer and actor
- 1988 – Bailey Hanks, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1989 – Craig Cathcart, Northern Irish footballer
- 1989 – Jonny Flynn, American basketball player
- 1990 – Adam Henrique, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Jermaine Kearse, American football player
- 1990 – Aida Rybalko, Lithuanian figure skater
- 1991 – Tobias Eisenbauer, Austrian ice dancer
- 1991 – Ida Njåtun, Norwegian speed skater
- 1991 – Eva Wacanno, Dutch tennis player
- 1991 – Fei Yu, Chinese footballer
- 1992 – Víctor Mañón, Mexican footballer
- 1993 – Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011
- 1993 – Tinashe, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1994 – Charlie Heaton, British actor and musician
- 1995 – Leon Goretzka, German footballer
- 1995 – Sam McQueen, English footballer
 Deaths on February 6
- 743 – Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph (b. 691)
- 797 – Donnchad Midi, Irish king (b. 733)
- 891 – Photios I of Constantinople (b. 810)
- 1140 – Thurstan, Archbishop of York
- 1155 – King Sigurd II of Norway (b. 1133)
- 1215 – Hōjō Tokimasa, Japanese shikken of the Kamakura bakufu (b. 1138)
- 1378 – Joanna of Bourbon (b. 1338)
- 1411 – Esau de’ Buondelmonti, ruler of Epirus
- 1497 – Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1410)
- 1515 – Aldus Manutius, Italian publisher, founded the Aldine Press (b. 1449)
- 1519 – Lorenz von Bibra, Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Würzburg (b. 1459)
- 1539 – John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)
- 1585 – Edmund Plowden, English lawyer and scholar (b. 1518)
- 1593 – Jacques Amyot, French author and translator (b. 1513)
- 1593 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (b. 1517)
- 1597 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1529)
- 1612 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1538)
- 1617 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1553)
- 1625 – Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1584)
- 1685 – Charles II of England (b. 1630)
- 1695 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1643)
- 1740 – Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
- 1775 – William Dowdeswell, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1721)
- 1783 – Capability Brown, English gardener and architect (b. 1716)
- 1793 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian-French playwright (b. 1707)
- 1804 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (b. 1733)
- 1807 – John Reid, Scottish general (b. 1721)
- 1833 – Pierre André Latreille, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1762)
- 1834 – Richard Lemon Lander, English explorer (b. 1804)
- 1865 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (b. 1836)
- 1899 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1874)
- 1899 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)
- 1902 – John Colton, English-Australian politician, 13th Premier of South Australia (b. 1823)
- 1916 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (b. 1867)
- 1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (b. 1862)
- 1929 – Maria Christina of Austria (b. 1858)
- 1931 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (b. 1861)
- 1932 – John Earle, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1865)
- 1938 – Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Jaan Soots, Estonian general and politician, 7th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1880)
- 1951 – Gabby Street, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1882)
- 1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
- 1958 – victims of the Munich air disaster
- – Geoff Bent, English footballer (b. 1932)
- – Roger Byrne, English footballer (b. 1929)
- – Eddie Colman, English footballer (b. 1936)
- – Walter Crickmer, English footballer and manager (b. 1900)
- – Mark Jones, English footballer (b. 1933)
- – David Pegg, English footballer (b. 1935)
- – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (b. 1913)
- – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (b. 1932)
 
- 1963 – Piero Manzoni, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1933)
- 1964 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (b. 1869)
- 1967 – Martine Carol, French actress (b. 1920)
- 1972 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Ritwik Ghatak, Bangladeshi-Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 1976 – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1928)
- 1981 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 1982 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (b. 1894)
- 1985 – James Hadley Chase, English-Swiss soldier and author (b. 1906)
- 1986 – Frederick Coutts, Scottish 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
- 1986 – Dandy Nichols, English actress (b. 1907)
- 1986 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
- 1987 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1929)
- 1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)
- 1990 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
- 1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- 1991 – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
- 1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1994 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (b. 1917)
- 1995 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (b. 1926)
- 1998 – Falco, Austrian pop-rock musician (b. 1957)
- 1999 – Don Dunstan, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of South Australia (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Jimmy Roberts, American tenor (b. 1924)
- 2000 – Phil Walters, American race car driver (b. 1916)
- 2001 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino theoretician and activist (b. 1953)
- 2002 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and economist (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Karl Haas, German-American pianist, conductor, and radio host (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Lew Burdette, American baseball player and coach (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Willye White, American runner and long jumper (b. 1939)
- 2008 – Tony Rolt, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Philip Carey, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2009 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Gary Moore, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)
- 2012 – David Rosenhan, American psychologist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Antoni Tàpies, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Janice E. Voss, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1956)
- 2013 – Chokri Belaid, Tunisian lawyer and politician (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Menachem Elon, German-Israeli academic and jurist (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Vasiľ Biľak, Slovak politician (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Maxine Kumin, American author and poet (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Vaçe Zela, Albanian-Swiss singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
- 2015 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Alan Nunnelee, American lawyer and politician (b. 1958)
- 2015 – Pedro León Zapata, Venezuelan cartoonist (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Dan Gerson, American screenwriter (b. 1966)
- 2016 – Dan Hicks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2017 – Irwin Corey, American comedian and actor (b. 1914)
- 2017 – Inge Keller, German actress (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Alec McCowen, English actor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby union footballer (b. 1971)
 Holidays and observances on February 6
- Christian feast day:
- Amand
- Dorothea of Caesarea
- Hildegund, O.Praem.
- Jacut
- Mateo Correa Magallanes (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Mél of Ardagh
- Paul Miki and Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan
- Relindis (Renule) of Maaseik
- Vedastus
- February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations)
- Ronald Reagan Day (California, United States)
- Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden)
- Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840.