587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.
238 – The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor.
615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.
904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire’s second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week.
923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany).
1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6.
1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning “Memoir on the Diffraction of Light”, precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.
1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
1973 – During the Dutch Grand Prix driver Roger Williamson was killed in the race, after a suspected tire failure caused the car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.
1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1980 – Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.
1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
1981 – After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.
2013 – Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.
2019 – Prison riot between rival gangs broke out in Brazil, at least 57 people have been killed.
Births on July 29
869 – Muhammad al-Mahdi, Iraqi 12th Imam (d. 941)
996 – Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman (d. 1075)
1166 – Henry II, French nobleman and king of Jerusalem (d. 1197)
1356 – Martin the Elder, king of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (d. 1410)
1537 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, Spanish nobleman (d. 1590)
1573 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania-Stettin (d. 1618)
1580 – Francesco Mochi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
1605 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymn-writer (d. 1659)
1646 – Johann Theile, German organist and composer (d. 1724)
1744 – Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (d. 1830)
1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1845)
1797 – Daniel Drew, American businessman and financier (d. 1879)
1801 – George Bradshaw, English cartographer and publisher (d. 1853)
1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (d. 1859)
1806 – Horace Abbott, American businessman and banker (d. 1887)
1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1900)
1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor (d. 1893)
1841 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (d. 1912)
1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (d. 1901)
1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (d. 1918)
1846 – Isabel, Brazilian princess (d. 1921)
1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (d. 1923)
1860 – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, English politician, 8th Governor of Queensland (d. 1940)
1867 – Berthold Oppenheim, Moravian rabbi (d. 1942)
1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (d. 1946)
1871 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian writer and journalist (d. 1930)
1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, lawyer, and politician (d. 1957)
1874 – J. S. Woodsworth, Canadian minister and politician (d. 1942)
1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress and acting teacher (d. 1949)
1878 – Don Marquis, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (d. 1942)
1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1945)
1884 – Ralph Austin Bard, American financier and politician, 2nd Under Secretary of the Navy (d. 1975)
1885 – Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (d. 1951)
1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (d. 1982)
1891 – Bernhard Zondek, German-Israeli gynecologist and academic (d. 1966)
1892 – William Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
1896 – Maria L. de Hernández, Mexican-American rights activist (d. 1986)
1897 – Neil Ritchie, Guyanese-English general (d. 1983)
1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
1900 – Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker and political activist (d. 1986)
1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1976)
1900 – Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (d. 1980)
1900 – Don Redman, American composer, and bandleader (d. 1964)
1904 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1982)
1904 – J. R. D. Tata, French-Indian pilot and businessman, founded Tata Motors and Tata Global Beverages (d. 1993)
1905 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
1905 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1961)
1905 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (d. 2006)
1906 – Thelma Todd, American actress and singer (d. 1935)
1907 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer (d. 1996)
1909 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American author (d. 1997)
1909 – Chester Himes, American-Spanish author (d. 1984)
1910 – Gale Page, American actress (d. 1983)
1911 – Foster Furcolo, American lawyer and politician, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
1911 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (d. 2005)
1913 – Erich Priebke, German war criminal, leader of the 1944 Ardeatine massacre (d. 2013)
1914 – Irwin Corey, American actor and activist (d. 2017)
1915 – Bruce R. McConkie, American colonel and religious leader (d. 1985)
1915 – Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
1916 – Budd Boetticher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1916 – Charlie Christian, American guitarist (d. 1942)
1916 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (d. 2004)
1917 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (d. 2013)
1918 – Don Ingalls, American writer and producer (d. 2014)
1918 – Edwin O’Connor, American journalist and author (d. 1968)
1918 – Mary Lee Settle, American novelist, essayist, and memoirist (d. 2005)
1920 – Neville Jeffress, Australian businessman (d. 2007)
1921 – Richard Egan, American actor (d. 1987)
1921 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (d. 2012)
1923 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
1923 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
1923 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (d. 2012)
1923 – Gordon Mitchell, American bodybuilder and actor (d. 2003)
1924 – Lloyd Bochner, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
1924 – Robert Horton, American actor (d. 2016)
1925 – Harold W. Kuhn, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
1925 – Ted Lindsay, Canadian ice hockey player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2019)
1925 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer
1926 – Robert Kilpatrick, Baron Kilpatrick of Kincraig, Scottish physician, academic, and politician (d. 2015)
1927 – Harry Mulisch, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (d. 2010)
1930 – Paul Taylor, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
1931 – Kjell Karlsen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2020)
1932 – Leslie Fielding, English diplomat
1932 – Nancy Kassebaum, American businesswoman and politician
1933 – Lou Albano, Italian-American wrestler, manager, and actor (d. 2009)
1933 – Colin Davis, English race car driver (d. 2012)
1933 – Robert Fuller, American actor and rancher
1933 – Randy Sparks, American folk singer-songwriter and musician (The New Christy Minstrels)
1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor and conductor (d. 2019)
1936 – Elizabeth Dole, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Labor
1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate
1938 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (d. 2005)
1938 – Jean Rochon, Canadian physician and politician
1940 – Betty Harris, American chemist
1940 – Winnie Monsod, Filipina economist and political commentator
1941 – Jennifer Dunn, American engineer and politician (d. 2007)
1941 – Goenawan Mohamad, Indonesian poet and playwright
1941 – David Warner, English actor
1942 – Doug Ashdown, Australian singer-songwriter
1943 – David Taylor, English snooker player and sportscaster
1944 – Jim Bridwell, American rock climber and mountaineer
1945 – Sharon Creech, American author and educator
1945 – Mircea Lucescu, Romanian footballer, coach, and manager
1946 – Ximena Armas, Chilean painter
1946 – Stig Blomqvist, Swedish race car driver
1946 – Neal Doughty, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1946 – Alessandro Gogna, Italian mountaineer and adventurer
1946 – Diane Keen, English actress
1946 – Aleksei Tammiste, Estonian basketball player
1947 – Dick Harmon, American golfer and coach (d. 2006)
1948 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1949 – Leslie Easterbrook, American actress
1949 – Jamil Mahuad, Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Ecuador
1950 – Jenny Holzer, American painter, author, and dancer
1951 – Susan Blackmore, English psychologist and theorist
1951 – Dan Driessen, American baseball player and coach
1951 – Dean Pitchford, American actor, director, screenwriter, and composer
1952 – Norman Blackwell, Baron Blackwell, English businessman and politician
1952 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player and sportscaster
1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Greek politician
1953 – Ken Burns, American director and producer
1953 – Geddy Lee, Canadian musician
1953 – Frank McGuinness, Irish poet and playwright
1953 – Tim Gunn, American television host and actor
1954 – Patti Scialfa, American musician
1955 – Jean-Hugues Anglade, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1955 – Dave Stevens, American illustrator (d. 2008)
1955 – Stephen Timms, English politician, Minister of State for Competitiveness
1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxer, trainer, and sportscaster
1956 – Ronnie Musgrove, American lawyer and politician, 62nd Governor of Mississippi
1956 – Faustino Rupérez, Spanish cyclist
1957 – Liam Davison, Australian author and educator (d. 2014)
1957 – Viktor Gavrikov, Lithuanian-Swiss chess player (d. 2016)
1957 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast and coach
1958 – Gail Dines, English-American author, activist, and academic
1958 – Simon Nye, English screenwriter and producer
1958 – Cynthia Rowley, American fashion designer
1959 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor, singer, and producer
1959 – Ruud Janssen, Dutch blogger and illustrator
1959 – Dave LaPoint, American baseball player and manager
1959 – John Sykes, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Didier Van Cauwelaert, French author
1962 – Carl Cox, English DJ and producer
1962 – Frank Neubarth, German footballer and manager
491 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theoderic the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna.
551 – A major earthquake strikes Beirut, triggering a devastating tsunami that affected the coastal towns of Byzantine Phoenicia, causing thousands of deaths.
660 – Korean forces under general Kim Yu-sin of Silla defeat the army of Baekje in the Battle of Hwangsanbeol.
869 – The 8.4–9.0 Mw Sanriku earthquake strikes the area around Sendai in northern Honshu, Japan. Inundation from the tsunami extended several kilometers inland.
969 – The Fatimid general Jawhar leads the Friday prayer in Fustat in the name of Caliph al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah, thereby symbolically completing the Fatimid conquest of Egypt.
1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
1386 – The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its territory by soundly defeating the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.
1401 – Timur attacks the Jalairid Sultanate and destroys Baghdad.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.
1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II.
1701 – A Bourbon force under Nicolas Catinat withdraws from a smaller Habsburg force under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Battle of Carpi.
1745 – French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.
1755 – The Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.
1762 – Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III.
1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.
1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.
1790 – The Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian Baltic fleet.
1793 – The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves and will free those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.
1807 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed by Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia.
1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.
1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign near what is now Sacajawea State Park in Washington state, claiming the Columbia District for the United Kingdom.
1815 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France.
1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.
1821 – Four hundred and seventy prominent Cypriots including Archbishop Kyprianos are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence.
1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
1850 – Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.
1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River.
1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
1875 – The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans.
1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins.
1893 – Daniel Hale Williams, American heart surgeon, performs the first successful open-heart surgery in United States without anesthesia.
1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1900 – The Federation of Australia is given royal assent.
1900 – The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.
1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.
1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the ‘minute barrier’.
1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution.
1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Sicily soon causes the downfall of Mussolini and forces Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.
1944 – World War II: American forces take Saipan, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29 raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government.
1944 – World War II: Continuation War: Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.
1955 – The Russell–Einstein Manifesto calls for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare.
1956 – The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the destructive tsunami that followed left fifty-three people dead. A damaging M7.2 aftershock occurred minutes after the mainshock.
1958 – A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay; five people were killed.
1962 – Starfish Prime tests the effects of a nuclear test at orbital altitudes.
1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by “Nazi hunters” Serge and Beate Klarsfeld outside their home in France in an unsuccessful assassination attempt.
1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground.
1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.
1993 – The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite.
1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.
1999 – Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.
2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The organization’s first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
2006 – One hundred and twenty-five people are killed when S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310 passenger jet, veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia.
2011 – South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.
Births on July 9
1249 – Emperor Kameyama of Japan (d. 1305)
1455 – Frederick IV of Baden, Dutch bishop (d. 1517)
1511 – Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1571)
1526 – Elizabeth of Austria, Polish noble (d. 1545)
1577 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English-American soldier and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (d. 1618)
1578 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1637)
1654 – Emperor Reigen of Japan (d. 1732)
1686 – Philip Livingston, American merchant and politician (d. 1749)
1689 – Alexis Piron, French epigrammatist and playwright (d. 1773)
1721 – Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet and author (d. 1781)
1753 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, English admiral and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1825)
1764 – Ann Ward, English author and poet (d. 1823)
1775 – Matthew Lewis, English author and playwright (d. 1818)
1800 – Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (d. 1885)
1808 – Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and colonel (d. 1887)
1819 – Elias Howe, American inventor, invented the sewing machine (d. 1867)
1825 – A. C. Gibbs, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Oregon (d. 1886)
1828 – Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian cardinal (d. 1913)
1834 – Jan Neruda, Czech journalist and poet (d. 1891)
1836 – Camille of Renesse-Breidbach (d. 1904)
1848 – Robert I, Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
1853 – William Turner Dannat, American painter (d. 1929)
1856 – John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (d. 1932)
1858 – Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (d. 1942)
1867 – Georges Lecomte, French author and playwright (d. 1958)
1879 – Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician and parasitologist (d. 1934)
1879 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1936)
1887 – James Ormsbee Chapin, American-Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
1887 – Saturnino Herrán, Mexican painter (d. 1918)
1887 – Samuel Eliot Morison, American admiral and historian (d. 1976)
1889 – Léo Dandurand, American-Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1964)
1893 – George Geary, English cricketer and coach (d. 1981)
1901 – Barbara Cartland, prolific English author (d. 2000)
1902 – Peter Acland, English soldier (d. 1993)
1905 – Clarence Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 1984)
1907 – Eddie Dean, American singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
1908 – Allamah Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani philosopher and scholar (d. 1973)
1908 – Minor White, American photographer, critic, and educator (d. 1976)
1909 – Basil Wolverton, American author and illustrator (d. 1978)
1910 – Govan Mbeki, South African anti-apartheid and ANC leader and activist (d. 2001)
1911 – Mervyn Peake, English author and illustrator (d. 1968)
1911 – John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist and author (d. 2008)
1914 – Willi Stoph, German engineer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of East Germany (d. 1999)
1914 – Mac Wilson, Australian rules footballer (d. 2017)
1915 – David Diamond, American composer and educator (d. 2005)
1915 – Lee Embree, American sergeant and photographer (d. 2008)
1916 – Dean Goffin, New Zealand composer (d. 1984)
1916 – Edward Heath, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
1917 – Krystyna Dańko, Polish orphan, survivor of Holocaust (d. 2019)
1918 – Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
1918 – Jarl Wahlström, Finnish 12th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1999)
1921 – David C. Jones, American general (d. 2013)
1922 – Angelines Fernández, Spanish-Mexican actress (d. 1994)
1922 – Jim Pollard, American basketball player and coach (d. 1993)
1924 – Pierre Cochereau, French organist and composer (d. 1984)
1925 – Guru Dutt, Indian actor, director, and producer (d. 1964)
1925 – Charles E. Wicks, American engineer, author, and academic (d. 2010)
1925 – Ronald I. Spiers, American ambassador
1926 – Murphy Anderson, American illustrator (d. 2015)
1926 – Ben Roy Mottelson, American-Danish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1926 – Pedro Dellacha, Argentine football defender and coach (d. 2010)
1926 – Mathilde Krim, Italian-American medical researcher and health educator (d. 2018)
1927 – Ed Ames, American singer and actor
1927 – Red Kelly, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and politician (d. 2019)
1928 – Federico Bahamontes, Spanish cyclist
1928 – Vince Edwards, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1996)
1929 – Lee Hazlewood, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2007)
1929 – Jesse McReynolds, American singer and mandolin player
1929 – Chi Haotian, Chinese general
1929 – Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)
1930 – K. Balachander, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Buddy Bregman, American composer and conductor (d. 2017)
1930 – Janice Lourie, American computer scientist and graphic artist
1930 – Elsa Lystad, Norwegian actress
1930 – Roy McLean, South African cricketer and rugby player (d. 2007)
1931 – Haynes Johnson, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1931 – Sylvia Bacon, American judge
1932 – Donald Rumsfeld, American captain and politician, 13th United States Secretary of Defense
1932 – Amitzur Shapira, Israeli sprinter and long jumper (d. 1972)
1933 – Oliver Sacks, English-American neurologist, author, and academic (d. 2015)
1934 – Michael Graves, American architect, designed the Portland Building and the Humana Building (d. 2015)
1935 – Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician, Dutch Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
1935 – Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian singer and activist (d. 2009)
1935 – Michael Williams, English actor (d. 2001)
1936 – June Jordan, American poet and educator (d. 2002)
1936 – David Zinman, American violinist and conductor
1937 – David Hockney, English painter and photographer
1938 – Brian Dennehy, American actor (d. 2020)
1938 – Sanjeev Kumar, Indian film actor (d. 1985)
1940 – David B. Frohnmayer, American lawyer and politician, 12th Oregon Attorney General (d. 2015)
1940 – Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American psychoanalyst and theorist (d. 2010)
1941 – Mac MacLeod, English musician
1942 – David Chidgey, Baron Chidgey, English engineer and politician
1942 – Richard Roundtree, American actor
1943 – John Casper, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1944 – Judith M. Brown, Indian-English historian and academic
1944 – John Cunniff, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
1945 – Dean Koontz, American author and screenwriter
1945 – Root Boy Slim, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993)
1946 – Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1980)
1947 – Haruomi Hosono, Japanese singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1947 – Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (d. 2008)
1947 – O. J. Simpson, American football player and actor
1947 – Patrick Wormald, English historian (d. 2004)
1948 – Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesian lawyer and politician, 15th Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1949 – Raoul Cédras, Haitian military officer and politician
1950 – Amal ibn Idris al-Alami, Moroccan physician and neurosurgeon
1950 – Adriano Panatta, Italian tennis player and sailor
1950 – Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian engineer and politician, 4th President of Ukraine
1951 – Chris Cooper, American actor
1951 – Māris Gailis, Latvian politician, businessman, and former Prime Minister of Latvia
1952 – John Tesh, American pianist, composer, and radio and television host
1953 – Margie Gillis, Canadian dancer and choreographer
1953 – Thomas Ligotti, American author
1954 – Théophile Abega, Cameroonian footballer and politician (d. 2012)
1954 – Kevin O’Leary, Canadian journalist and businessman
1955 – Steve Coppell, English footballer and manager
1955 – Lindsey Graham, American colonel, lawyer, and politician
1955 – Jimmy Smits, American actor and producer
1955 – Willie Wilson, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Tom Hanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1956 – Michael Lederer, American author, poet, and playwright
1957 – Marc Almond, English singer-songwriter
1957 – Tim Kring, American screenwriter and producer
1957 – Kelly McGillis, American actress
1957 – Paul Merton, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1958 – Abdul Latiff Ahmad, Malaysian politician
1958 – Jacob Joseph, Malaysian football coach
1959 – Jim Kerr, Scottish singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1959 – Kevin Nash, American wrestler
1959 – Clive Stafford Smith, English lawyer and author
1960 – Yūko Asano, Japanese actress and singer
1960 – Wally Fullerton Smith, Australian rugby league player
1960 – Eduardo Montes-Bradley, Argentinian journalist, photographer, and author
1963 – Klaus Theiss, German footballer
1964 – Courtney Love, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1964 – Gianluca Vialli, Italian footballer and coach
1965 – Frank Bello, American bass player
1965 – Thomas Jahn, German director and screenwriter
1965 – Jason Rhoades, American sculptor (d. 2006)
1966 – Pamela Adlon, American actress and voice artist
1966 – Zheng Cao, Chinese-American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
1966 – Gary Glasberg, American television writer and producer (d. 2016)
1966 – Marco Pennette, American screenwriter and producer
1967 – Gunnar Axén, Swedish politician
1967 – Yordan Letchkov, Bulgarian footballer
1967 – Mark Stoops, American football player and coach
1968 – Paolo Di Canio, Italian footballer and manager
1968 – Lars Gyllenhaal, Swedish historian and author
1969 – Nicklas Barker, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Jason Kearton, Australian footballer and coach
1970 – Trent Green, American football player and sportscaster
1970 – Masami Tsuda, Japanese author and illustrator
1971 – Marc Andreessen, American software developer, co-founded Netscape
1972 – Ara Babajian, American drummer and songwriter
1973 – Kelly Holcomb, American football player and sportscaster
1974 – Siân Berry, English environmentalist and politician
1974 – Ian Bradshaw, Barbadian cricketer
1974 – Gary Kelly, Irish footballer
1974 – Nikola Šarčević, Swedish singer-songwriter and bass player
1975 – Shelton Benjamin, American wrestler
1975 – Isaac Brock, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Robert Koenig, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Craig Quinnell, Welsh rugby player
1975 – Jack White, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1976 – Thomas Cichon, Polish-German footballer and manager
1976 – Fred Savage, American actor, director, and producer
1976 – Radike Samo, Fijian-Australian rugby player
1978 – Kara Goucher, American runner
1978 – Nuno Santos, Portuguese footballer
1979 – Gary Chaw, Malaysian Chinese singer-songwriter
1981 – Lee Chun-soo, South Korean footballer
1981 – Junauda Petrus, American author and performance artist
1982 – Alecko Eskandarian, American soccer player and manager
1982 – Sakon Yamamoto, Japanese race car driver
1984 – Chris Campoli, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Gianni Fabiano, Italian footballer
1984 – Jacob Hoggard, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Ave Pajo, Estonian footballer
1984 – Piia Suomalainen, Finnish tennis player
1984 – LA Tenorio, Filipino basketball player
1985 – Paweł Korzeniowski, Polish swimmer
1985 – Ashley Young, English footballer
1986 – Sébastien Bassong, Cameroonian footballer
1986 – Simon Dumont, American skier
1986 – Kiely Williams, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1987 – Gert Jõeäär, Estonian cyclist
1987 – Rebecca Sugar, American animator, composer, and screenwriter
1988 – Raul Rusescu, Romanian footballer
1990 – Earl Bamber, New Zealand race car driver
1990 – Fábio, Brazilian footballer
1990 – Rafael, Brazilian footballer
1991 – Mitchel Musso, American actor and singer
1993 – Mitch Larkin, Australian swimmer
1993 – DeAndre Yedlin, American footballer
1999 – Claire Corlett, American voice actress
Deaths on July 9
230 – Empress Dowager Bian, Cao Cao’s wife (b. 159)
518 – Anastasius I Dicorus, Byzantine emperor (b. 430)
715 – Naga, Japanese prince
880 – Ariwara no Narihira, Japanese poet (b. 825)
981 – Ramiro Garcés, king of Viguera
1169 – Guido of Ravenna, Italian cartographer, entomologist and historian
1228 – Stephen Langton, English cardinal and theologian (b. 1150)
1270 – Stephen Báncsa, Hungarian cardinal (b. c. 1205)
1386 – Leopold III, Duke of Austria (b. 1351)
1441 – Jan van Eyck, Dutch painter
1546 – Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell, Scottish statesman (b. c. 1493)
1553 – Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
1654 – Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (b. 1633)
1706 – Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, Canadian captain and explorer (b. 1661)
1737 – Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1671)
1742 – John Oldmixon, English historian, poet, and playwright (b. 1673)
1746 – Philip V of Spain (b. 1683)
1747 – Giovanni Bononcini, Italian cellist and composer (b. 1670)
1766 – Jonathan Mayhew, American minister (b. 1720)
1795 – Henry Seymour Conway, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1721)
1797 – Edmund Burke, Irish-English philosopher, academic, and politician (b. 1729)
1828 – Cathinka Buchwieser, German operatic singer and actress (b. 1789)
1850 – Báb, Persian religious leader, founded Bábism (b. 1819)
1850 – Zachary Taylor, American general and politician, 12th President of the United States (b. 1784)
1852 – Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American lawyer and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1794)
1856 – Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1776)
1856 – James Strang, American religious leader and politician (b. 1813)
1880 – Paul Broca, French physician and anatomist (b. 1824)
1882 – Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean captain (b. 1848)
1903 – Alphonse François Renard, Belgian geologist and photographer (b. 1842)
1927 – John Drew, Jr., American actor (b. 1853)
1932 – King Camp Gillette, American businessman, founded the Gillette Company (b. 1855)
1937 – Oliver Law, American commander (b. 1899)
1938 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1870)
1947 – Lucjan Żeligowski, Polish-Lithuanian general and politician (b. 1865)
1949 – Fritz Hart, English-Australian composer and conductor (b. 1874)
1951 – Harry Heilmann, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1894)
1955 – Don Beauman, English race car driver (b. 1928)
1955 – Adolfo de la Huerta, Mexican politician and provisional president, 1920 (b. 1881)
1959 – Ferenc Talányi, Slovene journalist and painter (b. 1883)
1962 – Georges Bataille, French philosopher, novelist, and poet (b. 1897)
1961 – Whittaker Chambers, American spy and witness in Hiss case(b. 1901)
1967 – Eugen Fischer, German physician and academic (b. 1874)
1967 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani dentist and politician (b. 1893)
1970 – Sigrid Holmquist, Swedish actress (b. 1899)
1971 – Karl Ast, Estonian author and politician (b. 1886)
1972 – Robert Weede, American opera singer (b. 1903)
1974 – Earl Warren, American jurist and politician, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1891)
1977 – Alice Paul, American activist (b. 1885)
1979 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, American actress and author (b. 1899)
1980 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1913)
1984 – Edna Ernestine Kramer, American mathematician (b. 1902)
1985 – Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
1985 – Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish-American activist, founded Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
1986 – Patriarch Nicholas VI of Alexandria (b. 1915)
1992 – Kelvin Coe, Australian ballet dancer (b. 1946)
1992 – Eric Sevareid, American journalist (b. 1912)
1993 – Metin Altıok, Turkish poet and educator (b. 1940)
1994 – Bill Mosienko, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)
1996 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer (b. 1907)
1999 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1944)
2000 – Doug Fisher, English actor (b. 1941)
2002 – Mayo Kaan, American bodybuilder (b. 1914)
2002 – Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
2004 – Paul Klebnikov, American journalist and historian (b. 1963)
2004 – Isabel Sanford, American actress (b. 1917)
2005 – Chuck Cadman, Canadian engineer and politician (b. 1948)
748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
1014 – Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.
1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
1130 – Pope Innocent II is elected.
1349 – Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg.
1400 – Richard II of England dies, most probably from starvation, in Pontefract Castle, on the orders of Henry Bolingbroke.
1530 – Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.
1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
1556 – Coronation of Akbar.
1655 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
1804 – Karađorđe leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.
1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
1900 – British forces begin the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.
1912 – The U.S. Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.
1919 – The Polish–Soviet War begins.
1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
1929 – Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s gang, are murdered in Chicago.
1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
1944 – World War II: In the Action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
1945 – World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by an American squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet’s Vistula–Oder Offensive.
1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans
1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.
1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.
1949 – The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.
1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
1966 – Australian currency is decimalized.
1979 – In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
1990 – Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes in Bangalore, India.
1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later become famous as Pale Blue Dot.
1998 – An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.
2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
2005 – In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri’s motorcade drives through the city.
2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos City, all in the Philippines.
2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.
2011 – As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a ‘Day of Rage’.
2018 – Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
2018 – A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 15 injuries.
2019 – Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.
Births on February 14
1404 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)
1408 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel (d. 1435)
1452 – Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Siena (d. 1512)
1468 – Johannes Werner, German priest and mathematician (d. 1522)
1483 – Babur, Moghul emperor (d. 1530)
1490 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educationist of the Reformation (d. 1556)
1513 – Domenico Ferrabosco, Italian composer (d. 1573)
1545 – Lucrezia de’ Medici, Duchess of Ferrara (d. 1561)
1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
1614 – John Wilkins, English bishop, academic and natural philosopher (d. 1672)
1625 – Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, Swedish princess (d. 1687)
1628 – Valentine Greatrakes, Irish faith healer (d. 1683)
1640 – Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (d. 1693)
1670 – Rajaram Raj Bhonsle, third Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1700)
1679 – Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, German organist and composer (d. 1735)
1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French author and playwright (d. 1754)
1701 – Enrique Flórez, Spanish historian and author (d. 1773)
1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
1782 – Eleanora Atherton, English philanthropist (d. 1870)
1784 – Heinrich Baermann, German clarinetist (d. 1847)
1799 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter and illustrator (d. 1842)
1800 – Emory Washburn, American historian, lawyer, and politician, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
1808 – Michael Costa, Italian-English conductor and composer (d. 1884)
1813 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (d. 1884)
1819 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American journalist and politician, invented the typewriter (d. 1890)
1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American general and politician (d. 1886)
1828 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (d. 1885)
1835 – Piet Paaltjens, Dutch minister and poet (d. 1894)
1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (d. 1914)
1846 – Julian Scott, American soldier and drummer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1901)
1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, American physician, minister, and activist (d. 1919)
1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (d. 1934)
1855 – Frank Harris, Irish author and journalist (d. 1931)
1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., American engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel (d. 1896)
1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German lawyer and politician, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (d. 1954)
1869 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
1878 – Julius Nieuwland, Belgian priest, chemist and academic (d. 1936)
1882 – John Barrymore, American actor (d. 1942)
1884 – Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor and director (d. 1947)
1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1974)
1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh-English painter and author (d. 1956)
1890 – Dick Richards Welsh international footballer, forward
1891 – Katherine Stinson, American aviator (d. 1977)
1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech commander and politician (d. 1948)
1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and producer (d. 1974)
1895 – Wilhelm Burgdorf, German general (d. 1945)
1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
1900 – Jessica Dragonette, American singer (d. 1980)
1903 – Stuart Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
1905 – Thelma Ritter, American actress and singer (d. 1969)
1907 – Johnny Longden, English-American jockey and trainer (d. 2003)
1911 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch physician and inventor (d. 2009)
1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Hungarian lawyer, explorer, and author (d. 1988)
1913 – Mel Allen, American sportscaster (d. 1996)
1913 – Woody Hayes, American football player and coach (d. 1987)
1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American trade union leader (d. 1975)
1913 – James Pike, American bishop (d. 1969)
1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general (d. 2010)
1916 – Sally Gray, English actress and singer (d. 2006)
1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director and producer (d. 1996)
1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1921 – Hugh Downs, American journalist, game show host, and producer
1921 – Hazel McCallion, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 3rd Mayor of Mississauga
1923 – Jay Hebert, American golfer (d. 1997)
1924 – Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma (d. 2017)
1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian-Australian model and actress (d. 2007)
1928 – William Allain, American soldier and politician, 58th Governor of Mississippi (d. 2013)
1928 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (d. 2014)
1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor and director (d. 1982)
1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2006)
1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor and director (d. 2005)
1932 – Harriet Andersson, Swedish actress
1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1935 – David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, Scottish academic and diplomat, 27th Governor of Hong Kong
1936 – Anna German, Polish singer (d. 1982)
1937 – John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, English politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1937 – Magic Sam, American singer and guitarist (d. 1969)
1939 – Razzy Bailey, American country music singer-songwriter and musician
1939 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – James Maynard, American businessman, co-founded Golden Corral
1941 – Donna Shalala, American academic and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
1941 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
1942 – Michael Bloomberg, American businessman and politician, 108th Mayor of New York City
1942 – Andrew Robinson, American actor and director
1942 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1962)
1943 – Eric Andersen, American singer-songwriter
1943 – Maceo Parker, American saxophonist
1943 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (d. 2007)
1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist and author
1944 – Alan Parker, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish race car driver (d. 1978)
1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
1945 – Rod Masterson, American lieutenant and actor (d. 2013)
1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, Nauru politician, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
1946 – Gregory Hines, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1947 – Judd Gregg, American lawyer and politician, 76th Governor of New Hampshire
1948 – Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American actress and dancer
1948 – Pat O’Brien, American journalist and author
1948 – Wally Tax, Dutch singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
1948 – Teller, American magician and actor
1950 – Roger Fisher, American guitarist and songwriter
1951 – Terry Gross, American radio host and producer
1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer and manager
1952 – Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2019)
1954 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (d. 2013)
1955 – Carol Kalish, American publisher (d. 1991)
1956 – Howard Davis Jr., American boxer and trainer (d. 2015)
1956 – Dave Dravecky, American baseball player
1956 – Katharina Fritsch, German sculptor and academic
1957 – Alan Hunter, American television host and actor
1957 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano and actress
1957 – Alan Smith, English bishop
1958 – Grant Thomas, Australian footballer and coach
1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano and actress
1960 – Philip Jones, English admiral
1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player and businessman
1960 – Meg Tilly, American actress and author
1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor, director, and producer
1963 – John Marzano, American baseball player (d. 2008)
1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist and sportscaster
1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player and agent
1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Greek-English businessman, founded easyJet
1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian-Swiss tennis player
1967 – Mark Rutte, Dutch businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1968 – Jules Asner, American model and television host
1968 – Chris Lewis, Guyanese-English cricketer
1968 – Scott McClellan, American civil servant and author, 25th White House Press Secretary
1969 – Meg Hillier, English journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
1970 – Sean Hill, American ice hockey player
1970 – Simon Pegg, English actor, director, and producer
1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipino talk show host, actress, and producer
1971 – Gheorghe Mureșan, Romanian basketball player
1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player and coach
1972 – Musōyama Masashi, Japanese sumo wrestler
1972 – Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress and singer
1972 – Jaan Tallinn, Estonian computer programmer, co-developed Skype
1972 – Rob Thomas, American singer-songwriter
1973 – H. D. Ackerman, South African cricketer
1973 – Tyus Edney, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (d. 2009)
1973 – Annalisa Buffa, Italian mathematician
1974 – Valentina Vezzali, Italian fencer and politician
1976 – Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1976 – Rie Rasmussen, Danish model, film director, writer, photographer, and actress
1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist
1977 – Jim Jefferies, Australian comedian and actor
1977 – Darren Purse, English footballer
1977 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)
1977 – Anna Erschler, Russian mathematician
1977 – Robert J. Jackson Jr., American law professor
1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
1978 – Darius Songaila, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1980 – Josh Senter, American screenwriter and producer
1980 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress and producer
1981 – Matteo Brighi, Italian footballer
1981 – Randy de Puniet, French motorcycle racer
1981 – Brad Halsey, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1982 – Marián Gáborík, Slovak ice hockey player
1982 – John Halls, English footballer and model
1982 – Lenka Tvarošková, Slovak tennis player
1983 – Callix Crabbe, Virgin Islander baseball player
1983 – Rocky Elsom, Australian rugby player
1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer
1985 – Karima Adebibe, English model and actress
1985 – Tyler Clippard, American baseball player
1985 – Heart Evangelista, Filipino singer and actress
1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss international footballer, centre back
1985 – Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
1986 – Michael Ammermüller, German race car driver
1986 – Oliver Lee, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1986 – Gao Lin, Chinese footballer
1987 – Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Tom Pyatt, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – David Wheater, English footballer
1988 – Katie Boland, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
1988 – Ángel Di María, Argentinian footballer
1988 – Siim Liivik, Estonian ice hockey player
1988 – Asia Nitollano, American singer and dancer
1989 – Néstor Calderón, Mexican footballer
1989 – Adam Matuszczyk, Polish footballer
1989 – Emma Miskew, Canadian curler
1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Jurij Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1989 – Kristian Thomas, English gymnast
1990 – Sefa Yılmaz, German-Turkish footballer
1991 – Daniela Mona Lambin, Estonian footballer
1991 – Chris Rowney, English footballer
1992 – Christian Eriksen, Danish footballer
1992 – Freddie Highmore, English actor
1996 – Lucas Hernandez, French footballer
Deaths on February 14
869 – Cyril, Greek missionary bishop (b. 827)
945 – Lian Chongyu, Chinese general
945 – Zhu Wenjin, Chinese emperor
1009 – Bruno of Querfurt, German missionary bishop
1010 – Fujiwara no Korechika, Japanese nobleman (b. 974)
1140 – Leo I, Armenian prince
1140 – Sobĕslav I, duke of Bohemia
1164 – Sviatoslav Olgovich, Kievan prince
1229 – Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, king of the Isles
1317 – Margaret of France, queen of England
1400 – Richard II, king of England (b. 1367)
1440 – Dietrich of Oldenburg, German nobleman
1489 – Nicolaus von Tüngen, prince-bishop of Warmia
1528 – Edzard I, German nobleman (b. 1462)
1549 – Il Sodoma, Italian painter (b. 1477)
1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal (b. 1517)
1676 – Abraham Bosse, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1602)
1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, queen of Spain (b. 1688)
1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, English lawyer and politician Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
1744 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (b. 1682)
1779 – James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1728)
1780 – William Blackstone, English jurist and politician (b. 1723)
1782 – Singu Min, Burmese king (b. 1756)
1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and politician 5th Governor of Delaware (b. 1732)
1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican general and politician, 2nd President of Mexico (b. 1782)
1831 – Henry Maudslay, English engineer (b. 1771)
1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (b. 1815)
1881 – Fernando Wood, American merchant and politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (b. 1812)
1884 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (b. 1813)
1885 – Jules Vallès, French journalist and author (b. 1832)
1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (b. 1820)
1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (b. 1814)
1901 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1819)
1910 – Giovanni Passannante, Italian anarchist (b. 1849)
1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1880)
1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and lawyer (b. 1875)
1930 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1853)
1933 – Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (b. 1864)
1942 – Adnan Saidi, Malayan lieutenant (b. 1915)
1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (b. 1899)
1943 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1862)
1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player and manager (b. 1876)
1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi politician (b. 1901)
1950 – Karl Guthe Jansky, American physicist and engineer (b. 1905)
1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)
AD 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
1492 – Reconquista: The Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram and his bodyguards execute the rebel leader Trunajaya. a month after the rebel leader was captured by the Dutch East India Company.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, North America, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president.
1833 – Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, arrives at Port Egmont to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
1954 – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
1955 – Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera’s death is discovered.
1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
1967 – Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
1975 – At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
1975 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
1978 – On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper”, is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
1991 – Sharon Pratt Kelly becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
1993 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
Births on January 2
869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
1509 – Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman (d. 1572)
1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
1803 – Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1869)
1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
1870 – Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman (d. 1929)
1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
1892 – Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (d. 1958)
1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
1900 – Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)
1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
1903 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest verified living person
1904 – Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist (d. 1981)
1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (d. 1998)
1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)[
1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)[79]
1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
1918 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
1919 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
1920(probable) – Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry (d. 1992)
1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (d. 2019)
1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (d. 2010)
1929 – Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan
1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007)
1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992)
1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer
1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia
1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic
1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter
1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer and politician
1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model
1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)
1965 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavik City
1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
1979 – Jonathan Greening English footballer
1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballe
1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentinian footballer, goalkeeper
1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
Deaths on January 2
951 – Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han
951 – Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
1096 – William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England[
1169 – Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109)1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460)
1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460)
1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497)
1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494)
1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539)
1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566)
1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688)
1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690)
1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789)
1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)
1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821)
1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830)
1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862)
1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834)
1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898)
1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870)
1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904)
1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910)
2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944)
2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929)
2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)
2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959)
2016 – Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated (b. 1982)
2017 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (b. 1933)
2017 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (b. 1926)
2018 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (b. 1950)
2018 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1927)
2019 – Daryl Dragon, American musician (b. 1942)
2019 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (b. 1942)
2019 – Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances on January 2
Ancestry Day (Haiti)
Berchtold’s Day (Switzerland and Liechtenstein)
Carnival Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Christian feast day:
Basil the Great (Catholic Church and Church of England)
Defendens of Thebes
Earliest day on which the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is observed, while January 5 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday between January 2 and 5. (Roman Catholic Church, 1960 calendar)
Gregory of Nazianzus (Catholic Church)
Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (Lutheran Church)
Macarius of Alexandria
Seraphim of Sarov (repose) (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (Episcopal Church)
January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Nyinlong (Bhutan)
The first day of Blacks and Whites’ Carnival, celebrated until January 7. (southern Colombia)
The first day of the Carnival of Riosucio, celebrated until January 8 every 2 years. (Riosucio)
The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
The second day of New Year (a holiday in Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Montenegro, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine):
New Year Holiday (Scotland), if it is a Sunday, the day moves to January 3
