Events Pre-1600 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland. 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.
1601–1900 1647 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm. 1663 – According to his own account, Otto von Guericke completes his book Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio, detailing his experiments on vacuum and his discovery of electrostatic repulsion. 1674 – The Third Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of Ronas Voe results in the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam being captured with a death toll of up to 300 Dutch crew and soldiers. 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard for breach of the Articles of War. 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans. 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin. 1864 – Rossini's Petite messe solennelle is first performed, by twelve singers, two pianists and a harmonium player in a mansion in Paris. 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in London. 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
1901–present 1901 – Utah governor Heber Manning Wells vetoes a bill that would have eased restrictions on polygamy. 1903 – Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first national wildlife refuge in the US, is established by President Theodore Roosevelt. 1916 – Battle of Verdun: German attack captures Côte 265 at the west end of Mort-Homme but the French 75th Infantry Brigade manages to hold Côte 295 at the east end.Michelin 1919, p. 29. 1920 – In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany. 1921 – Six members of a group of Irish Republican Army activists known as the Forgotten Ten are hanged in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison. 1923 – Charlie Daly and three other members of the Irish Republican Army are executed by Irish Free State forces. 1926 – The El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica, kills 248 people and wounds another 93 when a train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás. 1931 – Alam Ara, India's first talking film, is released. 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure. 1942 – Anne Miller becomes the first American patient to be treated with penicillin, under the care of Orvan Hess and John Bumstead. 1943 – The Holocaust: The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto is completed. 1945 – The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany. 1951 – Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time. 1961 – A USAF B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashes near Yuba City, California. 1964 – Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin who had shot and killed John F. Kennedy the previous year. 1967 – The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. 1972 – Sterling Airways Flight 296 crashes near Kalba, United Arab Emirates while on approach to Dubai International Airport, killing 112 people. 1978 – The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon. 1979 – Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600 crashes at Doha International Airport, killing 45 people. 1980 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team. 1982 – The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London. 1988 – In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands. 1991 – Escondida in Chile's Atacama Desert – which was to become the worlds most productive copper mine – is officially inaugurated. 1995 – Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle. 2006 – The 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt ends in failure. 2006 – Operation Bringing Home the Goods: Israeli troops raid an American-supervised Palestinian prison in Jericho to capture six Palestinian prisoners, including PFLP chief Ahmad Sa'adat. 2007 – The Nandigram violence in Nandigram, West Bengal, results in the deaths of at least 14 people. 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet. 2017 – A naming ceremony for the chemical element nihonium takes place in Tokyo, with then Crown Prince Naruhito in attendance. 2019 – Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1,000 deaths. 2021 – Burmese security forces kill at least 65 civilians in the Hlaingthaya massacre.
Births Pre-1600 1297 – Uljay Qutlugh Khatun, Mongol empress consort of the Ilkhanate.Howorth, Sir Henry Hoyle (1888). History of the Mongols: The Mongols of Persia. B. Franklin. p. 408.
1601–1900 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (died 1710) 1737 – Ioan Nicolidi of Pindus, Aromanian physician and noble (died 1828) 1772 – José Núñez de Cáceres, Dominican politician and writer. He was the leader of the Independence movement of the Dominican Republic against Spain in 1821 (died 1846) 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (died 1863) 1800 – James Bogardus, American inventor and architect (died 1874) 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (died 1822) 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1849) 1813 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (died 1892) 1820 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (died 1878) 1822 – Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (died 1889) 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French poet and critic (died 1891) 1833 – Frederic Shields, English painter and illustrator (died 1911) 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist and educator (died 1910) 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (died 1910) 1836 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (died 1865) 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (died 1903) 1844 – Umberto I of Italy (died 1900) 1844 – Arthur O'Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (died 1881) 1847 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (died 1871) 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (died 1918) 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1915) 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (died 1925) 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (died 1920) 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, American lawyer and politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (died 1925) 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (died 1951) 1864 – Casey Jones, American engineer (died 1900) 1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (died 1933) 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, English author and playwright (died 1951) 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (died 1951) 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (died 1969) 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (died 1918) 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (died 1964) 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French bookseller and publisher, who founded Shakespeare and Company (died 1962) 1898 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter and illustrator (died 1954) 1899 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (died 1992)
1901–present 1901 – Sid Atkinson, South African hurdler and long jumper (died 1977) 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (died 1974) 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (died 2010) 1905 – Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1983) 1906 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (died 1972) 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American designer of military aircraft (died 1991) 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher and academic (died 1961) 1908 – Phil Vincent, English engineer and businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (died 1979) 1908 – Koča Popović, Yugoslav politician and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division of the Yugoslav Partisans (died 1992) 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (died 2005) 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (died 1991) 1912 – Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (died 2001) 1912 – W. Graham Claytor Jr. American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1994) 1912 – W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (died 2010) 1913 – Dominik Tatarka, Slovak writer (died 1989) 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (died 1981) 1914 – Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (died 1999) 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver and businessman, founded Petty Enterprises (died 2000) 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (died 2005) 1916 – Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2009) 1917 – Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (died 2013) 1918 – Zoia Horn, American librarian (died 2014) 1919 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (died 1988) 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created Dennis the Menace (died 2001) 1920 – Dorothy Tyler-Odam, English high jumper (died 2014) 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (died 2014) 1921 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (died 2013) 1922 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (died 1996) 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (died 1971) 1925 – William Clay Ford Sr., American businessman (died 2014) 1925 – Francis A. Marzen, Roman Catholic priest (died 2004) 1925 – Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (died 2013) 1926 – François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (died 2018) 1927 – Chuck Share, American basketball player (died 2012) 1928 – Frank Borman, American astronaut (died 2023) 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (died 1980) 1929 – Bob Goalby, American golfer (died 2022) 1932 – Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (died 2015) 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia 1933 – Michael Caine, English actor 1933 – Quincy Jones, American producer (died 2024) 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 2017) 1934 – Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army (died 2025) 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer 1937 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (died 2013) 1938 – Eleanor Bron, English actress and screenwriter 1938 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (died 2016) 1938 – John Gleeson, Australian cricketer (died 2016) 1938 – Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (died 2008) 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter (died 2025) 1939 – Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter (died 2025) 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2022) 1942 – Rita Tushingham, English actress 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress and singer (died 1994) 1944 – Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor (died 2022) 1944 – Clyde Lee, American basketball player