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Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Events

★ 534 - A second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published.

★ 1384 - Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although she is a woman.

★ 1491 - An auto de fe, held in Brasero de la Dehesa outside of Ávila, concludes the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.

★ 1532 - Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa.

★ 1632 - The Battle of Lützen, where king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is killed.

★ 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Hessian mercenaries capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.

★ 1776 - American Revolution: The United Provinces (Low Countries) recognize the independence of the United States, the first country in the world to do so (This is a controversial statement, because other sources say that the Kingdom of Morocco was the first to extend diplomatic recognition to the new United States).

★ 1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schöngrabern - Russian force under Bagration delay the pursuit by French troops under Murat.

★ 1821 - American Old West: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

★ 1849 - A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his execution is canceled at the last minute.

★ 1857 - Second relief of Lucknow. The most Victoria Crosses won in a single day (24).

★ 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Campbell's Station near Knoxville, Tennessee. Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces.

★ 1885 - Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of Manitoba", Louis Riel is executed for treason.

★ 1896 - First transmission of electricity between a power plant and a city was sent from the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant to industries in Buffalo, New York.

★ 1904 - John Ambrose Fleming invents the vacuum tube.

★ 1906 - Opera star Enrico Caruso is charged with an indecent act after allegedly pinching a woman's bottom in the monkey house of New York's Central Park Zoo.

★ 1907 - Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory become Oklahoma and are admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

★ 1907 - Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania sister ship of RMS Lusitania, sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.

★ 1914 - The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens.

★ 1920 - Qantas, the national airline of Australia is registered as an aerial carrier under the name of “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited”. Only KLM (now part of Air France-KLM) is older.

★ 1932 - New York City's Palace Theatre fully coverted to a cinema, which is considered the final death knell of vaudeville as a popular entertainment in the United States.

★ 1933 - The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.

★ 1934 - James J. Braddock won one of the most important fights of his career against then future heavyweight champion John Henry Lewis

★ 1940 - World War II: In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

★ 1940 - Holocaust: In occupied Poland, German Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.

★ 1940 - New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.

★ 1943 - World War II: American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vermork, Norway.

★ 1944 - Dueren, Germany is completely destroyed by Allied aerial bombers.

★ 1945 - Cold War: The United States Army secretly admits 88 German scientists & engineers to help in the production of rocket technology.

★ 1957 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden.

★ 1959 - The Broadway musical, The Sound of Music, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater.

★ 1965 - Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

★ 1973 - Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

★ 1973 - US President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

★ 1977 - ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' opens in theaters.

★ 1979 - The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

★ 1981 - Luke and Laura marry on the U.S. soap opera ''General Hospital''; it is the highest-rated hour in daytime television history.

★ 1984 - Queen Elizabeth II visited Uppingham School, Rutland, UK on the occasion of its Quatercentenary.

★ 1988 - The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia was "sovereign" but stopped short of declaring independence.

★ 1988 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

★ 1989 - A death squad composed of El Salvadoran army troops kill six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.

★ 1989 - Devastating tornado strikes Huntsville, Alabama.

★ 1989 - UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement on Violence at the twenty-fifth session of its General Conference.

★ 1996 - Mother Teresa receives honorary US citizenship.

★ 1996 - The Jumbotron at Buffalo's HSBC Arena falls to the ice hours before a hockey game; no one is injured.

★ 1997 - After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

★ 2000 - Bill Clinton becomes the first serving U.S. President to visit Vietnam.

★ 2004 - X-43A scramjet becomes the fastest air-breathing jet flying at nearly Mach 10 at approx. 11,200 km/h or 3.11 km/s.

Births

★ 42 BC - Tiberius, Roman emperor (d. 37)

★ 1603 - Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior (d. 1673)

★ 1643 - Jean Chardin, French explorer (d. 1703)

★ 1717 - Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician (d. 1793)

★ 1720 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, Italian composer (d. 1788)

★ 1758 - Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish author and philologist (d. 1841)

★ 1766 - Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist (d. 1831)

★ 1836 - David Kalakaua of Hawaii, Hawaiian king (d. 1891)

★ 1839 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (d. 1908)

★ 1841 - Jules Violle, French physicist (d. 1923)

★ 1847 - Edmund James Flynn, Canadian politician (d. 1927)

★ 1862 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (d. 1944)

★ 1880 - Alexander Blok, Russian poet (d. 1921)

★ 1885 - Michael Gonzi, Maltese archbishop (d. 1984)

★ 1873 - W. C. Handy, American composer (d. 1958)

★ 1889 - George S. Kaufman, American playwright (d. 1961)

★ 1892 - Mabel Normand, American actress (d. 1930)

★ 1892 - Guo Moruo, Chinese writer (d. 1978)

★ 1892 - Tazio Nuvolari, Italian racing driver (d. 1953)

★ 1895 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (d. 1963)

★ 1896 - Oswald Mosley, British fascist (d. 1980)

★ 1896 - Lawrence Tibbett, American singer (d. 1960)

★ 1897 - Choudhary Rehmat Ali, Pakistani nationalist (d. 1951)

★ 1905 - Eddie Condon, American musician (d. 1973)

★ 1907 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (d. 1997)

★ 1916 - Daws Butler, voice actor (d. 1988)

★ 1922 - Gene Amdahl, American computer scientist

★ 1922 - José Saramago, Portuguese writer, Nobel laureate

★ 1924 - Mel Patton, American athlete

★ 1928 - Clu Gulager, American actor

★ 1930 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author

★ 1930 - Salvatore Riina, Sicilian mafioso

★ 1931 - Hubert Sumlin, American blues musician

★ 1933 - Garnet Mimms, American singer

★ 1938 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (d. 2002)

★ 1942 - Willie Carson, Scottish jockey

★ 1942 - Joanna Pettet, English-American actress

★ 1943 - Michael Cimino, American film director

★ 1946 - Terrence McKenna, American writer (d. 2000)

★ 1947 - Ebby Thust, German Boxing promoter and writer

★ 1950 - David Leisure, American actor

★ 1951 - Miguel Sandoval, American actor

★ 1952 - Robin McKinley, writer

★ 1952 - Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese video game designer

★ 1954 - Andrea Barrett, American author

★ 1954 - Dick Gross, Australian politician

★ 1954 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (d. 2004)

★ 1955 - Pierre Larouche, National Hockey League player

★ 1956 - Terry Labonte, NASCAR driver

★ 1957 - Jacques Gamblin, French actor

★ 1958 - Marg Helgenberger, American actress

★ 1958 - Boris Krivokapić, Serbian academic

★ 1961 - Frank Bruno, British boxer

★ 1962 - Josh Silver, American musician (Type O Negative)

★ 1964 - Dwight Gooden, American athlete

★ 1964 - Diana Krall, Canadian singer

★ 1964 - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Italian actress

★ 1966 - Dean McDermott, Canadian actor

★ 1966 - Christian Lorenz, German keyboardist (Rammstein)

★ 1966 - Tahir Shah, British travel writer and explorer

★ 1967 - Lisa Bonet, American actress

★ 1967 - Craig Arnold, American poet

★ 1968 - Vlado Šola, Croatian handball goalkeeper

★ 1969 - Maeve Quinlan, American actress

★ 1970 - Martha Plimpton, American actress

★ 1971 - Alexander Popov, Russian swimmer

★ 1971 - Waqar Younis, Pakistani cricketer

★ 1972 - Missi Pyle, American actress

★ 1973 - Brendan Laney, Scottish rugby player

★ 1973 - Christian Horner, British Formula One team owner

★ 1974 - Paul Scholes, British footballer

★ 1975 - Julio Lugo, Dominican baseball player

★ 1976 - Danny Wallace, British author

★ 1976 - Martijn Zuijdweg, Dutch swimmer

★ 1976 - Juha Pasoja, Finnish footballer

★ 1977 - Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian figure skater

★ 1977 - Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress

★ 1977 - Mauricio Ochmann, Mexican actor

★ 1978 - Gary Naysmith, Scottish footballer

★ 1978 - Kip Bouknight, American baseball player

★ 1980 - Kayte Christensen, American basketball player

★ 1981 - Allison Crowe, Canadian singer

★ 1981 - Caitlin Glass, American actress

★ 1981 - Osi Umenyiora, NFL Football Player

★ 1982 - Amare Stoudemire, American basketball player

★ 1983 - K, South Korean singer

★ 1983 - Kari Lehtonen, Finnish ice hockey goaltender

★ 1984 - Kimberly J. Brown, American actress

★ 1984 - Gemma Atkinson, British actress and model

Deaths

★ 1093 - Saint Margaret of Scotland, wife of Malcolm III of Scotland

★ 1240 - Edmund Rich, St. Edmund of Canterbury

★ 1272 - King Henry III of England (b. 1207)

★ 1328 - Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (b. 1276)

★ 1613 - Trajano Boccalini, Italian satirist (b. 1556)

★ 1628 - Paolo Quagliati, Italian composer

★ 1632 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (killed in battle) (b. 1594)

★ 1695 - Pierre Nicole, French philosopher (b. 1625)

★ 1724 - Jack Sheppard, English burglar (hanged) (b. 1702)

★ 1745 - James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (b. 1665)

★ 1773 - John Hawkesworth, English writer

★ 1779 - Pehr Kalm, Finnish explorer and naturalist (b. 1716)

★ 1790 - Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)

★ 1797 - Frederick William II of Prussia (b. 1744)

★ 1802 - André Michaux, French botanist (b. 1746)

★ 1806 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of Cleveland, Ohio (b. 1754)

★ 1836 - Christian Hendrik Persoon, Dutch mycologist (b. 1761)

★ 1884 - František Chvostek, Moravian physician (b. 1835)

★ 1885 - Louis Riel, Canadian politician (b. 1844)

★ 1907 - Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (b. 1848)

★ 1908 - Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, French-born Canadian politician (b. 1829)

★ 1911 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (b. 1842)

★ 1922 - Max Abraham, German physicist (b. 1875)

★ 1939 - Pierce Butler, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1866)

★ 1950 - Bob Smith, American doctor, co-founder of the Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1879)

★ 1960 - Clark Gable, American actor (b. 1901)

★ 1961 - Sam Rayburn, U.S. Speaker of the House (b. 1882)

★ 1972 - Vera Karalli, Russian ballerina and actress (b. 1889)

★ 1973 - Alan Watts, English writer (b. 1915)

★ 1981 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)

★ 1982 - Arthur Askey, British comedian (b. 1900)

★ 1982 - Pavel Sergeevich Alexandrov, Russian mathematician (b. 1896)

★ 1982 - Lenny Murphy, Leader of Belfast's notorious Shankill Butchers (b. 1952)

★ 1984 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (b. 1906)

★ 1986 - Siobhán McKenna, Irish stage and screen actress (b. 1923)

★ 1987 - Jim Brewer, Major League Baseball relief pitcher (b. 1937)

★ 1987 - Zubir Said, Singaporean composer who composed Singapore's national anthem (b. 1907)

★ 1993 - Achille Zavatta, French clown (b. 1915)

★ 1993 - Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (b. 1939)

★ 1994 - Doris Speed, British actress (b. 1899)

★ 1994 - Dino Valente, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (b.1943)

★ 1995 - Jack Finney, American author (b. 1911)

★ 1999 - Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1928)

★ 2000 - DJ Screw, American hiphop DJ (b. 1971)

★ 2000 - Joe C., American rapper (b. 1974)

★ 2001 - Tommy Flanagan, American jazz pianist (b. 1930)

★ 2003 - Bettina Goislard, French relief worker (b. 1974)

★ 2005 - Henry Taube, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)

★ 2005 - Robert Tisch, American football team owner (b. 1926)

★ 2005 - Donald Watson, English founder of the Vegan Society (b. 1910)

★ 2006 - Art Donovan, American football player (b. 1925)

★ 2006 - Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)

★ 2006 - Yuri Levada, Russian sociologist (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

★ The Annual Great American Smokeout

★ R.C. Saints - Saint Margaret of Scotland ; Gertrude the Great

★ International Day for Tolerance

★ Iceland - Dagur íslenskrar tungu (Icelandic Language Day)

★ Thailand - Loy Krathong festival (2005)

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On This Day in Canada
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