Events Pre-1600 418 – A papal election begins, resulting in the election of Pope Boniface I. 457 – Majorian is acclaimed as Western Roman emperor. 484 – Alaric II succeeds his father Euric and becomes king of the Visigoths. He establishes his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour (Southern Gaul). 893 – An earthquake destroys the city of Dvin, Armenia. 1065 – Edward the Confessor's Romanesque monastic church at Westminster Abbey is consecrated. 1308 – The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins.
1601–1900 1659 – The Marathas defeat the Adilshahi forces in the Battle of Kolhapur. 1768 – King Taksin's coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital. 1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto). 1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign. He resigned after being elected Senator from South Carolina. 1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army. 1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded. 1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico with the signing of the Santa María–Calatrava Treaty. 1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state. 1879 – Tay Bridge disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75. 1885 – The Indian National Congress is founded in Bombay Presidency, British India. 1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines. 1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.
1901–present 1902 – The Syracuse Athletic Club defeat the New York Philadelphians, 5–0, in the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden. 1908 – The 7.1 Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between about 80,000. 1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco. 1918 – Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, becomes the first woman to be elected Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons. 1941 – World War II: Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate high-ranking Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, commences. 1943 – Soviet authorities launch Operation Ulussy, beginning the deportation of the Kalmyk nation to Siberia and Central Asia. 1943 – World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the Battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona. 1944 – Maurice Richard becomes the first player to score eight points in one game of NHL ice hockey. 1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears south of Miami. 1956 – Chin Peng, David Marshall and Tunku Abdul Rahman meet in Baling, Malaya to try to resolve the Malayan Emergency situation. 1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played": The Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium to win the NFL Championship. 1967 – American businesswoman Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. 1972 – The last scheduled day for induction into the military by the Selective Service System. Due to the fact that President Richard Nixon declared this day a national day of mourning due to former President Harry S Truman's death, approximately 300 men were not able to report due to most Federal offices being closed. Since the draft was not resumed in 1973, they were never drafted. 1973 – The United States Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Richard Nixon. 1978 – United Airlines Flight 173 crashes in a residential neighborhood near Portland International Airport, killing 10 people. 1989 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people. 2006 – War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed. 2009 – Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura. 2014 – Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard. 2014 – Nine people die and another 19 are reported missing, when the MS Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Strait of Otranto, in the Adriatic Sea, in Italian waters. 2019 – A truck bomb is detonated in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing at least 85 people and injuring over 140 more. The militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. 2025 – Unrest in the form of mass protests erupt across Iran, the largest uprising in the country since the Iranian Revolution.
Births
Pre-1600 1461 – Louise of Savoy, French nun (died 1503) 1510 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (died 1579) 1535 – Martin Eisengrein, German theologian (died 1578)
1601–1900 1619 – Antoine Furetière, French author and scholar (died 1688) 1635 – Elizabeth Stuart, second daughter of King Charles I of England (died 1650) 1651 – Johann Krieger, German organist and composer (died 1735) 1655 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk (died 1698) 1665 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (died 1716) 1722 – Eliza Lucas, Caribbean-American agriculturalist (died 1793) 1724 – Christoph Franz von Buseck, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg (died 1805) 1763 – John Molson, English-Canadian brewer, founded the Molson Brewery (died 1836) 1775 – Jean-Gabriel Eynard, Swiss banker and photographer (died 1863) 1789 – Catharine Maria Sedgwick, American novelist of "domestic fiction" (died 1867) 1798 – Thomas Henderson, Scottish astronomer and mathematician (died 1844) 1818 – Carl Remigius Fresenius, German chemist and academic (died 1897) 1842 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American lieutenant and composer (died 1891) 1856 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1924) 1865 – Félix Vallotton, Swiss/French painter (died 1925) 1869 – Kathleen O'Melia, Canadian religious sister (died 1939) 1870 – Charles Bennett, English runner (died 1949) 1882 – Arthur Eddington, English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (died 1944) 1882 – Lili Elbe, Danish model and painter (died 1931) 1887 – Werner Kolhörster, German physicist and academic (died 1946) 1888 – F. W. Murnau, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1931) 1890 – Quincy Wright, American political scientist, historian, and academic (died 1970) 1894 – Burnita Shelton Matthews, American judge (died 1988) 1895 – Carol Ryrie Brink, American author and playwright (died 1981) 1898 – Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish-American meteorologist and academic (died 1957) 1898 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (died 1947) 1900 – Ted Lyons, American baseball player (died 1986)
1901–present 1902 – Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher and author (died 2001) 1902 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and educator (died 1988) 1903 – Earl Hines, American pianist and bandleader (died 1983) 1903 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (died 1957) 1907 – Ze'ev Ben-Haim, Ukrainian-Israeli linguist and academic (died 2013) 1908 – Lew Ayres, American actor (died 1996) 1910 – Billy Williams, American singer (died 1972) 1911 – Wil van Beveren, Dutch sprinter and journalist (died 2003) 1913 – Lou Jacobi, Canadian-American actor (died 2009) 1914 – Bidia Dandaron, Russian author and educator (died 1974) 1914 – Pops Staples, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2000) 1917 – Ellis Clarke, Trinidadian politician, 1st President of Trinidad and Tobago (died 2010) 1919 – Emily Cheney Neville, American author (died 1997) 1920 – Tufty Mann, South African cricketer (died 1952) 1920 – Bruce McCarty, American architect, designed the Knoxville City-County Building (died 2013) 1920 – Steve Van Buren, Honduran-American football player (died 2012) 1920 – Al Wistert, American football player and coach (died 2016) 1921 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2012) 1922 – Lionel Bowen, Australian politician, 6th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (died 2012) 1922 – Stan Lee, American publisher, producer, and actor (died 2018) 1924 – Girma Wolde-Giorgis, Ethiopian politician; President of Ethiopia (died 2018) 1925 – Hildegard Knef, German actress and singer (died 2002) 1925 – Milton Obote, Ugandan engineer and politician, 2nd President of Uganda (died 2005) 1926 – Donald Carr, German-English cricketer and referee (died 2016) 1928 – Moe Koffman, Canadian flute player, saxophonist, and composer (died 2001) 1928 – John William Thomson, Canadian politician (died 2025) 1929 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and author (died 1994) 1929 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (died 1970) 1929 – Maarten Schmidt, Dutch astronomer (died 2022) 1930 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian illustrator and academic (died 2010) 1931 – Guy Debord, French theorist and author (died 1994) 1931 – Martin Milner, American actor (died 2015) 1932 – Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman, founded Reliance Industries (died 2002) 1932 – Dorsey Burnette, American singer-songwriter (died 1979) 1932 – Roy Hattersley, English journalist and politician, Shadow Home Secretary (died 2026) 1932 – Harry Howell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2019) 1932 – Nichelle Nichols, American actress (died 2022) 1932 – Manuel Puig, Argentine author and playwright (died 1990) 1933 – John Y. Brown Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 55th Governor of Kentucky (died 2022) 1934 – Rudi Faßnacht, German footballer and manager (died 2000) 1934 – Maggie Smith, English actress (died 2024) 1936 – Alan Coleman, English-Australian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2013) 1936 – Lawrence Schiller, American journalist, director, and producer 1937 – Ratan Tata, Indian businessman and philanthropist (died 2024) 1938 – Dick Sudhalter, American trumpet player, scholar, and critic (died 2008) 1939 – Philip Anschutz, American businessman, founded Anschutz Entertainment Group 1939 – Frank McLintock, Scottish footballer and manager 1939 – Michelle Urry, American journalist and illustrator (died 2006) 1940 – A. K. Antony, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence 1940 – Don Francisco, Chilean-American journalist and talk show host 1941 – Intikhab Alam, Indian-Pakistani cricketer and coach 1942 – Roger Swerts, Belgian cyclist 1943 – Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Peruvian cardinal 1943 – David Peterson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Ontario 1943 – Joan Ruddock, Welsh politician 1944 – Sandra Faber, American astronomer and academic 1944 – Johnny Isakson, American sergeant and politician (died 2021) 1944 – Kary Mullis, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019) 1944 – Gordon Taylor, English footballer 1945 – Birendra, King of Nepal (died 2001) 1945 – Max Hastings, English journalist, historian, and author 1946 – Mike Beebe, American lawyer and politician, 45th Governor of Arkansas 1946 – Pierre Falardeau, Canadian director, screenwriter, and activist (died 2009) 1946 – Hubert Green, American golfer (died 2018) 1946 – Tim Johnson, American lawyer and politician (died 2024) 1946 – Barbara, Lady Judge, American-English lawyer and businesswoman (died 2020) 1946 – Bill Lee, American baseball player and author 1946 – Laffit Pincay Jr., Panamanian jockey 1946 – Edgar Winter, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer