[Edit]

top

529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.

1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.

1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII.

1795 - France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.

1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain.

1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.

1805 - First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).

1827 - John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match. He had invented it in the previous year.

1829 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.

1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.

1867 - Johnson C. Smith University was established this day.

1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.

1908 - H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming.

1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).

1933 - The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, the first law meant to discriminate specifically against Jews is passed by the National Socialist regime in Germany.

1933 - Prohibition was repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight (or 4% by volume), eight months before the ratification of XXI amendment.

1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.

1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

1943 - Holocaust in Terebovlia, western Ukraine: Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and in underwear, they were marched through the city of Terebovlia to a village Plebanivka, about 2 km outside, where they were gunfired in the ditches.

1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship ''Yamato'', the largest battleship ever constructed, is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while en-route on a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go.

1945 - Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan.

1946 - Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.

1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.

1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.

1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.

1955 - Anthony Eden, Conservative Party, becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.

1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.

1964 - IBM announces the System/360.

1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.

1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.

1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.

1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.

1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).

1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.

1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction was reversed on appeal).

1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.

1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.

2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.

2003 - U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.

2006 - Severe tornadoes rip through central Tennessee, destroying hundreds of homes and killing 13 people.

top

1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)

1539 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and drawer, (d. 1584)

1613 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)

1644 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)

1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)

1652 - Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)

1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)

1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)

1763 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer

1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)

1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)

1803 - Flora Tristan, French feminist and socialist philosopher (d. 1844)

1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)

1848 - Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)

1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)

1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)

1870 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)

1873 - John McGraw, baseball player and manager (d. 1934)

1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)

1886 - Ed Lafitte, baseball player (d. 1971)

1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)

1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)

1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (d. 1958)

1893 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)

1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)

1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)

1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)

1909 - Robert Charroux, French writer (d. 1978)

1915 - Billie Holiday, American singer (d. 1959)

1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1958)

1917 - R.G. Armstrong, American actor

1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player

1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer

1920 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player

1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban musician (d. 2003)

1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer

1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)

1928 - James Garner, American actor

1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)

1928 - James White, Northern Irish science fiction writer (d. 1999)

1929 - Bob Denard, French soldier

1930 - Andrew Sachs, British actor

1931 - Donald Barthelme, American author

1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor

1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor

1935 - Bobby Bare, American musician

1936 - Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist

1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician

1938 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter

1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director

1939 - Sir David Frost, English broadcaster and television host

1944 - Julia Phillips, American film producer and writer (d. 2002)

1944 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany

1945 - Joël Robuchon, French chef

1945 - Magnús Þór Jónsson (Megas), Icelandic vocalist, songwriter and writer

1945 - Werner Schroeter, German film director

1946 - Colette Besson, French runner

1949 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)

1951 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter

1954 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor

1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football player

1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)

1956 - Charles Carreon, American lawyer and author

1956 - Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecuter

1961 - Pascal Olmeta, French footballer

1962 - Hugh O'Connor, American actor (d. 1995)

1962 - Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber

1964 - Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor

1965 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian

1965 - Alison Lapper, British artist

1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player

1969 - Ricky Watters, American football player

1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist

1971 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor

1971 - Rob Steele, American author

1973 - Carole Montillet, French skier

1973 - Ève Salvail, Canadian model

1975 - Tiki Barber, American football player

1975 - Ronde Barber, American football player

1975 - Ronnie Belliard, baseball player

1979 - Tony Malone, British designer and activist

1982 - Sonjay Dutt, Indian professional wrestler

1987 - Danny Almonte, Overage Little League player