Births
1415 - Vasili II of Russia (d. 1462)
1452 - Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1516)
1503 - Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1564)
1536 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English politician (d. 1572)
1606 - Edmund Waller, English poet (d. 1687)
1628 - Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician (d. 1694)
1709 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (d. 1746)
1749 - Lorenzo da Ponte, Italian librettist (d. 1838)
1769 - Joseph Williamson, English philanthropist and tunnel builder (d. 1840)
1772 - Friedrich von Schlegel, German aesthetician (d. 1829)
1776 - Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1810)
1788 - Joseph von Eichendorff, German writer (d. 1857)
1810 - Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet (d. 1886)
1842 - Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian composer (d. 1912)
1844 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist (d. 1908)
1845 - Alexander III of Russia (d. 1894)
1847 - Kate Sheppard, New Zealand suffragist (d. 1934)
1880 - Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor (d. 1971)
1887 - Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Grandmaster of Ninjutsu (d. 1972)
1888 - Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1966)
1891 - Sam Jaffe, American actor (d. 1984)
1892 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (d. 1955)
1892 - Gregory La Cava, American director (d. 1952)
1903 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (d. 1931)
1915 - Harry Bertoia, Italian artist (d. 1978)
1919 - Marion Hutton, American singer (d. 1987)
1923 - Val Logsdon Fitch, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 - Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet (d. 2005)
1928 - James Earl Ray, American assassin (d. 1998)
1930 - Claude Bolling, French jazz pianist
1936 - Sepp Blatter, Swiss hockey and football official
1940 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist
1941 - Joe Viterelli, American actor (d. 2004)
1946 - Jim Valvano, American basketball coach (d. 1993)
1946 - Mike Hollands, Australian Animator
1947 - Kim Campbell, 19th Prime Minister of Canada
1947 - Bob Greene, American journalist
1947 - Tom Scholz, American songwriter
1952 - Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe politician
1957 - Marlon Jackson, American singer
1957 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist
1958 - Steve Howe, baseball player (d. 2006)
1958 - Sharon Stone, American actress
1960 - Anne MacKenzie, journalist and broadcaster
1961 - Laurel Clark, physician and astronaut (d. 2003)
1963 - Jeff Ament, American musician (Pearl Jam)
1963 - Neneh Cherry, Swedish musician
1964 - Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
1964 - Jasmine Guy, American actress
1964 - David Faber, analyst for CNBC
1965 - Rod Woodson, American football player
1966 - Edie Brickell, American singer
1966 - Mike Timlin, baseball player
1971 - Timbaland, American rapper
1972 - Matt Kenseth, American race car driver
1972 - Takashi Fujii, Japanese television performer
1973 - Eva Herzigova, Czech model
1973 - Chris Sutton, English footballer
1973 - John LeCompt, American guitarist
1977 - Shannon Miller, American gymnast
1977 - Peter Enckelman, Finnish footballer
1978 - Ben Burnley, singer
1981 - Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer
1982 - Katharine Isabelle, Canadian actress
1982 - Timo Glock, German racing car driver
1983 - Carrie Underwood, American singer
1983 - Reena Virk, Canadian murder victim (d. 1997)
1984 - Olivia Wilde, American actress
1985 - Lassana Diarra, French footballer
1985 - Casey Dienel, American singer-songwriter
1986 - Vadim Schneider, Canadian actor (d. 2003)
1992 - Emily Osment, American actress
Deaths
1291 - Arghun, Persian ruler
1510 - Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (b. 1445)
1513 - John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, English commander (b. 1443)
1549 - Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English politician and diplomat
1584 - Thomas Norton, English politician and writer (b. 1532)
1585 - Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (b. 1517)
1588 - Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (b. 1533)
1669 - John Denham, English poet (b. 1615)
1670 - Johann Rudolf Glauber, German chemist (b. 1604)
1776 - Élie Catherine Fréron, French critic (b. 1719)
1776 - Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (b. 1701)
1792 - John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1713)
1832 - Muzio Clementi, Italian composer (b. 1752)
1861 - Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (b. 1814)
1872 - Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian politician (b. 1805)
1895 - Charles Frederick Worth, English-born couturier (b. 1826)
1913 - Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist (b. 1820)
1937 - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer (b. 1884)
1940 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
1942 - William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
1948 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1886)
1950 - Marguerite De La Motte, American actress (b. 1902)
1951 - Kijuro Shidehara, Prime minister of Japan (b. 1872)
1966 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1973 - Eugene 'Bull' Connor, American segregationist (b. 1897)
1984 - June Marlowe, American actress (b. 1903)
1985 - Konstantin Chernenko, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1911)
1985 - Bob Nieman, baseball player (b. 1927)
1986 - Ray Milland, British actor (b. 1907)
1988 - Andy Gibb, English-born singer (b. 1958)
1994 - Abdelkader Alloula, Algerian playwright (assassinated) (b. 1929)
1997 - La Vern Baker, American singer (b. 1929)
1998 - Lloyd Bridges, American actor (b. 1913)
2001 - Massimo Morsello, Italian musician and far right activist (b. 1958)
2003 - Barry Sheene, British motorcycle racer (b. 1950)
2004 - Dave Blood, American musician
2005 - Dave Allen, Irish comedian (b. 1936)
2005 - Danny Joe Brown, American singer (Molly Hatchet) (b. 1951)
2006 - Anna Moffo, American soprano (b. 1932)
Events
241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet; end of First Punic War.
1496 - Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
1629 - Charles I of England dissolves Parliament, starting the Eleven Years Tyranny in which there was no parliament.
1735 - an agreement between Nadir Shah and Paul I of Russia was signed near Ganja and the Russian troops were withdrawn from Baku.
1804 - Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
1814 - Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1831 - The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.
1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.
1861 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.
1864 - Montana vigilantes hang Jack Slade.
1864 - American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
1880 - Members of the Salvation Army land in the United States and begin operations.
1891 - Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1893 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes a French colony.
1902 - Second Boer War: South African Boers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
1902 - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera.
1902 - Tochangri, Turkey, is completely destroyed by an earthquake.
1906 - The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.
1912 - Yuan Shikai is sworn in as the second Provisional President of the Republic of China.
1926 - The first Book-of-the-Month-Club selection is produced.
1933 - An earthquake in Long Beach, California kills 120 people.
1945 - The Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1948 - The Indian Union Muslim League is founded, by remnants of the old Muslim League.
1951 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France.
1952 - Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba.
1959 - Tibet leads an unsuccessful uprising against ten years of Chinese occupation in Lhasa. Thousands massacred by the occupying Chinese army.
1964 - The Ford Mustang is first produced by the Ford Motor Company.
1966 - Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg.
1969 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He would later retract his guilty plea.
1970 - Vietnam War: Capt. Ernest Medina is charged with My Lai war crimes.
1975 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
1977 - Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.
1982 - The United States places an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports because of their support of terrorist groups.
1982 - Syzygy: all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun.
1987 - The Holy See condemns the practice of surrogate motherhood, along with test-tube babies and artificial insemination.
1990 - In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.
1991 - Gulf War: Operation Phase Echo - 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.
1996 - The "Summit of Peacemakers" takes place in Egypt.
1997 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer premieres on the WB network.
1998 - American troops stationed in the Persian Gulf begin to receive the first vaccinations against anthrax.
2000 - The NASDAQ stock market index peaks at 5048.62, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
2004 - Six Flags sells 8 of its theme parks to private investors.
2006 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
2006 - Mass unrest by the PCC started in São Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil. Which would eventually kill more than 152 people
