Events Pre-1600 332 BC – Alexander the Great is crowned pharaoh of Egypt.
1601–1900 1680 – German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope. 1770 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile. 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: At the Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor and Oudinot are defeated by the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein. 1851 – Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA. 1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.
1901–present 1910 – Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher. 1914 – The Joensuu City Hall, designed by Eliel Saarinen, was inaugurated in Joensuu, Finland.Digikoivikko: Joensuun uuden kaupungintalon vihkijuhlat – Vaarakirjastot (in Finnish) 1918 – The Provisional National Assembly of the new republic of Czechoslovakia meets to devise a constitution. 1920 – Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki. 1921 – The Communist Party of Spain is founded, and issues the first edition of Mundo obrero. 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom. 1938 – The Lions Gate Bridge, connecting Vancouver to the North Shore region, opens to traffic. 1940 – World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed. 1941 – World War II: The aircraft carrier sinks due to torpedo damage from the sustained on November 13. 1941 – World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries, murder nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day. 1952 – The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart. 1957 – The "Apalachin meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high-level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee. 1960 – Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana. 1965 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces. 1967 – The Congress of Colombia, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the death of Policarpa Salavarrieta, declares this day as "Day of the Colombian Woman". 1967 – American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser. 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon. 1970 – Soviet Union enters ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization. 1970 – Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including almost all of the Marshall University football team. 1971 – Mariner 9 enters orbit around Mars. 1973 – In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey. 1973 – The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, begins. 1975 – With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara. 1977 – During a British House of Commons debate, Labour MP Tam Dalyell poses what would become known as the West Lothian question, referring to issues related to devolution in the United Kingdom. 1978 – France conducts the Aphrodite nuclear test as 25th in the group of 29 1975–78 French nuclear tests. 1979 – US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis. 1982 – Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border. 1982 – Reverend Caesar "Butch" Conde leads first worship service of the Bread of Life Ministries International in the Philippines. 1984 – Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city. 1990 – After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland. 1990 – While on approach to Zurich Airport, Alitalia Flight 404 crashes into Stadlerberg Mountain near Weiach, killing 46. 1991 – American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103. 1991 – Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after thirteen years in exile. 1992 – In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashes near Nha Trang, killing 30. 1995 – A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs. 2001 – War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul. 2001 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes a remote part of the Tibetan Plateau. It has the longest known surface rupture recorded on land (~400 km) and is the best documented example of a supershear earthquake. 2003 – Astronomers discover Sedna, a distant trans-Neptunian dwarf planet. 2008 – The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C. 2008 – Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station. 2012 – Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas. 2016 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Kaikōura, New Zealand, at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), resulting in the deaths of two people. 2017 – A gunman kills four people and injures 12 others during a shooting spree across Rancho Tehama, California. He had earlier murdered his wife in their home. 2019 – A mass shooting occurs at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, resulting in three deaths, including that of the perpetrator, and three injuries.
Births Pre-1600 1449 – Sidonie of Poděbrady, daughter of King of Bohemia (died 1510) 1487 – John III of Pernstein, Bohemian land-owner, Governor of Moravia and Count of Kladsko (died 1548) 1501 – Anna of Oldenburg, Regent of East Frisia (died 1575)Heiko Ebbel Janssen: Gräfin Anna von Ostfriesland – eine hochadelige Frau der späten Reformationszeit (1540/42–1575). Ein Beitrag zu den Anfängen der reformierten Konfessionalisierung im Reich. Aschendorff, Münster 1998, . 1531 – Richard Topcliffe, English torturer (died 1604)
1601–1900 1601 – John Eudes, French priest and missionary (died 1680) 1650 – William III of England, Prince of Orange, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1702) 1663 – Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, German organist and composer (died 1712) 1719 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1787) 1765 – Robert Fulton, American engineer, early steamboat pioneer (died 1815) 1771 – Marie François Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and physiologist (died 1802) 1776 – Henri Dutrochet, French physician, botanist, and physiologist (died 1847) 1777 – Nathaniel Claiborne, American farmer and politician (died 1859) 1778 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1837) 1779 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (died 1850) 1797 – Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (died 1875) 1803 – Jacob Abbott, American author (died 1879) 1805 – Fanny Hensel, German pianist and composer (died 1847) 1812 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (died 1878) 1812 – Maria Cristina of Savoy (died 1836) 1816 – John Curwen, English minister and educator (died 1880) 1828 – James B. McPherson, American general (died 1864) 1832 – Henry Strangways, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of South Australia (died 1920) 1838 – August Šenoa, Croatian author, poet, and critic (died 1881) 1840 – Claude Monet, French painter (died 1926) 1856 – Madeleine Lemoyne Ellicott, American activist (died 1945) 1861 – Frederick Jackson Turner, American historian and author (died 1932) 1863 – Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (died 1944) 1869 – John Lumsden, Irish physician, founded the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland (died 1944) 1871 – Wajed Ali Khan Panni, Bengali aristocrat and philanthropist (died 1936) 1875 – Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general and politician (died 1899) 1875 – Jakob Schaffner, Swiss author and activist (died 1944) 1877 – Norman Brookes, Australian tennis player (died 1968) 1878 – Julie Manet, French painter and art collector (died 1966) 1878 – Leopold Staff, Ukrainian-Polish poet and academic (died 1957) 1883 – Ado Birk, Estonian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1942) 1889 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (died 1964) 1891 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941) 1893 – Addie Viola Smith, American lawyer and trade commissioner (died 1975) 1895 – Walter Jackson Freeman II, American physician and psychiatrist (died 1972) 1897 – John Steuart Curry, American painter and academic (died 1946) 1898 – Benjamin Fondane, Romanian-French philosopher, poet, and critic (died 1944) 1900 – Aaron Copland, American composer, conductor, and educator (died 1990)
1901–present 1904 – Harold Haley, American lawyer and judge (died 1970) 1904 – Harold Larwood, English-Australian cricketer (died 1995) 1904 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, director, and producer (died 1963) 1905 – John Henry Barbee, American singer and guitarist (died 1964) 1906 – Louise Brooks, American actress and dancer (died 1985) 1907 – Howard W. Hunter, American religious leader, 14th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 1995) 1907 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (died 2002) 1907 – William Steig, American author, illustrator, and sculptor (died 2003) 1908 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1957) 1910 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress and singer (died 2001) 1910 – Eric Malpass, English author (died 1996) 1912 – Barbara Hutton, American philanthropist (died 1979) 1912 – Tung-Yen Lin, Chinese-American engineer, designed the Guandu Bridge (died 2003) 1914 – Ken Carson, American Western singer (died 1994) 1915 – Mabel Fairbanks, American figure skater and coach (died 2001) 1915 – Martha Tilton, American singer and actress (died 2006) 1916 – Roger Apéry, Greek-French mathematician and academic (died 1994) 1916 – Sherwood Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (died 2011) 1917 – Park Chung Hee, South Korean general and politician, 3rd President of South Korea (died 1979) 1918 – John Bromwich, Australian tennis player (died 1999) 1919 – Johnny Desmond, American singer (died 1985) 1919 – Lisa Otto, German soprano and actress (died 2013) 1920 – Mary Greyeyes, the first First Nations woman to join the Canadian Armed Forces (died 2011) 1921 – Ea Jansen, Estonian historian and academic (died 2005) 1921 – Brian Keith, American actor and director (died 1997) 1922 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary General of the United Nations (died 2016) 1922 – Veronica Lake, American actress and singer (died 1973) 1924 – Leonid Kogan, Ukrainian-Russian violinist and educator (died 1982) 1925 – Stirling Colgate, American physicist and academic (died 2013) 1925 – James Mellaart, English archaeologist and author (died 2012) 1927 – Lawrie Barratt, English businessman, founded Barratt Developments (died 2012) 1927 – Bart Cummings, Australian horse trainer (died 2015)