Events

• 1489 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.

• 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion.

• 1647 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.

• 1757 – On-board the HMS Monarch, Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty.

• 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.

• 1869 – Defeat of Titokowaru.

• 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard.

• 1903 – The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty.

• 1905 – Chelsea Football Club is founded.

• 1910 – Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vented to atmosphere.

• 1915 – World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.

• 1937 – Pope Pius XI officially issued the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge to Nazi Germany.

• 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.

• 1942 – Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the world to successfully treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin.

• 1943 – World War II – The Kraków Ghetto is 'liquidated'.

• 1945 – World War II – The R.A.F. first operational use of the Grand Slam bomb, Bielefeld, Germany.

• 1951 – Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.

• 1964 – A jury in Dallas, Texas find Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy.

• 1967 – The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.

• 1972 – Italian publisher and former partisan Giangiacomo Feltrinelli is killed by an explosion near Segrate.

• 1978 – The Israeli Defense Force invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani.

• 1979 – In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.

• 1980 – In Poland, a plane crashes during final approach near Warsaw, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.

• 1984 – Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.

• 1994 – Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.

• 1995 – Space Exploration: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.

• 1997 – The Chinese city of Chongqing (formerly Chunking) is upgraded to a centrally administered municipality.

• 1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.

• 2005 – Cedar Revolution, where hundreds of thousands of Lebanese went into the streets of Beirut to demonstrate against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon and against the government.

Births

• 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)

• 1681 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767)

• 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)

• 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, first Estonian poet (d. 1822)

• 1804 – Johann Strauss, Sr., Austrian composer (d. 1849)

• 1807 – Josephine of Leuchtenberg, queen of Sweden and Norway (d. 1876)

• 1813 – Joseph Philo Bradley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1892)

• 1822 – Teresa of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil (d. 1889)

• 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891)

• 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (d. 1910)

• 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (d. 1903)

• 1844 – King Umberto I of Italy, (d. 1900)

• 1851 – John Sebastian Little, American politician and congressman (d. 1916)

• 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)

• 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1915)

• 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian writer (d. 1920)

• 1854 – John Lane, British publisher (d. 1925)

• 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1925)

• 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist (d. 1951)

• 1863 – Casey Jones, American railroad engineer (d. 1900)

• 1866 – Alexey Troitsky, Russian chess problemist (d. 1942)

• 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, British writer (d. 1951)

• 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)

• 1880 – Princess Thyra, daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1945)

• 1882 – Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (d. 1969)

• 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)

• 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964)

• 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American publisher (d. 1962)

• 1887 – Charles Reisner, American silent actor and film director (d. 1962)

• 1888 – Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Quebec painter (d. 1970)

• 1894 – Osa Johnson, American explorer (d. 1953)

• 1898 – Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (d. 1985)

• 1899 – K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (d. 1992)

• 1903 – Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)

• 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb American painter (d. 1974)

• 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress, Ziegfeld girl

• 1905 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher (d. 1983)

• 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer (Douglas Aircraft) (d. 1991)

• 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French phenomenological philosopher (d. 1961)

• 1912 – Les Brown, American bandleader (d. 2001)

• 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (d. 1991)

• 1912 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (d. 1998)

• 1914 – Lee Elhardt Hays, American folksinger (d. 1981)

• 1914 – Bill Owen, British actor (d. 1999)

• 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)

• 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 2005)

• 1916 – Horton Foote, American author, playwright and screenwriter (d. 2009)

• 1918 – Dennis Patrick, American actor (d. 2002)

• 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)

• 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A

• 1922 – Les Baxter, American musician and composer (d. 1996)

• 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)

• 1925 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American owner of the Detroit Lions

• 1925 – Francis A. Marzen, American Catholic prelate (d. 2004)

• 1928 – Frank Borman, American astronaut and CEO

• 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish populariser environmentalist (d. 1980)

• 1931 – Phil Phillips, American singer and songwriter

• 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russia's first First Lady

• 1933 – Sir Michael Caine, British actor

• 1933 – René Felber, former member of the Swiss Federal Council

• 1933 – Quincy Jones, American musician and composer

• 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American astronaut

• 1934 – Paul Rader, the 15th General of The Salvation Army

• 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer

• 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor

• 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French film director and screenwriter

• 1939 – Stavros Xarhakos, Greek composer

• 1939 – Pilar Bardem, Spanish actress

• 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German director

• 1942 – Rita Tushingham, British actress

• 1944 – Bobby Smith, English professional footballer and manager

• 1944 – Vaclav Nedomansky, Czech hockey player

• 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress (d. 1994)

• 1945 – Jasper Carrott, British comedian

• 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey, American country music singer

• 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist (Chicago)

• 1945 – Herman van Veen, Dutch singer and theatre performer

• 1946 – Steve Kanaly, American actor

• 1946 – Wes Unseld, American basketball player

• 1947 – Pam Ayres, British poet

• 1947 – William J. Jefferson, American politician

• 1948 – Tom Coburn, American politician, junior senator from Oklahoma

• 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian

• 1949 – Michael Stedman, British World War I Historian and Author

• 1950 – Rick Dees, American disc jockey

• 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream

• 1956 – Jonathan Bowen, British computer scientist

• 1956 – Colin Ayre, British football player

• 1957 – Andrew Robinson, British author

• 1957 – Tad Williams, American author

• 1958 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco

• 1959 – Tamara Tunie, American actress

• 1959 – Brian Whitfield, former South African cricketer

• 1960 – Kirby Puckett, American baseball player (d. 2006)

• 1961 – Greg Anderson, American NHRA driver

• 1961 – Penny Johnson Jerald, American actress

• 1961 – Hiro Matsushita, Japanese racing driver

• 1962 – Narumi Tsunoda, Japanese voice actress

• 1963 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer

• 1964 – Dario Bisso, Italian conductor

• 1965 – James Kevin Brown, American baseball player

• 1965 – Catherine Dent, American actress

• 1965 – Aamir Khan, Indian actor

• 1965 – Kiana Tom, American fitness guru and model

• 1965 – Kevin Williamson, American screenwriter

• 1966 – Elise Neal, American actress

• 1968 – Megan Follows, Canadian actress

• 1969 – Larry Johnson, American basketball player

• 1969 – Des Coleman, English actor and presenter

• 1970 – Ebru Kavaklıoğlu, Russian athlete

• 1970 – Meredith Salenger, American actress

• 1974 – Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1974 – Grace Park, Canadian actress of Korean descedent

• 1975 – Stephen Harper, British/English footballer

• 1975 – Johan Paulik, Slovak porn star

• 1975 – Wendy Rice, American actress

• 1975 – Rico Yan, Filipino actor (d. 2002)

• 1976 – Merlin Santana, American actor (d. 2002)

• 1976 – Daniel Gillies, Canadian born New Zealand actor

• 1977 – Aki Hoshino, Japanese model

• 1978 – Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer

• 1978 – Carlo Giuliani, Italian anarchist (d. 2001)

• 1979 – Nicolas Anelka, French footballer

• 1979 – Chris Klein, American actor

• 1979 – Love, Angolan footballer

• 1979 – Sead Ramović, German-born Bosnian footballer

• 1979 – Anthony Carelli, Italian-American professional wrestler

• 1980 – Aaron Brown, British/English footballer

• 1980 – Matteo Grassotto, Italian racing driver

• 1980 – Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby union footballer

• 1980 – Mercedes McNab, Canadian-born actress

• 1981 – Bobby Jenks, American baseball player

• 1981 – Mei-Ting Sun, Chinese-born pianist

• 1982 – Carlos Marinelli, Argentine footballer

• 1982 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (d. 2008)

• 1982 – Kate Maberly, British actor, Singer Songwriter

• 1983 – Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer

• 1983 – Taylor Hanson, American musician, member of Hanson

• 1984 – Liesel Matthews, American former child actress

• 1985 – Eva Angelina, American porn star

• 1985 – Idaira, Spanish singer

• 1985 – Brianna Love, American porn Star

• 1986 – Jamie Bell, British actor

• 1986 – Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer

• 1986 – Andy Taylor, British/English footballer

• 1989 – Colby O'Donis, American musician

• 1992 – Jasmine Murray, American singer

• 1993 – Julienne Irwin, American singer

• 1994 – Justin Bieber, Canadian singer

Deaths

• 752 – Pope Zachary

• 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim, German Queen (b. c. 895)

• 1457 – Jingtai Emperor of China (b. 1428)

• 1471 – Sir Thomas Malory, English author (b. 1405)

• 1647 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)

• 1648 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (b. 1584)

• 1680 – René Le Bossu, French critic (b. 1631)

• 1682 – Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael, Dutch painter (b. 1628)

• 1696 – Jean Domat, French jurist (b. 1625)

• 1698 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (b. 1622)

• 1748 – George Wade, British military leader (b. 1673)

• 1757 – John Byng, British admiral (executed) (b. 1704)

• 1791 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (b. 1725)

• 1803 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German writer (b. 1724)

• 1805 – Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Russian general (b. 1753)

• 1811 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735)

• 1823 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)

• 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and political theorist (b. 1818)

• 1884 – Quintino Sella, Italian statesman (b. 1827)

• 1932 – George Eastman, American inventor, and founder of Eastman Kodak (b. 1854)

• 1933 – Balto, Siberian Husky noted for his role in the 1925 serum run to Nome (b. 1919)

• 1946 – Werner von Blomberg, field marshal (b. 1878)

• 1949 – John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (b. 1873)

• 1957 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot freedom fighter (b. 1938)

• 1973 – Howard Aiken, American engineer (b. 1900)

• 1973 – Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (b. 1907)

• 1973 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)

• 1975 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)

• 1976 – Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)

• 1977 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (b. 1917)

• 1980 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician (b. 1902)

• 1980 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish populariser environmentalist (b. 1928)

• 1983 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor (b. 1927)

• 1989 – Edward Abbey, American author and environmental activist (b. 1927)

• 1991 – Howard Ashman, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1950)

• 1991 – Doc Pomus, American composer (b. 1925)

• 1991 – Margery Sharp, children's author (b. 1905)

• 1992 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1926)

• 1995 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1911)

• 1997 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b. 1907)

• 1999 – Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910)

• 2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900)

• 2002 – Cherry Wilder, New Zealand-born author (b. 1930)

• 2003 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian-born artist (b. 1945)

• 2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928)

• 2006 – Ann Calvello, Roller Derby Queen (b. 1929)

• 2006 – Lennart Meri, former president of Estonia (b. 1929)

• 2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French history teacher and member of the French Resistance (b. 1912)

• 2007 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (b. 1943)

• 2008 – Chiara Lubich, Italian Catholic activist and leader and foundress of the Focolare (b. 1920)

• 2009 – Alain Bashung, French singer, songwriter, comedian and actor. (b. 1947)

• 2009 – Altovise Davis, American entertainer, best known as Sammy Davis, Jr.'s third wife. (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

• Sikhism – Nanakshahi New Year, first day of month of Chet

• Albania – Summer Day

• Andorra – Constitution Day

• Japan and Korea – White Day, similar to Valentine's Day (men give gifts to women).

• Estonia – Estonian language day, based on birth of Kristjan Jaak Peterson

• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Heroes' Day

• Saint Mathilda

• Pi Day