Events
Pre-1600
- 1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later.
- 1211 – Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.
- 1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.
- 1582 – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.
1601–1900
- 1651 – Qing forces capture the island of Zhoushan. Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu, resident of the island and regent of the Southern Ming, flees to Kinmen.
- 1781 – The Battle of Raft Swamp marks the last battle fought in North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War with a Patriot victory. It occurred four days before the British surrender at Yorktown.
- 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.
- 1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.
- 1815 – Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.<!--
- 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.-->
- 1888 – The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.
1901–present
- 1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
- 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.
- 1928 – The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
- 1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
- 1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
- 1940 – President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.
- 1944 – World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.
- 1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.
- 1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
- 1956 – FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
- 1965 – Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.
- 1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
- 1970 – During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.
- 1979 – Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
- 1979 – A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
- 1987 – Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.
- 1987 – A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
- 1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
- 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
- 1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
- 1991 – The leaders of the Baltic States, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia, Anatolijs Gorbunovs of Latvia and Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania, signed the OSCE Final Act in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1994 – The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
- 1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
- 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within of Jupiter's moon Io.
- 2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.
- 2006 – The 6.7 Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
- 2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.
- 2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
- 2013 – The 7.2 Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.
- 2016 – One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
- 2018 – 13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered.
Births
Pre-1600
- 70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (died 19 BC)
- 1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (died 1307)
- 1440 – Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse, German noble (died 1483)
- 1471 – Konrad Mutian, German epigrammatist and academic (died 1526)
- 1542 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (died 1605)
- 1561 – Richard Field, English cathedral dean (died 1616)
- 1564 – Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1613)
- 1599 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor and regent of Amsterdam (died 1664)
1601–1900
- 1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (died 1647)
- 1622 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (died 1686)
- 1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (died 1758)
- 1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian nun and saint, founded Grey Nuns (died 1771)
- 1711 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Queen of Sardinia (died 1741)
- 1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (died 1820)
- 1765 – Sir George Pocock, 1st Baronet, English politician and peer (died 1840)
- 1767 – Gabriel Richard, French-born American Roman Catholic priest, missionary, educator, and politician (died 1832)
- 1775 – Bernhard Crusell, Finnish composer (died 1838)
- 1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician, Governor-General of Algeria (died 1849)
- 1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and politician (died 1821)
- 1789 – William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds (died 1847)
- 1802 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, head of state of France in 1848 (died 1857)
- 1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (died 1841)
- 1816 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (died 1891)
- 1818 – Alexander Dreyschock, Czech pianist and composer (died 1869)
- 1825 – Marie of Prussia, Queen of Bavaria (died 1889)
- 1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (died 1907)
- 1833 – John Alexander MacPherson, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Victoria (died 1894)
- 1836 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (died 1902)
- 1840 – Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (died 1894)
- 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (died 1900)
- 1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, actor, and journalist (died 1918)
- 1865 – Charles W. Clark, American singer and educator (died 1925)
- 1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian educator and politician, 3rd President of Austria (died 1956)
- 1872 – August Nilsson, Swedish pole vaulter, shot putter, and tug of war competitor (died 1921)
- 1874 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (died 1899)
- 1878 – Paul Reynaud, French lawyer and politician, 118th Prime Minister of France (died 1966)
- 1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (died 1967)
- 1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (died 1975)
- 1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (died 1941)
- 1884 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (died 1910)
- 1887 – Frederick Fleet, English sailor and lookout on the Titanic (died 1965)
- 1888 – S. S. Van Dine, American author and critic (died 1939)
- 1890 – Álvaro de Campos, Portuguese poet and engineer (died 1935)
- 1893 – Carol II of Romania, King of Romania (died 1953)
- 1894 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (died 1965)
- 1897 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (died 1960)
- 1899 – Adolf Brudes, Polish-German racing driver (died 1986)
- 1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (died 1987)
1901–present
- 1901 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (died 1952)
- 1905 – C. P. Snow, English chemist and author (died 1980)
- 1906 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (died 2004)
- 1906 – Alicia Patterson, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Newsday (died 1963)
- 1906 – Victoria Spivey, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1976)
- 1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist and author (died 1967)
- 1908 – Herman Chittison, American pianist (died 1967)
- 1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (died 2006)
- 1909 – Jesse L. Greenstein, American astronomer and academic (died 2002)
- 1909 – Robert Trout, American journalist (died 2000)
- 1910 – Edwin O. Reischauer, Japanese-American scholar and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (died 1990)
- 1912 – Nellie Lutcher, American singer and pianist (died 2007)
- 1913 – Wolfgang Lüth, German U-boat captain (died 1945)
- 1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (died 2007)
- 1916 – Al Killian, American trumpet player and bandleader (died 1950)
- 1916 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (died 1997)
- 1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (died 2004)
- 1917 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian and critic (died 2007)
- 1917 – Paul Tanner, American trombonist and educator (died 2013)
- 1919 – Malcolm Ross, American captain, balloonist, and physicist (died 1985)
- 1919 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (died 1995)
- 1920 – Chris Economaki, American sportscaster and actor (died 2012)
- 1920 – Patricia Jessel, Hong Kong-English actress (died 1968)
- 1920 – Peter Koch, American industrial engineer and wood scientist (died 1998)
- 1920 – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (died 1999)
- 1920 – Henri Verneuil, Turkish-French director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2002)
- 1921 – Angelica Rozeanu, Romanian-Israeli table tennis player (died 2006)
- 1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese author (died 2019)
- 1922 – Tommy Edwards, American singer-songwriter (died 1969)
- 1922 – Preben Munthe, Norwegian economist and politician, State Conciliator of Norway (died 2013)
- 1923 – Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (died 1985)
- 1923 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and politician (died 2010)
- 1923 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (died 2013)
- 1923 – Lindsay Thompson, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Victoria (died 2008)
- 1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German-Canadian author and educator (died 2022)
- 1924 – Lee Iacocca, American businessman and author (died 2019)
- 1931 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (died 2015)
- 1931 – Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark, English academic and politician
- 1932 – Jaan Rääts, Estonian guitarist and composer (died 2020)
- 1933 – Nicky Barnes, American drug lord (died 2012)
- 1934 – Alan Elsdon, English trumpet player (died 2016)
- 1934 – N. Ramani, Indian flute player (died 2015)
- 1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1993)
- 1938 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (died 1997)
- 1938 – Brice Marden, American painter (died 2023)
- 1938 – Robert Ward, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2008)
- 1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player and coach
- 1940 – Peter C. Doherty, Australian surgeon and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Roy Masters, Australian rugby league coach, journalist, and author
- 1942 – Hilo Chen, Taiwanese-American painter
- 1942 – Harold W. Gehman, Jr., American admiral
- 1942 – Don Stevenson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
- 1943 – Stanley Fischer, American and Israeli economist (died 2025)
- 1943 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer (died 2018)
- 1953 – Tito Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024)
- 1953 – Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
- 1953 – Peter Phillips, English conductor and musicologist
- 1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet and educator
- 1954 – Steve Bracks, Australian politician, 44th Premier of Victoria
- 1954 – Jere Burns, American actor
- 1959 – Alex Paterson, English keyboard player
- 1959 – Sarah Ferguson
- 1975 – Chukwudi Iwuji, Nigerian-British actor
- 1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
- 1977 – David Trezeguet, French footballer
- 1977 – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1978 – Wes Moore, American politician, author, nonprofit executive, and television producer, 63rd Governor of Maryland
- 1978 – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese wrestler
- 1979 – Bohemia, Pakistani-American rapper and producer
- 1979 – Paul Robinson, English footballer
- 1979 – Jaci Velasquez, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer
- 1984 – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player
- 1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier
- 1986 – Nolito, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian racing driver
- 1988 – Dominique Jones, American basketball player
- 1988 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
- 1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player
- 1989 – Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
- 1990 – Jeon Ji-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1991 – Brock Nelson, American ice hockey player
- 1992 – Ncuti Gatwa, Rwandan-Scottish actor
- 1992 – Vincent Martella, American actor
- 1993 – Roh Tae-hyun, South Korean singer and dancer
- 1994 – Lil' Kleine, Dutch rapper
- 1994 – Babar Azam, Pakistani cricket player
- 1995 – Jack Flaherty, American baseball player
- 1995 – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player
- 1996 – Charly Musonda, Belgian footballer
- 1996 – Grace Van Dien, American actress
- 1996 – Zelo, South Korean rapper and dancer
- 1998 – Teuku Wariza Aris Munandar, Indonesian activist and politician
- 1999 – Bailee Madison, American-Canadian actress and singer
- 2000 – Melki Sedek Huang, Indonesian activist and sex offender
- 2005 – Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark
Deaths
Pre-1600
- 55 BC – Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (born 98 BC)
- 412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
- 892 – Al-Mu'tamid, Abbasid caliph
- 898 – Lambert of Italy (born 880)
- 912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, Spanish emir (born 844)
- 925 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (born 864)
- 961 – Abd-al-Rahman III, caliph of Córdoba
- 1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (born 946)
- 1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfelden (born 1025)
- 1173 – Petronilla of Aragon (born 1135)
- 1240 – Razia Sultana, sultan of Delhi (born 1205)
- 1243 – Hedwig of Silesia, Polish saint (born 1174)
- 1326 – Walter Stapledon, bishop and Lord High Treasurer of England, and his brother Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician.
- 1385 – Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow
- 1389 – Pope Urban VI (born 1318)
- 1404 – Marie Valois, French princess (born 1344)
- 1496 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (born 1443)
- 1564 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (born 1514)
1601–1900
- 1674 – Robert Herrick, English poet (born 1591)
- 1684 – Géraud de Cordemoy, French historian, philosopher and lawyer (born 1626)
- 1690 – Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish painter and illustrator (born 1622)
- 1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (born 1675)
- 1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (born 1735)
- 1810 – Alfred Moore, American captain and judge (born 1755)
- 1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (born 1735)
- 1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (born 1746)
- 1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (born 1744)
- 1820 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (born 1771)
- 1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (born 1760)
- 1838 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (born 1802)
- 1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English author and songwriter (born 1837)
- 1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech pianist and composer (born 1850)
1901–present
- 1910 – Stanley Ketchel, American boxer (born 1886)
- 1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (born 1876)
- 1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru and saint (born 1838)
- 1925 – Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Mexican revolutionary (born 1848?)
- 1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (born 1866)
- 1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (born 1860)
- 1940 – Lluís Companys, Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (born 1882)
- 1945 – Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France, convicted Vichy collaborator (born 1883)
- 1946 – Hermann Göring, German general and Nazi politician, convicted Nuremburg war criminal (born 1893)
- 1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (born 1863)
- 1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (born 1914)
- 1958 – Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet and author (born 1907)
- 1958 – Elizabeth Alexander, British geologist, academic, and physicist (born 1908)
- 1959 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (born 1909)
- 1959 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (born 1880)
- 1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress and producer (born 1890)
- 1961 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (born 1896)
- 1963 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (born 1908)
- 1964 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (born 1891)
- 1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (born 1891)
- 1966 – Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (born 1876)
- 1968 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (born 1909)
- 1976 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (born 1902)
- 1978 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (born 1918)
- 1978 – Rolf Stenersen, Norwegian businessman (born 1899)
- 1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (born 1900)
- 1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (born 1896)
- 1983 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (born 1899)
- 1987 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (born 1949)
- 1987 – Donald Wandrei, American author and poet (born 1908)
- 1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer, music critic, pianist and writer (born 1892)
- 1989 – Danilo Kiš, Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. (born 1935)
- 1990 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress and director (born 1932)
- 1993 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (born 1913)
- 1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher and academic (born 1934)
- 1995 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (born 1967)
- 1995 – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver, only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series (born 1976)
- 1999 – Josef Locke, British-Irish soldier, policeman, tenor and actor (born 1917)
- 2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912)
- 2000 – Vincent Canby, American journalist and critic (born 1924)
- 2001 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (born 1901)
- 2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian journalist and activist (born 1919)
- 2004 – Per Højholt, Danish poet (born 1928)
- 2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (born 1977)
- 2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (born 1945)
- 2007 – Piet Boukema, Dutch jurist and politician (born 1933)
- 2008 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (born 1927)
- 2008 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (born 1914)
- 2008 – Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (born 1922)
- 2009 – Heinz Versteeg, Dutch-German footballer (born 1939)
- 2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (born 1912)
- 2010 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (born 1926)
- 2010 – Johnny Sheffield, American actor (born 1931)
- 2011 – Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (born 1920)
- 2012 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1920)
- 2012 – Erol Günaydın, Turkish actor and screenwriter (born 1933)
- 2012 – Maria Petrou, Greek-English computer scientist and academic (born 1953)
- 2012 – Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1922)
- 2013 – Donald Bailey, American drummer (born 1933)
- 2014 – Giovanni Reale, Italian philosopher and historian (born 1931)
- 2017 – Chinggoy Alonzo, Filipino theater, movie & television actor (born 1950)
- 2018 – Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (born 1953)
- 2021 – David Amess, British politician, member of Parliament for Southend West (born 1952)
- 2024 – Mike Jackson, English general (born 1944)
- 2025 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1935)
Holidays and observances
- Breast Health Day (Europe)
- Christian feast day:
- Bruno of Querfurt
- Cúan of Ahascragh
- Teresa of Ávila
- Thecla of Kitzingen
- October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
- Shwmae Su'mae Day (Wales)
- White Cane Safety Day
- World Students' Day