Warning: Zend OPcache API is restricted by "restrict_api" configuration directive in /srv/users/serverpilot/apps/historylookup/public/wp-content/plugins/tubepress/vendor/tedivm/stash/src/Stash/Driver/FileSystem.php on line 253
Today July 16th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
622 – The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
1054 – Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing an invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar in the Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. This is often dated as the start of the East-West Schism.
1661 – The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1683 – Manchu/Chinese Qing Dynasty naval forces under commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
1769 – Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
1782 – First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart s opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.
1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after the signing of the Residence Act.
1809 – The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declared its independence from Spanish Crown and formed the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, lead by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1862 – American Civil War: David Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
1880 – Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licenced to practice medicine in Canada.
1931 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 – The world s first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1942 – Holocaust: Rafle du Vel d Hiv: the Vichy France government orders French police officers to round up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
1945 – Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1948 – The city of Nazareth, hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel led by Ben Dunkelman, after little more than token resistance, during 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 – King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1957 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
1965 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1973 – Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
1979 – Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1981 – Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia s 4th Prime Minister until he retired on October 31, 2003, making him Asia s longest-serving political leaders (22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia).
1983 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
1994 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22nd.
1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha s Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy.
2004 – Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2007 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and aftershock of 6.6 occurs off the Niigata coast, Japan, killing 8 people with at least 800 injured and damaging a nuclear power plant. See 2007 Chuetsu offshore earthquake.
Births
1194 – Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (d. 1253)
1486 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
1611 – Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1644)
1714 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer (d. 1800)
1722 – Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
1723 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
1749 – Cyrus Griffin, Tenth and final president of the Continental Congress (d. 1810)
1796 – Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
1821 – Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910)
1858 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (d. 1931)
1862 – Ida B. Wells, American civil rights activist (d. 1931)
1870 – Lambert McKenna, Irish scholar (d. 1956)
1872 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (d. 1928)
1883 – Charles Sheeler, American photographer and artist (d. 1965)
1884 – Anna Vyrubova, Russian memoirist (d. 1964)
1888 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
1888 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
1888 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
1889 – Larry Semon, American comedian (d. 1928)
1896 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
1896 – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German eugenicist and Nazi physician (d. 1969)
1896 – Evelyn Preer, American actress (d. 1932)
1902 – Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist (d. 1977)
1903 – Carmen Lombardo, Canadian musician (d. 1971)
1903 – Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993)
1903 – Fritz Bauer, German judge (d. 1968)
1906 – Vincent Sherman, American film director (d. 2006)
1907 – Frances Horwich, American educator and television personality (d. 2001)
1907 – Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995)
1907 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
1910 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
1911 – Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)
1911 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
1912 – Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1915 – Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
1918 – Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 1989)
1919 – Choi Kyuha, President of South Korea (d. 2006)
1919 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Nazi war criminal (d. 1999)
1920 – Anwar Hussain, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2002)
1923 – Chris Argyris, American educator
1924 – Bess Myerson, American beauty queen
1925 – Cal Tjader, American musician (d. 1982)
1926 – Irwin Rose, American biologist, Nobel laureate
1927 – John Warr, English cricketer
1928 – Anita Brookner, English novelist
1928 – Robert Sheckley, American author (d. 2005)
1928 – David C. Treen, American politician
1928 – Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993)
1930 – Michael Bilirakis, American politician
1930 – Guy Béart, Egyptian-born French singer and songwriter
1932 – Max McGee, American football player (d. 2007)
1932 – Dick Thornburgh, American politician
1934 – Don Payne, American politician
1936 – Buddy Merrill, American musician (The Lawrence Welk Show)
1936 – Venkatraman Subramanya, Indian cricketer
1937 – Richard Bryan, American politician
1938 – Tony Jackson, English bass player (The Searchers) (d. 2003)
1939 – Corin Redgrave, English actor
1939 – Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (d. 1995)
1941 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican musician (d. 2006)
1941 – Mišo Kovac, Croatian musician
1942 – Margaret Court, Australian tennis player
1943 – Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet (d. 1990)
1946 – Barbara Lee, American politician
1946 – Richard LeParmentier, American actor
1946 – Ron Yary, American football player
1947 – Alexis Herman, 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor
1947 – Assata Shakur, American activist
1948 – Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer and actor
1948 – Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
1948 – Kevin McKenzie, former South African cricketer
1950 – Pierre Paradis, Quebec politician
1950 – Dennis Priestley, English darts player
1950 – Tom Terrell, musicologist, deejay
1951 – Jean-Luc Mongrain, French-Canadian journalist
1952 – Stewart Copeland, American drummer (The Police)
1952 – Robert David Steele, American spy
1952 – Ken McEwan, former South African cricketer
1953 – Douglas J. Feith, American Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
1954 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
1956 – Jerry Doyle, American actor
1956 – Tony Kushner, American playwright
1957 – Alexandra Marinina, Russian writer
1958 – Michael Flatley, American dancer
1958 – Pierre Roland Renoir, Canadian artist
1958 – Mike D. Rogers, American politician
1959 – Gary Anderson, American football player
1959 – Doug Herzog, American television executive
1959 – Zoran Jolevski, Macedonian Ambassador to the US
1960 – Terry Pendleton, American baseball player
1963 – Phoebe Cates, American actress
1963 – Srecko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
1964 – Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
1964 – Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist
1964 – Anne Provoost, Belgian author
1965 – Claude Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Tina Tyler, Canadian porn star
1966 – Johnny Vaughan, English writer and broadcaster
1967 – Will Ferrell, American comedian
1967 – Christopher Rocancourt, French con artist
1968 – Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
1968 – Barry Sanders, American football player
1968 – Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia
1969 – Kathryn Harby-Williams, Australian netballer
1969 – Daryl Mitchell, American actor
1969 – Rain Pryor, American actress
1970 – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai film director
1971 – Ed Kowalczyk, American singer (Live)
1971 – Corey Feldman, American actor
1973 – Stefano Garzelli, Italian cyclist
1973 – Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
1973 – Tim Ryan, American politician
1973 – Graham Robertson, American filmmaker and author
1974 – Jeremy Enigk, American singer/songwriter and guitarist (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fire Theft)
1974 – Chris Pontius, American actor and Jackass cast member
1974 – Wendell Sailor, Australian rugby league and union footballer
1975 – Bas Leinders, Belgian racing car driver
1975 – Ana Paula Arósio, Brazilian actress
1975 – Jamie Oliver, Welsh keyboardist
1976 – Bobby Lashley, American Professional Wrestler
1976 – Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguyan footballer
1976 – Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player
1976 – Tomasz Kuchar, Polish Rally driver
1977 – Bryan Budd, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 2006)
1978 – Taj Anwar, model and activist
1979 – Jayma Mays, American actress
1979 – Chris Mihm, American basketball player
1980 – Jesse Jane, American pornographic actress and erotic model
1980 – Justine Joli, American pornographic actress, adult model and former ballerina
1980 – Adam Scott, Australian golfer
1982 – Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer
1984 – Katrina Kaif, Indian Actress
1984 – Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese racing driver
1986 – Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor
1989 – Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
1991 – Randall Bentley, American actor
1994 – Mark Indelicato, American singer and actor
Deaths
1324 – Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267)
1342 – King Charles I of Hungary
1546 – Anne Askew, English Protestant (burned at the stake) (b. 1521)
1557 – Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)
1594 – Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy (b. 1558)
1647 – Masaniello, Neapolitan rebel (b. 1622)
1664 – Andreas Gryphius, German writer (b. 1616)
1686 – John Pearson, English theologian (b. 1612)
1691 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (b. 1641)
1729 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer (b. 1683)
1747 – Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Italian painter (b. 1665)
1770 – Francis Cotes, English painter (b. 1726)
1796 – George Howard, British field marshal (b. 1718)
1831 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
1871 – Tad Lincoln, son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln
1879 – Edward Deas Thomson, Australian politician (b. 1800)
1882 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)
1886 – Ned Buntline, American pulp novelist (b. 1823)
1896 – Edmond Goncourt, French writer and critic (b. 1822)
1915 – Ellen White, American co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (b. 1827)
1916 – Ilya Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1845)
1917 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
1947 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish humanitarian (exact date of death uncertain) (b. 1912)
1949 – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet (b. 1866)
1953 – Hilaire Belloc, English writer (b. 1870)
1960 – Albert Kesselring, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1960 – John P. Marquand, American novelist (b. 1893)
1976 – Carmelo Soria, Spanish diplomat assassinated in 1976 by the Chilean DINA
1979 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (b. 1912)
1981 – Harry Chapin, American musician (b. 1942)
1982 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor (b. 1947)
1982 – C.R. Swart, South African politician (b. 1894)
1985 – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
1985 – Wayne King, American musician, songwriter and bandleader (b. 1901)
1989 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
1990 – Robert Blackburn, Irish educationist (b. 1927)
1990 – Sidney Torch, English composer, conductor and organist (b. 1908)
1991 – Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
1991 – Frank Rizzo, American politician (b. 1920)
1992 – Buck Buchanan, American football player (b. 1940)
1994 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
1994 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, French Canadian priest, writer, preacher and broadcaster (b. 1908)
1995 – May Sarton, Belgian-born American poet (b. 1912)
1995 – Stephen Spender, English poet (b. 1909)
1996 – John Panozzo, American musician (Styx) (b. 1948)
1996 – Adolf von Thadden, German politician, (b. 1921)
1998 – John Henrik Clarke, American historian and scholar (b. 1915)
1999 – Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (b. 1966)
1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (b. 1960)
1999 – Hiromi Yanagihara, Japanese singer (b. 1979)
2001 – Maurice De Bevere, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1923)
2001 – Terry Gordy, American professional wrestler (b. 1961)
2002 – John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
2003 – Celia Cruz, Cuban musician (b. 1924)
2003 – Carol Shields, Canadian author (b. 1935)
2004 – George Busbee, Governor of Georgia (b. 1927)
2005 – Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (b. 1920)
2005 – Prince Gu of Korea (b. 1931)
2005 – Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer, lyricist, and entertainer (b. 1920)
2006 – Bob Orton, Sr., American professional wrestler (b. 1929)
2006 – Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (b. 1948)
2008 – Jo Stafford, American singer of traditional pop music (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Saint Helier, hermit, martyr
Saint Gondulph, bishop of Tongeren, confessors
YouTube responded with an error: The request cannot be completed because you have exceeded your <a href="/youtube/v3/getting-started#quota">quota</a>.