1294 Kublai Khan (died), Mongolian emperor (born 1215)
1404 Leon Battista Alberti (born), Italian painter and philosopher (d. 1472)
1478 George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treasonagainst his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
1516 Mary I of England (born), Queen of England and Ireland (d. 1558)
1535 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (died), German magician, astrologer, and theologian (born 1486)
1546 Martin Luther (died), German monk and priest, leader of the Protestant Reformation (born 1483)
1559 Isaac Casaubon (born), Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1614)
1564 Michelangelo (died), Italian sculptor and painter (born 1475)
1632 Giovanni Battista Vitali (born), Italian composer and violinist (d. 1692)
1654 Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (died), French author (born 1594)
1712 Louis, Dauphin of France (died), Duke of Burgundy (born 1682)
1743 Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici (died), French daughter of Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1667)
1745 Alessandro Volta (born), Italian physicist, invented the battery (d. 1827)
1745 The city of Surakarta, Central Java is founded on the banks of Bengawan Solo River, and becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Surakarta.
1781 Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition againstDutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
1788 John Whitehurst (died), English geologist (born 1713)
1797 French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warshipsinvade Trinidad.
1814 Samuel Fenton Cary (born), American lawyer and politician (d. 1900)
1836 Ramakrishna (born), Indian mystic and guru (d. 1886)
1838 Ernst Mach (born), Austrian physicist (died 1916)
1848 Louis Comfort Tiffany (born), American stained glass artist (died 1933)
1851 Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (died), German mathematician (born 1804)
1858 Wilhelm Schmidt (born), German pioneer of superheated steam for use in locomotives (died 1924)
1861 In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1862 Charles M. Schwab (born), American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (died 1939)
1865 American Civil War: Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set theSouth Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
1870 William Laurel Harris (born), American painter and author (died 1924)
1871 Harry Brearley (born), English scientist (died 1948)
1878 John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
1892 Wendell Willkie (born), American lawyer and politician (died 1944)
1898 Enzo Ferrari (born), Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (died 1988)
1900 Clinton L. Merriam (died), American politician (born 1824)
1902 Charles Lewis Tiffany (died), American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (born 1812)
1906 Hans Asperger (born), Austrian pediatrician (died 1980)
1906 John Batterson Stetson (died), American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (born 1830)
1909 Wallace Stegner (born), American historian and author (died 1993)
1911 The first official flight with air mail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces,British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
1913 Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.
1918 Jane Loevinger (born), American psychologist (died 2008)
1919 Jack Palance (born), American actor (died 2006)
1920 Bill Cullen (born), American game show host (died 1990)
1922 Helen Gurley Brown (born), American author and publisher (died 2012)
1925 George Kennedy (born), American actor
1929 Len Deighton (born), English historian and author
1930 Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1930 Gahan Wilson (born), American author and illustrator
1930 While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1931 Johnny Hart (born), American cartoonist (died 2007)
1931 Toni Morrison (born), American author, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 Yoko Ono (born), Japanese-American singer-songwriter (Plastic Ono Band)
1934 Paco Rabanne (born), Spanish-French fashion designer
1936 Jean M. Auel (born), American author
1942 World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
1943 Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
1943 The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
1946 Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
1950 Cybill Shepherd (born), American actress and singer
1953 Robbie Bachman (born), Canadian drummer (Brave Belt and Bachman–Turner Overdrive)
1954 Charlie Fowler (born), American mountaineer, author, and photographer (died 2006)
1954 John Travolt (born), American actor, singer, and producer
1954 The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
1955 Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot “Wasp” is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
1957 Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
1957 Vanna White (born), American actress and game show host
1964 Joseph-Armand Bombardier (died), Canadian inventor and businessman, foundedBombardier Inc. (born 1907)
1965 The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 J. Robert Oppenheimer (died), American physicist (born 1904)
1968 Molly Ringwald (born), American actress, singer, and dancer
1970 The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1972 The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state’s death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
1976 Wallace Berman (died), American painter and illustrator (born 1926)
1977 Andy Devine (died), American actor (born 1905)
1977 The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight” on top of aBoeing 747.
1978 The first Ironman Triathlon competition takes place on the island of Oahu and is won by Gordon Haller.
1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
1981 Jack Northrop (died), American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (born 1895)
1982 Ngaio Marsh (died), New Zealand author (born 1895)
1991 The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
1997 Emily Hahn (died), American journalist and author (born 1905)
1998 Harry Caray (died), American sportscaster (born 1914)
2001 Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt dies in an accidentduring the Daytona 500. (born 1951)
2004 Jean Rouch (died), French anthropologist and director (born 1917)
2013 Godfrey Hewitt (died), English geneticist (born 1940)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017