363 Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
1046 Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
1133 Henry II of England (born) (died 1189)
1496 King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to explore unknown lands.
1512 Gerardus Mercator (born), Flemish cartographer, philosopher, and mathematician (died 1594)
1534 Antonio da Correggio (died), Italian painter (born 1489)
1539 Nuno da Cunha (died), Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (born 1487)
1563 John Coke (born), English politician (died 1644)
1592 Michael Coxcie (died), Flemish painter (born 1499)
1616 Nicolaus Copernicus’s book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church
1658 Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac (born), French explorer (died 1730)
1695 Henry Wharton (died), English librarian and author (born 1664)
1713 Frederick Cornwallis (born), English archbishop (died 1783)
1723 Princess Mary of Great Britain (born) (died 1773)
1739 Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge (born), American physician and colonel (died 1819)
1748 Jonas C. Dryander (born), Swedish botanist (died 1810)
1748 William Shield (born), English violinist and composer (died 1829)
1750 Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d’Ansse de Villoison (born), French scholar (died 1805)
1751 Jan Křtitel Kuchař (born), Czech organist, composer, and educator (died 1829)
1766 Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1770 Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, and a boy, are killed by British troops, an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1770 Crispus Attucks (died), American slave (born 1723)
1794 Jacques Babinet (born), French physicist (died 1872)
1794 Robert Cooper Grier (born), American jurist (died 1870)
1814 Wilhelm von Giesebrech (born), German historian (died 1889)
1815 Franz Anton Mesmer (died) German physician and astrologist (born 1734)
1817 Austen Henry Layard (born), English archaeologist (died 1894)
1827 Alessandro Volta (died), Italian physicist (born 1745)
1827 Pierre-Simon Laplace (died), French mathematician and astronomer (born 1749)
1829 John Adams (died) English sailor (born 1766)
1836 Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
1849 David Scott (died), Scottish painter (born 1806)
1850 The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened
1853 Howard Pyle (born), American author and illustrator (died 1911)
1868 Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito receives its première performance at La Scala.
1871 Rosa Luxemburg (born), Russian economist and philosopher (died 1919)
1872 George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
1879 William Beveridge, Indian-English economist (died 1963)
1883 Marius Barbeau (born), Canadian ethnographer (died 1969)
1898 Soong May-ling (born), Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-Shek, 2nd First Lady of China (died 2003)
1898 Zhou Enlai (born), Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (died 1976)
1901 Louis Kahn (born), American architect (died 1974)
1904 Karl Rahner (born), German theologian (died 1984)
1908 Irving Fiske, American author and playwright (died 1990)
1908 Rex Harrison (born), English actor (died 1990)
1912 Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.
1925 Johan Jensen (died), Danish mathematician and engineer (born 1859)
1926 Clément Ader (died), French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (born 1841)
1927 Franz Mertens (died), German mathematician (born 1840)
1927 Jack Cassidy (born), American actor (died 1976)
1929 David Dunbar Buick (died), Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick (born 1854)
1931 The British Viceroy of India, Governor-General Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) sign an agreement envisaging the release of political prisoners and allowing salt to be freely used by the poorest members of the population.
1933 Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections. This later allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1933 Great Depression: President Franklin DIED Roosevelt declares a “bank holiday”, closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.
1936 Dean Stockwell (born), American actor
1938 Lynn Margulis (born), American biologist (died 2011)
1938 Paul Evans (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1939 Pierre Wynants (born), Belgian chef
1942 Mike Resnick (born), American author
1943 First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.
1946 Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.
1946 Richard Bell (born), Canadian pianist (Full Tilt Boogie Band, The Band, Crowbar, and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) (died 2007)
1946 Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
1947 Alfredo Casella (died), Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1883)
1948 Richard Hickox (born), English conductor (died 2008)
1950 Edgar Lee Masters (died) American poet, author, and playwright (born 1868)
1952 Alan Clark (born), English keyboard player (Dire Straits)
1953 Joseph Stalin (died), Soviet marshal and politician, 3rd leader of the Soviet Union (born 1878)
1953 Sergei Prokofiev (died), Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1891)
1955 Penn Jillette (born), American magician, actor, and author
1956 Teena Marie (born), American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2010)
1958 Andy Gibb (born), English-Australian singer (died 1988)
1959 David Fury (born), American screenwriter and producer
1959 Tsukasa Hojo (born), Japanese illustrator
1959 Vazgen Sargsyan (born), Armenian politician, military commander, national hero (died 1999)
1960 Cuban photographer Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
1962 Jonathan Penner (born), American actor
1963 Hawkshaw Hawkins (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1921)
1963 Joel Osteen (born), American pastor, author, and television host
1963 Patsy Cline (died), American singer-songwriter (born 1932)
1970 John Frusciante (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Swahili Blonde, and Ataxia)
1970 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
1974 Eva Mendes (born), American actress
1974 Jill Ritchie (born), American actress
1974 Sol Hurok (died), Ukrainian-American businessman (born 1888)
1974 Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
1975 First meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club
1977 Tom Pryc (died)e, Welsh race car driver (born 1949)
1978 The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
1979 America’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.
1980 Jay Silverheels (died), Canadian actor (born 1912)
1980 Winifred Wagner (died), German wife of Siegfried Wagner (born 1897)
1981 The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 1.5 million units around the worldied
1982 John Belushi (died), American actor (born 1949)
1984 Pierre Cochereau (died), French organist and composer (born 1924)
1984 William Powell (died), American actor (born 1892)
1999 Richard Kiley (died), American actor (born 1922)
2003 In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
2013 Charles Galbreath (died), American judge and politician (born 1925)
2013 Hugo Chávez (died), Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela (born 1954)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017