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594 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo | Apollo | Apollo or Apollon is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the kouros (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.
As the patron deity of Delphi (Apollo Pythios), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle and also the deity of ritual purification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters. He was in general seen as the god who affords help and wards off evil, and is referred to as , the "averter of evil".
Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius. Apollo delivered people from epidemics, yet he is also a god who could bring ill health and deadly plague with his arrows. The invention of archery itself is credited to Apollo and his sister Artemis. Apollo is usually described as carrying a silver or golden bow and a quiver of silver or golden arrows.
As the god of mousike, Apollo presides over all music, songs, dance and poetry. He is the inventor of string-music and the frequent companion of the Muses, functioning as their chorus leader in celebrations. The lyre is a common attribute of Apollo. Protection of the young is one of the best attested facets of his panhellenic cult persona. As a , Apollo is concerned with the health and education of children, and he presided over their passage into adulthood. Long hair, which was the prerogative of boys, was cut at the coming of age () and dedicated to Apollo. The god himself is depicted with long, uncut hair to symbolise his eternal youth.
Apollo is an important pastoral deity, and was the patron of herdsmen and shepherds. Protection of herds, flocks and crops from diseases, pests and predators were his primary rustic duties. On the other hand, Apollo also encouraged the founding of new towns and the establishment of civil constitutions, is associated with dominion over colonists, and was the giver of laws. His oracles were often consulted before setting laws in a city. Apollo Agyieus was the protector of the streets, public places and home entrances.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the 5th century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, the personification of the Sun. In Latin texts, however, there was no conflation of Apollo with Sol among the classical Latin poets until 1st century CE. Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 5th century CE.
Etymology
Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: , ( ); Doric: , ; Arcadocypriot: , ; Aeolic: , ; )
The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B (Mycenean Greek) texts, although there is a possible attestation in the lacunose form ]pe-rjo-[ (Linear B: ]-[) on the KN E 842 tablet, though it has also been suggested that the name might actually read "Hyperion" ([u]-pe-rjo-[ne]).
The etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling ( in Classical Attic) had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era, but the Doric form, (), is more archaic, as it is derived from an earlier . It probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios (), and the offerings () at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival (). According to some scholars, the words are derived from the Doric word (), which originally meant "wall," "fence for animals" and later "assembly within the limits of the square." Apella () is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the (). R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun and suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *Apalyun.
Several instances of popular etymology are attested by ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollo's name with the Greek verb (), "to destroy". Plato in Cratylus connects the name with (), "redemption", with (apolousis), "purification", and with (), "simple", in particular in reference to the Thessalian form of the name, , and finally with (), "ever-shooting". Hesychius connects the name Apollo with the Doric (), which means "assembly", so that Apollo would be the god of political life, and he also gives the explanation (), "fold", in which case Apollo would be the god of flocks and herds. In the ancient Macedonian language () means "stone," and some toponyms may be derived from this word: (Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia) and (Pellēnē/Pellene).
The Hittite form Apaliunas (d) is attested in the Manapa-Tarhunta letter. The Hittite testimony reflects an early form , which may also be surmised from the comparison of Cypriot with Doric . The name of the Lydian god Qλdãns /kʷʎðãns/ may reflect an earlier /kʷalyán-/ before palatalization, syncope, and the pre-Lydian sound change *y > d. Note the labiovelar in place of the labial /p/ found in pre-Doric Ἀπέλjων and Hittite Apaliunas.
A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo "The One of Entrapment", perhaps in the sense of "Hunter".
Greco-Roman epithets
Apollo's chief epithet was Phoebus ( ; , Phoibos ), literally "bright". It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollo's role as the god of light. Like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a great number of appellations in Greek myth, only a few occur in Latin literature.
Sun
Aegletes ( ; Αἰγλήτης, Aiglētēs), from , "light of the Sun"
Helius ( ; , Helios), literally "Sun"
Lyceus ( ; , Lykeios, from Proto-Greek *), "light". The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later became associated with Apollo's mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia () and who was identified with the wolf ().
Phanaeus ( ; , Phanaios), literally "giving or bringing light"
Phoebus ( ; , Phoibos), literally "bright", his most commonly used epithet by both the Greeks and Romans
Sol (Roman) (), "Sun" in Latin
Wolf
Lycegenes ( ; , Lukēgenēs), literally "born of a wolf" or "born of Lycia"
Lycoctonus ( ; , Lykoktonos), from , "wolf", and , "to kill"
Origin and birth
Apollo's birthplace was Mount Cynthus on the island of Delos.
Cynthius ( ; , Kunthios), literally "Cynthian"
Cynthogenes ( ; , Kynthogenēs), literally "born of Cynthus"
Delius ( ; Δήλιος, Delios), literally "Delian"
Didymaeus ( ; , Didymaios) from δίδυμος, "twin", as the twin of Artemis
Place of worship
Delphi and Actium were his primary places of worship.
Acraephius ( ; , Akraiphios, literally "Acraephian") or Acraephiaeus ( ; , Akraiphiaios), "Acraephian", from the Boeotian town of Acraephia (), reputedly founded by his son Acraepheus.
Actiacus ( ; , Aktiakos), literally "Actian", after Actium ()
Delphinius ( ; , Delphinios), literally "Delphic", after Delphi (Δελφοί). An etiology in the Homeric Hymns associated this with dolphins.
Epactaeus, meaning "god worshipped on the coast", in Samos.
Pythius ( ; , Puthios, from Πυθώ, Pythō), from the region around Delphi
Smintheus ( ; , Smintheus), "Sminthian"—that is, "of the town of Sminthos or Sminthe" near the Troad town of Hamaxitus
Napaian Apollo (Ἀπόλλων Ναπαῖος), from the city of Nape at the island of Lesbos
Eutresites, from the city of Eutresis.
Healing and disease
Acesius ( ; , Akesios), from , "healing". Acesius was the epithet of Apollo worshipped in Elis, where he had a temple in the agora.
Acestor ( ; , Akestōr), literally "healer"
Culicarius (Roman) ( ), from Latin culicārius, "of midges"
Iatrus ( ; , Iātros), literally "physician"
Medicus (Roman) ( ), "physician" in Latin. A temple was dedicated to Apollo Medicus in Rome, probably next to the temple of Bellona.
Paean ( ; , Paiān), physician, healer
Parnopius ( ; , Parnopios), from , "locust"
Founder and protector
Agyieus ( ; , Aguīeus), from , "street", for his role in protecting roads and homes
Alexicacus ( ; , Alexikakos), literally "warding off evil"
Apotropaeus ( ; , Apotropaios), from , "to avert"
Archegetes ( ; , Arkhēgetēs), literally "founder"
Averruncus (Roman) ( ; from Latin āverruncare), "to avert"
Clarius ( ; , Klārios), from Doric , "allotted lot"
Epicurius ( ; , Epikourios), from , "to aid"
Genetor ( ; , Genetōr), literally "ancestor"
Nomius ( ; , Nomios), literally "pastoral"
Nymphegetes ( ; , Numphēgetēs), from , "Nymph", and , "leader", for his role as a protector of shepherds and pastoral life
Patroos from , "related to one's father," for his role as father of Ion and founder of the Ionians, as worshipped at the Temple of Apollo Patroos in Athens
Sauroctunos, "lizard killer", possibly a reference to his killing of Python
Prophecy and truth
Coelispex (Roman) ( ), from Latin coelum, "sky", and specere "to look at"
Iatromantis ( ; , Iātromantis,) from , "physician", and , "prophet", referring to his role as a god both of healing and of prophecy
Leschenorius ( ; , Leskhēnorios), from , "converser"
Loxias ( ; , Loxias), from , "to say", historically associated with , "ambiguous"
Manticus ( ; , Mantikos), literally "prophetic"
Proopsios (), meaning "foreseer" or "first seen"
Music and arts
Musagetes ( ; Doric , Mousāgetās), from , "Muse", and "leader"
Musegetes ( ; , Mousēgetēs), as the preceding
Archery
Aphetor ( ; , Aphētōr), from , "to let loose"
Aphetorus ( ; , Aphētoros), as the preceding
Arcitenens (Roman) ( ), literally "bow-carrying"
Argyrotoxus ( ; , Argyrotoxos), literally "with silver bow"
Clytotoxus ( ; , Klytótoxos), "he who is famous for his bow", the renowned archer.
Hecaërgus ( ; , Hekaergos), literally "far-shooting"
Hecebolus ( ; , Hekēbolos), "far-shooting"
Ismenius ( ; , Ismēnios), literally "of Ismenus", after Ismenus, the son of Amphion and Niobe, whom he struck with an arrow
Appearance
Acersecomes (, Akersekómēs), "he who has unshorn hair", the eternal ephebe.
Chrysocomes ( ; , Khrusokómēs), literally "he who has golden hair."
Amazons
Amazonius (), Pausanias at the Description of Greece writes that near Pyrrhichus there was a sanctuary of Apollo, called Amazonius () with an image of the god said to have been dedicated by the Amazons.
Celtic epithets and cult titles
Apollo was worshipped throughout the Roman Empire. In the traditionally Celtic lands, he was most often seen as a healing and sun god. He was often equated with Celtic gods of similar character.
Apollo Atepomarus ("the great horseman" or "possessing a great horse"). Apollo was worshipped at Mauvières (Indre). Horses were, in the Celtic world, closely linked to the Sun.
Apollo Belenus ("bright" or "brilliant"). This epithet was given to Apollo in parts of Gaul, Northern Italy and Noricum (part of modern Austria). Apollo Belenus was a healing and sun god.
Apollo Cunomaglus ("hound lord"). A title given to Apollo at a shrine at Nettleton Shrub, Wiltshire. May have been a god of healing. Cunomaglus himself may originally have been an independent healing god.
Apollo Grannus. Grannus was a healing spring god, later equated with Apollo.
Apollo Maponus. A god known from inscriptions in Britain. This may be a local fusion of Apollo and Maponus.
Apollo Moritasgus ("masses of sea water"). An epithet for Apollo at Alesia, where he was worshipped as the god of healing and, possibly, of physicians.
Apollo Vindonnus ("clear light"). Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at Essarois, near Châtillon-sur-Seine in present-day Burgundy. He was a god of healing, especially of the eyes.
Apollo Virotutis ("benefactor of mankind"). Apollo Virotutis was worshipped, among other places, at Fins d'Annecy (Haute-Savoie) and at Jublains (Maine-et-Loire).
Origins
Apollo is considered the most Hellenic (Greek) of the Olympian gods.
The cult centers of Apollo in Greece, Delphi and Delos, date from the 8th century BCE. The Delos sanctuary was primarily dedicated to Artemis, Apollo's twin sister. At Delphi, Apollo was venerated as the slayer of the monstrous serpent Python. For the Greeks, Apollo was the most Greek of all the gods, and through the centuries he acquired different functions. In Archaic Greece he was the prophet, the oracular god who in older times was connected with "healing". In Classical Greece he was the god of light and of music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil. Walter Burkert discerned three components in the prehistory of Apollo worship, which he termed "a Dorian-northwest Greek component, a Cretan-Minoan component, and a Syro-Hittite component."
Healer and god-protector from evil
In classical times, his major function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and he was therefore called "apotropaios" (, "averting evil") and "alexikakos" ( "keeping off ill"; from v. + n. ). Apollo also had many epithets relating to his function as a healer. Some commonly-used examples are "paion" ( literally "healer" or "helper") "epikourios" (, "succouring"), "oulios" (, "healer, baleful") and "loimios" (, "of the plague"). In later writers, the word, "paion", usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of healing.
Apollo in his aspect of "healer" has a connection to the primitive god Paean (), who did not have a cult of his own. Paean serves as the healer of the gods in the Iliad, and seems to have originated in a pre-Greek religion. It is suggested, though unconfirmed, that he is connected to the Mycenaean figure pa-ja-wo-ne (Linear B: ). Paean was the personification of holy songs sung by "seer-doctors" (), which were supposed to cure disease.
Homer illustrated Paeon the god and the song both of apotropaic thanksgiving or triumph. Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo and afterwards to other gods: to Dionysus, to Apollo Helios, to Apollo's son Asclepius the healer. About the 4th century BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become recognized as the god of music. Apollo's role as the slayer of the Python led to his association with battle and victory; hence it became the Roman custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.
In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the Vedic god of disease Rudra. He sends a plague () to the Achaeans. Knowing that Apollo can prevent a recurrence of the plague he sent, they purify themselves in a ritual and offer him a large sacrifice of cows, called a hecatomb.
Dorian origin
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo depicts Apollo as an intruder from the north. The connection with the northern-dwelling Dorians and their initiation festival apellai is reinforced by the month Apellaios in northwest Greek calendars. The family-festival was dedicated to Apollo (Doric: ). Apellaios is the month of these rites, and Apellon is the "megistos kouros" (the great Kouros). However it can explain only the Doric type of the name, which is connected with the Ancient Macedonian word "pella" (Pella), stone. Stones played an important part in the cult of the god, especially in the oracular shrine of Delphi (Omphalos).
Minoan origin
George Huxley regarded the identification of Apollo with the Minoan deity Paiawon, worshipped in Crete, to have originated at Delphi. In the Homeric Hymn, Apollo appeared as a dolphin and carried Cretan priests to Delphi, where they evidently transferred their religious practices. Apollo Delphinios or Delphidios was a sea-god especially worshipped in Crete and in the islands. Apollo's sister Artemis, who was the Greek goddess of hunting, is identified with Britomartis (Diktynna), the Minoan "Mistress of the animals". In her earliest depictions she was accompanied by the "Master of the animals", a bow-wielding god of hunting whose name has been lost; aspects of this figure may have been absorbed into the more popular Apollo.
Anatolian origin
A non-Greek origin of Apollo has long been assumed in scholarship. The name of Apollo's mother Leto has Lydian origin, and she was worshipped on the coasts of Asia Minor. The inspiration oracular cult was probably introduced into Greece from Anatolia, which is the origin of Sibyl, and where some of the oldest oracular shrines originated. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old Assyro-Babylonian texts. These rituals were spread into the empire of the Hittites, and from there into Greece.
Homer pictures Apollo on the side of the Trojans, fighting against the Achaeans, during the Trojan War. He is pictured as a terrible god, less trusted by the Greeks than other gods. The god seems to be related to Appaliunas, a tutelary god of Wilusa (Troy) in Asia Minor, but the word is not complete. The stones found in front of the gates of Homeric Troy were the symbols of Apollo. A western Anatolian origin may also be bolstered by references to the parallel worship of Artimus (Artemis) and Qλdãns, whose name may be cognate with the Hittite and Doric forms, in surviving Lydian texts. However, recent scholars have cast doubt on the identification of Qλdãns with Apollo.
The Greeks gave to him the name agyieus as the protector god of public places and houses who wards off evil and his symbol was a tapered stone or column. However, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the full moon, all the feasts of Apollo were celebrated on the seventh day of the month, and the emphasis given to that day (sibutu) indicates a Babylonian origin.
The Late Bronze Age (from 1700 to 1200 BCE) Hittite and Hurrian Aplu was a god of plague, invoked during plague years. Here we have an apotropaic situation, where a god originally bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning the son of, was a title given to the god Nergal, who was linked to the Babylonian god of the sun Shamash. Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god () who brings death and disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that separates him from the other Greek gods. In Iliad, his priest prays to Apollo Smintheus, the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from field rats. All these functions, including the function of the healer-god Paean, who seems to have Mycenean origin, are fused in the cult of Apollo.
Proto-Indo-European
The Vedic Rudra has some similar functions to Apollo. The terrible god is called "the archer" and the bow is also an attribute of Shiva. Rudra could bring diseases with his arrows, but he was able to free people of them and his alternative Shiva is a healer physician god. However the Indo-European component of Apollo does not explain his strong relation with omens, exorcisms, and with the oracular cult.
Oracular cult
Unusually among the Olympic deities, Apollo had two cult sites that had widespread influence: Delos and Delphi. In cult practice, Delian Apollo and Pythian Apollo (the Apollo of Delphi) were so distinct that they might both have shrines in the same locality. Lycia was sacred to the god, for this Apollo was also called Lycian. Apollo's cult was already fully established when written sources commenced, about 650 BCE. Apollo became extremely important to the Greek world as an oracular deity in the archaic period, and the frequency of theophoric names such as Apollodorus or Apollonios and cities named Apollonia testify to his popularity. Oracular sanctuaries to Apollo were established in other sites. In the 2nd and 3rd century CE, those at Didyma and Claros pronounced the so-called "theological oracles", in which Apollo confirms that all deities are aspects or servants of an all-encompassing, highest deity. "In the 3rd century, Apollo fell silent. Julian the Apostate (359–361) tried to revive the Delphic oracle, but failed."
Oracular shrines
Apollo had a famous oracle in Delphi, and other notable ones in Claros and Didyma. His oracular shrine in Abae in Phocis, where he bore the toponymic epithet Abaeus (, Apollon Abaios), was important enough to be consulted by Croesus.
His oracular shrines include:
Abae in Phocis.
Bassae in the Peloponnese.
At Clarus, on the west coast of Asia Minor; as at Delphi a holy spring which gave off a pneuma, from which the priests drank.
In Corinth, the Oracle of Corinth came from the town of Tenea, from prisoners supposedly taken in the Trojan War.
At Khyrse, in Troad, the temple was built for Apollo Smintheus.
In Delos, there was an oracle to the Delian Apollo, during summer. The Hieron (Sanctuary) of Apollo adjacent to the Sacred Lake, was the place where the god was said to have been born.
In Delphi, the Pythia became filled with the pneuma of Apollo, said to come from a spring inside the Adyton.
In Didyma, an oracle on the coast of Anatolia, south west of Lydian (Luwian) Sardis, in which priests from the lineage of the Branchidae received inspiration by drinking from a healing spring located in the temple. Was believed to have been founded by Branchus, son or lover of Apollo.
In Hierapolis Bambyce, Syria (modern Manbij), according to the treatise De Dea Syria, the sanctuary of the Syrian Goddess contained a robed and bearded image of Apollo. Divination was based on spontaneous movements of this image.
At Patara, in Lycia, there was a seasonal winter oracle of Apollo, said to have been the place where the god went from Delos. As at Delphi the oracle at Patara was a woman.
In Segesta in Sicily.
Oracles were also given by sons of Apollo.
In Oropus, north of Athens, the oracle Amphiaraus, was said to be the son of Apollo; Oropus also had a sacred spring.
in Labadea, east of Delphi, Trophonius, another son of Apollo, killed his brother and fled to the cave where he was also afterwards consulted as an oracle.
Temples of Apollo
Many temples were dedicated to Apollo in Greece and the Greek colonies. They show the spread of the cult of Apollo and the evolution of Greek architecture, which was mostly based on the rightness of form and on mathematical relations. Some of the earliest temples, especially in Crete, do not belong to any Greek order. It seems that the first peripteral temples were rectangular wooden structures. The different wooden elements were considered divine, and their forms were preserved in the marble or stone elements of the temples of Doric order. The Greeks used standard types because they believed that the world of objects was a series of typical forms which could be represented in several instances. The temples should be canonic, and the architects were trying to achieve this esthetic perfection. From the earliest times there were certain rules strictly observed in rectangular peripteral and prostyle buildings. The first buildings were built narrowly in order to hold the roof, and when the dimensions changed some mathematical relations became necessary in order to keep the original forms. This probably influenced the theory of numbers of Pythagoras, who believed that behind the appearance of things there was the permanent principle of mathematics.
The Doric order dominated during the 6th and the 5th century BC but there was a mathematical problem regarding the position of the triglyphs, which couldn't be solved without changing the original forms. The order was almost abandoned for the Ionic order, but the Ionic capital also posed an insoluble problem at the corner of a temple. Both orders were abandoned for the Corinthian order gradually during the Hellenistic age and under Rome.
The most important temples are:
Greek temples
Thebes, Greece: The oldest temple probably dedicated to Apollo Ismenius was built in the 9th century BC. It seems that it was a curvilinear building. The Doric temple was built in the early 7th century BC., but only some small parts have been found A festival called Daphnephoria was celebrated every ninth year in honour of Apollo Ismenius (or Galaxius). The people held laurel branches (daphnai), and at the head of the procession walked a youth (chosen priest of Apollo), who was called "daphnephoros".
Eretria: According to the Homeric hymn to Apollo, the god arrived on the plain, seeking for a location to establish its oracle. The first temple of Apollo Daphnephoros, "Apollo, laurel-bearer", or "carrying off Daphne", is dated to 800 BC. The temple was curvilinear hecatombedon (a hundred feet). In a smaller building were kept the bases of the laurel branches which were used for the first building. Another temple probably peripteral was built in the 7th century BC, with an inner row of wooden columns over its Geometric predecessor. It was rebuilt peripteral around 510 BC, with the stylobate measuring 21,00 x 43,00 m. The number of pteron column was 6 x 14.
Dreros (Crete). The temple of Apollo Delphinios dates from the 7th century BC, or probably from the middle of the 8th century BC. According to the legend, Apollo appeared as a dolphin, and carried Cretan priests to the port of Delphi. The dimensions of the plan are 10,70 x 24,00 m and the building was not peripteral. It contains column-bases of the Minoan type, which may be considered as the predecessors of the Doric columns.
Gortyn (Crete). A temple of Pythian Apollo, was built in the 7th century BC. The plan measured 19,00 x 16,70 m and it was not peripteral. The walls were solid, made from limestone, and there was a single door on the east side.
Thermon (West Greece): The Doric temple of Apollo Thermios, was built in the middle of the 7th century BC. It was built on an older curvilinear building dating perhaps from the 10th century, on which a peristyle was added. The temple was narrow, and the number of pteron columns (probably wooden) was 5 x 15. There was a single row of inner columns. It measures 12.13 x 38.23 m at the stylobate, which was made from stones.
Corinth: A Doric temple was built in the 6th century BC. The temple's stylobate measures 21.36 x 53.30 m, and the number of pteron columns was 6 x 15. There was a double row of inner columns. The style is similar to the Temple of Alcmeonidae at Delphi. The Corinthians were considered to be the inventors of the Doric order.
Napes (Lesbos): An Aeolic temple probably of Apollo Napaios was built in the 7th century BC. Some special capitals with floral ornament have been found, which are called Aeolic, and it seems that they were borrowed from the East.
Cyrene, Libya: The oldest Doric temple of Apollo was built in . The number of pteron columns was 6 x 11, and it measures 16.75 x 30.05 m at the stylobate. There was a double row of sixteen inner columns on stylobates. The capitals were made from stone.
Naukratis: An Ionic temple was built in the early 6th century BC. Only some fragments have been found and the earlier ones, made from limestone, are identified among the oldest of the Ionic order.
Syracuse, Sicily: A Doric temple was built at the beginning of the 6th century BC. The temple's stylobate measures 21.47 x 55.36 m and the number of pteron columns was 6 x 17. It was the first temple in Greek west built completely out of stone. A second row of columns were added, obtaining the effect of an inner porch.
Selinus (Sicily):The Doric Temple C dates from 550 BC, and it was probably dedicated to Apollo. The temple's stylobate measures 10.48 x 41.63 m and the number of pteron columns was 6 x 17. There was a portico with a second row of columns, which is also attested for the temple at Syracuse.
Delphi: The first temple dedicated to Apollo, was built in the 7th century BC. According to the legend, it was wooden made of laurel branches. The "Temple of Alcmeonidae" was built in and it is the oldest Doric temple with significant marble elements. The temple's stylobate measures 21.65 x 58.00 m, and the number of pteron columns as 6 x 15. A fest similar with Apollo's fest at Thebes, Greece was celebrated every nine years. A boy was sent to the temple, who walked on the sacred road and returned carrying a laurel branch (dopnephoros). The maidens participated with joyful songs.
Chios: An Ionic temple of Apollo Phanaios was built at the end of the 6th century BC. Only some small parts have been found and the capitals had floral ornament.
Abae (Phocis). The temple was destroyed by the Persians in the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BC, and later by the Boeotians. It was rebuilt by Hadrian. The oracle was in use from early Mycenaean times to the Roman period, and shows the continuity of Mycenaean and Classical Greek religion.
Bassae (Peloponnesus): A temple dedicated to Apollo Epikourios ("Apollo the helper"), was built in 430 BC, designed by Iktinos. It combined Doric and Ionic elements, and the earliest use of a column with a Corinthian capital in the middle. The temple is of a relatively modest size, with the stylobate measuring 14.5 x 38.3 metres containing a Doric peristyle of 6 x 15 columns. The roof left a central space open to admit light and air.
Delos: A temple probably dedicated to Apollo and not peripteral, was built in the late 7th century BC, with a plan measuring 10,00 x 15,60 m. The Doric Great temple of Apollo, was built in . The temple's stylobate measures 13.72 x 29.78 m, and the number of pteron columns as 6 x 13. Marble was extensively used.
Ambracia: A Doric peripteral temple dedicated to Apollo Pythios Sotir was built in 500 BC, at the centre of the Greek city Arta. Only some parts have been found, and it seems that the temple was built on earlier sanctuaries dedicated to Apollo. The temple measures 20,75 x 44,00 m at the stylobate. The foundation which supported the statue of the god, still exists.
Didyma (near Miletus): The gigantic Ionic temple of Apollo Didymaios started around 540 BC. The construction ceased and then it was restarted in 330 BC. The temple is dipteral, with an outer row of 10 x 21 columns, and it measures 28.90 x 80.75 m at the stylobate.
Clarus (near ancient Colophon): According to the legend, the famous seer Calchas, on his return from Troy, came to Clarus. He challenged the seer Mopsus, and died when he lost. The Doric temple of Apollo Clarius was probably built in the 3rd century BC., and it was peripteral with 6 x 11 columns. It was reconstructed at the end of the Hellenistic period, and later from the emperor Hadrian but Pausanias claims that it was still incomplete in the 2nd century BC.
Hamaxitus (Troad): In the Iliad, Chryses the priest of Apollo, addresses the god with the epithet Smintheus (Lord of Mice), related to the god's ancient role as bringer of the disease (plague). Recent excavations indicate that the Hellenistic temple of Apollo Smintheus was constructed in 150–125 BC, but the symbol of the mouse god was used on coinage probably from the 4th century . The temple measures 40,00 x 23,00 m at the stylobate, and the number of pteron columns was 8 x 14.
Pythion (), this was the name of a shrine of Apollo at Athens near the Ilisos river. It was created by Peisistratos, and tripods were placed there by those who had won in the cyclic chorus at the Thargelia.
Setae (Lydia): The temple of Apollo Aksyros located in the city.
Apollonia Pontica: There were two temples of Apollo Healer in the city. One from the Late Archaic period and the other from the Early Classical period.
Ikaros island in the Persian Gulf (modern Failaka Island): There was a temple of Apollo on the island.
Argos in Cyprus: there was a temple of Apollo Erithios (Ἐριθίου Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερῷ).
The temple and oracle of Apollo at Eutresis.
Etruscan and Roman temples
Veii (Etruria): The temple of Apollo was built in the late 6th century BC, indicating the spread of Apollo's culture (Aplu) in Etruria. There was a prostyle porch, which is called Tuscan, and a triple cella 18,50 m wide.
Falerii Veteres (Etruria): A temple of Apollo was built probably in the 4th-3rd century BC. Parts of a terracotta capital, and a terracotta base have been found. It seems that the Etruscan columns were derived from the archaic Doric. A cult of Apollo Soranus is attested by one inscription found near Falerii.
Pompeii (Italy): The cult of Apollo was widespread in the region of Campania since the 6th century BC. The temple was built in 120 BC, but its beginnings lie in the 6th century BC. It was reconstructed after an earthquake in AD 63. It demonstrates a mixing of styles which formed the basis of Roman architecture. The columns in front of the cella formed a Tuscan prostyle porch, and the cella is situated unusually far back. The peripteral colonnade of 48 Ionic columns was placed in such a way that the emphasis was given to the front side.
Rome: The temple of Apollo Sosianus and the temple of Apollo Medicus. The first temple building dates to 431 BC, and was dedicated to Apollo Medicus (the doctor), after a plague of 433 BC. It was rebuilt by Gaius Sosius, probably in 34 BC. Only three columns with Corinthian capitals exist today. It seems that the cult of Apollo had existed in this area since at least to the mid-5th century BC.
Rome: The temple of Apollo Palatinus was located on the Palatine hill within the sacred boundary of the city. It was dedicated by Augustus in 28 BC. The façade of the original temple was Ionic and it was constructed from solid blocks of marble. Many famous statues by Greek masters were on display in and around the temple, including a marble statue of the god at the entrance and a statue of Apollo in the cella.
Melite (modern Mdina, Malta): A Temple of Apollo was built in the city in the 2nd century AD. Its remains were discovered in the 18th century, and many of its architectural fragments were dispersed among private collections or reworked into new sculptures. Parts of the temple's podium were rediscovered in 2002.
Mythology
In the myths, Apollo is the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Leto, his previous wife or one of his mistresses. Apollo often appears in the myths, plays and hymns either directly or indirectly through his oracles. As Zeus' favorite son, he had direct access to the mind of Zeus and was willing to reveal this knowledge to humans. A divinity beyond human comprehension, he appears both as a beneficial and a wrathful god.
Birth
Homeric Hymn to Apollo
Pregnant with the offsprings of Zeus, Leto wandered through many lands wanting to give birth to Apollo. However all the lands rejected her out of fear. Upon reaching Delos, Leto requested the island to shelter her, and that in return her son would bring fame and prosperity to the island. Delos then revealed to Leto that Apollo was rumoured to be the god who will "greatly lord it among gods and men all over the fruitful earth". For this reason, all the lands were fearful and Delos feared that Apollo would cast her aside once he is be born. Hearing this, Leto swore on the river Styx that if she is allowed to give birth on the island, her son would honour Delos the most amongst all the other lands. Assured by this, Delos agreed to assist Leto. All goddesses except Hera also then came to aid Leto.
However, Hera had tricked Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to stay on Olympus, due to which Leto was unable to give birth. The goddesses then convinced Iris to go bring Eileithyia by offering her a necklace of amber 9 yards (8.2 m) long. Iris did accordingly and persuaded Eilithyia to step onto the island. Thus, clutching a palm tree, Leto finally gave birth after labouring for nine days and nine nights, with Apollo "leaping forth" from his mother's womb. The goddesses washed the new born, covered him in a white garment and fastened golden bands around him. As Leto was unable to feed him, Themis, the goddess of divine law, fed him nectar and ambrosia. Upon tasting the divine food, the child broke free of the bands fastened onto him and declared that he would be the master of lyre and archery, and interpret the will of Zeus to humankind. He then started to walk, which caused the island to be filled with gold.
Callimachus' hymn to Delos
The island Delos used to be a woman named Asteria, who jumped into the waters to escape the advances of Zeus and became a free floating island of the same name. When Leto got pregnant, Hera was told that Leto will give birth to a son who would become to Zeus more dearer than Ares. Enraged by this, Hera watched over the heavens and sent out Ares and Iris to prevent Leto from giving birth on the earth. Ares stationed over the mainland and Iris over the islands, they both threatened all the lands and prevented them from helping Leto.
When Leto arrived to Thebes, fetal Apollo prophesied from his mother's womb that in the future, he would punish a slanderous woman in Thebes (Niobe), and so he did not want to be born there. Leto then went to Thessaly and sought out the help of the river nymphs whose father was the river Peneus. Though he was initially fearful and reluctant, Peneus later decided to let Leto give birth in his waters. He did not change his mind even when Ares produced a terrifying sound and threatened to hurl mountain peaks into the river. But in the end, Leto declined his help as she did not want him to suffer for her sake.
After being turned away from various lands, Apollo spoke again from the womb, asking Leto to take look at the floating island in front of her and expressing his wish to be born there. When Leto approached Asteria, all the other islands fled. But Asteria welcomed Leto without any fear of Hera. Walking on the island, she sat down against a palm tree and asked Apollo to be born. During the child birth, the swans circled the island seven times, due to which later on Apollo would play the seven stringed lyre. When Apollo finally "leapt forth" from his mother's womb, the nymphs of the island sung a hymn to Eilithyia that was heard to the heavens. The moment Apollo was born, the entire island, including the trees and the waters, became gold. Asteria bathed the new born, swaddled him and fed him with her breast milk. Since then, the island got rooted and was called as Delos.
Hera was no more angry as Zeus had managed to calm her down, and she held no grudge against Asteria due to the fact that Asteria had rejected Zeus in the past.
Pindar's fragments
Pindar is the earliest source who explicitly calls Apollo and Artemis as twins. Here, Asteria is also stated to be Leto's sister. Wanting escape Zeus' advances, she flung herself into the sea and became a floating rock called Ortygia until the twins were born. When Leto stepped on the rock, four pillars with adamantine bases rose from the earth and held up the rock. When Apollo and Artemis were born, their bodies shone radiantly and a chant was sung by Eileithyia and Lachesis, one of the three Moirai.
Pseudo-Hyginus
Scorning the advances of Zeus, Asteria tranformed herself into a bird and jumped into a sea. From her, an island rose which was called Ortygia.
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant with Zeus' child, she decreed that Leto can give birth only in a place where sun does not shine. During this time, the monster Python also started hounding Leto with an intent of killing her, because he had foreseen his death coming at the hands of Leto's offspring. However, on Zeus' orders, Boreas carried away Leto and entrusted her to Poseidon. To protect her, Poseidon took her to the island Ortygia and covered it with waves so that the sun would not shine on it. Leto gave birth clinging to an olive tree and henceforth the island was called Delos.
Other variations of Apollo's birth include:
Aelian states that it took Leto twelve days and twelve nights to travel from Hyperborea to Delos. Leto changed herself into a she-wolf before giving birth. This is given as the reason why Homer describes Apollo as the "wolf-born god".
Libanius wrote that neither land nor visible islands would receive Leto, but by the will of Zeus Delos then became visible, and thus received Leto and the children.
According to Strabo, the Curetes helped Leto by creating loud noises with their weapons and thus frightening Hera, they concealed Leto's childbirth.
Theognis wrote that the island was filled with ambrosial fragrance when Apollo was born, and the Earth laughed with joy.
While in some accounts Apollo's birth itself fixed the floating Delos to the earth, there are accounts of Apollo securing Delos to the bottom of the ocean a little while later.
This island became sacred to Apollo and was one of the major cult centres of the god.
Apollo was born on the seventh day (, hebdomagenes) of the month Thargelion—according to Delian tradition—or of the month Bysios—according to Delphian tradition. The seventh and twentieth, the days of the new and full moon, were ever afterwards held sacred to him.
The general consensus is that Artemis was born first and subsequently assisted with the birth of Apollo.
Hyperborea
Hyperborea, the mystical land of eternal spring, venerated Apollo above all the gods. The Hyperboreans always sang and danced in his honor and hosted Pythian games. There, a vast forest of beautiful trees was called "the garden of Apollo". Apollo spent the winter months among the Hyperboreans, leaving his shrine in Delphi under the care of Dionysus. His absence from the world caused coldness and this was marked as his annual death. No prophecies were issued during this time. He returned to the world during the beginning of the spring. The Theophania festival was held in Delphi to celebrate his return.
However, Diodorus Silculus states that Apollo visited Hyperborea every nineteen years. This nineteen-year period was called by the Greeks as the ‘year of Meton', the time period in which the stars returned to their initial positions. And that visiting Hyperborea at that time, Apollo played on the cithara and danced continuously from the vernal equinox until the rising of the Pleiades (constellations).
Hyperborea was also Leto's birthplace. It is said that Leto came to Delos from Hyperborea accompanied by a pack of wolves. Henceforth, Hyperborea became Apollo's winter home and wolves became sacred to him. His intimate connection to wolves is evident from his epithet Lyceus, meaning wolf-like. But Apollo was also the wolf-slayer in his role as the god who protected flocks from predators. The Hyperborean worship of Apollo bears the strongest marks of Apollo being worshipped as the sun god. Shamanistic elements in Apollo's cult are often liked to his Hyperborean origin, and he is likewise speculated to have originated as a solar shaman. Shamans like Abaris and Aristeas were also the followers of Apollo, who hailed from Hyperborea.
In myths, the tears of amber Apollo shed when his son Asclepius died mixed with the waters of the river Eridanos, which surrounded Hyperborea. Apollo also buried in Hyperborea the arrow which he had used to kill the Cyclopes. He later gave this arrow to Abaris.
Childhood and youth
Growing up, Apollo was nursed by the nymphs Korythalia and Aletheia, the personification of truth. As a child, Apollo is said to have built a foundation and an altar on Delos using the horns of the goats that his sister Artemis hunted. Since he learnt the art of building when young, he later came to be known as Archegetes, the founder (of towns) and a god who guided men to build new cities. From his father Zeus, Apollo had also received a golden chariot drawn by swans.
In his early years when Apollo spent his time herding cows, he was reared by Thriae, the bee nymphs, who trained him and enhanced his prophetic skills. Apollo is also said to have invented the lyre, and along with Artemis, the art of archery. He then taught the humans the art of healing and archery. Phoebe, his grandmother, gave the oracular shrine of Delphi to Apollo as a birthday gift. Themis inspired him to be the oracular voice of Delphi thereon.
Python
Python, a chthonic serpent-dragon, was a child of Gaia and the guardian of the Delphic Oracle, whose death was foretold by Apollo when he was still in Leto's womb. Python was the nurse of the giant Typhon. In most of the traditions, Apollo was still a child when he killed Python.
Python was sent by Hera to hunt the pregnant Leto to death, and assaulted her. To avenge the trouble given to his mother, Apollo went in search of Python and killed it in the sacred cave at Delphi with the bow and arrows that he had received from Hephaestus. The Delphian nymphs who were present encouraged Apollo during the battle with the cry "Hie Paean". After Apollo was victorious, they also brought him gifts and gave the Corycian cave to him. According to Homer, Apollo encountered and killed the Python when he was looking for a place to establish his shrine.
According to another version, when Leto was in Delphi, Python attacked her. Apollo defended his mother and killed Python. Euripides in his Iphigenia in Aulis gives an account of his fight with Python and the event's aftermath.
A detailed account of Apollo's conflict with Gaia and Zeus' intervention on behalf of his young son is also given.
Apollo also demanded that all other methods of divination be made inferior to his, a wish that Zeus granted him readily. Because of this, Athena, who had been practicing divination by throwing pebbles, cast her pebbles away in displeasure.
However, Apollo had committed a blood murder and had to be purified. Because Python was a child of Gaia, Gaia wanted Apollo to be banished to Tartarus as a punishment. Zeus didn't agree and instead exiled his son from Olympus, and instructed him to get purified. Apollo had to serve as a slave for nine years. After the servitude was over, as per his father's order, he travelled to the Vale of Tempe to bathe in waters of Peneus. There Zeus himself performed purificatory rites on Apollo. Purified, Apollo was escorted by his half-sister Athena to Delphi where the oracular shrine was finally handed over to him by Gaia. According to a variation, Apollo had also travelled to Crete, where Carmanor purified him. Apollo later established the Pythian games to appropriate Gaia. Henceforth, Apollo became the god who cleansed himself from the sin of murder, made men aware of their guilt and purified them.
Soon after, Zeus instructed Apollo to go to Delphi and establish his law. But Apollo, disobeying his father, went to the land of Hyperborea and stayed there for a year. He returned only after the Delphians sang hymns to him and pleaded with him to come back. Zeus, pleased with his son's integrity, gave Apollo the seat next to him on his right side. He also gave Apollo various gifts, like a golden tripod, a golden bow and arrows, a golden chariot and the city of Delphi.
Soon after his return, Apollo needed to recruit people to Delphi. So, when he spotted a ship sailing from Crete, he sprang aboard in the form of a dolphin. The crew was awed into submission and followed a course that led the ship to Delphi. There Apollo revealed himself as a god. Initiating them to his service, he instructed them to keep righteousness in their hearts. The Pythia was Apollo's high priestess and his mouthpiece through whom he gave prophecies. Pythia is arguably the constant favorite of Apollo among the mortals.
Tityos
Hera once again sent another giant, Tityos to rape Leto. This time Apollo shot him with his arrows and attacked him with his golden sword. According to another version, Artemis also aided him in protecting their mother by attacking Tityos with her arrows. After the battle Zeus finally relented his aid and hurled Tityos down to Tartarus. There, he was pegged to the rock floor, covering an area of , where a pair of vultures feasted daily on his liver.
Admetus
Admetus was the king of Pherae, who was known for his hospitality. When Apollo was exiled from Olympus for killing Python, he served as a herdsman under Admetus, who was then young and unmarried. Apollo is said to have shared a romantic relationship with Admetus during his stay. After completing his years of servitude, Apollo went back to Olympus as a god.
Because Admetus had treated Apollo well, the god conferred great benefits on him in return. Apollo's mere presence is said to have made the cattle give birth to twins. Apollo helped Admetus win the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of King Pelias, by taming a lion and a boar to draw Admetus' chariot. He was present during their wedding to give his blessings. When Admetus angered the goddess Artemis by forgetting to give her the due offerings, Apollo came to the rescue and calmed his sister. When Apollo learnt of Admetus' untimely death, he convinced or tricked the Fates into letting Admetus live past his time.
According to another version, or perhaps some years later, when Zeus struck down Apollo's son Asclepius with a lightning bolt for resurrecting the dead, Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes, who had fashioned the bolt for Zeus. Apollo would have been banished to Tartarus for this, but his mother Leto intervened, and reminding Zeus of their old love, pleaded with him not to kill their son. Zeus obliged and sentenced Apollo to one year of hard labor once again under Admetus.
The love between Apollo and Admetus was a favored topic of Roman poets like Ovid and Servius.
Niobe
The fate of Niobe was prophesied by Apollo while he was still in Leto's womb. Niobe was the queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion. She displayed hubris when she boasted that she was superior to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. She further mocked Apollo's effeminate appearance and Artemis' manly appearance. Leto, insulted by this, told her children to punish Niobe. Accordingly, Apollo killed Niobe's sons, and Artemis her daughters. According to some versions of the myth, among the Niobids, Chloris and her brother Amyclas were not killed because they prayed to Leto. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge.
A devastated Niobe fled to Mount Sipylos in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had turned all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them.
When Chloris married and had children, Apollo granted her son Nestor the years he had taken away from the Niobids. Hence, Nestor was able to live for 3 generations.
Building the walls of Troy
Once Apollo and Poseidon served under the Trojan king Laomedon in accordance with Zeus' words. Apollodorus states that the gods willingly went to the king disguised as humans in order to check his hubris. Apollo guarded the cattle of Laomedon in the valleys of Mount Ida, while Poseidon built the walls of Troy. Other versions make both Apollo and Poseidon the builders of the wall. In Ovid's account, Apollo completes his task by playing his tunes on his lyre.
In Pindar's odes, the gods took a mortal named Aeacus as their assistant. When the work was completed, three snakes rushed against the wall, and though the two that attacked the sections of the wall built by the gods fell down dead, the third forced its way into the city through the portion of the wall built by Aeacus. Apollo immediately prophesied that Troy would fall at the hands of Aeacus's descendants, the Aeacidae (i.e. his son Telamon joined Heracles when he sieged the city during Laomedon's rule. Later, his great-grandson Neoptolemus was present in the wooden horse that leads to the downfall of Troy).
However, the king not only refused to give the gods the wages he had promised, but also threatened to bind their feet and hands, and sell them as slaves. Angered by the unpaid labour and the insults, Apollo infected the city with a pestilence and Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus. To deliver the city from it, Laomedon had to sacrifice his daughter Hesione (who would later be saved by Heracles).
During his stay in Troy, Apollo had a lover named Ourea, who was a nymph and daughter of Poseidon. Together they had a son named Ileus, whom Apollo loved dearly.
Trojan War
Apollo sided with the Trojans during the Trojan War waged by the Greeks against the Trojans.
During the war, the Greek king Agamemnon captured Chryseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and refused to return her. Angered by this, Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague into the Greek encampment. He demanded that they return the girl, and the Achaeans (Greeks) complied, indirectly causing the anger of Achilles, which is the theme of the Iliad.
Receiving the aegis from Zeus, Apollo entered the battlefield as per his father's command, causing great terror to the enemy with his war cry. He pushed the Greeks back and destroyed many of the soldiers. He is described as "the rouser of armies" because he rallied the Trojan army when they were falling apart.
When Zeus allowed the other gods to get involved in the war, Apollo was provoked by Poseidon to a duel. However, Apollo declined to fight him, saying that he would not fight his uncle for the sake of mortals.
When the Greek hero Diomedes injured the Trojan hero Aeneas, Aphrodite tried to rescue him, but Diomedes injured her as well. Apollo then enveloped Aeneas in a cloud to protect him. He repelled the attacks Diomedes made on him and gave the hero a stern warning to abstain from attacking a god. Aeneas was then taken to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy, where he was healed.
After the death of Sarpedon, a son of Zeus, Apollo rescued the corpse from the battlefield as per his father's wish and cleaned it. He then gave it to Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos). Apollo had also once convinced Athena to stop the war for that day, so that the warriors can relieve themselves for a while.
The Trojan hero Hector (who, according to some, was the god's own son by Hecuba) was favored by Apollo. When he got severely injured, Apollo healed him and encouraged him to take up his arms. During a duel with Achilles, when Hector was about to lose, Apollo hid Hector in a cloud of mist to save him. When the Greek warrior Patroclus tried to get into the fort of Troy, he was stopped by Apollo. Encouraging Hector to attack Patroclus, Apollo stripped the armour of the Greek warrior and broke his weapons. Patroclus was eventually killed by Hector. At last, after Hector's fated death, Apollo protected his corpse from Achilles' attempt to mutilate it by creating a magical cloud over the corpse, shielding it from the rays of the sun.
Apollo held a grudge against Achilles throughout the war because Achilles had murdered his son Tenes before the war began and brutally assassinated his son Troilus in his own temple. Not only did Apollo save Hector from Achilles, he also tricked Achilles by disguising himself as a Trojan warrior and driving him away from the gates. He foiled Achilles' attempt to mutilate Hector's dead body.
Finally, Apollo caused Achilles' death by guiding an arrow shot by Paris into Achilles' heel. In some versions, Apollo himself killed Achilles by taking the disguise of Paris.
Apollo helped many Trojan warriors, including Agenor, Polydamas, Glaucus in the battlefield. Though he greatly favored the Trojans, Apollo was bound to follow the orders of Zeus and served his father loyally during the war.
Nurturer of the young
Apollo Kourotrophos is the god who nurtures and protects children and the young, especially boys. He oversees their education and their passage into adulthood. Education is said to have originated from Apollo and the Muses. Many myths have him train his children. It was a custom for boys to cut and dedicate their long hair to Apollo after reaching adulthood.
Chiron, the abandoned centaur, was fostered by Apollo, who instructed him in medicine, prophecy, archery and more. Chiron would later become a great teacher himself.
Asclepius in his childhood gained much knowledge pertaining to medicinal arts from his father. However, he was later entrusted to Chiron for further education.
Anius, Apollo's son by Rhoeo, was abandoned by his mother soon after his birth. Apollo brought him up and educated him in mantic arts. Anius later became the priest of Apollo and the king of Delos.
Iamus was the son of Apollo and Evadne. When Evadne went into labour, Apollo sent the Moirai to assist his lover. After the child was born, Apollo sent snakes to feed the child some honey. When Iamus reached the age of education, Apollo took him to Olympia and taught him many arts, including the ability to understand and explain the languages of birds.
Idmon was educated by Apollo to be a seer. Even though he foresaw his death that would happen in his journey with the Argonauts, he embraced his destiny and died a brave death. To commemorate his son's bravery, Apollo commanded Boeotians to build a town around the tomb of the hero, and to honor him.
Apollo adopted Carnus, the abandoned son of Zeus and Europa. He reared the child with the help of his mother Leto and educated him to be a seer.
When his son Melaneus reached the age of marriage, Apollo asked the princess Stratonice to be his son's bride and carried her away from her home when she agreed.
Apollo saved a shepherd boy (name unknown) from death in a large deep cave, by means of vultures. To thank him, the shepherd built Apollo a temple under the name Vulturius.
God of music
Immediately after his birth, Apollo demanded a lyre and invented the paean, thus becoming the god of music. As the divine singer, he is the patron of poets, singers and musicians. The invention of string music is attributed to him. Plato said that the innate ability of humans to take delight in music, rhythm and harmony is the gift of Apollo and the Muses. According to Socrates, ancient Greeks believed that Apollo is the god who directs the harmony and makes all things move together, both for the gods and the humans. For this reason, he was called Homopolon before the Homo was replaced by A. Apollo's harmonious music delivered people from their pain, and hence, like Dionysus, he is also called the liberator. The swans, which were considered to be the most musical among the birds, were believed to be the "singers of Apollo". They are Apollo's sacred birds and acted as his vehicle during his travel to Hyperborea. Aelian says that when the singers would sing hymns to Apollo, the swans would join the chant in unison.
Among the Pythagoreans, the study of mathematics and music were connected to the worship of Apollo, their principal deity. Their belief was that music purifies the soul, just as medicine purifies the body. They also believed that music was delegated to the same mathematical laws of harmony as the mechanics of the cosmos, evolving into an idea known as the music of the spheres.
Apollo appears as the companion of the Muses, and as Musagetes ("leader of Muses") he leads them in dance. They spend their time on Parnassus, which is one of their sacred places. Apollo is also the lover of the Muses and by them he became the father of famous musicians like Orpheus and Linus.
Apollo is often found delighting the immortal gods with his songs and music on the lyre. In his role as the god of banquets, he was always present to play music at weddings of the gods, like the marriage of Eros and Psyche, Peleus and Thetis. He is a frequent guest of the Bacchanalia, and many ancient ceramics depict him being at ease amidst the maenads and satyrs. Apollo also participated in musical contests when challenged by others. He was the victor in all those contests, but he tended to punish his opponents severely for their hubris.
Apollo's lyre
The invention of the lyre is attributed either to Hermes or to Apollo himself. Distinctions have been made that Hermes invented lyre made of tortoise shell, whereas the lyre Apollo invented was a regular lyre.
Myths tell that the infant Hermes stole a number of Apollo's cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made his lyre.
Upon discovering the theft, Apollo confronted Hermes and asked him to return his cattle. When Hermes acted innocent, Apollo took the matter to Zeus. Zeus, having seen the events, sided with Apollo, and ordered Hermes to return the cattle. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo fell in love with the instrument and offered to exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo then became the master of the lyre.
According to other versions, Apollo had invented the lyre himself, whose strings he tore in repenting of the excess punishment he had given to Marsyas. Hermes' lyre, therefore, would be a reinvention.
Contest with Pan
Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo and to challenge the god of music to a contest. The mountain-god Tmolus was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then, Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. It was so beautiful that Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and everyone was pleased with the judgement. Only Midas dissented and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo did not want to suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.
Contest with Marsyas
Marsyas was a satyr who was punished by Apollo for his hubris. He had found an aulos on the ground, tossed away after being invented by Athena because it made her cheeks puffy. Athena had also placed a curse upon the instrument, that whoever would pick it up would be severely punished. When Marsyas played the flute, everyone became frenzied with joy. This led Marsyas to think that he was better than Apollo, and he challenged the god to a musical contest. The contest was judged by the Muses, or the nymphs of Nysa. Athena was also present to witness the contest.
Marsyas taunted Apollo for "wearing his hair long, for having a fair face and smooth body, for his skill in so many arts". He also further said,
The Muses and Athena sniggered at this comment. The contestants agreed to take turns displaying their skills and the rule was that the victor could "do whatever he wanted" to the loser.
According to one account, after the first round, they both were deemed equal by the Nysiads. But in the next round, Apollo decided to play on his lyre and add his melodious voice to his performance. Marsyas argued against this, saying that Apollo would have an advantage and accused Apollo of cheating. But Apollo replied that since Marsyas played the flute, which needed air blown from the throat, it was similar to singing, and that either they both should get an equal chance to combine their skills or none of them should use their mouths at all. The nymphs decided that Apollo's argument was just. Apollo then played his lyre and sang at the same time, mesmerising the audience. Marsyas could not do this. Apollo was declared the winner and, angered with Marsyas' haughtiness and his accusations, decided to flay the satyr.
According to another account, Marsyas played his flute out of tune at one point and accepted his defeat. Out of shame, he assigned to himself the punishment of being skinned for a wine sack. Another variation is that Apollo played his instrument upside down. Marsyas could not do this with his instrument. So the Muses who were the judges declared Apollo the winner. Apollo hung Marsyas from a tree to flay him.
Apollo flayed the limbs of Marsyas alive in a cave near Celaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. He then gave the rest of his body for proper burial and nailed Marsyas' flayed skin to a nearby pine-tree as a lesson to the others. Marsyas' blood turned into the river Marsyas. But Apollo soon repented and being distressed at what he had done, he tore the strings of his lyre and threw it away. The lyre was later discovered by the Muses and Apollo's sons Linus and Orpheus. The Muses fixed the middle string, Linus the string struck with the forefinger, and Orpheus the lowest string and the one next to it. They took it back to Apollo, but the god, who had decided to stay away from music for a while, laid away both the lyre and the pipes at Delphi and joined Cybele in her wanderings to as far as Hyperborea.
Contest with Cinyras
Cinyras was a ruler of Cyprus, who was a friend of Agamemnon. Cinyras promised to assist Agamemnon in the Trojan war, but did not keep his promise. Agamemnon cursed Cinyras. He invoked Apollo and asked the god to avenge the broken promise. Apollo then had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, and defeated him. Either Cinyras committed suicide when he lost, or was killed by Apollo.
Patron of sailors
Apollo functions as the patron and protector of sailors, one of the duties he shares with Poseidon. In the myths, he is seen helping heroes who pray to him for a safe journey.
When Apollo spotted a ship of Cretan sailors that were caught in a storm, he quickly assumed the shape of a dolphin and guided their ship safely to Delphi.
When the Argonauts faced a terrible storm, Jason prayed to his patron, Apollo, to help them. Apollo used his bow and golden arrow to shed light upon an island, where the Argonauts soon took shelter. This island was renamed "Anaphe", which means "He revealed it".
Apollo helped the Greek hero Diomedes, to escape from a great tempest during his journey homeward. As a token of gratitude, Diomedes built a temple in honor of Apollo under the epithet Epibaterius ("the embarker").
During the Trojan War, Odysseus came to the Trojan camp to return Chriseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and brought many offerings to Apollo. Pleased with this, Apollo sent gentle breezes that helped Odysseus return safely to the Greek camp.
Arion was a poet who was kidnapped by some sailors for the rich prizes he possessed. Arion requested them to let him sing for the last time, to which the sailors consented. Arion began singing a song in praise of Apollo, seeking the god's help. Consequently, numerous dolphins surrounded the ship and when Arion jumped into the water, the dolphins carried him away safely.
Wars
Trojan War
Apollo played a pivotal role in the entire Trojan War. He sided with the Trojans, and sent a terrible plague to the Greek camp, which indirectly led to the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. He killed the Greek heroes Patroclus, Achilles, and numerous Greek soldiers. He also helped many Trojan heroes, the most important one being Hector. After the end of the war, Apollo and Poseidon together cleaned the remains of the city and the camps.
Telegony war
A war broke out between the Brygoi and the Thesprotians, who had the support of Odysseus. The gods Athena and Ares came to the battlefield and took sides. Athena helped the hero Odysseus while Ares fought alongside of the Brygoi. When Odysseus lost, Athena and Ares came into a direct duel. To stop the battling gods and the terror created by their battle, Apollo intervened and stopped the duel between them.
Indian war
When Zeus suggested that Dionysus defeat the Indians in order to earn a place among the gods, Dionysus declared war against the Indians and travelled to India along with his army of Bacchantes and satyrs. Among the warriors was Aristaeus, Apollo's son. Apollo armed his son with his own hands and gave him a bow and arrows and fitted a strong shield to his arm. After Zeus urged Apollo to join the war, he went to the battlefield. Seeing several of his nymphs and Aristaeus drowning in a river, he took them to safety and healed them. He taught Aristaeus more useful healing arts and sent him back to help the army of Dionysus.
Theban war
During the war between the sons of Oedipus, Apollo favored Amphiaraus, a seer and one of the leaders in the war. Though saddened that the seer was fated to be doomed in the war, Apollo made Amphiaraus' last hours glorious by "lighting his shield and his helm with starry gleam". When Hypseus tried to kill the hero with a spear, Apollo directed the spear towards the charioteer of Amphiaraus instead. Then Apollo himself replaced the charioteer and took the reins in his hands. He deflected many spears and arrows away from them. He also killed many of the enemy warriors like Melaneus, Antiphus, Aetion, Polites and Lampus. At last, when the moment of departure came, Apollo expressed his grief with tears in his eyes and bid farewell to Amphiaraus, who was soon engulfed by the Earth.
Slaying of giants
Apollo killed the giants Python and Tityos, who had assaulted his mother Leto.
Gigantomachy
During the gigantomachy, Apollo and Heracles blinded the giant Ephialtes by shooting him in his eyes, Apollo shooting his left and Heracles his right. He also killed Porphyrion, the king of giants, using his bow and arrows.
Aloadae
The Aloadae, namely Otis and Ephialtes, were twin giants who decided to wage war upon the gods. They attempted to storm Mt. Olympus by piling up mountains, and threatened to fill the sea with mountains and inundate dry land. They even dared to seek the hand of Hera and Artemis in marriage. Angered by this, Apollo killed them by shooting them with arrows. According to another tale, Apollo killed them by sending a deer between them; as they tried to kill it with their javelins, they accidentally stabbed each other and died.
Phorbas
Phorbas was a savage giant king of Phlegyas who was described as having swine-like features. He wished to plunder Delphi for its wealth. He seized the roads to Delphi and started harassing the pilgrims. He captured the old people and children and sent them to his army to hold them for ransom. And he challenged the young and sturdy men to a match of boxing, only to cut their heads off when they would get defeated by him. He hung the chopped-off heads to an oak tree. Finally, Apollo came to put an end to this cruelty. He entered a boxing contest with Phorbas and killed him with a single blow.
Other stories
In the first Olympic games, Apollo defeated Ares and became the victor in wrestling. He outran Hermes in the race and won first place.
Apollo divides months into summer and winter. He rides on the back of a swan to the land of the Hyperboreans during the winter months, and the absence of warmth in winter is due to his departure. During his absence, Delphi was under the care of Dionysus, and no prophecies were given during winters.
Periphas
Periphas was an Attican king and a priest of Apollo. He was noble, just and rich. He did all his duties justly. Because of this people were very fond of him and started honouring him to the same extent as Zeus. At one point, they worshipped Periphas in place of Zeus and set up shrines and temples for him. This annoyed Zeus, who decided to annihilate the entire family of Periphas. But because he was a just king and a good devotee, Apollo intervened and requested his father to spare Periphas. Zeus considered Apollo's words and agreed to let him live. But he metamorphosed Periphas into an eagle and made the eagle the king of birds. When Periphas' wife requested Zeus to let her stay with her husband, Zeus turned her into a vulture and fulfilled her wish.
Molpadia and Parthenos
Molpadia and Parthenos were the sisters of Rhoeo, a former lover of Apollo. One day, they were put in charge of watching their father's ancestral wine jar but they fell asleep while performing this duty. While they were asleep, the wine jar was broken by the swine their family kept. When the sisters woke up and saw what had happened, they threw themselves off a cliff in fear of their father's wrath. Apollo, who was passing by, caught them and carried them to two different cities in Chersonesus, Molpadia to Castabus and Parthenos to Bubastus. He turned them into goddesses and they both received divine honors. Molpadia's name was changed to Hemithea upon her deification.
Prometheus
Prometheus was the titan who was punished by Zeus for stealing fire. He was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle was sent to eat Prometheus' liver, which would then grow back overnight to be eaten again the next day. Seeing his plight, Apollo pleaded with Zeus to release the kind Titan, while Artemis and Leto stood behind him with tears in their eyes. Zeus, moved by Apollo's words and the tears of the goddesses, finally sent Heracles to free Prometheus.
Heracles
After Heracles (then named Alcides) was struck with madness and killed his family, he sought to purify himself and consulted the oracle of Apollo. Apollo, through the Pythia, commanded him to serve king Eurystheus for twelve years and complete the ten tasks the king would give him. Only then would Alcides be absolved of his sin. Apollo also renamed him Heracles.
To complete his third task, Heracles had to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a hind sacred to Artemis, and bring back it alive. After chasing the hind for one year, the animal eventually got tired, and when it tried crossing the river Ladon, Heracles captured it. While he was taking it back, he was confronted by Apollo and Artemis, who were angered at Heracles for this act. However, Heracles soothed the goddess and explained his situation to her. After much pleading, Artemis permitted him to take the hind and told him to return it later.
After he was freed from his servitude to Eurystheus, Heracles fell in conflict with Iphytus, a prince of Oechalia, and murdered him. Soon after, he contracted a terrible disease. He consulted the oracle of Apollo once again, in the hope of ridding himself of the disease. The Pythia, however, denied to give any prophesy. In anger, Heracles snatched the sacred tripod and started walking away, intending to start his own oracle. However, Apollo did not tolerate this and stopped Heracles; a duel ensued between them. Artemis rushed to support Apollo, while Athena supported Heracles. Soon, Zeus threw his thunderbolt between the fighting brothers and separated them. He reprimanded Heracles for this act of violation and asked Apollo to give a solution to Heracles. Apollo then ordered the hero to serve under Omphale, queen of Lydia for one year in order to purify himself.
After their reconciliation, Apollo and Heracles together founded the city of Gythion.
Plato's concept of soulmates
A long time ago, there were three kinds of human beings: male, descended from the sun; female, descended from the earth; and androgynous, descended from the moon. Each human being was completely round, with four arms and four legs, two identical faces on opposite sides of a head with four ears, and all else to match. They were powerful and unruly. Otis and Ephialtes even dared to scale Mount Olympus.
To check their insolence, Zeus devised a plan to humble them and improve their manners instead of completely destroying them. He cut them all in two and asked Apollo to make necessary repairs, giving humans the individual shape they still have now. Apollo turned their heads and necks around towards their wounds, he pulled together their skin at the abdomen, and sewed the skin together at the middle of it. This is what we call navel today. He smoothened the wrinkles and shaped the chest. But he made sure to leave a few wrinkles on the abdomen and around the navel so that they might be reminded of their punishment.
The rock of Leukas
Leukatas was believed to be a white-colored rock jutting out from the island of Leukas into the sea. It was present in the sanctuary of Apollo Leukates. A leap from this rock was believed to have put an end to the longings of love.
Once, Aphrodite fell deeply in love with Adonis, a young man of great beauty who was later accidentally killed by a boar. Heartbroken, Aphrodite wandered looking for the rock of Leukas. When she reached the sanctuary of Apollo in Argos, she confided in him her love and sorrow. Apollo then brought her to the rock of Leukas and asked her to throw herself from the top of the rock. She did so and was freed from her love. When she sought the reason behind this, Apollo told her that Zeus, before taking another lover, would sit on this rock to free himself from his love for Hera.
Another tale relates that a man named Nireus, who fell in love with the cult statue of Athena, came to the rock and jumped in order to relieve himself. After jumping, he fell into the net of a fisherman in which, when he was pulled out, he found a box filled with gold. He fought with the fisherman and took the gold, but Apollo appeared to him in the night in a dream and warned him not to appropriate gold which belonged to others.
It was an ancestral custom among the Leukadians to fling a criminal from this rock every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo for the sake of averting evil. However, a number of men would be stationed all around below rock to catch the criminal and take him out of the borders in order to exile him from the island. This was the same rock from which, according to a legend, Sappho took her suicidal leap.
Slaying of Titans
Once Hera, out of spite, aroused the Titans to war against Zeus and take away his throne. Accordingly, when the Titans tried to climb Mount Olympus, Zeus with the help of Apollo, Artemis and Athena, defeated them and cast them into Tartarus.
Female lovers
Love affairs ascribed to Apollo are a late development in Greek mythology. Their vivid anecdotal qualities have made some of them favorites of painters since the Renaissance, the result being that they stand out more prominently in the modern imagination.
Daphne was a nymph who scorned Apollo's advances and ran away from him. When Apollo chased her in order to persuade her, she changed herself into a laurel tree. According to other versions, she cried for help during the chase, and Gaia helped her by taking her in and placing a laurel tree in her place. According to Roman poet Ovid, the chase was brought about by Cupid, who hit Apollo with a golden arrow of love and Daphne with a leaden arrow of hatred. The myth explains the origin of the laurel and the connection of Apollo with the laurel and its leaves, which his priestess employed at Delphi. The leaves became the symbol of victory and laurel wreaths were given to the victors of the Pythian games.
Apollo is said to have been the lover of all nine Muses, and not being able to choose one of them, decided to remain unwed. He fathered the Corybantes by the Muse Thalia, Orpheus by Calliope, Linus of Thrace by Calliope or Urania and Hymenaios (Hymen) by one of the Muses.
In the Great Eoiae that is attributed to Hesoid, Scylla is the daughter of Apollo and Hecate.
Cyrene was a Thessalian princess whom Apollo loved. In her honor, he built the city Cyrene and made her its ruler. She was later granted longevity by Apollo who turned her into a nymph. The couple had two sons, Aristaeus, and Idmon.
Evadne was a nymph daughter of Poseidon and a lover of Apollo. They had a son, Iamos. During the time of the childbirth, Apollo sent Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth to assist her.
Rhoeo, a princess of the island of Naxos was loved by Apollo. Out of affection for her, Apollo turned her sisters into goddesses. On the island Delos she bore Apollo a son named Anius. Not wanting to have the child, she entrusted the infant to Apollo and left. Apollo raised and educated the child on his own.
Ourea, a daughter of Poseidon, fell in love with Apollo when he and Poseidon were serving the Trojan king Laomedon. They both united on the day the walls of Troy were built. She bore to Apollo a son, whom Apollo named Ileus, after the city of his birth, Ilion (Troy). Ileus was very dear to Apollo.
Thero, daughter of Phylas, a maiden as beautiful as the moonbeams, was loved by the radiant Apollo, and she loved him in return. Through their union, she became the mother of Chaeron, who was famed as "the tamer of horses". He later built the city Chaeronea.
Hyrie or Thyrie was the mother of Cycnus. Apollo turned both the mother and son into swans when they jumped into a lake and tried to kill themselves.
Hecuba was the wife of King Priam of Troy, and Apollo had a son with her named Troilus. An oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilus reached the age of twenty alive. He was ambushed and killed by Achilleus, and Apollo avenged his death by killing Achilles. After the sack of Troy, Hecuba was taken to Lycia by Apollo.
Coronis was daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus and slept with him. When Apollo found out about her infidelity through his prophetic powers or thanks to his raven who informed him, he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. Apollo rescued the baby by cutting open Koronis' belly and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise.
Dryope, the daughter of Dryops, was impregnated by Apollo in the form of a snake. She gave birth to a son named Amphissus.
In Euripides' play Ion, Apollo fathered Ion by Creusa, wife of Xuthus. He used his powers to conceal her pregnancy from her father. Later, when Creusa left Ion to die in the wild, Apollo asked Hermes to save the child and bring him to the oracle at Delphi, where he was raised by a priestess.
Apollo loved and kidnapped an Oceanid nymph, Melia. Her father Oceanus sent one of his sons, Caanthus, to find her, but Caanthus could not take her back from Apollo, so he burned Apollo's sanctuary. In retaliation, Apollo shot and killed Caanthus.
Male lovers
Hyacinth (or Hyacinthus), a beautiful and athletic Spartan prince, was one of Apollo's favourite lovers. The pair was practicing throwing the discus when a discus thrown by Apollo was blown off course by the jealous Zephyrus and struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is said to be filled with grief. Out of Hyacinthus' blood, Apollo created a flower named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with the interjection , meaning alas. He was later resurrected and taken to heaven. The festival Hyacinthia was a national celebration of Sparta, which commemorated the death and rebirth of Hyacinthus.
Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles. Apollo gave him a tame deer as a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus was so saddened by its death that he asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo granted the request by turning him into the Cypress named after him, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.
Admetus, the king of Pherae, was also Apollo's lover. During his exile, which lasted either for one year or nine years, Apollo served Admetus as a herdsman. The romantic nature of their relationship was first described by Callimachus of Alexandria, who wrote that Apollo was "fired with love" for Admetus. Plutarch lists Admetus as one of Apollo's lovers and says that Apollo served Admetus because he doted upon him. Latin poet Ovid in his said that even though he was a god, Apollo forsook his pride and stayed in as a servant for the sake of Admetus. Tibullus describes Apollo's love to the king as servitium amoris (slavery of love) and asserts that Apollo became his servant not by force but by choice. He would also make cheese and serve it to Admetus. His domestic actions caused embarrassment to his family.
When Admetus wanted to marry princess Alcestis, Apollo provided a chariot pulled by a lion and a boar he had tamed. This satisfied Alcestis' father and he let Admetus marry his daughter. Further, Apollo saved the king from Artemis' wrath and also convinced the Moirai to postpone Admetus' death once.
Branchus, a shepherd, one day came across Apollo in the woods. Captivated by the god's beauty, he kissed Apollo. Apollo requited his affections and wanting to reward him, bestowed prophetic skills on him. His descendants, the Branchides, were an influential clan of prophets.
Other male lovers of Apollo include:
Adonis, who is said to have been the lover of both Apollo and Aphrodite. He behaved as a man with Aphrodite and as a woman with Apollo.
Atymnius, otherwise known as a beloved of Sarpedon
Boreas, the god of North winds
Cinyras, king of Cyprus and the priest of Aphrodite
Helenus, a Trojan prince (son of Priam and Hecuba). He received from Apollo an ivory bow with which he later wounded Achilles in the hand.
Hippolytus of Sicyon (not the same as Hippolytus, the son of Theseus)
Hymenaios, the son of Magnes
Iapis, to whom Apollo taught the art of healing
Phorbas, the dragon slayer (probably the son of Triopas)
Children
Apollo sired many children, from mortal women and nymphs as well as the goddesses. His children grew up to be physicians, musicians, poets, seers or archers. Many of his sons founded new cities and became kings.
Asclepius is the most famous son of Apollo. His skills as a physician surpassed that of Apollo's. Zeus killed him for bringing back the dead, but upon Apollo's request, he was resurrected as a god.
Aristaeus was placed under the care of Chiron after his birth. He became the god of beekeeping, cheese-making, animal husbandry and more. He was ultimately given immortality for the benefits he bestowed upon humanity. The Corybantes were spear-clashing, dancing demigods.
The sons of Apollo who participated in the Trojan War include the Trojan princes Hector and Troilus, as well as Tenes, the king of Tenedos, all three of whom were killed by Achilles over the course of the war.
Apollo's children who became musicians and bards include Orpheus, Linus, Ialemus, Hymenaeus, Philammon, Eumolpus and Eleuther. Apollo fathered 3 daughters, Apollonis, Borysthenis and Cephisso, who formed a group of minor Muses, the "Musa Apollonides". They were nicknamed Nete, Mese and Hypate after the highest, middle and lowest strings of his lyre. Phemonoe was a seer and poet who was the inventor of Hexameter.
Apis, Idmon, Iamus, Tenerus, Mopsus, Galeus, Telmessus and others were gifted seers. Anius, Pythaeus and Ismenus lived as high priests. Most of them were trained by Apollo himself.
Arabus, Delphos, Dryops, Miletos, Tenes, Epidaurus, Ceos, Lycoras, Syrus, Pisus, Marathus, Megarus, Patarus, Acraepheus, Cicon, Chaeron and many other sons of Apollo, under the guidance of his words, founded eponymous cities.
He also had a son named Chrysorrhoas who was a mechanic artist. His other daughters include Eurynome, Chariclo wife of Chiron, Eurydice the wife of Orpheus, Eriopis, famous for her beautiful hair, Melite the heroine, Pamphile the silk weaver, Parthenos, and by some accounts, Phoebe, Hilyra and Scylla. Apollo turned Parthenos into a constellation after her early death.
Additionally, Apollo fostered and educated Chiron, the centaur who later became the greatest teacher and educated many demigods, including Apollo's sons. Apollo also fostered Carnus, the son of Zeus and Europa.
Failed love attempts
Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but was loved by Apollo as well. Zeus made her choose between them, and she chose Idas on the grounds that Apollo, being immortal, would tire of her when she grew old.
Sinope, a nymph, was approached by the amorous Apollo. She made him promise that he would grant to her whatever she would ask for, and then cleverly asked him to let her stay a virgin. Apollo kept his promise and went back.
Bolina was admired by Apollo but she refused him and jumped into the sea. To avoid her death, Apollo turned her into a nymph, saving her life.
Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dove into the spring at Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then named after her. Water from this spring was sacred; it was used to clean the Delphian temples and inspire the priestesses.
Cassandra, was a daughter of Hecuba and Priam. Apollo wished to court her. Cassandra promised to return his love on one condition - he should give her the power to see the future. Apollo fulfilled her wish, but she went back on her word and rejected him soon after. Angered that she broke her promise, Apollo cursed her that even though she would see the future, no one would ever believe her prophecies.
The Sibyl of Cumae like Cassandra promised Apollo her love if he would give her a boon. The Sibyl took a handful of sand and asked Apollo to grant her years of life as many as the grains of sand she held in her hands. Apollo granted her wish, but Sibyl went back on her word. Although Sibyl did live an extended life as Apollo had promised, he did not give her agelessness along with it, so she shrivelled and shrank and only her voice remained.
Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, rejected both Apollo's and Poseidon's marriage proposals and swore that she would always stay unmarried.
In one version of the prophet Tiresias's origins, he was originally a woman who promised Apollo to sleep with him if he would give her music lessons. Apollo gave her her wish, but then she went back on her word and refused him. Apollo in anger turned her into a man.
Female counterparts
Artemis
Artemis as the sister of Apollo, is thea apollousa, that is, she as a female divinity represented the same idea that Apollo did as a male divinity. In the pre-Hellenic period, their relationship was described as the one between husband and wife, and there seems to have been a tradition which actually described Artemis as the wife of Apollo. However, this relationship was never sexual but spiritual, which is why they both are seen being unmarried in the Hellenic period.
Artemis, like her brother, is armed with a bow and arrows. She is the cause of sudden deaths of women. She also is the protector of the young, especially girls. Though she has nothing to do with oracles, music or poetry, she sometimes led the female chorus on Olympus while Apollo sang. The laurel (daphne) was sacred to both. Artemis Daphnaia had her temple among the Lacedemonians, at a place called Hypsoi.
Apollo Daphnephoros had a temple in Eretria, a "place where the citizens are to take the oaths". In later times when Apollo was regarded as identical with the sun or Helios, Artemis was naturally regarded as Selene or the moon.
Hecate
Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and magic, is the chthonic counterpart of Apollo. They both are cousins, since their mothers - Leto and Asteria - are sisters. One of Apollo's epithets, Hecatos, is the masculine form of Hecate, and both names mean "working from afar". While Apollo presided over the prophetic powers and magic of light and heaven, Hecate presided over the prophetic powers and magic of night and chthonian darkness. If Hecate is the "gate-keeper", Apollo Agyieus is the "door-keeper". Hecate is the goddess of crossroads and Apollo is the god and protector of streets.
The oldest evidence found for Hecate's worship is at Apollo's temple in Miletos. There, Hecate was taken to be Apollo's sister counterpart in the absence of Artemis. Hecate's lunar nature makes her the goddess of the waning moon and contrasts and complements, at the same time, Apollo's solar nature.
Athena
As a deity of knowledge and great power, Apollo was seen being the male counterpart of Athena. Being Zeus' favorite children, they were given more powers and duties. Apollo and Athena often took up the role of protectors of cities, and were patrons of some of the important cities. Athena was the principal goddess of Athens, Apollo was the principal god of Sparta.
As patrons of arts, Apollo and Athena were companions of the Muses, the former a much more frequent companion than the latter. Apollo was sometimes called the son of Athena and Hephaestus.
In the Trojan War, as Zeus' executive, Apollo is seen holding the aegis like Athena usually does. Apollo's decisions were usually approved by his sister Athena, and they both worked to establish the law and order set forth by Zeus.
Apollo in the Oresteia
In Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy, Clytemnestra kills her husband, King Agamemnon because he had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to proceed forward with the Trojan war. Apollo gives an order through the Oracle at Delphi that Agamemnon's son, Orestes, is to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, her lover. Orestes and Pylades carry out the revenge, and consequently Orestes is pursued by the Erinyes or Furies (female personifications of vengeance).
Apollo and the Furies argue about whether the matricide was justified; Apollo holds that the bond of marriage is sacred and Orestes was avenging his father, whereas the Erinyes say that the bond of blood between mother and son is more meaningful than the bond of marriage. They invade his temple, and he drives them away. He says that the matter should be brought before Athena. Apollo promises to protect Orestes, as Orestes has become Apollo's supplicant. Apollo advocates Orestes at the trial, and ultimately Athena rules in favor of Apollo.
Roman Apollo
The Roman worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. As a quintessentially Greek god, Apollo had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him as Phoebus. There was a tradition that the Delphic oracle was consulted as early as the period of the kings of Rome during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus.
On the occasion of a pestilence in the 430s BCE, Apollo's first temple at Rome was established in the Flaminian fields, replacing an older cult site there known as the "Apollinare". During the Second Punic War in 212 BCE, the Ludi Apollinares ("Apollonian Games") were instituted in his honor, on the instructions of a prophecy attributed to one Marcius. In the time of Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son, his worship developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome.
After the Battle of Actium, which was fought near a sanctuary of Apollo, Augustus enlarged Apollo's temple, dedicated a portion of the spoils to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour. He also erected a new temple to the god on the Palatine hill. Sacrifices and prayers on the Palatine to Apollo and Diana formed the culmination of the Secular Games, held in 17 BCE to celebrate the dawn of a new era.
Festivals
The chief Apollonian festival was the Pythian Games held every four years at Delphi and was one of the four great Panhellenic Games. Also of major importance was the Delia held every four years on Delos.
Athenian annual festivals included the Boedromia, Metageitnia, Pyanepsia, and Thargelia.
Spartan annual festivals were the Carneia and the Hyacinthia.
Thebes every nine years held the Daphnephoria.
Attributes and symbols
Apollo's most common attributes were the bow and arrow. Other attributes of his included the kithara (an advanced version of the common lyre), the plectrum and the sword. Another common emblem was the sacrificial tripod, representing his prophetic powers. The Pythian Games were held in Apollo's honor every four years at Delphi. The bay laurel plant was used in expiatory sacrifices and in making the crown of victory at these games.
The palm tree was also sacred to Apollo because he had been born under one in Delos. Animals sacred to Apollo included wolves, dolphins, roe deer, swans, cicadas (symbolizing music and song), ravens, hawks, crows (Apollo had hawks and crows as his messengers), snakes (referencing Apollo's function as the god of prophecy), mice and griffins, mythical eagle–lion hybrids of Eastern origin.
Homer and Porphyry wrote that Apollo had a hawk as his messenger. In many myths Apollo is transformed into a hawk. In addition, Claudius Aelianus wrote that in Ancient Egypt people believed that hawks were sacred to the god and that according to the ministers of Apollo in Egypt there were certain men called "hawk-keepers" (ἱερακοβοσκοί) who fed and tended the hawks belonging to the god. Eusebius wrote that the second appearance of the moon is held sacred in the city of Apollo in Egypt and that the city's symbol is a man with a hawklike face (Horus). Claudius Aelianus wrote that Egyptians called Apollo Horus in their own language.
As god of colonization, Apollo gave oracular guidance on colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750–550 BCE. According to Greek tradition, he helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists found the city of Troy. However, this story may reflect a cultural influence which had the reverse direction: Hittite cuneiform texts mention an Asia Minor god called Appaliunas or Apalunas in connection with the city of Wilusa attested in Hittite inscriptions, which is now generally regarded as being identical with the Greek Ilion by most scholars. In this interpretation, Apollo's title of Lykegenes can simply be read as "born in Lycia", which effectively severs the god's supposed link with wolves (possibly a folk etymology).
In literary contexts, Apollo represents harmony, order, and reason—characteristics contrasted with those of Dionysus, god of wine, who represents ecstasy and disorder. The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives Apollonian and Dionysian. However, the Greeks thought of the two qualities as complementary: the two gods are brothers, and when Apollo at winter left for Hyperborea, he would leave the Delphic oracle to Dionysus. This contrast appears to be shown on the two sides of the Borghese Vase.
Apollo is often associated with the Golden Mean. This is the Greek ideal of moderation and a virtue that opposes gluttony.
In antiquity, Apollo was associated with the planet Mercury. The ancient Greeks believed that Mercury as observed during the morning was a different planet than the one during the evening, because each twilight Mercury would appear farther from the Sun as it set than it had the night before. The morning planet was called Apollo, and the one at evening Hermes/Mercury before they realised they were the same, thereupon the name 'Mercury/Hermes' was kept, and 'Apollo' was dropped.
Apollo in the arts
Apollo is a common theme in Greek and Roman art and also in the art of the Renaissance. The earliest Greek word for a statue is "delight" (, agalma), and the sculptors tried to create forms which would inspire such guiding vision. Maurice Bowra notices that the Greek artist puts into a god the highest degree of power and beauty that can be imagined. The sculptors derived this from observations on human beings, but they also embodied in concrete form, issues beyond the reach of ordinary thought.
The naked bodies of the statues are associated with the cult of the body which was essentially a religious activity. The muscular frames and limbs combined with slim waists indicate the Greek desire for health, and the physical capacity which was necessary in the hard Greek environment. The statues of Apollo and the other gods present them in their full youth and strength. "In the balance and relation of their limbs, such figures express their whole character, mental and physical, and reveal their central being . ,the radiant reality of youth in its heyday".
Archaic sculpture
Numerous free-standing statues of male youths from Archaic Greece exist, and were once thought to be representations of Apollo, though later discoveries indicated that many represented mortals. In 1895, V. I. Leonardos proposed the term kouros ("male youth") to refer to those from Keratea; this usage was later expanded by Henri Lechat in 1904 to cover all statues of this format.
The earliest examples of life-sized statues of Apollo may be two figures from the Ionic sanctuary on the island of Delos. Such statues were found across the Greek-speaking world, the preponderance of these were found at the sanctuaries of Apollo with more than one hundred from the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios, Boeotia alone. Significantly more rare are the life-sized bronze statues. One of the few originals which survived into the present day—so rare that its discovery in 1959 was described as "a miracle" by Ernst Homann-Wedeking—is the masterpiece bronze, Piraeus Apollo. It was found in Piraeus, a port city close to Athens, and is believed to have come from north-eastern Peloponnesus. It is the only surviving large-scale Peloponnesian statue.
Classical sculpture
The famous Apollo of Mantua and its variants are early forms of the Apollo Citharoedus statue type, in which the god holds the cithara, a sophisticated seven-stringed variant of the lyre, in his left arm. While none of the Greek originals have survived, several Roman copies from approximately the late 1st or early 2nd century exist, of which an example is the Apollo Barberini.
Hellenistic Greece-Rome
Apollo as a handsome beardless young man, is often depicted with a cithara (as Apollo Citharoedus) or bow in his hand, or reclining on a tree (the Apollo Lykeios and Apollo Sauroctonos types). The Apollo Belvedere is a marble sculpture that was rediscovered in the late 15th century; for centuries it epitomized the ideals of Classical Antiquity for Europeans, from the Renaissance through the 19th century. The marble is a Hellenistic or Roman copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor Leochares, made between 330 and 320 BCE.
The life-size so-called "Adonis" found in 1780 on the site of a villa suburbana near the Via Labicana in the Roman suburb of Centocelle is identified as an Apollo by modern scholars. In the late 2nd century CE floor mosaic from El Djem, Roman Thysdrus, he is identifiable as Apollo Helios by his effulgent halo, though now even a god's divine nakedness is concealed by his cloak, a mark of increasing conventions of modesty in the later Empire.
Another haloed Apollo in mosaic, from Hadrumentum, is in the museum at Sousse. The conventions of this representation, head tilted, lips slightly parted, large-eyed, curling hair cut in locks grazing the neck, were developed in the 3rd century BCE to depict Alexander the Great. Some time after this mosaic was executed, the earliest depictions of Christ would also be beardless and haloed.
Modern reception
Apollo often appears in modern and popular culture due to his status as the god of music, dance and poetry.
Postclassical art and literature
Dance and music
Apollo has featured in dance and music in modern culture. Percy Bysshe Shelley composed a "Hymn of Apollo" (1820), and the god's instruction of the Muses formed the subject of Igor Stravinsky's Apollon musagète (1927–1928). In 1978, the Canadian band Rush released an album with songs "Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom"/"Dionysus: Bringer of Love".
Books
Apollo has been portrayed in modern literature, such as when Charles Handy, in Gods of Management (1978) uses Greek gods as a metaphor to portray various types of organizational culture. Apollo represents a 'role' culture where order, reason, and bureaucracy prevail. In 2016, author Rick Riordan published the first book in the Trials of Apollo series, publishing four other books in the series in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Film
Apollo has been depicted in modern films—for instance, by Keith David in the 1997 animated feature film Hercules, by Luke Evans in the 2010 action film Clash of the Titans, and by Dimitri Lekkos in the 2010 film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
Video games
Apollo has appeared in many modern video games. Apollo appears as a minor character in Santa Monica Studio's 2010 action-adventure game God of War III with his bow being used by Peirithous. He also appears in the 2014 Hi-Rez Studios Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game Smite as a playable character.
Psychology and philosophy
In the philosophical discussion of the arts, a distinction is sometimes made between the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses, where the former is concerned with imposing intellectual order and the latter with chaotic creativity. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that a fusion of the two was most desirable. Psychologist Carl Jung's Apollo archetype represents what he saw as the disposition in people to over-intellectualise and maintain emotional distance.
Spaceflight
In spaceflight, the 1960s and 1970s NASA program for orbiting and landing astronauts on the Moon was named after Apollo, by NASA manager Abe Silverstein:
Genealogy
See also
Darrhon
Dryad
Epirus
Family tree of the Greek gods
Phoebus (disambiguation)
Sibylline oracles
Tegyra
Temple of Apollo (disambiguation)
Notes
References
Sources
Primary sources
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Aeschylus, The Eumenides in Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes, Vol 2, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1926, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. Internet Archive.
Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English Translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English Translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, De Natura Deorum in Cicero in Twenty-eight Volumes, XIX De Natura Deorum; Academica, with an English translation by H. Rackham, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd, 1967. Internet Archive.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8, translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1939. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version by Bill Thayer.
Herodotus, Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. Online version available at The Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, De Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Livy, The History of Rome, Books I and II With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.
Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, I Books I-XV. Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI-XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
Statius, Thebaid. Translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Palaephatus, On Unbelievable Tales 46. Hyacinthus (330 BCE)
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. 10. 162–219 (1–8 CE)
Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Philostratus the Elder, Imagines, in Philostratus the Elder, Imagines. Philostratus the Younger, Imagines. Callistratus, Descriptions. Translated by Arthur Fairbanks. Loeb Classical Library No. 256. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1931. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive 1926 edition. i.24 Hyacinthus (170–245 CE)
Philostratus the Younger, Imagines, in Philostratus the Elder, Imagines. Philostratus the Younger, Imagines. Callistratus, Descriptions. Translated by Arthur Fairbanks. Loeb Classical Library No. 256. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1931. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive 1926 edition. 14. Hyacinthus (170–245 CE)
Pindar, Odes, Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Plutarch. Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus. Lycurgus and Numa. Solon and Publicola. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library No. 46. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Numa at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis, in Plutarch's morals, Volume V, edited and translated by William Watson Goodwin, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1874. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead. Dialogues of the Sea-Gods. Dialogues of the Gods. Dialogues of the Courtesans, translated by M. D. MacLeod, Loeb Classical Library No. 431, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1961. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
First Vatican Mythographer, 197. Thamyris et Musae
Tzetzes, John, Chiliades, editor Gottlieb Kiessling, F.C.G. Vogel, 1826. Google Books. (English translation: Book I by Ana Untila; Books II–IV, by Gary Berkowitz; Books V–VI by Konstantino Ramiotis; Books VII–VIII by Vasiliki Dogani; Books IX–X by Jonathan Alexander; Books XII–XIII by Nikolaos Giallousis. Internet Archive).
Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, translated by J. H. Mozley, Loeb Classical Library No. 286. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Online translated text available at theoi.com.
Vergil, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Johns Hopkins University Press; owlerirst Printing edition (May 29, 2013). . Google Books.
M. Bieber, 1964. Alexander the Great in Greek and Roman Art. Chicago.
Hugh Bowden, 2005. Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy. Cambridge University Press.
Walter Burkert, 1985. Greek Religion (Harvard University Press) III.2.5 passim
Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, University of California Press, 1959. .
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
Miranda J. Green, 1997. Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Thames and Hudson.
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. .
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
Karl Kerenyi, 1953. Apollon: Studien über Antiken Religion und Humanität revised edition.
Kerényi, Karl 1951, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London.
Mertens, Dieter; Schutzenberger, Margareta. Città e monumenti dei Greci d'Occidente: dalla colonizzazione alla crisi di fine V secolo a.C.. Roma L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2006. .
Martin Nilsson, 1955. Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion, vol. I. C.H. Beck.
Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. .
Pauly–Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft: II, "Apollon". The best repertory of cult sites (Burkert).
Peck, Harry Thurston, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pfeiff, K.A., 1943. Apollon: Wandlung seines Bildes in der griechischen Kunst. Traces the changing iconography of Apollo.
D.S.Robertson (1945) A handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture Cambridge University Press
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Apollo"
Smith, William, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. William Smith, LLD. William Wayte. G. E. Marindin. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Spivey Nigel (1997) Greek art Phaedon Press Ltd.
External links
Apollo at the Greek Mythology Link, by Carlos Parada
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1650 images of Apollo)
Greek gods
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624 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska | Alaska | Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It borders British Columbia and Yukon in Canada to the east and it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically a semi-exclave of the U.S., Alaska is the largest exclave in the world.
Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the next three largest states of Texas, California and Montana combined and is the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated U.S. state, but with a population of 736,081 as of 2020, is the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. The state capital of Juneau is the second-largest city in the United States by area. The former capital of Alaska, Sitka, is the largest U.S. city by area. The state's most populous city is Anchorage. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area.
Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America, which spanned most of the current state, and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$7.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska—with one of the smallest state economies—to have one of the highest per capita incomes, with commercial fishing, and the extraction of natural gas and oil, dominating Alaska's economy. U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to the economy; more than half the state is federally-owned land containing national forests, national parks, and wildlife refuges. It is among the most irreligious states, one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana, and is known for its libertarian-leaning political culture, generally supporting the Republican Party in national elections. The Indigenous population of Alaska is proportionally the highest of any U.S. state, at over 15 percent. Various Indigenous languages are spoken, and Alaskan Natives are influential in local and state politics.
Etymology
The name "Alaska" () was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut-language idiom, , meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed".
History
Pre-colonization
Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. Linguistic and DNA studies done here have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. At the Upward Sun River site in the Tanana Valley in Alaska, remains of a six-week-old infant were found. The baby's DNA showed that she belonged to a population that was genetically separate from other native groups present elsewhere in the New World at the end of the Pleistocene. Ben Potter, the University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeologist who unearthed the remains at the Upward Sun River site in 2013, named this new group Ancient Beringians.
The Tlingit people developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inheritance and descent in what is today Southeast Alaska, along with parts of British Columbia and the Yukon. Also in Southeast were the Haida, now well known for their unique arts. The Tsimshian people came to Alaska from British Columbia in 1887, when President Grover Cleveland, and later the U.S. Congress, granted them permission to settle on Annette Island and found the town of Metlakatla. All three of these peoples, as well as other indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, experienced smallpox outbreaks from the late 18th through the mid-19th century, with the most devastating epidemics occurring in the 1830s and 1860s, resulting in high fatalities and social disruption.
The Aleutian Islands are still home to the Aleut people's seafaring society, although they were the first Native Alaskans to be exploited by the Russians. Western and Southwestern Alaska are home to the Yup'ik, while their cousins the Alutiiq ~ Sugpiaq live in what is now Southcentral Alaska. The Gwich'in people of the northern Interior region are Athabaskan and primarily known today for their dependence on the caribou within the much-contested Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The North Slope and Little Diomede Island are occupied by the widespread Inupiat people.
Colonization
Some researchers believe the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century. According to this hypothesis, in 1648 several koches of Semyon Dezhnyov's expedition came ashore in Alaska by storm and founded this settlement. This hypothesis is based on the testimony of Chukchi geographer Nikolai Daurkin, who had visited Alaska in 1764–1765 and who had reported on a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the icons". Some modern researchers associate Kheuveren with Koyuk River.
The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian Cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784.
Between 1774 and 1800, Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its claim over the Pacific Northwest. In 1789, a Spanish settlement and fort were built in Nootka Sound. These expeditions gave names to places such as Valdez, Bucareli Sound, and Cordova. Later, the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early-to-mid-19th century. Sitka, renamed New Archangel from 1804 to 1867, on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in what is now Southeast Alaska, became the capital of Russian America. It remained the capital after the colony was transferred to the United States. The Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. Evidence of Russian settlement in names and churches survive throughout southeastern Alaska.
William H. Seward, the 24th United States Secretary of State, negotiated the Alaska Purchase (referred to pejoratively as Seward's Folly) with the Russians in 1867 for $7.2 million. Russia's contemporary ruler Tsar Alexander II, the Emperor of the Russian Empire, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, also planned the sale; the purchase was made on March 30, 1867. Six months later the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged; the formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. In the ceremony 250 uniformed U.S. soldiers marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill", where the Russian troops lowered the Russian flag and the U.S. flag was raised. This event is celebrated as Alaska Day, a legal holiday on October 18.
Alaska was loosely governed by the military initially, and was administered as a district starting in 1884, with a governor appointed by the United States president. A federal district court was headquartered in Sitka. For most of Alaska's first decade under the United States flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. They organized a "provisional city government", which was Alaska's first municipal government, but not in a legal sense. Legislation allowing Alaskan communities to legally incorporate as cities did not come about until 1900, and home rule for cities was extremely limited or unavailable until statehood took effect in 1959.
Alaska as an incorporated U.S. territory
Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. Alaska was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912. Alaska's capital, which had been in Sitka until 1906, was moved north to Juneau. Construction of the Alaska Governor's Mansion began that same year. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries.
During World War II, the Aleutian Islands Campaign focused on Attu, Agattu and Kiska, all of which were occupied by the Empire of Japan. During the Japanese occupation, a white American civilian and two United States Navy personnel were killed at Attu and Kiska respectively, and nearly a total of 50 Aleut civilians and eight sailors were interned in Japan. About half of the Aleuts died during the period of internment. Unalaska/Dutch Harbor and Adak became significant bases for the United States Army, United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy. The United States Lend-Lease program involved flying American warplanes through Canada to Fairbanks and then Nome; Soviet pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities.
Statehood
Statehood for Alaska was an important cause of James Wickersham early in his tenure as a congressional delegate. Decades later, the statehood movement gained its first real momentum following a territorial referendum in 1946. The Alaska Statehood Committee and Alaska's Constitutional Convention would soon follow. Statehood supporters also found themselves fighting major battles against political foes, mostly in the U.S. Congress but also within Alaska. Statehood was approved by the U.S. Congress on July 7, 1958; Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959.
Good Friday earthquake
On March 27, 1964, the massive Good Friday earthquake killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant tsunamis and landslides. It was the fourth-most-powerful earthquake in recorded history, with a moment magnitude of 9.2 (more than a thousand times as powerful as the 1989 San Francisco earthquake). The time of day (5:36 pm), time of year (spring) and location of the epicenter were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage.
Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake remains the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. of fault ruptured at once and moved up to , releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other human-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along Knik Arm. southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by . Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as , requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark.
In Prince William Sound, Port Valdez suffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier, Seward, Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas.
Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist Lidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city. The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe. The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake.
The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez. On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed. A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering of food and other supplies. Broadcast journalist, Genie Chance, assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the KENI air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building. She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief. Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families.
In the longer term, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay. At the order of the U.S. Defense Department, the Alaska National Guard founded the Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters.
Alaska oil boom
The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward.
Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land, however. In the second half of the 20th century, Alaska discovered tourism as an important source of revenue. Tourism became popular after World War II, when military personnel stationed in the region returned home praising its natural splendor. The Alcan Highway, built during the war, and the Alaska Marine Highway System, completed in 1963, made the state more accessible than before. Tourism became increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.4 million people visit the state each year.
With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980 added 53.7 million acres (217,000 km2) to the National Wildlife Refuge system, parts of 25 rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, 3.3 million acres (13,000 km2) to National Forest lands, and 43.6 million acres (176,000 km2) to National Park land. Because of the Act, Alaska now contains two-thirds of all American national parklands. Today, more than half of Alaskan land is owned by the Federal Government.
In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling more than of crude oil over of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine.
Geography
Located at the northwest corner of North America, Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States, but also has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; about of British Columbia (Canada) separates Alaska from Washington. It is technically part of the continental U.S., but is not usually included in the colloquial use of the term; Alaska is not part of the contiguous U.S., often called "the Lower 48". The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system.
The state is bordered by Canada's Yukon and British Columbia to the east (making it the only state to only border a Canadian territory); the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest; the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west; and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only apart. Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined.
At in total area, Alaska is by far the largest state in the United States. Alaska is more than twice the size of the second-largest U.S. state (Texas), and it is larger than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. Alaska is the seventh largest subnational division in the world. If it was an independent nation would be the 18th largest country in the world, almost the same size as Iran.
With its myriad islands, Alaska has nearly of tidal shoreline. The Aleutian Islands chain extends west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians and in coastal regions. Unimak Island, for example, is home to Mount Shishaldin, which is an occasionally smoldering volcano that rises to above the North Pacific. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr, west of Anchorage on the mainland. Geologists have identified Alaska as part of Wrangellia, a large region consisting of multiple states and Canadian provinces in the Pacific Northwest, which is actively undergoing continent building.
One of the world's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm, just south of Anchorage, where tidal differences can be more than .
Alaska has more than three million lakes. Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Glacier ice covers about of Alaska. The Bering Glacier is the largest glacier in North America, covering alone.
Regions
There are no officially defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are five/six regions that the state is most commonly broken up into:
South Central
The most populous region of Alaska, containing Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula. Rural, mostly unpopulated areas south of the Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains also fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez.
Southeast
Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the contiguous states. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase. The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, and Ketchikan, at one time Alaska's largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area and country, as only three communities (Haines, Hyder and Skagway) enjoy direct connections to the contiguous North American road system.
Interior
The Interior is the largest region of Alaska; much of it is uninhabited wilderness. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali, formerly Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain in North America, and is also located here.
North Slope
The North Slope is mostly tundra peppered with small villages. The area is known for its massive reserves of crude oil and contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. The city of Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area, anchored by Kotzebue and also containing the Kobuk River valley, is often regarded as being part of this region. However, the respective Inupiat of the North Slope and of the Northwest Arctic seldom consider themselves to be one people.
Southwest
Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast. Kodiak Island is also located in Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of the Alaska Peninsula are considered part of the Southwest, with the Aleutian Islands often (but not always) being grouped in as well.
Aleutian Islands
While primarily part of Southwest Alaska when grouped economically, the Aleutian islands are sometimes recognized as an alternate group from the rest of the region due to the geographic separation from the continent. More than 300 small volcanic islands make up this chain, which stretches more than into the Pacific Ocean. Some of these islands fall in the Eastern Hemisphere, but the International Date Line was drawn west of 180° to keep the whole state, and thus the entire North American continent, within the same legal day. Two of the islands, Attu and Kiska, were occupied by Japanese forces during World War II.
Land ownership
According to an October 1998 report by the United States Bureau of Land Management, approximately 65% of Alaska is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands, including a multitude of national forests, national parks, and national wildlife refuges. Of these, the Bureau of Land Management manages , or 23.8% of the state. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is the world's largest wildlife refuge, comprising .
Of the remaining land area, the state of Alaska owns , its entitlement under the Alaska Statehood Act. A portion of that acreage is occasionally ceded to the organized boroughs presented above, under the statutory provisions pertaining to newly formed boroughs. Smaller portions are set aside for rural subdivisions and other homesteading-related opportunities. These are not very popular due to the often remote and roadless locations. The University of Alaska, as a land grant university, also owns substantial acreage which it manages independently.
Another are owned by 12 regional, and scores of local, Native corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Regional Native corporation Doyon, Limited often promotes itself as the largest private landowner in Alaska in advertisements and other communications. Provisions of ANCSA allowing the corporations' land holdings to be sold on the open market starting in 1991 were repealed before they could take effect. Effectively, the corporations hold title (including subsurface title in many cases, a privilege denied to individual Alaskans) but cannot sell the land. Individual Native allotments can be and are sold on the open market, however.
Various private interests own the remaining land, totaling about one percent of the state. Alaska is, by a large margin, the state with the smallest percentage of private land ownership when Native corporation holdings are excluded.
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
The Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (AHRS) is a restricted inventory of all reported historic and prehistoric sites within the U.S. state of Alaska; it is maintained by the Office of History and Archaeology. The survey's inventory of cultural resources includes objects, structures, buildings, sites, districts, and travel ways, with a general provision that they are more than fifty years old. , more than 35,000 sites have been reported.
Cities, towns and boroughs
Alaska is not divided into counties, as most of the other U.S. states, but it is divided into boroughs. Delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional county system and adopted their own unique model. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. However, unlike county-equivalents in the other 49 states, the boroughs do not cover the entire land area of the state. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough.
The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own, but the U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the state divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation. A recording district is a mechanism for management of the public record in Alaska. The state is divided into 34 recording districts which are centrally administered under a state recorder. All recording districts use the same acceptance criteria, fee schedule, etc., for accepting documents into the public record.
Whereas many U.S. states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Owing to the low population density, most of the land is located in the Unorganized Borough. As the name implies, it has no intermediate borough government but is administered directly by the state government. In 2000, 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population.
Anchorage merged the city government with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1975 to form the Municipality of Anchorage, containing the city proper and the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Peters Creek, Girdwood, Bird, and Indian. Fairbanks has a separate borough (the Fairbanks North Star Borough) and municipality (the City of Fairbanks).
The state's most populous city is Anchorage, home to 291,247 people in 2020. The richest location in Alaska by per capita income is Denali ($42,245). Yakutat City, Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are the four largest cities in the U.S. by area.
Cities and census-designated places (by population)
As reflected in the 2020 United States census, Alaska has a total of 355 incorporated cities and census-designated places (CDPs). The tally of cities includes four unified municipalities, essentially the equivalent of a consolidated city–county. The majority of these communities are located in the rural expanse of Alaska known as "The Bush" and are unconnected to that contiguous North American road network. The table at the bottom of this section lists about the 100 largest cities and census-designated places in Alaska, in population order.
Of Alaska's 2020 U.S. census population figure of 733,391, 16,655 people, or 2.27% of the population, did not live in an incorporated city or census-designated place. Approximately three-quarters of that figure were people who live in urban and suburban neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city limits of Ketchikan, Kodiak, Palmer and Wasilla. CDPs have not been established for these areas by the United States Census Bureau, except that seven CDPs were established for the Ketchikan-area neighborhoods in the 1980 Census (Clover Pass, Herring Cove, Ketchikan East, Mountain Point, North Tongass Highway, Pennock Island and Saxman East), but have not been used since. The remaining population was scattered throughout Alaska, both within organized boroughs and in the Unorganized Borough, in largely remote areas.
Climate
The climate in south and southeastern Alaska is a mid-latitude oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), and a subarctic oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc) in the northern parts. On an annual basis, the southeast is both the wettest and warmest part of Alaska with milder temperatures in the winter and high precipitation throughout the year. Juneau averages over of precipitation a year, and Ketchikan averages over . This is also the only region in Alaska in which the average daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter months.The climate of Anchorage and south central Alaska is mild by Alaskan standards due to the region's proximity to the seacoast. While the area gets less rain than southeast Alaska, it gets more snow, and days tend to be clearer. On average, Anchorage receives of precipitation a year, with around of snow, although there are areas in the south central which receive far more snow. It is a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc) due to its brief, cool summers.
The climate of western Alaska is determined in large part by the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. It is a subarctic oceanic climate in the southwest and a continental subarctic climate farther north. The temperature is somewhat moderate considering how far north the area is. This region has a tremendous amount of variety in precipitation. An area stretching from the northern side of the Seward Peninsula to the Kobuk River valley (i.e., the region around Kotzebue Sound) is technically a desert, with portions receiving less than of precipitation annually. On the other extreme, some locations between Dillingham and Bethel average around of precipitation.
The climate of the interior of Alaska is subarctic. Some of the highest and lowest temperatures in Alaska occur around the area near Fairbanks. The summers may have temperatures reaching into the 90s °F (the low-to-mid 30s °C), while in the winter, the temperature can fall below . Precipitation is sparse in the Interior, often less than a year, but what precipitation falls in the winter tends to stay the entire winter.
The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in Alaska are both in the Interior. The highest is in Fort Yukon (which is just inside the arctic circle) on June 27, 1915, making Alaska tied with Hawaii as the state with the lowest high temperature in the United States. The lowest official Alaska temperature is in Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971, one degree above the lowest temperature recorded in continental North America (in Snag, Yukon, Canada).
The climate in the extreme north of Alaska is Arctic (Köppen: ET) with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers. Even in July, the average low temperature in Utqiaġvik is . Precipitation is light in this part of Alaska, with many places averaging less than per year, mostly as snow which stays on the ground almost the entire year.
Flora and fauna
Demographics
The United States Census Bureau found in the 2020 United States census that the population of Alaska was 733,391 on April 1, 2020, a 3.3% increase since the 2010 United States census. According to the 2010 United States census, the U.S. state of Alaska had a population of 710,231, a 13.3% increase from 626,932 at the 2000 U.S. census.
In 2020, Alaska ranked as the 48th largest state by population, ahead of only Vermont and Wyoming. Alaska is the least densely populated state, and one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world, at , with the next state, Wyoming, at . Alaska is by far the largest U.S. state by area, and the tenth wealthiest (per capita income). due to its population size, it is one of 14 U.S. states that still have only one telephone area code.
According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 2,320 homeless people in Alaska.
Race and ethnicity
The 2019 American Community Survey estimated 60.2% of the population was non-Hispanic white, 3.7% black or African American, 15.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, 6.5% Asian, 1.4% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 7.5% two or more races, and 7.3% Hispanic or Latin American of any race. At the survey estimates, 7.8% of the total population was foreign-born from 2015 to 2019. In 2015, 61.3% was non-Hispanic white, 3.4% black or African American, 13.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 6.2% Asian, 0.9% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 0.3% some other race, and 7.7% multiracial. Hispanics and Latin Americans were 7% of the state population in 2015. From 2015 to 2019, the largest Hispanic and Latin American groups were Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans. The largest Asian groups living in the state were Filipinos, Korean Americans, and Japanese and Chinese Americans.
The state was 66.7% white (64.1% non-Hispanic white), 14.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.4% Asian, 3.3% black or African American, 1.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 1.6% from some other race, and 7.3% from two or more races in 2010. Hispanics or Latin Americans of any race made up 5.5% of the population in 2010. , 50.7% of Alaska's population younger than one year of age belonged to minority groups (i.e., did not have two parents of non-Hispanic white ancestry). In 1960, the United States Census Bureau reported Alaska's population as 77.2% white, 3% black, and 18.8% American Indian and Alaska Native.
In 2018, The top countries of origin for Alaska's immigrants were the Philippines, Mexico, Canada, Thailand and Korea.
Languages
According to the 2011 American Community Survey, 83.4% of people over the age of five spoke only English at home. About 3.5% spoke Spanish at home, 2.2% spoke another Indo-European language, about 4.3% spoke an Asian language (including Tagalog), and about 5.3% spoke other languages at home. In 2019, the American Community Survey determined 83.7% spoke only English, and 16.3% spoke another language other than English. The most spoken European language after English was Spanish, spoken by approximately 4.0% of the state population. Collectively, Asian and Pacific Islander languages were spoken by 5.6% of Alaskans. Since 2010, a total of 5.2% of Alaskans speak one of the state's 20 indigenous languages, known locally as "native languages".
The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks claims that at least 20 Alaskan native languages exist and there are also some languages with different dialects. Most of Alaska's native languages belong to either the Eskimo–Aleut or Na-Dene language families; however, some languages are thought to be isolates (e.g. Haida) or have not yet been classified (e.g. Tsimshianic). nearly all of Alaska's native languages were classified as either threatened, shifting, moribund, nearly extinct, or dormant languages.
In October 2014, the governor of Alaska signed a bill declaring the state's 20 indigenous languages to have official status. This bill gave them symbolic recognition as official languages, though they have not been adopted for official use within the government. The 20 languages that were included in the bill are:
Inupiaq
Siberian Yupik
Central Alaskan Yup'ik
Alutiiq
Unangax
Dena'ina
Deg Xinag
Holikachuk
Koyukon
Upper Kuskokwim
Gwich'in
Tanana
Upper Tanana
Tanacross
Hän
Ahtna
Eyak
Tlingit
Haida
Tsimshian
Religion
Multiple surveys have ranked Alaska among the most irreligious states.
According to statistics collected by the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) from 2010, about 34% of Alaska residents were members of religious congregations. Of the religious population, 100,960 people identified as evangelical Protestants; 50,866 as Roman Catholic; and 32,550 as mainline Protestants. Roughly 4% were Mormon, 0.5% Jewish, 0.5% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.2% Baháʼí, and 0.5% Hindu. The largest religious denominations in Alaska was the Roman Catholic Church with 50,866 adherents; non-denominational Evangelicals with 38,070 adherents; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 32,170 adherents; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 19,891 adherents. Alaska has been identified, along with Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, as being the least religious states in the United States, in terms of church membership.
The Pew Research Center in 2014 determined 62% of the adult population practiced Christianity. Protestantism was the largest Christian tradition, dominated by Evangelicalism. Mainline Protestants were the second largest Protestant Christian group, followed by predominantly African American churches. The Roman Catholic Church remained the largest single Christian tradition practiced in Alaska. Of the unaffiliated population, they made up the largest non-Christian religious affiliation. Atheists made up 5% of the population and the largest non-Christian religion was Buddhism. In 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) determined 57% of adults were Christian. By 2022, Christianity increased to 77% of the population according to the PRRI.
Through the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, its Christian population was dominated by non/inter-denominational Protestantism as the single largest Christian cohort, with 73,930 adherents. Roman Catholics were second with 40,280 members; throughout its Christian population, non-denominational Christians had an adherence rate of 100.81 per 1,000 residents, and Catholics 54.92 per 1,000 residents. Per 2014's Pew study, religion was seen as very important to 41% of the population, although 29% considered it somewhat important. In 2014, Pew determined roughly 55% believed in God with absolute certainty, and 24% believed fairly certainly. Reflecting the separate 2020 ARDA study, the 2014 Pew study showed 30% attended religious services once a week, 34% once or twice a month, and 36% seldom/never. In 2018, The Gospel Coalition published an article using Pew data and determined non-churchgoing Christians nationwide did not attend religious services often through the following: practicing the faith in other ways, not finding a house of worship they liked, disliking sermons and feeling unwelcomed, and logistics.
In 1795, the first Russian Orthodox Church was established in Kodiak. Intermarriage with Alaskan Natives helped the Russian immigrants integrate into society. As a result, an increasing number of Russian Orthodox churches gradually became established within Alaska. Alaska also has the largest Quaker population (by percentage) of any state. In 2009, there were 6,000 Jews in Alaska (for whom observance of halakha may pose special problems). Alaskan Hindus often share venues and celebrations with members of other Asian religious communities, including Sikhs and Jains. In 2010, Alaskan Hindus established the Sri Ganesha Temple of Alaska, making it the first Hindu Temple in Alaska and the northernmost Hindu Temple in the world. There are an estimated 2,000–3,000 Hindus in Alaska. The vast majority of Hindus live in Anchorage or Fairbanks.
Estimates for the number of Muslims in Alaska range from 2,000 to 5,000. In 2020, ARDA estimated there were 400 Muslims in the state. The Islamic Community Center of Anchorage began efforts in the late 1990s to construct a mosque in Anchorage. They broke ground on a building in south Anchorage in 2010 and were nearing completion in late 2014. When completed, the mosque was the first in the state and one of the northernmost mosques in the world. There's also a Baháʼí center, and there were 690 adherents in 2020. Additionally, there were 469 adherents of Hinduism and Yoga altogether in 2020, and a small number of Buddhists were present.
Economy
As of October 2022, Alaska had a total employment of 316,900. The number of employer establishments was 21,077.
The 2018 gross state product was $55 billion, 48th in the U.S. Its per capita personal income for 2018 was $73,000, ranking 7th in the nation. According to a 2013 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Alaska had the fifth-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 6.75 percent. The oil and gas industry dominates the Alaskan economy, with more than 80% of the state's revenues derived from petroleum extraction. Alaska's main export product (excluding oil and natural gas) is seafood, primarily salmon, cod, pollock and crab.
Agriculture represents a very small fraction of the Alaskan economy. Agricultural production is primarily for consumption within the state and includes nursery stock, dairy products, vegetables, and livestock. Manufacturing is limited, with most foodstuffs and general goods imported from elsewhere.
Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation. Military bases are a significant component of the economy in the Fairbanks North Star, Anchorage and Kodiak Island boroughs, as well as Kodiak. Federal subsidies are also an important part of the economy, allowing the state to keep taxes low. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood products. There is also a growing service and tourism sector. Tourists have contributed to the economy by supporting local lodging.
Energy
Alaska has vast energy resources, although its oil reserves have been largely depleted. Major oil and gas reserves were found in the Alaska North Slope (ANS) and Cook Inlet basins, but according to the Energy Information Administration, by February 2014 Alaska had fallen to fourth place in the nation in crude oil production after Texas, North Dakota, and California. Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope is still the second highest-yielding oil field in the United States, typically producing about , although by early 2014 North Dakota's Bakken Formation was producing over . Prudhoe Bay was the largest conventional oil field ever discovered in North America, but was much smaller than Canada's enormous Athabasca oil sands field, which by 2014 was producing about of unconventional oil, and had hundreds of years of producible reserves at that rate.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline can transport and pump up to of crude oil per day, more than any other crude oil pipeline in the United States. Additionally, substantial coal deposits are found in Alaska's bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite coal basins. The United States Geological Survey estimates that there are of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas from natural gas hydrates on the Alaskan North Slope. Alaska also offers some of the highest hydroelectric power potential in the country from its numerous rivers. Large swaths of the Alaskan coastline offer wind and geothermal energy potential as well.
Alaska's economy depends heavily on increasingly expensive diesel fuel for heating, transportation, electric power and light. Although wind and hydroelectric power are abundant and underdeveloped, proposals for statewide energy systems (e.g. with special low-cost electric interties) were judged uneconomical (at the time of the report, 2001) due to low (less than 50¢/gal) fuel prices, long distances and low population. The cost of a gallon of gas in urban Alaska today is usually thirty to sixty cents higher than the national average; prices in rural areas are generally significantly higher but vary widely depending on transportation costs, seasonal usage peaks, nearby petroleum development infrastructure and many other factors.
Permanent Fund
The Alaska Permanent Fund is a constitutionally authorized appropriation of oil revenues, established by voters in 1976 to manage a surplus in state petroleum revenues from oil, largely in anticipation of the then recently constructed Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The fund was originally proposed by Governor Keith Miller on the eve of the 1969 Prudhoe Bay lease sale, out of fear that the legislature would spend the entire proceeds of the sale (which amounted to $900 million) at once. It was later championed by Governor Jay Hammond and Kenai state representative Hugh Malone. It has served as an attractive political prospect ever since, diverting revenues which would normally be deposited into the general fund.
The Alaska Constitution was written so as to discourage dedicating state funds for a particular purpose. The Permanent Fund has become the rare exception to this, mostly due to the political climate of distrust existing during the time of its creation. From its initial principal of $734,000, the fund has grown to $50 billion as a result of oil royalties and capital investment programs. Most if not all the principal is invested conservatively outside Alaska. This has led to frequent calls by Alaskan politicians for the Fund to make investments within Alaska, though such a stance has never gained momentum.
Starting in 1982, dividends from the fund's annual growth have been paid out each year to eligible Alaskans, ranging from an initial $1,000 in 1982 (equal to three years' payout, as the distribution of payments was held up in a lawsuit over the distribution scheme) to $3,269 in 2008 (which included a one-time $1,200 "Resource Rebate"). Every year, the state legislature takes out 8% from the earnings, puts 3% back into the principal for inflation proofing, and the remaining 5% is distributed to all qualifying Alaskans. To qualify for the Permanent Fund Dividend, one must have lived in the state for a minimum of 12 months, maintain constant residency subject to allowable absences, and not be subject to court judgments or criminal convictions which fall under various disqualifying classifications or may subject the payment amount to civil garnishment.
The Permanent Fund is often considered to be one of the leading examples of a basic income policy in the world.
Cost of living
The cost of goods in Alaska has long been higher than in the contiguous 48 states. Federal government employees, particularly United States Postal Service (USPS) workers and active-duty military members, receive a Cost of Living Allowance usually set at 25% of base pay because, while the cost of living has gone down, it is still one of the highest in the country.
Rural Alaska suffers from extremely high prices for food and consumer goods compared to the rest of the country, due to the relatively limited transportation infrastructure.
Agriculture and fishing
Due to the northern climate and short growing season, relatively little farming occurs in Alaska. Most farms are in either the Matanuska Valley, about northeast of Anchorage, or on the Kenai Peninsula, about southwest of Anchorage. The short 100-day growing season limits the crops that can be grown, but the long sunny summer days make for productive growing seasons. The primary crops are potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and cabbage.
The Tanana Valley is another notable agricultural locus, especially the Delta Junction area, about southeast of Fairbanks, with a sizable concentration of farms growing agronomic crops; these farms mostly lie north and east of Fort Greely. This area was largely set aside and developed under a state program spearheaded by Hammond during his second term as governor. Delta-area crops consist predominantly of barley and hay. West of Fairbanks lies another concentration of small farms catering to restaurants, the hotel and tourist industry, and community-supported agriculture.
Alaskan agriculture has experienced a surge in growth of market gardeners, small farms and farmers' markets in recent years, with the highest percentage increase (46%) in the nation in growth in farmers' markets in 2011, compared to 17% nationwide. The peony industry has also taken off, as the growing season allows farmers to harvest during a gap in supply elsewhere in the world, thereby filling a niche in the flower market.
Alaska, with no counties, lacks county fairs. However, a small assortment of state and local fairs (with the Alaska State Fair in Palmer the largest), are held mostly in the late summer. The fairs are mostly located in communities with historic or current agricultural activity, and feature local farmers exhibiting produce in addition to more high-profile commercial activities such as carnival rides, concerts and food. "Alaska Grown" is used as an agricultural slogan.
Alaska has an abundance of seafood, with the primary fisheries in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific. Seafood is one of the few food items that is often cheaper within the state than outside it. Many Alaskans take advantage of salmon seasons to harvest portions of their household diet while fishing for subsistence, as well as sport. This includes fish taken by hook, net or wheel.
Hunting for subsistence, primarily caribou, moose, and Dall sheep is still common in the state, particularly in remote Bush communities. An example of a traditional native food is Akutaq, the Eskimo ice cream, which can consist of reindeer fat, seal oil, dried fish meat and local berries.
Alaska's reindeer herding is concentrated on Seward Peninsula, where wild caribou can be prevented from mingling and migrating with the domesticated reindeer.
Most food in Alaska is transported into the state from "Outside" (the other 49 US states), and shipping costs make food in the cities relatively expensive. In rural areas, subsistence hunting and gathering is an essential activity because imported food is prohibitively expensive. Although most small towns and villages in Alaska lie along the coastline, the cost of importing food to remote villages can be high, because of the terrain and difficult road conditions, which change dramatically, due to varying climate and precipitation changes. The cost of transport can reach as high as 50¢ per pound ($1.10/kg) or more in some remote areas, during the most difficult times, if these locations can be reached at all during such inclement weather and terrain conditions. The cost of delivering a of milk is about $3.50 in many villages where per capita income can be $20,000 or less. Fuel cost per gallon is routinely twenty to thirty cents higher than the contiguous United States average, with only Hawaii having higher prices.
Culture
Some of Alaska's popular annual events are the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome, World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, the Blueberry Festival and Alaska Hummingbird Festival in Ketchikan, the Sitka Whale Fest, and the Stikine River Garnet Fest in Wrangell. The Stikine River attracts the largest springtime concentration of American bald eagles in the world.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center celebrates the rich heritage of Alaska's 11 cultural groups. Their purpose is to encourage cross-cultural exchanges among all people and enhance self-esteem among Native people. The Alaska Native Arts Foundation promotes and markets Native art from all regions and cultures in the State, using the internet.
Music
Influences on music in Alaska include the traditional music of Alaska Natives as well as folk music brought by later immigrants from Russia and Europe. Prominent musicians from Alaska include singer Jewel, traditional Aleut flautist Mary Youngblood, folk singer-songwriter Libby Roderick, Christian music singer-songwriter Lincoln Brewster, metal/post hardcore band 36 Crazyfists and the groups Pamyua and Portugal. The Man.
There are many established music festivals in Alaska, including the Alaska Folk Festival, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival the Anchorage Folk Festival, the Athabascan Old-Time Fiddling Festival, the Sitka Jazz Festival, and the Sitka Summer Music Festival. The most prominent orchestra in Alaska is the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, though the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and Juneau Symphony are also notable. The Anchorage Opera is currently the state's only professional opera company, though there are several volunteer and semi-professional organizations in the state as well.
The official state song of Alaska is "Alaska's Flag", which was adopted in 1955; it celebrates the flag of Alaska.
Alaska on film and television
The 1983 Disney movie Never Cry Wolf was at least partially shot in Alaska. The 1991 film White Fang, based on Jack London's 1906 novel and starring Ethan Hawke, was filmed in and around Haines. Steven Seagal's 1994 On Deadly Ground, starring Michael Caine, was filmed in part at the Worthington Glacier near Valdez.
Many reality television shows are filmed in Alaska. In 2011, the Anchorage Daily News found ten set in the state.
Sports
Public health and public safety
The Alaska State Troopers are Alaska's statewide police force. They have a long and storied history, but were not an official organization until 1941. Before the force was officially organized, law enforcement in Alaska was handled by various federal agencies. Larger towns usually have their own local police and some villages rely on "Public Safety Officers" who have police training but do not carry firearms. In much of the state, the troopers serve as the only police force available. In addition to enforcing traffic and criminal law, wildlife Troopers enforce hunting and fishing regulations. Due to the varied terrain and wide scope of the Troopers' duties, they employ a wide variety of land, air, and water patrol vehicles.
Many rural communities in Alaska are considered "dry", having outlawed the importation of alcoholic beverages. Suicide rates for rural residents are higher than urban.
Domestic abuse and other violent crimes are also at high levels in the state; this is in part linked to alcohol abuse. Alaska has the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, especially in rural areas. The average age of sexually assaulted victims is 16 years old. In four out of five cases, the suspects were relatives, friends or acquaintances.
Health insurance
, CVS Health and Premera account for 47% and 46% of private health insurance, respectively. Premera and Moda Health offer insurance on the federally-run Affordable Care Exchange.
Healthcare facilities
Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage is the largest hospital in the state as of 2021; Anchorage also hosts Alaska Regional Hospital and Alaska Native Medical Center.
Alaska's other major cities such as Fairbanks and Juneau also have local hospitals. In Southeast Alaska, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, runs healthcare facilities across 27 communities as of 2022, including hospitals in Sitka and Wrangell; although it originally served Native Americans only, it has expanded access and combined with other local facilities over time.
Education
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development administers many school districts in Alaska. In addition, the state operates a boarding school, Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, and provides partial funding for other boarding schools, including Nenana Student Living Center in Nenana and The Galena Interior Learning Academy in Galena.
There are more than a dozen colleges and universities in Alaska. Accredited universities in Alaska include the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, and Alaska Pacific University. Alaska is the only state that has no collegiate athletic programs that are members of NCAA Division I, although both Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage maintain single sport membership in Division I for men's ice hockey.
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development operates AVTEC, Alaska's Institute of Technology. Campuses in Seward and Anchorage offer one-week to 11-month training programs in areas as diverse as Information Technology, Welding, Nursing, and Mechanics.
Alaska has had a problem with a "brain drain". Many of its young people, including most of the highest academic achievers, leave the state after high school graduation and do not return. , Alaska did not have a law school or medical school. The University of Alaska has attempted to combat this by offering partial four-year scholarships to the top 10% of Alaska high school graduates, via the Alaska Scholars Program.
Beginning in 1998, schools in rural Alaska must have at least 10 students to retain funding from the state, and campuses not meeting the number close. This was due to the loss in oil revenues that previously propped up smaller rural schools. In 2015, there was a proposal to raise that minimum to 25, but legislators in the state largely did not agree.
Transportation
Roads
Alaska has few road connections compared to the rest of the U.S. The state's road system, covering a relatively small area of the state, linking the central population centers and the Alaska Highway, the principal route out of the state through Canada. The state capital, Juneau, is not accessible by road, with access only being through ferry or flight; this has spurred debate over decades about moving the capital to a city on the road system, or building a road connection from Haines. The western part of Alaska has no road system connecting the communities with the rest of Alaska.
The Interstate Highways in Alaska consists of a total of . One unique feature of the Alaska Highway system is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, an active Alaska Railroad tunnel recently upgraded to provide a paved roadway link with the isolated community of Whittier on Prince William Sound to the Seward Highway about southeast of Anchorage at Portage. At , the tunnel was the longest road tunnel in North America until 2007. The tunnel is the longest combination road and rail tunnel in North America.
Rail
Built around 1915, the Alaska Railroad (ARR) played a key role in the development of Alaska through the 20th century. It links shipping lanes on the North Pacific with Interior Alaska with tracks that run from Seward by way of South Central Alaska, passing through Anchorage, Eklutna, Wasilla, Talkeetna, Denali, and Fairbanks, with spurs to Whittier, Palmer and North Pole. The cities, towns, villages, and region served by ARR tracks are known statewide as "The Railbelt". In recent years, the ever-improving paved highway system began to eclipse the railroad's importance in Alaska's economy.
The railroad played a vital role in Alaska's development, moving freight into Alaska while transporting natural resources southward, such as coal from the Usibelli coal mine near Healy to Seward and gravel from the Matanuska Valley to Anchorage. It is well known for its summertime tour passenger service.
The Alaska Railroad was one of the last railroads in North America to use cabooses in regular service and still uses them on some gravel trains. It continues to offer one of the last flag stop routes in the country. A stretch of about of track along an area north of Talkeetna remains inaccessible by road; the railroad provides the only transportation to rural homes and cabins in the area. Until construction of the Parks Highway in the 1970s, the railroad provided the only land access to most of the region along its entire route.
In northern Southeast Alaska, the White Pass and Yukon Route also partly runs through the state from Skagway northwards into Canada (British Columbia and Yukon Territory), crossing the border at White Pass Summit. This line is now mainly used by tourists, often arriving by cruise liner at Skagway. It was featured in the 1983 BBC television series Great Little Railways.
These two railroads are connected neither to each other nor any other railroad. The nearest link to the North American railway network is the northwest terminus of the Canadian National Railway at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, several hundred miles to the southeast. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized $6 million to study the feasibility of a rail link between Alaska, Canada, and the lower 48. As of 2021, the Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation had been placed into receivership.
Some private companies provides car float service between Whittier and Seattle.
Marine transport
Many cities, towns and villages in the state do not have road or highway access; the only modes of access involve travel by air, river, or the sea.
Alaska's well-developed state-owned ferry system (known as the Alaska Marine Highway) serves the cities of southeast, the Gulf Coast and the Alaska Peninsula. The ferries transport vehicles as well as passengers. The system also operates a ferry service from Bellingham, Washington and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in Canada through the Inside Passage to Skagway. The Inter-Island Ferry Authority also serves as an important marine link for many communities in the Prince of Wales Island region of Southeast and works in concert with the Alaska Marine Highway.
In recent years, cruise lines have created a summertime tourism market, mainly connecting the Pacific Northwest to Southeast Alaska and, to a lesser degree, towns along Alaska's gulf coast. The population of Ketchikan for example fluctuates dramatically on many days—up to four large cruise ships can dock there at the same time.
Air transport
Cities not served by road, sea, or river can be reached only by air, foot, dogsled, or snowmachine, accounting for Alaska's extremely well developed bush air services—an Alaskan novelty. Anchorage and, to a lesser extent Fairbanks, is served by many major airlines. Because of limited highway access, air travel remains the most efficient form of transportation in and out of the state. Anchorage recently completed extensive remodeling and construction at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to help accommodate the upsurge in tourism (in 2012–2013, Alaska received almost two million visitors).
Making regular flights to most villages and towns within the state commercially viable is difficult, so they are heavily subsidized by the federal government through the Essential Air Service program. Alaska Airlines is the only major airline offering in-state travel with jet service (sometimes in combination cargo and passenger Boeing 737-400s) from Anchorage and Fairbanks to regional hubs like Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Dillingham, Kodiak, and other larger communities as well as to major Southeast and Alaska Peninsula communities.
The bulk of remaining commercial flight offerings come from small regional commuter airlines such as Ravn Alaska, PenAir, and Frontier Flying Service. The smallest towns and villages must rely on scheduled or chartered bush flying services using general aviation aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan, the most popular aircraft in use in the state. Much of this service can be attributed to the Alaska bypass mail program which subsidizes bulk mail delivery to Alaskan rural communities. The program requires 70% of that subsidy to go to carriers who offer passenger service to the communities.
Many communities have small air taxi services. These operations originated from the demand for customized transport to remote areas. Perhaps the most quintessentially Alaskan plane is the bush seaplane. The world's busiest seaplane base is Lake Hood, located next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, where flights bound for remote villages without an airstrip carry passengers, cargo, and many items from stores and warehouse clubs.
In 2006, Alaska had the highest number of pilots per capita of any U.S. state. In Alaska there are 8,795 active pilot certificates as of 2020.
Of these, there are 2,507 Private, 1,496 Commercial, 2,180 Airline Transport, and 2,239 student pilots. There are also 3,987 pilots with an Instrument rating and 1,511 Flight Instructors.
Other transport
Another Alaskan transportation method is the dogsled. In modern times (that is, any time after the mid-late 1920s), dog mushing is more of a sport than a true means of transportation. Various races are held around the state, but the best known is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a trail from Anchorage to Nome (although the distance varies from year to year, the official distance is set at ). The race commemorates the famous 1925 serum run to Nome in which mushers and dogs like Togo and Balto took much-needed medicine to the diphtheria-stricken community of Nome when all other means of transportation had failed. Mushers from all over the world come to Anchorage each March to compete for cash, prizes, and prestige. The "Serum Run" is another sled dog race that more accurately follows the route of the famous 1925 relay, leaving from the community of Nenana (southwest of Fairbanks) to Nome.
In areas not served by road or rail, primary transportation in summer is by all-terrain vehicle and in winter by snowmobile or "snow machine", as it is commonly referred to in Alaska.
Data transport
Alaska's internet and other data transport systems are provided largely through the two major telecommunications companies: GCI and Alaska Communications. GCI owns and operates what it calls the Alaska United Fiber Optic system and, as of late 2011, Alaska Communications advertised that it has "two fiber optic paths to the lower 48 and two more across Alaska. In January 2011, it was reported that a $1 billion project to connect Asia and rural Alaska was being planned, aided in part by $350 million in stimulus from the federal government.
Law and government
State government
Like all other U.S. states, Alaska is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: an executive branch consisting of the governor of Alaska and their appointees which head executive departments; a legislative branch consisting of the Alaska House of Representatives and Alaska Senate; and a judicial branch consisting of the Alaska Supreme Court and lower courts.
The state of Alaska employs approximately 16,000 people statewide.
The Alaska Legislature consists of a 40-member House of Representatives and a 20-member Senate. Senators serve four-year terms and House members two. The governor of Alaska serves four-year terms. The lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor in the primaries, but during the general election, the nominee for governor and nominee for lieutenant governor run together on the same ticket.
Alaska's court system has four levels: the Alaska Supreme Court, the Alaska Court of Appeals, the superior courts and the district courts. The superior and district courts are trial courts. Superior courts are courts of general jurisdiction, while district courts hear only certain types of cases, including misdemeanor criminal cases and civil cases valued up to $100,000.
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are appellate courts. The Court of Appeals is required to hear appeals from certain lower-court decisions, including those regarding criminal prosecutions, juvenile delinquency, and habeas corpus. The Supreme Court hears civil appeals and may in its discretion hear criminal appeals.
State politics
Although in its early years of statehood Alaska was a Democratic state, since the early 1970s it has been characterized as Republican-leaning. Local political communities have often worked on issues related to land use development, fishing, tourism, and individual rights. Alaska Natives, while organized in and around their communities, have been active within the Native corporations. These have been given ownership over large tracts of land, which require stewardship.
Alaska was formerly the only state in which possession of one ounce or less of marijuana in one's home was completely legal under state law, though the federal law remains in force.
The state has an independence movement favoring a vote on secession from the United States, with the Alaskan Independence Party.
Six Republicans and four Democrats have served as governor of Alaska. In addition, Republican governor Wally Hickel was elected to the office for a second term in 1990 after leaving the Republican party and briefly joining the Alaskan Independence Party ticket just long enough to be reelected. He officially rejoined the Republican party in 1994.
Alaska's voter initiative making marijuana legal took effect on February 24, 2015, placing Alaska alongside Colorado and Washington, as well as Washington D.C., as the first three U.S. states where recreational marijuana is legal. The new law means people over 21 can consume small amounts of cannabis. The first legal marijuana store opened in Valdez in October 2016.
Voter registration
Taxes
To finance state government operations, Alaska depends primarily on petroleum revenues and federal subsidies. This allows it to have the lowest individual tax burden in the United States. It is one of five states with no sales tax, one of seven states with no individual income tax, and—along with New Hampshire—one of two that has neither. The Department of Revenue Tax Division reports regularly on the state's revenue sources. The department also issues an annual summary of its operations, including new state laws that directly affect the tax division. In 2014, the Tax Foundation ranked Alaska as having the fourth most "business friendly" tax policy, behind only Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nevada.
While Alaska has no state sales tax, 89 municipalities collect a local sales tax, from 1.0 to 7.5%, typically 3–5%. Other local taxes levied include raw fish taxes, hotel, motel, and bed-and-breakfast 'bed' taxes, severance taxes, liquor and tobacco taxes, gaming (pull tabs) taxes, tire taxes and fuel transfer taxes. A part of the revenue collected from certain state taxes and license fees (such as petroleum, aviation motor fuel, telephone cooperative) is shared with municipalities in Alaska.
The fall in oil prices after the fracking boom in the early 2010s has decimated Alaska's state treasury, which has historically received about 85 percent of its revenue from taxes and fees imposed on oil and gas companies. The state government has had to drastically reduce its budget, and has brought its budget shortfall from over $2 billion in 2016 to under $500 million by 2018. In 2020, Alaska's state government budget was $4.8 billion, while projected government revenues were only $4.5 billion.
Federal politics
Alaska regularly supports Republicans in presidential elections and has done so since statehood. Republicans have won the state's electoral college votes in all but one election that it has participated in (1964). No state has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate fewer times. Alaska was carried by Democratic nominee Lyndon B. Johnson during his landslide election in 1964, while the 1960 and 1968 elections were close. Since 1972, however, Republicans have carried the state by large margins. In 2008, Republican John McCain defeated Democrat Barack Obama in Alaska, 59.49% to 37.83%. McCain's running mate was Sarah Palin, the state's governor and the first Alaskan on a major party ticket. Obama lost Alaska again in 2012, but he captured 40% of the state's vote in that election, making him the first Democrat to do so since 1968. In 2020, Joe Biden received 42.77% of the vote for president, marking the high point for a Democratic presidential candidate since Johnson's 1964 victory.
The Alaska Bush, central Juneau, midtown and downtown Anchorage, and the areas surrounding the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and Ester have been strongholds of the Democratic Party. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the majority of Fairbanks (including North Pole and the military base), and South Anchorage typically have the strongest Republican showing.
Elections
Alaska has had a long history of primary defeats for incumbent U.S. Senators, with Ernest Gruening, Mike Gravel and Lisa Murkowski all being defeated for the nomination to their re-election. However, Murkowski won re-election with a write-in campaign. Despite this, Alaska has had some long-serving congressmen, with Ted Stevens serving as U.S. Senator for 40 years, and Don Young serving as the at-large representative for 49 years.
In the 2020 election cycle, Alaskan voters approved Ballot Measure 2. The measure passed by a margin of 1.1%, or about 4,000 votes. The measure requires campaigns to disclose the original source and any intermediaries for campaign contributions over $2,000. The measure also establishes non-partisan blanket primaries for statewide elections (like in Washington state and California) and ranked-choice voting (like in Maine). Measure 2 makes Alaska the third state with jungle primaries for all statewide races, the second state with ranked choice voting, and the only state with both.
The first race to use the new system of elections was the 2022 special election to fill Alaska's only U.S. House seat, left vacant by the death of Don Young, won by Mary Peltola, the first Democrat to win the House seat since 1972, and the first Alaskan Native to be elected to the United States Congress in history.
See also
Index of Alaska-related articles
Outline of Alaska
List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska
USS Alaska, 4 ships
Notes
References
External links
Alaska's Digital Archives
Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
Who Owns/Manages Alaska? (map)
Carl J. Sacarlasen Diary Extracts at Dartmouth College Library
M.E. Diemer Alaska Photographs at Dartmouth College Library
Alfred Hulse Brooks Photographs and Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
U.S. federal government
Alaska State Guide from the Library of Congress
Energy & Environmental Data for Alaska
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Alaska
US Census Bureau
Alaska State Facts
Alaska Statehood Subject Guide from the Eisenhower Presidential Library
Alaska Statehood documents, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
Alaska state government
State of Alaska website
Alaska State Databases
Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Recorder's Office
Arctic Ocean
Former Russian colonies
States and territories established in 1959
States of the United States
States of the West Coast of the United States
1959 establishments in the United States
Western United States
Northern America
Enclaves and exclaves
Russia–United States relations
Beringia
Exclaves in the United States |
662 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2011 | Apollo 11 | Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16 at 13:32 UTC, and it was the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, the only part that returned to Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages—a descent stage for landing on the Moon and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit.
After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's third stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20. The astronauts used Eagles ascent stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that propelled Columbia out of the last of its 30 lunar orbits onto a trajectory back to Earth. They returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 after more than eight days in space.
Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. He described the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively proved U.S. victory in the Space Race to demonstrate spaceflight superiority, by fulfilling a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
Background
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States was engaged in the Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry with the Soviet Union. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This surprise success fired fears and imaginations around the world. It demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, and challenged American claims of military, economic, and technological superiority. This precipitated the Sputnik crisis, and triggered the Space Race to prove which superpower would achieve superior spaceflight capability. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded to the Sputnik challenge by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and initiating Project Mercury, which aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit. But on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, and the first to orbit the Earth. Nearly a month later, on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, completing a 15-minute suborbital journey. After being recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, he received a congratulatory telephone call from Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy.
Since the Soviet Union had higher lift capacity launch vehicles, Kennedy chose, from among options presented by NASA, a challenge beyond the capacity of the existing generation of rocketry, so that the US and Soviet Union would be starting from a position of equality. A crewed mission to the Moon would serve this purpose.
On May 25, 1961, Kennedy addressed the United States Congress on "Urgent National Needs" and declared:
On September 12, 1962, Kennedy delivered another speech before a crowd of about 40,000 people in the Rice University football stadium in Houston, Texas. A widely quoted refrain from the middle portion of the speech reads as follows:
In spite of that, the proposed program faced the opposition of many Americans and was dubbed a "moondoggle" by Norbert Wiener, a mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The effort to land a man on the Moon already had a name: Project Apollo. When Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev, the Premier of the Soviet Union in June 1961, he proposed making the Moon landing a joint project, but Khrushchev did not take up the offer. Kennedy again proposed a joint expedition to the Moon in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 1963. The idea of a joint Moon mission was abandoned after Kennedy's death.
An early and crucial decision was choosing lunar orbit rendezvous over both direct ascent and Earth orbit rendezvous. A space rendezvous is an orbital maneuver in which two spacecraft navigate through space and meet up. In July 1962 NASA head James Webb announced that lunar orbit rendezvous would be used and that the Apollo spacecraft would have three major parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that returned to Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages—a descent stage for landing on the Moon, and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit. This design meant the spacecraft could be launched by a single Saturn V rocket that was then under development.
Technologies and techniques required for Apollo were developed by Project Gemini. The Apollo project was enabled by NASA's adoption of new advances in semiconductor electronic technology, including metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) and silicon integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).
Project Apollo was abruptly halted by the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, in which astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee died, and the subsequent investigation. In October 1968, Apollo 7 evaluated the command module in Earth orbit, and in December Apollo 8 tested it in lunar orbit. In March 1969, Apollo 9 put the lunar module through its paces in Earth orbit, and in May Apollo 10 conducted a "dress rehearsal" in lunar orbit. By July 1969, all was in readiness for Apollo 11 to take the final step onto the Moon.
The Soviet Union appeared to be winning the Space Race by beating the US to firsts, but its early lead was overtaken by the US Gemini program and Soviet failure to develop the N1 launcher, which would have been comparable to the Saturn V. The Soviets tried to beat the US to return lunar material to the Earth by means of uncrewed probes. On July 13, three days before Apollo 11's launch, the Soviet Union launched Luna 15, which reached lunar orbit before Apollo 11. During descent, a malfunction caused Luna 15 to crash in Mare Crisium about two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon's surface to begin their voyage home. The Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories radio telescope in England recorded transmissions from Luna 15 during its descent, and these were released in July 2009 for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.
Personnel
Prime crew
The initial crew assignment of Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Buzz Aldrin on the backup crew for Apollo 9 was officially announced on November 20, 1967. Lovell and Aldrin had previously flown together as the crew of Gemini 12. Due to design and manufacturing delays in the LM, Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 swapped prime and backup crews, and Armstrong's crew became the backup for Apollo 8. Based on the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong was then expected to command Apollo 11.
There would be one change. Michael Collins, the CMP on the Apollo 8 crew, began experiencing trouble with his legs. Doctors diagnosed the problem as a bony growth between his fifth and sixth vertebrae, requiring surgery. Lovell took his place on the Apollo 8 crew, and when Collins recovered he joined Armstrong's crew as CMP. In the meantime, Fred Haise filled in as backup LMP, and Aldrin as backup CMP for Apollo 8. Apollo 11 was the second American mission where all the crew members had prior spaceflight experience, the first being Apollo 10. The next was STS-26 in 1988.
Deke Slayton gave Armstrong the option to replace Aldrin with Lovell, since some thought Aldrin was difficult to work with. Armstrong had no issues working with Aldrin but thought it over for a day before declining. He thought Lovell deserved to command his own mission (eventually Apollo 13).
The Apollo 11 prime crew had none of the close cheerful camaraderie characterized by that of Apollo 12. Instead, they forged an amiable working relationship. Armstrong in particular was notoriously aloof, but Collins, who considered himself a loner, confessed to rebuffing Aldrin's attempts to create a more personal relationship. Aldrin and Collins described the crew as "amiable strangers". Armstrong did not agree with the assessment, and said "... all the crews I was on worked very well together."
Backup crew
The backup crew consisted of Lovell as Commander, William Anders as CMP, and Haise as LMP. Anders had flown with Lovell on Apollo 8. In early 1969, Anders accepted a job with the National Aeronautics and Space Council effective August 1969, and announced he would retire as an astronaut at that time. Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup CMP in case Apollo 11 was delayed past its intended July launch date, at which point Anders would be unavailable.
By the normal crew rotation in place during Apollo, Lovell, Mattingly, and Haise were scheduled to fly on Apollo 14, but the three of them were bumped to Apollo 13: there was a crew issue for Apollo 13 as none of them except Edgar Mitchell flew in space again. George Mueller rejected the crew and this was the first time an Apollo crew was rejected. To give Alan Shepard more training time, Lovell's crew were bumped to Apollo 13. Mattingly would later be replaced by Jack Swigert as CMP on Apollo 13.
Support crew
During Projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts was added, known as the support crew. The support crew maintained the flight plan, checklists and mission ground rules, and ensured the prime and backup crews were apprised of changes. They developed procedures, especially those for emergency situations, so these were ready for when the prime and backup crews came to train in the simulators, allowing them to concentrate on practicing and mastering them. For Apollo 11, the support crew consisted of Ken Mattingly, Ronald Evans and Bill Pogue.
Capsule communicators
The capsule communicator (CAPCOM) was an astronaut at the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, who was the only person who communicated directly with the flight crew. For Apollo 11, the CAPCOMs were: Charles Duke, Ronald Evans, Bruce McCandless II, James Lovell, William Anders, Ken Mattingly, Fred Haise, Don L. Lind, Owen K. Garriott and Harrison Schmitt.
Flight directors
The flight directors for this mission were:
Other key personnel
Other key personnel who played important roles in the Apollo 11 mission include the following.
Preparations
Insignia
The Apollo 11 mission emblem was designed by Collins, who wanted a symbol for "peaceful lunar landing by the United States". At Lovell's suggestion, he chose the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, as the symbol. Tom Wilson, a simulator instructor, suggested an olive branch in its beak to represent their peaceful mission. Collins added a lunar background with the Earth in the distance. The sunlight in the image was coming from the wrong direction; the shadow should have been in the lower part of the Earth instead of the left. Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins decided the Eagle and the Moon would be in their natural colors, and decided on a blue and gold border. Armstrong was concerned that "eleven" would not be understood by non-English speakers, so they went with "Apollo 11", and they decided not to put their names on the patch, so it would "be representative of everyone who had worked toward a lunar landing".
An illustrator at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) did the artwork, which was then sent off to NASA officials for approval. The design was rejected. Bob Gilruth, the director of the MSC felt the talons of the eagle looked "too warlike". After some discussion, the olive branch was moved to the talons. When the Eisenhower dollar coin was released in 1971, the patch design provided the eagle for its reverse side. The design was also used for the smaller Susan B. Anthony dollar unveiled in 1979.
Call signs
After the crew of Apollo 10 named their spacecraft Charlie Brown and Snoopy, assistant manager for public affairs Julian Scheer wrote to George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at the MSC, to suggest the Apollo 11 crew be less flippant in naming their craft. The name Snowcone was used for the CM and Haystack was used for the LM in both internal and external communications during early mission planning.
The LM was named Eagle after the motif which was featured prominently on the mission insignia. At Scheer's suggestion, the CM was named Columbia after Columbiad, the giant cannon that launched a spacecraft (also from Florida) in Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon. It also referred to Columbia, a historical name of the United States. In Collins' 1976 book, he said Columbia was in reference to Christopher Columbus.
Mementos
The astronauts had personal preference kits (PPKs), small bags containing personal items of significance they wanted to take with them on the mission. Five PPKs were carried on Apollo 11: three (one for each astronaut) were stowed on Columbia before launch, and two on Eagle.
Neil Armstrong's LM PPK contained a piece of wood from the Wright brothers' 1903 Wright Flyers left propeller and a piece of fabric from its wing, along with a diamond-studded astronaut pin originally given to Slayton by the widows of the Apollo 1 crew. This pin had been intended to be flown on that mission and given to Slayton afterwards, but following the disastrous launch pad fire and subsequent funerals, the widows gave the pin to Slayton. Armstrong took it with him on Apollo 11.
Site selection
NASA's Apollo Site Selection Board announced five potential landing sites on February 8, 1968. These were the result of two years' worth of studies based on high-resolution photography of the lunar surface by the five uncrewed probes of the Lunar Orbiter program and information about surface conditions provided by the Surveyor program. The best Earth-bound telescopes could not resolve features with the resolution Project Apollo required. The landing site had to be close to the lunar equator to minimize the amount of propellant required, clear of obstacles to minimize maneuvering, and flat to simplify the task of the landing radar. Scientific value was not a consideration.
Areas that appeared promising on photographs taken on Earth were often found to be totally unacceptable. The original requirement that the site be free of craters had to be relaxed, as no such site was found. Five sites were considered: Sites 1 and 2 were in the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis); Site 3 was in the Central Bay (Sinus Medii); and Sites 4 and 5 were in the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum).
The final site selection was based on seven criteria:
The site needed to be smooth, with relatively few craters;
with approach paths free of large hills, tall cliffs or deep craters that might confuse the landing radar and cause it to issue incorrect readings;
reachable with a minimum amount of propellant;
allowing for delays in the launch countdown;
providing the Apollo spacecraft with a free-return trajectory, one that would allow it to coast around the Moon and safely return to Earth without requiring any engine firings should a problem arise on the way to the Moon;
with good visibility during the landing approach, meaning the Sun would be between 7 and 20 degrees behind the LM; and
a general slope of less than two degrees in the landing area.
The requirement for the Sun angle was particularly restrictive, limiting the launch date to one day per month. A landing just after dawn was chosen to limit the temperature extremes the astronauts would experience. The Apollo Site Selection Board selected Site 2, with Sites 3 and 5 as backups in the event of the launch being delayed. In May 1969, Apollo 10's lunar module flew to within of Site 2, and reported it was acceptable.
First-step decision
During the first press conference after the Apollo 11 crew was announced, the first question was, "Which one of you gentlemen will be the first man to step onto the lunar surface?" Slayton told the reporter it had not been decided, and Armstrong added that it was "not based on individual desire".
One of the first versions of the egress checklist had the lunar module pilot exit the spacecraft before the commander, which matched what had been done on Gemini missions, where the commander had never performed the spacewalk. Reporters wrote in early 1969 that Aldrin would be the first man to walk on the Moon, and Associate Administrator George Mueller told reporters he would be first as well. Aldrin heard that Armstrong would be the first because Armstrong was a civilian, which made Aldrin livid. Aldrin attempted to persuade other lunar module pilots he should be first, but they responded cynically about what they perceived as a lobbying campaign. Attempting to stem interdepartmental conflict, Slayton told Aldrin that Armstrong would be first since he was the commander. The decision was announced in a press conference on April 14, 1969.
For decades, Aldrin believed the final decision was largely driven by the lunar module's hatch location. Because the astronauts had their spacesuits on and the spacecraft was so small, maneuvering to exit the spacecraft was difficult. The crew tried a simulation in which Aldrin left the spacecraft first, but he damaged the simulator while attempting to egress. While this was enough for mission planners to make their decision, Aldrin and Armstrong were left in the dark on the decision until late spring. Slayton told Armstrong the plan was to have him leave the spacecraft first, if he agreed. Armstrong said, "Yes, that's the way to do it."
The media accused Armstrong of exercising his commander's prerogative to exit the spacecraft first. Chris Kraft revealed in his 2001 autobiography that a meeting occurred between Gilruth, Slayton, Low, and himself to make sure Aldrin would not be the first to walk on the Moon. They argued that the first person to walk on the Moon should be like Charles Lindbergh, a calm and quiet person. They made the decision to change the flight plan so the commander was the first to egress from the spacecraft.
Pre-launch
The ascent stage of LM-5 Eagle arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on January 8, 1969, followed by the descent stage four days later, and CSM-107 Columbia on January 23. There were several differences between Eagle and Apollo 10's LM-4 Snoopy; Eagle had a VHF radio antenna to facilitate communication with the astronauts during their EVA on the lunar surface; a lighter ascent engine; more thermal protection on the landing gear; and a package of scientific experiments known as the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP). The only change in the configuration of the command module was the removal of some insulation from the forward hatch. The CSM was mated on January 29, and moved from the Operations and Checkout Building to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 14.
The S-IVB third stage of Saturn V AS-506 had arrived on January 18, followed by the S-II second stage on February 6, S-IC first stage on February 20, and the Saturn V Instrument Unit on February 27. At 12:30 on May 20, the assembly departed the Vehicle Assembly Building atop the crawler-transporter, bound for Launch Pad 39A, part of Launch Complex 39, while Apollo 10 was still on its way to the Moon. A countdown test commenced on June 26, and concluded on July 2. The launch complex was floodlit on the night of July 15, when the crawler-transporter carried the mobile service structure back to its parking area. In the early hours of the morning, the fuel tanks of the S-II and S-IVB stages were filled with liquid hydrogen. Fueling was completed by three hours before launch. Launch operations were partly automated, with 43 programs written in the ATOLL programming language.
Slayton roused the crew shortly after 04:00, and they showered, shaved, and had the traditional pre-flight breakfast of steak and eggs with Slayton and the backup crew. They then donned their space suits and began breathing pure oxygen. At 06:30, they headed out to Launch Complex 39. Haise entered Columbia about three hours and ten minutes before launch time. Along with a technician, he helped Armstrong into the left-hand couch at 06:54. Five minutes later, Collins joined him, taking up his position on the right-hand couch. Finally, Aldrin entered, taking the center couch. Haise left around two hours and ten minutes before launch. The closeout crew sealed the hatch, and the cabin was purged and pressurized. The closeout crew then left the launch complex about an hour before launch time. The countdown became automated at three minutes and twenty seconds before launch time. Over 450 personnel were at the consoles in the firing room.
Mission
Launch and flight to lunar orbit
An estimated one million spectators watched the launch of Apollo 11 from the highways and beaches in the vicinity of the launch site. Dignitaries included the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General William Westmoreland, four cabinet members, 19 state governors, 40 mayors, 60 ambassadors and 200 congressmen. Vice President Spiro Agnew viewed the launch with former president Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson. Around 3,500 media representatives were present. About two-thirds were from the United States; the rest came from 55 other countries. The launch was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25 million viewers in the United States alone. Millions more around the world listened to radio broadcasts. President Richard Nixon viewed the launch from his office in the White House with his NASA liaison officer, Apollo astronaut Frank Borman.
Saturn V AS-506 launched Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, at 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 EDT). At 13.2 seconds into the flight, the launch vehicle began to roll into its flight azimuth of 72.058°. Full shutdown of the first-stage engines occurred about 2 minutes and 42 seconds into the mission, followed by separation of the S-IC and ignition of the S-II engines. The second stage engines then cut off and separated at about 9 minutes and 8 seconds, allowing the first ignition of the S-IVB engine a few seconds later.
Apollo 11 entered a near-circular Earth orbit at an altitude of by , twelve minutes into its flight. After one and a half orbits, a second ignition of the S-IVB engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory toward the Moon with the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn at 16:22:13 UTC. About 30 minutes later, with Collins in the left seat and at the controls, the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver was performed. This involved separating Columbia from the spent S-IVB stage, turning around, and docking with Eagle still attached to the stage. After the LM was extracted, the combined spacecraft headed for the Moon, while the rocket stage flew on a trajectory past the Moon. This was done to avoid the third stage colliding with the spacecraft, the Earth, or the Moon. A slingshot effect from passing around the Moon threw it into an orbit around the Sun.
On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. In the thirty orbits that followed, the crew saw passing views of their landing site in the southern Sea of Tranquility about southwest of the crater Sabine D. The site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5 landers and the Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft, and because it was unlikely to present major landing or EVA challenges. It lay about southeast of the Surveyor 5 landing site, and southwest of Ranger 8's crash site.
Lunar descent
At 12:52:00 UTC on July 20, Aldrin and Armstrong entered Eagle, and began the final preparations for lunar descent. At 17:44:00 Eagle separated from Columbia. Collins, alone aboard Columbia, inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged, and that the landing gear was correctly deployed. Armstrong exclaimed: "The Eagle has wings!"
As the descent began, Armstrong and Aldrin found themselves passing landmarks on the surface two or three seconds early, and reported that they were "long"; they would land miles west of their target point. Eagle was traveling too fast. The problem could have been mascons—concentrations of high mass in a region or regions of the Moon's crust that contains a gravitational anomaly, potentially altering Eagle trajectory. Flight Director Gene Kranz speculated that it could have resulted from extra air pressure in the docking tunnel, or a result of Eagles pirouette maneuver.
Five minutes into the descent burn, and above the surface of the Moon, the LM guidance computer (LGC) distracted the crew with the first of several unexpected 1201 and 1202 program alarms. Inside Mission Control Center, computer engineer Jack Garman told Guidance Officer Steve Bales it was safe to continue the descent, and this was relayed to the crew. The program alarms indicated "executive overflows", meaning the guidance computer could not complete all its tasks in real-time and had to postpone some of them. Margaret Hamilton, the Director of Apollo Flight Computer Programming at the MIT Charles Stark Draper Laboratory later recalled:
During the mission, the cause was diagnosed as the rendezvous radar switch being in the wrong position, causing the computer to process data from both the rendezvous and landing radars at the same time. Software engineer Don Eyles concluded in a 2005 Guidance and Control Conference paper that the problem was due to a hardware design bug previously seen during testing of the first uncrewed LM in Apollo 5. Having the rendezvous radar on (so it was warmed up in case of an emergency landing abort) should have been irrelevant to the computer, but an electrical phasing mismatch between two parts of the rendezvous radar system could cause the stationary antenna to appear to the computer as dithering back and forth between two positions, depending upon how the hardware randomly powered up. The extra spurious cycle stealing, as the rendezvous radar updated an involuntary counter, caused the computer alarms.
Landing
When Armstrong again looked outside, he saw that the computer's landing target was in a boulder-strewn area just north and east of a crater (later determined to be West crater), so he took semi-automatic control. Armstrong considered landing short of the boulder field so they could collect geological samples from it, but could not since their horizontal velocity was too high. Throughout the descent, Aldrin called out navigation data to Armstrong, who was busy piloting Eagle. Now above the surface, Armstrong knew their propellant supply was dwindling and was determined to land at the first possible landing site.
Armstrong found a clear patch of ground and maneuvered the spacecraft towards it. As he got closer, now above the surface, he discovered his new landing site had a crater in it. He cleared the crater and found another patch of level ground. They were now from the surface, with only 90 seconds of propellant remaining. Lunar dust kicked up by the LM's engine began to impair his ability to determine the spacecraft's motion. Some large rocks jutted out of the dust cloud, and Armstrong focused on them during his descent so he could determine the spacecraft's speed.
A light informed Aldrin that at least one of the probes hanging from Eagle footpads had touched the surface a few moments before the landing and he said: "Contact light!" Armstrong was supposed to immediately shut the engine down, as the engineers suspected the pressure caused by the engine's own exhaust reflecting off the lunar surface could make it explode, but he forgot. Three seconds later, Eagle landed and Armstrong shut the engine down. Aldrin immediately said "Okay, engine stop. ACA—out of detent." Armstrong acknowledged: "Out of detent. Auto." Aldrin continued: "Mode control—both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm—off. 413 is in."
ACA was the Attitude Control Assembly—the LM's control stick. Output went to the LGC to command the reaction control system (RCS) jets to fire. "Out of Detent" meant the stick had moved away from its centered position; it was spring-centered like the turn indicator in a car. Address 413 of the Abort Guidance System (AGS) contained the variable that indicated the LM had landed.
Eagle landed at 20:17:40 UTC on Sunday July 20 with of usable fuel remaining. Information available to the crew and mission controllers during the landing showed the LM had enough fuel for another 25 seconds of powered flight before an abort without touchdown would have become unsafe, but post-mission analysis showed that the real figure was probably closer to 50 seconds. Apollo 11 landed with less fuel than most subsequent missions, and the astronauts encountered a premature low fuel warning. This was later found to be the result of the propellant sloshing more than expected, uncovering a fuel sensor. On subsequent missions, extra anti-slosh baffles were added to the tanks to prevent this.
Armstrong acknowledged Aldrin's completion of the post-landing checklist with "Engine arm is off", before responding to the CAPCOM, Charles Duke, with the words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Armstrong's unrehearsed change of call sign from "Eagle" to "Tranquility Base" emphasized to listeners that landing was complete and successful. Duke expressed the relief at Mission Control: "Roger, Twan—Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Two and a half hours after landing, before preparations began for the EVA, Aldrin radioed to Earth:
He then took communion privately. At this time NASA was still fighting a lawsuit brought by atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (who had objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Book of Genesis) demanding that their astronauts refrain from broadcasting religious activities while in space. For this reason, Aldrin chose to refrain from directly mentioning taking communion on the Moon. Aldrin was an elder at the Webster Presbyterian Church, and his communion kit was prepared by the pastor of the church, Dean Woodruff. Webster Presbyterian possesses the chalice used on the Moon and commemorates the event each year on the Sunday closest to July 20. The schedule for the mission called for the astronauts to follow the landing with a five-hour sleep period, but they chose to begin preparations for the EVA early, thinking they would be unable to sleep.
Lunar surface operations
Preparations for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the Moon began at 23:43 UTC. These took longer than expected; three and a half hours instead of two. During training on Earth, everything required had been neatly laid out in advance, but on the Moon the cabin contained a large number of other items as well, such as checklists, food packets, and tools. Six hours and thirty-nine minutes after landing Armstrong and Aldrin were ready to go outside, and Eagle was depressurized.
Eagles hatch was opened at 02:39:33. Armstrong initially had some difficulties squeezing through the hatch with his portable life support system (PLSS). Some of the highest heart rates recorded from Apollo astronauts occurred during LM egress and ingress. At 02:51 Armstrong began his descent to the lunar surface. The remote control unit on his chest kept him from seeing his feet. Climbing down the nine-rung ladder, Armstrong pulled a D-ring to deploy the modular equipment stowage assembly (MESA) folded against Eagle side and activate the TV camera.
Apollo 11 used slow-scan television (TV) incompatible with broadcast TV, so it was displayed on a special monitor and a conventional TV camera viewed this monitor (thus, a broadcast of a broadcast), significantly reducing the quality of the picture. The signal was received at Goldstone in the United States, but with better fidelity by Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station near Canberra in Australia. Minutes later the feed was switched to the more sensitive Parkes radio telescope in Australia. Despite some technical and weather difficulties, black and white images of the first lunar EVA were received and broadcast to at least 600 million people on Earth. Copies of this video in broadcast format were saved and are widely available, but recordings of the original slow scan source transmission from the lunar surface were likely destroyed during routine magnetic tape re-use at NASA.
After describing the surface dust as "very fine-grained" and "almost like a powder", at 02:56:15, six and a half hours after landing, Armstrong stepped off Eagle landing pad and declared: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
Armstrong intended to say "That's one small step for a man", but the word "a" is not audible in the transmission, and thus was not initially reported by most observers of the live broadcast. When later asked about his quote, Armstrong said he believed he said "for a man", and subsequent printed versions of the quote included the "a" in square brackets. One explanation for the absence may be that his accent caused him to slur the words "for a" together; another is the intermittent nature of the audio and video links to Earth, partly because of storms near Parkes Observatory. A more recent digital analysis of the tape claims to reveal the "a" may have been spoken but obscured by static. Other analysis points to the claims of static and slurring as "face-saving fabrication", and that Armstrong himself later admitted to misspeaking the line.
About seven minutes after stepping onto the Moon's surface, Armstrong collected a contingency soil sample using a sample bag on a stick. He then folded the bag and tucked it into a pocket on his right thigh. This was to guarantee there would be some lunar soil brought back in case an emergency required the astronauts to abandon the EVA and return to the LM. Twelve minutes after the sample was collected, he removed the TV camera from the MESA and made a panoramic sweep, then mounted it on a tripod. The TV camera cable remained partly coiled and presented a tripping hazard throughout the EVA. Still photography was accomplished with a Hasselblad camera that could be operated hand-held or mounted on Armstrong's Apollo space suit. Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface. He described the view with the simple phrase: "Magnificent desolation."
Armstrong said moving in the lunar gravity, one-sixth of Earth's, was "even perhaps easier than the simulations ... It's absolutely no trouble to walk around." Aldrin joined him on the surface and tested methods for moving around, including two-footed kangaroo hops. The PLSS backpack created a tendency to tip backward, but neither astronaut had serious problems maintaining balance. Loping became the preferred method of movement. The astronauts reported that they needed to plan their movements six or seven steps ahead. The fine soil was quite slippery. Aldrin remarked that moving from sunlight into Eagle shadow produced no temperature change inside the suit, but the helmet was warmer in sunlight, so he felt cooler in shadow. The MESA failed to provide a stable work platform and was in shadow, slowing work somewhat. As they worked, the moonwalkers kicked up gray dust, which soiled the outer part of their suits.
The astronauts planted the Lunar Flag Assembly containing a flag of the United States on the lunar surface, in clear view of the TV camera. Aldrin remembered, "Of all the jobs I had to do on the Moon the one I wanted to go the smoothest was the flag raising." But the astronauts struggled with the telescoping rod and could only insert the pole about into the hard lunar surface. Aldrin was afraid it might topple in front of TV viewers, but gave "a crisp West Point salute". Before Aldrin could take a photo of Armstrong with the flag, President Richard Nixon spoke to them through a telephone-radio transmission, which Nixon called "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House." Nixon originally had a long speech prepared to read during the phone call, but Frank Borman, who was at the White House as a NASA liaison during Apollo 11, convinced Nixon to keep his words brief.
They deployed the EASEP, which included a passive seismic experiment package used to measure moonquakes and a retroreflector array used for the lunar laser ranging experiment. Then Armstrong walked from the LM to take photographs at the rim of Little West Crater while Aldrin collected two core samples. He used the geologist's hammer to pound in the tubes—the only time the hammer was used on Apollo 11—but was unable to penetrate more than deep. The astronauts then collected rock samples using scoops and tongs on extension handles. Many of the surface activities took longer than expected, so they had to stop documenting sample collection halfway through the allotted 34 minutes. Aldrin shoveled of soil into the box of rocks in order to pack them in tightly. Two types of rocks were found in the geological samples: basalt and breccia. Three new minerals were discovered in the rock samples collected by the astronauts: armalcolite, tranquillityite, and pyroxferroite. Armalcolite was named after Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. All have subsequently been found on Earth.
While on the surface, Armstrong uncovered a plaque mounted on the LM ladder, bearing two drawings of Earth (of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres), an inscription, and signatures of the astronauts and President Nixon. The inscription read:
At the behest of the Nixon administration to add a reference to God, NASA included the vague date as a reason to include A.D., which stands for Anno Domini ("in the year of our Lord").
Mission Control used a coded phrase to warn Armstrong his metabolic rates were high, and that he should slow down. He was moving rapidly from task to task as time ran out. As metabolic rates remained generally lower than expected for both astronauts throughout the walk, Mission Control granted the astronauts a 15-minute extension. In a 2010 interview, Armstrong explained that NASA limited the first moonwalk's time and distance because there was no empirical proof of how much cooling water the astronauts' PLSS backpacks would consume to handle their body heat generation while working on the Moon.
Lunar ascent
Aldrin entered Eagle first. With some difficulty the astronauts lifted film and two sample boxes containing of lunar surface material to the LM hatch using a flat cable pulley device called the Lunar Equipment Conveyor (LEC). This proved to be an inefficient tool, and later missions preferred to carry equipment and samples up to the LM by hand. Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. Armstrong then jumped onto the ladder's third rung, and climbed into the LM. After transferring to LM life support, the explorers lightened the ascent stage for the return to lunar orbit by tossing out their PLSS backpacks, lunar overshoes, an empty Hasselblad camera, and other equipment. The hatch was closed again at 05:11:13. They then pressurized the LM and settled down to sleep.
Presidential speech writer William Safire had prepared an In Event of Moon Disaster announcement for Nixon to read in the event the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon. The remarks were in a memo from Safire to Nixon's White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, in which Safire suggested a protocol the administration might follow in reaction to such a disaster. According to the plan, Mission Control would "close down communications" with the LM, and a clergyman would "commend their souls to the deepest of the deep" in a public ritual likened to burial at sea. The last line of the prepared text contained an allusion to Rupert Brooke's World War I poem "The Soldier".
While moving inside the cabin, Aldrin accidentally damaged the circuit breaker that would arm the main engine for liftoff from the Moon. There was a concern this would prevent firing the engine, stranding them on the Moon. The nonconductive tip of a Duro felt-tip pen was sufficient to activate the switch.
After more than hours on the lunar surface, in addition to the scientific instruments, the astronauts left behind: an Apollo 1 mission patch in memory of astronauts Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom, and Edward White, who died when their command module caught fire during a test in January 1967; two memorial medals of Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, who died in 1967 and 1968 respectively; a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace; and a silicon message disk carrying the goodwill statements by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon along with messages from leaders of 73 countries around the world. The disk also carries a listing of the leadership of the US Congress, a listing of members of the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for the NASA legislation, and the names of NASA's past and then-current top management.
After about seven hours of rest, the crew was awakened by Houston to prepare for the return flight. Two and a half hours later, at 17:54:00 UTC, they lifted off in Eagle ascent stage to rejoin Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit. Film taken from the LM ascent stage upon liftoff from the Moon reveals the American flag, planted some from the descent stage, whipping violently in the exhaust of the ascent stage engine. Aldrin looked up in time to witness the flag topple: "The ascent stage of the LM separated ... I was concentrating on the computers, and Neil was studying the attitude indicator, but I looked up long enough to see the flag fall over." Subsequent Apollo missions planted their flags farther from the LM.
Columbia in lunar orbit
During his day flying solo around the Moon, Collins never felt lonely. Although it has been said "not since Adam has any human known such solitude", Collins felt very much a part of the mission. In his autobiography he wrote: "this venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two". In the 48 minutes of each orbit when he was out of radio contact with the Earth while Columbia passed round the far side of the Moon, the feeling he reported was not fear or loneliness, but rather "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation".
One of Collins' first tasks was to identify the lunar module on the ground. To give Collins an idea where to look, Mission Control radioed that they believed the lunar module landed about off target. Each time he passed over the suspected lunar landing site, he tried in vain to find the module. On his first orbits on the back side of the Moon, Collins performed maintenance activities such as dumping excess water produced by the fuel cells and preparing the cabin for Armstrong and Aldrin to return.
Just before he reached the dark side on the third orbit, Mission Control informed Collins there was a problem with the temperature of the coolant. If it became too cold, parts of Columbia might freeze. Mission Control advised him to assume manual control and implement Environmental Control System Malfunction Procedure 17. Instead, Collins flicked the switch on the system from automatic to manual and back to automatic again, and carried on with normal housekeeping chores, while keeping an eye on the temperature. When Columbia came back around to the near side of the Moon again, he was able to report that the problem had been resolved. For the next couple of orbits, he described his time on the back side of the Moon as "relaxing". After Aldrin and Armstrong completed their EVA, Collins slept so he could be rested for the rendezvous. While the flight plan called for Eagle to meet up with Columbia, Collins was prepared for a contingency in which he would fly Columbia down to meet Eagle.
Return
Eagle rendezvoused with Columbia at 21:24 UTC on July 21, and the two docked at 21:35. Eagles ascent stage was jettisoned into lunar orbit at 23:41. Just before the Apollo 12 flight, it was noted that Eagle was still likely to be orbiting the Moon. Later NASA reports mentioned that Eagle orbit had decayed, resulting in it impacting in an "uncertain location" on the lunar surface. In 2021, however, some calculations show that the lander may still be in orbit.
On July 23, the last night before splashdown, the three astronauts made a television broadcast in which Collins commented:
Aldrin added:
Armstrong concluded:
On the return to Earth, a bearing at the Guam tracking station failed, potentially preventing communication on the last segment of the Earth return. A regular repair was not possible in the available time but the station director, Charles Force, had his ten-year-old son Greg use his small hands to reach into the housing and pack it with grease. Greg was later thanked by Armstrong.
Splashdown and quarantine
The aircraft carrier , under the command of Captain Carl J. Seiberlich, was selected as the primary recovery ship (PRS) for Apollo 11 on June 5, replacing its sister ship, the LPH , which had recovered Apollo 10 on May 26. Hornet was then at her home port of Long Beach, California. On reaching Pearl Harbor on July 5, Hornet embarked the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters of HS-4, a unit which specialized in recovery of Apollo spacecraft, specialized divers of UDT Detachment Apollo, a 35-man NASA recovery team, and about 120 media representatives. To make room, most of Hornets air wing was left behind in Long Beach. Special recovery equipment was also loaded, including a boilerplate command module used for training.
On July 12, with Apollo 11 still on the launch pad, Hornet departed Pearl Harbor for the recovery area in the central Pacific, in the vicinity of . A presidential party consisting of Nixon, Borman, Secretary of State William P. Rogers and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger flew to Johnston Atoll on Air Force One, then to the command ship USS Arlington in Marine One. After a night on board, they would fly to Hornet in Marine One for a few hours of ceremonies. On arrival aboard Hornet, the party was greeted by the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), Admiral John S. McCain Jr., and NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine, who flew to Hornet from Pago Pago in one of Hornets carrier onboard delivery aircraft.
Weather satellites were not yet common, but US Air Force Captain Hank Brandli had access to top-secret spy satellite images. He realized that a storm front was headed for the Apollo recovery area. Poor visibility which could make locating the capsule difficult, and strong upper-level winds which "would have ripped their parachutes to shreds" according to Brandli, posed a serious threat to the safety of the mission. Brandli alerted Navy Captain Willard S. Houston Jr., the commander of the Fleet Weather Center at Pearl Harbor, who had the required security clearance. On their recommendation, Rear Admiral Donald C. Davis, commander of Manned Spaceflight Recovery Forces, Pacific, advised NASA to change the recovery area, each man risking his career. A new location was selected northeast.
This altered the flight plan. A different sequence of computer programs was used, one never before attempted. In a conventional entry, trajectory event P64 was followed by P67. For a skip-out re-entry, P65 and P66 were employed to handle the exit and entry parts of the skip. In this case, because they were extending the re-entry but not actually skipping out, P66 was not invoked and instead, P65 led directly to P67. The crew were also warned they would not be in a full-lift (heads-down) attitude when they entered P67. The first program's acceleration subjected the astronauts to ; the second, to .
Before dawn on July 24, Hornet launched four Sea King helicopters and three Grumman E-1 Tracers. Two of the E-1s were designated as "air boss" while the third acted as a communications relay aircraft. Two of the Sea Kings carried divers and recovery equipment. The third carried photographic equipment, and the fourth carried the decontamination swimmer and the flight surgeon. At 16:44 UTC (05:44 local time) Columbias drogue parachutes were deployed. This was observed by the helicopters. Seven minutes later Columbia struck the water forcefully east of Wake Island, south of Johnston Atoll, and from Hornet, at . with seas and winds at from the east were reported under broken clouds at with visibility of at the recovery site. Reconnaissance aircraft flying to the original splashdown location reported the conditions Brandli and Houston had predicted.
During splashdown, Columbia landed upside down but was righted within ten minutes by flotation bags activated by the astronauts. A diver from the Navy helicopter hovering above attached a sea anchor to prevent it from drifting. More divers attached flotation collars to stabilize the module and positioned rafts for astronaut extraction.
The divers then passed biological isolation garments (BIGs) to the astronauts, and assisted them into the life raft. The possibility of bringing back pathogens from the lunar surface was considered remote, but NASA took precautions at the recovery site. The astronauts were rubbed down with a sodium hypochlorite solution and Columbia wiped with Povidone-iodine to remove any lunar dust that might be present. The astronauts were winched on board the recovery helicopter. BIGs were worn until they reached isolation facilities on board Hornet. The raft containing decontamination materials was intentionally sunk.
After touchdown on Hornet at 17:53 UTC, the helicopter was lowered by the elevator into the hangar bay, where the astronauts walked the to the Mobile quarantine facility (MQF), where they would begin the Earth-based portion of their 21 days of quarantine. This practice would continue for two more Apollo missions, Apollo 12 and Apollo 14, before the Moon was proven to be barren of life, and the quarantine process dropped. Nixon welcomed the astronauts back to Earth. He told them: "[A]s a result of what you've done, the world has never been closer together before."
After Nixon departed, Hornet was brought alongside the Columbia, which was lifted aboard by the ship's crane, placed on a dolly and moved next to the MQF. It was then attached to the MQF with a flexible tunnel, allowing the lunar samples, film, data tapes and other items to be removed. Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor, where the MQF was loaded onto a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter and airlifted to the Manned Spacecraft Center. The astronauts arrived at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at 10:00 UTC on July 28. Columbia was taken to Ford Island for deactivation, and its pyrotechnics made safe. It was then taken to Hickham Air Force Base, from whence it was flown to Houston in a Douglas C-133 Cargomaster, reaching the Lunar Receiving Laboratory on July 30.
In accordance with the Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law, a set of regulations promulgated by NASA on July 16 to codify its quarantine protocol, the astronauts continued in quarantine. After three weeks in confinement (first in the Apollo spacecraft, then in their trailer on Hornet, and finally in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory), the astronauts were given a clean bill of health. On August 10, 1969, the Interagency Committee on Back Contamination met in Atlanta and lifted the quarantine on the astronauts, on those who had joined them in quarantine (NASA physician William Carpentier and MQF project engineer John Hirasaki), and on Columbia itself. Loose equipment from the spacecraft remained in isolation until the lunar samples were released for study.
Celebrations
On August 13, the three astronauts rode in ticker-tape parades in their honor in New York and Chicago, with an estimated six million attendees. On the same evening in Los Angeles there was an official state dinner to celebrate the flight, attended by members of Congress, 44 governors, Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger and his predecessor, Earl Warren, and ambassadors from 83 nations at the Century Plaza Hotel. Nixon and Agnew honored each astronaut with a presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The three astronauts spoke before a joint session of Congress on September 16, 1969. They presented two US flags, one to the House of Representatives and the other to the Senate, that they had carried with them to the surface of the Moon. The flag of American Samoa on Apollo 11 is on display at the Jean P. Haydon Museum in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa.
This celebration began a 38-day world tour that brought the astronauts to 22 foreign countries and included visits with the leaders of many countries. The crew toured from September 29 to November 5. Many nations honored the first human Moon landing with special features in magazines or by issuing Apollo 11 commemorative postage stamps or coins.
Legacy
Cultural significance
Humans walking on the Moon and returning safely to Earth accomplished Kennedy's goal set eight years earlier. In Mission Control during the Apollo 11 landing, Kennedy's speech flashed on the screen, followed by the words "TASK ACCOMPLISHED, July 1969". The success of Apollo 11 demonstrated the United States' technological superiority; and with the success of Apollo 11, America had won the Space Race.
New phrases permeated into the English language. "If they can send a man to the Moon, why can't they ...?" became a common saying following Apollo 11. Armstrong's words on the lunar surface also spun off various parodies.
While most people celebrated the accomplishment, disenfranchised Americans saw it as a symbol of the divide in America, evidenced by protesters led by Ralph Abernathy outside of Kennedy Space Center the day before Apollo 11 launched. NASA Administrator Thomas Paine met with Abernathy at the occasion, both hoping that the space program can spur progress also in other regards, such as poverty in the US. Paine was then asked, and agreed, to host protesters as spectators at the launch, and Abernathy, awestruck by the spectacle, prayed for the astronauts. Racial and financial inequalities frustrated citizens who wondered why money spent on the Apollo program was not spent taking care of humans on Earth. A poem by Gil Scott-Heron called "Whitey on the Moon" (1970) illustrated the racial inequality in the United States that was highlighted by the Space Race. The poem starts with:
Twenty percent of the world's population watched humans walk on the Moon for the first time. While Apollo 11 sparked the interest of the world, the follow-on Apollo missions did not hold the interest of the nation. One possible explanation was the shift in complexity. Landing someone on the Moon was an easy goal to understand; lunar geology was too abstract for the average person. Another is that Kennedy's goal of landing humans on the Moon had already been accomplished. A well-defined objective helped Project Apollo accomplish its goal, but after it was completed it was hard to justify continuing the lunar missions.
While most Americans were proud of their nation's achievements in space exploration, only once during the late 1960s did the Gallup Poll indicate that a majority of Americans favored "doing more" in space as opposed to "doing less". By 1973, 59 percent of those polled favored cutting spending on space exploration. The Space Race had been won, and Cold War tensions were easing as the US and Soviet Union entered the era of détente. This was also a time when inflation was rising, which put pressure on the government to reduce spending. What saved the space program was that it was one of the few government programs that had achieved something great. Drastic cuts, warned Caspar Weinberger, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, might send a signal that "our best years are behind us".
After the Apollo 11 mission, officials from the Soviet Union said landing humans on the Moon was dangerous and unnecessary. At the time the Soviet Union was attempting to retrieve lunar samples robotically. The Soviets publicly denied there was a race to the Moon, and indicated they were not making an attempt. Mstislav Keldysh said in July 1969, "We are concentrating wholly on the creation of large satellite systems." It was revealed in 1989 that the Soviets had tried to send people to the Moon, but were unable due to technological difficulties. The public's reaction in the Soviet Union was mixed. The Soviet government limited the release of information about the lunar landing, which affected the reaction. A portion of the populace did not give it any attention, and another portion was angered by it.
The Apollo 11 landing is referenced in the songs "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins" by the Byrds on the 1969 album Ballad of Easy Rider and "Coon on the Moon" by Howlin' Wolf on the 1973 album The Back Door Wolf.
Spacecraft
The command module Columbia went on a tour of the United States, visiting 49 state capitals, the District of Columbia, and Anchorage, Alaska. In 1971, it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, and was displayed at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC. It was in the central Milestones of Flight exhibition hall in front of the Jefferson Drive entrance, sharing the main hall with other pioneering flight vehicles such as the Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1, North American X-15 and Friendship 7.
Columbia was moved in 2017 to the NASM Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to be readied for a four-city tour titled Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission. This included Space Center Houston from October 14, 2017, to March 18, 2018, the Saint Louis Science Center from April 14 to September 3, 2018, the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from September 29, 2018, to February 18, 2019, and its last location at Museum of Flight in Seattle from March 16 to September 2, 2019. Continued renovations at the Smithsonian allowed time for an additional stop for the capsule, and it was moved to the Cincinnati Museum Center. The ribbon cutting ceremony was on September 29, 2019.
For 40 years Armstrong's and Aldrin's space suits were displayed in the museum's Apollo to the Moon exhibit, until it permanently closed on December 3, 2018, to be replaced by a new gallery which was scheduled to open in 2022. A special display of Armstrong's suit was unveiled for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019. The quarantine trailer, the flotation collar and the flotation bags are in the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, where they are on display along with a test lunar module.
The descent stage of the LM Eagle remains on the Moon. In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) imaged the various Apollo landing sites on the surface of the Moon, for the first time with sufficient resolution to see the descent stages of the lunar modules, scientific instruments, and foot trails made by the astronauts. The remains of the ascent stage lie at an unknown location on the lunar surface, after being abandoned and impacting the Moon. The location is uncertain because Eagle ascent stage was not tracked after it was jettisoned, and the lunar gravity field is sufficiently non-uniform to make the orbit of the spacecraft unpredictable after a short time.
In March 2012 a team of specialists financed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos located the F-1 engines from the S-IC stage that launched Apollo 11 into space. They were found on the Atlantic seabed using advanced sonar scanning. His team brought parts of two of the five engines to the surface. In July 2013, a conservator discovered a serial number under the rust on one of the engines raised from the Atlantic, which NASA confirmed was from Apollo 11. The S-IVB third stage which performed Apollo 11's trans-lunar injection remains in a solar orbit near to that of Earth.
Moon rocks
The main repository for the Apollo Moon rocks is the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. For safekeeping, there is also a smaller collection stored at White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Most of the rocks are stored in nitrogen to keep them free of moisture. They are handled only indirectly, using special tools. Over 100 research laboratories worldwide conduct studies of the samples; approximately 500 samples are prepared and sent to investigators every year.
In November 1969, Nixon asked NASA to make up about 250 presentation Apollo 11 lunar sample displays for 135 nations, the fifty states of the United States and its possessions, and the United Nations. Each display included Moon dust from Apollo 11 and flags, including the one of the Soviet Union, taken along by Apollo 11. The rice-sized particles were four small pieces of Moon soil weighing about 50 mg and were enveloped in a clear acrylic button about as big as a United States half dollar coin. This acrylic button magnified the grains of lunar dust. Nixon gave the Apollo 11 lunar sample displays as goodwill gifts in 1970.
Experiment results
The Passive Seismic Experiment ran until the command uplink failed on August 25, 1969. The downlink failed on December 14, 1969. , the Lunar Laser Ranging experiment remains operational.
Armstrong's camera
Armstrong's Hasselblad camera was thought to be lost or left on the Moon surface.
LM memorabilia
In 2015, after Armstrong died in 2012, his widow contacted the National Air and Space Museum to inform them she had found a white cloth bag in one of Armstrong's closets. The bag contained various items, which should have been left behind in the lunar module, including the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera that had been used to capture images of the first Moon landing. The camera is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Anniversary events
40th anniversary
On July 15, 2009, Life.com released a photo gallery of previously unpublished photos of the astronauts taken by Life photographer Ralph Morse prior to the Apollo 11 launch. From July 16 to 24, 2009, NASA streamed the original mission audio on its website in real time 40 years to the minute after the events occurred. It is in the process of restoring the video footage and has released a preview of key moments. In July 2010, air-to-ground voice recordings and film footage shot in Mission Control during the Apollo 11 powered descent and landing was re-synchronized and released for the first time. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum set up an Adobe Flash website that rebroadcasts the transmissions of Apollo 11 from launch to landing on the Moon.
On July 20, 2009, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins met with US President Barack Obama at the White House. "We expect that there is, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin", Obama said. "We want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey." On August 7, 2009, an act of Congress awarded the three astronauts a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. The bill was sponsored by Florida Senator Bill Nelson and Florida Representative Alan Grayson.
A group of British scientists interviewed as part of the anniversary events reflected on the significance of the Moon landing:
50th anniversary
On June 10, 2015, Congressman Bill Posey introduced resolution H.R. 2726 to the 114th session of the United States House of Representatives directing the United States Mint to design and sell commemorative coins in gold, silver and clad for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. On January 24, 2019, the Mint released the Apollo 11 Fiftieth Anniversary commemorative coins to the public on its website.
A documentary film, Apollo 11, with restored footage of the 1969 event, premiered in IMAX on March 1, 2019, and broadly in theaters on March 8.
The Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum and NASA sponsored the "Apollo 50 Festival" on the National Mall in Washington DC. The three day (July 18 to 20, 2019) outdoor festival featured hands-on exhibits and activities, live performances, and speakers such as Adam Savage and NASA scientists.
As part of the festival, a projection of the tall Saturn V rocket was displayed on the east face of the tall Washington Monument from July 16 through the 20th from 9:30 pm until 11:30 pm (EDT). The program also included a 17-minute show that combined full-motion video projected on the Washington Monument to recreate the assembly and launch of the Saturn V rocket. The projection was joined by a wide recreation of the Kennedy Space Center countdown clock and two large video screens showing archival footage to recreate the time leading up to the moon landing. There were three shows per night on July 19–20, with the last show on Saturday, delayed slightly so the portion where Armstrong first set foot on the Moon would happen exactly 50 years to the second after the actual event.
On July 19, 2019, the Google Doodle paid tribute to the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, complete with a link to an animated YouTube video with voiceover by astronaut Michael Collins.
Aldrin, Collins, and Armstrong's sons were hosted by President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Films and documentaries
Footprints on the Moon, a 1969 documentary film by Bill Gibson and Barry Coe, about the Apollo 11 mission
Moonwalk One, a 1971 documentary film by Theo Kamecke
Apollo 11: As It Happened, a 1994 six-hour documentary on ABC News' coverage of the event
First Man, 2018 film by Damien Chazelle based on the 2005 James R. Hansen book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.
Apollo 11, a 2019 documentary film by Todd Douglas Miller with restored footage of the 1969 event
Chasing the Moon, a July 2019 PBS three-night six-hour documentary, directed by Robert Stone, examined the events leading up to the Apollo 11 mission. An accompanying book of the same name was also released.
8 Days: To the Moon and Back, a PBS and BBC Studios 2019 documentary film by Anthony Philipson re-enacting major portions of the Apollo 11 mission using mission audio recordings, new studio footage, NASA and news archives, and computer-generated imagery.
See also
List of species that have landed on the Moon
References
Notes
Citations
In some of the following sources, times are shown in the format hours:minutes:seconds (e.g. 109:24:15), referring to the mission's Ground Elapsed Time (GET), based on the official launch time of July 16, 1969, 13:32:00 UTC (000:00:00 GET).
Sources
External links
"Apollo 11 transcripts" at Spacelog
Apollo 11 in real time
Apollo 11 Press Conference filmed by KPRC-TV at Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Apollo 11 and 13 Checklists at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections.
Apollo 11, 12, and 14 Traverses, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Multimedia
Remastered videos of the original landing.
Dynamic timeline of lunar excursion. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Apollo 11 Restored EVA Part 1 (1h of restored footage)
Apollo 11: As They Photographed It (Augmented Reality)—The New York Times, Interactive, July 18, 2019
"Coverage of the Flight of Apollo 11" provided by Todd Kosovich for RadioTapes.com. Radio station recordings (airchecks) covering the flight of Apollo 11.
1969 on the Moon
Buzz Aldrin
Apollo program missions
Neil Armstrong
Articles containing video clips
Michael Collins (astronaut)
Crewed missions to the Moon
Soft landings on the Moon
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets |
663 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%208 | Apollo 8 | Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These three astronauts—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to witness and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise.
Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, and was the second crewed spaceflight mission flown in the United States Apollo space program after Apollo7, which stayed in Earth orbit. Apollo8 was the third flight and the first crewed launch of the Saturn V rocket, and was the first human spaceflight from the Kennedy Space Center, located adjacent to Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida.
Originally planned as the second crewed Apollo Lunar Module and command module test, to be flown in an elliptical medium Earth orbit in early 1969, the mission profile was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious command-module-only lunar orbital flight to be flown in December, as the lunar module was not yet ready to make its first flight. Astronaut Jim McDivitt's crew, who were training to fly the first lunar module flight in low Earth orbit, became the crew for the Apollo9 mission, and Borman's crew were moved to the Apollo8 mission. This left Borman's crew with two to three months' less training and preparation time than originally planned, and replaced the planned lunar module training with translunar navigation training.
Apollo 8 took 68 hours to travel the distance to the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times over the course of twenty hours, during which they made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 10 and, with Apollo11 in July 1969, the fulfillment of U.S. president John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. The Apollo8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27, 1968, when their spacecraft splashed down in the northern Pacific Ocean. The crew members were named Time magazine's "Men of the Year" for 1968 upon their return. It is the last Apollo mission for which all three crew members are still living.
Background
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States was engaged in the Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry with the Soviet Union. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This unexpected success stoked fears and imaginations around the world. It not only demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, it challenged American claims of military, economic, and technological superiority. The launch precipitated the Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race.
President John F. Kennedy believed that not only was it in the national interest of the United States to be superior to other nations, but that the perception of American power was at least as important as the actuality. It was therefore intolerable to him for the Soviet Union to be more advanced in the field of space exploration. He was determined that the United States should compete, and sought a challenge that maximized its chances of winning.
The Soviet Union had heavier-lifting carrier rockets, which meant Kennedy needed to choose a goal that was beyond the capacity of the existing generation of rocketry, one where the US and Soviet Union would be starting from a position of equality—something spectacular, even if it could not be justified on military, economic, or scientific grounds. After consulting with his experts and advisors, he chose such a project: to land a man on the Moon and return him to the Earth. This project already had a name: Project Apollo.
An early and crucial decision was the adoption of lunar orbit rendezvous, under which a specialized spacecraft would land on the lunar surface. The Apollo spacecraft therefore had three primary components: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that would return to Earth; a service module (SM) to provide the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a two-stage lunar module (LM), which comprised a descent stage for landing on the Moon and an ascent stage to return the astronauts to lunar orbit. This configuration could be launched by the Saturn V rocket that was then under development.
Framework
Prime crew
The initial crew assignment of Frank Borman as Commander, Michael Collins as Command Module Pilot (CMP) and William Anders as Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) for the third crewed Apollo flight was officially announced on November 20, 1967. Collins was replaced by Jim Lovell in July 1968, after suffering a cervical disc herniation that required surgery to repair. This crew was unique among pre-Space Shuttle era missions in that the commander was not the most experienced member of the crew: Lovell had flown twice before, on Gemini VII and Gemini XII. This would also be the first case of a commander of a previous mission (Lovell, Gemini XII) flying as a non-commander. This was also the first mission to reunite crewmates from a previous mission (Lovell and Borman, Gemini VII).
, all three Apollo 8 astronauts remain alive.
Backup crew
The backup crew assignment of Neil Armstrong as Commander, Lovell as CMP, and Buzz Aldrin as LMP for the third crewed Apollo flight was officially announced at the same time as the prime crew. When Lovell was reassigned to the prime crew, Aldrin was moved to CMP, and Fred Haise was brought in as backup LMP. Armstrong would later command Apollo11, with Aldrin as LMP and Collins as CMP. Haise served on the backup crew of Apollo11 as LMP and flew on Apollo13 as LMP.
Support personnel
During Projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts was added, known as the support crew. The support crew maintained the flight plan, checklists, and mission ground rules, and ensured that the prime and backup crews were apprised of any changes. The support crew developed procedures in the simulators, especially those for emergency situations, so that the prime and backup crews could practice and master them in their simulator training. For Apollo8, the support crew consisted of Ken Mattingly, Vance Brand, and Gerald Carr.
The capsule communicator (CAPCOM) was an astronaut at the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, who was the only person who communicated directly with the flight crew. For Apollo8, the CAPCOMs were Michael Collins, Gerald Carr, Ken Mattingly, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Vance Brand, and Fred Haise.
The mission control teams rotated in three shifts, each led by a flight director. The directors for Apollo8 were Clifford E. Charlesworth (Green team), Glynn Lunney (Black team), and Milton Windler (Maroon team).
Mission insignia and callsign
The triangular shape of the insignia refers to the shape of the Apollo CM. It shows a red figure8 looping around the Earth and Moon to reflect both the mission number and the circumlunar nature of the mission. On the bottom of the8 are the names of the three astronauts. The initial design of the insignia was developed by Jim Lovell, who reportedly sketched it while riding in the back seat of a T-38 flight from California to Houston shortly after learning of Apollo8's re-designation as a lunar-orbital mission.
The crew wanted to name their spacecraft, but NASA did not allow it. The crew would have likely chosen Columbiad, the name of the giant cannon that launches a space vehicle in Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon. The Apollo11 CM was named Columbia in part for that reason.
Preparations
Mission schedule
On September 20, 1967, NASA adopted a seven-step plan for Apollo missions, with the final step being a Moon landing. Apollo4 and Apollo6 were "A" missions, tests of the SaturnV launch vehicle using an uncrewed Block I production model of the command and service module (CSM) in Earth orbit. Apollo5 was a "B" mission, a test of the LM in Earth orbit. Apollo7, scheduled for October 1968, would be a "C" mission, a crewed Earth-orbit flight of the CSM. Further missions depended on the readiness of the LM. It had been decided as early as May 1967 that there would be at least four additional missions. Apollo8 was planned as the "D" mission, a test of the LM in a low Earth orbit in December 1968 by James McDivitt, David Scott, and Russell Schweickart, while Borman's crew would fly the "E" mission, a more rigorous LM test in an elliptical medium Earth orbit as Apollo9, in early 1969. The "F" Mission would test the CSM and LM in lunar orbit, and the "G" mission would be the finale, the Moon landing.
Production of the LM fell behind schedule, and when Apollo8's LM-3 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1968, more than a hundred significant defects were discovered, leading Bob Gilruth, the director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), and others to conclude that there was no prospect of LM-3 being ready to fly in 1968. Indeed, it was possible that delivery would slip to February or March 1969. Following the original seven-step plan would have meant delaying the "D" and subsequent missions, and endangering the program's goal of a lunar landing before the end of 1969. George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, proposed a solution in August 1968 to keep the program on track despite the LM delay. Since the next CSM (designated as "CSM-103") would be ready three months before LM-3, a CSM-only mission could be flown in December 1968. Instead of repeating the "C" mission flight of Apollo7, this CSM could be sent all the way to the Moon, with the possibility of entering a lunar orbit and returning to Earth. The new mission would also allow NASA to test lunar landing procedures that would otherwise have had to wait until Apollo10, the scheduled "F" mission. This also meant that the medium Earth orbit "E" mission could be dispensed with. The net result was that only the "D" mission had to be delayed, and the plan for lunar landing in mid-1969 could remain on timeline.
On August 9, 1968, Low discussed the idea with Gilruth, Flight Director Chris Kraft, and the Director of Flight Crew Operations, Donald Slayton. They then flew to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, where they met with KSC Director Kurt Debus, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips, Rocco Petrone, and Wernher von Braun. Kraft considered the proposal feasible from a flight control standpoint; Debus and Petrone agreed that the next Saturn V, AS-503, could be made ready by December 1; and von Braun was confident the pogo oscillation problems that had afflicted Apollo6 had been fixed. Almost every senior manager at NASA agreed with this new mission, citing confidence in both the hardware and the personnel, along with the potential for a circumlunar flight providing a significant morale boost. The only person who needed some convincing was James E. Webb, the NASA administrator. Backed by the full support of his agency, Webb authorized the mission. Apollo8 was officially changed from a "D" mission to a "C-Prime" lunar-orbit mission.
With the change in mission for Apollo 8, Slayton asked McDivitt if he still wanted to fly it. McDivitt turned it down; his crew had spent a great deal of time preparing to test the LM, and that was what he still wanted to do. Slayton then decided to swap the prime and backup crews of the Dand Emissions. This swap also meant a swap of spacecraft, requiring Borman's crew to use CSM-103, while McDivitt's crew would use CSM-104, since CM-104 could not be made ready by December. David Scott was not happy about giving up CM-103, the testing of which he had closely supervised, for CM-104, although the two were almost identical, and Anders was less than enthusiastic about being an LMP on a flight with no LM. Instead, Apollo8 would carry the LM test article, a boilerplate model that would simulate the correct weight and balance of LM-3.
Added pressure on the Apollo program to make its 1969 landing goal was provided by the Soviet Union's Zond5 mission, which flew some living creatures, including Russian tortoises, in a cislunar loop around the Moon and returned them to Earth on September 21. There was speculation within NASA and the press that they might be preparing to launch cosmonauts on a similar circumlunar mission before the end of 1968. Compounding these concerns, American reconnaissance satellites observed a mockup N1 being rolled to the pad at Baikonur in November 1967, with more activity in 1968.
The Apollo 8 crew, now living in the crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center, received a visit from Charles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the night before the launch. They talked about how, before his 1927 flight, Lindbergh had used a piece of string to measure the distance from New York City to Paris on a globe and from that calculated the fuel needed for the flight. The total he had carried was a tenth of the amount that the Saturn V would burn every second. The next day, the Lindberghs watched the launch of Apollo8 from a nearby dune.
Saturn V redesign
The Saturn V rocket used by Apollo8 was designated AS-503, or the "03rd" model of the SaturnV ("5") Rocket to be used in the Apollo-Saturn ("AS") program. When it was erected in the Vehicle Assembly Building on December 20, 1967, it was thought that the rocket would be used for an uncrewed Earth-orbit test flight carrying a boilerplate command and service module. Apollo6 had suffered several major problems during its April 1968 flight, including severe pogo oscillation during its first stage, two second-stage engine failures, and a third stage that failed to reignite in orbit. Without assurances that these problems had been rectified, NASA administrators could not justify risking a crewed mission until additional uncrewed test flights proved the Saturn V was ready.
Teams from the MSFC went to work on the problems. Of primary concern was the pogo oscillation, which would not only hamper engine performance, but could exert significant g-forces on a crew. A task force of contractors, NASA agency representatives, and MSFC researchers concluded that the engines vibrated at a frequency similar to the frequency at which the spacecraft itself vibrated, causing a resonance effect that induced oscillations in the rocket. A system that used helium gas to absorb some of these vibrations was installed.
Of equal importance was the failure of three engines during flight. Researchers quickly determined that a leaking hydrogen fuel line ruptured when exposed to vacuum, causing a loss of fuel pressure in engine two. When an automatic shutoff attempted to close the liquid hydrogen valve and shut down engine two, it had accidentally shut down engine three's liquid oxygen due to a miswired connection. As a result, engine three failed within one second of engine two's shutdown. Further investigation revealed the same problem for the third-stage engine—a faulty igniter line. The team modified the igniter lines and fuel conduits, hoping to avoid similar problems on future launches.
The teams tested their solutions in August 1968 at the MSFC. A Saturn stage IC was equipped with shock-absorbing devices to demonstrate the team's solution to the problem of pogo oscillation, while a Saturn Stage II was retrofitted with modified fuel lines to demonstrate their resistance to leaks and ruptures in vacuum conditions. Once NASA administrators were convinced that the problems had been solved, they gave their approval for a crewed mission using AS-503.
The Apollo 8 spacecraft was placed on top of the rocket on September 21, and the rocket made the slow journey to the launch pad atop one of NASA's two massive crawler-transporters on October9. Testing continued all through December until the day before launch, including various levels of readiness testing from December5 through 11. Final testing of modifications to address the problems of pogo oscillation, ruptured fuel lines, and bad igniter lines took place on December 18, three days before the scheduled launch.
Mission
Parameter summary
As the first crewed spacecraft to orbit more than one celestial body, Apollo8's profile had two different sets of orbital parameters, separated by a translunar injection maneuver. Apollo lunar missions would begin with a nominal circular Earth parking orbit. Apollo8 was launched into an initial orbit with an apogee of and a perigee of , with an inclination of 32.51° to the Equator, and an orbital period of 88.19 minutes. Propellant venting increased the apogee by over the 2hours, 44 minutes, and 30 seconds spent in the parking orbit.
This was followed by a trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn of the S-IVB third stage for 318 seconds, accelerating the command and service module and LM test article from an orbital velocity of to the injection velocity of which set a record for the highest speed, relative to Earth, that humans had ever traveled. This speed was slightly less than the Earth's escape velocity of , but put Apollo8 into an elongated elliptical Earth orbit, close enough to the Moon to be captured by the Moon's gravity.
The standard lunar orbit for Apollo missions was planned as a nominal circular orbit above the Moon's surface. Initial lunar orbit insertion was an ellipse with a perilune of and an apolune of , at an inclination of 12° from the lunar equator. This was then circularized at , with an orbital period of 128.7 minutes. The effect of lunar mass concentrations ("mascons") on the orbit was found to be greater than initially predicted; over the course of the ten lunar orbits lasting twenty hours, the orbital distance was perturbated to .
Apollo 8 achieved a maximum distance from Earth of .
Launch and trans-lunar injection
Apollo 8 was launched at 12:51:00 UTC (07:51:00 Eastern Standard Time) on December 21, 1968, using the Saturn V's three stages to achieve Earth orbit. The S-IC first stage landed in the Atlantic Ocean at , and the S-II second stage landed at . The S-IVB third stage injected the craft into Earth orbit and remained attached to perform the TLI burn that would put the spacecraft on a trajectory to the Moon.
Once the vehicle reached Earth orbit, both the crew and Houston flight controllers spent the next 2hours and 38 minutes checking that the spacecraft was in proper working order and ready for TLI. The proper operation of the S-IVB third stage of the rocket was crucial, and in the last uncrewed test, it had failed to reignite for this burn. Collins was the first CAPCOM on duty, and at 2hours, 27 minutes and 22 seconds after launch he radioed, "Apollo8. You are Go for TLI." This communication meant that Mission Control had given official permission for Apollo8 to go to the Moon. The S-IVB engine ignited on time and performed the TLI burn perfectly. Over the next five minutes, the spacecraft's speed increased from .
After the S-IVB had placed the mission on course for the Moon, the command and service modules (CSM), the remaining Apollo8 spacecraft, separated from it. The crew then rotated the spacecraft to take photographs of the spent stage and then practiced flying in formation with it. As the crew rotated the spacecraft, they had their first views of the Earth as they moved away from it—this marked the first time humans had viewed the whole Earth at once. Borman became worried that the S-IVB was staying too close to the CSM and suggested to Mission Control that the crew perform a separation maneuver. Mission Control first suggested pointing the spacecraft towards Earth and using the small reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on the service module (SM) to add to their velocity away from the Earth, but Borman did not want to lose sight of the S-IVB. After discussion, the crew and Mission Control decided to burn in the Earth direction to increase speed, but at instead. The time needed to prepare and perform the additional burn put the crew an hour behind their onboard tasks.
Five hours after launch, Mission Control sent a command to the S-IVB to vent its remaining fuel, changing its trajectory. The S-IVB, with the test article attached, posed no further hazard to Apollo8, passing the orbit of the Moon and going into a solar orbit with an inclination of 23.47° from the Earth's equatorial plane, and an orbital period of 340.80 days. It became a derelict object, and will continue to orbit the Sun for many years, if not retrieved.
The Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to pass through the Van Allen radiation belts, which extend up to from Earth. Scientists predicted that passing through the belts quickly at the spacecraft's high speed would cause a radiation dosage of no more than a chest X-ray, or 1milligray (mGy; during a year, the average human receives a dose of 2to 3mGy from background radiation). To record the actual radiation dosages, each crew member wore a Personal Radiation Dosimeter that transmitted data to Earth, as well as three passive film dosimeters that showed the cumulative radiation experienced by the crew. By the end of the mission, the crew members experienced an average radiation dose of 1.6 mGy.
Lunar trajectory
Lovell's main job as Command Module Pilot was as navigator. Although Mission Control normally performed all the actual navigation calculations, it was necessary to have a crew member adept at navigation so that the crew could return to Earth in case communication with Mission Control was lost. Lovell navigated by star sightings using a sextant built into the spacecraft, measuring the angle between a star and the Earth's (or the Moon's) horizon. This task was made difficult by a large cloud of debris around the spacecraft, which made it hard to distinguish the stars.
By seven hours into the mission, the crew was about 1hour and 40 minutes behind flight plan because of the problems in moving away from the S-IVB and Lovell's obscured star sightings. The crew placed the spacecraft into Passive Thermal Control (PTC), also called "barbecue roll", in which the spacecraft rotated about once per hour around its long axis to ensure even heat distribution across the surface of the spacecraft. In direct sunlight, parts of the spacecraft's outer surface could be heated to over , while the parts in shadow would be . These temperatures could cause the heat shield to crack and propellant lines to burst. Because it was impossible to get a perfect roll, the spacecraft swept out a cone as it rotated. The crew had to make minor adjustments every half hour as the cone pattern got larger and larger.
The first mid-course correction came eleven hours into the flight. The crew had been awake for more than 16 hours. Before launch, NASA had decided at least one crew member should be awake at all times to deal with problems that might arise. Borman started the first sleep shift but found sleeping difficult because of the constant radio chatter and mechanical noises. Testing on the ground had shown that the service propulsion system (SPS) engine had a small chance of exploding when burned for long periods unless its combustion chamber was "coated" first by burning the engine for a short period. This first correction burn was only 2.4 seconds and added about velocity prograde (in the direction of travel). This change was less than the planned , because of a bubble of helium in the oxidizer lines, which caused unexpectedly low propellant pressure. The crew had to use the small RCS thrusters to make up the shortfall. Two later planned mid-course corrections were canceled because the Apollo8 trajectory was found to be perfect.
About an hour after starting his sleep shift, Borman obtained permission from ground control to take a Seconal sleeping pill. The pill had little effect. Borman eventually fell asleep, and then awoke feeling ill. He vomited twice and had a bout of diarrhea; this left the spacecraft full of small globules of vomit and feces, which the crew cleaned up as well as they could. Borman initially did not want everyone to know about his medical problems, but Lovell and Anders wanted to inform Mission Control. The crew decided to use the Data Storage Equipment (DSE), which could tape voice recordings and telemetry and dump them to Mission Control at high speed. After recording a description of Borman's illness they asked Mission Control to check the recording, stating that they "would like an evaluation of the voice comments".
The Apollo 8 crew and Mission Control medical personnel held a conference using an unoccupied second-floor control room (there were two identical control rooms in Houston, on the second and third floors, only one of which was used during a mission). The conference participants concluded that there was little to worry about and that Borman's illness was either a 24-hour flu, as Borman thought, or a reaction to the sleeping pill. Researchers now believe that he was suffering from space adaptation syndrome, which affects about a third of astronauts during their first day in space as their vestibular system adapts to weightlessness. Space adaptation syndrome had not occurred on previous spacecraft (Mercury and Gemini), because those astronauts could not move freely in the small cabins of those spacecraft. The increased cabin space in the Apollo command module afforded astronauts greater freedom of movement, contributing to symptoms of space sickness for Borman and, later, astronaut Rusty Schweickart during Apollo9.
The cruise phase was a relatively uneventful part of the flight, except for the crew's checking that the spacecraft was in working order and that they were on course. During this time, NASA scheduled a television broadcast at 31 hours after launch. The Apollo8 crew used a camera that broadcast in black-and-white only, using a Vidicon tube. The camera had two lenses, a very wide-angle (160°) lens, and a telephoto (9°) lens.
During this first broadcast, the crew gave a tour of the spacecraft and attempted to show how the Earth appeared from space. However, difficulties aiming the narrow-angle lens without the aid of a monitor to show what it was looking at made showing the Earth impossible. Additionally, without proper filters, the Earth image became saturated by any bright source. In the end, all the crew could show the people watching back on Earth was a bright blob. After broadcasting for 17 minutes, the rotation of the spacecraft took the high-gain antenna out of view of the receiving stations on Earth and they ended the transmission with Lovell wishing his mother a happy birthday.
By this time, the crew had completely abandoned the planned sleep shifts. Lovell went to sleep hours into the flight – three-and-a-half hours before he had planned to. A short while later, Anders also went to sleep after taking a sleeping pill. The crew was unable to see the Moon for much of the outward cruise. Two factors made the Moon almost impossible to see from inside the spacecraft: three of the five windows fogging up due to out-gassed oils from the silicone sealant, and the attitude required for passive thermal control. It was not until the crew had gone behind the Moon that they would be able to see it for the first time.
Apollo 8 made a second television broadcast at 55 hours into the flight. This time, the crew rigged up filters meant for the still cameras so they could acquire images of the Earth through the telephoto lens. Although difficult to aim, as they had to maneuver the entire spacecraft, the crew was able to broadcast back to Earth the first television pictures of the Earth. The crew spent the transmission describing the Earth, what was visible, and the colors they could see. The transmission lasted 23 minutes.
Lunar sphere of influence
At about 55 hours and 40 minutes into the flight, and 13 hours before entering lunar orbit, the crew of Apollo8 became the first humans to enter the gravitational sphere of influence of another celestial body. In other words, the effect of the Moon's gravitational force on Apollo8 became stronger than that of the Earth. At the time it happened, Apollo8 was from the Moon and had a speed of relative to the Moon. This historic moment was of little interest to the crew, since they were still calculating their trajectory with respect to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. They would continue to do so until they performed their last mid-course correction, switching to a reference frame based on ideal orientation for the second engine burn they would make in lunar orbit.
The last major event before Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) was a second mid-course correction. It was in retrograde (against the direction of travel) and slowed the spacecraft down by , effectively reducing the closest distance at which the spacecraft would pass the Moon. At exactly 61 hours after launch, about from the Moon, the crew burned the RCS for 11 seconds. They would now pass from the lunar surface.
At 64 hours into the flight, the crew began to prepare for Lunar Orbit Insertion1 (LOI-1). This maneuver had to be performed perfectly, and due to orbital mechanics had to be on the far side of the Moon, out of contact with the Earth. After Mission Control was polled for a "go/no go" decision, the crew was told at 68 hours that they were Go and "riding the best bird we can find". Lovell replied, "We'll see you on the other side", and for the first time in history, humans travelled behind the Moon and out of radio contact with the Earth.
With ten minutes remaining before LOI-1, the crew began one last check of the spacecraft systems and made sure that every switch was in its correct position. At that time, they finally got their first glimpses of the Moon. They had been flying over the unlit side, and it was Lovell who saw the first shafts of sunlight obliquely illuminating the lunar surface. The LOI burn was only two minutes away, so the crew had little time to appreciate the view.
Lunar orbit
The SPS was ignited at 69 hours, 8minutes, and 16 seconds after launch and burned for 4minutes and 7seconds, placing the Apollo8 spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. The crew described the burn as being the longest four minutes of their lives. If the burn had not lasted exactly the correct amount of time, the spacecraft could have ended up in a highly elliptical lunar orbit or even been flung off into space. If it had lasted too long, they could have struck the Moon. After making sure the spacecraft was working, they finally had a chance to look at the Moon, which they would orbit for the next 20 hours.
On Earth, Mission Control continued to wait. If the crew had not burned the engine, or the burn had not lasted the planned length of time, the crew would have appeared early from behind the Moon. Exactly at the calculated moment the signal was received from the spacecraft, indicating it was in a orbit around the Moon.
After reporting on the status of the spacecraft, Lovell gave the first description of what the lunar surface looked like:
Lovell continued to describe the terrain they were passing over. One of the crew's major tasks was reconnaissance of planned future landing sites on the Moon, especially one in Mare Tranquillitatis that was planned as the Apollo11 landing site. The launch time of Apollo8 had been chosen to give the best lighting conditions for examining the site. A film camera had been set up in one of the spacecraft windows to record one frame per second of the Moon below. Bill Anders spent much of the next 20 hours taking as many photographs as possible of targets of interest. By the end of the mission, the crew had taken over eight hundred 70 mm still photographs and of 16 mm movie film.
Throughout the hour that the spacecraft was in contact with Earth, Borman kept asking how the data for the SPS looked. He wanted to make sure that the engine was working and could be used to return early to the Earth if necessary. He also asked that they receive a "go/no go" decision before they passed behind the Moon on each orbit.
As they reappeared for their second pass in front of the Moon, the crew set up equipment to broadcast a view of the lunar surface. Anders described the craters that they were passing over. At the end of this second orbit, they performed an 11-second LOI-2 burn of the SPS to circularize the orbit to .
Throughout the next two orbits, the crew continued to check the spacecraft and to observe and photograph the Moon. During the third pass, Borman read a small prayer for his church. He had been scheduled to participate in a service at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church near Seabrook, Texas, but due to the Apollo8 flight, he was unable to attend. A fellow parishioner and engineer at Mission Control, Rod Rose, suggested that Borman read the prayer, which could be recorded and then replayed during the service.
Earthrise
When the spacecraft came out from behind the Moon for its fourth pass across the front, the crew witnessed an "Earthrise" in person for the first time in human history. NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 had taken the first picture of an Earthrise from the vicinity of the Moon, on August 23, 1966. Anders saw the Earth emerging from behind the lunar horizon and called in excitement to the others, taking a black-and-white photograph as he did so. Anders asked Lovell for color film and then took Earthrise, a now famous color photo, later picked by Life magazine as one of its hundred photos of the century.
Due to the synchronous rotation of the Moon about the Earth, Earthrise is not generally visible from the lunar surface. This is because, as seen from any one place on the Moon's surface, Earth remains in approximately the same position in the lunar sky, either above or below the horizon. Earthrise is generally visible only while orbiting the Moon, and at selected surface locations near the Moon's limb, where libration carries the Earth slightly above and below the lunar horizon.
Anders continued to take photographs while Lovell assumed control of the spacecraft so that Borman could rest. Despite the difficulty resting in the cramped and noisy spacecraft, Borman was able to sleep for two orbits, awakening periodically to ask questions about their status. Borman awoke fully when he started to hear his fellow crew members make mistakes. They were beginning to not understand questions and had to ask for the answers to be repeated. Borman realized that everyone was extremely tired from not having a good night's sleep in over three days. He ordered Anders and Lovell to get some sleep and that the rest of the flight plan regarding observing the Moon be scrubbed. Anders initially protested, saying that he was fine, but Borman would not be swayed. Anders finally agreed under the condition that Borman would set up the camera to continue to take automatic pictures of the Moon. Borman also remembered that there was a second television broadcast planned, and with so many people expected to be watching, he wanted the crew to be alert. For the next two orbits, Anders and Lovell slept while Borman sat at the helm.
As they rounded the Moon for the ninth time, the astronauts began the second television transmission. Borman introduced the crew, followed by each man giving his impression of the lunar surface and what it was like to be orbiting the Moon. Borman described it as being "a vast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing". Then, after talking about what they were flying over, Anders said that the crew had a message for all those on Earth. Each man on board read a section from the Biblical creation story from the Book of Genesis. Borman finished the broadcast by wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone on Earth. His message appeared to sum up the feelings that all three crewmen had from their vantage point in lunar orbit. Borman said, "And from the crew of Apollo8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth."
The only task left for the crew at this point was to perform the trans-Earth injection (TEI), which was scheduled for hours after the end of the television transmission. The TEI was the most critical burn of the flight, as any failure of the SPS to ignite would strand the crew in lunar orbit, with little hope of escape. As with the previous burn, the crew had to perform the maneuver above the far side of the Moon, out of contact with Earth. The burn occurred exactly on time. The spacecraft telemetry was reacquired as it re-emerged from behind the Moon at 89 hours, 28 minutes, and 39 seconds, the exact time calculated. When voice contact was regained, Lovell announced, "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus", to which Ken Mattingly, the current CAPCOM, replied, "That's affirmative, you are the best ones to know." The spacecraft began its journey back to Earth on December 25, Christmas Day.
Unplanned manual realignment
Later, Lovell used some otherwise idle time to do some navigational sightings, maneuvering the module to view various stars by using the computer keyboard. He accidentally erased some of the computer's memory, which caused the inertial measurement unit (IMU) to contain data indicating that the module was in the same relative orientation it had been in before lift-off; the IMU then fired the thrusters to "correct" the module's attitude.
Once the crew realized why the computer had changed the module's attitude, they realized that they would have to reenter data to tell the computer the module's actual orientation. It took Lovell ten minutes to figure out the right numbers, using the thrusters to get the stars Rigel and Sirius aligned, and another 15 minutes to enter the corrected data into the computer. Sixteen months later, during the Apollo13 mission, Lovell would have to perform a similar manual realignment under more critical conditions after the module's IMU had to be turned off to conserve energy.
Cruise back to Earth and reentry
The cruise back to Earth was mostly a time for the crew to relax and monitor the spacecraft. As long as the trajectory specialists had calculated everything correctly, the spacecraft would reenter Earth's atmosphere two-and-a-half days after TEI and splash down in the Pacific.
On Christmas afternoon, the crew made their fifth television broadcast. This time, they gave a tour of the spacecraft, showing how an astronaut lived in space. When they finished broadcasting, they found a small present from Slayton in the food locker: a real turkey dinner with stuffing, in the same kind of pack given to the troops in Vietnam.
Another Slayton surprise was a gift of three miniature bottles of brandy, which Borman ordered the crew to leave alone until after they landed. They remained unopened, even years after the flight. There were also small presents to the crew from their wives. The next day, at about 124 hours into the mission, the sixth and final TV transmission showed the mission's best video images of the Earth, during a four-minute broadcast. After two uneventful days, the crew prepared for reentry. The computer would control the reentry, and all the crew had to do was put the spacecraft in the correct attitude, with the blunt end forward. In the event of computer failure, Borman was ready to take over.
Separation from the service module prepared the command module for reentry by exposing the heat shield and shedding unneeded mass. The service module would burn up in the atmosphere as planned. Six minutes before they hit the top of the atmosphere, the crew saw the Moon rising above the Earth's horizon, just as had been calculated by the trajectory specialists. As the module hit the thin outer atmosphere, the crew noticed that it was becoming hazy outside as glowing plasma formed around the spacecraft. The spacecraft started slowing down, and the deceleration peaked at . With the computer controlling the descent by changing the attitude of the spacecraft, Apollo8 rose briefly like a skipping stone before descending to the ocean. At , the drogue parachute deployed, stabilizing the spacecraft, followed at by the three main parachutes. The spacecraft splashdown position was officially reported as in the North Pacific Ocean, southwest of Hawaii at 15:51:42 UTC on December 27, 1968.
When the spacecraft hit the water, the parachutes dragged it over and left it upside down, in what was termed Stable2 position. As they were buffeted by a swell, Borman was sick, waiting for the three flotation balloons to right the spacecraft. About six minutes after splashdown, the command module was righted into a normal apex-up (Stable 1) orientation by its inflatable bag uprighting system. The first frogman from aircraft carrier arrived 43 minutes after splashdown. Forty-five minutes later, the crew was safe on the flight deck of the Yorktown.
Legacy
Historical importance
Apollo 8 came at the end of 1968, a year that had seen much upheaval in the United States and most of the world. Even though the year saw political assassinations, political unrest in the streets of Europe and America, and the Prague Spring, Time magazine chose the crew of Apollo8 as its Men of the Year for 1968, recognizing them as the people who most influenced events in the preceding year. They had been the first people ever to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth and orbit another celestial body. They had survived a mission that even the crew themselves had rated as having only a fifty-fifty chance of fully succeeding. The effect of Apollo8 was summed up in a telegram from a stranger, received by Borman after the mission, that stated simply, "Thank you Apollo8. You saved 1968."
One of the most famous aspects of the flight was the Earthrise picture that the crew took as they came around for their fourth orbit of the Moon. This was the first time that humans had taken such a picture while actually behind the camera, and it has been credited as one of the inspirations of the first Earth Day in 1970. It was selected as the first of Life magazine's 100 Photographs That Changed the World.
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins said, "Eight's momentous historic significance was foremost"; while space historian Robert K. Poole saw Apollo8 as the most historically significant of all the Apollo missions. The mission was the most widely covered by the media since the first American orbital flight, Mercury-Atlas 6 by John Glenn, in 1962. There were 1,200 journalists covering the mission, with the BBC's coverage broadcast in 54 countries in 15 different languages. The Soviet newspaper Pravda featured a quote from Boris Nikolaevich Petrov, Chairman of the Soviet Interkosmos program, who described the flight as an "outstanding achievement of American space sciences and technology". It is estimated that a quarter of the people alive at the time saw—either live or delayed—the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the Moon. The Apollo8 broadcasts won an Emmy Award, the highest honor given by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist, later caused controversy by bringing a lawsuit against NASA over the reading from Genesis. O'Hair wanted the courts to ban American astronauts—who were all government employees—from public prayer in space. Though the case was rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States, apparently for lack of jurisdiction in outer space, it caused NASA to be skittish about the issue of religion throughout the rest of the Apollo program. Buzz Aldrin, on Apollo11, self-communicated Presbyterian Communion on the surface of the Moon after landing; he refrained from mentioning this publicly for several years and referred to it only obliquely at the time.
In 1969, the United States Post Office Department issued a postage stamp (Scott catalogue #1371) commemorating the Apollo8 flight around the Moon. The stamp featured a detail of the famous photograph of the Earthrise over the Moon taken by Anders on Christmas Eve, and the words, "In the beginning God...", the first words of the book of Genesis. In January 1969, just 18 days after the crew's return to Earth, they appeared in the Super Bowl III pre-game show, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, before the national anthem was performed by trumpeter Lloyd Geisler of the Washington National Symphony Orchestra.
Spacecraft location
In January 1970, the spacecraft was delivered to Osaka, Japan, for display in the U.S. pavilion at Expo '70. It is now displayed at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, along with a collection of personal items from the flight donated by Lovell and the space suit worn by Frank Borman. Jim Lovell's Apollo8 space suit is on public display in the Visitor Center at NASA's Glenn Research Center. Bill Anders's space suit is on display at the Science Museum in London, United Kingdom.
In popular culture
Apollo 8's historic mission has been depicted and referred to in several forms, both documentary and fiction. The various television transmissions and 16 mm footage shot by the crew of Apollo8 were compiled and released by NASA in the 1969 documentary Debrief: Apollo8, hosted by Burgess Meredith. In addition, Spacecraft Films released, in 2003, a three-disc DVD set containing all of NASA's TV and 16 mm film footage related to the mission, including all TV transmissions from space, training and launch footage, and motion pictures taken in flight. Other documentaries include "Race to the Moon" (2005) as part of season 18 of American Experience and In the Shadow of the Moon (2007). Apollo's Daring Mission aired on PBS' Nova in December 2018, marking the flight's 50th anniversary.
Apollo 8 serves as character development in the 1995 film Apollo 13, in which Jim Lovell is motivated to walk on the Moon by his Apollo 8 experience and later disappointed to be so near the surface twice without walking on it.
Parts of the mission are dramatized in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon episode "1968". The S-IVB stage of Apollo8 was also portrayed as the location of an alien device in the 1970 UFO episode "Conflict". Apollo8's lunar orbit insertion was chronicled with actual recordings in the song "The Other Side", on the 2015 album The Race for Space, by the band Public Service Broadcasting.
In the credits of the animated film Free Birds (2013) a newspaper front page about the Apollo 8 mission is doctored to read: "As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around the world were watching and listening as the Apollo 8 astronauts – Frank Gobbler, Jim Snood, and Bill Wattles – became the first turkeys to orbit another world."
A documentary film, First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8 was released in 2018.
The choral music piece Earthrise by Luke Byrne commemorates the mission. The piece was premièred on January 19, 2020, by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at the Sydney Opera House.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
"Apollo 8" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
Article about the 40th anniversary of Apollo8
Multimedia
Apollo 8: Go for TLI 1969 NASA film at the Internet Archive
Debrief: Apollo 8 1969 NASA film at the Internet Archive
"Apollo 07 and 08 16mm Onboard Film (1968)" raw footage taken from Apollos 7and8 at the Internet Archive
Apollo 8 Around the Moon and Back 2018 YouTube video
Apollo 08
Crewed missions to the Moon
Spacecraft launched in 1968
1968 in the United States
Spacecraft which reentered in 1968
December 1968 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
Jim Lovell
William Anders
Frank Borman |
689 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia | Asia | Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population, having more people than all other continents combined.
Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. It is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural, linguistic, and ethnic differences, some of which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish Straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe.
China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1,800 CE. China was a major economic power and attracted many to the east, and for many the legendary wealth and prosperity of the ancient culture of India personified Asia, attracting European commerce, exploration and colonialism. The accidental discovery of a trans-Atlantic route from Europe to America by Columbus while in search for a route to India demonstrates this deep fascination. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism (particularly East Asia) as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, as well as many other religions.
Given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. It also has a mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot desert in the Middle East, temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in Siberia.
Definition and boundaries
Asia–Africa boundary
The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa.
Asia–Europe boundary
The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on the Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. During the Hellenistic period, this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius, Strabo and Ptolemy.
The border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. The Don River became unsatisfactory to northern Europeans when Peter the Great, king of the Tsardom of Russia, defeating rival claims of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire to the eastern lands, and armed resistance by the tribes of Siberia, synthesized a new Russian Empire extending to the Ural Mountains and beyond, founded in 1721.
In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, although it is sometimes placed further north.
Asia–Oceania boundary
The border between Asia and the region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Indonesia Archipelago. The Maluku Islands are often considered to lie on the border of southeast Asia, with Indonesian New Guinea, to the east of the islands, being wholly part of Oceania. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of the various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process."
Asia–North America boundary
The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America, as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This national and continental boundary separates the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, with Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States. The Aleutian Islands are an island chain extending westward from the Alaskan Peninsula toward Russia's Komandorski Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula. Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost Near Islands group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the North Aleutians Basin and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow the U.S. state of Alaska as well as the United States itself to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their inhabitants, who have historically been related to Indigenous Americans.
St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only .
Ongoing definition
Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks, being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to the cultural borders of its various types of constituents.
From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe, the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of the continent of Asia".
Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass—Afro-Eurasia (except for the Suez Canal)—and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate, adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Chersky Range) on the North American Plate.
Etymology
The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the Bronze Age placename Assuwa () which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia. The term appears in Hittite records recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including Troy unsuccessfully rebelled against the Hittite king Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Roughly contemporary Linear B documents contain the term asiwia (), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area.
Herodotus used the term Ἀσία in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus, but that Lydians say it was named after Asies, son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis. In Greek mythology, "Asia" (Ἀσία) or "Asie" (Ἀσίη) was the name of a "Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia". The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer) mentions two Phrygians in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also a marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as . According to many Muslims, the term came from Ancient Egypt's Queen Asiya, the adoptive mother of Moses.
The term was later adopted by the Romans, who used it in reference to the province of Asia, located in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny.
In languages of the Chinese character cultural sphere words related to the character 亜細亜 Yàxìyà are used. This has been criticized as implying an inferiority of the continent as 亜 means inferior. However it is a mere phonetic representation.
History
The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East (West Asia), linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.
The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.
The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.
The Islamic Caliphate's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its conquests of the 7th century. The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people.
The Black Death, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road.
The Russian Empire began to expand into Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onwards. In the 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty. The Islamic Mughal Empire and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively.
Western European colonisation of Asia coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and the dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies. The British Empire became dominant in South Asia, with large parts of the region first being conquered by British traders before falling under direct British rule; extreme poverty doubled to over 50% during this era. The Middle East was contested and partitioned by the British and French, while Southeast Asia was carved up between the British, Dutch and French. Various Western powers dominated China in what later became known as the "century of humiliation", with the British-supported opium trade and later Opium Wars resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported. Foreign domination of China was furthered by the Empire of Japan, which controlled most of East Asia and much of Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Pacific islands during this era; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the Meiji era of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia.
With the end of World War II in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule. The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for the majority of Indian Muslims, which today has become the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential. East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth "tiger economies", with China regaining its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century. India has grown significantly because of economic liberalisation that started in the 1990s, with extreme poverty now below 20%.
Geography
Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at . Asia is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe. Geographically, Russia is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation, both culturally and politically.
The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze River in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north.
Main regions
There are various approaches to the regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the UN statistics agency UNSD. This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories.
North Asia (Siberia)
Central Asia (The 'stans)
West Asia (The Middle East or Near East and the Caucasus)
South Asia (Indian subcontinent)
East Asia (Far East)
Southeast Asia (East Indies and Indochina)
Climate
Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere, and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan.
Climate change
Climate change is having major impacts on many countries in the continent.
A survey carried out in 2010 by global risk analysis farm Maplecroft identified 16 countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Each nation's vulnerability was calculated using 42 socio, economic and environmental indicators, which identified the likely climate change impacts during the next 30 years. The Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, China and Sri Lanka were among the 16 countries facing extreme risk from climate change. Some shifts are already occurring. For example, in tropical parts of India with a semi-arid climate, the temperature increased by 0.4 °C between 1901 and 2003.
A 2013 study by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) aimed to find science-based, pro-poor approaches and techniques that would enable Asia's agricultural systems to cope with climate change, while benefitting poor and vulnerable farmers. The study's recommendations ranged from improving the use of climate information in local planning and strengthening weather-based agro-advisory services, to stimulating diversification of rural household incomes and providing incentives to farmers to adopt natural resource conservation measures to enhance forest cover, replenish groundwater and use renewable energy.
The ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the world, however, ASEAN's climate mitigation efforts are not commensurate with the climate threats and risks it faces.
Economy
Asia has the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values, and is the fastest growing economic region. , China is by far the largest economy on the continent, making up nearly half of the continent's economy by GDP nominal. It is followed by Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are all ranked amongst the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of the top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul. Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of China and India grew rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very-high-growth nations in Asia include Israel, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.
According to economic historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, India had the world's largest economy during 0 BCE and 1000 BCE. Historically, India was the largest economy in the world for most of the two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output. China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India. For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2027.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/US$. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which are now all considered developed economies, having amongst the highest GDP per capita in Asia.
Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.
According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.
Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe. A particularly significant part of the Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade, is growing rapidly.
In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. Last year Asia had toppled Europe.
Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At the end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people.
Tourism
With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for the first time a city of a country from Asia (Bangkok) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors.
Demographics
East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI improvement since
1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy.
Nepal, a South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago.
Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in the world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed.
Languages
Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.
Religions
Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism respectively. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in the Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah—and later to Christians in the Old Testament, and to Muslims in the Quran—is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required the combined efforts of emperors and divinities to control.
Abrahamic
The Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druze faith, and Baháʼí Faith originated in West Asia.
Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel, the indigenous homeland and historical birthplace of the Hebrew nation: which today consists both of those Jews who remained in the Middle East and those who returned from diaspora in Europe, North America, and other regions; though various diaspora communities persist worldwide. Jews are the predominant ethnic group in Israel (75.6%) numbering at about 6.1 million, although the levels of adherence to Jewish religion vary. Outside of Israel there are small ancient Jewish communities in Turkey (17,400), Azerbaijan (9,100), Iran (8,756), India (5,000) and Uzbekistan (4,000), among many other places. In total, there are 14.4–17.5 million (2016, est.) Jews alive in the world today, making them one of the smallest Asian minorities, at roughly 0.3 to 0.4 percent of the total population of the continent.
Christianity is a widespread religion in Asia with more than 286 million adherents according to Pew Research Center in 2010, and nearly 364 million according to Britannica Book of the Year 2014. Constituting around 12.6% of the total population of Asia. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia and Georgia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. In the Middle East, such as in the Levant, Anatolia and Fars, Syriac Christianity (Church of the East) and Oriental Orthodoxy are prevalent minority denominations, which are both Eastern Christian sects mainly adhered to Assyrian people or Syriac Christians. Vibrant indigenous minorities in West Asia are adhering to the Eastern Catholic Churches and Eastern Orthodoxy. Saint Thomas Christians in India trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. Significant Christian communities also found in Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia.
Islam, which originated in the Hejaz located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, is the second largest and most widely-spread religion in Asia with at least 1 billion Muslims constituting around 23.8% of the total population of Asia. With 12.7% of the world Muslim population, the country currently with the largest Muslim population in the world is Indonesia, followed by Pakistan (11.5%), India (10%), Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey. Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem are the three holiest cities for Islam in all the world. The Hajj and Umrah attract large numbers of Muslim devotees from all over the world to Mecca and Medina. Iran is the largest Shi'a country.
The Druze Faith or Druzism originated in West Asia, is a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of figures like Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad and Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. The number of Druze people worldwide is around one million, with about 45% to 50% live in Syria, 35% to 40% live in Lebanon, and less than 10% live in Israel, with recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.
The Baháʼí Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh. Since the middle of the 20th century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because Baháʼí activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities. Lotus Temple is a big Baháʼí Temple in India.
Indian and East Asian religions
Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of the material world. The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.
, Hinduism has around 1.1 billion adherents. The faith represents around 25% of Asia's population and is the largest religion in Asia. However, it is mostly concentrated in South Asia. Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali, Indonesia. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism.
Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations of Cambodia (96%), Thailand (95%), Burma (80–89%), Japan (36–96%), Bhutan (75–84%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (60–67%) and Mongolia (53–93%). Taiwan (35–93%), South Korea (23–50%), Malaysia (19–21%), Nepal (9–11%), Vietnam (10–75%), China (20–50%), North Korea (2–14%), and small communities in India and Bangladesh. The Communist-governed countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported.
Jainism is found mainly in India and in overseas Indian communities such as the United States and Malaysia. Sikhism is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantly in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. Taoism is found mainly in Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. In many Chinese communities, Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism, thus exact religious statistics are difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.
Modern conflicts
Some of the events pivotal in the Asia territory related to the relationship with the outside world in the post-Second World War were:
The Partition of India
The Chinese Civil War
The Kashmir conflict
The Balochistan Conflict
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in India
The Korean War
The French Indochina War
The Vietnam War
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The 1959 Tibetan uprising
The Sino-Vietnamese War
The Bangladesh Liberation War
The Yom Kippur War
The Xinjiang conflict
The Iranian Revolution
The Soviet–Afghan War
The Iran–Iraq War
The Cambodian Killing Fields
The Insurgency in Laos
The Lebanese Civil War
The Sri Lankan Civil War
The 1988 Maldives coup d'état
The Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Gulf War
The Nepalese Civil War
The Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts
The West Papua conflict
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
The Indonesian occupation of East Timor
The 1999 Pakistani coup d'état
The War in Afghanistan
The Iraq War
The South Thailand insurgency
The 2006 Thai coup d'état
The Burmese Civil War
The Saffron Revolution
The Kurdish–Turkish conflict
The Arab Spring
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict
The Syrian Civil War
The Sino-Indian War
The 2014 Thai coup d'état
The Moro conflict in the Philippines
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
The Turkish invasion of Syria
The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar
The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
The Hong Kong protests
The 2020 China–India skirmishes
The Sino-Indian border dispute
Culture
The culture of Asia is a diverse blend of customs and traditions that have been practiced by the various ethnic groups of the continent for centuries. The continent is divided into six geographic sub-regions: Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Asia. These regions are defined by their cultural similarities, including common religions, languages, and ethnicities. West Asia, also known as Southwest Asia or the Middle East, has cultural roots in the ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia, which gave rise to the Persian, Arab, Ottoman empires, as well as the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These civilizations, which are located in the Hilly flanks, are among the oldest in the world, with evidence of farming dating back to around 9000 BCE. Despite the challenges posed by the vast size of the continent and the presence of natural barriers such as deserts and mountain ranges, trade and commerce have helped to create a Pan-Asian culture that is shared across the region.
Nobel prizes
The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.
Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prize for literature include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1968), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (China, 2000), Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006), and Mo Yan (China, 2012). Some may consider the American writer, Pearl S. Buck, an honorary Asian Nobel laureate, having spent considerable time in China as the daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novels, namely The Good Earth (1931) and The Mother (1933), as well as the biographies of her parents for their time in China, The Exile and Fighting Angel, all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938.
Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi from India and Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".
Sir C.V. Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".
Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13.
Amartya Sen, (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Malala Yousafzai, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yasser Arafat, José Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Abdus Salam and Malala Yousafzai, (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories), Kim (South Korea), and Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).
In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus received his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitute people with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within the specified period and the incidence of default is very low.
The Dalai Lama has received approximately eighty-four awards over his spiritual and political career. On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1989.
Political geography
Within the above-mentioned states are several partially recognized countries with limited to no international recognition. None of them are members of the UN:
See also
References to articles:
Subregions of Asia
Special topics:
Asian Century
Asian cuisine
Asian furniture
Asian Games
Asia-Pacific
Asian Para Games
Asian Monetary Unit
Asian people
Cave temples in Asia
Eastern world
Eurasia
Far East
East Asia
Southeast Asia
South Asia
Central Asia
West Asia
North Asia
Fauna of Asia
Flags of Asia
Middle East
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Levant
Near East
Pan-Asianism
Lists:
List of cities in Asia
List of metropolitan areas in Asia by population
List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
Projects
Asian Highway Network
Trans-Asian Railway
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Embree, Ainslie T., ed. Encyclopedia of Asian history (1988)
vol. 1 online; vol 2 online; vol 3 online; vol 4 online
Higham, Charles. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File library of world history. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
Kamal, Niraj. "Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril". New Delhi: Wordsmith, 2002,
Kapadia, Feroz, and Mandira Mukherjee. Encyclopaedia of Asian Culture and Society. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1999.
Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen, eds. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. (6 vol. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002).
External links
Asia: Human Geography at the National Geographic Society
Asian Reading Room from the United States Library of Congress
Continents |
698 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic%20Ocean | Atlantic Ocean | The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe, and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World.
Through its separation of Europe, Africa, and Asia from the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean has played a central role in the development of human society, globalization, and the histories of many nations. While the Norse were the first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 that proved to be the most consequential. Columbus' expedition ushered in an age of exploration and colonization of the Americas by European powers, most notably Portugal, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. From the 16th to 19th centuries, the Atlantic Ocean was the center of both an eponymous slave trade and the Columbian exchange while occasionally hosting naval battles. Such naval battles, as well as growing trade from regional American powers like the United States and Brazil, both increased in degree during the early 20th century, and while no major military conflicts took place in the Atlantic in the present day, the ocean remains a core component of trade around the world.
The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south (other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica). The Atlantic Ocean is divided in two parts, the Northern and Southern Atlantic, by the Equator.
Toponymy
The oldest known mentions of an "Atlantic" sea come from Stesichorus around mid-sixth century BC (Sch. A. R. 1. 211): (Greek: ; English: 'the Atlantic sea'; etym. 'Sea of Atlas') and in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC (Hdt. 1.202.4): (Greek: ; English: 'Sea of Atlas' or 'the Atlantic sea') where the name refers to "the sea beyond the pillars of Heracles" which is said to be part of the sea that surrounds all land. In these uses, the name refers to Atlas, the Titan in Greek mythology, who supported the heavens and who later appeared as a frontispiece in medieval maps and also lent his name to modern atlases. On the other hand, to early Greek sailors and in ancient Greek mythological literature such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, this all-encompassing ocean was instead known as Oceanus, the gigantic river that encircled the world; in contrast to the enclosed seas well known to the Greeks: the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In contrast, the term "Atlantic" originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of millions of years ago.
The term "Aethiopian Ocean", derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century. During the Age of Discovery, the Atlantic was also known to English cartographers as the Great Western Ocean.
The pond is a term often used by British and American speakers in reference to the Northern Atlantic Ocean, as a form of meiosis, or ironic understatement. It is used mostly when referring to events or circumstances "on this side of the pond" or "on the other side of the pond", rather than to discuss the ocean itself. The term dates to 1640, first appearing in print in pamphlet released during the reign of Charles I, and reproduced in 1869 in Nehemiah Wallington's Historical Notices of Events Occurring Chiefly in The Reign of Charles I, where "great Pond" is used in reference to the Atlantic Ocean by Francis Windebank, Charles I's Secretary of State.
Extent and data
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defined the limits of the oceans and seas in 1953, but some of these definitions have been revised since then and some are not used by various authorities, institutions, and countries, see for example the CIA World Factbook. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas vary.
The Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. To the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe: the Strait of Gibraltar (where it connects with the Mediterranean Seaone of its marginal seasand, in turn, the Black Sea, both of which also touch upon Asia) and Africa.
In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean. The 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean.
The Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs and seas. These include the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Labrador Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, almost all of the Scotia Sea, and other tributary water bodies. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures compared to for the Pacific.
Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of or 23.5% of the global ocean and has a volume of or 23.3% of the total volume of the earth's oceans. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers and has a volume of . The North Atlantic covers (11.5%) and the South Atlantic (11.1%). The average depth is and the maximum depth, the Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench, is .
Biggest seas in Atlantic Ocean
Top large seas:
Sargasso Sea3.5 million km2
Caribbean Sea2.754 million km2
Mediterranean Sea2.510 million km2
Gulf of Guinea2.35 million km2
Gulf of Mexico1.550 million km2
Norwegian Sea1.383 million km2
Hudson Bay1.23 million km2
Greenland Sea1.205 million km2
Argentine Sea1 million km2
Labrador Sea841,000 km2
Irminger Sea780,000 km2
Baffin Bay689,000 km2
North Sea575,000 km2
Black Sea436,000 km2
Baltic Sea377,000 km2
Libyan Sea350,000 km2
Levantine Sea320,000 km2
Celtic Sea300,000 km2
Tyrrhenian Sea275,000 km2
Gulf of Saint Lawrence226,000 km2
Bay of Biscay223,000 km2
Aegean Sea214,000 km2
Ionian Sea169,000 km2
Balearic Sea150,000 km2
Adriatic Sea138,000 km2
Gulf of Bothnia116,300 km2
Sea of Crete95,000 km2
Gulf of Maine93,000 km2
Ligurian Sea80,000 km2
English Channel75,000 km2
James Bay68,300 km2
Bothnian Sea66,000 km2
Gulf of Sidra57,000 km2
Sea of the Hebrides47,000 km2
Irish Sea46,000 km2
Sea of Azov39,000 km2
Bothnian Bay36,800 km2
Gulf of Venezuela17,840 km2
Bay of Campeche16,000 km2
Gulf of Lion15,000 km2
Sea of Marmara11,350 km2
Wadden Sea10,000 km2
Archipelago Sea8,300 km2
Bathymetry
The bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). It runs from 87°N or south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 54°S. Expeditions to explore the bathymertry of the Atlantic include the Challenger expedition and the German Meteor expedition; , Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the United States Navy Hydrographic Office conduct research on the ocean.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above along most of its length, but is interrupted by larger transform faults at two places: the Romanche Trench near the Equator and the Gibbs Fracture Zone at 53°N. The MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other.
The MAR rises above the surrounding ocean floor and its rift valley is the divergent boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates in the North Atlantic and the South American and African plates in the South Atlantic. The MAR produces basaltic volcanoes in Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, and pillow lava on the ocean floor. The depth of water at the apex of the ridge is less than in most places, while the bottom of the ridge is three times as deep.
The MAR is intersected by two perpendicular ridges: the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault, the boundary between the Nubian and Eurasian plates, intersects the MAR at the Azores Triple Junction, on either side of the Azores microplate, near the 40°N. A much vaguer, nameless boundary, between the North American and South American plates, intersects the MAR near or just north of the Fifteen-Twenty Fracture Zone, approximately at 16°N.
In the 1870s, the Challenger expedition discovered parts of what is now known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or:
The remainder of the ridge was discovered in the 1920s by the German Meteor expedition using echo-sounding equipment. The exploration of the MAR in the 1950s led to the general acceptance of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.
Most of the MAR runs under water but where it reaches the surfaces it has produced volcanic islands. While nine of these have collectively been nominated a World Heritage Site for their geological value, four of them are considered of "Outstanding Universal Value" based on their cultural and natural criteria: Þingvellir, Iceland; Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture, Portugal; Gough and Inaccessible Islands, United Kingdom; and Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves, Brazil.
Ocean floor
Continental shelves in the Atlantic are wide off Newfoundland, southernmost South America, and north-eastern Europe.
In the western Atlantic carbonate platforms dominate large areas, for example, the Blake Plateau and Bermuda Rise.
The Atlantic is surrounded by passive margins except at a few locations where active margins form deep trenches: the Puerto Rico Trench ( maximum depth) in the western Atlantic and South Sandwich Trench () in the South Atlantic. There are numerous submarine canyons off north-eastern North America, western Europe, and north-western Africa. Some of these canyons extend along the continental rises and farther into the abyssal plains as deep-sea channels.
In 1922, a historic moment in cartography and oceanography occurred. The USS Stewart used a Navy Sonic Depth Finder to draw a continuous map across the bed of the Atlantic. This involved little guesswork because the idea of sonar is straightforward with pulses being sent from the vessel, which bounce off the ocean floor, then return to the vessel. The deep ocean floor is thought to be fairly flat with occasional deeps, abyssal plains, trenches, seamounts, basins, plateaus, canyons, and some guyots. Various shelves along the margins of the continents constitute about 11% of the bottom topography with few deep channels cut across the continental rise.
The mean depth between 60°N and 60°S is , or close to the average for the global ocean, with a modal depth between .
In the South Atlantic the Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise form barriers to ocean currents.
The Laurentian Abyss is found off the eastern coast of Canada.
Water characteristics
Surface water temperatures, which vary with latitude, current systems, and season and reflect the latitudinal distribution of solar energy, range from below to over . Maximum temperatures occur north of the equator, and minimum values are found in the polar regions. In the middle latitudes, the area of maximum temperature variations, values may vary by .
From October to June the surface is usually covered with sea ice in the Labrador Sea, Denmark Strait, and Baltic Sea.
The Coriolis effect circulates North Atlantic water in a clockwise direction, whereas South Atlantic water circulates counter-clockwise. The south tides in the Atlantic Ocean are semi-diurnal; that is, two high tides occur every 24 lunar hours. In latitudes above 40° North some east–west oscillation, known as the North Atlantic oscillation, occurs.
Salinity
On average, the Atlantic is the saltiest major ocean; surface water salinity in the open ocean ranges from 33 to 37 parts per thousand (3.3–3.7%) by mass and varies with latitude and season. Evaporation, precipitation, river inflow and sea ice melting influence surface salinity values. Although the lowest salinity values are just north of the equator (because of heavy tropical rainfall), in general, the lowest values are in the high latitudes and along coasts where large rivers enter. Maximum salinity values occur at about 25° north and south, in subtropical regions with low rainfall and high evaporation.
The high surface salinity in the Atlantic, on which the Atlantic thermohaline circulation is dependent, is maintained by two processes: the Agulhas Leakage/Rings, which brings salty Indian Ocean waters into the South Atlantic, and the "Atmospheric Bridge", which evaporates subtropical Atlantic waters and exports it to the Pacific.
Water masses
The Atlantic Ocean consists of four major, upper water masses with distinct temperature and salinity. The Atlantic Subarctic Upper Water in the northernmost North Atlantic is the source for Subarctic Intermediate Water and North Atlantic Intermediate Water. North Atlantic Central Water can be divided into the Eastern and Western North Atlantic central Water since the western part is strongly affected by the Gulf Stream and therefore the upper layer is closer to underlying fresher subpolar intermediate water. The eastern water is saltier because of its proximity to Mediterranean Water. North Atlantic Central Water flows into South Atlantic Central Water at 15°N.
There are five intermediate waters: four low-salinity waters formed at subpolar latitudes and one high-salinity formed through evaporation. Arctic Intermediate Water, flows from north to become the source for North Atlantic Deep Water south of the Greenland-Scotland sill. These two intermediate waters have different salinity in the western and eastern basins. The wide range of salinities in the North Atlantic is caused by the asymmetry of the northern subtropical gyre and the large number of contributions from a wide range of sources: Labrador Sea, Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Mediterranean, and South Atlantic Intermediate Water.
The North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is a complex of four water masses, two that form by deep convection in the open oceanClassical and Upper Labrador Sea Waterand two that form from the inflow of dense water across the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland sillDenmark Strait and Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water. Along its path across Earth the composition of the NADW is affected by other water masses, especially Antarctic Bottom Water and Mediterranean Overflow Water.
The NADW is fed by a flow of warm shallow water into the northern North Atlantic which is responsible for the anomalous warm climate in Europe. Changes in the formation of NADW have been linked to global climate changes in the past. Since human-made substances were introduced into the environment, the path of the NADW can be traced throughout its course by measuring tritium and radiocarbon from nuclear weapon tests in the 1960s and CFCs.
Gyres
The clockwise warm-water North Atlantic Gyre occupies the northern Atlantic, and the counter-clockwise warm-water South Atlantic Gyre appears in the southern Atlantic.
In the North Atlantic, surface circulation is dominated by three inter-connected currents: the Gulf Stream which flows north-east from the North American coast at Cape Hatteras; the North Atlantic Current, a branch of the Gulf Stream which flows northward from the Grand Banks; and the Subpolar Front, an extension of the North Atlantic Current, a wide, vaguely defined region separating the subtropical gyre from the subpolar gyre. This system of currents transport warm water into the North Atlantic, without which temperatures in the North Atlantic and Europe would plunge dramatically.
North of the North Atlantic Gyre, the cyclonic North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre plays a key role in climate variability. It is governed by ocean currents from marginal seas and regional topography, rather than being steered by wind, both in the deep ocean and at sea level.
The subpolar gyre forms an important part of the global thermohaline circulation. Its eastern portion includes eddying branches of the North Atlantic Current which transport warm, saline waters from the subtropics to the north-eastern Atlantic. There this water is cooled during winter and forms return currents that merge along the eastern continental slope of Greenland where they form an intense (40–50 Sv) current which flows around the continental margins of the Labrador Sea. A third of this water becomes part of the deep portion of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The NADW, in its turn, feeds the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), the northward heat transport of which is threatened by anthropogenic climate change. Large variations in the subpolar gyre on a decade-century scale, associated with the North Atlantic oscillation, are especially pronounced in Labrador Sea Water, the upper layers of the MOC.
The South Atlantic is dominated by the anti-cyclonic southern subtropical gyre. The South Atlantic Central Water originates in this gyre, while Antarctic Intermediate Water originates in the upper layers of the circumpolar region, near the Drake Passage and the Falkland Islands. Both these currents receive some contribution from the Indian Ocean. On the African east coast, the small cyclonic Angola Gyre lies embedded in the large subtropical gyre.
The southern subtropical gyre is partly masked by a wind-induced Ekman layer. The residence time of the gyre is 4.4–8.5 years. North Atlantic Deep Water flows southward below the thermocline of the subtropical gyre.
Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic can be defined as the area where two species of Sargassum (S. fluitans and natans) float, an area wide and encircled by the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Drift, and North Equatorial Current. This population of seaweed probably originated from Tertiary ancestors on the European shores of the former Tethys Ocean and has, if so, maintained itself by vegetative growth, floating in the ocean for millions of years.
Other species endemic to the Sargasso Sea include the sargassum fish, a predator with algae-like appendages which hovers motionless among the Sargassum. Fossils of similar fishes have been found in fossil bays of the former Tethys Ocean, in what is now the Carpathian region, that were similar to the Sargasso Sea. It is possible that the population in the Sargasso Sea migrated to the Atlantic as the Tethys closed at the end of the Miocene around 17 Ma. The origin of the Sargasso fauna and flora remained enigmatic for centuries. The fossils found in the Carpathians in the mid-20th century often called the "quasi-Sargasso assemblage", finally showed that this assemblage originated in the Carpathian Basin from where it migrated over Sicily to the Central Atlantic where it evolved into modern species of the Sargasso Sea.
The location of the spawning ground for European eels remained unknown for decades. In the early 19th century it was discovered that the southern Sargasso Sea is the spawning ground for both the European and American eel and that the former migrate more than and the latter . Ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream transport eel larvae from the Sargasso Sea to foraging areas in North America, Europe, and Northern Africa. Recent but disputed research suggests that eels possibly use Earth's magnetic field to navigate through the ocean both as larvae and as adults.
Climate
Climate is influenced by the temperatures of the surface waters and water currents as well as winds. Because of the ocean's great capacity to store and release heat, maritime climates are more moderate and have less extreme seasonal variations than inland climates. Precipitation can be approximated from coastal weather data and air temperature from water temperatures.
The oceans are the major source of the atmospheric moisture that is obtained through evaporation. Climatic zones vary with latitude; the warmest zones stretch across the Atlantic north of the equator. The coldest zones are in high latitudes, with the coldest regions corresponding to the areas covered by sea ice. Ocean currents influence the climate by transporting warm and cold waters to other regions. The winds that are cooled or warmed when blowing over these currents influence adjacent land areas.
The Gulf Stream and its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift is thought to have at least some influence on climate. For example, the Gulf Stream helps moderate winter temperatures along the coastline of southeastern North America, keeping it warmer in winter along the coast than inland areas. The Gulf Stream also keeps extreme temperatures from occurring on the Florida Peninsula. In the higher latitudes, the North Atlantic Drift, warms the atmosphere over the oceans, keeping the British Isles and north-western Europe mild and cloudy, and not severely cold in winter, like other locations at the same high latitude. The cold water currents contribute to heavy fog off the coast of eastern Canada (the Grand Banks of Newfoundland area) and Africa's north-western coast. In general, winds transport moisture and air over land areas.
Natural hazards
Every winter, the Icelandic Low produces frequent storms. Icebergs are common from early February to the end of July across the shipping lanes near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The ice season is longer in the polar regions, but there is little shipping in those areas.
Hurricanes are a hazard in the western parts of the North Atlantic during the summer and autumn. Due to a consistently strong wind shear and a weak Intertropical Convergence Zone, South Atlantic tropical cyclones are rare.
Geology and plate tectonics
The Atlantic Ocean is underlain mostly by dense mafic oceanic crust made up of basalt and gabbro and overlain by fine clay, silt and siliceous ooze on the abyssal plain. The continental margins and continental shelf mark lower density, but greater thickness felsic continental rock that is often much older than that of the seafloor. The oldest oceanic crust in the Atlantic is up to 145 million years and situated off the west coast of Africa and east coast of North America, or on either side of the South Atlantic.
In many places, the continental shelf and continental slope are covered in thick sedimentary layers. For instance, on the North American side of the ocean, large carbonate deposits formed in warm shallow waters such as Florida and the Bahamas, while coarse river outwash sands and silt are common in shallow shelf areas like the Georges Bank. Coarse sand, boulders, and rocks were transported into some areas, such as off the coast of Nova Scotia or the Gulf of Maine during the Pleistocene ice ages.
Central Atlantic
The break-up of Pangaea began in the Central Atlantic, between North America and Northwest Africa, where rift basins opened during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. This period also saw the first stages of the uplift of the Atlas Mountains. The exact timing is controversial with estimates ranging from 200 to 170 Ma.
The opening of the Atlantic Ocean coincided with the initial break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea, both of which were initiated by the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), one of the most extensive and voluminous large igneous provinces in Earth's history associated with the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, one of Earth's major extinction events.
Theoliitic dikes, sills, and lava flows from the CAMP eruption at 200 Ma have been found in West Africa, eastern North America, and northern South America. The extent of the volcanism has been estimated to of which covered what is now northern and central Brazil.
The formation of the Central American Isthmus closed the Central American Seaway at the end of the Pliocene 2.8 Ma ago. The formation of the isthmus resulted in the migration and extinction of many land-living animals, known as the Great American Interchange, but the closure of the seaway resulted in a "Great American Schism" as it affected ocean currents, salinity, and temperatures in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Marine organisms on both sides of the isthmus became isolated and either diverged or went extinct.
North Atlantic
Geologically, the Northern Atlantic is the area delimited to the south by two conjugate margins, Newfoundland and Iberia, and to the north by the Arctic Eurasian Basin. The opening of the Northern Atlantic closely followed the margins of its predecessor, the Iapetus Ocean, and spread from the Central Atlantic in six stages: Iberia–Newfoundland, Porcupine–North America, Eurasia–Greenland, Eurasia–North America. Active and inactive spreading systems in this area are marked by the interaction with the Iceland hotspot.
Seafloor spreading led to the extension of the crust and formations of troughs and sedimentary basins. The Rockall Trough opened between 105 and 84 million years ago although along the rift failed along with one leading into the Bay of Biscay.
Spreading began opening the Labrador Sea around 61 million years ago, continuing until 36 million years ago. Geologists distinguish two magmatic phases. One from 62 to 58 million years ago predates the separation of Greenland from northern Europe while the second from 56 to 52 million years ago happened as the separation occurred.
Iceland began to form 62 million years ago due to a particularly concentrated mantle plume. Large quantities of basalt erupted at this time period are found on Baffin Island, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Scotland, with ash falls in Western Europe acting as a stratigraphic marker. The opening of the North Atlantic caused significant uplift of continental crust along the coast. For instance, in spite of 7 km thick basalt, Gunnbjorn Field in East Greenland is the highest point on the island, elevated enough that it exposes older Mesozoic sedimentary rocks at its base, similar to old lava fields above sedimentary rocks in the uplifted Hebrides of western Scotland.
The North Atlantic Ocean contains about 810 seamounts, most of them situated along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The OSPAR database (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) mentions 104 seamounts: 74 within the national Exclusive economic zone. Of these seamounts, 46 are located close to the Iberian Peninsula.
South Atlantic
West Gondwana (South America and Africa) broke up in the Early Cretaceous to form the South Atlantic. The apparent fit between the coastlines of the two continents was noted on the first maps that included the South Atlantic and it was also the subject of the first computer-assisted plate tectonic reconstructions in 1965. This magnificent fit, however, has since then proven problematic and later reconstructions have introduced various deformation zones along the shorelines to accommodate the northward-propagating break-up. Intra-continental rifts and deformations have also been introduced to subdivide both continental plates into sub-plates.
Geologically the South Atlantic can be divided into four segments: Equatorial segment, from 10°N to the Romanche Fracture Zone (RFZ); Central segment, from RFZ to Florianopolis Fracture Zone (FFZ, north of Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise); Southern segment, from FFZ to the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone (AFFZ); and Falkland segment, south of AFFZ.
In the southern segment the Early Cretaceous (133–130 Ma) intensive magmatism of the Paraná–Etendeka Large Igneous Province produced by the Tristan hotspot resulted in an estimated volume of . It covered an area of in Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay and in Africa. Dyke swarms in Brazil, Angola, eastern Paraguay, and Namibia, however, suggest the LIP originally covered a much larger area and also indicate failed rifts in all these areas. Associated offshore basaltic flows reach as far south as the Falkland Islands and South Africa. Traces of magmatism in both offshore and onshore basins in the central and southern segments have been dated to 147–49 Ma with two peaks between 143 and 121 Ma and 90–60 Ma.
In the Falkland segment rifting began with dextral movements between the Patagonia and Colorado sub-plates between the Early Jurassic (190 Ma) and the Early Cretaceous (126.7 Ma). Around 150 Ma sea-floor spreading propagated northward into the southern segment. No later than 130 Ma rifting had reached the Walvis Ridge–Rio Grande Rise.
In the central segment rifting started to break Africa in two by opening the Benue Trough around 118 Ma. Rifting in the central segment, however, coincided with the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (also known as the Cretaceous quiet period), a 40 Ma period without magnetic reversals, which makes it difficult to date sea-floor spreading in this segment.
The equatorial segment is the last phase of the break-up, but, because it is located on the Equator, magnetic anomalies cannot be used for dating. Various estimates date the propagation of seafloor spreading in this segment and consequent opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway (EAG) to the period 120–96 Ma. This final stage, nevertheless, coincided with or resulted in the end of continental extension in Africa.
About 50 Ma the opening of the Drake Passage resulted from a change in the motions and separation rate of the South American and Antarctic plates. First, small ocean basins opened and a shallow gateway appeared during the Middle Eocene. 34–30 Ma a deeper seaway developed, followed by an Eocene–Oligocene climatic deterioration and the growth of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Closure of the Atlantic
An embryonic subduction margin is potentially developing west of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Arc in the western Mediterranean is migrating westward into the Central Atlantic where it joins the converging African and Eurasian plates. Together these three tectonic forces are slowly developing into a new subduction system in the eastern Atlantic Basin. Meanwhile, the Scotia Arc and Caribbean Plate in the western Atlantic Basin are eastward-propagating subduction systems that might, together with the Gibraltar system, represent the beginning of the closure of the Atlantic Ocean and the final stage of the Atlantic Wilson cycle.
History
Human origin
Humans evolved in Africa; around 7 mya; then developing stone tools around 2.6 mya; to finally evolve as modern humans around 200 kya. The earliest evidence for the complex behavior associated with this behavioral modernity has been found in the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) along the coast of South Africa. During the latest glacial stages, the now-submerged plains of the Agulhas Bank were exposed above sea level, extending the South African coastline farther south by hundreds of kilometers. A small population of modern humansprobably fewer than a thousand reproducing individualssurvived glacial maxima by exploring the high diversity offered by these Palaeo-Agulhas plains. The GCFR is delimited to the north by the Cape Fold Belt and the limited space south of it resulted in the development of social networks out of which complex Stone Age technologies emerged. Human history thus begins on the coasts of South Africa where the Atlantic Benguela Upwelling and Indian Ocean Agulhas Current meet to produce an intertidal zone on which shellfish, fur seal, fish and sea birds provided the necessary protein sources.
The African origin of this modern behaviour is evidenced by 70,000 years-old engravings from Blombos Cave, South Africa.
Old World
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies indicate that 80–60,000 years ago a major demographic expansion within Africa, derived from a single, small population, coincided with the emergence of behavioral complexity and the rapid MIS 5–4 environmental changes. This group of people not only expanded over the whole of Africa, but also started to disperse out of Africa into Asia, Europe, and Australasia around 65,000 years ago and quickly replaced the archaic humans in these regions. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) 20,000 years ago humans had to abandon their initial settlements along the European North Atlantic coast and retreat to the Mediterranean. Following rapid climate changes at the end of the LGM this region was repopulated by Magdalenian culture. Other hunter-gatherers followed in waves interrupted by large-scale hazards such as the Laacher See volcanic eruption, the inundation of Doggerland (now the North Sea), and the formation of the Baltic Sea. The European coasts of the North Atlantic were permanently populated about 9–8.5 thousand years ago.
This human dispersal left abundant traces along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. 50 kya-old, deeply stratified shell middens found in Ysterfontein on the western coast of South Africa are associated with the Middle Stone Age (MSA). The MSA population was small and dispersed and the rate of their reproduction and exploitation was less intense than those of later generations. While their middens resemble 12–11 kya-old Late Stone Age (LSA) middens found on every inhabited continent, the 50–45 kya-old Enkapune Ya Muto in Kenya probably represents the oldest traces of the first modern humans to disperse out of Africa.
The same development can be seen in Europe. In La Riera Cave (23–13 kya) in Asturias, Spain, only some 26,600 molluscs were deposited over 10 kya. In contrast, 8–7 kya-old shell middens in Portugal, Denmark, and Brazil generated thousands of tons of debris and artefacts. The Ertebølle middens in Denmark, for example, accumulated of shell deposits representing some 50 million molluscs over only a thousand years. This intensification in the exploitation of marine resources has been described as accompanied by new technologiessuch as boats, harpoons, and fish-hooksbecause many caves found in the Mediterranean and on the European Atlantic coast have increased quantities of marine shells in their upper levels and reduced quantities in their lower. The earliest exploitation, however, took place on the now submerged shelves, and most settlements now excavated were then located several kilometers from these shelves. The reduced quantities of shells in the lower levels can represent the few shells that were exported inland.
New World
During the LGM the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of northern North America while Beringia connected Siberia to Alaska. In 1973, late American geoscientist Paul S. Martin proposed a "blitzkrieg" colonization of the Americas by which Clovis hunters migrated into North America around 13,000 years ago in a single wave through an ice-free corridor in the ice sheet and "spread southward explosively, briefly attaining a density sufficiently large to overkill much of their prey." Others later proposed a "three-wave" migration over the Bering Land Bridge. These hypotheses remained the long-held view regarding the settlement of the Americas, a view challenged by more recent archaeological discoveries: the oldest archaeological sites in the Americas have been found in South America; sites in north-east Siberia report virtually no human presence there during the LGM; and most Clovis artefacts have been found in eastern North America along the Atlantic coast. Furthermore, colonisation models based on mtDNA, yDNA, and atDNA data respectively support neither the "blitzkrieg" nor the "three-wave" hypotheses but they also deliver mutually ambiguous results. Contradictory data from archaeology and genetics will most likely deliver future hypotheses that will, eventually, confirm each other. A proposed route across the Pacific to South America could explain early South American finds and another hypothesis proposes a northern path, through the Canadian Arctic and down the North American Atlantic coast.
Early settlements across the Atlantic have been suggested by alternative theories, ranging from purely hypothetical to mostly disputed, including the Solutrean hypothesis and some of the Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories.
The Norse settlement of the Faroe Islands and Iceland began during the 9th and 10th centuries. A settlement on Greenland was established before 1000 CE, but contact with it was lost in 1409 and it was finally abandoned during the early Little Ice Age. This setback was caused by a range of factors: an unsustainable economy resulted in erosion and denudation, while conflicts with the local Inuit resulted in the failure to adapt their Arctic technologies; a colder climate resulted in starvation, and the colony got economically marginalized as the Great Plague harvested its victims on Iceland in the 15th century.
Iceland was initially settled 865–930 CE following a warm period when winter temperatures hovered around which made farming favorable at high latitudes. This did not last, however, and temperatures quickly dropped; at 1080 CE summer temperatures had reached a maximum of . The (Book of Settlement) records disastrous famines during the first century of settlement"men ate foxes and ravens" and "the old and helpless were killed and thrown over cliffs"and by the early 1200s hay had to be abandoned for short-season crops such as barley.
Atlantic World
Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 under Spanish flag. Six years later Vasco da Gama reached India under the Portuguese flag, by navigating south around the Cape of Good Hope, thus proving that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are connected. In 1500, in his voyage to India following Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Brazil, taken by the currents of the South Atlantic Gyre. Following these explorations, Spain and Portugal quickly conquered and colonized large territories in the New World and forced the Amerindian population into slavery in order to exploit the vast quantities of silver and gold they found. Spain and Portugal monopolized this trade in order to keep other European nations out, but conflicting interests nevertheless led to a series of Spanish-Portuguese wars. A peace treaty mediated by the Pope divided the conquered territories into Spanish and Portuguese sectors while keeping other colonial powers away. England, France, and the Dutch Republic enviously watched the Spanish and Portuguese wealth grow and allied themselves with pirates such as Henry Mainwaring and Alexandre Exquemelin. They could explore the convoys leaving the Americas because prevailing winds and currents made the transport of heavy metals slow and predictable.
In the colonies of the Americas, depredation, smallpox and others diseases, and slavery quickly reduced the indigenous population of the Americas to the extent that the Atlantic slave trade had to be introduced to replace thema trade that became the norm and an integral part of the colonization. Between the 15th century and 1888, when Brazil became the last part of the Americas to end the slave trade, an estimated ten million Africans were exported as slaves, most of them destined for agricultural labour. The slave trade was officially abolished in the British Empire and the United States in 1808, and slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire in 1838 and in the United States in 1865 after the Civil War.
From Columbus to the Industrial Revolution Trans-Atlantic trade, including colonialism and slavery, became crucial for Western Europe. For European countries with direct access to the Atlantic (including Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain) 1500–1800 was a period of sustained growth during which these countries grew richer than those in Eastern Europe and Asia. Colonialism evolved as part of the Trans-Atlantic trade, but this trade also strengthened the position of merchant groups at the expense of monarchs. Growth was more rapid in non-absolutist countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands, and more limited in absolutist monarchies, such as Portugal, Spain, and France, where profit mostly or exclusively benefited the monarchy and its allies.
Trans-Atlantic trade also resulted in increasing urbanization: in European countries facing the Atlantic, urbanization grew from 8% in 1300, 10.1% in 1500, to 24.5% in 1850; in other European countries from 10% in 1300, 11.4% in 1500, to 17% in 1850. Likewise, GDP doubled in Atlantic countries but rose by only 30% in the rest of Europe. By end of the 17th century, the volume of the Trans-Atlantic trade had surpassed that of the Mediterranean trade.
Economy
The Atlantic has contributed significantly to the development and economy of surrounding countries. Besides major transatlantic transportation and communication routes, the Atlantic offers abundant petroleum deposits in the sedimentary rocks of the continental shelves.
The Atlantic harbors petroleum and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, and precious stones.
Gold deposits are a mile or two under water on the ocean floor, however, the deposits are also encased in rock that must be mined through. Currently, there is no cost-effective way to mine or extract gold from the ocean to make a profit.
Various international treaties attempt to reduce pollution caused by environmental threats such as oil spills, marine debris, and the incineration of toxic wastes at sea.
Fisheries
The shelves of the Atlantic hosts one of the world's richest fishing resources. The most productive areas include the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the Scotian Shelf, Georges Bank off Cape Cod, the Bahama Banks, the waters around Iceland, the Irish Sea, the Bay of Fundy, the Dogger Bank of the North Sea, and the Falkland Banks.
Fisheries have, however, undergone significant changes since the 1950s and global catches can now be divided into three groups of which only two are observed in the Atlantic: fisheries in the Eastern Central and South-West Atlantic oscillate around a globally stable value, the rest of the Atlantic is in overall decline following historical peaks. The third group, "continuously increasing trend since 1950", is only found in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.
UN FAO partitioned Atlantic in major fishing areas:
North-East Atlantic
North-East Atlantic is schematically limited to the 40°00' west longitude (except around Greenland), south to the 36°00' north latitude, and to the 68°30' east longitude, with both the west and east longitude limits reaching to the north pole. The Atlantic's subareas include: Barents Sea; Norwegian Sea, Spitzbergen, and Bear Island; Skagerrak, Kattegat, Sound, Belt Sea, and Baltic Sea; North Sea; Iceland and Faroes Grounds; Rockall, Northwest Coast of Scotland, and North Ireland; Irish Sea, West of Ireland, Porcupine Bank, and Eastern and Western English Channel; Bay of Biscay; Portuguese Waters; Azores Grounds and Northeast Atlantic South; North of Azores; and East Greenland. There are also two defunct subareas.
In the North-East Atlantic total catches decreased between the mid-1970s and the 1990s and reached 8.7 million tons in 2013. Blue whiting reached a 2.4 million tons peak in 2004 but was down to 628,000 tons in 2013. Recovery plans for cod, sole, and plaice have reduced mortality in these species. Arctic cod reached its lowest levels in the 1960s–1980s but is now recovered. Arctic saithe and haddock are considered fully fished; Sand eel is overfished as was capelin which has now recovered to fully fished. Limited data makes the state of redfishes and deep-water species difficult to assess but most likely they remain vulnerable to overfishing. Stocks of northern shrimp and Norwegian lobster are in good condition. In the North-East Atlantic 21% of stocks are considered overfished.
This zone makes almost three quarters (72.8 %) of European Union fishing catches in 2020. Main fishing EU countries are Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Spain. Most common species include herring, mackerel and sprats.
North-West Atlantic In the North-West Atlantic landings have decreased from 4.2 million tons in the early 1970s to 1.9 million tons in 2013. During the 21st century some species have shown weak signs of recovery, including Greenland halibut, yellowtail flounder, Atlantic halibut, haddock, spiny dogfish, while other stocks shown no such signs, including cod, witch flounder, and redfish. Stocks of invertebrates, in contrast, remain at record levels of abundance. 31% of stocks are overfished in the North-west Atlantic.
In 1497, John Cabot became the first Western European since the Vikings to explore mainland North America and one of his major discoveries was the abundant resources of Atlantic cod off Newfoundland. Referred to as "Newfoundland Currency" this discovery yielded some 200 million tons of fish over five centuries. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries new fisheries started to exploit haddock, mackerel, and lobster. From the 1950s to the 1970s the introduction of European and Asian distant-water fleets in the area dramatically increased the fishing capacity and the number of exploited species. It also expanded the exploited areas from near-shore to the open sea and to great depths to include deep-water species such as redfish, Greenland halibut, witch flounder, and grenadiers. Overfishing in the area was recognised as early as the 1960s but, because this was occurring on international waters, it took until the late 1970s before any attempts to regulate was made. In the early 1990s, this finally resulted in the collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery. The population of a number of deep-sea fishes also collapsed in the process, including American plaice, redfish, and Greenland halibut, together with flounder and grenadier.
Eastern Central Atlantic In the Eastern Central Atlantic small pelagic fishes constitute about 50% of landings with sardine reaching 0.6–1.0 million tons per year. Pelagic fish stocks are considered fully fished or overfished, with sardines south of Cape Bojador the notable exception. Almost half of the stocks are fished at biologically unsustainable levels. Total catches have been fluctuating since the 1970s; reaching 3.9 million tons in 2013 or slightly less than the peak production in 2010.
Western Central Atlantic In the Western Central Atlantic, catches have been decreasing since 2000 and reached 1.3 million tons in 2013. The most important species in the area, Gulf menhaden, reached a million tons in the mid-1980s but only half a million tons in 2013 and is now considered fully fished. Round sardinella was an important species in the 1990s but is now considered overfished. Groupers and snappers are overfished and northern brown shrimp and American cupped oyster are considered fully fished approaching overfished. 44% of stocks are being fished at unsustainable levels.
South-East Atlantic In the South-East Atlantic catches have decreased from 3.3 million tons in the early 1970s to 1.3 million tons in 2013. Horse mackerel and hake are the most important species, together representing almost half of the landings. Off South Africa and Namibia deep-water hake and shallow-water Cape hake have recovered to sustainable levels since regulations were introduced in 2006 and the states of Southern African pilchard and anchovy have improved to fully fished in 2013.
South-West Atlantic In the South-West Atlantic, a peak was reached in the mid-1980s and catches now fluctuate between 1.7 and 2.6 million tons. The most important species, the Argentine shortfin squid, which reached half a million tons in 2013 or half the peak value, is considered fully fished to overfished. Another important species was the Brazilian sardinella, with a production of 100,000 tons in 2013 it is now considered overfished. Half the stocks in this area are being fished at unsustainable levels: Whitehead's round herring has not yet reached fully fished but Cunene horse mackerel is overfished. The sea snail perlemoen abalone is targeted by illegal fishing and remain overfished.
Environmental issues
Endangered species
Endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales. Drift net fishing can kill dolphins, albatrosses and other seabirds (petrels, auks), hastening the fish stock decline and contributing to international disputes.
Waste and pollution
Marine pollution is a generic term for the entry into the ocean of potentially hazardous chemicals or particles. The biggest culprits are rivers and with them many agriculture fertilizer chemicals as well as livestock and human waste. The excess of oxygen-depleting chemicals leads to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone.
Marine debris, which is also known as marine litter, describes human-created waste floating in a body of water. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach litter. The North Atlantic garbage patch is estimated to be hundreds of kilometers across in size.
Other pollution concerns include agricultural and municipal waste. Municipal pollution comes from the eastern United States, southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; and industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea.
A USAF C-124 aircraft from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware was carrying three nuclear bombs over the Atlantic Ocean when it experienced a loss of power. For their own safety, the crew jettisoned two nuclear bombs, which were never recovered.
Climate change
North Atlantic hurricane activity has increased over past decades because of increased sea surface temperature (SST) at tropical latitudes, changes that can be attributed to either the natural Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) or to anthropogenic climate change.
A 2005 report indicated that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) slowed down by 30% between 1957 and 2004. If the AMO were responsible for SST variability, the AMOC would have increased in strength, which is apparently not the case. Furthermore, it is clear from statistical analyses of annual tropical cyclones that these changes do not display multidecadal cyclicity. Therefore, these changes in SST must be caused by human activities.
The ocean mixed layer plays an important role in heat storage over seasonal and decadal time-scales, whereas deeper layers are affected over millennia and have a heat capacity about 50 times that of the mixed layer. This heat uptake provides a time-lag for climate change but it also results in thermal expansion of the oceans which contributes to sea level rise. 21st-century global warming will probably result in an equilibrium sea-level rise five times greater than today, whilst melting of glaciers, including that of the Greenland ice-sheet, expected to have virtually no effect during the 21st century, will probably result in a sea-level rise of 3–6 m over a millennium.
See also
List of countries and territories bordering the Atlantic Ocean
Seven Seas
Gulf Stream shutdown
Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic hurricanes
Atlantic history
Piracy in the Atlantic World
Transatlantic crossing
South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone
Atlantic Revolutions
Natural delimitation between the Pacific and South Atlantic oceans by the Scotia Arc
References
Sources
map
Further reading
External links
Atlantic Ocean. Cartage.org.lb (archived)
"Map of Atlantic Coast of North America from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida" from 1639 via the Library of Congress
Oceans
Articles containing video clips
Oceans surrounding Antarctica |
791 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid | Asteroid | An asteroid is a minor planet—an object that is neither a true planet nor a comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System. They are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter.
Of the roughly one million known asteroids the greatest number are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, approximately 2 to 4 AU from the Sun, in the main asteroid belt. Asteroids are generally classified to be of three types: C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are generally identified with carbonaceous, metallic, and silicaceous compositions, respectively. The size of asteroids varies greatly; the largest, Ceres, is almost across and qualifies as a dwarf planet. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is only 3% that of Earth's Moon. The majority of main belt asteroids follow slightly elliptical, stable orbits, revolving in the same direction as the Earth and taking from three to six years to complete a full circuit of the Sun.
Asteroids have been historically observed from Earth; the Galileo spacecraft provided the first close observation of an asteroid. Several dedicated missions to asteroids were subsequently launched by NASA and JAXA, with plans for other missions in progress. NASA's NEAR Shoemaker studied Eros, and Dawn observed Vesta and Ceres. JAXA's missions Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 studied and returned samples of Itokawa and Ryugu, respectively. OSIRIS-REx studied Bennu, collecting a sample in 2020 which was delivered back to Earth in 2023. NASA's Lucy, launched in 2021, will study ten different asteroids, two from the main belt and eight Jupiter trojans. Psyche, launched in October 2023, will study a metallic asteroid of the same name.
Near-Earth asteroids can threaten all life on the planet; an asteroid impact event resulted in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Different asteroid deflection strategies have been proposed; the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, was launched in 2021 and intentionally impacted Dimorphos in September 2022, successfully altering its orbit by crashing into it.
History of observations
Only one asteroid, 4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the naked eye. When favorably positioned, 4 Vesta can be seen in dark skies. Rarely, small asteroids passing close to Earth may be visible to the naked eye for a short amount of time. , the Minor Planet Center had data on 1,199,224 minor planets in the inner and outer Solar System, of which about 614,690 had enough information to be given numbered designations.
Discovery of Ceres
In 1772, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, citing Johann Daniel Titius, published a numerical procession known as the Titius–Bode law (now discredited). Except for an unexplained gap between Mars and Jupiter, Bode's formula seemed to predict the orbits of the known planets. He wrote the following explanation for the existence of a "missing planet":
This latter point seems in particular to follow from the astonishing relation which the known six planets observe in their distances from the Sun. Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun. Venus is 4 + 3 = 7. The Earth 4 + 6 = 10. Mars 4 + 12 = 16. Now comes a gap in this so orderly progression. After Mars there follows a space of 4 + 24 = 28 parts, in which no planet has yet been seen. Can one believe that the Founder of the universe had left this space empty? Certainly not. From here we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4 + 48 = 52 parts, and finally to that of Saturn by 4 + 96 = 100 parts.
Bode's formula predicted another planet would be found with an orbital radius near 2.8 astronomical units (AU), or 420 million km, from the Sun. The Titius–Bode law got a boost with William Herschel's discovery of Uranus near the predicted distance for a planet beyond Saturn. In 1800, a group headed by Franz Xaver von Zach, editor of the German astronomical journal Monatliche Correspondenz (Monthly Correspondence), sent requests to 24 experienced astronomers (whom he dubbed the "celestial police"), asking that they combine their efforts and begin a methodical search for the expected planet. Although they did not discover Ceres, they later found the asteroids 2 Pallas, 3 Juno and 4 Vesta.
One of the astronomers selected for the search was Giuseppe Piazzi, a Catholic priest at the Academy of Palermo, Sicily. Before receiving his invitation to join the group, Piazzi discovered Ceres on 1 January 1801. He was searching for "the 87th [star] of the Catalogue of the Zodiacal stars of Mr la Caille", but found that "it was preceded by another". Instead of a star, Piazzi had found a moving star-like object, which he first thought was a comet:
The light was a little faint, and of the colour of Jupiter, but similar to many others which generally are reckoned of the eighth magnitude. Therefore I had no doubt of its being any other than a fixed star. [...] The evening of the third, my suspicion was converted into certainty, being assured it was not a fixed star. Nevertheless before I made it known, I waited till the evening of the fourth, when I had the satisfaction to see it had moved at the same rate as on the preceding days.
Piazzi observed Ceres a total of 24 times, the final time on 11 February 1801, when illness interrupted his work. He announced his discovery on 24 January 1801 in letters to only two fellow astronomers, his compatriot Barnaba Oriani of Milan and Bode in Berlin. He reported it as a comet but "since its movement is so slow and rather uniform, it has occurred to me several times that it might be something better than a comet". In April, Piazzi sent his complete observations to Oriani, Bode, and French astronomer Jérôme Lalande. The information was published in the September 1801 issue of the Monatliche Correspondenz.
By this time, the apparent position of Ceres had changed (mostly due to Earth's motion around the Sun), and was too close to the Sun's glare for other astronomers to confirm Piazzi's observations. Toward the end of the year, Ceres should have been visible again, but after such a long time it was difficult to predict its exact position. To recover Ceres, mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, then 24 years old, developed an efficient method of orbit determination. In a few weeks, he predicted the path of Ceres and sent his results to von Zach. On 31 December 1801, von Zach and fellow celestial policeman Heinrich W. M. Olbers found Ceres near the predicted position and thus recovered it. At 2.8 AU from the Sun, Ceres appeared to fit the Titius–Bode law almost perfectly; however, Neptune, once discovered in 1846, was 8 AU closer than predicted, leading most astronomers to conclude that the law was a coincidence. Piazzi named the newly discovered object Ceres Ferdinandea, "in honor of the patron goddess of Sicily and of King Ferdinand of Bourbon".
Further search
Three other asteroids (2 Pallas, 3 Juno, and 4 Vesta) were discovered by von Zach's group over the next few years, with Vesta found in 1807. No new asteroids were discovered until 1845. Amateur astronomer Karl Ludwig Hencke started his searches of new asteroids in 1830, and fifteen years later, while looking for Vesta, he found the asteroid later named 5 Astraea. It was the first new asteroid discovery in 38 years. Carl Friedrich Gauss was given the honor of naming the asteroid. After this, other astronomers joined; 15 asteroids were found by the end of 1851. In 1868, when James Craig Watson discovered the 100th asteroid, the French Academy of Sciences engraved the faces of Karl Theodor Robert Luther, John Russell Hind, and Hermann Goldschmidt, the three most successful asteroid-hunters at that time, on a commemorative medallion marking the event.
In 1891, Max Wolf pioneered the use of astrophotography to detect asteroids, which appeared as short streaks on long-exposure photographic plates. This dramatically increased the rate of detection compared with earlier visual methods: Wolf alone discovered 248 asteroids, beginning with 323 Brucia, whereas only slightly more than 300 had been discovered up to that point. It was known that there were many more, but most astronomers did not bother with them, some calling them "vermin of the skies", a phrase variously attributed to Eduard Suess and Edmund Weiss. Even a century later, only a few thousand asteroids were identified, numbered and named.
19th and 20th centuries
In the past, asteroids were discovered by a four-step process. First, a region of the sky was photographed by a wide-field telescope, or astrograph. Pairs of photographs were taken, typically one hour apart. Multiple pairs could be taken over a series of days. Second, the two films or plates of the same region were viewed under a stereoscope. A body in orbit around the Sun would move slightly between the pair of films. Under the stereoscope, the image of the body would seem to float slightly above the background of stars. Third, once a moving body was identified, its location would be measured precisely using a digitizing microscope. The location would be measured relative to known star locations.
These first three steps do not constitute asteroid discovery: the observer has only found an apparition, which gets a provisional designation, made up of the year of discovery, a letter representing the half-month of discovery, and finally a letter and a number indicating the discovery's sequential number (example: ). The last step is sending the locations and time of observations to the Minor Planet Center, where computer programs determine whether an apparition ties together earlier apparitions into a single orbit. If so, the object receives a catalogue number and the observer of the first apparition with a calculated orbit is declared the discoverer, and granted the honor of naming the object subject to the approval of the International Astronomical Union.
Naming
By 1851, the Royal Astronomical Society decided that asteroids were being discovered at such a rapid rate that a different system was needed to categorize or name asteroids. In 1852, when de Gasparis discovered the twentieth asteroid, Benjamin Valz gave it a name and a number designating its rank among asteroid discoveries, 20 Massalia. Sometimes asteroids were discovered and not seen again. So, starting in 1892, new asteroids were listed by the year and a capital letter indicating the order in which the asteroid's orbit was calculated and registered within that specific year. For example, the first two asteroids discovered in 1892 were labeled 1892A and 1892B. However, there were not enough letters in the alphabet for all of the asteroids discovered in 1893, so 1893Z was followed by 1893AA. A number of variations of these methods were tried, including designations that included year plus a Greek letter in 1914. A simple chronological numbering system was established in 1925.
Currently all newly discovered asteroids receive a provisional designation (such as ) consisting of the year of discovery and an alphanumeric code indicating the half-month of discovery and the sequence within that half-month. Once an asteroid's orbit has been confirmed, it is given a number, and later may also be given a name (e.g. ). The formal naming convention uses parentheses around the number—e.g. (433) Eros—but dropping the parentheses is quite common. Informally, it is also common to drop the number altogether, or to drop it after the first mention when a name is repeated in running text. In addition, names can be proposed by the asteroid's discoverer, within guidelines established by the International Astronomical Union.
Symbols
The first asteroids to be discovered were assigned iconic symbols like the ones traditionally used to designate the planets. By 1855 there were two dozen asteroid symbols, which often occurred in multiple variants.
In 1851, after the fifteenth asteroid, Eunomia, had been discovered, Johann Franz Encke made a major change in the upcoming 1854 edition of the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch (BAJ, Berlin Astronomical Yearbook). He introduced a disk (circle), a traditional symbol for a star, as the generic symbol for an asteroid. The circle was then numbered in order of discovery to indicate a specific asteroid. The numbered-circle convention was quickly adopted by astronomers, and the next asteroid to be discovered (16 Psyche, in 1852) was the first to be designated in that way at the time of its discovery. However, Psyche was given an iconic symbol as well, as were a few other asteroids discovered over the next few years. 20 Massalia was the first asteroid that was not assigned an iconic symbol, and no iconic symbols were created after the 1855 discovery of 37 Fides.
Terminology
The first discovered asteroid, Ceres, was originally considered a new planet. It was followed by the discovery of other similar bodies, which with the equipment of the time appeared to be points of light like stars, showing little or no planetary disc, though readily distinguishable from stars due to their apparent motions. This prompted the astronomer Sir William Herschel to propose the term asteroid, coined in Greek as ἀστεροειδής, or asteroeidēs, meaning 'star-like, star-shaped', and derived from the Ancient Greek astēr 'star, planet'. In the early second half of the 19th century, the terms asteroid and planet (not always qualified as "minor") were still used interchangeably.
Traditionally, small bodies orbiting the Sun were classified as comets, asteroids, or meteoroids, with anything smaller than one meter across being called a meteoroid. The term asteroid never had a formal definition, with the broader term small Solar System bodies being preferred by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). As no IAU definition exists, asteroid can be defined as "an irregularly shaped rocky body orbiting the Sun that does not qualify as a planet or a dwarf planet under the IAU definitions of those terms".
When found, asteroids were seen as a class of objects distinct from comets, and there was no unified term for the two until small Solar System body was coined in 2006. The main difference between an asteroid and a comet is that a comet shows a coma due to sublimation of near-surface ices by solar radiation. A few objects have ended up being dual-listed because they were first classified as minor planets but later showed evidence of cometary activity. Conversely, some (perhaps all) comets are eventually depleted of their surface volatile ices and become asteroid-like. A further distinction is that comets typically have more eccentric orbits than most asteroids; "asteroids" with notably eccentric orbits are probably dormant or extinct comets.
For almost two centuries, from the discovery of Ceres in 1801 until the discovery of the first centaur, 2060 Chiron in 1977, all known asteroids spent most of their time at or within the orbit of Jupiter, though a few such as 944 Hidalgo ventured far beyond Jupiter for part of their orbit. When astronomers started finding more small bodies that permanently resided further out than Jupiter, now called centaurs, they numbered them among the traditional asteroids. There was debate over whether these objects should be considered asteroids or given a new classification. Then, when the first trans-Neptunian object (other than Pluto), 15760 Albion, was discovered in 1992, and especially when large numbers of similar objects started turning up, new terms were invented to sidestep the issue: Kuiper-belt object, trans-Neptunian object, scattered-disc object, and so on. They inhabit the cold outer reaches of the Solar System where ices remain solid and comet-like bodies are not expected to exhibit much cometary activity; if centaurs or trans-Neptunian objects were to venture close to the Sun, their volatile ices would sublimate, and traditional approaches would classify them as comets and not asteroids.
The innermost of these are the Kuiper-belt objects, called "objects" partly to avoid the need to classify them as asteroids or comets. They are thought to be predominantly comet-like in composition, though some may be more akin to asteroids. Furthermore, most do not have the highly eccentric orbits associated with comets, and the ones so far discovered are larger than traditional comet nuclei. (The much more distant Oort cloud is hypothesized to be the main reservoir of dormant comets.) Other recent observations, such as the analysis of the cometary dust collected by the Stardust probe, are increasingly blurring the distinction between comets and asteroids, suggesting "a continuum between asteroids and comets" rather than a sharp dividing line.
The minor planets beyond Jupiter's orbit are sometimes also called "asteroids", especially in popular presentations. However, it is becoming increasingly common for the term asteroid to be restricted to minor planets of the inner Solar System. Therefore, this article will restrict itself for the most part to the classical asteroids: objects of the asteroid belt, Jupiter trojans, and near-Earth objects.
When the IAU introduced the class small Solar System bodies in 2006 to include most objects previously classified as minor planets and comets, they created the class of dwarf planets for the largest minor planets—those that have enough mass to have become ellipsoidal under their own gravity. According to the IAU, "the term 'minor planet' may still be used, but generally, the term 'Small Solar System Body' will be preferred." Currently only the largest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres, at about across, has been placed in the dwarf planet category.
Formation
Many asteroids are the shattered remnants of planetesimals, bodies within the young Sun's solar nebula that never grew large enough to become planets. It is thought that planetesimals in the asteroid belt evolved much like the rest of objects in the solar nebula until Jupiter neared its current mass, at which point excitation from orbital resonances with Jupiter ejected over 99% of planetesimals in the belt. Simulations and a discontinuity in spin rate and spectral properties suggest that asteroids larger than approximately in diameter accreted during that early era, whereas smaller bodies are fragments from collisions between asteroids during or after the Jovian disruption. Ceres and Vesta grew large enough to melt and differentiate, with heavy metallic elements sinking to the core, leaving rocky minerals in the crust.
In the Nice model, many Kuiper-belt objects are captured in the outer asteroid belt, at distances greater than 2.6 AU. Most were later ejected by Jupiter, but those that remained may be the D-type asteroids, and possibly include Ceres.
Distribution within the Solar System
Various dynamical groups of asteroids have been discovered orbiting in the inner Solar System. Their orbits are perturbed by the gravity of other bodies in the Solar System and by the Yarkovsky effect. Significant populations include:
Asteroid belt
The majority of known asteroids orbit within the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, generally in relatively low-eccentricity (i.e. not very elongated) orbits. This belt is estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than in diameter, and millions of smaller ones. These asteroids may be remnants of the protoplanetary disk, and in this region the accretion of planetesimals into planets during the formative period of the Solar System was prevented by large gravitational perturbations by Jupiter.
Contrary to popular imagery, the asteroid belt is mostly empty. The asteroids are spread over such a large volume that reaching an asteroid without aiming carefully would be improbable. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of asteroids are currently known, and the total number ranges in the millions or more, depending on the lower size cutoff. Over 200 asteroids are known to be larger than 100 km, and a survey in the infrared wavelengths has shown that the asteroid belt has between 700,000 and 1.7 million asteroids with a diameter of 1 km or more. The absolute magnitudes of most of the known asteroids are between 11 and 19, with the median at about 16.
The total mass of the asteroid belt is estimated to be kg, which is just 3% of the mass of the Moon; the mass of the Kuiper Belt and Scattered Disk is over 100 times as large. The four largest objects, Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea, account for maybe 62% of the belt's total mass, with 39% accounted for by Ceres alone.
Trojans
Trojans are populations that share an orbit with a larger planet or moon, but do not collide with it because they orbit in one of the two Lagrangian points of stability, and , which lie 60° ahead of and behind the larger body.
In the Solar System, most known trojans share the orbit of Jupiter. They are divided into the Greek camp at (ahead of Jupiter) and the Trojan camp at (trailing Jupiter). More than a million Jupiter trojans larger than one kilometer are thought to exist, of which more than 7,000 are currently catalogued. In other planetary orbits only nine Mars trojans, 28 Neptune trojans, two Uranus trojans, and two Earth trojans, have been found to date. A temporary Venus trojan is also known. Numerical orbital dynamics stability simulations indicate that Saturn and Uranus probably do not have any primordial trojans.
Near-Earth asteroids
Near-Earth asteroids, or NEAs, are asteroids that have orbits that pass close to that of Earth. Asteroids that actually cross Earth's orbital path are known as Earth-crossers. , a total of 28,772 near-Earth asteroids were known; 878 have a diameter of one kilometer or larger.
A small number of NEAs are extinct comets that have lost their volatile surface materials, although having a faint or intermittent comet-like tail does not necessarily result in a classification as a near-Earth comet, making the boundaries somewhat fuzzy. The rest of the near-Earth asteroids are driven out of the asteroid belt by gravitational interactions with Jupiter.
Many asteroids have natural satellites (minor-planet moons). , there were 85 NEAs known to have at least one moon, including three known to have two moons. The asteroid 3122 Florence, one of the largest potentially hazardous asteroids with a diameter of , has two moons measuring across, which were discovered by radar imaging during the asteroid's 2017 approach to Earth.
Near-Earth asteroids are divided into groups based on their semi-major axis (a), perihelion distance (q), and aphelion distance (Q):
The Atiras or Apoheles have orbits strictly inside Earth's orbit: an Atira asteroid's aphelion distance (Q) is smaller than Earth's perihelion distance (0.983 AU). That is, , which implies that the asteroid's semi-major axis is also less than 0.983 AU.
The Atens have a semi-major axis of less than 1 AU and cross Earth's orbit. Mathematically, and . (0.983 AU is Earth's perihelion distance.)
The Apollos have a semi-major axis of more than 1 AU and cross Earth's orbit. Mathematically, and . (1.017 AU is Earth's aphelion distance.)
The Amors have orbits strictly outside Earth's orbit: an Amor asteroid's perihelion distance (q) is greater than Earth's aphelion distance (1.017 AU). Amor asteroids are also near-earth objects so . In summary, . (This implies that the asteroid's semi-major axis (a) is also larger than 1.017 AU.) Some Amor asteroid orbits cross the orbit of Mars.
Martian moons
It is unclear whether Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids or were formed due to impact event on Mars. Phobos and Deimos both have much in common with carbonaceous C-type asteroids, with spectra, albedo, and density very similar to those of C- or D-type asteroids. Based on their similarity, one hypothesis is that both moons may be captured main-belt asteroids. Both moons have very circular orbits which lie almost exactly in Mars's equatorial plane, and hence a capture origin requires a mechanism for circularizing the initially highly eccentric orbit, and adjusting its inclination into the equatorial plane, most probably by a combination of atmospheric drag and tidal forces, although it is not clear whether sufficient time was available for this to occur for Deimos. Capture also requires dissipation of energy. The current Martian atmosphere is too thin to capture a Phobos-sized object by atmospheric braking. Geoffrey A. Landis has pointed out that the capture could have occurred if the original body was a binary asteroid that separated under tidal forces.
Phobos could be a second-generation Solar System object that coalesced in orbit after Mars formed, rather than forming concurrently out of the same birth cloud as Mars.
Another hypothesis is that Mars was once surrounded by many Phobos- and Deimos-sized bodies, perhaps ejected into orbit around it by a collision with a large planetesimal. The high porosity of the interior of Phobos (based on the density of 1.88 g/cm3, voids are estimated to comprise 25 to 35 percent of Phobos's volume) is inconsistent with an asteroidal origin. Observations of Phobos in the thermal infrared suggest a composition containing mainly phyllosilicates, which are well known from the surface of Mars. The spectra are distinct from those of all classes of chondrite meteorites, again pointing away from an asteroidal origin. Both sets of findings support an origin of Phobos from material ejected by an impact on Mars that reaccreted in Martian orbit, similar to the prevailing theory for the origin of Earth's moon.
Characteristics
Size distribution
Asteroids vary greatly in size, from almost for the largest down to rocks just 1 meter across, below which an object is classified as a meteoroid. The three largest are very much like miniature planets: they are roughly spherical, have at least partly differentiated interiors, and are thought to be surviving protoplanets. The vast majority, however, are much smaller and are irregularly shaped; they are thought to be either battered planetesimals or fragments of larger bodies.
The dwarf planet Ceres is by far the largest asteroid, with a diameter of . The next largest are 4 Vesta and 2 Pallas, both with diameters of just over . Vesta is the brightest of the four main-belt asteroids that can, on occasion, be visible to the naked eye. On some rare occasions, a near-Earth asteroid may briefly become visible without technical aid; see 99942 Apophis.
The mass of all the objects of the asteroid belt, lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is estimated to be , ≈ 3.25% of the mass of the Moon. Of this, Ceres comprises , about 40% of the total. Adding in the next three most massive objects, Vesta (11%), Pallas (8.5%), and Hygiea (3–4%), brings this figure up to a bit over 60%, whereas the next seven most-massive asteroids bring the total up to 70%. The number of asteroids increases rapidly as their individual masses decrease.
The number of asteroids decreases markedly with increasing size. Although the size distribution generally follows a power law, there are 'bumps' at about and , where more asteroids than expected from such a curve are found. Most asteroids larger than approximately 120 km in diameter are primordial (surviving from the accretion epoch), whereas most smaller asteroids are products of fragmentation of primordial asteroids. The primordial population of the main belt was probably 200 times what it is today.
Largest asteroids
Three largest objects in the asteroid belt, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas, are intact protoplanets that share many characteristics common to planets, and are atypical compared to the majority of irregularly shaped asteroids. The fourth-largest asteroid, Hygiea, appears nearly spherical although it may have an undifferentiated interior, like the majority of asteroids. The four largest asteroids constitute half the mass of the asteroid belt.
Ceres is the only asteroid that appears to have a plastic shape under its own gravity and hence the only one that is a dwarf planet. It has a much higher absolute magnitude than the other asteroids, of around 3.32, and may possess a surface layer of ice. Like the planets, Ceres is differentiated: it has a crust, a mantle and a core. No meteorites from Ceres have been found on Earth.
Vesta, too, has a differentiated interior, though it formed inside the Solar System's frost line, and so is devoid of water; its composition is mainly of basaltic rock with minerals such as olivine. Aside from the large crater at its southern pole, Rheasilvia, Vesta also has an ellipsoidal shape. Vesta is the parent body of the Vestian family and other V-type asteroids, and is the source of the HED meteorites, which constitute 5% of all meteorites on Earth.
Pallas is unusual in that, like Uranus, it rotates on its side, with its axis of rotation tilted at high angles to its orbital plane. Its composition is similar to that of Ceres: high in carbon and silicon, and perhaps partially differentiated. Pallas is the parent body of the Palladian family of asteroids.
Hygiea is the largest carbonaceous asteroid and, unlike the other largest asteroids, lies relatively close to the plane of the ecliptic. It is the largest member and presumed parent body of the Hygiean family of asteroids. Because there is no sufficiently large crater on the surface to be the source of that family, as there is on Vesta, it is thought that Hygiea may have been completely disrupted in the collision that formed the Hygiean family and recoalesced after losing a bit less than 2% of its mass. Observations taken with the Very Large Telescope's SPHERE imager in 2017 and 2018, revealed that Hygiea has a nearly spherical shape, which is consistent both with it being in hydrostatic equilibrium, or formerly being in hydrostatic equilibrium, or with being disrupted and recoalescing.
Internal differentiation of large asteroids is possibly related to their lack of natural satellites, as satellites of main belt asteroids are mostly believed to form from collisional disruption, creating a rubble pile structure.
Rotation
Measurements of the rotation rates of large asteroids in the asteroid belt show that there is an upper limit. Very few asteroids with a diameter larger than 100 meters have a rotation period less than 2.2 hours. For asteroids rotating faster than approximately this rate, the inertial force at the surface is greater than the gravitational force, so any loose surface material would be flung out. However, a solid object should be able to rotate much more rapidly. This suggests that most asteroids with a diameter over 100 meters are rubble piles formed through the accumulation of debris after collisions between asteroids.
Color
Asteroids become darker and redder with age due to space weathering. However evidence suggests most of the color change occurs rapidly, in the first hundred thousand years, limiting the usefulness of spectral measurement for determining the age of asteroids.
Surface features
Except for the "big four" (Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and Hygiea), asteroids are likely to be broadly similar in appearance, if irregular in shape. 253 Mathilde is a rubble pile saturated with craters with diameters the size of the asteroid's radius. Earth-based observations of 511 Davida, one of the largest asteroids after the big four, reveal a similarly angular profile, suggesting it is also saturated with radius-size craters. Medium-sized asteroids such as Mathilde and 243 Ida, that have been observed up close, also reveal a deep regolith covering the surface. Of the big four, Pallas and Hygiea are practically unknown. Vesta has compression fractures encircling a radius-size crater at its south pole but is otherwise a spheroid.
Dawn spacecraft revealed that Ceres has a heavily cratered surface, but with fewer large craters than expected. Models based on the formation of the current asteroid belt had suggested Ceres should possess 10 to 15 craters larger than in diameter. The largest confirmed crater on Ceres, Kerwan Basin, is across. The most likely reason for this is viscous relaxation of the crust slowly flattening out larger impacts.
Composition
Asteroids are classified by their characteristic emission spectra, with the majority falling into three main groups: C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are generally identified with carbonaceous (carbon-rich), metallic, and silicaceous (stony) compositions, respectively. The physical composition of asteroids is varied and in most cases poorly understood. Ceres appears to be composed of a rocky core covered by an icy mantle, where Vesta is thought to have a nickel-iron core, olivine mantle, and basaltic crust. Thought to be the largest undifferentiated asteroid, 10 Hygiea seems to have a uniformly primitive composition of carbonaceous chondrite, but it may actually be a differentiated asteroid that was globally disrupted by an impact and then reassembled. Other asteroids appear to be the remnant cores or mantles of proto-planets, high in rock and metal. Most small asteroids are believed to be piles of rubble held together loosely by gravity, although the largest are probably solid. Some asteroids have moons or are co-orbiting binaries: rubble piles, moons, binaries, and scattered asteroid families are thought to be the results of collisions that disrupted a parent asteroid, or possibly a planet.
In the main asteroid belt, there appear to be two primary populations of asteroid: a dark, volatile-rich population, consisting of the C-type and P-type asteroids, with albedos less than 0.10 and densities under , and a dense, volatile-poor population, consisting of the S-type and M-type asteroids, with albedos over 0.15 and densities greater than 2.7. Within these populations, larger asteroids are denser, presumably due to compression. There appears to be minimal macro-porosity (interstitial vacuum) in the score of asteroids with masses greater than .
Composition is calculated from three primary sources: albedo, surface spectrum, and density. The last can only be determined accurately by observing the orbits of moons the asteroid might have. So far, every asteroid with moons has turned out to be a rubble pile, a loose conglomeration of rock and metal that may be half empty space by volume. The investigated asteroids are as large as 280 km in diameter, and include 121 Hermione (268×186×183 km), and 87 Sylvia (384×262×232 km). Few asteroids are larger than 87 Sylvia, none of them have moons. The fact that such large asteroids as Sylvia may be rubble piles, presumably due to disruptive impacts, has important consequences for the formation of the Solar System: computer simulations of collisions involving solid bodies show them destroying each other as often as merging, but colliding rubble piles are more likely to merge. This means that the cores of the planets could have formed relatively quickly.
Water
Scientists hypothesize that some of the first water brought to Earth was delivered by asteroid impacts after the collision that produced the Moon. In 2009, the presence of water ice was confirmed on the surface of 24 Themis using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility. The surface of the asteroid appears completely covered in ice. As this ice layer is sublimating, it may be getting replenished by a reservoir of ice under the surface. Organic compounds were also detected on the surface. The presence of ice on 24 Themis makes the initial theory plausible.
In October 2013, water was detected on an extrasolar body for the first time, on an asteroid orbiting the white dwarf GD 61. On 22 January 2014, European Space Agency (ESA) scientists reported the detection, for the first definitive time, of water vapor on Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. The detection was made by using the far-infrared abilities of the Herschel Space Observatory. The finding is unexpected because comets, not asteroids, are typically considered to "sprout jets and plumes". According to one of the scientists, "The lines are becoming more and more blurred between comets and asteroids."
Findings have shown that solar winds can react with the oxygen in the upper layer of the asteroids and create water. It has been estimated that "every cubic metre of irradiated rock could contain up to 20 litres"; study was conducted using an atom probe tomography, numbers are given for the Itokawa S-type asteroid.
Acfer 049, a meteorite discovered in Algeria in 1990, was shown in 2019 to have an ultraporous lithology (UPL): porous texture that could be formed by removal of ice that filled these pores, this suggests that UPL "represent fossils of primordial ice".
Organic compounds
Asteroids contain traces of amino acids and other organic compounds, and some speculate that asteroid impacts may have seeded the early Earth with the chemicals necessary to initiate life, or may have even brought life itself to Earth (an event called "panspermia"). In August 2011, a report, based on NASA studies with meteorites found on Earth, was published suggesting DNA and RNA components (adenine, guanine and related organic molecules) may have been formed on asteroids and comets in outer space.
In November 2019, scientists reported detecting, for the first time, sugar molecules, including ribose, in meteorites, suggesting that chemical processes on asteroids can produce some fundamentally essential bio-ingredients important to life, and supporting the notion of an RNA world prior to a DNA-based origin of life on Earth, and possibly, as well, the notion of panspermia.
Classification
Asteroids are commonly categorized according to two criteria: the characteristics of their orbits, and features of their reflectance spectrum.
Orbital classification
Many asteroids have been placed in groups and families based on their orbital characteristics. Apart from the broadest divisions, it is customary to name a group of asteroids after the first member of that group to be discovered. Groups are relatively loose dynamical associations, whereas families are tighter and result from the catastrophic break-up of a large parent asteroid sometime in the past. Families are more common and easier to identify within the main asteroid belt, but several small families have been reported among the Jupiter trojans. Main belt families were first recognized by Kiyotsugu Hirayama in 1918 and are often called Hirayama families in his honor.
About 30–35% of the bodies in the asteroid belt belong to dynamical families, each thought to have a common origin in a past collision between asteroids. A family has also been associated with the plutoid dwarf planet .
Some asteroids have unusual horseshoe orbits that are co-orbital with Earth or another planet. Examples are 3753 Cruithne and . The first instance of this type of orbital arrangement was discovered between Saturn's moons Epimetheus and Janus. Sometimes these horseshoe objects temporarily become quasi-satellites for a few decades or a few hundred years, before returning to their earlier status. Both Earth and Venus are known to have quasi-satellites.
Such objects, if associated with Earth or Venus or even hypothetically Mercury, are a special class of Aten asteroids. However, such objects could be associated with the outer planets as well.
Spectral classification
In 1975, an asteroid taxonomic system based on color, albedo, and spectral shape was developed by Chapman, Morrison, and Zellner. These properties are thought to correspond to the composition of the asteroid's surface material. The original classification system had three categories: C-types for dark carbonaceous objects (75% of known asteroids), S-types for stony (silicaceous) objects (17% of known asteroids) and U for those that did not fit into either C or S. This classification has since been expanded to include many other asteroid types. The number of types continues to grow as more asteroids are studied.
The two most widely used taxonomies now used are the Tholen classification and SMASS classification. The former was proposed in 1984 by David J. Tholen, and was based on data collected from an eight-color asteroid survey performed in the 1980s. This resulted in 14 asteroid categories. In 2002, the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey resulted in a modified version of the Tholen taxonomy with 24 different types. Both systems have three broad categories of C, S, and X asteroids, where X consists of mostly metallic asteroids, such as the M-type. There are also several smaller classes.
The proportion of known asteroids falling into the various spectral types does not necessarily reflect the proportion of all asteroids that are of that type; some types are easier to detect than others, biasing the totals.
Problems
Originally, spectral designations were based on inferences of an asteroid's composition. However, the correspondence between spectral class and composition is not always very good, and a variety of classifications are in use. This has led to significant confusion. Although asteroids of different spectral classifications are likely to be composed of different materials, there are no assurances that asteroids within the same taxonomic class are composed of the same (or similar) materials.
Active asteroids
Active asteroids are objects that have asteroid-like orbits but show comet-like visual characteristics. That is, they show comae, tails, or other visual evidence of mass-loss (like a comet), but their orbit remains within Jupiter's orbit (like an asteroid). These bodies were originally designated main-belt comets (MBCs) in 2006 by astronomers David Jewitt and Henry Hsieh, but this name implies they are necessarily icy in composition like a comet and that they only exist within the main-belt, whereas the growing population of active asteroids shows that this is not always the case.
The first active asteroid discovered is 7968 Elst–Pizarro. It was discovered (as an asteroid) in 1979 but then was found to have a tail by Eric Elst and Guido Pizarro in 1996 and given the cometary designation 133P/Elst-Pizarro. Another notable object is 311P/PanSTARRS: observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that it had six comet-like tails. The tails are suspected to be streams of material ejected by the asteroid as a result of a rubble pile asteroid spinning fast enough to remove material from it.
By smashing into the asteroid Dimorphos, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft made it an active asteroid. Scientists had proposed that some active asteroids are the result of impact events, but no one had ever observed the activation of an asteroid. The DART mission activated Dimorphos under precisely known and carefully observed impact conditions, enabling the detailed study of the formation of an active asteroid for the first time. Observations show that Dimorphos lost approximately 1 million kilograms after the collision. Impact produced a dust plume that temporarily brightened the Didymos system and developed a -long dust tail that persisted for several months.
Observation and exploration
Until the age of space travel, objects in the asteroid belt could only be observed with large telescopes, their shapes and terrain remaining a mystery. The best modern ground-based telescopes and the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope can only resolve a small amount of detail on the surfaces of the largest asteroids. Limited information about the shapes and compositions of asteroids can be inferred from their light curves (variation in brightness during rotation) and their spectral properties. Sizes can be estimated by timing the lengths of star occultations (when an asteroid passes directly in front of a star). Radar imaging can yield good information about asteroid shapes and orbital and rotational parameters, especially for near-Earth asteroids. Spacecraft flybys can provide much more data than any ground or space-based observations; sample-return missions gives insights about regolith composition.
Ground-based observations
As asteroids are rather small and faint objects, the data that can be obtained from ground-based observations (GBO) are limited. By means of ground-based optical telescopes the visual magnitude can be obtained; when converted into the absolute magnitude it gives a rough estimate of the asteroid's size. Light-curve measurements can also be made by GBO; when collected over a long period of time it allows an estimate of the rotational period, the pole orientation (sometimes), and a rough estimate of the asteroid's shape. Spectral data (both visible-light and near-infrared spectroscopy) gives information about the object's composition, used to classify the observed asteroids. Such observations are limited as they provide information about only the thin layer on the surface (up to several micrometers). As planetologist Patrick Michel writes:
Mid- to thermal-infrared observations, along with polarimetry measurements, are probably the only data that give some indication of actual physical properties. Measuring the heat flux of an asteroid at a single wavelength gives an estimate of the dimensions of the object; these measurements have lower uncertainty than measurements of the reflected sunlight in the visible-light spectral region. If the two measurements can be combined, both the effective diameter and the geometric albedo—the latter being a measure of the brightness at zero phase angle, that is, when illumination comes from directly behind the observer—can be derived. In addition, thermal measurements at two or more wavelengths, plus the brightness in the visible-light region, give information on the thermal properties. The thermal inertia, which is a measure of how fast a material heats up or cools off, of most observed asteroids is lower than the bare-rock reference value but greater than that of the lunar regolith; this observation indicates the presence of an insulating layer of granular material on their surface. Moreover, there seems to be a trend, perhaps related to the gravitational environment, that smaller objects (with lower gravity) have a small regolith layer consisting of coarse grains, while larger objects have a thicker regolith layer consisting of fine grains. However, the detailed properties of this regolith layer are poorly known from remote observations. Moreover, the relation between thermal inertia and surface roughness is not straightforward, so one needs to interpret the thermal inertia with caution.
Near-Earth asteroids that come into close vicinity of the planet can be studied in more details with radar; it provides information about the surface of the asteroid (for example can show the presence of craters and boulders). Such observations were conducted by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (305 meter dish) and Goldstone Observatory in California (70 meter dish). Radar observations can also be used for accurate determination of the orbital and rotational dynamics of observed objects.
Space-based observations
Both space and ground-based observatories conducted asteroid search programs; the space-based searches are expected to detect more objects because there is no atmosphere to interfere and because they can observe larger portions of the sky. NEOWISE observed more than 100,000 asteroids of the main belt, Spitzer Space Telescope observed more than 700 near-Earth asteroids. These observations determined rough sizes of the majority of observed objects, but provided limited detail about surface properties (such as regolith depth and composition, angle of repose, cohesion, and porosity).
Asteroids were also studied by the Hubble Space Telescope, such as tracking the colliding asteroids in the main belt, break-up of an asteroid, observing an active asteroid with six comet-like tails, and observing asteroids that were chosen as targets of dedicated missions.
Space probe missions
According to Patrick Michel
The internal structure of asteroids is inferred only from indirect evidence: bulk densities measured by spacecraft, the orbits of natural satellites in the case of asteroid binaries, and the drift of an asteroid's orbit due to the Yarkovsky thermal effect. A spacecraft near an asteroid is perturbed enough by the asteroid's gravity to allow an estimate of the asteroid's mass. The volume is then estimated using a model of the asteroid's shape. Mass and volume allow the derivation of the bulk density, whose uncertainty is usually dominated by the errors made on the volume estimate. The internal porosity of asteroids can be inferred by comparing their bulk density with that of their assumed meteorite analogues, dark asteroids seem to be more porous (>40%) than bright ones. The nature of this porosity is unclear.
Dedicated missions
The first asteroid to be photographed in close-up was 951 Gaspra in 1991, followed in 1993 by 243 Ida and its moon Dactyl, all of which were imaged by the Galileo probe en route to Jupiter. Other asteroids briefly visited by spacecraft en route to other destinations include 9969 Braille (by Deep Space 1 in 1999), 5535 Annefrank (by Stardust in 2002), 2867 Šteins and 21 Lutetia (by the Rosetta probe in 2008), and 4179 Toutatis (China's lunar orbiter Chang'e 2, which flew within in 2012).
The first dedicated asteroid probe was NASA's NEAR Shoemaker, which photographed 253 Mathilde in 1997, before entering into orbit around 433 Eros, finally landing on its surface in 2001. It was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit and land on an asteroid. From September to November 2005, the Japanese Hayabusa probe studied 25143 Itokawa in detail and returned samples of its surface to Earth on 13 June 2010, the first asteroid sample-return mission. In 2007, NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft, which orbited 4 Vesta for a year, and observed the dwarf planet Ceres for three years.
Hayabusa2, a probe launched by JAXA 2014, orbited its target asteroid 162173 Ryugu for more than a year and took samples that were delivered to Earth in 2020. The spacecraft is now on an extended mission and expected to arrive at a new target in 2031.
NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx in 2016, a sample return mission to asteroid 101955 Bennu. In 2021, the probe departed the asteroid with a sample from its surface. Sample was delivered to Earth in September 2023. The spacecraft continues its extended mission, designated OSIRIS-APEX, to explore near-Earth asteroid Apophis in 2029.
In 2021, NASA launched Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential hazardous objects. DART deliberately crashed into the minor-planet moon Dimorphos of the double asteroid Didymos in September 2022 to assess the potential of a spacecraft impact to deflect an asteroid from a collision course with Earth. In October, NASA declared DART a success, confirming it had shortened Dimorphos' orbital period around Didymos by about 32 minutes.
Planned missions
Currently, several asteroid-dedicated missions are planned by NASA, JAXA, ESA, and CNSA.
NASA's Lucy, launched in 2021, would visit eight asteroids, one from the main belt and seven Jupiter trojans; it is the first mission to trojans. The main mission would start in 2027.
NASA's Psyche, launched in October 2023, will study the large metallic asteroid of the same name, and will arrive there in 2029.
ESA's Hera, planned for launch in 2024, will study the results of the DART impact. It will measure the size and morphology of the crater, and momentum transmitted by the impact, to determine the efficiency of the deflection produced by DART.
JAXA's DESTINY+ is a mission for a flyby of the Geminids meteor shower parent body 3200 Phaethon, as well as various minor bodies. Its launch is planned for 2024.
CNSA's Tianwen-2 is planned to launch in 2025. It will use solar electric propulsion to explore the co-orbital near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and the active asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS. The spacecraft will collect samples of the regolith of Kamo'oalewa.
Asteroid mining
The concept of asteroid mining was proposed in 1970s. Matt Anderson defines successful asteroid mining as "the development of a mining program that is both financially self-sustaining and profitable to its investors". It has been suggested that asteroids might be used as a source of materials that may be rare or exhausted on Earth, or materials for constructing space habitats. Materials that are heavy and expensive to launch from Earth may someday be mined from asteroids and used for space manufacturing and construction.
As resource depletion on Earth becomes more real, the idea of extracting valuable elements from asteroids and returning these to Earth for profit, or using space-based resources to build solar-power satellites and space habitats, becomes more attractive. Hypothetically, water processed from ice could refuel orbiting propellant depots.
From the astrobiological perspective, asteroid prospecting could provide scientific data for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Some astrophysicists have suggested that if advanced extraterrestrial civilizations employed asteroid mining long ago, the hallmarks of these activities might be detectable.
Mining Ceres is also considered a possibility. As the largest body in the asteroid belt, Ceres could become the main base and transport hub for future asteroid mining infrastructure, allowing mineral resources to be transported to Mars, the Moon, and Earth. Because of its small escape velocity combined with large amounts of water ice, it also could serve as a source of water, fuel, and oxygen for ships going through and beyond the asteroid belt. Transportation from Mars or the Moon to Ceres would be even more energy-efficient than transportation from Earth to the Moon.
Threats to Earth
There is increasing interest in identifying asteroids whose orbits cross Earth's, and that could, given enough time, collide with Earth. The three most important groups of near-Earth asteroids are the Apollos, Amors, and Atens.
The near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros had been discovered as long ago as 1898, and the 1930s brought a flurry of similar objects. In order of discovery, these were: 1221 Amor, 1862 Apollo, 2101 Adonis, and finally 69230 Hermes, which approached within 0.005 AU of Earth in 1937. Astronomers began to realize the possibilities of Earth impact.
Two events in later decades increased the alarm: the increasing acceptance of the Alvarez hypothesis that an impact event resulted in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, and the 1994 observation of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashing into Jupiter. The U.S. military also declassified the information that its military satellites, built to detect nuclear explosions, had detected hundreds of upper-atmosphere impacts by objects ranging from one to ten meters across.
All of these considerations helped spur the launch of highly efficient surveys, consisting of charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras and computers directly connected to telescopes. , it was estimated that 89% to 96% of near-Earth asteroids one kilometer or larger in diameter had been discovered. A list of teams using such systems includes:
Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR)
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
Spacewatch
Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS)
Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)
Pan-STARRS
NEOWISE
Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)
Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey (CINEOS)
Japanese Spaceguard Association
Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey (ADAS)
, the LINEAR system alone had discovered 147,132 asteroids. Among the surveys, 19,266 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered including almost 900 more than in diameter.
In April 2018, the B612 Foundation reported "It is 100 percent certain we'll be hit [by a devastating asteroid], but we're not 100 percent sure when." In June 2018, the National Science and Technology Council warned that the United States is unprepared for an asteroid impact event, and has developed and released the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy Action Plan" to better prepare. According to expert testimony in the United States Congress in 2013, NASA would require at least five years of preparation before a mission to intercept an asteroid could be launched.
The United Nations declared 30 June to be International Asteroid Day to educate the public about asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, on 30 June 1908.
Chicxulub impact
The Chicxulub crater is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore near the communities of Chicxulub Puerto and Chicxulub Pueblo, after which the crater is named. It was formed when a large asteroid, about in diameter, struck the Earth. The crater is estimated to be in diameter and in depth. It is one of the largest confirmed impact structures on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research.
In the late 1970s, geologist Walter Alvarez and his father, Nobel Prize–winning scientist Luis Walter Alvarez, put forth their theory that the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction was caused by an impact event. The main evidence of such an impact was contained in a thin layer of clay present in the K–Pg boundary in Gubbio, Italy. The Alvarezes and colleagues reported that it contained an abnormally high concentration of iridium, a chemical element rare on earth but common in asteroids. Iridium levels in this layer were as much as 160 times above the background level. It was hypothesized that the iridium was spread into the atmosphere when the impactor was vaporized and settled across the Earth's surface among other material thrown up by the impact, producing the layer of iridium-enriched clay. At the time, consensus was not settled on what caused the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction and the boundary layer, with theories including a nearby supernova, climate change, or a geomagnetic reversal. The Alvarezes' impact hypothesis was rejected by many paleontologists, who believed that the lack of fossils found close to the K–Pg boundary—the "three-meter problem"—suggested a more gradual die-off of fossil species.
There is broad consensus that the Chicxulub impactor was an asteroid with a carbonaceous chondrite composition, rather than a comet. The impactor was around in diameter—large enough that, if set at sea level, it would have reached taller than Mount Everest.
Asteroid deflection strategies
Various collision avoidance techniques have different trade-offs with respect to metrics such as overall performance, cost, failure risks, operations, and technology readiness. There are various methods for changing the course of an asteroid/comet. These can be differentiated by various types of attributes such as the type of mitigation (deflection or fragmentation), energy source (kinetic, electromagnetic, gravitational, solar/thermal, or nuclear), and approach strategy (interception, rendezvous, or remote station).
Strategies fall into two basic sets: fragmentation and delay. Fragmentation concentrates on rendering the impactor harmless by fragmenting it and scattering the fragments so that they miss the Earth or are small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. Delay exploits the fact that both the Earth and the impactor are in orbit. An impact occurs when both reach the same point in space at the same time, or more correctly when some point on Earth's surface intersects the impactor's orbit when the impactor arrives. Since the Earth is approximately 12,750 km in diameter and moves at approx. 30 km per second in its orbit, it travels a distance of one planetary diameter in about 425 seconds, or slightly over seven minutes. Delaying, or advancing the impactor's arrival by times of this magnitude can, depending on the exact geometry of the impact, cause it to miss the Earth.
"Project Icarus" was one of the first projects designed in 1967 as a contingency plan in case of collision with 1566 Icarus. The plan relied on the new Saturn V rocket, which did not make its first flight until after the report had been completed. Six Saturn V rockets would be used, each launched at variable intervals from months to hours away from impact. Each rocket was to be fitted with a single 100-megaton nuclear warhead as well as a modified Apollo Service Module and uncrewed Apollo Command Module for guidance to the target. The warheads would be detonated 30 meters from the surface, deflecting or partially destroying the asteroid. Depending on the subsequent impacts on the course or the destruction of the asteroid, later missions would be modified or cancelled as needed. The "last-ditch" launch of the sixth rocket would be 18 hours prior to impact.
Fiction
Asteroids and the asteroid belt are a staple of science fiction stories. Asteroids play several potential roles in science fiction: as places human beings might colonize, resources for extracting minerals, hazards encountered by spacecraft traveling between two other points, and as a threat to life on Earth or other inhabited planets, dwarf planets, and natural satellites by potential impact.
See also
List of asteroid close approaches to Earth
List of exceptional asteroids
Lost minor planet
Meanings of minor-planet names
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
NASA Asteroid and Comet Watch site
Minor planets |
1008 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%206 | April 6 |
Events
Pre–1600
46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29, and is renamed Istanbul.
1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
1601–1900
1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed on 21 March.)
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.
1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become president upon William Henry Harrison's death.
1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.
1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
1901–present
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary's claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.
1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."
1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
1957 – The flag carrier airline of Greece for decades, Olympic Airways, is founded by Aristotle Onassis following the acquisition of "TAE - Greek National Airlines".
1958 – Capital Airlines Flight 67 crashes into Saginaw Bay near Freeland, Michigan, killing 47.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1968 – In the downtown district of Richmond, Indiana, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward.
1970 – Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
1984 – Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1985 – Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.
1992 – The Bosnian War begins.
1994 – The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
1997 – In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occur.
1998 – Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.
2012 – Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.
2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
2018 – A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.
Births
Pre–1600
1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, d. 1204)
1342 – Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa
1573 – Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (d. 1643)
1601–1900
1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
1651 – André Dacier, French scholar and academic (d. 1722)
1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (d. 1742)
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (d. 1741)
1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (d. 1759)
1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1772)
1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (d. 1807)
1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (d. 1853)
1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (d. 1888)
1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
1815 – Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1883)
1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
1824 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (d. 1898)
1844 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1913)
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
1852 – Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (d. 1921)
1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
1857 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (d. 1922)
1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (d. 1945)
1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (d. 1897)
1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (d. 1934)
1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
1886 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (d. 1967)
1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (d. 1967)
1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 1981)
1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (d. 1920)
1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
1901–present
1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
1904 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (d. 1966)
1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (d. 1994)
1908 – Ernie Lombardi, American baseball player (d. 1977)
1909 – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (d. 1965)
1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
1910 – Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (d. 1993)
1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (d. 1987)
1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (d. 1998)
1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021)
1921 – Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (d. 2013)
1922 – Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
1923 – Herb Thomas, American race car driver (d. 2000)
1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2014)
1926 – Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2018)
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
1928 – James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (d. 1972)
1929 – André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1929 – Christos Sartzetakis, Greek jurist, supreme justice and President of Greece (d. 2022)
1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator (d. 2019)
1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
1933 – Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium
1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (d. 2010)
1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (d. 2007)
1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic
1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1937 – Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (d. 2016)
1938 – Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor
1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1939 – John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive
1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (d. 2011)
1941 – Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic
1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
1941 – Angeliki Laiou, Greek-American Byzantinist and politician (d. 2008)
1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager
1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (d. 2017)
1943 – Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (d. 2017)
1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic
1943 – Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player
1943 – Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (d. 2017)
1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician
1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor and director
1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
1949 – Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (d. 2016)
1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
1949 – Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat
1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (d. 2007)
1950 – Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (d. 2001)
1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
1951 – Pascal Rogé, French pianist
1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author
1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer
1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer
1956 – Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician
1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
1956 – Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer
1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach
1957 – Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut
1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player
1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish impressionist and comedian
1961 – Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager
1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic
1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador
1964 – David Woodard, American conductor and writer
1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
1967 – Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
1967 – Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic
1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
1968 – Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic
1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster
1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist
1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist
1978 – Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
1978 – Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
1978 – Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter
1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
1979 – Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster
1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
1980 – Antonio Thomas, American wrestler
1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
1981 – Lucas Licht, Argentine footballer
1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player
1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
1983 – James Wade, English darts player
1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
1984 – Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player
1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
1985 – Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor
1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
1986 – Goeido Gotaro, Japanese sumo wrestler
1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
1987 – Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer
1987 – Heidi Mount, American model
1987 – Juan Adriel Ochoa, Mexican footballer
1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American model
1988 – Jucilei, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer
1988 – Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rican model and television host, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008
1990 – Lachlan Coote, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Charlie McDermott, American actor
1990 – Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer
1992 – Ken, South Korean singer
1992 – Julie Ertz, American soccer player
1994 – Adrián Alonso, Mexican actor
1995 – Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player
1998 – Peyton List, American actress and model
1998 – Spencer List, American actor
2000 – Shaheen Afridi, Pakistani cricketer
2002 – Andrea Botez, Canadian-American chess player, commentator, Twitch streamer and YouTuber
2002 – Leyre Romero Gormaz, Spanish tennis player
2009 – Shaylee Mansfield, deaf American actress and YouTuber
2009 – Valentina Tronel, French child singer
Deaths
Pre–1600
861 – Prudentius, bishop of Troyes
885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary and saint (b. 815)
887 – Pei Che, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
943 – Liu Churang, Chinese general and chief of staff (b. 881)
943 – Nasr II, ruler (amir) of the Samanid Empire (b. 906)
1147 – Frederick II, duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
1199 – Richard I, king of England (b. 1157)
1231 – William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
1250 – Guillaume de Sonnac, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1252 – Peter of Verona, Italian priest and saint (b. 1206)
1340 – Basil, emperor of Trebizond (Turkey)
1362 – James I, count of La Marche (b. 1319)
1376 – Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (b. 1310)
1490 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490 (b. 1443)
1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
1523 – Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1479)
1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
1551 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (b. 1484)
1571 – John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop and academic (b. 1512)
1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1532)
1593 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (b. 1550)
1601–1900
1605 – John Stow, English historian and author (b. 1525)
1621 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (b. 1539)
1641 – Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (b. 1581)
1655 – David Blondel, French minister, historian, and scholar (b. 1591)
1670 – Leonora Baroni, Italian composer (b. 1611)
1676 – John Winthrop the Younger, English politician, 1st Governor of Connecticut (b. 1606)
1686 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (b. 1614)
1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch-English painter (b. 1633)
1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (b. 1690)
1790 – Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter and educator (b. 1757)
1827 – Nikolis Apostolis, Greek naval commander during the Greek War of Independence (b. 1770)
1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (b. 1802)
1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek philosopher and scholar (b. 1748)
1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (b. 1763)
1860 – James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1778)
1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (b. 1803)
1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
1886 – William Edward Forster, English businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1818)
1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
1901–present
1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician, 6th County Governor of Møre og Romsdal (b. 1849)
1913 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (b. 1835)
1927 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (b. 1850)
1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (b. 1869)
1944 – Rose O'Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (b. 1874)
1947 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (b. 1896)
1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (b. 1905)
1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1895)
1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1963 – Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1897)
1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
1983 – Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (b. 1908)
1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1955)
1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
1996 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (b. 1904)
1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
1999 – Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (b. 1908)
2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (b. 1963)
2003 – David Bloom, American journalist (b. 1963)
2003 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (b. 1949)
2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (b. 1927)
2003 – Dino Yannopoulos, Greek stage director of the Metropolitan Opera (b. 1919)
2004 – Lou Berberet, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (b. 1929)
2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
2005 – Anthony F. DePalma, American orthopedic surgeon and professor (b. 1904)
2006 – Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1977)
2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, American soldier and diplomat (b. 1917)
2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor and director (b. 1926)
2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (b. 1916)
2009 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1919)
2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1982)
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (b. 1945)
2010 – Corin Redgrave, English actor (b. 1939)
2011 – Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (b. 1931)
2012 – Roland Guilbault, American admiral (b. 1934)
2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter and illustrator (b. 1958)
2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist and academic (b. 1936)
2012 – Sheila Scotter, Australian fashion designer and journalist (b. 1920)
2012 – Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (b. 1919)
2013 – Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian physician and politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
2013 – Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2013 – Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
2013 – Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1918)
2014 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (b. 1926)
2014 – Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (b. 1922)
2014 – Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (b. 1920)
2014 – Chuck Stone, American soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1924)
2014 – Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (b. 1943)
2015 – Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
2015 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2015 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1918)
2015 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
2016 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
2017 – Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
2019 – Michael O'Donnell, British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster (b. 1928)
2020 – Al Kaline, American baseball player, broadcaster and executive (b.1934)
2021 – Hans Küng, Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author (b. 1928)
2022 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian and Soviet politician (b. 1946)
2022 – Jill Knight, British politician (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty. (Thailand)
Christian feast day:
Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach (Lutheran Church).
Brychan
Eutychius of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Marcellinus of Carthage
Pope Sixtus I
April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)
New Beer's Eve (United States)
Tartan Day (United States & Canada)
Waltzing Matilda Day (Australia)
International Asexuality Day
Other
April 6 Youth Movement
(starts 6April)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 6
Days of the year
April |
1009 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2012 | April 12 |
Events
Pre-1600
240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.
467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
1012 – Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír, who flees to Poland.
1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
1601–1900
1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
1807 – The Froberg mutiny on Malta ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.
1820 – Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1862 – American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1877 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1900 – One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
1901–present
1910 – , one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
1927 – Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Chinese Communist Party members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
1927 – Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.
1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt's death.
1945 – World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.
1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961 – Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
1963 – The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
1980 – The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.
1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.
1980 – Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF
1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.
1990 – Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.
1990 – Widerøe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Norway, killing five people.
1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.
2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
2010 – Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28.
2013 – Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.
2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.
Births
Pre-1600
811 – Muhammad al-Jawad, the ninth Imam of Shia Islam (d. 835)
959 – En'yū, emperor of Japan (d. 991)
1116 – Richeza of Poland, queen of Sweden and Grand Princess of Minsk (d. 1156)
1432 – Anne of Austria, Landgravine of Thuringia (d. 1462)
1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, designed the Apostolic Palace and St. Peter's Basilica (d. 1546)
1484 – Maharana Sangram Singh, Rana of Mewar (d. 1527)
1500 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (d. 1574)
1526 – Muretus, French philosopher and author (d. 1585)
1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English courtier and politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (d. 1604)
1577 – Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648)
1601–1900
1612 – Simone Cantarini, Italian painter and engraver (d. 1648)
1639 – Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician (d. 1712)
1656 – Benoît de Maillet, French diplomat and natural historian (d. 1738)
1705 – William Cookworthy, English minister and pharmacist (d. 1780)
1710 – Caffarelli, Italian actor and singer (d. 1783)
1713 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French historian and author (d. 1796)
1716 – Felice Giardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1796)
1722 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1793)
1724 – Lyman Hall, American physician, clergyman, and politician, 16th Governor of Georgia (d. 1790)
1748 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist and author (d. 1836)
1777 – Henry Clay, American lawyer and politician, 9th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
1792 – John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, English soldier and politician, Lord Privy Seal (d. 1840)
1794 – Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician and engineer (d. 1847)
1796 – George N. Briggs, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
1799 – Henri Druey, Swiss lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1855)
1801 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1843)
1816 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (d. 1903)
1823 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright and translator (d. 1886)
1839 – Nikolay Przhevalsky, Russian geographer and explorer (d. 1888)
1845 – Gustaf Cederström, Swedish painter (d. 1933)
1851 – José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican soldier and poet (d. 1880)
1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer and author (d. 1928)
1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician and academic (d. 1939)
1856 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English mountaineer, cartographer, and politician (d. 1937)
1863 – Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (d. 1895)
1868 – Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese admiral (d. 1918)
1869 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)
1871 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1941)
1874 – William B. Bankhead, American lawyer and politician, 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1940)
1880 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (d. 1911)
1883 – Imogen Cunningham, American photographer and educator (d. 1976)
1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby player, cricketer, and sailor (d. 1959)
1884 – Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (d. 1932)
1884 – Otto Meyerhof, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1885 – Robert Delaunay, French painter (d. 1941)
1887 – Harold Lockwood, American actor and director (d. 1918)
1888 – Dan Ahearn, Irish-American long jumper and police officer (d. 1942)
1888 – Cecil Kimber, English automobile engineer (d. 1945)
1892 – Henry Darger, American writer and artist (d. 1973)
1894 – Dorothy Cumming, Australian-American actress (d. 1983)
1894 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 13th President of Portugal (d. 1964)
1898 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (d. 1976)
1901–present
1901 – Lowell Stockman, American farmer and politician (d. 1962)
1902 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, 36th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
1903 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1907 – Zawgyi, Burmese poet, author, literary historian, critic, scholar and academic (d. 1990)
1907 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian-American sculptor, designed the Marine Corps War Memorial (d. 2003)
1908 – Ida Pollock, English author and painter (d. 2013)
1908 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American pilot and general (d. 2006)
1910 – Gillo Dorfles, Italian art critic, painter and philosopher (d. 2018)
1910 – Irma Rapuzzi, French politician (d. 2018)
1911 – Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer (d. 1976)
1912 – Frank Dilio, Canadian businessman (d. 1997)
1912 – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, 2nd Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1988)
1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1913 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist (d. 2013)
1914 – Armen Alchian, American economist and academic (d. 2013)
1916 – Beverly Cleary, American author (d. 2021)
1916 – Russell Garcia, American-New Zealander composer and conductor (d. 2011)
1916 – Benjamin Libet, American neuropsychologist and academic (d. 2007)
1917 – Helen Forrest, American singer and actress (d. 1999)
1917 – Vinoo Mankad, Indian cricketer (d. 1978)
1917 – Robert Manzon, French racing driver (d. 2015)
1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer and educator (d. 2012)
1919 – Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader (d. 1991)
1921 – Robert Cliche, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1978)
1922 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (d. 1980)
1923 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2004)
1924 – Raymond Barre, French economist and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
1924 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician and academic (d. 2003)
1924 – Curtis Turner, American race car driver (d. 1970)
1925 – Evelyn Berezin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2018)
1925 – Ned Miller, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
1925 – Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1926 – Jane Withers, American actress (d. 2021)
1927 – Thomas Hemsley, English baritone (d. 2013)
1927 – Alvin Sargent, American screenwriter (d. 2019)
1928 – Hardy Krüger, German actor (d. 2022)
1928 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (d. 2013)
1929 – Elspet Gray, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
1929 – Mukhran Machavariani, Georgian poet and educator (d. 2010)
1930 – John Landy, Australian runner and politician, 26th Governor of Victoria (d. 2022)
1930 – Bryan Magee, English philosopher and politician (d. 2019)
1930 – Manuel Neri, American sculptor and painter (d. 2021)
1930 – Pythagoras Papastamatiou, Greek lyricist and playwright (d. 1979)
1930 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (d. 2006)
1931 – Leonid Derbenyov, Russian poet and songwriter (d. 1995)
1932 – Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 5th Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2005)
1932 – Jean-Pierre Marielle, French actor (d. 2019)
1932 – Tiny Tim, American singer and ukulele player (d. 1996)
1933 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 2018)
1934 – Heinz Schneiter, Swiss footballer and manager (d. 2017)
1935 – Jimmy Makulis, Greek singer (d. 2007)
1936 – Tony Earl, American politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 2023)
1936 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
1936 – Kennedy Simmonds, Kittitian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
1937 – Dennis Banks, American author and activist (d. 2017)
1937 – Igor Volk, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English director and playwright
1939 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2022)
1940 – Woodie Fryman, American baseball player (d. 2011)
1940 – Herbie Hancock, American pianist, composer, and bandleader
1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (d. 1993)
1942 – Bill Bryden, Scottish actor, director, and screenwriter
1942 – Carlos Reutemann, Argentinian race car driver and politician (d. 2021)
1942 – Jacob Zuma, South African politician, 4th President of South Africa
1943 – Sumitra Mahajan, Indian politician, 16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
1944 – Lisa Jardine, English historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
1944 – John Kay, German-Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1945 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (d. 2006)
1946 – John Dunsworth, Canadian actor and comedian (d. 2017)
1946 – Ed O'Neill, American actor and comedian
1946 – George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, Scottish politician and diplomat, 10th Secretary General of NATO
1947 – Roy M. Anderson, English epidemiologist, zoologist, and academic
1947 – Martin Brasier, English palaeontologist, biologist, and academic (d. 2014)
1947 – Tom Clancy, American historian and author (d. 2013)
1947 – David Letterman, American comedian and talk show host
1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television host and producer (d. 2008)
1948 – Joschka Fischer, German academic and politician
1948 – Christos Iakovou, Greek weightlifter
1948 – Marcello Lippi, Italian footballer, manager, and coach
1949 – Scott Turow, American lawyer and author
1950 – Flavio Briatore, Italian businessman
1950 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1950 – Joyce Banda, Malawian politician, 4th president of Malawi
1950 – Nicholas Sackman, English composer and educator
1951 – Tom Noonan, American actor
1952 – Reuben Gant, American football player
1952 – Leicester Rutledge, New Zealand rugby player
1952 – Gary Soto, American poet, novelist, and memoirist
1952 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist (d. 2004)
1953 – Tanino Liberatore, Italian author and illustrator
1954 – John Faulkner, Australian educator and politician, 52nd Australian Minister for Defence
1954 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician (d. 2015)
1954 – Pat Travers, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Fabian Hamilton, English graphic designer, engineer, and politician
1956 – Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer-songwriter and actor
1957 – Greg Child, Australian mountaineer and author
1957 – Vince Gill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Tama Janowitz, American novelist and short story writer
1958 – Will Sergeant, English guitarist
1958 – Klaus Tafelmeier, German javelin thrower
1958 – Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian hurdler
1960 – David Thirdkill, American basketball player
1961 – Corrado Fabi, Italian racing driver
1961 – Charles Mann, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Magda Szubanski, English-Australian actress, comedian and writer
1962 – Art Alexakis, American singer-songwriter and musician
1962 – Carlos Sainz, Spanish racing driver
1962 – Nobuhiko Takada, Japanese mixed martial artist and wrestler, founded Hustle
1963 – Lydia Cacho, Mexican journalist and author
1964 – Chris Fairclough, English footballer and coach
1964 – Amy Ray, American folk-rock singer-songwriter, musician, and music producer
1965 – Kim Bodnia, Danish actor and director
1965 – Chi Onwurah, English politician
1965 – Gervais Rufyikiri, Burundian politician
1965 – Mihai Stoica, Romanian footballer and manager
1966 – Nils-Olav Johansen, Norwegian guitarist and singer
1966 – Lorenzo White, American football player
1967 – Sarah Cracknell, English singer-songwriter
1968 – Alicia Coppola, American actress
1968 – Toby Gad, German songwriter and producer
1968 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Jörn Lenz, German footballer and manager
1969 – Lucas Radebe, South African footballer and sportscaster
1969 – Michael Jackson, American football player and politician (d. 2017)
1970 – Sylvain Bouchard, Canadian speed skater
1971 – Nicholas Brendon, American actor
1971 – Shannen Doherty, American actress, director, and producer
1972 – Paul Lo Duca, American baseball player and sportscaster
1973 – J. Scott Campbell, American author and illustrator
1973 – Ryan Kisor, American trumpet player and composer
1973 – Antonio Osuna, Mexican-American baseball player
1973 – Christian Panucci, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Belinda Emmett, Australian actress (d. 2006)
1974 – Bryan Fletcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1974 – Roman Hamrlík, Czech ice hockey player
1974 – Marley Shelton, American actress
1974 – Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Olga Kotlyarova, Russian runner
1976 – Brad Miller, American basketball player
1977 – Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer
1977 – Sarah Monahan, Australian actress
1977 – Jason Price, Welsh footballer
1977 – Glenn Rogers, Australian-Scottish cricketer
1978 – Guy Berryman, Scottish bassist (Coldplay)
1978 – Scott Crary, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Svetlana Lapina, Russian high jumper
1978 – Robin Walker, English businessman and politician
1979 – Claire Danes, American actress
1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast
1979 – Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
1979 – Jennifer Morrison, American actress
1979 – Cristian Ranalli, Italian footballer
1979 – Lee Soo-young, South Korean singer
1980 – Sara Head, Welsh Paralympic table tennis champion
1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer-songwriter
1981 – Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Russian runner
1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Tulsi Gabbard, American politician
1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer and professional wrestler
1981 – Hisashi Iwakuma, Japanese baseball pitcher
1983 – Jelena Dokic, Serbian-Australian tennis player
1983 – Luke Kibet, Kenyan runner
1984 – Aleksey Dmitrik, Russian high jumper
1985 – Brennan Boesch, American baseball player
1985 – Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer
1986 – Brad Brach, American baseball pitcher
1986 – Blerim Džemaili, Swiss footballer
1986 – Marcel Granollers, Spanish tennis player
1986 – Jonathan Pitroipa, Burkinabé footballer
1987 – Brooklyn Decker, American model and actress
1987 – Shawn Gore, Canadian football player
1987 – Josh McCrone, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Luiz Adriano, Brazilian professional footballer
1987 – Brendon Urie, American singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist
1988 – Ricky Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
1988 – Stephen Brogan, English footballer
1988 – Amedeo Calliari, Italian footballer
1988 – Jessie James Decker, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Moamen Zakaria, Egyptian footballer
1989 – Bethan Dainton, Welsh rugby union player
1989 – Miguel Ángel Ponce, American-Mexican footballer
1989 – Ádám Hanga, Hungarian basketball player
1989 – Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian-American ice dancer
1989 – Valentin Stocker, Swiss footballer
1990 – Francesca Halsall, English swimmer
1990 – Hiroki Sakai, Japanese footballer
1991 – Torey Krug, American ice hockey player
1991 – Lionel Carole, French professional footballer
1991 – Oliver Norwood, English born Northern Irish international footballer
1991 – Magnus Pääjärvi, Swedish ice hockey player
1991 – Jazz Richards, Welsh international footballer
1992 – Chad le Clos, South African swimmer
1993 – Robin Anderson, American tennis player
1993 – Jordan Archer, English-Scottish footballer
1993 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Canadian ice hockey player
1994 – Isabelle Drummond, Brazilian actress and singer
1994 – Saoirse Ronan, American-born Irish actress
1994 – Oh Sehun, South Korean musician
1994 – Eric Bailly, Ivorian professional footballer
1994 – Guido Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
1995 – Pedro Cachin, Argentine tennis player
1996 – Matteo Berrettini, Italian tennis player
1996 – Elizaveta Kulichkova, Russian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
45 BC – Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman general and politician (b. 75 BC)
352 – Julius I, pope of the Catholic Church
434 – Maximianus, archbishop of Constantinople
901 – Eudokia Baïana, Byzantine empress and wife of Leo VI
1125 – Vladislaus I, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1065)
1167 – Charles VII, king of Sweden (b. c. 1130)
1256 – Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre, regent of Navarre (b. c. 1217)
1443 – Henry Chichele, English archbishop (b. 1364)
1500 – Leonhard of Gorizia, Count of Gorz (b. 1440)
1530 – Joanna La Beltraneja, Princess of Castile (b. 1462)
1550 – Claude, Duke of Guise (b. 1496)
1555 – Joanna, Queen of Castile and Aragon (b. 1479)
1601–1900
1675 – Richard Bennett, English politician, colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1609)
1684 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (b. 1596)
1687 – Ambrose Dixon, English-American soldier (b. 1619)
1704 – Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and theologian (b. 1627)
1748 – William Kent, English architect, designed Holkham Hall and Chiswick House (b. 1685)
1782 – Metastasio, Italian-Austrian poet and composer (b. 1698)
1788 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-Italian composer (b. 1719)
1795 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)
1814 – Charles Burney, English composer and historian (b. 1726)
1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (b. 1730)
1850 – Adoniram Judson, American lexicographer and missionary (b. 1788)
1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician, founded Fleetwood (b. 1801)
1872 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1795)
1878 – William M. Tweed, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
1879 – Richard Taylor, Confederate general (b. 1826)
1885 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1817)
1898 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1820)
1901–present
1902 – Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist and academic (b. 1842)
1906 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar, academic, and philanthropist (b. 1836)
1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross (b. 1821)
1933 – Adelbert Ames, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1835)
1937 – Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Turkish playwright and poet (b. 1852)
1938 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (b. 1873)
1943 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (b. 1889)
1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
1953 – Lionel Logue, Australian actor and therapist (b. 1880)
1962 – Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1923)
1966 – Sydney Allard, English racing driver and founder of the Allard car company (b. 1910)
1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German engineer (b. 1899)
1971 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and dentist (b. 1886)
1973 – Arthur Freed, American songwriter and producer (b. 1894)
1975 – Josephine Baker, French actress, activist, and humanitarian (b. 1906)
1976 – Christos Kakkalos, Greek mountain guide (b. 1882)
1977 – Philip K. Wrigley, American businessman, co-founded Lincoln Park Gun Club (b. 1894)
1980 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (b. 1913)
1981 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer and wrestler (b. 1914)
1983 – Jørgen Juve, Norwegian football player and journalist (b. 1906)
1983 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (b. 1944)
1984 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral and cryptanalyst (b. 1903)
1986 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (b. 1897)
1988 – Colette Deréal, French singer and actress (b. 1927)
1988 – Alan Paton, South African historian and author (b. 1903)
1989 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist, co-founded Youth International Party (b. 1936)
1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
1992 – Ilario Bandini, Italian racing driver and businessman (b. 1911)
1997 – George Wald, American neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1998 – Robert Ford, Canadian poet and diplomat (b. 1915)
1999 – Boxcar Willie, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
2001 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the smiley (b. 1921)
2002 – George Shevelov, Ukrainian-American linguist and philologist (b. 1908)
2004 – Moran Campbell, Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (b. 1925)
2006 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (b. 1924)
2007 – Kevin Crease, Australian journalist (b. 1936)
2008 – Cecilia Colledge, English-American figure skater and coach (b. 1920)
2008 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (b. 1923)
2008 – Jerry Zucker, Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1949)
2010 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader (b. 1916)
2010 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (b. 1945)
2011 – Karim Fakhrawi, Bahraini journalist, co-founded Al-Wasat (b. 1962)
2012 – Mohit Chattopadhyay, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1934)
2012 – Rodgers Grant, American pianist and composer (b. 1935)
2013 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (b. 1928)
2013 – Johnny du Plooy, South African boxer (b. 1964)
2013 – Michael France, American screenwriter (b. 1962)
2013 – Brennan Manning, American priest and author (b. 1934)
2013 – Annamária Szalai, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1961)
2013 – Ya'akov Yosef, Israeli rabbi and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Pierre Autin-Grenier, French author and poet (b. 1947)
2014 – Pierre-Henri Menthéour, French cyclist (b. 1960)
2014 – Maurício Alves Peruchi, Brazilian footballer (b. 1990)
2014 – Hal Smith, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
2014 – Billy Standridge, American race car driver (b. 1953)
2015 – Paulo Brossard, Brazilian jurist and politician (b. 1924)
2015 – Patrice Dominguez, Algerian-French tennis player and trainer (b. 1950)
2015 – Alfred Eick, German commander (b. 1916)
2015 – André Mba Obame, Gabonese politician (b. 1957)
2016 – Anne Jackson, American actress (b. 1925)
2016 – Mohammad Al Gaz, Emirati politician & diplomat (b. 1930)
2017 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (b. 1959)
2020 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (b. 1983)
2021 – Joseph Siravo, American actor and producer (b. 1955)
2022 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer (b. 1955)
Holidays and observances
Children's Day (Bolivia)
Christian feast day:
Adoniram Judson (Episcopal Church)
Alferius
Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso
Erkembode
Pope Julius I
Teresa of the Andes
Zeno of Verona
April 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin:
Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
International Day of Human Space Flight
Yuri's Night (International observance)
Halifax Day (North Carolina)
National Redemption Day (Liberia)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 12
Days of the year
April |
1010 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2015 | April 15 |
Events
Pre-1600
769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings.
1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
1601–1900
1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.
1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
1736 – Foundation of the short-lived Kingdom of Corsica.
1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, receives its premiere performance in London, England.
1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.
1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Three hours later, Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as President.
1892 – The General Electric Company is formed.
1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
1901–present
1912 – The British passenger liner sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.
1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.
1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
1923 – Racially motivated Nihon Shōgakkō fire lit by a serial arsonist kills 10 children in Sacramento, California.
1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.
1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.
1942 – The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI.
1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
1955 – McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.
1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
2002 – Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people.
2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others.
2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.
2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.
2021 – A mass shooting occurred at a Fedex Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven.
Births
Pre-1600
68 BC – Gaius Maecenas, Roman politician (d. 8 BC)
1282 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1329)
1442 – John Paston, English noble (d. 1479)
1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1519)
1469 – Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru (d. 1539)
1552 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1626)
1563 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth Sikh leader (d. 1606)
1588 – Claudius Salmasius, French author and scholar (d. 1653)
1592 – Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal (d. 1675)
1601–1900
1641 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and geographer (d. 1722)
1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1691)
1646 – Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
1684 – Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
1688 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (d. 1758)
1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1783)
1710 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
1741 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter and soldier (d. 1827)
1771 – Nicolas Chopin, French-Polish educator (d. 1844)
1772 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French biologist and zoologist (d. 1844)
1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer and academic (d. 1864)
1795 – Maria Schicklgruber, mother of Alois Hitler and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler (d.1847)
1800 – James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (d. 1862)
1808 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1892)
1809 – Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (d. 1877)
1817 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1885)
1828 – Jean Danjou, French captain (d. 1863)
1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (d. 1908)
1841 – Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (d. 1921)
1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (d. 1919)
1843 – Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1916)
1856 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (d. 1910)
1858 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (d. 1917)
1861 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (d. 1929)
1863 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (d. 1914)
1874 – George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (d. 1954)
1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1875 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (d. 1953)
1877 – Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (d. 1947)
1877 – William David Ross, Scottish philosopher (d. 1971)
1878 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1956)
1879 – Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
1886 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (d. 1921)
1887 – Felix Pipes, Austrian tennis player (d. 1983)
1887 – William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (d. 1953)
1888 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (d. 1904)
1889 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (d. 1975)
1889 – A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
1890 – Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat's eye (d. 1976)
1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (d. 1975)
1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (d. 1983)
1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
1894 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (d. 1937)
1895 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (d. 1980)
1895 – Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (d. 1941)
1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (d. 1973)
1900 – Ramón Iribarren, Spanish civil engineer (d. 1967)
1901–present
1901 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
1901 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1986)
1901 – René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
1902 – Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
1903 – John Williams, English-American actor (d. 1983)
1904 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
1908 – eden ahbez, Scottish-American songwriter and recording artist (d. 1995)
1908 – Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
1909 – Robert Edison Fulton Jr., American inventor and adventurer (d. 2004)
1910 – Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (d. 1986)
1910 – Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (d. 1997)
1912 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1998)
1912 – Kim Il Sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 1994)
1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2012)
1916 – Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
1916 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1917 – Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
1917 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (d. 1944)
1917 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
1918 – Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2007)
1919 – Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (d. 1993)
1920 – Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (d. 2013)
1920 – Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (d. 2015)
1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995)
1921 – Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (d. 2009)
1922 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (d. 2013)
1922 – Hasrat Jaipuri, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1999)
1922 – Harold Washington, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
1922 – Graham Whitehead, English racing driver (d. 1981)
1923 – Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (d. 1966)
1923 – Robert DePugh, American activist, founded the Minutemen (an anti-Communist organization) (d. 2009)
1924 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1980)
1924 – Rikki Fulton, Scottish comedian (d. 2004)
1924 – Neville Marriner, English violinist and conductor (d. 2016)
1926 – Jurriaan Schrofer, Dutch sculptor, designer, and educator (d. 1990)
1927 – Robert Mills, American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
1929 – Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2008)
1929 – Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (d. 2015)
1930 – Georges Descrières, French actor (d. 2013)
1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Icelandic educator and politician, 4th President of Iceland
1931 – Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Irish civil servant
1931 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1933 – Roy Clark, American musician and television personality (d. 2018)
1933 – David Hamilton, English-French photographer and director (d. 2016)
1933 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress and producer (d. 1995)
1935 – Stavros Paravas, Greek actor and producer (d. 2008)
1936 – Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist (d. 2019)
1937 – Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
1937 – Robert W. Gore, American engineer and businessman, co-inventor of Gore-Tex (d. 2020)
1938 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
1938 – Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician (d. 2016)
1939 – Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor
1939 – Desiré Ecaré, Ivorian filmmaker (d. 2009)
1940 – Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician
1940 – Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model, beauty queen and 1958 Miss World
1940 – Willie Davis, American baseball player and actor (d. 2010)
1940 – Robert Lacroix, Canadian economist and academic
1940 – Robert Walker, American actor (d. 2019)
1941 – Howard Berman, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Francis X. DiLorenzo, American bishop (d. 2017)
1942 – Walt Hazzard, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
1942 – Kenneth Lay, American businessman and criminal(d. 2006)
1942 – Tim Lankester, English economist and academic
1943 – Pınar Kür, Turkish author, playwright, and academic
1943 – Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater, English politician
1943 – Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (d. 2006)
1944 – Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1946 – John Lloyd, Scottish journalist and author
1946 – Pete Rouse, American politician, White House Chief of Staff
1947 – Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American screenwriter and producer
1947 – Martin Broughton, English businessman
1947 – Lois Chiles, American model and actress
1947 – David Omand, English civil servant and academic
1947 – Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish nurse and politician, Swedish Minister for Social Security
1948 – Christopher Brown, English historian, curator, and academic
1948 – Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1948 – Phil Mogg, English singer-songwriter and musician
1949 – Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer-songwriter and actress
1949 – Craig Zadan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1950 – Josiane Balasko, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1950 – Amy Wright, American actress
1950 – Karel Kroupa, Czech football player
1951 – Heloise, American journalist and author
1951 – John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut
1951 – Stuart Prebble, English journalist and producer
1951 – Marsha Ivins, American engineer and astronaut
1952 – Kym Gyngell, Australian actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1952 – Brian Muir, English sculptor and set designer
1952 – Avital Ronell, Czech-American philosopher and academic
1952 – Glenn Shadix, American actor, (d. 2010)
1955 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (d. 1997)
1955 – Joice Mujuru, Zimbabwean politician
1956 – Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach
1957 – Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach
1958 – Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1958 – John Bracewell, New Zealand cricketer
1958 – Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player and coach
1958 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English actor, author, poet, and playwright
1959 – Fruit Chan, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 – Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1959 – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter
1960 – Pierre Aubry, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Susanne Bier, Danish director and screenwriter
1960 – Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist and sportscaster
1960 – Tony Jones, English snooker player
1961 – Neil Carmichael, English academic and politician
1961 – Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist
1961 – Dawn Wright, American geographer and oceanographer
1962 – Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician
1962 – Tom Kane, American voice actor
1963 – Alex Crawford, Nigerian-South African journalist
1963 – Manzoor Elahi, Pakistani cricketer
1963 – Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
1964 – Andre Joubert, South African rugby player
1964 – Lee Kernaghan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Soichi Noguchi, Japanese engineer and astronaut
1965 – Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer
1965 – Kevin Stevens, American ice hockey player
1966 – Samantha Fox, English singer-songwriter and actress
1966 – Mott Green, American businessman (d. 2013)
1967 – Frankie Poullain, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist
1968 – Ben Clarke, English rugby player and coach
1968 – Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner
1968 – Ed O'Brien, English guitarist
1969 – Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
1969 – Kaisa Roose, Estonian pianist and conductor
1969 – Jimmy Waite, Canadian-German ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach
1971 – Philippe Carbonneau, French rugby player
1971 – Finidi George, Nigerian footballer
1971 – Jason Sehorn, American football player
1971 – Josia Thugwane, South African runner
1971 – Karl Turner, English lawyer and politician
1972 – Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
1972 – Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
1974 – Kim Min-kyo, South Korean actor and director
1974 – Danny Pino, American actor and screenwriter
1974 – Mike Quinn, American football player
1974 – Douglas Spain, American actor, director, and producer
1974 – Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player
1975 – Sarah Teichmann, German-American biophysicist and immunologist
1976 – Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1976 – Darius Regelskis, Lithuanian footballer
1976 – Kęstutis Šeštokas, Lithuanian basketball player
1976 – Steve Williams, English rower
1977 – Sudarsan Pattnaik, Indian sculptor
1977 – Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
1978 – Milton Bradley, American baseball player
1978 – Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
1978 – Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and dancer
1978 – Chris Stapleton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Luke Evans, Welsh actor and singer
1980 – Patrick Carney, American drummer, musician, and producer
1980 – James Foster, English cricketer
1980 – Raül López, Spanish basketball player
1980 – Willie Mason, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
1980 – Aida Mollenkamp, American chef and author
1980 – Billy Yates, American football player
1981 – Andrés D'Alessandro, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
1982 – Anthony Green, American singer-songwriter
1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1983 – Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
1983 – Matt Cardle, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1983 – Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (d. 2014)
1983 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist
1984 – Antonio Cromartie, American football player
1984 – Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
1984 – Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Tom Heaton, English footballer
1986 – Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer
1988 – Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player
1988 – Steven Defour, Belgian footballer
1988 – Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher
1989 – Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Emma Watson, English actress
1991 – Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor
1991 – Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater
1992 – Jeremy McGovern, Australian rules football player
1994 – Brodie Grundy, Australian rules football player
1994 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter
1995 – Leander Dendoncker, Belgian footballer
1997 – Ashleigh Gardner, Australian cricketer
1997 – Maisie Williams, English actress
1999 – Denis Shapovalov, Canadian tennis player
2001 – Shanti Dope, Filipino rapper
Deaths
Pre-1600
628 – Suiko, emperor of Japan (b. 554)
943 – Liu Bin, emperor of Southern Han (b. 920)
956 – Lin Yanyu, Chinese court official and eunuch
1053 – Godwin, Earl of Wessex (b. 1001)
1136 – Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (b. 1094)
1220 – Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (b. 1157)
1237 – Richard Poore, English ecclesiastic
1415 – Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek philosopher and translator (b. 1355)
1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1377)
1502 – John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (b. 1443)
1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)
1578 – Wolrad II, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, German nobleman (b. 1509)
1601–1900
1610 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (b. 1546)
1632 – George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1580)
1652 – Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, Russian patriarch
1659 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymnwriter (b. 1605)
1719 – Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, French wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
1754 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1676)
1757 – Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (b. 1673)
1761 – Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Court of Session (b. 1682)
1761 – William Oldys, English historian and author (b. 1696)
1764 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (b. 1679)
1764 – Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV (b. 1721)
1765 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian chemist and physicist (b. 1711)
1788 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
1793 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1718)
1854 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773)
1861 – Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (b. 1792)
1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
1888 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (b. 1822)
1889 – Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (b. 1840)
1898 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician
1901–present
1912 – Victims of the Titanic disaster:
Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel, businessman, and author (b. 1864)
Archibald Butt, American general and journalist (b. 1865)
Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (b. 1875)
Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
Henry B. Harris, American producer and manager (b. 1866)
Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (b. 1878)
Charles Melville Hays, American businessman (b. 1856)
James Paul Moody, English Sixth Officer (b. 1887)
William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish First Officer (b. 1873)
Jack Phillips, English telegraphist (b. 1887)
Edward Smith, English Captain (b. 1850)
William Thomas Stead, English journalist (b. 1849)
Ida Straus, German-American businesswoman (b. 1849)
Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (b. 1845)
John B. Thayer, American business and sportsman (b. 1862)
Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer (b. 1872)
1917 – János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (b. 1839)
1927 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (b. 1868)
1938 – César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (b. 1892)
1942 – Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (b. 1880)
1943 – Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (b. 1882)
1944 – Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (b. 1901)
1945 – Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (b. 1895)
1948 – Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (b. 1892)
1949 – Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
1962 – Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
1962 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (b. 1912)
1963 – Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (b. 1903)
1966 – Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan
1967 – Totò, Italian comedian (b. 1898)
1971 – Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
1971 – Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (b. 1886)
1979 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1912)
1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (b. 1904)
1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1982 – Arthur Lowe, English actor (b. 1915)
1984 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)
1986 – Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1910)
1988 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
1989 – Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1915)
1990 – Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (b. 1905)
1993 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1993 – John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (b. 1908)
1998 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1925)
1999 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (b. 1944)
2000 – Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (b. 1925)
2001 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2002 – Damon Knight, American author and critic (b. 1922)
2002 – Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1917)
2004 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (b. 1934)
2007 – Brant Parker, American illustrator (b. 1920)
2008 – Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (b. 1921)
2009 – Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1924)
2009 – László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
2009 – Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (b. 1947)
2010 – Jack Herer, American author and activist (b. 1939)
2010 – Michael Pataki, American actor and director (b. 1938)
2011 – Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1975)
2012 – Paul Bogart, American director and producer (b. 1919)
2012 – Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (b. 1968)
2013 – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1930)
2013 – Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1946)
2013 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (b. 1928)
2014 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (b. 1919)
2014 – Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (b. 1935)
2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1966)
2015 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
2017 – Clifton James, American actor (b. 1920)
2017 – Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (b. 1899)
2018 – R. Lee Ermey, American actor (b. 1944)
2018 – Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
2022 – Bilquis Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist and wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi (b. 1947)
2022 – Henry Plumb, British politician and farmer (b. 1925)
2022 – Liz Sheridan, American actress (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Abbo II of Metz
Father Damien (The Episcopal Church)
Hunna
Paternus of Avranches
April 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Sun (North Korea)
Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
Hillsborough Disaster Memorial (Liverpool, England)
Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
National American Sign Language Day (United States)
Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year; India)
Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States, Philippines)
Universal Day of Culture
World Art Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 15
Days of the year
April |
1011 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2030 | April 30 |
Events
Pre-1600
311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.
1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois.
1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. He is named admiral of the ocean sea, viceroy and governor of any territory he discovers.
1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.
1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.
1598 – Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
1601–1900
1636 – Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first President of the United States.
1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.
1871 – The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.
1897 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
1901–present
1905 – Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
1925 – Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.
1927 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.
1937 – The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
1939 – The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.
1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.
1943 – World War II: The British submarine surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
1945 – World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9,000 American and British airmen.
1947 – In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.
1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force.
1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
1973 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon fires White House Counsel John Dean; other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resign.
1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
1980 – Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
1980 – The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
1982 – The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.
1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
1999 – Neo-Nazi David Copeland carries out the last of his three nail bombings in London at the Admiral Duncan gay pub, killing three people and injuring 79 others.
2000 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.
2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2009 – Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.
2012 – An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 103 people.
2013 – Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others.
2021 – Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel.
Births
Pre-1600
1310 – King Casimir III of Poland (d. 1368)
1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)
1383 – Anne of Gloucester, English countess, granddaughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1438)
1425 – William III, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1482)
1504 – Francesco Primaticcio, Italian painter (d. 1570)
1553 – Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)
1601–1900
1623 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop and saint (d. 1708)
1651 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint (d. 1719)
1662 – Mary II of England (d. 1694)
1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (d. 1709)
1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (d. 1806)
1758 – Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese commander and politician (d. 1802)
1770 – David Thompson, English-Canadian cartographer and explorer (d. 1857)
1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1855)
1799 – Joseph Dart, American businessman and entrepreneur (d. 1879)
1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (d. 1879)
1829 – Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist and academic (d. 1884)
1848 – Eugène Simon, French naturalist (d. 1924)
1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist (d. 1940)
1857 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1920)
1865 – Max Nettlau, German historian and academic (d. 1944)
1866 – Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel, American pioneer dentist (d. 1936)
1869 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, designed the IG Farben Building and Großes Schauspielhaus (d. 1936)
1870 – Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (d. 1948)
1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish priest and author (d. 1949)
1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (d. 1937)
1877 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (d. 1917)
1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American memoirist (d. 1967)
1878 – Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (d. 1948)
1879 – Richárd Weisz, Hungarian Olympic champion wrestler (d. 1945)
1880 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish cartoonist (d. 1967)
1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech soldier and author (d. 1923)
1883 – Luigi Russolo, Italian painter and composer (d. 1947)
1884 – Olof Sandborg, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
1888 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet, critic, and academic (d. 1974)
1893 – Harold Breen, Australian public servant (d. 1966)
1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German soldier and politician, 14th German Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1946)
1895 – Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic, and diplomat (d. 1960)
1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist (d. 1972)
1896 – Hans List, Austrian scientist and businessman, founded the AVL Engineering Company (d. 1996)
1897 – Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)
1900 – Erni Krusten, Estonian author and poet (d. 1984)
1901–present
1901 – Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic professor of law and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)
1908 – Frank Robert Miller, Canadian air marshal and politician (d. 1997)
1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor and educator (d. 1992)
1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
1910 – Levi Celerio, Filipino pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 2002)
1914 – Charles Beetham, American middle-distance runner (d. 1997)
1914 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor, and painter (d. 2008)
1916 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2003)
1916 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician and engineer (d. 2001)
1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
1917 – Bea Wain, American singer (d. 2017)
1920 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver and pilot (d. 1994)
1920 – Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian and woman's history author (d. 2013)
1920 – Tom Moore, British army officer and fundraiser (d. 2021)
1921 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (d. 2014)
1922 – Anton Murray, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1923 – Percy Heath, American bassist (d. 2005)
1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (d. 2004)
1924 – Sheldon Harnick, American lyricist (d. 2023)
1924 – Uno Laht, Estonian KGB officer and author (d. 2008)
1925 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)
1925 – Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1960)
1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer (d. 2011)
1926 – Cloris Leachman, American actress and comedian (d. 2021)
1928 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author and academic (d. 2000)
1928 – Orlando Sirola, Italian tennis player (d. 1995)
1930 – Félix Guattari, French psychotherapist and philosopher (d. 1992)
1933 – Charles Sanderson, Baron Sanderson of Bowden, English politician
1934 – Jerry Lordan, English singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1934 – Don McKenney, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2022)
1937 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
1938 – Gary Collins, American actor and talk show host (d. 2012)
1938 – Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak director and screenwriter (d. 2023)
1938 – Larry Niven, American author and screenwriter
1940 – Jeroen Brouwers, Dutch journalist and writer
1940 – Michael Cleary, Australian rugby player and politician
1940 – Ülo Õun, Estonian sculptor (d. 1988)
1940 – Burt Young, American actor and painter (d. 2023)
1941 – Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
1941 – Max Merritt, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
1942 – Sallehuddin of Kedah, Sultan of Kedah
1943 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)
1943 – Bobby Vee, American pop singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1944 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (d. 2014)
1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)
1945 – J. Michael Brady, British radiologist
1945 – Annie Dillard, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2001)
1945 – Michael J. Smith, American pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
1946 – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer
1947 – Paul Fiddes, English theologian and academic
1947 – Finn Kalvik, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer and manager
1947 – Mats Odell, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Financial Markets
1948 – Wayne Kramer, American guitarist and singer-songwriter
1948 – Pierre Pagé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Margit Papp, Hungarian athlete
1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball player and manager
1949 – António Guterres, Portuguese academic and politician, 114th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations
1949 – Karl Meiler, German tennis player (d. 2014)
1952 – Jacques Audiard, French director and screenwriter
1952 – Jack Middelburg, Dutch motorcycle racer (d. 1984)
1953 – Merrill Osmond, American singer and bass player
1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Kim Darroch, English diplomat, UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
1954 – Frank-Michael Marczewski, German footballer
1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and environmentalist
1955 – David Kitchin, English lawyer and judge
1955 – Pradeep Sarkar, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 2023)
1955 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter
1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director and screenwriter
1957 – Wonder Mike, American rapper and songwriter
1958 – Charles Berling, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
1960 – Geoffrey Cox, English lawyer and politician
1960 – Kerry Healey, American academic and politician, 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
1961 – Arnór Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Andrew Carwood, English tenor and conductor
1963 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
1964 – Tony Fernandes, Malaysian-Indian businessman, co-founded Tune Group
1964 – Ian Healy, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1964 – Lorenzo Staelens, Belgian footballer and manager
1964 – Abhishek Chatterjee, Indian actor
1965 – Daniela Costian, Romanian-Australian discus thrower
1965 – Adrian Pasdar, American actor
1966 – Jeff Brown, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player and coach
1967 – Phil Chang, Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor
1967 – Philipp Kirkorov, Bulgarian-born Russian singer, composer and actor
1967 – Turbo B, American rapper
1969 – Warren Defever, American bass player and producer
1969 – Justine Greening, English accountant and politician, Secretary of State for International Development
1969 – Paulo Jr., Brazilian bass player
1972 – Takako Tokiwa, Japanese actress
1973 – Leigh Francis, English comedian and actor
1974 – Christian Tamminga, Dutch athlete
1975 – Johnny Galecki, American actor
1976 – Davian Clarke, Jamaican sprinter
1976 – Amanda Palmer, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1976 – Daniel Wagon, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Victor J. Glover, American astronaut
1977 – Jeannie Haddaway, American politician
1977 – Meredith L. Patterson, American technologist, journalist, and author
1978 – Liljay, Taiwanese singer
1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer
1980 – Luis Scola, Argentinian basketball player
1980 – Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer
1981 – Nicole Kaczmarski, American basketball player
1981 – John O'Shea, Irish footballer
1981 – Kunal Nayyar, British-Indian actor
1981 – Justin Vernon, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer
1982 – Kirsten Dunst, American actress
1982 – Drew Seeley, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
1983 – Chris Carr, American football player
1983 – Tatjana Hüfner, German luger
1983 – Marina Tomić, Slovenian hurdler
1983 – Troy Williamson, American football player
1984 – Seimone Augustus, American basketball player
1984 – Shawn Daivari, American wrestler and manager
1984 – Risto Mätas, Estonian javelin thrower
1984 – Lee Roache, English footballer
1985 – Brandon Bass, American basketball player
1985 – Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model
1985 – Ashley Alexandra Dupré, American journalist, singer, and prostitute
1986 – Dianna Agron, American actress and singer
1986 – Martten Kaldvee, Estonian biathlete
1987 – Alipate Carlile, Australian footballer
1987 – Chris Morris, South African cricketer
1987 – Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer
1988 – Andy Allen, Australian chef
1988 – Sander Baart, Dutch field hockey player
1988 – Ana de Armas, Cuban actress
1988 – Liu Xijun, Chinese singer
1988 – Oh Hye-ri, South Korean taekwondo athlete
1989 – Jang Wooyoung, South Korean singer and actor
1990 – Jonny Brownlee, English triathlete
1990 – Mac DeMarco, Canadian singer-songwriter
1990 – Kaarel Kiidron, Estonian footballer
1990 – Paula Ribó, Spanish singer-songwriter and actress
1991 – Chris Kreider, American ice hockey player
1991 – Travis Scott, American rapper and producer
1992 – Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer
1993 – Dion Dreesens, Dutch swimmer
1993 – Martin Fuksa, Czech canoeist
1994 – Chae Seo-jin, South Korean actress
1994 – Wang Yafan, Chinese tennis player
1996 – Luke Friend, English singer
1997 – Adam Ryczkowski, Polish footballer
1998 – Georgina Amorós, Spanish actress
1999 – Jorden van Foreest, Dutch chess grandmaster
1999 – Krit Amnuaydechkorn, Thai actor and singer
2000 – Yui Hiwatashi, Japanese singer
2002 – Anna Cramling, Spanish-Swedish chess player
2002 – Teden Mengi, English footballer
2003 – Emily Carey, British actress
2003 – Jung Yun-seok, South Korean actor
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 65 – Lucan, Roman poet (b. 39)
125 – An, Chinese emperor (b. 94)
535 – Amalasuntha, Ostrogothic queen and regent
783 – Hildegard of the Vinzgau, Frankish queen
1002 – Eckard I, German nobleman
1030 – Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghaznavid emir (b. 971)
1063 – Ren Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1010)
1131 – Adjutor, French knight and saint
1305 – Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer (b. 1267)
1341 – John III, duke of Brittany (b. 1286)
1439 – Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English commander (b. 1382)
1524 – Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, French soldier (b. 1473)
1544 – Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1488)
1550 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (b. 1516)
1601–1900
1632 – Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, Bavarian general (b. 1559)
1632 – Sigismund III Vasa, Swedish-Polish son of John III of Sweden (b. 1566)
1637 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (b. 1571)
1655 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
1660 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (b. 1576)
1672 – Marie of the Incarnation, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Ursulines of Quebec (b. 1599)
1696 – Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (b. 1640)
1712 – Philipp van Limborch, Dutch theologian and author (b. 1633)
1733 – Rodrigo Anes de Sá Almeida e Meneses, 1st Marquis of Abrantes, Portuguese diplomat (b. 1676)
1736 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and author (b. 1668)
1758 – François d'Agincourt, French organist and composer (b. 1684)
1792 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1718)
1795 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and author (b. 1716)
1806 – Onogawa Kisaburō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 5th Yokozuna (b. 1758)
1841 – Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish philologist and author (b. 1758)
1847 – Charles, Austrian commander and duke of Teschen (b. 1771)
1863 – Jean Danjou, French captain (b. 1828)
1865 – Robert FitzRoy, English admiral, meteorologist, and politician, 2nd Governor of New Zealand (b. 1805)
1870 – Thomas Cooke, Canadian bishop and missionary (b. 1792)
1875 – Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer, and cartographer (b. 1766)
1879 – Emma Smith, American religious leader (b. 1804)
1883 – Édouard Manet, French painter (b. 1832)
1891 – Joseph Leidy, American paleontologist and author (b. 1823)
1900 – Casey Jones, American railroad engineer (b. 1864)
1901–present
1903 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and activist (b. 1831)
1910 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (b. 1856)
1926 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (b. 1892)
1936 – A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (b. 1859)
1939 – Frank Haller, American boxer (b. 1883)
1943 – Eddy Hamel, American footballer (b. 1902)
1943 – Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist and academic (b. 1860)
1943 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist (b. 1858)
1945 – Eva Braun, German photographer and office and lab assistant, wife of Adolf Hitler (b. 1912)
1945 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian-German politician and author, dictator of Nazi Germany (b. 1889)
1953 – Jacob Linzbach, Estonian linguist and author (b. 1874)
1956 – Alben W. Barkley, American lawyer and politician, 35th Vice President of the United States (b. 1877)
1970 – Jacques Presser, Dutch historian, writer and poet (b. 1899)
1970 – Inger Stevens, Swedish-American actress (b. 1934)
1972 – Gia Scala, English-American model and actress (b. 1934)
1973 – Václav Renč, Czech poet and playwright (b. 1911)
1974 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (b. 1900)
1980 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist and politician, 1st Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1898)
1982 – Lester Bangs, American journalist and author (b. 1949)
1983 – George Balanchine, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
1983 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (b. 1913)
1983 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (b. 1897)
1986 – Robert Stevenson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
1989 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1993 – Tommy Caton, English footballer (b. 1962)
1994 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (b. 1960)
1994 – Richard Scarry, American author and illustrator (b. 1919)
1995 – Maung Maung Kha, Burmese colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1920)
1998 – Nizar Qabbani, Syrian-English poet, publisher, and diplomat (b. 1926)
2000 – Poul Hartling, Danish politician, 36th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1914)
2002 – Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, German philanthropist, founded the Gründerzeit Museum (b. 1928)
2003 – Mark Berger, American economist and academic (b. 1955)
2003 – Possum Bourne, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1956)
2005 – Phil Rasmussen, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1918)
2006 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (b. 1924)
2006 – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesian author and academic (b. 1925)
2007 – Kevin Mitchell, American football player (b. 1971)
2007 – Tom Poston, American actor, comedian, and game show panelist (b. 1921)
2007 – Gordon Scott, American film and television actor (b. 1926)
2008 – Juancho Evertsz, Dutch Antillean politician (b. 1923)
2009 – Henk Nijdam, Dutch cyclist (b. 1935)
2011 – Dorjee Khandu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (b. 1955)
2011 – Evald Okas, Estonian painter (b. 1915)
2011 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist, author, and painter (b. 1911)
2012 – Tomás Borge, Nicaraguan poet and politician, co-founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (b. 1930)
2012 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (b. 1985)
2012 – Giannis Gravanis, Greek footballer (b. 1958)
2012 – Benzion Netanyahu, Russian-Israeli historian and academic (b. 1910)
2013 – Roberto Chabet, Filipino painter and sculptor (b. 1937)
2013 – Shirley Firth, Canadian skier (b. 1953)
2013 – Viviane Forrester, French author and critic (b. 1925)
2014 – Khaled Choudhury, Indian painter and set designer (b. 1919)
2014 – Julian Lewis, English biologist and academic (b. 1946)
2014 – Carl E. Moses, American businessman and politician (b. 1929)
2014 – Ian Ross, Australian journalist (b. 1940)
2015 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1938)
2016 – Daniel Berrigan, American priest and activist (b. 1921)
2016 – Harry Kroto, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
2017 – Belchior, Brazilian singer and composer (b. 1946)
2019 – Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (b. 1944)
2020 – Tony Allen, Nigerian drummer and composer (b. 1940)
2020 – Rishi Kapoor, Indian actor, film director and producer (b. 1952)
2021 – Anthony Payne, English composer (b. 1936)
2022 – Naomi Judd, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1946)
2022 – Mino Raiola, Italian football agent (b. 1967)
2023 – Jock Zonfrillo, Scottish television presenter and chef (b. 1976)
Holidays and observances
Armed Forces Day (Georgia)
Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion)
Children's Day (Mexico)
Christian feast day:
Adjutor
Aimo
Amator, Peter and Louis
Donatus of Evorea
Eutropius of Saintes
Marie Guyart (Anglican Church of Canada)
Marie of the Incarnation (Ursuline)
Maximus of Rome
Blessed Miles Gerard
Pomponius of Naples
Pope Pius V
Quirinus of Neuss
Sarah Josepha Hale (Episcopal Church)
Suitbert the Younger
April 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Consumer Protection Day (Thailand)
Honesty Day (United States)
International Jazz Day (UNESCO)
Martyrs' Day (Pakistan)
May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1):
Beltane begins at sunset in the Northern hemisphere, Samhain begins at sunset in the Southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
Carodejnice (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe)
National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)
Reunification Day (Vietnam)
Rincon Day (Bonaire)
Russian State Fire Service Day (Russia)
Teachers' Day (Paraguay)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 30
Days of the year
April |
1012 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2022 | August 22 |
Events
Pre-1600
392 – Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor.
851 – Battle of Jengland: Erispoe defeats Charles the Bald near the Breton town of Jengland.
1138 – Battle of the Standard between Scotland and England.
1485 – The Battle of Bosworth Field occurs; Richard III dies, marking the end of the House of Plantagenet.
1559 – Spanish archbishop Bartolomé Carranza is arrested for heresy.
1601–1900
1614 – Fettmilch Uprising: Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the Judengasse.
1639 – Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.
1642 – Charles I raises his standard in Nottingham, which marks the beginning of the English Civil War.
1654 – Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam. He is the first known Jewish immigrant to America.
1711 – Britain's Quebec Expedition loses eight ships and almost nine hundred soldiers, sailors and women to rocks at Pointe-aux-Anglais.
1717 – Spanish troops land on Sardinia.
1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales.
1777 – British forces abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix after hearing rumors of Continental Army reinforcements.
1780 – James Cook's ship returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).
1791 – The Haitian slave revolution begins in Saint-Domingue, Haiti.
1798 – French troops land at Kilcummin, County Mayo, Ireland to aid the rebellion.
1827 – José de La Mar becomes President of Peru.
1846 – The Second Federal Republic of Mexico is established.
1849 – Passaleão incident: João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, the governor of Portuguese Macau, is assassinated by a group of Chinese locals, triggering a military confrontation between China and Portugal at the Battle of Passaleão three days after.
1851 – The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.
1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention, establishing the rules of protection of the victims of armed conflicts.
1875 – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg between Japan and Russia is ratified, providing for the exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands.
1894 – Mahatma Gandhi forms the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in order to fight discrimination against Indian traders in Natal.
1901–present
1902 – The Cadillac Motor Company is founded.
1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to make a public appearance in an automobile.
1902 – At least 6,000 people are killed by the magnitude 7.7 Kashgar earthquake in the Tien Shan mountains.
1922 – Michael Collins, Commander-in-chief of the Irish Free State Army, is shot dead in an ambush during the Irish Civil War.
1934 – Bill Woodfull of Australia becomes the only test cricket captain to twice regain The Ashes.
1941 – World War II: German troops begin the Siege of Leningrad.
1942 – Brazil declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy.
1944 – World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces.
1949 – The Queen Charlotte earthquake is Canada's strongest since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake.
1953 – The penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed.
1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle.
1963 – X-15 Flight 91 reaches the highest altitude of the X-15 program ( (354,200 feet)).
1966 – Labor movements NFWA and AWOC merge to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), the predecessor of the United Farm Workers.
1968 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.
1971 – J. Edgar Hoover and John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28.
1972 – Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.
1973 – The Congress of Chile votes in favour of a resolution condemning President Salvador Allende's government and demands that he resign or else be unseated through force and new elections.
1978 – Nicaraguan Revolution: The FLSN seizes the National Congress of Nicaragua, along with over a thousand hostages.
1978 – The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Congress, although it is never ratified by a sufficient number of states.
1981 – Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes in Sanyi Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. All 110 people on board are killed.
1985 – British Airtours Flight 28M suffers an engine fire during takeoff at Manchester Airport. The pilots abort but due to inefficient evacuation procedures 55 people are killed, mostly from smoke inhalation.
1989 – Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts.
1991 – Iceland is the first nation in the world to recognize the independence of the Baltic states.
1992 – FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shoots and kills Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
1999 – China Airlines Flight 642 crashes at Hong Kong International Airport, killing three people and injuring 208 more.
2003 – Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
2004 – Versions of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.
2006 – Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.
2006 – Grigori Perelman is awarded the Fields Medal for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture in mathematics but refuses to accept the medal.
2007 – The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history.
2012 – Ethnic clashes over grazing rights for cattle in Kenya's Tana River District result in more than 52 deaths.
Births
Pre-1600
1412 – Frederick II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1464)
1570 – Franz von Dietrichstein, Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal (d. 1636)
1599 – Agatha Marie of Hanau, German noblewoman (d. 1636)
1601–1900
1601 – Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1667)
1624 – Jean Regnault de Segrais, French author and poet (d. 1701)
1647 – Denis Papin, French physicist and mathematician, developed pressure cooking (d. 1712)
1679 – Pierre Guérin de Tencin, French cardinal (d. 1758)
1760 – Pope Leo XII (d. 1829)
1764 – Charles Percier, French architect and interior designer (d. 1838)
1771 – Henry Maudslay, English engineer (d. 1831)
1773 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (d. 1858)
1778 – James Kirke Paulding, American poet, playwright, and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1860)
1800 – Samuel David Luzzatto, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1865)
1818 – Rudolf von Jhering, German jurist (d. 1892)
1827 – Ezra Butler Eddy, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1906)
1834 – Samuel Pierpont Langley, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1906)
1836 – Archibald Willard, American soldier and painter (d. 1918)
1844 – George W. De Long, American Naval officer and explorer (d. 1881)
1845 – William Lewis Douglas, American businessman and politician, 42nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1924)
1847 – John Forrest, Australian politician, 1st Premier of Western Australia (d. 1918)
1848 – Melville Elijah Stone, American publisher, founded the Chicago Daily News (d. 1929)
1854 – Milan I of Serbia (d. 1901)
1857 – Ned Hanlon, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937)
1860 – Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, Polish-German technician and inventor, created the Nipkow disk (d. 1940)
1860 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (d. 1940)
1862 – Claude Debussy, French pianist and composer (d. 1918)
1867 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (d. 1939)
1867 – Charles Francis Jenkins, American inventor (d. 1934)
1868 – Willis R. Whitney, American chemist (d. 1958)
1873 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (d. 1928)
1874 – Max Scheler, German philosopher and author (d. 1928)
1880 – Gorch Fock, German author and poet (d. 1916)
1880 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (d. 1944)
1881 – James Newland, Australian soldier and policeman (d. 1949)
1882 – Raymonde de Laroche, French pilot (d. 1919)
1887 – Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, German jurist and politician, German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1977)
1890 – Cecil Kellaway, South African actor (d. 1973)
1891 – Henry Bachtold, Australian soldier and railway engineer (d. 1983)
1891 – Jacques Lipchitz, Lithuanian-Italian sculptor (d. 1973)
1893 – Wilfred Kitching, English 7th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1977)
1893 – Dorothy Parker, American poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist (d. 1967)
1893 – Ernest H. Volwiler, American chemist (d. 1992)
1895 – László Almásy, Hungarian captain, pilot, and explorer (d. 1951)
1895 – Paul Comtois, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1966)
1896 – Laurence McKinley Gould, American geologist, educator, and polar explorer (d. 1995)
1897 – Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer and educator (d. 1965)
1900 – Lisy Fischer, Swiss-born pianist and child prodigy (d. 1999)
1901–present
1902 – Thomas Pelly, American lawyer and politician (d. 1973)
1902 – Leni Riefenstahl, German actress, film director and propagandist (d. 2003)
1902 – Edward Rowe Snow, American historian and author (d. 1982)
1903 – Jerry Iger, American cartoonist, co-founded Eisner & Iger (d. 1990)
1904 – Deng Xiaoping, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 1997)
1908 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer and painter (d. 2004)
1908 – Erwin Thiesies, German rugby player and coach (d. 1993)
1909 – Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2000)
1909 – Mel Hein, American football player and coach (d. 1992)
1913 – Leonard Pagliero, English businessman and pilot (d. 2008)
1913 – Bruno Pontecorvo, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1993)
1914 – Jack Dunphy, American author and playwright (d. 1992)
1914 – Connie B. Gay, American businessman, co-founded the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (d. 1989)
1915 – David Dellinger, American activist (d. 2004)
1915 – James Hillier, Canadian-American scientist, co-designed the electron microscope (d. 2007)
1915 – Edward Szczepanik, Polish economist and politician, 15th Prime Minister of the Polish Republic in Exile (d. 2005)
1917 – John Lee Hooker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1918 – Mary McGrory, American journalist and author (d. 2004)
1920 – Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1920 – Denton Cooley, American surgeon and scientist (d. 2016)
1921 – Dinos Dimopoulos, Greek director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1921 – Tony Pawson, English cricketer, footballer, and journalist (d. 2012)
1922 – Roberto Aizenberg, Argentine painter and sculptor (d. 1996)
1922 – Theoni V. Aldredge, Greek-American costume designer (d. 2011)
1924 – James Kirkwood, Jr., American playwright and author (d. 1989)
1924 – Harishankar Parsai, Indian writer, satirist and humorist (d. 1995)
1925 – Honor Blackman, English actress and republican (d. 2020)
1926 – Marc Bohan, French fashion designer (d. 2023)
1926 – Bob Flanigan, American pop singer (d. 2011)
1928 – Tinga Seisay, Sierra Leonean academic and diplomat (d. 2015)
1928 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer and academic (d. 2007)
1929 – Valery Alekseyev, Russian anthropologist and author (d. 1991)
1929 – Ulrich Wegener, German police officer and general (d. 2017)
1930 – Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
1932 – Gerald P. Carr, American engineer, colonel, and astronaut (d. 2020)
1933 – Sylva Koscina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
1934 – Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., American general and engineer (d. 2012)
1935 – Annie Proulx, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist
1936 – Chuck Brown, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2012)
1936 – John Callaway, American journalist and producer (d. 2009)
1936 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
1936 – Werner Stengel, German roller coaster designer and engineer, designed the Maverick roller coaster
1938 – Jean Berkey, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013)
1939 – Valerie Harper, American actress (d. 2019)
1939 – Carl Yastrzemski, American baseball player
1941 – Bill Parcells, American football player and coach
1943 – Alun Michael, Welsh police commissioner and politician, inaugural First Minister of Wales
1943 – Masatoshi Shima, Japanese computer scientist and engineer, co-designed the Intel 4004
1944 – Roger Cashmore, English physicist and academic
1945 – David Chase, American screenwriter and producer
1945 – Ron Dante, American singer-songwriter and producer
1947 – Cindy Williams, American actress and producer (d. 2023)
1948 – David Marks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Diana Nyad, American swimmer and author
1949 – Joop Donkervoort, Dutch businessman
1950 – Ray Burris, American baseball player and coach
1950 – Scooter Libby, American lawyer and politician, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States
1952 – Peter Laughner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1977)
1953 – Paul Ellering, American weightlifter, wrestler, and manager
1955 – Chiranjeevi, Indian film actor, producer and politician
1956 – Paul Molitor, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Peter Taylor, Australian cricketer
1957 – Steve Davis, English snooker player, sportscaster, and author
1957 – Holly Dunn, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1958 – Colm Feore, American-Canadian actor
1958 – Stevie Ray, American semi-retired wrestler
1958 – Vernon Reid, English-born American guitarist and songwriter
1959 – Juan Croucier, Cuban-American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1959 – Pia Gjellerup, Danish lawyer and politician, Danish Minister of Finance
1959 – Mark Williams, English actor
1960 – Holger Gehrke, German footballer and manager
1960 – Collin Raye, American country music singer
1960 – Regina Taylor, American actress and playwright
1961 – Andrés Calamaro, Argentine singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Roland Orzabal, English singer and musician
1961 – Debbi Peterson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
1962 – Stefano Tilli, Italian sprinter
1963 – Tori Amos, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1963 – James DeBarge, American R&B/soul singer
1963 – Terry Catledge, American basketball player
1964 – Trey Gowdy, American lawyer and U.S. Representative
1964 – Mats Wilander, Swedish-American tennis player and coach
1965 – Wendy Botha, South African-Australian surfer
1965 – David Reimer, Canadian man, born male but reassigned female and raised as a girl after a botched circumcision (d. 2004)
1966 – GZA, American rapper and producer
1966 – Rob Witschge, Dutch footballer and manager
1967 – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, English actor
1967 – Ty Burrell, American actor and comedian
1967 – Paul Colman, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Alfred Gough, American screenwriter and producer
1967 – Layne Staley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
1968 – Casper Christensen, Danish comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1968 – Rich Lowry, American writer and magazine editor (National Review)
1968 – Aleksandr Mostovoi, Russian footballer
1968 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian businesswoman
1968 – Horst Skoff, Austrian tennis player (d. 2008)
1970 – Charlie Connelly, English author and broadcaster
1970 – Giada De Laurentiis, Italian-American chef and author
1970 – Tímea Nagy, Hungarian fencer
1971 – Richard Armitage, English actor
1971 – Craig Finn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Melinda Page Hamilton, American actress
1971 – Rick Yune, American actor
1972 – Okkert Brits, South African pole vaulter
1972 – Paul Doucette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
1972 – Steve Kline, American baseball player and coach
1972 – Max Wilson, German-Brazilian race car driver
1973 – Roslina Bakar, Malaysian sport shooter
1973 – Beenie Man, Jamaican deejay
1973 – Howie Dorough, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1973 – Kristen Wiig, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
1973 – Eurelijus Žukauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
1974 – Cory Gardner, American politician
1974 – Jenna Leigh Green, American actress and singer
1974 – Agustín Pichot, Argentinian rugby player
1975 – Clint Bolton, Australian footballer
1975 – Rodrigo Santoro, Brazilian actor
1976 – Marius Bezykornovas, Lithuanian footballer
1976 – Bryn Davies, American bassist, cellist, and pianist
1976 – Laurent Hernu, French decathlete
1976 – Jeff Weaver, American baseball player
1976 – Randy Wolf, American baseball player
1977 – Heiðar Helguson, Icelandic footballer
1977 – Keren Cytter, Israeli visual artist and writer
1978 – James Corden, English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter
1978 – Ioannis Gagaloudis, Greek basketball player
1979 – Brandon Adams, American actor
1979 – Matt Walters, American football player
1980 – Roland Benschneider, German footballer
1980 – Nicolas Macrozonaris, Canadian sprinter
1980 – Aya Sumika, American actress
1980 – Seiko Yamamoto, Japanese wrestler
1981 – Alex Holmes, American football player
1981 – Jang Hyun-kyu, South Korean footballer (d. 2012)
1981 – Christina Obergföll, German athlete
1983 – Theo Bos, Dutch cyclist
1983 – Jahri Evans, American football player
1984 – Lee Camp, English footballer
1984 – Lawrence Quaye, Ghanaian-Qatari footballer
1985 – Luke Russert, American journalist
1985 – Jey Uso, Samoan-American wrestler
1985 – Jimmy Uso, Samoan-American wrestler
1985 – Salih Yoluç, Turkish Automobile Racer
1986 – Stephen Ireland, Irish footballer
1986 – Tokushōryū Makoto, Japanese sumo wrestler
1986 – Pac, English wrestler
1987 – Leonardo Moracci, Italian footballer
1987 – Apollo Crews, American wrestler
1989 – Giacomo Bonaventura, Italian footballer
1990 – Randall Cobb, American football player
1990 – Drew Hutchison, American baseball player
1990 – Robbie Rochow, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Adam Thielen, American football player
1991 – Federico Macheda, Italian footballer
1991 – Brayden Schenn, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Ema Burgić Bucko, Bosnian tennis player
1992 – Ari Stidham, American actor
1993 – Dillon Danis, American mixed martial artist
1994 – Israel Broussard, American actor
1994 – Olli Määttä, Finnish ice hockey player
1995 – Dua Lipa, English singer-songwriter
1996 – Jessica-Jane Applegate, British Paralympic swimmer
1996 – Jeon So-min, South Korean singer-songwriter
1997 – Maxx Crosby, American football player
1997 – Lautaro Martínez, Argentine footballer
2001 – LaMelo Ball, American basketball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
408 – Stilicho, Roman general (b. 359)
1155 – Emperor Konoe of Japan (b. 1139)
1241 – Pope Gregory IX, (b. 1143)
1280 – Pope Nicholas III (b. 1225)
1304 – John II, Count of Holland (b. 1247)
1338 – William II, Duke of Athens (b. 1312)
1350 – Philip VI of France (b. 1293)
1358 – Isabella of France (b. 1295)
1425 – Eleanor, Princess of Asturias (b. 1423)
1456 – Vladislav II of Wallachia
1485 – Richard III of England (b. 1452)
1485 – James Harrington, Yorkist knight
1485 – John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk (b. 1430)
1485 – Richard Ratcliffe, supporter of Richard III
1485 – William Brandon, supporter of Henry VII (b. 1426)
1532 – William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1450)
1545 – Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician and husband of Mary Tudor (b. c. 1484)
1553 – John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English admiral and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1504)
1572 – Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, English leader of the Rising of the North (b. 1528)
1584 – Jan Kochanowski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1530)
1599 – Luca Marenzio, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1553)
1601–1900
1607 – Bartholomew Gosnold, English lawyer and explorer, founded the London Company (b. 1572)
1652 – Jacob De la Gardie, Estonian-Swedish soldier and politician, Lord High Constable of Sweden (b. 1583)
1664 – Maria Cunitz, Polish astronomer and author (b. 1610)
1680 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (b. 1613)
1681 – Philippe Delano, Dutch Plymouth Colony settler (b. 1602)
1701 – John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1628)
1711 – Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French general (b. 1644)
1752 – William Whiston, English mathematician, historian, and theologian (b. 1667)
1773 – George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, English poet and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1709)
1793 – Louis de Noailles, French general (b. 1713)
1797 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, French-Austrian field marshal (b. 1724)
1806 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter and illustrator (b. 1732)
1818 – Warren Hastings, English lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Bengal (b. 1732)
1828 – Franz Joseph Gall, Austrian neuroanatomist and physiologist (b. 1758)
1850 – Nikolaus Lenau, Romanian-Austrian poet and author (b. 1802)
1861 – Xianfeng, Emperor of China (b. 1831)
1888 – Ágoston Trefort, Hungarian jurist and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1817)
1891 – Jan Neruda, Czech journalist, author, and poet (b. 1834)
1901–present
1903 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1830)
1904 – Kate Chopin, American novelist and poet (b. 1850)
1909 – Henry Radcliffe Crocker, English dermatologist and author (b. 1846)
1914 – Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, Italian bishop and academic (b. 1859)
1918 – Korbinian Brodmann, German neurologist and academic (b. 1868)
1920 – Anders Zorn, Swedish artist (b. 1860)
1922 – Michael Collins, Irish rebel, counter-intelligence and military tactician, and politician; 2nd Irish Minister of Finance (b. 1890)
1926 – Charles William Eliot, American academic (b. 1834)
1933 – Alexandros Kontoulis, Greek general and diplomat (b. 1858)
1940 – Oliver Lodge, English physicist and academic (b. 1851)
1940 – Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland, Maltese lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1861)
1942 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1880)
1946 – Döme Sztójay, Hungarian general and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1883)
1950 – Kirk Bryan, American geologist and academic (b. 1888)
1951 – Jack Bickell, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1884)
1953 – Jim Tabor, American baseball player (b. 1916)
1958 – Roger Martin du Gard, French novelist and paleographer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
1960 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (b. 1897)
1963 – William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Morris Motors (b. 1877)
1967 – Gregory Goodwin Pincus, American biologist and academic, co-created the birth-control pill (b. 1903)
1970 – Vladimir Propp, Russian philologist and scholar (b. 1895)
1971 – Birger Nerman, Swedish archaeologist (b. 1888)
1974 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, biologist, and author (b. 1908)
1976 – Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (b. 1913)
1976 – Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazilian physician and politician, 21st President of Brazil (b. 1902)
1977 – Sebastian Cabot, English actor (b. 1918)
1977 – Chunseong, Korean monk, philosopher and writer (b. 1891)
1977 – Rex Connor, Australian politician (b. 1907)
1978 – Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan politician, 1st President of Kenya (b. 1894)
1979 – James T. Farrell, American novelist, short-story writer, and poet (b. 1904)
1980 – James Smith McDonnell, American pilot, engineer, and businessman, founded McDonnell Aircraft (b. 1899)
1981 – Vicente Manansala, Filipino painter (b. 1910)
1985 – Charles Gibson (historian), Historian of Mexico and its Indians, President of the American Historical Association (b. 1920)
1986 – Celâl Bayar, Turkish lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Turkey (b. 1883)
1987 – Joseph P. Lash, American author and journalist (b. 1909)
1989 – Robert Grondelaers, Belgian cyclist (b. 1933)
1989 – Huey P. Newton, American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party (b. 1942)
1991 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (b. 1924)
1991 – Boris Pugo, Russian soldier and politician, Soviet Minister of Interior (b. 1937)
1994 – Gilles Groulx, Canadian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
1994 – Allan Houser, American sculptor and painter (b. 1914)
1995 – Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1919)
1996 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (b. 1904)
2000 – Abulfaz Elchibey, 2nd President of Azerbaijan (b. 1938)
2003 – Arnold Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skater and coach (b. 1914)
2004 – Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player and trainer (b. 1960)
2004 – Angus Bethune, Australian soldier and politician, 33rd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1908)
2004 – Daniel Petrie, Canadian director and producer (b. 1920)
2005 – Luc Ferrari, French-Italian director and composer (b. 1929)
2005 – Ernest Kirkendall, American chemist and metallurgist (b. 1914)
2007 – Grace Paley, American short story writer and poet (b. 1922)
2008 – Gladys Powers, English-Canadian soldier (b. 1899)
2009 – Muriel Duckworth, Canadian pacifist, feminist, and activist (b. 1908)
2009 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (b. 1926)
2010 – Stjepan Bobek, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1923)
2011 – Nick Ashford, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942)
2011 – Jack Layton, Canadian academic and politician (b. 1950)
2011 – Casey Ribicoff, American philanthropist (b. 1922)
2012 – Nina Bawden, English author (b. 1925)
2012 – Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, Chinese cardinal (b. 1923)
2012 – Jeffrey Stone, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2013 – Paul Poberezny, American pilot and businessman, founded the Experimental Aircraft Association (b. 1921)
2013 – Andrea Servi, Italian footballer (b. 1984)
2014 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
2014 – Emmanuel Kriaras, Greek lexicographer and philologist (b. 1906)
2014 – Pete Ladygo, American football player and coach (b. 1928)
2014 – Noella Leduc, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2014 – John Sperling, American businessman, founded the University of Phoenix (b. 1921)
2014 – John S. Waugh, American chemist and academic (b. 1929)
2015 – Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer and journalist (b. 1922)
2015 – Ieng Thirith, Cambodian academic and politician (b. 1932)
2015 – Eric Thompson, English race car driver and book dealer (b. 1919)
2016 – S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (b. 1924)
2016 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian and American jazz musician (b. 1922)
2017 – Michael J. C. Gordon, British Computer scientist (b. 1948)
2018 – Ed King, American musician (b. 1949)
2018 – Krishna Reddy, Indian printmaker, sculptor and teacher (b. 1925)
2021 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1941)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Fabrizio
Guinefort, the holy greyhound, feast day traditionally.
Immaculate Heart of Mary (Roman Catholic calendar of 1960)
Queenship of Mary
Symphorian and Timotheus
August 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which National Heroes' Day (Philippines) can fall, while August 28 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Monday in August.
Flag Day (Russia)
Madras Day (Chennai and Tamil Nadu, India)
End of Filseta feast in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief (International)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1013 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2027 | August 27 |
Events
Pre-1600
410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England.
1232 – Shikken Hojo Yasutoki of the Kamakura shogunate promulgates the Goseibai Shikimoku, the first Japanese legal code governing the samurai class.
1557 – The Battle of St. Quentin results in Emmanuel Philibert becoming Duke of Savoy.
1593 – Pierre Barrière failed an attempt to assassinate Henry IV of France.
1597 – Jeongyu War: Battle of Chilcheollyang: A Japanese fleet of 500 ships destroys Joseon commander Won Gyun’s fleet of 200 ships at Chilcheollyang.
1600 – Ishida Mitsunari’s Western Army commences the Siege of Fushimi Castle, which is lightly defended by a much smaller Tokugawa garrison led by Torii Mototada.
1601–1900
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire (Julian calendar).
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Members of the 1st Maryland Regiment repeatedly charged a numerically superior British force during the Battle of Long Island, allowing General Washington and the rest of the American troops to escape.
1791 – French Revolution: Frederick William II of Prussia and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, issue the Declaration of Pillnitz, declaring the joint support of the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia for the French monarchy, agitating the French revolutionaries and contributing to the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition.
1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: The city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connacht.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Brazil and Argentina recognize the sovereignty of Uruguay in the Treaty of Montevideo
1832 – Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
1881 – The Georgia hurricane makes landfall near Savannah, Georgia, resulting in an estimated 700 deaths.
1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions almost completely destroy the island of Krakatoa and cause years of climate change.
1893 – The Sea Islands hurricane strikes the United States near Savannah, Georgia, killing between 1,000 and 2,000 people.
1895 – Japanese invasion of Taiwan: Battle of Baguashan: The Empire of Japan decisively defeats a smaller Formosan army at Changhua, crippling the short-lived Republic of Formosa and leading to its surrender two months later.
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:02 to 09:40), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1901–present
1908 – The Qing dynasty promulgates the Qinding Xianfa Dagang, the first constitutional document in the history of China, transforming the Qing empire into a constitutional monarchy.
1914 – World War I: Battle of Étreux: A British rearguard action by the Royal Munster Fusiliers during the Great Retreat.
1914 – World War I: Siege of Tsingtao: A Japanese fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Sadakichi Kato imposes a blockade along the whole coastline of German Tsingtao, initiating the Siege of Tsingtao.
1915 – Attempted assassination of Bishop Patrick Heffron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona, by Rev. Louis M. Lesches.
1916 – World War I: The Kingdom of Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war as one of the Allied nations.
1918 – Mexican Revolution: Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas in the only battle of World War I fought on American soil.
1922 – Greco-Turkish War: The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Kingdom of Greece.
1927 – Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking: "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?"
1928 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1933 – The first Afrikaans Bible is introduced during a Bible Festival in Bloemfontein.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1942 – First day of the Sarny Massacre, perpetrated by Germans and Ukrainians.
1943 – World War II: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
1943 – World War II: Aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe razes to the ground the village of Vorizia in Crete.
1955 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published in Great Britain.
1956 – The nuclear power station at Calder Hall in the United Kingdom was connected to the national power grid becoming the world's first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale.
1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.
1963 – An explosion at the Cane Creek potash mine near Moab, Utah kills 18 miners.
1964 – South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh enters into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to unseat Khánh.
1971 – An attempted coup d'état fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 – The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers are killed in an ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the deadliest attack on British forces during Operation Banner. An IRA bomb also kills British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore, Republic of Ireland.
1980 – South Korean presidential election: After successfully staging the Coup d'état of May Seventeenth, General Chun Doo-hwan, running unopposed, has the National Conference for Unification elect him President of the Fourth Republic of Korea.
1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa. Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide claim to be avenging the massacre of 1 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian genocide.
1985 – Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
1991 – The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 – Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing distant.
2003 – The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, bound for Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
2009 – Internal conflict in Myanmar: The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
2011 – Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.
Births
Pre-1600
865 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (d. 925)
1407 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1425)
1471 – George, Duke of Saxony (d. 1539)
1487 – Anna of Brandenburg (d. 1514)
1512 – Friedrich Staphylus, German theologian (d. 1564)
1542 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania and Protestant Bishop of Cammin (d. 1600)
1545 – Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1592)
1601–1900
1624 – Koxinga, Chinese-Japanese Ming loyalist (d. 1662)
1637 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician, 2nd Proprietor of Maryland (d. 1715)
1665 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
1669 – Anne Marie d'Orléans, queen of Sardinia (d. 1728)
1677 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian general (d. 1748)
1724 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-American pastor, planter, and politician (d. 1781)
1730 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher and author (d. 1788)
1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and academic (d. 1831)
1785 – Agustín Gamarra, Peruvian general and politician, 10th and 14th President of Peru (d. 1841)
1795 – Giorgio Mitrovich, Maltese politician (d. 1885)
1803 – Edward Beecher, American minister and theologian (d. 1895)
1809 – Hannibal Hamlin, American publisher and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (d. 1891)
1812 – Bertalan Szemere, Hungarian poet and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1869)
1822 – William Hayden English, American politician, U.S. Representative from Indiana and Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee (d. 1896)
1827 – Charles Lilley, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Queensland (d. 1897)
1845 – Ödön Lechner, Hungarian architect, designed the Museum of Applied Arts and the Church of St Elisabeth (d. 1914)
1845 – Friedrich Martens, Estonian-Russian historian, lawyer, and diplomat (d. 1909)
1856 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian author and poet (d. 1916)
1858 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1932)
1864 – Hermann Weingärtner, German gymnast (d. 1919)
1865 – James Henry Breasted, American archaeologist and historian (d. 1935)
1865 – Charles G. Dawes, American general and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1868 – Hong Beom-do, Korean general and activist (d. 1943)
1870 – Amado Nervo, Mexican journalist, poet, and diplomat (d. 1919)
1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American novelist and journalist (d. 1945)
1874 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1875 – Katharine McCormick, American biologist, philanthropist, and activist (d. 1967)
1877 – Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1910)
1877 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss lawyer and politician, 48th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1963)
1878 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (d. 1928)
1884 – Vincent Auriol, French lawyer and politician, President of the French Republic (d. 1966)
1884 – Denis G. Lillie, British biologist, member of the 1910–1913 Terra Nova Expedition (d. 1963)
1886 – Rebecca Clarke, English viola player and composer (d. 1979)
1890 – Man Ray, American-French photographer and painter (d. 1976)
1895 – Andreas Alföldi, Hungarian archaeologist and historian (d. 1981)
1896 – Kenji Miyazawa, Japanese author and poet (d. 1933)
1898 – Gaspard Fauteux, Canadian businessman and politician, 19th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1963)
1899 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (d. 1966)
1901–present
1904 – Alar Kotli, Estonian architect (d. 1963)
1904 – Norah Lofts, English author (d. 1983)
1904 – John Hay Whitney, American businessman, publisher, and diplomat, founded J.H. Whitney & Company (d. 1982)
1905 – Aris Velouchiotis, Greek soldier (d. 1945)
1906 – Ed Gein, American murderer and body snatcher, The Butcher of Plainfield (d. 1982)
1908 – Don Bradman, Australian cricketer and manager (d. 2001)
1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, American commander and politician, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist (d. 1966)
1909 – Charles Pozzi, French race car driver (d. 2001)
1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1959)
1911 – Kay Walsh, English actress and dancer (d. 2005)
1912 – Gloria Guinness, Mexican journalist (d. 1980)
1915 – Norman Foster Ramsey Jr., American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1916 – Gordon Bashford, English engineer, co-designed the Range Rover (d. 1991)
1916 – Tony Harris, South African cricketer and rugby player (d. 1993)
1916 – Martha Raye, American actress and comedian (d. 1994)
1917 – Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1986)
1918 – Jelle Zijlstra, Dutch economist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2001)
1919 – Pee Wee Butts, American baseball player and coach (d. 1972)
1919 – Murray Grand, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2007)
1920 – Baptiste Manzini, American football player (d. 2008)
1920 – James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, Northern Irish soldier and politician (d. 2015)
1921 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1996)
1921 – Leo Penn, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1922 – Roelof Kruisinga, Dutch physician and politician, Minister of Defence for The Netherlands (d. 2012)
1923 – Jimmy Greenhalgh, English footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1924 – David Rowbotham, Australian journalist and poet (d. 2010)
1924 – Rosalie E. Wahl, American lawyer and jurist (d. 2013)
1925 – Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Italian cardinal (d. 2017)
1925 – Nat Lofthouse, English footballer and manager (d. 2011)
1925 – Saiichi Maruya, Japanese author and critic (d. 2012)
1925 – Bill Neilson, Australian politician, 34th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1989)
1925 – Jaswant Singh Neki, Indian poet and academic (d. 2015)
1925 – Carter Stanley, American bluegrass singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1966)
1926 – George Brecht, American-German chemist and composer (d. 2008)
1926 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist and academic (d. 2002)
1928 – Péter Boross, Hungarian lawyer and politician, 54th Prime Minister of Hungary
1928 – Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South African politician, Chief Minister of KwaZulu (d. 2023)
1928 – Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (d. 2003)
1929 – Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, and songwriter (d. 2007)
1929 – George Scott, Canadian-American wrestler and promoter (d. 2014)
1930 – Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler and politician (d. 1968)
1931 – Sri Chinmoy, Indian-American guru and poet (d. 2007)
1931 – Joe Cunningham, American baseball player and coach (d. 2021)
1932 – Cor Brom, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2008)
1932 – Antonia Fraser, English historian and author
1935 – Ernie Broglio, American baseball player (d. 2019)
1935 – Michael Holroyd, English author
1935 – Frank Yablans, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2014)
1936 – Joel Kovel, American scholar and author (d. 2018)
1936 – Lien Chan, Taiwanese politician, Vice President of the Republic of China
1937 – Alice Coltrane, American pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1937 – Tommy Sands, American pop singer and actor
1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American travel writer and historian
1939 – Edward Patten, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1939 – Nikola Pilić, Yugoslav tennis player and coach
1940 – Fernest Arceneaux, American singer and accordion player (d. 2008)
1940 – Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist (d. 1994)
1941 – Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean singer (d. 2011)
1941 – János Konrád, Hungarian water polo player and swimmer (d. 2014)
1941 – Harrison Page, American actor
1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2019)
1942 – Brian Peckford, Canadian educator and politician, 3rd Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
1943 – Chuck Girard, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1943 – Bob Kerrey, American lieutenant and politician, Medal of Honor recipient, 35th Governor of Nebraska
1943 – Tuesday Weld, American model and actress
1944 – G. W. Bailey, American actor
1944 – Tim Bogert, American singer and bass player (d. 2021)
1945 – Douglas R. Campbell, Canadian lawyer and judge
1945 – Marianne Sägebrecht, German actress
1946 – Tony Howard, Barbadian cricketer and manager
1947 – Barbara Bach, American actress and model
1947 – Halil Berktay, Turkish historian and academic
1947 – Kirk Francis, American engineer and producer
1947 – Peter Krieg, German director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1947 – John Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and politician
1947 – Gavin Pfuhl, South African cricketer and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1948 – John Mehler, American drummer
1948 – Sgt. Slaughter, American wrestler
1948 – Deborah Swallow, English historian and curator
1948 – Philippe Vallois, French director and screenwriter
1949 – Jeff Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2022)
1949 – Leah Jamieson, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic
1949 – Ann Murray, Irish soprano
1950 – Charles Fleischer, American comedian and actor
1950 – Neil Murray, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1950 – Edmund Weiner, English lexicographer and author
1951 – Buddy Bell, American baseball player and manager
1951 – Mack Brown, American football player and coach
1951 – Randall Garrison, American-Canadian criminologist and politician
1952 – Paul Reubens, American actor and comedian (d. 2023)
1953 – Tom Berryhill, American businessman and politician (d. 2020)
1953 – Alex Lifeson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1953 – Joan Smith, English journalist and author
1953 – Peter Stormare, Swedish actor, director, and playwright
1954 – John Lloyd, English tennis player and sportscaster
1954 – Rajesh Thakker, English physician and academic
1954 – Derek Warwick, English race car driver
1955 – Robert Richardson, American cinematographer
1955 – Diana Scarwid, American actress
1956 – Glen Matlock, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1957 – Jeff Grubb, American game designer and author
1957 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer
1958 – Sergei Krikalev, Russian engineer and astronaut
1958 – Tom Lanoye, Belgian author, poet, and playwright
1958 – Hugh Orde, British police officer
1959 – Daniela Romo, Mexican singer, actress and TV hostess
1959 – Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver
1959 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian painter and sculptor
1959 – Denice Denton, American engineer and academic (d. 2006)
1959 – Frode Fjellheim, Norwegian pianist and composer
1959 – András Petőcz, Hungarian author and poet
1959 – Jeanette Winterson, English journalist and novelist
1961 – Yolanda Adams, American singer, producer, and actress
1961 – Mark Curry, English television host and actor
1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and film director
1961 – Steve McDowall, New Zealand rugby player
1961 – Helmut Winklhofer, German footballer
1962 – Adam Oates, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 – Stephan Elliott, Australian actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Paul Bernardo, Canadian serial rapist and murderer
1965 – Scott Dibble, American lawyer and politician
1965 – Wayne James, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
1965 – Ange Postecoglou, Greek-Australian footballer and coach
1966 – Jeroen Duyster, Dutch rower
1966 – René Higuita, Colombian footballer
1966 – Juhan Parts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Estonia
1967 – Ogie Alcasid, Filipino singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1967 – Rob Burnett, American football player and sportscaster
1968 – Eric "Bobo" Correa, American musician
1968 – Daphne Koller, Israeli-American computer scientist and academic
1968 – Michael Long, New Zealand golfer
1968 – Matthew Ridge, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
1969 – Mark Ealham, English cricketer
1969 – Cesar Millan, Mexican-American dog trainer, television personality, and author
1969 – Reece Shearsmith, English actor, comedian and writer
1969 – Chandra Wilson, American actress and director
1970 – Andy Bichel, Australian cricketer and coach
1970 – Mark Ilott, English cricketer
1970 – Tony Kanal, British-American bass player. songwriter, and record producer
1970 – Jim Thome, American baseball player and manager
1970 – Karl Unterkircher, Italian mountaineer (d. 2008)
1971 – Ernest Faber, Dutch footballer and manager
1971 – Kyung Lah, South Korean-American journalist
1971 – Hisayuki Okawa, Japanese runner
1971 – Aygül Özkan, German lawyer and politician
1972 – Jaap-Derk Buma, Dutch field hockey player
1972 – Denise Lewis, English heptathlete
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – The Great Khali, Indian professional wrestler
1973 – Danny Coyne, Welsh footballer
1973 – Dietmar Hamann, German footballer and manager
1973 – Burak Kut, Turkish singer-songwriter
1973 – Johan Norberg, Swedish historian and author
1974 – Aaron Downey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Manny Fernandez, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Michael Mason, New Zealand cricketer
1974 – José Vidro, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1974 – Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistani cricketer
1975 – Blake Adams, American golfer
1975 – Mase, American rapper, songwriter and pastor
1975 – Jonny Moseley, Puerto Rican-American skier and television host
1975 – Mark Rudan, Australian footballer and manager
1976 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
1976 – Audrey C. Delsanti, French astronomer and biologist
1976 – Milano Collection A.T., Japanese wrestler
1976 – Carlos Moyá, Spanish-Swiss tennis player
1976 – Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
1977 – Deco, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer
1977 – Justin Miller, American baseball player (d. 2013)
1978 – Demetria McKinney, American actress and singer
1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian violinist
1979 – Aaron Paul, American actor and producer
1979 – Karel Rachůnek, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1979 – Rusty Smith, American speed skater
1981 – Patrick J. Adams, Canadian actor
1981 – Maxwell Cabelino Andrade, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Alessandro Gamberini, Italian footballer
1981 – Karla Mosley, American actress
1983 – Joanna McGilchrist, English rugby player and physiotherapist
1984 – David Bentley, English footballer
1984 – Amanda Fuller, American actress
1984 – Sulley Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
1985 – Kayla Ewell, American actress
1985 – Kevan Hurst, English footballer
1985 – Nikica Jelavić, Croatian footballer
1985 – Alexandra Nechita, Romanian-American painter and sculptor
1986 – Lana Bastašić, Serbian-Bosnian author and translator
1986 – Sebastian Kurz, Austrian politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria
1986 – Mario, American singer and actor
1987 – Joel Grant, English-Jamaican footballer
1987 – Darren McFadden, American football player
1988 – Alexa PenaVega, American actress and singer
1989 – Romain Amalfitano, French footballer
1989 – Juliana Cannarozzo, American figure skater and actress
1990 – Tori Bowie, American athlete (d. 2023)
1990 – Luuk de Jong, Dutch footballer
1991 – Lee Sung-yeol, South Korean actor and singer
1992 – Blake Jenner, American actor and singer
1992 – Stephen Morris, American football player
1992 – Kim Petras, German singer-songwriter
1992 – Ayame Goriki, Japanese actress and singer
1993 – Sarah Hecken, German figure skater
1993 – Olivier Le Gac, French cyclist
1994 – Ellar Coltrane, American actor
1994 – Breanna Stewart, American basketball player
1995 – Jessie Mei Li, English actress
1995 – Sergey Sirotkin, Russian race car driver
1998 – Kevin Huerter, American basketball player
2001 – Franz Wagner, German basketball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
542 – Caesarius of Arles, French bishop and saint (b. 470)
749 – Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i, Persian general
827 – Pope Eugene II
923 – Ageltrude, queen of Italy and Holy Roman Empress
1146 – King Eric III of Denmark
1255 – Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (b. 1247)
1312 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1261)
1394 – Emperor Chōkei of Japan (b. 1343)
1450 – Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, English politician (b. 1395)
1521 – Josquin des Prez, Flemish composer (b. 1450)
1545 – Piotr Gamrat, Polish archbishop (b. 1487)
1576 – Titian, Italian painter and educator (b. 1488)
1590 – Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
1601–1900
1611 – Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (b. c. 1548)
1635 – Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1562)
1664 – Francisco de Zurbarán, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1598)
1748 – James Thomson, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1700)
1782 – John Laurens, American Revolutionary and abolitionist (b. 1754)
1828 – Eise Eisinga, Dutch astronomer and academic, built the Eisinga Planetarium (b. 1744)
1857 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, poet, and critic (b. 1815)
1865 – Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian judge and politician (b. 1796)
1871 – William Whiting Boardman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1794)
1875 – William Chapman Ralston, American businessman and financier, founded the Bank of California (b. 1826)
1891 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (b. 1816)
1901–present
1903 – Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (b. 1827)
1909 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist and mycologist (b. 1842)
1922 – Reşat Çiğiltepe, Turkish colonel (b. 1879)
1929 – Herman Potočnik, Croatian-Austrian engineer (b. 1892)
1931 – Frank Harris, Irish-American journalist and author (b. 1856)
1931 – Willem Hubert Nolens, Dutch priest and politician (b. 1860)
1931 – Francis Marion Smith, American miner and businessman (b. 1846)
1935 – Childe Hassam, American painter and academic (b. 1859)
1944 – Georg von Boeselager, German soldier (b. 1915)
1945 – Hubert Pál Álgyay, Hungarian engineer, designed the Petőfi Bridge (b. 1894)
1948 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 11th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1862)
1950 – Cesare Pavese, Italian author, poet, and critic (b. 1908)
1956 – Pelageya Shajn, Russian astronomer and academic (b. 1894)
1958 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1963 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (b. 1868)
1963 – Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi, Pakistani mathematician and scholar (b. 1888)
1964 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian (b. 1895)
1965 – Le Corbusier, Swiss-French architect and urban planner, designed the Philips Pavilion (b. 1887)
1967 – Brian Epstein, English businessman and manager (b. 1934)
1968 – Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (b. 1906)
1969 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English author (b. 1884)
1969 – Erika Mann, German actress and author (b. 1905)
1971 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher, co-founded Random House (b. 1898)
1971 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and journalist (b. 1906)
1975 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1892)
1978 – Gordon Matta-Clark, American painter and illustrator (b. 1943)
1978 – Ieva Simonaitytė, Lithuanian author and poet (b. 1897)
1979 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (b. 1900)
1980 – Douglas Kenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1947)
1981 – Valeri Kharlamov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1948)
1990 – Avdy Andresson, Estonian soldier and diplomat (b. 1899)
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1954)
1992 – Bengt Holbek, Danish folklorist (b. 1933)
1994 – Frank Jeske, German footballer (b. 1960)
1996 – Greg Morris, American actor (b. 1933)
1998 – Essie Summers, New Zealand author (b. 1912)
1999 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop and theologian (b. 1909)
2001 – Michael Dertouzos, Greek-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1936)
2001 – Abu Ali Mustafa, Palestinian politician (b. 1938)
2002 – Edwin Louis Cole, American religious leader and author (b. 1922)
2003 – Pierre Poujade, French soldier and politician (b. 1920)
2004 – Willie Crawford, American baseball player (b. 1946)
2005 – Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek trumpet player and composer (b. 1922)
2005 – Seán Purcell, Irish footballer (b. 1929)
2006 – Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2006 – Jesse Pintado, Mexican-American guitarist (b. 1969)
2007 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
2009 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and poet (b. 1913)
2010 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist (b. 1934)
2010 – Luna Vachon, Canadian-American wrestler and manager (b. 1962)
2012 – Neville Alexander, South African linguist and activist (b. 1936)
2012 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (b. 1931)
2012 – Art Heyman, American basketball player (b. 1941)
2012 – Ivica Horvat, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1926)
2012 – Richard Kingsland, Australian captain and pilot (b. 1916)
2012 – Geliy Korzhev, Russian painter (b. 1925)
2013 – Chen Liting, Chinese director and playwright (b. 1910)
2013 – Bill Peach, Australian journalist (b. 1935)
2013 – Dave Thomas, Welsh golfer and architect (b. 1934)
2014 – Jacques Friedel, French physicist and academic (b. 1921)
2014 – Valeri Petrov, Bulgarian poet, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
2014 – Benno Pludra, German author (b. 1925)
2015 – Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Bangladeshi politician, 8th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1939)
2015 – Pascal Chaumeil, French director and screenwriter (b. 1961)
2015 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (b. 1957)
2016 – Cookie, Australian Major Mitchell's cockatoo, oldest recorded parrot (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Baculus of Sorrento
Caesarius of Arles
Decuman
Gebhard of Constance
Euthalia
John of Pavia
Lycerius (or: Glycerius, Lizier)
Máel Ruba (or Rufus) (Scotland)
Margaret the Barefooted
Monica of Hippo, mother of Augustine of Hippo
Narnus
Our Lady of La Vang
Phanourios of Rhodes
Rufus and Carpophorus
Syagrius of Autun
Thomas Gallaudet and Henry Winter Syle (Episcopal Church)
August 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day (Republic of Moldova), celebrates the independence of Moldova from the USSR in 1991.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (Texas, United States)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1019 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%206 | August 6 |
Events
Pre-1600
1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
1601–1900
1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1806 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the moribund empire to be dissolved, although he retains power in the Austrian Empire.
1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
1824 – Peruvian War of Independence: Patriot forces led by Simón Bolívar defeat the Spanish Royalist army in the Battle of Junín.
1825 – The Bolivian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed.
1861 – Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria.
1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a German victory.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive German victory.
1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
1901–present
1901 – Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
1914 – World War I: U-boat campaign: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
1915 – World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins.
1926 – Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
1940 – Estonia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
1942 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
1944 – The Warsaw Uprising occurs on August 1. It is brutally suppressed and all able-bodied men in Kraków are detained afterwards to prevent a similar uprising, the Kraków Uprising, that was planned but never carried out.
1945 – World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
1956 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series.
1958 – Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile.
1960 – Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
1962 – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
1986 – A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
1990 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
1991 – Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet.
1991 – Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
1996 – NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
1997 – Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people on board.
2001 – Erwadi fire incident: Twenty-eight mentally ill persons tied to a chain are burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu.
2008 – A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
2010 – Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people.
2011 – War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
2012 – NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.
2015 – A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha.
Births
Pre-1600
1180 – Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (d. 1239)
1504 – Matthew Parker, English archbishop (d. 1575)
1572 – Fakhr-al-Din II, Druze emir (d. 1635)
1601–1900
1605 – Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer (d. 1675)
1609 – Richard Bennett, English-American politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (d. 1675)
1619 – Barbara Strozzi, Italian composer and singer-songwriter (d. 1677)
1622 – Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Dutch admiral (d. 1666)
1638 – Nicolas Malebranche, French priest and philosopher (d. 1715)
1644 – Louise de La Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)
1651 – François Fénelon, French archbishop and poet (d. 1715)
1656 – Claude de Forbin, French general (d. 1733)
1666 – Maria Sophia of Neuburg (d. 1699)
1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1748)
1697 – Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1745)
1715 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (d. 1747)
1765 – Petros Mavromichalis, Greek general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1848)
1766 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist (d. 1828)
1768 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French general and politician (d. 1813)
1775 – Daniel O'Connell, Irish lawyer and politician, Lord Mayor of Dublin (d. 1847)
1809 – Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
1826 – Thomas Alexander Browne, English-Australian author (d. 1915)
1835 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (d. 1900)
1844 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
1844 – James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer (d. 1896)
1848 – Susie Taylor, American writer and first black Army nurse (d. 1912)
1846 – Anna Haining Bates, Canadian-American giant (d. 1888)
1868 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (d. 1955)
1874 – Charles Fort, American author (d. 1932)
1877 – Wallace H. White Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1952)
1880 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor and singer (d. 1964)
1881 – Leo Carrillo, American actor (d. 1961)
1881 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
1881 – Louella Parsons, American journalist (d. 1972)
1883 – Constance Georgina Adams, South African botanist (d. 1968)
1883 – Scott Nearing, American economist and educator (d. 1983)
1886 – Edward Ballantine, American composer and academic (d. 1971)
1887 – Dudley Benjafield, English racing driver (d. 1957)
1889 – George Kenney, Canadian-American general (d. 1977)
1889 – John Middleton Murry, English poet and author (d. 1957)
1891 – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, English field marshal and politician, 13th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1970)
1895 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (d. 1978)
1900 – Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, co-founded Texas Instruments (d. 2003)
1901–present
1901 – Dutch Schultz, American gangster (d. 1935)
1903 – Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist (d. 1999)
1904 – Jean Dessès, Greek-Egyptian fashion designer (d. 1970)
1904 – Henry Iba, American basketball player and coach (d. 1993)
1906 – Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (d. 1984)
1908 – Maria Ludwika Bernhard, Polish classical archaeologist and a member of WWII Polish resistance (d. 1998)
1908 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player and commander (d. 1997)
1908 – Lajos Vajda, Hungarian painter and illustrator (d. 1941)
1909 – Diana Keppel, Countess of Albemarle (d. 2013)
1910 – Adoniran Barbosa, Brazilian musician, singer, composer, humorist, and actor (d. 1982)
1910 – Charles Crichton, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1911 – Lucille Ball, American actress, television producer and businesswoman (d. 1989)
1911 – Norman Gordon, South African cricketer (d. 2014)
1911 – Constance Heaven, English author and actress (d. 1995)
1912 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (d. 2010)
1914 – Gordon Freeth, Australian lawyer and politician, 24th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2001)
1916 – Richard Hofstadter, American historian and academic (d. 1970)
1916 – Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 2012)
1917 – Barbara Cooney, American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
1917 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
1918 – Norman Granz, American-Swiss record producer and manager (d. 2001)
1919 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (d. 2011)
1920 – John Graves, American author (d. 2013)
1920 – Ella Raines, American actress (d. 1988)
1922 – Freddie Laker, English businessman, founded Laker Airways (d. 2006)
1922 – Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (d. 2015)
1923 – Jess Collins, American painter (d. 2004)
1923 – Paul Hellyer, Canadian engineer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of Defence (d. 2021)
1924 – Samuel Bowers, American activist, co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 2006)
1926 – Elisabeth Beresford, English journalist and author (d. 2010)
1926 – Frank Finlay, English actor (d. 2016)
1926 – Clem Labine, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
1926 – János Rózsás, Hungarian author (d. 2012)
1926 – Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (d. 1999)
1928 – Herb Moford, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1928 – Andy Warhol, American painter, photographer and film director (d. 1987)
1929 – Mike Elliott, Jamaican saxophonist
1929 – Roch La Salle, Canadian politician, 42nd Canadian Minister of Public Works (d. 2007)
1930 – Abbey Lincoln, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2010)
1931 – Chalmers Johnson, American scholar and author (d. 2010)
1932 – Michael Deeley, English screenwriter and producer
1932 – Howard Hodgkin, English painter (d. 2017)
1932 – Charles Wood, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1933 – A. G. Kripal Singh, Indian cricketer (d. 1987)
1934 – Piers Anthony, English-American soldier and author
1934 – Chris Bonington, English mountaineer and author
1934 – Billy Boston, Welsh rugby player and soldier
1935 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (d. 2012)
1935 – Octavio Getino, Spanish-Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1937 – Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist and composer (d. 2000)
1937 – Charlie Haden, American bassist and composer (d. 2014)
1937 – Barbara Windsor, English actress (d. 2020)
1938 – Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1938 – Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
1938 – Bert Yancey, American golfer (d. 1994)
1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian philologist and politician, 2nd President of Dagestan
1940 – Egil Kapstad, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 2017)
1940 – Louise Sorel, American actress
1941 – Ray Culp, American baseball player
1942 – Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 2012)
1943 – Jon Postel, American computer scientist and academic (d. 1998)
1944 – Inday Badiday, Filipino journalist and actress (d. 2003)
1944 – Michael Mingos, English chemist and academic
1944 – Martin Wharton, English bishop
1945 – Ron Jones, English director and production manager (d. 1993)
1946 – Allan Holdsworth, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2017)
1947 – Radhia Cousot, French computer scientist and academic (d. 2014)
1949 – Dino Bravo, Italian-Canadian wrestler (d. 1993)
1950 – Dorian Harewood, American actor
1951 – Catherine Hicks, American actress
1951 – Daryl Somers, Australian television host and singer
1952 – Pat MacDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – David McLetchie, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1952 – Ton Scherpenzeel, Dutch keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1954 – Mark Hughes, English-Australian rugby league player
1956 – Bill Emmott, English journalist and author
1957 – Bob Horner, American baseball player
1957 – Jim McGreevey, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New Jersey
1958 – Randy DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1959 – Rajendra Singh, Indian environmentalist
1959 – Joyce Sims, American singer (d. 2022)
1960 – Dale Ellis, American basketball player
1961 – Mary Ann Sieghart, English journalist and radio host
1962 – Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian-Hong Kong actress and producer
1963 – Charles Ingram, English soldier, author, and game show contestant
1963 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker (d. 2023)
1964 – Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, Nigerian journalist, activist, social media expert, and pharmacist
1965 – Stéphane Peterhansel, French racing driver
1965 – Yuki Kajiura, Japanese pianist and composer
1965 – David Robinson, American basketball player and lieutenant
1965 – Vince Wells, English cricketer
1967 – Lorna Fitzsimons, English businesswoman and politician
1967 – Mike Greenberg, American journalist and sportscaster
1967 – Julie Snyder, Canadian talk show host and producer
1968 – Jack de Gier, Dutch footballer
1969 – Simon Doull, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
1969 – Elliott Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1970 – M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Geri Halliwell, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1972 – Ray Lucas, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Jason O'Mara, Irish actor
1973 – Vera Farmiga, American actress
1973 – Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist
1974 – Ever Carradine, American actress
1974 – Bobby Petta, Dutch footballer
1974 – Luis Vizcaíno, Dominican baseball player
1974 – Alvin Williams, American basketball player and coach
1975 – Jason Crump, English-Australian motorcycle racer
1975 – Renate Götschl, Austrian skier
1975 – Víctor Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player
1976 – Soleil Moon Frye, American actress
1976 – Melissa George, Australian-American actress
1977 – Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager
1977 – Luciano Zavagno, Argentinian footballer
1978 – Marvel Smith, American football player
1979 – Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist
1979 – Jaime Correa, Mexican footballer
1979 – Travis Reed, American basketball player
1981 – Leslie Odom Jr., American actor and singer
1981 – Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater
1983 – Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
1984 – Vedad Ibišević, Bosnian footballer
1984 – Maja Ognjenović, Serbian volleyball player
1984 – Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer
1985 – Mickaël Delage, French cyclist
1985 – Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer
1985 – Garrett Weber-Gale, American swimmer
1986 – Raphael Pyrasch, German rugby player
1987 – Leanne Crichton, Scottish footballer
1990 – JonBenét Ramsey, American child beauty queen and victim of prominent unsolved murder case (d. 1996)
1991 – Wilmer Flores, Venezuelan baseball player
1991 – Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
1995 – Rebecca Peterson, Swedish tennis player
1999 – Rebeka Masarova, Spanish-Swiss tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
258 – Pope Sixtus II
523 – Pope Hormisdas (b. 450)
750 – Marwan II, Umayyad general and caliph (b. 688)
1027 – Richard III, Duke of Normandy
1162 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (b. 1113)
1195 – Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (b. 1129)
1221 – Saint Dominic, Spanish priest, founded the Dominican Order (b. 1170)
1272 – Stephen V of Hungary (b. 1239)
1384 – Francesco I of Lesbos
1412 – Margherita of Durazzo, Queen consort of Charles III of Naples (b. 1347)
1414 – Ladislaus of Naples (b. 1377)
1458 – Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)
1530 – Jacopo Sannazaro, Italian poet (b. 1458)
1553 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
1588 – Josias I, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg (1578-1588) (b. 1554)
1601–1900
1628 – Johannes Junius, German lawyer and politician (b. 1573)
1637 – Ben Jonson, English poet and playwright (b. 1572)
1645 – Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant and politician (b. 1575)
1657 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian soldier and politician, 1st Hetman of Zaporizhian Host (b. 1595)
1660 – Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1599)
1666 – Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Frisian naval hero and commander (b. 1622)
1679 – John Snell, Scottish-English soldier and philanthropist, founded the Snell Exhibition (b. 1629)
1694 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1612)
1695 – François de Harlay de Champvallon, French archbishop (b. 1625)
1753 – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Estonian-Russian physicist and academic (b. 1711)
1757 – Ádám Mányoki, Hungarian painter (b. 1673)
1794 – Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1815 – James A. Bayard, American lawyer and politician (b. 1767)
1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1785)
1850 – Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)
1866 – John Mason Neale, English priest, scholar, and hymnwriter (b. 1818)
1881 – James Springer White, American religious leader, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church (b. 1821)
1893 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1811)
1901–present
1904 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian author and critic (b. 1825)
1906 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1824)
1915 – Jennie de la Montagnie Lozier, American physician (b. 1841)
1920 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish pilot and author (b. 1890)
1925 – Surendranath Banerjee, Indian academic and politician (b. 1848)
1925 – Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (b. 1853)
1931 – Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer (b. 1903)
1945 – Richard Bong, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1920)
1945 – Hiram Johnson, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of California (b. 1866)
1946 – Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player and coach (b. 1903)
1952 – Betty Allan, Australian statistician and biometrician (b. 1905)
1959 – Preston Sturges, American director, screenwriter, and playwright (b. 1898)
1964 – Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director (b. 1893)
1969 – Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1903)
1970 – Nikos Tsiforos, Greek director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
1973 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (b. 1901)
1976 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-American cellist and educator (b. 1903)
1978 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
1978 – Edward Durell Stone, American architect, designed Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center (b. 1902)
1979 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
1983 – Klaus Nomi, German singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1944)
1985 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese politician, 2nd President of Guyana (b. 1923)
1986 – Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1904)
1987 – Ira C. Eaker, American general (b. 1896)
1990 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (b. 1912)
1991 – Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1915)
1991 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (b. 1900)
1991 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist, co-created 60 Minutes (b. 1923)
1992 – Leszek Błażyński, Polish boxer (b. 1949)
1993 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (b. 1916)
1994 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter and politician (b. 1928)
1997 – Shin Ki-ha, South Korean lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
1998 – André Weil, French-American mathematician and academic (b. 1906)
2001 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist and poet (b. 1912)
2001 – Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Naval officer (b. 1914)
2001 – Wilhelm Mohnke, German general (b. 1911)
2001 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (b. 1928)
2001 – Dorothy Tutin, English actress (b. 1930)
2002 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch physicist, computer scientist, and academic (b. 1930)
2003 – Julius Baker, American flute player and educator (b. 1915)
2004 – Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
2004 – Donald Justice, American poet and academic (b. 1925)
2005 – Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (b. 1946)
2005 – Creme Puff, tabby domestic cat, oldest recorded cat (b. 1967)
2007 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian guitarist (b. 1969)
2008 – Angelos Kitsos, Greek lawyer and author (b. 1934)
2009 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (b. 1909)
2009 – Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
2009 – John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1950)
2011 – Fe del Mundo, Filipino pediatrician and educator (b. 1911)
2012 – Richard Cragun, American-Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1944)
2012 – Marvin Hamlisch, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1944)
2012 – Robert Hughes, Australian-American author and critic (b. 1938)
2012 – Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (b. 1913)
2012 – Mark O'Donnell, American playwright (b. 1954)
2012 – Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator (b. 1918)
2012 – Dan Roundfield, American basketball player (b. 1953)
2013 – Stan Lynde, American author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2013 – Mava Lee Thomas, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2013 – Jerry Wolman, American businessman (b. 1927)
2014 – Ralph Bryans, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1941)
2014 – Ananda W.P. Guruge, Sri Lankan scholar and diplomat (b. 1928)
2014 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (b. 1927)
2015 – Ray Hill, American football player (b. 1975)
2015 – Orna Porat, German-Israeli actress (b. 1924)
2017 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter (b. 1938)
2017 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (b. 1962)
2018 – Joël Robuchon, French Chef (b. 1945)
2018 – Margaret Heckler, American politician (b. 1931)
2018 – Anya Krugovoy Silver, American poet (b. 1968)
Holidays and observances
Christian holidays and observances
Transfiguration of Jesus
Anna Maria Rubatto
Hormisdas
Justus and Pastor
August 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day. (United Arab Emirates)
Independence Day (Bolivia), celebrates the independence of Bolivia from Spain in 1825.
Independence Day (Jamaica), celebrates the independence of Jamaica from the United Kingdom in 1962.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (Hiroshima, Japan)
Russian Railway Troops Day (Russia)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1027 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%209 | August 9 |
Events
Pre-1600
48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed along with over half of his army.
1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.
1329 – Quilon, the first Indian Christian Diocese, is erected by Pope John XXII; the French-born Jordanus is appointed the first Bishop.
1428 – Sources cite biggest caravan trade between Podvisoki and Republic of Ragusa. Vlachs committed to Ragusan lord Tomo Bunić, that they will with 600 horses deliver 1,500 modius of salt. Delivery was meant for Dobrašin Veseoković, and Vlachs price was half of delivered salt.
1500 – Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503): The Ottomans capture Methoni, Messenia.
1601–1900
1610 – The First Anglo-Powhatan War begins in colonial Virginia.
1810 – Napoleon annexes Westphalia as part of the First French Empire.
1814 – American Indian Wars: The Creek sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up huge parts of Alabama and Georgia.
1830 – Louis Philippe becomes the king of the French following abdication of Charles X.
1842 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
1854 – American Transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau publishes his memoir Walden.
1855 – Åland War: The Battle of Suomenlinna begins.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain: At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Big Hole: A small band of Nez Percé Indians clash with the United States Army.
1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
1897 – The first International Congress of Mathematicians is held in Zürich, Switzerland.
1901–present
1902 – Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1907 – The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in southern England.
1925 – A train robbery takes place in Kakori, near Lucknow, India, by the Indian independence revolutionaries, against British government.
1936 – Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Savo Island: Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser force.
1942 – Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th symphony is premiered in a besieged Leningrad.
1944 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.
1944 – World War II: Continuation War: The Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, the largest offensive launched by Soviet Union against Finland during the Second World War, ends to a strategic stalemate. Both Finnish and Soviet troops at the Finnish front dug to defensive positions, and the front remains stable until the end of the war.
1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Thirty-five thousand people are killed outright, including 23,200–28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
1945 – The Red Army invades Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
1960 – South Kasai secedes from the Congo.
1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.
1969 – Tate–LaBianca murders: Followers of Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.
1970 – LANSA Flight 502 crashes after takeoff from Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco, Peru, killing 99 of the 100 people on board, as well as two people on the ground.
1971 – The Troubles: In Northern Ireland, the British authorities launch Operation Demetrius. The operation involves the mass arrest and internment without trial of individuals suspected of being affiliated with the Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Mass riots follow, and thousands of people flee or are forced out of their homes.
1973 – Mars 7 is launched from the USSR.
1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.
1991 – The Italian prosecuting magistrate Antonino Scopelliti is murdered by the 'Ndrangheta on behalf of the Sicilian Mafia while preparing the government's case in the final appeal of the Maxi Trial.
1993 – The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
1995 – Aviateca Flight 901 crashes into the San Vicente volcano in El Salvador, killing all 65 people on board.
1999 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
2006 – At least 21 suspected terrorists are arrested in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that happened in the United Kingdom. The arrests are made in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe in an overnight operation.
2007 – Air Moorea Flight 1121 crashes after takeoff from Moorea Airport in French Polynesia, killing all 20 people on board.
2012 – Shannon Eastin becomes the first woman to officiate an NFL game.
2013 – Gunmen open fire at a Sunni mosque in the city of Quetta killing at least ten people and injuring 30.
2014 – Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American male in Ferguson, Missouri, is shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer after reportedly assaulting the officer and attempting to steal his weapon, sparking protests and unrest in the city.
2021 – The Tampere light rail officially starts operating.
Births
Pre-1600
1201 – Arnold Fitz Thedmar, English historian and merchant (d. 1274)
1537 – Francesco Barozzi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1604)
1544 – Bogislaw XIII, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1606)
1590 – John Webster, colonial settler and governor of Connecticut (d. 1661)
1601–1900
1603 – Johannes Cocceius, German-Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1669)
1611 – Henry of Nassau-Siegen, German count, officer in the Dutch Army, diplomat for the Dutch Republic (b. 1611)
1648 – Johann Michael Bach, German composer (d. 1694)
1653 – John Oldham, English poet and translator (d. 1683)
1674 – František Maxmilián Kaňka, Czech architect, designed the Veltrusy Mansion (d. 1766)
1696 – Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein (d. 1772)
1722 – Prince Augustus William of Prussia (d. 1758)
1726 – Francesco Cetti, Italian priest, zoologist, and mathematician (d. 1778)
1748 – Bernhard Schott, German music publisher (d. 1809)
1757 – Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, American humanitarian; wife of Alexander Hamilton (d. 1854)
1757 – Thomas Telford, Scottish architect and engineer, designed the Menai Suspension Bridge (d. 1834)
1776 – Amedeo Avogadro, Italian physicist and chemist (d. 1856)
1783 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1801)
1788 – Adoniram Judson, American missionary and lexicographer (d. 1850)
1797 – Charles Robert Malden, English lieutenant and surveyor (d. 1855)
1805 – Joseph Locke, English engineer and politician (d. 1860)
1845 – André Bessette, Canadian saint (d. 1937)
1847 – Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, French-Italian wife of Amadeo I of Spain (d. 1876)
1848 – Alfred David Benjamin, Australian-born businessman and philanthropist. (d. 1900)
1861 – Dorothea Klumpke, American astronomer and academic (d. 1942)
1867 – Evelina Haverfield, Scottish nurse and activist (d. 1920)
1872 – Archduke Joseph August of Austria (d. 1962)
1874 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan composer and conductor (d. 1947)
1875 – Albert Ketèlbey, English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1959)
1878 – Eileen Gray, Irish architect and furniture designer (d. 1976)
1879 – John Willcock, Australian politician, 15th Premier of Western Australia, (d. 1956)
1881 – Prince Antônio Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, Brazilian prince (d. 1918)
1890 – Eino Kaila, Finnish philosopher and psychologist, attendant of the Vienna circle (d. 1958)
1896 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist (d. 1980)
1896 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
1899 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (d. 1996)
1900 – Charles Farrell, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1901–present
1902 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (d. 1991)
1902 – Panteleimon Ponomarenko, Russian general and politician (d. 1984)
1905 – Leo Genn, British actor and barrister (d. 1978)
1909 – Vinayaka Krishna Gokak, Indian scholar, author, and academic (d. 1992)
1909 – Willa Beatrice Player, American educator, first Black woman college president (d. 2003)
1909 – Adam von Trott zu Solz, German lawyer and diplomat (d. 1944)
1911 – William Alfred Fowler, American astronomer and astrophysicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1996)
1911 – Eddie Futch, American boxer and trainer (d. 2001)
1911 – John McQuade, Northern Irish soldier, boxer, and politician (d. 1984)
1913 – Wilbur Norman Christiansen, Australian astronomer and engineer (d. 2007)
1914 – Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian-Austrian conductor and director (d. 1963)
1914 – Tove Jansson, Finnish author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1914 – Joe Mercer, English footballer and manager (d. 1990)
1915 – Mareta West, American astronomer and geologist (d. 1998)
1918 – Kermit Beahan, American colonel (d. 1989)
1918 – Giles Cooper, Irish soldier and playwright (d. 1966)
1918 – Albert Seedman, American police officer (d. 2013)
1919 – Joop den Uyl, Dutch journalist, economist, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1987)
1919 – Ralph Houk, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
1920 – Enzo Biagi, Italian journalist and author (d. 2007)
1921 – Ernest Angley, American evangelist and author (d. 2021)
1921 – J. James Exon, American soldier and politician, 33rd Governor of Nebraska (d. 2005)
1922 – Philip Larkin, English poet and novelist (d. 1985)
1924 – Mathews Mar Barnabas, Indian metropolitan (d. 2012)
1924 – Frank Martínez, American soldier and painter (d. 2013)
1925 – David A. Huffman, American computer scientist, developed Huffman coding (d. 1999)
1926 – Denis Atkinson, Barbadian cricketer (d. 2001)
1927 – Daniel Keyes, American short story writer and novelist (d. 2014)
1927 – Robert Shaw, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1978)
1928 – Bob Cousy, American basketball player and coach
1928 – Camilla Wicks, American violinist and educator (d. 2020)
1928 – Dolores Wilson, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
1929 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist and activist (d. 1979)
1930 – Milt Bolling, American baseball player and scout (d. 2013)
1930 – Jacques Parizeau, Canadian economist and politician, 26th Premier of Quebec (d. 2015)
1931 – Chuck Essegian, American baseball player and lawyer
1931 – James Freeman Gilbert, American geophysicist and academic (d. 2014)
1931 – Paula Kent Meehan, American businesswoman, co-founded Redken (d. 2014)
1931 – Mário Zagallo, Brazilian footballer and coach
1932 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish academic and politician (d. 2017)
1932 – John Gomery, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2021)
1933 – Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Japanese actress, talk show host, and author
1935 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (d. 2008)
1936 – Julián Javier, Dominican-American baseball player
1936 – Patrick Tse, Chinese-Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1938 – Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Ukraine
1938 – Rod Laver, Australian tennis player and coach
1938 – Otto Rehhagel, German footballer, coach, and manager
1939 – Hércules Brito Ruas, Brazilian footballer
1939 – Vincent Hanna, Northern Irish journalist (d. 1997)
1939 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2014)
1939 – Billy Henderson, American singer (d. 2007)
1939 – Bulle Ogier, French actress and screenwriter
1939 – Romano Prodi, Italian academic and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Italy
1939 – Butch Warren, American bassist (d. 2013)
1940 – Linda Keen, American mathematician and academic
1942 – David Steinberg, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Ken Norton, American boxer and actor (d. 2013)
1944 – George Armstrong, English footballer (d. 2000)
1944 – Patrick Depailler, French racing driver (d. 1980)
1944 – Sam Elliott, American actor and producer
1944 – Patricia McKissack, American soldier, engineer, and author (d. 2017)
1945 – Barbara Delinsky, American author
1945 – Aleksandr Gorelik, Russian figure skater and sportscaster (d. 2012)
1945 – Posy Simmonds, English author and illustrator
1946 – Rinus Gerritsen, Dutch rock bass player
1947 – Roy Hodgson, English footballer and manager
1947 – Barbara Mason, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
1947 – John Varley, American author
1948 – Bill Campbell, American baseball player and coach (d. 2023)
1949 – Jonathan Kellerman, American psychologist and author
1949 – Ted Simmons, American baseball player and coach
1951 – James Naughtie, Scottish journalist and radio host
1951 – Steve Swisher, American baseball player and manager
1952 – Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, Thai activist and politician
1953 – Kay Stenshjemmet, Norwegian speed skater
1953 – Jean Tirole, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1954 – Ray Jennings, South African cricketer and coach
1954 – Pete Thomas, English drummer
1955 – John E. Sweeney, American lawyer and politician
1956 – Gordon Singleton, Canadian Olympic cyclist
1957 – Melanie Griffith, American actress and producer
1958 – Amanda Bearse, American actress, comedian and director
1958 – Calie Pistorius, South African engineer and academic
1959 – Kurtis Blow, American rapper, producer, and actor
1959 – Michael Kors, American fashion designer
1961 – Brad Gilbert, American tennis player and sportscaster
1961 – John Key, New Zealand businessman and politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1962 – Louis Lipps, American football player and radio host
1962 – Kevin Mack, American football player
1962 – John "Hot Rod" Williams, American basketball player (d. 2015)
1963 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (d. 2012)
1963 – Jay Leggett, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1963 – Barton Lynch, Australian surfer
1964 – Brett Hull, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
1964 – Hoda Kotb, American journalist and television personality
1965 – Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Indian art director, production designer, and film and television producer (d. 2023)
1966 – Vinny Del Negro, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Linn Ullmann, Norwegian journalist and author
1967 – Deion Sanders, American football and baseball player
1968 – Gillian Anderson, American-British actress, activist and writer
1968 – Eric Bana, Australian actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Sam Fogarino, American drummer
1968 – McG, American director and producer
1969 – Troy Percival, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Rod Brind'Amour, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Chris Cuomo, American lawyer and journalist
1970 – Thomas Lennon, American actor and comedian
1972 – Juanes, Colombian singer and songwriter
1973 – Filippo Inzaghi, Italian footballer and manager
1973 – Kevin McKidd, Scottish actor and director
1973 – Gene Luen Yang, American author and illustrator
1974 – Derek Fisher, American basketball player and coach
1974 – Stephen Fung, Hong Kong actor, singer, director, and screenwriter
1974 – Lesley McKenna, Scottish snowboarder
1974 – Matt Morris, American baseball player
1974 – Kirill Reznik, American lawyer and politician
1974 – Raphaël Poirée, French biathlete
1975 – Mahesh Babu, Indian actor and producer
1975 – Valentin Kovalenko, Uzbek football referee
1975 – Mike Lamb, American baseball player
1975 – Robbie Middleby, Australian soccer player
1976 – Rhona Mitra, English actress and singer
1976 – Audrey Tautou, French model and actress
1976 – Jessica Capshaw, American actress
1977 – Jason Frasor, American baseball player
1977 – Chamique Holdsclaw, American basketball player
1977 – Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbek football referee
1977 – Adewale Ogunleye, American football player
1977 – Ime Udoka, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Mikaël Silvestre, French footballer
1978 – Dorin Chirtoacă, Moldavian lawyer and politician, Mayor of Chișinău
1978 – Ana Serradilla, Mexican actress and producer
1978 – Wesley Sonck, Belgian footballer
1979 – Michael Kingma, Australian basketball player
1979 – Lisa Nandy, British politician
1979 – Tony Stewart, American football player
1981 – Jarvis Hayes, American basketball player
1981 – Li Jiawei, Singaporean table tennis player
1982 – Joel Anthony, American basketball player
1982 – Tyson Gay, American sprinter
1982 – Yekaterina Samutsevich, Russian singer and activist
1982 – Kanstantsin Sivtsov, Belarusian cyclist
1983 – Dan Levy, Canadian actor and comedian
1983 – Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwean cricketer
1983 – Shane O'Brien, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Alicja Smietana, Polish-English violinist
1984 – Paul Gallagher, Scottish footballer
1985 – Luca Filippi, Italian racing driver
1985 – Filipe Luís, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Anna Kendrick, American actress and singer
1985 – Hayley Peirsol, American swimmer
1985 – JaMarcus Russell, American football player
1985 – Chandler Williams, American football player (d. 2013)
1986 – Michael Lerchl, German footballer
1986 – Daniel Preussner, German rugby player
1986 – Tyler Smith, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1987 – Marek Niit, Estonian sprinter
1988 – Anthony Castonzo, American football player
1988 – Willian, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Vasilios Koutsianikoulis, Greek footballer
1989 – Jason Heyward, American baseball player
1989 – Stefano Okaka, Italian footballer
1989 – Kento Ono, Japanese actor and model
1990 – İshak Doğan, Turkish footballer
1990 – Sarah McBride, American LGBT activist
1990 – Stuart McInally, Scottish rugby player
1990 – Brice Roger, French skier
1990 – D'Arcy Short, Australian cricketer
1990 – Bill Skarsgård, Swedish actor
1991 – Alice Barlow, English actress
1991 – Alexa Bliss, American bodybuilder and wrestler
1991 – Hansika Motwani, Indian actress
1992 – Farahnaz Forotan, Afghan journalist
1993 – Jun.Q, South Korean singer and actor
1993 – Dipa Karmakar, Indian gymnast
1994 – Kelli Hubly, American soccer player
1994 – King Von, American rapper (d. 2020)
1995 – Eli Apple, American football player
1995 – Justice Smith, American actor
1996 – Sanya Lopez, Filipino actress and model
1999 – Deniss Vasiļjevs, Latvian figure skater
2000 – Arlo Parks, British singer-songwriter
2005 – Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva, Andorran tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
378 – Traianus, Roman general
378 – Valens, Roman emperor (b. 328)
803 – Irene of Athens, Byzantine ruler (b. 752)
833 – Al-Ma'mun, Iraqi caliph (b. 786)
1048 – Pope Damasus II
1107 – Emperor Horikawa of Japan (b. 1079)
1173 – Najm ad-Din Ayyub, Kurdish soldier and politician
1211 – William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, exiled Anglo-Norman baron (b. 1144/53)
1260 – Walter of Kirkham, Bishop of Durham
1296 – Hugh, Count of Brienne, French crusader
1341 – Eleanor of Anjou, queen consort of Sicily (b. 1289)
1354 – Stephen, Duke of Slavonia, Hungarian prince (b. 1332)
1420 – Pierre d'Ailly, French theologian and cardinal (b. 1351)
1516 – Hieronymus Bosch, Early Netherlandish painter (b. circa 1450)
1534 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian cardinal and philosopher (b. 1470)
1580 – Metrophanes III of Constantinople (b. 1520)
1601–1900
1601 – Michael the Brave, Romanian prince (b. 1558)
1634 – William Noy, English lawyer and judge (b. 1577)
1720 – Simon Ockley, English orientalist and academic (b. 1678)
1744 – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, English academic and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire (b. 1673)
1816 – Johann August Apel, German jurist and author (b. 1771)
1861 – Vincent Novello, English composer and publisher (b. 1781)
1886 – Samuel Ferguson, Irish lawyer and poet (b. 1810)
1901–present
1910 – Huo Yuanjia, Chinese martial artist, co-founded the Chin Woo Athletic Association (b. 1868)
1919 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer and educator (b. 1857)
1920 – Samuel Griffith, Welsh-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Queensland (b. 1845)
1932 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (b. 1863)
1941 – Richard Goss, Executed Irish Republican (b. 1915)
1942 – Edith Stein, German nun and saint (b. 1891)
1943 – Chaïm Soutine, Belarusian-French painter and educator (b. 1893)
1945 – Robert Hampton Gray, Canadian lieutenant and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1917)
1945 – Harry Hillman, American runner and coach (b. 1881)
1946 – Bert Vogler, South African cricketer (b. 1876)
1948 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (b. 1885)
1949 – Edward Thorndike, American psychologist and academic (b. 1874)
1957 – Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (b. 1898)
1962 – Hermann Hesse, German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, American son of John F. Kennedy (b. 1963)
1967 – Joe Orton, English author and playwright (b. 1933)
1969 – Wojciech Frykowski, Polish-American actor and author (b. 1936)
1969 – Sharon Tate, American model and actress (b. 1943)
1969 – C. F. Powell, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1972 – Sıddık Sami Onar, Turkish lawyer and academic (b. 1897)
1974 – Bill Chase, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1934)
1975 – Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1906)
1978 – James Gould Cozzens, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1903)
1979 – Walter O'Malley, American businessman (b. 1903)
1979 – Raymond Washington, American gang leader, founded the Crips (b. 1953)
1980 – Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
1980 – Ruby Hurley, American civil rights activist (b. 1909)
1981 – Max Hoffman, Austrian-born car importer and businessman (b. 1904)
1985 – Clive Churchill, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1927)
1988 – M. Carl Holman, American author, educator, poet, and playwright (b. 1919)
1988 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (b. 1905)
1990 – Joe Mercer, English footballer and manager (b. 1914)
1992 – Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Iranian singer and actor (b. 1938)
1995 – Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
1996 – Frank Whittle, English soldier and engineer, invented the jet engine (b. 1907)
1999 – Helen Rollason, English sports journalist and sportscaster (b. 1956)
1999 – Fouad Serageddin, Egyptian journalist and politician (b. 1910)
2000 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2000 – Nicholas Markowitz, American murder victim (b. 1984)
2002 – Paul Samson, English guitarist (b. 1953)
2003 – Jacques Deray, French director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
2003 – Ray Harford, English footballer and manager (b. 1945)
2003 – Gregory Hines, American actor, dancer, and choreographer (b. 1946)
2003 – R. Sivagurunathan, Sri Lankan lawyer, journalist, and academic (b. 1931)
2004 – Robert Lecourt, French lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1908)
2004 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (b. 1918)
2004 – David Raksin, American composer and educator (b. 1912)
2005 – Judith Rossner, American author (b. 1935)
2006 – Philip E. High, English author (b. 1914)
2006 – James Van Allen, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
2007 – Joe O'Donnell, American photographer and journalist (b. 1922)
2008 – Bernie Mac, American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1957)
2008 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian author and poet (b. 1941)
2010 – Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, American singer and bass player (b. 1926)
2010 – Ted Stevens, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1923)
2012 – Carl Davis, American record producer (b. 1934)
2012 – Gene F. Franklin, American engineer, theorist, and academic (b. 1927)
2012 – Al Freeman, Jr., American actor, director, and educator (b. 1934)
2012 – David Rakoff, Canadian-American actor and journalist (b. 1964)
2012 – Carmen Belen Richardson, Puerto Rican-American actress (b. 1930)
2012 – Mel Stuart, American director and producer (b. 1928)
2013 – Harry Elliott, American baseball player and coach (b. 1923)
2013 – Eduardo Falú, Argentinian guitarist and composer (b. 1923)
2013 – William Lynch, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1947)
2014 – J. F. Ade Ajayi, Nigerian historian and academic (b. 1929)
2014 – Andriy Bal, Ukrainian footballer and coach (b. 1958)
2014 – Arthur G. Cohen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Arlen Realty and Development Corporation (b. 1930)
2014 – Ed Nelson, American actor (b. 1928)
2015 – Frank Gifford, American football player, sportscaster, and actor (b. 1930)
2015 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1929)
2015 – Walter Nahún López, Honduran footballer (b. 1977)
2015 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (b. 1935)
2015 – Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1915)
2015 – Fikret Otyam, Turkish painter and journalist (b. 1926)
2016 – Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, third-richest British citizen (b. 1951)
2021 – Pat Hitchcock, English actress and producer (b. 1928)
2021 – Killer Kau, South African rapper, dancer and record producer (b. 1998)
2021 – Zairaini Sarbini, Malaysian voice actress (b. 1972)
2023 – Robbie Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1943)
Holidays and observances
Battle of Gangut Day (Russia)
Christian feast day:
Candida Maria of Jesus
Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)
Firmus and Rusticus
Herman of Alaska (Russian Orthodox Church and related congregations; Episcopal Church (USA))
John Vianney (1950s – currently August 4)
Mary Sumner (Church of England)
Nath Í of Achonry
Romanus Ostiarius
Secundian, Marcellian and Verian
August 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (United Nations)
Meyboom (Brussels and Leuven, Belgium)
National Day, celebrates the independence of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965.
National Peacekeepers' Day, celebrated on Sunday closest to the day (Canada)
National Women's Day (South Africa)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1129 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2013 | August 13 |
Events
Pre-1600
29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes.
523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas.
554 – Emperor Justinian I rewards Liberius for his service in the Pragmatic Sanction, granting him extensive estates in Italy.
582 – Maurice becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
900 – Count Reginar I of Hainault rises against Zwentibold of Lotharingia and slays him near present-day Susteren.
1099 – Raniero is elected as Pope Paschal II, who would become deeply entangled in the Investiture Controversy.
1516 – The Treaty of Noyon between France and Spain is signed. Francis I of France recognizes Charles's claim to Naples, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, recognizes Francis's claim to Milan.
1521 – After an extended siege, forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés capture Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
1532 – Union of Brittany and France: The Duchy of Brittany is absorbed into the Kingdom of France.
1536 – Buddhist monks from Kyoto, Japan's Enryaku-ji temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in what will be known as the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance.
1553 – Michael Servetus is arrested by John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland as a heretic.
1601–1900
1624 – The French king Louis XIII appoints Cardinal Richelieu as prime minister.
1645 – Sweden and Denmark sign Peace of Brömsebro.
1650 – Colonel George Monck of the English Army forms Monck's Regiment of Foot, which will later become the Coldstream Guards.
1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim: English and Imperial forces are victorious over French and Bavarian troops.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy defeats the Penobscot Expedition with the most significant loss of United States naval forces prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1792 – King Louis XVI of France is formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.
1806 – Battle of Mišar during the Serbian Revolution begins. The battle ends two days later with a Serbian victory over the Ottomans.
1814 – The Convention of London, a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United Netherlands, is signed in London, England.
1868 – The 8.5–9.0 Arica earthquake struck southern Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin wide tsunami that affected Hawaii and New Zealand.
1889 – William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut is granted United States Patent Number 408,709 for "Coin-controlled apparatus for telephones."
1898 – Spanish–American War: Spanish and American forces engage in a mock battle for Manila, after which the Spanish commander surrendered in order to keep the city out of Filipino rebel hands.
1898 – Carl Gustav Witt discovers 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.
1900 – The steamer Deutschland of Hamburg America Lines set a new record for the eastward passage when it docked on Plymouth, England, five days, 11 hours and 45 minutes after sailing from New York, breaking by three hours, six minutes its previous mark in its maiden voyage in July.
1901–present
1905 – Norwegians vote to end the union with Sweden.
1906 – The all black infantrymen of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Regiment are accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas, despite exculpatory evidence; all are later dishonorably discharged. (Their records were later restored to reflect honorable discharges but there were no financial settlements.)
1913 – First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.
1918 – Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha May Johnson is the first woman to enlist.
1918 – Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) established as a public company in Germany.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: The Battle of Warsaw begins and will last till August 25. The Red Army is defeated.
1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Shanghai begins.
1942 – Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Project.
1944 – World War II: German troops begin the pillage and razing of Anogeia in Crete that would continue until September 5.
1954 – Radio Pakistan broadcasts the "Qaumī Tarāna", the national anthem of Pakistan for the first time.
1960 – The Central African Republic declares independence from France.
1961 – Cold War: East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started. The day is known as Barbed Wire Sunday.
1964 – Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.
1967 – Two young women became the first fatal victims of grizzly bear attacks in the 57-year history of Montana's Glacier National Park in separate incidents.
1968 – Alexandros Panagoulis attempts to assassinate the Greek dictator Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos in Varkiza, Athens.
1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts enjoy a ticker tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.
1973 – Aviaco Flight 118 crashes on approach to A Coruña Airport in A Coruña, Spain, killing 85.
1977 – Members of the British National Front (NF) clash with anti-NF demonstrators in Lewisham, London, resulting in 214 arrests and at least 111 injuries.
1978 – One hundred fifty Palestinians in Beirut are killed in a terrorist attack during the second phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
1990 – A mainland Chinese fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5202 is hit by a Taiwanese naval vessel and sinks in a repatriation operation of mainland Chinese immigrants, resulting in 21 deaths. This is the second tragedy less than a month after Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident.
2004 – One hundred fifty-six Congolese Tutsi refugees are massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.
2008 – Russo-Georgian War: Russian units occupy the Georgian city of Gori.
2015 – At least 76 people are killed and 212 others are wounded in a truck bombing in Baghdad, Iraq.
2020 – Israel–United Arab Emirates relations are formally established.
Births
Pre-1600
985 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (d. 1021)
1311 – Alfonso XI, king of Castile and León (d. 1350)
1567 – Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (d. 1635)
1584 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland (d. 1640)
1592 – William, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count, field marshal of the Dutch State Army (d. 1642)
1601–1900
1625 – Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1698)
1662 – Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1748)
1666 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (d. 1727)
1700 – Heinrich von Brühl, Polish-German politician (d. 1763)
1717 – Louis François, Prince of Conti (d. 1776)
1756 – James Gillray, English caricaturist and printmaker (d. 1815)
1764 – Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers, French general (d. 1813)
1790 – William Wentworth, Australian journalist, explorer, and politician (d. 1872)
1803 – Vladimir Odoyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (d. 1869)
1814 – Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist and astronomer (d. 1874)
1818 – Lucy Stone, American abolitionist and suffragist (d. 1893)
1819 – Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, Anglo-Irish mathematician and physicist (d. 1903)
1820 – George Grove, English musicologist and historian (d. 1900)
1823 – Goldwin Smith, English-Canadian historian and journalist (d. 1910)
1831 – Salomon Jadassohn, German pianist and composer (d. 1902)
1841 – Johnny Mullagh, Australian cricketer (d. 1891)
1842 – Charles Wells, English brewer, founded Charles Wells Ltd (d. 1914)
1849 – Leonora Barry, Irish-born American social activist (d. 1930)
1851 – Felix Adler, German-American religious leader and educator (d. 1933)
1860 – Annie Oakley, American target shooter (d. 1926)
1866 – Giovanni Agnelli, Italian businessman, founded Fiat S.p.A. (d. 1945)
1867 – George Luks, American painter and illustrator (d. 1933)
1871 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician, co-founded Social Democratic Party of Germany (d. 1919)
1872 – Richard Willstätter, German-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1942)
1879 – John Ireland, English composer and educator (d. 1962)
1884 – Harry Dean, English cricketer and coach (d. 1957)
1888 – John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer, invented the television (d. 1946)
1888 – Gleb W. Derujinsky, Russian-American sculptor (d. 1975)
1889 – Camillien Houde, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1958)
1895 – István Barta, Hungarian water polo player (d. 1948)
1895 – Bert Lahr, American actor (d. 1967)
1898 – Jean Borotra, French tennis player (d. 1994)
1898 – Regis Toomey, American actor (d. 1991)
1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (d. 1980)
1899 – José Ramón Guizado, Panamanian politician, 17th President of Panama (d. 1964)
1901–present
1902 – Felix Wankel, German engineer (d. 1988)
1904 – Buddy Rogers, American actor and musician (d. 1999)
1904 – Margaret Tafoya, Native American Pueblo potter (d. 2001)
1906 – Chuck Carroll, American football player and lawyer (d. 2003)
1906 – Art Shires, American baseball player and boxer (d. 1967)
1907 – Basil Spence, Scottish architect, designed Coventry Cathedral (d. 1976)
1908 – Gene Raymond, American actor and pilot (d. 1998)
1911 – William Bernbach, American advertiser, co-founded DDB Worldwide (d. 1982)
1912 – Claire Cribbs, American basketball player and coach (d. 1985)
1912 – Ben Hogan, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 1997)
1912 – Salvador Luria, Italian-American microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1913 – Makarios III, Greek archbishop and politician, 1st President of Cyprus (d. 1977)
1913 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (d. 1998)
1914 – Grace Bates, American mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
1917 – Sid Gordon, American baseball player (d. 1975)
1918 – Noor Hassanali, Trinidadian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2006)
1918 – Frederick Sanger, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1919 – Rex Humbard, American evangelist and television host (d. 2007)
1919 – George Shearing, English jazz pianist and bandleader (d. 2011)
1920 – Neville Brand, American actor (d. 1992)
1921 – Louis Frémaux, French conductor (d. 2017)
1921 – Jimmy McCracklin, American blues/R&B singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2012)
1921 – Mary Lee, Scottish singer (d. 2022)
1922 – Chuck Gilmur, American basketball player, coach, and educator (d. 2011)
1925 – Benny Bailey, American trumpet player, songwriter, and producer (d. 2005)
1925 – José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, Argentine executive and policy maker (d. 2013)
1926 – Fidel Castro, Cuban lawyer and politician, ex-President of Cuba (d. 2016)
1928 – John Tidmarsh, English journalist and radio host (d. 2019)
1929 – Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Wilfried Hilker, German footballer and referee
1930 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (d. 2007)
1930 – Bernard Manning, English comedian (d. 2007)
1930 – Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player and politician (d. 1999)
1930 – Bob Wiesler, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1933 – Joycelyn Elders, American admiral and physician, 15th Surgeon General of the United States
1935 – Alex de Renzy, American director and producer (d. 2001)
1935 – Mudcat Grant, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2021)
1938 – Dave "Baby" Cortez, American R&B pianist, organist, and composer
1938 – Bill Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1968)
1940 – Bill Musselman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2000)
1942 – Hissène Habré, Chadian politician and war criminal, 5th president of Chad (d. 2021)
1943 – Fred Hill, American football player
1943 – Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, President of Haiti
1943 – Michael Willetts, English sergeant; George Cross recipient (d. 1971)
1944 – Kevin Tighe, American actor
1945 – Lars Engqvist, Swedish politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
1945 – Gary Gregor, American basketball player
1945 – Robin Jackman, Indian-English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 2020)
1945 – Howard Marks, Welsh cannabis smuggler, writer, and legalisation campaigner (d. 2016)
1946 – Janet Yellen, American economist, 78th United States secretary of the treasury
1947 – Fred Stanley, American baseball player and manager
1947 – John Stocker, Canadian voice actor and director
1947 – Margareta Winberg, Swedish politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
1948 – Kathleen Battle, American operatic soprano
1949 – Jim Brunzell, American wrestler
1949 – Bobby Clarke, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1949 – Philippe Petit, French tightrope walker
1949 – Willy Rey, Dutch-Canadian model (d. 1973)
1950 – Jane Carr, English actress
1950 – Rusty Gerhardt, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1951 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
1952 – Dave Carter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1952 – Gary Gibbs, American football player and coach
1952 – Suzanne Muldowney, American performance artist
1952 – Herb Ritts, American photographer and director (d. 2002)
1952 – Hughie Thomasson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
1952 – Eugenio Lopez III, Filipino businessperson, CEO and chairman of ABS-CBN Corporation
1953 – Tom Cohen, American philosopher, theorist, and academic
1953 – Ron Hilditch, Australian rugby league player and coach
1953 – Thomas Pogge, German philosopher and academic
1953 – Peter Wright, English historian and author
1954 – Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass player (d. 2001)
1955 – Keith Ahlers, English race car driver
1955 – Hideo Fukuyama, Japanese race car driver
1955 – Paul Greengrass, English director and screenwriter
1956 – Rohinton Fali Nariman, Judge of the Supreme Court of India
1958 – David Feherty, Northern Irish golfer and sportscaster
1958 – Feargal Sharkey, Northern Irish singer-songwriter
1958 – Randy Shughart, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1993)
1959 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor and wrestler
1959 – Bruce French, English cricketer and coach
1959 – Tom Niedenfuer, American baseball player
1960 – Ivar Stukolkin, Estonian swimmer
1961 – Koji Kondo, Japanese composer and sound director
1961 – Dawnn Lewis, American actress
1961 – Neil Mallender, English cricketer and umpire
1961 – Tom Perrotta, American novelist and screenwriter
1962 – John Slattery, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Steve Higgins, American talk show co-host and announcer, writer, producer, comedian and impressionist
1963 – Valerie Plame, American CIA agent and author
1963 – Sridevi, Indian actress (d. 2018)
1964 – Jay Buhner, American baseball player and sportscaster
1964 – Debi Mazar, American actress
1964 – Tom Prince, American baseball player and manager
1965 – Mark Lemke, American baseball player, coach, and radio host
1965 – Hayato Matsuo, Japanese composer and conductor
1966 – Scooter Barry, American basketball player
1966 – Shayne Corson, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Quinn Cummings, American actress, author, and entrepreneur
1967 – Dave Jamerson, American basketball player
1967 – Digna Ketelaar, Dutch tennis player
1968 – Tal Bachman, Canadian singer-songwriter
1968 – Todd Hendricks, American football player and coach
1968 – Tony Jarrett, English sprinter and hurdler
1969 – Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
1970 – Will Clarke, American author
1970 – Elvis Grbac, American football player and coach
1970 – Seana Kofoed, American actress
1970 – Alan Shearer, English footballer and manager
1971 – Patrick Carpentier, Canadian race car driver
1971 – Adam Housley, American baseball player and journalist
1971 – Moritz Bleibtreu, German actor
1972 – Kevin Plank, American businessman, founded Under Armour
1973 – Molly Henneberg, American journalist
1973 – Eric Medlen, American race car driver (d. 2007)
1974 – Scott MacRae, American baseball player and coach
1974 – Joe Perry, English snooker player
1974 – Niklas Sundin, Swedish musician and artist
1974 – Jarrod Washburn, American baseball player and coach
1975 – Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistani cricketer
1975 – Marty Turco, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1976 – Geno Carlisle, American basketball player
1976 – Nicolás Lapentti, Ecuadorian tennis player
1977 – Michael Klim, Polish-Australian swimmer
1977 – Kenyan Weaks, American basketball player and coach
1978 – Dwight Smith, American football player
1979 – Román Colón, Dominican baseball player
1979 – Corey Patterson, American baseball player
1979 – Taizō Sugimura, Japanese politician
1980 – Murtz Jaffer, Canadian journalist
1982 – Christopher Raeburn, English fashion designer
1982 – Sarah Huckabee Sanders, American political consultant and press secretary
1982 – Sebastian Stan, Romanian-American actor
1983 – Dallas Braden, American baseball player
1983 – Aleš Hemský, Czech ice hockey player
1983 – Ľubomír Michalík, Slovak footballer
1983 – Christian Müller, German footballer
1984 – Alona Bondarenko, Ukrainian tennis player
1984 – Niko Kranjčar, Croatian footballer
1984 – Boone Logan, American baseball player
1984 – James Morrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Gerrit van Look, German rugby player and coach
1987 – Jose Lorenzo Diokno, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter
1987 – Devin McCourty, American football player
1987 – Jason McCourty, American football player
1987 – Jamie Reed, Welsh footballer
1988 – Keith Benson, American basketball player
1988 – Jerry Hughes, American football player
1988 – Brandon Workman, American baseball player
1989 – Greg Draper, New Zealand footballer
1989 – Justin Greene, American basketball player
1989 – Israel Jiménez, Mexican footballer
1990 – DeMarcus Cousins, American basketball player
1990 – Benjamin Stambouli, French footballer
1991 – Dave Days, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1991 – Lesley Doig, Scottish lawn bowler
1992 – Katrina Gorry, Australian football player
1992 – Lucas Moura, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Alicja Tchórz, Polish swimmer
1992 – Taijuan Walker, American baseball player
1993 – Moses Mbye, Australian rugby league player
1994 – Filip Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player
1996 – Antonia Lottner, German tennis player
1998 – Dalma Gálfi, Hungarian tennis player
1999 – Lennon Stella, Canadian singer and actress
2000 – Na Jaemin, South Korean rapper, singer, dancer and actor
Deaths
Pre-1600
587 – Radegund, Frankish princess and saint (b. 520)
604 – Wen, emperor of the Sui Dynasty (b. 541)
612 – Fabia Eudokia, Byzantine empress (b. 580)
662 – Maximus the Confessor, Byzantine theologian
696 – Takechi, Japanese prince
900 – Zwentibold, king of Lotharingia (b. 870)
908 – Al-Muktafi, Abbasid caliph
981 – Gyeongjong, king of Goryeo (Korea) (b. 955)
1134 – Irene of Hungary, Byzantine empress (b. 1088)
1297 – Nawrūz, Mongol emir
1311 – Pietro Gradenigo, doge of Venice
1382 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of Castile (b. 1358)
1447 – Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan (b. 1392)
1523 – Gerard David, Flemish painter (b. 1460)
1601–1900
1608 – Giambologna, Italian sculptor (b. 1529)
1617 – Johann Jakob Grynaeus, Swiss clergyman and theologian (b. 1540)
1667 – Jeremy Taylor, Irish bishop and saint (b. 1613)
1686 – Louis Maimbourg, French priest and historian (b. 1610)
1721 – Jacques Lelong, French priest and author (b. 1665)
1744 – John Cruger, Danish-American businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of New York City (b. 1678)
1749 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (b. 1719)
1766 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English painter (b. 1726)
1795 – Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of Indore (b. 1725)
1826 – René Laennec, French physician, invented the stethoscope (b. 1781)
1863 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (b. 1798)
1865 – Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian physician and obstetrician (b. 1818)
1900 – Collis Potter Huntington, American railway magnate (b. 1821)
1901–present
1910 – Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse and theologian (b. 1820)
1912 – Jules Massenet, French composer (b. 1842)
1917 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
1934 – Mary Hunter Austin, American author and playwright (b. 1868)
1937 – Sigizmund Levanevsky, Soviet aircraft pilot of Polish origin (b. 1902)
1946 – H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (b. 1866)
1954 – Demetrius Constantine Dounis, Greek violinist and mandolin player (b. 1886)
1958 – Francis J. McCormick, American football, basketball player, and coach (b. 1903)
1963 – Louis Bastien, French cyclist and fencer (b. 1881)
1965 – Hayato Ikeda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1899)
1971 – W. O. Bentley, English race car driver and engineer, founded Bentley Motors Limited (b. 1888)
1975 – Murilo Mendes, Brazilian poet and telegrapher (b. 1901)
1978 – Lonnie Mayne, American wrestler (b. 1944)
1979 – Andrew Dasburg, American painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
1984 – Tigran Petrosian, Georgian-Armenian chess player (b. 1929)
1986 – Helen Mack, American actress (b. 1913)
1989 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (b. 1955)
1989 – Larkin I. Smith, American police officer and politician (b. 1944)
1991 – James Roosevelt, American general and politician (b. 1907)
1995 – Alison Hargreaves, English mountaineer (b. 1963)
1995 – Jan Křesadlo, Czech-English psychologist and author (b. 1926)
1995 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1931)
1996 – António de Spínola, Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (b. 1910)
1998 – Nino Ferrer, Italian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
1998 – Edward Ginzton, Ukrainian-American physicist and academic (b. 1915)
1998 – Julien Green, American author (b. 1900)
1998 – Rafael Robles, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1947)
1999 – Ignatz Bubis, German Jewish religious leader (b. 1927)
1999 – Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and lawyer (b. 1960)
2000 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
2001 – Otto Stuppacher, Austrian race car driver (b. 1947)
2001 – Jim Hughes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1923)
2001 – Betty Cavanna, American author (b. 1909)
2003 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
2004 – Julia Child, American chef, author, and television host (b. 1912)
2005 – Miguel Arraes, Brazilian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
2005 – David Lange, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1942)
2006 – Tony Jay, English actor and singer (b. 1933)
2006 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish musician (b. 1975)
2007 – Brian Adams, American wrestler (b. 1964)
2007 – Brooke Astor, American philanthropist and socialite (b. 1902)
2007 – Phil Rizzuto, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1917)
2008 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic (b. 1904)
2008 – Bill Gwatney, American politician (b. 1959)
2008 – Jack Weil, American businessman (b. 1901)
2009 – Lavelle Felton, American basketball player (b. 1980)
2010 – Panagiotis Bachramis, Greek footballer (b. 1976)
2010 – Lance Cade, American wrestler (b. 1981)
2010 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and author (b. 1919)
2011 – Tareque Masud, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1957)
2011 – Mishuk Munier, Bangladeshi journalist and cinematographer (b. 1959)
2012 – Hugo Adam Bedau, American philosopher and academic (b. 1926)
2012 – Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (b. 1922)
2012 – Ray Jordon, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1937)
2012 – Johnny Pesky, American baseball player and manager (b. 1919)
2012 – Joan Roberts, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
2013 – Lothar Bisky, German politician (b. 1941)
2013 – Aaron Selber, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1927)
2013 – Jean Vincent, French footballer and manager (b. 1930)
2014 – Frans Brüggen, Dutch flute player and conductor (b. 1934)
2014 – Eduardo Campos, Brazilian politician, 14th Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology (b. 1965)
2014 – Martino Finotto, Italian race car driver (b. 1933)
2014 – Süleyman Seba, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1926)
2015 – Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Interior (b. 1952)
2015 – Bob Fillion, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1920)
2015 – Om Prakash Munjal, Indian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Hero Cycles (b. 1928)
2016 – Kenny Baker, English actor and musician (b. 1934)
2016 – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian Hindu leader (b. 1921)
2018 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (b. 1955)
2021 – Nanci Griffith, American singer-songwriter (b. 1953)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Benedetto Sinigardi
Benildus Romançon
Centola and Helen
Cassian of Imola
Clara Maass (Lutheran Church)
Fachtna of Rosscarbery
Florence Nightingale, Octavia Hill (Lutheran Church)
Herulph
Hippolytus of Rome
Jeremy Taylor (Anglican Communion)
John Berchmans
Junian of Mairé
Blessed Marco d'Aviano
Maximus the Confessor
Nerses Glaietsi (Catholic Church)
Pope Pontian
Radegunde
Wigbert
August 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Central African Republic from France in 1960.
International Lefthanders Day (International)
Women's Day, commemorates the enaction of Tunisian Code of Personal Status in 1956. (Tunisia)
World Organ Donation Day
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1154 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%202 | August 2 |
Events
Pre-1600
338 BC – A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
216 BC – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae.
49 BC – Caesar, who marched to Spain earlier in the year leaving Marcus Antonius in charge of Italy, defeats Pompey's general Afranius and Petreius in Ilerda (Lerida) north of the Ebro river.
461 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona (northern Italy) and deposed by the Suebian general Ricimer as puppet emperor.
932 – After a two-year siege, the city of Toledo, in Spain, surrenders to the forces of the Caliph of Córdoba Abd al-Rahman III, assuming an important victory in his campaign to subjugate the Central March.
1274 – Edward I of England returns from the Ninth Crusade and is crowned King seventeen days later.
1343 – After the execution of her husband, Jeanne de Clisson sells her estates and raises a force of men with which to attack French shipping and ports.
1377 – Russian troops are defeated by forces of the Blue Horde Khan Arapsha in the Battle on Pyana River.
1415 – Thomas Grey is executed for participating in the Southampton Plot.
1601–1900
1610 – During Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage, he sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay.
1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
1790 – The first United States Census is conducted.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.
1830 – Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.
1858 – The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj.
1869 – Japan's Edo society class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.
1870 – Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom.
1873 – The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states.
1901–present
1903 – The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1914 – The German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I begins.
1916 – World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
1918 – The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.
1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China, killing more than 50,000 people.
1923 – Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes U.S. President upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.
1932 – The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
1934 – Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1939 – Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
1943 – The Holocaust: Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months.
1943 – World War II: The Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew.
1944 – ASNOM: Birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in North Macedonia.
1944 – World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.
1945 – World War II: End of the Potsdam Conference.
1947 – A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found until 1998.
1968 – An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
1973 – A flash fire kills 50 people at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
1980 – A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
1982 – The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system of Finland, is opened to the general public.
1985 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
1989 – Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
1989 – A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
1999 – The Gaisal train disaster claims 285 lives in Assam, India.
2005 – Air France Flight 358 lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport and runs off the runway, causing the plane to burst into flames leaving 12 injuries and no fatalities.
2014 – At least 146 people were killed and more than 114 injured in a factory explosion in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China.
Births
Pre-1600
1260 – Kyawswa of Pagan, last ruler of the Pagan Kingdom (d. 1299)
1455 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1499)
1533 – Theodor Zwinger, Swiss physician and scholar (d. 1588)
1549 – Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (d. 1616)
1601–1900
1612 – Saskia van Uylenburgh, Dutch model and wife of Rembrandt van Rijn (d. 1642)
1627 – Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Dutch painter (d. 1678)
1630 – Estephan El Douaihy, Maronite patriarch (d. 1704)
1646 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and buccaneer (d. 1715)
1672 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss paleontologist and scholar (d. 1733)
1674 – Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1723)
1696 – Mahmud I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1754)
1702 – Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1769)
1703 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian religious leader, 18th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1775)
1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general (d. 1817)
1754 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (d. 1825)
1788 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist and academic (d. 1853)
1815 – Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German poet and historian (d. 1894)
1820 – John Tyndall, Irish-English physicist and mountaineer (d. 1893)
1828 – Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895)
1834 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (d. 1904)
1835 – Elisha Gray, American businessman, co-founded Western Electric (d. 1901)
1861 – Prafulla Chandra Ray, Indian chemist and academic (d. 1944)
1865 – Irving Babbitt, American academic and critic (d. 1933)
1865 – John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (d. 1955)
1867 – Ernest Dowson, English poet, novelist, and short story writer (d. 1900)
1868 – Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
1870 – Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (d. 1954)
1871 – John French Sloan, American painter and illustrator (d. 1951)
1872 – George E. Stewart, Australian-American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1946)
1876 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian geologist, designed the Flag of India (d. 1963)
1877 – Ravishankar Shukla, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (d. 1956)
1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-Estonian author (d. 1956)
1880 – Arthur Dove, American painter and educator (d. 1946)
1882 – Red Ames, American baseball player and manager (d. 1936)
1882 – Albert Bloch, American painter and academic (d. 1961)
1884 – Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan author and politician, 46th President of Venezuela (d. 1969)
1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, Canadian pilot and politician, 20th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1961)
1887 – Oskar Anderson, Bulgarian-German mathematician and statistician (d. 1960)
1889 – Margaret Lawrence, American stage actress (d. 1929)
1891 – Arthur Bliss, English composer and conductor (d. 1975)
1891 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian linguist and historian (d. 1971)
1892 – Jack L. Warner, Canadian-born American production manager and producer, co-founded Warner Bros. (d. 1978)
1894 – Bertha Lutz, Brazilian feminist and scientist (d. 1976)
1895 – Matt Henderson, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1970)
1897 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1897 – Max Weber, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1974)
1898 – Ernő Nagy, Hungarian fencer (d. 1977)
1899 – Charles Bennett, English director and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1900 – Holling C. Holling, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
1900 – Helen Morgan, American actress and singer (d. 1941)
1901–present
1902 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria (d. 1971)
1902 – Mina Rees, American mathematician (d. 1997)
1905 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
1905 – Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
1905 – Ruth Nelson, American actress (d. 1992)
1907 – Mary Hamman, American journalist and author (d. 1984)
1910 – Roger MacDougall, Scottish director, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1911 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (d. 1979)
1912 – Palle Huld, Danish actor (d. 2010)
1912 – Håkon Stenstadvold, Norwegian painter, illustrator, and critic (d. 1977)
1912 – Vladimir Žerjavić, Croatian economist and author (d. 2001)
1913 – Xavier Thaninayagam, Sri Lankan scholar and academic (d. 1980)
1914 – Félix Leclerc, Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (d. 1988)
1914 – Big Walter Price, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2012)
1914 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
1915 – Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
1916 – Alfonso A. Ossorio, Filipino-American painter and sculptor (d. 1990)
1917 – Wah Chang, Chinese-American artist and designer (d. 2003)
1919 – Nehemiah Persoff, Israeli-American actor (d. 2022)
1920 – Louis Pauwels, French journalist and author (d. 1997)
1920 – Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (d. 2013)
1921 – Alan Whicker, Egyptian-English journalist (d. 2013)
1922 – Betsy Bloomingdale, American philanthropist and socialite (d. 2016)
1922 – Geoffrey Dutton, Australian historian and author (d. 1998)
1923 – Shimon Peres, Polish-Israeli lawyer and politician, 9th President of Israel (d. 2016)
1923 – Ike Williams, American boxer (d. 1994)
1924 – James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (d. 1987)
1924 – Joe Harnell, American pianist and composer (d. 2005)
1924 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1925 – K. Arulanandan, Ceylon-American engineer and academic (d. 2004)
1925 – John Dexter, English director and producer (d. 1990)
1925 – John McCormack, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
1925 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian general and politician, 43rd President of Argentina (d. 2013)
1927 – Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, English mathematician and academic (d. 2018)
1928 – Malcolm Hilton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
1929 – Roy Crimmins, English trombonist and composer (d. 2014)
1929 – John Gale, English director and producer
1929 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2013)
1929 – David Waddington, Baron Waddington, English lawyer and politician, Governor of Bermuda (d. 2017)
1930 – Vali Myers, Australian painter and dancer (d. 2003)
1931 – Pierre DuMaine, American bishop and academic (d. 2019)
1931 – Eddie Fuller, South African cricketer (d. 2008)
1931 – Karl Miller, English journalist and critic (d. 2014)
1931 – Viliam Schrojf, Czech footballer (d. 2007)
1932 – Lamar Hunt, American businessman, co-founded the American Football League and World Championship Tennis (d. 2006)
1932 – Peter O'Toole, British-Irish actor and producer (d. 2013)
1933 – Ioannis Varvitsiotis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Defence
1934 – Valery Bykovsky, Russian general and cosmonaut (d. 2019)
1935 – Hank Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
1936 – Anthony Payne, English composer and author (d. 2021)
1937 – Ron Brierley, New Zealand businessman
1937 – Billy Cannon, American football player and dentist (d. 2018)
1937 – María Duval, Mexican actress and singer
1937 – Garth Hudson, Canadian keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1938 – Dave Balon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2007)
1938 – Pierre de Bané, Israeli-Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
1938 – Terry Peck, Falkland Islander soldier (d. 2006)
1939 – Benjamin Barber, American theorist, author, and academic (d. 2017)
1939 – Wes Craven, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1939 – John W. Snow, American businessman and politician, 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury
1940 – Angel Lagdameo, Filipino archbishop (d. 2022)
1940 – Beko Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian physician and activist (d. 2006)
1940 – Will Tura, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1941 – Doris Coley, American singer (d. 2000)
1941 – Jules A. Hoffmann, Luxembourgian-French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – François Weyergans, Belgian director and screenwriter (d. 2022)
1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean-American novelist, essayist, essayist
1942 – Leo Beenhakker, Dutch football manager
1942 – Juan Formell, Cuban singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
1942 – Nell Irvin Painter, American author and historian
1943 – Herbert M. Allison, American lieutenant and businessman (d. 2013)
1943 – Tom Burgmeier, American baseball player and coach
1943 – Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2014)
1943 – Rose Tremain, English novelist and short story writer
1944 – Jim Capaldi, English drummer and singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
1944 – Naná Vasconcelos, Brazilian singer and berimbau player (d. 2016)
1945 – Joanna Cassidy, American actress
1945 – Alex Jesaulenko, Austrian-Australian footballer and coach
1945 – Bunker Roy, Indian educator and activist
1945 – Eric Simms, Australian rugby league player and coach
1946 – James Howe, American journalist and author
1947 – Ruth Bakke, Norwegian organist and composer
1947 – Lawrence Wright, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
1948 – Andy Fairweather Low, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1948 – Dennis Prager, American radio host and author
1948 – Tapan Kumar Sarkar, Indian-American electrical engineer and academic (d. 2021)
1948 – James Street, American football and baseball player (d. 2013)
1948 – Snoo Wilson, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1949 – James Fallows, American journalist and author
1949 – Bertalan Farkas, Hungarian general and cosmonaut
1950 – Jussi Adler-Olsen, Danish author and publisher
1950 – Ted Turner, British guitarist
1951 – Andrew Gold, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1951 – Steve Hillage, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Burgess Owens, American football player and politician
1951 – Joe Lynn Turner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Per Westerberg, Swedish businessman and politician, Speaker of the Parliament of Sweden
1952 – Alain Giresse, French footballer and manager
1953 – Donnie Munro, Scottish singer and guitarist
1953 – Butch Patrick, American actor
1953 – Anthony Seldon, English historian and author
1954 – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1955 – Caleb Carr, American historian and author
1955 – Tony Godden, English footballer and manager
1955 – Butch Vig, American drummer, songwriter, and record producer
1956 – Fulvio Melia, Italian-American physicist, astrophysicist, and author
1957 – Jacky Rosen, United States senator
1959 – Victoria Jackson, American actress and singer
1959 – Johnny Kemp, Bahamian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
1959 – Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
1960 – Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
1960 – Neal Morse, American singer and keyboard player
1960 – David Yow, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Pete de Freitas, Trinidadian-British drummer and producer (d. 1989)
1962 – Lee Mavers, English singer, songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Cynthia Stevenson, American actress
1963 – Laura Bennett, American architect and fashion designer
1963 – Uğur Tütüneker, Turkish footballer and manager
1964 – Frank Biela, German race car driver
1964 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
1965 – Joe Hockey, Australian lawyer and politician, 38th Treasurer of Australia
1965 – Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
1966 – Takashi Iizuka, Japanese wrestler
1966 – Grainne Leahy, Irish cricketer
1966 – Tim Wakefield, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2023)
1967 – Aaron Krickstein, American tennis player
1967 – Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter and producer
1968 – Stefan Effenberg, German footballer and sportscaster
1969 – Cedric Ceballos, American basketball player
1969 – Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer and manager
1970 – Tony Amonte, American ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Kevin Smith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Philo Wallace, Barbadian cricketer
1971 – Jason Bell, Australian rugby league player
1971 – Michael Hughes, Irish footballer and manager
1972 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabian footballer
1972 – Muriel Bowser, American politician, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
1973 – Danie Keulder, Namibian cricketer
1973 – Miguel Mendonca, Zimbabwean journalist and author
1973 – Susie O'Neill, Australian swimmer
1974 – Phil Williams, English journalist and radio host
1975 – Mineiro, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-German badminton player and coach
1975 – Tamás Molnár, Hungarian water polo player
1976 – Reyes Estévez, Spanish runner
1976 – Jay Heaps, American soccer player and coach
1976 – Michael Weiss, American figure skater
1976 – Sam Worthington, English-Australian actor and producer
1976 – Mohammad Zahid, Pakistani cricketer
1977 – Edward Furlong, American actor
1978 – Goran Gavrančić, Serbian footballer
1978 – Matt Guerrier, American baseball player
1978 – Deividas Šemberas, Lithuanian footballer
1978 – Dragan Vukmir, Serbian footballer
1979 – Marco Bonura, Italian footballer
1979 – Reuben Kosgei, Kenyan runner
1980 – Ivica Banović, Croatian footballer
1981 – Alexander Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist and boxer
1981 – Tim Murtagh, Irish-English cricketer
1982 – Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
1982 – Kerry Rhodes, American football player
1982 – Grady Sizemore, American baseball player
1983 – Michel Bastos, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Huston Street, American baseball player
1984 – Giampaolo Pazzini, Italian footballer
1985 – Stephen Ferris, Irish rugby player
1985 – David Hart Smith, Canadian wrestler
1985 – Britt Nicole, American Christian pop artist
1986 – Mathieu Razanakolona, Canadian skier
1988 – Rob Kwiet, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Golden Tate, American football player
1989 – Nacer Chadli, Belgian footballer
1990 – Ima Bohush, Belarusian tennis player
1990 – Vitalia Diatchenko, Russian tennis player
1990 – Skylar Diggins-Smith, American basketball player
1992 – Charli XCX, English singer-songwriter
1993 – Gael Bussa, Congolese politician
1994 – Laura Pigossi, Brazilian tennis player
1994 – Laremy Tunsil, American football player
1995 – Kristaps Porziņģis, Latvian basketball player
1996 – Keston Hiura, American baseball player
1996 – Simone Manuel, American swimmer
1997 – Austin Theory, American wrestler
1999 – Mark Lee, Korean-Canadian singer
2000 – Varvara Gracheva, Russian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
216 BC – Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, Roman consul
216 BC – Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Roman consul and general
216 BC – Marcus Minucius Rufus, Roman consul
257 – Pope Stephen I
575 – Ahudemmeh, Syriac Orthodox Grand Metropolitan of the East.
640 – Pope Severinus
686 – Pope John V
855 – Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Arab theologian and jurist (b. 780)
924 – Ælfweard of Wessex (b. 904)
1075 – Patriarch John VIII of Constantinople
1100 – William II of England (b. 1056)
1222 – Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (b. 1156)
1277 – Mu'in al-Din Sulaiman Pervane, Chancellor and Regent of the Sultanate of Rum
1316 – Louis of Burgundy (b. 1297)
1330 – Yolande of Dreux, Queen consort of Scotland and Duchess consort of Brittany (b. 1263)
1332 – King Christopher II of Denmark (b. 1276)
1415 – Thomas Grey, English conspirator (b. 1384)
1445 – Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian poet and composer (b. 1376)
1451 – Elizabeth of Görlitz (b. 1390)
1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish admiral (b. 1466)
1512 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1463)
1589 – Henry III of France (b. 1551)
1601–1900
1605 – Richard Leveson, English admiral (b. c. 1570)
1611 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1562)
1667 – Francesco Borromini, Swiss architect, designed San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Sant'Agnese in Agone (b. 1599)
1696 – Robert Campbell of Glenlyon (b. 1630)
1769 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1689)
1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
1799 – Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon (b. 1745)
1815 – Guillaume Brune, French general and politician (b. 1763)
1823 – Lazare Carnot, French mathematician, general, and politician, president of the National Convention (b. 1753)
1834 – Harriet Arbuthnot, English diarist (b. 1793)
1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Ottoman Albanian commander (b. 1769)
1854 – Heinrich Clauren, German author (b. 1771)
1859 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (b. 1796)
1876 – "Wild Bill" Hickok, American sheriff (b. 1837)
1889 – Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian author (b. 1851)
1890 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet and author (b. 1813)
1901–present
1903 – Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver (b. 1847)
1903 – Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian and microbiologist (b. 1850)
1911 – Ioryi Mucitano, Aromanian revolutionary
1913 – Ferenc Pfaff, Hungarian architect and academic, designed Zagreb Central Station (b. 1851)
1915 – John Downer, Australian politician, 16th premier of South Australia (b. 1843)
1917 – Jaan Mahlapuu, Estonian military pilot (b. 1894)
1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1873)
1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone (b. 1847)
1923 – Warren G. Harding, American journalist and politician, 29th president of the United States (b. 1865)
1923 – Joseph Whitty, Irish Republican died on hunger strike (b. 1904)
1934 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd president of Germany (b. 1847)
1937 – Artur Sirk, Estonian soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1900)
1939 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic and author (b. 1883)
1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer and educator (b. 1863)
1955 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1901)
1955 – Wallace Stevens, American poet and educator (b. 1879)
1963 – Oliver La Farge, American anthropologist and author (b. 1901)
1967 – Walter Terence Stace, English-American epistemologist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1886)
1970 – Angus MacFarlane-Grieve, English academic, mathematician, rower, and soldier (b. 1891)
1972 – Brian Cole, American bass player (b. 1942)
1972 – Paul Goodman, American psychotherapist and author (b. 1911)
1972 – Helen Hoyt, American poet and author (b. 1887)
1973 – Ismail Abdul Rahman, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1915)
1973 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
1974 – Douglas Hawkes, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1893)
1976 – László Kalmár, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1905)
1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1890)
1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer and conductor (b. 1899)
1978 – Antony Noghès, French businessman, founded the Monaco Grand Prix (b. 1890)
1979 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (b. 1947)
1981 – Kieran Doherty, Irish hunger striker and politician (b. 1955)
1981 – Stefanie Clausen, Danish diver (b. 1900)
1983 – James Jamerson, American bass player (b. 1936)
1986 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
1988 – Joe Carcione, American activist and author (b. 1914)
1988 – Raymond Carver, American short story writer and poet (b. 1938)
1990 – Norman Maclean, American short story writer and essayist (b. 1902)
1990 – Edwin Richfield, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1992 – Michel Berger, French singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
1996 – Michel Debré, French lawyer and politician, 150th prime minister of France (b. 1912)
1996 – Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1917)
1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somalian general and politician, 5th president of Somalia (b. 1934)
1997 – William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1914)
1997 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1938)
1998 – Shari Lewis, American television host and puppeteer (b. 1933)
1999 – Willie Morris, American writer (b. 1934)
2003 – Peter Safar, Austrian-American physician and academic (b. 1924)
2004 – Ferenc Berényi, Hungarian painter and academic (b. 1929)
2004 – François Craenhals, Belgian illustrator (b. 1926)
2004 – Heinrich Mark, Estonian lawyer and politician, 5th prime minister of Estonia in exile (b. 1911)
2005 – Steven Vincent, American journalist and author (b. 1955)
2007 – Chauncey Bailey, American journalist (b. 1950)
2008 – Fujio Akatsuka, Japanese illustrator (b. 1935)
2011 – José Sanchis Grau, Spanish author and illustrator (b. 1932)
2012 – Gabriel Horn, English biologist and academic (b. 1927)
2012 – Magnus Isacsson, Canadian director and producer (b. 1948)
2012 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
2012 – John Keegan, English historian and journalist (b. 1934)
2012 – Bernd Meier, German footballer (b. 1972)
2012 – Marguerite Piazza, American soprano (b. 1920)
2013 – Julius L. Chambers, American lawyer and activist (b. 1936)
2013 – Richard E. Dauch, American businessman, co-founded American Axle (b. 1942)
2013 – Alla Kushnir, Russian–Israeli chess player (b. 1941)
2014 – Ed Joyce, American journalist (b. 1932)
2014 – Billie Letts, American author and educator (b. 1938)
2014 – Barbara Prammer, Austrian social worker and politician (b. 1954)
2014 – James Thompson, American-Finnish author (b. 1964)
2015 – Forrest Bird, American pilot and engineer (b. 1921)
2015 – Giovanni Conso, Italian jurist and politician, Italian Minister of Justice (b. 1922)
2015 – Piet Fransen, Dutch footballer (b. 1936)
2015 – Jack Spring, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2016 – Terence Bayler, New Zealand actor (b. 1930)
2016 – David Huddleston, American actor (b. 1930)
2016 – Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (b. 1927)
2016 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1946)
2017 – Judith Jones, American literary and cookbook editor (b. 1924)
2020 – Suzanne Perlman, Hungarian-Dutch visual artist (b. 1922)
2022 – Vin Scully, American sportscaster and game show host (b. 1927)
2023 – Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Indian art director, production designer, and film and television producer (b. 1965)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church).
Basil Fool for Christ (Russian Orthodox Church)
Justin Russolillo
Eusebius of Vercelli
Peter Faber
Peter Julian Eymard
Plegmund
Pope Stephen I
Portiuncola Indulgence ("Pardon of Assisi"), the plenary indulgence related to St. Francis of Assisi (Catholic Church).
Samuel David Ferguson (Episcopal Church)
August 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Azerbaijani cinema (Azerbaijan)
Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)
Paratroopers Day (Russia)
Republic Day (North Macedonia)
Romani genocide-related observances, including:
Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (Council of Europe, European Parliament)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1174 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite | Aphrodite | Aphrodite ( ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretized Roman goddess counterpart , desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells, myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of "sacred prostitution" in Greco-Roman culture, an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (, ) produced by Uranus's genitals, which his son Cronus had severed and thrown into the sea. In Homer's Iliad, however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Plato, in his Symposium, asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities: Aphrodite Urania (a transcendent, "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, the god of fire, blacksmiths and metalworking. Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; in the Odyssey, she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares, the god of war. In the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, she seduces the mortal shepherd Anchises. Aphrodite was also the surrogate mother and lover of the mortal shepherd Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar. Along with Athena and Hera, Aphrodite was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War and she plays a major role throughout the Iliad. Aphrodite has been featured in Western art as a symbol of female beauty and has appeared in numerous works of Western literature. She is a major deity in modern Neopagan religions, including the Church of Aphrodite, Wicca, and Hellenismos.
Etymology
Hesiod derives Aphrodite from () "sea-foam", interpreting the name as "risen from the foam", but most modern scholars regard this as a spurious folk etymology. Early modern scholars of classical mythology attempted to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Greek or Indo-European origin, but these efforts have now been mostly abandoned. Aphrodite's name is generally accepted to be of non-Greek (probably Semitic) origin, but its exact derivation cannot be determined.
Scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed the second part of Aphrodite's name as *-odítē "wanderer" or *-dítē "bright". More recently, Michael Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in favor of the latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth from the foam as an Indo-European mytheme. Similarly, Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound "very" and "to shine", also referring to Eos, and Daniel Kölligan has interpreted her name as "shining up from the mist/foam". Other scholars have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and the Vedic deity Ushas.
A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have also been suggested. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu, the name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late Babylonian texts. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing (e)prθni "lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις. This would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady". Most scholars reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru (from Greek , clipped form of Aphrodite). The medieval Etymologicum Magnum () offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos (), "she who lives delicately", from habrós and díaita. The alteration from b to ph is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek "obvious from the Macedonians".
In the Cypriot syllabary, a syllabic script used on the island of Cyprus from the eleventh until the fourth century BC, her name is attested in the forms (a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right-to-left), (a-po-ro-ti-ta-i, samewise), and finally (a-po-ro-ti-si-jo, "Aphrodisian", "related to Aphrodite", in the context of a month).
Origins
Near Eastern love goddess
The cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia, which, in turn, was influenced by the cult of the Mesopotamian goddess known as "Ishtar" to the East Semitic peoples and as "Inanna" to the Sumerians. Pausanias states that the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were the Assyrians, followed by the Paphians of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians at Ascalon. The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people of Cythera.
Aphrodite took on Inanna-Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation. Furthermore, she was known as Ourania (Οὐρανία), which means "heavenly", a title corresponding to Inanna's role as the Queen of Heaven. Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar on Inanna-Ishtar. Like Inanna-Ishtar, Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess; the second-century AD Greek geographer Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as Aphrodite Areia, which means "warlike". He also mentions that Aphrodite's most ancient cult statues in Sparta and on Cythera showed her bearing arms. Modern scholars note that Aphrodite's warrior-goddess aspects appear in the oldest strata of her worship and see it as an indication of her Near Eastern origins.
Nineteenth century classical scholars had a general aversion to the idea that ancient Greek religion was at all influenced by the cultures of the Near East, but, even Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker, who argued that Near Eastern influence on Greek culture was largely confined to material culture, admitted that Aphrodite was clearly of Phoenician origin. The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular, is now widely recognized as dating to a period of orientalization during the eighth century BC, when archaic Greece was on the fringes of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Indo-European dawn goddess
Some early comparative mythologists opposed to the idea of a Near Eastern origin argued that Aphrodite originated as an aspect of the Greek dawn goddess Eos and that she was therefore ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess *Haéusōs (properly Greek Eos, Latin Aurora, Sanskrit Ushas). Most modern scholars have now rejected the notion of a purely Indo-European Aphrodite, but it is possible that Aphrodite, originally a Semitic deity, may have been influenced by the Indo-European dawn goddess. Both Aphrodite and Eos were known for their erotic beauty and aggressive sexuality and both had relationships with mortal lovers. Both goddesses were associated with the colors red, white, and gold. Michael Janda etymologizes Aphrodite's name as an epithet of Eos meaning "she who rises from the foam [of the ocean]" and points to Hesiod's Theogony account of Aphrodite's birth as an archaic reflex of Indo-European myth. Aphrodite rising out of the waters after Cronus defeats Uranus as a mytheme would then be directly cognate to the Rigvedic myth of Indra defeating Vrtra, liberating Ushas. Another key similarity between Aphrodite and the Indo-European dawn goddess is her close kinship to the Greek sky deity, since both of the main claimants to her paternity (Zeus and Uranus) are sky deities.
Forms and epithets
Aphrodite's most common cultic epithet was Ourania, meaning "heavenly", but this epithet almost never occurs in literary texts, indicating a purely cultic significance. Another common name for Aphrodite was Pandemos ("For All the Folk"). In her role as Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite was associated with Peithō (), meaning "persuasion", and could be prayed to for aid in seduction. The character of Pausanias in Plato's Symposium, takes differing cult-practices associated with different epithets of the goddess to claim that Ourania and Pandemos are, in fact, separate goddesses. He asserts that Aphrodite Ourania is the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus, and the older of the two goddesses. According to the Symposium, Aphrodite Ourania is the inspiration of male homosexual desire, specifically the ephebic eros, and pederasty. Aphrodite Pandemos, by contrast, is the younger of the two goddesses: the common Aphrodite, born from the union of Zeus and Dione, and the inspiration of heterosexual desire and sexual promiscuity, the "lesser" of the two loves. Paphian (Παφία), was one of her epithets, after the Paphos in Cyprus where she had emerged from the sea at her birth.
Among the Neoplatonists and, later, their Christian interpreters, Ourania is associated with spiritual love, and Pandemos with physical love (desire). A representation of Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love; it was the subject of a chryselephantine sculpture by Phidias for Elis, known only from a parenthetical comment by the geographer Pausanias.
One of Aphrodite's most common literary epithets is Philommeidḗs (), which means "smile-loving", but is sometimes mistranslated as "laughter-loving". This epithet occurs throughout both of the Homeric epics and the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. Hesiod references it once in his Theogony in the context of Aphrodite's birth, but interprets it as "genital-loving" rather than "smile-loving". Monica Cyrino notes that the epithet may relate to the fact that, in many artistic depictions of Aphrodite, she is shown smiling. Other common literary epithets are Cypris and Cythereia, which derive from her associations with the islands of Cyprus and Cythera respectively.
On Cyprus, Aphrodite was sometimes called Eleemon ("the merciful"). In Athens, she was known as Aphrodite en kopois ("Aphrodite of the Gardens"). At Cape Colias, a town along the Attic coast, she was venerated as Genetyllis "Mother". The Spartans worshipped her as Potnia "Mistress", Enoplios "Armed", Morpho "Shapely", Ambologera "She who Postpones Old Age". Across the Greek world, she was known under epithets such as Melainis "Black One", Skotia "Dark One", Androphonos "Killer of Men", Anosia "Unholy", and Tymborychos "Gravedigger", all of which indicate her darker, more violent nature.
She had the epithet Automata because, according to Servius, she was the source of spontaneous love.
A male version of Aphrodite known as Aphroditus was worshipped in the city of Amathus on Cyprus. Aphroditus was depicted with the figure and dress of a woman, but had a beard, and was shown lifting his dress to reveal an erect phallus. This gesture was believed to be an apotropaic symbol, and was thought to convey good fortune upon the viewer. Eventually, the popularity of Aphroditus waned as the mainstream, fully feminine version of Aphrodite became more popular, but traces of his cult are preserved in the later legends of Hermaphroditus.
Worship
Classical period
Aphrodite's main festival, the Aphrodisia, was celebrated across Greece, but particularly in Athens and Corinth. In Athens, the Aphrodisia was celebrated on the fourth day of the month of Hekatombaion in honor of Aphrodite's role in the unification of Attica. During this festival, the priests of Aphrodite would purify the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwestern slope of the Acropolis with the blood of a sacrificed dove. Next, the altars would be anointed and the cult statues of Aphrodite Pandemos and Peitho would be escorted in a majestic procession to a place where they would be ritually bathed. Aphrodite was also honored in Athens as part of the Arrhephoria festival. The fourth day of every month was sacred to Aphrodite.
Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as Aphrodite Areia, which means "warlike". This epithet stresses Aphrodite's connections to Ares, with whom she had extramarital relations. Pausanias also records that, in Sparta and on Cythera, a number of extremely ancient cult statues of Aphrodite portrayed her bearing arms. Other cult statues showed her bound in chains.
Aphrodite was the patron goddess of prostitutes of all varieties, ranging from pornai (cheap street prostitutes typically owned as slaves by wealthy pimps) to hetairai (expensive, well-educated hired companions, who were usually self-employed and sometimes provided sex to their customers). The city of Corinth was renowned throughout the ancient world for its many hetairai, who had a widespread reputation for being among the most skilled, but also the most expensive, prostitutes in the Greek world. Corinth also had a major temple to Aphrodite located on the Acrocorinth and was one of the main centers of her cult. Records of numerous dedications to Aphrodite made by successful courtesans have survived in poems and in pottery inscriptions. References to Aphrodite in association with prostitution are found in Corinth as well as on the islands of Cyprus, Cythera, and Sicily. Aphrodite's Mesopotamian precursor Inanna-Ishtar was also closely associated with prostitution.
Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries believed that the cult of Aphrodite may have involved ritual prostitution, an assumption based on ambiguous passages in certain ancient texts, particularly a fragment of a skolion by the Boeotian poet Pindar, which mentions prostitutes in Corinth in association with Aphrodite. Modern scholars now dismiss the notion of ritual prostitution in Greece as a "historiographic myth" with no factual basis.
Hellenistic and Roman periods
During the Hellenistic period, the Greeks identified Aphrodite with the ancient Egyptian goddesses Hathor and Isis. Aphrodite was the patron goddess of the Lagid queens and Queen Arsinoe II was identified as her mortal incarnation. Aphrodite was worshipped in Alexandria and had numerous temples in and around the city. Arsinoe II introduced the cult of Adonis to Alexandria and many of the women there partook in it. The Tessarakonteres, a gigantic catamaran galley designed by Archimedes for Ptolemy IV Philopator, had a circular temple to Aphrodite on it with a marble statue of the goddess herself. In the second century BC, Ptolemy VIII Physcon and his wives Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III dedicated a temple to Aphrodite Hathor at Philae. Statuettes of Aphrodite for personal devotion became common in Egypt starting in the early Ptolemaic times and extending until long after Egypt became a Roman province.
The ancient Romans identified Aphrodite with their goddess Venus, who was originally a goddess of agricultural fertility, vegetation, and springtime. According to the Roman historian Livy, Aphrodite and Venus were officially identified in the third century BC when the cult of Venus Erycina was introduced to Rome from the Greek sanctuary of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx in Sicily. After this point, Romans adopted Aphrodite's iconography and myths and applied them to Venus. Because Aphrodite was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas in Greek mythology and Roman tradition claimed Aeneas as the founder of Rome, Venus became venerated as Venus Genetrix, the mother of the entire Roman nation. Julius Caesar claimed to be directly descended from Aeneas's son Iulus and became a strong proponent of the cult of Venus. This precedent was later followed by his nephew Augustus and the later emperors claiming succession from him.
This syncretism greatly impacted Greek worship of Aphrodite. During the Roman era, the cults of Aphrodite in many Greek cities began to emphasize her relationship with Troy and Aeneas. They also began to adopt distinctively Roman elements, portraying Aphrodite as more maternal, more militaristic, and more concerned with administrative bureaucracy. She was claimed as a divine guardian by many political magistrates. Appearances of Aphrodite in Greek literature also vastly proliferated, usually showing Aphrodite in a characteristically Roman manner.
Mythology
Birth
Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works of Sappho. The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia, marking her birthplace, was a place of pilgrimage in the ancient world for centuries. Other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, "Cytherea". Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus, so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the Middle East to mainland Greece.
According to the version of her birth recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony, Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, which Hesiod interprets as "foam-arisen"), while the Giants, the Erinyes (furies), and the Meliae emerged from the drops of his blood. Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." After Aphrodite was born from the sea-foam, she washed up to shore in the presence of the other gods. Hesiod's account of Aphrodite's birth following Uranus's castration is probably derived from The Song of Kumarbi, an ancient Hittite epic poem in which the god Kumarbi overthrows his father Anu, the god of the sky, and bites off his genitals, causing him to become pregnant and give birth to Anu's children, which include Ishtar and her brother Teshub, the Hittite storm god.
In the Iliad, Aphrodite is described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Dione's name appears to be a feminine cognate to Dios and Dion, which are oblique forms of the name Zeus. Zeus and Dione shared a cult at Dodona in northwestern Greece. In the Theogony, Hesiod describes Dione as an Oceanid, but Apollodorus makes her the thirteenth Titan, child of Gaia and Uranus.
Marriage
Aphrodite is consistently portrayed as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult, having had no childhood. She is often depicted nude. In the Iliad, Aphrodite is the apparently unmarried consort of Ares, the god of war, and the wife of Hephaestus is a different goddess named Charis. Likewise, in Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite is unmarried and the wife of Hephaestus is Aglaea, the youngest of the three Charites.
In Book Eight of the Odyssey, however, the blind singer Demodocus describes Aphrodite as the wife of Hephaestus and tells how she committed adultery with Ares during the Trojan War. The sun-god Helios saw Aphrodite and Ares having sex in Hephaestus's bed and warned Hephaestus, who fashioned a fine, near invisible net. The next time Ares and Aphrodite had sex together, the net trapped them both. Hephaestus brought all the gods into the bedchamber to laugh at the captured adulterers, but Apollo, Hermes, and Poseidon had sympathy for Ares and Poseidon agreed to pay Hephaestus for Ares's release. Aphrodite returned to her temple in Cyprus, where she was attended by the Charites. This narrative probably originated as a Greek folk tale, originally independent of the Odyssey. In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon by the door to warn of Helios's arrival but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus; Ares in rage turned Alectryon into a rooster, which unfailingly crows to announce the sunrise.
After exposing them, Hephaestus asks Zeus for his wedding gifts and dowry to be returned to him; by the time of the Trojan War, he is married to Charis/Aglaea, one of the Graces, apparently divorced from Aphrodite. Afterwards, it was generally Ares who was regarded as the husband or official consort of the goddess; on the François Vase, the two arrive at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis on the same chariot, as do Zeus with Hera and Poseidon with Amphitrite. The poets Pindar and Aeschylus refer to Ares as Aphrodite's husband.
Later stories were invented to explain Aphrodite's marriage to Hephaestus. In the most famous story, Zeus hastily married Aphrodite to Hephaestus in order to prevent the other gods from fighting over her. In another version of the myth, Hephaestus gave his mother Hera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she became trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage. Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forged her beautiful jewelry, including a strophion () known as the (), a saltire-shaped undergarment (usually translated as "girdle"), which accentuated her breasts and made her even more irresistible to men. Such strophia were commonly used in depictions of the Near Eastern goddesses Ishtar and Atargatis.
Attendants
Aphrodite is almost always accompanied by Eros, the god of lust and sexual desire. In his Theogony, Hesiod describes Eros as one of the four original primeval forces born at the beginning of time, but, after the birth of Aphrodite from the sea foam, he is joined by Himeros and, together, they become Aphrodite's constant companions. In early Greek art, Eros and Himeros are both shown as idealized handsome youths with wings. The Greek lyric poets regarded the power of Eros and Himeros as dangerous, compulsive, and impossible for anyone to resist. In modern times, Eros is often seen as Aphrodite's son, but this is actually a comparatively late innovation. A scholion on Theocritus's Idylls remarks that the sixth-century BC poet Sappho had described Eros as the son of Aphrodite and Uranus, but the first surviving reference to Eros as Aphrodite's son comes from Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica, written in the third century BC, which makes him the son of Aphrodite and Ares. Later, the Romans, who saw Venus as a mother goddess, seized on this idea of Eros as Aphrodite's son and popularized it, making it the predominant portrayal in works on mythology until the present day.
Aphrodite's main attendants were the three Charites, whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome and names as Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Good Cheer"), and Thalia ("Abundance"). The Charites had been worshipped as goddesses in Greece since the beginning of Greek history, long before Aphrodite was introduced to the pantheon. Aphrodite's other set of attendants was the three Horae (the "Hours"), whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Themis and names as Eunomia ("Good Order"), Dike ("Justice"), and Eirene ("Peace"). Aphrodite was also sometimes accompanied by Harmonia, her daughter by Ares, and Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera.
The fertility god Priapus was usually considered to be Aphrodite's son by Dionysus, but he was sometimes also described as her son by Hermes, Adonis, or even Zeus. A scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica states that, while Aphrodite was pregnant with Priapus, Hera envied her and applied an evil potion to her belly while she was sleeping to ensure that the child would be hideous. In another version, Hera cursed Aphrodite's unborn son because he had been fathered by Zeus. When Aphrodite gave birth, she was horrified to see that the child had a massive, permanently erect penis, a potbelly, and a huge tongue. Aphrodite abandoned the infant to die in the wilderness, but a herdsman found him and raised him, later discovering that Priapus could use his massive penis to aid in the growth of plants.
Anchises
The First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (Hymn 5), which was probably composed sometime in the mid-seventh century BC, describes how Zeus once became annoyed with Aphrodite for causing deities to fall in love with mortals, so he caused her to fall in love with Anchises, a handsome mortal shepherd who lived in the foothills beneath Mount Ida near the city of Troy. Aphrodite appears to Anchises in the form of a tall, beautiful, mortal virgin while he is alone in his home. Anchises sees her dressed in bright clothing and gleaming jewelry, with her breasts shining with divine radiance. He asks her if she is Aphrodite and promises to build her an altar on top of the mountain if she will bless him and his family.
Aphrodite lies and tells him that she is not a goddess, but the daughter of one of the noble families of Phrygia. She claims to be able to understand the Trojan language because she had a Trojan nurse as a child and says that she found herself on the mountainside after she was snatched up by Hermes while dancing in a celebration in honor of Artemis, the goddess of virginity. Aphrodite tells Anchises that she is still a virgin and begs him to take her to his parents. Anchises immediately becomes overcome with mad lust for Aphrodite and swears that he will have sex with her. Anchises takes Aphrodite, with her eyes cast downwards, to his bed, which is covered in the furs of lions and bears. He then strips her naked and makes love to her.
After the lovemaking is complete, Aphrodite reveals her true divine form. Anchises is terrified, but Aphrodite consoles him and promises that she will bear him a son. She prophesies that their son will be the demigod Aeneas, who will be raised by the nymphs of the wilderness for five years before going to Troy to become a nobleman like his father. The story of Aeneas's conception is also mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony and in Book II of Homer's Iliad.
Adonis
The myth of Aphrodite and Adonis is probably derived from the ancient Sumerian legend of Inanna and Dumuzid. The Greek name (Adōnis, ) is derived from the Canaanite word ʼadōn, meaning "lord". The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the Lesbian poet Sappho ( – ), in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis's death. Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their tunics. Later references flesh out the story with more details. According to the retelling of the story found in the poem Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17/18 AD), Adonis was the son of Myrrha, who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus, after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. Driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was changed into a myrrh tree, but still gave birth to Adonis.
Aphrodite found the baby and took him to the underworld to be fostered by Persephone. She returned for him once he was grown and discovered him to be strikingly handsome. Persephone wanted to keep Adonis, resulting in a custody battle between the two goddesses over whom should rightly possess Adonis. Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose. Adonis chose to spend that time with Aphrodite. Then, one day, while Adonis was hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms. In a semi-mocking work, the Dialogues of the Gods, the satirical author Lucian comedically relates how a frustrated Aphrodite complains to the moon goddess Selene about her son Eros making Persephone fall in love with Adonis and now she has to share him with her.
In different versions of the story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis, or by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted follower Hippolytus. In another version, Apollo in fury changed himself into a boar and killed Adonis because Aphrodite had blinded his son Erymanthus when he stumbled upon Aphrodite naked as she was bathing after intercourse with Adonis. The story also provides an etiology for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers. Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she caused anemones to grow wherever his blood fell and declared a festival on the anniversary of his death. In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on a thorn from a rose bush and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood. According to Lucian's On the Syrian Goddess, each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River in Lebanon (now known as the Abraham River) ran red with blood.
The myth of Adonis is associated with the festival of the Adonia, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer. The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC. At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as lettuce and fennel, or even quick-sprouting grains such as wheat and barley. The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun. The plants would sprout in the sunlight but wither quickly in the heat. Then the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.
Divine favoritism
In Hesiod's Works and Days, Zeus orders Aphrodite to make Pandora, the first woman, physically beautiful and sexually attractive, so that she may become "an evil men will love to embrace". Aphrodite "spills grace" over Pandora's head and equips her with "painful desire and knee-weakening anguish", thus making her the perfect vessel for evil to enter the world. Aphrodite's attendants, Peitho, the Charites, and the Horae, adorn Pandora with gold and jewelry.
According to one myth, Aphrodite aided Hippomenes, a noble youth who wished to marry Atalanta, a maiden who was renowned throughout the land for her beauty, but who refused to marry any man unless he could outrun her in a footrace. Atalanta was an exceedingly swift runner and she beheaded all of the men who lost to her. Aphrodite gave Hippomenes three golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides and instructed him to toss them in front of Atalanta as he raced her. Hippomenes obeyed Aphrodite's order and Atalanta, seeing the beautiful, golden fruits, bent down to pick up each one, allowing Hippomenes to outrun her. In the version of the story from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Hippomenes forgets to repay Aphrodite for her aid, so she causes the couple to become inflamed with lust while they are staying at the temple of Cybele. The couple desecrate the temple by having sex in it, leading Cybele to turn them into lions as punishment.
The myth of Pygmalion is first mentioned by the third-century BC Greek writer Philostephanus of Cyrene, but is first recounted in detail in Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Ovid, Pygmalion was an exceedingly handsome sculptor from the island of Cyprus, who was so sickened by the immorality of women that he refused to marry. He fell madly and passionately in love with the ivory cult statue he was carving of Aphrodite and longed to marry it. Because Pygmalion was extremely pious and devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess brought the statue to life. Pygmalion married the girl the statue became and they had a son named Paphos, after whom the capital of Cyprus received its name. Pseudo-Apollodorus later mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus".
Anger myths
Aphrodite generously rewarded those who honored her, but also punished those who disrespected her, often quite brutally. A myth described in Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica and later summarized in the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus tells how, when the women of the island of Lemnos refused to sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess cursed them to stink horribly so that their husbands would never have sex with them. Instead, their husbands started having sex with their Thracian slave-girls. In anger, the women of Lemnos murdered the entire male population of the island, as well as all the Thracian slaves. When Jason and his crew of Argonauts arrived on Lemnos, they mated with the sex-starved women under Aphrodite's approval and repopulated the island. From then on, the women of Lemnos never disrespected Aphrodite again.
In Euripides's tragedy Hippolytus, which was first performed at the City Dionysia in 428 BC, Theseus's son Hippolytus worships only Artemis, the goddess of virginity, and refuses to engage in any form of sexual contact. Aphrodite is infuriated by his prideful behavior and, in the prologue to the play, she declares that, by honoring only Artemis and refusing to venerate her, Hippolytus has directly challenged her authority. Aphrodite therefore causes Hippolytus's stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus will reject her. After being rejected, Phaedra commits suicide and leaves a suicide note to Theseus telling him that she killed herself because Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus for his transgression. Poseidon sends a wild bull to scare Hippolytus's horses as he is riding by the sea in his chariot, causing the horses to bolt and smash the chariot against the cliffs, dragging Hippolytus to a bloody death across the rocky shoreline. The play concludes with Artemis vowing to kill Aphrodite's own mortal beloved (presumably Adonis) in revenge.
Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite by refusing to let his horses for chariot racing mate, since doing so would hinder their speed. During the chariot race at the funeral games of King Pelias, Aphrodite drove his horses mad and they tore him apart. Polyphonte was a young woman who chose a virginal life with Artemis instead of marriage and children, as favoured by Aphrodite. Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to have children by a bear. The resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately, he transformed all the members of the family into birds of ill omen.
According to Apollodorus, a jealous Aphrodite cursed Eos, the goddess of dawn, to be perpetually in love and have insatiable sexual desire because Eos once had lain with Aphrodite's sweetheart Ares, the god of war.
According to Ovid in his Metamorphoses (book 10.238 ff.), Propoetides who are the daughters of Propoetus from the city of Amathus on the island of Cyprus denied Aphrodite's divinity and failed to worship her properly. Therefore, Aphrodite turned them into the world's first prostitutes. According to Diodorus Siculus, when the Rhodian sea nymphe Halia's six sons by Poseidon arrogantly refused to let Aphrodite land upon their shore, the goddess cursed them with insanity. In their madness, they raped Halia. As punishment, Poseidon buried them in the island's sea-caverns.
Xanthius, a descendant of Bellerophon, had two children: Leucippus and an unnamed daughter. Through the wrath of Aphrodite (reasons unknown), Leucippus fell in love with his own sister. They started a secret relationship but the girl was already betrothed to another man and he went on to inform her father Xanthius, without telling him the name of the seducer. Xanthius went straight to his daughter's chamber, where she was together with Leucippus right at the moment. On hearing him enter, she tried to escape, but Xanthius hit her with a dagger, thinking that he was slaying the seducer, and killed her. Leucippus, failing to recognize his father at first, slew him. When the truth was revealed, he had to leave the country and took part in colonization of Crete and the lands in Asia Minor.
Queen Cenchreis of Cyprus, wife of King Cinyras, bragged that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Therefore, Myrrha was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus and he slept with her unknowingly in the dark. she eventually transformed into the myrrh tree and gave birth to Adonis in this form. Cinyras also had three other daughters: Braesia, Laogora, and Orsedice. These girls by the wrath of Aphrodite (reasons unknown) cohabited with foreigners and ended their life in Egypt.
The Muse Clio derided the goddess' own love for Adonis. Therefore, Clio fell in love with Pierus, son of Magnes and bore Hyacinth.
Aegiale was a daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea and was married to Diomedes. Because of anger of Aphrodite, whom Diomedes had wounded in the war against Troy, she had multiple lovers, including a certain Hippolytus. when Aegiale went so far as to threaten his life, he fled to Italy. According to Stesichorus and Hesiod while Tyndareus sacrificing to the gods he forgot Aphrodite, therefore goddess made his daughters twice and thrice wed and deserters of their husbands. Timandra deserted Echemus and went and came to Phyleus and Clytaemnestra deserted Agamemnon and lay with Aegisthus who was a worse mate for her and eventually killed her husband with her lover and finally, Helen of Troy deserted Menelaus under the influence of Aphrodite for Paris and her unfaitfulness eventually causes the War of Troy. As a result of her actions, Aphrodite caused the War of Troy in order to take Priam's kingdom and pass it down to her descendants.
In one of the versions of the legend, Pasiphae did not make offerings to the goddess Venus [Aphrodite]. Because of this Venus [Aphrodite] inspired in her an unnatural love for a bull or she cursed her because she was Helios's daughter who revealed her adultery to Hephaestus. For Helios' own tale-telling, she cursed him with uncontrollable lust over the mortal princess Leucothoe, which led to him abandoning his then-lover Clytie, leaving her heartbroken.
Lysippe was the mother of Tanais by Berossos. Her son only venerated Ares and was fully devoted to war, neglecting love and marriage. Aphrodite cursed him with falling in love with his own mother. Preferring to die rather than give up his chastity, he threw himself into the river Amazonius, which was subsequently renamed Tanais.
According to Hyginus, At the behest of Zeus, Orpheus's mother, the Muse Calliope, judged the dispute between the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone over Adonis and decided that both shall possess him half of the year. This enraged Venus [Aphrodite], because she had not been granted what she thought was her right. Therefore, Venus [Aphrodite] inspired love for Orpheus in the women of Thrace, causing them to tear him apart as each of them sought Orpheus for herself.
Aphrodite personally witnessed the young huntress Rhodopis swear eternal devotion and chastity to Artemis when she joined her group. Aphrodite then summoned her son Eros, and convinced him that such lifestyle was an insult to them both. So under her command, Eros made Rhodopis and Euthynicus, another young hunter who had shunned love and romance just like her, to fall in love with each other. Despite their chaste life, Rhodopis and Euthynicus withdrew to some cavern where they violated their vows. Artemis was not slow to take notice after seeing Aphrodite laugh, so she changed Rhodopis into a fountain as a punishment.
Judgment of Paris and Trojan War
The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in the Iliad, but is described in depth in an epitome of the Cypria, a lost poem of the Epic Cycle, which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.
The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision. In the extant ancient depictions of the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite is only occasionally represented nude, and Athena and Hera are always fully clothed. Since the Renaissance, however, Western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked.
All three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia and Europe, and Athena offered wisdom, fame and glory in battle, but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth. This woman was Helen, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple. The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War.
Aphrodite plays an important and active role throughout the entirety of Homer's Iliad. In Book III, she rescues Paris from Menelaus after he foolishly challenges him to a one-on-one duel. She then appears to Helen in the form of an old woman and attempts to persuade her to have sex with Paris, reminding her of his physical beauty and athletic prowess. Helen immediately recognizes Aphrodite by her beautiful neck, perfect breasts, and flashing eyes and chides the goddess, addressing her as her equal. Aphrodite sharply rebukes Helen, reminding her that, if she vexes her, she will punish her just as much as she has favored her already. Helen demurely obeys Aphrodite's command.
In Book V, Aphrodite charges into battle to rescue her son Aeneas from the Greek hero Diomedes. Diomedes recognizes Aphrodite as a "weakling" goddess and, thrusting his spear, nicks her wrist through her "ambrosial robe". Aphrodite borrows Ares's chariot to ride back to Mount Olympus. Zeus chides her for putting herself in danger, reminding her that "her specialty is love, not war." According to Walter Burkert, this scene directly parallels a scene from Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Ishtar, Aphrodite's Akkadian precursor, cries to her mother Antu after the hero Gilgamesh rejects her sexual advances, but is mildly rebuked by her father Anu. In Book XIV of the Iliad, during the Dios Apate episode, Aphrodite lends her kestos himas to Hera for the purpose of seducing Zeus and distracting him from the combat while Poseidon aids the Greek forces on the beach. In the Theomachia in Book XXI, Aphrodite again enters the battlefield to carry Ares away after he is wounded.
Offspring
Sometimes poets and dramatists recounted ancient traditions, which varied, and sometimes they invented new details; later scholiasts might draw on either or simply guess. Thus while Aeneas and Phobos were regularly described as offspring of Aphrodite, others listed here such as Priapus and Eros were sometimes said to be children of Aphrodite but with varying fathers and sometimes given other mothers or none at all.
Iconography
Symbols
Aphrodite's most prominent avian symbol was the dove, which was originally an important symbol of her Near Eastern precursor Inanna-Ishtar. (In fact, the ancient Greek word for "dove", peristerá, may be derived from a Semitic phrase peraḥ Ištar, meaning "bird of Ishtar".) Aphrodite frequently appears with doves in ancient Greek pottery and the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwest slope of the Athenian Acropolis was decorated with relief sculptures of doves with knotted fillets in their beaks. Votive offerings of small, white, marble doves were also discovered in the temple of Aphrodite at Daphni. In addition to her associations with doves, Aphrodite was also closely linked with sparrows and she is described riding in a chariot pulled by sparrows in Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite". According to myth, the dove was originally a nymph named Peristera who helped Aphrodite win in a flower-picking contest over her son Eros; for this Eros turned her into a dove, but Aphrodite took the dove under her wing and made it her sacred bird.
Because of her connections to the sea, Aphrodite was associated with a number of different types of water fowl, including swans, geese, and ducks. Aphrodite's other symbols included the sea, conch shells, and roses. The rose and myrtle flowers were both sacred to Aphrodite. A myth explaining the origin of Aphrodite's connection to myrtle goes that originally the myrtle was a maiden, Myrina, a dedicated priestess of Aphrodite. When her previous betrothed carried her away from the temple to marry her, Myrina killed him, and Aphrodite turned her into a myrtle, forever under her protection. Her most important fruit emblem was the apple, and in myth, she turned Melus, childhood friend and kin-in-law to Adonis, into an apple after he killed himself, mourning over Adonis' death. Likewise, Melus's wife Pelia was turned into a dove. She was also associated with pomegranates, possibly because the red seeds suggested sexuality or because Greek women sometimes used pomegranates as a method of birth control. In Greek art, Aphrodite is often also accompanied by dolphins and Nereids.
In classical art
A scene of Aphrodite rising from the sea appears on the back of the Ludovisi Throne ( 460 BC), which was probably originally part of a massive altar that was constructed as part of the Ionic temple to Aphrodite in the Greek polis of Locri Epizephyrii in Magna Graecia in southern Italy. The throne shows Aphrodite rising from the sea, clad in a diaphanous garment, which is drenched with seawater and clinging to her body, revealing her upturned breasts and the outline of her navel. Her hair hangs dripping as she reaches to two attendants standing barefoot on the rocky shore on either side of her, lifting her out of the water. Scenes with Aphrodite appear in works of classical Greek pottery, including a famous white-ground kylix by the Pistoxenos Painter dating the between 470 and 460 BC, showing her riding on a swan or goose. Aphrodite was often described as golden-haired and portrayed with this color hair in art.
In BC, the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles carved the marble statue Aphrodite of Knidos, which Pliny the Elder later praised as the greatest sculpture ever made. The statue showed a nude Aphrodite modestly covering her pubic region while resting against a water pot with her robe draped over it for support. The Aphrodite of Knidos was the first full-sized statue to depict Aphrodite completely naked and one of the first sculptures that was intended to be viewed from all sides. The statue was purchased by the people of Knidos in around 350 BC and proved to be tremendously influential on later depictions of Aphrodite. The original sculpture has been lost, but written descriptions of it as well several depictions of it on coins are still extant and over sixty copies, small-scale models, and fragments of it have been identified.
The Greek painter Apelles of Kos, a contemporary of Praxiteles, produced the panel painting Aphrodite Anadyomene (Aphrodite Rising from the Sea). According to Athenaeus, Apelles was inspired to paint the painting after watching the courtesan Phryne take off her clothes, untie her hair, and bathe naked in the sea at Eleusis. The painting was displayed in the Asclepeion on the island of Kos. The Aphrodite Anadyomene went unnoticed for centuries, but Pliny the Elder records that, in his own time, it was regarded as Apelles's most famous work.
During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, statues depicting Aphrodite proliferated; many of these statues were modeled at least to some extent on Praxiteles's Aphrodite of Knidos. Some statues show Aphrodite crouching naked; others show her wringing water out of her hair as she rises from the sea. Another common type of statue is known as Aphrodite Kallipygos, the name of which is Greek for "Aphrodite of the Beautiful Buttocks"; this type of sculpture shows Aphrodite lifting her peplos to display her buttocks to the viewer while looking back at them from over her shoulder. The ancient Romans produced massive numbers of copies of Greek sculptures of Aphrodite and more sculptures of Aphrodite have survived from antiquity than of any other deity.
Post-classical culture
Middle Ages
Early Christians frequently adapted pagan iconography to suit Christian purposes. In the Early Middle Ages, Christians adapted elements of Aphrodite/Venus's iconography and applied them to Eve and prostitutes, but also female saints and even the Virgin Mary. Christians in the east reinterpreted the story of Aphrodite's birth as a metaphor for baptism; in a Coptic stele from the sixth century AD, a female orant is shown wearing Aphrodite's conch shell as a sign that she is newly baptized. Throughout the Middle Ages, villages and communities across Europe still maintained folk tales and traditions about Aphrodite/Venus and travelers reported a wide variety of stories. Numerous Roman mosaics of Venus survived in Britain, preserving memory of the pagan past. In North Africa in the late fifth century AD, Fulgentius of Ruspe encountered mosaics of Aphrodite and reinterpreted her as a symbol of the sin of Lust, arguing that she was shown naked because "the sin of lust is never cloaked" and that she was often shown "swimming" because "all lust suffers shipwreck of its affairs." He also argued that she was associated with doves and conchs because these are symbols of copulation, and that she was associated with roses because "as the rose gives pleasure, but is swept away by the swift movement of the seasons, so lust is pleasant for a moment, but is swept away forever."
While Fulgentius had appropriated Aphrodite as a symbol of Lust, Isidore of Seville ( 560–636) interpreted her as a symbol of marital procreative sex and declared that the moral of the story of Aphrodite's birth is that sex can only be holy in the presence of semen, blood, and heat, which he regarded as all being necessary for procreation. Meanwhile, Isidore denigrated Aphrodite/Venus's son Eros/Cupid as a "demon of fornication" (daemon fornicationis). Aphrodite/Venus was best known to Western European scholars through her appearances in Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Venus is mentioned in the Latin poem Pervigilium Veneris ("The Eve of Saint Venus"), written in the third or fourth century AD, and in Giovanni Boccaccio's Genealogia Deorum Gentilium.
Since the Late Middle Ages. the myth of the Venusberg (German; French Mont de Vénus, "Mountain of Venus") – a subterranean realm ruled by Venus, hidden underneath Christian Europe – became a motif of European folklore rendered in various legends and epics. In German folklore of the 16th century, the narrative becomes associated with the minnesinger Tannhäuser, and in that form the myth was taken up in later literature and opera.
Art
Aphrodite is the central figure in Sandro Botticelli's painting Primavera, which has been described as "one of the most written about, and most controversial paintings in the world", and "one of the most popular paintings in Western art". The story of Aphrodite's birth from the foam was a popular subject matter for painters during the Italian Renaissance, who were attempting to consciously reconstruct Apelles of Kos's lost masterpiece Aphrodite Anadyomene based on the literary ekphrasis of it preserved by Cicero and Pliny the Elder. Artists also drew inspiration from Ovid's description of the birth of Venus in his Metamorphoses. Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus ( 1485) was also partially inspired by a description by Poliziano of a relief on the subject. Later Italian renditions of the same scene include Titian's Venus Anadyomene ( 1525) and Raphael's painting in the Stufetta del cardinal Bibbiena (1516). Titian's biographer Giorgio Vasari identified all of Titian's paintings of naked women as paintings of "Venus", including an erotic painting from 1534, which he called the Venus of Urbino, even though the painting does not contain any of Aphrodite/Venus's traditional iconography and the woman in it is clearly shown in a contemporary setting, not a classical one.
The Birth of Venus (1863) by Alexandre CabanelJacques-Louis David's final work was his 1824 magnum opus, Mars Being Disarmed by Venus, which combines elements of classical, Renaissance, traditional French art, and contemporary artistic styles. While he was working on the painting, David described it, saying, "This is the last picture I want to paint, but I want to surpass myself in it. I will put the date of my seventy-five years on it and afterwards I will never again pick up my brush." The painting was exhibited first in Brussels and then in Paris, where over 10,000 people came to see it. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's painting Venus Anadyomene was one of his major works. Louis Geofroy described it as a "dream of youth realized with the power of maturity, a happiness that few obtain, artists or others." Théophile Gautier declared: "Nothing remains of the marvelous painting of the Greeks, but surely if anything could give the idea of antique painting as it was conceived following the statues of Phidias and the poems of Homer, it is M. Ingres's painting: the Venus Anadyomene of Apelles has been found." Other critics dismissed it as a piece of unimaginative, sentimental kitsch, but Ingres himself considered it to be among his greatest works and used the same figure as the model for his later 1856 painting La Source.
Paintings of Venus were favorites of the late nineteenth-century Academic artists in France. In 1863, Alexandre Cabanel won widespread critical acclaim at the Paris Salon for his painting The Birth of Venus, which the French emperor Napoleon III immediately purchased for his own personal art collection. Édouard Manet's 1865 painting Olympia parodied the nude Venuses of the Academic painters, particularly Cabanel's Birth of Venus. In 1867, the English Academic painter Frederic Leighton displayed his Venus Disrobing for the Bath at the academy. The art critic J. B. Atkinson praised it, declaring that "Mr Leighton, instead of adopting corrupt Roman notions regarding Venus such as Rubens embodied, has wisely reverted to the Greek idea of Aphrodite, a goddess worshipped, and by artists painted, as the perfection of female grace and beauty." A year later, the English painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, painted Venus Verticordia (Latin for "Aphrodite, the Changer of Hearts"), showing Aphrodite as a nude red-headed woman in a garden of roses. Though he was reproached for his outré subject matter, Rossetti refused to alter the painting and it was soon purchased by J. Mitchell of Bradford. In 1879, William Adolphe Bouguereau exhibited at the Paris Salon his own Birth of Venus, which imitated the classical tradition of contrapposto and was met with widespread critical acclaim, rivalling the popularity of Cabanel's version from nearly two decades prior.
Literature
William Shakespeare's erotic narrative poem Venus and Adonis (1593), a retelling of the courtship of Aphrodite and Adonis from Ovid's Metamorphoses, was the most popular of all his works published within his own lifetime. Six editions of it were published before Shakespeare's death (more than any of his other works) and it enjoyed particularly strong popularity among young adults. In 1605, Richard Barnfield lauded it, declaring that the poem had placed Shakespeare's name "in fames immortall Booke". Despite this, the poem has received mixed reception from modern critics; Samuel Taylor Coleridge defended it, but Samuel Butler complained that it bored him and C. S. Lewis described an attempted reading of it as "suffocating".
Aphrodite appears in Richard Garnett's short story collection The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales (1888), in which the gods' temples have been destroyed by Christians. Stories revolving around sculptures of Aphrodite were common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examples of such works of literature include the novel The Tinted Venus: A Farcical Romance (1885) by Thomas Anstey Guthrie and the short story The Venus of Ille (1887) by Prosper Mérimée, both of which are about statues of Aphrodite that come to life. Another noteworthy example is Aphrodite in Aulis by the Anglo-Irish writer George Moore, which revolves around an ancient Greek family who moves to Aulis. The French writer Pierre Louÿs titled his erotic historical novel Aphrodite: mœurs antiques (1896) after the Greek goddess. The novel enjoyed widespread commercial success, but scandalized French audiences due to its sensuality and its decadent portrayal of Greek society.
In the early twentieth century, stories of Aphrodite were used by feminist poets, such as Amy Lowell and Alicia Ostriker. Many of these poems dealt with Aphrodite's legendary birth from the foam of the sea. Other feminist writers, including Claude Cahun, Thit Jensen, and Anaïs Nin also made use of the myth of Aphrodite in their writings. Ever since the publication of Isabel Allende's book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses in 1998, the name "Aphrodite" has been used as a title for dozens of books dealing with all topics even superficially connected to her domain. Frequently these books do not even mention Aphrodite, or mention her only briefly, but make use of her name as a selling point.
Modern worship
In 1938, Gleb Botkin, a Russian immigrant to the United States, founded the Church of Aphrodite, a neopagan religion centered around the worship of a mother goddess, whom its practitioners identified as Aphrodite. The Church of Aphrodite's theology was laid out in the book In Search of Reality, published in 1969, two years before Botkin's death. The book portrayed Aphrodite in a drastically different light than the one in which the Greeks envisioned her, instead casting her as "the sole Goddess of a somewhat Neoplatonic Pagan monotheism". It claimed that the worship of Aphrodite had been brought to Greece by the mystic teacher Orpheus, but that the Greeks had misunderstood Orpheus's teachings and had not realized the importance of worshipping Aphrodite alone.
Aphrodite is a major deity in Wicca, a contemporary nature-based syncretic Neopagan religion. Wiccans regard Aphrodite as one aspect of the Goddess and she is frequently invoked by name during enchantments dealing with love and romance. Wiccans regard Aphrodite as the ruler of human emotions, erotic spirituality, creativity, and art. As one of the twelve Olympians, Aphrodite is a major deity within Hellenismos (Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism), a Neopagan religion which seeks to authentically revive and recreate the religion of ancient Greece in the modern world. Unlike Wiccans, Hellenists are usually strictly polytheistic or pantheistic. Hellenists venerate Aphrodite primarily as the goddess of romantic love, but also as a goddess of sexuality, the sea, and war. Her many epithets include "Sea Born", "Killer of Men", "She upon the Graves", "Fair Sailing", and "Ally in War".
Genealogy
See also
Anchises
Cupid
Girdle of Aphrodite
History of nude art
Lakshmi, rose from the ocean like Aphrodite and has 8-pointed star like Ishtar
Explanatory notes
Citations
General and cited references
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Evelyn-White, Hugh, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
Pindar, Odes, Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. The Phoenissae, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Ovid, Metamorphoses. Translated by A. D. Melville; introduction and notes by E. J. Kenney. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. .
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
External links
APHRODITE from The Theoi Project information from classical literature, Greek and Roman art
The Glory which Was Greece from a Female Perspective
Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, with a brief explanation
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 2450 images of Aphrodite)
Beauty goddesses
Characters in the Argonautica
Characters in the Odyssey
Children of Zeus
Consorts of Dionysus
Consorts of Hephaestus
Cypriot mythology
Deities in the Iliad
Divine women of Zeus
Extramarital relationships
Fertility goddesses
Greek love and lust goddesses
Homosexuality and bisexuality deities
Kourotrophoi
Metamorphoses characters
New religious movement deities
Nudity in mythology
Prostitution
Sexuality in ancient Greece
Temporary marriages
Twelve Olympians
Venusian deities
Planetary goddesses
Women of Ares
Women of Hermes
Women of Poseidon
Women of the Trojan war |
1175 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%201 | April 1 |
Events
Pre-1600
527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
1081 – Alexios I Komnenos overthrows the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and, after his troops spend three days extensively looting Constantinople, is formally crowned on April 4.
1572 – In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
1601–1900
1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
1833 – The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins in San Felipe de Austin.
1865 – American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia's last supply line during the Siege of Petersburg.
1867 – Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
1873 – The White Star steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
1900 – Prince George becomes absolute monarch of the Cretan State.
1901–present
1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" but spends only nine months in jail.
1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
1933 – The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
1935 – India's central banking institution, the Reserve Bank of India, is formed.
1937 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.
1937 – The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1941 – Fântâna Albă massacre: Between two hundred and two thousand Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
1941 – A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of 'Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
1944 – World War II: Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
1945 – World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
1946 – The 8.6 Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
1946 – The Malayan Union is established. Protests from locals led to the establishment of the Federation of Malaya two years later.
1947 – The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
1948 – Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
1948 – Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
1949 – The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1955 – The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
1964 – The British Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry are replaced by a unified Defence Council of the United Kingdom.
1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre more than a thousand people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
1973 – Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
1974 – The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
1976 – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer, Inc.
1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1984 – Singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in his home in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, California.
1986 – Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
1989 – Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
1993 – NASCAR racer Alan Kulwicki is killed in a plane crash near the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee.
1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 – An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Chinese pilot ejected but is subsequently lost. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
2004 – Google launches its Email service Gmail.
2006 – Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
2011 – After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
2016 – The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact.
Births
Pre-1600
1220 – Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
1282 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1347)
1328 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1382)
1543 – François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières (d. 1626)
1578 – William Harvey, English physician and academic (d. 1657)
1601–1900
1610 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier and critic (d. 1703)
1629 – Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, French organist and composer (d. 1691)
1640 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1697)
1647 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier (d. 1680)
1697 – Antoine François Prévost, French novelist and translator (d. 1763)
1721 – Pieter Hellendaal, Dutch-English organist, violinist, and composer (d. 1799)
1741 – George Dance the Younger, English architect and surveyor (d. 1825)
1753 – Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher, lawyer, and diplomat (d. 1821)
1755 – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French lawyer and politician (d. 1826)
1765 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1810)
1776 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (d. 1831)
1786 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter (d. 1863)
1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1898)
1815 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
1823 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1891)
1824 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (d. 1901)
1834 – James Fisk, American businessman (d. 1872)
1852 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
1865 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1866 – William Blomfield, New Zealand cartoonist and politician (d. 1938)
1866 – Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
1866 – Ève Lavallière, French actress (d. 1929)
1868 – Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (d. 1918)
1868 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (d. 1954)
1871 – F. Melius Christiansen, Norwegian-American violinist and conductor (d. 1955)
1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1943)
1874 – Ernest Barnes, English mathematician and theologian (d. 1953)
1874 – Prince Karl of Bavaria (d. 1927)
1875 – Edgar Wallace, English journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1932)
1878 – C. Ganesha Iyer, Ceylon Tamil philologist (d. 1958)
1879 – Stanislaus Zbyszko, Polish wrestler and strongman (d. 1967)
1881 – Octavian Goga, Romanian Prime Minister (d. 1938)
1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1930)
1883 – Edvard Drabløs, Norwegian actor and director (d. 1976)
1883 – Laurette Taylor, Irish-American actress (d. 1946)
1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
1885 – Clementine Churchill, English wife of Winston Churchill (d. 1977)
1889 – K. B. Hedgewar, Indian physician and activist (d. 1940)
1893 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-English actress (d. 1980)
1895 – Alberta Hunter, African-American singer-songwriter and nurse (d. 1984)
1898 – William James Sidis, Ukrainian-Russian Jewish American mathematician, anthropologist, and historian (d. 1944)
1899 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian academic and politician (d. 1968)
1900 – Stefanie Clausen, Danish Olympic diver (d. 1981)
1901–present
1901 – Whittaker Chambers, American journalist and spy (d. 1961)
1902 – Maria Polydouri, Greek poet (d. 1930)
1905 – Gaston Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1988)
1905 – Paul Hasluck, Australian historian, poet, and politician, 17th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1993)
1906 – Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer, founded the Yakovlev Design Bureau (d. 1989)
1907 – Shivakumara Swami, Indian religious leader and philanthropist (d. 2019)
1908 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (d. 1970)
1908 – Harlow Rothert, American shot putter, lawyer, and academic (d. 1997)
1909 – Abner Biberman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1909 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1951)
1910 – Harry Carney, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1974)
1910 – Bob Van Osdel, American high jumper and soldier (d. 1987)
1911 – Augusta Braxton Baker, African American librarian (d. 1998)
1913 – Memos Makris, Greek sculptor (d. 1993)
1915 – O. W. Fischer, Austrian-Swiss actor and director (d. 2004)
1916 – Sheila May Edmonds, British mathematician (d. 2002)
1917 – Sydney Newman, Canadian screenwriter and producer, co-created Doctor Who (d. 1997)
1917 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1919 – Joseph Murray, American surgeon and soldier, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
1920 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
1921 – William Bergsma, American composer and educator (d. 1994)
1921 – Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (d. 2014)
1922 – Duke Jordan, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
1922 – William Manchester, American historian and author (d. 2004)
1924 – Brendan Byrne, American lieutenant, judge, and politician, 47th Governor of New Jersey (d. 2018)
1926 – Anne McCaffrey, American-Irish author (d. 2011)
1927 – Walter Bahr, American soccer player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1927 – Amos Milburn, American R&B singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1980)
1927 – Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2006)
1929 – Jonathan Haze, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and production manager
1929 – Milan Kundera, Czech-French novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 2023)
1929 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator and director (d. 2010)
1929 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2021)
1930 – Grace Lee Whitney, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1931 – George Baker, Bulgarian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1931 – Rolf Hochhuth, German author and playwright (d. 2020)
1932 – Debbie Reynolds, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2016)
1933 – Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Algerian-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 – Dan Flavin, American sculptor and educator (d. 1996)
1933 – Bengt Holbek, Danish folklorist (d. 1992)
1934 – Vladimir Posner, French-American journalist and radio host
1935 – Larry McDonald, American physician and politician (d. 1983)
1936 – Peter Collinson, English-American director and producer (d. 1980)
1936 – Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Swiss politician, 80th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1998)
1936 – Tarun Gogoi, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Assam (d. 2020)
1936 – Abdul Qadeer Khan, Indian-Pakistani physicist, chemist, and engineer (d. 2021)
1937 – Jordan Charney, American actor
1939 – Ali MacGraw, American model and actress
1939 – Phil Niekro, American baseball player and manager (d. 2020)
1940 – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1941 – Gideon Gadot, Israeli journalist and politician (d. 2012)
1941 – Ajit Wadekar, Indian cricketer, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1942 – Samuel R. Delany, American author and critic
1942 – Richard D. Wolff, American economist and academic
1943 – Dafydd Wigley, Welsh academic and politician
1943 – Titina Silá, Bissau-Guinean revolutionary (d. 1973)
1946 – Nikitas Kaklamanis, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Health and Social Security
1946 – Ronnie Lane, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 1997)
1946 – Arrigo Sacchi, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
1947 – Alain Connes, French mathematician and academic
1948 – Javier Irureta, Spanish footballer and manager
1948 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent Member of Parliament (d. 2006)
1949 – Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
1949 – Paul Manafort, American lobbyist, political consultant, and convicted felon
1949 – Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer and coach
1949 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2011)
1950 – Samuel Alito, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1950 – Loris Kessel, Swiss racing driver (d. 2010)
1950 – Daniel Paillé, Canadian academic and politician
1951 – John Abizaid, American general
1952 – Annette O'Toole, American actress
1952 – Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher and academic (d. 2020)
1953 – Barry Sonnenfeld, American cinematographer, director, and producer
1953 – Alberto Zaccheroni, Italian footballer and manager
1954 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 1992)
1955 – Don Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
1955 – Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani politician, 5th Commerce Minister of Pakistan
1957 – David Gower, English cricketer and sportscaster
1957 – Denise Nickerson, American actress (d. 2019)
1958 – D. Boon, American singer and musician (d. 1985)
1959 – Helmuth Duckadam, Romanian footballer
1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
1961 – Sergio Scariolo, Italian professional basketball head coach
1961 – Mark White, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Mark Shulman, American author
1962 – Chris Grayling, English journalist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
1962 – Samboy Lim, Filipino basketball player and manager
1962 – Phillip Schofield, English television host
1963 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (d. 1988)
1963 – Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, American aerospace engineer
1964 – Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
1964 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (d. 2008)
1964 – John Morris, English cricketer
1964 – José Rodrigues dos Santos, Portuguese journalist, author, and educator
1965 – Jane Adams, American film, television, and stage actress
1965 – Mark Jackson, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Chris Evans, English radio and television host
1966 – Mehmet Özdilek, Turkish footballer and manager
1967 – Nicola Roxon, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Attorney-General for Australia
1968 – Mike Baird, Australian politician, 44th Premier of New South Wales
1968 – Andreas Schnaas, German actor and director
1968 – Alexander Stubb, Finnish academic and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Finland
1969 – Lev Lobodin, Ukrainian-Russian decathlete
1969 – Andrew Vlahov, Australian basketball player
1969 – Dean Windass, English footballer and manager
1970 – Brad Meltzer, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1971 – Sonia Bisset, Cuban javelin thrower
1971 – Shinji Nakano, Japanese racing driver
1972 – Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1972 – Jesse Tobias, American guitarist and songwriter
1973 – Christian Finnegan, American comedian and actor
1973 – Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1973 – Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author
1974 – Hugo Ibarra, Argentinian footballer and manager
1975 – John Butler, American-Australian singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1976 – Hazem El Masri, Lebanese-Australian rugby league player and educator
1976 – David Gilliland, American race car driver
1976 – David Oyelowo, English actor
1976 – Clarence Seedorf, Dutch-Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Yuka Yoshida, Japanese tennis player
1977 – Vitor Belfort, Brazilian-American boxer and mixed martial artist
1977 – Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
1978 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (d. 2009)
1978 – Mirka Federer, Slovak-Swiss tennis player
1978 – Anamaria Marinca, Romanian-English actress
1978 – Etan Thomas, American basketball player
1979 – Ruth Beitia, Spanish high jumper
1980 – Dennis Kruppke, German footballer
1980 – Randy Orton, American wrestler
1980 – Bijou Phillips, American actress and model
1981 – Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
1981 – Bjørn Einar Romøren, Norwegian ski jumper
1982 – Taran Killam, American actor, voice artist, comedian, and writer
1982 – Andreas Thorkildsen, Norwegian javelin thrower
1983 – Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
1983 – Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
1984 – Gilberto Macena, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Daniel Murphy, American baseball player
1985 – Beth Tweddle, English gymnast
1986 – Nikolaos Kourtidis, Greek weightlifter
1986 – Hillary Scott, American country singer-songwriter
1987 – Ding Junhui, Chinese professional snooker player
1987 – Gianluca Musacci, Italian footballer
1987 – Oliver Turvey, English racing driver
1988 – Brook Lopez, American basketball player
1988 – Robin Lopez, American basketball player
1989 – Jan Blokhuijsen, Dutch speed skater
1989 – David N'Gog, French footballer
1989 – Christian Vietoris, German racing driver
1990 – Julia Fischer, German discus thrower
1992 – Deng Linlin, Chinese gymnast
1995 – Jofra Archer, Barbadian-English cricketer
1995 – Logan Paul, American Youtuber, actor and wrestler
1997 – Asa Butterfield, English actor
1997 – Álex Palou, Spanish racing driver
Deaths
Pre-1600
996 – John XV, pope of the Catholic Church
1085 – Shen Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1048)
1132 – Hugh of Châteauneuf, French bishop (b. 1053)
1204 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England (b. 1122)
1205 – Amalric II, king of Cyprus and Jerusalem
1282 – Abaqa Khan, ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate (b. 1234)
1431 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general (b. 1360)
1441 – Blanche I, queen of Navarre and Sicily (b. 1387)
1455 – Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish cardinal and statesman (b. 1389).
1528 – Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer (b. 1470)
1548 – Sigismund I, king of Poland (b. 1467)
1580 – Alonso Mudarra, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1510)
1601–1900
1621 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter and educator (b. 1577)
1682 – Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bavarian bishop (b. 1625)
1787 – Floyer Sydenham, English scholar and academic (b. 1710)
1839 – Benjamin Pierce, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1757)
1865 – Antonios Kriezis, Greek Navy officer and Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1796)
1865 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
1872 – Frederick Denison Maurice, English theologian and academic (b. 1805)
1878 – John C.W. Daly, English-Canadian soldier and politician (b. 1796)
1890 – David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
1890 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian soldier, pilot, and engineer (b. 1825)
1901–present
1914 – Rube Waddell, American baseball player (b. 1876)
1914 – Charles Wells, English founder of Charles Wells Ltd (b. 1842)
1917 – Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (b. 1868)
1920 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (b. 1857)
1922 – Charles I, emperor of Austria (b. 1887)
1924 – Jacob Bolotin, American physician (b. 1888)
1924 – Lloyd Hildebrand, English cyclist (b. 1870)
1924 – Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (b. 1876)
1946 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (b. 1882)
1947 – George II, king of Greece (b. 1890)
1950 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (b. 1904)
1950 – Recep Peker, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1889)
1962 – Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish captain and businessman (b. 1910)
1965 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman (b. 1870)
1966 – Brian O'Nolan, Irish author (b. 1911)
1968 – Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1971 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and prison reformer (b. 1903)
1976 – Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor (b. 1891)
1981 – Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai singer-songwriter and bandleader (b. 1910)
1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
1984 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author (b. 1900)
1986 – Erik Bruhn, Danish actor, director, and choreographer (b. 1928)
1986 – Edwin Boston, English clergyman, author, and railway preservationist
1987 – Henri Cochet, French tennis player (b. 1901)
1991 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
1991 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
1992 – Michael Havers, Baron Havers, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1923)
1993 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
1994 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
1995 – H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer, journalist, and educator (b. 1914)
1995 – Francisco Moncion, Dominican American ballet dancer, choreographer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (b. 1918)
1995 – Lucie Rie, Austrian-English potter (b. 1902)
1997 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1912)
1998 – Rozz Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1963)
1999 – Jesse Stone, American pianist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1901)
2001 – Trịnh Công Sơn, Vietnamese guitarist and composer (b. 1939)
2002 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (b. 1905)
2003 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1956)
2004 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1952)
2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1945)
2005 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b 1925)
2005 – Robert Coldwell Wood, American political scientist and academic (b. 1923)
2006 – In Tam, Cambodian general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1916)
2010 – John Forsythe, American actor (b. 1918)
2010 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1927)
2012 – Lionel Bowen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1922)
2012 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian-American soccer player and radio host (b. 1947)
2012 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican banker, academic, and politician, 52nd President of Mexico (b. 1934)
2013 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (b. 1947)
2013 – Karen Muir, South African swimmer and physician (b. 1952)
2014 – King Fleming, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1922)
2014 – Jacques Le Goff, French historian and author (b. 1924)
2014 – Rolf Rendtorff, German theologian and academic (b. 1925)
2015 – Nicolae Rainea, Romanian footballer and referee (b. 1933)
2017 – Lonnie Brooks, American blues singer and guitarist (b. 1933)
2017 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet and Russian poet and writer (b. 1932)
2018 – Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (b. 1943)
2019 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (b. 1948)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Cellach of Armagh
Hugh of Grenoble
Frederick Denison Maurice (Church of England)
Mary of Egypt
Melito of Sardis
Tewdrig
Theodora
Walric, abbot of Leuconay
April 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
April Fools' Day
Odisha Day (Odisha, India)
Arbor Day (Tanzania)
Civil Service Day (Thailand)
Cyprus National Day (Cyprus)
Edible Book Day
Fossil Fools Day
Kha b-Nisan, the Assyrian New Year (Assyrian people)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 1
Days of the year
April |
1182 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena | Athena | Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens, from which she most likely received her name. The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is dedicated to her. Her major symbols include owls, olive trees, snakes, and the Gorgoneion. In art, she is generally depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear.
From her origin as an Aegean palace goddess, Athena was closely associated with the city. She was known as Polias and Poliouchos (both derived from polis, meaning "city-state"), and her temples were usually located atop the fortified acropolis in the central part of the city. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis is dedicated to her, along with numerous other temples and monuments. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena was known as Ergane. She was also a warrior goddess, and was believed to lead soldiers into battle as Athena Promachos. Her main festival in Athens was the Panathenaia, which was celebrated during the month of Hekatombaion in midsummer and was the most important festival on the Athenian calendar.
In Greek mythology, Athena was believed to have been born from the forehead of her father Zeus. In some versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is born from Zeus' forehead by parthenogenesis. In others, such as Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus swallows his consort Metis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. She was known as Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin", but in one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero. Athena was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroes Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, and Jason. Along with Aphrodite and Hera, Athena was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War.
She plays an active role in the Iliad, in which she assists the Achaeans and, in the Odyssey, she is the divine counselor to Odysseus. In the later writings of the Roman poet Ovid, Athena was said to have competed against the mortal Arachne in a weaving competition, afterward transforming Arachne into the first spider; Ovid also describes how she transformed Medusa into a Gorgon after witnessing her being raped by Poseidon in her temple. Since the Renaissance, Athena has become an international symbol of wisdom, the arts, and classical learning. Western artists and allegorists have often used Athena as a symbol of freedom and democracy.
Etymology
Athena is associated with the city of Athens. The name of the city in ancient Greek is (), a plural toponym, designating the place where—according to myth—she presided over the Athenai, a sisterhood devoted to her worship. In ancient times, scholars argued whether Athena was named after Athens or Athens after Athena. Now scholars generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city; the ending -ene is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names. Testimonies from different cities in ancient Greece attest that similar city goddesses were worshipped in other cities and, like Athena, took their names from the cities where they were worshipped. For example, in Mycenae there was a goddess called Mykene, whose sisterhood was known as Mykenai, whereas at Thebes an analogous deity was called Thebe, and the city was known under the plural form Thebai (or Thebes, in English, where the 's' is the plural formation). The name Athenai is likely of Pre-Greek origin because it contains the presumably Pre-Greek morpheme *-ān-.
In his dialogue Cratylus, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–347 BC) gives some rather imaginative etymologies of Athena's name, based on the theories of the ancient Athenians and his etymological speculations:
Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from Greek , —which the later Greeks rationalised as from the deity's (, ) mind (, ). The second-century AD orator Aelius Aristides attempted to derive natural symbols from the etymological roots of Athena's names to be aether, air, earth, and moon.
Origins
Athena was originally the Aegean goddess of the palace, who presided over household crafts and protected the king. A single Mycenaean Greek inscription appears at Knossos in the Linear B tablets from the Late Minoan II-era "Room of the Chariot Tablets"; these comprise the earliest Linear B archive anywhere. Although Athana potnia is often translated as "Mistress Athena", it could also mean "the Potnia of Athana", or the Lady of Athens. However, any connection to the city of Athens in the Knossos inscription is uncertain. A sign series appears in the still undeciphered corpus of Linear A tablets, written in the unclassified Minoan language. This could be connected with the Linear B Mycenaean expressions and or (Diwia, "of Zeus" or, possibly, related to a homonymous goddess), resulting in a translation "Athena of Zeus" or "divine Athena". Similarly, in the Greek mythology and epic tradition, Athena figures as a daughter of Zeus (; cfr. Dyeus). However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to "", quoted as SY Za 1 by Jan Best. Best translates the initial , which is recurrent in line beginnings, as "I have given".
A Mycenean fresco depicts two women extending their hands towards a central figure, who is covered by an enormous figure-eight shield; this may depict the warrior-goddess with her palladium, or her palladium in an aniconic representation. In the "Procession Fresco" at Knossos, which was reconstructed by the Mycenaeans, two rows of figures carrying vessels seem to meet in front of a central figure, which is probably the Minoan precursor to Athena. The early twentieth-century scholar Martin Persson Nilsson argued that the Minoan snake goddess figurines are early representations of Athena.
Nilsson and others have claimed that, in early times, Athena was either an owl herself or a bird goddess in general. In the third book of the Odyssey, she takes the form of a sea-eagle. Proponents of this view argue that she dropped her prophylactic owl mask before she lost her wings. "Athena, by the time she appears in art," Jane Ellen Harrison remarks, "has completely shed her animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to attributes, but occasionally in black-figure vase-paintings she still appears with wings."
It is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of the Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess. The cult of Athena may have also been influenced by those of Near Eastern warrior goddesses such as the East Semitic Ishtar and the Ugaritic Anat, both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms. Classical scholar Charles Penglase notes that Athena resembles Inanna in her role as a "terrifying warrior goddess" and that both goddesses were closely linked with creation. Athena's birth from the head of Zeus may be derived from the earlier Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent into and return from the Underworld.
Plato notes that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess known as Neith, whom he identifies with Athena. Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. In Greek mythology, Athena was reported to have visited mythological sites in North Africa, including Libya's Triton River and the Phlegraean plain. Based on these similarities, the Sinologist Martin Bernal created the "Black Athena" hypothesis, which claimed that Neith was brought to Greece from Egypt, along with "an enormous number of features of civilization and culture in the third and second millennia". The "Black Athena" hypothesis stirred up widespread controversy near the end of the twentieth century, but it has now been widely rejected by modern scholars.
Epithets and attributes
Athena was known as Atrytone ( "the Unwearying"), Parthenos ( "Virgin"), and Promachos ( "she who fights in front"). The epithet Polias (Πολιάς "of the city"), refers to Athena's role as protectress of the city. The epithet Ergane (Εργάνη "the Industrious") pointed her out as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. Burkert notes that the Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess", hē theós (ἡ θεός), certainly an ancient title. After serving as the judge at the trial of Orestes in which he was acquitted of having murdered his mother Clytemnestra, Athena won the epithet Areia (Αρεία). Some have described Athena, along with the goddesses Hestia and Artemis as being asexual, this is mainly supported by the fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, To Aphrodite, where Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses.
Athena was sometimes given the epithet Hippia (Ἵππια "of the horses", "equestrian"), referring to her invention of the bit, bridle, chariot, and wagon. The Greek geographer Pausanias mentions in his Guide to Greece that the temple of Athena Chalinitis ("the bridler") in Corinth was located near the tomb of Medea's children. Other epithets include Ageleia, Itonia and Aethyia, under which she was worshiped in Megara. The word aíthyia () signifies a "diver", also some diving bird species (possibly the shearwater) and figuratively, a "ship", so the name must reference Athena teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation. In a temple at Phrixa in Elis, reportedly built by Clymenus, she was known as Cydonia (Κυδωνία). Pausanias wrote that at Buporthmus there was a sanctuary of Athena Promachorma (Προμαχόρμα), meaning protector of the anchorage.
The Greek biographer Plutarch (AD 46–120) refers to an instance during the construction of the Propylaia of her being called Athena Hygieia (Ὑγίεια, i. e. personified "Health") after inspiring a physician to a successful course of treatment.
At Athens there is the temple of Athena Phratria, as patron of a phratry, in the Ancient Agora of Athens.
Pallas Athena
Athena's epithet Pallas – her most renowned one – is derived either from , meaning "to brandish [as a weapon]", or, more likely, from and related words, meaning "youth, young woman". On this topic, Walter Burkert says "she is the Pallas of Athens, Pallas Athenaie, just as Hera of Argos is Here Argeie." In later times, after the original meaning of the name had been forgotten, the Greeks invented myths to explain its origins, such as those reported by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus and the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, which claim that Pallas was originally a separate entity, whom Athena had slain in combat.
In one version of the myth, Pallas was the daughter of the sea-god Triton; she and Athena were childhood friends, but Athena accidentally killed her during a friendly sparring match. Distraught over what she had done, Athena took the name Pallas for herself as a sign of her grief. In another version of the story, Pallas was a Giant; Athena slew him during the Gigantomachy and flayed off his skin to make her cloak, which she wore as a victory trophy. In an alternative variation of the same myth, Pallas was instead Athena's father, who attempted to assault his own daughter, causing Athena to kill him and take his skin as a trophy.
The palladium was a statue of Athena that was said to have stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis. Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. The statue had special talisman-like properties and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. When the Greeks captured Troy, Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, clung to the palladium for protection, but Ajax the Lesser violently tore her away from it and dragged her over to the other captives. Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection. Although Agamemnon attempted to placate her anger with sacrifices, Athena sent a storm at Cape Kaphereos to destroy almost the entire Greek fleet and scatter all of the surviving ships across the Aegean.
Glaukopis
In Homer's epic works, Athena's most common epithet is (), which usually is translated as, "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes". The word is a combination of (, meaning "gleaming, silvery", and later, "bluish-green" or "gray") and (, "eye, face").
The word (, "little owl") is from the same root, presumably according to some, because of the bird's own distinctive eyes. Athena was associated with the owl from very early on; in archaic images, she is frequently depicted with an owl perched on her hand. Through its association with Athena, the owl evolved into the national mascot of the Athenians and eventually became a symbol of wisdom.
Tritogeneia
In the Iliad (4.514), the Odyssey (3.378), the Homeric Hymns, and in Hesiod's Theogony, Athena is also given the curious epithet Tritogeneia (Τριτογένεια), whose significance remains unclear. It could mean various things, including "Triton-born", perhaps indicating that the homonymous sea-deity was her parent according to some early myths. One myth relates the foster father relationship of this Triton towards the half-orphan Athena, whom he raised alongside his own daughter Pallas. Kerényi suggests that "Tritogeneia did not mean that she came into the world on any particular river or lake, but that she was born of the water itself; for the name Triton seems to be associated with water generally." In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Athena is occasionally referred to as "Tritonia".
Another possible meaning may be "triple-born" or "third-born", which may refer to a triad or to her status as the third daughter of Zeus or the fact she was born from Metis, Zeus, and herself; various legends list her as being the first child after Artemis and Apollo, though other legends identify her as Zeus' first child. Several scholars have suggested a connection to the Rigvedic god Trita, who was sometimes grouped in a body of three mythological poets. Michael Janda has connected the myth of Trita to the scene in the Iliad in which the "three brothers" Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divide the world between them, receiving the "broad sky", the sea, and the underworld respectively. Janda further connects the myth of Athena being born of the head (i. e. the uppermost part) of Zeus, understanding Trito- (which perhaps originally meant "the third") as another word for "the sky". In Janda's analysis of Indo-European mythology, this heavenly sphere is also associated with the mythological body of water surrounding the inhabited world (cfr. Triton's mother, Amphitrite).
Yet another possible meaning is mentioned in Diogenes Laertius' biography of Democritus, that Athena was called "Tritogeneia" because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her.
Cult and patronages
Panhellenic and Athenian cult
In her aspect of Athena Polias, Athena was venerated as the goddess of the city and the protectress of the citadel. In Athens, the Plynteria, or "Feast of the Bath", was observed every year at the end of the month of Thargelion. The festival lasted for five days. During this period, the priestesses of Athena, or plyntrídes, performed a cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion, a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. Here Athena's statue was undressed, her clothes washed, and body purified. Athena was worshipped at festivals such as Chalceia as Athena Ergane, the patroness of various crafts, especially weaving. She was also the patron of metalworkers and was believed to aid in the forging of armor and weapons. During the late fifth century BC, the role of goddess of philosophy became a major aspect of Athena's cult.
As Athena Promachos, she was believed to lead soldiers into battle. Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter—"the raw force of war". Athena was believed to only support those fighting for a just cause and was thought to view war primarily as a means to resolve conflict. The Greeks regarded Athena with much higher esteem than Ares. Athena was especially worshipped in this role during the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia, both of which prominently featured displays of athletic and military prowess. As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength.
In her aspect as a warrior maiden, Athena was known as Parthenos ( "virgin"), because, like her fellow goddesses Artemis and Hestia, she was believed to remain perpetually a virgin. Athena's most famous temple, the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, takes its name from this title. According to Karl Kerényi, a scholar of Greek mythology, the name Parthenos is not merely an observation of Athena's virginity, but also a recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery. Even beyond recognition, the Athenians allotted the goddess value based on this pureness of virginity, which they upheld as a rudiment of female behavior. Kerényi's study and theory of Athena explains her virginal epithet as a result of her relationship to her father Zeus and a vital, cohesive piece of her character throughout the ages. This role is expressed in several stories about Athena. Marinus of Neapolis reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared in a dream to Proclus, a devotee of Athena, and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to dwell with him.
Athena was also credited with creating the pebble-based form of divination. Those pebbles were called thriai, which was also the collective name of a group of nymphs with prophetic powers. Her half-brother Apollo however, angered and spiteful at the practitioners of an art rival to his own, complained to their father Zeus about it, with the pretext that many people took to casting pebbles, but few actually were true prophets. Zeus, sympathizing with Apollo's grievances, discredited the pebble divination by rendering the pebbles useless. Apollo's words became the basis of an ancient Greek idiom.
Regional cults
Athena was not only the patron goddess of Athens, but also other cities, including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa. The various cults of Athena were all branches of her panhellenic cult and often proctored various initiation rites of Grecian youth, such as the passage into citizenship by young men or the passage of young women into marriage. These cults were portals of a uniform socialization, even beyond mainland Greece. Athena was frequently equated with Aphaea, a local goddess of the island of Aegina, originally from Crete and also associated with Artemis and the nymph Britomartis. In Arcadia, she was assimilated with the ancient goddess Alea and worshiped as Athena Alea. Sanctuaries dedicated to Athena Alea were located in the Laconian towns of Mantineia and Tegea. The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece. The geographer Pausanias was informed that the temenos had been founded by Aleus.
Athena had a major temple on the Spartan Acropolis, where she was venerated as Poliouchos and Khalkíoikos ("of the Brazen House", often latinized as Chalcioecus). This epithet may refer to the fact that cult statue held there may have been made of bronze, that the walls of the temple itself may have been made of bronze, or that Athena was the patron of metal-workers. Bells made of terracotta and bronze were used in Sparta as part of Athena's cult. An Ionic-style temple to Athena Polias was built at Priene in the fourth century BC. It was designed by Pytheos of Priene, the same architect who designed the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The temple was dedicated by Alexander the Great and an inscription from the temple declaring his dedication is now held in the British Museum.
Mythology
Birth
She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, and emerged full-grown from his forehead. There was an alternate story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena and when she was fully grown she emerged from Zeus' forehead. Being the favorite child of Zeus, she had great power.
In the classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was regarded as the favorite child of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. The story of her birth comes in several versions. The earliest mention is in Book V of the Iliad, when Ares accuses Zeus of being biased in favor of Athena because "autos egeinao" (literally "you fathered her", but probably intended as "you gave birth to her").
She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks.
In the version recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony, Zeus married the goddess Metis, who is described as the "wisest among gods and mortal men", and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. After learning that Metis was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, because Gaia and Ouranos had prophesied that Metis would bear children wiser than their father. In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because Metis had already conceived. A later account of the story from the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, written in the second century AD, makes Metis Zeus's unwilling sexual partner, rather than his wife. According to this version of the story, Metis transformed into many different shapes in effort to escape Zeus, but Zeus successfully raped her and swallowed her.
After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife, Hera. Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. He was in such pain that he ordered someone (either Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon, depending on the sources examined) to cleave his head open with the labrys, the double-headed Minoan axe. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed. The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states in lines 9–16 that the gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance and even Helios, the god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. Pindar, in his "Seventh Olympian Ode", states that she "cried aloud with a mighty shout" and that "the Sky and mother Earth shuddered before her."
Hesiod states that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having given birth to a child on his own that she conceived and bore Hephaestus by herself, but in Imagines 2. 27 (trans. Fairbanks), the third-century AD Greek rhetorician Philostratus the Elder writes that Hera "rejoices" at Athena's birth "as though Athena were her daughter also." The second-century AD Christian apologist Justin Martyr takes issue with those pagans who erect at springs images of Kore, whom he interprets as Athena: "They said that Athena was the daughter of Zeus not from intercourse, but when the god had in mind the making of a world through a word (logos) his first thought was Athena." According to a version of the story in a scholium on the Iliad (found nowhere else), when Zeus swallowed Metis, she was pregnant with Athena by the Cyclops Brontes. The Etymologicum Magnum instead deems Athena the daughter of the Daktyl Itonos. Fragments attributed by the Christian Eusebius of Caesarea to the semi-legendary Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, which Eusebius thought had been written before the Trojan war, make Athena instead the daughter of Cronus, a king of Byblos who visited "the inhabitable world" and bequeathed Attica to Athena.
Lady of Athens
In Homer's Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspired and fought alongside the Greek heroes; her aid was synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derived in part from the fact that she represented the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represented mere blood lust. Her superiority also derived in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena was the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personified excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. The qualities that led to victory were found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Athena appears in Homer's Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources portray her similarly as the helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, and war.
In a founding myth reported by Pseudo-Apollodorus, Athena competed with Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that Cecrops, the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water spring sprang up; this gave the Athenians access to trade and water. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis—but the water was salty and undrinkable. In an alternative version of the myth from Vergil's Georgics, Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse. Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree. Cecrops accepted this gift and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. The olive tree brought wood, oil, and food, and became a symbol of Athenian economic prosperity. Robert Graves was of the opinion that "Poseidon's attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths", which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.
Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, Halirrhothius, to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him. This was supposedly the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive tree moria, for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal (moros in Greek). Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the Areopagus ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event.
Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped the semen off using a tuft of wool, which she tossed into the dust, impregnating Gaia and causing her to give birth to Erichthonius. Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son and raised him. The Roman mythographer Hyginus records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius.
The geographer Pausanias records that Athena placed the infant Erichthonius into a small chest (cista), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops: Herse, Pandrosos, and Aglauros of Athens. She warned the three sisters not to open the chest, but did not explain to them why or what was in it. Aglauros, and possibly one of the other sisters, opened the chest. Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent. In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off the Acropolis, dying instantly, but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead.
Erichthonius was one of the most important founding heroes of Athens and the legend of the daughters of Cecrops was a cult myth linked to the rituals of the Arrhephoria festival. Pausanias records that, during the Arrhephoria, two young girls known as the Arrhephoroi, who lived near the temple of Athena Polias, would be given hidden objects by the priestess of Athena, which they would carry on their heads down a natural underground passage. They would leave the objects they had been given at the bottom of the passage and take another set of hidden objects, which they would carry on their heads back up to the temple. The ritual was performed in the dead of night and no one, not even the priestess, knew what the objects were. The serpent in the story may be the same one depicted coiled at Athena's feet in Pheidias's famous statue of the Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon. Many of the surviving sculptures of Athena show this serpent.
Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering. On the eve of the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them. Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told in Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC17 AD); in this late variant Hermes falls in love with Herse. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to the temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. Hermes gives her the money the sisters have already offered to Athena. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess Envy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. He turns her to stone.
Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl named Myrsine, a chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both the palaestra and the race. Out of envy, the other athletes murdered her, but Athena took pity in her and transformed her dead body into a myrtle, a plant thereafter as favoured by her as the olive was. An almost exact story was said about another girl, Elaea, who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree.
Patron of heroes
According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca, Athena advised Argos, the builder of the Argo, the ship on which the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts sailed, and aided in the ship's construction. Pseudo-Apollodorus also records that Athena guided the hero Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa. She and Hermes, the god of travelers, appeared to Perseus after he set off on his quest and gifted him with tools he would need to kill the Gorgon. Athena gave Perseus a polished bronze shield to view Medusa's reflection rather than looking at her directly and thereby avoid being turned to stone. Hermes gave him an adamantine scythe to cut off Medusa's head. When Perseus swung his blade to behead Medusa, Athena guided it, allowing his scythe to cut it clean off. According to Pindar's Thirteenth Olympian Ode, Athena helped the hero Bellerophon tame the winged horse Pegasus by giving him a bit.
In ancient Greek art, Athena is frequently shown aiding the hero Heracles. She appears in four of the twelve metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia depicting Heracles's Twelve Labors, including the first, in which she passively watches him slay the Nemean lion, and the tenth, in which she is shown actively helping him hold up the sky. She is presented as his "stern ally", but also the "gentle... acknowledger of his achievements." Artistic depictions of Heracles's apotheosis show Athena driving him to Mount Olympus in her chariot and presenting him to Zeus for his deification. In Aeschylus's tragedy Orestes, Athena intervenes to save Orestes from the wrath of the Erinyes and presides over his trial for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra. When half the jury votes to acquit and the other half votes to convict, Athena casts the deciding vote to acquit Orestes and declares that, from then on, whenever a jury is tied, the defendant shall always be acquitted.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus' cunning and shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour. For the first part of the poem, however, she largely is confined to aiding him only from afar, mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey home from Troy. Her guiding actions reinforce her role as the "protectress of heroes," or, as mythologian Walter Friedrich Otto dubbed her, the "goddess of nearness," due to her mentoring and motherly probing. It is not until he washes up on the shore of the island of the Phaeacians, where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena arrives personally to provide more tangible assistance. She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus and plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca. Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman; she initially lies and tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried and that he is believed to be dead, but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself. Impressed by his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself and tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom. She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope, and helps him to defeat the suitors. Athena also appears to Odysseus's son Telemachus. Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades and ask about his father. He hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey. Athena's push for Telemachus's journey helps him grow into the man role, that his father once held. She also plays a role in ending the resultant feud against the suitors' relatives. She instructs Laertes to throw his spear and to kill Eupeithes, the father of Antinous.
Punishment myths
The Gorgoneion appears to have originated as an apotropaic symbol intended to ward off evil. In a late myth invented to explain the origins of the Gorgon, Medusa is described as having been a young priestess who served in the temple of Athena in Athens. Poseidon lusted after Medusa, and raped her in the temple of Athena, refusing to allow her vow of chastity to stand in his way. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with serpents for hair whose gaze would turn any mortal to stone.
In his Twelfth Pythian Ode, Pindar recounts the story of how Athena invented the aulos, a kind of flute, in imitation of the lamentations of Medusa's sisters, the Gorgons, after she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. According to Pindar, Athena gave the aulos to mortals as a gift. Later, the comic playwright Melanippides of Melos ( 480-430 BC) embellished the story in his comedy Marsyas, claiming that Athena looked in the mirror while she was playing the aulos and saw how blowing into it puffed up her cheeks and made her look silly, so she threw the aulos away and cursed it so that whoever picked it up would meet an awful death. The aulos was picked up by the satyr Marsyas, who was later killed by Apollo for his hubris. Later, this version of the story became accepted as canonical and the Athenian sculptor Myron created a group of bronze sculptures based on it, which was installed before the western front of the Parthenon in around 440 BC.
A myth told by the early third-century BC Hellenistic poet Callimachus in his Hymn 5 begins with Athena bathing in a spring on Mount Helicon at midday with one of her favorite companions, the nymph Chariclo. Chariclo's son Tiresias happened to be hunting on the same mountain and came to the spring searching for water. He inadvertently saw Athena naked, so she struck him blind to ensure he would never again see what man was not intended to see. Chariclo intervened on her son's behalf and begged Athena to have mercy. Athena replied that she could not restore Tiresias's eyesight, so, instead, she gave him the ability to understand the language of the birds and thus foretell the future.
Myrmex was a clever and chaste Attic girl who became quickly a favourite of Athena. However when Athena invented the plough, Myrmex went to the Atticans and told them that it was in fact her own invention. Hurt by the girl's betrayal, Athena transformed her into the small insect bearing her name, the ant.
The fable of Arachne appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses (8 AD) (vi.5–54 and 129–145), which is nearly the only extant source for the legend. The story does not appear to have been well known prior to Ovid's rendition of it and the only earlier reference to it is a brief allusion in Virgil's Georgics, (29 BC) (iv, 246) that does not mention Arachne by name. According to Ovid, Arachne (whose name means spider in ancient Greek) was the daughter of a famous dyer in Tyrian purple in Hypaipa of Lydia, and a weaving student of Athena. She became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena herself. Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the deities. Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill.
Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon in the contest for the patronage of Athens. Athena's tapestry also depicted the 12 Olympian gods and defeat of mythological figures who challenged their authority. Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the deities' infidelity, including Zeus being unfaithful with Leda, with Europa, and with Danaë. It represented the unjust and discrediting behavior of the gods towards mortals. Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's offensive choice of subject, which displayed the failings and transgressions of the deities. Finally, losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle. Athena then struck Arachne across the face with her staff four times. Arachne hanged herself in despair, but Athena took pity on her and brought her back from the dead in the form of a spider.
In a rarer version, surviving in the scholia of an unnamed scholiast on Nicander, whose works heavily influenced Ovid, Arachne is placed in Attica instead and has a brother named Phalanx. Athena taught Arachne the art of weaving and Phalanx the art of war, but when brother and sister laid together in bed, Athena was so disgusted with them that she turned them both into spiders, animals forever doomed to be eaten by their own young.
Trojan War
The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in the Iliad, but is described in depth in an epitome of the Cypria, a lost poem of the Epic Cycle, which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.
The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision. In the extant ancient depictions of the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite is only occasionally represented nude, and Athena and Hera are always fully clothed. Since the Renaissance, however, Western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked.
All three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia and Europe, and Athena offered fame and glory in battle, but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth. This woman was Helen, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple. The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War.
In Books V–VI of the Iliad, Athena aids the hero Diomedes, who, in the absence of Achilles, proves himself to be the most effective Greek warrior. Several artistic representations from the early sixth century BC may show Athena and Diomedes, including an early sixth-century BC shield band depicting Athena and an unidentified warrior riding on a chariot, a vase painting of a warrior with his charioteer facing Athena, and an inscribed clay plaque showing Diomedes and Athena riding in a chariot. Numerous passages in the Iliad also mention Athena having previously served as the patron of Diomedes's father Tydeus. When the Trojan women go to the temple of Athena on the Acropolis to plead her for protection from Diomedes, Athena ignores them.
Athena also gets into a duel with Ares, the god of the brutal wars, and her male counterpart Ares blames her for encouraging Diomedes to tear his beautiful flesh. He curses her and strikes with all his strength. Athena deflects his blow with her aegis, a powerful shield that even Zeus's thunderbolt and lightning cannot blast through. Athena picked up a massive boulder and threw it at Ares, who immediately crumpled to the ground. Aphrodite, who was a lover of Ares, came down from Olympus to carry Ares away but was struck by Athena's golden spear and fell. Athena taunted the gods who supported Troy, saying that they will too eventually end up like Ares and Aphrodite, which scared them, therefore proving her power and reputation among the other gods.
In Book XXII of the Iliad, while Achilles is chasing Hector around the walls of Troy, Athena appears to Hector disguised as his brother Deiphobus and persuades him to hold his ground so that they can fight Achilles together. Then, Hector throws his spear at Achilles and misses, expecting Deiphobus to hand him another, but Athena disappears instead, leaving Hector to face Achilles alone without his spear. In Sophocles's tragedy Ajax, she punishes Odysseus's rival Ajax the Great, driving him insane and causing him to massacre the Achaeans' cattle, thinking that he is slaughtering the Achaeans themselves. Even after Odysseus himself expresses pity for Ajax, Athena declares, "To laugh at your enemies - what sweeter laughter can there be than that?" (lines 78–9). Ajax later commits suicide as a result of his humiliation.
Classical art
Athena appears frequently in classical Greek art, including on coins and in paintings on ceramics. She is especially prominent in works produced in Athens. In classical depictions, Athena is usually portrayed standing upright, wearing a full-length chiton. She is most often represented dressed in armor like a male soldier and wearing a Corinthian helmet raised high atop her forehead. Her shield bears at its centre the aegis with the head of the gorgon (gorgoneion) in the center and snakes around the edge. Sometimes she is shown wearing the aegis as a cloak. As Athena Promachos, she is shown brandishing a spear. Scenes in which Athena was represented include her birth from the head of Zeus, her battle with the Gigantes, the birth of Erichthonius, and the Judgement of Paris.
The Mourning Athena or Athena Meditating is a famous relief sculpture dating to around 470-460 BC that has been interpreted to represent Athena Polias. The most famous classical depiction of Athena was the Athena Parthenos, a now-lost gold and ivory statue of her in the Parthenon created by the Athenian sculptor Phidias. Copies reveal that this statue depicted Athena holding her shield in her left hand with Nike, the winged goddess of victory, standing in her right. Athena Polias is also represented in a Neo-Attic relief now held in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which depicts her holding an owl in her hand and wearing her characteristic Corinthian helmet while resting her shield against a nearby herma. The Roman goddess Minerva adopted most of Athena's Greek iconographical associations, but was also integrated into the Capitoline Triad.
Post-classical culture
Art and symbolism
Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Firmicus, denigrated Athena as representative of all the things that were detestable about paganism; they condemned her as "immodest and immoral". During the Middle Ages, however, many attributes of Athena were given to the Virgin Mary, who, in fourth-century portrayals, was often depicted wearing the Gorgoneion. Some even viewed the Virgin Mary as a warrior maiden, much like Athena Parthenos; one anecdote tells that the Virgin Mary once appeared upon the walls of Constantinople when it was under siege by the Avars, clutching a spear and urging the people to fight. During the Middle Ages, Athena became widely used as a Christian symbol and allegory, and she appeared on the family crests of certain noble houses.
During the Renaissance, Athena donned the mantle of patron of the arts and human endeavor; allegorical paintings involving Athena were a favorite of the Italian Renaissance painters. In Sandro Botticelli's painting Pallas and the Centaur, probably painted sometime in the 1480s, Athena is the personification of chastity, who is shown grasping the forelock of a centaur, who represents lust. Andrea Mantegna's 1502 painting Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue uses Athena as the personification of Graeco-Roman learning chasing the vices of medievalism from the garden of modern scholarship. Athena is also used as the personification of wisdom in Bartholomeus Spranger's 1591 painting The Triumph of Wisdom or Minerva Victorious over Ignorance.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Athena was used as a symbol for female rulers. In his book A Revelation of the True Minerva (1582), Thomas Blennerhassett portrays Queen Elizabeth I of England as a "new Minerva" and "the greatest goddesse nowe on earth". A series of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens depict Athena as Marie de' Medici's patron and mentor; the final painting in the series goes even further and shows Marie de' Medici with Athena's iconography, as the mortal incarnation of the goddess herself. The Flemish sculptor Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert (Jan Peter Anton Tassaert) later portrayed Catherine II of Russia as Athena in a marble bust in 1774. During the French Revolution, statues of pagan gods were torn down all throughout France, but statues of Athena were not. Instead, Athena was transformed into the personification of freedom and the republic and a statue of the goddess stood in the center of the Place de la Revolution in Paris. In the years following the Revolution, artistic representations of Athena proliferated.
A statue of Athena stands directly in front of the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna, and depictions of Athena have influenced other symbols of Western freedom, including the Statue of Liberty and Britannia. For over a century, a full-scale replica of the Parthenon has stood in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1990, the curators added a gilded forty-two-foot (12.5 m) tall replica of Phidias's Athena Parthenos, built from concrete and fiberglass. The Great Seal of California bears the image of Athena kneeling next to a brown grizzly bear. Athena has occasionally appeared on modern coins, as she did on the ancient Athenian drachma. Her head appears on the $50 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coin.
Modern interpretations
One of Sigmund Freud's most treasured possessions was a small, bronze sculpture of Athena, which sat on his desk. Freud once described Athena as "a woman who is unapproachable and repels all sexual desires - since she displays the terrifying genitals of the Mother." Feminist views on Athena are sharply divided; some feminists regard her as a symbol of female empowerment, while others regard her as "the ultimate patriarchal sell out... who uses her powers to promote and advance men rather than others of her sex." In contemporary Wicca, Athena is venerated as an aspect of the Goddess and some Wiccans believe that she may bestow the "Owl Gift" ("the ability to write and communicate clearly") upon her worshippers. Due to her status as one of the twelve Olympians, Athena is a major deity in Hellenismos, a Neopagan religion which seeks to authentically revive and recreate the religion of ancient Greece in the modern world.
Athena is a natural patron of universities: At Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, a statue of Athena (a replica of the original bronze one in the arts and archaeology library) resides in the Great Hall. It is traditional at exam time for students to leave offerings to the goddess with a note asking for good luck, or to repent for accidentally breaking any of the college's numerous other traditions. Pallas Athena is the tutelary goddess of the international social fraternity Phi Delta Theta. Her owl is also a symbol of the fraternity.
Genealogy
See also
Athenaeum (disambiguation)
Ambulia, a Spartan epithet used for Athena, Zeus, and Castor and Pollux
Notes
References
Bibliography
Ancient sources
Apollodorus, Library, 3,180
Augustine, De civitate dei xviii.8–9
Cicero, De natura deorum iii.21.53, 23.59
Eusebius, Chronicon 30.21–26, 42.11–14
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library .
Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library .
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library .
Lactantius, Divinae institutions i.17.12–13, 18.22–23
Livy, Ab urbe condita libri vii.3.7
Lucan, Bellum civile ix.350
Modern sources
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
Harrison, Jane Ellen, 1903. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion.
Telenius, Seppo Sakari, (2005) 2006. Athena-Artemis (Helsinki: Kirja kerrallaan).
External links
ATHENA on the Perseus Project
ATHENA from The Theoi Project
ATHENA from Mythopedia
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Athena)
Crafts goddesses
Greek war deities
Greek virgin goddesses
Justice goddesses
Peace goddesses
Smithing goddesses
Tutelary goddesses
War goddesses
Wisdom goddesses
Women metalsmiths
Snake goddesses
Agricultural goddesses
New religious movement deities
Children of Zeus
Metamorphoses characters
Deeds of Poseidon
Rape of Persephone
Deities in the Iliad
Attic mythology
Civic personifications
Women in Greek mythology
Textiles in folklore
Characters in the Odyssey
Women warriors
Women of the Trojan war
Twelve Olympians
Kourotrophoi
Arts goddesses
Shapeshifters in Greek mythology
Odyssean gods |
1213 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actaeon | Actaeon | Actaeon (; Aktaiōn), in Greek mythology, was the son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, and a famous Theban hero. Through his mother he was a member of the ruling House of Cadmus. Like Achilles, in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron.
He fell to the fatal wrath of Artemis (later his myth was attached to her Roman counterpart Diana), but the surviving details of his transgression vary: "the only certainty is in what Aktaion suffered, his pathos, and what Artemis did: the hunter became the hunted; he was transformed into a stag, and his raging hounds, struck with a 'wolf's frenzy' (Lyssa), tore him apart as they would a stag."
The many depictions both in ancient art and in the Renaissance and post-Renaissance art normally show either the moment of transgression and transformation, or his death by his own hounds.
Story
Among others, John Heath has observed, "The unalterable kernel of the tale was a hunter's transformation into a deer and his death in the jaws of his hunting dogs. But authors were free to suggest different motives for his death." In the version that was offered by the Hellenistic poet Callimachus, which has become the standard setting, Artemis was bathing in the woods when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Artemis got revenge on Actaeon: she forbade him speech – if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a stag – for the unlucky profanation of her virginity's mystery.
Upon hearing the call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and immediately transformed. At this, he fled deep into the woods, and doing so he came upon a pond and, seeing his reflection, groaned. His own hounds then turned upon him and pursued him, not recognizing him. In an endeavour to save himself, he raised his eyes (and would have raised his arms, had he had them) toward Mount Olympus. The gods did not heed his desperation, and he was torn to pieces. An element of the earlier myth made Actaeon the familiar hunting companion of Artemis, no stranger. In an embroidered extension of the myth, the hounds were so upset with their master's death, that Chiron made a statue so lifelike that the hounds thought it was Actaeon.
There are various other versions of his transgression: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheke state that his offense was that he was a rival of Zeus for Semele, his mother's sister, whereas in Euripides' Bacchae he has boasted that he is a better hunter than Artemis:
Further materials, including fragments that belong with the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and at least four Attic tragedies, including a Toxotides of Aeschylus, have been lost. Diodorus Siculus (4.81.4), in a variant of Actaeon's hubris that has been largely ignored, has it that Actaeon wanted to marry Artemis. Other authors say the hounds were Artemis' own; some lost elaborations of the myth seem to have given them all names and narrated their wanderings after his loss.
According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid having accidentally seen Diana (Artemis) on Mount Cithaeron while she was bathing, he was changed by her into a stag, and pursued and killed by his fifty hounds. This version also appears in Callimachus' Fifth Hymn, as a mythical parallel to the blinding of Tiresias after he sees Athena bathing.
The literary testimony of Actaeon's myth is largely lost, but Lamar Ronald Lacy, deconstructing the myth elements in what survives and supplementing it by iconographic evidence in late vase-painting, made a plausible reconstruction of an ancient Actaeon myth that Greek poets may have inherited and subjected to expansion and dismemberment. His reconstruction opposes a too-pat consensus that has an archaic Actaeon aspiring to Semele, a classical Actaeon boasting of his hunting prowess and a Hellenistic Actaeon glimpsing Artemis' bath. Lacy identifies the site of Actaeon's transgression as a spring sacred to Artemis at Plataea where Actaeon was a hero archegetes ("hero-founder") The righteous hunter, the companion of Artemis, seeing her bathing naked in the spring, was moved to try to make himself her consort, as Diodorus Siculus noted, and was punished, in part for transgressing the hunter's "ritually enforced deference to Artemis" (Lacy 1990:42).
Names of dogs
Notes:
Names of dogs were verified to correspond to the list given in Ovid's text where the names were already transliterated.
? = Seven listed names of dogs in Hyginus' Fabulae, was probably misread or misinterpreted by later authors because it does not correspond to the exact numbers and names given by Ovid:
Arcas signifies Arcadia, place of origin of three dogs namely Pamphagos, Dorceus and Oribasus
Cyprius means Cyprus, where the dogs Lysisca and Harpalos originated
Gnosius can be read as Knossus in Crete, which signify that Ichnobates was a Knossian breed of dog
Echnobas, Elion, Aura and Therodanapis were probably place names or adjectives defining the characteristics of dogs
The "bed of Actaeon"
In the second century AD, the traveller Pausanias was shown a spring on the road in Attica leading to Plataea from Eleutherae, just beyond Megara "and a little farther on a rock. It is called the bed of Actaeon, for it is said that he slept thereon when weary with hunting and that into this spring he looked while Artemis was bathing in it."
Parallels in Akkadian and Ugarit poems
In the standard version of the Epic of Gilgamesh (tablet vi) there is a parallel, in the series of examples Gilgamesh gives Ishtar of her mistreatment of her serial lovers:
You loved the herdsman, shepherd and chief shepherd Who was always heaping up the glowing ashes for you, And cooked ewe-lambs for you every day. But you hit him and turned him into a wolf, His own herd-boys hunt him down
And his dogs tear at his haunches. Actaeon, torn apart by dogs incited by Artemis, finds another Near Eastern parallel in the Ugaritic hero Aqht, torn apart by eagles incited by Anath who wanted his hunting bow.
The virginal Artemis of classical times is not directly comparable to Ishtar of the many lovers, but the mytheme of Artemis shooting Orion, was linked to her punishment of Actaeon by T.C.W. Stinton;<ref>Stinton "Euripides and the Judgement of Paris" (London, 1965:45 note 14) reprinted in Stinton, Collected Papers on Greek Tragedy (London, 1990:51 note 14).</ref> the Greek context of the mortal's reproach to the amorous goddess is translated to the episode of Anchises and Aphrodite. Daphnis too was a herdsman loved by a goddess and punished by her: see Theocritus' First Idyll.
Symbolism regarding Actaeon
In Greek Mythology, Actaeon is widely thought to symbolize ritual human sacrifice in attempt to please a God or Goddess: the dogs symbolize the sacrificers and Actaeon symbolizes the sacrifice.
Actaeon may symbolize human curiosity or irreverence.
The myth is seen by Jungian psychologist Wolfgang Giegerich as a symbol of spiritual transformation and/or enlightenment.
Actaeon often symbolizes a cuckold, as when he is turned into a stag, he becomes "horned". This is alluded to in Shakespeare's Merry Wives, Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and others.Gordon Williams, [ A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature], 2001, , p. 8-9.
Cultural depictions
The two main scenes are Actaeon surprising Artemis/Diana, and his death. In classical art Actaeon is normally shown as fully human, even as his hounds are killing him (sometimes he has small horns), but in Renaissance art he is often given a deer's head with antlers even in the scene with Diana, and by the time he is killed he has at the least this head, and has often completely transformed into the shape of a deer.
Aeschylus and other tragic poets made use of the story, which was a favourite subject in ancient works of art.
There is a well-known small marble group in the British Museum illustrative of the story, in gallery 83/84.
Two paintings by the 16th century painter Titian (Death of Actaeon and Diana and Actaeon).Actéon, an operatic pastorale by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Percy Bysshe Shelley suggests a parallel between his alter-ego and Actaeon in his elegy for John Keats, Adonais, stanza 31 ('[he] had gazed on Nature's naked loveliness/ Actaeon-like, and now he fled astray/ .../ And his own thoughts, along that rugged way,/ Pursued, like raging hounds, their father and their prey.')
The aria "Oft she visits this lone mountain" from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, first performed in 1689 or earlier.
Giordano Bruno, Gli Eroici Furori.
In canto V of Giambattista Marino's poem the protagonist goes to theater to see a tragedy representing the myth of Actaeon. This episode foreshadows the protagonist's violent death at the end of the book.
In Act I Scene 2 of Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, Actaeon is Diana (Artemis)'s lover, and it is Jupiter who turns him into a stag, which puts Diana off hunting. His story is relinquished at this point, in favour of the other plots.
Ted Hughes wrote a version of the story in his Tales from Ovid.
Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux from Marius Petipa's ballet, Le Roi Candaule, to the music by Riccardo Drigo and Cesare Pugni, later incorporated into the second act of La Esmeralda (ballet).
In Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Orsino compares his unrequited love for Olivia to the fate of Actaeon. "O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence, That instant was I turned into a hart, and my desires like fell and cruel hounds e'er since pursue me." Act 1 Scene 1.
In Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II, courtier Piers Gaveston seeks to entertain his lover, King Edward II of England, by presenting a play based on the Actaeon myth. In Gaveston's version, Diane is played by a naked boy holding an olive branch to hide his loins, and it is the boy-Diane who transforms Actaeon into a hart and lets him be devoured by the hounds. Thus, Gaveston's (and Marlowe's) interpretation adds a strong element of homoeroticism, absent from the original myth.
Paul Manship in 1925 created a set of copper statute of Diane and Actaeon, which in the Luce Lunder Smithsonian Institution.
French based collective LFKs and his film/theatre director, writer and visual artist Jean Michel Bruyere produced a series of 600 shorts and "medium" films, an interactive 360° installation, Si poteris narrare licet ("if you are able to speak of it, then you may do so") in 2002, a 3D 360° installation La Dispersion du Fils (from 2008 to 2016) and an outdoor performance, Une Brutalité pastorale (2000) all about the myth of Diana and Actaeon.
In Matthew Barney's 2019 movie Redoubt set in the Sawtooth Mountains of the U.S. state of Idaho and an accompanying traveling art exhibition originating at the Yale University Art Gallery the myth is retold by the visual artist and filmmaker via avenues of his own design.
Royal House of Thebes family tree
Notes
ReferencesThe Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. "Actaeon".
Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.138ff.
Euripides, Bacchae'', 337–340.
Diodorus Siculus, 4.81.4.
External links
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 260 images of Actaeon)
. Actaeon by Fabio F. Centamore]
Deaths due to dog attacks
Mythological Greek archers
Metamorphoses characters
Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology
Deeds of Artemis
Deeds of Zeus
Dogs in art
Inanna
Anat
Mythological deer |
1254 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%201 | August 1 |
Events
Pre-1600
30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.
527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily.
1203 – Isaac II Angelos, restored Byzantine Emperor, declares his son Alexios IV Angelos co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.
1291 – The Old Swiss Confederacy is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.
1469 – Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise.
1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.
1571 – The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus is concluded, by the surrender of Famagusta.
1601–1900
1620 – Speedwell leaves Delfshaven to bring pilgrims to America by way of England.
1664 – Ottoman forces are defeated in the battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
1714 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era of British history.
1759 – Seven Years' War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay): Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.
1800 – The Acts of Union 1800 are passed which merge the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, although it remains legal in the possessions of the East India Company until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act, 1843.
1834 – Construction begins on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull.
1842 – The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
1849 – Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo.
1855 – The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.
1863 – At the suggestion of Senator J. V. Snellman and the order of Emperor Alexander II, full rights were promised to the Finnish language by a language regulation in the Grand Duchy of Finland.
1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
1893 – Henry Perky patents shredded wheat.
1894 – The Empire of Japan and Qing China declare war on each other after a week of fighting over Korea, formally inaugurating the First Sino-Japanese War.
1901–present
1907 – The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.
1911 – Harriet Quimby takes her pilot's test and becomes the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator's certificate.
1915 – Patrick Pearse gives his famous speech "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace" at O'Donovan Rossa's funeral in Dublin.
1914 – The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.
1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
1933 – Anti-Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona.
1936 – The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
1937 – Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
1943 – World War II: Operation Tidal Wave also known as "Black Sunday", was a failed American attempt to destroy Romanian oil fields.
1944 – World War II: The Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
1946 – Leaders of the Russian Liberation Army, a force of Russian prisoners of war that collaborated with Nazi Germany, are executed in Moscow, Soviet Union for treason.
1950 – Guam is organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States as the President Harry S. Truman signs the Guam Organic Act.
1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.
1960 – Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
1961 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization.
1964 – The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1965 – Frank Herbert's novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world's best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.
1966 – Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.
1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1968 – The coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, is held.
1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1974 – Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the "Green Line", dividing Cyprus into two zones.
1976 – Niki Lauda has a severe accident that almost claims his life at the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.
1980 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world's first democratically elected female head of state.
1980 – A train crash kills 18 people in County Cork, Ireland.
1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
1984 – Commercial peat-cutters discover the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, England.
1988 – A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.
1993 – The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.
2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 others in Asunción, Paraguay.
2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
2008 – The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.
2008 – Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.
2017 – A suicide attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan kills 20 people.
2023 – Former US President Donald Trump is indicted for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, his third indictment in 2023.
Births
Pre-1600
10 BC – Claudius, Roman emperor (d. 54)
126 – Pertinax, Roman emperor (d. 193)
845 – Sugawara no Michizane, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 903)
992 – Hyeonjong of Goryeo, Korean king (d. 1031)
1068 – Emperor Taizu of Jin, Chinese emperor (d. 1123)
1313 – Kōgon, Japanese emperor (d. 1364)
1377 – Go-Komatsu, Japanese emperor (d. 1433)
1385 – John FitzAlan, 13th Earl of Arundel (d. 1421)
1410 – John IV, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count (d. 1475)
1492 – Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince (d. 1566)
1520 – Sigismund II, Polish king (d. 1572)
1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and scholar (d. 1622)
1555 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)
1579 – Luis Vélez de Guevara, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1644)
1601–1900
1626 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi and theorist (d. 1676)
1630 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1673)
1659 – Sebastiano Ricci, Italian painter (d. 1734)
1713 – Charles I, German duke and prince (d. 1780)
1714 – Richard Wilson, Welsh painter and academic (d. 1782)
1738 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (d. 1794)
1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French soldier, biologist, and academic (d. 1829)
1770 – William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th Governor of Missouri Territory (d. 1838)
1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1843)
1779 – Lorenz Oken, German-Swiss botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (d. 1851)
1809 – William B. Travis, American colonel and lawyer (d. 1836)
1815 – Richard Henry Dana Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1882)
1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1889)
1819 – Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1891)
1831 – Antonio Cotogni, Italian opera singer and educator (d. 1918)
1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)
1856 – George Coulthard, Australian footballer and cricketer (d. 1883)
1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French lawyer and politician, 13th President of France (d. 1937)
1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1884)
1860 – Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (d. 1918)
1861 – Sammy Jones, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
1865 – Isobel Lilian Gloag, English painter (d. 1917)
1871 – John Lester, American cricketer and soccer player (d. 1969)
1877 – George Hackenschmidt, Estonian-English wrestler and strongman (d. 1968)
1878 – Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, Greek physician and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1961)
1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1940)
1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
1889 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (d. 1979)
1891 – Karl Kobelt, Swiss lawyer and politician, 52nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1968)
1893 – Alexander of Greece (d. 1920)
1894 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (d. 1927)
1898 – Morris Stoloff, American composer and musical director (d. 1980)
1899 – Raymond Mays, English race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
1900 – Otto Nothling, Australian cricketer and rugby player (d. 1965)
1901–present
1901 – Francisco Guilledo, Filipino boxer (d. 1925)
1903 – Paul Horgan, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1995)
1905 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, American-Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1993)
1907 – Eric Shipton, Sri Lankan-English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
1910 – James Henry Govier, English painter and illustrator (d. 1974)
1910 – Walter Scharf, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
1910 – Gerda Taro, German war photographer (d. 1937)
1911 – Jackie Ormes, American journalist and cartoonist (d. 1985)
1912 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1979)
1912 – Gego, German-Venezuelan sculptor and academic (d. 1994)
1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)
1914 – Jack Delano, American photographer and composer (d. 1997)
1914 – Alan Moore, Australian painter and educator (d. 2015)
1914 – J. Lee Thompson, English-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
1916 – Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
1916 – Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (d. 2000)
1918 – T. J. Jemison, American minister and activist (d. 2013)
1919 – Stanley Middleton, English author (d. 2009)
1920 – Raul Renter, Estonian economist and chess player (d. 1992)
1920 – James Mourilyan Tanner, British paediatric endocrinologist (d. 2010)
1921 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player, sailor, and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1921 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)
1922 – Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (d. 2006)
1924 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (d. 2015)
1924 – Frank Havens, American canoeist (d. 2018)
1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1924 – Frank Worrell, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1967)
1925 – Ernst Jandl, Austrian poet and author (d. 2000)
1926 – George Hauptfuhrer, American basketball player and lawyer (d. 2013)
1926 – Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality (d. 2018)
1926 – George Habash, Palestinian politician, founder of the PFLP (d. 2008)
1927 – María Teresa López Boegeholz, Chilean oceanographer (d. 2006)
1927 – Anthony G. Bosco, American bishop (d. 2013)
1928 – Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1929 – Hafizullah Amin, Afghan educator and politician, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1979)
1929 – Ann Calvello, American roller derby racer (d. 2006)
1929 – Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress (d. 2018)
1930 – Lionel Bart, English composer (d. 1999)
1930 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (d. 2002)
1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actress and writer (d. 1991)
1930 – Lawrence Eagleburger, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd United States Secretary of State (d. 2011)
1930 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1996)
1930 – Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian-American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
1931 – Ramblin' Jack Elliott, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1931 – Trevor Goddard, South African cricketer (d. 2016)
1932 – Meir Kahane, American-Israeli rabbi and activist, founded the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)
1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, singer, director, and producer (d. 2009)
1933 – Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
1933 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (d. 1972)
1933 – Teri Shields, American actress, producer, and agent (d. 2012)
1933 – Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian and author (d. 2007)
1934 – John Beck, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2000)
1934 – Derek Birdsall, English graphic designer
1935 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (d. 2014)
1936 – W. D. Hamilton, Egyptian born British biologist, psychologist, and academic (d. 2000)
1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-French fashion designer, co-founded Yves Saint Laurent (d. 2008)
1936 – Laurie Taylor, English sociologist, radio host, and academic
1937 – Al D'Amato, American lawyer and politician
1939 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (d. 2015)
1939 – Terry Kiser, American actor
1939 – Stephen Sykes, English bishop and theologian (d. 2014)
1939 – Robert James Waller, American author and photographer (d. 2017)
1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire
1940 – Henry Silverman, American businessman, founded Cendant
1940 – Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Iranian writer and actor
1941 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1996)
1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1942 – Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Dmitry Nikolayevich Filippov, Russian banker and politician (d. 1998)
1945 – Douglas Osheroff, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1946 – Boz Burrell, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and guitarist (d. 2006)
1946 – Rick Coonce, American drummer (d. 2011)
1946 – Richard O. Covey, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1946 – Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist and academic
1947 – Lorna Goodison, Jamaican poet and author
1947 – Chantal Montellier, French comics creator and artist
1948 – Avi Arad, Israeli-American screenwriter and producer, founded Marvel Studios
1948 – Cliff Branch, American football player (d. 2019)
1948 – David Gemmell, English journalist and author (d. 2006)
1949 – Bettina Arndt, Australian writer and commentator
1949 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstani politician, 2nd President of Kyrgyzstan
1949 – Jim Carroll, American poet, author, and musician (d. 2009)
1949 – Ray Nettles, American football player (d. 2009)
1950 – Roy Williams, American basketball player and coach
1951 – Tim Bachman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2023)
1951 – Tommy Bolin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1952 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
1953 – Robert Cray, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist and author
1954 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican-Canadian boxer (d. 2006)
1954 – James Gleick, American journalist and author
1954 – Benno Möhlmann, German footballer and manager
1957 – Anne-Marie Hutchinson, British lawyer (d. 2020)
1957 – Taylor Negron, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1958 – Rob Buck, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2000)
1958 – Michael Penn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Joe Elliott, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1960 – Chuck D, American rapper and songwriter
1960 – Suzi Gardner, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Jacob Matlala, South African boxer (d. 2013)
1963 – Demián Bichir, Mexican-American actor and producer
1963 – Coolio, American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2022)
1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor
1963 – Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut and engineer
1963 – Dean Wareham, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Adam Duritz, American singer-songwriter and producer
1964 – Fiona Hyslop, Scottish businesswoman and politician
1964 – Augusta Read Thomas, American composer, conductor and educator
1965 – Brandt Jobe, American golfer
1965 – Sam Mendes, English director and producer
1966 – James St. James, American club promoter and author
1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player and coach
1967 – José Padilha, Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter
1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player and coach
1968 – Dan Donegan, American heavy metal guitarist and songwriter
1968 – Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
1969 – Andrei Borissov, Estonian footballer and manager
1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player and scout
1969 – Graham Thorpe, English cricketer and journalist
1970 – Quentin Coryatt, American football player
1970 – David James, English footballer and manager
1970 – Eugenie van Leeuwen, Dutch cricketer
1972 – Nicke Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Christer Basma, Norwegian footballer and coach
1972 – Todd Bouman, American football player and coach
1972 – Thomas Woods, American historian, economist, and academic
1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American soccer player and coach
1973 – Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian runner
1973 – Edurne Pasaban, Spanish mountaineer
1974 – Cher Calvin, American journalist
1974 – Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (d. 2014)
1974 – Tyron Henderson, South African cricketer
1974 – Dennis Lawrence, Trinidadian footballer and coach
1974 – Beckie Scott, Canadian skier
1975 – Vhrsti, Czech author and illustrator
1976 – Don Hertzfeldt, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
1976 – Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer
1976 – Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer
1976 – David Nemirovsky, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer and manager
1976 – Cristian Stoica, Romanian-Italian rugby player
1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1977 – Haspop, French-Moroccan dancer, choreographer, and actor
1977 – Darnerien McCants, American-Canadian football player
1977 – Damien Saez, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Yoshi Tatsu, Japanese wrestler and boxer
1978 – Andy Blignaut, Zimbabwean cricketer
1978 – Björn Ferry, Swedish biathlete
1978 – Dhani Harrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Chris Iwelumo, Scottish footballer
1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
1979 – Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer (d. 2019)
1979 – Nathan Fien, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor, director, and producer
1979 – Grant Wooden, Australian rugby league player
1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Romain Barras, French decathlete
1980 – Esteban Paredes, Chilean footballer
1981 – Dean Cox, Australian footballer
1981 – Pia Haraldsen, Norwegian journalist and author
1981 – Christofer Heimeroth, German footballer
1981 – Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer
1981 – Jamie Jones-Buchanan, English rugby player
1982 – Basem Fathi, Jordanian footballer
1982 – Montserrat Lombard, English actress, director, and screenwriter
1983 – Bobby Carpenter, American football player
1983 – Craig Clarke, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Julien Faubert, French footballer
1983 – David Gervasi, Swiss decathlete
1984 – Steve Feak, American game designer
1984 – Francesco Gavazzi, Italian cyclist
1984 – Brandon Kintzler, American baseball player
1984 – Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer
1985 – Stuart Holden, Scottish-American soccer player
1985 – Adam Jones, American baseball player
1985 – Cole Kimball, American baseball player
1985 – Tendai Mtawarira, South African rugby player
1985 – Kris Stadsgaard, Danish footballer
1985 – Dušan Švento, Slovak footballer
1986 – Damien Allen, English footballer
1986 – Anton Strålman, Swedish ice hockey player
1986 – Andrew Taylor, English footballer
1986 – Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player
1986 – Mike Wallace, American football player
1987 – Iago Aspas, Spanish footballer
1987 – Karen Carney, English women's footballer
1987 – Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer
1987 – Lee Wallace, Scottish footballer
1987 – Taapsee Pannu, Indian actress
1988 – Mustafa Abdellaoue, Norwegian footballer
1988 – Nemanja Matić, Serbian footballer
1988 – Patryk Małecki, Polish footballer
1988 – Bodene Thompson, New Zealand rugby league player
1989 – Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
1989 – Tiffany Hwang, Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress
1990 – Aledmys Díaz, Cuban baseball player
1990 – Elton Jantjies, South African rugby player
1991 – Piotr Malarczyk, Polish footballer
1991 – Marco Puntoriere, Italian footballer
1992 – Austin Rivers, American basketball player
1992 – Mrunal Thakur, Indian actress
1993 – Álex Abrines, Spanish basketball player
1993 – Leon Thomas III, American actor and singer
1994 – Sergeal Petersen, South African rugby player
1994 – Ayaka Wada, Japanese singer
1995 – Madison Cawthorn, American politician
1996 – Katie Boulter, British tennis player
2001 – Park Si-eun, South Korean actress
2001 – Ben Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
2003 – Joseph Sua'ali'i, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
Deaths
Pre-1600
30 BC – Mark Antony, Roman general and politician (b. 83 BC)
371 – Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop and saint (b. 283)
527 – Justin I, Byzantine emperor (b. 450)
690s – Jonatus, abbot and saint
873 – Thachulf, duke of Thuringia
946 – Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, Abbasid vizier (b. 859)
946 – Lady Xu Xinyue, Chinese queen (b. 902)
953 – Yingtian, Chinese Khitan empress (b. 879)
984 – Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester
1098 – Adhemar of Le Puy, French papal legate
1137 – Louis VI, king of France (b. 1081)
1146 – Vsevolod II of Kiev, Russian prince
1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
1252 – Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Italian archbishop and explorer (b. 1180)
1299 – Conrad de Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strasbourg (b. 1240)
1402 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1341)
1457 – Lorenzo Valla, Italian author and educator (b. 1406)
1464 – Cosimo de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1386)
1494 – Giovanni Santi, artist and father of Raphael (b. c. 1435)
1541 – Simon Grynaeus, German theologian and scholar (b. 1493)
1543 – Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1488)
1546 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)
1557 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish archbishop, historian, and cartographer (b. 1490)
1580 – Albrecht Giese, Polish-German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
1601–1900
1603 – Matthew Browne, English politician (b. 1563)
1714 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (b. 1665)
1787 – Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1696)
1795 – Clas Bjerkander, Swedish meteorologist, botanist, and entomologist (b. 1735)
1796 – Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet, English colonel and politician (b. 1720)
1797 – Emanuel Granberg, Finnish church painter (b. 1754)
1798 – François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, French admiral (b. 1753)
1807 – John Boorman, English cricketer (b. c. 1754)
1807 – John Walker, English actor, philologist, and lexicographer (b. 1732)
1808 – Lady Diana Beauclerk, English painter and illustrator (b. 1734)
1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (b. 1763)
1851 – William Joseph Behr, German publicist and academic (b. 1775)
1863 – Jind Kaur Majarani (Regent) of the Sikh Empire (b. 1817)
1866 – John Ross, American tribal chief (b. 1790)
1869 – Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1815)
1869 – Peter Julian Eymard, French Priest and Founder Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (b. 1811)
1901–present
1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and scout (b. 1853)
1911 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (b. 1852)
1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (b. 1843)
1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and police officer (b. 1854)
1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian freedom fighter, lawyer and journalist (b. 1856)
1921 – T.J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
1922 – Donát Bánki, Hungarian engineer (b. 1856)
1929 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
1938 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and academic (b. 1862)
1943 – Lydia Litvyak, Soviet lieutenant and pilot (b. 1921)
1944 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (b. 1878)
1957 – Rose Fyleman, English writer and poet (b. 1877)
1959 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (b. 1921)
1963 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
1966 – Charles Whitman, American murderer (b. 1941)
1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)
1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
1970 – Doris Fleeson, American journalist (b. 1901)
1970 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (b. 1882)
1973 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (b. 1893)
1974 – Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian cardinal (b. 1898)
1977 – Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (b. 1929)
1980 – Patrick Depailler, French race car driver (b. 1944)
1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)
1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
1981 – Kevin Lynch, Irish Republican, Hunger Striker
1982 – T. Thirunavukarasu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist and composer (b. 1937)
1990 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist, author, and academic (b. 1897)
1996 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1996 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and surgeon (b. 1929)
1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-British actress (b. 1927)
2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
2003 – Marie Trintignant, French actress and screenwriter (b. 1962)
2004 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (b. 1913)
2005 – Al Aronowitz, American journalist (b. 1928)
2005 – Wim Boost, Dutch cartoonist and educator (b. 1918)
2005 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter and sculptor (b. 1920)
2005 – Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
2006 – Bob Thaves, American illustrator (b. 1924)
2006 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and activist (b. 1949)
2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1932)
2008 – Gertan Klauber, Czech-English actor (b. 1932)
2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
2009 – Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
2010 – Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican-American activist (b. 1919)
2010 – Eric Tindill, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer (b. 1910)
2012 – Aldo Maldera, Italian footballer and agent (b. 1953)
2012 – Douglas Townsend, American composer and musicologist (b. 1921)
2012 – Barry Trapnell, English cricketer and academic (b. 1924)
2013 – John Amis, English journalist and critic (b. 1922)
2013 – Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (b. 1932)
2013 – Babe Martin, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2013 – Toby Saks, American cellist and educator (b. 1942)
2013 – Wilford White, American football player (b. 1928)
2014 – Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (b. 1973)
2014 – Jan Roar Leikvoll, Norwegian author (b. 1974)
2014 – Charles T. Payne, American soldier (b. 1925)
2014 – Mike Smith, English radio and television host (b. 1955)
2015 – Stephan Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (b. 1968)
2015 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (b. 1943)
2015 – Bernard d'Espagnat, French physicist, philosopher, and author (b. 1921)
2015 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (b. 1939)
2015 – Hong Yuanshuo, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1948)
2016 – Queen Anne of Romania (b. 1923)
2020 – Wilford Brimley, American actor and singer (b. 1934)
2020 – Rodney H. Pardey, American poker player (b. 1945)
2020 – Rickey Dixon, American professional football player (b. 1966)
2021 – Abdalqadir as-Sufi, Scottish Islamic scholar and writer (b. 1930)
2021 – Jerry Ziesmer, American assistant director, production manager and occasional actor (b. 1939)
Holidays and observances
Armed Forces Day (Lebanon)
Armed Forces Day (China) or Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army (People's Republic of China)
Azerbaijani Language and Alphabet Day (Azerbaijan)
Emancipation Day is commemorated in many parts of the former British Empire, which marks the day the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 came into effect which abolished chattel slavery in the British Empire:
Emancipation Day is a public holiday in Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
Christian feast day:
Abgar V of Edessa (Syrian Church)
Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori
Æthelwold of Winchester
Bernard Võ Văn Duệ (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
Blessed Gerhard Hirschfelder
Eusebius of Vercelli
Exuperius of Bayeux
Felix of Girona
Peter Apostle in Chains
Procession of the Cross and the beginning of Dormition Fast (Eastern Orthodoxy)
The Holy Maccabees
August 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Minden Day (United Kingdom)
National Day, celebrates the independence of Benin from France in 1960.
National Day, commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit in 1291.
Official Birthday and Coronation Day of the King of Tonga (Tonga)
Parents' Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Statehood Day (Colorado)
Swiss National Day (Switzerland)
The beginning of autumn observances in the Northern hemisphere and spring observances in the Southern hemisphere (Neopagan Wheel of the Year):
Lughnasadh in the Northern hemisphere, Imbolc in the Southern hemisphere; traditionally begins on the eve of August 1. (Gaels, Ireland, Scotland, Neopagans)
Lammas (England, Scotland, Neopagans)
Pachamama Raymi (Quechuan in Ecuador and Peru)
The first day of Carnaval del Pueblo (Burgess Park, London, England)
Victory Day (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
World Scout Scarf Day
Yorkshire Day (Yorkshire, England)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1259 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%203 | August 3 |
Events
Pre-1600
8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bosna.
435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.
908 – Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats an East Frankish army under Duke Burchard of Thuringia.
1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
1057 – Frederick of Lorraine elected as Pope Stephen IX.
1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1601–1900
1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.
1645 – Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
1778 – The theatre La Scala in Milan is inaugurated with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed, ending the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
1829 – The Treaty of Lewistown is signed by the Shawnee and Seneca peoples, exchanging land in Ohio for land west of the Mississippi River.
1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also known as the first ever American intercollegiate athletic event.
1859 – The American Dental Association is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.
1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.
1901–present
1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists for only ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France, while Romania declares its neutrality.
1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.
1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
1949 – The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger that would create the National Basketball Association.
1958 – The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
1960 – Niger gains independence from France.
1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.
1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria: A total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
2007 – Former deputy director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
2014 – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake kills at least 617 people and injures more than 2,400 in Yunnan, China.
2014 – The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL begins.
2018 – Two burka-clad men kill 29 people and injure more than 80 in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in eastern Afghanistan.
2019 – Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.
2019 – Twenty-three people are killed and 22 injured in a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
2023 – Worst floods hit major parts of Slovenia.
Births
Pre-1600
1442 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (d. 1499)
1486 – Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (d. 1512)
1491 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, German noblewoman (d. 1543)
1509 – Étienne Dolet, French scholar and translator (d. 1546)
1601–1900
1622 – Wolfgang Julius, Count of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, German field marshal (d. 1698)
1692 – John Henley, English minister and poet (d. 1759)
1724 – Alvise Foscari, Venetian admiral (d. 1790)
1766 – Aaron Chorin, Hungarian rabbi and author (d. 1844)
1770 – Frederick William III of Prussia (d. 1840)
1803 – Joseph Paxton, English gardener and architect, designed The Crystal Palace (d. 1865)
1808 – Hamilton Fish, American lawyer and politician, 26th United States Secretary of State (d. 1893)
1811 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (d. 1861)
1817 – Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen (d. 1895)
1823 – Thomas Francis Meagher, Irish-American revolutionary and military leader, territorial governor of Montana (d. 1867)
1832 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer, conductor, and director (d. 1914)
1840 – John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, English jurist and politician (d. 1929)
1850 – Reginald Heber Roe, English-Australian swimmer, tennis player, and academic (d. 1926)
1856 – Alfred Deakin, Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1919)
1860 – William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 1935)
1863 – Géza Gárdonyi, Hungarian author and journalist (d. 1922)
1867 – Stanley Baldwin, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1947)
1871 – Vernon Louis Parrington, American historian and scholar (d. 1929)
1872 – Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957)
1886 – Maithili Sharan Gupt, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1964)
1887 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (d. 1915)
1887 – August Wesley, Finnish journalist, trade unionist, and revolutionary (d. ?)
1890 – Konstantin Melnikov, Russian architect, designed the Rusakov Workers' Club (d. 1974)
1894 – Harry Heilmann, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1951)
1895 – Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English politician (d. 1942)
1896 – Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
1899 – Louis Chiron, Monegasque race car driver (d. 1979)
1900 – Ernie Pyle, American soldier and journalist (d. 1945)
1900 – John T. Scopes, American educator (d. 1970)
1901–present
1901 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
1901 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (d. 1981)
1902 – Regina Jonas, German rabbi (d. 1944)
1902 – David Buttolph, American film composer (d. 1983)
1903 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian journalist and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Tunisia (d. 2000)
1904 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (d. 1983)
1904 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (d. 1988)
1905 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (d. 2004)
1907 – Lawrence Brown, American trombonist and composer (d. 1988)
1907 – Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general and politician, 29th President of Brazil (d. 1996)
1907 – Yang Shangkun, Chinese politician, and 4th President of China (d. 1998)
1909 – Walter Van Tilburg Clark, American author and educator (d. 1971)
1911 – Alex McCrindle, Scottish actor and producer (d. 1990)
1912 – Fritz Hellwig, German politician (d. 2017)
1913 – Mel Tolkin, Ukrainian-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2007)
1916 – Shakeel Badayuni, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1970)
1916 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1978)
1917 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1995)
1918 – James MacGregor Burns, American historian, political scientist, and author (d. 2014)
1918 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (d. 1999)
1918 – Larry Haines, American actor (d. 2008)
1918 – Eddie Jefferson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
1920 – Norman Dewis, English test driver and engineer (d. 2019)
1920 – Max Fatchen, Australian journalist and author (d. 2012)
1920 – P. D. James, English author (d. 2014)
1920 – Charlie Shavers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1971)
1920 – Elmar Tampõld, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2013)
1921 – Richard Adler, American composer and producer (d. 2012)
1921 – Hayden Carruth, American poet and critic (d. 2008)
1921 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (d. 1972)
1922 – John Eisenhower, American historian, general, and diplomat, 45th United States Ambassador to Belgium (d. 2013)
1923 – Jean Hagen, American actress (d. 1977)
1923 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria (d. 2012)
1924 – Connie Converse, American musician and singer-songwriter
1924 – Leon Uris, American soldier and author (d. 2003)
1925 – Marv Levy, American-Canadian football player, coach, and manager
1925 – Lewis Rowland, American neurologist (d. 2017)
1926 – Rona Anderson, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
1926 – Tony Bennett, American singer and actor (d. 2023)
1926 – Anthony Sampson, English journalist and author (d. 2004)
1926 – Gordon Scott, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Rushdy Abaza, Egyptian actor (d. 1980)
1928 – Cécile Aubry, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1928 – Henning Moritzen, Danish actor (d. 2012)
1930 – James Komack, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1933 – Pat Crawford, Australian cricketer (d. 2009)
1934 – Haystacks Calhoun, American wrestler and actor (d. 1989)
1934 – Michael Chapman, English bassoon player (d. 2005)
1934 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (d. 2002)
1935 – John Erman, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2021)
1935 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and cosmonaut (d. 1997)
1935 – Vic Vogel, Canadian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2019)
1936 – Jerry G. Bishop, American radio and television host (d. 2013)
1936 – Edward Petherbridge, English actor
1937 – Steven Berkoff, English actor, director, and playwright
1937 – Roland Burris, American lawyer and politician, 39th Illinois Attorney General
1937 – Duncan Sharpe, Pakistani-Australian cricketer
1938 – Terry Wogan, Irish radio and television host (d. 2016)
1939 – Jimmie Nicol, English drummer
1939 – Apoorva Sengupta, Indian general and cricketer (d. 2013)
1940 – Lance Alworth, American football player
1940 – Martin Sheen, American actor and producer
1940 – James Tyler, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2010)
1941 – Beverly Lee, American singer
1941 – Martha Stewart, American businesswoman, publisher, and author, founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
1943 – Béla Bollobás, Hungarian-English mathematician and academic
1943 – Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson of Sweden
1943 – Steven Millhauser, American novelist and short story writer
1944 – Morris Berman, American historian and social critic
1944 – Nino Bravo, Spanish singer (d. 1973)
1945 – Eamon Dunphy, Irish footballer and journalist
1946 – Robert Ayling, English businessman
1946 – Jack Straw, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1946 – Syreeta Wright, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1946 – John York, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1947 – Ralph Wright, English footballer (d. 2020)
1948 – Jean-Pierre Raffarin, French lawyer and politician, 166th Prime Minister of France
1949 – Philip Casnoff, American actor and director
1949 – B. B. Dickerson, American bass player and songwriter
1949 – Sue Slipman, English politician
1950 – Linda Howard, American author
1950 – John Landis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Jo Marie Payton, American actress and singer
1950 – Ernesto Samper, Colombian economist and politician, 29th President of Colombia
1951 – Marcel Dionne, Canadian ice hockey player
1951 – Jay North, American actor
1952 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentinian footballer and manager
1953 – Ian Bairnson, Scottish saxophonist and keyboard player
1953 – Marlene Dumas, South African painter
1954 – Michael Arthur, English physician and academic
1954 – Gary Peters, English footballer and manager
1956 – Kirk Brandon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Todd Christensen, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
1956 – Dave Cloud, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
1956 – Balwinder Sandhu, Indian cricketer and coach
1957 – Bodo Rudwaleit, German footballer and manager
1957 – Kate Wilkinson, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 11th New Zealand Minister of Conservation
1958 – Lindsey Hilsum, English journalist and author
1958 – Ana Kokkinos, Australian director and screenwriter
1959 – Martin Atkins, English drummer and producer
1959 – Mike Gminski, American basketball player and sportscaster
1959 – John C. McGinley, American actor and producer
1959 – Koichi Tanaka, Japanese chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
1960 – Tim Mayotte, American tennis player and coach
1960 – Gopal Sharma, Indian cricketer
1961 – Molly Hagan, American actress
1961 – Nick Harvey, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1961 – Lee Rocker, American bassist
1963 – Tasmin Archer, English pop singer
1963 – Frano Botica, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1963 – James Hetfield, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – David Knox, Australian rugby player
1963 – Ed Roland, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1963 – Lisa Ann Walter, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Isaiah Washington, American actor and producer
1964 – Lucky Dube, South African singer and keyboard player (d. 2007)
1964 – Ralph Knibbs, British rugby union player
1964 – Nate McMillan, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Kevin Sumlin, American football player and coach
1964 – Abhisit Vejjajiva, English-Thai economist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Thailand
1966 – Brent Butt, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Gizz Butt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Eric Esch, American wrestler, boxer, and mixed martial artist
1967 – Mathieu Kassovitz, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, founded MNP Entreprise
1967 – Creme Puff, tabby domestic cat, oldest recorded cat (d. 2005)
1967 – Skin, English singer and guitarist
1968 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1969 – Doug Overton, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Stephen Carpenter, American guitarist and songwriter
1970 – Gina G, Australian singer-songwriter
1970 – Masahiro Sakurai, Japanese video game designer
1971 – Forbes Johnston, Scottish footballer (d. 2007)
1971 – DJ Spinderella, American DJ, rapper, producer, and actress
1972 – Sandis Ozoliņš, Latvian ice hockey player and politician
1973 – Jay Cutler, American bodybuilder
1973 – Nikos Dabizas, Greek footballer
1973 – Michael Ealy, American actor
1973 – Chris Murphy, American politician
1975 – Wael Gomaa, Egyptian footballer
1975 – Argyro Strataki, Greek heptathlete
1976 – Troy Glaus, American baseball player
1977 – Tom Brady, American football player
1977 – Justin Lehr, American baseball player
1977 – Óscar Pereiro, Spanish cyclist and footballer
1978 – Joi Chua, Singaporean singer-songwriter and actress
1978 – Mariusz Jop, Polish footballer
1978 – Jenny Tinmouth, English motorcycle racer
1978 – Dimitrios Zografakis, Greek footballer
1979 – Evangeline Lilly, Canadian actress
1980 – Nadia Ali, Libyan-American singer-songwriter
1980 – Dominic Moore, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Tony Pashos, American football player
1980 – Brandan Schieppati, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 – Hannah Simone, Canadian television host and actress
1981 – Fikirte Addis, Ethiopian fashion designer
1981 – Travis Bowyer, American baseball player
1981 – Pablo Ibáñez, Spanish footballer
1982 – Kaspar Kokk, Estonian skier
1982 – Jesse Lumsden, Canadian bobsledder and football player
1982 – Damien Sandow, American wrestler
1983 – Ryan Carter, American ice hockey player
1983 – Mark Reynolds, American baseball player
1984 – Yasin Avcı, Turkish footballer
1984 – Sunil Chhetri, Indian footballer
1984 – Matt Joyce, American baseball player
1984 – Ryan Lochte, American swimmer
1984 – Chris Maurer, American singer and bass player
1985 – Georgina Haig, Australian actress
1985 – Brent Kutzle, American bass player and producer
1985 – Ats Purje, Estonian footballer
1985 – Sonny Bill Williams, New Zealand rugby player and boxer
1986 – Charlotte Casiraghi, Monégasque journalist, co-founded Ever Manifesto
1986 – Darya Domracheva, Belarusian biathlete
1987 – Kim Hyung-jun, South Korean singer and dancer
1987 – Chris McQueen, Australian-English rugby league player
1988 – Denny Cardin, Italian footballer
1988 – Leigh Tiffin, American football player
1988 – Sven Ulreich, German footballer
1989 – Jules Bianchi, French race car driver (d. 2015)
1989 – Sam Hutchinson, English footballer
1989 – Tyrod Taylor, American football player
1989 – Nick Viergever, Dutch footballer
1990 – Jourdan Dunn, English model
1990 – Kang Min-kyung, South Korean singer
1992 – Gamze Bulut, Turkish runner
1992 – Gesa Felicitas Krause, German runner
1992 – Diāna Marcinkēviča, Latvian tennis player
1992 – Aljon Mariano, Filipino basketball player
1992 – Lum Rexhepi, Finnish footballer
1992 – Karlie Kloss, American fashion model
1993 – Ola Abidogun, English sprinter
1993 – Yurina Kumai, Japanese singer
1994 – Kwon Alexander, American football player
1994 – Manaia Cherrington, New Zealand rugby league player
1994 – Esther Earl, American author, vlogger, and online personality. (d. 2010) Celebrated annually as Esther day
1994 – Todd Gurley, American football player
1995 – Zac Gallen, American baseball player
1995 – Victoria Kan, Russian tennis player
1996 – Derwin James, American football player
1997 – Luis Robert Jr., Cuban baseball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
908 – Burchard, duke of Thuringia
908 – Egino, duke of Thuringia
908 – Rudolf I, bishop of Würzburg
925 – Cao, Chinese empress dowager
979 – Thietmar, margrave of Meissen
1003 – At-Ta'i, Abbasid caliph (b. 929)
1355 – Bartholomew de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh, English nobleman
1460 – James II, king of Scotland (b. 1430)
1527 – Scaramuccia Trivulzio, Italian cardinal
1530 – Francesco Ferruccio, Italian captain (b. 1489)
1546 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, designed the Apostolic Palace (b. 1484)
1546 – Étienne Dolet, French scholar and translator (b. 1509)
1601–1900
1604 – Bernardino de Mendoza, Spanish commander and diplomat (b. 1540)
1621 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and author (b. 1556)
1712 – Joshua Barnes, English historian and scholar (b. 1654)
1720 – Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch politician (b. 1641)
1721 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-English sculptor and woodcarver (b. 1648)
1761 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (b. 1691)
1773 – Stanisław Konarski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1700)
1780 – Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French epistemologist and philosopher (b. 1715)
1792 – Richard Arkwright, English engineer and businessman (b. 1732)
1797 – Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1717)
1805 – Christopher Anstey, English author and poet (b. 1724)
1835 – Wenzel Müller, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1767)
1839 – Dorothea von Schlegel, German author and translator (b. 1763)
1857 – Eugène Sue, French author and politician (b. 1804)
1866 – Gábor Klauzál, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (b. 1804)
1867 – Philipp August Böckh, German historian and scholar (b. 1785)
1877 – William B. Ogden, American businessman and politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
1879 – Joseph Severn, English painter (b. 1793)
1894 – George Inness, American painter (b. 1825)
1901–present
1913 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1844)
1916 – Roger Casement, Irish poet and activist (b. 1864)
1917 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician and academic (b. 1849)
1920 – Peeter Süda, Estonian organist and composer (b. 1883)
1922 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (b. 1851)
1924 – Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British novelist (b. 1857)
1925 – William Bruce, Australian cricketer (b. 1864)
1929 – Emile Berliner, German-American inventor and businessman, invented the phonograph (b. 1851)
1929 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (b. 1857)
1936 – Konstantin Konik, Estonian surgeon and politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1873)
1942 – Richard Willstätter, German-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)
1943 – Frumka Płotnicka, Polish resistance fighter during World War II (b. 1914)
1949 – Ignotus, Hungarian poet and author (b. 1869)
1954 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (b. 1873)
1958 – Peter Collins, English race car driver (b. 1931)
1959 – Herb Byrne, Australian footballer (b. 1887)
1961 – Hilda Rix Nicholas, Australian artist (b. 1884)
1964 – Flannery O'Connor, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1925)
1966 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
1968 – Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during World War II (b. 1896)
1969 – Alexander Mair, Australian politician, 26th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1889)
1972 – Giannis Papaioannou, Turkish-Greek composer (b. 1913)
1973 – Richard Marshall, American general (b. 1895)
1974 – Edgar Johan Kuusik, Estonian architect and interior designer (b. 1888)
1975 – Andreas Embirikos, Greek poet and photographer (b. 1901)
1977 – Makarios III, Cypriot archbishop and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Cyprus (b. 1913)
1977 – Alfred Lunt, American actor and director (b. 1892)
1979 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1979 – Angelos Terzakis, Greek author and playwright (b. 1907)
1983 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (b. 1930)
1992 – Wang Hongwen, Chinese labor activist and politician, member of the Gang of Four (b. 1935)
1995 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (b. 1918)
1995 – Edward Whittemore, American soldier and author (b. 1933)
1996 – Jørgen Garde, Danish admiral (b. 1939)
1997 – Pietro Rizzuto, Italian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1934)
1998 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian composer and journalist (b. 1934)
1999 – Rod Ansell, Australian hunter (b. 1953)
1999 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (b. 1921)
2000 – Joann Lõssov, Estonian basketball player and coach (b. 1921)
2001 – Christopher Hewett, English actor and director (b. 1922)
2003 – Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1954)
2004 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer and painter (b. 1908)
2005 – Françoise d'Eaubonne, French author and poet (b. 1920)
2006 – Arthur Lee, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1945)
2006 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-English soprano and actress (b. 1915)
2007 – John Gardner, English author (b. 1926)
2007 – Peter Thorup, Danish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1948)
2008 – Skip Caray, American sportscaster (b. 1939)
2008 – Erik Darling, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
2008 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist, dramatist and historian, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
2009 – Nikolaos Makarezos, Greek soldier and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
2010 – Bobby Hebb, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
2011 – William Sleator, American author (b. 1945)
2011 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (b. 1945)
2012 – Frank Evans, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1921)
2012 – Martin Fleischmann, Czech-English chemist and academic (b. 1927)
2012 – Paul McCracken, American economist and academic (b. 1915)
2012 – John Pritchard, American basketball player (b. 1927)
2013 – John Coombs, English-Monegasque race car driver and businessman (b. 1922)
2013 – Jack English Hightower, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
2013 – Jack Hynes, Scottish-American soccer player and manager (b. 1920)
2014 – Miangul Aurangzeb, Pakistani captain and politician, 19th Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (b. 1928)
2014 – Edward Clancy, Australian cardinal (b. 1923)
2014 – Dorothy Salisbury Davis, American author (b. 1916)
2014 – Kenny Drew, Jr., American pianist and composer (b. 1958)
2014 – Lydia Yu-Jose, Filipino political scientist and academic (b. 1944)
2015 – Robert Conquest, English-American historian, poet, and academic (b. 1917)
2015 – Mel Farr, American football player and businessman (b. 1944)
2015 – Coleen Gray, American actress (b. 1922)
2015 – Margot Loyola, Chilean singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
2015 – Johanna Quandt, German businesswoman (b. 1926)
2015 – Jef Murray, American artist and author (b. 1960)
2020 – John Hume, Northern Irish politician (b. 1937)
2022 – Jackie Walorski, American politician (b. 1963)
2023 – Mark Margolis, American actor (b. 1939)
2023 – Bram Moolenaar, Dutch software engineer (b. 1961)
Holidays and observances
Anniversary of the Killing of Pidjiguiti (Guinea-Bissau)
Armed Forces Day (Equatorial Guinea)
Christian feast day:
George Freeman Bragg, W. E. B. Du Bois (Episcopal Church)
Lydia of Thyatira
Myrrhbearers (Lutheran Church)
Nicodemus
Olaf II of Norway (Translation of the relic)
Stephen (Discovery of the relic)
Waltheof of Melrose
August 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Venezuela)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Niger from France in 1960.
Arbor Day (Niger)
National Guard Day (Venezuela)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1261 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2026 | April 26 |
Events
Pre-1600
1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
1478 – The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruiling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.
1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown).
1601–1900
1607 – The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry.
1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rode to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces
1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.
1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
1900 – Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home.
1901–present
1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded
1915 – World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to join the Allied Powers.
1916 – Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge
1920 – Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12–1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match.
1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army liberate Baguio as they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
1954 – The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.
1956 – , the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.
1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
1962 – The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1.
1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
1966 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
1986 – The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
1989 – People's Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
1991 – Fifty-five tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado.
1993 – The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on mission STS-55 to conduct experiments aboard the Spacelab module.
1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
1994 – South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.
2002 – Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
2005 – Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
2015 – Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97.7% of the vote.
Births
Pre-1600
121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (d. 180)
757 – Hisham I of Córdoba (d. 796)
764 – Al-Hadi, Iranian caliph (d. 786)
1284 – Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (d. 1324)
1319 – John II of France (d. 1364)
1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and academic (d. 1600)
1575 – Marie de' Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
1601–1900
1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and politician (d. 1720)
1648 – Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (d. 1754)
1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1796)
1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (d. 1802)
1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1853)
1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of France (d. 1866)
1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (d. 1851)
1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (d. 1862)
1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (d. 1863)
1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1889)
1804 – Charles Goodyear, American banker, lawyer, and politician (d. 1876)
1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (d. 1903)
1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (d. 1867)
1856 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and educator (d. 1938)
1865 – Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Finnish artist (d. 1931)
1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (d. 1959)
1877 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1950)
1878 – Rafael Guízar y Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (d. 1938)
1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (d. 1917)
1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer-songwriter (d. 1939)
1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet and publicist (d. 1913)
1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1951)
1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician (d. 1987)
1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (d. 1967)
1896 – Ernst Udet, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (d. 1967)
1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (d. 1972)
1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian-English saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1958)
1900 – Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder and calligrapher (d. 1969)
1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (d. 1985)
1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
1901–present
1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (d. 1991)
1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, 177th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
1905 – Jean Vigo, French director and screenwriter (d. 1934)
1907 – Ilias Tsirimokos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1911 – Paul Verner, German soldier and politician (d. 1986)
1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (d. 2000)
1914 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1986)
1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer (d. 1996)
1916 – Eyvind Earle, American artist, author, and illustrator (d. 2000)
1916 – Ken Wallis, English commander, engineer, and pilot (d. 2013)
1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (d. 1999)
1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player and coach (d. 1992)
1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower (d. 2019)
1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch sprinter and long jumper (d. 2004)
1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 2008)
1922 – J. C. Holt, English historian and academic (d. 2014)
1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)
1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer (d. 2019)
1924 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (d. 1998)
1925 – Vladimir Boltyansky, Russian mathematician, educator and author (d. 2019)
1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (d. 2015)
1925 – Frank Hahn, British economist (d. 2013)
1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (d. 2003)
1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (d. 2008)
1927 – Anne McLaren, British scientist (d. 2007)
1927 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1927 – Granny Hamner, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (d. 2002)
1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner and sportscaster
1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (d. 2008)
1931 – John Cain Jr., Australian politician, 41st Premier of Victoria (d. 2019)
1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (d. 2010)
1932 – Shirley Cawley, English long jumper
1932 – Frank D'Rone, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer (d. 2018)
1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican-American general (d. 2005)
1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French racing driver and motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
1940 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (d. 2014)
1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby league player (d. 2018)
1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress (d. 2019)
1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2014)
1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor (d. 2022)
1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic
1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2023)
1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and academic, designed the Therme Vals
1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (d. 2007)
1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer (d. 2016)
1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian racing driver
1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
1946 – Ralph Coates, English international footballer (d. 2010)
1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
1946 – Alberto Quintano, Chilean footballer
1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
1951 – John Battle, English politician
1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
1956 – Koo Stark, American actress and photographer
1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish racing driver (d. 2021)
1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1959 – Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rican politician
1960 – H. G. Carrillo, American writer and academic (d. 2020)
1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer
1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Chris Mars, American artist
1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
1963 – Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
1965 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
1967 – Glenn Thomas Jacobs, American professional wrestler, actor, businessman and politician
1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress and singer-songwriter
1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 47th First Lady of the United States
1970 – Kristen R. Ghodsee, American ethnographer and academic
1970 – Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1971 – Naoki Tanaka, Japanese comedian and actor
1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian racing driver
1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
1973 – Óscar, Spanish footballer and coach
1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician and songwriter (d. 2021)
1975 – Rahul Verma, Indian social worker and activist
1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
1977 – Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut
1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist and author
1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
1980 – Marlon King, English footballer
1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress and journalist
1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor and producer
1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch pop and jazz singer
1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English rapper and producer
1981 – Sandra Schmitt, German skier (d. 2000)
1982 – Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
1983 – José María López, Argentinian racing driver
1983 – Jessica Lynch, American soldier
1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
1985 – Andrea Koch Benvenuto, Chilean tennis player
1986 – Lior Refaelov, Israeli footballer
1986 – Yuliya Zaripova, Russian runner
1987 – Jorge Andújar Moreno, Spanish footballer
1988 – Ben Spina, Australian rugby league player
1988 – Manuel Viniegra, Mexican footballer
1988 – Gareth Evans, English footballer
1989 – Melvin Ingram, American football player
1989 – Kang Daesung, South Korean singer
1990 – Mitch Rein, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Nevin Spence, Northern Irish rugby player (d. 2012)
1991 – Lazaros Fotias, Greek footballer
1991 – Peter Handscomb, Australian cricketer
1991 – Isaac Liu, New Zealand rugby league player
1991 – Ignacio Lores Varela, Uruguayan footballer
1991 – Srdjan Pejicic, Canadian/Bosnian basketball player
1991 – Wojciech Pszczolarski, Polish bicycle racer
1992 – Aaron Judge, American baseball player
1992 – Delon Wright, American basketball player
1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian racing driver
1996 – Jordan Pefok, American footballer
2001 – Thiago Almada, Argentine footballer
2002 – Meagan Best, Barbadian squash player
Deaths
Pre-1600
499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (b. 467)
645 – Richarius, Frankish monk and saint (b. 560)
680 – Muawiyah I, Umayyad caliph (b. 602)
757 – Pope Stephen II (b. 715)
893 – Chen Jingxuan, general of the Tang Dynasty
962 – Adalbero I, bishop of Metz
1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
1366 – Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury
1392 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (b. 1338)
1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
1478 – Giuliano de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1453)
1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1465)
1558 – Jean Fernel, French physician (b. 1497)
1601–1900
1686 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (b. 1622)
1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1651)
1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish nun and educator, founded the Presentation Sisters (b. 1718)
1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian general (b. 1721)
1809 – Bernhard Schott, German music publisher (b. 1748)
1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
1895 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian-English author and poet (b. 1860)
1901–present
1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
1915 – John Bunny, American actor (b. 1863)
1915 – Ida Hunt Udall, American diarist (b. 1858)
1916 – Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Portuguese poet and writer (b. 1890)
1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (b. 1887)
1932 – William Lockwood, English cricketer (b. 1868)
1934 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1876)
1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1893)
1945 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (b. 1909)
1945 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (b. 1871)
1946 – James Larkin White, American miner, explorer, and park ranger (b. 1882)
1950 – George Murray Hulbert, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1881)
1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (b. 1868)
1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (b. 1868)
1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and author (b. 1882)
1968 – John Heartfield, German illustrator and photographer (b. 1891)
1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founded aikido (b. 1883)
1970 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister and author (b. 1886)
1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, striptease dancer, and writer (b. 1911)
1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress and philanthropist (b. 1902)
1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (b. 1913)
1976 – Armstrong Sperry, American author and illustrator (b. 1897)
1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer (b. 1893)
1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
1984 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1904)
1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
1987 – Shankar, Indian composer and conductor (b. 1922)
1987 – John Silkin, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (b. 1923)
1989 – Lucille Ball, American model, actress, comedian, and producer (b. 1911)
1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer and conductor (b. 1904)
1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist and historian, (b. 1901)
1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1931)
1994 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese martial artist, founded Kyokushin kaikan (b. 1923)
1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
1999 – Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1957)
1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (b. 1961)
2003 – Rosemary Brown, Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (b. 1930)
2003 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (b. 1984)
2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1904)
2004 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
2005 – Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1925)
2005 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (b. 1926)
2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (b. 1917)
2007 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (b. 1921)
2008 – Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (b. 1938)
2009 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (b. 1920)
2010 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian graphic designer and academic (b. 1930)
2010 – Urs Felber, Swiss engineer and businessman (b. 1942)
2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
2012 – Terence Spinks, English boxer and trainer (b. 1938)
2013 – Jacqueline Brookes, American actress and educator (b. 1930)
2013 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
2013 – Earl Silverman, Canadian men's rights advocate (b. 1948)
2014 – Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
2014 – Paul Robeson, Jr., American historian and author (b. 1927)
2014 – DJ Rashad, American electronic musician, producer and DJ (b. 1979)
2015 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (b. 1919)
2015 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1930)
2016 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (b. 1937)
2017 – Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (b. 1944)
2022 – Klaus Schulze, German composer and musician (b. 1947)
2023 – Jerry Apodaca, American politician, 24th Governor of New Mexico (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances
Chernobyl disaster related observances:
Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes (Russia)
Christian feast day:
Aldobrandesca (or Alda)
Franca Visalta
Lucidius of Verona
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Pope Anacletus and Marcellinus
Rafael Arnáiz Barón
Riquier
Paschasius Radbertus
Peter of Rates (or of Braga)
Robert Hunt (Episcopal Church (USA))
Stephen of Perm, see also Old Permic Alphabet Day
Trudpert
April 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, United States)
Union Day (Tanzania)
World Intellectual Property Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 26
Days of the year
April |
1332 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%207 | August 7 |
Events
Pre-1600
461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer.
626 – The Avar and Slav armies leave the siege of Constantinople.
768 – Pope Stephen III is elected to office, and quickly seeks Frankish protection against the Lombard threat, since the Byzantine Empire is no longer able to help.
936 – Coronation of King Otto I of Germany.
1461 – The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
1479 – Battle of Guinegate: French troops of King Louis XI were defeated by the Burgundians led by Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg.
1601–1900
1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon becomes the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
1714 – The Battle of Gangut: The first important victory of the Russian Navy.
1743 – The Treaty of Åbo ended the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War.
1782 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
1786 – The first federal Indian Reservation is created by the United States.
1789 – The United States Department of War is established.
1791 – American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
1794 – U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
1819 – Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
1858 – The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College.
1890 – Anna Månsdotter, found guilty of the 1889 Yngsjö murder, became the last woman to be executed in Sweden.
1901–present
1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
1927 – The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
1930 – The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
1933 – The Kingdom of Iraq slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. This date is recognized as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
1946 – The government of the Soviet Union presented a note to its Turkish counterparts which refuted the latter's sovereignty over the Turkish Straits, thus beginning the Turkish Straits crisis.
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
1947 – The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
1959 – Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1960 – Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.
1962 – Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide.
1964 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
1969 – Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux and co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1970 – California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
1974 – Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the air.
1976 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters orbit around Mars.
1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.
1981 – The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
1985 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
1987 – Cold War: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.
1989 – U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
1990 – First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.
1993 – Ada Deer, a Menominee activist, is sworn in as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1995 – The Chilean government declares state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense, cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake.
1997 – Space Shuttle Program: The Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-85 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1997 – Fine Air Flight 101 crashes after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing five people.
1998 – Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
1999 – The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades neighboring Dagestan.
2007 – At AT&T Park, Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to surpass Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record.
2008 – The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.
2020 – Air India Express Flight 1344 overshoots the runway at Calicut International Airport in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India, and crashes, killing 21 of the 190 people on board.
Births
Pre-1600
317 – Constantius II, Roman emperor (d. 361)
1282 – Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (d. 1316)
1533 – Alonso de Ercilla, Spanish soldier and poet (d. 1595)
1560 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian aristocrat and purported serial killer (d. 1614)
1571 – Thomas Lupo, English viol player and composer (d. 1627)
1574 – Robert Dudley, English explorer and cartographer (d. 1649)
1598 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet and linguist (d. 1672)
1601–1900
1613 – William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, Dutch stadtholder (d. 1664)
1702 – Muhammad Shah, Mughal emperor of India (d. 1748)
1726 – James Bowdoin, American banker and politician, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1790)
1742 – Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786)
1751 – Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange (d. 1820)
1779 – Carl Ritter, German geographer and academic (d. 1859)
1826 – August Ahlqvist, Finnish professor, poet, scholar of the Finno-Ugric languages, author, and literary critic (d. 1889)
1844 – Auguste Michel-Lévy, French geologist and author (d. 1911)
1860 – Alan Leo, English astrologer and author (d. 1917)
1862 – Henri Le Sidaner, French painter (d. 1939)
1862 – Victoria of Baden (d. 1931)
1867 – Emil Nolde, Danish-German painter and illustrator (d. 1956)
1868 – Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian-German economist and statistician (d. 1931)
1868 – Huntley Wright, English actor (d. 1941)
1869 – Mary Frances Winston, American mathematician (d. 1959)
1876 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (d. 1917)
1879 – Johannes Kotze, South African cricketer (d. 1931)
1884 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (d. 1970)
1884 – Nikolai Triik, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 1940)
1887 – Anna Elisabet Weirauch, German author and playwright (d. 1970)
1890 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American author and activist (d. 1964)
1901–present
1901 – Ann Harding, American actress and singer (d. 1981)
1903 – Louis Leakey, Kenyan-English palaeontologist and archaeologist (d. 1972)
1904 – Ralph Bunche, American political scientist, academic, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1907 – Albert Kotin, Belarusian-American soldier and painter (d. 1980)
1910 – Freddie Slack, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1965)
1911 – István Bibó, Hungarian lawyer and politician (d. 1979)
1911 – Nicholas Ray, American director and screenwriter (d. 1979)
1913 – George Van Eps, American guitarist (d. 1998)
1916 – Kermit Love, American actor, puppeteer, and costume designer (d. 2008)
1918 – C. Buddingh', Dutch poet and translator (d. 1985)
1918 – Gordon Zahn, American sociologist and author (d. 2007)
1921 – Manitas de Plata, French guitarist (d. 2014)
1921 – Karel Husa, Czech-American composer and conductor (d. 2016)
1924 – Kenneth Kendall, Indian-English journalist and actor (d. 2012)
1925 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (d. 2003)
1926 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (d. 2015)
1927 – Rocky Bridges, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
1927 – Edwin Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 50th Governor of Louisiana (d. 2021)
1927 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (d. 2003)
1928 – Betsy Byars, American author and academic (d. 2020)
1928 – Owen Luder, English architect, designed Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square (d. 2021)
1928 – James Randi, Canadian-American stage magician and author (d. 2020)
1929 – Don Larsen, American baseball player (d. 2020)
1930 – Togrul Narimanbekov, Azerbaijani-French painter and academic (d. 2013)
1930 – Veljo Tormis, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2017)
1931 – Jack Good, British television producer (d. 2017)
1931 – Charles E. Rice, American scholar and author (d. 2015)
1932 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (d. 1973)
1932 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (d. 2011)
1932 – Rien Poortvliet, Dutch painter and illustrator (d. 1995)
1932 – Maurice Rabb, Jr., American ophthalmologist and academic (d. 2005)
1933 – Eddie Firmani, South African footballer and manager
1933 – Elinor Ostrom, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
1933 – Alberto Romulo, Filipino politician and diplomat
1934 – Sándor Simó, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1935 – Lee Corso, American college football coach and broadcaster
1935 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1977)
1937 – Zoltán Berczik, Hungarian table tennis player and coach (d. 2011)
1937 – Don Wilson, English cricketer and coach (d. 2012)
1938 – Giorgetto Giugiaro, Italian automotive designer
1940 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian lawyer and politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014)
1940 – Uwe Nettelbeck, German record producer, journalist and film critic (d. 2007)
1941 – Matthew Evans, Baron Evans of Temple Guiting, English publisher and politician (d. 2016)
1942 – Garrison Keillor, American humorist, novelist, short story writer, and radio host
1942 – Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer and actor (d. 1995)
1942 – Caetano Veloso, Brazilian singer-songwriter, writer and producer
1942 – Richard Sykes, English biochemist and academic
1942 – B. J. Thomas, American singer (d. 2021)
1943 – Mohammed Badie, Egyptian religious leader
1943 – Lana Cantrell, Australian singer-songwriter and lawyer
1943 – Alain Corneau, French director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1944 – John Glover, American actor
1944 – Robert Mueller, American soldier and lawyer, 6th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
1945 – Kenny Ireland, Scottish actor and director (d. 2014)
1945 – Alan Page, American football player and jurist
1947 – Franciscus Henri, Dutch-Australian singer-songwriter
1947 – Sofia Rotaru, Ukrainian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1948 – Marty Appel, American businessman and author
1948 – Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach
1949 – Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese journalist and politician
1949 – Matthew Parris, South African-English journalist and politician
1950 – Rodney Crowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Alan Keyes, American politician and diplomat, 16th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
1950 – S. Thandayuthapani, Sri Lankan educator and politician
1952 – Caroline Aaron, American actress and producer
1952 – Eamonn Darcy, Irish golfer
1952 – Kees Kist, Dutch footballer
1952 – Alexei Sayle, English comedian, actor, and author
1953 – Anne Fadiman, American journalist and author
1954 – Valery Gazzaev, Russian footballer, manager and politician
1954 – Jonathan Pollard, Israeli spy
1954 – Alan Reid, Scottish politician
1955 – Wayne Knight, American actor, comedian and voice actor
1955 – Greg Nickels, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Seattle
1955 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian author and playwright
1957 – Daire Brehan, Irish journalist, lawyer, and actress (d. 2012)
1957 – Alexander Dityatin, Russian gymnast and colonel
1958 – Russell Baze, Canadian-American jockey
1958 – Bruce Dickinson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Alberto Salazar, Cuban-American runner and coach
1959 – Koenraad Elst, Belgian orientalist and author
1959 – Ali Shah, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
1960 – David Duchovny, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Brian Conley, English actor and singer
1961 – Yelena Davydova, Russian gymnast
1961 – Walter Swinburn, English jockey and trainer (d. 2016)
1961 – Carlos Vives, Colombian singer, songwriter, and actor
1962 – Alison Brown, American banjo player, songwriter, and producer
1963 – Paul Dunn, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Nick Gillespie, American journalist and author
1963 – Marcus Roberts, American pianist and educator
1964 – John Birmingham, English-Australian journalist and author
1964 – Ian Dench, English guitarist and songwriter
1964 – Peter Niven, Scottish jockey
1965 – Raul Malo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1965 – Elizabeth Manley, Canadian figure skater
1966 – David Cairns, Scottish laicised priest and politician, Minister of State for Scotland (d. 2011)
1966 – Shobna Gulati, British actress
1966 – Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Jimmy Wales, American-British entrepreneur, co-founder of Wikipedia
1967 – Jason Grimsley, American baseball player
1968 – Francesca Gregorini, Italian-American director and screenwriter
1968 – Trevor Hendy, Australian surfer and coach
1968 – Sophie Lee, Australian actress and author
1969 – Paul Lambert, Scottish footballer and manager
1969 – Dana G. Peleg, Israeli writer and LGBT activist
1970 – Eric Namesnik, American swimmer (d. 2006)
1971 – Dominic Cork, England cricketer and sportscaster
1971 – Rachel York, American actress and singer
1972 – Gerry Peñalosa, Filipino boxer and promoter
1973 – Mikhail Gorsheniov, Russian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1973 – Danny Graves, Vietnamese-American baseball player
1973 – Kevin Muscat, English-Australian footballer, coach, and manager
1974 – Chico Benymon, American actor
1974 – Michael Shannon, American actor
1975 – Koray Candemir, Turkish singer-songwriter
1975 – Gerard Denton, Australian cricketer
1975 – Megan Gale, Australian model and actress
1975 – Ray Hill, American football player (d. 2015)
1975 – Rebecca Kleefisch, American journalist and politician, 44th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
1975 – Édgar Rentería, Colombian baseball player
1975 – Charlize Theron, South African actress
1976 – Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Greek footballer and manager
1976 – Shane Lechler, American football player
1977 – Charlotte Ronson, English fashion designer
1977 – Samantha Ronson, English singer-songwriter and DJ
1977 – Justin Brooker, Rugby League Player
1978 – Alexandre Aja, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Jamey Jasta, American singer-songwriter
1978 – Mark McCammon, English-Barbadian footballer
1978 – Cirroc Lofton, American actor
1979 – Eric Johnson, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1979 – Miguel Llera, Spanish footballer
1979 – Birgit Zotz, Austrian anthropologist and author
1980 – Carsten Busch, German footballer
1980 – Aurélie Claudel, French model and actress
1980 – Tácio Caetano Cruz Queiroz, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Seiichiro Maki, Japanese footballer
1981 – David Testo, American soccer player
1981 – Randy Wayne, American actor and producer
1982 – Ángeles Balbiani, Argentine actress and singer
1982 – Abbie Cornish, Australian actress
1982 – Juan Martín Hernández, Argentine rugby player
1982 – Marquise Hill, American football player (d. 2007)
1982 – Vassilis Spanoulis, Greek basketball player
1982 – Martin Vučić, Macedonian singer and drummer
1983 – Christian Chávez, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor
1983 – Murat Dalkılıç, Turkish singer-songwriter
1983 – Danny, Portuguese footballer
1983 – Andriy Hrivko, Ukrainian cyclist
1983 – Mark Pettini, English cricketer and journalist
1984 – Stratos Perperoglou, Greek basketball player
1984 – Tooba Siddiqui, Pakistani model and actress
1984 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (d. 2003)
1986 – Paul Biedermann, German swimmer
1986 – Valter Birsa, Slovenian footballer
1986 – Altaír Jarabo, Mexican model and actress
1986 – Juan de la Rosa, Mexican boxer
1987 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Mustapha Dumbuya, Sierra Leonean footballer
1987 – Ryan Lavarnway, American baseball player
1987 – Rouven Sattelmaier, German footballer
1988 – Jonathan Bernier, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Mohamed Coulibaly, Senegalese footballer
1988 – Anisa Mohammed, West Indian cricketer
1988 – Melody Oliveria, American blogger
1988 – Erik Pieters, Dutch footballer
1988 – Beanie Wells, American football player
1989 – DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player
1990 – Josh Franceschi, English singer-songwriter
1991 – Luis Salom, Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2016)
1991 – Mitchell te Vrede, Dutch footballer
1991 – Mike Trout, American baseball player
1992 – Adam Yates, English cyclist
1992 – Simon Yates, English cyclist
1992 – E. J. Tackett, American bowler
1992 – Wout Weghorst, Dutch footballer
1993 – Francesca Eastwood, American actress and television personality
1993 – Martti Nõmme, Estonian ski jumper
1993 – Karol Zalewski, Polish sprinter
1997 – Matty Cash, Polish footballer
1997 – Kyler Murray, American football player
1998 – Vladimir Barbu, Italian diver
1998 – María Bazo, Peruvian windsurfer
1998 – Jalen Hurts, American football player
Deaths
Pre-1600
461 – Majorian, Roman emperor (b. 420)
707 – Li Chongjun, Chinese prince
1028 – Alfonso V, king of León (b. 994)
1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050)
1234 – Hugh Foliot, bishop of Hereford (b. c. 1155)
1272 – Richard Middleton, English Lord Chancellor
1296 – Heinrich II von Rotteneck, prince-bishop of Regensburg
1385 – Joan of Kent, mother of Richard II (b. 1328)
1485 – Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany (b. 1454)
1547 – Cajetan, Italian priest and saint (b. 1480)
1601–1900
1613 – Thomas Fleming, English judge and politician, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1544)
1616 – Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect, designed Teatro Olimpico (b. 1548)
1632 – Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford, English soldier (b. 1575)
1635 – Friedrich Spee, German poet and academic (b. 1591)
1639 – Martin van den Hove, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1605)
1661 – Jin Shengtan, Chinese journalist and critic (b. 1608)
1787 – Francis Blackburne, English Anglican churchman and activist (b. 1705)
1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French economist and politician (b. 1739)
1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (b. 1752)
1848 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and academic (b. 1779)
1855 – Mariano Arista, Mexican general and politician, 19th President of Mexico (b. 1802)
1864 – Li Xiucheng, Chinese field marshal (b. 1823)
1893 – Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (b. 1854)
1899 – Jacob Maris, Dutch painter and educator (b. 1837)
1900 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German lawyer and politician (b. 1826)
1901–present
1912 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and academic (b. 1841)
1917 – Edwin Harris Dunning, South African-English commander and pilot (b. 1891)
1938 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (b. 1863)
1941 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1948 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (b. 1879)
1953 – Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
1957 – Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1892)
1958 – Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, American author and educator (b. 1892)
1960 – Luis Ángel Firpo, Argentine boxer (b. 1894)
1963 – Ramon Vila Capdevila, last of the Spanish Maquis, holding out after the end of the Spanish Civil War (b. 1908)
1968 – Giovanni Bracco, Italian race car driver (b. 1908)
1969 – Jean Bastien, French professional footballer (b. 1915)
1969 – Joseph Kosma, Hungarian-French composer (b. 1905)
1970 – Harold Haley, American lawyer and judge (b. 1904)
1970 – Jonathan P. Jackson, American bodyguard and kidnapper (b. 1953)
1972 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress, and singer (b. 1929)
1973 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1895)
1974 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet and author (b. 1925)
1974 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1902)
1978 – Eddie Calvert, English trumpeter (b. 1922)
1981 – Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (b. 1931)
1985 – Grayson Hall, American actress (b. 1922)
1987 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (b. 1900)
1989 – Mickey Leland, American lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
1994 – Larry Martyn, English actor (b. 1934)
1995 – Brigid Brophy, English author and critic (b. 1929)
2001 – Algirdas Lauritėnas, Lithuanian basketball player (b. 1932)
2003 – K. D. Arulpragasam, Sri Lankan zoologist and academic (b. 1931)
2003 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (b. 1929)
2004 – Red Adair, American firefighter (b. 1915)
2004 – Colin Bibby, English ornithologist and academic (b. 1948)
2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (b. 1938)
2005 – Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková, Slovak painter (b. 1909)
2006 – Mary Anderson Bain, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911)
2007 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (b. 1917)
2007 – Angus Tait, New Zealand businessman, founded Tait Communications (b. 1919)
2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (b. 1931)
2008 – Andrea Pininfarina, Italian engineer and businessman (b. 1957)
2009 – Louis E. Saavedra, American educator and politician, 48th Mayor of Albuquerque (b. 1933)
2009 – Mike Seeger, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
2010 – John Nelder, English mathematician and statistician (b. 1924)
2011 – Mark Hatfield, American soldier, academic, and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (b. 1922)
2011 – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-English captain and spy (b. 1912)
2012 – Murtuz Alasgarov, Azerbaijani academic and politician, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan (b. 1928)
2012 – Judith Crist, American critic and academic (b. 1922)
2012 – Vladimir Kobzev, Russian footballer and coach (b. 1959)
2012 – Anna Piaggi, Italian journalist and author (b. 1931)
2012 – Mayer Zald, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
2012 – Dušan Zbavitel, Czech indologist and author (b. 1925)
2013 – Samuel G. Armistead, American linguist, historian, and academic (b. 1927)
2013 – Almir Kayumov, Russian footballer (b. 1964)
2013 – Anthony Pawson, English-Canadian biologist, chemist, and academic (b. 1952)
2013 – Margaret Pellegrini, American actress and dancer (b. 1923)
2013 – Meeli Truu, Estonian architect (b. 1946)
2013 – Alexander Yagubkin, Russian boxer (b. 1961)
2014 – Víctor Fayad, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1955)
2014 – Perry Moss, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
2014 – Henry Stone, American record producer (b. 1921)
2015 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (b. 1929)
2015 – Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (b. 1914)
2015 – Louise Suggs, American golfer, co-founded LPGA (b. 1923)
2016 – Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (b. 1989)
2017 – Don Baylor, American baseball player (b. 1949)
2017 – David Maslanka, American composer (b. 1943)
2018 – M. Karunanidhi, Indian politician, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and prominent leader of Tamils (b. 1924)
2018 – Stan Mikita, Slovak hockey player (b. 1940)
2019 – David Berman, American musician, singer, poet and cartoonist (b. 1967)
2020 – Lê Khả Phiêu, Vietnamese politician (b. 1931)
2021 – Markie Post, American actress (b. 1950)
2021 – Trevor Moore, American comedian (b. 1980)
2022 – David McCullough, American historian and author (b. 1933)
2023 – William Friedkin, American film director (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community)
Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia)
Christian feast day:
Albert of Trapani
Cajetan of Thienna
Carpophorus and companions
Dometius of Persia
Donatus of Arezzo
Donatus of Besançon
Donatus of Muenstereifel
John Mason Neale and Catherine Winkworth (Episcopal Church (USA))
Nantovinus
Pope Sixtus II
August 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Filseta (Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church)
Emancipation Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Republic Day (Ivory Coast)
Youth Day (Kiribati)
National Purple Heart Day (United States)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1333 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%208 | August 8 |
Events
Pre-1600
685 BC – Spring and Autumn period: Battle of Qianshi: Upon the death of the previous Duke of Qi, Gongsun Wuzhi, Duke Zhuang of Lu sends an army into the Duchy of Qi to install the exiled Qi prince Gongzi Jiu as the new Duke of Qi — but is defeated at Qianshi by Jiu’s brother and rival claimant, the newly inaugurated Duke Huan of Qi.
870 – Treaty of Meerssen: King Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald partition the Middle Frankish Kingdom into two larger east and west divisions.
1220 – Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula.
1264 – Mudéjar revolt: Muslim rebel forces took the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera after defeating the Castilian garrison.
1503 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1509 – Krishnadeva Raya is crowned Emperor of Vijayanagara at Chittoor.
1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.
1585 – John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.
1601–1900
1647 – The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungan's Hill: English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces.
1648 – Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648) as Ottoman sultan.
1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal.
1786 – Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
1831 – Four hundred Shawnee people agree to relinquish their lands in Ohio in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Wapakoneta.
1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
1863 – American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
1863 – Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson frees his personal slaves in Greeneville, Tennessee despite them being exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, now commemorated as Emancipation Day in the state.
1870 – The Republic of Ploiești, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
1876 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
1901–present
1903 – Black Saturday occurs, killing 12 in a stadium collapse in Philadelphia.
1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers' first public flight.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive).
1919 – The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 is signed. It establishes peaceful relations between Afghanistan and the UK, and confirms the Durand line as the mutual border. In return, the UK is no longer obligated to subsidize the Afghan government.
1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
1940 – The "Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
1942 – Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945 – The London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials.
1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world's first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range.
1956 – Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium. 262 coal miners, including a substantial number of Italian migrant workers, were killed in one of the largest mining accidents in Belgian history.
1963 – Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.
1963 – The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union.
1967 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.
1973 – Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.
1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.
1988 – The 8888 Uprising begins in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar). Led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. On September 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands.
1988 – The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning).
1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
1990 – Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward.
1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
1993 – The 7.8 Guam earthquake shakes the island with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing around $250 million in damage and injuring up to 71 people.
1998 – Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is raided by Taliban leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist.
2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence.
2001 – Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers.
2004 – A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers.
2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.
2008 – A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others.
2008 – The 29th modern summer Olympic Games took place in Beijing, China until August 24.
2010 – China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people.
2013 – A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people.
2015 – Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas.
2016 – Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others.
2019 – An explosion at the State Central Navy Testing Range in Nyonoksa, Russia, kills five people.
2022 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida.
2023 – 2023 Hawaii wildfires: 17,000 acres of land are burned and at least 98 people are killed, with 31 others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Births
Pre-1600
422 – Casper, ruler of the Maya city of Palenque
1079 – Emperor Horikawa of Japan (d. 1107)
1170 – Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans (d. 1221)
1306 – Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1353)
1492 – Matteo Tafuri, Italian alchemist (d. 1582)
1518 – Conrad Lycosthenes, French-German scholar and author (d. 1561)
1558 – George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, English noble (d. 1605)
1601–1900
1605 – Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, English lawyer and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1675)
1640 – Amalia Catharina, German poet and composer (d. 1697)
1646 – Godfrey Kneller, German-English painter (d. 1723)
1673 – John Ker, Scottish spy (d. 1726)
1693 – Laurent Belissen, French composer (d. 1762)
1694 – Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher and academic (d. 1746)
1709 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, German-Italian monk and violinist (d. 1779)
1720 – Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish general and politician (d. 1796)
1754 – Hipólito Ruiz López, Spanish botanist (d. 1816)
1758 – Friedrich Georg Weitsch, German painter (d. 1828)
1790 – Ferenc Kölcsey, Hungarian poet, critic, and politician (d. 1838)
1807 – Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author (d. 1892)
1814 – Esther Hobart Morris, American suffragette and judge (d. 1902)
1822 – George Stoneman, Jr., United States Army cavalry officer (d. 1894)
1839 – Nelson A. Miles, American general (d. 1925)
1851 – George Turner, Australian politician, 18th Premier of Victoria (d. 1916)
1856 – Thomas Anstey Guthrie, English journalist and author (d. 1934)
1857 – Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and composer (d. 1944)
1863 – Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (d. 1930)
1866 – Matthew Henson, American explorer (d. 1955)
1874 – Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, English businessman and politician, President of the Board of Trade (d. 1948)
1875 – Arthur Bernardes, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 12th President of Brazil (d. 1955)
1876 – Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly, Indian-Syrian priest, founded the Sisters of the Destitute (d. 1929)
1879 – Bob Smith, American physician and surgeon, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1950)
1879 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general and politician (d. 1919)
1880 – Earle Page, Australian lawyer, academic, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1961)
1881 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (d. 1954)
1882 – Ladislas Starevich, Russian-French animator, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 1965)
1884 – Sara Teasdale, American poet and educator (d. 1933)
1889 – Hans Egede Budtz, Danish actor (d. 1968)
1889 – Jack Ryder, Australian cricketer (d. 1977)
1891 – Adolf Busch, German violinist and composer (d. 1952)
1896 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author and academic (d. 1953)
1898 – Marguerite Bise, French chef (d. 1965)
1901–present
1901 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Paul Dirac, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1904 – Achille Varzi, Italian racing driver (d. 1948)
1905 – André Jolivet, French composer (d. 1974)
1907 – Benny Carter, American saxophonist, trumpet player, and composer (d. 2003)
1908 – Arthur Goldberg, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1990)
1909 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English cricketer and politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1977)
1909 – Jack Renshaw, Australian politician, 31st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1987)
1909 – Bill Voce, England cricketer and coach (d. 1984)
1910 – Jimmy Murphy, Welsh-English footballer and manager (d. 1989)
1910 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (d. 1999)
1911 – Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (d. 2002)
1915 – James Elliott, American runner and coach (d. 1981)
1919 – Dino De Laurentiis, Italian actor and producer (d. 2010)
1919 – John David Wilson, English animator and producer (d. 2013)
1920 – Leo Chiosso, Italian songwriter and producer (d. 2006)
1920 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American jump blues singer (d. 1997)
1921 – William Asher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1921 – Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
1921 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (d. 2013)
1922 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (d. 1999)
1922 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the Monokini (d. 1985)
1922 – Gertrude Himmelfarb, American historian, author, and academic (d. 2019)
1922 – Károly Reich, Hungarian illustrator (d. 1988)
1925 – Alija Izetbegović, Bosnian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (d. 2003)
1925 – Aziz Sattar, Malaysian actor, comedian, singer and director (d. 2014)
1926 – Richard Anderson, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
1927 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player and coach (d. 1994)
1927 – Maia Wojciechowska, Polish-American author (d. 2002)
1928 – Don Burrows, Australian saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (d. 2020)
1929 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (d. 2004)
1929 – Luis García Meza Tejada, Bolivian general and politician, 68th President of Bolivia (d. 2018)
1929 – Ronnie Biggs, English criminal (d. 2013)
1930 – Terry Nation, Welsh-American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1930 – Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1931 – Roger Penrose, English physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Mel Tillis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1933 – Joe Tex, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1982)
1934 – Sarat Pujari, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1935 – Donald P. Bellisario, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1935 – John Laws, Papua New Guinean-Australian singer and radio host
1936 – Frank Howard, American baseball player and manager (d. 2023)
1936 – Jan Pieńkowski, Polish-English author and illustrator (d. 2022)
1937 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor and director
1937 – Sheila Varian, American horse breeder (d. 2016)
1937 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1987)
1938 – Jack Baldwin, English chemist and academic (d. 2020)
1938 – Jacques Hétu, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2010)
1938 – Connie Stevens, American actress and businesswoman
1939 – Jana Andrsová, Czech actress and ballerina
1939 – Viorica Viscopoleanu, Romanian long jumper
1939 – Alexander Watson, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Peru
1940 – Dilip Sardesai, Indian cricketer (d. 2007)
1940 – Dennis Tito, American engineer and businessman, founded Wilshire Associates
1942 – James Blanchard, American diplomat and politician, 45th Governor of Michigan
1942 – Dennis Canavan, Scottish educator and politician
1942 – John Gustafson, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
1942 – Vardo Rumessen, Estonian pianist and musicologist (d. 2015)
1944 – John C. Holmes, American film actor (d. 1988)
1944 – Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
1944 – John Renbourn, English-Scottish guitarist and songwriter (d. 2015)
1944 – Simon Taylor, English journalist and author
1946 – Joe Bethancourt, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1947 – Ken Dryden, Canadian ice hockey player, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Larry Wilcox, American actor, director, and producer
1948 – Svetlana Savitskaya, Russian engineer and astronaut
1948 – Margaret Urban Walker, American philosopher
1949 – Terry Burnham, American actress
1949 – Keith Carradine, American actor
1949 – Ricardo Londoño, Colombian racing driver (d. 2009)
1950 – Willie Hall, American drummer and producer
1950 – Ken Kutaragi, Japanese businessman, created PlayStation
1951 – Martin Brest, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1951 – Phil Carlson, Australian cricketer (d. 2022)
1951 – Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian engineer, academic, and politician, 5th President of Egypt (d. 2019)
1951 – Mamoru Oshii, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
1951 – Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (d. 1994)
1951 – Louis van Gaal, Dutch footballer and manager
1952 – Anton Fig, South African-American drummer
1952 – Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
1952 – Doug Melvin, Canadian baseball player and manager
1952 – Robin Quivers, American nurse, radio host/personality, and author
1952 – Sudhakar Rao, Indian cricketer
1953 – Nigel Mansell, English racing driver
1953 – Don Most, American actor and singer
1954 – Nick Holtam, English bishop
1955 – Diddú, Icelandic singer-songwriter
1955 – Herbert Prohaska, Austrian footballer and manager
1955 – Michael Roe, Irish racing driver
1956 – Chris Foreman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – David Grant, English singer
1956 – Cecilia Roth, Argentinian actress
1957 – Dennis Drew, American keyboard player
1958 – Deborah Norville, American journalist
1959 – Caroline Ansink, Dutch flute player, composer, and educator
1960 – Mustafa Balbay, Turkish journalist and politician
1960 – Ulrich Maly, German politician, 16th Mayor of Nuremberg
1961 – The Edge, British-Irish musician, singer and songwriter
1961 – Daniel House, American bass player and producer
1961 – Ron Klain, American lawyer and politician, White House Chief of Staff
1961 – Bruce Matthews, American football player and coach
1961 – Rikki Rockett, American glam rock drummer
1962 – Kool Moe Dee, American musician, singer and actor
1963 – Hur Jin-ho, South Korean director and screenwriter
1963 – Ron Karkovice, American baseball player and manager
1963 – Emi Shinohara, Japanese voice actress and singer
1963 – Jon Turteltaub, American director and producer
1963 – Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager
1964 – Anastasia M. Ashman, American blogger and author
1964 – Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy
1964 – Scott Sandelin, American ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Paul Taylor, English cricketer
1965 – Angus Fraser, English cricketer, manager, and journalist
1965 – Kate Langbroek, Australian talk show host
1966 – Chris Eubank, English boxer
1966 – John Hudek, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Marcelo Balboa, American soccer player, coach, and sportscaster
1968 – Yvie Burnett, Scottish soprano
1968 – Aldo Calderón van Dyke, Honduran journalist (d. 2013)
1968 – Abey Kuruvilla, Indian cricketer and coach
1968 – Huey Morgan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Monika Tsõganova, Estonian chess player
1969 – Faye Wong, Chinese singer-songwriter and actress
1970 – Trev Alberts, American football player and journalist
1970 – Ben G. Davis, English chemist and academic
1970 – José Francisco Molina, Spanish footballer and manager
1970 – Chester Williams, South African rugby player and coach (d. 2019)
1971 – Johnny Balentina, Dutch baseball player
1972 – Joely Collins, Canadian actress and producer
1972 – Andrea de Rossi, Italian rugby player and coach
1972 – Axel Merckx, Belgian cyclist
1972 – Steven Tweed, Scottish footballer and manager
1973 – Shane Lee, Australian cricketer and guitarist
1973 – Gert Olesk, Estonian footballer and manager
1973 – Scott Stapp, American singer-songwriter and producer
1973 – Mark Wills, American singer-songwriter
1973 – Ilka Agricola, German mathematician
1974 – Manjul Bhargava, Canadian-American mathematician and academic
1974 – Scott D'Amore, Canadian wrestler and manager
1974 – Brian Harvey, English singer-songwriter
1974 – Andy Priaulx, Guernseyan racing driver
1975 – Mick Moss, English singer-songwriter
1976 – JC Chasez, American singer and dancer
1976 – Drew Lachey, American singer and actor
1977 – Lindsay Sloane, American actress
1977 – Darren Manzella, American sergeant (d. 2013)
1977 – Rocky Thompson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1977 – Nicolas Vogondy, French cyclist
1977 – Mohammad Wasim, Pakistani cricketer
1978 – Alan Maybury, Irish footballer and coach
1978 – Louis Saha, French footballer
1978 – Miho Shiraishi, Japanese actress
1979 – Richard Harwood, English cellist
1979 – Rashard Lewis, American basketball player
1979 – Richard Lyons, Northern Irish racing driver
1980 – Shayna Baszler, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
1980 – Craig Breslow, American baseball pitcher and executive
1980 – Jack Cassel, American baseball player
1980 – Denisse Guerrero, Mexican singer-songwriter
1980 – Sabine Klaschka, German tennis player
1980 – Diego Markwell, Dutch baseball player
1980 – Pat Noonan, American soccer player
1980 – Michael Urie, American actor, director, and producer
1981 – Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer-songwriter
1981 – Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
1981 – Meagan Good, American actress and producer
1981 – Harel Skaat, Israeli singer-songwriter
1982 – David Florence, English canoe racer
1982 – Ross Ohlendorf, American baseball player
1983 – Guy Burnet, English actor and producer
1983 – Willie Tonga, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Kirk Broadfoot, Scottish footballer
1984 – Norbert Michelisz, Hungarian racing driver
1984 – Martrez Milner, American football player
1985 – Toby Flood, English rugby player
1985 – Ryan Koolwijk, Dutch footballer
1985 – James Morgan, Welsh actor and producer
1985 – Brett Ratliff, American football player
1985 – Anita Włodarczyk, Polish track and field athlete
1986 – Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukrainian tennis player
1986 – Jackie Cruz, Dominican-American actress and singer
1986 – Pierre Garçon, American football player
1986 – Chris Pressley, American football player
1987 – Pierre Boulanger, French actor
1987 – Katie Leung, Scottish actress
1987 – Tatjana Maria, German tennis player
1988 – Princess Beatrice, British royal
1988 – Danilo Gallinari, Italian basketball player
1988 – Rinku Singh, Indian baseball player and wrestler
1988 – Laura Slade Wiggins, American actress and singer
1989 – Ken Baumann, American actor and author
1989 – Anthony Rizzo, American baseball player
1989 – Hannah Miley, English-Scottish swimmer
1989 – Prajakta Mali, Indian actress
1990 – Vladimír Darida, Czech footballer
1990 – Parker Kligerman, American race car driver
1990 – Aleksandra Szwed, Polish actress and singer
1990 – Kane Williamson, New Zealand cricket captain
1991 – Yandy Díaz, Cuban baseball player
1991 – Nélson Oliveira, Portuguese footballer
1991 – Tyrone Peachey, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Joël Matip, Cameroonian footballer
1992 – Josip Drmić, Swiss footballer
1992 – Casey Cott, American actor
1998 – Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1998 – Ryan Garcia, American boxer
2000 – Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
117 – Trajan, Roman emperor (b. 53)
753 – Hildegar, bishop of Cologne
869 – Lothair II, Frankish king (b. 835)
998 – Seo Hui, Korean politician and diplomat (b. 942)
1002 – Almanzor, chief minister and de facto ruler of Córdoba
1171 – Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (b. 1111)
1303 – Henry of Castile the Senator, Spanish nobleman (b. 1230)
1533 – Lucas van Leyden, Dutch artist (b. 1494)
1555 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (b. 1494)
1588 – Alonso Sánchez Coello, Spanish painter (b. 1532)
1601–1900
1604 – Horio Tadauji, Japanese daimyō (b. 1578)
1616 – Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter (b. 1548)
1631 – Konstantinas Sirvydas, Lithuanian priest, lexicographer, and academic (b. 1579)
1684 – George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer, English politician (b. 1622)
1724 – Christoph Ludwig Agricola, German painter (b. 1665)
1747 – Madeleine de Verchères, Canadian raid leader (b. 1678)
1746 – Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher (b. 1694)
1759 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (b. 1704)
1827 – George Canning, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1770)
1828 – Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish botanist and psychologist (b. 1743)
1858 – Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, Haitian Empress (b. 1758)
1863 – Angus MacAskill, Scottish-Canadian giant (b. 1825)
1879 – Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher and academic (b. 1797)
1887 – Alexander William Doniphan, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1808)
1897 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (b. 1818)
1898 – Eugène Boudin, French painter (b. 1824)
1901–present
1902 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1836)
1902 – John Henry Twachtman, American painter and academic (b. 1853)
1909 – Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (b. 1842)
1911 – William P. Frye, American lawyer and politician (b. 1830)
1920 – Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (b. 1855)
1921 – Juhani Aho, Finnish journalist and author (b. 1861)
1928 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian politician (b. 1871)
1930 – Launceston Elliot, Scottish wrestler and weightlifter (b. 1874)
1934 – Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1863)
1937 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (b. 1897)
1940 – Johnny Dodds, American clarinet player and saxophonist (b. 1892)
1944 – Erwin von Witzleben, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1944 – Michael Wittmann, German commander (b. 1914)
1950 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman, founded Qantas (b. 1879)
1959 – Albert Namatjira, Australian painter (b. 1902)
1965 – Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1916)
1969 – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (b. 1896)
1971 – Freddie Spencer Chapman, English lieutenant (b. 1907)
1973 – Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish historian and author (b. 1898)
1974 – Elisabeth Abegg, German anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1882)
1975 – Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (b. 1928)
1979 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English lieutenant and author (b. 1910)
1980 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1910)
1981 – Thomas McElwee, Irish republican, PIRA volunteer and Hunger Striker (b. 1957)
1982 – Eric Brandon, English racing driver and businessman (b. 1920)
1984 – Richard Deacon, American actor (b. 1921)
1984 – Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (b. 1928)
1985 – Louise Brooks, American actress (b. 1906)
1987 – Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)
1988 – Félix Leclerc, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
1988 – Alan Napier, English actor (b. 1903)
1991 – James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
1992 – Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, Iranian religious leader and scholar (b. 1899)
1996 – Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1996 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (b. 1927)
1998 – Mahmoud Saremi, Iranian journalist (b. 1968)
2003 – Dirk Hoogendam, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922)
2003 – Falaba Issa Traoré, Malian director and playwright (b. 1930)
2004 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (b. 1922)
2004 – Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (b. 1907)
2005 – Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (b. 1922)
2005 – Ahmed Deedat, South African missionary and author (b. 1918)
2005 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (b. 1918)
2005 – Gene Mauch, American baseball player and manager (b. 1925)
2005 – Dean Rockwell, American commander, wrestler, and coach (b. 1912)
2005 – Monica Sjöö, Swedish-English painter (b. 1938)
2007 – Ma Lik, Chinese journalist and politician (b. 1952)
2007 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
2008 – Orville Moody, American golfer (b. 1933)
2009 – Daniel Jarque, Spanish footballer (b. 1983)
2010 – Patricia Neal, American actress (b. 1926)
2012 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, German-American physicist and academic (b. 1926)
2012 – Ruth Etchells, English poet and academic (b. 1931)
2012 – Surya Lesmana, Indonesian footballer and manager (b. 1944)
2012 – Kurt Maetzig, German director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
2013 – Karen Black, American actress (b. 1939)
2013 – Johannes Bluyssen, Dutch bishop (b. 1926)
2013 – Fernando Castro Pacheco, Mexican painter, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1918)
2013 – Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (b. 1985)
2013 – Regina Resnik, American soprano and actress (b. 1922)
2014 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (b. 1929)
2014 – Charles Keating, English-American actor (b. 1941)
2014 – Leonardo Legaspi, Filipino archbishop (b. 1935)
2014 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (b. 1929)
2014 – Red Wilson, American football and baseball player (b. 1929)
2015 – Sean Price, American rapper (b. 1972)
2015 – Gus Mortson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1925)
2017 – Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1936)
2018 – Nicholas Bett, Kenyan track and field athlete (b. 1990)
2020 – Gabriel Ochoa Uribe, Colombian football player and manager (b. 1929)
2020 – Alfredo Lim, former Philippine senator and Mayor of Manila (b. 1929)
2021 – Bill Davis, Canadian politician, 18th premier of Ontario (b. 1929)
2022 – Olivia Newton-John, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1948)
2023 – Rodriguez, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances
Ceasefire Day (end of Iran–Iraq War) (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Christian Feast Day:
Altmann of Passau
Cyriacus
Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order.
Four Crowned Martyrs
Largus
Mary MacKillop
Saint Smaragdus (and companions)
Severus of Vienne
August 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Father's Day or Bā bā Day (爸爸節), Bā Bā is Mandarin for "father" and "8-8", or August 8. (Mongolia, Taiwan)
Happiness Happens Day
International Cat Day
Namesday of the Queen (Sweden)
Nane Nane Day (Tanzania)
Signal Troops Day (Ukraine)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1334 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2016 | April 16 |
Events
Pre-1600
1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War.
1346 – Stefan Dušan, "the Mighty", is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans.
1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V.
1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
1601–1900
1746 – The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland. After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.
1780 – Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg founds the University of Münster.
1799 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
1838 – The French Army captures Veracruz in the Pastry War.
1847 – Shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
1853 – The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane.
1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is dissolved.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.
1862 – American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.
1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.
1878 – The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issued a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish.
1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
1901–present
1908 – Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.
1910 – The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.
1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
1917 – Russian Revolution: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
1919 – Polish–Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.
1925 – During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.
1941 – World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.
1941 – World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.
1942 – King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta in appreciation of their heroism.
1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.
1944 – World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
1945 – The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
1945 – More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.
1947 – An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
1947 – Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1948 – The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed.
1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
1972 – Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.
2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union.
2007 – Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho guns down 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide.
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
2012 – The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway.
2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.
2013 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, killing at least 35 people and injuring 117 others.
2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.
2014 – The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.
2016 – Ecuador's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years kills 676 and injures 6,274.
2018 – The New York Times and the New Yorker win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for breaking news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal.
Births
Pre-1600
1488 – Jungjong of Joseon (d. 1544)
1495 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1557)
1516 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (d. 1550)
1569 – John Davies, English poet and lawyer (d. 1626)
1601–1900
1635 – Frans van Mieris the Elder, Dutch painter (d. 1681)
1646 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French architect, designed the Château de Dampierre and Grand Trianon (probable; d. 1708)
1660 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (d. 1753)
1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, First Lord of the Treasury (d. 1715)
1682 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (d. 1744)
1697 – Johann Gottlieb Görner, German organist and composer (d. 1778)
1728 – Joseph Black, French-Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1799)
1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795)
1755 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (d. 1842)
1786 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician, fourth Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (d. 1847)
1800 – George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, English field marshal and politician (d. 1888)
1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, sixth United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1864)
1821 – Ford Madox Brown, French-English soldier and painter (d. 1893)
1823 – Gotthold Eisenstein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1852)
1826 – Sir James Corry, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1891)
1827 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian poet and bookseller (d. 1879)
1839 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, Italian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908)
1834 – Charles Lennox Richardson, English merchant (d. 1862)
1844 – Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
1847 – Hans Auer, Swiss-Austrian architect, designed the Federal Palace of Switzerland (d. 1906)
1848 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (d. 1919)
1851 – Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, third Solicitor General of Sri Lanka (d. 1930)
1864 – Rose Talbot Bullard, American medical doctor and professor (d. 1915)
1865 – Harry Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
1866 – José de Diego, Puerto Rican journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1918)
1867 – Wilbur Wright, American inventor (d. 1912)
1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1909)
1874 – Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (d. 1936)
1878 – R. E. Foster, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1914)
1882 – Seth Bingham, American organist and composer (d. 1972)
1884 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, journalist, and politician (d. 1963)
1885 – Leó Weiner, Hungarian composer and educator (d. 1960)
1886 – Michalis Dorizas, Greek-American football player and javelin thrower (d. 1957)
1886 – Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944)
1888 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1977)
1890 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1954)
1890 – Gertrude Chandler Warner, American author and educator (d. 1979)
1891 – Dorothy P. Lathrop, American author and illustrator (d. 1980)
1892 – Dora Richter, German transgender woman and the first known person to undergo complete male-to-female gender-affirming surgery (d. unknown)
1892 – Howard Mumford Jones, American author, critic, and academic (d. 1980)
1893 – Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1968)
1893 – John Norton, American hurdler (d. 1979)
1895 – Ove Arup, English-Danish engineer and businessman, founded Arup (d. 1988)
1896 – Robert Henry Best, American journalist (d. 1952)
1896 – Árpád Weisz, Hungarian footballer (d. 1944)
1899 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist and academic (d. 1988)
1900 – Polly Adler, Russian-American madam and author (d. 1962)
1901–present
1903 – Paul Waner, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
1904 – Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian-American vaudevillian, actress, and singer (d. 1983)
1905 – Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and businessman, founded Bombardier Inc. (d. 1964)
1907 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (d. 1947)
1908 – Ellis Marsalis, Sr., American businessman and activist (d. 2004)
1908 – Ray Ventura, French jazz bandleader (d. 1979)
1910 – Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (d. 1994)
1911 – Guy Burgess, English-Russian spy (d. 1963)
1914 – John Hodiak, American actor (d. 1955)
1915 – Robert Speck, Canadian politician, first Mayor of Mississauga (d. 1972)
1916 – Behçet Necatigil, Turkish author, poet, and translator (d. 1979)
1917 – Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli (d. 2013)
1917 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007)
1918 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese-American monk and author (d. 1995)
1918 – Juozas Kazickas, Lithuanian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
1918 – Spike Milligan, Irish actor, comedian, and writer (d. 2002)
1919 – Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
1919 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (d. 2011)
1919 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (d. 2013)
1919 – Thomas Willmore, English geometer and academic (d. 2005)
1920 – Ananda Dassanayake, Sri Lankan politician (d. 2012)
1920 – Prince George Valdemar of Denmark (d. 1986)
1921 – Arlin Adams, American lawyer and judge (d. 2015)
1921 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (d. 2014)
1921 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1922 – Kingsley Amis, English novelist, poet, and critic (d. 1995)
1922 – Lawrence N. Guarino, American colonel (d. 2014)
1922 – Leo Tindemans, Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014)
1923 – Warren Barker, American composer (d. 2006)
1923 – Arch A. Moore Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of West Virginia (d. 2015)
1924 – John Harvey-Jones, English academic and businessman (d. 2008)
1924 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (d. 1994)
1924 – Madanjeet Singh, Indian diplomat, author, and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1926 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (d. 2013)
1927 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
1927 – Pope Benedict XVI (d. 2022)
1927 – Rolf Schult, German actor (d. 2013)
1928 – Night Train Lane, American football player (d. 2002)
1929 – Roy Hamilton, American singer (d. 1969)
1929 – Ralph Slatyer, Australian biologist and ecologist (d. 2012)
1929 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2003)
1930 – Doug Beasy, Australian footballer and educator (d. 2013)
1930 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and composer (d. 2003)
1932 – Maury Meyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1933 – Marcos Alonso Imaz, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
1933 – Joan Bakewell, English journalist and author
1933 – Perry Botkin Jr., American composer, arranger and musician (d. 2021)
1933 – Vera Krepkina, Russian long jumper (d. 2023)
1933 – Ike Pappas, American journalist and actor (d. 2008)
1934 – Vince Hill, English singer-songwriter (d. 2023)
1934 – Robert Stigwood, Australian producer and manager (d. 2016)
1934 – Barrie Unsworth, Australian politician, 36th Premier of New South Wales
1934 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (d. 2012)
1935 – Marcel Carrière, Canadian director and screenwriter
1935 – Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (d. 2013)
1935 – Lennart Risberg, Swedish boxer (d. 2013)
1935 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (d. 2013)
1935 – Bobby Vinton, American singer
1936 – Vadim Kuzmin, Russian physicist and academic (d. 2015)
1937 – Gert Potgieter, South African hurdler and coach
1937 – George Steele, American wrestler and actor (d. 2017)
1938 – Rich Rollins, American baseball player
1938 – Gordon Wilson, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1939 – John Amabile, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
1939 – Dusty Springfield, English singer and record producer (d. 1999)
1940 – Benoît Bouchard, Canadian academic and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Transport
1940 – David Holford, Barbadian cricketer
1940 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
1940 – Joan Snyder, American painter
1940 – Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, English banker and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom
1941 – Allan Segal, American director and producer (d. 2012)
1942 – Jim Lonborg, American baseball pitcher
1942 – Sir Frank Williams, English businessman, founded the Williams F1 Racing Team (d. 2021)
1943 – Petro Tyschtschenko, Austrian-German businessman
1943 – John Watkins, Australian cricketer
1945 – Tom Allen, American lawyer and politician
1946 – Margot Adler, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
1946 – Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (d. 2014)
1946 – Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (d. 2015)
1946 – R. Carlos Nakai, American flute player
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player and coach
1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1948 – Reg Alcock, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Canadian President of the Treasury Board (d. 2011)
1950 – David Graf, American actor (d. 2001)
1950 – Colleen Hewett, Australian singer and actress
1951 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian author and photographer
1952 – Bill Belichick, American football player and coach
1952 – Michel Blanc, French actor and director
1952 – Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Israeli sprinter and hurdler
1952 – Billy West, American voice actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian
1953 – Peter Garrett, Australian singer-songwriter and politician
1953 – Jay O. Sanders, American actor
1954 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
1954 – John Bowe, Australian racing driver
1954 – Mike Zuke, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Bruce Bochy, American baseball player and manager
1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
1956 – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
1956 – T Lavitz, American keyboard player, composer, and producer (d. 2010)
1956 – Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
1957 – Patricia De Martelaere, Belgian philosopher, author, and academic (d. 2009)
1958 – Tim Flach, English photographer and director
1958 – Ulf Wakenius, Swedish guitarist
1959 – Alison Ramsay, English-Scottish field hockey player and lawyer
1960 – Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007)
1960 – Rafael Benítez, Spanish footballer and manager
1960 – Pierre Littbarski, German footballer and manager
1961 – Jarbom Gamlin, Indian lawyer and politician, seventh Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (d. 2014)
1962 – Anna Dello Russo, Italian journalist
1963 – Saleem Malik, Pakistani cricketer
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer
1964 – David Kohan, American screenwriter and producer
1964 – Dave Pirner, American singer, songwriter and producer
1964 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish pianist (d. 2008)
1965 – Yves-François Blanchet, Canadian politician
1965 – Jon Cryer, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Martin Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Jarle Vespestad, Norwegian drummer
1968 – Vickie Guerrero, American wrestler and manager
1968 – Rüdiger Stenzel, German runner
1969 – Patrik Järbyn, Swedish skier
1969 – Fernando Viña, American baseball player and sportscaster
1970 – Dero Goi, German singer-songwriter and drummer
1970 – Walt Williams, American basketball player
1971 – Cameron Blades, Australian rugby player
1971 – Selena, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (d. 1995)
1971 – Seigo Yamamoto, Japanese racing driver
1971 – Natasha Zvereva, Belarusian tennis player
1972 – Conchita Martínez, Spanish-American tennis player
1972 – Tracy K. Smith, American poet and educator
1973 – Akon, Senegalese-American singer, rapper and songwriter
1973 – Charlotta Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
1973 – Teddy Cobeña, Spanish-Ecuadorian expressionist and representational sculptor
1976 – Lukas Haas, American actor and musician
1976 – Kelli O'Hara, American actress and singer
1977 – Freddie Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
1979 – Christijan Albers, Dutch racing driver
1979 – Lars Börgeling, German pole vaulter
1979 – Daniel Browne, New Zealand rugby player
1981 – Anestis Agritis, Greek footballer
1981 – Maya Dunietz, Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist
1981 – Matthieu Proulx, Canadian football player
1982 – Gina Carano, American mixed martial artist and actress
1982 – Boris Diaw, French basketball player
1982 – Jonathan Vilma, American football player
1983 – Marié Digby, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1983 – Cat Osterman, American softball player
1984 – Teddy Blass, American composer and producer
1984 – Claire Foy, English actress
1984 – Tucker Fredricks, American speed skater
1984 – Paweł Kieszek, Polish footballer
1984 – Kerron Stewart, Jamaican sprinter
1985 – Luol Deng, Sudanese-English basketball player
1985 – Nate Diaz, American mixed martial artist
1985 – Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer
1986 – Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer
1986 – Peter Regin, Danish ice hockey player
1986 – Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast
1987 – Cenk Akyol, Turkish basketball player
1987 – Aaron Lennon, English international footballer
1988 – Kyle Okposo, American ice hockey player
1990 – Reggie Jackson, American basketball player
1990 – Vangelis Mantzaris, Greek basketball player
1990 – Tony McQuay, American sprinter
1991 – Nolan Arenado, American baseball player
1991 – Kim Kyung-jung, South Korean footballer
1993 – Chance the Rapper, American rapper
1993 – Mirai Nagasu, Japanese-American figure skater
1996 – Anya Taylor-Joy, Argentine-British actress
1996 – Taylor Townsend, American tennis player
2002 – Sadie Sink, American actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 69 – Otho, Roman emperor (b. AD 32)
665 – Fructuosus of Braga, French archbishop and saint
1090 – Sikelgaita, duchess of Apulia (b. c. 1040)
1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev (b. 1050)
1118 – Adelaide del Vasto, regent of Sicily, mother of Roger II of Sicily, queen of Baldwin I of Jerusalem
1198 – Frederick I, Duke of Austria (b. 1175)
1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (b. 1191)
1375 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1347)
1496 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1489)
1587 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. 1497)
1601–1900
1640 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (b. 1579)
1645 – Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (b. 1569)
1687 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire (b. 1628)
1689 – Aphra Behn, English author and playwright (b. 1640)
1742 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and translator (b. 1672)
1756 – Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (b. 1677)
1783 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (b. 1719)
1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author (b. 1707)
1828 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and illustrator (b. 1746)
1846 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (b. 1763)
1850 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (b. 1761)
1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1805)
1879 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (b. 1844)
1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (b. 1845)
1899 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and activist (b. 1875)
1901–present
1904 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (b. 1888)
1904 – Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (b. 1812)
1914 – George William Hill, American astronomer and mathematician (b. 1838)
1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, American businessman and politician (b. 1841)
1925 – Stefan Nerezov, Bulgarian general (b. 1867)
1928 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Henry Birks and Sons (b. 1840)
1928 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (b. 1900)
1930 – José Carlos Mariátegui, Peruvian journalist, philosopher, and activist (b. 1894)
1935 – Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1884)
1937 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, third Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (b. 1870)
1938 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and manager (b. 1874)
1940 – Tony D'Arcy, Irish Republican died while on hunger strike (b. 1908)
1941 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, English economist and civil servant (b. 1880)
1942 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1878)
1942 – Denis St. George Daly, Irish polo player (b. 1862)
1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and engineer (b. 1884)
1947 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (b. 1900)
1950 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1905)
1950 – Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (b. 1867)
1955 – David Kirkwood, Scottish engineer and politician (b. 1872)
1958 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist and academic (b. 1920)
1960 – Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director (b. 1884)
1961 – Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1912)
1965 – Francis Balfour, English soldier and colonial administrator (b. 1884)
1965 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor, comedian, brother of Charlie Chaplin (b. 1885)
1966 – Eric Lambert, Australian author (b. 1918)
1968 – Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893)
1968 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1885)
1969 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator and painter (b. 1904)
1970 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designed the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (b. 1892)
1970 – Péter Veres, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (b. 1897)
1972 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1972 – Frank O'Connor, Australian public servant (b. 1894)
1973 – István Kertész, Hungarian conductor and educator (b. 1929)
1978 – Lucius D. Clay, American officer and military governor in occupied Germany (b. 1898)
1980 – Morris Stoloff, American composer (b. 1898)
1985 – Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (b. 1935)
1988 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist (b. 1954)
1989 – Jocko Conlan, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1899)
1989 – Kaoru Ishikawa Japanese author and educator (b. 1915)
1989 – Miles Lawrence, English cricketer (b. 1940)
1989 – Hakkı Yeten, Turkish footballer, manager and president (b. 1910)
1991 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
1992 – Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
1992 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy and activist (b. 1915)
1992 – Andy Russell, American singer and actor (b. 1919)
1994 – Paul-Émilien Dalpé, Canadian labor unionist (b. 1919)
1994 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and critic (b. 1913)
1996 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (b. 1917)
1997 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (b. 1921)
1997 – Roland Topor, French actor, director, and painter (b. 1938)
1998 – Alberto Calderón, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
1998 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
1998 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian super-centenarian (b. 1880)
1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946)
2001 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (b. 1918)
2001 – Michael Ritchie, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
2001 – Alec Stock, English footballer and manager (b. 1917)
2002 – Billy Ayre, English footballer and manager (b. 1952)
2002 – Ruth Fertel, American businesswoman, founded Ruth's Chris Steak House (b. 1927)
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
2003 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (b. 1930)
2003 – Graham Stuart Thomas, English horticulturalist and author (b. 1909)
2005 – Kay Walsh, English actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
2007 – Frank Bateson, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1909)
2007 – Gaétan Duchesne, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1962)
2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1915)
2007 – Chandrabose Suthaharan, Sri Lankan journalist
2008 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917)
2010 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (b. 1949)
2010 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (b. 1926)
2011 – Gerry Alexander, Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (b. 1928)
2011 – Allan Blakeney, Canadian scholar and politician, tenth Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1925)
2011 – Sol Saks, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1910)
2012 – Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (b. 1914)
2012 – Marian Biskup, Polish author and academic (b. 1922)
2012 – Alan Hacker, English clarinet player and conductor (b. 1938)
2012 – George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (b. 1956)
2012 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (b. 1913)
2012 – Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1948)
2013 – Charles Bruzon, Gibraltarian politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (b. 1928)
2013 – Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (b. 1926)
2013 – Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925)
2013 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (b. 1909)
2013 – Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1930)
2013 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (b. 1919)
2014 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (b. 1949)
2014 – Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (b. 1929)
2014 – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (b. 1923)
2015 – Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1948)
2015 – Stanislav Gross, Czech lawyer and politician, fifth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (b. 1969)
2018 – Harry Anderson, American actor and magician (b. 1952)
2021 – Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (b. 1939)
2021 – Helen McCrory, British actress (b. 1968)
2021 – Liam Scarlett, British choreographer (b. 1986)
2021 – John Dawes, Welsh rugby union player (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Benedict Joseph Labre
Bernadette Soubirous
Drogo
Engratia
Fructuosus of Braga
Isabella Gilmore (Church of England)
Martyrs of Zaragoza
Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni) (Anglican Church of Canada, Episcopal Church)
Turibius of Astorga
April 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States)
Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)
Emancipation Day (Washington, D.C., United States)
Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary)
National Healthcare Decisions Day (United States)
Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
World Voice Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 16
Days of the year
April |
1416 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2029 | April 29 |
Events
Pre-1600
801 – An earthquake in the Central Apennines hits Rome and Spoleto, damaging the basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura.
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1521 – Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Västerås.
1601–1900
1760 – French forces commence the siege of Quebec which is held by the British.
1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1826 – The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is discovered by James Dunlop.
1861 – Maryland in the American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.
1901–present
1903 – A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded.
1916 – World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.
1945 – World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy.
1945 – World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor.
1945 – Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1952 – Pan Am Flight 202 crashes into the Amazon basin near Carolina, Maranhão, Brazil, killing 50 people.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1975 – Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the .
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around , killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
1991 – The 7.0 Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
1992 – Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
2004 – The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years of vehicle production.
2011 – The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.
2013 – A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people.
2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing seven people.
2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.
Births
Pre-1600
1469 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509)
1587 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
1601–1900
1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (d. 1679)
1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1745)
1667 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish-English physician and polymath (d. 1735)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (d. 1810)
1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807)
1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (d. 1820)
1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1833)
1780 – Charles Nodier, French librarian and author (d. 1844)
1783 – David Cox, English landscape painter (d. 1859)
1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American publisher and politician, 14th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
1837 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1891)
1842 – Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1899)
1847 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer and conductor (d. 1907)
1848 – Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (d. 1906)
1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and engineer (d. 1912)
1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (d. 1933)
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951)
1863 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (d. 1922)
1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (d. 1930)
1872 – Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (d. 1952)
1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (d. 1950)
1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961)
1880 – Adolf Chybiński, Polish historian, musicologist and academic (d. 1952)
1882 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (d. 1960)
1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (d. 1945)
1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948)
1887 – Robert Cushman Murphy, American ornithologist (d. 1973)
1888 – Michael Heidelberger, American immunologist (d. 1991)
1891 – Edward Wilfred Taylor, British businessman (d. 1980)
1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1894 – Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (d. 1970)
1895 – Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (d. 1970)
1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer and conductor (d. 1967)
1898 – E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (d. 1980)
1899 – Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer and bandleader (d. 1974)
1899 – Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976)
1900 – Amelia Best, Australian politician (d. 1979)
1901–present
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989)
1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 1997)
1908 – Jack Williamson, American author and academic (d. 2006)
1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1997)
1917 – Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (d. 1961)
1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990)
1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1920 – Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (d. 1996)
1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer (d. 2013)
1922 – Parren Mitchell, American politician (d. 2007)
1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (d. 2016)
1923 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director and producer (d. 2010)
1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress (d. 2020)
1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007)
1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (d. 2007)
1926 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1927 – Dorothy Manley, English sprinter (d. 2021)
1927 – Bill Slater, English footballer (d. 2018)
1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (d. 2011)
1928 – Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (d. 2007)
1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1929 – April Stevens, American singer (d. 2023)
1929 – Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (d. 2015)
1929 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (d. 2017)
1931 – Frank Auerbach, British-German painter
1931 – Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1931 – Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (d. 2014)
1932 – David Tindle, English painter and educator
1932 – Dmitry Zaikin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (d. 2013)
1933 – Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1933 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor
1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1934 – Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde
1935 – Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 2020)
1936 – Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist
1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English author (d. 2020)
1938 – Steven Bach, American writer, businessman and educator (d. 2009)
1938 – Bernie Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon (d. 2021)
1939 – Klaus Rinke, German contemporary artist
1940 – George Adams, American musician (d. 1992)
1940 – Peter Diamond, American economist
1941 – Hanne Darboven, German painter (d. 2009)
1942 – Dick Chrysler, American politician
1942 – Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic
1943 – Duane Allen, American country singer
1943 – Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (d. 2018)
1943 – Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic
1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman (d. 2023)
1945 – Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (d. 2009)
1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
1945 – Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1946 – Rodney Frelinghuysen, American politician and lobbyist
1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1947 – Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster
1947 – Jim Ryun, American runner and politician
1948 – Edith Brown Clement, American judge
1950 – Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (d. 2013)
1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer
1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
1951 – Jon Stanhope, Australian politician
1952 – Geraldine Doogue, Australian journalist and television host
1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian
1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach
1952 – Dave Valentin, American flautist (d. 2017)
1953 – Bill Drummond, Brittish musician
1954 – Mo Brooks, American attorney and politician
1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor and producer
1955 – Leslie Jordan, American actor, comedian, writer and singer (d. 2022)
1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor
1957 – Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Samoan politician, 7th Prime Minister of Samoa
1957 – Joseph Morelle, American politician
1958 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (d. 2013)
1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress
1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic
1962 – Polly Samson, English novelist, lyricist and journalist
1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1965 – Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic
1965 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (d. 2017)
1966 – Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist
1968 – Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian politician and diplomat, 4th President of Croatia
1969 – Paul Adelstein, American actor and writer
1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player
1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress
1975 – Garrison Starr, American singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – April Telek, Canadian actress
1976 – Micol Ostow, American author, editor and educator
1976 – God Shammgod, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player
1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager
1977 – David Sullivan, American film and television actor
1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician
1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian
1979 – Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer
1979 – Jo O'Meara, English pop singer
1980 – Bre Blair, Canadian actress
1981 – George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer
1983 – Megan Boone, American actress
1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
1983 – Sam Jones III, American actor
1984 – Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer
1984 – Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player
1986 – Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor
1986 – Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress
1987 – Rob Atkinson, English footballer
1987 – Sara Errani, Italian tennis player
1987 – Andre Russell, Jamaican cricketer
1988 – Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer
1988 – Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete
1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer
1989 – Candace Owens, American political commentator and activist
1990 – James Faulkner, Australian cricketer
1990 – Chris Johnson, American basketball player
1991 – Adam Smith, English footballer
1991 – Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress
1991 – Misaki Doi, Japanese tennis player
1992 – Alina Rosenberg, German paralympic equestrian
1994 – Christina Shakovets, German tennis player
1996 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress
1998 – Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player
1998 – Mallory Pugh, American soccer player
2002 – Sinja Kraus, Austrian tennis player
2007 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess
Deaths
Pre-1600
1109 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot (b. 1024)
1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher and saint (b. 1347)
1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and theologian (b. 1517)
1601–1900
1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné, French soldier and poet (b. 1552)
1658 – John Cleveland, English poet and author (b. 1613)
1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
1707 – George Farquhar, Irish-English actor and playwright (b. 1678)
1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694)
1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English explorer and author (b. 1713)
1833 – William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (b. 1756)
1848 – Chester Ashley, American politician (b. 1790)
1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1768)
1901–present
1903 – Godfrey Carter, Australian businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of Melbourne (b. 1830)
1903 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (b. 1835)
1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847)
1916 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1850)
1917 – Florence Farr, British actress, composer and director (b. 1860)
1922 – Richard Croker, Irish American political boss (b. 1843)
1924 – Ernest Fox Nichols, American educator and physicist (b. 1869)
1925 – Ralph Delahaye Paine, American journalist and author (b. 1871)
1933 – Clay Stone Briggs, American politician (b. 1876)
1933 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (b. 1863)
1935 – Leroy Carr, American singer, songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
1937 – William Gillette, American actor and playwright (b. 1853)
1943 – Joseph Achron, Russian composer and violinist (b. 1886)
1943 – Ricardo Viñes, Spanish pianist (b. 1875)
1944 – Billy Bitzer, American cinematographer (b. 1872)
1944 – Pyotr Stolyarsky, Soviet violinist (b. 1871)
1947 – Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (b. 1867)
1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (b. 1889)
1956 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (b. 1876)
1959 – Kenneth Anderson, English soldier and Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1891)
1966 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (b. 1875)
1966 – Paula Strasberg, American actress and acting coach (b. 1909)
1967 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
1968 – Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident (b. 1932)
1978 – Theo Helfrich, German race car driver (b. 1913)
1979 – Muhsin Ertuğrul, Turkish actor and director (b. 1892)
1979 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (b. 1899)
1982 – Raymond Bussières, French actor, producer and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1992 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910)
1993 – Michael Gordon, American actor and director (b. 1909)
1993 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
1997 – Mike Royko, American journalist and author (b. 1932)
2000 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)
2001 – Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
2002 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1936)
2003 – Janko Bobetko, Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff (b. 1919)
2004 – John Henniker-Major, British diplomat and civil servant (b. 1916)
2005 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927)
2005 – Louis Leithold, American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
2006 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (b. 1908)
2007 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (b. 1978)
2007 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (b. 1940)
2007 – Ivica Račan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
2008 – Gordon Bradley, English-American footballer (b. 1933)
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (b. 1906)
2010 – Avigdor Arikha, French-Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian (b. 1929)
2011 – Siamak Pourzand, Iranian journalist and critic (b. 1931)
2011 – Joanna Russ, American writer, academic and radical feminist (b. 1937)
2012 – Shukri Ghanem, Libyan politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942)
2012 – Joel Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1957)
2012 – Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (b. 1945)
2012 – Kenny Roberts, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2013 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (b. 1992)
2013 – Pesah Grupper, Israeli politician, 13th Israel Minister of Agriculture (b. 1924)
2013 – John La Montaine, American pianist and composer (b. 1920)
2013 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (b. 1958)
2013 – Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (b. 1990)
2014 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (b. 1966)
2014 – Al Feldstein, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
2014 – Bob Hoskins, English actor (b. 1942)
2015 – François Michelin, French businessman (b. 1926)
2015 – Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (b. 1923)
2015 – Calvin Peete, American golfer (b. 1943)
2015 – Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (b. 1922)
2016 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (b. 1948)
2017 – R. Vidyasagar Rao, Indian bureaucrat and activist (b. 1939)
2018 – Luis García Meza, Bolivian general, 57th President of Bolivia (b. 1929)
2018 – Michael Martin, British politician (b. 1945)
2019 – Josef Šural, Czech footballer (b. 1990)
2020 – Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (b. 1967)
2020 – Guido Münch, Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1921)
2021 – Cate Haste, English author (b. 1945)
2022 – Joanna Barnes, American actress and writer (b. 1934)
2023 – Padma Desai, Indian-American development economist (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church)
Hugh of Cluny
Robert of Molesme
Wilfrid II
April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare (United Nations)
International Dance Day (UNESCO)
Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 29
Days of the year
April |
1417 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2014 | August 14 |
Events
Pre-1600
74 BC – A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan.
29 BC – Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes.
1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan.
1264 – After tricking the Venetian galley fleet into sailing east to the Levant, the Genoese capture an entire Venetian trade convoy at the Battle of Saseno.
1352 – War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron.
1370 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, grants city privileges to Karlovy Vary.
1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–85: Battle of Aljubarrota: Portuguese forces commanded by John I of Portugal defeat the Castilian army of John I of Castile.
1592 – The first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis.
1598 – Nine Years' War: Battle of the Yellow Ford: Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.
1601–1900
1720 – The Spanish military Villasur expedition is defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska.
1784 – Russian colonization of North America: Awa’uq Massacre: The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiit.
1790 – The Treaty of Wereloe ended the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War.
1791 – Slaves from plantations in Saint-Domingue hold a Vodou ceremony led by houngan Dutty Boukman at Bois Caïman, marking the start of the Haitian Revolution.
1814 – A cease fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, ended the Swedish–Norwegian War.
1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida.
1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.
1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
1900 – Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.
1901–present
1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine, an unsuccessful French offensive.
1917 – World War I: The Republic of China, which had heretofore been shipping labourers to Europe to assist in the war effort, officially declares war on the Central Powers, although it will continue to send to Europe labourers instead of combatants for the remaining duration of the war.
1920 – The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly-adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history.
1921 – Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).
1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying of land.
1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.
1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States.
1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
1947 – Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire.
1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
1969 – The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.
1971 – Bahrain declares independence from Britain.
1972 – An Ilyushin Il-62 airliner crashes near Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany killing 156 people.
1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured.
1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.
2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew.
2006 – Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council’s approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lankan Air Force air strike.
2007 – The Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 500 people.
2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.
2013 – UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashes short of the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, killing both crew members on board.
2015 – The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off.
2021 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes southwestern Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing a humanitarian crisis.
2022 – An explosion destroys a market in Armenia, killing six people and injuring dozens.
2023 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.
Births
Pre-1600
1479 – Catherine of York (d. 1527)
1499 – John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1526)
1502 – Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (d. 1550)
1530 – Giambattista Benedetti, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1590)
1552 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian writer (d. 1623)
1599 – Méric Casaubon, Swiss-English scholar and author (d. 1671)
1601–1900
1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
1653 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (d. 1688)
1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1793)
1742 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
1758 – Carle Vernet, French painter and lithographer (d. 1836)
1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)
1802 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (d. 1838)
1814 – Charlotte Fowler Wells, American phrenologist and publisher (d. 1901)
1817 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1874)
1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German-Austrian psychologist and author (d. 1902)
1847 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1922)
1848 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer and author (d. 1915)
1851 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and gambler (d. 1887)
1860 – Ernest Thompson Seton, American author, artist, and naturalist (d. 1946)
1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet and author (d. 1940)
1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1952)
1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
1867 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1933)
1871 – Guangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908)
1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian painter and illustrator (d. 1957)
1876 – Alexander I of Serbia (d. 1903)
1881 – Francis Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1953)
1883 – Ernest Everett Just, American biologist and academic (d. 1941)
1886 – Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Canadian-American physicist and academic (d. 1950)
1889 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1976)
1890 – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and businessman (d. 1946)
1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist, composer, and critic (d. 1988)
1894 – Frank Burge, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1958)
1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
1895 – Amaza Lee Meredith, American architect (d. 1984)
1896 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (d. 1917)
1896 – Theodor Luts, Estonian director and cinematographer (d. 1980)
1900 – Margret Boveri, German journalist (d. 1975)
1901–present
1910 – Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (d. 2003)
1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer and producer (d. 1995)
1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (d. 1985)
1913 – Hector Crawford, Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
1913 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (d. 1981)
1914 – Herman Branson, American physicist, chemist, and academic (d. 1995)
1915 – B. A. Santamaria, Australian political activist and publisher (d. 1998)
1916 – Frank and John Craighead, American naturalists (twins, Frank d. 2001, John d. 2016)
1916 – Wellington Mara, American businessman (d. 2005)
1923 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (d. 2007)
1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect, designed the Hedmark Museum (d. 2009)
1924 – Georges Prêtre, French conductor (d. 2017)
1925 – Russell Baker, American critic and essayist (d. 2019)
1926 – René Goscinny, French author and illustrator (d. 1977)
1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist (d. 2017)
1928 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2021)
1929 – Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi from 1989 to 2005 (d. 2021).
1929 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian boxer (d. 1971)
1930 – Arthur Latham, British politician and Member of Parliament (d. 2016)
1930 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1931 – Frederic Raphael, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
1932 – Lee Hoffman, American author (d. 2007)
1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021)
1935 – John Brodie, American football player
1938 – Bennie Muller, Dutch footballer
1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2023)
1941 – Connie Smith, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Willie Dunn, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
1943 – Ronnie Campbell, English miner and politician
1943 – Ben Sidran, American jazz and rock keyboardist
1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and screenwriter
1945 – Wim Wenders, German director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
1946 – Larry Graham, American soul/funk bass player and singer-songwriter
1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
1946 – Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish race car driver and businessman (d. 2010)
1947 – Maddy Prior, English folk singer
1947 – Danielle Steel, American author
1947 – Joop van Daele, Dutch footballer
1949 – Bob Backlund, American wrestler
1949 – Morten Olsen, Danish footballer
1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
1951 – Slim Dunlap, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
1952 – Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
1953 – James Horner, American composer and conductor (d. 2015)
1954 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1954 – Stanley A. McChrystal, American general
1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress and television personality
1956 – Andy King, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
1957 – Peter Costello, Australian lawyer and politician
1959 – Frank Brickowski, American basketball player
1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player and coach
1960 – Sarah Brightman, English singer and actress
1960 – Fred Roberts, American basketball player
1961 – Susan Olsen, American actress and radio host
1962 – Mark Gubicza, American baseball player
1963 – José Cóceres, Argentinian golfer
1964 – Neal Anderson, American football player and coach
1964 – Jason Dunstall, Australian footballer
1965 – Paul Broadhurst, English golfer
1966 – Halle Berry, American model, actress, and producer
1966 – Karl Petter Løken, Swedish-Norwegian footballer
1968 – Ben Bass, American actor
1968 – Catherine Bell, English-American actress and producer
1968 – Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
1968 – Jason Leonard, English rugby player
1969 – Tracy Caldwell Dyson, American chemist and astronaut
1969 – Stig Tøfting, Danish footballer
1970 – Kevin Cadogan, American rock guitarist
1971 – Raoul Bova, Italian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Benito Carbone, Italian footballer
1971 – Peter Franzén, Finnish actor
1971 – Mark Loretta, American baseball player
1972 – Laurent Lamothe, Haitian businessman and politician, Prime Minister of Haiti
1973 – Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
1973 – Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer
1974 – Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
1974 – Christopher Gorham, American actor
1975 – Mike Vrabel, American football player
1976 – Fabrizio Donato, Italian triple jumper
1977 – Juan Pierre, American baseball player
1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
1978 – Greg Rawlinson, New Zealand rugby player
1979 – Paul Burgess, Australian pole vaulter
1980 – Peter Malinauskas, Australian politician, 47th Premier of South Australia
1981 – Earl Barron, American basketball player
1981 – Paul Gallen, Australian rugby league player, boxer, and sportscaster
1981 – Julius Jones, American football player
1981 – Kofi Kingston, Ghanian-American wrestler
1981 – Scott Lipsky, American tennis player
1983 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (d. 2014)
1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress
1983 – Lamorne Morris, American actor and comedian
1983 – Spencer Pratt, American television personality
1984 – Eva Birnerová, Czech tennis player
1984 – Clay Buchholz, American baseball player
1984 – Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
1984 – Josh Gorges, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Nick Grimshaw, English radio and television host
1984 – Nicola Slater, Scottish tennis player
1984 – Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player
1985 – Christian Gentner, German footballer
1985 – Shea Weber, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Braian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Johnny Gargano, American wrestler
1987 – David Peralta, Venezuelan baseball player
1987 – Tim Tebow, American football and baseball player and sportscaster
1989 – Ander Herrera, Spanish footballer
1989 – Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
1991 – Richard Freitag, German ski jumper
1991 – Giovanny Gallegos, Mexican baseball player
1995 – Léolia Jeanjean, French tennis player
1997 – Greet Minnen, Belgian tennis player
2004 – Marsai Martin, American actress and producer
Deaths
Pre-1600
582 – Tiberius II Constantine, Byzantine emperor
1040 – Duncan I of Scotland
1167 – Rainald of Dassel, Italian archbishop
1204 – Minamoto no Yoriie, second Shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate
1433 – John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
1464 – Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
1573 – Saitō Tatsuoki, Japanese daimyō (b. 1548)
1601–1900
1691 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, Irish soldier and politician (b. 1630)
1716 – Madre María Rosa, Capuchin nun from Spain, to Peru (b. 1660)
1727 – William Croft, English organist and composer (b. 1678)
1774 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German physician and scholar (b. 1716)
1784 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-born English painter and academic (b. 1718)
1852 – Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (b. 1788)
1854 – Carl Carl, Polish-born actor and theatre director (b. 1787)
1860 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1774)
1870 – David Farragut, American admiral (b. 1801)
1890 – Michael J. McGivney, American priest, founded the Knights of Columbus (b. 1852)
1891 – Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (b. 1803)
1901–present
1905 – Simeon Solomon, English soldier and painter (b. 1840)
1909 – William Stanley, British engineer and author (b. 1829)
1922 – Rebecca Cole, American physician and social reformer (b. 1846)
1928 – Klabund, German author and poet (b. 1890)
1938 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer and accountant (b. 1876)
1941 – Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (b. 1894)
1941 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
1943 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player and manager (b. 1871)
1948 – Eliška Misáková, Czech gymnast (b. 1926)
1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (b. 1863)
1954 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and designer (b. 1868)
1955 – Herbert Putnam, American lawyer and publisher, Librarian of Congress (b. 1861)
1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German poet, playwright, and director (b. 1898)
1956 – Konstantin von Neurath, German lawyer and politician, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1873)
1958 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
1963 – Clifford Odets, American director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1934)
1965 – Vello Kaaristo, Estonian skier (b. 1911)
1967 – Bob Anderson, English motorcycle racer and race car driver (b. 1931)
1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor, pianist, and composer (b. 1906)
1972 – Jules Romains, French author and poet (b. 1885)
1973 – Fred Gipson, American journalist and author (b. 1908)
1978 – Nicolas Bentley, English author and illustrator (b. 1907)
1980 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (b. 1960)
1981 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor and director (b. 1894)
1981 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (b. 1910)
1982 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (b. 1904)
1984 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1904)
1984 – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)
1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
1988 – Roy Buchanan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
1988 – Robert Calvert, South African-English singer-songwriter and playwright (b. 1945)
1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (b. 1898)
1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1920)
1992 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (b. 1904)
1994 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1994 – Alice Childress, American actress, playwright, and author (b. 1912)
1996 – Sergiu Celibidache, Romanian conductor and composer (b. 1912)
1999 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1918)
2002 – Larry Rivers, American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
2004 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born American novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2004 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (b. 1918)
2006 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (b. 1949)
2007 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1913)
2010 – Herman Leonard, American photographer (b. 1923)
2012 – Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1945)
2012 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian chess player (b. 1923)
2012 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (b. 1919)
2013 – Jack Germond, American journalist and author (b. 1928)
2014 – Leonard Fein, American journalist and academic, co-founded Moment Magazine (b. 1934)
2014 – George V. Hansen, American politician (b. 1930)
2015 – Bob Johnston, American songwriter and producer (b. 1932)
2016 – Fyvush Finkel, American actor (b. 1922)
2018 – Jill Janus, American singer (b. 1975)
2019 – Polly Farmer, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1935)
2020 – Julian Bream, English classical guitarist and lutenist (b. 1933)
2020 – Angela Buxton, British tennis player (b. 1934)
2020 – James R. Thompson, American politician, Governor of Illinois (b. 1936)
2021 – Michael Aung-Thwin, American historian and scholar of Burmese and Southeast Asian history (b. 1946)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Arnold of Soissons
Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia
Eusebius of Rome
Jonathan Myrick Daniels (Episcopal Church)
Maximilian Kolbe
Falklands Day is the celebration of the first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis in 1592.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Pakistan from the United Kingdom in 1947.
Partition Horrors Remembrance Day commemorates the victims and sufferings of people during the Partition of India in 1947.
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1437 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas | Abraxas | Abraxas (, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms. As the initial spelling on stones was (), the spelling of seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration.
The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets. The word may be related to Abracadabra, although other explanations exist.
There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions, and modern magical and esoteric writings. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, who has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon.
Etymology
Gaius Julius Hyginus (Fab. 183) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by 'Homerus'. The passage is miserably corrupt: but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas.
The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax, as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, Didymus (De Trin. iii. 42), and Theodoret; also Augustine and Praedestinatus; and in nearly all the legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.
The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful:
Egyptian
Claudius Salmasius (1588-1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.
J. J. Bellermann thinks it is a compound of the Egyptian words and , meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable".
Samuel Sharpe finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".
Hebrew
Abraham Geiger sees in it a Grecized form of , "the blessing", a meaning which Charles William King declares philologically untenable.
J. B. Passerius derives it from , "father", , "to create", and negative—"the uncreated Father".
Giuseppe Barzilai goes back for explanation to the first verse of the prayer attributed to Nehunya ben HaKanah, the literal rendering of which is "O [God], with thy mighty right hand deliver the unhappy [people]", forming from the initial and final letters of the words the word Abrakd (pronounced Abrakad), with the meaning "the host of the winged ones", i.e., angels. While this theory can explain the mystic word Abracadabra, the association of this phrase with Abrasax is uncertain.
Greek
Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").
According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, Jean Hardouin accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek , "saving mankind by the holy cross".
Isaac de Beausobre derives Abraxas from the Greek and , "the beautiful, the glorious Savior".
Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by Adolf von Harnack, "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration".
The Egyptian author of the book De Mysteriis in reply to Porphyry (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; and Origen (Contra Cels. i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, Persian Magi, and Indian Brahmins, signifying deities in the several languages.
Sources
It is uncertain what the actual role and function of Abraxas was in the Basilidian system, as our authorities (see below) often show no direct acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides himself.
As an archon
In the system described by Irenaeus, "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous, and Nous produced Logos, Logos produced Phronesis, Phronesis produced Sophia and Dynamis, Sophia and Dynamis produced principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They in turn originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world. "The ruler" [principem, i.e., probably ton archonta] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers".
The name occurs in the Refutation of all Heresies (vii. 26) by Hippolytus, who appears in these chapters to have followed the Exegetica of Basilides. After describing the manifestation of the Gospel in the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, he adds that the Basilidians have a long account of the innumerable creations and powers in the several 'stages' of the upper world (diastemata), in which they speak of 365 heavens and say that "their great archon" is Abrasax, because his name contains the number 365, the number of the days in the year; i.e. the sum of the numbers denoted by the Greek letters in ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ according to the rules of isopsephy is 365:
As a god
Epiphanius (Haer. 69, 73 f.) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus. He designates Abraxas more distinctly as "the power above all, and First Principle", "the cause and first archetype" of all things; and mentions that the Basilidians referred to 365 as the number of parts (mele) in the human body, as well as of days in the year.
The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr. Haer. (c. 4), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium, adds some further particulars; that 'Abraxas' gave birth to Mind (nous), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius; that the world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of 'Abraxas'; and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by 'Abraxas'.
Nothing can be built on the vague allusions of Jerome, according to whom 'Abraxas' meant for Basilides "the greatest God" (De vir. ill. 21), "the highest God" (Dial. adv. Lucif. 23), "the Almighty God" (Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and "the Lord the Creator" (Comm. in Nah. i. 11). The notices in Theodoret (Haer. fab. i. 4), Augustine (Haer. 4), and 'Praedestinatus' (i. 3), have no independent value.
It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God".
As an aeon
With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library, the identity of Abrasax remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, for instance, refers to Abrasax as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.
As a demon
The Catholic church later deemed Abraxas a pagan god, and ultimately branded him a demon as documented in J. Collin de Plancy's Infernal Dictionary, Abraxas (or Abracax) is labeled the "supreme God" of the Basilidians, whom he describes as "heretics of the second century". He further indicated the Basilidians attributed to Abraxas the rule over "365 skies" and "365 virtues". In a final statement on Basilidians, de Plancy states that their view was that Jesus Christ was merely a "benevolent ghost sent on Earth by Abraxas".
Abraxas stones
A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abraxas-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes the whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems; it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all.
The Abrasax-image alone, without external Iconisms, and either without, or but a simple, inscription. The Abrasax-imago proper is usually found with a shield, a sphere or wreath and whip, a sword or sceptre, a cock's head, the body clad with armor, and a serpent's tail. There are, however, innumerable modifications of these figures: Lions', hawks', and eagles' skins, with or without mottos, with or without a trident and star, and with or without reverses.
Abrasax combined with other Gnostic Powers. If, in a single instance, this supreme being was represented in connection with powers of subordinate rank, nothing could have been more natural than to represent it also in combination with its emanations, the seven superior spirits, the thirty Aeons, and the three hundred and sixty-five cosmical Genii; and yet this occurs upon none of the relics as yet discovered, whilst those with Powers not belonging to the Gnostic system are frequently met with.
Abrasax with Jewish symbols. This combination predominates, not indeed with symbolical figures, but in the form of inscriptions, such as: Iao, Eloai, Adonai, Sabaoth, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Onoel, Ananoel, Raphael, Japlael, and many others. The name ΙΑΩ, to which ΣΑΒΑΩΘ is sometimes added, is found with this figure even more frequently than ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ, and they are often combined. Beside an Abrasax figure the following, for instance, is found: ΙΑΩ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ ΑΔΩΝ ΑΤΑ, "Iao Abrasax, thou art the Lord". With the Abrasax-shield are also found the divine names Sabaoth Iao, Iao Abrasax, Adonai Abrasax, etc.
Abrasax with Persian deities. Chiefly, perhaps exclusively, in combination with Mithras, and possibly a few specimens with the mystical gradations of mithriaca, upon Gnostic relics.
Abrasax with Egyptian deities. It is represented as a figure, with the sun-god Phre leading his chariot, or standing upon a lion borne by a crocodile; also as a name, in connection with Isis, Phtha, Neith, Athor, Thot, Anubis, Horus, and Harpocrates in a Lotus-leaf; also with a representation of the Nile, the symbol of prolificacy, with Agathodaemon (Chnuphis), or with scarabs, the symbols of the revivifying energies of nature.
Abrasax with Grecian deities, sometimes as a figure, and again with the simple name, in connection with the planets, especially Venus, Hecate, and Zeus, richly engraved.
Simple or ornamental representations of the journey of departed spirits through the starry world to Amenti, borrowed, as those above-named, from the Egyptian religion. The spirit wafted from the earth, either with or without the corpse, and transformed at times into Osiris or Helios, is depicted as riding upon the back of a crocodile, or lion, guided in some instances by Anubis, and other genii, and surrounded by stars; and thus attended hastening to judgment and a higher life.
Representations of the judgment, which, like the preceding, are either ornamental or plain, and imitations of Egyptian art, with slight modifications and prominent symbols, as the vessel in which Anubis weighs the human heart, as comprehending the entire life of man, with all its errors.
Worship and consecrating services were, according to the testimony of Origen in his description of the ophitic diagram, conducted with figurative representations in the secret assemblies of the Gnostics unless indeed the statement on which this opinion rests designates, as it readily may, a statue of glyptic workmanship. It is uncertain if any of the discovered specimens actually represent the Gnostic cultus and religious ceremonies, although upon some may be seen an Abrasax-figure laying its hand upon a person kneeling, as though for baptism or benediction.
Astrological groups. The Gnostics referred everything to astrology. Even the Bardesenists located the inferior powers, the seven, twelve and thirty-six, among the planets, in the zodiac and starry region, as rulers of the celestial phenomena which influence the earth and its inhabitants. Birth and health, wealth and allotment, are considered to be mainly under their control. Other sects betray still stronger partiality for astrological conceits. Many of these specimens also are improperly ascribed to Gnosticism, but the Gnostic origin of others is too manifest to allow of contradiction.
Inscriptions, of which there are three kinds:
Those destitute of symbols or iconisms, engraved upon stone, iron, lead and silver plates, in Greek, Latin, Coptic or other languages, of amuletic import, and in the form of prayers for health and protection.
Those with some symbol, as a serpent in an oval form.
Those with iconisms, at times very small, but often made the prominent object, so that the legend is limited to a single word or name. Sometimes the legends are as important as the images. It is remarkable, however, that thus far none of the plates or medals found seem to have any of the forms or prayers reported by Origen. It is necessary to distinguish those specimens that belong to the proper Gnostic period from such as are indisputably of later origin, especially since there is a strong temptation to place those of more recent date among the older class.
Gallery
Anguipede
In a great majority of instances the name Abrasax is associated with a singular composite figure, having a Chimera-like appearance somewhat resembling a basilisk or the Greek primordial god Chronos (not to be confused with the Greek titan Cronus). According to E. A. Wallis Budge, "as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phœbus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon. In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield." This form was also referred to as the Anguipede. Budge surmised that Abrasax was "a form of the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists and the Primal Man whom God made in His own image".
Some parts at least of the figure mentioned above are solar symbols, and the Basilidian Abrasax is manifestly connected with the sun. J. J. Bellermann has speculated that "the whole represents the Supreme Being, with his Five great Emanations, each one pointed out by means of an expressive emblem. Thus, from the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, forasmuch as it is written that God created man in his own image, issue the two supporters, Nous and Logos, symbols of the inner sense and the quickening understanding, as typified by the serpents, for the same reason that had induced the old Greeks to assign this reptile for an attribute to Pallas. His head—a cock's—represents Phronesis, the fowl being emblematical of foresight and vigilance. His two hands bear the badges of Sophia and Dynamis, the shield of Wisdom, and the scourge of Power."
Origin
In the absence of other evidence to show the origin of these curious relics of antiquity the occurrence of a name known as Basilidian on patristic authority has not unnaturally been taken as a sufficient mark of origin, and the early collectors and critics assumed this whole group to be the work of Gnostics. During the last three centuries attempts have been made to sift away successively those gems that had no claim to be considered in any sense Gnostic, or specially Basilidian, or connected with Abrasax. The subject is one which has exercised the ingenuity of many savants, but it may be said that all the engraved stones fall into three classes:
Abrasax, or stones of Basilidian origin
Abrasaxtes, or stones originating in ancient forms of worship and adapted by the Gnostics
Abraxoïdes, or stones absolutely unconnected with the doctrine of Basilides
While it would be rash to assert positively that no existing gems were the work of Gnostics, there is no valid reason for attributing all of them to such an origin. The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of a cock, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says about the followers of Basilides:
Incantations by mystic names were characteristic of the hybrid Gnosticism planted in Spain and southern Gaul at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, which Jerome connects with Basilides and which (according to his Epist., lxxv.) used the name Abrasax.
It is therefore not unlikely that some Gnostics used amulets, though the confident assertions of modern writers to this effect rest on no authority. Isaac de Beausobre properly calls attention to the significant silence of Clement in the two passages in which he instructs the Christians of Alexandria on the right use of rings and gems, and the figures which may legitimately be engraved on them (Paed. 241 ff.; 287 ff.). But no attempt to identify the figures on existing gems with the personages of Gnostic mythology has had any success, and Abrasax is the only Gnostic term found in the accompanying legends that is not known to belong to other religions or mythologies. The present state of the evidence therefore suggests that their engravers and the Basilidians received the mystic name from a common source now unknown.
Magical papyri
Having due regard to the magic papyri, in which many of the unintelligible names of the Abrasax-stones reappear, besides directions for making and using gems with similar figures and formulas for magical purposes, it can scarcely be doubted that many of these stones are pagan amulets and instruments of magic.
The magic papyri reflect the same ideas as the Abrasax-gems and often bear Hebraic names of God. The following example is illustrative: "I conjure you by Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax, and by the great god, Iaeō". The patriarchs are sometimes addressed as deities; for which fact many instances may be adduced. In the group "Iakoubia, Iaōsabaōth Adōnai Abrasax", the first name seems to be composed of Jacob and Ya. Similarly, entities considered angels in Judaism are invoked as gods alongside Abrasax: thus "I conjure you ... by the god Michaēl, by the god Souriēl, by the god Gabriēl, by the god Raphaēl, by the god Abrasax Ablathanalba Akrammachari ...".
In text PGM V. 96-172, Abrasax is identified as part of the "true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel" of the "Headless One, who created heaven and earth, who created night and day ... Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen ... awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit"; the name also includes Iaō and Adōnai. "Osoronnophris" represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr, "Osiris the Perfect Being". Another identification with Osiris is made in PGM VII. 643-51: "you are not wine, but the guts of Osiris, the guts of ... Ablanathanalba Akrammachamarei Eee, who has been stationed over necessity, Iakoub Ia Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax." PGM VIII. 1-63, on the other hand, identifies Abrasax as a name of "Hermes" (i.e. Thoth). Here the numerological properties of the name are invoked, with its seven letters corresponding to the seven planets and its isopsephic value of 365 corresponding to the days of the year. Thoth is also identified with Abrasax in PGM LXXIX. 1-7: "I am the soul of darkness, Abrasax, the eternal one, Michaēl, but my true name is Thōouth, Thōouth."
One papyrus titled the "Monad" or the "Eighth Book of Moses" (PGM XIII. 1–343) contains an invocation to a supreme creator God; Abrasax is given as being the name of this God in the language of the baboons. The papyrus goes on to describe a cosmogonic myth about Abrasax, describing how he created the Ogdoad by laughing. His first laughter created light; his second divided the primordial waters; his third created the mind; his fourth created fertility and procreation; his fifth created fate; his sixth created time (as the sun and moon); and his seventh and final laughter created the soul. Then, from various sounds made by Abrasax, there arose the serpent Python who "foreknew all things", the first man (or Fear), and the god Iaō, "who is lord of all". The man fought with Iaō, and Abrasax declared that Iaō's power would derive from both of the others, and that Iaō would take precedence over all the other gods. This text also describes Helios as an archangel of God/Abrasax.
The Leyden Papyrus recommends that this invocation be pronounced to the moon:
The magic word "Ablanathanalba", which reads in Greek the same backward as forward, also occurs in the Abrasax-stones as well as in the magic papyri. This word is usually conceded to be derived from the Hebrew (Aramaic), meaning "Thou art our father" (אב לן את), and also occurs in connection with Abrasax; the following inscription is found upon a metal plate in the Karlsruhe Museum:
In literature
In popular culture
In the 2022 folk horror video game The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, published by Wadjet Eye Games, Abraxas features as a long-dormant god/demon inspired by the original Gnostic Mythology.
In Marvel comics, the character Abraxas embodies the destruction of the multiverse (first appearance: 2001).
"Mt. Abraxas" is the title of the first track of occult rock band Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats's third studio album Mind Control (2013).
Abraxas appears as a demon in Charmed season 2 (1999–2000).
Abraxas appears as a demon in Supernatural season 14 (2018–2019).
In the 2008 visual novel 11eyes: Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shōjo, Kukuri can summon her soul in the form of a chained guardian angel named Abraxas. When released from his chains, he becomes a godlike entity named Demiurge.
The 2018 video game Darksiders III features a demon named Abraxis.
South Korean band BTS's videos frequently mention Abraxas and much of their storyline is based around the deity.
In 1970, the second studio album of Latin rock band Santana was named Abraxas, derived from a passage in the Hermann Hesse novel Demian.
In 1987 The Abraxas Foundation was founded by Boyd Rice as a Social Darwinist think tank.
In the 2018 thriller Mandy, the "horn of Abraxas" is a sort of stone flute with magical properties. Brother Swan uses it to summon the Black Skulls, a demonic biker gang.
In the 2019 role-playing game Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Abraxas is the name of a damage-dealing Faith spell.
On their 2004 album Lemuria, symphonic metal band Therion has a track titled Abraxas, with lyrics delving into the Gnostic mythologies of the word.
In the 2010 song "Lead Poisoning" by Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba sings the line "Now I pray to Abraxas my soul to keep".
In season 1, episode 2 of Netflix's 2020 animated show The Midnight Gospel the main character, Clancy Gilroy, purchases an avatar named Braxis, which he then uses to explore alternate universes. Braxis looks like the traditional images of Abraxas where the creature has a human body and the head of a rooster. Like the traditional images, Braxis has serpents for legs and his arms are also like those in traditional representations.
In the 2018 video game Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Abraxas is the name of the legendary fiery horse the player acquires if they reach the Tier 1 level in the hierarchy of mercenaries.
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997–2007), Abraxas is the name of Lucius Malfoy's father, as well as the name of a race of winged horses in the same fictional world.
In the 2015 sci-fi/action movie Jupiter Ascending, the most powerful family in the Cosmos known as the House of Abrasax.
Abraxas, in the Gnostic role of Great Archon, is the antagonist of the 2021 video game Cruelty Squad.
In the 2021 TV-adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, the Abraxas Conjecture is the name of the mathematical proof that Gaal Dornick solves using Kalle's Ninth Proof of Folding.
In Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series (2014–2018), the similarly-named Abraxos is the wyvern mount of Manon Blackbeak.
In the 1992 Discworld novel Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, Abraxas was an Ephebian philosopher who wrote about the nature of gods in his scroll On Religion, theorising that gods died if belief in them is diverted towards a rigid, hierarchical church structure, as had nearly happened with the Great God Om due to fear of the Omnian Quisition. Having survived being struck by lightning fifteen times as a result, he earned the nickname 'Charcoal'.
In the Shin Megami Tensei video game franchise (first release: 1987), Abraxas is a demon.
In the 1997 animated series Revolutionary Girl Utena by animation studio Be-Papas, Abraxas is referenced in the series soundtrack. The title being; "The God's Name Is Abraxas".
In the 1999 movie Adolescence of Utena by animation studio Be-Papas, Abraxas is referenced in the film's soundtrack. The title of the song being; "Abraxas ~ Sunny Garden".
In 2019, electronic music producers Seven Lions and Dimibo formed a psytrance trio called “Abraxis.” The project consists of a back story in which Reginald Abraxis formed the Abraxis Institute, in order to help people explore their full potential and achieve self-actualization.
In the 2022 song 'Nihilistic Violence' by American Technical Death Metal band Revocation, third track on the album 'Netherheaven', the lyric "Hear the bellowing horn of Abraxas, it calls to the beast that lives in the heart of every man" appears at 1:10. This is most likely a reference to the Horn of Abraxas that features in the movie Mandy.
In architecture
Les Espaces d'Abraxas is a high-density housing complex in Noisy-le-Grand near Paris, France designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill and opened in 1983.
See also
Arimanius
Chronos
Sator Square
References
Citations
Works cited
General references
Wendelin, in a letter in
Idem, Abraxas in Herzog, RE, 2d ed., 1877.
Idem, Appendice alla dissertazione sugli Abraxas, ib. 1874.
Harnack, Geschichte, i. 161. The older material is listed by Matter, ut sup., and Wessely, Ephesia grammata, vol. ii., Vienna, 1886.
Eng. transl., 10 vols., London, 1721–2725.
Attribution
Further reading
External links
The complete texts of Carl Jung's "The Seven Sermons To The Dead"
Abraxas article from The Mystica
Gnostic deities
Magic words
Mythological hybrids
Names of God in Gnosticism
Theophoric names |
1442 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2015 | August 15 |
Events
Pre-1600
636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate begins.
717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year.
718 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
747 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as majordomo and retires to a monastery near Rome. His brother, Pepin the Short, becomes the sole ruler (de facto) of the Frankish Kingdom.
778 – The Battle of Roncevaux Pass takes place between the army of Charlemagne and a Basque army.
805 – Noble Erchana of Dahauua grants the Bavarian town of Dachau to the Diocese of Freising
927 – The Saracens conquer and destroy Taranto.
982 – Holy Roman Emperor Otto II is defeated by the Saracens in the Battle of Capo Colonna, in Calabria.
1018 – Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles blinds and captures Ibatzes of Bulgaria by a ruse, thereby ending Bulgarian resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.
1038 – King Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, dies; his nephew, Peter Orseolo, succeeds him.
1057 – King Macbeth is killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.
1070 – The Pavian-born Benedictine Lanfranc is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
1096 – Starting date of the First Crusade as set by Pope Urban II.
1185 – The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
1224 – The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, a Catholic military order, occupy Tarbatu (today Tartu) as part of the Livonian Crusade.
1237 – Spanish Reconquista: The Battle of the Puig between the Moorish forces of Taifa of Valencia against the Kingdom of Aragon culminates in an Aragonese victory.
1248 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid. (Construction is eventually completed in 1880.)
1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned as the first Byzantine emperor in fifty-seven years.
1281 – Mongol invasion of Japan: The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a "divine wind" for the second time in the Battle of Kōan.
1310 – The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquarters on the island and rename themselves the Knights of Rhodes.
1430 – Francesco Sforza, lord of Milan, conquers Lucca.
1461 – The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. This is regarded by some historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and later murdered.
1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel.
1511 – Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Malacca Sultanate.
1517 – Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernão Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at the Pearl River estuary.
1519 – Panama City, Panama is founded.
1534 – Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September 1540.
1537 – Asunción, Paraguay is founded.
1540 – Arequipa, Peru is founded.
1549 – Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: 22 July 1549).
1592 – Imjin War: At the Battle of Hansan Island, the Korean Navy, led by Yi Sun-sin, Yi Eok-gi, and Won Gyun, decisively defeats the Japanese Navy, led by Wakisaka Yasuharu.
1599 – Nine Years' War: Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell successfully ambush English forces, led by Sir Conyers Clifford, sent to relieve Collooney Castle.
1601–1900
1695 – French forces end the bombardment of Brussels.
1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz: Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
1843 – The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1863 – The Anglo-Satsuma War begins between the Satsuma Domain of Japan and the United Kingdom (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).
1893 – Ibadan area becomes a British Protectorate after a treaty signed by Fijabi, the Baale of Ibadan with the British acting Governor of Lagos, George C. Denton.
1899 – Fratton Park football ground in Portsmouth, England is officially first opened.
1901–present
1907 – Ordination in Constantinople of Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.
1914 – A servant of American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, sets fire to the living quarters of Wright's Wisconsin home, Taliesin, and murders seven people there.
1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship .
1914 – World War I: The First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf, enters East Prussia.
1914 – World War I: Beginning of the Battle of Cer, the first Allied victory of World War I.
1915 – A story in New York World newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, so-called Miracle at the Vistula.
1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.
1939 – Twenty-six Junkers Ju 87 bombers commanded by Walter Sigel meet unexpected ground fog during a dive-bombing demonstration for Luftwaffe generals at Neuhammer. Thirteen of them crash and burn.
1939 – The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
1940 – An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
1942 – World War II: Operation Pedestal: The oil tanker reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island's defenses.
1943 – World War II: Battle of Trahili: Superior German forces surround Cretan partisans, who manage to escape against all odds.
1944 – World War II: Operation Dragoon: Allied forces land in southern France.
1945 – Emperor Hirohito broadcasts his declaration of surrender following the effective surrender of Japan in World War II; Korea gains independence from the Empire of Japan.
1947 – India gains independence from British rule after near 190 years of British company and crown rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1947 – Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi.
1948 – The First Republic of Korea (South Korea) is established in the southern half of the peninsula.
1950 – Measuring 8.6, the largest earthquake on land occurs in the Assam-Tibet-Myanmar border, killing 4,800.
1952 – A flash flood drenches the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.
1954 – Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship in Paraguay.
1959 – American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.
1960 – Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France.
1961 – Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
1962 – James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok died in 2016.
1963 – Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland.
1963 – President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.
1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in Bethel, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
1970 – Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
1971 – President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.
1971 – Bahrain gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1973 – Vietnam War: The USAF bombing of Cambodia ends.
1974 – Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President Park Chung Hee.
1975 – Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
1975 – Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
1976 – SAETA Flight 232 crashes into the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, killing all 59 people on board; the wreckage is not discovered until 2002.
1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
1984 – The Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey starts a campaign of armed attacks upon the Turkish Armed Forces with an attack on police and gendarmerie bases in Şemdinli and Eruh.
1985 – Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.
1989 – China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510 crashes after takeoff from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, killing 34 of the 40 people on board.
1995 – In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel (she drops out less than a week later).
1995 – Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan, releases the Murayama Statement, which formally expresses remorse for Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.
1998 – Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
1998 – Apple introduces the iMac computer.
1999 – Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
2005 – Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
2005 – The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
2007 – An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
2013 – At least 27 people are killed and 226 injured in an explosion in southern Beirut near a complex used by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. A previously unknown Syrian Sunni group claims responsibility in an online video.
2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.
2015 – North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 8 hours ahead of UTC.
2020 – Russia begins production on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
2021 – Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban as Ashraf Ghani flees Afghanistan along with local residents and foreign nationals, effectively reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Births
Pre-1600
1013 – Teishi, empress of Japan (d. 1094)
1171 – Alfonso IX, king of León and Galicia (d. 1230)
1195 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese priest and saint (d. 1231)
1385 – Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, English commander (d. 1417)
1432 – Luigi Pulci, Italian poet (d. 1484)
1455 – George, duke of Bavaria (d. 1503)
1507 – George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince (d. 1553)
1575 – Bartol Kašić, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (d. 1650)
1589 – Gabriel Báthory, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1613)
1601–1900
1607 – Herman IV, landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg (d. 1658)
1608 – Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1652)
1613 – Gilles Ménage, French lawyer, philologist, and scholar (d. 1692)
1615 – Marie de Lorraine, duchess of Guise (d. 1688)
1652 – John Grubb, American politician (d. 1708)
1702 – Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian painter and Royal Academician (d. 1788)
1717 – Blind Jack, English engineer (d. 1810)
1736 – Johann Christoph Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1803)
1740 – Matthias Claudius, German poet and author (d. 1815)
1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte, French general and emperor (d. 1821)
1771 – Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet (d. 1832)
1785 – Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (d. 1859)
1787 – Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, American writer, editor, abolitionist (d. 1860)
1798 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian warrior (d. 1831)
1807 – Jules Grévy, French lawyer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (d. 1891)
1810 – Louise Colet, French poet (d. 1876)
1824 – John Chisum, American businessman (d. 1884)
1839 – Antonín Petrof, Czech piano maker (d. 1915)
1844 – Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1908)
1845 – Walter Crane, English artist and book illustrator (d. 1915)
1856 – Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and trade unionist (d. 1915)
1857 – Albert Ballin, German businessman (d. 1918)
1858 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (d. 1924)
1859 – Charles Comiskey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1931)
1860 – Florence Harding, American publisher, 31st First Lady of the United States (d. 1924)
1863 – Aleksey Krylov, Russian mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
1865 – Mikao Usui, Japanese spiritual leader, founded Reiki (d. 1926)
1866 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer (d. 1945)
1872 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian guru, poet, and philosopher (d. 1950)
1873 – Ramaprasad Chanda, Indian archaeologist and historian (d. 1942)
1875 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 1912)
1876 – Stylianos Gonatas, Greek colonel and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1966)
1877 – Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (d. 1941)
1879 – Ethel Barrymore, American actress (d. 1959)
1881 – Alfred Wagenknecht, German-American activist and politician (d. 1956)
1882 – Marion Bauer, American composer and critic (d. 1955)
1882 – Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and art historian (d. 1972)
1883 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect (d. 1962)
1885 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1968)
1886 – Bill Whitty, Australian cricketer (d. 1974)
1890 – Jacques Ibert, French composer and educator (d. 1962)
1892 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1892 – Abraham Wachner, New Zealand politician, 35th Mayor of Invercargill (d. 1950)
1893 – Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and academic (d. 1950)
1896 – Gerty Cori, Czech-American biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1896 – Catherine Doherty, Russian-Canadian activist, founded the Madonna House Apostolate (d. 1985)
1896 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer and educator (d. 1958)
1898 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish author and poet (d. 1966)
1900 – Estelle Brody, American silent film actress (d. 1995)
1900 – Jack Tworkov, Polish-American painter and educator (d. 1982)
1901–present
1901 – Arnulfo Arias Madrid, 21st president of the republic of Panamá (d. 1988)
1901 – Pyotr Novikov, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1975)
1902 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and critic (d. 1943)
1904 – George Klein, Canadian inventor, invented the motorized wheelchair (d. 1992)
1909 – Hugo Winterhalter, American composer and bandleader (d. 1973)
1912 – Julia Child, American chef and author (d. 2004)
1912 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)
1914 – Paul Rand, American graphic designer and art director (d. 1996)
1915 – Signe Hasso, Swedish-American actress (d. 2002)
1916 – Aleks Çaçi, Albanian journalist and author (d. 1989)
1917 – Jack Lynch, Irish footballer and politician, 5th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1999)
1917 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (d. 1980)
1919 – Huntz Hall, American actor (d. 1999)
1919 – Benedict Kiely, Irish journalist and author (d. 2007)
1920 – Judy Cassab, Austrian-Australian painter (d. 2008)
1921 – August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (d. 2012)
1922 – Leonard Baskin, American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2000)
1922 – Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek trumpet player and composer (d. 2005)
1922 – Sabino Barinaga, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1988)
1923 – Rose Marie, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
1924 – Robert Bolt, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1924 – Hedy Epstein, German-American Holocaust survivor and activist (d. 2016)
1924 – Yoshirō Muraki, Japanese production designer, art director, and fashion designer (d. 2009)
1924 – Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (d. 2016)
1925 – Mike Connors, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
1925 – Rose Maddox, American singer-songwriter and fiddle player (d. 1998)
1925 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1925 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (d. 2007)
1925 – Erik Schmidt, Swedish-Estonian painter and author (d. 2014)
1926 – Julius Katchen, American pianist and composer (d. 1969)
1926 – Eddie Little Sky, American actor (d. 1997)
1926 – Sami Michael, Iraqi-Israeli author and playwright
1926 – John Silber, American philosopher and academic (d. 2012)
1926 – Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, 6th President of Greece (d. 2016)
1927 – Eddie Leadbeater, English cricketer (d. 2011)
1927 – Oliver Popplewell, English cricketer and judge
1928 – Carl Joachim Classen, German scholar and academic (d. 2013)
1928 – Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (d. 2014)
1928 – Nicolas Roeg, English director and cinematographer (d. 2018)
1931 – Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (d. 2014)
1931 – Richard F. Heck, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1932 – Abby Dalton, American actress (d. 2020)
1932 – Robert L. Forward, American physicist and engineer (d. 2002)
1932 – Jim Lange, American game show host and DJ (d. 2014)
1932 – Johan Steyn, Baron Steyn, South African-English lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
1933 – Bobby Helms, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
1933 – Stanley Milgram, American social psychologist (d. 1984)
1933 – Mike Seeger, American folk musician and folklorist (d. 2009)
1934 – Bobby Byrd, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2007)
1934 – Reginald Scarlett, Jamaican cricketer and coach (d. 2019)
1934 – Valentin Varlamov, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (d. 1980)
1935 – Jim Dale, English actor, narrator, singer, director, and composer
1935 – Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (d. 2014)
1936 – Pat Priest, American actress
1936 – Rita Shane, American soprano and educator (d. 2014)
1938 – Stephen Breyer, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1938 – Stix Hooper, American jazz drummer
1938 – Pran Kumar Sharma, Indian cartoonist (d. 2014)
1938 – Maxine Waters, American educator and politician
1938 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish engineer and author (d. 1985)
1940 – Gudrun Ensslin, German militant leader, founded Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
1941 – Jim Brothers, American sculptor (d. 2013)
1941 – Don Rich, American country musician (d. 1974)
1942 – Pete York, English rock drummer
1943 – Eileen Bell, Northern Irish civil servant and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
1944 – Dimitris Sioufas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health (d. 2019)
1945 – Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
1946 – Jimmy Webb, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1947 – Rakhee Gulzar, Indian film actress
1948 – Patsy Gallant, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
1948 – Tom Johnston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Phyllis Smith, American actress
1950 – Tommy Aldridge, American drummer
1950 – Tess Harper, American actress
1950 – Tom Kelly, American baseball player
1950 – Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom
1951 – Ann Biderman, American screenwriter and producer
1951 – Bobby Caldwell, American singer-songwriter (d. 2023)
1951 – John Childs, English cricketer
1952 – Chuck Burgi, American drummer
1953 – Carol Thatcher, English journalist and author
1953 – Mark Thatcher, English businessman
1953 – Wolfgang Hohlbein, German author
1954 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and author (d. 2004)
1956 – Lorraine Desmarais, Canadian pianist and composer
1956 – Freedom Neruda, Ivorian journalist
1956 – Robert Syms, English businessman and politician
1957 – Željko Ivanek, Slovenian-American actor
1958 – Simon Baron-Cohen, English-Canadian psychiatrist and author
1958 – Craig MacTavish, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1958 – Simple Kapadia, Indian actress and costume designer (d. 2009)
1958 – Victor Shenderovich, Russian journalist and radio host
1958 – Rondell Sheridan, American actor and comedian
1959 – Scott Altman, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
1961 – Ed Gillespie, American political strategist
1961 – Matt Johnson, English singer-songwriter and musician
1961 – Gary Kubiak, American football player and coach
1961 – Suhasini Maniratnam, Indian actress and screenwriter
1962 – Tom Colicchio, American chef and author
1962 – Rıdvan Dilmen, Turkish footballer and manager
1962 – Inês Pedrosa, Portuguese writer
1962 – Vilja Savisaar-Toomast, Estonian lawyer and politician
1963 – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexican director, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Simon Hart, Welsh soldier and politician
1963 – Jack Russell, England cricketer and coach
1964 – Jane Ellison, English lawyer and politician
1964 – Melinda Gates, American businesswoman and philanthropist, co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
1965 – Rob Thomas, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1966 – Scott Brosius, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Dimitris Papadopoulos, Greek basketball player and coach
1967 – Tony Hand, Scottish ice hockey player and coach
1967 – Peter Hermann, American actor
1968 – Debra Messing, American actress
1969 – Bernard Fanning, Australian singer-songwriter
1969 – Carlos Roa, Argentine footballer
1970 – Anthony Anderson, American comedian, actor, and producer
1970 – Ben Silverman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Electus Studios
1971 – Adnan Sami, Indian singer, musician, music composer, pianist and actor
1972 – Ben Affleck, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Jennifer Alexander, Canadian ballerina (d. 2007)
1972 – Mikey Graham, Irish singer
1974 – Natasha Henstridge, Canadian model and actress
1974 – Tomasz Suwary, Polish footballer
1975 – Bertrand Berry, American football player and radio host
1975 – Vijay Bharadwaj, Indian cricketer and coach
1975 – Brendan Morrison, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Kara Wolters, American basketball player
1976 – Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch footballer and manager
1977 – Martin Biron, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Anthony Rocca, Australian footballer and coach
1978 – Waleed Aly, Australian journalist and television host
1978 – Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukrainian gymnast
1978 – Stavros Tziortziopoulos, Greek footballer
1978 – Kerri Walsh Jennings, American volleyball player
1979 – Carl Edwards, American race car driver
1980 – Fiann Paul, Icelandic explorer
1981 – Brendan Hansen, American swimmer
1981 – Óliver Pérez, American baseball player
1982 – Casey Burgener, American weightlifter
1982 – Germán Caffa, Argentine footballer
1982 – David Harrison, American basketball player
1983 – Siobhan Chamberlain, English association football goalkeeper
1984 – Jarrod Dyson, American baseball player
1984 – Emily Kinney, American actress and singer-songwriter
1985 – Nipsey Hussle, American rapper (d. 2019)
1985 – Emily Kinney, American actress, singer, and songwriter
1987 – Ryan D'Imperio, American football player
1987 – Michel Kreder, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Sean McAllister, English footballer
1988 – Oussama Assaidi, Moroccan footballer
1989 – Joe Jonas, American singer-songwriter
1989 – Ryan McGowan, Australian footballer
1989 – Carlos PenaVega, American actor and singer
1989 – Jordan Rapana, New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress
1991 – Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder
1992 – Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player
1992 – Matthew Judon, American football player
1993 – Rieah Holder, Barbadian netball player
1993 – Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer
1993 – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer
1994 – Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer
1994 – Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer
1995 – Chief Keef, American rapper
1999 – Paola Reis, BMX rider
Deaths
Pre-1600
398 – Lan Han, official of the Xianbei state Later Yan
423 – Honorius, Roman emperor (b. 384)
465 – Libius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 420)
698 – Theodotus of Amida, Syrian Orthodox holy man
767 – Abu Hanifa, Iraqi scholar and educator (b. 699)
778 – Roland, Frankish military leader
873 – Yi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 833)
874 – Altfrid, bishop of Hildesheim
912 – Han Jian, Chinese warlord (b. 855)
932 – Ma Xisheng, Chinese governor and king (b. 899)
978 – Li Yu, ruler ('king') of Southern Tang
986 – Minnborinus, Irish missionary and abbot
1022 – Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos, Byzantine rebel
1038 – Stephen I, Hungarian king (b. 975)
1057 – Macbeth, King of Scotland
1118 – Alexios I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1048)
1196 – Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1173)
1224 – Marie of France, Duchess of Brabant (b. 1198)
1257 – Saint Hyacinth of Poland
1274 – Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and educator, founded the College of Sorbonne (b. 1201)
1275 – Lorenzo Tiepolo, Doge of Venice
1328 – Yesün Temür, emperor of the Yuan dynasty (b. 1293)
1369 – Philippa of Hainault, Queen consort of Edward III of England (b. 1314)
1388 – Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio, Bohemian theologian and rector of the University of Paris (b. circa 1320)
1399 – Ide Pedersdatter Falk, Danish noblewoman (b. 1358)
1496 – Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile and León (b. 1428)
1506 – Alexander Agricola, Flemish composer (b. c. 1445)
1507 – John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1439)
1528 – Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec, French general (b. 1485)
1552 – Hermann of Wied, German archbishop (b. 1477)
1594 – Thomas Kyd, English playwright (b. 1558)
1601–1900
1621 – John Barclay, Scottish poet and author (b. 1582)
1666 – Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (b. 1591)
1714 – Constantin Brâncoveanu, Romanian prince (b. 1654)
1728 – Marin Marais, French viol player and composer (b. 1656)
1758 – Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (b. 1698)
1799 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and author (b. 1729)
1844 – José María Coppinger, governor of Spanish East Florida (b. 1733)
1852 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist (b. 1760)
1859 – Nathaniel Claiborne, American farmer and politician (b. 1777)
1901–present
1907 – Joseph Joachim, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1831)
1909 – Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian sociologist and journalist (b. 1866)
1917 – Thomas J. Higgins, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1831)
1925 – Konrad Mägi, Estonian painter and educator (b. 1878)
1928 – Anatole von Hügel, Italian ethnologist and academic, co-founded St Edmund's College, Cambridge (b. 1854)
1935 – Wiley Post, American pilot (b. 1898)
1935 – Will Rogers, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (b. 1879)
1935 – Paul Signac, French painter and author (b. 1863)
1936 – Grazia Deledda, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
1942 – Mahadev Desai, Indian activist and author (b. 1892)
1945 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of the Army (b. 1887)
1945 – Fred Hockley, English lieutenant and pilot (b. 1923)
1951 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1882)
1953 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (b. 1875)
1962 – Lei Feng, Chinese soldier (b. 1940)
1967 – René Magritte, Belgian painter (b. 1898)
1971 – Paul Lukas, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1887)
1975 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (b. 1920)
1975 – Clay Shaw, American businessman (b. 1913)
1975 – Harun Karadeniz, Turkish political activist and author (b. 1942)
1981 – Carol Ryrie Brink, American author (b. 1895)
1981 – Jørgen Løvset, Norwegian gynaecologist and academic (b. 1896)
1982 – Ernie Bushmiller, American cartoonist (b. 1905)
1982 – Jock Taylor, Scottish motorcycle sidecar racer (b. 1954)
1982 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1989 – Minoru Genda, Japanese general, pilot, and politician (b. 1904)
1989 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general and diplomat (b. 1897)
1990 – Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician and actor (b. 1962)
1992 – Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (b. 1947)
1994 – Wout Wagtmans, Dutch cyclist (b. 1929)
1995 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist and actor (b. 1906)
1997 – Ida Gerhardt, Dutch poet and educator (b. 1905)
1999 – Hugh Casson, English architect and interior designer (b. 1910)
2000 – Lancelot Ware, English barrister and biochemist, co-founder of Mensa (b. 1915)
2001 – Yavuz Çetin, Turkish singer-songwriter (b. 1970)
2001 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (b. 1972)
2001 – Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (b. 1919)
2004 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
2004 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Gujarat (b. 1941)
2005 – Bendapudi Venkata Satyanarayana, Indian dermatologist and academic (b. 1927)
2006 – Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand queen (b. 1931)
2006 – Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
2006 – Coenraad Bron, Dutch computer scientist and academic (b. 1937)
2006 – Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer and manager (b. 1923)
2007 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor and director (b. 1944)
2007 – John Gofman, American biologist, chemist, and physicist (b. 1918)
2007 – Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand physician (b. 1908)
2007 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (b. 1925)
2008 – Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (b. 1929)
2008 – Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (b. 1917)
2011 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1984)
2012 – Bob Birch, American bass player and saxophonist (b. 1956)
2012 – Altamiro Carrilho, Brazilian flute player and composer (b. 1924)
2012 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
2013 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (b. 1944)
2013 – Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (b. 1930)
2013 – Marich Man Singh Shrestha, Nepali politician, 28th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1942)
2013 – August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (b. 1936)
2014 – Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (b. 1909)
2015 – Julian Bond, American academic, leader of the civil rights movement, and politician (b. 1940)
2015 – Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (b. 1936)
2017 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (b. 1925)
2020 – Robert Trump, American real-estate developer, business executive (b. 1948)
2021 – Gerd Müller, German footballer (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances
Armed Forces Day (Poland)
Christian feast day:
Altfrid
Alypius of Thagaste
Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation. (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances:
Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches)
Ferragosto (Italy)
Lady's Day (Ireland)
Māras (Latvia)
Mother's Day (Antwerp and Costa Rica)
National Acadian Day (Acadians)
Navy Day (Romania)
Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands. (Tenerife, Spain)
San La Muerte (Paraguayan Folk Catholicism)
Santa Muerte (Mexican Folk Catholicism)
Tarcisius
August 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Equatorial Guinea)
Founding of Asunción (Paraguay)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Korea from Japan in 1945:
Gwangbokjeol, "Independence Day" (South Korea)
Jogukhaebangui nal, "Fatherland Liberation Day" (North Korea)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of India from the United Kingdom in 1947.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Republic of the Congo from France in 1960.
National Day (Liechtenstein)
National Day of Mourning (Bangladesh)
The first day of Flooding of the Nile, or Wafaa El-Nil (Egypt and Coptic Church)
The main day of Bon Festival (Japan), and its related observances:
Awa Dance Festival (Tokushima Prefecture)
Victory over Japan Day (United Kingdom), and its related observances:
End-of-war Memorial Day, when the National Memorial Service for War Dead is held (Japan)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1448 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2016 | August 16 |
Events
Pre-1600
1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs.
942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdanids of Mosul and the Baridis of Basra over control of the Abbasid capital, Baghdad.
963 – Nikephoros II Phokas is crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1328 – The House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will rule until 1708.
1513 – Battle of the Spurs (Battle of Guinegate): King Henry VIII of England and his Imperial allies defeat French Forces who are then forced to retreat.
1570 – The Principality of Transylvania is established after John II Zápolya renounces his claim as King of Hungary in the Treaty of Speyer.
1601–1900
1652 – Battle of Plymouth: Inconclusive naval action between the fleets of Michiel de Ruyter and George Ayscue in the First Anglo-Dutch War.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden: The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
1792 – Maximilien de Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.
1793 – French Revolution: A levée en masse is decreed by the National Convention.
1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
1858 – U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
1859 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany formally deposes the exiled House of Lorraine.
1863 – The Dominican Restoration War begins when Gregorio Luperón raises the Dominican flag in Santo Domingo after Spain had recolonized the country.
1869 – Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguayan battalion largely made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Paraguayan War.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-la-Tour is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1876 – Richard Wagner's Siegfried, the penultimate opera in his Ring cycle, premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
1891 – The Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1900 – The Battle of Elands River during the Second Boer War ends after a 13-day siege is lifted by the British. The battle had begun when a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 Boers had surrounded a force of 500 Australians, Rhodesians, Canadians and British soldiers at a supply dump at Brakfontein Drift.
1901–present
1906 – The 8.2 Valparaíso earthquake hits central Chile, killing 3,882 people.
1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students.
1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser .
1916 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.
1918 – The Battle of Lake Baikal was fought between the Czechoslovak Legion and the Red Army.
1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Next day, Chapman will become the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
1920 – The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens. The congress would call for armed revolution.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: The Battle of Radzymin concludes; the Soviet Red Army is forced to turn away from Warsaw.
1923 – The United Kingdom gives the name "Ross Dependency" to part of its claimed Antarctic territory and makes the Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand its administrator.
1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.
1929 – The 1929 Palestine riots break out in Mandatory Palestine between Palestinian Arabs and Jews and continue until the end of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Arabs are killed.
1930 – The first color sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, is released by Ub Iwerks.
1930 – The first British Empire Games are opened in Hamilton, Ontario, by the Governor General of Canada, the Viscount Willingdon.
1933 – Christie Pits riot takes place in Toronto, Ontario.
1942 – World War II: US Navy L-class blimp L-8 drifts in from the Pacific and eventually crashes in Daly City, California. The two-man crew cannot be found.
1944 – First flight of a jet with forward-swept wings, the Junkers Ju 287.
1945 – The National Representatives' Congress, the precursor of the current National Assembly of Vietnam, convenes in Sơn Dương.
1946 – Mass riots in Kolkata begin; more than 4,000 people would be killed in 72 hours.
1946 – The All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress is founded in Secunderabad.
1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.
1960 – Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico, United States, at , setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.
1964 – Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Dương Văn Minh with General Nguyễn Khánh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
1966 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
1972 – In an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, the Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
1975 – Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically hands over land to the Gurindji people after the eight-year Wave Hill walk-off, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 song by Paul Kelly and an annual celebration.
1987 – Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes after takeoff in Detroit, Michigan, killing 154 of the 155 on board, plus two people on the ground.
1989 – A solar particle event affects computers at the Toronto Stock Exchange, forcing a halt to trading.
1991 – Indian Airlines Flight 257, a Boeing 737-200, crashes during approach to Imphal Airport, killing all 69 people on board.
2005 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes in Machiques, Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board.
2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at , at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level.
2010 – AIRES Flight 8250 crashes at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés, San Andrés y Providencia, Colombia, killing two people.
2012 – South African police fatally shoot 34 miners and wound 78 more during an industrial dispute at Marikana near Rustenburg.
2013 – The ferry St. Thomas Aquinas collides with a cargo ship and sinks at Cebu, Philippines, killing 61 people with 59 others missing.
2015 – More than 96 people are killed and hundreds injured following a series of air-raids by the Syrian Arab Air Force on the rebel-held market town of Douma.
2015 – Trigana Air Flight 267, an ATR 42, crashes in Oksibl, Bintang Mountains Regency, killing all 54 people on board.
2020 – The August Complex fire in California burns more than one million acres of land.
Births
Pre-1600
1355 – Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster (d. 1382)
1378 – Hongxi Emperor of China (d. 1425)
1401 – Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut (d. 1436)
1557 – Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (d. 1602)
1565 – Christina, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (d. 1637)
1573 – Anne of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1598)
1601–1900
1637 – Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Mühlingen (d. 1706)
1645 – Jean de La Bruyère, French philosopher and author (d. 1696)
1650 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian monk, cosmographer, and cartographer (d. 1718)
1682 – Louis, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1712)
1744 – Pierre Méchain, French astronomer and surveyor (d. 1804)
1761 – Yevstigney Fomin, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1800)
1815 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator (d. 1888)
1816 – Octavia Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor (d. 1820)
1820 – Andrew Rainsford Wetmore, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1892)
1821 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (d. 1895)
1831 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (d. 1901)
1832 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, psychologist, and physiologist (d. 1920)
1842 – Jakob Rosanes, Ukrainian-German mathematician, chess player, and academic (d. 1922)
1845 – Gabriel Lippmann, Luxembourger-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1921)
1848 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
1855 – James McGowen, Australian politician, 18th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1922)
1856 – Aparicio Saravia, Uruguayan general and politician (d. 1904)
1858 – Arthur Achleitner, German author (d. 1927)
1860 – Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke, English-Scottish cricketer (d. 1938)
1860 – Jules Laforgue, Uruguayan-French poet and author (d. 1887)
1862 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American baseball player and coach (d. 1965)
1864 – Elsie Inglis, Scottish surgeon and suffragette (d. 1917)
1865 – Mary Gilmore, Australian socialist, poet and journalist (d. 1962)
1868 – Bernarr Macfadden, American bodybuilder and publisher, founded Macfadden Publications (d. 1955)
1876 – Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator and stage designer (d. 1942)
1877 – Roque Ruaño, Spanish priest and engineer (d. 1935)
1882 – Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player (d. 1968)
1884 – Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourger-American author and publisher (d. 1967)
1888 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel, diplomat, writer and archaeologist (d. 1935)
1888 – Armand J. Piron, American violinist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1943)
1892 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (d. 1982)
1892 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist and animator, co-created Felix the Cat (d. 1983)
1894 – George Meany, American plumber and labor leader (d. 1980)
1895 – Albert Cohen, Greek-Swiss author and playwright (d. 1981)
1895 – Liane Haid, Austrian-Swiss actress and singer (d. 2000)
1895 – Arthur Rose Eldred, First Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (d. 1951)
1900 – Ida Browne, Australian geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1976)
1901–present
1902 – Georgette Heyer, English author (d. 1974)
1902 – Wallace Thurman, American author and playwright (d. 1934)
1904 – Minoru Genda, Japanese general, pilot, and politician (d. 1989)
1904 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1908 – Orlando Cole, American cellist and educator (d. 2010)
1908 – William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., American editor, novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2000)
1909 – Paul Callaway, American organist and conductor (d. 1995)
1910 – Gloria Blondell, American actress (d. 1986)
1910 – Mae Clarke, American actress (d. 1992)
1911 – E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)
1912 – Ted Drake, English footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1913 – Menachem Begin, Belarusian-Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
1915 – Al Hibbler, American baritone singer (d. 2001)
1916 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (d. 2003)
1917 – Matt Christopher, American author (d. 1997)
1917 – Roque Cordero, Panamanian composer and educator (d. 2008)
1919 – Karl-Heinz Euling, German captain (d. 2014)
1920 – Charles Bukowski, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer (d. 1994)
1922 – James Casey, English comedian, radio scriptwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1922 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist and bandleader (d. 2001)
1923 – Millôr Fernandes, Brazilian journalist and playwright (d. 2012)
1924 – Fess Parker, American actor (d. 2010)
1924 – Inez Voyce, American baseball player (d. 2022)
1925 – Willie Jones, American baseball player (d. 1983)
1925 – Mal Waldron, American pianist and composer (d. 2002)
1927 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (d. 2008)
1928 – Ann Blyth, American actress and singer
1928 – Eydie Gormé, American singer (d. 2013)
1928 – Ara Güler, Turkish photographer and journalist (d. 2018)
1928 – Eddie Kirkland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1928 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American pastor, theologian, and activist (d. 2018)
1929 – Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (d. 1980)
1929 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
1929 – Fritz Von Erich, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1997)
1930 – Robert Culp, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1930 – Frank Gifford, American football player, sportscaster, and actor (d. 2015)
1930 – Leslie Manigat, Haitian educator and politician, 43rd President of Haiti (d. 2014)
1930 – Flor Silvestre, Mexican singer and actress (d. 2020)
1933 – Reiner Kunze, German poet and translator
1933 – Tom Maschler, English author and publisher (d. 2020)
1933 – Julie Newmar, American actress
1933 – Stuart Roosa, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1994)
1934 – Angela Buxton, British tennis player (d. 2020)
1934 – Diana Wynne Jones, English author (d. 2011)
1934 – Douglas Kirkland, Canadian-American photographer (d. 2022)
1934 – Ketty Lester, American singer and actress
1934 – Pierre Richard, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1934 – John Standing, English actor
1934 – Sam Trimble, Australian cricketer (d. 2019)
1935 – Cliff Fletcher, Canadian businessman
1935 – Andreas Stamatiadis, Greek footballer and coach
1936 – Anita Gillette, American actress and singer
1936 – Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1937 – David Anderson, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician
1937 – David Behrman, American composer and producer
1937 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (d. 2016)
1937 – Boris Rõtov, Estonian chess player (d. 1987)
1939 – Seán Brady, Irish cardinal
1939 – Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian-English journalist and academic
1939 – Billy Joe Shaver, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
1939 – Eric Weissberg, American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist (d. 2020)
1940 – Bruce Beresford, Australian director and producer
1942 – Lesley Turner Bowrey, Australian tennis player
1942 – Barbara George, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1942 – Robert Squirrel Lester, American soul singer (d. 2010)
1943 – Woody Peoples, American football player (d. 2010)
1944 – Kevin Ayers, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1945 – Bob Balaban, American actor, director, and producer
1945 – Russell Brookes, English race car driver (d. 2019)
1945 – Suzanne Farrell, American ballerina and educator
1945 – Gary Loizzo, American guitarist, singer, recording engineer, and record producer (d. 2016)
1945 – Nigel Terry, British stage and film actor (d. 2015)
1946 – Masoud Barzani, Iranian-Kurdish politician, President of Iraqi Kurdistan
1946 – Lesley Ann Warren, American actress
1947 – Carol Moseley Braun, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to New Zealand
1947 – Katharine Hamnett, English fashion designer
1948 – Earl Blumenauer, American politician, U.S. Representative from Oregon
1948 – Barry Hay, Indian-born Dutch rock musician
1948 – Mike Jorgensen, American baseball player and manager
1948 – Pierre Reid, Canadian educator and politician
1948 – Joey Spampinato, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Scott Asheton, American drummer (d. 2014)
1949 – Paul Pasqualoni, American football player and coach
1949 – Bill Spooner, American guitarist and songwriter
1950 – Hasely Crawford, Trinidadian runner
1950 – Marshall Manesh, Iranian-American actor
1950 – Jeff Thomson, Australian cricketer
1951 – Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Nigerian businessman and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (d. 2010)
1952 – Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
1953 – Kathie Lee Gifford, American talk show host, singer, and actress
1953 – James "J.T." Taylor, American R&B singer-songwriter
1954 – James Cameron, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – George Galloway, Scottish-English politician and broadcaster
1955 – Jeff Perry, American actor
1955 – James Reilly, Irish surgeon and politician, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs
1956 – Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armenian soldier and politician (d. 2014)
1957 – Laura Innes, American actress and director
1957 – R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2015)
1958 – Madonna, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and director
1958 – Angela Bassett, American actress
1958 – José Luis Clerc, Argentinian tennis player and coach
1959 – Marc Sergeant, Belgian cyclist and manager
1960 – Rosita Baltazar, Belizean choreographer, dancer, and dance instructor (d. 2015)
1960 – Timothy Hutton, American actor, producer and director
1960 – Franz Welser-Möst, Austrian-American conductor and director
1961 – Christian Okoye, American football player
1962 – Steve Carell, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Aloísio Pires Alves, Brazilian footballer and manager
1963 – Christine Cavanaugh, American voice artist (d. 2014)
1964 – Jimmy Arias, American tennis player and sportscaster
1966 – Eddie Olczyk, American ice hockey player, coach, and commentator
1967 – Mark Coyne, Australian rugby league player
1967 – Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish journalist, actress, and author
1968 – Arvind Kejriwal, Indian civil servant and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Delhi
1968 – Andy Milder, American actor
1968 – Mateja Svet, Slovenian skier
1968 – Wolfgang Tillmans, German photographer
1970 – Bonnie Bernstein, American journalist and sportscaster
1970 – Manisha Koirala, Nepalese actress in Indian films
1970 – Seth Peterson, American actor
1971 – Stefan Klos, German footballer
1972 – Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer
1972 – Emily Strayer, American singer and musician
1974 – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Guyanese cricketer
1974 – Didier Cuche, Swiss skier
1974 – Krisztina Egerszegi, Hungarian swimmer
1974 – Iván Hurtado, Ecuadorian footballer and politician
1974 – Ryan Longwell, American football player
1975 – Didier Agathe, French footballer
1975 – Jonatan Johansson, Finnish footballer, coach, and manager
1975 – George Stults, American actor
1975 – Taika Waititi, New Zealand director, screenwriter and actor
1979 – Paul Gallacher, Scottish footballer
1979 – Ian Moran, Australian cricketer
1980 – Vanessa Carlton, American singer-songwriter
1980 – Bob Hardy, English bass player
1980 – Emerson Ramos Borges, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Piet Rooijakkers, Dutch cyclist
1981 – Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguayan footballer
1982 – Cam Gigandet, American actor
1982 – Joleon Lescott, English footballer
1983 – Nikolaos Zisis, Greek basketball player
1984 – Matteo Anesi, Italian speed skater
1984 – Candice Dupree, American basketball player
1984 – Konstantin Vassiljev, Estonian footballer
1985 – Cristin Milioti, American actress
1986 – Yu Darvish, Japanese baseball player
1986 – Martín Maldonado, Puerto Rican baseball player
1986 – Shawn Pyfrom, American actor
1987 – Carey Price, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Eri Kitamura, Japanese voice actress and singer.
1988 – Ismaïl Aissati, Moroccan footballer
1988 – Ryan Kerrigan, American football player
1988 – Rumer Willis, American actress
1989 – Cedric Alexander, American wrestler
1989 – Wang Hao, Chinese race walker
1989 – Moussa Sissoko, French footballer
1990 – Godfrey Oboabona, Nigerian footballer
1991 – José Eduardo de Araújo, Brazilian footballer
1991 – Evanna Lynch, Irish actress
1991 – Jeffery Lamar Williams, American rapper, singer and songwriter
1992 – Diego Schwartzman, Argentinian tennis player
1993 – Cameron Monaghan, American actor and model
1996 – Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer
1997 – Greyson Chance, American musician
1999 – Karen Chen, American figure skater
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 79 – Empress Ma, Chinese Han dynasty consort (b. 40)
856 – Theutbald I, bishop of Langres
963 – Marianos Argyros, Byzantine general (b. 944)
1027 – George I of Georgia (b. 998)
1153 – Bernard de Tremelay, fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1225 – Hōjō Masako, Japanese regent and onna-bugeisha (b. 1156)
1258 – Theodore II Laskaris, Byzantine-Greek emperor (b. 1222)
1285 – Philip I, Count of Savoy (b. 1207)
1297 – John II of Trebizond (b. 1262)
1327 – Roch, French saint (b. 1295)
1339 – Azzone Visconti, founder of the state of Milan (b. 1302)
1358 – Albert II, Duke of Austria (b. 1298)
1419 – Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (b. 1361)
1443 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1434)
1492 – Beatrice of Silva, Dominican nun
1518 – Loyset Compère, French composer (b. 1445)
1532 – John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)
1601–1900
1661 – Thomas Fuller, English historian and author (b. 1608)
1678 – Andrew Marvell, English poet and author (b. 1621)
1705 – Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and theorist (b. 1654)
1733 – Matthew Tindal, English philosopher and author (b. 1657)
1791 – Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1719)
1836 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1755)
1855 – Henry Colburn, English publisher (b. 1785)
1861 – Ranavalona I, Queen consort of Kingdom of Madagascar and then sovereign (b. 1778)
1878 – Richard Upjohn, English-American architect (b. 1802)
1886 – Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Indian mystic and philosopher (b. 1836)
1887 – Webster Paulson, English civil engineer (b. 1837)
1888 – John Pemberton, American pharmacist and chemist, invented Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
1893 – Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist and academic (b. 1825)
1899 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (b. 1811)
1900 – José Maria de Eça de Queirós, Portuguese journalist and author (b. 1845)
1901–present
1904 – Prentiss Ingraham, American soldier and author (b. 1843)
1911 – Patrick Francis Moran, Irish-Australian cardinal (b. 1830)
1914 – Carl Theodor Schulz, German-Norwegian gardener (b. 1835)
1916 – George Scott, English footballer (b. 1885)
1920 – Henry Daglish, Australian politician, 6th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1866)
1921 – Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)
1938 – Andrej Hlinka, Slovak priest, journalist, and politician (b. 1864)
1938 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1911)
1945 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral (b. 1891)
1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (b. 1895)
1949 – Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (b. 1900)
1952 – Lydia Field Emmet, American painter and academic (b. 1866)
1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
1957 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
1958 – Jacob M. Lomakin, Soviet Consul General in New York City, journalist and economist (b. 1904)
1959 – William Halsey, Jr., American admiral (b. 1882)
1959 – Wanda Landowska, Polish-French harpsichord player (b. 1879)
1961 – Abdul Haq, Pakistani linguist and scholar (b. 1870)
1963 – Joan Eardley, British artist (b. 1921)
1971 – Spyros Skouras, Greek-American businessman (b. 1893)
1972 – Pierre Brasseur, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1905)
1973 – Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-American biochemist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (b. 1935)
1978 – Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, Dutch soldier and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1888)
1979 – John Diefenbaker, Canadian lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
1983 – Earl Averill, American baseball player (b. 1902)
1984 – Duško Radović, Serbian children's writer, poet, journalist, aphorist and TV editor (b. 1922)
1986 – Ronnie Aird, English cricketer and administrator (b. 1902)
1986 – Jaime Sáenz, Bolivian author and poet (b. 1921)
1989 – Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
1990 – Pat O'Connor, New Zealand wrestler and trainer (b. 1925)
1991 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1905)
1992 – Mark Heard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1951)
1993 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (b. 1913)
1997 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician and Qawwali singer (b. 1948)
1997 – Sultan Ahmad Nanupuri, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and teacher (b. 1914)
1998 – Phil Leeds, American actor (b. 1916)
1998 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (b. 1907)
2002 – Abu Nidal, Palestinian terrorist leader (b. 1937)
2002 – Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
2002 – John Roseboro, American baseball player and coach (b. 1933)
2003 – Idi Amin, Ugandan field marshal and politician, 3rd President of Uganda (b. 1928)
2004 – Ivan Hlinka, Czech ice hockey player and coach (b. 1950)
2004 – Balanadarajah Iyer, Sri Lankan journalist and poet (b. 1957)
2004 – Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (b. 1907)
2004 – Robert Quiroga, American boxer (b. 1969)
2005 – Vassar Clements, American fiddler (b. 1928)
2005 – Tonino Delli Colli, Italian cinematographer (b. 1922)
2005 – William Corlett, English novelist and playwright (b. 1938)
2005 – Frère Roger, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)
2006 – Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguayan general and dictator; 46th President of Paraguay (b. 1912)
2007 – Bahaedin Adab, Iranian engineer and politician (b. 1945)
2008 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1914)
2008 – Ronnie Drew, Irish musician, folk singer and actor (b. 1934)
2008 – Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese farmer and author (b. 1913)
2010 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (b. 1923)
2011 – Mihri Belli, Turkish activist and politician (b. 1916)
2012 – Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco (b. 1954)
2012 – Martine Franck, Belgian photographer and director (b. 1938)
2012 – Abune Paulos, Ethiopian patriarch (b. 1935)
2012 – William Windom, American actor (b. 1923)
2013 – David Rees, Welsh mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
2014 – Patrick Aziza, Nigerian general and politician, Governor of Kebbi State (b. 1947)
2014 – Vsevolod Nestayko, Ukrainian author (b. 1930)
2014 – Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, Italian-South African lawyer and politician (b. 1960)
2014 – Peter Scholl-Latour, German journalist, author, and academic (b. 1924)
2015 – Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican-American physicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1947)
2015 – Anna Kashfi, British actress (b. 1934)
2015 – Shuja Khanzada, Pakistani colonel and politician (b. 1943)
2015 – Mile Mrkšić, Serb general (b. 1947)
2016 – João Havelange, Brazilian water polo player, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1916)
2016 – John McLaughlin, American television personality (b. 1927)
2018 – Aretha Franklin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
2018 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian prime minister (b. 1924)
2018 – Wakako Yamauchi, American-Japanese writer (b. 1924)
2019 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, and screenwriter. (b. 1940)
2019 – Richard Williams, Canadian-British animator (b. 1933)
2021 – Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (b. 1963)
2023 – Howard S. Becker, American sociologist (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances
Bennington Battle Day (Vermont, United States)
Children's Day (Paraguay)
Christian feast day:
Ana Petra Pérez Florido
Armel (Armagillus)
Diomedes of Tarsus
Roch
Stephen I of Hungary
Translation of the Acheiropoietos icon from Edessa to Constantinople. (Eastern Orthodox Church)
August 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Gozan no Okuribi (Kyoto, Japan)
National Airborne Day (United States)
Restoration Day (Dominican Republic)
The first day of the Independence Days, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
Xicolatada (Palau-de-Cerdagne, France)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1461 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%20program | Apollo program | The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in preparing and landing the first humans on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was first conceived in 1960 during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person Project Mercury, which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-person Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last, Apollo 17, in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, twelve people walked on the Moon.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It encountered a major setback in 1967 when an Apollo 1 cabin fire killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first successful landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the Apollo 13 landing was prevented by an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the Moon, crippling the CSM. The crew barely returned to Earth safely by using the lunar module as a "lifeboat" on the return journey. Apollo used the Saturn family of rockets as launch vehicles, which were also used for an Apollo Applications Program, which consisted of Skylab, a space station that supported three crewed missions in 1973–1974, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, a joint United States-Soviet Union low Earth orbit mission in 1975.
Apollo set several major human spaceflight milestones. It stands alone in sending crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed spacecraft to land humans on one.
Overall, the Apollo program returned of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history. The program laid the foundation for NASA's subsequent human spaceflight capability and funded construction of its Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and human spaceflight, including avionics, telecommunications, and computers.
Name
The program was named after Apollo, the Greek god of light, music, and the Sun, by NASA manager Abe Silverstein, who later said, "I was naming the spacecraft like I'd name my baby." Silverstein chose the name at home one evening, early in 1960, because he felt "Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program".
The context of this was that the program focused at its beginning mainly on developing an advanced crewed spacecraft, the Apollo command and service module, succeeding the Mercury program. A lunar landing became the focus of the program only in 1961. Thereafter Project Gemini instead followed the Mercury program to test and study advanced crewed spaceflight technology.
Background
Origin and spacecraft feasibility studies
The Apollo program was conceived during the Eisenhower administration in early 1960, as a follow-up to Project Mercury. While the Mercury capsule could support only one astronaut on a limited Earth orbital mission, Apollo would carry three. Possible missions included ferrying crews to a space station, circumlunar flights, and eventual crewed lunar landings.
In July 1960, NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden announced the Apollo program to industry representatives at a series of Space Task Group conferences. Preliminary specifications were laid out for a spacecraft with a mission module cabin separate from the command module (piloting and reentry cabin), and a propulsion and equipment module. On August 30, a feasibility study competition was announced, and on October 25, three study contracts were awarded to General Dynamics/Convair, General Electric, and the Glenn L. Martin Company. Meanwhile, NASA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies led by Maxime Faget, to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs.
Political pressure builds
In November 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president after a campaign that promised American superiority over the Soviet Union in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Up to the election of 1960, Kennedy had been speaking out against the "missile gap" that he and many other senators felt had developed between the Soviet Union and the United States due to the inaction of President Eisenhower. Beyond military power, Kennedy used aerospace technology as a symbol of national prestige, pledging to make the US not "first but, first and, first if, but first period". Despite Kennedy's rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president. He knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a crewed Moon landing. When Kennedy's newly appointed NASA Administrator James E. Webb requested a 30 percent budget increase for his agency, Kennedy supported an acceleration of NASA's large booster program but deferred a decision on the broader issue.
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. At a meeting of the US House Committee on Science and Astronautics one day after Gagarin's flight, many congressmen pledged their support for a crash program aimed at ensuring that America would catch up. Kennedy was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on America's response to the Soviets.
On April 20, Kennedy sent a memo to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, asking Johnson to look into the status of America's space program, and into programs that could offer NASA the opportunity to catch up. Johnson responded approximately one week later, concluding that "we are neither making maximum effort nor achieving results necessary if this country is to reach a position of leadership." His memo concluded that a crewed Moon landing was far enough in the future that it was likely the United States would achieve it first.
On May 25, 1961, twenty days after the first US crewed spaceflight Freedom 7, Kennedy proposed the crewed Moon landing in a Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs:
NASA expansion
At the time of Kennedy's proposal, only one American had flown in space—less than a month earlier—and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy's ambitious goal could be met. By 1963, Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR Moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.
With the clear goal of a crewed landing replacing the more nebulous goals of space stations and circumlunar flights, NASA decided that, in order to make progress quickly, it would discard the feasibility study designs of Convair, GE, and Martin, and proceed with Faget's command and service module design. The mission module was determined to be useful only as an extra room, and therefore unnecessary. They used Faget's design as the specification for another competition for spacecraft procurement bids in October 1961. On November 28, 1961, it was announced that North American Aviation had won the contract, although its bid was not rated as good as the Martin proposal. Webb, Dryden and Robert Seamans chose it in preference due to North American's longer association with NASA and its predecessor.
Landing humans on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($25 billion; $ in US dollars) ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.
On July 1, 1960, NASA established the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. MSFC designed the heavy lift-class Saturn launch vehicles, which would be required for Apollo.
Manned Spacecraft Center
It became clear that managing the Apollo program would exceed the capabilities of Robert R. Gilruth's Space Task Group, which had been directing the nation's crewed space program from NASA's Langley Research Center. So Gilruth was given authority to grow his organization into a new NASA center, the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). A site was chosen in Houston, Texas, on land donated by Rice University, and Administrator Webb announced the conversion on September 19, 1961. It was also clear NASA would soon outgrow its practice of controlling missions from its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch facilities in Florida, so a new Mission Control Center would be included in the MSC.
In September 1962, by which time two Project Mercury astronauts had orbited the Earth, Gilruth had moved his organization to rented space in Houston, and construction of the MSC facility was under way, Kennedy visited Rice to reiterate his challenge in a famous speech:
The MSC was completed in September 1963. It was renamed by the US Congress in honor of Lyndon Johnson soon after his death in 1973.
Launch Operations Center
It also became clear that Apollo would outgrow the Canaveral launch facilities in Florida. The two newest launch complexes were already being built for the Saturn I and IB rockets at the northernmost end: LC-34 and LC-37. But an even bigger facility would be needed for the mammoth rocket required for the crewed lunar mission, so land acquisition was started in July 1961 for a Launch Operations Center (LOC) immediately north of Canaveral at Merritt Island. The design, development and construction of the center was conducted by Kurt H. Debus, a member of Wernher von Braun's original V-2 rocket engineering team. Debus was named the LOC's first Director. Construction began in November 1962. Following Kennedy's death, President Johnson issued an executive order on November 29, 1963, to rename the LOC and Cape Canaveral in honor of Kennedy.
The LOC included Launch Complex 39, a Launch Control Center, and a Vertical Assembly Building (VAB). in which the space vehicle (launch vehicle and spacecraft) would be assembled on a mobile launcher platform and then moved by a crawler-transporter to one of several launch pads. Although at least three pads were planned, only two, designated AandB, were completed in October 1965. The LOC also included an Operations and Checkout Building (OCB) to which Gemini and Apollo spacecraft were initially received prior to being mated to their launch vehicles. The Apollo spacecraft could be tested in two vacuum chambers capable of simulating atmospheric pressure at altitudes up to , which is nearly a vacuum.
Organization
Administrator Webb realized that in order to keep Apollo costs under control, he had to develop greater project management skills in his organization, so he recruited George E. Mueller for a high management job. Mueller accepted, on the condition that he have a say in NASA reorganization necessary to effectively administer Apollo. Webb then worked with Associate Administrator (later Deputy Administrator) Seamans to reorganize the Office of Manned Space Flight (OMSF). On July 23, 1963, Webb announced Mueller's appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, to replace then Associate Administrator D. Brainerd Holmes on his retirement effective September 1. Under Webb's reorganization, the directors of the Manned Spacecraft Center (Gilruth), Marshall Space Flight Center (von Braun), and the Launch Operations Center (Debus) reported to Mueller.
Based on his industry experience on Air Force missile projects, Mueller realized some skilled managers could be found among high-ranking officers in the U.S. Air Force, so he got Webb's permission to recruit General Samuel C. Phillips, who gained a reputation for his effective management of the Minuteman program, as OMSF program controller. Phillips's superior officer Bernard A. Schriever agreed to loan Phillips to NASA, along with a staff of officers under him, on the condition that Phillips be made Apollo Program Director. Mueller agreed, and Phillips managed Apollo from January 1964, until it achieved the first human landing in July 1969, after which he returned to Air Force duty.
Charles Fishman, in One Giant Leap, estimated the number of people and organizations involved into the Apollo program as "410,000 men and women at some 20,000 different companies contributed to the effort".
Choosing a mission mode
Once Kennedy had defined a goal, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a spacecraft that could meet it while minimizing risk to human life, cost, and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Four possible mission modes were considered:
Direct Ascent: The spacecraft would be launched as a unit and travel directly to the lunar surface, without first going into lunar orbit. A Earth return ship would land all three astronauts atop a descent propulsion stage, which would be left on the Moon. This design would have required development of the extremely powerful Saturn C-8 or Nova launch vehicle to carry a payload to the Moon.
Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR): Multiple rocket launches (up to 15 in some plans) would carry parts of the Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units for translunar injection (TLI). These would be assembled into a single spacecraft in Earth orbit.
Lunar Surface Rendezvous: Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellant for the return to Earth, would land on the Moon, to be followed some time later by the crewed vehicle. Propellant would have to be transferred from the automated vehicle to the crewed vehicle.
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR): This turned out to be the winning configuration, which achieved the goal with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969: a single Saturn V launched a spacecraft that was composed of a Apollo command and service module which remained in orbit around the Moon and a two-stage Apollo Lunar Module spacecraft which was flown by two astronauts to the surface, flown back to dock with the command module and was then discarded. Landing the smaller spacecraft on the Moon, and returning an even smaller part () to lunar orbit, minimized the total mass to be launched from Earth, but this was the last method initially considered because of the perceived risk of rendezvous and docking.
In early 1961, direct ascent was generally the mission mode in favor at NASA. Many engineers feared that rendezvous and docking, maneuvers that had not been attempted in Earth orbit, would be nearly impossible in lunar orbit. LOR advocates including John Houbolt at Langley Research Center emphasized the important weight reductions that were offered by the LOR approach. Throughout 1960 and 1961, Houbolt campaigned for the recognition of LOR as a viable and practical option. Bypassing the NASA hierarchy, he sent a series of memos and reports on the issue to Associate Administrator Robert Seamans; while acknowledging that he spoke "somewhat as a voice in the wilderness", Houbolt pleaded that LOR should not be discounted in studies of the question.
Seamans's establishment of an ad hoc committee headed by his special technical assistant Nicholas E. Golovin in July 1961, to recommend a launch vehicle to be used in the Apollo program, represented a turning point in NASA's mission mode decision. This committee recognized that the chosen mode was an important part of the launch vehicle choice, and recommended in favor of a hybrid EOR-LOR mode. Its consideration of LOR—as well as Houbolt's ceaseless work—played an important role in publicizing the workability of the approach. In late 1961 and early 1962, members of the Manned Spacecraft Center began to come around to support LOR, including the newly hired deputy director of the Office of Manned Space Flight, Joseph Shea, who became a champion of LOR. The engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), which had much to lose from the decision, took longer to become convinced of its merits, but their conversion was announced by Wernher von Braun at a briefing on June 7, 1962.
But even after NASA reached internal agreement, it was far from smooth sailing. Kennedy's science advisor Jerome Wiesner, who had expressed his opposition to human spaceflight to Kennedy before the President took office, and had opposed the decision to land people on the Moon, hired Golovin, who had left NASA, to chair his own "Space Vehicle Panel", ostensibly to monitor, but actually to second-guess NASA's decisions on the Saturn V launch vehicle and LOR by forcing Shea, Seamans, and even Webb to defend themselves, delaying its formal announcement to the press on July 11, 1962, and forcing Webb to still hedge the decision as "tentative".
Wiesner kept up the pressure, even making the disagreement public during a two-day September visit by the President to Marshall Space Flight Center. Wiesner blurted out "No, that's no good" in front of the press, during a presentation by von Braun. Webb jumped in and defended von Braun, until Kennedy ended the squabble by stating that the matter was "still subject to final review". Webb held firm and issued a request for proposal to candidate Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) contractors. Wiesner finally relented, unwilling to settle the dispute once and for all in Kennedy's office, because of the President's involvement with the October Cuban Missile Crisis, and fear of Kennedy's support for Webb. NASA announced the selection of Grumman as the LEM contractor in November 1962.
Space historian James Hansen concludes that:
The LOR method had the advantage of allowing the lander spacecraft to be used as a "lifeboat" in the event of a failure of the command ship. Some documents prove this theory was discussed before and after the method was chosen. In 1964 an MSC study concluded, "The LM [as lifeboat]... was finally dropped, because no single reasonable CSM failure could be identified that would prohibit use of the SPS." Ironically, just such a failure happened on Apollo 13 when an oxygen tank explosion left the CSM without electrical power. The lunar module provided propulsion, electrical power and life support to get the crew home safely.
Spacecraft
Faget's preliminary Apollo design employed a cone-shaped command module, supported by one of several service modules providing propulsion and electrical power, sized appropriately for the space station, cislunar, and lunar landing missions. Once Kennedy's Moon landing goal became official, detailed design began of a command and service module (CSM) in which the crew would spend the entire direct-ascent mission and lift off from the lunar surface for the return trip, after being soft-landed by a larger landing propulsion module. The final choice of lunar orbit rendezvous changed the CSM's role to the translunar ferry used to transport the crew, along with a new spacecraft, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM, later shortened to LM (Lunar Module) but still pronounced ) which would take two individuals to the lunar surface and return them to the CSM.
Command and service module
The command module (CM) was the conical crew cabin, designed to carry three astronauts from launch to lunar orbit and back to an Earth ocean landing. It was the only component of the Apollo spacecraft to survive without major configuration changes as the program evolved from the early Apollo study designs. Its exterior was covered with an ablative heat shield, and had its own reaction control system (RCS) engines to control its attitude and steer its atmospheric entry path. Parachutes were carried to slow its descent to splashdown. The module was tall, in diameter, and weighed approximately .
A cylindrical service module (SM) supported the command module, with a service propulsion engine and an RCS with propellants, and a fuel cell power generation system with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen reactants. A high-gain S-band antenna was used for long-distance communications on the lunar flights. On the extended lunar missions, an orbital scientific instrument package was carried. The service module was discarded just before reentry. The module was long and in diameter. The initial lunar flight version weighed approximately fully fueled, while a later version designed to carry a lunar orbit scientific instrument package weighed just over .
North American Aviation won the contract to build the CSM, and also the second stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle for NASA. Because the CSM design was started early before the selection of lunar orbit rendezvous, the service propulsion engine was sized to lift the CSM off the Moon, and thus was oversized to about twice the thrust required for translunar flight. Also, there was no provision for docking with the lunar module. A 1964 program definition study concluded that the initial design should be continued as Block I which would be used for early testing, while Block II, the actual lunar spacecraft, would incorporate the docking equipment and take advantage of the lessons learned in Block I development.
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM) was designed to descend from lunar orbit to land two astronauts on the Moon and take them back to orbit to rendezvous with the command module. Not designed to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or return to Earth, its fuselage was designed totally without aerodynamic considerations and was of an extremely lightweight construction. It consisted of separate descent and ascent stages, each with its own engine. The descent stage contained storage for the descent propellant, surface stay consumables, and surface exploration equipment. The ascent stage contained the crew cabin, ascent propellant, and a reaction control system. The initial LM model weighed approximately , and allowed surface stays up to around 34 hours. An extended lunar module weighed over , and allowed surface stays of more than three days. The contract for design and construction of the lunar module was awarded to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, and the project was overseen by Thomas J. Kelly.
Launch vehicles
Before the Apollo program began, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers had started work on plans for very large launch vehicles, the Saturn series, and the even larger Nova series. In the midst of these plans, von Braun was transferred from the Army to NASA and was made Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The initial direct ascent plan to send the three-person Apollo command and service module directly to the lunar surface, on top of a large descent rocket stage, would require a Nova-class launcher, with a lunar payload capability of over . The June 11, 1962, decision to use lunar orbit rendezvous enabled the Saturn V to replace the Nova, and the MSFC proceeded to develop the Saturn rocket family for Apollo.
Since Apollo, like Mercury, used more than one launch vehicle for space missions, NASA used spacecraft-launch vehicle combination series numbers: AS-10x for Saturn I, AS-20x for Saturn IB, and AS-50x for Saturn V (compare Mercury-Redstone 3, Mercury-Atlas 6) to designate and plan all missions, rather than numbering them sequentially as in Project Gemini. This was changed by the time human flights began.
Little Joe II
Since Apollo, like Mercury, would require a launch escape system (LES) in case of a launch failure, a relatively small rocket was required for qualification flight testing of this system. A rocket bigger than the Little Joe used by Mercury would be required, so the Little Joe II was built by General Dynamics/Convair. After an August 1963 qualification test flight, four LES test flights (A-001 through 004) were made at the White Sands Missile Range between May 1964 and January 1966.
Saturn I
Saturn I, the first US heavy lift launch vehicle, was initially planned to launch partially equipped CSMs in low Earth orbit tests. The S-I first stage burned RP-1 with liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer in eight clustered Rocketdyne H-1 engines, to produce of thrust. The S-IV second stage used six liquid hydrogen-fueled Pratt & Whitney RL-10 engines with of thrust. The S-V third stage flew inactively on Saturn I four times.
The first four Saturn I test flights were launched from LC-34, with only the first stage live, carrying dummy upper stages filled with water. The first flight with a live S-IV was launched from LC-37. This was followed by five launches of boilerplate CSMs (designated AS-101 through AS-105) into orbit in 1964 and 1965. The last three of these further supported the Apollo program by also carrying Pegasus satellites, which verified the safety of the translunar environment by measuring the frequency and severity of micrometeorite impacts.
In September 1962, NASA planned to launch four crewed CSM flights on the Saturn I from late 1965 through 1966, concurrent with Project Gemini. The payload capacity would have severely limited the systems which could be included, so the decision was made in October 1963 to use the uprated Saturn IB for all crewed Earth orbital flights.
Saturn IB
The Saturn IB was an upgraded version of the Saturn I. The S-IB first stage increased the thrust to by uprating the H-1 engine. The second stage replaced the S-IV with the S-IVB-200, powered by a single J-2 engine burning liquid hydrogen fuel with LOX, to produce of thrust. A restartable version of the S-IVB was used as the third stage of the Saturn V. The Saturn IB could send over into low Earth orbit, sufficient for a partially fueled CSM or the LM. Saturn IB launch vehicles and flights were designated with an AS-200 series number, "AS" indicating "Apollo Saturn" and the "2" indicating the second member of the Saturn rocket family.
Saturn V
Saturn V launch vehicles and flights were designated with an AS-500 series number, "AS" indicating "Apollo Saturn" and the "5" indicating Saturn V. The three-stage Saturn V was designed to send a fully fueled CSM and LM to the Moon. It was in diameter and stood tall with its lunar payload. Its capability grew to for the later advanced lunar landings. The S-IC first stage burned RP-1/LOX for a rated thrust of , which was upgraded to . The second and third stages burned liquid hydrogen; the third stage was a modified version of the S-IVB, with thrust increased to and capability to restart the engine for translunar injection after reaching a parking orbit.
Astronauts
NASA's director of flight crew operations during the Apollo program was Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts who was medically grounded in September 1962 due to a heart murmur. Slayton was responsible for making all Gemini and Apollo crew assignments.
Thirty-two astronauts were assigned to fly missions in the Apollo program. Twenty-four of these left Earth's orbit and flew around the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972 (three of them twice). Half of the 24 walked on the Moon's surface, though none of them returned to it after landing once. One of the moonwalkers was a trained geologist. Of the 32, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed during a ground test in preparation for the Apollo 1 mission.
The Apollo astronauts were chosen from the Project Mercury and Gemini veterans, plus from two later astronaut groups. All missions were commanded by Gemini or Mercury veterans. Crews on all development flights (except the Earth orbit CSM development flights) through the first two landings on Apollo 11 and Apollo 12, included at least two (sometimes three) Gemini veterans. Harrison Schmitt, a geologist, was the first NASA scientist astronaut to fly in space, and landed on the Moon on the last mission, Apollo 17. Schmitt participated in the lunar geology training of all of the Apollo landing crews.
NASA awarded all 32 of these astronauts its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, given for "distinguished service, ability, or courage", and personal "contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission". The medals were awarded posthumously to Grissom, White, and Chaffee in 1969, then to the crews of all missions from Apollo 8 onward. The crew that flew the first Earth orbital test mission Apollo 7, Walter M. Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, were awarded the lesser NASA Exceptional Service Medal, because of discipline problems with the flight director's orders during their flight. In October 2008, the NASA Administrator decided to award them the Distinguished Service Medals. For Schirra and Eisele, this was posthumously.
Lunar mission profile
The first lunar landing mission was planned to proceed:
Profile variations
The first three lunar missions (Apollo 8, Apollo 10, and Apollo 11) used a free return trajectory, keeping a flight path coplanar with the lunar orbit, which would allow a return to Earth in case the SM engine failed to make lunar orbit insertion. Landing site lighting conditions on later missions dictated a lunar orbital plane change, which required a course change maneuver soon after TLI, and eliminated the free-return option.
After Apollo 12 placed the second of several seismometers on the Moon, the jettisoned LM ascent stages on Apollo 12 and later missions were deliberately crashed on the Moon at known locations to induce vibrations in the Moon's structure. The only exceptions to this were the Apollo 13 LM which burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, and Apollo 16, where a loss of attitude control after jettison prevented making a targeted impact.
As another active seismic experiment, the S-IVBs on Apollo 13 and subsequent missions were deliberately crashed on the Moon instead of being sent to solar orbit.
Starting with Apollo 13, descent orbit insertion was to be performed using the service module engine instead of the LM engine, in order to allow a greater fuel reserve for landing. This was actually done for the first time on Apollo 14, since the Apollo 13 mission was aborted before landing.
Development history
Uncrewed flight tests
Two Block I CSMs were launched from LC-34 on suborbital flights in 1966 with the Saturn IB. The first, AS-201 launched on February 26, reached an altitude of and splashed down downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The second, AS-202 on August 25, reached altitude and was recovered downrange in the Pacific Ocean. These flights validated the service module engine and the command module heat shield.
A third Saturn IB test, AS-203 launched from pad 37, went into orbit to support design of the S-IVB upper stage restart capability needed for the Saturn V. It carried a nose cone instead of the Apollo spacecraft, and its payload was the unburned liquid hydrogen fuel, the behavior of which engineers measured with temperature and pressure sensors, and a TV camera. This flight occurred on July 5, before AS-202, which was delayed because of problems getting the Apollo spacecraft ready for flight.
Preparation for crewed flight
Two crewed orbital Block I CSM missions were planned: AS-204 and AS-205. The Block I crew positions were titled Command Pilot, Senior Pilot, and Pilot. The Senior Pilot would assume navigation duties, while the Pilot would function as a systems engineer. The astronauts would wear a modified version of the Gemini spacesuit.
After an uncrewed LM test flight AS-206, a crew would fly the first Block II CSM and LM in a dual mission known as AS-207/208, or AS-278 (each spacecraft would be launched on a separate Saturn IB). The Block II crew positions were titled Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot. The astronauts would begin wearing a new Apollo A6L spacesuit, designed to accommodate lunar extravehicular activity (EVA). The traditional visor helmet was replaced with a clear "fishbowl" type for greater visibility, and the lunar surface EVA suit would include a water-cooled undergarment.
Deke Slayton, the grounded Mercury astronaut who became director of flight crew operations for the Gemini and Apollo programs, selected the first Apollo crew in January 1966, with Grissom as Command Pilot, White as Senior Pilot, and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot. But Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC135 weightlessness training aircraft, and had to undergo surgery on January 27. Slayton replaced him with Chaffee. NASA announced the final crew selection for AS-204 on March 21, 1966, with the backup crew consisting of Gemini veterans James McDivitt and David Scott, with rookie Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart. Mercury/Gemini veteran Wally Schirra, Eisele, and rookie Walter Cunningham were announced on September 29 as the prime crew for AS-205.
In December 1966, the AS-205 mission was canceled, since the validation of the CSM would be accomplished on the 14-day first flight, and AS-205 would have been devoted to space experiments and contribute no new engineering knowledge about the spacecraft. Its Saturn IB was allocated to the dual mission, now redesignated AS-205/208 or AS-258, planned for August 1967. McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart were promoted to the prime AS-258 crew, and Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham were reassigned as the Apollo1 backup crew.
Program delays
The spacecraft for the AS-202 and AS-204 missions were delivered by North American Aviation to the Kennedy Space Center with long lists of equipment problems which had to be corrected before flight; these delays caused the launch of AS-202 to slip behind AS-203, and eliminated hopes the first crewed mission might be ready to launch as soon as November 1966, concurrently with the last Gemini mission. Eventually, the planned AS-204 flight date was pushed to February 21, 1967.
North American Aviation was prime contractor not only for the Apollo CSM, but for the SaturnV S-II second stage as well, and delays in this stage pushed the first uncrewed SaturnV flight AS-501 from late 1966 to November 1967. (The initial assembly of AS-501 had to use a dummy spacer spool in place of the stage.)
The problems with North American were severe enough in late 1965 to cause Manned Space Flight Administrator George Mueller to appoint program director Samuel Phillips to head a "tiger team" to investigate North American's problems and identify corrections. Phillips documented his findings in a December 19 letter to NAA president Lee Atwood, with a strongly worded letter by Mueller, and also gave a presentation of the results to Mueller and Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans. Meanwhile, Grumman was also encountering problems with the Lunar Module, eliminating hopes it would be ready for crewed flight in 1967, not long after the first crewed CSM flights.
Apollo 1 fire
Grissom, White, and Chaffee decided to name their flight Apollo1 as a motivational focus on the first crewed flight. They trained and conducted tests of their spacecraft at North American, and in the altitude chamber at the Kennedy Space Center. A "plugs-out" test was planned for January, which would simulate a launch countdown on LC-34 with the spacecraft transferring from pad-supplied to internal power. If successful, this would be followed by a more rigorous countdown simulation test closer to the February 21 launch, with both spacecraft and launch vehicle fueled.
The plugs-out test began on the morning of January 27, 1967, and immediately was plagued with problems. First, the crew noticed a strange odor in their spacesuits which delayed the sealing of the hatch. Then, communications problems frustrated the astronauts and forced a hold in the simulated countdown. During this hold, an electrical fire began in the cabin and spread quickly in the high pressure, 100% oxygen atmosphere. Pressure rose high enough from the fire that the cabin inner wall burst, allowing the fire to erupt onto the pad area and frustrating attempts to rescue the crew. The astronauts were asphyxiated before the hatch could be opened.
NASA immediately convened an accident review board, overseen by both houses of Congress. While the determination of responsibility for the accident was complex, the review board concluded that "deficiencies existed in command module design, workmanship and quality control". At the insistence of NASA Administrator Webb, North American removed Harrison Storms as command module program manager. Webb also reassigned Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) Manager Joseph Francis Shea, replacing him with George Low.
To remedy the causes of the fire, changes were made in the Block II spacecraft and operational procedures, the most important of which were use of a nitrogen/oxygen mixture instead of pure oxygen before and during launch, and removal of flammable cabin and space suit materials. The Block II design already called for replacement of the Block I plug-type hatch cover with a quick-release, outward opening door. NASA discontinued the crewed Block I program, using the BlockI spacecraft only for uncrewed SaturnV flights. Crew members would also exclusively wear modified, fire-resistant A7L Block II space suits, and would be designated by the Block II titles, regardless of whether a LM was present on the flight or not.
Uncrewed Saturn V and LM tests
On April 24, 1967, Mueller published an official Apollo mission numbering scheme, using sequential numbers for all flights, crewed or uncrewed. The sequence would start with Apollo 4 to cover the first three uncrewed flights while retiring the Apollo1 designation to honor the crew, per their widows' wishes.
In September 1967, Mueller approved a sequence of mission types which had to be successfully accomplished in order to achieve the crewed lunar landing. Each step had to be successfully accomplished before the next ones could be performed, and it was unknown how many tries of each mission would be necessary; therefore letters were used instead of numbers. The A missions were uncrewed Saturn V validation; B was uncrewed LM validation using the Saturn IB; C was crewed CSM Earth orbit validation using the Saturn IB; D was the first crewed CSM/LM flight (this replaced AS-258, using a single Saturn V launch); E would be a higher Earth orbit CSM/LM flight; F would be the first lunar mission, testing the LM in lunar orbit but without landing (a "dress rehearsal"); and G would be the first crewed landing. The list of types covered follow-on lunar exploration to include H lunar landings, I for lunar orbital survey missions, and J for extended-stay lunar landings.
The delay in the CSM caused by the fire enabled NASA to catch up on human-rating the LM and SaturnV. Apollo4 (AS-501) was the first uncrewed flight of the SaturnV, carrying a BlockI CSM on November 9, 1967. The capability of the command module's heat shield to survive a trans-lunar reentry was demonstrated by using the service module engine to ram it into the atmosphere at higher than the usual Earth-orbital reentry speed.
Apollo 5 (AS-204) was the first uncrewed test flight of the LM in Earth orbit, launched from pad 37 on January 22, 1968, by the Saturn IB that would have been used for Apollo 1. The LM engines were successfully test-fired and restarted, despite a computer programming error which cut short the first descent stage firing. The ascent engine was fired in abort mode, known as a "fire-in-the-hole" test, where it was lit simultaneously with jettison of the descent stage. Although Grumman wanted a second uncrewed test, George Low decided the next LM flight would be crewed.
This was followed on April 4, 1968, by Apollo 6 (AS-502) which carried a CSM and a LM Test Article as ballast. The intent of this mission was to achieve trans-lunar injection, followed closely by a simulated direct-return abort, using the service module engine to achieve another high-speed reentry. The Saturn V experienced pogo oscillation, a problem caused by non-steady engine combustion, which damaged fuel lines in the second and third stages. Two S-II engines shut down prematurely, but the remaining engines were able to compensate. The damage to the third stage engine was more severe, preventing it from restarting for trans-lunar injection. Mission controllers were able to use the service module engine to essentially repeat the flight profile of Apollo 4. Based on the good performance of Apollo6 and identification of satisfactory fixes to the Apollo6 problems, NASA declared the SaturnV ready to fly crew, canceling a third uncrewed test.
Crewed development missions
Apollo 7, launched from LC-34 on October 11, 1968, was the Cmission, crewed by Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham. It was an 11-day Earth-orbital flight which tested the CSM systems.
Apollo 8 was planned to be the D mission in December 1968, crewed by McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart, launched on a SaturnV instead of two Saturn IBs. In the summer it had become clear that the LM would not be ready in time. Rather than waste the Saturn V on another simple Earth-orbiting mission, ASPO Manager George Low suggested the bold step of sending Apollo8 to orbit the Moon instead, deferring the Dmission to the next mission in March 1969, and eliminating the E mission. This would keep the program on track. The Soviet Union had sent two tortoises, mealworms, wine flies, and other lifeforms around the Moon on September 15, 1968, aboard Zond 5, and it was believed they might soon repeat the feat with human cosmonauts. The decision was not announced publicly until successful completion of Apollo 7. Gemini veterans Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, and rookie William Anders captured the world's attention by making ten lunar orbits in 20 hours, transmitting television pictures of the lunar surface on Christmas Eve, and returning safely to Earth.
The following March, LM flight, rendezvous and docking were successfully demonstrated in Earth orbit on Apollo 9, and Schweickart tested the full lunar EVA suit with its portable life support system (PLSS) outside the LM. The F mission was successfully carried out on Apollo 10 in May 1969 by Gemini veterans Thomas P. Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan. Stafford and Cernan took the LM to within of the lunar surface.
The G mission was achieved on Apollo 11 in July 1969 by an all-Gemini veteran crew consisting of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. Armstrong and Aldrin performed the first landing at the Sea of Tranquility at 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969. They spent a total of 21 hours, 36 minutes on the surface, and spent 2hours, 31 minutes outside the spacecraft, walking on the surface, taking photographs, collecting material samples, and deploying automated scientific instruments, while continuously sending black-and-white television back to Earth. The astronauts returned safely on July 24.
Production lunar landings
In November 1969, Charles "Pete" Conrad became the third person to step onto the Moon, which he did while speaking more informally than had Armstrong:
Conrad and rookie Alan L. Bean made a precision landing of Apollo 12 within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 uncrewed lunar probe, which had landed in April 1967 on the Ocean of Storms. The command module pilot was Gemini veteran Richard F. Gordon Jr. Conrad and Bean carried the first lunar surface color television camera, but it was damaged when accidentally pointed into the Sun. They made two EVAs totaling 7hours and 45 minutes. On one, they walked to the Surveyor, photographed it, and removed some parts which they returned to Earth.
The contracted batch of 15 Saturn Vs was enough for lunar landing missions through Apollo 20. Shortly after Apollo 11, NASA publicized a preliminary list of eight more planned landing sites after Apollo 12, with plans to increase the mass of the CSM and LM for the last five missions, along with the payload capacity of the Saturn V. These final missions would combine the I and J types in the 1967 list, allowing the CMP to operate a package of lunar orbital sensors and cameras while his companions were on the surface, and allowing them to stay on the Moon for over three days. These missions would also carry the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) increasing the exploration area and allowing televised liftoff of the LM. Also, the Block II spacesuit was revised for the extended missions to allow greater flexibility and visibility for driving the LRV.
The success of the first two landings allowed the remaining missions to be crewed with a single veteran as commander, with two rookies. Apollo 13 launched Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise in April 1970, headed for the Fra Mauro formation. But two days out, a liquid oxygen tank exploded, disabling the service module and forcing the crew to use the LM as a "lifeboat" to return to Earth. Another NASA review board was convened to determine the cause, which turned out to be a combination of damage of the tank in the factory, and a subcontractor not making a tank component according to updated design specifications. Apollo was grounded again, for the remainder of 1970 while the oxygen tank was redesigned and an extra one was added.
Mission cutbacks
About the time of the first landing in 1969, it was decided to use an existing Saturn V to launch the Skylab orbital laboratory pre-built on the ground, replacing the original plan to construct it in orbit from several Saturn IB launches; this eliminated Apollo 20. NASA's yearly budget also began to shrink in light of the successful landing, and NASA also had to make funds available for the development of the upcoming Space Shuttle. By 1971, the decision was made to also cancel missions 18 and 19. The two unused Saturn Vs became museum exhibits at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, George C. Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The cutbacks forced mission planners to reassess the original planned landing sites in order to achieve the most effective geological sample and data collection from the remaining four missions. Apollo 15 had been planned to be the last of the H series missions, but since there would be only two subsequent missions left, it was changed to the first of three J missions.
Apollo 13's Fra Mauro mission was reassigned to Apollo 14, commanded in February 1971 by Mercury veteran Alan Shepard, with Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell. This time the mission was successful. Shepard and Mitchell spent 33 hours and 31 minutes on the surface, and completed two EVAs totalling 9hours 24 minutes, which was a record for the longest EVA by a lunar crew at the time.
In August 1971, just after conclusion of the Apollo 15 mission, President Richard Nixon proposed canceling the two remaining lunar landing missions, Apollo 16 and 17. Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Caspar Weinberger was opposed to this, and persuaded Nixon to keep the remaining missions.
Extended missions
Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, with David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin. Scott and Irwin landed on July 30 near Hadley Rille, and spent just under two days, 19 hours on the surface. In over 18 hours of EVA, they collected about of lunar material.
Apollo 16 landed in the Descartes Highlands on April 20, 1972. The crew was commanded by John Young, with Ken Mattingly and Charles Duke. Young and Duke spent just under three days on the surface, with a total of over 20 hours EVA.
Apollo 17 was the last of the Apollo program, landing in the Taurus–Littrow region in December 1972. Eugene Cernan commanded Ronald E. Evans and NASA's first scientist-astronaut, geologist Harrison H. Schmitt. Schmitt was originally scheduled for Apollo 18, but the lunar geological community lobbied for his inclusion on the final lunar landing. Cernan and Schmitt stayed on the surface for just over three days and spent just over 23 hours of total EVA.
Canceled missions
Several missions were planned for but were canceled before details were finalized.
Mission summary
Source: Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference (Orloff 2004)
Samples returned
The Apollo program returned over of lunar rocks and soil to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston. Today, 75% of the samples are stored at the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility built in 1979.
The rocks collected from the Moon are extremely old compared to rocks found on Earth, as measured by radiometric dating techniques. They range in age from about 3.2 billion years for the basaltic samples derived from the lunar maria, to about 4.6 billion years for samples derived from the highlands crust. As such, they represent samples from a very early period in the development of the Solar System, that are largely absent on Earth. One important rock found during the Apollo Program is dubbed the Genesis Rock, retrieved by astronauts David Scott and James Irwin during the Apollo 15 mission. This anorthosite rock is composed almost exclusively of the calcium-rich feldspar mineral anorthite, and is believed to be representative of the highland crust. A geochemical component called KREEP was discovered by Apollo 12, which has no known terrestrial counterpart. KREEP and the anorthositic samples have been used to infer that the outer portion of the Moon was once completely molten (see lunar magma ocean).
Almost all the rocks show evidence of impact process effects. Many samples appear to be pitted with micrometeoroid impact craters, which is never seen on Earth rocks, due to the thick atmosphere. Many show signs of being subjected to high-pressure shock waves that are generated during impact events. Some of the returned samples are of impact melt (materials melted near an impact crater.) All samples returned from the Moon are highly brecciated as a result of being subjected to multiple impact events.
From analyses of the composition of the returned lunar samples, it is now believed that the Moon was created through the impact of a large astronomical body with Earth.
Costs
Apollo cost $25.4 billion (or approximately $ in dollars when adjusted for inflation via the GDP deflator index).
Of this amount, $20.2 billion ($ adjusted) was spent on the design, development, and production of the Saturn family of launch vehicles, the Apollo spacecraft, spacesuits, scientific experiments, and mission operations. The cost of constructing and operating Apollo-related ground facilities, such as the NASA human spaceflight centers and the global tracking and data acquisition network, added an additional $5.2 billion ($ adjusted).
The amount grows to $28 billion ($ adjusted) if the costs for related projects such as Project Gemini and the robotic Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter programs are included.
NASA's official cost breakdown, as reported to Congress in the Spring of 1973, is as follows:
Accurate estimates of human spaceflight costs were difficult in the early 1960s, as the capability was new and management experience was lacking. Preliminary cost analysis by NASA estimated $7 billion – $12 billion for a crewed lunar landing effort. NASA Administrator James Webb increased this estimate to $20 billion before reporting it to Vice President Johnson in April 1961.
Project Apollo was a massive undertaking, representing the largest research and development project in peacetime. At its peak, it employed over 400,000 employees and contractors around the country and accounted for more than half of NASA's total spending in the 1960s. After the first Moon landing, public and political interest waned, including that of President Nixon, who wanted to rein in federal spending. NASA's budget could not sustain Apollo missions which cost, on average, $445 million ($ adjusted) each while simultaneously developing the Space Shuttle. The final fiscal year of Apollo funding was 1973.
Apollo Applications Program
Looking beyond the crewed lunar landings, NASA investigated several post-lunar applications for Apollo hardware. The Apollo Extension Series (Apollo X) proposed up to 30 flights to Earth orbit, using the space in the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) to house a small orbital laboratory (workshop). Astronauts would continue to use the CSM as a ferry to the station. This study was followed by design of a larger orbital workshop to be built in orbit from an empty S-IVB Saturn upper stage and grew into the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). The workshop was to be supplemented by the Apollo Telescope Mount, which could be attached to the ascent stage of the lunar module via a rack. The most ambitious plan called for using an empty S-IVB as an interplanetary spacecraft for a Venus fly-by mission.
The S-IVB orbital workshop was the only one of these plans to make it off the drawing board. Dubbed Skylab, it was assembled on the ground rather than in space, and launched in 1973 using the two lower stages of a Saturn V. It was equipped with an Apollo Telescope Mount. Skylab's last crew departed the station on February 8, 1974, and the station itself re-entered the atmosphere in 1979 after development of the Space Shuttle was delayed too long to save it.
The Apollo–Soyuz program also used Apollo hardware for the first joint nation spaceflight, paving the way for future cooperation with other nations in the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs.
Recent observations
In 2008, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's SELENE probe observed evidence of the halo surrounding the Apollo 15 Lunar Module blast crater while orbiting above the lunar surface.
Beginning in 2009, NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while orbiting above the Moon, photographed the remnants of the Apollo program left on the lunar surface, and each site where crewed Apollo flights landed. All of the U.S. flags left on the Moon during the Apollo missions were found to still be standing, with the exception of the one left during the Apollo 11 mission, which was blown over during that mission's lift-off from the lunar surface; the degree to which these flags retain their original colors remains unknown. The flags cannot be seen through a telescope from Earth.
In a November 16, 2009, editorial, The New York Times opined:
Legacy
Science and engineering
The Apollo program has been described as the greatest technological achievement in human history. Apollo stimulated many areas of technology, leading to over 1,800 spinoff products as of 2015, including advances in the development of cordless power tools, fireproof materials, heart monitors, solar panels, digital imaging, and the use of liquid methane as fuel. The flight computer design used in both the lunar and command modules was, along with the Polaris and Minuteman missile systems, the driving force behind early research into integrated circuits (ICs). By 1963, Apollo was using 60 percent of the United States' production of ICs. The crucial difference between the requirements of Apollo and the missile programs was Apollo's much greater need for reliability. While the Navy and Air Force could work around reliability problems by deploying more missiles, the political and financial cost of failure of an Apollo mission was unacceptably high.
Technologies and techniques required for Apollo were developed by Project Gemini. The Apollo project was enabled by NASA's adoption of new advances in semiconductor electronic technology, including metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) and silicon integrated circuit chips in the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).
Cultural impact
The crew of Apollo 8 sent the first live televised pictures of the Earth and the Moon back to Earth, and read from the creation story in the Book of Genesis, on Christmas Eve 1968. An estimated one-quarter of the population of the world saw—either live or delayed—the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the Moon, and an estimated one-fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.
The Apollo program also affected environmental activism in the 1970s due to photos taken by the astronauts. The most well known include Earthrise, taken by William Anders on Apollo 8, and The Blue Marble, taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The Blue Marble was released during a surge in environmentalism, and became a symbol of the environmental movement as a depiction of Earth's frailty, vulnerability, and isolation amid the vast expanse of space.
According to The Economist, Apollo succeeded in accomplishing President Kennedy's goal of taking on the Soviet Union in the Space Race by accomplishing a singular and significant achievement, to demonstrate the superiority of the free-market system. The publication noted the irony that in order to achieve the goal, the program required the organization of tremendous public resources within a vast, centralized government bureaucracy.
Apollo 11 broadcast data restoration project
Prior to Apollo 11's 40th anniversary in 2009, NASA searched for the original videotapes of the mission's live televised moonwalk. After an exhaustive three-year search, it was concluded that the tapes had probably been erased and reused. A new digitally remastered version of the best available broadcast television footage was released instead.
Depictions on film
Documentaries
Numerous documentary films cover the Apollo program and the Space Race, including:
Footprints on the Moon (1969)
Moonwalk One (1970)
The Greatest Adventure (1978)
For All Mankind (1989)
Moon Shot (1994 miniseries)
"Moon" from the BBC miniseries The Planets (1999)
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005)
The Wonder of It All (2007)
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)
When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008 miniseries)
Moon Machines (2008 miniseries)
James May on the Moon (2009)
NASA's Story (2009 miniseries)
Apollo 11 (2019)
Chasing the Moon (2019 miniseries)
Docudramas
Some missions have been dramatized:
Apollo 13 (1995)
Apollo 11 (1996)
From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
The Dish (2000)
Space Race (2005)
Moonshot (2009)
First Man (2018)
Fictional
The Apollo program has been the focus of several works of fiction, including:
Apollo 18 (2011), horror movie which was released to negative reviews.
For All Mankind (2019), TV series depicting an alternate history in which the Soviet Union was the first country to successfully land a man on the Moon.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), fifth movie about Indiana Jones, in which Jürgen Voller, a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the Apollo program, wishes to make the world into a better place as he sees fit.
See also
Apollo 11 in popular culture
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
Exploration of the Moon
Leslie Cantwell collection
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of crewed spacecraft
Moon landing conspiracy theories
Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings
Soviet crewed lunar programs
Stolen and missing Moon rocks
Artemis Program
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Chaikin interviewed all the surviving astronauts and others who worked with the program.
Further reading
NASA Report JSC-09423, April 1975
Astronaut Mike Collins autobiography of his experiences as an astronaut, including his flight aboard Apollo 11.
Although this book focuses on Apollo 13, it provides a wealth of background information on Apollo technology and procedures.
History of the Apollo program from Apollos 1–11, including many interviews with the Apollo astronauts.
Gleick, James, "Moon Fever" [review of Oliver Morton, The Moon: A History of the Future; Apollo's Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, July 3 – September 22, 2019; Douglas Brinkley, American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race; Brandon R. Brown, The Apollo Chronicles: Engineering America's First Moon Missions; Roger D. Launius, Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race; Apollo 11, a documentary film directed by Todd Douglas Miller; and Michael Collins, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys (50th Anniversary Edition)], The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 13 (15 August 2019), pp. 54–58.
Factual, from the standpoint of a flight controller during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs.
Details the flight of Apollo 13.
Tells Grumman's story of building the lunar modules.
History of the crewed space program from 1September 1960, to 5January 1968.
Account of Deke Slayton's life as an astronaut and of his work as chief of the astronaut office, including selection of Apollo crews.
From origin to November 7, 1962
November 8, 1962 – September 30, 1964
October 1, 1964 – January 20, 1966
January 21, 1966 – July 13, 1974
The history of lunar exploration from a geologist's point of view.
External links
Apollo program history at NASA's Human Space Flight (HSF) website
The Apollo Program at the NASA History Program Office
The Apollo Program at the National Air and Space Museum
Apollo 35th Anniversary Interactive Feature at NASA (in Flash)
Lunar Mission Timeline at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections
NASA reports
Apollo Program Summary Report (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
NASA History Series Publications
Project Apollo Drawings and Technical Diagrams at the NASA History Program Office
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal edited by Eric M. Jones and Ken Glover
The Apollo Flight Journal by W. David Woods, et al.
Multimedia
NASA Apollo Program images and videos
Apollo Image Archive at Arizona State University
Audio recording and transcript of President John F. Kennedy, NASA administrator James Webb, et al., discussing the Apollo agenda (White House Cabinet Room, November 21, 1962)
The Project Apollo Archive by Kipp Teague is a large repository of Apollo images, videos, and audio recordings
The Project Apollo Archive on Flickr
Apollo Image Atlas—almost 25,000 lunar images, Lunar and Planetary Institute
1960s in the United States
1970s in the United States
Articles containing video clips
Engineering projects
Exploration of the Moon
Human spaceflight programs
NASA programs
Space program of the United States |
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Events
Pre-1600
310 – Pope Eusebius dies, possibly from a hunger strike, shortly after being banished by the Emperor Maxentius to Sicily.
682 – Pope Leo II begins his pontificate.
986 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan: The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
1186 – Georgenberg Pact: Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria and Leopold V, Duke of Austria sign a heritage agreement in which Ottokar gives his duchy to Leopold and to his son Frederick under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain undivided.
1386 – Karl Topia, the ruler of Princedom of Albania forges an alliance with the Republic of Venice, committing to participate in all wars of the Republic and receiving coastal protection against the Ottomans in return.
1424 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil: An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under Jean II, Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas.
1488 – Konrad Bitz, the Bishop of Turku, marks the date of his preface to Missale Aboense, the oldest known book of Finland.
1498 – Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first person in history to resign the cardinalate; later that same day, King Louis XII of France names him Duke of Valentinois.
1549 – Battle of Sampford Courtenay: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England.
1560 – The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
1585 – Eighty Years' War: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city and as a result over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces.
1585 – A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh under the charge of Ralph Lane lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina.
1597 – Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.
1601–1900
1668 – The magnitude 8.0 North Anatolia earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
1717 – Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.
1723 – Ioan Giurgiu Patachi becomes Bishop of Făgăraș and is festively installed in his position at the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Făgăraș, after being formally confirmed earlier by Pope Clement XI.
1740 – Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini, succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.
1784 – Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12,000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.
1798 – The Vietnamese Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Our Lady of La Vang.
1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1808 – The Finnish War: The Battle of Alavus is fought.
1827 – Dutch King William I and Pope Leo XII sign concord.
1836 – British parliament accepts registration of births, marriages and deaths.
1862 – American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Dakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
1862 – American Civil War: Major General J. E. B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
1863 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville: Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
1866 – The Grand Duchy of Baden announces its withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia.
1876 – Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the last opera in his Ring cycle, premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1896 – Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
1901–present
1914 – World War I: Battle of Stallupönen: The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia, USA after his death sentence is commuted by Governor John Slaton.
1915 – A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at .
1916 – World War I: Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side.
1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.
1943 – World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
1943 – World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
1943 – World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program.
1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
1945 – The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.
1945 – Evacuation of Manchukuo: At Talitzou by the Sino-Korean border, Puyi, then the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo, formally renounces the imperial throne, dissolves the state, and cedes its territory to the Republic of China.
1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.
1949 – The 6.7 Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead.
1949 – Matsukawa derailment: Unknown saboteurs cause a passenger train to derail and overturn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, killing three crew members and igniting a political firestorm between the Japanese Communist Party and the government of Occupied Japan that will eventually lead to the Japanese Red Purge.
1953 – First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.
1955 – Hurricane Diane made landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina, and it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.
1958 – Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
1960 – Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.
1962 – Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.
1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.
1970 – Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
1976 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000-8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.
1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
1985 – The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota.
1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
1991 – Strathfield massacre: In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself.
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
1999 – The 7.6 İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured.
2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts.
2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.
2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
2009 – An accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.
2015 – A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.
2017 – Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.
2019 – A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.
Births
Pre-1600
1153 – William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156)
1465 – Philibert I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1482)
1473 – Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York (d. 1483)
1501 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1529)
1556 – Alexander Briant, English martyr and saint (d. 1581)
1578 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
1578 – Johann, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, first prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (d. 1638)
1582 – John Matthew Rispoli, Maltese philosopher (d. 1639)
1586 – Johann Valentin Andrea, German theologian (d. 1654)
1601–1900
1603 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish Field Marshal, Privy Councillour and Governor-General (d. 1651)
1629 – John III Sobieski, Polish–Lithuanian king (d. 1696)
1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer and educator (d. 1768)
1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Bohemian philologist and historian (d. 1828)
1768 – Louis Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
1786 – Davy Crockett, American soldier and politician (d. 1836)
1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1861)
1801 – Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer and feminist (d. 1865)
1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist and physician (d. 1897)
1840 – Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English poet and activist (d. 1922)
1845 – Henry Cadwalader Chapman, American physician and naturalist (d. 1909)
1849 – William Kidston, Scottish-Australian politician, 17th Premier of Queensland (d. 1919)
1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and photographer (d. 1924)
1865 – Julia Marlowe, English-American actress (d. 1950)
1866 – Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Indian 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
1873 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist and academic (d. 1946)
1877 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923)
1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer and tennis player (d. 1948)
1887 – Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist, founded Black Star Line (d. 1940)
1888 – Monty Woolley, American actor, raconteur, and pundit (d. 1963)
1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish soldier and pilot (d. 1920)
1890 – Harry Hopkins, American politician and diplomat, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
1893 – John Brahm, German-American director and production manager (d. 1982)
1893 – Mae West, American stage and film actress (d. 1980)
1894 – William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes, English businessman, founded Rootes Group (d. 1964)
1896 – Leslie Groves, American general and engineer (d. 1970)
1896 – Tõnis Kint, Estonian lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1991)
1896 – Oliver Waterman Larkin, American historian and author (d. 1970)
1899 – Janet Lewis, American poet and novelist (d. 1998)
1900 – Vivienne de Watteville, British travel writer and adventurer (d. 1957)
1900 – Pauline A. Young, American teacher, historian, aviator and activist (d. 1991)
1901–present
1904 – Mary Cain, American journalist and politician (d. 1984)
1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian composer and musicologist (d. 1991)
1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1985)
1909 – Wilf Copping, English footballer (d. 1980)
1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player and engineer (d. 1995)
1911 – Martin Sandberger, German colonel and lawyer (d. 2010)
1913 – Mark Felt (aka 'Deep Throat'), American lawyer and agent, 2nd Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 2008)
1913 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1989)
1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player and manager (d. 1970)
1914 – Bill Downs, American journalist (d. 1978)
1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1988)
1916 – Moses Majekodunmi, Nigerian physician and politician (d. 2012)
1918 – Evelyn Ankers, British-American actress (d. 1985)
1918 – Ike Quebec, American saxophonist and pianist (d. 1963)
1918 – Michael John Wise, English geographer and academic (d. 2015)
1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
1920 – Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1920 – Lida Moser, American photographer and author (d. 2014)
1921 – Geoffrey Elton, German-English historian and academic (d. 1994)
1922 – Roy Tattersall, English cricketer (d. 2011)
1923 – Carlos Cruz-Diez, Venezuelan artist (d. 2019)
1923 – Larry Rivers, American painter and sculptor (d. 2002)
1924 – Evan S. Connell, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 2013)
1926 – Valerie Eliot, English businesswoman (d. 2012)
1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese engineer and politician, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader) and 5th President of China (d. 2022)
1927 – Sam Butera, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2009)
1927 – F. Ray Keyser Jr., American lawyer and politician, 72nd Governor of Vermont (d. 2015)
1928 – T. J. Anderson, American composer, conductor, and educator
1928 – Willem Duys, Dutch tennis player, sportscaster, and producer (d. 2011)
1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (d. 1977)
1930 – Harve Bennett, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2015)
1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet and playwright (d. 1998)
1931 – Tony Wrigley, English historian, demographer, and academic (d. 2022)
1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English novelist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
1932 – Duke Pearson, American pianist and composer (d. 1980)
1932 – Jean-Jacques Sempé, French cartoonist (d. 2022)
1933 – Mark Dinning, American pop singer (d. 1986)
1934 – João Donato, Brazilian pianist and composer (d. 2023)
1934 – Ron Henry, English footballer (d. 2014)
1936 – Seamus Mallon, Irish educator and politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2020)
1936 – Margaret Heafield Hamilton, American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner.
1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2023)
1939 – Luther Allison, American blues guitarist and singer (d. 1997)
1940 – Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1940 – Barry Sheerman, English academic and politician
1941 – Lothar Bisky, German businessman and politician (d. 2013)
1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Canadian director and screenwriter
1941 – Boog Powell, American baseball player
1942 – Shane Porteous, Australian actor, animator, and screenwriter
1943 – Edward Cowie, English composer, painter, and author
1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor, entrepreneur, director, and producer
1943 – John Humphrys, Welsh journalist and author
1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1944 – Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation
1944 – Jean-Bernard Pommier, French pianist and conductor
1945 – Rachel Pollack, American author, poet, and educator
1946 – Hugh Baiocchi, South African golfer
1946 – Martha Coolidge, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Patrick Manning, Trinidadian-Tobagonian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2016)
1947 – Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (d. 2016)
1947 – Gary Talley, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and author
1948 – Alexander Ivashkin, Russian-English cellist and conductor (d. 2014)
1949 – Norm Coleman, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Mayor of St. Paul
1949 – Sue Draheim, American fiddler and composer (d. 2013)
1949 – Julian Fellowes, English actor, director, screenwriter, and politician
1949 – Sib Hashian, American rock drummer (d. 2017)
1951 – Richard Hunt, American Muppet performer (d. 1992)
1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
1952 – Aleksandr Maksimenkov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver and businessman
1952 – Mario Theissen, German engineer and businessman
1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
1953 – Mick Malthouse, Australian footballer and coach
1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Korrie Layun Rampan, Indonesian author, poet, and critic (d. 2015)
1953 – Kevin Rowland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Eric Johnson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, Colombian lawyer and politician, 38th President of Colombia
1955 – Colin Moulding, English singer-songwriter and bassist
1956 – Gail Berman, American businessman, co-founded BermanBraun
1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
1957 – Ken Kwapis, American director and screenwriter
1957 – Laurence Overmire, American poet, author, and actor
1957 – Robin Cousins, British competitive figure skater
1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer-songwriter
1958 – Fred Goodwin, Scottish banker and accountant
1958 – Maurizio Sandro Sala, Brazilian race car driver
1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American novelist and essayist
1959 – Jacek Kazimierski, Polish footballer
1959 – Eric Schlosser, American journalist and author
1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer-songwriter
1960 – Sean Penn, American actor, director, and political activist
1962 – Gilby Clarke, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1962 – Dan Dakich, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Jon Gruden, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Jackie Walorski, American politician (d. 2022)
1964 – Colin James, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1964 – Maria McKee, American singer-songwriter
1964 – Dave Penney, English footballer and manager
1965 – Steve Gorman, American drummer
1965 – Dottie Pepper, American golfer
1966 – Jüri Luik, Estonian politician and diplomat, 18th Estonian Minister of Defense
1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder and stuntman
1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1967 – David Conrad, American actor
1967 – Michael Preetz, German footballer and manager
1968 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player and sportscaster
1968 – Helen McCrory, English actress (d. 2021)
1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player and coach
1969 – Kelvin Mercer, American rapper, songwriter and producer
1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American singer-songwriter, actor and producer
1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player and sportscaster
1970 – Andrus Kivirähk, Estonian author
1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer and coach
1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian footballer and coach
1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
1974 – Giuliana Rancic, Italian-American journalist and television personality
1974 – Johannes Maria Staud, Austrian composer
1976 – Eric Boulton, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch journalist and director
1976 – Serhiy Zakarlyuka, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1977 – Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
1977 – Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist
1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer-songwriter and producer
1979 – Antwaan Randle El, American football player and journalist
1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
1980 – Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer
1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American wrestler and manager
1982 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (d. 2018)
1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
1984 – Oksana Domnina, Russian ice dancer
1984 – Liam Heath, British sprint canoeist
1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
1985 – Yū Aoi, Japanese actress and model
1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
1988 – Brady Corbet, American actor and director
1988 – Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British member of ISIS (d. 2015)
1988 – Natalie Sandtorv, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
1989 – Lil B, American rapper
1989 – Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer
1991 – Austin Butler, American actor
1992 – Saraya Bevis, English wrestler
1992 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (d. 2013)
1992 – Chanel Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Ederson Moraes, Brazilian footballer
1993 – Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer
1993 – Xie Zhenye, Chinese athlete
1994 – Phoebe Bridgers, American singer/songwriter
1994 – Jack Conklin, American football player
1994 – Taissa Farmiga, American actress
1995 – Gracie Gold, American figure skater
1995 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, New Zealand rugby league player
1996 – Jake Virtanen, Canadian ice hockey player
2000 – Lil Pump, American rapper and songwriter
2003 – Nastasja Schunk, German tennis player
2003 – The Kid Laroi, Australian rapper and songwriter
Deaths
Pre-1600
754 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia
949 – Li Shouzhen, Chinese general and governor
1153 – Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (b. 1130)
1304 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
1324 – Irene of Brunswick (b. 1293)
1338 – Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (b. 1301)
1424 – John Stewart, Earl of Buchan (b. c. 1381)
1510 – Edmund Dudley, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1462)
1510 – Richard Empson, English statesman
1547 – Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (b. 1478)
1601–1900
1673 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
1676 – Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, German author (b. 1621)
1720 – Anne Dacier, French scholar and translator (b. 1654)
1723 – Joseph Bingham, English scholar and academic (b. 1668)
1768 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1703)
1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, English-American merchant and politician, 16th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
1786 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (b. 1712)
1809 – Matthew Boulton, English businessman and engineer, co-founded Boulton and Watt (b. 1728)
1814 – John Johnson, English architect and surveyor (b. 1732)
1834 – Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (b. 1802)
1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian playwright and poet (b. 1749)
1850 – José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (b. 1778)
1861 – Alcée Louis la Branche, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Ambassador to Texas (b. 1806)
1870 – Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet and activist (b. 1818)
1875 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist and anthropologist (b. 1827)
1897 – William Jervois, English engineer and diplomat, 10th Governor of South Australia (b. 1821)
1901–present
1901 – Edmond Audran, French organist and composer (b. 1842)
1903 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (b. 1825)
1908 – Radoje Domanović, Serbian satirist and journalist (b. 1873)
1909 – Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian activist (b. 1883)
1918 – Moisei Uritsky, Russian activist and politician (b. 1873)
1920 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
1924 – Tom Kendall, English-Australian cricketer and journalist (b. 1851)
1925 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1848)
1935 – Adam Gunn, American decathlete (b. 1872)
1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (b. 1860)
1936 – José María of Manila, Spanish-Filipino priest and martyr (b. 1880)
1940 – Billy Fiske, American soldier and pilot (b. 1911)
1945 – Reidar Haaland, Norwegian police officer and soldier (b. 1919)
1949 – Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino journalist, jurist, and politician (b. 1891)
1958 – Arthur Fox, English-American fencer (b. 1878)
1966 – Ken Miles, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1970 – Rattana Pestonji, Thai director and producer (b. 1908)
1971 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
1971 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
1973 – Conrad Aiken, American novelist, short story writer, critic, and poet (b. 1889)
1973 – Jean Barraqué, French pianist and composer (b. 1928)
1973 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (b. 1939)
1977 – Delmer Daves, American screenwriter, director and producer (b. 1904)
1979 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (b. 1907)
1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress and singer (b. 1909)
1983 – Ira Gershwin, American songwriter (b. 1896)
1987 – Gary Chester, Italian drummer and educator (b. 1924)
1987 – Rudolf Hess, German soldier and politician (b. 1894)
1987 – Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani general and politician, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
1988 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-American actress (b. 1935)
1990 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
1993 – Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
1994 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver and businessman (b. 1901)
1994 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer and referee (b. 1902)
1995 – Howard E. Koch, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1933)
1998 – Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (b. 1940)
1998 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (b. 1950)
2000 – Jack Walker, English businessman (b. 1929)
2004 – Thea Astley, Australian author and educator (b. 1925)
2005 – John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1934)
2006 – Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet and journalist (b. 1929)
2007 – Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (b. 1913)
2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
2008 – Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and politician (b. 1926)
2010 – Francesco Cossiga, Italian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
2012 – Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician, Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion (b. 1915)
2012 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (b. 1933)
2012 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman (b. 1945)
2012 – John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1930)
2013 – Odilia Dank, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Jack Harshman, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2013 – John Hollander, American poet and critic (b. 1929)
2013 – David Landes, Jewish-American historian and economist (b. 1924)
2013 – Frank Martínez, American painter (b. 1924)
2013 – Gus Winckel, Dutch lieutenant and pilot (b. 1912)
2014 – Børre Knudsen, Norwegian minister and activist (b. 1937)
2014 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (b. 1921)
2014 – Sophie Masloff, American civil servant and politician, 56th Mayor of Pittsburgh (b. 1917)
2014 – Miodrag Pavlović, Serbian poet and critic (b. 1928)
2014 – Pierre Vassiliu, French singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
2015 – Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (b. 1937)
2015 – Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German businessman (b. 1933)
2015 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1927)
2016 – Arthur Hiller, Canadian actor, director, and producer (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Saint Beatrice of Silva
Saint Clare of Montefalco
Saint Hyacinth of Poland
Saint Jeanne Delanoue
Saint Mammes of Caesarea
Samuel Johnson, Timothy Cutler, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler (Episcopal Church)
August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Engineer's Day (Colombia)
Flag Day (Bolivia)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence proclamation of Indonesia from Japan in 1945.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
Marcus Garvey Day (Jamaica)
Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
San Martin Day (Argentina)
Black Cat Appreciation Day (United States)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1491 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2012 | August 12 |
Events
Pre-1600
1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
1121 – Battle of Didgori: The Georgian army under King David IV wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.
1164 – Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
1323 – The Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod Republic is signed, regulating the border between the two countries for the first time.
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.
1499 – First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.
1601–1900
1624 – Charles de La Vieuville is arrested and replaced by Cardinal Richelieu as the French king's chief advisor.
1676 – Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.
1687 – Battle of Mohács: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottoman Empire.
1765 – Treaty of Allahabad is signed. The Treaty marks the political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of Company rule in India.
1788 – The Anjala conspiracy is signed.
1793 – The Rhône and Loire départments are created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire is split into two.
1806 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires re-takes the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina after the first British invasion.
1831 – French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1865 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs the first antiseptic surgery.
1883 – The last quagga dies at the Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States where it is formally recognized as Hawaii.
1901–present
1914 – World War I: The United Kingdom and the British Empire declare war on Austria-Hungary.
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Halen a.k.a. Battle of the Silver Helmets a clash between large Belgian and German cavalry formations at Halen, Belgium.
1944 – Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people are killed indiscriminately or in mass executions.
1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
1948 – Between 15 and 150 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are killed by Pakistani police.
1950 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre: Seventy-five American POWs are massacred by the North Korean Army.
1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets: Thirteen prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union.
1953 – First thermonuclear bomb test: The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4) using a "layered" scheme.
1953 – The 7.2 Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people are killed.
1960 – Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.
1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.
1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War.
1977 – The first free flight of the .
1977 – The Sri Lanka Riots: Targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.
1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster.
1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
2000 – The Russian Navy submarine explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew.
2015 – At least two massive explosions kill 173 people and injure nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China.
2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
2018 – Thirty-nine civilians, including a dozen children, are killed in an explosion at a weapons depot in Sarmada, Syria.
2021 – Six people, five victims and the perpetrator are killed in Keyham, Plymouth in the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010.
Births
Pre-1600
1452 – Abraham Zacuto, Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian (d. 1515)
1503 – Christian III of Denmark (d. 1559)
1506 – Franciscus Sonnius, Dutch counter-Reformation theologian (d. 1576)
1591 – Louise de Marillac, co-founder of the Daughters of Charity (d. 1660)
1599 – Sir William Curtius FRS, German magistrate, English baronet (d. 1678)
1601–1900
1604 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1651)
1626 – Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (d. 1690)
1629 – Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria, Austrian archduchess (d. 1685)
1644 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian-Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1704)
1686 – John Balguy, English philosopher and author (d. 1748)
1696 – Maurice Greene, English organist and composer (d. 1755)
1762 – George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)
1773 – Karl Faber, Prussian historian and academic (d. 1853)
1774 – Robert Southey, English poet and author (d. 1843)
1831 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian theosophist and scholar (d. 1891)
1852 – Michael J. McGivney, American priest and founder of the Knights of Columbus (d. 1890)
1856 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1917)
1857 – Ernestine von Kirchsberg, Austrian painter and educator (d. 1924)
1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet and author (d. 1929)
1860 – Klara Hitler, Austrian mother of Adolf Hitler (d. 1907)
1866 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
1866 – Henrik Sillem, Dutch target shooter, mountaineer, and jurist (d. 1907)
1867 – Edith Hamilton, German-American author and educator (d. 1963)
1870 – Henry Reuterdahl, Swedish-American artist (d. 1925)
1871 – Gustavs Zemgals, Latvian politician, 2nd President of Latvia (d. 1939)
1876 – Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author and playwright (d. 1958)
1877 – Albert Bartha, Hungarian general and politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (d. 1960)
1880 – Radclyffe Hall, English poet, author, and activist (d. 1943)
1880 – Christy Mathewson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1925)
1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director and producer (d. 1959)
1883 – Martha Hedman, Swedish-American actress and playwright (d. 1974)
1883 – Marion Lorne, American actress (d. 1968)
1885 – Jean Cabannes, French physicist and academic (d. 1959)
1885 – Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist (d. 1952)
1885 – Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (d. 1959)
1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1889 – Zerna Sharp, American author and educator (d. 1981)
1891 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and academic (d. 1953)
1891 – John McDermott, American golfer (d. 1971)
1892 – Alfred Lunt, American actor and director (d. 1977)
1897 – Maurice Fernandes, Guyanese cricketer (d. 1981)
1899 – Ben Sealey, Trinidadian cricketer (d. 1963)
1901–present
1902 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian statesman, 1st Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1980)
1904 – Idel Jakobson, Latvian-Estonian NKVD officer (d. 1997)
1904 – Tamás Lossonczy, Hungarian painter (d. 2009)
1904 – Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia (d. 1918)
1906 – Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player and coach (d. 1985)
1906 – Tedd Pierce, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1972)
1907 – Gladys Bentley, American blues singer (d. 1960)
1907 – Joe Besser, American actor (d. 1988)
1907 – Boy Charlton, Australian swimmer (d. 1975)
1907 – Benjamin Sheares, Singaporean physician and politician, 2nd President of Singapore (d. 1981)
1909 – Bruce Matthews, Canadian general and businessman (d. 1991)
1910 – Yusof bin Ishak, Singaporean journalist and politician, 1st President of Singapore (d. 1970)
1910 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (d. 2006)
1911 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1993)
1912 – Samuel Fuller, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1913 – Richard L. Bare, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1914 – Gerd Buchdahl, German-English philosopher and author (d. 2001)
1914 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and songwriter (d. 1981)
1915 – Michael Kidd, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2007)
1916 – Ioan Dicezare, Romanian general and pilot (d. 2012)
1916 – Edward Pinkowski, American writer, journalist and Polonia historian (d. 2020)
1917 – Oliver Crawford, American screenwriter and author (d. 2008)
1918 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (d. 2013)
1918 – Guy Gibson, Anglo-Indian commander and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1944)
1919 – Margaret Burbidge, English-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2020)
1919 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist and academic (d. 1971)
1920 – Charles Gibson, American ethnohistorian (d. 1985)
1920 – Percy Mayfield, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
1922 – Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor and playwright (d. 1987)
1922 – Miloš Jakeš, Czech communist politician (d. 2020)
1923 – John Holt, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1997)
1924 – Derek Shackleton, English cricketer, coach, and umpire (d. 2007)
1924 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani general and politician, 6th President of Pakistan (d. 1988)
1925 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (d. 2016)
1925 – Guillermo Cano Isaza, Colombian journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Donald Justice, American poet and writing teacher (d. 2004)
1925 – Norris McWhirter, Scottish publisher and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (d. 2004)
1925 – Ross McWhirter, Scottish publisher and activist, co-founded the Guinness World Records (d. 1975)
1925 – George Wetherill, American physicist and academic (d. 2006)
1926 – Douglas Croft, American child actor (d. 1963)
1926 – John Derek, American actor, director, and cinematographer (d. 1998)
1926 – Joe Jones, American R&B singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1927 – Porter Wagoner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
1928 – Charles Blackman, Australian painter and illustrator (d. 2018)
1928 – Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)
1928 – Dan Curtis, American director and producer (d. 2006)
1929 – Buck Owens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1930 – George Soros, Hungarian-American businessman and investor, founded the Soros Fund Management
1930 – Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan engineer and civil servant (d. 2010)
1930 – Jacques Tits, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (d. 2021)
1931 – William Goldman, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1932 – Dallin H. Oaks, American lawyer, jurist, and religious leader
1932 – Charlie O'Donnell, American radio and television announcer (d. 2010)
1932 – Sirikit, Queen mother of Thailand
1933 – Parnelli Jones, American race car driver and businessman
1933 – Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author and educator (d. 2013)
1934 – Robin Nicholson, English metallurgist and academic
1935 – John Cazale, American actor (d. 1978)
1936 – Kjell Grede, Swedish director and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1937 – Walter Dean Myers, American author and poet (d. 2014)
1938 – Jean-Paul L'Allier, Canadian journalist and politician, 38th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2016)
1939 – George Hamilton, American actor
1939 – David Jacobs, American television writer and producer (d. 2023)
1939 – S. Jayakumar, Singaporean politician, 4th Senior Minister of Singapore
1939 – Pam Kilborn, Australian track and field athlete
1939 – David King, South African chemist and academic
1939 – Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (d. 2016)
1939 – Roy Romanow, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Saskatchewan
1940 – Eddie Barlow, South African cricketer and coach (d. 2005)
1940 – John Waller, English historical European martial arts (HEMA) revival pioneer and fight director (d. 2018)
1941 – L. M. Kit Carson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1941 – Réjean Ducharme, Canadian author and playwright (d. 2017)
1941 – Dana Ivey, American actress
1942 – Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, German physician and author
1943 – Javeed Alam, Indian academician (d. 2016)
1945 – Dorothy E. Denning, American computer scientist and academic
1945 – Ron Mael, American keyboard player and songwriter
1946 – Terry Nutkins, English television host and author (d. 2012)
1947 – John Nathan-Turner, English author and television director, producer, and writer (d. 2002)
1948 – Siddaramaiah, Indian lawyer and politician, 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka
1948 – Graham J. Zellick, English academic and jurist
1949 – Panagiotis Chinofotis, Greek admiral and politician
1949 – Mark Knopfler, Scottish-English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1949 – Lou Martin, Northern Irish pianist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2012)
1949 – Alex Naumik, Lithuanian-Norwegian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
1949 – Rick Ridgeway, American mountaineer and photographer
1950 – Jim Beaver, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1950 – August "Kid Creole" Darnell, American musician, bandleader, singer-songwriter, and record producer
1950 – George McGinnis, American basketball player
1951 – Klaus Toppmöller, German football manager and former player
1952 – Daniel Biles, American associate justice of the Kansas Supreme Court
1952 – Sitaram Yechury, Indian politician and leader of CPI(M)
1954 – Rob Borbidge, Australian politician, 35th Premier of Queensland
1954 – Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong businessman and politician, 3rd Chief Executive of Hong Kong
1954 – Ibolya Dávid, Hungarian lawyer and politician, Minister of Justice of Hungary
1954 – François Hollande, French lawyer and politician, 24th President of France
1954 – Sam J. Jones, American actor
1954 – Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist and composer
1956 – Lee Freedman, Australian horse trainer
1956 – Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor and producer
1956 – Sidath Wettimuny, Sri Lankan cricketer
1957 – Friedhelm Schütte, German footballer
1957 – Amanda Redman, English actress
1958 – Jürgen Dehmel, German bass player and songwriter
1959 – Kerry Boustead, Australian rugby league player
1960 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist and sportscaster (d. 2010)
1960 – Greg Thomas, Welsh-English cricketer
1961 – Roy Hay, English guitarist, keyboard player, and composer
1961 – Mark Priest, New Zealand cricketer
1963 – Kōji Kitao, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 60th Yokozuna (d. 2019)
1963 – Campbell Newman, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Queensland
1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot, American rapper, producer, and actor
1964 – Txiki Begiristain, Spanish footballer
1964 – Michael Hagan, Australian rugby league player and coach
1965 – Peter Krause, American actor
1966 – Tobias Ellwood, American-English captain and politician
1967 – Andy Hui, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor
1967 – Andrey Plotnikov, Russian race walker
1967 – Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer
1968 – Thorsten Boer, German footballer and manager
1969 – Aga Muhlach, Filipino actor and politician
1969 – Stuart Williams, Nevisian cricketer
1969 – Tanita Tikaram, British pop/folk singer-songwriter
1970 – Aleksandar Đurić, Bosnian footballer
1970 – Charles Mesure, English-Australian actor and screenwriter
1970 – Toby Perkins, English businessman and politician
1970 – Jim Schlossnagle, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Anthony Swofford, American soldier and author
1971 – Michael Ian Black, American comedian, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Yvette Nicole Brown, American actress, comedian, and talk show host
1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, American actress
1971 – Pete Sampras, American tennis player
1972 – Demir Demirkan, Turkish singer-songwriter and producer
1972 – Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer and manager
1972 – Takanohana Kōji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 65th Yokozuna
1972 – Gyanendra Pandey, Indian cricketer
1972 – Del the Funky Homosapien, American rapper
1973 – Jonathan Coachman, American sportscaster and wrestler
1973 – Mark Iuliano, Italian footballer and manager
1973 – Todd Marchant, American ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Matt Clement, American baseball player and coach
1974 – Karl Stefanovic, Australian television host
1975 – Casey Affleck, American actor
1976 – Pedro Collins, Barbadian cricketer
1976 – Mikko Lindström, Finnish guitarist
1976 – Henry Tuilagi, Samoan rugby player
1976 – Antoine Walker, American basketball player
1977 – Plaxico Burress, American football player
1977 – Jesper Grønkjær, Danish footballer
1977 – Park Yong-ha, South Korean actor (d. 2010)
1978 – Chris Chambers, American football player
1978 – Hayley Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – D. J. Houlton, American baseball player
1979 – Ian Hutchinson, English motorcycle racer
1979 – Cindy Klassen, Canadian speed skater
1979 – Austra Skujytė, Lithuanian pentathlete
1980 – Javier Chevantón, Uruguayan footballer
1980 – Maggie Lawson, American actress
1980 – Dominique Swain, American actress
1980 – Matt Thiessen, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Tony Capaldi, Norwegian-Northern Irish footballer
1981 – Djibril Cissé, French footballer
1982 – Boban Grnčarov, Macedonian footballer
1982 – Alexandros Tzorvas, Greek footballer
1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer
1983 – Kléber Giacomance de Souza Freitas, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Manoa Vosawai, Italian rugby player
1984 – Bryan Pata, American football player (d. 2006)
1985 – Danny Graham, English footballer
1985 – Franck Moutsinga, German rugby player
1986 – Andrei Agius, Maltese footballer
1986 – Kyle Arrington, American football player
1987 – Vanessa Watts, West Indian cricketer
1988 – Tyson Fury, English boxer
1988 – Matt Gillett, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Tom Cleverley, English footballer
1989 – Hong Jeong-ho, South Korean footballer
1989 – Sunye, South Korean singer
1990 – Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer
1990 – Marvin Zeegelaar, Dutch footballer
1990 – Martin Zurawsky, German footballer
1991 – Jesinta Campbell, Australian model
1991 – Sam Hoare, Australian rugby league player
1991 – LaKeith Stanfield, American actor and musician
1992 – Cara Delevingne, English model and actress
1992 – Jacob Loko, Australian rugby player
1992 – Teo Gheorghiu, Swiss pianist and actor
1993 – Ewa Farna, Czech singer-songwriter
1993 – Luna, South Korean singer, actress and presenter
1996 – Choi Yu-jin, South Korean singer and actress
1996 – Julio Urías, Mexican baseball player
1996 – Arthur Melo, Brazilian footballer
1996 – Samuel Moutoussamy, Congolese footballer
1998 – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis player
1999 – Matthijs de Ligt, Dutch footballer
1999 – Dream, American YouTuber
1999 – Jule Niemeier, German tennis player
2000 – Tristan Charpentier, French racing driver
2001 – Dixie D'Amelio, American social media personality and singer
Deaths
Pre-1600
30 BC – Cleopatra, Egyptian queen (b. 69 BC)
792 – Jænberht, archbishop of Canterbury
875 – Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)
960 – Li Gu, chancellor of Later Zhou (b. 903)
961 – Yuan Zong, emperor of Southern Tang (b. 916)
1222 – Vladislaus III, duke of Bohemia
1295 – Charles Martel, king of Hungary (b. 1271)
1319 – Rudolf I, duke of Bavaria (b. 1274)
1315 – Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, English nobleman
1335 – Prince Moriyoshi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1308)
1399 – Demetrius I Starshy, Prince of Trubczewsk (in battle) (b. 1327)
1424 – Yongle, emperor of the Ming Empire (b. 1360)
1484 – Sixtus IV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1414)
1546 – Francisco de Vitoria, Spanish theologian (b. 1492)
1577 – Thomas Smith, English scholar and diplomat (b. 1513)
1588 – Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, Italian-English composer (b. 1543)
1601–1900
1602 – Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Mughal vizier and historian (b. 1551)
1612 – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1557)
1638 – Johannes Althusius, German jurist and philosopher (b. 1557)
1674 – Philippe de Champaigne, Belgian-French painter and educator (b. 1602)
1689 – Pope Innocent XI (b. 1611)
1778 – Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire (b. 1714)
1809 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b. 1738)
1810 – Étienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (b. 1725)
1822 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Irish-English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (b. 1769)
1827 – William Blake, English poet and painter (b. 1757)
1829 – Charles Sapinaud de La Rairie, French general (b. 1760)
1848 – George Stephenson, English engineer and academic (b. 1781)
1849 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
1861 – Eliphalet Remington, American inventor and businessman, founded Remington Arms (b. 1793)
1864 – Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese scholar and politician (b. 1811)
1865 – William Jackson Hooker, English botanist and academic (b. 1785)
1891 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (b. 1819)
1896 – Thomas Chamberlain, American colonel (b. 1841)
1900 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player and theoretician (b. 1836)
1901–present
1901 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish botanist, geologist, mineralogist, and explorer (b. 1832)
1904 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (b. 1861)
1914 – John Philip Holland, Irish engineer, designed (b. 1840)
1918 – William Thompson, American archer (b. 1848)
1921 – Pyotr Boborykin, Russian playwright and journalist (b. 1836)
1922 – Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist and politician, 3rd President of Dáil Éireann (b. 1871)
1924 – Sándor Bródy, Hungarian journalist and author (b. 1863)
1928 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer and educator (b. 1854)
1934 – Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect, designed the Beurs van Berlage (b. 1856)
1935 – Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician and academic (b. 1851)
1940 – Nikolai Triik, Estonian painter, illustrator, and academic (b. 1884)
1941 – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon, English soldier and politician, 56th Governor General of Canada (b. 1866)
1941 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer and umpire (b. 1857)
1943 – Vittorio Sella, Italian photographer and mountaineer (b. 1859)
1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1915)
1952 – David Bergelson, Ukrainian author and playwright (b. 1884)
1955 – Thomas Mann, German author and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
1955 – James B. Sumner, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1959 – Mike O'Neill, Irish-American baseball player and manager (b. 1877)
1964 – Ian Fleming, English spy, journalist, and author (b. 1908)
1966 – Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (b. 1923)
1967 – Esther Forbes, American historian and author (b. 1891)
1973 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
1973 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
1976 – Tom Driberg, British politician/journalist (b. 1905)
1978 – John Williams, English motorcycle racer (b. 1946)
1979 – Ernst Boris Chain, German-Irish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1982 – Henry Fonda, American actor (b. 1905)
1982 – Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer (b. 1959)
1983 – Theodor Burchardi, German admiral (b. 1892)
1984 – Ladi Kwali, Nigerian potter (b. 1925)
1985 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
1985 – Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
1986 – Evaline Ness, American author and illustrator (b. 1911)
1988 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American painter (b. 1960)
1989 – Aimo Koivunen, Finnish soldier and corporal (b. 1917)
1989 – William Shockley, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1990 – Dorothy Mackaill, English-American actress (b. 1903)
1992 – John Cage, American composer and theorist (b. 1912)
1996 – Victor Ambartsumian, Georgian-Armenian astrophysicist and academic (b. 1908)
1996 – Mark Gruenwald, American author and illustrator (b. 1953)
1997 – Jack Delano, American photographer and composer (b. 1914)
1999 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1916)
2000 – Gennady Lyachin, Russian captain (b. 1955)
2000 – Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)
2002 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player and manager (b. 1916)
2004 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English biophysicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
2005 – John Loder, English sound engineer and producer, founded Southern Studios (b. 1946)
2006 – Victoria Gray Adams, American civil rights activist (b. 1926)
2007 – Merv Griffin, American actor, singer, and producer, created Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (b. 1925)
2007 – Mike Wieringo, American author and illustrator (b. 1963)
2008 – Christie Allen, English-Australian singer (b. 1954)
2008 – Helge Hagerup, Norwegian playwright, poet and novelist (b. 1933)
2009 – Les Paul, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1915)
2010 – Isaac Bonewits, American Druid, author, and activist; founded Ár nDraíocht Féin (b. 1949)
2010 – Guido de Marco, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th President of Malta (b. 1931)
2010 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1946)
2010 – André Kim, South Korean fashion designer (b. 1935)
2011 – Robert Robinson, English journalist and author (b. 1927)
2012 – Jimmy Carr, American football player and coach (b. 1933)
2012 – Jerry Grant, American race car driver (b. 1935)
2012 – Joe Kubert, Polish-American illustrator, founded The Kubert School (b. 1926)
2012 – Édgar Morales Pérez, Mexican engineer and politician
2012 – Alf Morris, English politician and activist (b. 1928)
2013 – Tereza de Arriaga, Portuguese painter (b. 1915)
2013 – Hans-Ekkehard Bob, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
2013 – Pauline Maier, American historian and academic (b. 1938)
2013 – David McLetchie, Scottish lawyer and politician (b. 1952)
2013 – Vasiliy Mihaylovich Peskov, Russian ecologist and journalist (b. 1930)
2014 – Lauren Bacall, American model, actress, and singer (b. 1924)
2014 – Futatsuryū Jun'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1950)
2014 – Kongō Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
2015 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and academic (b. 1929)
2015 – Stephen Lewis, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2015 – Meshulim Feish Lowy, Hungarian-Canadian rabbi and author (b. 1921)
2015 – John Scott, English organist and conductor (b. 1956)
2016 – Juan Pedro de Miguel, Spanish handball player (b. 1958)
2017 – Bryan Murray, Canadian ice hockey coach (b. 1942)
2019 – DJ Arafat, Ivorian DJ and singer (b. 1986)
2020 – Bill Yeoman, American college football player and coach (b. 1927)
2021 – Una Stubbs, English actress, TV personality, and dancer (b. 1937)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Euplius
Eusebius of Milan
Herculanus of Brescia
Pope Innocent XI
Jænberht
Jane Frances de Chantal
Muiredach (or Murtagh)
Porcarius II
August 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Glorious Twelfth (United Kingdom)
HM the Queen Mother's Birthday and National Mother's Day (Thailand)
International Youth Day (United Nations)
Russian Air Force Day (Russia)
Russian Railway Troops Day (Russia)
Sea Org Day (Scientology)
World Elephant Day (International)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1496 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2018 | August 18 |
Events
Pre-1600
684 – Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.
707 – Princess Abe accedes to the imperial Japanese throne as Empress Genmei.
1304 – The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.
1487 – The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.
1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
1572 – The Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre marries the Catholic Margaret of Valois, ostensibly to reconcile the feuding Protestants and Catholics of France.
1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
1601–1900
1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.
1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
1721 – The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked.
1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
1809 – The Senate of Finland is established in the Grand Duchy of Finland after the official adoption of the Statute of the Government Council by Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
1826 – Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter Timbuktu.
1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
1848 – Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
1877 – American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, one of Mars’s moons.
1891 – A major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.
1901–present
1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece, destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
1923 – The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.
1933 – The Volksempfänger is first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition; the presiding Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, delivers an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the ‘eighth great power’.
1937 – A lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.
1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States, with Ontario, Canada, over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
1945 – Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
1945 – Soviet-Japanese War: Battle of Shumshu: Soviet forces land at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island and launch the Battle of Shumshu; the Soviet Union’s Invasion of the Kuril Islands commences.
1949 – Kemi Bloody Thursday: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.
1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists.
1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
1963 – Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.
1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
1973 – Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.
1976 – The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers.
1976 – The Soviet Union’s robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.
1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
1993 – American International Airways Flight 808 crashes at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the three crew members.
2003 – One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws.
2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people, it is one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
2008 – The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.
2008 – War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
2011 – A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.
2017 – The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two and injures eight.
2019 – One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).
Births
Pre-1600
1305 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese Shōgun (d. 1358)
1450 – Marko Marulić, Croatian poet and author (d. 1524)
1458 – Lorenzo Pucci, Catholic cardinal (d. 1531)
1497 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (d. 1543)
1542 – Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (d. 1601)
1579 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (d. 1640)
1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, first child born to English parents in the Americas (date of death unknown)
1596 – Jean Bolland, Flemish priest and hagiographer (d. 1665)
1601–1900
1605 – Henry Hammond, English churchman and theologian (d. 1660)
1606 – Maria Anna of Spain (d. 1646)
1629 – Agneta Horn, Swedish writer (d. 1672)
1657 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and painter (d. 1743)
1685 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1731)
1692 – Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (d. 1740)
1700 – Baji Rao I, first Peshwa of Maratha Empire (d. 1740)
1720 – Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English politician (d. 1760)
1750 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1825)
1754 – François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general and engineer (d. 1833)
1774 – Meriwether Lewis, American soldier, explorer, and politician (d. 1809)
1792 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1803 – Nathan Clifford, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 19th United States Attorney General (d. 1881)
1807 – B. T. Finniss, Australian politician, 1st Premier of South Australia (d. 1893)
1819 – Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1876)
1822 – Isaac P. Rodman, American general and politician (d. 1862)
1830 – Franz Joseph I of Austria (d. 1916)
1831 – Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician (d. 1931)
1834 – Marshall Field, American businessman, founded Marshall Field's (d. 1906)
1841 – William Halford, English-American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1919)
1855 – Alfred Wallis, English painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
1857 – Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian-American bishop and missionary (d. 1926)
1866 – Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
1869 – Carl Rungius, German-American painter and educator (d. 1959)
1870 – Lavr Kornilov, Russian general and explorer (d. 1918)
1879 – Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general (d. 1970)
1885 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and critic (d. 1964)
1887 – John Anthony Sydney Ritson, English rugby player, mines inspector, engineer and professor of mining (d. 1957)
1890 – Walther Funk, German economist and politician, Reich Minister of Economics (d. 1960)
1893 – Burleigh Grimes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
1893 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 1973)
1896 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1933)
1898 – Clemente Biondetti, Italian race car driver (d. 1955)
1900 – Ruth Bonner, Soviet Communist activist, sentenced to a labor camp during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge (d. 1987)
1900 – Ruth Norman, American religious leader (d. 1993)
1901–present
1902 – Adamson-Eric, Estonian painter (d. 1968)
1902 – Margaret Murie, American environmentalist and author (d. 2003)
1903 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer (d. 1983)
1904 – Max Factor, Jr., American businessman (d. 1996)
1905 – Enoch Light, American bandleader, violinist, and recording engineer (d. 1978)
1906 – Marcel Carné, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1906 – Curtis Jones, American blues pianist and singer (d. 1971)
1908 – Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, 139th Prime Minister of France (d. 1988)
1908 – Olav H. Hauge, Norwegian poet and gardener (d. 1994)
1908 – Bill Merritt, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1977)
1909 – Gérard Filion, Canadian businessman and journalist (d. 2005)
1910 – Herman Berlinski, Polish-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2001)
1910 – Robert Winters, Canadian colonel, engineer, and politician, 26th Canadian Minister of Public Works (d. 1969)
1911 – Amelia Boynton Robinson, American activist (d. 2015)
1911 – Klara Dan von Neumann, Hungarian computer scientist and programmer (d. 1963)
1911 – Maria Ulfah Santoso, Indonesian politician and women's rights activist (d. 1988)
1912 – Otto Ernst Remer, German general (d. 1997)
1913 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (d. 1983)
1914 – Lucy Ozarin, United States Navy lieutenant commander and psychiatrist (d. 2017)
1915 – Max Lanier, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
1916 – Neagu Djuvara, Romanian historian, journalist, and diplomat (d. 2018)
1916 – Moura Lympany, English pianist (d. 2005)
1917 – Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)
1918 – Cisco Houston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1961)
1919 – Wally Hickel, American businessman and politician, 2nd Governor of Alaska (d. 2010)
1920 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (d. 1999)
1920 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1920 – Shelley Winters, American actress (d. 2006)
1921 – Lydia Litvyak, Russian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1921 – Zdzisław Żygulski, Polish historian and academic (d. 2015)
1922 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, French director, screenwriter, and novelist (d. 2008)
1923 – Katherine Victor, American actress (d. 2004)
1925 – Brian Aldiss, English author and critic (d. 2017)
1925 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon and academic (d. 2006)
1925 – Anis Mansour, Egyptian journalist and author (d. 2011)
1927 – Rosalynn Carter, 41st First Lady of the United States
1928 – Marge Schott, American businesswoman (d. 2004)
1928 – Sonny Til, American R&B singer (d. 1981)
1929 – Hugues Aufray, French singer-songwriter
1930 – Liviu Librescu, Romanian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007)
1930 – Rafael Pineda Ponce, Honduran academic and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – Bramwell Tillsley, Canadian 14th General of The Salvation Army (d. 2019)
1931 – Hans van Mierlo, Dutch journalist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2010)
1931 – Grant Williams, American film, theater and television actor (d. 1985)
1932 – Luc Montagnier, French virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
1933 – Just Fontaine, Moroccan-French footballer and manager (d. 2023)
1933 – Roman Polanski, French-Polish director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
1933 – Frank Salemme, American gangster and hitman (d. 2022)
1934 – Vincent Bugliosi, American lawyer and author (d. 2015)
1934 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and soldier (d. 1972)
1934 – Gulzar, Indian poet, lyricist and film director
1934 – Rafer Johnson, American decathlete and actor (d. 2020)
1934 – Michael May, German-Swiss race car driver and engineer
1935 – Gail Fisher, American actress (d. 2000)
1935 – Hifikepunye Pohamba, Namibian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Namibia
1936 – Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer
1937 – Sheila Cassidy, English physician and author
1939 – Maxine Brown, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter
1939 – Robert Horton, English businessman (d. 2011)
1939 – Johnny Preston, American pop singer (d. 2011)
1940 – Adam Makowicz, Polish-Canadian pianist and composer
1940 – Gil Whitney, American journalist (d. 1982)
1942 – Henry G. Sanders, American actor
1943 – Martin Mull, American actor and comedian
1943 – Gianni Rivera, Italian footballer and politician
1943 – Carl Wayne, English singer and actor (d. 2004)
1944 – Paula Danziger, American author (d. 2004)
1944 – Robert Hitchcock, Australian sculptor and illustrator
1945 – Sarah Dash, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2021)
1945 – Värner Lootsmann, Estonian lawyer and politician
1945 – Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and author (d. 1994)
1948 – James Jones, English bishop
1948 – John Scarlett, English intelligence officer
1949 – Nigel Griggs, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
1950 – Dennis Elliott, English drummer and sculptor
1952 – Elayne Boosler, American actress, director, and screenwriter
1952 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (d. 2009)
1952 – Ricardo Villa, Argentinian footballer and coach
1953 – Louie Gohmert, American captain, lawyer, and politician
1953 – Marvin Isley, American R&B bass player and songwriter (d. 2010)
1954 – Umberto Guidoni, Italian astrophysicist, astronaut, and politician
1955 – Bruce Benedict, American baseball player and coach
1955 – Taher Elgamal, Egyptian-American cryptographer
1956 – John Debney, American composer and conductor
1956 – Sandeep Patil, Indian cricketer and coach
1956 – Jon Schwartz, American drummer and producer
1956 – Kelly Willard, American singer-songwriter
1956 – Rainer Woelki, German cardinal
1957 – Tan Dun, Chinese composer
1957 – Denis Leary, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Ron Strykert, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1958 – Didier Auriol, French race car driver
1958 – Madeleine Stowe, American actress
1959 – Tom Prichard, American wrestler and trainer
1960 – Mike LaValliere, American baseball player
1960 – Fat Lever, American basketball player and sportscaster
1961 – Huw Edwards, Welsh-English journalist and author
1961 – Timothy Geithner, American banker and politician, 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1961 – Bob Woodruff, American journalist and author
1962 – Felipe Calderón, Mexican lawyer and politician, 56th President of Mexico
1962 – Geoff Courtnall, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Adam Storke, American actor
1964 – Craig Bierko, American actor and singer
1964 – Andi Deris, German singer and songwriter
1964 – Mark Sargent, Australian rugby league player
1964 – Kenny Walker, American basketball player and sportscaster
1965 – Ikue Ōtani, Japanese voice actress
1966 – Gustavo Charif, Argentinian director and producer
1967 – Daler Mehndi, Indian Punjabi singer, songwriter and record producer
1967 – Brian Michael Bendis, American author and illustrator
1969 – Everlast, American singer, rapper, and musician
1969 – Masta Killa, American rapper
1969 – Mark Kuhlmann, German rugby player and coach
1969 – Edward Norton, American actor
1969 – Christian Slater, American actor and producer
1970 – Jason Furman, American economist and politician
1970 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor and producer
1971 – Patrik Andersson, Swedish footballer
1971 – Richard David James, English musician composer
1974 – Nicole Krauss, American novelist and critic
1975 – Kaitlin Olson, American actress and comedian
1977 – Paraskevas Antzas, Greek footballer
1977 – Even Kruse Skatrud, Norwegian musician and educator
1978 – Andy Samberg, American actor and comedian
1979 – Stuart Dew, Australian footballer
1980 – Esteban Cambiasso, Argentinian footballer
1980 – Rob Nguyen, Australian race car driver
1980 – Ryan O'Hara, Australian rugby league player
1980 – Bart Scott, American football player
1980 – Jeremy Shockey, American football player
1981 – César Delgado, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Dimitris Salpingidis, Greek footballer
1983 – Mika, Lebanese-born English recording artist and singer-songwriter
1983 – Cameron White, Australian cricketer
1984 – Sigourney Bandjar, Dutch footballer
1984 – Robert Huth, German footballer
1985 – Inge Dekker, Dutch swimmer
1985 – Bryan Ruiz, Costa Rican footballer
1986 – Evan Gattis, American baseball player
1986 – Ross McCormack, Scottish footballer
1987 – Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Polish mixed martial artist
1987 – Justin Wilson, American baseball player
1988 – Jack Hobbs, English footballer
1988 – Eggert Jónsson, Icelandic footballer
1988 – G-Dragon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer
1989 – Anna Akana, American actress, comedian, musician, and YouTuber
1989 – Yu Mengyu, Singaporean table tennis player
1991 – Liz Cambage, Australian basketball player
1991 – Richard Harmon, Canadian actor
1992 – Elizabeth Beisel, American swimmer
1992 – Bogdan Bogdanović, Serbian basketball player
1992 – Frances Bean Cobain, American visual artist and model
1993 – Jung Eun-ji, South Korean singer-songwriter
1993 – Maia Mitchell, Australian actress and singer
1994 – Madelaine Petsch, American actress and YouTuber
1994 – Morgan Sanson, French footballer
1994 – Seiya Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
1995 – Alīna Fjodorova, Latvian figure skater
1995 – Parker McKenna Posey, American actress
1997 – Josephine Langford, Australian actress
1997 – Renato Sanches, Portuguese footballer
1998 – Brian To'o, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
1999 – Cassius Stanley, American basketball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
353 – Decentius, Roman usurper
440 – Pope Sixtus III
472 – Ricimer, Roman general and politician (b. 405)
670 – Fiacre, Irish hermit
673 – Kim Yu-shin, general of Silla (b. 595)
849 – Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian (b. 808)
911 – Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, first Zaydi Imam of Yemen (b. 859)
1095 – King Olaf I of Denmark
1211 – Narapatisithu, king of Burma (b. 1150)
1258 – Theodore II Laskaris, emperor of Nicea (Byzantine emperor in exile)
1276 – Pope Adrian V (b. 1220)
1318 – Clare of Montefalco, Italian nun and saint (b. 1268)
1430 – Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (b. 1406)
1500 – Alfonso of Aragon, Spanish prince (b. 1481)
1502 – Knut Alvsson, Norwegian nobleman and politician (b. 1455)
1503 – Pope Alexander VI (b. 1431)
1550 – Antonio Ferramolino, Italian architect and military engineer
1559 – Pope Paul IV (b. 1476)
1563 – Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and philosopher (b. 1530)
1600 – Sebastiano Montelupi, Italian businessman (b. 1516)
1601–1900
1613 – Giovanni Artusi, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1540)
1620 – Wanli Emperor of China (b. 1563)
1625 – Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English diplomat (b. 1556)
1634 – Urbain Grandier, French priest (b. 1590)
1642 – Guido Reni, Italian painter and educator (b. 1575)
1648 – Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1615)
1683 – Charles Hart, English actor (b. 1625)
1707 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire (b. 1640)
1712 – Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (b. 1660)
1765 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1708)
1815 – Chauncey Goodrich, American lawyer and politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut (b. 1759)
1823 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (b. 1769)
1842 – Louis de Freycinet, French explorer and navigator (b. 1779)
1850 – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (b. 1799)
1852 – James Finlayson, Scottish Quaker (b. 1772)
1886 – Eli Whitney Blake, American inventor, invented the Mortise lock (b. 1795)
1901–present
1919 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company (b. 1841)
1940 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (b. 1875)
1942 – Erwin Schulhoff, Austro-Czech composer and pianist (b. 1894)
1943 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Azerbaijani general (b. 1865)
1944 – Ernst Thälmann, German soldier and politician (b. 1886)
1945 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician (b. 1897)
1949 – Paul Mares, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1900)
1950 – Julien Lahaut, Belgian soldier and politician (b. 1884)
1952 – Alberto Hurtado, Chilean priest, lawyer, and saint (b. 1901)
1961 – Learned Hand, American lawyer, jurist, and philosopher (b. 1872)
1964 – Hildegard Trabant, Berlin Wall victim (b. 1927)
1968 – Arthur Marshall, American pianist and composer (b. 1881)
1979 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician (b. 1913)
1981 – Anita Loos, American author and screenwriter (b. 1889)
1983 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (b. 1902)
1986 – Harun Babunagari, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and educationist (b. 1902)
1990 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and philosopher, invented the Skinner box (b. 1904)
1994 – Francis Raymond Shea, American bishop (b. 1913)
1998 – Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, Femina Miss India 1965 (b. 1948)
2001 – David Peakall, English chemist and toxicologist (b. 1931)
2002 – Dean Riesner, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1918)
2003 – Tony Jackson, English singer and bassist (b. 1938)
2004 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1922)
2004 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (b. 1906)
2005 – Chri$ Ca$h, American wrestler (b. 1982)
2006 – Ken Kearney, Australian rugby player (b. 1924)
2007 – Michael Deaver, American soldier and politician, White House Deputy Chief of Staff (b. 1938)
2007 – Magdalen Nabb, English author (b. 1947)
2009 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 15th President of South Korea, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
2009 – Rose Friedman, Ukrainian-American economist and author (b. 1910)
2009 – Robert Novak, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
2010 – Hal Connolly, American hammer thrower and coach (b. 1931)
2010 – Benjamin Kaplan, American scholar and jurist (b. 1911)
2012 – Harrison Begay, American painter (b. 1917)
2012 – John Kovatch, American football player (b. 1920)
2012 – Scott McKenzie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
2012 – Ra. Ki. Rangarajan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1927)
2012 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino public servant and politician, 23rd Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (b. 1958)
2013 – Josephine D'Angelo, American baseball player (b. 1924)
2013 – Jean Kahn, French lawyer and activist (b. 1929)
2013 – Albert Murray, American author and critic (b. 1916)
2014 – Gordon Faber, American soldier and politician, 39th Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon (b. 1930)
2014 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (b. 1934)
2014 – Levente Lengyel, Hungarian chess player (b. 1933)
2014 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (b. 1918)
2015 – Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian archaeologist and author (b. 1932)
2015 – Roger Smalley, English-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1943)
2015 – Suvra Mukherjee, Wife of former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee (b. 1940)
2015 – Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (b. 1925)
2015 – Bud Yorkin, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2016 – Ernst Nolte, German historian (b. 1923)
2017 – Bruce Forsyth, English television presenter and entertainer (b. 1928)
2017 – Zoe Laskari, Greek actress and beauty pageant winner (b. 1944)
2018 – Denis Edozie, Nigerian Supreme Court judge (b. 1935)
2018 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1938)
2020 – Ben Cross, English stage and film actor (b. 1947)
2023 – Lolita, the second-oldest orca in captivity (b. ca. 1966)
2023 – Al Quie, American politician, 35th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Agapitus of Palestrina
Alberto Hurtado
Daig of Inniskeen
Evan (or Inan)
Fiacre
Florus and Laurus
Helena of Constantinople (Roman Catholic Church)
William Porcher DuBose (Episcopal Church)
August 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Arbor Day (Pakistan)
Armed Forces Day (North Macedonia)
Birthday of Virginia Dare (Roanoke Island)
Constitution Day (Indonesia)
Long Tan Day, also called Vietnam Veterans' Day (Australia)
National Science Day (Thailand)
References
Sources
External links
Days of the year
August |
1497 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2019 | August 19 |
Events
Pre-1600
295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
947 – Abu Yazid, a Kharijite rebel leader, is defeated and killed in the Hodna Mountains in modern-day Algeria by Fatimid forces.
1153 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende, and also captures Ascalon.
1458 – Pope Pius II is elected the 211th Pope.
1504 – In Ireland, the Hiberno-Norman de Burghs (Burkes) and Cambro-Norman Fitzgeralds fight in the Battle of Knockdoe.
1561 – Mary, Queen of Scots, aged 18, returns to Scotland after spending 13 years in France.
1601–1900
1604 – Eighty Years War: a besieging Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange forces the Spanish garrison of Sluis to capitulate.
1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on trial, accused of practicing witchcraft, one of the most famous witch trials in British history.
1666 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
1692 – Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan: The start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the 45".
1745 – Ottoman–Persian War: In the Battle of Kars, the Ottoman army is routed by Persian forces led by Nader Shah.
1759 – Battle of Lagos: Naval battle during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
1772 – Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks: The last major engagement of the war, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.
1812 – War of 1812: American frigate defeats the British frigate off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".
1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's Second Triumvirate.
1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
1848 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
1854 – The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.
1861 – First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.
1862 – Dakota War: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
1901–present
1903 – The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune.
1909 – The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for automobile racing. William Bourque and his mechanic are killed during the first day's events.
1920 – The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka.
1927 – Patriarch Sergius of Moscow proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet Union.
1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1934 – The German referendum of 1934 approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.
1936 – The Great Purge of the Soviet Union begins when the first of the Moscow Trials is convened.
1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
1941 – Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement, rendering the region of Transnistria under control of the latter.
1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails.
1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1953 – Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 – In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
1960 – Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
1960 – Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.
1964 – Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
1965 – Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture.
1978 – In Iran, the Cinema Rex fire causes more than 400 deaths.
1980 – Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1980 – Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.
1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1987 – Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.
1989 – Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.
1991 – Crown Heights riot begins.
1999 – In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
2002 – Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
2003 – A truck-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
2003 – Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, planned by Hamas, kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children.
2004 – Google Inc. has its initial public offering on Nasdaq.
2005 – The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
2009 – A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565 others.
2010 – Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
2013 – The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar.
2017 – Tens of thousands of farmed non-native Atlantic salmon are accidentally released into the wild in Washington waters in the 2017 Cypress Island Atlantic salmon pen break.
Births
Pre-1600
232 – Marcus Aurelius Probus, Roman emperor (d. 282)
1342 – Catherine of Bohemia, duchess of Austria (d. 1395)
1398 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet and politician (d. 1458)
1570 – Salamone Rossi, Italian violinist and composer (probable; d. 1630)
1583 – Daišan, Chinese prince and statesman (d. 1648)
1590 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1649)
1596 – Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (d. 1662)
1601–1900
1609 – Jan Fyt, Flemish painter (d. 1661)
1621 – Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter, etcher, and poet (d. 1674)
1631 – John Dryden, English poet, literary critic and playwright (d. 1700)
1646 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer and academic (d. 1719)
1686 – Eustace Budgell, English journalist and politician (d. 1737)
1689 (baptized) – Samuel Richardson, English author and publisher (d. 1761)
1711 – Edward Boscawen, English admiral and politician (d. 1761)
1719 – Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1781)
1743 – Madame du Barry, French mistress of Louis XV of France (d. 1793)
1777 – Francis I, king of the Two Sicilies (d. 1830)
1815 – Harriette Newell Woods Baker, American editor and children's book writer (d. 1893)
1819 – Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Luxembourger-Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1894)
1830 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (d. 1895)
1835 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer and pioneer of Australian rules football (d. 1880)
1843 – C. I. Scofield, American minister and theologian (d. 1921)
1846 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1906)
1848 – Gustave Caillebotte, French painter and engineer (d. 1894)
1849 – Joaquim Nabuco, Brazilian politician and diplomat (d. 1910)
1858 – Ellen Willmott, English horticulturalist (d. 1934)
1870 – Bernard Baruch, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1965)
1871 – Orville Wright, American engineer and pilot, co-founded the Wright Company (d. 1948)
1873 – Fred Stone, American actor and producer (d. 1959)
1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (d. 1944)
1881 – George Enescu, Romanian violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1955)
1881 – George Shepherd, 1st Baron Shepherd (d. 1954)
1883 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer, founded the Chanel Company (d. 1971)
1883 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (d. 1965)
1885 – Grace Hutchins, American labor reformer and researcher (d. 1969)
1887 – S. Satyamurti, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 1943)
1895 – C. Suntharalingam, Sri Lankan lawyer, academic, and politician (d. 1985)
1899 – Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Gontran de Poncins, French author and adventurer (d. 1962)
1900 – Gilbert Ryle, English philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1976)
1900 – Dorothy Burr Thompson, American archaeologist and art historian (d. 2001)
1901–present
1902 – Ogden Nash, American poet (d. 1971)
1903 – James Gould Cozzens, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1978)
1904 – Maurice Wilks, English engineer and businessman (d. 1963)
1906 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor, invented the Fusor (d. 1971)
1907 – Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Indian historian, author, and scholar (d. 1979)
1909 – Ronald King, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
1910 – Saint Alphonsa, first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church (d. 1946)
1911 – Anna Terruwe, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 2004)
1912 – Herb Narvo, Australian rugby league player, coach, and boxer (d. 1958)
1913 – John Argyris, Greek engineer and academic (d. 2004)
1913 – Peter Kemp, Indian-English soldier and author (d. 1993)
1913 – Richard Simmons, American actor (d. 2003)
1914 – Lajos Baróti, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2005)
1914 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (d. 1955)
1914 – Rose Heilbron, British barrister and judge (d. 2005)
1915 – Ring Lardner, Jr., American journalist and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1915 – Alfred Rouleau, Canadian businessman (d. 1985)
1916 – Dennis Poore, English racing driver and businessman (d. 1987)
1918 – Jimmy Rowles, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1996)
1919 – Malcolm Forbes, American publisher and politician (d. 1990)
1921 – Gene Roddenberry, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1991)
1922 – Jack Holland, Australian rugby league player (d. 1994)
1923 – Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist, inventor of relational model of data (d. 2003)
1924 – Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1924 – William Marshall, American actor, director, and opera singer (d. 2003)
1925 – Claude Gauvreau, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1971)
1926 – Angus Scrimm, American actor and author (d. 2016)
1928 – Shiv Prasaad Singh, Indian Hindi writer (d. 1998)
1928 – Bernard Levin, English journalist, author, and broadcaster (d. 2004)
1929 – Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
1929 – Ion N. Petrovici, Romanian-German neurologist and academic (d. 2021)
1930 – Frank McCourt, American author and educator (d. 2009)
1931 – Bill Shoemaker, American jockey and author (d. 2003)
1932 – Thomas P. Salmon, American lawyer and politician, 75th Governor of Vermont
1932 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Thai politician, Prime Minister (1995–1996) (d. 2016)
1933 – Bettina Cirone, American model and photographer
1933 – David Hopwood, English microbiologist and geneticist
1933 – Debra Paget, American actress
1934 – David Durenberger, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2023)
1934 – Renée Richards, American tennis player and ophthalmologist
1935 – Bobby Richardson, American baseball player and coach
1936 – Richard McBrien, American priest, theologian, and academic (d. 2015)
1937 – Richard Ingrams, English journalist, founded The Oldie
1937 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1938 – Diana Muldaur, American actress
1938 – Nelly Vuksic, Argentine conductor and musician
1939 – Ginger Baker, English drummer and songwriter (d. 2019)
1940 – Roger Cook, English songwriter, singer, and producer
1940 – Johnny Nash, American singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
1940 – Jill St. John, American model and actress
1941 – John Cootes, Australian rugby league player, priest, and businessman
1941 – Mihalis Papagiannakis, Greek educator and politician (d. 2009)
1942 – Fred Thompson, American actor, lawyer, and politician (d. 2015)
1943 – Don Fardon, English pop singer
1943 – Sid Going, New Zealand rugby player
1943 – Billy J. Kramer, English pop singer
1944 – Jack Canfield, American author
1944 – Stew Johnson, American basketball player
1944 – Bodil Malmsten, Swedish author and poet (d. 2016)
1944 – Eddy Raven, American country music singer-songwriter
1944 – Charles Wang, Chinese-American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Computer Associates International (d. 2018)
1945 – Dennis Eichhorn, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
1945 – Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington, English politician
1945 – Ian Gillan, English singer-songwriter
1946 – Charles Bolden, American general and astronaut
1946 – Bill Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 42nd President of the United States
1946 – Dawn Steel, American film producer (d. 1997)
1947 – Dave Dutton, English actor and screenwriter
1947 – Terry Hoeppner, American football player and coach (d. 2007)
1947 – Gerald McRaney, American actor
1947 – Gerard Schwarz, American conductor and director
1947 – Anuška Ferligoj, Slovenian mathematician
1948 – Jim Carter, English actor
1948 – Tipper Gore, American activist and author, former Second Lady of the United States
1948 – Robert Hughes, Australian actor
1948 – Christy O'Connor Jnr, Irish golfer and architect (d. 2016)
1949 – Michael Nazir-Ali, Pakistani-English bishop
1950 – Jennie Bond, English journalist and author
1950 – Sudha Murty, Indian author and teacher, head of Infosys Foundation
1951 – John Deacon, English bass player and songwriter
1951 – Gustavo Santaolalla, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1952 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor and director
1952 – Jimmy Watson, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – Oscar Larrauri, Argentinian racing driver
1955 – Mary-Anne Fahey, Australian actress
1955 – Peter Gallagher, American actor
1955 – Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Dominica-born English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
1955 – Ned Yost, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Adam Arkin, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – José Rubén Zamora, Guatemalan journalist
1957 – Paul-Jan Bakker, Dutch cricketer
1957 – Gary Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Martin Donovan, American actor and director
1957 – Ian Gould, English cricketer and umpire
1957 – Cesare Prandelli, Italian footballer and manager
1957 – Christine Soetewey, Belgian high jumper
1957 – Gerda Verburg, Dutch trade union leader and politician, Dutch Minister of Agriculture
1958 – Gary Gaetti, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1958 – Anthony Muñoz, American football player and sportscaster
1958 – Brendan Nelson, Australian physician and politician, 47th Minister for Defence for Australia
1958 – Rick Snyder, American politician and businessman, 48th Governor of Michigan
1958 – Darryl Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Chris Mortimer, Australian rugby league player
1959 – Ivan Neville, American singer-songwriter
1959 – Ricky Pierce, American basketball player
1960 – Morten Andersen, Danish-American football player
1960 – Ron Darling, American baseball player and commentator
1961 – Jonathan Coe, English author and academic
1963 – John Stamos, American actor
1965 – Kevin Dillon, American actor
1965 – Kyra Sedgwick, American actress and producer
1965 – James Tomkins, Australian rower
1966 – Lee Ann Womack, American singer-songwriter
1967 – Khandro Rinpoche, Indian spiritual leader
1967 – Satya Nadella, Indian-American business executive, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft
1969 – Douglas Allen Tunstall Jr., American professional wrestler and politician
1969 – Nate Dogg, American rapper (d. 2011)
1969 – Matthew Perry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2023)
1969 – Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, Japanese baseball player and coach
1969 – Clay Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Fat Joe, American rapper
1971 – Mary Joe Fernández, Dominican-American tennis player and coach
1971 – João Vieira Pinto, Portuguese footballer
1972 – Roberto Abbondanzieri, Argentinian footballer and manager
1972 – Chihiro Yonekura, Japanese singer-songwriter
1973 – Marco Materazzi, Italian footballer and manager
1973 – Roy Rogers, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Tasma Walton, Australian actress
1975 – Tracie Thoms, American actress
1976 – Régine Chassagne, Canadian singer-songwriter
1977 – Iban Mayo, Spanish cyclist
1978 – Chris Capuano, American baseball player
1978 – Jakub Dvorský, Czech game designer
1978 – Thomas Jones, American football player
1979 – Oumar Kondé, Swiss footballer
1980 – Darius Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2022)
1980 – Craig Frawley, Australian rugby league player
1980 – Jun Jin, South Korean singer
1980 – Paul Parry, Welsh footballer
1980 – Michael Todd, American bass player
1981 – Nick Kennedy, English rugby player
1981 – Taylor Pyatt, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Percy Watson, American football player and wrestler
1982 – Erika Christensen, American actress
1982 – Melissa Fumero, American actress
1982 – J. J. Hardy, American baseball player
1982 – Kevin Rans, Belgian pole vaulter
1982 – Stipe Miocic, American professional mixed martial artist
1982 – Steve Ott, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Mike Conway, English racing driver
1983 – Missy Higgins, Australian singer-songwriter
1983 – Tammin Sursok, South African-Australian actress and singer
1984 – Simon Bird, English actor and screenwriter
1984 – Alessandro Matri, Italian footballer
1984 – Ryan Taylor, English footballer
1985 – David A. Gregory, American actor
1985 – Lindsey Jacobellis, American snowboarder
1986 – Sotiris Balafas, Greek footballer
1986 – Saori Kimura, Japanese volleyball player
1986 – Christina Perri, American singer and songwriter
1987 – Patrick Chung, Jamaican-American football player
1987 – Nick Driebergen, Dutch swimmer
1987 – Nico Hülkenberg, German racing driver
1988 – Kirk Cousins, American football player
1988 – Veronica Roth, American author
1989 – Romeo Miller, American basketball player, rapper, actor
1990 – Danny Galbraith, Scottish footballer
1991 – Salem Al-Dawsari, Saudi Arabian footballer
1992 – David Rittich, Czech ice hockey player
1994 – Nafissatou Thiam, Belgian pentathlete and heptathlete
1994 – Fernando Gaviria, Colombian cyclist
1996 – Jung Ye-rin, South Korean singer and actress
1996 – Lachlan Lewis, Australian rugby league player
1999 – Ethan Cutkosky, American actor and musician
1999 – Thomas Flegler, Australian rugby league player
2000 – Keegan Murray, American basketball player
2001 – Awak Kuier, Finnish basketball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
607 BC – Duke Ling of Jin, Chinese monarch
AD 14 – Augustus, Roman emperor (b. 63 BC)
780 – Credan, English abbot and saint
947 – Abu Yazid, Kharijite rebel leader (b. 873)
998 – Fujiwara no Sukemasa, Japanese noble, statesman and calligrapher (b. 944)
1072 – Hawise, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1037)
1085 – Al-Juwayni, Muslim scholar and imam (b. 1028)
1186 – Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1158)
1245 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (b. 1195)
1284 – Alphonso, Earl of Chester (b. 1273)
1297 – Louis of Toulouse, French bishop and saint (b. 1274)
1457 – Andrea del Castagno, Italian painter (b. 1421)
1470 – Richard Olivier de Longueil, French cardinal (b. 1406)
1493 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1415)
1506 – King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland (b. 1461)
1541 – Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1469)
1580 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect, designed the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore and Il Redentore (b. 1508)
1601–1900
1646 – Alexander Henderson, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1583)
1654 – Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, Bohemian rabbi (b. 1579)
1662 – Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1623)
1680 – Jean Eudes, French priest, founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (b. 1601)
1691 – Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman commander and politician, 117th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1637)
1702 – Anthony Grey, 11th Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1645)
1753 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German engineer and architect, designed Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (b. 1687)
1808 – Fredrik Henrik af Chapman, Swedish admiral and shipbuilder (b. 1721)
1822 – Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1749)
1883 – Jeremiah S. Black, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Attorney General (b. 1810)
1889 – Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1838)
1895 – John Wesley Hardin, American Old West outlaw, gunfighter (b. 1853)
1900 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1833)
1901–present
1914 – Franz Xavier Wernz, German religious leader, 25th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1844)
1915 – Tevfik Fikret, Turkish poet and educator (b. 1867)
1923 – Vilfredo Pareto, Italian sociologist and economist (b. 1845)
1928 – Stephanos Skouloudis, Greek banker and diplomat, 97th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1838)
1929 – Sergei Diaghilev, Russian critic and producer, founded Ballets Russes (b. 1872)
1932 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (b. 1861)
1936 – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, playwright, and director (b. 1898)
1942 – Harald Kaarmann, Estonian footballer (b. 1901)
1942 – Heinrich Rauchinger, Kraków-born painter (b. 1858)
1944 – Henry Wood, English conductor (b. 1869)
1945 – Tomás Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (b. 1875)
1950 – Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist and engineer (b. 1871)
1954 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881)
1957 – David Bomberg, English soldier and painter (b. 1890)
1967 – Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born American author and publisher (b. 1884)
1967 – Isaac Deutscher, Polish-English journalist and historian (b. 1907)
1968 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-American physicist and cosmologist (b. 1904)
1970 – Paweł Jasienica, Polish soldier and historian (b. 1909)
1975 – Mark Donohue, American race car driver and engineer (b. 1937)
1976 – Alastair Sim, Scottish-English actor (b. 1900)
1976 – Ken Wadsworth, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1946)
1977 – Aleksander Kreek, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower (b. 1914)
1977 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1890)
1980 – Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman, father of Anne Frank (b. 1889)
1981 – Jessie Matthews, English actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1907)
1982 – August Neo, Estonian wrestler (b. 1908)
1986 – Hermione Baddeley, English actress (b. 1906)
1986 – Viv Thicknesse, Australian rugby player (b. 1910)
1993 – Utpal Dutt, Bangladeshi actor, director, and playwright (b. 1929)
1994 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1995 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer and musicologist (b. 1910)
2000 – Bineshwar Brahma, Indian poet, author, and educator (b. 1948)
2001 – Donald Woods, South African journalist and activist (b. 1933)
2003 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
2003 – Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
2005 – Mo Mowlam, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1949)
2008 – Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Zambia (b. 1948)
2009 – Don Hewitt, American television producer, created 60 Minutes (b. 1922)
2011 – Raúl Ruiz, Chilean director and producer (b. 1941)
2012 – Donal Henahan, American journalist and critic (b. 1921)
2012 – Ivar Iversen, Norwegian canoe racer (b. 1914)
2012 – Tony Scott, English-American director and producer (b. 1944)
2012 – Edmund Skellings, American poet and academic (b. 1932)
2013 – Musa'id bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (b. 1923)
2013 – Russell S. Doughten, American director and producer (b. 1927)
2013 – Abdul Rahim Hatif, Afghan politician, 8th President of Afghanistan (b. 1926)
2013 – Donna Hightower, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2014 – Samih al-Qasim, Palestinian poet and journalist (b. 1939)
2014 – Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (b. 1927)
2014 – James Foley, American photographer and journalist (b. 1973)
2014 – Candida Lycett Green, Anglo-Irish journalist and author (b. 1942)
2015 – George Houser, American minister and activist (b. 1916)
2015 – Sanat Mehta, Indian activist and politician (b. 1935)
2016 – Jack Riley, American actor and voice artist (b. 1935)
2017 – Dick Gregory, American comedian, author and activist (b. 1932)
2019 – Lars Larsen, Danish businessman and billionaire, founder and owner of the Danish retail chain JYSK (b. 1948)
2021 – Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor (b. 1939)
2023 – Václav Patejdl, Slovak musician (b. 1954)
Holidays and observances
Afghan Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, granting independence from Britain (Afghanistan)
August Revolution Commemoration Day (Vietnam)
Birthday of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (Norway)
Christian Feast Day:
Bernardo Tolomei
Bertulf of Bobbio
Saint Calminius
Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz
Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian calendar), and its related observances:
Buhe (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church)
Saviour's Transfiguration, popularly known as the "Apples Feast" (Russian Orthodox Church and Georgian Orthodox Church)
Jean-Eudes de Mézeray
Louis of Toulouse
Maginus
Magnus of Anagni
Magnus of Avignon
Sebaldus
August 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Manuel Luis Quezón Day (Quezon City and other places in the Philippines named after Manuel L. Quezon)
National Aviation Day (United States)
World Humanitarian Day
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1499 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2021 | August 21 |
Events
Pre-1600
959 – Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.
1169 – Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin.
1192 – Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era).
1331 – King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.
1415 – Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Conquest of Ceuta.
1601–1900
1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
1689 – The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
1716 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The arrival of naval reinforcements and the news of the Battle of Petrovaradin force the Ottomans to abandon the Siege of Corfu, thus preserving the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.
1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1772 – King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
1791 – A Vodou ceremony, led by Dutty Boukman, turns into a violent slave rebellion, beginning the Haitian Revolution.
1808 – Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
1810 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
1821 – Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites and about twice that number of blacks.
1852 – Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
1858 – The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.
1862 – The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.
1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.
1878 – The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.
1879 – The locals of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland report their having seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The apparition is later named “Our Lady of Knock” and the spot transformed into a Catholic pilgrimage site.
1883 – An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
1901–present
1901 – Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.
1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
1942 – World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
1944 – Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
1944 – World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
1945 – Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1957 – The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
1959 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.
1963 – Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
1965 – The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.
1968 – Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
1968 – James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
1971 – A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
1982 – Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
1983 – Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a range.
1988 – The 6.9 Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709–1,450 people killed and thousands injured.
1991 – Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.
1991 – Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
1994 – Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes in Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board.
1995 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, attempts to divert to West Georgia Regional Airport after the left engine fails, but the aircraft crashes in Carroll County near Carrollton, Georgia, killing nine of the 29 people on board.
2000 – American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a calendar year.
2013 – Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.
2017 – A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.
Births
Pre-1600
1165 – Philip II of France (d. 1223)
1481 – Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (d. 1550)
1535 – Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese general (d. 1619)
1552 – Muhammad Qadiri, Founder of the Naushahia branch of the Qadri order (d. 1654)
1567 – Francis de Sales, Swiss bishop and saint (d. 1622)
1579 – Henri, Duke of Rohan (d. 1638)
1597 – Roger Twysden, English historian and politician (d. 1672)
1601–1900
1625 – John Claypole, English politician (d. 1688)
1643 – Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
1660 – Hubert Gautier, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1737)
1665 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1729)
1670 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire (d. 1734)
1725 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter and educator (d. 1805)
1754 – William Murdoch, Scottish engineer and inventor, created gas lighting (d. 1839)
1754 – Banastre Tarleton, English general and politician (d. 1833)
1765 – William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
1789 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (d. 1857)
1798 – Jules Michelet, French historian and philosopher (d. 1874)
1800 – Hiram Walden, American general and politician (d. 1880)
1801 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch historian and politician (d. 1876)
1813 – Jean Stas, Belgian chemist and physician (d. 1891)
1816 – Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist and academic (d. 1856)
1823 – Nathaniel Everett Green, English painter and astronomer (d. 1899)
1826 – Karl Gegenbaur, German anatomist and academic (d. 1903)
1829 – Otto Goldschmidt, German composer, conductor and pianist (d. 1907)
1840 – Ferdinand Hamer, Dutch bishop and missionary (d. 1900)
1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1939)
1856 – Medora de Vallombrosa, Marquise de Morès, American heiress (d. 1921)
1858 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (d. 1889)
1862 – Emilio Salgari, Italian journalist and author (d. 1911)
1869 – William Henry Ogilvie, Scottish-Australian poet and author (d. 1963)
1872 – Aubrey Beardsley, English author and illustrator (d. 1898)
1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager (d. 1963)
1879 – Claude Grahame-White, English pilot and engineer (d. 1959)
1884 – Chandler Egan, American golfer and architect (d. 1936)
1885 – Édouard Fabre, Canadian runner (d. 1939)
1886 – Ruth Manning-Sanders, Welsh-English author and poet (d. 1988)
1887 – James Paul Moody, English sailor (d. 1912)
1891 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican-American soldier (d. 2007)
1892 – Charles Vanel, French actor and director (d. 1989)
1894 – Christian Schad, German painter (d. 1982)
1895 – Blossom Rock, American actress (d. 1978)
1897 – Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, Scottish soldier and peer (d. 1966)
1901–present
1902 – Angel Karaliychev, Bulgarian author (d. 1972)
1903 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1984)
1904 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
1905 – Bipin Gupta, Indian actor and producer (d. 1981)
1906 – Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1995)
1907 – P. Jeevanandham, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 1963)
1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
1912 – Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
1914 – Doug Wright, English cricketer and coach (d. 1998)
1916 – Bill Lee, American actor and singer (d. 1980)
1916 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican pianist and songwriter (d. 2005)
1917 – Leonid Hurwicz, Russian economist and mathematician (d. 2008)
1918 – Billy Reay, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2004)
1921 – Reuven Feuerstein, Romanian-Israeli psychologist and academic (d. 2014)
1922 – Albert Irvin, English soldier and painter (d. 2015)
1923 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1924 – Jack Buck, American sportscaster (d. 2002)
1924 – Jack Weston, American actor (d. 1996)
1926 – Can Yücel, Turkish poet and translator (d. 1999)
1927 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2018)
1928 – Addison Farmer, American bassist (d. 1963)
1928 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1999)
1928 – Bud McFadin, American football player (d. 2006)
1929 – Herman Badillo, Puerto Rican-American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1929 – X. J. Kennedy, American poet, translator, anthologist, editor
1929 – Ahmed Kathrada, South African politician and political prisoner (d. 2017)
1930 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)
1930 – Frank Perry, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1932 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli sculptor and painter (d. 2015)
1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2021)
1933 – Janet Baker, English soprano and educator
1933 – Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (d. 1994)
1933 – Barry Norman, English author and critic (d. 2017)
1933 – Erik Paaske, Danish actor and singer (d. 1992)
1934 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian lawyer and politician, 13th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2001)
1934 – Paul Panhuysen, Dutch composer (d. 2015)
1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach (d. 1999)
1936 – Radish Tordia, Georgian painter and educator
1937 – Donald Dewar, Scottish politician, first First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)
1937 – Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian academic and politician, 51st President of Ecuador (d. 2021)
1937 – Robert Stone, American novelist and short story writer (d. 2015)
1938 – Steve Cowper, American politician, 6th Governor of Alaska
1938 – Kenny Rogers, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2020)
1938 – Mike Weston, English rugby player
1939 – James Burton, American Hall of Fame guitarist
1939 – Festus Mogae, Botswana economist and politician, third President of Botswana
1939 – Clarence Williams III, American actor (d. 2021)
1940 – Dominick Harrod, English journalist, historian, and author (d. 2013)
1940 – Endre Szemerédi, Hungarian-American mathematician and computer scientist
1941 – Jackie DeShannon, American singer-songwriter
1943 – Patrick Demarchelier, French photographer (d. 2022)
1943 – Jonathan Schell, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
1943 – Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (d. 2014)
1943 – Hugh Wilson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1944 – Perry Christie, Bahamian politician, third Prime Minister of the Bahamas
1944 – Peter Weir, Australian director, producer, and screenwriter
1945 – Basil Poledouris, Greek-American composer, conductor (d. 2006)
1945 – Celia Brayfield, English journalist and author
1945 – Jerry DaVanon, American baseball player
1945 – Willie Lanier, American football player
1945 – Patty McCormack, American actress
1947 – Carl Giammarese, American singer-songwriter and musician
1949 – Loretta Devine, American actress and singer
1949 – Daniel Sivan, Israeli scholar and academic
1950 – Patrick Juvet, Swiss singer-songwriter and model (d. 2021)
1951 – Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
1951 – Glenn Hughes, English musician
1951 – Yana Mintoff, Maltese politician, economist and educator
1951 – Chesley V. Morton, American businessman and politician
1952 – Keith Hart, Canadian firefighter, wrestler, and trainer
1952 – Jiří Paroubek, Czech soldier and politician, sixth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
1952 – Bernadette Porter, English nun and educator
1952 – Joe Strummer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1953 – Ivan Stang, American author, publisher, and director
1954 – Archie Griffin, American football player
1954 – Steve Smith, American drummer
1954 – Mark Williams, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
1956 – Kim Cattrall, English-Canadian actress
1956 – Jon Tester, American farmer and politician
1957 – Frank Pastore, American baseball player and radio host (d. 2012)
1958 – Steve Case, American businessman, co-founder of America Online (AOL)
1958 – Mark Williams, Australian footballer and coach
1959 – Anne Hobbs, English tennis player and coach
1959 – Jim McMahon, American football player and coach
1961 – Gerardo Barbero, Argentinian chess player and coach (d. 2001)
1961 – V. B. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer and coach (d. 2019)
1961 – Stephen Hillenburg, American marine biologist, cartoonist, animator and creator of SpongeBob SquarePants (d. 2018)
1962 – Cleo King, American actress
1962 – John Korfas, Greek-American basketball player and coach
1962 – Gilberto Santa Rosa, Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero
1962 – Pete Weber, American bowler
1963 – Mohammed VI of Morocco, King of Morocco
1963 – Nigel Pearson, English footballer and manager
1964 – Gary Elkerton, Australian surfer
1965 – Jim Bullinger, American baseball player
1966 – John Wetteland, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Darren Bewick, Australian footballer
1967 – Charb, French journalist and cartoonist (d. 2015)
1967 – Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress
1967 – Serj Tankian, Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
1968 – Dina Carroll, English singer-songwriter
1968 – Goran Ćurko, Serbian footballer
1968 – Laura Trevelyan, English journalist and author
1969 – Bruce Anstey, New Zealand motorcycle racer
1969 – Josée Chouinard, Canadian figure skater
1970 – Craig Counsell, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Erik Dekker, Dutch cyclist and manager
1970 – Cathy Weseluck, Canadian actress
1971 – Mamadou Diallo, Senegalese footballer
1971 – Robert Harvey, Australian footballer and coach
1971 – Liam Howlett, English keyboard player, DJ, and producer
1973 – Sergey Brin, Russian-American computer scientist and businessman, co-founded Google
1973 – Steve McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Martin Andanar, Filipino journalist and radio host
1974 – Paul Mellor, Australian rugby league player and referee
1975 – Simon Katich, Australian cricketer and manager
1975 – Alicia Witt, American actress and musician
1976 – Alex Brooks, American ice hockey player and scout
1976 – Jeff Cunningham, Jamaican-American soccer player
1976 – Robert Miles, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Ramón Vázquez, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
1978 – Peter Buxton, English rugby player and manager
1978 – Reuben Droughns, American football player and coach
1978 – Lee Gronkiewicz, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Alan Lee, Irish footballer and coach
1978 – Jason Marquis, American baseball player
1979 – Kelis, American singer-songwriter, producer, chef and author
1979 – Diego Klattenhoff, Canadian actor
1980 – Bryan Allen, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Burney Lamar, American race car driver
1980 – Paul Menard, American race car driver
1980 – Jasmin Wöhr, German tennis player
1981 – Jarrod Lyle, Australian golfer (d. 2018)
1981 – Cameron Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
1981 – Tyler Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
1981 – Ross Thomas, American actor
1982 – Jason Eaton, New Zealand rugby player
1982 – Omar Sachedina, Canadian television journalist, correspondent, and news anchor
1983 – Brody Jenner, American television personality and model
1983 – Scott McDonald, Australian footballer
1984 – Neil Dexter, South African cricketer
1984 – Melvin Upton, Jr., American baseball player
1985 – Nicolás Almagro, Spanish tennis player
1985 – Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter
1985 – Alizée, French singer
1986 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
1986 – Wout Brama, Dutch footballer
1986 – Koki Sakamoto, Japanese gymnast
1986 – Brooks Wheelan, American comedian and actor
1987 – DeWanna Bonner, American-Macedonian basketball player
1987 – Cody Kasch, American actor
1987 – J. D. Martinez, American baseball player
1987 – Jodie Meeks, American basketball player and coach
1988 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer
1988 – Kacey Musgraves, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1989 – Charlison Benschop, Dutch footballer
1989 – James Davey, English rugby league player
1989 – Matteo Gentili, Italian footballer
1989 – Hayden Panettiere, American actress
1989 – Aleix Vidal, Spanish footballer
1990 – Bo Burnham, American comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker and poet
1990 – Christian Vázquez, Puerto Rican baseball player
1991 – Leandro Bacuna, Dutch footballer
1992 – Brandon Drury, American baseball player
1992 – RJ Mitte, American actor
1992 – Felipe Nasr, Brazilian race car driver
1993 – Millie Bright, English footballer
1993 – Mike Evans, American football player
1995 – Dominik Kubalík, Czech ice hockey player
1996 – Karolína Muchová, Czech tennis player
1999 – Maxim Knight, American actor
2000 – Corbin Carroll, American baseball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
672 – Emperor Kōbun of Japan (b. 648)
784 – Alberic, archbishop of Utrecht
913 – Tang Daoxi, Chinese general
1131 – King Baldwin II of Jerusalem
1148 – William II, Count of Nevers (b. c. 1089)
1157 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile (b. 1105)
1245 – Alexander of Hales, English theologian
1271 – Alphonse, Count of Poitiers (b. 1220)
1534 – Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, 44th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1464)
1568 – Jean Parisot de Valette, 49th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1495)
1601–1900
1614 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and purported serial killer (b. 1560)
1622 – Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana, Spanish poet and politician (b. 1582)
1627 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer and academic (b. 1557)
1673 – Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, English soldier (b. 1599)
1689 – William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier (b. 1661)
1762 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1689)
1763 – Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1710)
1775 – Zahir al-Umar, Arabian ruler (b. 1690)
1796 – John McKinly, American physician and politician, first Governor of Delaware (b. 1721)
1814 – Benjamin Thompson, American-English physicist and colonel (b. 1753)
1835 – John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist and academic (b. 1773)
1836 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (b. 1785)
1838 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (b. 1781)
1853 – Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (b. 1783)
1854 – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1777)
1867 – Juan Álvarez, Mexican general and president (1855) (b. 1790)
1870 – Ma Xinyi, Chinese general and politician, Viceroy of Liangjiang (b. 1821)
1888 – James Farnell, Australian politician, eighth Premier of New South Wales (b. 1825)
1901–present
1905 – Alexander von Oettingen, Estonian theologian and statistician (b. 1827)
1910 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter and academic (b. 1835)
1911 – Mahboob Ali Khan, sixth Nizam of Hyderabad State (b. 1866)
1919 – Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1875)
1935 – John Hartley, English tennis player (b. 1849)
1940 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
1940 – Ernest Thayer, American poet and author (b. 1863)
1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist and politician, founded the Red Army (b. 1879)
1943 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
1947 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian-French engineer and businessman, founded Bugatti (b. 1881)
1951 – Constant Lambert, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
1957 – Mait Metsanurk, Estonian author and playwright (b. 1879)
1957 – Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
1957 – Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer (b. 1888)
1960 – David B. Steinman, American engineer, designed the Mackinac Bridge (b. 1886)
1964 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Justice (b. 1893)
1968 – Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1893)
1971 – George Jackson, American activist and author, co-founded the Black Guerrilla Family (b. 1941)
1974 – Buford Pusser, American police officer (b. 1937)
1974 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
1978 – Charles Eames, American architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1907)
1979 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1910)
1981 – Kaka Kalelkar, Indian Hindi Writer(b. 1885)
1983 – Benigno Aquino Jr., Filipino journalist and politician (b. 1932)
1988 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (b. 1963)
1988 – Ray Eames, American architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1912)
1989 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1945)
1993 – Tatiana Troyanos, American soprano and actress (b. 1938)
1995 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American astrophysicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1995 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (b. 1919)
1996 – Mary Two-Axe Earley, Canadian indigenous women's rights activist (b. 1911)
2000 – Tomata du Plenty, American singer-songwriter and playwright (b. 1948)
2000 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician, third Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
2000 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer and author (b. 1928)
2001 – Calum MacKay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1927)
2003 – John Coplans, British artist (b. 1920)
2003 – Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and academic (b. 1946)
2004 – Sachidananda Routray, Indian Oriya-language poet (b. 1916)
2005 – Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (b. 1957)
2005 – Robert Moog, American businessman, founded Moog Music (b. 1934)
2005 – Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet and translator (b. 1936)
2005 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1925)
2006 – Bismillah Khan, Indian musician, Bharat Ratna recipient (b. 1916)
2006 – Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Dutch businessman and philanthropist (b. 1941)
2007 – Frank Bowe, American academic (b. 1947)
2007 – Siobhan Dowd, British author (b. 1960)
2007 – Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American general (b. 1918)
2008 – Jerry Finn, American engineer and producer (b. 1969)
2009 – Rex Shelley, Singaporean engineer and author (b. 1930)
2010 – Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, Argentinean sociologist and author (b. 1941)
2012 – Georg Leber, German soldier and politician, Federal Minister of Defence for Germany (b. 1920)
2012 – J. Frank Raley Jr., American soldier and politician (b. 1926)
2012 – Don Raleigh, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1926)
2012 – Guy Spitaels, Belgian academic and politician, seventh Minister-President of Wallonia (b. 1931)
2012 – William Thurston, American mathematician and academic (b. 1946)
2013 – Jean Berkey, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (b. 1918)
2013 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1936)
2013 – Fred Martin, Scottish footballer (b. 1929)
2013 – Enos Nkala, Zimbabwean politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (b. 1932)
2014 – Gerry Anderson, Irish radio and television host (b. 1944)
2014 – Helen Bamber, English psychotherapist and academic (b. 1925)
2014 – Steven R. Nagel, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1946)
2014 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
2014 – Albert Reynolds, Irish businessman and politician, ninth Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1932)
2015 – Colin Beyer, New Zealand lawyer and businessman (b. 1938)
2015 – Wang Dongxing, Chinese commander and politician (b. 1916)
2015 – Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (b. 1924)
2017 – Bajram Rexhepi, First Kosovan Prime Ministers of UN mission administration in Kosovo (b. 1954)
2018 – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor and singer (b. 1975)
2019 – Celso Piña, Mexican singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist (b. 1953)
Holidays and observances
Christian Feast Day:
Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Euprepius of Verona
Maximilian of Antioch
Our Lady of Knock
Pope Pius X
Sidonius Apollinaris
August 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
Youth Day (Morocco)
World Senior Citizen's Day
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1519 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2025 | August 25 |
Events
Pre-1600
19 – The Roman general Germanicus dies near Antioch. He was convinced that the mysterious illness that ended in his death was a result of poisoning by the Syrian governor Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, whom he had ordered to leave the province.
766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios.
1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under Michael VIII Palaiologos, paving the way for its leader to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
1270 – Philip III, although suffering from dysentery, becomes King of France following the death of his father Louis IX, during the Eighth Crusade. His uncle, Charles I of Naples, is forced to begin peace negotiations with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis.
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1543 – António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
1580 – War of the Portuguese Succession: Spanish victory at the Battle of Alcântara brings about the Iberian Union.
1601–1900
1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1630 – Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1814 – War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
1823 – American fur trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear while on an expedition in South Dakota.
1825 – The Thirty-Three Orientals declare the independence of Uruguay from Brazil.
1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 minutes.
1883 – France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
1901–present
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Liaoyang begins.
1912 – The Kuomintang is founded for the first time in Peking.
1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
1916 – The United States National Park Service is created.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
1939 – The Irish Republican Army carries out the 1939 Coventry bombing in which five civilians were killed.
1939 – The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
1940 – World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
1941 – World War II: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union jointly stage an invasion of the Imperial State of Iran.
1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Milne Bay: Japanese marines assault Allied airfields at Milne Bay, New Guinea, initiating the Battle of Milne Bay.
1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
1945 – The August Revolution ends as Emperor Bảo Đại abdicates, ending the Nguyễn dynasty.
1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
1950 – To avert a threatened strike during the Korean War, President Truman orders Secretary of the Army Frank Pace to seize control of the nation's railroads.
1958 – The world’s first publicly marketed instant noodles, Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando.
1960 – The Games of the XVII Olympiad commence in Rome, Italy.
1961 – President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, is assassinated by a former member of his group.
1980 – Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
1985 – Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes near Auburn, Maine, killing all eight people on board including peace activist and child actress Samantha Smith.
1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the last planet in the Solar System at the time, due to Pluto being within Neptune's orbit from 1979 to 1999.
1989 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, carrying 54 people, disappears over the Himalayas after take off from Gilgit Airport in Pakistan. The aircraft was never found.
1991 – Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 – The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
1997 – Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
2003 – NASA successfully launches the Spitzer Space Telescope into space.
2005 – Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Florida.
2006 – Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
2011 – Fifty-two people are killed during an arson attack caused by members of the drug cartel Los Zetas.
2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.
2017 – Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004.
2017 – Conflict in Rakhine State (2016–present): One hundred seventy people are killed in at least 26 separate attacks carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, leading to the governments of Myanmar and Malaysia designating the group as a terrorist organisation.
Births
Pre-1600
1467 – Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerque, Spanish duke (d. 1526)
1491 – Innocenzo Cybo, Italian cardinal (d. 1550)
1509 – Ippolito II d'Este, Italian cardinal and statesman (d. 1572)
1530 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian ruler (d. 1584)
1540 – Lady Catherine Grey, English noblewoman (d. 1568)
1561 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (d. 1632)
1601–1900
1605 – Philipp Moritz, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noble (d. 1638)
1624 – François de la Chaise, French priest (d. 1709)
1662 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (d. 1724)
1707 – Louis I of Spain (d. 1724)
1724 – George Stubbs, English painter and academic (d. 1806)
1741 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (d. 1792)
1744 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet, philosopher, and critic (d. 1803)
1758 – Franz Teyber, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1810)
1767 – Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French soldier and politician (d. 1794)
1776 – Thomas Bladen Capel, English admiral (d. 1853)
1786 – Ludwig I of Bavaria, King of Bavaria (d. 1868)
1793 – John Neal, American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist (d. 1876)
1796 – James Lick, American carpenter and piano builder (d. 1876)
1802 – Nikolaus Lenau, Romanian-Austrian poet and author (d. 1850)
1803 – Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias (d. 1880)
1812 – Nikolay Zinin, Russian organic chemist (d. 1880)
1817 – Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, French nun and saint, founded the Religious of the Assumption (d. 1898)
1819 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (d. 1884)
1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1909)
1836 – Bret Harte, American short story writer and poet (d. 1902)
1840 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (d. 1893)
1841 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
1845 – Ludwig II of Bavaria, King of Bavaria (d. 1886)
1850 – Charles Richet, French physiologist and occultist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
1867 – James W. Gerard, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Germany (d. 1951)
1869 – Tom Kiely, British-Irish decathlete (d. 1951)
1877 – Joshua Lionel Cowen, American businessman, co-founded the Lionel Corporation (d. 1965)
1878 – Ted Birnie, English footballer and manager (d. 1935)
1882 – Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish journalist and politician, 2nd President of Ireland (d. 1966)
1889 – Alexander Mair, Australian politician, 26th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1969)
1891 – David Shimoni, Belarusian-Israeli poet and translator (d. 1956)
1893 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dentist (d. 1962)
1898 – Helmut Hasse, German mathematician and academic (d. 1975)
1898 – Arthur Wood, English cricketer (d. 1973)
1899 – Paul Herman Buck, American historian and author (d. 1978)
1900 – Isobel Hogg Kerr Beattie, Scottish architect (d. 1970)
1900 – Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1901–present
1902 – Stefan Wolpe, German-American composer and educator (d. 1972)
1903 – Arpad Elo, Hungarian-American chess player, created the Elo rating system (d. 1992)
1905 – Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun and saint (d. 1938)
1906 – Jim Smith, English cricketer (d. 1979)
1909 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1993)
1909 – Michael Rennie, English actor and producer (d. 1971)
1910 – George Cisar, American baseball player (d. 2010)
1910 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 2012)
1911 – Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2013)
1912 – Erich Honecker, German politician (d. 1994)
1913 – Don DeFore, American actor (d. 1993)
1913 – Walt Kelly, American illustrator and animator (d. 1973)
1916 – Van Johnson, American actor (d. 2008)
1916 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1916 – Saburō Sakai, Japanese lieutenant and pilot (d. 2000)
1917 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
1918 – Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
1918 – Richard Greene, English actor (d. 1985)
1919 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator (d. 2010)
1919 – George Wallace, American lawyer, and politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (d. 1998)
1919 – Jaap Rijks, Dutch Olympic medalist (d. 2017)
1921 – Monty Hall, Canadian television personality and game show host (d. 2017)
1921 – Bryce Mackasey, Canadian businessman and politician, 20th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 1999)
1921 – Brian Moore, Northern Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1923 – Álvaro Mutis, Colombian-Mexican author and poet (d. 2013)
1923 – Allyre Sirois, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2012)
1924 – Zsuzsa Körmöczy, Hungarian tennis player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Thea Astley, Australian journalist and author (d. 2004)
1925 – Hilmar Hoffmann, German film and culture academic (d. 2018)
1925 – Stepas Butautas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2001)
1927 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player and golfer (d. 2003)
1927 – Des Renford, Australian swimmer (d. 1999)
1928 – John "Kayo" Dottley, American football player (d. 2018)
1928 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2004)
1928 – Karl Korte, American composer and academic (d. 2022)
1928 – Herbert Kroemer, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2020)
1930 – György Enyedi, Hungarian economist and geographer (d. 2012)
1930 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (d. 2003)
1930 – Crispin Tickell, English academic and diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations (d. 2022)
1931 – Regis Philbin, American actor and television host (d. 2020)
1932 – Anatoly Kartashov, Soviet aviator and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
1933 – Patrick F. McManus, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
1933 – Wayne Shorter, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2023)
1933 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
1934 – Lise Bacon, Canadian judge and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
1934 – Eddie Ilarde, Filipino journalist and politician (d. 2020)
1935 – Charles Wright, American poet
1936 – Giridharilal Kedia, Indian businessman, founded the Image Institute of Technology & Management (d. 2009)
1937 – Jimmy Hannan, Australian television host and singer (d. 2019)
1937 – Virginia Euwer Wolff, American author
1938 – David Canary, American actor (d. 2015)
1938 – Frederick Forsyth, English journalist and author
1939 – John Badham, English-American actor, director, and producer
1940 – Wilhelm von Homburg, German boxer and actor (d. 2004)
1941 – Marshall Brickman, Brazilian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – Mario Corso, Italian footballer and coach (d. 2020)
1941 – Ludwig Müller, German footballer (d. 2021)
1942 – Nathan Deal, American lawyer, and politician, 82nd Governor of Georgia
1942 – Ivan Koloff, Canadian wrestler (d. 2017)
1944 – Conrad Black, Canadian historian and author
1944 – Jacques Demers, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and politician
1944 – Anthony Heald, American actor
1944 – Andrew Longmore, British lawyer and judge
1945 – Daniel Hulet, Belgian cartoonist (d. 2011)
1945 – Hannah Louise Shearer, American screenwriter and producer
1946 – Rollie Fingers, American baseball player
1946 – Charles Ghigna, American poet and author
1946 – Charlie Sanders, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1947 – Michael Kaluta, American author and illustrator
1947 – Keith Tippett, British jazz pianist and composer (d. 2020)
1948 – Ledward Kaapana, American singer and guitarist
1948 – Nicholas A. Peppas, Greek chemist and biologist
1949 – Martin Amis, British novelist (d. 2023)
1949 – Rijkman Groenink, Dutch banker and academic
1949 – John Savage, American actor and producer
1949 – Gene Simmons, Israeli-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1950 – Willy DeVille, American singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
1950 – Charles Fambrough, American bassist, composer, and producer (d. 2011)
1951 – Rob Halford, English heavy metal singer-songwriter
1951 – Bill Handel, Brazilian-American lawyer and radio host
1952 – Kurban Berdyev, Turkmen footballer and manager
1952 – Geoff Downes, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1952 – Duleep Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach
1954 – Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1954 – Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, Scottish lawyer and politician, First Minister of Scotland
1955 – John McGeoch, Scottish guitarist (d. 2004)
1955 – Gerd Müller, German businessman and politician
1956 – Matt Aitken, English songwriter and record producer
1956 – Takeshi Okada, Japanese footballer, coach, and manager
1956 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (d. 1986)
1957 – Sikander Bakht, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster
1957 – Simon McBurney, English actor and director
1957 – Frank Serratore, American ice hockey player and coach
1958 – Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Christian LeBlanc, American actor
1959 – Ian Falconer, American author and illustrator
1959 – Steve Levy, American lawyer and politician
1959 – Bernardo Rezende, Brazilian volleyball coach and player
1959 – Lane Smith, American author and illustrator
1959 – Ruth Ann Swenson, American soprano and actress
1960 – Ashley Crow, American actress
1960 – Georg Zellhofer, Austrian footballer and manager
1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1961 – Dave Tippett, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Ally Walker, American actress
1961 – Joanne Whalley, English actress
1962 – Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi author
1962 – Theresa Andrews, American competition swimmer and Olympic champion
1962 – Vivian Campbell, Northern Irish rock guitarist and songwriter
1962 – Michael Zorc, German footballer
1963 – Miro Cerar, Slovenian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Slovenia
1963 – Shock G, American rapper and producer (d. 2021)
1963 – Tiina Intelmann, Estonian lawyer and diplomat
1964 – Azmin Ali, Malaysian mathematician and politician
1964 – Maxim Kontsevich, Russian-American mathematician and academic
1964 – Blair Underwood, American actor
1965 – Cornelius Bennett, American football player
1965 – Tim Cain, American video game designer
1965 – Sanjeev Sharma, Indian cricketer and coach
1965 – Mia Zapata, American singer (d. 1993)
1966 – Albert Belle, American baseball player
1966 – Robert Maschio, American actor
1966 – Derek Sherinian, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Terminator X, American hip-hop DJ
1967 – Tom Hollander, English actor
1967 – Jeff Tweedy, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
1968 – David Alan Basche, American actor
1968 – Yuri Mitsui, Japanese actress, model, and race car driver
1968 – Stuart Murdoch, Scottish singer-songwriter
1968 – Spider One, American singer-songwriter and producer
1968 – Rachael Ray, American chef, author, and television host
1968 – Takeshi Ueda, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
1969 – Olga Konkova, Norwegian-Russian pianist and composer
1969 – Cameron Mathison, Canadian actor and television personality
1969 – Catriona Matthew, Scottish golfer
1969 – Vivek Razdan, Indian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1970 – Doug Glanville, American baseball player and sportscaster
1970 – Debbie Graham, American tennis player
1970 – Robert Horry, American basketball player and sportscaster
1970 – Adrian Lam, Papua New Guinean-Australian rugby league player and coach
1970 – Jo Dee Messina, American singer-songwriter
1970 – Claudia Schiffer, German model and fashion designer
1971 – Jason Death, Australian rugby league player
1971 – Nathan Page, Australian actor
1972 – Marvin Harrison, American football player
1973 – Fatih Akın, German director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Eric Millegan, American actor
1974 – Pablo Ozuna, Dominican baseball player
1975 – Brad Drew, Australian rugby league player
1975 – Petria Thomas, Australian swimmer and coach
1976 – Damon Jones, American basketball player and coach
1976 – Javed Qadeer, Pakistani cricketer and coach
1976 – Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
1977 – Masumi Asano, Japanese voice actress and producer
1977 – Andy McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Jonathan Togo, American actor
1978 – Kel Mitchell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Robert Mohr, German rugby player
1979 – Marlon Harewood, English footballer
1979 – Philipp Mißfelder, German historian and politician (d. 2015)
1979 – Deanna Nolan, American basketball player
1981 – Rachel Bilson, American actress
1981 – Jan-Berrie Burger, Namibian cricketer
1981 – Camille Pin, French tennis player
1982 – Jung Jung-suk, South Korean footballer (d. 2011)
1982 – Nick Schultz, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – James Rossiter, English race car driver
1984 – Florian Mohr, German footballer
1984 – Anya Monzikova, Russian-American model and actress
1986 – Rodney Ferguson, American footballer
1987 – Stacey Farber, Canadian actress
1987 – Velimir Jovanović, Serbian footballer
1987 – Blake Lively, American model and actress
1987 – Amy Macdonald, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Justin Upton, American baseball player
1987 – Adam Warren, American baseball player
1987 – James Wesolowski, Australian footballer
1988 – Angela Park, Brazilian-American golfer
1988 – Giga Chikadze, Georgian mixed martial artist and kickboxer
1989 – Hiram Mier, Mexican footballer
1990 – Max Muncy, American baseball player
1992 – Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese singer and actress
1992 – Ricardo Rodriguez, Swiss footballer
1994 – Edmunds Augstkalns, Latvian ice hockey player
1994 – Caris LeVert, American basketball player
1998 – China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
2003 – Rebeka Jančová, Slovak alpine ski racer
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 79 – Pliny the Elder, Roman commander and philosopher (b. 23)
274 – Yang Yan, Jin Dynasty empress (b. 238)
306 – Saint Maginus, Christian hermit and martyr from Tarragona
383 – Gratian, Roman emperor (b. 359)
471 – Gennadius I, patriarch of Constantinople
766 – Constantine Podopagouros, Byzantine official
766 – Strategios Podopagouros, Byzantine general
985 – Dietrich of Haldensleben, German margrave
1091 – Sisnando Davides, military leader
1192 – Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1142)
1258 – George Mouzalon, regent of the Empire of Nicaea
1270 – Louis IX of France (b. 1214)
1270 – Alphonso of Brienne (b. c. 1225)
1271 – Joan, Countess of Toulouse (b. 1220)
1282 – Thomas de Cantilupe, English bishop and saint (b. 1218)
1322 – Beatrice of Silesia, queen consort of Germany (b. c. 1292)
1327 – Demasq Kaja, Chobanid
1330 – Sir James Douglas, Scottish guerrilla leader (b. 1286)
1339 – Henry de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham (b. 1260)
1368 – Andrea Orcagna, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect
1482 – Margaret of Anjou (b. 1429)
1485 – William Catesby, supporter of Richard III (b. 1450)
1554 – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1473)
1592 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (b. 1532)
1601–1900
1603 – Ahmad al-Mansur, Sultan of the Saadi dynasty (b. 1549)
1631 – Nicholas Hyde, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.c. 1572)
1632 – Thomas Dekker, English author and playwright (b. 1572)
1688 – Henry Morgan, Welsh admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (b. 1635)
1699 – Christian V of Denmark (b. 1646)
1711 – Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1656)
1742 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese organist and composer (b. 1704)
1774 – Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer and educator (b. 1714)
1776 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1711)
1794 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian diplomat (b. 1727)
1797 – Thomas Chittenden, Governor of the Vermont Republic (later 1st Governor of the State of Vermont) (b. 1730)
1819 – James Watt, Scottish engineer and instrument maker (b. 1736)
1822 – William Herschel, German-English astronomer and composer (b. 1738)
1867 – Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist (b. 1791)
1882 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (b. 1803)
1886 – Zinovios Valvis, Greek lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1791)
1892 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1808)
1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist, philosopher, and critic (b. 1844)
1901–present
1904 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter and lithographer (b. 1836)
1908 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
1916 – Mary Tappan Wright, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1851)
1921 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1886)
1924 – Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general and politician (b. 1818)
1924 – Velma Caldwell Melville, American editor, and writer of prose and poetry (b. 1858)
1925 – Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austrian field marshal (b. 1852)
1930 – Frankie Campbell, American boxer (b. 1904)
1931 – Dorothea Fairbridge, South African author and co-founder of Guild of Loyal Women (b. 1862)
1936 – Juliette Adam, French author (b. 1836)
1938 – Aleksandr Kuprin, Russian pilot, explorer, and author (b. 1870)
1939 – Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1904)
1940 – Prince Jean, Duke of Guise (b. 1874)
1942 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (b. 1902)
1945 – John Birch, American soldier and missionary (b. 1918)
1956 – Alfred Kinsey, American biologist and academic (b. 1894)
1965 – Moonlight Graham, American baseball player and physician (b. 1879)
1966 – Lao She, Chinese novelist and dramatist (b. 1899)
1967 – Stanley Bruce, Australian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1883)
1967 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentine race car driver (b. 1928)
1967 – Paul Muni, Ukrainian-born American actor (b. 1895)
1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American commander, politician, and activist, founded the American Nazi Party (b. 1918)
1968 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1910)
1969 – Robert Cosgrove, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1884)
1970 – Tachū Naitō, Japanese architect and engineer, designed the Tokyo Tower (b. 1886)
1971 – Ted Lewis, American singer and clarinet player (b. 1890)
1973 – Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Hungarian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1875)
1976 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
1977 – Károly Kós, Hungarian architect, ethnologist, and politician (b. 1883)
1979 – Stan Kenton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1911)
1980 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919)
1981 – Nassos Kedrakas, Greek actor and cinematographer (b. 1915)
1982 – Anna German, Polish singer (b. 1936)
1984 – Truman Capote, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1984 – Viktor Chukarin, Ukrainian gymnast and coach (b. 1921)
1984 – Waite Hoyt, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1899)
1988 – Art Rooney, American businessman, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers (b. 1901)
1990 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1903)
1995 – Doug Stegmeyer, American bass player and producer (b. 1951)
1998 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr., American lawyer and Supreme Court justice (b. 1907)
1999 – Rob Fisher, English keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1956)
2000 – Carl Barks, American author and illustrator (b. 1901)
2000 – Frederick C. Bock, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
2000 – Jack Nitzsche, American pianist, composer, and producer (b. 1937)
2000 – Allen Woody, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1955)
2001 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979)
2001 – Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
2001 – Üzeyir Garih, Turkish engineer and businessman, co-founded Alarko Holding (b. 1929)
2001 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver and businessman, founded Tyrrell Racing (b. 1924)
2002 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian author and poet (b. 1923)
2003 – Tom Feelings, American author and illustrator (b. 1933)
2005 – Peter Glotz, Czech-German academic and politician (b. 1939)
2006 – Noor Hassanali, Trinidadian-Tobagonian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1918)
2007 – Benjamin Aaron, American lawyer and scholar (b. 1915)
2007 – Ray Jones, English footballer (b. 1988)
2008 – Ahmad Faraz, Pakistani poet (b. 1931)
2008 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (b. 1964)
2009 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932)
2009 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1940)
2011 – Lazar Mojsov, Macedonian politician (b. 1920)
2012 – Florencio Amarilla, Paraguayan footballer, coach, and actor (b. 1935)
2012 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
2012 – Roberto González Barrera, Mexican banker and businessman (b. 1930)
2012 – Donald Gorrie, Scottish politician (b. 1933)
2013 – Ciril Bergles, Slovene poet and translator (b. 1934)
2013 – António Borges, Portuguese economist and banker (b. 1949)
2013 – William Froug, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1922)
2013 – Liu Fuzhi, Chinese academic and politician, 3rd Minister of Justice for China (b. 1917)
2013 – Raghunath Panigrahi, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
2013 – Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
2014 – William Greaves, American director and producer (b. 1926)
2014 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1936)
2014 – Nico M. M. Nibbering, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1938)
2014 – Uziah Thompson, Jamaican-American drummer and producer (b. 1936)
2014 – Enrique Zileri, Peruvian journalist and publisher (b. 1931)
2015 – José María Benegas, Spanish lawyer and politician (b. 1948)
2015 – Francis Sejersted, Norwegian historian and academic (b. 1936)
2016 – Marvin Kaplan, American actor (b. 1927)
2017 – Rich Piana, American bodybuilder (b. 1971)
2018 – John McCain, American politician (b. 1936)
2019 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian business magnate and engineer (b. 1937)
2022 – Mable John, American blues vocalist (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Æbbe of Coldingham
Aredius
Genesius of Arles
Genesius of Rome
Ginés de la Jara (or Genesius of Cartagena)
Gregory of Utrecht
Joseph Calasanz
Louis IX of France
Blessed Ludovicus Baba
Blessed Ludovicus Sasada
Blessed Luis Sotelo
Menas of Constantinople
Blessed Miguel de Carvalho
Patricia of Naples
Blessed Pedro Vásquez
Thomas de Cantilupe (or of Hereford)
August 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Songun (North Korea)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uruguay from Brazil in 1825.
Soldier's Day (Brazil)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1540 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneas | Aeneas | In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons of Ilus, founder of Troy), making Aeneas a second cousin to Priam's children (such as Hector and Paris). He is a minor character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgil's Aeneid, where he is cast as an ancestor of Romulus and Remus. He became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse god Víðarr of the Æsir.
Etymology
Aeneas is the Romanization of the hero's original Greek name (Aineías). Aineías is first introduced in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite when Aphrodite gives him his name from the adjective
(,
"terrible"), for the "terrible grief" () he has caused her by being born a mortal who will age and die. It is a popular etymology for the name, apparently exploited by Homer in the Iliad. Later in the Medieval period there were writers who held that, because the Aeneid was written by a philosopher, it is meant to be read philosophically. As such, in the "natural order", the meaning of Aeneas' name combines Greek ("dweller") with ("body"), which becomes or "in-dweller"—i.e. as a god inhabiting a mortal body. However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name.
Epithets
In imitation of the Iliad, Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including: Anchisiades, magnanimum, magnus, heros, and bonus. Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own, in the Aeneid: pater and pius. The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of an attitude different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is ("wily"), Aeneas is described as ("pious"), which conveys a strong moral tone. The purpose of these epithets seems to enforce the notion of Aeneas' divine hand as father and founder of the Roman race, and their use seems circumstantial: when Aeneas is praying he refers to himself as pius, and is referred to as such by the author only when the character is acting on behalf of the gods to fulfill his divine mission. Likewise, Aeneas is called pater when acting in the interest of his men.
Description
Aeneas was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "shortish, thick, good chest, strong, ruddy, flat-faced, good nose, pale, balding, good beard". Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, he was illustrated as "auburn-haired, stocky, eloquent, courteous, prudent, pious, and charming. His eyes were black and twinkling."
Greek myth and epos
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
The story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, one of the major Homeric Hymns. Aphrodite has caused Zeus to fall in love with mortal women. In retaliation, Zeus puts desire in her heart for Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near Mount Ida. When Aphrodite sees him she is smitten. She adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, but Aphrodite identifies herself as a Phrygian princess. After they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected, and tells him that she will bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that he must never tell anyone that he has lain with a goddess. When Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the nymphs of Mount Ida, instructing them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises. According to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy.
Homer's Iliad
Aeneas is a minor character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny, but is an honorable warrior in his own right. Having held back from the fighting, aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he was not given his due share of honour, he leads an attack against Idomeneus to recover the body of his brother-in-law Alcathous at the urging of Deiphobus. He is the leader of the Trojans' Dardanian allies, as well as a second cousin and principal lieutenant of Hector, son and heir of the Trojan king Priam.
Aeneas's mother Aphrodite frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield, and he is a favorite of Apollo. Aphrodite and Apollo rescue Aeneas from combat with Diomedes of Argos, who nearly kills him, and carry him away to Pergamos for healing. Even Poseidon, who usually favors the Greeks, comes to Aeneas's rescue after he falls under the assault of Achilles, noting that Aeneas, though from a junior branch of the royal family, is destined to become king of the Trojan people.
Bruce Louden presents Aeneas as "type": The sole virtuous individual (or family) spared from general destruction, following the mytheme of Utnapishtim, Baucis and Philemon, Noah, and Lot. Pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca explains that "... the Greeks [spared] him alone, on account of his piety."
Other sources
The Roman mythographer Gaius Julius Hyginus ( – CE 17) in his Fabulae credits Aeneas with killing 28 enemies in the Trojan War. Aeneas also appears in the Trojan narratives attributed to Dares Phrygius and Dictys of Crete.
Roman myth and literature
The history of Aeneas was continued by Roman authors. One influential source was the account of Rome's founding in Cato the Elder's Origines. The Aeneas legend was well known in Virgil's day and appeared in various historical works, including the Roman Antiquities of the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus (relying on Marcus Terentius Varro), Ab Urbe Condita by Livy (probably dependent on Quintus Fabius Pictor, fl. 200 BCE), and Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (now extant only in an epitome by Justin).
Virgil's Aeneid
The Aeneid explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then traveled to Italy and became progenitors of the Romans. The Aeneads included Aeneas's trumpeter Misenus, his father Anchises, his friends Achates, Sergestus, and Acmon, the healer Iapyx, the helmsman Palinurus, and his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus, Julus, or Ascanius Julius). He carried with him the Lares and Penates, the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to Italy.
Several attempts to find a new home failed; one such stop was on Sicily, where in Drepanum, on the island's western coast, his father, Anchises, died peacefully.
After a brief but fierce storm sent up against the group at Juno's request, Aeneas and his fleet made landfall at Carthage after six years of wanderings. Aeneas had a year-long affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido (also known as Elissa), who proposed that the Trojans settle in her land and that she and Aeneas reign jointly over their peoples. A marriage of sorts was arranged between Dido and Aeneas at the instigation of Juno, who was told that her favorite city would eventually be defeated by the Trojans' descendants. Aeneas's mother Venus (the Roman adaptation of Aphrodite) realized that her son and his company needed a temporary respite to reinforce themselves for the journey to come. However, the messenger god Mercury was sent by Jupiter and Venus to remind Aeneas of his journey and his purpose, compelling him to leave secretly. When Dido learned of this, she uttered a curse that would forever pit Carthage against Rome, an enmity that would culminate in the Punic Wars. She then committed suicide by stabbing herself with the same sword she gave Aeneas when they first met.
After the sojourn in Carthage, the Trojans returned to Sicily where Aeneas organized funeral games to honor his father, who had died a year before. The company traveled on and landed on the western coast of Italy. Aeneas descended into the underworld where he met Dido (who turned away from him to return to her husband) and his father, who showed him the future of his descendants and thus the history of Rome.
Latinus, king of the Latins, welcomed Aeneas's army of exiled Trojans and let them reorganize their lives in Latium. His daughter Lavinia had been promised to Turnus, king of the Rutuli, but Latinus received a prophecy that Lavinia would be betrothed to one from another land – namely, Aeneas. Latinus heeded the prophecy, and Turnus consequently declared war on Aeneas at the urging of Juno, who was aligned with King Mezentius of the Etruscans and Queen Amata of the Latins. Aeneas's forces prevailed. Turnus was killed, and Virgil's account ends abruptly.
Other sources
The rest of Aeneas's biography is gleaned from other ancient sources, including Livy and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Livy, Aeneas was victorious but Latinus died in the war. Aeneas founded the city of Lavinium, named after his wife. He later welcomed Dido's sister, Anna Perenna, who then committed suicide after learning of Lavinia's jealousy. After Aeneas's death, Venus asked Jupiter to make her son immortal. Jupiter agreed. The river god Numicus cleansed Aeneas of all his mortal parts and Venus anointed him with ambrosia and nectar, making him a god. Aeneas was recognized as the god Jupiter Indiges.
English mythology
The English once widely claimed as history, an original peopling of their island – prior to the event, a land only of fantastical giants – by descendants of Aeneas, though even in the time of the Renaissance, a non-English audience as well at least one English writer found details of the stories less than convincing.
The island known later as Great Britain, was also previously known as Alba, similarity of name supporting connection to the city of Alba in Italy, said to have been built by Alcanius, son of Aeneas, and third ruler of the Latins after Latinus, being either his grandson or step-grandson.
Even if one ignored obviously far-fetched elements of this foundation myth of Britain, Johannes Rastell writing in 1529 questioned, along these lines: Supposing the original Brits were descendants of a line of Latin kings — Brute the son of Silvius, son Alcanius, son of Aeneas who came to the Italian peninsula from Troy — then why should such a fact have escaped record in the writings of Julius Caesar when that Roman military supreme commander had personally surveyed the lands there he had conquered for Rome by 48 BC? And indeed, why should the son Brutus have escaped from Latin histories altogether, given they did deal with Silvius and Alcanius, and 'all they're childera & what became of them & how they endyd that succeeded them as kyngis'?
Other details he found were able to be discounted without resort to factual records, or with only very few facts needed other than everyday experience. Were the early inhabitants of Britain giants, descended from the Devil in union with 32 daughters of a king Dioclisian of Syria? To Rastell, if the devil had power to sow such seeds at the earlier time, then why not in his own time? Where were the giants today?
Other fanciful elements he reduced by logical deduction from intuitive psychological insights, for example the greatly diminished chance of 32 daughters married to 32 kings on a single day, and all cooperating to kill those 32 husbands in a single night ; or in combination with analysis of logistical realities, such as the suggested voyage of all 32 murderous widows to Britain without dispersion or diversion, over three thousand miles.
Rastell was further able to discount the likelihood of any factuality to that ancient tale, due to his failure to discover after diligent research, any authentic record of its origin or explanation as to why such record should be absent.
Further reading
One surviving version of the Brut chronicle is a late Middle Ages manuscript, known as the St Albans Chronicle.
Medieval accounts
Snorri Sturlason, in the Prologue of the Prose Edda, tells of the world as parted in three continents: Africa, Asia and the third part called Europe or Enea. Snorri also tells of a Trojan named Munon (or Mennon), who marries the daughter of the High King (Yfirkonungr) Priam called Troan and travels to distant lands, marries the Sybil and got a son, Tror, who, as Snorri tells, is identical to Thor. This tale resembles some episodes of the Aeneid.
Continuations of Trojan matter in the Middle Ages had their effects on the character of Aeneas as well. The 12th-century French Roman d'Enéas addresses Aeneas's sexuality. Though Virgil appears to deflect all homoeroticism onto Nisus and Euryalus, making his Aeneas a purely heterosexual character, in the Middle Ages there was at least a suspicion of homoeroticism in Aeneas. The Roman d'Enéas addresses that charge, when Queen Amata opposes Aeneas's marrying Lavinia.
Medieval interpretations of Aeneas were greatly influenced by both Virgil and other Latin sources. Specifically, the accounts by Dares and Dictys, which were reworked by the 13th-century Italian writer Guido delle Colonne (in Historia destructionis Troiae), colored many later readings. From Guido, for instance, the Pearl Poet and other English writers get the suggestion that Aeneas's safe departure from Troy with his possessions and family was a reward for treason, for which he was chastised by Hecuba. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century) the Pearl Poet, like many other English writers, employed Aeneas to establish a genealogy for the foundation of Britain, and explains that Aeneas was "impeached for his perfidy, proven most true" (line 4).
Family and legendary descendants
Aeneas had an extensive family tree. His wet-nurse was Caieta, and he is the father of Ascanius with Creusa, and of Silvius with Lavinia. Ascanius, also known as Iulus (or Julius), founded Alba Longa and was the first in a long series of kings. According to the mythology used by Virgil in the Aeneid, Romulus and Remus were both descendants of Aeneas through their mother Rhea Silvia, making Aeneas the progenitor of the Roman people. Some early sources call him their father or grandfather, but once the dates of the fall of Troy (1184 BCE) and the founding of Rome (753 BCE) became accepted, authors added generations between them. The Julian family of Rome, most notably Julius Cæsar and Augustus, traced their lineage to Ascanius and Aeneas, thus to the goddess Venus. Through the Julians, the Palemonids make this claim. The legendary kings of Britain – including King Arthur – trace their family through a grandson of Aeneas, Brutus.
Character and appearance
Aeneas's consistent epithet in Virgil and other Latin authors is pius, a term that connotes reverence toward the gods and familial dutifulness.
In the Aeneid, Aeneas is described as strong and handsome, but neither his hair colour nor complexion are described. In late antiquity however sources add further physical descriptions. The De excidio Troiae of Dares Phrygius describes Aeneas as "auburn-haired, stocky, eloquent, courteous, prudent, pious, and charming". There is also a brief physical description found in the 6th-century John Malalas' Chronographia: "Aeneas: short, fat, with a good chest, powerful, with a ruddy complexion, a broad face, a good nose, fair skin, bald on the forehead, a good beard, grey eyes."
Modern portrayals
Literature
Aeneas appears as a character in William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida, set during the Trojan War.
Aeneas and Dido are the main characters of a 17th-century broadside ballad called "The Wandering Prince of Troy". The ballad ultimately alters Aeneas's fate from traveling on years after Dido's death to joining her as a spirit soon after her suicide.
In modern literature, Aeneas is the speaker in two poems by Allen Tate, "Aeneas at Washington" and "Aeneas at New York". He is a main character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Lavinia, a re-telling of the last six books of the Aeneid told from the point of view of Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus of Latium.
Aeneas appears in David Gemmell's Troy series as a main heroic character who goes by the name Helikaon.
In Rick Riordan's book series The Heroes of Olympus, Aeneas is regarded as the first Roman demigod, son of Venus rather than Aphrodite.
Will Adams' novel City of the Lost assumes that much of the information provided by Virgil is mistaken, and that the true Aeneas and Dido did not meet and love in Carthage but in a Phoenician colony at Cyprus, on the site of the modern Famagusta. Their tale is interspersed with that of modern activists who, while striving to stop an ambitious Turkish Army general trying to stage a coup, accidentally discover the hidden ruins of Dido's palace.
Opera, film and other media
Aeneas is a title character in Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas (), and Jakob Greber's (Aeneas in Carthage) (1711), and one of the principal roles in Hector Berlioz' opera Les Troyens (), as well as in Metastasio's immensely popular opera libretto Didone abbandonata. Canadian composer James Rolfe composed his opera Aeneas and Dido (2007; to a libretto by André Alexis) as a companion piece to Purcell's opera.
Despite its many dramatic elements, Aeneas's story has generated little interest from the film industry. Ronald Lewis portrayed Aeneas in Helen of Troy, directed by Robert Wise, as a supporting character, who is a member of the Trojan Royal family, and a close and loyal friend to Paris, and escapes at the end of the film. Portrayed by Steve Reeves, he was the main character in the 1961 sword and sandal film Guerra di Troia (The Trojan War). Reeves reprised the role the following year in the film The Avenger, about Aeneas's arrival in Latium and his conflicts with local tribes as he tries to settle his fellow Trojan refugees there.
Giulio Brogi, portrayed as Aeneas in the 1971 Italian TV miniseries series called Eneide, which gives the whole story of the Aeneid, from Aeneas escape from to Troy, to his meeting of Dido, his arrival in Italy, and his duel with Turnus.
The most recent cinematic portrayal of Aeneas was in the film Troy, in which he appears as a youth charged by Paris to protect the Trojan refugees, and to continue the ideals of the city and its people. Paris gives Aeneas Priam's sword, in order to give legitimacy and continuity to the royal line of Troy – and lay the foundations of Roman culture. In this film, he is not a member of the royal family and does not appear to fight in the war.
In the role-playing game Vampire: The Requiem by White Wolf Game Studios, Aeneas figures as one of the mythical founders of the Ventrue Clan.
in the action game Warriors: Legends of Troy, Aeneas is a playable character. The game ends with him and the Aeneans fleeing Troy's destruction and, spurned by the words of a prophetess thought crazed, goes to a new country (Italy) where he will start an empire greater than Greece and Troy combined that shall rule the world for 1000 years, never to be outdone in the tale of men (the Roman Empire).
In the 2018 TV miniseries Troy: Fall of a City, Aeneas is portrayed by Alfred Enoch. He also featured as an Epic Fighter of the Dardania faction in the Total War Saga: Troy in 2020.
Depictions in art
Scenes depicting Aeneas, especially from the Aeneid, have been the focus of study for centuries. They have been the frequent subject of art and literature since their debut in the 1st century.
Villa Valmarana
The artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was commissioned by Gaetano Valmarana in 1757 to fresco several rooms in the Villa Valmarana, the family villa situated outside Vicenza. Tiepolo decorated the palazzina with scenes from epics such as Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid.
Aeneas flees Troy
Aeneas with Dido
Family tree
See also
Cumaean Sibyl
Lacrimae rerum
The Golden Bough
Latin kings of Alba Longa
Notes
References
Sources
Homer, Iliad II. 819–21; V. 217–575; XIII. 455–544; XX. 75–352.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca III. xii. 2; Epitome III. 32–IV. 2; V. 21.
Virgil, Aeneid.
Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII. 623–715; XIV. 75–153; 581–608.
Ovid, Heroides, VII.
Livy, Book 1.1–2.
Dictys Cretensis.
Dares Phrygius.
Further reading
Cramer, D. "The Wrath of Aeneas: Iliad 13.455–67 and 20.75–352." Syllecta Classica, vol. 11, 2000, pp. 16–33. .
de Vasconcellos, P.S. "A Sound Play on Aeneas' Name in the Aeneid: A Brief Note on VII.69." Vergilius (1959–), vol. 61, 2015, pp. 125–29. .
Farron, S. "The Aeneas–Dido Episode as an Attack on Aeneas' Mission and Rome." Greece & Rome, vol. 27, no. 1, 1980, pp. 34–47. . .
Gowers, E. "Trees and Family Trees in the Aeneid." Classical Antiquity, vol. 30, no. 1, 2011, pp. 87–118. . .
Grillo, L. "Leaving Troy and Creusa: Reflections on Aeneas' Flight." The Classical Journal, vol. 106, no. 1, 2010, pp. 43–68. . .
Noonan, J. "Sum Pius Aeneas: Aeneas and the Leader as Conservator/Σωτήρ" The Classical Bulletin. vol. 83, no. 1, 2007, pp. 65–91.
Putnam, M.C.J. The Humanness of Heroes: Studies in the Conclusion of Virgil's Aeneid. The Amsterdam Vergil lectures, 1. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011.
Starr, R.J. "Aeneas the Rhetorician: 'Aeneid IV', 279–95." Latomus, vol. 62, no. 1, 2003, pp. 36–46. .
Scafoglio, G. "The Betrayal of Aeneas." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, vol. 53 no. 1, 2013, pp. 1–14.
Schauer, M. Aeneas dux in Vergils Aeneis. Eine literarische Fiktion in augusteischer Zeit. Zetemata vol. 128. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2007.
External links
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (about 900 images related to the Aeneid)
Trojan Leaders
Characters in the Aeneid
Greek mythological heroes
Children of Aphrodite
Characters in Roman mythology
Heroes who ventured to Hades
Demigods in classical mythology
Legendary progenitors
Metamorphoses characters
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Events
Pre-1600
1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1601–1900
1612 – Samurai Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō in a duel at Funajima island.
1613 – Samuel Argall, having captured Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father.
1699 – The Sikh religion is formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saintsby Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.
1849 – Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly.
1861 – American Civil War: Union forces surrender Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.
1865 – American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union forces.
1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.
1873 – The Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan.
1901–present
1909 – The 31 March Incident leads to the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
1919 – Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops led by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer kill approximately 379–1,000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India; and approximately 1,500 injured.
1941 – A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
1943 – World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.
1945 – World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.
1945 – World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.
1948 – In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.
1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra.
1958 – American pianist Van Cliburn is awarded first prize at the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.
1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
1970 – An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon.
1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
1975 – An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
1976 – Forty workers die in an explosion at the Lapua ammunition factory, the deadliest accidental disaster in modern history in Finland.
1996 – Two women and four children are killed after Israeli helicopter fired rockets at an ambulance in Mansouri, Lebanon.
1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2017 – The US drops the largest ever non-nuclear weapon on Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.
2023 – The house of Jack Teixeira was raided in an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents, where he was later arrested on the same day.
Births
Pre-1600
1229 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1294)
1350 – Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (d. 1405)
1506 – Peter Faber, French priest and theologian, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1546)
1519 – Catherine de' Medici, Italian-French wife of Henry II of France (d. 1589)
1570 – Guy Fawkes, English soldier, member of the Gunpowder Plot (probable; d. 1606)
1573 – Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1625)
1593 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1641)
1601–1900
1618 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (d. 1693)
1636 – Hendrik van Rheede, Dutch botanist (d. 1691)
1648 – Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (d. 1717)
1713 – Pierre Jélyotte, French tenor (d. 1797)
1729 – Thomas Percy, Irish bishop and poet (d. 1811)
1732 – Frederick North, Lord North, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1792)
1735 – Isaac Low, American merchant and politician, founded the New York Chamber of Commerce (d. 1791)
1743 – Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
1747 – Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1793)
1764 – Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1830)
1769 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (d. 1830)
1771 – Richard Trevithick, Cornish-English engineer and explorer (d. 1833)
1780 – Alexander Mitchell, Irish engineer, invented the Screw-pile lighthouse (d. 1868)
1784 – Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
1787 – John Robertson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1873)
1794 – Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist and academic (d. 1867)
1802 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist and herpetologist (d. 1884)
1808 – Antonio Meucci, Italian-American engineer (d. 1889)
1810 – Félicien David, French composer (d. 1876)
1824 – William Alexander, Irish archbishop, poet, and theologian (d. 1911)
1825 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1868)
1828 – Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (d. 1906)
1828 – Joseph Lightfoot, English bishop and theologian (d. 1889)
1832 – Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorian author and diplomat (d. 1889)
1841 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (d. 1905)
1850 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, Irish astronomer (d. 1917)
1851 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (d. 1928)
1851 – William Quan Judge, Irish occultist and theosophist (d. 1896)
1852 – Frank Winfield Woolworth, American businessman, founded the F. W. Woolworth Company (d. 1919)
1854 – Lucy Craft Laney, American founder of the Haines Normal and Industrial School, Augusta, Georgia (d. 1933)
1860 – James Ensor, English-Belgian painter, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism (d. 1949)
1866 – Butch Cassidy, American criminal (d. 1908)
1872 – John Cameron, Scottish international footballer and manager (d. 1935)
1872 – Alexander Roda Roda, Austrian-Croatian journalist and author (d. 1945)
1873 – John W. Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Solicitor General (d. 1955)
1875 – Ray Lyman Wilbur, American physician, academic, and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1949)
1879 – Edward Bruce, American lawyer and painter (d. 1943)
1879 – Oswald Bruce Cooper, American type designer, lettering artist, graphic designer, and educator (d. 1940)
1880 – Charles Christie, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded the Christie Film Company (d. 1955)
1885 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1885 – Juhan Kukk, Estonian politician, Head of State of Estonia (d. 1942)
1885 – György Lukács, Hungarian philosopher and critic (d. 1971)
1885 – Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Dutch politician (d. 1961)
1887 – Gordon S. Fahrni, Canadian physician and golfer (d. 1995)
1889 – Herbert Yardley, American cryptologist and author (d. 1958)
1890 – Frank Murphy, American jurist and politician, 56th United States Attorney General (d. 1949)
1890 – Dadasaheb Torne, Indian director and producer (d. 1960)
1891 – Maurice Buckley, Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1921)
1891 – Nella Larsen, Danish/African-American nurse, librarian, and author (d. 1964)
1891 – Robert Scholl, German accountant and politician (d. 1973)
1892 – Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet, English air marshal (d. 1984)
1892 – Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, invented Radar (d. 1973)
1894 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)
1894 – Joie Ray, American runner (d. 1978)
1896 – Fred Barnett, English footballer (d. 1982)
1897 – Werner Voss, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1917)
1899 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and game designer, created Scrabble (d. 1993)
1899 – Harold Osborn, American high jumper and decathlete (d. 1975)
1900 – Sorcha Boru, American potter and ceramic sculptor (d. 2006)
1900 – Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer (d. 1976)
1901–present
1901 – Jacques Lacan, French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1981)
1901 – Alan Watt, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian Ambassador to Japan (d. 1988)
1902 – Philippe de Rothschild, French Grand Prix driver, playwright, and producer (d. 1988)
1902 – Marguerite Henry, American author (d. 1997)
1904 – David Robinson, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1987)
1905 – Rae Johnstone, Australian jockey (d. 1964)
1906 – Samuel Beckett, Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1906 – Bud Freeman, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
1907 – Harold Stassen, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2001)
1909 – Eudora Welty, American short story writer and novelist (d. 2001)
1911 – Ico Hitrec, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 1946)
1911 – Jean-Louis Lévesque, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1994)
1911 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1913 – Dave Albritton, American high jumper and coach (d. 1994)
1913 – Kermit Tyler, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 2010)
1914 – Orhan Veli Kanık, Turkish poet and author (d. 1950)
1916 – Phyllis Fraser, Welsh-American actress, journalist, and publisher, co-founded Beginner Books (d. 2006)
1917 – Robert Orville Anderson, American businessman, founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
1917 – Bill Clements, American soldier, engineer, and politician, 15th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (d. 2011)
1919 – Roland Gaucher, French journalist and politician (d. 2007)
1919 – Howard Keel, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American activist, founded American Atheists (d. 1995)
1920 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (d. 1982)
1920 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2012)
1920 – Liam Cosgrave, Irish lawyer and politician, 6th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2017)
1920 – Theodore L. Thomas, American chemical engineer, Patent attorney and writer (d. 2005)
1922 – Heinz Baas, German footballer and manager (d. 1994)
1922 – John Braine, English librarian and author (d. 1986)
1922 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician and teacher, 1st President of Tanzania (d. 1999)
1922 – Valve Pormeister, Estonian architect (d. 2002)
1923 – Don Adams, American actor and director (d. 2005)
1923 – A. H. Halsey, English sociologist and academic (d. 2014)
1924 – John T. Biggers, American painter (d. 2001)
1924 – Jack T. Chick, American author, illustrator, and publisher (d. 2016)
1924 – Stanley Donen, American film director and choreographer (d. 2019)
1926 – Ellie Lambeti, Greek actress (d. 1983)
1926 – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English businessman (d. 2014)
1927 – Rosemary Haughton, English philosopher, theologian, and author
1927 – Antonino Rocca, Italian-American wrestler (d. 1977)
1927 – Maurice Ronet, French actor and director (d. 1983)
1928 – Alan Clark, English historian and politician, Minister of State for Trade (d. 1999)
1928 – Gianni Marzotto, Italian racing driver and businessman (d. 2012)
1929 – Marilynn Smith, American golfer (d. 2019)
1931 – Anita Cerquetti, Italian soprano (d. 2014)
1931 – Robert Enrico, French director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1931 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver and engineer (d. 2018)
1931 – Jon Stone, American composer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1932 – Orlando Letelier, Chilean-American economist and politician, Chilean Minister of National Defense (d. 1976)
1933 – Ben Nighthorse Campbell, American soldier and politician
1934 – John Muckler, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2021)
1936 – Pierre Rosenberg, French historian and academic
1937 – Col Joye, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1937 – Edward Fox, English actor
1937 – Lanford Wilson, American playwright, co-founded the Circle Repertory Company (d. 2011)
1938 – Klaus Lehnertz, German pole vaulter
1938 – John Weston, English poet and diplomat
1939 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1939 – Paul Sorvino, American actor and singer (d. 2022)
1940 – Mike Beuttler, Egyptian-English racing driver (d. 1988)
1940 – Lester Chambers, American singer and musician
1940 – J. M. G. Le Clézio, Breton French-Mauritian author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Vladimir Cosma, French composer, conductor and violinist
1940 – Jim McNab, Scottish footballer (d. 2006)
1940 – Max Mosley, English racing driver and engineer, co-founded March Engineering, former president of the FIA (d. 2021)
1940 – Ruby Puryear Hearn, African-American biophysicist
1941 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Jean-Marc Reiser, French author and illustrator (d. 1983)
1942 – Bill Conti, American composer and conductor
1943 – Alan Jones, Australian rugby coach and radio host
1943 – Tim Krabbé, Dutch journalist and author
1943 – Philip Norman, English journalist, author, and playwright
1944 – Susan Davis, Russian-American social worker and politician
1945 – Judy Nunn, Australian actress and author
1946 – Al Green, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor
1947 – Rae Armantrout, American poet and academic
1947 – Mike Chapman, Australian-English songwriter and producer
1947 – Jean-Jacques Laffont, French economist and academic (d. 2004)
1947 – Thanos Mikroutsikos, Greek composer and politician (d. 2019)
1948 – Nam Hae-il, South Korean admiral
1948 – Drago Jančar, Slovenian author and playwright
1948 – Mikhail Shufutinsky, Soviet and Russian singer, actor, TV presenter
1949 – Len Cook, New Zealand-English mathematician and statistician
1949 – Frank Doran, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1949 – Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (d. 2011)
1950 – Ron Perlman, American actor
1950 – Tommy Raudonikis, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2021)
1950 – William Sadler, American actor
1951 – Leszek Borysiewicz, Welsh immunologist and academic
1951 – Peabo Bryson, American singer
1951 – Peter Davison, English actor
1951 – Max Weinberg, American musician and bandleader
1952 – Gabrielle Gourdeau, Canadian writer (d. 2006)
1952 – Jonjo O'Neill, Irish jockey and trainer
1955 – Steve Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Muwenda Mutebi II, current King of Buganda Kingdom
1960 – Rudi Völler, German footballer and manager
1963 – Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player and author
1964 – Davis Love III, American golfer and sportscaster
1965 – Patricio Pouchulu, Argentinian architect and educator
1967 – Dana Barros, American basketball player and coach
1967 – Michael Eisen, American biologist and academic
1967 – Olga Tañón, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter
1970 – Ricky Schroder, American actor
1971 – Franck Esposito, French swimmer
1971 – Danie Mellor, Australian painter and sculptor
1971 – Bo Outlaw, American basketball player
1972 – Aaron Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Bokeem Woodbine, American actor
1975 – Lou Bega, German singer
1976 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
1976 – Dan Campbell, American football player and coach
1976 – Glenn Howerton, American actor
1977 – Margus Tsahkna, Estonian lawyer and politician
1978 – Carles Puyol, Spanish footballer
1979 – Baron Davis, American basketball player
1980 – Quentin Richardson, American basketball player
1982 – Nellie McKay, British-American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress
1982 – Ty Dolla Sign, American singer, songwriter, and musician
1983 – Hunter Pence, American baseball player
1986 – Lorenzo Cain, American baseball player
1987 – John-Allison Weiss, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Allison Williams, American actress and singer
1989 – Josh Reynolds, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Josh Gordon, American football player
1993 – Melvin Gordon, American football player
1993 – Darrun Hilliard, American basketball player
1994 – Kahraba, Egyptian footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
548 – Lý Nam Đế, Vietnamese emperor (b. 503)
585 – Hermenegild, Visigothic prince and saint
799 – Paul the Deacon, Italian monk and historian (b. 720)
814 – Krum, khan of the Bulgarian Khanate
862 – Donald I, king of the Picts (b. 812)
989 – Bardas Phokas, Byzantine general
1035 – Herbert I, Count of Maine
1093 – Vsevolod I of Kiev (b. 1030)
1113 – Ida of Lorraine, saint and noblewoman (b. c. 1040)
1138 – Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)
1213 – Guy of Thouars, regent of Brittany
1275 – Eleanor of England (b. 1215)
1367 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (b. 1313)
1592 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)
1601–1900
1605 – Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia (b. 1551)
1612 – Sasaki Kojirō, Japanese samurai (b. 1585)
1635 – Fakhr-al-Din II, Ottoman prince (b. 1572)
1638 – Henri, Duke of Rohan (b. 1579)
1641 – Richard Montagu, English bishop (b. 1577)
1695 – Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (b. 1621)
1716 – Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, English admiral and politician (b. 1648)
1722 – Charles Leslie, Irish priest and theologian (b. 1650)
1793 – Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French botanist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1763)
1794 – Nicolas Chamfort, French playwright and poet (b. 1741)
1826 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (b. 1763)
1853 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist and academic (b. 1788)
1853 – James Iredell, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of North Carolina (b. 1788)
1855 – Henry De la Beche, English geologist and palaeontologist (b. 1796)
1868 – Tewodros II of Ethiopia (b. 1818)
1880 – Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist and author (b. 1813)
1882 – Bruno Bauer, German historian and philosopher (b. 1809)
1886 – John Humphrey Noyes, American religious leader, founded the Oneida Community (b. 1811)
1890 – Samuel J. Randall, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 33rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1828)
1901–present
1909 – Whitley Stokes, Anglo-Irish lawyer and scholar (b. 1830)
1910 – William Quiller Orchardson, Scottish-English painter and educator (b. 1835)
1911 – John McLane, Scottish-American politician, 50th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1852)
1911 – George Washington Glick, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Kansas (b. 1827)
1912 – Takuboku Ishikawa, Japanese poet and author (b. 1886)
1917 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1856)
1918 – Lavr Kornilov, Russian general (b. 1870)
1927 – Georg Voigt, German politician, Mayor of Frankfurt (b. 1866)
1936 – Konstantinos Demertzis, Greek politician 129th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
1938 – Grey Owl, English-Canadian environmentalist and author (b. 1888)
1941 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer and academic (b. 1863)
1941 – William Twaits, Canadian soccer player (b. 1879)
1942 – Henk Sneevliet, Dutch politician (b. 1883)
1942 – Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (b. 1879)
1944 – Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and composer (b. 1857)
1945 – Ernst Cassirer, Polish-American philosopher and academic (b. 1874)
1954 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (b. 1880)
1954 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1890)
1956 – Emil Nolde, Danish-German painter and educator (b. 1867)
1959 – Eduard van Beinum, Dutch pianist, violinist, and conductor (b. 1901)
1961 – John A. Bennett, American soldier (b. 1936)
1962 – Culbert Olson, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of California (b. 1876)
1966 – Abdul Salam Arif, Iraqi colonel and politician, 2nd President of Iraq (b. 1921)
1966 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (b. 1881)
1966 – Georges Duhamel, French soldier and author (b. 1884)
1967 – Nicole Berger, French actress (b. 1934)
1969 – Alfred Karindi, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1901)
1971 – Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
1971 – Juhan Smuul, Estonian author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1975 – Larry Parks, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
1975 – François Tombalbaye, Chadian soldier, academic, and politician, 1st President of Chad (b. 1918)
1978 – Jack Chambers, Canadian painter and director (b. 1931)
1978 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian educator and women's rights activist (b. 1900)
1980 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (b. 1956)
1983 – Gerry Hitchens, English footballer (b. 1934)
1983 – Theodore Stephanides, Greek physician, author, and poet (b. 1896)
1984 – Ralph Kirkpatrick, American harpsichordist and musicologist (b. 1911)
1988 – Jean Gascon, Canadian actor and director (b. 1920)
1992 – Maurice Sauvé, Canadian economist and politician (b. 1923)
1992 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (b. 1921)
1992 – Daniel Pollock, Australian actor (b. 1968)
1993 – Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1909)
1996 – Leila Mackinlay, English author and educator (b. 1910)
1997 – Bryant Bowles, American soldier and activist, founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People (b. 1920)
1997 – Alan Cooley, Australian public servant (b. 1920)
1997 – Dorothy Frooks, American author and actress (b. 1896)
1997 – Voldemar Väli, Estonian wrestler (b. 1903)
1998 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and base jumper (b. 1960)
1999 – Ortvin Sarapu, Estonian-New Zealand chess player and author (b. 1924)
1999 – Willi Stoph, German engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of East Germany (b. 1914)
2000 – Giorgio Bassani, Italian author and poet (b. 1916)
2000 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (b. 1910)
2004 – Caron Keating, Northern Irish television host (b. 1962)
2005 – Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (b. 1924)
2005 – Phillip Pavia, American painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
2006 – Muriel Spark, Scottish novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1918)
2008 – John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist and academic (b. 1911)
2012 – Cecil Chaudhry, Pakistani pilot, academic, and activist (b. 1941)
2012 – Shūichi Higurashi, Japanese illustrator (b. 1936)
2013 – Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (b. 1924)
2014 – Ernesto Laclau, Argentinian-Spanish philosopher and theorist (b. 1935)
2014 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (b. 1951)
2015 – Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist and author (b. 1940)
2015 – Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, and illustrator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2015 – Herb Trimpe, American author and illustrator (b. 1939)
2017 – Dan Rooney, American football executive and former United States Ambassador to Ireland (b. 1932)
2022 – Michel Bouquet, French stage and film actor (b. 1925)
2022 – Gloria Parker, American musician and bandleader (b.1921)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Catholic commemoration of Ida of Louvain
April 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Songkran
Songkran (Thailand)
Water-Sprinkling Festival
Vaisakhi (between 1902 and 2011)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 13
Days of the year
April |
1628 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2023 | August 23 |
Events
Pre-1600
30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, the eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.
79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops.
1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to the Khwarazmiyya.
1268 – The Battle of Tagliacozzo marks the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy.
1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.
1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.
1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.
1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory.
1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara.
1601–1900
1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.
1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
1782 – British forces under Edward Despard complete the reconquest of the Black River settlements on the Mosquito Coast from the Spanish.
1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.
1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.
1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.
1831 – Nat Turner's rebellion of enslaved Virginians is suppressed.
1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China.
1864 – American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.
1866 – The Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.
1873 – The Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens.
1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.
1901–present
1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented.
1914 – World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army.
1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany.
1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary; of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.
1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter perform the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.
1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.
1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine occur, continuing until the next day, resulting in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.
1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret protocol to the pact, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania are divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".
1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Red Army for the second time after the Battle of Kursk.
1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allied forces.
1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is later arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.
1944 – Freckleton air disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.
1945 – World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War".
1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein.
1948 – The World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries.
1954 – The first flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft takes place.
1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.
1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
1975 – The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.
1975 – The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, northwest of Detroit, Michigan
1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.
1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.
1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.
1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.
1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public.
1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.
2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity.
2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.
2010 – The Manila hostage crisis occurred near the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Philippines killing 9 people including the perpetrator while injuring 9 others.
2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington, D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at 200 million–300 million USD.
2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.
2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others.
2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.
2023 – Chandrayaan-3 mission initiated first Moon landing in Indian history.
2023 – A business jet carrying key leadership members of the Russian private military company Wagner Group crashes, killing all ten people on-board.
Births
Pre-1600
1482 – Jo Gwang-jo, Korean philosopher (d. 1520)
1486 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Slovenian historian and diplomat (d. 1566)
1498 – Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal (d. 1500)
1524 – François Hotman, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1590)
1579 – Thomas Dempster, Scottish scholar and historian (d. 1625)
1601–1900
1623 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, theologian, and historian (d. 1675)
1724 – Abraham Yates Jr., American lawyer and civil servant (d. 1796)
1741 – Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, French admiral and explorer (d. 1788)
1754 – Louis XVI of France (d. 1793)
1768 – Astley Cooper, British surgeon and anatomist (d. 1841)
1769 – Georges Cuvier, French biologist and academic (d. 1832)
1783 – William Tierney Clark, English engineer, designed the Hammersmith Bridge (d. 1852)
1785 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (d. 1819)
1800 – Evangelos Zappas, Greek patriot, philanthropist, and businessman (d. 1865)
1805 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian judge and politician (d. 1893)
1814 – James Roosevelt Bayley, American archbishop (d. 1877)
1829 – Moritz Cantor, German mathematician and historian (d. 1920)
1843 – William Southam, Canadian publisher (d. 1932)
1846 – Alexander Milne Calder, Scottish-American sculptor (d. 1923)
1847 – Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1927)
1849 – William Ernest Henley, English poet and critic (d. 1903)
1850 – John Cockburn, Scottish-Australian politician, 18th Premier of South Australia (d. 1929)
1852 – Radha Gobinda Kar, Indian physician and philanthropist (d. 1918)
1852 – Clímaco Calderón, Colombian lawyer and politician, 15th President of Colombia (d. 1913)
1852 – Arnold Toynbee, English economist and historian (d. 1883)
1854 – Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-German pianist and composer (d. 1925)
1864 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek lawyer, jurist, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
1867 – Edgar de Wahl, Ukrainian-Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1948)
1868 – Edgar Lee Masters, American lawyer, author, poet, and playwright (d. 1950)
1872 – Tanguturi Prakasam, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Andhra (d. 1957)
1875 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (d. 1966)
1875 – Eugene Lanceray, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1946)
1877 – István Medgyaszay, Hungarian architect and academic (d. 1959)
1880 – Alexander Grin, Russian sailor and author (d. 1932)
1882 – Volin, Russia anarchist intellectual (d. 1945)
1883 – Jonathan M. Wainwright, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1953)
1884 – Will Cuppy, American author and critic (d. 1949)
1884 – Ogden L. Mills, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
1890 – Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1971)
1891 – Roy Agnew, Australian pianist and composer (d. 1944)
1891 – Minna Craucher, Finnish socialite and spy (d. 1932)
1894 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (d. 1959)
1897 – Henry F. Pringle, American historian and journalist (d. 1958)
1900 – Frances Adaskin, Canadian pianist (d. 2001)
1900 – Ernst Krenek, Austrian-American composer and educator (d. 1991)
1900 – Malvina Reynolds, American singer-songwriter and activist (d. 1978)
1901–present
1901 – Guy Bush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
1901 – John Sherman Cooper, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 2nd United States Ambassador to East Germany (d. 1991)
1904 – William Primrose, Scottish viola player and educator (d. 1982)
1905 – Ernie Bushmiller, American cartoonist (d. 1982)
1905 – Constant Lambert, English composer and conductor (d. 1951)
1906 – Zoltan Sarosy, Hungarian-Canadian chess master (d. 2017)
1908 – Hannah Frank, Scottish sculptor and illustrator (d. 2008)
1909 – Syd Buller, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1970)
1910 – Lonny Frey, American baseball player and soldier (d. 2009)
1910 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer and manager (d. 1979)
1911 – Betty Robinson, American sprinter (d. 1999)
1911 – J.V. Cunningham, American poet, literary critic, and translator (d. 1985)
1912 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1996)
1912 – Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and race car driver (d. 2008)
1913 – Bob Crosby, American swing singer and bandleader (d. 1993)
1917 – Tex Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1985)
1919 – Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin, Azerbaijani mathematician and theorist (d. 1984)
1921 – Kenneth Arrow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1921 – Sam Cook, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1996)
1922 – Nazik Al-Malaika, Iraqi poet and academic (d. 2007)
1922 – Jean Darling, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1922 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1924 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (d. 2005)
1924 – Robert Solow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 – Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (d. 2008)
1926 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2006)
1926 – Gyula Hernádi, Hungarian author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1927 – Dick Bruna, Dutch author and illustrator (d. 2017)
1927 – Allan Kaprow, American painter and author (d. 2006)
1927 – Martial Solal, Algerian-French pianist and composer
1928 – Marian Seldes, American actress (d. 2014)
1929 – Vladimir Beekman, Estonian poet and translator (d. 2009)
1929 – Zoltán Czibor, Hungarian footballer (d. 1997)
1929 – Vera Miles, American actress
1929 – Peter Thomson, Australian golfer (d. 2018)
1930 – Michel Rocard, French civil servant and politician, 160th Prime Minister of France (d. 2016)
1931 – Barbara Eden, American actress and singer
1931 – Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Houari Boumediene, Algerian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Algeria (d. 1978)
1932 – Enos Nkala, Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (d. 2013)
1932 – Mark Russell, American comedian and pianist
1933 – Robert Curl, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
1933 – Don Talbot, Australian swim coach and administrator (d. 2020)
1933 – Pete Wilson, American commander and politician, 36th Governor of California
1934 – Sonny Jurgensen, American football player and sportscaster
1935 – Roy Strong, English historian, curator, and author
1936 – Rudy Lewis, American R&B singer (d. 1964)
1936 – Henry Lee Lucas, American murderer (d. 2001)
1936 – Chuck Brown, American musician, "The Godfather of Go-Go" (d. 2012)
1938 – Giacomo Bini, Italian priest and missionary (d. 2014)
1938 – Roger Greenaway, English singer-songwriter and producer
1940 – Galen Rowell, American mountaineer and photographer (d. 2002)
1940 – Richard Sanders, American actor and screenwriter
1941 – Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, British philosopher, academic, and politician
1942 – Nancy Richey, American tennis player
1943 – Dale Campbell-Savours, Baron Campbell-Savours, English businessman and politician
1943 – Nelson DeMille, American lieutenant and author
1943 – Peter Lilley, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
1943 – Pino Presti, Italian bass player, composer, conductor, and producer
1944 – Antonia Novello, Puerto Rican-American physician and admiral, 14th Surgeon General of the United States
1945 – Rayfield Wright, American football player and coach
1946 – Keith Moon, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 1978)
1947 – David Robb, Scottish actor
1947 – Willy Russell, English playwright and composer
1947 – Linda Thompson, English folk-rock singer-songwriter
1948 – Atef Bseiso, Palestinian intelligence officer (d. 1992)
1948 – Andrei Pleșu, Romanian journalist and politician, 95th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1948 – Rudy Ruettiger, American football player
1948 – Lev Zeleny, Russian physicist and academic
1949 – Vicky Leandros, Greek singer and politician
1949 – Shelley Long, American actress
1949 – Rick Springfield, Australian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1950 – Luigi Delneri, Italian footballer and manager
1951 – Mark Hudson, American record producer and musician
1951 – Jimi Jamison, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2014)
1951 – Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen cleric and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic (d. 2004)
1951 – Queen Noor of Jordan
1952 – Santillana, Spanish footballer
1952 – Georgios Paraschos, Greek footballer and manager
1953 – Bobby G, English singer-songwriter
1954 – Charles Busch, American actor and screenwriter
1954 – Halimah Yacob, Singaporean unionist and politician, 9th Speaker and 8th President of Singapore
1955 – David Learner, British actor
1956 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician and academic (d. 1991)
1956 – Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norwegian educator and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture
1956 – Skipp Sudduth, American actor
1957 – Tasos Mitropoulos, Greek footballer and politician
1958 – Julio Franco, Dominican baseball player and manager
1959 – Edwyn Collins, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1959 – George Kalovelonis, Greek tennis player and coach
1960 – Gary Hoey, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1961 – Dean DeLeo, American guitarist and songwriter
1961 – Alexandre Desplat, French composer and conductor
1961 – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian commander and politician, 54th Mayor of Tehran
1961 – Gary Mabbutt, English footballer
1961 – Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese actress
1962 – Martin Cauchon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 46th Canadian Minister of Justice
1962 – Shaun Ryder, English singer-songwriter and actor
1963 – Park Chan-wook, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Glória Pires, Brazilian actress
1963 – Richard Illingworth, English cricketer and umpire
1963 – Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
1964 – Ray Ferraro, Canadian ice hockey player and broadcaster
1964 – Kong Hee, Singaporean minister and criminal
1965 – Roger Avary, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Rik Smits, Dutch-American basketball player
1967 – Jim Murphy, Scottish lawyer and politician, Minister of State for Europe
1967 – Richard Petrie, New Zealand cricketer
1968 – Laura Claycomb, American soprano
1968 – Chris DiMarco, American golfer
1968 – Cortez Kennedy, American football player (d. 2017)
1969 – Tinus Linee, South African rugby player and coach (d. 2014)
1969 – Jack Lopresti, English soldier and politician
1969 – Jeremy Schaap, American journalist and author
1969 – Keith Tyson, English painter and illustrator
1970 – Lawrence Frank, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Jason Hetherington, Australian rugby league player
1970 – Jay Mohr, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – River Phoenix, American actor (d. 1993)
1971 – Demetrio Albertini, Italian footballer and manager
1971 – Tim Gutberlet, German footballer
1971 – Gretchen Whitmer, 49th Governor of Michigan
1972 – Mark Butcher, English cricketer and singer
1972 – Raul Casanova, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1972 – Anthony Calvillo, Canadian football player
1972 – Martin Grainger, English footballer and manager
1972 – Manuel Vidrio, Mexican footballer, coach, and manager
1973 – Casey Blake, American baseball player
1973 – Kerry Walmsley, New Zealand cricketer
1974 – Lexi Alexander, American film and television director
1974 – Mark Bellhorn, American baseball player
1974 – Benjamin Limo, Kenyan runner
1974 – Konstantin Novoselov, Russian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1974 – Ray Park, Scottish actor and stuntman
1975 – Eliza Carthy, English folk musician
1975 – Sean Marks, New Zealand basketball player and manager
1975 – Jarkko Ruutu, Finnish ice hockey player
1976 – Scott Caan, American actor
1976 – Pat Garrity, American basketball player and executive
1976 – Melanie Gabriel, English singer
1977 – Douglas Sequeira, Costa Rican footballer and manager
1977 – Jared Fogle, American spokesman and criminal
1978 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player and businessman (d. 2020)
1978 – Julian Casablancas, American singer-songwriter and producer
1978 – Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1978 – Andrew Rannells, American actor and singer
1979 – Jessica Bibby, Australian basketball player
1979 – Saskia Clark, English sailor
1979 – Edgar Sosa, Mexican boxer
1979 – Zuzana Váleková, Slovak tennis player
1980 – Denny Bautista, Dominican baseball player
1980 – Nadine Jolie Courtney, American journalist, reality personality and author
1980 – Joanne Froggatt, English actress
1980 – Rex Grossman, American football player
1980 – Nenad Vučković, Serbian handball player
1981 – Carlos Cuéllar, Spanish footballer
1981 – Jaime Lee Kirchner, American actress
1981 – Stephan Loboué, Ivorian footballer
1982 – Natalie Coughlin, American swimmer
1982 – Scott Palguta, American soccer player
1982 – Cristian Tudor, Romanian footballer (d. 2012)
1983 – James Collins, Welsh footballer
1983 – Athena Farrokhzad, Iranian-Swedish poet, playwright, and critic
1983 – Sun Mingming, Chinese basketball player
1983 – Tony Moll, American football player
1983 – Fiona Onasanya, British politician and criminal
1983 – Bruno Spengler, Canadian race car driver
1984 – Glen Johnson, English footballer
1984 – Eric Tai, New Zealand rugby player and actor
1985 – Valeria Lukyanova, Moldovan-Ukrainian model and singer
1986 – Sky Blu, American rapper and DJ
1986 – Neil Cicierega, American comedian and musician
1986 – Ayron Jones, American musician
1986 – Brett Morris, Australian rugby league player
1986 – Josh Morris, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Darren Collison, American basketball player
1988 – Olga Govortsova, Belarusian tennis player
1988 – Carl Hagelin, Swedish ice hockey player
1988 – Jeremy Lin, American basketball player
1988 – Kim Matula, American actress
1988 – Miles Mikolas, American baseball player
1989 – Lianne La Havas, British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
1989 – Trixie Mattel, American drag queen, actor, and country singer
1989 – Heiko Schwarz, German footballer
1989 – TeddyLoid, Japanese musician
1990 – Seth Curry, American basketball player
1990 – Mike Yastrzemski, American baseball player
1992 – Nicola Docherty, Scottish footballer
1993 – Taylor Decker, American football player
1993 – Tyler Glasnow, American baseball player
1993 – Iván López, Spanish professional footballer
1994 – August Ames, Canadian pornographic actress (d. 2017)
1994 – Jusuf Nurkić, Bosnian basketball player
1995 – Gabriela Lee, Romanian tennis player
1995 – Cameron Norrie, British tennis player
1997 – Lil Yachty, American rapper and singer
1998 – P. J. Washington, American basketball player
Deaths
Pre-1600
30 BC – Caesarion, Egyptian king (b. 47 BC)
30 BC – Marcus Antonius Antyllus, Roman soldier (b. 47 BC)
93 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general and politician (b. AD 40)
406 – Radagaisus, Gothic king
634 – Abu Bakr, Arabian caliph (b. 573)
992 – Volkold, bishop of Meissen
1106 – Magnus, Duke of Saxony (b. 1045)
1176 – Emperor Rokujō of Japan (b. 1164)
1305 – William Wallace, Scottish knight and rebel leader (b. c.1270)
1328 – Nicolaas Zannekin, Flemish peasant leader (in the battle of Cassel)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1335 – Heilwige Bloemardinne, Christian mystic (b. c. 1265)
1348 – John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury
1363 – Chen Youliang, founder of the Dahan regime (b. 1320)
1367 – Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, Spanish cardinal (b. 1310)
1478 – Johannes Pullois, Franco-Flemish composer (b. c. 1420?)
1481 – Thomas de Littleton, English judge and legal author (b. c. 1407)
1498 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, eldest daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1470)
1507 – Jean Molinet, French poet and composer (b. 1435)
1519 – Philibert Berthelier, Swiss soldier (b. 1465)
1540 – Guillaume Budé, French philosopher and scholar (b. 1467)
1568 – Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (b. 1495)
1574 – Ebussuud Efendi, Turkish lawyer and jurist (b. 1490)
1591 – Luis de León, Spanish poet and academic (b. 1527)
1601–1900
1618 – Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (b. 1585)
1628 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (b. 1592)
1652 – John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, English soldier and politician (b. 1600)
1706 – Edward Nott, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1654)
1723 – Increase Mather, American minister and author (b. 1639)
1806 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist and engineer (b. 1736)
1813 – Alexander Wilson, Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, and illustrator (b. 1766)
1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (b. 1785)
1831 – Ferenc Kazinczy, Hungarian author and poet (b. 1759)
1831 – August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
1853 – Alexander Calder, American lawyer and politician (b. 1806)
1867 – Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy, French poet and author (b. 1796)
1880 – William Thompson, British boxer (b. 1811)
1892 – Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal and politician, 1st President of Brazil (b. 1827)
1900 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
1901–present
1924 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (b. 1856)
1926 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
1927 – Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist convicted of murder (b. 1891)
1927 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist convicted of murder (b. 1888)
1933 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect and theoretician, designed Villa Müller (b. 1870)
1937 – Albert Roussel, French composer (b. 1869)
1944 – Abdülmecid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1868)
1944 – Stefan Filipkiewicz, Polish painter and illustrator (b. 1879)
1949 – Helen Churchill Candee, American geographer, journalist, and author (b. 1858)
1954 – Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (b. 1877)
1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American director, producer, and composer (b. 1895)
1962 – Walter Anderson, Russian-German ethnologist and academic (b. 1885)
1962 – Hoot Gibson, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1892)
1964 – Edmond Hogan, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Victoria (b. 1883)
1966 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1883)
1967 – Georges Berger, Belgian race car driver (b. 1918)
1967 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
1974 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
1975 – Faruk Gürler, Turkish general (b. 1913)
1977 – Naum Gabo, Russian sculptor and academic (b. 1890)
1982 – Stanford Moore, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1987 – Didier Pironi, French race car and boat driver (b. 1952)
1989 – Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese poet and academic (b. 1944)
1989 – R. D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist and author (b. 1927)
1990 – David Rose, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1994 – Zoltán Fábri, Hungarian director and screenwriter (b. 1917)
1995 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-American photographer and journalist (b. 1898)
1996 – Margaret Tucker, Australian author and activist (b. 1904)
1997 – Eric Gairy, Grenadian educator and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1922)
1997 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
1999 – Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (b. 1926)
1999 – James White, Irish author (b. 1928)
2000 – John Anthony Kaiser, American priest and missionary (b. 1932)
2001 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (b. 1919)
2001 – Peter Maas, American journalist and author (b. 1929)
2002 – Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player and coach (b. 1922)
2003 – Bobby Bonds, American baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
2003 – Jack Dyer, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1913)
2003 – Jan Sedivka, Czech-Australian violinist and educator (b. 1917)
2003 – Michael Kijana Wamalwa, Kenyan lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of Kenya (b. 1944)
2005 – Brock Peters, American actor (b. 1927)
2006 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1928)
2008 – John Russell, English-American author and critic (b. 1919)
2012 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1934)
2012 – Josepha Sherman, American anthologist and author (b. 1946)
2013 – Richard J. Corman, American businessman, founded the R.J. Corman Railroad Group (b. 1955)
2013 – William Glasser, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1925)
2013 – Charles Lisanby, American production designer and set director (b. 1924)
2013 – Konstanty Miodowicz, Polish ethnographer and politician (b. 1951)
2013 – Vesna Rožič, Slovenian chess player (b. 1987)
2013 – Tatyana Zaslavskaya, Russian sociologist and economist (b. 1927)
2014 – Albert Ebossé Bodjongo, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1989)
2014 – Annefleur Kalvenhaar, Dutch cyclist (b. 1994)
2014 – Birgitta Stenberg, Swedish author and illustrator (b. 1932)
2014 – Jaume Vallcorba Plana, Spanish philologist and publisher (b. 1949)
2015 – Augusta Chiwy, Congolese-Belgian nurse (b. 1921)
2015 – Guy Ligier, French rugby player and race car driver (b. 1930)
2015 – Enrique Reneau, Honduran footballer (b. 1971)
2015 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1914)
2021 – Elizabeth Blackadder, Scottish painter and printmaker (b. 1931)
2023 – Dmitry Utkin, Russian army officer, founder of Wagner Group (b. 1970)
2023 – Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian businessman, chief of Wagner Group (b. 1961)
Holidays and observances
Battle of Kursk Day (Russia)
Christian feast day:
Ascelina
Asterius, Claudius, and Neon
Éogan of Ardstraw
Lupus (Luppus) of Novae
Philip Benitius
Quiriacus and companions, of Ostia
Rose of Lima
Tydfil
Zacchaeus of Jerusalem
August 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the National Flag (Ukraine)
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism or Black Ribbon Day (European Union and other countries), and related observances:
Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day (Romania)
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
National Day for Physicians (Iran)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1629 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2024 | August 24 |
Events
Pre-1600
367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father.
394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written.
410 – The Visigoths under king Alaric I begin to pillage Rome.
1185 – Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans.
1200 – King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Angoulême Cathedral.
1215 – Pope Innocent III issues a bull declaring Magna Carta invalid.
1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
1482 – The town and castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army.
1516 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Syria at the Battle of Marj Dabiq.
1561 – Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.
1601–1900
1608 – The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.
1643 – A Dutch fleet establishes a new colony in the ruins of Valdivia in southern Chile.
1662 – The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is legally enforced as the liturgy of the Church of England, precipitating the Great Ejection of Dissenter ministers from their benefices.
1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city (in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city's foundation date is unknown).
1743 – The War of the Hats: The Swedish army surrenders to the Russians in Helsinki, ending the war and starting Lesser Wrath.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.
1789 – The first naval battle of the Svensksund began in the Gulf of Finland.
1812 – Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz.
1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C. and during the Burning of Washington the White House, the Capitol and many other buildings are set ablaze.
1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed.
1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
1820 – Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal.
1821 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.
1870 – The Wolseley expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
1898 – Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.
1901–present
1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
1911 – Manuel de Arriaga is elected and sworn in as the first President of Portugal.
1914 – World War I: German troops capture Namur.
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ends as the first Allied victory in the war.
1929 – Second day of two-day Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, result in the death of 65–68 Jews; the remaining Jews are forced to flee the city.
1931 – Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
1933 – The Crescent Limited train derails in Washington, D.C., after the bridge it is crossing is washed out by the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane.
1936 – The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Sovereign Council of Asturias and León is proclaimed in Gijón.
1938 – Kweilin incident: A Japanese warplane shoots down the Kweilin, a Chinese civilian airliner, killing 14. It is the first recorded instance of a civilian airliner being shot down.
1941 – The Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders the cessation of Nazi Germany's systematic T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and the handicapped due to protests, although killings continue for the remainder of the war.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk, with the loss of seven officers and 113 crewmen. The US carrier is heavily damaged.
1944 – World War II: Allied troops begin the attack on Paris.
1949 – The treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization goes into effect.
1950 – Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
1951 – United Air Lines Flight 615 crashes near Decoto, California, killing 50 people.
1954 – The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the American Communist Party.
1954 – Vice president João Café Filho takes office as president of Brazil, following the suicide of Getúlio Vargas.
1963 – Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the United States Embassy, Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm if he did not remove his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.
1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.
1970 – Vietnam War protesters bomb Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leading to an international manhunt for the perpetrators.
1981 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
1989 – Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
1989 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
1992 – Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Homestead, Florida as a Category 5 hurricane, causing up to $25 billion (1992 USD) in damages.
1995 – Microsoft Windows 95 was released to the public in North America.
1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
2001 – Air Transat Flight 236 loses all engine power over the Atlantic Ocean, forcing the pilots to conduct an emergency landing in the Azores.
2004 – Ninety passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers from Chechnya.
2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
2008 – Sixty-five passengers are killed when Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes during an emergency landing at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
2008 – A Cessna 208 Caravan crashes in Cabañas, Zacapa, Guatemala, killing 11 people.
2010 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 72 illegal immigrants are killed by Los Zetas and eventually found dead by Mexican authorities.
2010 – Henan Airlines Flight 8387 crashes at Yichun Lindu Airport in Yichun, Heilongjiang, China, killing 44 out of the 96 people on board.
2010 – Agni Air Flight 101 crashes near Shikharpur, Makwanpur, Nepal, killing all 14 people on board.
2012 – Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, is sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention.
2014 – A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the largest in that area since 1989.
2016 – An earthquake strikes Central Italy with a magnitude of 6.2, with aftershocks felt as far as Rome and Florence. Around 300 people are killed.
2017 – The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space.
2020 – Erin O’Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
2023 – Japan officially begins discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking international concerns and condemnation.
Births
Pre-1600
1016 – Fujiwara no Genshi, Japanese empress consort (d. 1039)
1113 – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
1198 – Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
1358 – John I of Castile (d. 1390)
1393 – Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)
1423 – Thomas Rotherham, English cleric (d. 1500)
1498 – John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony (d. 1537)
1510 – Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen (d. 1558)
1552 – Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter and educator (d. 1614)
1556 – Sophia Brahe, Danish horticulturalist and astronomer (d. 1643)
1561 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (d. 1626)
1578 – John Taylor, English poet and author (d. 1653)
1591 – Robert Herrick, English poet and cleric (d. 1674)
1601–1900
1631 – Philip Henry, English minister (d. 1696)
1635 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish lawyer and politician (d. 1699)
1684 – Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet, British politician (d. 1746)
1714 – Alaungpaya, Burmese king (d. 1760)
1758 – Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1794)
1759 – William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (d. 1833)
1772 – William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
1787 – James Weddell, Belgian-English sailor, hunter, and explorer (d. 1834)
1824 – Antonio Stoppani, Italian geologist and scholar (d. 1891)
1837 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (d. 1924)
1843 – Boyd Dunlop Morehead, Australian politician, 10th Premier of Queensland (d. 1905)
1845 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (d. 1876)
1851 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1924)
1852 – Agnes Marshall, English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and celebrity chef (d. 1905)
1860 – David Bowman, Australian lawyer and politician (d. 1916)
1862 – Zonia Baber, American geographer and geologist (d. 1956)
1863 – Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
1865 – Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)
1872 – Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (d. 1956)
1884 – Earl Derr Biggers, American author and playwright (d. 1933)
1887 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player (d. 1974)
1888 – Valentine Baker, Welsh co-founder of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company (d. 1942)
1890 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, and surfer (d. 1968)
1890 – Jean Rhys, Dominican-English novelist (d. 1979)
1893 – Haim Ernst Wertheimer, German-Israeli biochemist and academic (d. 1978)
1895 – Richard Cushing, American cardinal (d. 1970)
1897 – Fred Rose, American pianist, songwriter, and publisher (d. 1954)
1898 – Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, literary critic (d. 1989)
1899 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (d. 1986)
1899 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
1901–present
1901 – Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970)
1902 – Fernand Braudel, French historian and academic (d. 1985)
1902 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1976)
1903 – Karl Hanke, German businessman and politician (d. 1945)
1904 – Ida Cook, English campaigner for Jewish refugees, and romantic novelist as Mary Burchell (d. 1986)
1905 – Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1974)
1905 – Siaka Stevens, Sierra Leonean police officer and politician, 1st President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
1907 – Bruno Giacometti, Swiss architect, designed the Hallenstadion (d. 2012)
1908 – Shivaram Rajguru, Indian activist (d. 1931)
1909 – Ronnie Grieveson, South African cricketer and soldier (d. 1998)
1913 – Charles Snead Houston, American physician and mountaineer (d. 2009)
1915 – Wynonie Harris, American singer and guitarist (d. 1969)
1915 – James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon), American psychologist and science fiction author (d. 1987)
1918 – Sikander Bakht, Indian field hockey player and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2004)
1919 – Tosia Altman, member of the Polish resistance in World War II (d. 1943)
1919 – J. Gordon Edwards, American entomologist, mountaineer, and DDT advocate (d. 2004)
1919 – Enrique Llanes, Mexican wrestler (d. 2004)
1920 – Alex Colville, Canadian painter and academic (d. 2013)
1921 – Eric Simms, English ornithologist and conservationist (d. 2009)
1922 – René Lévesque, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
1922 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (d. 2010)
1923 – Arthur Jensen, American psychologist and academic (d. 2012)
1924 – Alyn Ainsworth, English singer and conductor (d. 1990)
1924 – Louis Teicher, American pianist (d. 2008)
1926 – Nancy Spero, American painter and academic (d. 2009)
1927 – Anjali Devi, Indian actress and producer (d. 2014)
1927 – David Ireland, Australian author and playwright (d. 2022)
1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2023)
1929 – Betty Dodson, American author and educator (d. 2020)
1930 – Jackie Brenston, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (d. 1979)
1930 – Roger McCluskey, American race car driver (d. 1993)
1932 – Robert D. Hales, American captain and religious leader (d. 2017)
1932 – Richard Meale, Australian pianist and composer (d. 2009)
1932 – Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, English cardinal (d. 2017)
1933 – Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English banker and manager (d. 2014)
1934 – Kenny Baker, English actor (d. 2016)
1936 – A. S. Byatt, English novelist and poet
1936 – Kenny Guinn, American banker and politician, 27th Governor of Nevada (d. 2010)
1936 – Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (d. 2001)
1937 – Moshood Abiola, Nigerian businessman and politician (d. 1998)
1937 – Susan Sheehan, Austrian-American journalist and author
1938 – David Freiberg, American singer and bass player
1938 – Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer
1940 – Madsen Pirie, British academic, President and co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute
1940 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2014)
1940 – Keith Savage, English rugby player
1941 – Alan M. Roberts, English academic, Professor of Zoology at the University of Bristol
1942 – Max Cleland, American captain and politician (d. 2021)
1942 – Jimmy Soul, American pop-soul singer (d. 1988)
1943 – John Cipollina, American rock guitarist (d. 1989)
1944 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986)
1944 – Rocky Johnson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2020)
1945 – Ronee Blakley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1945 – Molly Duncan, Scottish saxophonist (d. 2019)
1945 – Ken Hensley, English rock singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2020)
1945 – Marsha P. Johnson, American gay liberation activist and drag queen (d. 1992)
1945 – Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, and entrepreneur; co-founded WWE
1947 – Anne Archer, American actress and producer
1947 – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and songwriter
1947 – Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist and coach
1947 – Joe Manchin, American politician, 34th Governor of West Virginia
1947 – Vladimir Masorin, Russian admiral
1948 – Kim Sung-il, South Korean commander and pilot
1948 – Jean Michel Jarre, French pianist, composer, and producer
1948 – Sauli Niinistö, Finnish captain and politician, 12th President of Finland
1948 – Alexander McCall Smith, Rhodesian-Scottish author and educator
1949 – Stephen Paulus, American composer and educator (d. 2014)
1949 – Joe Regalbuto, American actor and director
1951 – Danny Joe Brown, American southern rock singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2005)
1951 – Orson Scott Card, American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist
1951 – Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (d. 2013)
1952 – Marion Bloem, Dutch author, director, and painter
1952 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican dub poet
1953 – Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer and sportscaster
1954 – Alain Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – Heini Otto, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
1955 – Kevin Dunn, American actor
1955 – Mike Huckabee, American minister and politician, 44th Governor of Arkansas
1956 – Gerry Cooney, American boxer
1956 – Dick Lee, Singaporean singer-songwriter and playwright
1957 – Jeffrey Daniel, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1957 – Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor and producer
1959 – Meg Munn, English social worker and politician
1960 – Cal Ripken Jr., American baseball player and coach
1961 – Jared Harris, English actor
1962 – Craig Kilborn, American television host
1962 – Emile Roemer, Dutch educator and politician
1963 – John Bush, American singer-songwriter
1963 – Hideo Kojima, Japanese director, screenwriter and video game designer
1963 – Francis Pangilinan, Filipino lawyer and politician
1964 – Éric Bernard, French racing driver
1964 – Mark Cerny, American video game designer, programmer, producer and business executive
1964 – Salizhan Sharipov, Kyrgyzstani-Russian lieutenant, pilot, and astronaut
1965 – Marlee Matlin, American actress and producer
1965 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player and sportscaster
1965 – Brian Rajadurai, Sri Lankan-Canadian cricketer
1967 – Michael Thomas, English footballer
1968 – Benoît Brunet, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1968 – Shoichi Funaki, Japanese-American wrestler and sportscaster
1968 – Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1968 – Tim Salmon, American baseball player and sportscaster
1969 – Jans Koerts, Dutch cyclist
1970 – Rich Beem, American golfer
1970 – David Gregory, American journalist
1970 – Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer and manager
1972 – Jean-Luc Brassard, Canadian skier and radio host
1972 – Ava DuVernay, American director and screenwriter
1972 – Todd Young, American politician
1973 – Andrew Brunette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1973 – Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter
1973 – James D'Arcy, English actor
1973 – Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
1973 – Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor
1974 – Jennifer Lien, American actress
1975 – Roberto Colombo, Italian footballer
1975 – Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
1976 – Simon Dennis, English rower and academic
1976 – Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor, writer, director, and producer
1977 – Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Robert Enke, German footballer (d. 2009)
1977 – Per Gade, Danish footballer
1977 – John Green, American author and vlogger
1977 – Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
1978 – Derek Morris, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Vahur Afanasjev, Estonian author and poet
1979 – Orlando Engelaar, Dutch footballer
1979 – Michael Redd, American basketball player
1981 – Chad Michael Murray, American actor, model, and author
1982 – José Bosingwa, Portuguese footballer
1982 – Kim Källström, Swedish footballer
1983 – Brett Gardner, American baseball player
1983 – Marcel Goc, German ice hockey player
1983 – George Perris, Greek-French singer-songwriter and pianist
1984 – Erin Molan, Australian journalist and sportscaster
1984 – Charlie Villanueva, Dominican-American basketball player
1986 – Joseph Akpala, Nigerian footballer
1986 – Arian Foster, American football player, rapper, and actor
1987 – Anže Kopitar, Slovenian ice hockey player
1988 – Rupert Grint, English actor
1988 – Brad Hunt, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Manu Ma'u, New Zealand rugby league player
1988 – Maya Yoshida, Japanese footballer
1989 – Reynaldo, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Rocío Igarzábal, Argentinian actress and singer
1990 – Juan Pedro Lanzani, Argentinian actor and singer
1991 – Enrique Hernández, Puerto Rican baseball player
1991 – Wang Zhen, Chinese race walker
1992 – Jemerson, Brazilian footballer
1993 – Allen Robinson, American football player
1993 – Maryna Zanevska, Belgian tennis player
1995 – Noah Vonleh, American basketball player
1995 – Lady Amelia Windsor, member of the British royal family
1997 – Alan Walker, British-Norwegian DJ and record producer
1998 – Sofia Richie, American model and social media personality
2000 – Griffin Gluck, American actor
2001 – Mildred Maldonado, Mexican rhythmic gymnast
Deaths
Pre-1600
691 – Fu Youyi, official of the Tang Dynasty
842 – Saga, Japanese emperor (b. 786)
895 – Guthred, king of Northumbria
927 – Doulu Ge, chancellor of Later Tang
927 – Wei Yue, chancellor of Later Tang
942 – Liu, empress dowager of Later Jin
948 – Zhang Ye, Chinese general and chancellor
1042 – Michael V Kalaphates, Byzantine emperor (b. 1015)
1103 – Magnus Barefoot, Norwegian king (b. 1073)
1217 – Eustace the Monk, French pirate (b. 1170)
1313 – Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1275)
1372 – Casimir III, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1348)
1497 – Sophie of Pomerania, Duchess of Pomerania (b. 1435)
1507 – Cecily of York, English princess (b. 1469)
1540 – Parmigianino, Italian painter and etcher (b. 1503)
1542 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian cardinal (b. 1483)
1572 – Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (b. 1519)
1572 – Charles de Téligny, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1535)
1595 – Thomas Digges, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1546)
1601–1900
1617 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (b. 1586)
1647 – Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
1679 – Jean François Paul de Gondi, French cardinal and author (b. 1614)
1680 – Thomas Blood, Irish colonel (b. 1618)
1680 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter and etcher (b. 1616)
1683 – John Owen, English theologian and academic (b. 1616)
1759 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet and soldier (b. 1715)
1770 – Thomas Chatterton, English poet and prodigy (b. 1752)
1779 – Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek monk and saint (b. 1714)
1798 – Thomas Alcock, English priest and author (b. 1709)
1804 – Peggy Shippen, American wife of Benedict Arnold and American Revolutionary War spy (b. 1760)
1818 – James Carr, American lawyer and politician (b. 1777)
1821 – John William Polidori, English writer and physician (b. 1795)
1832 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French physicist and engineer (b. 1796)
1832 – Richard Weymouth, British Royal Navy commander (b. 1780/81)
1838 – Ferenc Kölcsey, Hungarian poet, critic, and politician (b. 1790)
1841 – Theodore Hook, English civil servant and composer (b. 1788)
1841 – John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (b. 1778)
1888 – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1822)
1895 – Albert F. Mummery, English mountaineer and author (b. 1855)
1901–present
1923 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (b. 1856)
1930 – Tom Norman, English businessman and showman (b. 1860)
1932 – Kate M. Gordon, American activist (b. 1861)
1939 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, American painter and educator (b. 1874)
1940 – Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, Polish-German technician and inventor, invented the Nipkow disk (b. 1860)
1943 – Antonio Alice, Argentinian painter and educator (b. 1886)
1943 – Ettore Muti Italian aviator, adventurer and politician (b. 1902)
1943 – Simone Weil, French philosopher and activist (b. 1909)
1946 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge, 48th United States Attorney General (b. 1862)
1954 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (b. 1882)
1956 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
1958 – Paul Henry, Irish painter and educator (b. 1876)
1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards and Kaiser Aluminum (b. 1882)
1974 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Russian-American pilot and businessman, co-founded Republic Aviation (b. 1894)
1977 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1916)
1978 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (b. 1910)
1979 – Hanna Reitsch, German soldier and pilot (b. 1912)
1980 – Yootha Joyce, English actress (b. 1927)
1982 – Félix-Antoine Savard, Canadian priest and author (b. 1896)
1983 – Kalevi Kotkas, Estonian-Finnish high jumper and discus thrower (b. 1913)
1983 – Scott Nearing, American economist, educator, and activist (b. 1883)
1985 – Paul Creston, American composer and educator (b. 1906)
1987 – Malcolm Kirk, English rugby player and wrestler (b. 1936)
1990 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (b. 1941)
1990 – Gely Abdel Rahman, Sudanese-Egyptian poet and academic (b. 1931)
1991 – Bernard Castro, Italian-American inventor (b. 1904)
1992 – André Donner, Dutch academic and judge (b. 1918)
1997 – Luigi Villoresi, Italian racing driver (b. 1907)
1998 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
1999 – Mary Jane Croft, American actress (b. 1916)
1999 – Alexandre Lagoya, Egyptian guitarist and composer (b. 1929)
2000 – Andy Hug, Swiss martial artist and kick-boxer (b. 1964)
2001 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
2001 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (b. 1917)
2002 – Nikolay Guryanov, Russian priest and mystic (b. 1909)
2003 – Wilfred Thesiger, Ethiopian-English explorer and author (b. 1910)
2004 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1926)
2006 – Rocco Petrone, American soldier and engineer (b. 1926)
2006 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and educator (b. 1916)
2007 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian educator and politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1937)
2007 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (b. 1943)
2010 – Satoshi Kon, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1963)
2011 – Seyhan Erözçelik, Turkish poet and author (b. 1962)
2011 – Mike Flanagan, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1951)
2012 – Dadullah, Pakistani Taliban leader (b. 1965)
2012 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese surveyor and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1936)
2012 – Steve Franken, American actor (b. 1932)
2012 – Félix Miélli Venerando, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1937)
2013 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (b. 1938)
2013 – Nílton de Sordi, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2013 – Julie Harris, American actress (b. 1925)
2013 – Muriel Siebert, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2014 – Richard Attenborough, English actor, director, producer, and politician (b. 1923)
2014 – Antônio Ermírio de Moraes, Brazilian businessman (b. 1928)
2015 – Charlie Coffey, American football player and coach (b. 1934)
2015 – Joseph F. Traub, German-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1932)
2015 – Justin Wilson, English racing driver (b. 1978)
2016 – Walter Scheel, German politician, 4th President of Germany (b. 1919)
2017 – Jay Thomas, American actor, comedian, and radio talk show host (b. 1948)
2020 – Gail Sheehy, American author, journalist, and lecturer (b. 1936)
2021 – Charlie Watts, English musician (b. 1941)
2023 – Windham Rotunda, American professional wrestler, most commonly known as Bray Wyatt (b. 1987)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Abbán of Ireland
Aurea of Ostia
Bartholomew the Apostle (Roman Catholic, Anglican)
Jeanne-Antide Thouret
Maria Micaela Desmaisieres
Massa Candida (Martyrs of Utica)
Owen (Audoin)
August 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Liberia)
Independence Day or Den' Nezalezhnosti, celebrates the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991.
International Strange Music Day
National Waffle Day (United States)
Nostalgia Night (Uruguay)
Willka Raymi (Cusco, Peru)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1639 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2028 | April 28 |
Events
Pre-1600
224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire.
357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu.
1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
1601–1900
1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.
1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.
1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.
1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.
1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
1901–present
1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom.
1920 – The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.
1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.
1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
1945 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp.
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.
1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.
1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election.
1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.
1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.
1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
1978 – The President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.
2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.
Births
Pre-1600
AD 32 – Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (d. 1472)
1442 – Edward IV, king of England (d. 1483)
1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (d. 1598)
1573 – Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (d. 1650)
1601–1900
1604 – Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (d. 1662)
1623 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (d. 1707)
1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet and author (d. 1687)
1676 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (d. 1751)
1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1767)
1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
1761 – Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (d. 1884)
1827 – William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1904)
1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
1848 – Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1909)
1854 – Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (d. 1923)
1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
1863 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1933)
1863 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (d. 1929)
1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (d. 1940)
1868 – Lucy Booth, English composer (d. 1953)
1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1908)
1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
1874 – Sidney Toler, American actor and director (d. 1947)
1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1938)
1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954)
1886 – Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (d. 1944)
1886 – Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (d. 1918)
1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1970)
1896 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (d. 1948)
1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (d. 1963)
1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People's Republic of China (d. 1986)
1900 – Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)
1900 – Heinrich Müller, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1992)
1901–present
1901 – H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (d. 1973)
1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (d. 1979)
1906 – Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1978)
1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (d. 1999)
1908 – Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (d. 1987)
1908 – Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (d. 1981)
1908 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (d. 1974)
1909 – Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (d. 1988)
1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (d. 1996)
1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1913 – Rose Murphy, American singer (d. 1989)
1914 – Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (d. 2011)
1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
1917 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
1921 – Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (d. 2012)
1923 – Carolyn Cassady, American author (d. 2013)
1923 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
1924 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (d. 2021)
1925 – T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1996)
1925 – John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic (d. 2023)
1926 – James Bama, American artist and illustrator (d. 2022)
1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (d. 2011)
1926 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)
1926 – Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (d. 1991)
1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
1928 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (d. 1997)
1930 – James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State
1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
1933 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (d. 2014)
1934 – Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (d. 2016)
1935 – Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player
1935 – Jimmy Wray, Scottish boxer and politician (d. 2013)
1936 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1937 – John White, Scottish international footballer (d. 1964)
1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995)
1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
1941 – John Madejski, English businessman and academic
1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (d. 2013)
1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
1943 – Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician
1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer
1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of Wallonia
1944 – Alice Waters, American chef and author
1946 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (d. 2015)
1946 – Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist
1947 – Christian Jacq, French historian and author
1947 – Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
1947 – Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist
1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1949 – Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge
1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (d. 2006)
1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican-American trombonist and producer
1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
1950 – Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster
1951 – Tim Congdon, English economist and politician
1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
1952 – Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (d. 2003)
1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1953 – Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (d. 2013)
1954 – Timothy Curley, American educator
1954 – Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality
1954 – Ron Zook, American football player and coach
1955 – Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator (d. 2020)
1955 – Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist
1955 – Dieter Rubach, German bass player
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1995 – Melanie Martinez, American singer
1997 – Denzel Ward, American football player
1998 – Song Yu-bin, South Korean singer and actor
Deaths
Pre-1600
224 – Artabanus IV of Parthia (b. 191)
948 – Hu Jinsi, Chinese general and prefect
988 – Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen
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1197 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth (b. 1132)
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1260 – Luchesius Modestini, founding member of the Third Order of St. Francis
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1601–1900
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1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English businessman, founded Cunard Line (b. 1787)
1881 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
1883 – John Russell, English hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
1901–present
1902 – Cyprien Tanguay, Canadian priest and historian (b. 1819)
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1921 – Maurice Moore (Irish republican), executed member of the Irish Republican Army (b. 1894)
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1928 – May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist (b. 1860)
1929 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (b. 1879)
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1939 – Anne Walter Fearn, American physician (b. 1867)
1944 – Mohammed Alim Khan, Manghud ruler (b. 1880)
1944 – Frank Knox, American journalist and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1874)
1945 – Roberto Farinacci, Italian soldier and politician (b. 1892)
1945 – Hermann Fegelein, German general (b. 1906)
1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1883)
1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and academic (b. 1870)
1954 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
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1957 – Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
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1977 – Sepp Herberger, German footballer and coach (b. 1897)
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1980 – Tommy Caldwell, American bass player (b. 1949)
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1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
1999 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1927)
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2000 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician and politician (b. 1925)
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Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Aphrodisius and companions
Gianna Beretta Molla
Kirill of Turov (Orthodox, added to Roman Martyrology in 1969)
Louis de Montfort
Pamphilus of Sulmona
Peter Chanel
Vitalis and Valeria of Milan
April 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)
National Heroes Day (Barbados)
Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)
Sardinia Day (Sardinia)
Workers' Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international)
National Day of Mourning (Canada)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 28
Days of the year
April |
1695 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons | Amazons | In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: , singular , via Latin , ) are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Heracles, the Argonautica and the Iliad. They were a group of female warriors and hunters, who were as skilled and courageous as men in physical agility, strength, archery, riding skills, and the arts of combat. Their society was closed to men and they only raised their daughters and returned their sons to their fathers, with whom they would only socialize briefly in order to reproduce.
Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, from Scythia to Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands, reaching as far as Arabia and Egypt. Besides military raids, the Amazons are also associated with the foundation of temples and the establishment of numerous ancient cities like Ephesos, Cyme, Smyrna, Sinope, Myrina, Magnesia, Pygela, etc.
The texts of the original myths envisioned the homeland of the Amazons at the periphery of the then-known world. Various claims to the exact place ranged from provinces in Asia Minor (Lycia, Caria, etc.) to the steppes around the Black Sea, or even Libya (Libyan Amazon). However, authors most frequently referred to Pontus in northern Anatolia, on the southern shores of the Black Sea, as the independent Amazon kingdom where the Amazon queen resided at her capital Themiscyra, on the banks of the Thermodon river.
Palaephatus, who himself might have been a fictional character, attempted to rationalize the Greek myths in his work On Unbelievable Tales. He suspected that the Amazons were probably men who were mistaken for women by their enemies because they wore clothing that reached their feet, tied up their hair in headbands, and shaved their beards. Probably the first in a long line of skeptics, he rejected any real basis for them, reasoning that because they did not exist during his time, most probably they did not exist in the past either.
Decades of archaeological discoveries of burial sites of female warriors, including royalty, in the Eurasian Steppes suggest that the horse cultures of the Scythian, Sarmatian and Hittite peoples likely inspired the Amazon myth. In 2019, a grave with multiple generations of female Scythian warriors, armed and in golden headdresses, was found near Russia's Voronezh.
Etymology
Origin of the name
The origin of the word is uncertain. It may be derived from an Iranian ethnonym *ha-mazan- 'warriors', a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb in Hesychius of Alexandria's gloss (": 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with the Indo-Iranian root *kar- 'make'.
In the Persian language; "Hameh" means "all", and "Zan", nearly rhyming with the English word, "Man", means "Women/Woman". So, "Hameh Zan", when it refers to a group of people, refers to a group of women in Persian (without any elaboration or further information being explicated about the group in its "name").
It may alternatively be a Greek word descended from 'manless, without husbands' (alpha privative combined with a derivation from *man- cognate with Proto-Balto-Slavic *mangjá-, found in Czech muž) has been proposed, an explanation deemed "unlikely" by Hjalmar Frisk. A further explanation proposes Iranian *ama-janah 'virility-killing' as source.
Among the ancient Greeks, the term Amazon was given a folk etymology as originating from (ἀμαζός 'breastless'), connected with an etiological tradition once claimed by Marcus Justinus who alleged that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out. There is no indication of such a practice in ancient works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although one is frequently covered. According to Philostratus Amazon babies were not fed just with the right breast. Author Adrienne Mayor suggests that the false etymology led to the myth.
Alternative terms
Herodotus used the terms Androktones () 'killers/slayers of men' and Androleteirai () 'destroyers of men, murderesses'. Amazons are called Antianeirai () 'equivalent to men' and Aeschylus used Styganor () 'those who loathe all men'.
In his work Prometheus Bound and in The Suppliants, Aeschylus called the Amazons "...τὰς ἀνάνδρους κρεοβόρους τ᾽ Ἀμαζόνας" 'the unwed, flesh-devouring Amazons'. In the Hippolytus tragedy, Phaedra calls Hippolytus, 'the son of the horse-loving Amazon' (). In his Dionysiaca, Nonnus calls the Amazons of Dionysus Androphonus () 'men slaying'.
Herodotus stated that in the Scythian language, the Amazons were called Oiorpata, which he explained as being from oior 'man' and pata 'to slay'.
Historiography
The ancient Greeks never had any doubts that the Amazons were, or had been, real. Not the only people enchanted by warlike women of nomadic cultures, such exciting tales also come from ancient Egypt, Persia, India, and China. Greek heroes of old had encounters with the queens of their martial society and fought them. However, their original home was not exactly known, thought to be in the obscure lands beyond the civilized world. As a result, for centuries scholars believed the Amazons to be purely imaginary, although
there were various proposals for a historical nucleus of the Amazons in Greek historiography. Some authors preferred comparisons to cultures of Asia Minor or even Minoan Crete. The most obvious historical candidates are Lycia and Scythia and Sarmatia in line with the account by Herodotus. In his Histories (5th century BC) Herodotus claims that the Sauromatae (predecessors of the Sarmatians), who ruled the lands between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, arose from a union of Scythians and Amazons.
Herodotus also observed rather unusual customs among the Lycians of southwest Asia Minor. The Lycians obviously followed matrilineal rules of descent, virtue, and status. They named themselves along their maternal family line and a child's status was determined by the mother's reputation. This remarkably high esteem of women and legal regulations based on maternal lines, still in effect in the 5th century BC in the Lycian regions that Herodotus had traveled to, lent him the idea that these people were descendants of the mythical Amazons.
Modern historiography no longer relies exclusively on textual and artistic material, but also on the vast archaeological evidence of over a thousand nomad graves from steppe territories from the Black Sea all the way to Mongolia. Discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons (bows and arrows, quivers, and spears) prove that women warriors were not merely figments of imagination, but the product of the Scythian/Sarmatian horse-centered lifestyle.
Mythology
According to myth, Otrera, the first Amazon queen, is the offspring of a romance between Ares the god of war and the nymph Harmonia of the Akmonian Wood, and as such a demigoddess.
Early records refer to two events in which Amazons appeared prior to the Trojan War (before 1250 BC). Within the epic context, Bellerophon, Greek hero, and grandfather of the brothers and Trojan War veterans Glaukos and Sarpedon, faced Amazons during his stay in Lycia, when King Iobates sent Bellerophon to fight the Amazons, hoping they would kill him, yet Bellerophon slew them all. The youthful King Priam of Troy fought on the side of the Phrygians, who were attacked by Amazons at the Sangarios River.
Amazons in the Trojan War
There are Amazon characters in Homer's Trojan War epic poem, the Iliad, one of the oldest surviving texts in Europe (around 8th century BC).
The now lost epic Aethiopis (probably by Arctinus of Miletus, 6th century BC), like the Iliad and several other epics, is one of the works that in combination form the Trojan War Epic Cycle. In one of the few references to the text, an Amazon force under queen Penthesilea, who was of Thracian birth, came to join the ranks of the Trojans after Hector's death and initially put the Greeks under serious pressure. Only after the greatest effort and the help of the reinvigorated hero Achilles, the Greeks eventually triumphed. Penthesilea died fighting the mighty Achilles in single combat. Homer himself deemed the Amazon myths to be common knowledge all over Greece, which suggests that they had already been known for some time before him. He was also convinced that the Amazons lived not at its fringes, but somewhere in or around Lycia in Asia Minor - a place well within the Greek world.
Troy is mentioned in the Iliad as the place of Myrine's death. Later identified as an Amazon queen, according to Diodorus (1st century BC), the Amazons under her rule invaded the territories of the Atlantians, defeated the army of the Atlantian city of Cerne, and razed the city to the ground.
In Scythia
The Poet Bacchylides (6th century BC) and the historian Herodotus (5th century BC) located the Amazon homeland in Pontus at the southern shores of the Black Sea, and the capital Themiscyra at the banks of the Thermodon (modern Terme river), by the modern city of Terme. Herodotus also explains how it came to be that some Amazons would eventually be living in Scythia. A Greek fleet, sailing home upon defeating the Amazons in battle at the Thermodon river, included three ships crowded with Amazon prisoners. Once out at sea, the Amazon prisoners overwhelmed and killed the small crews of the prisoner ships and, despite not having even basic navigation skills, managed to escape and safely disembark at the Scythian shore. As soon as the Amazons had caught enough horses, they easily asserted themselves in the steppe in between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and, according to Herodotus, would eventually assimilate with the Scythians, whose descendants were the Sauromatae, the predecessors of the Sarmatians.
Amazon homeland
Strabo (1st century BC) visits and confirms the original homeland of the Amazons on the plains by the Thermodon river. However, long gone and not seen again during his lifetime, the Amazons had allegedly retreated into the mountains. Strabo, however, added that other authors, among them Metrodorus of Scepsis and Hypsicrates claim that after abandoning Themiscyra, the Amazons had chosen to resettle beyond the borders of the Gargareans, an all-male tribe native to the northern foothills of the Caucasian Mountains. The Amazons and Gargareans had for many generations met in secrecy once a year during two months in spring, in order to produce children. These encounters would take place in accordance with ancient tribal customs and collective offers of sacrifices. All females were retained by the Amazons themselves, and males were returned to the Gargareans. 5th century BC poet Magnes sings of the bravery of the Lydians in a cavalry-battle against the Amazons.
Heracles myth
Hippolyte was an Amazon queen killed by Heracles, who had set out to obtain the queen's magic belt in a task he was to accomplish as one of the Labours of Heracles. Although neither side had intended to resort to lethal combat, a misunderstanding led to the fight. In the course of this, Heracles killed the queen and several other Amazons. In awe of the strong hero, the Amazons eventually handed the belt to Heracles. In another version, Heracles does not kill the queen, but exchanges her kidnapped sister Melanippe for the belt.
Theseus myth
Queen Hippolyte was abducted by Theseus, who took her to Athens, where she experienced forced marriage, sexual slavery, rape, and- as a result of forced pregnancy- bore him a son, Hippolytus. In other versions, the kidnapped Amazon is called Antiope, the sister of Hippolyte. In revenge, the Amazons invaded Greece, plundered some cities along the coast of Attica, and besieged and occupied Athens. Hippolyte, who fought on the side of Athens, according to another account was killed during the final battle along with all of the Amazons.
Amazons and Dionysus
According to Plutarch, the god Dionysus and his companions fought Amazons at Ephesus. The Amazons fled to Samos and Dionysus pursued them and killed a great number of them at a site since called Panaema (blood-soaked field). The Christian author Eusebius writes that during the reign of Oxyntes, one of the mythical kings of Athens, the Amazons burned down the temple at Ephesus.
In another myth Dionysus unites with the Amazons to fight against Cronus and the Titans. Polyaenus writes that after Dionysus has subdued the Indians, he allies with them and the Amazons and takes them into his service, who serve him in his campaign against the Bactrians. Nonnus in his Dionysiaca reports about the Amazons of Dionysus, but states that they do not come from Thermodon.
Amazons and Alexander the Great
Amazons are also mentioned by biographers of Alexander the Great, who report of Queen Thalestris bearing him a child (a story in the Alexander Romance). However, other biographers of Alexander dispute the claim, including the highly regarded Plutarch. He noted a moment when Alexander's naval commander Onesicritus read an Amazon myth passage of his Alexander History to King Lysimachus of Thrace who had taken part in the original expedition. The king smiled at him and said: "And where was I, then?"
The Talmud recounts that Alexander wanted to conquer a "kingdom of women" but reconsidered when the women told him:
Roman and ancient Egyptian records
Virgil's characterization of the Volsci warrior maiden Camilla in the Aeneid borrows from the myths of the Amazons. Philostratus, in Heroica, writes that the Mysian women fought on horses alongside the men, just as the Amazons. The leader was Hiera, wife of Telephus. The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against the Island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube, where the ashes of Achilles were deposited by Thetis. The ghost of the dead hero so terrified the horses, that they threw off and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retreat. Virgil touches on the Amazons and their queen Penthesilea in his epic Aeneid (around 20 BC).
The biographer Suetonius had Julius Caesar remark in his De vita Caesarum that the Amazons once ruled a large part of Asia. Appian provides a vivid description of Themiscyra and its fortifications in his account of Lucius Licinius Lucullus' Siege of Themiscyra in 71 BC during the Third Mithridatic War.
An Amazon myth has been partly preserved in two badly fragmented versions around historical people in 7th century BC Egypt. The Egyptian prince Petechonsis and allied Assyrian troops undertook a joint campaign into the Land of Women, to the Middle East at the border to India. Petechonsis initially fought the Amazons, but soon fell in love with their queen Sarpot and eventually allied with her against an invading Indian army. This story is said to have originated in Egypt independently of Greek influences.
Amazon queens
Sources provide names of individual Amazons, that are referred to as queens of their people, even as the head of a dynasty. Without a male companion, they are portrayed in command of their female warriors. Among the most prominent Amazon queens were:
Otrera, daughter of the nymph Harmonia and god of war, Ares. She is the mother of Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesilea and the mythical founder of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
Hippolyte, daughter of Otrera and Ares. She is part of the Theseus and Heracles myths, in which Antiope is her sister. Alcippe, the only Amazon known to have sworn a chastity oath, belongs to her entourage.
Penthesilea, who kills her sister Hippolyte in a hunting accident, comes to the aid of the hard-pressed Trojans with her warriors, is defeated by Achilles, who mourns her.
Myrina, who leads a military expedition in Libya, defeats the Atlanteans, forms an alliance with the ruler of Egypt, and conquers numerous cities and islands.
Thalestris, the last known Amazon queen. According to legend, she meets the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Her home is the Thermodon region, or, variably, the Gates of Alexander, south of the Caspian Sea.
Lampedo and Marpesia, queens of the Amazons mentioned by Justin
Various authors and chroniclers
Quintus Smyrnaeus
Quintus Smyrnaeus, author of the Posthomerica lists the attendant warriors of Penthesilea: "Clonie was there, Polemusa, Derinoe, Evandre, and Antandre, and Bremusa, Hippothoe, dark-eyed Harmothoe, Alcibie, Derimacheia, Antibrote, and Thermodosa glorying with the spear."
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus lists twelve Amazons who challenged and died fighting Heracles during his quest for Hippolyta's girdle: Aella, Philippis, Prothoe, Eriboea, Celaeno, Eurybia, Phoebe, Deianeira, Asteria, Marpe, Tecmessa, Alcippe. After Alcippe's death, a group attack followed. Diodorus also mentions Melanippe, who Heracles set free after accepting her girdle and Antiope as ransom.
Diodorus lists another group with Myrina as the queen who commanded the Amazons in a military expedition in Libya, as well as her sister Mytilene, after whom she named the city of the same name. Myrina also named three more cities after the Amazons who held the most important commands under her, Cyme, Pitane, and Priene.
Justin and Paulus Orosius
Both Justin in his Epitome of Trogus Pompeius and Paulus Orosius give an account of the Amazons, citing the same names. Queens Marpesia and Lampedo shared the power during an incursion in Europe and Asia, where they were slain. Marpesia's daughter Orithyia succeeded them and was greatly admired for her skill on war. She shared power with her sister Antiope, but she was engaged in war abroad when Heracles attacked. Two of Antiope's sisters were taken prisoner, Melanippe by Heracles and Hippolyta by Theseus. Heracles latter restored Melanippe to her sister after receiving the queen's arms in exchange, though, on other accounts she was killed by Telamon. They also mention Penthesilea's role in the Trojan War.
Hyginus
Another list of Amazons' names is found in Hyginus' Fabulae. Along with Hippolyta, Otrera, Antiope and Penthesilea, it attests the following names: Ocyale, Dioxippe, Iphinome, Xanthe, Hippothoe, Laomache, Glauce, Agave, Theseis, Clymene, Polydora.
Perhaps the most important is Queen Otrera, consort of Ares and mother by him of Hippolyta and Penthesilea. She's also known for building a temple to Artemis at Ephesus.
Valerius Flaccus
Another different set of names is found in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. He mentions Euryale, Harpe, Lyce, Menippe and Thoe. Of these Lyce also appears on a fragment, preserved in the Latin Anthology where she is said to have killed the hero Clonus of Moesia, son of Doryclus, with her javelin.
Late Antiquity, Middle Age and Renaissance literature
Stephanus of Byzantium (7th-century CE) provides numerous alternative lists of the Amazons, including for those who died in combat against Heracles, describing them as the most prominent of their people. Both Stephanus and Eustathius connect these Amazons with the placename Thibais, which they claim to have been derived from the Amazon Thiba's name. Several of Stephanus' Amazons served as eponyms for cities in Asia Minor, like Cyme and Smyrna or Amastris, who was believed to lend her name to the city previously known as Kromna, although in fact it was named after the historical Amastris. The city Anaea in Caria was named after an Amazon.
In his work Getica (on the origin and history of the Goths, ) Jordanes asserts that the Goths' ancestors, descendants of Magog, originally lived in Scythia, at the Sea of Azov between the Dnieper and Don Rivers. When the Goths were abroad campaigning against Pharaoh Vesosis, their women, on their own successfully fended off a raid by a neighboring tribe. Emboldened, the women established their own army under Marpesia, crossed the Don and invaded eastward into Asia. Marpesia's sister Lampedo remained in Europe to guard the homeland. They procreated with men once a year. These women conquered Armenia, Syria and all of Asia Minor, even reaching Ionia and Aeolis, holding this vast territory for 100 years.
In Digenes Akritas, the twelfth century medieval epic of Basil, the Greco-Syrian knight of the Byzantine frontier, the hero battles and then commits adultery with the female warrior Maximo (killing her afterwards in one version of the epic), descended from some Amazons and taken by Alexander from the Brahmans.
John Tzetzes lists in Posthomerica twenty Amazons, who fell at Troy. This list is unique in its attestation for all the names but Antianeira, Andromache and Hippothoe. Other than these three, the remaining 17 Amazons were named as Toxophone, Toxoanassa, Gortyessa, Iodoce, Pharetre, Andro, Ioxeia, Oistrophe, Androdaixa, Aspidocharme, Enchesimargos, Cnemis, Thorece, Chalcaor, Eurylophe, Hecate, and Anchimache.
Famous medieval traveller John Mandeville mentions them in his book:
Medieval and Renaissance authors credit the Amazons with the invention of the battle-axe. This is probably related to the sagaris, an axe-like weapon associated with both Amazons and Scythian tribes by Greek authors (see also Thracian tomb of Aleksandrovo kurgan). Paulus Hector Mair expresses astonishment that such a "manly weapon" should have been invented by a "tribe of women", but he accepts the attribution out of respect for his authority, Johannes Aventinus.
Ariosto's Orlando Furioso contains a country of warrior women, ruled by Queen Orontea; the epic describes an origin much like that in Greek myth, in that the women, abandoned by a band of warriors and unfaithful lovers, rallied together to form a nation from which men were severely reduced, to prevent them from regaining power. The Amazons and Queen Hippolyta are also referenced in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in "The Knight's Tale".
Amazons continued to be subject of scholarly debate during the European Renaissance, and with the onset of the Age of Exploration, encounters were reported from ever more distant lands. In 1542, Francisco de Orellana reached the Amazon River, naming it after the , a tribe of warlike women he claimed to have encountered and fought on the Nhamundá River, a tributary of the Amazon. Afterwards the whole basin and region of the Amazon (Amazônia in Portuguese, Amazonía in Spanish) were named after the river. Amazons also figure in the accounts of both Christopher Columbus and Walter Raleigh.
Amazons in art
Beginning around 550 BC. depictions of Amazons as daring fighters and equestrian warriors appeared on vases. After the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC the Amazon battle - Amazonomachy became popular motifs on pottery. By the sixth century BC, public and privately displayed artwork used the Amazon imagery for pediment reliefs, sarcophagi, mosaics, pottery, jewelry and even monumental sculptures, that adorned important buildings like the Parthenon in Athens. Amazon motifs remained popular until the Roman imperial period and into Late antiquity.
Apart from the artistic desire to express the passionate womanhood of the Amazons in contrast with the manhood of their enemies, some modern historians interpret the popularity of Amazon in art as indicators of societal trends, both positive and negative. Greek and Roman societies, however, utilized the Amazon mythology as a literary and artistic vehicle to unite against a commonly-held enemy. The metaphysical characteristics of Amazons were seen as personifications of both nature and religion. Roman authors like Virgil, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Curtius, Plutarch, Arrian, and Pausanius advocated the greatness of the state, as Amazon myths served to discuss the creation of origin and identity for the Roman people. However, that changed over time. Amazons in Roman literature and art have many faces, such as the Trojan ally, the warrior goddess, the native Latin, the warmongering Celt, the proud Sarmatian, the hedonistic and passionate Thracian warrior queen, the subdued Asian city, and the worthy Roman foe.
In Renaissance Europe, artists started to reevaluate and depict Amazons based on Christian ethics. Queen Elizabeth of England was associated with Amazon warrior qualities (the foremost ancient examples of feminism) during her reign and was indeed depicted as such. Though, as explained in Divina Virago by Winfried Schleiner, Celeste T. Wright has given a detailed account of the bad reputation Amazons had in the Renaissance. She notes that she has not found any Elizabethans comparing the Queen to an Amazon and suggests that they might have hesitated to do so because of the association of Amazons with enfranchisement of women, which was considered contemptible. Elizabeth was present at a tournament celebrating the marriage of the Earl of Warwick and Anne Russell at Westminster Palace on 11 November 1565 involving male riders dressed as Amazons. They accompanied the challengers carrying their heraldry. These riders wore crimson gowns, masks with long hair attached, and swords.
Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel depicted the Battle of the Amazons around 1598, a most dramatic baroque painting, followed by a painting of the Rococo period by Johann Georg Platzer, also titled Battle of the Amazons. In 19th-century European Romanticism German artist Anselm Feuerbach occupied himself with the Amazons as well. His paintings engendered all the aspirations of the Romantics: their desire to transcend the boundaries of the ego and of the known world; their interest in the occult in nature and in the soul; their search for a national identity, and the ensuing search for the mythic origins of the Germanic nation; finally, their wish to escape the harsh realities of the present through immersion in an idealized past.
Archaeology
Speculation that the idea of Amazons contains a core of reality is based on archaeological discoveries at kurgan burial sites in the steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia. The varied war weapons artifacts found in graves of numerous high-ranking Scythian and Sarmatian warrior women have led scholars to conclude that the Amazonian legend has been inspired by the real world: About 20% of the warrior graves on the lower Don and lower Volga contained women dressed for battle similar to how men dress. Armed women accounted for up to 25% of Sarmatian military burials. Russian archaeologist Vera Kovalevskaya asserts that when Scythian men were abroad fighting or hunting, women would have to be able to competently defend themselves, their animals, and their pastures.
In early 20th century Minoan archeology a theory regarding Amazon origins in Minoan civilization was raised in an essay by Lewis Richard Farnell and John Myres. According to Myres, the tradition interpreted in the light of evidence furnished by supposed Amazon cults seems to have been very similar and may have even originated in Minoan culture.
Modern legacy
The city of Samsun in modern-day Samsun Province, Turkey features an Amazon Village museum, to help bring attention to the legacy of the Amazons and to promote both academic interest and tourism. An annual Amazon Celebration Festival takes place in the Terme district.
During the Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani in 1826, in the battle of Diros the women of Mani defeated the Ottoman army and for this were given the name of 'The Amazons of Diros'.
From 1936 to 1939, annual propaganda events, called Night of the Amazons (Nacht der Amazonen) were performed in Nazi Germany at the Nymphenburg Palace Park in Munich. Announced as evening highlights of the International Horse Racing Week Munich-Riem, bare-breasted variety show girls of the SS-Cavalry, 2,500 participants and international guests performed at the open-air revue. These revues served to promote an allegedly emancipated female role and a cosmopolitan and foreigner-friendly Nazi regime.
In literature and media
Literature
Amazon Queen Hippolyta appears in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream and also in The Two Noble Kinsmen, which Shakespeare co-wrote with John Fletcher.
The Amazon queen Penthesilea, and her sexual frenzy, are at the center of the drama Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist in 1808.
Steven Pressfield's 2002 novel Last of the Amazons is a mythopoeia of Plutarch's texts, that surround Theseus' abduction of Queen Antiope and the Amazons' attack on Athens. An accurate and detailed portrayal of the Archaic Greek world, its life, people, weapons etc. dramatized as real as the sky.
William Moulton Marston, alongside his wife and their lover Olive Byrne, created their rendition of the mythical Amazons, whose members included the superheroine Wonder Woman, for DC Comics. Marston's Amazons are noteworthy for not just being physically superior to mortal men but also technologically superior, being able to create healing rays and undetectable jet planes that can be controlled through brain waves alone, although this element of Amazon society is applied inconsistently in appearances written after Marston's death.
In Rick Riordan's The Heroes of Olympus, the Amazons appear in The Son of Neptune and The Blood of Olympus. They are the founders and owners of the Amazon corporation.
In Philip Armstrong's historical-fantasy series, The Chronicles of Tupiluliuma, the Amazons appear as the Am'azzi.
In the Stieg Larsson novel The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, the Amazons appear as the transitional topics between sections of the book.
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo created the fictional queen Calafia, who ruled over a kingdom of black women, living in the style of Amazons, on the mythical Island of California.
Amazon Gazonga is a short comic series created by the Waltrip brothers in 1995. The comic centres around on a young amazon named Gazonga living in the Amazon rainforest.
GastroPhobia is a webcomic by Daisy McGuire, about the adventures of an exiled Amazon warrior and her son living in Ancient Greece, roughly 3408 years ago.
Film and television
Franchises involving several Tarzan releases, that have featured Amazon tribes (Tarzan and the Amazons, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle)
In the animated series The Mysterious Cities of Gold, a tribe of Amazons appeared in two episodes.
Frank Hart, portraying a misogynist, is kidnapped by Amazons in the 1980 film 9 to 5.
Amazons appear in the movies The Loves of Hercules (1960), Battle of the Amazons (1970), War Goddess (1973), Hundra (1983), Amazons (1986), Deathstalker II (1987), Ronal the Barbarian (2011), Hercules (2014) and DC Extended Universe films: Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).
Amazons in television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Young Hercules, and Xena: Warrior Princess, The Legend of the Hidden City and Huntik: Secrets & Seekers and Supernatural.
Games
Amazons are featured in the following roleplay - and video games: Diablo, Heroes Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Amazon: Guardians of Eden, Flight of the Amazon Queen, A Total War Saga: Troy, Rome: Total War, Final Fantasy IV, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Legend of Zelda series and Yu-Gi-Oh games.
Military units
Russian general and statesman Grigory Potemkin, and then favourite of Catherine the Great created an Amazons Company in 1787. Wives and daughters of the soldiers of the Greek Battalion of Balaklava were enlisted and formed this unit.
The Mino, or Minon, (Our Mothers) were a late 19th to early 20th-century all-female official military regiment of the former Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin). Since the early 18th-century women contingents had already joined the army, usually during deployment, in order to inflate the army size. However, women proved themselves courageous and effective in active combat, and a regular unit was established. Western observers, who had allegedly perceived certain Amazon-like physical and mental qualities in these women, came up with the trivial epithet Dahomey Amazons.
Social and religious activism
During the period 1905–1913, members of the militant Suffragette movement were frequently referred to as "Amazons" in books and newspaper articles.
In Ukraine Katerina Tarnovska leads a group called the Asgarda which claims to be a new tribe of Amazons. Tarnovska believes that the Amazons are the direct ancestors of Ukrainian women, and she has created an all-female martial art for her group, based on another form of fighting called Combat Hopak, but with a special emphasis on self-defense.
Science
The Neptune trojans, asteroids 60° ahead or beyond Neptune on its orbit, are individually named after mythological Amazons.
See also
List of Amazons
Action heroine
Amazons (DC Comics)
Matriarchy
List of women warriors in folklore
Women in the military
Timeline of women in ancient warfare
Ares (father of amazons)
Shieldmaiden, female warrior in northern Europe
Onna-bugeisha, female warrior in Japanese nobility
Urduja, from Philippine mythology
Women warriors in literature and culture
References
Sources
Primary
Secondary
Further reading
Adams, Maeve. "Amazons." The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies (2016): 1–4.
"AMAZONS Women of the Steppe and the Idea of the Female Warrior". In: Ball, Warwick. The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, Ideas. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. pp. 117–135. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474488075-010
Dowden, Ken. “THE AMAZONS: DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONS”. In: Rheinisches Museum Für Philologie 140, no. 2 (1997): 97–128. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41234269.
Fialko, Elena (2018). "Scythian Female Warriors in the South of Eastern Europe". In: Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia 22 (lipiec), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.14746/fpp.2017.22.02.
Guliaev, V. I. (2003). "Amazons in the Scythia: New finds at the Middle Don, Southern Russia". In: World Archaeology, 35:1, 112–125. DOI: 10.1080/0043824032000078117
Hardwick, Lorna (1990). "Ancient Amazons - Heroes, Outsiders or Women?". In: Greece & Rome, 37, pp. 14–36. doi:10.1017/S0017383500029521
Liccardo, Salvatore. "Different Gentes, Same Amazons: The Myth of Women Warriors at the Service of Ethnic Discourse." Medieval History Journal 21.2 (2018): 222–250.
Mayor, Adrienne. The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zvndm. online review
Maartel Bremer, Jan. "THE AMAZONS IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE GREEKS". In: Acta Antiqua 40, 1-4 (2000): 51–59. Accessed Jul 17, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1556/aant.40.2000.1-4.6
Toler, Pamela D. Women warriors: An unexpected history (Beacon Press, 2019).
von Rothmer, Dietrich, Amazons in Greek Art (Oxford University Press, 1957)
Vovoura, Despoina. “Women Warriors(?) And the Amazon Myth: The Evidence of Female Burials with Weapons in the Black Sea Area”. In: The Greeks and Romans in the Black Sea and the Importance of the Pontic Region for the Graeco-Roman World (7th Century BC-5th Century AD): 20 Years On (1997-2017): Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities (Constanţa – 18–22 September 2017). Edited by Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Alexandru Avram, and James Hargrave. Archaeopress, 2021. pp. 118–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqhw.22.
Wilde, Lyn Webster. On the trail of the women warriors: The Amazons in myth and history ( Macmillan, 2000).
Other languages
Bergmann, F. G. Les Amazones dans l'histoire et dans la fable (1853)
Klugmann, A. Die Amazonen in der attischen Literatur und Kunst (1875)
Krause, H. L. Die Amazonensage (1893)
Lacour, F. Les Amazones (1901)
Mordtmann, Andreas David. Die Amazonen (Hanover, 1862)
Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft
Roscher, W. H., Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie
Santos, Theobaldo Miranda. Lendas e mitos do Brasil (Companhia Editora Nacional, 1979)
Stricker, W. Die Amazonen in Sage und Geschichte (1868)
External links
Wounded Amazon
Herodotus via Gutenberg
Straight Dope: Amazons
Amazon women in the Mongolian steppe
Amazon mtDNA found in Mongolia
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Amazons)
Legendary tribes in Greco-Roman historiography
Mythology of Heracles
Children of Ares
Scythia
Single-gender worlds
Women of the Trojan war
Women warriors
Etymology of California
Deeds of Ares |
1710 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2022 | April 22 |
Events
Pre-1600
1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil.
1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues () east of the Moluccas.
1601–1900
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity.
1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
1876 – The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.
1889 – At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
1898 – Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000.
1901–present
1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.
1915 – World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater.
1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
1944 – World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station.
1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape.
1945 – World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces.
1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong.
1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.
1969 – The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.
1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated.
1974 – Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.
1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
1992 – A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206.
1993 – Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.
2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
2016 – The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.
2020 – Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.
Births
Pre-1600
1412 – Reinhard III, Count of Hanau (1451–1452) (d. 1452)
1444 – Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk (d. 1503)
1451 – Isabella I of Castile (d. 1504)
1518 – Antoine of Navarre (d. 1562)
1592 – Wilhelm Schickard, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1635)
1601–1900
1610 – Pope Alexander VIII (d. 1691)
1658 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1709)
1690 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1763)
1707 – Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (d. 1754)
1711 – Paul II Anton, Prince Esterházy, Austrian soldier (d. 1762)
1724 – Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1804)
1732 – John Johnson, English architect and surveyor (d. 1814)
1744 – James Sullivan, American lawyer and politician, 7th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1808)
1766 – Germaine de Staël, French author and political philosopher (d. 1817)
1812 – Solomon Caesar Malan, Swiss-English orientalist (d. 1894)
1816 – Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general (d. 1897)
1830 – Emily Davies, British suffragist and educator, co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge University
1832 – Julius Sterling Morton, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Agriculture (d. 1902)
1844 – Lewis Powell, American soldier, attempted assassin of William H. Seward (d. 1865)
1852 – William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912)
1854 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
1858 – Ethel Smyth, English composer (d. 1944)
1858 – Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Belgian art collector and art historian (d. 1901)
1870 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and founder of Soviet Russia (d. 1924)
1872 – Princess Margaret of Prussia (d. 1954)
1873 – Ellen Glasgow, American author (d. 1945)
1874 – Wu Peifu, Chinese warlord, politician, and marshal of the Beiyang Army (d. 1939)
1876 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian-Swedish otologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)
1876 – Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler and strongman (d. 1920)
1879 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (d. 1939)
1884 – Otto Rank, Austrian-American psychologist and academic (d. 1939)
1886 – Izidor Cankar, Slovenian historian, author, and diplomat (d. 1958)
1887 – Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (d. 1951)
1889 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1891 – Laura Gilpin, American photographer (d. 1979)
1891 – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (d. 1965)
1891 – Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (d. 1989)
1891 – Nicola Sacco, Italian-American anarchist (d. 1927)
1892 – Vernon Johns, African-American minister and activist (d. 1965)
1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (d. 1977)
1900 – Nellie Beer, British politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (d. 1988)
1901–present
1904 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (d. 1967)
1905 – Robert Choquette, American-Canadian author, poet, and diplomat (d. 1991)
1906 – Eric Fenby, English composer and educator (d. 1997)
1906 – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (d. 1947)
1909 – Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
1909 – Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and historian (d. 2001)
1909 – Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2000)
1910 – Norman Steenrod, American mathematician and academic (d. 1971)
1912 – Kathleen Ferrier, English operatic singer (d. 1953)
1912 – Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1914 – Baldev Raj Chopra, Indian director and producer (d. 2008)
1914 – Jan de Hartog, Dutch-American author and playwright (d. 2002)
1914 – José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (d. 1941)
1914 – Michael Wittmann, German SS officer (d. 1944)
1916 – Hanfried Lenz, German mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
1916 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 1999)
1917 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina (d. 2016)
1917 – Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (d. 1992)
1918 – William Jay Smith, American poet and academic (d. 2015)
1918 – Mickey Vernon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
1919 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
1919 – Carl Lindner, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2011)
1922 – Richard Diebenkorn, American soldier and painter (d. 1993)
1922 – Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1979)
1922 – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist and academic (d. 1973)
1923 – Peter Kane Dufault, American soldier, pilot, and poet (d. 2013)
1923 – Bettie Page, American model and actress (d. 2008)
1923 – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1924 – Nam Duck-woo, South Korean politician, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2013)
1926 – Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
1926 – James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (d. 1992)
1927 – Laurel Aitken, Cuban-Jamaican singer (d. 2005)
1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (d. 2022)
1929 – Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (d. 2019)
1929 – Robert Wade-Gery, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to India (d. 2015)
1930 – Enno Penno, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 2016)
1931 – John Buchanan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
1931 – Ronald Hynd, English dancer and choreographer
1933 – Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American chemist and astronaut (d. 2013)
1935 – Christopher Ball, English linguist and academic
1935 – Paul Chambers, African-American bassist and composer (d. 1969)
1935 – Bhama Srinivasan, Indian-American mathematician and academic
1936 – Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
1936 – Pierre Hétu, Canadian pianist and conductor (d. 1998)
1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer
1937 – Jack Nitzsche, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (d. 2000)
1938 – Alan Bond, English-Australian businessman (d. 2015)
1938 – Gani Fawehinmi, Nigerian lawyer and activist (d. 2009)
1938 – Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (d. 2022)
1938 – Adam Raphael, English journalist and author
1939 – Mel Carter, American singer and actor
1939 – John Foley, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey
1939 – Ray Guy, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2013)
1939 – Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (d. 2001)
1939 – Theodor Waigel, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Finance
1941 – Greville Howard, Baron Howard of Rising, English politician
1942 – Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher and academic
1942 – Mary Prior, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol
1943 – Keith Crisco, American businessman and politician (d. 2014)
1943 – Janet Evanovich, American author
1943 – Louise Glück, American poet (d. 2023)
1943 – John Maples, Baron Maples, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (d. 2012)
1943 – Scott W. Williams, American mathematician and professor
1944 – Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (d. 2007)
1944 – Doug Jarrett, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1944 – Joshua Rifkin, American conductor and musicologist
1945 – Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Indian civil servant and politician, 22nd Governor of West Bengal
1945 – Demetrio Stratos, Greek-Egyptian singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
1946 – Steven L. Bennett, American captain and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1972)
1946 – Paul Davies, English physicist and author
1946 – Louise Harel, Canadian lawyer and politician
1946 – Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician
1946 – Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, English economist and academic
1946 – John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1948 – John Pritchard, English bishop
1949 – Spencer Haywood, American basketball player
1950 – Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1950 – Jancis Robinson, English journalist and critic
1951 – Aivars Kalējs, Latvian organist, composer, and pianist
1951 – Ana María Shua, Argentinian author and poet
1957 – Donald Tusk, Polish journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Poland
1959 – Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager
1959 – Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian actor and comedian
1960 – Mart Laar, Estonian historian and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Estonia
1961 – Jeff Hostetler, American football player
1961 – Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (d. 1996)
1962 – Jeff Minter, British video game designer and programmer
1962 – Danièle Sauvageau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Rosalind Gill, English sociologist and academic
1963 – Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (d. 2021)
1966 – Mickey Morandini, American baseball player and manager
1966 – Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor
1967 – David J. C. MacKay, English physicist, engineer, and academic (d. 2016)
1967 – Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality
1970 – Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress
1976 – Dan Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1978 – Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan runner and coach
1979 – Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager
1979 – Daniel Johns, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 – Quincy Timberlake, Kenyan-Australian activist, engineer, and politician
1982 – Kaká, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist
1983 – Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist
1986 – Amber Heard, American actress
1986 – Marshawn Lynch, American football player
1987 – David Luiz, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Dee Strange-Gordon, American baseball player
1990 – Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
1990 – Kevin Kiermaier, American baseball player
1991 – Danni Wyatt, English cricketer
Deaths
Pre-1600
296 – Pope Caius
536 – Pope Agapetus I
591 – Peter III of Raqqa
613 – Saint Theodore of Sykeon
835 – Kūkai, Japanese Buddhist monk, founder of Esoteric (Shingon) Buddhism (b. 774)
846 – Wuzong, Chinese emperor (b. 814)
1208 – Philip of Poitou, Prince-Bishop of Durham
1322 – Francis of Fabriano, Italian writer (b. 1251)
1355 – Eleanor of Woodstock, countess regent of Guelders, eldest daughter of King Edward II of England (b. 1318)
1585 – Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück and Paderborn (b. 1550)
1601–1900
1616 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1547)
1672 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish linguist and poet (b. 1598)
1699 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet (b. 1646)
1758 – Antoine de Jussieu, French botanist and physician (b. 1686)
1778 – James Hargreaves, British inventor (b. 1720)
1806 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (b. 1763)
1821 – Gregory V of Constantinople, Greek patriarch and saint (b. 1746)
1833 – Richard Trevithick, English engineer and explorer (b. 1771)
1850 – Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian philologist and physician (b. 1798)
1854 – Nicolás Bravo, Mexican general and politician, 11th President of Mexico (b. 1786)
1871 – Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (b. 1806)
1877 – James P. Kirkwood, Scottish-American engineer (b. 1807)
1892 – Édouard Lalo, French violinist and composer (b. 1823)
1893 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian businessman and author (b. 1825)
1894 – Kostas Krystallis, Greek author and poet (b. 1868)
1896 – Thomas Meik, English engineer, founded Halcrow Group (b. 1812)
1901–present
1908 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
1925 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (b. 1878)
1929 – Henry Lerolle, French painter and art collector (b. 1848)
1932 – Ferenc Oslay, Hungarian-Slovene historian and author (b. 1883)
1933 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1863)
1945 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1900)
1945 – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (b. 1867)
1950 – Charles Hamilton Houston, American lawyer and academic (b. 1895)
1951 – Horace Donisthorpe, English myrmecologist and coleopterist (b. 1870)
1978 – Will Geer, American actor (b. 1902)
1980 – Jane Froman, American actress and singer (b. 1907)
1980 – Fritz Strassmann, German chemist and physicist (b. 1902)
1983 – Earl Hines, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903)
1984 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (b. 1902)
1985 – Paul Hugh Emmett, American chemist and academic (b. 1900)
1985 – Jacques Ferron, Canadian physician and author (b. 1921)
1986 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian and author (b. 1907)
1987 – Erika Nõva, Estonian architect (b. 1905)
1988 – Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1917)
1988 – Irene Rich, American actress (b. 1891)
1989 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1990 – Albert Salmi, American actor (b. 1928)
1994 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913)
1995 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and author (b. 1947)
1996 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
1996 – Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (b. 1908)
1999 – Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear engineer (b. 1926)
2003 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (b. 1925)
2005 – Erika Fuchs, German translator (b. 1906)
2005 – Philip Morrison, American physicist and academic (b. 1915)
2005 – Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish sculptor and artist (b. 1924)
2006 – Henriette Avram, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1919)
2006 – Alida Valli, Italian actress (b. 1921)
2007 – Juanita Millender-McDonald, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
2009 – Jack Cardiff, British cinematographer, director and photographer (b. 1914)
2010 – Richard Barrett, American lawyer and activist (b. 1943)
2012 – George Rathmann, American chemist, biologist, and businessman (b. 1927)
2013 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
2013 – Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist and composer (b. 1930)
2013 – Robert Suderburg, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1936)
2014 – Oswaldo Vigas, Venezuelan painter (b. 1926)
2015 – Dick Balharry, Scottish environmentalist and photographer (b. 1937)
2017 – Donna Leanne Williams, Australian writer, artist, and activist (b. 1963)
2020 – Shirley Knight, American actress (b. 1936)
2021 – Adrian Garrett, American professional baseball player (b. 1943)
2022 – Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2023 – Len Goodman, English ballroom dancer and television personality (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions (Catholic Church)
Arwald
Epipodius and Alexander
Hudson Stuck (Episcopal Church)
John Muir (Episcopal Church)
Opportuna of Montreuil
Pope Caius
Pope Soter
St Senorina
April 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Fighter Aviation Day (Brazil)
Discovery Day (Brazil)
Earth Day (International observance) and its related observance: International Mother Earth Day
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Serbia)
From 2018 onwards, a national day of commemoration for the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence (United Kingdom)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 22
Days of the year
April |
1711 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2031 | August 31 |
Events
Pre-1600
1056 – After a sudden illness a few days previously, Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.
1057 – Abdication of Byzantine Emperor Michael VI Bringas after just one year.
1218 – Al-Kamil becomes sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty.
1314 – King Haakon V of Norway moves the capital from Bergen to Oslo.
1420 – The 8.8–9.4 Caldera earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunami in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan.
1422 – King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France. His son, Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of nine months.
1535 – Pope Paul III excommunicates English King Henry VIII from the church. He drew up a papal bull of excommunication which began Eius qui immobilis.
1601–1900
1776 – William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey, begins serving his first term.
1795 – War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.
1798 – Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.
1813 – Peninsular War: Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.
1864 – During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta.
1876 – Ottoman Sultan Murad V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid II.
1886 – The 7.0 Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Sixty people killed with damage estimated at $5–6 million.
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims.
1895 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.
1901–present
1907 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not to interfere in Tibet.
1918 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
1933 – The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.
1935 – In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.
1936 – Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.
1939 – Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.
1940 – Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.
1941 – World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.
1943 – , the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.
1949 – The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.
1950 – TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard.
1957 – The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1959 – A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
1962 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
1963 – Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self governance.
1972 – Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard.
1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
1986 – The Soviet passenger liner sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.
1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.
1988 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14.
1988 – CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people.
1991 – Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1993 – Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.
1994 – Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.
1996 – Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.
1999 – The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.
1999 – A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.
2002 – Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, made landfall, killing at least 236 people.
2005 – The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people.
2006 – Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
2016 – Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.
2019 – A sightseeing helicopter crashes in the mountains of Skoddevarre, Alta, Norway, killing all 6 occupants.
Births
Pre-1600
12 – Caligula, Roman emperor (d. 41)
161 – Commodus, Roman emperor (d. 192)
1018 – Jeongjong II, Korean ruler (d. 1046)
1168 – Zhang Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1208)
1542 – Isabella de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1576)
1569 – Jahangir, Mughal emperor (d. 1627)
1601–1900
1652 – Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Italian nobleman (d. 1708)
1663 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (d. 1705)
1721 – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1775)
1741 – Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, French composer and educator (d. 1816)
1748 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, French ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, and playwright (d. 1820)
1767 – Henry Joy McCracken, Irish businessman and activist, founded the Society of United Irishmen (d. 1798)
1775 – Agnes Bulmer, English poet and author (d. 1836)
1797 – Ramón Castilla, Peruvian military leader and politician, President of Peru (d. 1867)
1797 – Stephen Geary, English architect, inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1854)
1802 – Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (d. 1834)
1811 – Théophile Gautier, French poet and critic (d. 1872)
1821 – Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (d. 1894)
1823 – Galusha A. Grow, American lawyer and politician, 28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1907)
1834 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and educator (d. 1886)
1842 – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, American journalist, publisher, and activist (d. 1924)
1843 – Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1919)
1870 – Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator (d. 1952)
1871 – James E. Ferguson, American banker and politician, 26th Governor of Texas (d. 1944)
1875 – Rosa Lemberg, Namibian-born Finnish American teacher, singer and choral conductor (d. 1959)
1878 – Frank Jarvis, American sprinter and lawyer (d. 1933)
1879 – Alma Mahler, Austrian-American composer and author (d. 1964)
1879 – Taishō, emperor of Japan (d. 1926)
1880 – Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands (d. 1962)
1884 – George Sarton, Belgian-American historian of science (d. 1956)
1885 – DuBose Heyward, American author and playwright (d. 1940)
1890 – August Alle, Estonian poet and author (d. 1952)
1890 – Nätti-Jussi, Finnish lumberjack and forest laborer (d. 1964)
1893 – Lily Laskine, French harp player (d. 1988)
1894 – Albert Facey, Australian soldier and author (d. 1982)
1896 – Brian Edmund Baker, English Air Marshal (d. 1979)
1896 – Félix-Antoine Savard, Canadian priest and author (d. 1982)
1897 – Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)
1900 – Gino Lucetti, Italian anarchist, attempted assassin of Benito Mussolini (d. 1943)
1901–present
1902 – Géza Révész, Hungarian general and politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (d. 1977)
1903 – Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television host (d. 1983)
1903 – Vladimir Jankélévitch, French musicologist and philosopher (d. 1985)
1905 – Robert Bacher, American physicist and academic (d. 2004)
1905 – Sanford Meisner, American actor and educator (d. 1997)
1907 – Valter Biiber, Estonian footballer (d. 1977)
1907 – Augustus F. Hawkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
1907 – Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino captain, engineer, and politician, 7th President of the Philippines (d. 1957)
1907 – William Shawn, American journalist (d. 1992)
1907 – Altiero Spinelli, Italian theorist and politician (d. 1986)
1908 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1981)
1909 – Ferenc Fejtő, Hungarian-French journalist and political scientist (d. 2008)
1911 – Edward Brongersma, Dutch journalist and politician (d. 1998)
1911 – Arsenio Rodríguez, Cuban-American tres player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1970)
1913 – Helen Levitt, American photographer and cinematographer (d. 2009)
1913 – Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
1914 – Richard Basehart, American actor (d. 1984)
1915 – Pete Newell, American basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
1916 – Danny Litwhiler, American baseball player and coach (d. 2011)
1916 – Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (d. 2010)
1916 – John S. Wold, American geologist and politician (d. 2017)
1918 – Alan Jay Lerner, American songwriter and composer (d. 1986)
1919 – Amrita Pritam, Indian poet and author (d. 2005)
1921 – Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (d. 2014)
1921 – Raymond Williams, Welsh author and academic (d. 1988)
1924 – John Davidson, American physician and politician (d. 2012)
1924 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
1924 – Herbert Wise, Austrian-English director and producer (d. 2015)
1925 – Moran Campbell, English-Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (d. 2004)
1925 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (d. 2003)
1928 – James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)
1928 – Jaime Sin, Filipino cardinal (d. 2005)
1930 – Big Tiny Little, American pianist (d. 2010)
1931 – Jean Béliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1931 – Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Allan Fotheringham, Canadian journalist (d. 2020)
1932 – Roy Castle, English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician (d. 1994)
1935 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist and author (d. 1998)
1935 – Bryan Organ, English painter
1935 – Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
1936 – Vladimir Orlov, Russian journalist and author (d. 2014)
1937 – Warren Berlinger, American actor (d. 2020)
1937 – Bobby Parker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1938 – Martin Bell, English journalist and politician
1939 – Jerry Allison, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2022)
1940 – Robbie Basho, American guitarist, pianist, and composer (d. 1986)
1940 – Wilton Felder, American saxophonist and bass player (d. 2015)
1940 – Larry Hankin, American actor, director, and producer
1940 – Roger Newman, English-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1940 – Jack Thompson, Australian actor
1941 – William DeWitt, Jr., American businessman
1941 – Emmanuel Nunes, Portuguese-French composer and educator (d. 2012)
1942 – Isao Aoki, Japanese golfer
1943 – Leonid Ivashov, Russian general
1944 – Roger Dean, English illustrator and publisher
1944 – Liz Forgan, English journalist
1944 – Christine King, English historian and academic
1944 – Clive Lloyd, Guyanese cricketer
1945 – Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer-songwriter
1945 – Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-American violinist and conductor
1945 – Bob Welch, American singer and guitarist (d. 2012)
1946 – Ann Coffey, Scottish social worker and politician
1946 – Jerome Corsi, American conspiracy theorist and author
1946 – Tom Coughlin, American football player and coach
1947 – Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Italian businessman
1947 – Yumiko Ōshima, Japanese author and illustrator
1947 – Somchai Wongsawat, Thai lawyer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Thailand
1948 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (d. 1982)
1948 – Lowell Ganz, American screenwriter and producer
1948 – Ken McMullen, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1948 – Holger Osieck, German footballer and manager
1948 – Rudolf Schenker, German guitarist and songwriter
1949 – Richard Gere, American actor and producer
1949 – Stephen McKinley Henderson, American actor
1949 – Hugh David Politzer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1949 – Rick Roberts, American country-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Grant Batty, New Zealand rugby player
1952 – Kim Kashkashian, American viola player and educator
1952 – Herbert Reul, German politician
1953 – Marcia Clark, American attorney and author
1953 – Miguel Ángel Guerra, Argentinian race car driver
1953 – György Károly, Hungarian poet and author (d. 2018)
1953 – Pavel Vinogradov, Russian astronaut and engineer
1954 – Julie Brown, American actress and screenwriter
1955 – Aleksander Krupa, Polish-American actor
1955 – Julie Maxton, Scottish lawyer and academic
1955 – Edwin Moses, American hurdler
1955 – Anthony Thistlethwaite, English saxophonist and bass player
1955 – Gary Webb, American journalist and author (d. 2004)
1956 – Mária Balážová, Slovak painter and illustrator
1956 – Kent Nilsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1956 – Masashi Tashiro, Japanese singer, actor, and director
1956 – Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese politician and the President of the Republic of China
1957 – Colm O'Rourke, Irish footballer and sportscaster
1957 – Gina Schock, American drummer
1957 – Glenn Tilbrook, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Serge Blanco, Venezuelan-French rugby player and businessman
1958 – Stephen Cottrell, English bishop
1959 – Ralph Krueger, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Jessica Upshaw, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1960 – Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper
1960 – Chris Whitley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1960 – Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese politician, 3rd Secretary-General of Hezbollah
1961 – Kieran Crowley, New Zealand rugby player
1961 – Magnus Ilmjärv, Estonian historian and author
1962 – Dee Bradley Baker, American voice actor
1963 – Reb Beach, American guitarist
1963 – Rituparno Ghosh, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1963 – Sonny Silooy, Dutch footballer and manager
1964 – Raymond P. Hammond, American poet and critic
1965 – Zsolt Borkai, Hungarian gymnast and politician
1965 – Susan Gritton, English soprano and actress
1966 – Lyuboslav Penev, Bulgarian footballer and manager
1967 – Gene Hoglan, American drummer
1967 – Anita Moen, Norwegian skier
1968 – Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician (d. 2016)
1968 – Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player
1968 – Jolene Watanabe, American tennis player (d. 2019)
1969 – Nathalie Bouvier, French skier
1969 – Jonathan LaPaglia, Australian actor and physician
1969 – Jeff Russo, American musician
1969 – Javagal Srinath, Indian cricketer and referee
1970 – Debbie Gibson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1970 – Nikola Gruevski, Macedonian economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
1970 – Greg Mulholland, English politician
1970 – Queen Rania of Jordan
1970 – Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer and manager
1970 – Zack Ward, Canadian actor and producer
1971 – Kirstie Allsopp, British TV presenter
1971 – Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer
1971 – Vadim Repin, Belgian-Russian violinist
1971 – Chris Tucker, American comedian and actor
1973 – Scott Niedermayer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Andriy Medvedev, Ukrainian-Monégasque tennis player
1975 – Craig Cumming, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
1975 – John Grahame, American ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Sara Ramirez, Mexican-American actor and musician
1976 – Vincent Delerm, French singer-songwriter and pianist
1976 – Shar Jackson, American actress and singer
1976 – Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Radek Martínek, Czech ice hockey player
1977 – Jeff Hardy, American wrestler and singer
1977 – Ian Harte, Irish footballer
1977 – Craig Nicholls, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Arzu Yanardağ, Turkish actress and model
1978 – Philippe Christanval, French footballer
1978 – Ido Pariente, Israeli mixed martial artist and trainer
1978 – Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model
1978 – Craig Stapleton, Australian rugby league player
1978 – Sandis Valters, Latvian basketball player
1978 – Morten Qvenild, Norwegian pianist and composer
1979 – Clay Hensley, American baseball player
1979 – Mark Johnston, Canadian swimmer
1979 – Yara Martinez, Puerto Rican-American actress
1979 – Simon Neil, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1979 – Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian Tamil singer-songwriter and producer
1979 – Ramón Santiago, Dominican baseball player
1979 – Mickie James, American wrestler
1980 – Joe Budden, American rapper
1981 – Ahmad Al Harthy, Omani race car driver
1981 – Dwayne Peel, Welsh rugby player
1981 – Steve Saviano, American ice hockey player
1982 – Ian Crocker, American swimmer
1982 – Chris Duhon, American basketball player
1982 – Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian sprinter
1982 – Christopher Katongo, Zambian footballer
1982 – Josh Kroeger, American baseball player
1982 – Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1982 – Pepe Reina, Spanish footballer
1982 – Michele Rugolo, Italian race car driver
1982 – G. Willow Wilson, American journalist and author
1983 – Deniz Aydoğdu, German-Turkish footballer
1983 – Milan Biševac, Serbian footballer
1983 – Larry Fitzgerald, American football player
1984 – Matti Breschel, Danish cyclist
1984 – Ryan Kesler, American ice hockey player
1984 – Ted Ligety, American skier
1984 – Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer
1985 – Rolando, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Andrew Foster, Australian footballer
1985 – Mabel Matiz, Turkish singer
1985 – Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
1986 – Ryan Kelley, American actor
1986 – Blake Wheeler, American ice hockey player
1987 – Xavi Annunziata, Spanish footballer
1987 – Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer
1987 – Ondřej Pavelec, Czech ice hockey player
1988 – Matt Adams, American baseball player
1988 – Trent Hodkinson, Australian rugby league player
1988 – David Ospina, Colombian footballer
1988 – Ember Moon, American wrestler
1989 – Dezmon Briscoe, American football player
1990 – Tadeja Majerič, Slovenian tennis player
1991 – António Félix da Costa, Portuguese race car driver
1991 – Cédric Soares, Portuguese footballer
1992 – Holly Earl, British actress
1992 – Tyler Randell, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Pablo Marí, Spanish football player
1993 – Ilnur Alshin, Russian football player
1993 – Anna Karnaukh, Russian water polo player
1994 – Alex Harris, Scottish footballer
1994 – Can Aktav, Turkish football player
1996 – Jalen Brunson, American basketball player
1998 – Jaylen Barron, American actress
2000 – Sauce Gardner, American football player
2001 – Amanda Anisimova, American tennis player
2004 – Jang Won-young, South Korean singer and model
Deaths
Pre-1600
318 – Liu Cong, emperor of the Xiongnu state
577 – John Scholasticus, Byzantine patriarch and saint
651 – Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish bishop and saint
731 – Ōtomo no Tabito, Japanese poet (b. 665)
894 – Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ta'i, Muslim governor
1054 – Kunigunde of Altdorf, Frankish noblewoman (b. c. 1020)
1056 – Theodora, Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire (b. 981)
1115 – Turgot of Durham (b.c. 1050)
1158 – Sancho III of Castile (b. 1134)
1234 – Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (b. 1212)
1287 – Konrad von Würzburg, German poet
1324 – Henry II of Jerusalem (b. 1271)
1372 – Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, English soldier (b. 1301)
1422 – Henry V of England (b. 1386)
1450 – Isabella of Navarre, Countess of Armagnac (b. 1395)
1502 – Thomas Wode, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
1528 – Matthias Grünewald, German artist (b. 1470)
1601–1900
1645 – Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet (b. 1566)
1654 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and historian (b. 1588)
1688 – John Bunyan, English preacher, theologian, and author (b. 1628)
1730 – Gottfried Finger, Czech-German viol player and composer (b. 1660)
1741 – Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German academic and jurist (b. 1681)
1772 – William Borlase, English geologist and historian (b. 1695)
1795 – François-André Danican Philidor, French-English chess player and composer (b. 1726)
1799 – Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect and academic, designed the Bernstorff Palace and Marienlyst Castle (b. 1720)
1811 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer (b. 1729)
1814 – Arthur Phillip, English admiral and politician, 1st Governor of New South Wales (b. 1738)
1817 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, 39th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1747)
1818 – Robert Calder, Scottish admiral (b. 1745)
1858 – Chief Oshkosh, Menominee chief (b. 1795)
1867 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (b. 1821)
1864 – Ferdinand Lassalle, Prussian-German jurist and philosopher (b. 1825)
1869 – Mary Ward, Irish astronomer and entomologist (b. 1827)
1884 – Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (b. 1814)
1901–present
1908 – Leslie Green, English architect (b. 1875)
1910 – Emīls Dārziņš, Latvian composer, conductor, and music critic (b. 1875)
1912 – Jean, duc Decazes, French sailor (b. 1864)
1920 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, psychologist, and philosopher (b. 1832)
1924 – Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian soldier (b. 1881)
1927 – Andranik, Armenian general (b. 1865)
1937 – Ruth Baldwin, British socialite (b. 1905)
1940 – Georges Gauthier, Canadian archbishop (b. 1871)
1940 – DeLancey W. Gill, American painter (b. 1859)
1941 – Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1874)
1941 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet and author (b. 1892)
1945 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (b. 1892)
1948 – Andrei Zhdanov, Russian civil servant and politician (b. 1896)
1951 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (b. 1903)
1952 – Henri Bourassa, Canadian publisher and politician (b. 1868)
1954 – Elsa Barker, American author and poet (b. 1869)
1963 – Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (b. 1882)
1965 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (b. 1890)
1967 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (b. 1891)
1968 – John Hartle, English motorcycle racer (b. 1933)
1969 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (b. 1923)
1973 – John Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
1974 – William Pershing Benedict, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
1974 – Norman Kirk, New Zealand engineer and politician, 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1923)
1978 – John Wrathall, Rhodesian accountant and politician, 2nd President of Rhodesia (b. 1913)
1979 – Sally Rand, American actress and dancer (b. 1904)
1979 – Tiger Smith, English cricketer and coach (b. 1886)
1984 – Audrey Wagner, American baseball player, obstetrician, and gynecologist (b. 1927)
1985 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1986 – Elizabeth Coatsworth, American author and poet (b. 1893)
1986 – Urho Kekkonen, Finnish journalist, lawyer, and politician, 8th President of Finland (b. 1900)
1986 – Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (b. 1898)
1990 – Nathaniel Clifton, American basketball player and coach (b. 1922)
1991 – Cliff Lumsdon, Canadian swimmer and coach (b. 1931)
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
1997 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (b. 1955)
2000 – Lucille Fletcher, American screenwriter (b. 1912)
2000 – Dolores Moore, American baseball player and educator (b. 1932)
2002 – Lionel Hampton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1908)
2002 – Farhad Mehrad, Persian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist (b. 1944)
2002 – George Porter, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2005 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
2006 – Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (b. 1983)
2006 – Tom Delaney, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1911)
2007 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (b. 1932)
2007 – Jean Jacques Paradis, Canadian general (b. 1928)
2007 – Sulev Vahtre, Estonian historian and academic (b. 1926)
2008 – Ken Campbell, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2008 – Ike Pappas, American journalist (b. 1933)
2008 – Victor Yates, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1939)
2010 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (b. 1960)
2011 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1976)
2012 – Max Bygraves, English actor (b. 1922)
2012 – Joe Lewis, American martial artist and actor (b. 1944)
2012 – Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (b. 1927)
2012 – Kashiram Rana, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
2012 – John C. Shabaz, American judge and politician (b. 1931)
2012 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian commander and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for The Soviet Union (b. 1911)
2013 – Alan Carrington, English chemist and academic (b. 1934)
2013 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (b. 1939)
2013 – Jimmy Greenhalgh, English footballer and manager (b. 1923)
2013 – Jan Camiel Willems, Belgian mathematician and theorist (b. 1939)
2014 – Bapu, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
2014 – Ștefan Andrei, Romanian politician, 87th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1931)
2014 – Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (b. 1932)
2014 – Carol Vadnais, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
2015 – Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, English politician, founded the National Motor Museum (b. 1926)
2015 – Tom Scott, American football player (b. 1930)
2018 – Carole Shelley, British-American actress (b. 1939)
2018 – Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model and businesswoman (b. 1978)
2019 – Anthoine Hubert, French race car driver (b. 1996)
2019 – Alec Holowka, Canadian game developer (b. 1983)
2020 – Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India (b. 1935)
2020 – Tom Seaver, American baseball player (b. 1944)
2021 – Mahal, Filipino comedian and actress (b. 1974)
2021 – Francesco Morini, Italian footballer (b. 1944)
2021 – Michael Constantine, Greek-American actor (b. 1927)
2021 – Geronimo, British alpaca (b. 2013)
Holidays and observances
Baloch-Pakhtun Unity Day (Balochs and Pashtuns, International observance)
Christian feast day:
Aidan of Lindisfarne
Aristides of Athens
Cuthburh
Dominguito del Val
Joseph of Arimathea
Nicodemus
Paulinus of Trier
Raymond Nonnatus
Wala of Corbie
Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
August 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Solidarity and Freedom (Poland)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malaya from the United Kingdom in 1957.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom in 1962.
Romanian Language Day (Romania, Moldova)
North Borneo Self-government Day (Sabah, Borneo)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1770 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2013 | Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) failed two days into the mission. The crew instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella (measles).
A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM's oxygen tanks to space. Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating electric power, the SM's propulsion and life support systems could not operate. The CM's systems had to be shut down to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the crew to transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing canceled, mission controllers worked to bring the crew home alive.
Although the LM was designed to support two men on the lunar surface for two days, Mission Control in Houston improvised new procedures so it could support three men for four days. The crew experienced great hardship, caused by limited power, a chilly and wet cabin and a shortage of potable water. There was a critical need to adapt the CM's cartridges for the carbon dioxide scrubber system to work in the LM; the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution. The astronauts' peril briefly renewed public interest in the Apollo program; tens of millions watched the splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean on television.
An investigative review board found fault with preflight testing of the oxygen tank and Teflon being placed inside it. The board recommended changes, including minimizing the use of potentially combustible items inside the tank; this was done for Apollo 14. The story of Apollo 13 has been dramatized several times, most notably in the 1995 film Apollo 13 based on Lost Moon, the 1994 memoir co-authored by Lovell – and an episode of the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
Background
In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy challenged his nation to land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the decade, with a safe return to Earth. NASA worked towards this goal incrementally, sending astronauts into space during Project Mercury and Project Gemini, leading up to the Apollo program. The goal was achieved with Apollo 11, which landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited the Moon in Command Module Columbia. The mission returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, fulfilling Kennedy's challenge.
NASA had contracted for fifteen Saturn V rockets to achieve the goal; at the time no one knew how many missions this would require. Since success was obtained in 1969 with the sixth SaturnV on Apollo 11, nine rockets remained available for a hoped-for total of ten landings. After the excitement of Apollo 11, the general public grew apathetic towards the space program and Congress continued to cut NASA's budget; Apollo 20 was canceled. Despite the successful lunar landing, the missions were considered so risky that astronauts could not afford life insurance to provide for their families if they died in space.
Even before the first U.S. astronaut entered space in 1961, planning for a centralized facility to communicate with the spacecraft and monitor its performance had begun, for the most part the brainchild of Christopher C. Kraft Jr., who became NASA's first flight director. During John Glenn's Mercury Friendship 7 flight in February 1962 (the first crewed orbital flight by the U.S.), one of Kraft's decisions was overruled by NASA managers. He was vindicated by post-mission analysis and implemented a rule that, during the mission, the flight director's word was absolute – to overrule him, NASA would have to fire him on the spot. Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success."
In 1965, Houston's Mission Control Center opened, in part designed by Kraft and now named for him. In Mission Control, each flight controller, in addition to monitoring telemetry from the spacecraft, was in communication via voice loop to specialists in a Staff Support Room (or "back room"), who focused on specific spacecraft systems.
Apollo 13 was to be the second H mission, meant to demonstrate precision lunar landings and explore specific sites on the Moon. With Kennedy's goal accomplished by Apollo 11, and Apollo 12 demonstrating that the astronauts could perform a precision landing, mission planners were able to focus on more than just landing safely and having astronauts minimally trained in geology gather lunar samples to take home to Earth. There was a greater role for science on Apollo 13, especially for geology, something emphasized by the mission's motto, Ex luna, scientia (From the Moon, knowledge).
Astronauts and key Mission Control personnel
Apollo 13's mission commander, Jim Lovell, was 42 years old at the time of the spaceflight. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and had been a naval aviator and test pilot before being selected for the second group of astronauts in 1962; he flew with Frank Borman in Gemini 7 in 1965 and Buzz Aldrin in Gemini 12 the following year before flying in Apollo 8 in 1968, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon. At the time of Apollo 13, Lovell was the NASA astronaut with the most time in space, with 572 hours over the three missions.
Jack Swigert, the command module pilot (CMP), was 38 years old and held a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in aerospace science; he had served in the Air Force and in state Air National Guards and was an engineering test pilot before being selected for the fifth group of astronauts in 1966. Fred Haise, the lunar module pilot (LMP), was 35 years old. He held a B.S. in aeronautical engineering, had been a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and was a civilian research pilot for NASA when he was selected as a Group5 astronaut.
According to the standard Apollo crew rotation, the prime crew for Apollo 13 would have been the backup crew for Apollo 10, with Mercury and Gemini veteran Gordon Cooper in command, Donn F. Eisele as CMP and Edgar Mitchell as LMP. Deke Slayton, NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, never intended to rotate Cooper and Eisele to a prime crew assignment, as both were out of favorCooper for his lax attitude towards training, and Eisele for incidents aboard Apollo7 and an extramarital affair. He assigned them to the backup crew because no other veteran astronauts were available. Slayton's original choices for Apollo 13 were Alan Shepard as commander, Stuart Roosa as CMP, and Mitchell as LMP. However, management felt Shepard needed more training time, as he had only recently resumed active status after surgery for an inner ear disorder and had not flown since 1961. Thus, Lovell's crew (himself, Haise and Ken Mattingly), having all backed up Apollo 11 and being slated for Apollo 14, was swapped with Shepard's.
Swigert was originally CMP of Apollo 13's backup crew, with John Young as commander and Charles Duke as lunar module pilot. Seven days before launch, Duke contracted rubella from a friend of his son. This exposed both the prime and backup crews, who trained together. Of the five, only Mattingly was not immune through prior exposure. Normally, if any member of the prime crew had to be grounded, the remaining crew would be replaced as well, and the backup crew substituted, but Duke's illness ruled this out, so two days before launch, Mattingly was replaced by Swigert. Mattingly never developed rubella and later flew on Apollo 16.
For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts, known as the support crew, was designated in addition to the prime and backup crews used on projects Mercury and Gemini. Slayton created the support crews because James McDivitt, who would command Apollo 9, believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the US, meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated; for Apollo 13, they were Vance D. Brand, Jack Lousma and either William Pogue or Joseph Kerwin.
For Apollo 13, flight directors were Gene Kranz, White team (the lead flight director); Glynn Lunney, Black team; Milton Windler, Maroon team and Gerry Griffin, Gold team. The CAPCOMs (the person in Mission Control, during the Apollo program an astronaut, who was responsible for voice communications with the crew) for Apollo 13 were Kerwin, Brand, Lousma, Young and Mattingly.
Mission insignia and call signs
The Apollo 13 mission insignia depicts the Greek god of the Sun, Apollo, with three horses pulling his chariot across the face of the Moon, and the Earth seen in the distance. This is meant to symbolize the Apollo flights bringing the light of knowledge to all people. The mission motto, Ex luna, scientia ("From the Moon, knowledge"), appears. In choosing it, Lovell adapted the motto of his alma mater, the Naval Academy, Ex scientia, tridens ("From knowledge, sea power").
On the patch, the mission number appeared in Roman numerals as Apollo XIII. It did not have to be modified after Swigert replaced Mattingly, as it is one of only two Apollo mission insigniathe other being Apollo 11not to include the names of the crew. It was designed by artist Lumen Martin Winter, who based it on a mural he had painted for the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The mural was later purchased by actor Tom Hanks, who portrayed Lovell in the movie Apollo 13, and is now in the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Illinois.
The mission's motto was in Lovell's mind when he chose the call sign Aquarius for the lunar module, taken from Aquarius, the bringer of water. Some in the media erroneously reported that the call sign was taken from a song by that name from the musical Hair. The command module's call sign, Odyssey, was chosen not only for its Homeric association but to refer to the recent movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on a short story by science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. In his book, Lovell indicated he chose the name Odyssey because he liked the word and its definition: a long voyage with many changes of fortune.
Space vehicle
The Saturn V rocket used to carry Apollo 13 to the Moon was numbered SA-508, and was almost identical to those used on Apollo8 through 12. Including the spacecraft, the rocket weighed in at . The S-IC first stage's engines were rated to generate less total thrust than Apollo 12's, though they remained within specifications. To keep its liquid hydrogen propellent cold, the S-II second stage's cryogenic tanks were insulated; on earlier Apollo missions this came in the form of panels that were affixed, but beginning with Apollo 13, insulation was sprayed onto the exterior of the tanks. Extra propellant was carried as a test, since future J missions to the Moon would require more propellant for their heavier payloads. This made the vehicle the heaviest yet flown by NASA, and Apollo 13 was visibly slower to clear the launch tower than earlier missions.
The Apollo 13 spacecraft consisted of Command Module 109 and Service Module 109 (together CSM-109), called Odyssey, and Lunar Module7 (LM-7), called Aquarius. Also considered part of the spacecraft was the launch escape system, which would propel the command module (CM) to safety in the event of a problem during liftoff, and the Spacecraft–LM Adapter, numbered as SLA-16, which housed the lunar module (LM) during the first hours of the mission.
The LM stages, CM and service module (SM) were received at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1969; the portions of the Saturn V were received in June and July. Thereafter, testing and assembly proceeded, culminating with the rollout of the launch vehicle, with the spacecraft atop it, on December 15, 1969. Apollo 13 was originally scheduled for launch on March 12, 1970; in January of that year, NASA announced the mission would be postponed until April 11, both to allow more time for planning and to spread the Apollo missions over a longer period of time. The plan was to have two Apollo flights per year and was in response to budgetary constraints that had recently seen the cancellation of Apollo 20.
Training and preparation
The Apollo 13 prime crew undertook over 1,000 hours of mission-specific training, more than five hours for every hour of the mission's ten-day planned duration. Each member of the prime crew spent over 400 hours in simulators of the CM and (for Lovell and Haise) of the LM at KSC and at Houston, some of which involved the flight controllers at Mission Control. Flight controllers participated in many simulations of problems with the spacecraft in flight, which taught them how to react in an emergency. Specialized simulators at other locations were also used by the crew members.
The astronauts of Apollo 11 had minimal time for geology training, with only six months between crew assignment and launch; higher priorities took much of their time. Apollo 12 saw more such training, including practice in the field, using a CAPCOM and a simulated backroom of scientists, to whom the astronauts had to describe what they saw. Scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt saw that there was limited enthusiasm for geology field trips. Believing an inspirational teacher was needed, Schmitt arranged for Lovell and Haise to meet his old professor, Caltech's Lee Silver. The two astronauts, and backups Young and Duke, went on a field trip with Silver at their own time and expense. At the end of their week together, Lovell made Silver their geology mentor, who would be extensively involved in the geology planning for Apollo 13. Farouk El-Baz oversaw the training of Mattingly and his backup, Swigert, which involved describing and photographing simulated lunar landmarks from airplanes. El-Baz had all three prime crew astronauts describe geologic features they saw during their flights between Houston and KSC; Mattingly's enthusiasm caused other astronauts, such as Apollo 14's CMP, Roosa, to seek out El-Baz as a teacher.
Concerned about how close Apollo 11's LM, Eagle, had come to running out of propellant during its lunar descent, mission planners decided that beginning with Apollo 13, the CSM would bring the LM to the low orbit from which the landing attempt would commence. This was a change from Apollo 11 and 12, on which the LM made the burn to bring it to the lower orbit. The change was part of an effort to increase the amount of hover time available to the astronauts as the missions headed into rougher terrain.
The plan was to devote the first of the two four-hour lunar surface extravehicular activities (EVAs) to setting up the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) group of scientific instruments; during the second, Lovell and Haise would investigate Cone crater, near the planned landing site. The two astronauts wore their spacesuits for some 20 walk-throughs of EVA procedures, including sample gathering and use of tools and other equipment. They flew in the "Vomit Comet" in simulated microgravity or lunar gravity, including practice in donning and doffing spacesuits. To prepare for the descent to the Moon's surface, Lovell flew the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) after receiving helicopter training. Despite the crashes of one LLTV and one similar Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) prior to Apollo 13, mission commanders considered flying them invaluable experience and so prevailed on reluctant NASA management to retain them.
Experiments and scientific objectives
Apollo 13's designated landing site was near Fra Mauro crater; the Fra Mauro formation was believed to contain much material spattered by the impact that had filled the Imbrium basin early in the Moon's history. Dating it would provide information not only about the Moon, but about the Earth's early history. Such material was likely to be available at Cone crater, a site where an impact was believed to have drilled deep into the lunar regolith.
Apollo 11 had left a seismometer on the Moon, but the solar-powered unit did not survive its first two-week-long lunar night. The Apollo 12 astronauts also left one as part of its ALSEP, which was nuclear-powered. Apollo 13 also carried a seismometer (known as the Passive Seismic Experiment, or PSE), similar to Apollo 12's, as part of its ALSEP, to be left on the Moon by the astronauts. That seismometer was to be calibrated by the impact, after jettison, of the ascent stage of Apollo 13's LM, an object of known mass and velocity impacting at a known location.
Other ALSEP experiments on Apollo 13 included a Heat Flow Experiment (HFE), which would involve drilling two holes deep. This was Haise's responsibility; he was also to drill a third hole of that depth for a core sample. A Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment (CPLEE) measured the protons and electrons of solar origin reaching the Moon. The package also included a Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD) and a Dust Detector, to measure the accumulation of debris. The Heat Flow Experiment and the CPLEE were flown for the first time on Apollo 13; the other experiments had been flown before.
To power the ALSEP, the SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) was flown. Developed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, SNAP-27 was first flown on Apollo 12. The fuel capsule contained about of plutonium oxide. The cask placed around the capsule for transport to the Moon was built with heat shields of graphite and of beryllium, and with structural parts of titanium and of Inconel materials. Thus, it was built to withstand the heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere rather than pollute the air with plutonium in the event of an aborted mission.
A United States flag was also taken, to be erected on the Moon's surface. For Apollo 11 and 12, the flag had been placed in a heat-resistant tube on the front landing leg; it was moved for Apollo 13 to the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) in the LM descent stage. The structure to fly the flag on the airless Moon was improved from Apollo 12's.
For the first time, red stripes were placed on the helmet, arms and legs of the commander's A7L spacesuit. This was done as, after Apollo 11, those reviewing the images taken had trouble distinguishing Armstrong from Aldrin, but the change was approved too late for Apollo 12. New drink bags that attached inside the helmets and were to be sipped from as the astronauts walked on the Moon were demonstrated by Haise during Apollo 13's final television broadcast before the accident.
Apollo 13's primary mission objectives were to: "Perform selenological inspection, survey, and sampling of materials in a preselected region of the Fra Mauro Formation. Deploy and activate an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package. Develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment. Obtain photographs of candidate exploration sites." The astronauts were also to accomplish other photographic objectives, including of the Gegenschein from lunar orbit, and of the Moon itself on the journey back to Earth. Some of this photography was to be performed by Swigert as Lovell and Haise walked on the Moon. Swigert was also to take photographs of the Lagrangian points of the Earth-Moon system. Apollo 13 had twelve cameras on board, including those for television and moving pictures. The crew was also to downlink bistatic radar observations of the Moon. None of these was attempted because of the accident.
Flight of Apollo 13
Launch and translunar injection
The mission was launched at the planned time, 2:13:00 pm EST (19:13:00 UTC) on April 11. An anomaly occurred when the second-stage, center (inboard) engine shut down about two minutes early. This was caused by severe pogo oscillations. Starting with Apollo 10, the vehicle's guidance system was designed to shut the engine down in response to chamber pressure excursions. Pogo oscillations had occurred on Titan rockets (used during the Gemini program) and on previous Apollo missions, but on Apollo 13 they were amplified by an interaction with turbopump cavitation. A fix to prevent pogo was ready for the mission, but schedule pressure did not permit the hardware's integration into the Apollo 13 vehicle. A post-flight investigation revealed the engine was one cycle away from catastrophic failure. The four outboard engines and the S-IVB third stage burned longer to compensate, and the vehicle achieved very close to the planned circular parking orbit, followed by a translunar injection (TLI) about two hours later, setting the mission on course for the Moon.
After TLI, Swigert performed the separation and transposition maneuvers before docking the CSM Odyssey to the LM Aquarius, and the spacecraft pulled away from the third stage. Ground controllers then sent the third stage on a course to impact the Moon in range of the Apollo 12 seismometer, which it did just over three days into the mission.
The crew settled in for the three-day trip to Fra Mauro. At 30:40:50 into the mission, with the TV camera running, the crew performed a burn to place Apollo 13 on a hybrid trajectory. The departure from a free-return trajectory meant that if no further burns were performed, Apollo 13 would miss Earth on its return trajectory, rather than intercept it, as with a free return. A free return trajectory could only reach sites near the lunar equator; a hybrid trajectory, which could be started at any point after TLI, allowed sites with higher latitudes, such as Fra Mauro, to be reached. Communications were enlivened when Swigert realized that in the last-minute rush, he had omitted to file his federal income tax return (due April 15), and amid laughter from mission controllers, asked how he could get an extension. He was found to be entitled to a 60-day extension for being out of the country at the deadline.
Entry into the LM to test its systems had been scheduled for 58:00:00; when the crew awoke on the third day of the mission, they were informed it had been moved up three hours and was later moved up again by another hour. A television broadcast was scheduled for 55:00:00; Lovell, acting as emcee, showed the audience the interiors of Odyssey and Aquarius. The audience was limited since none of the television networks were carrying the broadcast, forcing Marilyn Lovell (Jim Lovell's wife) to go to the VIP room at Mission Control if she wanted to watch her husband and his crewmates.
Accident
Approximately six and a half minutes after the TV broadcastapproaching 56:00:00Apollo 13 was about from Earth. Haise was completing the shutdown of the LM after testing its systems while Lovell stowed the TV camera. Jack Lousma, the CAPCOM, sent minor instructions to Swigert, including changing the attitude of the craft to facilitate photography of Comet Bennett.
The pressure sensor in one of the SM's oxygen tanks had earlier appeared to be malfunctioning, so Sy Liebergot (the EECOM, in charge of monitoring the CSM's electrical system) requested that the stirring fans in the tanks be activated. Normally this was done once daily; a stir would destratify the contents of the tanks, making the pressure readings more accurate. The Flight Director, Kranz, had Liebergot wait a few minutes for the crew to settle down after the telecast, then Lousma relayed the request to Swigert, who activated the switches controlling the fans, and after a few seconds turned them off again.
Ninety-five seconds after Swigert activated those switches, the astronauts heard a "pretty large bang", accompanied by fluctuations in electrical power and the firing of the attitude control thrusters. Communications and telemetry to Earth were lost for 1.8 seconds, until the system automatically corrected by switching the high-gain S-band antenna, used for translunar communications, from narrow-beam to wide-beam mode. The accident happened at 55:54:53 (03:08 UTC on April 14, 10:08 PM EST, April 13). Swigert reported 26 seconds later, "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here," echoed at 55:55:42 by Lovell, "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a Main B Bus undervolt." William Fenner was the guidance officer (GUIDO) who was the first to report a problem in the control room to Kranz.
Lovell's initial thought on hearing the noise was that Haise had activated the LM's cabin-repressurization valve, which also produced a bang (Haise enjoyed doing so to startle his crewmates), but Lovell could see that Haise had no idea what had happened. Swigert initially thought that a meteoroid might have struck the LM, but he and Lovell quickly realized there was no leak. The "Main Bus B undervolt" meant that there was insufficient voltage produced by the SM's three fuel cells (fueled by hydrogen and oxygen piped from their respective tanks) to the second of the SM's two electric power distribution systems. Almost everything in the CSM required power. Although the bus momentarily returned to normal status, soon both buses A and B were short on voltage. Haise checked the status of the fuel cells and found that two of them were dead. Mission rules forbade entering lunar orbit unless all fuel cells were operational.
In the minutes after the accident, there were several unusual readings, showing that tank2 was empty and tank1's pressure slowly falling, that the computer on the spacecraft had reset and that the high-gain antenna was not working. Liebergot initially missed the worrying signs from tank2 following the stir, as he was focusing on tank1, believing that its reading would be a good guide to what was present in tank2, as did controllers supporting him in the "back room". When Kranz questioned Liebergot on this, he initially responded that there might be false readings due to an instrumentation problem; he was often teased about that in the years to come. Lovell, looking out the window, reported "a gas of some sort" venting into space, making it clear that there was a serious problem.
Since the fuel cells needed oxygen to operate, when Oxygen Tank1 ran dry, the remaining fuel cell would shut down, meaning the CSM's only significant sources of power and oxygen would be the CM's batteries and its oxygen "surge tank". These would be needed for the final hours of the mission, but the remaining fuel cell, already starved for oxygen, was drawing from the surge tank. Kranz ordered the surge tank isolated, saving its oxygen, but this meant that the remaining fuel cell would die within two hours, as the oxygen in tank1 was consumed or leaked away. The volume surrounding the spacecraft was filled with myriad small bits of debris from the accident, complicating any efforts to use the stars for navigation. The mission's goal became simply getting the astronauts back to Earth alive.
Looping around the Moon
The lunar module had charged batteries and full oxygen tanks for use on the lunar surface, so Kranz directed that the astronauts power up the LM and use it as a "lifeboat"a scenario anticipated but considered unlikely. Procedures for using the LM in this way had been developed by LM flight controllers after a training simulation for Apollo 10 in which the LM was needed for survival, but could not be powered up in time. Had Apollo 13's accident occurred on the return voyage, with the LM already jettisoned, the astronauts would have died, as they would have following an explosion in lunar orbit, including one while Lovell and Haise walked on the Moon.
A key decision was the choice of return path. A "direct abort" would use the SM's main engine (the Service Propulsion System or SPS) to return before reaching the Moon. However, the accident could have damaged the SPS, and the fuel cells would have to last at least another hour to meet its power requirements, so Kranz instead decided on a longer route: the spacecraft would swing around the Moon before heading back to Earth. Apollo 13 was on the hybrid trajectory which was to take it to Fra Mauro; it now needed to be brought back to a free return. The LM's Descent Propulsion System (DPS), although not as powerful as the SPS, could do this, but new software for Mission Control's computers needed to be written by technicians as it had never been contemplated that the CSM/LM spacecraft would have to be maneuvered from the LM. As the CM was being shut down, Lovell copied down its guidance system's orientation information and performed hand calculations to transfer it to the LM's guidance system, which had been turned off; at his request Mission Control checked his figures. At 61:29:43.49 the DPS burn of 34.23 seconds took Apollo 13 back to a free return trajectory.
The change would get Apollo 13 back to Earth in about four days' timethough with splashdown in the Indian Ocean, where NASA had few recovery forces. Jerry Bostick and other Flight Dynamics Officers (FIDOs) were anxious both to shorten the travel time and to move splashdown to the Pacific Ocean, where the main recovery forces were located. One option would shave 36 hours off the return time, but required jettisoning the SM; this would expose the CM's heat shield to space during the return journey, something for which it had not been designed. The FIDOs also proposed other solutions. After a meeting involving NASA officials and engineers, the senior individual present, Manned Spaceflight Center director Robert R. Gilruth, decided on a burn using the DPS, that would save 12 hours and land Apollo 13 in the Pacific. This "PC+2" burn would take place two hours after pericynthion, the closest approach to the Moon. At pericynthion, Apollo 13 set the record (per the Guinness Book of World Records), which still stands, for the highest absolute altitude attained by a crewed spacecraft: from Earth at 7:21 pm EST, April 14 (00:21:00 UTC April 15).
While preparing for the burn the crew was told that the S-IVB had impacted the Moon as planned, leading Lovell to quip, "Well, at least something worked on this flight." Kranz's White team of mission controllers, who had spent most of their time supporting other teams and developing the procedures urgently needed to get the astronauts home, took their consoles for the PC+2 procedure. Normally, the accuracy of such a burn could be assured by checking the alignment Lovell had transferred to the LM's computer against the position of one of the stars astronauts used for navigation, but the light glinting off the many pieces of debris accompanying the spacecraft made that impractical. The astronauts accordingly used the one star available whose position could not be obscuredthe Sun. Houston also informed them that the Moon would be centered in the commander's window of the LM as they made the burn, which was almost perfectless than 0.3 meters (1 foot) per second off. The burn, at 79:27:38.95, lasted four minutes and 23 seconds. The crew then shut down most LM systems to conserve consumables.
Return to Earth
The LM carried enough oxygen, but that still left the problem of removing carbon dioxide, which was absorbed by canisters of lithium hydroxide pellets.
The LM's stock of canisters, meant to accommodate two astronauts for 45 hours on the Moon, was not enough to support three astronauts for the return journey to Earth. The CM had enough canisters, but they were of a different shape and size to the LM's, hence unable to be used in the LM's equipment. Engineers on the ground devised a way to bridge the gap, using plastic, covers ripped from procedure manuals, duct tape, and other items available on the spacecraft. NASA engineers referred to the improvised device as "the mailbox". The procedure for building the device was read to the crew by CAPCOM Joseph Kerwin over the course of an hour, and was built by Swigert and Haise; carbon dioxide levels began dropping immediately. Lovell later described this improvisation as "a fine example of cooperation between ground and space".
The CSM's electricity came from fuel cells that produced water as a byproduct, but the LM was powered by silver-zinc batteries which did not, so both electrical power and water (needed for equipment cooling as well as drinking) would be critical. LM power consumption was reduced to the lowest level possible; Swigert was able to fill some drinking bags with water from the CM's water tap, but even assuming rationing of personal consumption, Haise initially calculated they would run out of water for cooling about five hours before reentry. This seemed acceptable because the systems of Apollo 11's LM, once jettisoned in lunar orbit, had continued to operate for seven to eight hours even with the water cut off. In the end, Apollo 13 returned to Earth with of water remaining. The crew's ration was 0.2 liters (6.8 fl oz) of water per person per day; the three astronauts lost a total of among them, and Haise developed a urinary tract infection. This infection was probably caused by the reduced water intake, but microgravity and effects of cosmic radiation might have impaired his immune system's reaction to the pathogen.
Inside the darkened spacecraft, the temperature dropped as low as . Lovell considered having the crew don their spacesuits, but decided this would be too hot. Instead, Lovell and Haise wore their lunar EVA boots and Swigert put on an extra coverall. All three astronauts were cold, especially Swigert, who had got his feet wet while filling the water bags and had no lunar overshoes (since he had not been scheduled to walk on the Moon). As they had been told not to discharge their urine to space to avoid disturbing the trajectory, they had to store it in bags. Water condensed on the walls, though any condensation that may have been behind equipment panels caused no problems, partly because of the extensive electrical insulation improvements instituted after the Apollo 1 fire. Despite all this, the crew voiced few complaints.
Flight controller John Aaron, along with Mattingly and several engineers and designers, devised a procedure for powering up the command module from full shutdownsomething never intended to be done in flight, much less under Apollo 13's severe power and time constraints. The astronauts implemented the procedure without apparent difficulty: Kranz later credited all three astronauts having been test pilots, accustomed to having to work in critical situations with their lives on the line, for their survival.
Recognizing that the cold conditions combined with insufficient rest would hinder the time critical startup of the command module prior to reentry, at 133 hours into flight Mission Control gave Lovell the okay to fully power up the LM to raise the cabin temperature, which included restarting the LM's guidance computer. Having the LM's computer running enabled Lovell to perform a navigational sighting and calibrate the LM's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). With the lunar module's computer aware of its location and orientation, the command module's computer was later calibrated in a reverse of the normal procedures used to set up the LM, shaving steps from the restart process and increasing the accuracy of the PGNCS-controlled reentry.
Reentry and splashdown
Despite the accuracy of the transearth injection, the spacecraft slowly drifted off course, necessitating a correction. As the LM's guidance system had been shut down following the PC+2 burn, the crew was told to use the line between night and day on the Earth to guide them, a technique used on NASA's Earth-orbit missions but never on the way back from the Moon. This DPS burn, at 105:18:42 for 14 seconds, brought the projected entry flight path angle back within safe limits. Nevertheless, yet another burn was needed at 137:40:13, using the LM's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, for 21.5 seconds. The SM was jettisoned less than half an hour later, allowing the crew to see the damage for the first time, and photograph it. They reported that an entire panel was missing from the SM's exterior, the fuel cells above the oxygen tank shelf were tilted, that the high-gain antenna was damaged, and there was a considerable amount of debris elsewhere. Haise could see possible damage to the SM's engine bell, validating Kranz's decision not to use the SPS.
The last problem to be solved was how to separate the lunar module a safe distance away from the command module just before reentry. The normal procedure, in lunar orbit, was to release the LM and then use the service module's RCS to pull the CSM away, but by this point, the SM had already been released. Grumman, manufacturer of the LM, assigned a team of University of Toronto engineers, led by senior scientist Bernard Etkin, to solve the problem of how much air pressure to use to push the modules apart. The astronauts applied the solution, which was successful. The LM reentered Earth's atmosphere and was destroyed, the remaining pieces falling in the deep ocean. Apollo 13's final midcourse correction had addressed the concerns of the Atomic Energy Commission, which wanted the cask containing the plutonium oxide intended for the SNAP-27 RTG to land in a safe place. The impact point was over the Tonga Trench in the Pacific, one of its deepest points, and the cask sank to the bottom. Later helicopter surveys found no radioactive leakage.
Ionization of the air around the command module during reentry would typically cause a four-minute communications blackout. Apollo 13's shallow reentry path lengthened this to six minutes, longer than had been expected; controllers feared that the CM's heat shield had failed. Odyssey regained radio contact and splashed down safely in the South Pacific Ocean, , southeast of American Samoa and from the recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima. Although fatigued, the crew was in good condition except for Haise, who had developed a serious urinary tract infection because of insufficient water intake. The crew stayed overnight on the ship and flew to Pago Pago, American Samoa, the next day. They flew to Hawaii, where President Richard Nixon awarded them the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. They stayed overnight, and then were flown back to Houston.
En route to Honolulu, President Nixon stopped at Houston to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. He originally planned to give the award to NASA administrator Thomas O. Paine, but Paine recommended the mission operations team.
Public and media reaction
Worldwide interest in the Apollo program was reawakened by the incident; television coverage was seen by millions. Four Soviet ships headed toward the landing area to assist if needed, and other nations offered assistance should the craft have to splash down elsewhere. President Nixon canceled appointments, phoned the astronauts' families, and drove to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where Apollo's tracking and communications were coordinated.
The rescue received more public attention than any spaceflight to that point, other than the first Moon landing on Apollo 11. There were worldwide headlines, and people surrounded television sets to get the latest developments, offered by networks who interrupted their regular programming for bulletins. Pope Paul VI led a congregation of 10,000 people in praying for the astronauts' safe return; ten times that number offered prayers at a religious festival in India. The United States Senate on April 14 passed a resolution urging businesses to pause at 9:00pm local time that evening to allow for employee prayer.
An estimated 40million Americans watched Apollo13's splashdown, carried live on all three networks, with another 30million watching some portion of the six and one-half hour telecast. Even more outside the U.S. watched. Jack Gould of The New York Times stated that Apollo13, "which came so close to tragic disaster, in all probability united the world in mutual concern more fully than another successful landing on the Moon would have".
Investigation and response
Review board
Immediately upon the crew's return, NASA Administrator Paine and Deputy Administrator George Low appointed a review boardchaired by NASA Langley Research Center Director Edgar M. Cortright and including Neil Armstrong and six othersto investigate the accident.
The board's final report, sent to Paine on June 15,
found that the failure began in the service module's number2 oxygen tank. Damaged Teflon insulation on the wires to the stirring fan inside Oxygen Tank2 allowed the wires to short circuit and ignite this insulation. The resulting fire increased the pressure inside the tank until the tank dome failed, filling the fuel cell bay (SM Sector4) with rapidly expanding gaseous oxygen and combustion products. The pressure rise was sufficient to pop the rivets holding the aluminum exterior panel covering Sector4 and blow it out, exposing the sector to space and snuffing out the fire. The detached panel hit the nearby high-gain antenna, disabling the narrow-beam communication mode and interrupting communication with Earth for 1.8 seconds while the system automatically switched to the backup wide-beam mode. The sectors of the SM were not airtight from each other, and had there been time for the entire SM to become as pressurized as Sector4, the force on the CM's heat shield would have separated the two modules. The report questioned the use of Teflon and other materials shown to be flammable in supercritical oxygen, such as aluminum, within the tank. The board found no evidence pointing to any other theory of the accident.
Mechanical shock forced the oxygen valves closed on the number1 and number3 fuel cells, putting them out of commission. The sudden failure of Oxygen Tank2 compromised Oxygen Tank1, causing its contents to leak out, possibly through a damaged line or valve, over the next 130 minutes, entirely depleting the SM's oxygen supply. With both SM oxygen tanks emptying, and with other damage to the SM, the mission had to be aborted. The board praised the response to the emergency: "The imperfection in Apollo 13 constituted a near disaster, averted only by outstanding performance on the part of the crew and the ground control team which supported them."
Oxygen Tank 2 was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Company of Boulder, Colorado, as subcontractor to North American Rockwell (NAR) of Downey, California, prime contractor for the CSM. It contained two thermostatic switches, originally designed for the command module's 28-volt DC power, but which could fail if subjected to the 65 volts used during ground testing at KSC. Under the original 1962 specifications, the switches would be rated for 28 volts, but revised specifications issued in 1965 called for 65 volts to allow for quicker tank pressurization at KSC. Nonetheless, the switches Beech used were not rated for 65 volts.
At NAR's facility, Oxygen Tank 2 had been originally installed in an oxygen shelf placed in the Apollo 10 service module, SM-106, but which was removed to fix a potential electromagnetic interference problem and another shelf substituted. During removal, the shelf was accidentally dropped at least , because a retaining bolt had not been removed. The probability of damage from this was low, but it is possible that the fill line assembly was loose and made worse by the fall. After some retesting (which did not include filling the tank with liquid oxygen), in November 1968 the shelf was re-installed in SM-109, intended for Apollo 13, which was shipped to KSC in June 1969.
The Countdown Demonstration Test took place with SM-109 in its place near the top of the Saturn V and began on March 16, 1970. During the test, the cryogenic tanks were filled, but Oxygen Tank 2 could not be emptied through the normal drain line, and a report was written documenting the problem. After discussion among NASA and the contractors, attempts to empty the tank resumed on March 27. When it would not empty normally, the heaters in the tank were turned on to boil off the oxygen. The thermostatic switches were designed to prevent the heaters from raising the temperature higher than , but they failed under the 65-volt power supply applied. Temperatures on the heater tube within the tank may have reached , most likely damaging the Teflon insulation. The temperature gauge was not designed to read higher than , so the technician monitoring the procedure detected nothing unusual. This heating had been approved by Lovell and Mattingly of the prime crew, as well as by NASA managers and engineers. Replacement of the tank would have delayed the mission by at least a month. The tank was filled with liquid oxygen again before launch; once electric power was connected, it was in a hazardous condition. The board found that Swigert's activation of the Oxygen Tank2 fan at the request of Mission Control caused an electric arc that set the tank on fire.
The board conducted a test of an oxygen tank rigged with hot-wire ignitors that caused a rapid rise in temperature within the tank, after which it failed, producing telemetry similar to that seen with the Apollo 13 Oxygen Tank 2. Tests with panels similar to the one that was seen to be missing on SM Sector4 caused separation of the panel in the test apparatus.
Changes in response
For Apollo 14 and subsequent missions, the oxygen tank was redesigned, the thermostats being upgraded to handle the proper voltage. The heaters were retained since they were necessary to maintain oxygen pressure. The stirring fans, with their unsealed motors, were removed, which meant the oxygen quantity gauge was no longer accurate. This required adding a third tank so that no tank would go below half full. The third tank was placed in Bay1 of the SM, on the side opposite the other two, and was given an isolation valve that could isolate it from the fuel cells and from the other two oxygen tanks in an emergency and allow it to feed the CM's environmental system only. The quantity probe was upgraded from aluminum to stainless steel.
All electrical wiring in Bay4 was sheathed in stainless steel. The fuel cell oxygen supply valves were redesigned to isolate the Teflon-coated wiring from the oxygen. The spacecraft and Mission Control monitoring systems were modified to give more immediate and visible warnings of anomalies. An emergency supply of of water was stored in the CM, and an emergency battery, identical to those that powered the LM's descent stage, was placed in the SM. The LM was modified to make transfer of power from the LM to the CM easier.
Aftermath
On February 5, 1971, Apollo 14's LM, Antares, landed on the Moon with astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell aboard, near Fra Mauro, the site Apollo 13 had been intended to explore. Haise served as CAPCOM during the descent to the Moon, and during the second EVA, during which Shepard and Mitchell explored near Cone crater.
None of the Apollo 13 astronauts flew in space again. Lovell retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973, entering the private sector. Swigert was to have flown on the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (the first joint mission with the Soviet Union) but was removed as part of the fallout from the Apollo 15 postal covers incident. He took a leave of absence from NASA in 1973 and left the agency to enter politics, being elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, but died of cancer before he could be sworn in. Haise was slated to have been the commander of the canceled Apollo 19 mission, and flew the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests before retiring from NASA in 1979.
Several experiments were completed during Apollo 13, even though the mission did not land on the Moon. One involved the launch vehicle's S-IVB (the Saturn V's third stage), which on prior missions had been sent into solar orbit once detached. The seismometer left by Apollo 12 had detected frequent impacts of small objects onto the Moon, but larger impacts would yield more information about the Moon's crust, so it was decided that, beginning with Apollo 13, the S-IVB would be crashed into the Moon. The impact occurred at 77:56:40 into the mission and produced enough energy that the gain on the seismometer, from the impact, had to be reduced. An experiment to measure the amount of atmospheric electrical phenomena during the ascent to orbitadded after Apollo 12 was struck by lightningreturned data indicating a heightened risk during marginal weather. A series of photographs of Earth, taken to test whether cloud height could be determined from synchronous satellites, achieved the desired results.
As a joke, Grumman issued an invoice to North American Rockwell, prime contractor for the CSM, for "towing" the CSM most of the way to the Moon and back. Line items included 400001 miles at $1 each (plus $4 for the first mile); $536.05 for battery charging; oxygen; and four nights at $8 per night for an "additional guest in room" (Swigert). After a 20% "commercial discount", and a 2% discount for timely payment, the final total was $312,421.24. North American declined payment, noting that it had ferried three previous Grumman LMs to the Moon without compensation.
The CM was disassembled for testing and parts remained in storage for years; some were used for a trainer for the Skylab Rescue Mission. That trainer was subsequently displayed at the Kentucky Science Center. Max Ary of the Cosmosphere made it a project to restore Odyssey; it is on display there, in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Apollo 13 was called a "successful failure" by Lovell. Mike Massimino, a Space Shuttle astronaut, stated that Apollo 13 "showed teamwork, camaraderie and what NASA was really made of". The response to the accident has been repeatedly called "NASA's finest hour"; it is still viewed that way. Author Colin Burgess wrote, "the life-or-death flight of Apollo 13 dramatically evinced the colossal risks inherent in manned spaceflight. Then, with the crew safely back on Earth, public apathy set in once again."
William R. Compton, in his book about the Apollo Program, said of Apollo 13, "Only a heroic effort of real-time improvisation by mission operations teams saved the crew." Rick Houston and Milt Heflin, in their history of Mission Control, stated, "Apollo 13 proved mission control could bring those space voyagers back home again when their lives were on the line." Former NASA chief historian Roger D. Launius wrote, "More than any other incident in the history of spaceflight, recovery from this accident solidified the world's belief in NASA's capabilities". Nevertheless, the accident convinced some officials, such as Manned Spaceflight Center director Gilruth, that if NASA kept sending astronauts on Apollo missions, some would inevitably be killed, and they called for as quick an end as possible to the program. Nixon's advisers recommended canceling the remaining lunar missions, saying that a disaster in space would cost him political capital. Budget cuts made such a decision easier, and during the pause after Apollo 13, two missions were canceled, meaning that the program ended with Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Popular culture, media and 50th anniversary
The 1974 movie Houston, We've Got a Problem, while set around the Apollo 13 incident, is a fictional drama about the crises faced by ground personnel when the emergency disrupts their work schedules and places further stress on their lives. Lovell publicly complained about the movie, saying it was "fictitious and in poor taste".
"Houston... We've Got a Problem" was the title of an episode of the BBC documentary series A Life At Stake, broadcast in March 1978. This was an accurate, if simplified, reconstruction of the events. In 1994, during the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11, PBS released a 90-minute documentary titled Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back.
Following the flight, the crew planned to write a book, but they all left NASA without starting it. After Lovell retired in 1991, he was approached by journalist Jeffrey Kluger about writing a non-fiction account of the mission. Swigert died in 1982 and Haise was no longer interested in such a project. The resultant book, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, was published in 1994.
The next year, in 1995, a film adaptation of the book, Apollo 13, was released, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks as Lovell, Bill Paxton as Haise, Kevin Bacon as Swigert, Gary Sinise as Mattingly, Ed Harris as Kranz, and Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell. James Lovell, Kranz, and other principals have stated that this film depicted the events of the mission with reasonable accuracy, given that some dramatic license was taken. For example, the film changes the tense of Lovell's famous follow-up to Swigert's original words from, "Houston, we've had a problem" to "Houston, we have a problem". The film also invented the phrase "Failure is not an option", uttered by Harris as Kranz in the film; the phrase became so closely associated with Kranz that he used it for the title of his 2000 autobiography. The film won two of the nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, co-produced by Hanks and Howard, the mission is dramatized in the episode "We Interrupt This Program". Rather than showing the incident from the crew's perspective as in the Apollo 13 feature film, it is instead presented from an Earth-bound perspective of television reporters competing for coverage of the event.
In 2020, the BBC World Service began airing 13 Minutes to the Moon, radio programs which draw on NASA audio from the mission, as well as archival and recent interviews with participants. Episodes began airing for Season 2 starting on March 8, 2020, with episode 1, "Time bomb: Apollo 13", explaining the launch and the explosion. Episode 2 details Mission Control's denial and disbelief of the accident, with other episodes covering other aspects of the mission. The seventh and final episode was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In "Delay to Episode 7", the BBC explained that the presenter of the series, medical doctor Kevin Fong, had been called into service.
In advance of the 50th anniversary of the mission in 2020, an Apollo in Real Time site for the mission went online, allowing viewers to follow along as the mission unfolds, view photographs and video, and listen to audio of conversations between Houston and the astronauts as well as between mission controllers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA did not hold any in-person events during April 2020 for the flight's 50th anniversary, but premiered a new documentary, Apollo 13: Home Safe on April 10, 2020. A number of events were rescheduled for later in 2020.
Gallery
Notes
References
Sources
External links
NASA reports
"Apollo 13: Lunar exploration experiments and photography summary" (Original mission as planned) (PDF) NASA, February 1970
All NASA mission transcripts
"Apollo 13 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription" (PDF) NASA, April 1970
Multimedia
Fred Haise
Jim Lovell
Jack Swigert
Apollo program missions
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
Articles containing video clips
Crewed missions to the Moon |
1773 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%207 | Apollo 7 | Apollo 7 (October 11–22, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that had killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on January 27, 1967. The Apollo7 crew was commanded by Walter M. Schirra, with command module pilot Donn F. Eisele and lunar module pilot R. Walter Cunningham (so designated even though Apollo7 did not carry a Lunar Module).
The three astronauts were originally designated for the second crewed Apollo flight, and then as backups for Apollo1. After the Apollo1 fire, crewed flights were suspended while the cause of the accident was investigated and improvements made to the spacecraft and safety procedures, and uncrewed test flights made. Determined to prevent a repetition of the fire, the crew spent long periods monitoring the construction of their Apollo command and service modules (CSM). Training continued over much of the pause that followed the Apollo1 disaster.
Apollo 7 was launched on October 11, 1968, from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean eleven days later. Extensive testing of the CSM took place, and also the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft. Despite tension between the crew and ground controllers, the mission was a complete technical success, giving NASA the confidence to send Apollo 8 into orbit around the Moon two months later. In part because of these tensions, none of the crew flew in space again, though Schirra had already announced he would retire from NASA after the flight. Apollo7 fulfilled Apollo1's mission of testing the CSM in low Earth orbit, and was a significant step towards NASA's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon.
Background and personnel
Schirra, one of the original "Mercury Seven" astronauts, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1945. He flew Mercury-Atlas 8 in 1962, the fifth crewed flight of Project Mercury and the third to reach orbit, and in 1965 was the command pilot for Gemini 6A. He was a 45-year-old captain in the Navy at the time of Apollo7. Eisele graduated from the Naval Academy in 1952 with a B.S. in aeronautics. He elected to be commissioned in the Air Force, and was a 38-year-old major at the time of Apollo7. Cunningham joined the U.S. Navy in 1951, began flight training the following year, and served in a Marine flight squadron from 1953 to 1956, and was a civilian, aged 36, serving in the Marine Corps reserves with a rank of major, at the time of Apollo7. He received degrees in physics from UCLA, a B.A. in 1960 and an M.A. in 1961. Both Eisele and Cunningham were selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963.
Eisele was originally slotted for a position on Gus Grissom's Apollo 1 crew along with Ed White, but days prior to the official announcement on March 25, 1966, Eisele sustained a shoulder injury that would require surgery. Instead, Roger Chaffee was given the position and Eisele was reassigned to Schirra's crew.
Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham were first named as an Apollo crew on September 29, 1966. They were to fly a second Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command Module (CM). Although delighted as a rookie to be assigned to a prime crew without having served as a backup, Cunningham was troubled by the fact that a second Earth orbital test flight, dubbed Apollo2, seemed unnecessary if Apollo1 was successful. He learned later that Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton, another of the Mercury Seven who had been grounded for medical reasons and supervised the astronauts, planned, with Schirra's support, to command the mission if he gained medical clearance. When this was not forthcoming, Schirra remained in command of the crew, and in November 1966, Apollo2 was cancelled and Schirra's crew assigned as backup to Grissom's. Thomas P. Stafford—assigned at that point as the backup commander of the second orbital test—stated that the cancellation followed Schirra and his crew submitting a list of demands to NASA management (Schirra wanted the mission to include a lunar module and a CM capable of docking with it), and that the assignment as backups left Schirra complaining that Slayton and Chief Astronaut Alan Shepard had destroyed his career.
On January 27, 1967, Grissom's crew was conducting a launch-pad test for their planned February 21 mission, when a fire broke out in the cabin, killing all three men. A complete safety review of the Apollo program followed. Soon after the fire, Slayton asked Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham to fly the first mission after the pause. Apollo 7 would use the BlockII spacecraft designed for the lunar missions, as opposed to the Block I CSM used for Apollo 1, which was intended only to be used for the early Earth-orbit missions, as it lacked the capability of docking with a lunar module. The CM and astronauts' spacesuits had been extensively redesigned, to reduce any chance of a repeat of the accident which killed the first crew. Schirra's crew would test the life support, propulsion, guidance and control systems during this "open-ended" mission (meaning it would be extended as it passed each test). The duration was limited to 11 days, reduced from the original 14-day limit for Apollo1.
The backup crew consisted of Stafford as commander, John W. Young as command module pilot, and Eugene A. Cernan as lunar module pilot. They became the prime crew of Apollo 10. Ronald E. Evans, John L. 'Jack' Swigert, and Edward G. Givens were assigned to the support crew for the mission. Givens died in a car accident on June 6, 1967, and William R. Pogue was assigned as his replacement. Evans was involved in hardware testing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Swigert was the launch capsule communicator (CAPCOM) and worked on the mission's operational aspects. Pogue spent time modifying procedures. The support crew also filled in when the primary and backup crews were unavailable.
CAPCOMs, the person in Mission Control responsible for communicating with the spacecraft (then always an astronaut) were Evans, Pogue, Stafford, Swigert, Young and Cernan. Flight directors were Glynn Lunney, Gene Kranz and Gerry Griffin.
Preparation
According to Cunningham, Schirra originally had limited interest in making a third spaceflight, beginning to focus on his post-NASA career. Flying the first mission after the fire changed things: "Wally Schirra was being pictured as the man chosen to rescue the manned space program. And that was a task worthy of Wally's interest." Eisele noted, "coming on the heels of the fire, we knew the fate and future of the entire manned space program—not to mention our own skins—was riding on the success or failure of Apollo7."
Given the circumstances of the fire, the crew initially had little confidence in the staff at North American Aviation's plant at Downey, California, who built the Apollo command modules, and they were determined to follow their craft every step of the way through construction and testing. This interfered with training, but the simulators of the CM were not yet ready, and they knew it would be a long time until they launched. They spent long periods at Downey. Simulators were constructed at Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center and at KSC in Florida. Once these were available for use, the crew had difficulty finding enough time to do everything, even with the help of the backup and support crews; the crew often worked 12 or 14 hours per day. After the CM was completed and shipped to KSC, the focus of the crew's training shifted to Florida, though they went to Houston for planning and technical meetings. Rather than return to their Houston homes for the weekend, they often had to remain at KSC in order to participate in training or spacecraft testing. According to former astronaut Tom Jones in a 2018 article, Schirra, "with indisputable evidence of the risks his crew would be taking, now had immense leverage with management at NASA and North American, and he used it. In conference rooms or on the spacecraft assembly line, Schirra got his way."
The Apollo 7 crew spent five hours in training for every hour they could expect to remain aboard if the mission went its full eleven days. In addition, they attended technical briefings and pilots' meetings, and studied on their own. They undertook launch pad evacuation training, water egress training to exit the vehicle after splashdown, and learned to use firefighting equipment. They trained on the Apollo Guidance Computer at MIT. Each crew member spent 160 hours in CM simulations, in some of which Mission Control in Houston participated live. The "plugs out" test—the test that had killed the Apollo1 crew—was conducted with the prime crew in the spacecraft, but with the hatch open. One reason the Apollo1 crew had died was because it was impossible to open the inward-opening hatch before the fire raced through the cabin; this was changed for Apollo7.
Command modules similar to that used on Apollo7 were subjected to tests in the run-up to the mission. A three-astronaut crew (Joseph P. Kerwin, Vance D. Brand and Joe H. Engle) was inside a CM that was placed in a vacuum chamber at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston for eight days in June 1968 to test spacecraft systems. Another crew (James Lovell, Stuart Roosa and Charles M. Duke) spent 48 hours at sea aboard a CM lowered into the Gulf of Mexico from a naval vessel in April 1968, to test how systems would respond to seawater. Further tests were conducted the following month in a tank at Houston. Fires were set aboard a boilerplate CM using various atmospheric compositions and pressures. The results led to the decision to use 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen within the CM at launch, which would be replaced with a lower pressure of pure oxygen within four hours, as providing adequate fire protection. Other boilerplate spacecraft were subjected to drops to test parachutes, and to simulate the likely damage if a CM came down on land. All results were satisfactory.
During the run-up to the mission, the Soviets sent uncrewed probes Zond 4 and Zond 5 (Zond 5 carried two tortoises) around the Moon, seeming to foreshadow a circumlunar crewed mission. NASA's Lunar Module (LM) was suffering delays, and Apollo Program Spacecraft Manager George Low proposed that if Apollo7 was a success, that Apollo 8 go to lunar orbit without a LM. The acceptance of Low's proposal raised the stakes for Apollo7. According to Stafford, Schirra "clearly felt the full weight of the program riding on a successful mission and as a result became more openly critical and more sarcastic."
Throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs, McDonnell Aircraft engineer Guenter Wendt led the spacecraft launch pad teams, with ultimate responsibility for condition of the spacecraft at launch. He earned the astronauts' respect and admiration, including Schirra's. However, the spacecraft contractor had changed from McDonnell (Mercury and Gemini) to North American (Apollo), so Wendt was not the pad leader for Apollo1. So adamant was Schirra in his desire to have Wendt back as pad leader for his Apollo flight, that he got his boss Slayton to persuade North American management to hire Wendt away from McDonnell, and Schirra personally lobbied North American's launch operations manager to change Wendt's shift from midnight to day so he could be pad leader for Apollo7. Wendt remained as pad leader for the entire Apollo program. When he departed the spacecraft area as the pad was evacuated prior to launch, after Cunningham said, "I think Guenter's going", Eisele responded "Yes, I think Guenter went."
Hardware
Spacecraft
The Apollo 7 spacecraft included Command and Service Module 101 (CSM-101) the first BlockII CSM to be flown. The BlockII craft had the capability of docking with a LM, though none was flown on Apollo7. The spacecraft also included the launch escape system and a spacecraft-lunar module adapter (SLA, numbered as SLA-5), though the latter included no LM and instead provided a mating structure between the SM and the S-IVB's Instrument Unit, with a structural stiffener substituted for the LM. The launch escape system was jettisoned after S-IVB ignition, while the SLA was left behind on the spent S-IVB when the CSM separated from it in orbit.
Following the Apollo 1 fire, the BlockII CSM was extensively redesigned—more than 1,800 changes were recommended, of which 1,300 were implemented for Apollo7. Prominent among these was the new aluminum and fiberglass outward-opening hatch, which the crew could open in seven seconds from within, and the pad crew in ten seconds from outside. Other changes included replacement of aluminum tubing in the high-pressure oxygen system with stainless steel, replacement of flammable materials with non-flammable (including changing plastic switches for metal ones) and, for crew protection in the event of a fire, an emergency oxygen system to shield them from toxic fumes, as well as firefighting equipment.
After the Gemini 3 craft was dubbed Molly Brown by Grissom, NASA forbade naming spacecraft. Despite this prohibition, Schirra wanted to name his ship "Phoenix," but NASA refused him permission. The first CM to be given a call sign other than the mission designation would be that of Apollo 9, which carried a LM that would separate from it and then re-dock, necessitating distinct call signs for the two vehicles.
Launch vehicle
Since it flew in low Earth orbit and did not include a LM, Apollo7 was launched with the Saturn IB booster rather than the much larger and more powerful Saturn V. That Saturn IB was designated SA-205, and was the fifth Saturn IB to be flown—the earlier ones did not carry crews into space. It differed from its predecessors in that stronger propellant lines to the augmented spark igniter in the J-2 engines had been installed, so as to prevent a repetition of the early shutdown that had occurred on the uncrewed Apollo 6 flight; postflight analysis had shown that the propellant lines to the J-2 engines, also used in the Saturn V tested on Apollo6, had leaked.
The Saturn IB was a two-stage rocket, with the second stage an S-IVB similar to the third stage of the Saturn V, the rocket used by all later Apollo missions. The Saturn IB was used after the close of the Apollo Program to bring crews in Apollo CSMs to Skylab, and for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
Apollo 7 was the only crewed Apollo mission to launch from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's Launch Complex 34. All subsequent Apollo and Skylab spacecraft flights (including Apollo–Soyuz) were launched from Launch Complex 39 at the nearby Kennedy Space Center. Launch Complex 34 was declared redundant and decommissioned in 1969, making Apollo7 the last human spaceflight mission to launch from the Cape Air Force Station in the 20th century.
Mission highlights
The main purposes of the Apollo7 flight were to show that the Block II CM would be habitable and reliable over the length of time required for a lunar mission, to show that the service propulsion system (SPS, the spacecraft's main engine) and the CM's guidance systems could perform a rendezvous in orbit, and later make a precision reentry and splashdown. In addition, there were a number of specific objectives, including evaluating the communications systems and the accuracy of onboard systems such as the propellant tank gauges. Many of the activities aimed at gathering these data were scheduled for early in the mission, so that if the mission was terminated prematurely, they would already have been completed, allowing for fixes to be made prior to the next Apollo flight.
Launch and testing
Apollo 7, the first crewed American space flight in 22 months, launched from Launch Complex 34 at 11:02:45am EDT (15:02:45UTC) on Friday, October 11, 1968.
During the countdown, the wind was blowing in from the east. Launching under these weather conditions was in violation of safety rules, since in the event of a launch vehicle malfunction and abort, the CM might be blown back over land instead of making the usual water landing. Apollo7 was equipped with the old Apollo1-style crew couches, which provided less protection than later ones. Schirra later related that he felt the launch should have been scrubbed, but managers waived the rule and he yielded under pressure.
Liftoff proceeded flawlessly; the Saturn IB performed well on its first crewed launch and there were no significant anomalies during the boost phase. The astronauts described it as very smooth. The ascent made the 45-year-old Schirra the oldest person to that point to enter space, and, as it proved, the only astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
Within the first three hours of flight, the astronauts performed two actions which simulated what would be required on a lunar mission. First, they maneuvered the craft with the S-IVB still attached, as would be required for the burn that would take lunar missions to the Moon. Then, after separation from the S-IVB, Schirra turned the CSM around and approached a docking target painted on the S-IVB, simulating the docking maneuver with the lunar module on Moon-bound missions prior to extracting the combined craft.
After station keeping with the S-IVB for 20 minutes, Schirra let it drift away, putting between the CSM and it in preparation for the following day's rendezvous attempt.
The astronauts also enjoyed a hot lunch, the first hot meal prepared on an American spacecraft. Schirra had brought instant coffee along over the opposition of NASA doctors, who argued it added nothing nutritionally. Five hours after launch, he reported having, and enjoying, his first plastic bag full of coffee.
The purpose of the rendezvous was to demonstrate the CSM's ability to match orbits with and rescue a LM after an aborted lunar landing attempt, or following liftoff from the lunar surface. This was to occur on the second day; but by the end of the first, Schirra had reported he had a cold, and, despite Slayton coming on the loop to argue in favor, declined Mission Control's request that the crew power up and test the onboard television camera prior to the rendezvous, citing the cold, that the crew had not eaten, and that there was already a very full schedule.
The rendezvous was complicated by the fact that the Apollo7 spacecraft lacked a rendezvous radar, something the Moon-bound missions would have. The SPS, the engine that would be needed to send later Apollo CSMs into and out of lunar orbit, had been fired only on a test stand. Although the astronauts were confident it would work, they were concerned it might fire in an unexpected manner, necessitating an early end to the mission. The burns would be computed from the ground but the final work in maneuvering up to the S-IVB would require Eisele to use the telescope and sextant to compute the final burns, with Schirra applying the ship's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters. Eisele was startled by the violent jolt caused by activating the SPS. The thrust caused Schirra to yell, "Yabba dabba doo!" in reference to The Flintstones cartoon. Schirra eased the craft close to the S-IVB, which was tumbling out of control, successfully completing the rendezvous.
The first television broadcast took place on October 14. It began with a view of a card reading "From the Lovely Apollo Room high atop everything", recalling tag lines used by band leaders on 1930s radio broadcasts. Cunningham served as camera operator with Eisele as emcee. During the seven-minute broadcast, the crew showed off the spacecraft and gave the audience views of the southern United States. Before the close, Schirra held another sign, "Keep those cards and letters coming in folks", another old-time radio tag line that had been used recently by Dean Martin. This was the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft (Gordon Cooper had transmitted slow scan television pictures from Faith7 in 1963, but the pictures were of poor quality and were never broadcast). According to Jones, "these apparently amiable astronauts delivered to NASA a solid public relations coup." Daily television broadcasts of about 10 minutes each followed, during which the crew held up more signs and educated their audience about spaceflight; after the return to Earth, they were awarded a special Emmy for the telecasts.
Later on October 14, the craft's onboard radar receiver was able to lock onto a ground-based transmitter, again showing a CSM in lunar orbit could keep contact with a LM returning from the Moon's surface. Throughout the remainder of the mission, the crew continued to run tests on the CSM, including of the propulsion, navigation, environmental, electrical and thermal control systems. All checked out well; according to authors Francis French and Colin Burgess, "The redesigned Apollo spacecraft was better than anyone had dared to hope." Eisele found that navigation was not as easy as anticipated; he found it difficult to use Earth's horizon in sighting stars due to the fuzziness of the atmosphere, and water dumps made it difficult to discern which glistening points were stars and which ice particles. By the end of the mission, the SPS engine had been fired eight times without any problems.
One difficulty that was encountered was with the sleep schedule, which called for one crew member to remain awake at all times; Eisele was to remain awake while the others slept, and sleep during part of the time the others were awake. This did not work well, as it was hard for crew members to work without making a disturbance. Cunningham later remembered waking up to find Eisele dozing.
Conflict and splashdown
Schirra was angered by NASA managers allowing the launch to proceed despite the winds, saying "The mission pushed us to the wall in terms of risk." Jones said, "This prelaunch dispute was the prelude to a tug of war over command decisions for the rest of the mission." Lack of sleep and Schirra's cold probably contributed to the conflict between the astronauts and Mission Control that surfaced from time to time during the flight.
The testing of the television resulted in a disagreement between the crew and Houston. Schirra stated at the time, "You've added two burns to this flight schedule, and you've added a urine water dump; and we have a new vehicle up here, and I can tell you at this point, TV will be delayed without any further discussion until after the rendezvous." Schirra later wrote, "we'd resist anything that interfered with our main mission objectives. On this particular Saturday morning a TV program clearly interfered." Eisele agreed in his memoirs, "We were preoccupied with preparations for that critical exercise and didn't want to divert our attention with what seemed to be trivialities at the time.... Evidently the earth people felt differently; there was a real stink about the hotheaded, recalcitrant Apollo7 crew who wouldn't take orders." French and Burgess wrote, "When this point is considered objectively—that in a front-loaded mission the rendezvous, alignment, and engine tests should be done before television shows—it is hard to argue with him [Schirra]." Although Slayton gave in to Schirra, the commander's attitude surprised flight controllers.
On Day 8, after being asked to follow a new procedure passed up from the ground that caused the computer to freeze, Eisele radioed, "We didn't get the results that you were after. We didn't get a damn thing, in fact... you bet your ass... as far as we're concerned, somebody down there screwed up royally when he laid that one on us." Schirra later stated his belief that this was the one main occasion when Eisele upset Mission Control. The next day saw more conflict, with Schirra telling Mission Control after having to make repeated firings of the RCS system to keep the spacecraft stable during a test, "I wish you would find out the idiot's name who thought up this test. I want to find out, and I want to talk to him personally when I get back down." Eisele joined in, "While you are at it, find out who dreamed up 'P22 horizon test'; that is a beauty also."
A further source of tension between Mission Control and the crew was that Schirra repeatedly expressed the view that the reentry should be conducted with their helmets off. He perceived a risk that their eardrums might burst due to the sinus pressure from their colds, and they wanted to be able to pinch their noses and blow to equalize the pressure as it increased during reentry. This would have been impossible wearing the helmets. Over several days, Schirra refused advice from the ground that the helmets should be worn, stating it was his prerogative as commander to decide this, though Slayton warned him he would have to answer for it after the flight. Schirra stated in 1994, "In this case I had a cold, and I'd had enough discussion with the ground, and I didn't have much more time to talk about whether we would put the helmet on or off. I said, essentially, I'm on board, I'm commanding. They could wear all the black armbands they wanted if I was lost or if I lost my hearing. But I had the responsibility for getting through the mission." No helmets were worn during the entry. Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft demanded an explanation for what he believed was Schirra's insubordination from the CAPCOM, Stafford. Kraft later said, "Schirra was exercising his commander’s right to have the last word, and that was that."
Apollo 7 splashed down without incident at 11:11:48 UTC on October 22, 1968, SSW of Bermuda and north of the recovery ship USS Essex. The mission's duration was 10days, 20hours, 9minutes and 3seconds.
Assessment and aftermath
After the mission, NASA awarded Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham its Exceptional Service Medal in recognition of their success. On November 2, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson held a ceremony at the LBJ Ranch in Johnson City, Texas, to present the astronauts with the medals. He also presented NASA's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, to recently retired NASA administrator James E. Webb, for his "outstanding leadership of America's space program" since the beginning of Apollo. Johnson also invited the crew to the White House, and they went there in December 1968.
Despite the difficulties between the crew and Mission Control, the mission successfully met its objectives to verify the Apollo command and service module's flightworthiness, allowing Apollo8's flight to the Moon to proceed just two months later. John T. McQuiston wrote in The New York Times after Eisele's death in 1987 that Apollo7's success brought renewed confidence to NASA's space program. According to Jones, "Three weeks after the Apollo7 crew returned, NASA administrator Thomas Paine green-lighted Apollo8 to launch in late December and orbit the Moon. Apollo7 had delivered NASA from its trial by fire—it was the first small step down a path that would lead another crew, nine months later, to the Sea of Tranquility."
General Sam Phillips, the Apollo Program Manager, said at the time, "Apollo7 goes into my book as a perfect mission. We accomplished 101 percent of our objectives." Kraft wrote, "Schirra and his crew did it all—or at least all of it that counted... [T]hey proved to everyone's satisfaction that the SPS engine was one of the most reliable we'd ever sent into space. They operated the Command and Service Modules with true professionalism." Eisele wrote, "We were insolent, high-handed, and Machiavellian at times. Call it paranoia, call it smart—it got the job done. We had a great flight."
Kranz stated in 1998, "we all look back now with a longer perspective. Schirra really wasn't on us as bad as it seemed at the time.... Bottom line was, even with a grumpy commander, we got the job done as a team."
None of the Apollo 7 crew members flew in space again. According to Jim Lovell, "Apollo7 was a very successful flight—they did an excellent job—but it was a very contentious flight. They all teed off the ground people quite considerably, and I think that kind of put a stop on future flights [for them]." Schirra had announced, before the flight, his retirement from NASA and the Navy, effective July 1, 1969. The other two crew members had their spaceflight careers stunted by their involvement in Apollo7; by some accounts, Kraft told Slayton he was unwilling to work in future with any member of the crew. Cunningham heard the rumors that Kraft had said this and confronted him in early 1969; Kraft denied making the statement "but his reaction wasn't exactly outraged innocence." Eisele's career may also have been affected by becoming the first active astronaut to divorce, followed by a quick remarriage, and an indifferent performance as backup CMP for Apollo10. He resigned from the Astronaut Office in 1970 though he remained with NASA at the Langley Research Center in Virginia until 1972, when he was eligible for retirement. Cunningham was made the leader of the Astronaut Office's Skylab division. He related that he was informally offered command of the first Skylab crew, but when this instead went to Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad, with Cunningham offered the position of backup commander, he resigned as an astronaut in 1971.
Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham were the only crew, of all the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz missions, who had not been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal immediately following their missions (though Schirra had received the medal twice before, for his Mercury and Gemini missions). Therefore, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin decided to belatedly award the medals to the crew in October 2008, "[f]or exemplary performance in meeting all the Apollo7 mission objectives and more on the first crewed Apollo mission, paving the way for the first flight to the Moon on Apollo8 and the first crewed lunar landing on Apollo11." Only Cunningham was still alive at the time as Eisele had died in 1987 and Schirra in 2007. Eisele's widow accepted his medal, and Apollo 8 crew member Bill Anders accepted Schirra's. Other Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Alan Bean, were present at the award ceremony. Kraft, who had been in conflict with the crew during the mission, sent a conciliatory video message of congratulations, saying: "We gave you a hard time once but you certainly survived that and have done extremely well since... I am frankly, very proud to call you a friend."
Mission insignia
The insignia for the flight shows a command and service module with its SPS engine firing, the trail from that fire encircling a globe and extending past the edges of the patch symbolizing the Earth-orbital nature of the mission. The Roman numeralVII appears in the South Pacific Ocean and the crew's names appear on a wide black arc at the bottom. The patch was designed by Allen Stevens of Rockwell International.
Spacecraft location
In January 1969, the Apollo7 command module was displayed on a NASA float in the inauguration parade of President Richard M. Nixon, as were the Apollo7 astronauts. After being transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1970, the spacecraft was loaned to the National Museum of Science and Technology, in Ottawa, Ontario. It was returned to the United States in 2004. Currently, the Apollo7 CM is on loan to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field in Dallas, Texas.
Depiction in media
On November 6, 1968, comedian Bob Hope broadcast one of his variety television specials from NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston to honor the Apollo7 crew. Barbara Eden, star of the popular comedy series I Dream of Jeannie, which featured fictional astronauts among its regular characters, appeared with Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham.
Schirra parlayed the head cold he contracted during Apollo7 into a television advertising contract as a spokesman for Actifed, an over-the-counter version of the medicine he took in space.
The Apollo 7 mission is dramatized in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon episode "We Have Cleared the Tower", with Mark Harmon as Schirra, John Mese as Eisele, Fredric Lehne as Cunningham and Nick Searcy as Slayton.
Gallery
See also
List of Apollo missions
Timeline of longest spaceflights
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
Master catalog entry at NASA/NSSDC\
The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
"Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
Apollo 7
1968 in the United States
Apollo 07
Human spaceflights
Spacecraft launched in 1968
Spacecraft which reentered in 1968
October 1968 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
Wally Schirra |
1774 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%209 | Apollo 9 | Apollo 9 (March 313, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the full Apollo spacecraft: the command and service module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). The mission was flown to qualify the LM for lunar orbit operations in preparation for the first Moon landing by demonstrating its descent and ascent propulsion systems, showing that its crew could fly it independently, then rendezvous and dock with the CSM again, as would be required for the first crewed lunar landing. Other objectives of the flight included firing the LM descent engine to propel the spacecraft stack as a backup mode (as would be required on the Apollo 13 mission), and use of the portable life support system backpack outside the LM cabin.
The three-man crew consisted of Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. During the ten-day mission, they tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon, including the LM engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems and docking maneuvers.
After launching on March 3, 1969, the crew performed the first crewed flight of a lunar module, the first docking and extraction of the same, one two-person spacewalk (EVA), and the second docking of two crewed spacecraft—two months after the Soviets performed a spacewalk crew transfer between and . The mission concluded on March 13 and was a complete success. It proved the LM worthy of crewed spaceflight, setting the stage for the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, Apollo 10, before the ultimate goal, landing on the Moon.
Mission background
In April 1966, McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart were selected by Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton as the second Apollo crew. Their initial job was as backup to the first Apollo crew to be chosen, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, for the first crewed Earth orbital test flight of the block I command and service module, designated AS-204. Delays in the block I CSM development pushed AS-204 into 1967. The revised plan had the McDivitt crew scheduled for the second crewed CSM, which was to rendezvous in Earth orbit with an uncrewed LM, launched separately. The third crewed mission, to be commanded by Frank Borman, was to be the first launch of a SaturnV with a crew.
On January 27, 1967, Grissom's crew was conducting a launch-pad test for their planned February 21 mission, which they named Apollo 1, when a fire broke out in the cabin, killing all three men. A complete safety review of the Apollo program followed. During this time Apollo 5 took place, an uncrewed launch to test the first lunar module (LM-1).
Under the new schedule, the first Apollo crewed mission to go into space would be Apollo 7, planned for October 1968. This mission, which was to test the block II command module, did not include a lunar module. In 1967, NASA had adopted a series of lettered missions leading up to the crewed lunar landing, the "G mission", completion of one being a prerequisite to the next. Apollo7 would be the "Cmission", but the "Dmission" required testing of the crewed lunar module, which was running behind schedule and endangering John F. Kennedy's goal of Americans walking on the Moon and returning safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. McDivitt's crew had been announced by NASA in November 1967 as prime crew for the Dmission, lengthy testing of the command and lunar modules in Earth orbit.
Seeking to keep Kennedy's goal on schedule, in August 1968, Apollo Program Manager George M. Low proposed that if Apollo7 in October went well, Apollo8 would go to lunar orbit without a LM. Until then, Apollo8 was the Dmission with Apollo9 the "E mission", testing in medium Earth orbit. After NASA approved sending Apollo8 to the Moon, while making Apollo9 the Dmission, Slayton offered McDivitt the opportunity to stay with Apollo8 and thus go to lunar orbit. McDivitt turned it down on behalf of his crew, preferring to stay with the Dmission, now Apollo9.
Apollo7 went well, and the crews were switched. The crew swap also affected who would be the first astronauts to land on the Moon, for when the crews for Apollo8 and9 were swapped, so were the backup crews. Since the rule of thumb was for backup crews to fly as prime crew three missions later, this put Neil Armstrong's crew (Borman's backup) in position to make the first landing attempt on Apollo 11 instead of Pete Conrad's crew, who made the second landing on Apollo 12.
Framework
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
McDivitt was in the Air Force; selected as a member of the second group of astronauts in 1962, he was command pilot of Gemini 4 (1965). Scott, also Air Force, was selected in the third astronaut group in 1963 and flew alongside Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8, on which the first spacecraft docking was performed. Schweickart, a civilian who had served in the Air Force and Massachusetts Air National Guard, was selected as a Group3 astronaut but was not assigned to a Gemini mission and had no spaceflight experience.
The backup crew consisted of Pete Conrad as commander, Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean. This crew flew as prime on Apollo 12 in November 1969. The support crew for Apollo9 consisted of Stuart A. Roosa, Jack R. Lousma, Edgar D. Mitchell and Alfred M. Worden. Lousma was not an original member of the Apollo9 support crew, but was assigned after Fred W. Haise Jr. was moved to the position of backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 8—several astronauts were shifted in the wake of Michael Collins being removed from the Apollo8 prime crew because of treatment for bone spurs.
The flight directors were Gene Kranz, first shift, Gerry Griffin, second shift and Pete Frank, third shift. Capsule communicators were Conrad, Gordon, Bean, Worden, Roosa and Ronald Evans.
Mission insignia
The circular patch shows a drawing of a Saturn V rocket with the letters USA on it. To its right, an Apollo CSM is shown next to a LM, with the CSM's nose pointed at the "front door" of the LM rather than at its top docking port. The CSM is trailing rocket fire in a circle. The crew's names are along the top edge of the circle, with APOLLO IX at the bottom. The "D" in McDivitt's name is filled with red to mark that this was the "Dmission" in the alphabetic sequence of Apollo missions. The patch was designed by Allen Stevens of Rockwell International.
Planning and training
Apollo 9's main purpose was to qualify the LM for crewed lunar flight, demonstrating, among other things, that it could perform the maneuvers in space that would be needed for a lunar landing, including docking with the CSM. Colin Burgess and Francis French, in their book about the Apollo Program, deemed McDivitt's crew among the best trained ever—they had worked together since January 1966, at first as backups for Apollo 1, and they always had the assignment of being the first to fly the LM. Flight Director Gene Kranz deemed the Apollo9 crew the best prepared for their mission, and felt Scott was an extremely knowledgeable CMP. Crew members underwent some 1,800 hours of mission-specific training, about seven hours for every hour they would spend in flight. Their training even started on the day before the Apollo1 fire, in the very first Block II spacecraft in which they were originally intended to fly. They took part in the vehicle checkouts for the CSM at North American Rockwell's facility in Downey, California, and for the LM at Grumman's plant in Bethpage, New York. They also participated in testing of the modules at the launch site.
Among the types of the training which the crew underwent were simulations of zero-G, both underwater and in the Vomit Comet. During these exercises, they practiced for the planned extravehicular activities (EVAs). They traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for training on the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) at MIT. The crew studied the sky at the Morehead Planetarium and at the Griffith Planetarium, especially focusing on the 37 stars used by the AGC. They each spent more than 300 hours in the CM and LM simulators at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and at Houston, some involving live participation by Mission Control. Additional time was spent in simulators in other locations.
The first mission to use the CSM, the LM and a SaturnV, Apollo9 allowed the launch preparations team at KSC its first opportunity to simulate the launch of a lunar landing mission. The LM arrived from Grumman in June 1968 and was subjected to extensive testing including in the altitude chamber, simulating space conditions. As this occurred, other technicians assembled the SaturnV inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The CM and SM arrived in October, but even the experienced KSC team from North American had trouble joining them together. When the lander was done with the altitude chamber, the CSM took its place, letting the LM be available for installation of equipment such as rendezvous radar and antennas. There were no lengthy delays, and on January 3, 1969, the launch vehicle was taken out of the VAB and moved to Launch Complex 39A by crawler. Flight readiness reviews for the CM, the LM, and the SaturnV were held and passed in the following weeks.
Hardware
Launch vehicle
The Saturn V (AS-504) used on Apollo9 was the fourth to be flown, the second to carry astronauts to space, and the first to bear a lunar module. Although similar in configuration to the SaturnV used on Apollo 8, several changes were made. The inner core of the F-1 engine chamber in the first (S-IC) stage was removed, thus saving weight and allowing for a slight increase in specific impulse. Weight was also saved by replacing the skins of the liquid oxygen tanks with lighter ones, and by providing lighter versions of other components. Efficiency was increased in the S-II second stage with uprated J-2 engines, and through a closed-loop propellant utilization system rather than Apollo 8's open-loop system. Of the weight reduction in the second stage, about half came from a 16 percent reduction in the thickness of the tank side walls.
Spacecraft, equipment and call signs
Apollo9 used CSM-104, the third Block II CSM to be flown with astronauts aboard. Apollo 8, lacking a lunar module, did not have docking equipment; Apollo9 flew the probe-and-drogue assembly used for docking along with other equipment added near the forward hatch of the CM; this allowed for rigid docking of the two craft, and for internal transfer between CM and LM. Had the switch in missions between Apollo8 and9 not occurred, the Earth-orbit mission would have flown CSM-103, which flew on Apollo 8.
The Earth-orbit mission was originally supposed to use LM-2 as its lunar module, but the crew found numerous flaws in it, many associated with it being the first flight-ready lunar module off Grumman's production line. The delay occasioned by the switch in missions allowed LM-3 to be available, a machine the crew found far superior. Neither LM-2 nor LM-3 could have been sent to the Moon as both were too heavy; Grumman's weight reduction program for the LMs only became fully effective with LM-5, designated for Apollo 11. Small cracks in LM-3's aluminum alloy structure due to stresses such as the insertion of a rivet proved an ongoing issue; Grumman's engineers continued working to fix them until the LM had to be mounted on the SaturnV in December 1968, where it was housed inside the Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter, numbered as SLA-11A. LM-2 never flew in space and is in the National Air and Space Museum.
The Apollo astronauts were provided with early versions of the Sony Walkman, portable cassette recorders intended to allow them to make observations during the mission. The Apollo9 crew was the first to be allowed to bring music mixtapes, one each, that could be played in that device. McDivitt and Scott preferred easy listening and country music; Schweickart's cassette tape of classical music went missing until the ninth day of the ten-day mission, when it was presented to him by Scott.
After the Gemini 3 craft was dubbed Molly Brown by Grissom, NASA forbade naming spacecraft. The fact that during the Apollo9 mission, the CSM and LM would separate and need different call signs caused the Apollo9 astronauts to push for a change. In simulations, they began to refer to the CSM as "Gumdrop", a name inspired by the CM's appearance while in the blue protective wrapping in which it was transported from the manufacturer, and the LM as "Spider", inspired by the LM's appearance with landing legs deployed. Personnel in NASA public relations thought the names were too informal, but the call signs ultimately gained official sanction. NASA required more formal call signs for future missions, starting with Apollo 11.
Life Support System backpack
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) backpack flew for the first time on Apollo9, used by Schweickart during his EVA. This included the Portable Life Support System (PLSS), providing oxygen to the astronaut and water for the Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG), which helped prevent overheating during extravehicular activity. Also present was the Oxygen Purge System (OPS), the "bedroll" atop the backpack, which could provide oxygen for up to roughly an hour if the PLSS failed. A more advanced version of the EMU was used for the lunar landing on Apollo 11.
During his stand-up EVA, Scott did not wear a PLSS, but was connected to the CM's life support systems through an umbilical, utilizing a Pressure Control Valve (PCV). This device had been created in 1967 to allow for stand-up EVAs from the hatches of the LM or CM, or for brief ventures outside. It was later used by Scott for his lunar surface stand-up EVA on Apollo 15, and for the deep-space EVAs by the command module pilots of the final three Apollo flights.
Mission highlights
First through fifth days (March 3–7)
Originally scheduled to launch on February 28, 1969, the liftoff of Apollo9 was postponed because all three astronauts had colds, and NASA did not want to risk that the mission might be affected. Around-the-clock labor shifts were required to keep the spacecraft in readiness; the delay cost $500,000. The rocket launched from KSC at 11:00:00 EST (16:00:00 GMT) on March 3. This was well within the launch window, which would have remained open for another three and a quarter hours. Present in the firing control room was Vice President Spiro Agnew on behalf of the new Nixon administration.
McDivitt reported a smooth ride during the launch, although there was some vibration and the astronauts were surprised to be pushed forward when the Saturn V's first stage stopped firing, before its second stage took over, when they were pushed back into their couches. Each of the first two stages slightly underperformed; a deficiency made up, more or less, by the S-IVB third stage. Once the third stage cut out at 00:11:04.7 into the mission, Apollo9 had entered a parking orbit of .
The crew began their first major orbital task with the separation of the CSM from the S-IVB at 02:41:16 into the mission, seeking to turn around and then dock with the LM, which was on the end of the S-IVB, after which the combined spacecraft would separate from the rocket. If it was not possible to make such a docking, the lunar landing could not take place. It was Scott's responsibility to fly the CSM, which he did to a successful docking, as the probe-and-drogue docking assembly worked properly. After McDivitt and Schweickart inspected the tunnel connecting the CM and LM, the assembled spacecraft separated from the S-IVB. The next task was to demonstrate that two docked spacecraft could be maneuvered by one engine. The five-second burn took place at 05:59.01.1 into the mission, accomplished with the SM's Service Propulsion System (SPS), after which Scott excitedly reported the LM was still in place. Thereafter, the S-IVB was fired again, and the stage was sent into solar orbit.
From 09:00:00 to 19:30:00, a sleep period was scheduled. The astronauts slept well, but complained of being woken by non-English transmissions. Scott theorized that they were possibly in Chinese. The highlight of the second day in orbit (March 4) was three SPS burns. The initial burn, at 22:12:04.1, lasted 110 seconds, and including swiveling or "gimbaling" the engine to test whether the autopilot could dampen the induced oscillations, which it did within five seconds. Two more SPS burns followed, lightening the SM's fuel load. The spacecraft and engine passed every test, sometimes proving more robust than expected. The performance of the CSM in remaining stable while the engine was being gimbaled would in 1972 help cause McDivitt, by then manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program, to approve the continuation of Apollo 16 when its CSM was experiencing an unstable gimbal after separation from its LM in lunar orbit.
The flight plan for the third day in space was to have the commander and lunar module pilot enter the LM to check out its systems and use its descent engine to move the entire spacecraft. The descent engine was the backup to the SPS; the ability to use it in this manner would prove critical on Apollo 13. The flight plan was thrown into question when Schweickart, suffering from space adaptation sickness, vomited, while McDivitt felt queasy as well. They had been avoiding sudden physical motions, but the contortion-like maneuvers to don their space suits for the LM checkout caused them to feel ill. The experience would teach the doctors enough about the sickness to have the astronauts avoid it on the lunar landings, but at the time Schweickart feared his vomiting might endanger Kennedy's goal. They were well enough to continue with the day's plan, and entered the LM, thus transferring between vehicles for the first time in the US space program, and making the first ever transfer without needing to spacewalk, as Soviet cosmonauts had. The hatches were then closed, though the modules remained docked, showing that Spider communications and life support systems would work in isolation from those of Gumdrop. On command, the landing legs sprang into the position they would assume for landing on the Moon.
In the LM, Schweickart vomited again, causing McDivitt to request a private channel to the doctors in Houston. The first episode had not been reported to the ground because of its brief nature, and when the media learned what had happened to Schweickart, there were "repercussions and a spate of unfriendly stories". They finished the LM checkout, including the successful firing of the descent engine, and returned to Scott in Gumdrop. The burn lasted 367 seconds and simulated the throttle pattern to be used during the landing on the Moon. After they returned, a fifth firing of the SPS was made, designed to circularize Apollo9's orbit in preparation for the rendezvous. This took place at 54:26:12.3, raising the craft's orbit to .
The fourth day's program (March 6) was for Schweickart to exit the hatch on the LM and make his way along the outside of the spacecraft to the CM's hatch, where Scott would stand by to assist, demonstrating that this could be done in the event of an emergency. Schweickart was to wear the life support backpack, or PLSS, to be worn on the lunar surface EVAs. This was the only EVA scheduled before the lunar landing, and thus the only opportunity to test the PLSS in space. McDivitt initially canceled the EVA due to Schweickart's condition, but with the lunar module pilot feeling better, decided to allow him to exit the LM, and once he was there, to move around the LM's exterior using handholds. Scott stood in the CM's hatch; both men photographed each other and retrieved experiments from the exterior of their vehicles. Schweickart found moving around easier than it had been in simulations; both he and Scott were confident that Schweickart could have completed the exterior transfer if called upon to do so, but considered it unnecessary. During the EVA, Schweickart used the call sign "Red Rover", a nod to the color of his hair.
On March 7, the fifth day, came "the key event of the entire mission: the separation and rendezvous of the lunar module and the command module". The lunar module lacked the capability to return the astronauts to Earth; this was the first time space travelers had flown in a vehicle that could not take them home. McDivitt and Schweickart entered the LM early, having obtained permission to do so without wearing their helmets and gloves, making it easier to set up the LM. When Scott in Gumdrop pushed the button to release the LM, it initially hung on the latches at the end of the docking probe, but he hit the button again and Spider was released. After spending about 45 minutes near Gumdrop, Spider went into a slightly higher orbit, meaning that over time, the two craft would separate, with Gumdrop ahead. Over the next hours, McDivitt fired the LM's descent engine at several throttle settings; by the end of the day the LM was thoroughly test-flown. At a distance of , Spider fired to lower its orbit and thus begin to catch up with Gumdrop, a process that would take over two hours, and the descent stage was jettisoned.
The approach and rendezvous were conducted as near as possible to what was planned for the lunar missions. To demonstrate that rendezvous could be performed by either craft, Spider was the active party during the maneuver. McDivitt brought Spider close to Gumdrop, then maneuvered the LM to show each side to Scott, allowing him to inspect for any damage. Then, McDivitt docked the craft. Due to glare from the Sun, he had trouble doing this and Scott guided him in. During the later missions, the job of docking the two spacecraft in lunar orbit would fall to the command module pilot. After McDivitt and Schweickart returned to Gumdrop, Spider was jettisoned, its engine fired to fuel depletion remotely by Mission Control as part of further testing of the engine, simulating an ascent stage's climb from the lunar surface. This raised Spider to an orbit with apogee of over . The only major lunar module system not fully tested was the landing radar, as this could not be done in Earth orbit.
Sixth through eleventh days (March 8–13)
Apollo 9 was to remain in space for about ten days to check how the CSM would perform over the period of time required for a lunar mission. Most major events had been scheduled for the first days so that they would be accomplished if the flight needed to be ended early. The remaining days in orbit were to be conducted at a more leisurely pace. With the main goals of the mission accomplished, the hatch window was used for special photography of Earth, using four identical Hasselblad cameras, coupled together and using film sensitive to different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such photography allowed different features of the Earth's surface to appear, for example, tracking of water pollution as it exits mouths of rivers into the sea, and the highlighting of agricultural areas using infrared. The camera system was a prototype, and would pave the way for the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, predecessor to the Landsat series. The photography was successful, as the ample time in orbit meant the crew could wait to allow cloud cover to pass, and would inform Skylab's mission planning.
Scott used a sextant to track landmarks on the Earth, and turned the instrument to the skies to observe the planet Jupiter, practicing navigation techniques that were to be used on later missions. The crew was able to track the Pegasus 3 satellite (launched in 1965) as well as the ascent stage of Spider. The sixth burn of the SPS engine took place on the sixth day, though it was postponed one orbit as the reaction control system (RCS) thruster burn needed to settle the reactants in their tanks was not properly programmed. The SPS burn lowered the perigee of Apollo9's orbit, allowing for improved RCS thruster deorbit capability as a backup to the SPS.
Considerable testing of the CSM took place, but this was principally Scott's responsibility, allowing McDivitt and Schweickart leisure to observe the Earth; they alerted Scott if anything particularly noteworthy was upcoming, letting him leave his work for a moment to look at Earth too. The seventh burn of the SPS system took place on the eighth day, March 10; its purpose was again to aid RCS deorbit capability, as well as extending Gumdrop orbital lifetime. It shifted the apogee of the orbit to the Southern Hemisphere, allowing for a longer free-fall time to entry when Apollo9 returned to Earth. The burn was extended to allow for testing of the propellent gaging system, which had been behaving anomalously during earlier SPS burns. Once it was accomplished, Apollo9's RCS thrusters could have returned it to Earth and still allowed it to land in the primary recovery zone had the SPS engine failed. The eighth and final SPS burn, to return the vehicle to Earth, was accomplished on March 13, less than an hour after the ten-day mark of the mission, after which the service module was jettisoned. The landing was delayed one orbit because of unfavorable weather in the primary landing zone some ESE of Bermuda. Instead, Apollo9 splashed down east of the Bahamas, about from the recovery carrier, the USS Guadalcanal, after a mission lasting 10 days, 1hour, 54 seconds. Apollo9 was the last spacecraft to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean for a half century, until the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission in 2019, and last crewed splashdown in the Atlantic until Inspiration4 in 2021.
Hardware disposition
The Apollo9 Command Module Gumdrop (1969-018A) is on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Gumdrop was formerly displayed at the Michigan Space and Science Center, Jackson, Michigan, until April 2004, when the center closed. The service module, jettisoned shortly after the deorbit burn, reentered the atmosphere and disintegrated.
The ascent stage of LM-3 Spider (1969-018C) reentered on October 23, 1981. The descent stage of LM-3 Spider (1969-018D) reentered on March 22, 1969, landing in the Indian Ocean near North Africa.
The S-IVB (1969-018B) was sent into solar orbit, with initial aphelion of , perihelion of and orbital period of 245 days. It remains in solar orbit .
Appraisal and aftermath
As NASA Associate Administrator George Mueller put it, "Apollo9 was as successful a flight as any of us could ever wish for, as well as being as successful as any of us have ever seen." Gene Kranz called Apollo9 "sheer exhilaration". Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips stated, "in every way, it has exceeded even our most optimistic expectations." Apollo11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stood in Mission Control as Spider and Gumdrop docked after their separate flights, and with the docking, according to Andrew Chaikin, "Apollo9 had fulfilled all its major objectives. At that moment, Aldrin knew Apollo10 would also succeed, and that he and Armstrong would attempt to land on the Moon. On March 24, NASA made it official."
Although he might have been offered command of an Apollo lunar landing mission, McDivitt chose to leave the Astronaut Corps after Apollo9, becoming manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program later in 1969. Scott was soon given another spaceflight assignment as backup commander of Apollo 12, and then was made mission commander of Apollo 15, landing on the Moon in 1971. Schweickart volunteered for medical investigation of his spacesickness, but was unable to shake its stigma, and was never again assigned to a prime crew. He took a leave of absence from NASA in 1977 that eventually became permanent. Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, stated that when it came to understanding spacesickness, Schweickart "paid the price for them all".
Following the success of Apollo 9, NASA did not conduct the "E mission" (further testing in medium Earth orbit), and even considered skipping the "F mission", the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, going straight to the landing attempt. As the spacecraft designated for the first landing attempt were still being assembled, this was not done. NASA officials also felt that given the past difficulties with the LM, there was a need for a further test flight before the actual landing attempt, and that orbiting the Moon would give them the opportunity to study mass concentrations there, which had affected Apollo8's orbit. According to French and Burgess in their study of the Apollo Program, "In any event,... Apollo9's success had ensured that the next Apollo mission would go back to the moon."
See also
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
NASA reports
"Apollo 9 flight plan AS-504/CSM-104/LM-3 Final Report" (PDF) by J. V. Rivers, NASA, February 1969
"Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
Multimedia
Apollo 9: Three To Make Ready Official NASA documentary film (1969)
Apollo 9 16mm onboard film part 1, part 2 raw footage taken from Apollo 9
Apollo 9: The Space Duet of Spider & Gumdrop Official NASA documentary film (1969),
Apollo 9 images at NASA'S Kennedy Space Center
Extravehicular activity
Human spaceflights
Apollo 09
1969 in the United States
Spacecraft launched in 1969
Spacecraft which reentered in 1969
March 1969 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
James McDivitt
David Scott
Rusty Schweickart |
1777 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%202 | April 2 |
Events
Pre-1600
1513 – Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River.
1601–1900
1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India.
1792 – The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint.
1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defeats a hastily assembled, smaller, mostly-volunteer Dano-Norwegian Navy at high cost, forcing Denmark out of the Second League of Armed Neutrality.
1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.
1901–present
1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Mariinsky Palace, Saint Petersburg.
1902 – "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.
1912 – The ill-fated begins sea trials.
1917 – American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
1954 – A 19-month-old infant is swept up in the ocean tides at Hermosa Beach, California. Local photographer John L. Gaunt photographs the incident; 1955 Pulitzer winner "Tragedy by the Sea".
1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.
1969 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53.
1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area in what has been called the "largest burglary in English legal history."
2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.
2021 – At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.
2021 – A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.
Births
Pre-1600
181 – Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (d. 234)
747 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)
1473 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
1545 – Elisabeth of Valois (d. 1568)
1565 – Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
1586 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveler (d. 1652)
1601–1900
1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess (d. 1665)
1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
1653 – Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
1696 – Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1778)
1719 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
1725 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian explorer and author (d. 1798)
1755 – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French lawyer and politician (d. 1826)
1788 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet and author (d. 1862)
1788 – Wilhelmine Reichard, German balloonist (d. 1848)
1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871)
1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840)
1798 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and academic (d. 1874)
1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1875)
1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875)
1814 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910)
1835 – Jacob Nash Victor, American engineer (d. 1907)
1838 – Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
1840 – Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (d. 1902)
1841 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (d. 1926)
1842 – Dominic Savio, Italian Catholic saint, adolescent student of Saint John Bosco (d. 1857)
1861 – Iván Persa, Slovenian priest and author (d. 1935)
1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1869 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (d. 1928)
1870 – Edmund Dwyer-Gray, Irish-Australian politician, 29th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1945)
1875 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (d. 1940)
1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942)
1884 – J. C. Squire, English poet, author, and historian (d. 1958)
1888 – Neville Cardus, English cricket and music writer (d. 1975)
1891 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish entertainer (d. 1957)
1891 – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 1976)
1891 – Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (d. 1958)
1896 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (d. 1936)
1898 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
1898 – Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (d. 1940)
1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1942)
1900 – Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1970)
1900 – Alfred Strange, English footballer (d. 1978)
1901–present
1902 – Jan Tschichold, German-Swiss graphic designer and typographer (d. 1974)
1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe (d. 1994)
1903 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1987)
1906 – Alphonse-Marie Parent, Canadian priest and educator (d. 1970)
1907 – Harald Andersson, American-Swedish discus thrower (d. 1985)
1907 – Luke Appling, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1908 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980)
1910 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian spiritual medium (d. 2002)
1914 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981)
1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004)
1920 – Jack Stokes, English animator and director (d. 2013)
1920 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1922 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015)
1923 – Gloria Henry, actress (d. 2021)
1923 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
1923 – G. Spencer-Brown, English mathematician, psychologist, and author (d. 2016)
1924 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican baseball player (d. 2004)
1925 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1925 – Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television host (d. 1987)
1926 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)
1926 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (d. 2006)
1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012)
1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014)
1927 – Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
1927 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1927 – Kenneth Tynan, English author and critic (d. 1980)
1928 – Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
1928 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (d. 1991)
1928 – Roy Masters, English-American radio host (d. 2021)
1928 – David Robinson, Northern Irish horticulturist and academic (d. 2004)
1929 – Ed Dorn, American poet and educator (d. 1999)
1930 – Roddy Maude-Roxby, English actor
1931 – Keith Hitchins, American historian (d. 2020)
1931 – Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian javelin thrower (d. 1986)
1932 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015)
1933 – György Konrád, Hungarian sociologist and author (d. 2019)
1934 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2007)
1934 – Brian Glover, English wrestler and actor (d. 1997)
1934 – Carl Kasell, American journalist and game show host (d. 2018)
1934 – Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
1934 – Dovid Shmidel, Austrian-born Israeli rabbi
1936 – Shaul Ladany, Serbian-Israeli race walker and engineer
1937 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1938 – John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of The Salvation Army
1938 – Booker Little, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1961)
1938 – Al Weis, American baseball player
1939 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
1939 – Anthony Lake, American academic and diplomat, 18th United States National Security Advisor
1939 – Lise Thibault, Canadian journalist and politician, 27th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
1940 – Donald Jackson, Canadian figure skater and coach
1940 – Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (d. 1981)
1940 – Penelope Keith, English actress
1941 – Dr. Demento, American radio host
1941 – Sonny Throckmorton, American country singer-songwriter
1942 – Leon Russell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2016)
1942 – Roshan Seth, Indian-English actor
1943 – Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce, South African-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 2022)
1943 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (d. 2007)
1943 – Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist (d. 2017)
1943 – Antonio Sabàto, Sr., Italian actor (d. 2021)
1944 – Bill Malinchak, American football player
1945 – Jürgen Drews, German singer-songwriter
1945 – Guy Fréquelin, French race car driver
1945 – Linda Hunt, American actress
1945 – Reggie Smith, American baseball player and coach
1945 – Don Sutton, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2021)
1945 – Anne Waldman, American poet
1946 – Richard Collinge, New Zealand cricketer
1946 – David Heyes, English politician
1946 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (d. 2014)
1946 – Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (d. 1997)
1947 – Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer-songwriter
1947 – Tua Forsström, Finnish writer
1947 – Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Camille Paglia, American author and critic
1948 – Roald Als, Danish author and illustrator
1948 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (d. 2012)
1948 – Daniel Okrent, American journalist and author
1948 – Joan D. Vinge, American author
1949 – Paul Gambaccini, American-English radio and television host
1949 – Bernd Müller, German footballer
1949 – Pamela Reed, American actress
1949 – David Robinson, American drummer
1950 – Lynn Westmoreland, American politician
1951 – Ayako Okamoto, Japanese golfer
1952 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist
1952 – Will Hoy, English race car driver (d. 2002)
1952 – Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2001)
1953 – Jim Allister, Northern Irish lawyer and politician
1953 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, 20th and 21st-century U.S. Navy aviator (d. 2019)
1953 – Malika Oufkir, Moroccan Berber writer
1953 – Debralee Scott, American actress (d. 2005)
1953 – James Vance, American author and playwright (d. 2017)
1954 – Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Donald Petrie, American actor and director
1955 – Michael Stone, Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary
1957 – Caroline Dean, English biologist and academic
1957 – Hank Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2020)
1958 – Stefano Bettarello, Italian rugby player
1958 – Larry Drew, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Gelindo Bordin, Italian runner
1959 – David Frankel, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 – Juha Kankkunen, Finnish race car driver
1959 – Yves Lavandier, French director and producer
1959 – Badou Ezzaki, Moroccan footballer and manager
1960 – Linford Christie, Jamaican-English sprinter
1960 – Brad Jones, Australian race car driver
1960 – Pascale Nadeau, Canadian journalist
1961 – Buddy Jewell, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Christopher Meloni, American actor
1961 – Keren Woodward, English singer-songwriter
1962 – Pierre Carles, French director and producer
1962 – Billy Dean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Clark Gregg, American actor
1963 – Karl Beattie, English director and producer
1963 – Mike Gascoyne, English engineer
1964 – Pete Incaviglia, American baseball player and coach
1964 – Jonathon Sharkey, American wrestler
1965 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (d. 2012)
1966 – Bill Romanowski, American football player and actor
1966 – Teddy Sheringham, English international footballer and coach
1967 – Greg Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Phil Demmel, American guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Ajay Devgn, Indian actor, director, and producer
1971 – Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, Brazilian footballer
1971 – Jason Lewry, English cricketer
1971 – Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
1972 – Eyal Berkovic, Israeli footballer
1972 – Remo D'Souza, Indian choreographer and dancer
1972 – Calvin Davis, American sprinter and hurdler
1972 – Zane Lamprey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Dmitry Lipartov, Russian footballer
1973 – Roselyn Sánchez, Puerto Rican-American actress
1973 – Aleksejs Semjonovs, Latvian footballer
1974 – Tayfun Korkut, Turkish football manager and former player
1975 – Nate Huffman, American basketball player (d. 2015)
1975 – Randy Livingston, American basketball player
1975 – Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, German rower
1975 – Pattie Mallette, Canadian author and film producer
1975 – Pedro Pascal, Chilean and American actor
1976 – Andreas Anastasopoulos, Greek shot putter
1976 – Rory Sabbatini, South African golfer
1977 – Per Elofsson, Swedish skier
1977 – Michael Fassbender, German-Irish actor and producer
1977 – Hanno Pevkur, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice
1980 – Avi Benedi, Israeli singer and songwriter
1980 – Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist
1980 – Gavin Heffernan, Canadian director and screenwriter
1980 – Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver (d. 2004)
1980 – Wairangi Koopu, New Zealand rugby league player
1980 – Carlos Salcido, Mexican international footballer
1981 – Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
1981 – Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor
1982 – Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
1982 – David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player
1983 – Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter
1984 – Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player
1984 – Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver
1984 – Jérémy Morel, French footballer
1985 – Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player
1985 – Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
1986 – Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player
1987 – Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer
1988 – Jesse Plemons, American actor
1990 – Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
1990 – Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer
1991 – Quavo, American rapper
1993 – Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
1994 – Pascal Siakam, Cameroonian basketball player
1997 – Dillon Bassett, American race car driver
1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer
1997 – Austin Riley, American baseball player
2004 – Diana Shnaider, Russian tennis player
2007 – Brenda Fruhvirtová, Czech tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
670 – Hasan ibn Ali the second Shia Imam (b. 624)
870 – Æbbe the Younger, Frankish abbess
872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general
968 – Yuan Dezhao, Chinese chancellor (b. 891)
991 – Bardas Skleros, Byzantine general
1118 – Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem
1244 – Henrik Harpestræng, Danish botanical and medical author
1272 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English husband of Sanchia of Provence (b. 1209)
1335 – Henry of Bohemia (b. 1265)
1412 – Ruy González de Clavijo, Spanish explorer and author
1416 – Ferdinand I, king of Aragon (b. 1379)
1502 – Arthur, prince of Wales (b. 1486)
1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
1511 – Bernard VII, Lord of Lippe, German nobleman (b. 1428)
1601–1900
1640 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (b. 1595)
1657 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
1657 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French priest, founded the Society of Saint-Sulpice (b. 1608)
1672 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino missionary and saint (b. 1654)
1672 – Diego Luis de San Vitores, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1627)
1720 – Joseph Dudley, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1647)
1742 – James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
1747 – Johann Jacob Dillenius, German-English botanist and mycologist (b. 1684)
1754 – Thomas Carte, English historian and author (b. 1686)
1787 – Thomas Gage, English general and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1719)
1791 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French journalist and politician (b. 1749)
1801 – Thomas Dadford, Jr., English engineer (b. 1761)
1803 – Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1721)
1817 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author and academic (b. 1740)
1827 – Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and educator (b. 1776)
1845 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1763)
1865 – A. P. Hill, American general (b. 1825)
1872 – Samuel Morse, American painter and academic, invented the Morse code (b. 1791)
1891 – Albert Pike, American lawyer and general (b. 1809)
1891 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek playwright and politician, 249th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1823)
1894 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (b. 1803)
1896 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (b. 1852)
1901–present
1914 – Paul Heyse, German author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
1917 – Bryn Lewis, Welsh international rugby player (b.1891)
1923 – Topal Osman, Turkish colonel (b. 1883)
1928 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
1930 – Zewditu I of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
1933 – Ranjitsinhji, Indian cricketer (b. 1872)
1936 – Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860)
1942 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (b. 1862)
1948 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (b. 1907)
1953 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
1954 – Hoyt Vandenberg, US Air Force general (b. 1899)
1966 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (b. 1899)
1972 – Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)
1972 – Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese martial artist and educator (b. 1887)
1974 – Georges Pompidou, French banker and politician, 19th President of France (b. 1911)
1977 – Walter Wolf, German academic and politician (b. 1907)
1987 – Buddy Rich, American drummer, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1917)
1989 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (b. 1939)
1992 – Juanito, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1954)
1992 – Jan van Aartsen, Dutch politician (b. 1909)
1994 – Betty Furness, American actress, consumer advocate, game show panelist, television journalist and television personality (b. 1916)
1994 – Marc Fitch, British historian and philanthropist (b. 1908)
1995 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1997 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese director and producer (b. 1910)
1998 – Rob Pilatus, American-German singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
2001 – Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
2002 – Levi Celerio, Filipino composer and songwriter (b. 1910)
2002 – John R. Pierce, American engineer and author (b. 1910)
2003 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
2004 – John Argyris, Greek computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1913)
2005 – Lillian O'Donnell, American crime novelist (b. 1926)
2005 – Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
2006 – Lloyd Searwar, Guyanese anthologist and diplomat (b. 1925)
2007 – Henry L. Giclas, American astronomer and academic (b. 1910)
2008 – Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran(b. 1898)
2009 – Albert Sanschagrin, Canadian bishop (b. 1911)
2009 – Bud Shank, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1926)
2010 – Chris Kanyon, American wrestler (b. 1970)
2011 – John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1918)
2012 – Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican sculptor and illustrator (b. 1915)
2012 – Mauricio Lasansky, American graphic designer and academic (b. 1914)
2013 – Fred, French author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2013 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1930)
2013 – Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (b. 1926)
2014 – Urs Widmer, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1938)
2015 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
2015 – Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (b. 1926)
2015 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician, Governor of Limburg (b. 1954)
2016 – Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (b. 1929)
2016 – Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (b. 1996)
2017 – Alma Delia Fuentes, Mexican actress (b. 1937)
2021 – Simon Bainbridge, British composer (b. 1952)
2022 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Abundius of Como
Amphianus of Lycia
Æbbe the Younger
Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology)
Francis of Paola
Francisco Coll Guitart
Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada)
Nicetius of Lyon
Pedro Calungsod
Theodosia of Tyre
Urban of Langres
April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Children's Book Day (International)
Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
Unity of Peoples of Russia and Belarus Day (Belarus)
World Autism Awareness Day (International)
Malvinas Day (Argentina)
References
Bibliography
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 2
Days of the year
April |
1781 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2028 | August 28 |
Events
Pre-1600
475 – The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.
489 – Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.
632 – Fatimah, daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, dies, with her cause of death being a controversial topic among the Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims.
663 – Silla–Tang armies crush the Baekje restoration attempt and force Yamato Japan to withdraw from Korea in the Battle of Baekgang.
1189 – Third Crusade: The Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan.
1521 – Ottoman wars in Europe: The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.
1524 – The Kaqchikel Maya rebel against their former Spanish allies during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
1542 – Turkish–Portuguese War: Battle of Wofla: The Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and later executed.
1565 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States.
1601–1900
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
1619 – Election of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.
1648 – Second English Civil War: The Siege of Colchester ends when Royalists Forces surrender to the Parliamentary Forces after eleven weeks, during the Second English Civil War.
1709 – Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn: Enceladus.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy accepts the surrender of a British Royal Navy fleet at the Battle of Grand Port.
1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam's role in U.S. railroads.
1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives royal assent, making the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal in the British Empire with exceptions.
1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
1849 – Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire: After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent as the Republic of San Marco, surrenders to Austria.
1850 – Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin premieres at the Staatskapelle Weimar.
1859 – The Carrington event is the strongest geomagnetic storm on record to strike the Earth. Electrical telegraph service is widely disrupted.
1861 – American Civil War: Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries which lasts for two days.
1862 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas, begins in Virginia. The battle ends on August 30 with another Union defeat.
1867 – The United States takes possession of the (at this point unoccupied) Midway Atoll.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.
1898 – Caleb Bradham's beverage "Brad's Drink" is renamed "Pepsi-Cola".
1901–present
1901 – Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. It is the first American private school in the country.
1909 – A group of mid-level Greek Army officers launches the Goudi coup, seeking wide-ranging reforms.
1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.
1914 – World War I: The Royal Navy defeats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
1916 – World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.
1916 – World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.
1917 – Ten suffragists, members of the Silent Sentinels, are arrested while picketing the White House in favor of women's suffrage in the United States.
1921 – Russian Civil War: The Red Army dissolved the Makhnovshchina, after driving the Revolutionary Insurgent Army out of Ukraine.
1924 – The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.
1936 – Nazi Germany begins its mass arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses, who are interned in concentration camps.
1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1943 – Denmark in World War II: German authorities demand that Danish authorities crack down on acts of resistance. The next day, martial law is imposed on Denmark.
1944 – World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.
1946 – The Workers’ Party of North Korea, predecessor of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, is founded at a congress held in Pyongyang, North Korea.
1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is lynched in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman, galvanizing the nascent civil rights movement.
1957 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the United States Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
1964 – The Philadelphia race riot begins.
1968 – Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant "The whole world is watching".
1973 – Norrmalmstorg robbery: Stockholm police secure the surrenders of hostage-takers Jan-Erik Olsson and Clark Olofsson, defusing the Norrmalmstorg hostage crisis. The behaviours of the hostages later give rise to the term Stockholm syndrome.
1988 – Ramstein air show disaster: Three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. Seventy-five are killed and 346 seriously injured.
1990 – Gulf War: Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.
1990 – An F5 tornado strikes the Illinois cities of Plainfield and Joliet, killing 29 people.
1993 – NASA's Galileo probe performs a flyby of the asteroid 243 Ida. Astronomers later discover a moon, the first known asteroid moon, in pictures from the flyby and name it Dactyl.
1993 – Singaporean presidential election: Former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong is elected President of Singapore. Although it is the first presidential election to be determined by popular vote, the allowed candidates consist only of Ong and a reluctant whom the government had asked to run to confer upon the election the semblance of an opposition.
1993 – The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in Bosnia and Herzegovina was transformed into the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.
1993 – A Tajikistan Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 crashes during takeoff from Khorog Airport in Tajikistan, killing 82.
1996 – Chicago Seven defendant David Dellinger, antiwar activist Bradford Lyttle, Civil Rights Movement historian Randy Kryn, and eight others are arrested by the Federal Protective Service while protesting in a demonstration at the Kluczynski Federal Building in downtown Chicago during that year's Democratic National Convention.
1998 – Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
1998 – Second Congo War: Loyalist troops backed by Angolan and Zimbabwean forces repulse the RCD and Rwandan offensive on Kinshasa.
1999 – The Russian space mission Soyuz TM-29 reaches completion, ending nearly 10 years of continuous occupation on the space station Mir as it approaches the end of its life.
2003 – In "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI", Brian Wells dies after becoming involved in a complex plot involving a bank robbery, a scavenger hunt, and a homemade explosive device.
2016 – The first experimental mission of ISRO's Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System was successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
2017 – China–India border standoff: China and India both pull their troops out of Doklam, putting an end to a two month-long stalemate over China’s construction of a road in disputed territory.
Births
Pre-1600
1023 – Go-Reizei, emperor of Japan (d. 1068)
1366 – Jean Le Maingre, marshal of France (d. 1421)
1476 – Kanō Motonobu, Japanese painter (d. 1559)
1481 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet (d. 1558)
1582 – Taichang, emperor of China (d. 1620)
1591 – John Christian of Brieg, duke of Brzeg (d. 1639)
1592 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English courtier and politician (d. 1628)
1601–1900
1612 – Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Dutch linguist and scholar (d. 1653)
1667 – Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1721)
1691 – Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1750)
1714 – Anthony Ulrich, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1774)
1728 – John Stark, American general (d. 1822)
1739 – Agostino Accorimboni, Italian composer (d. 1818)
1749 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German novelist, poet, playwright, and diplomat (d. 1832)
1774 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition (d. 1821)
1801 – Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1877)
1814 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish author (d. 1873)
1816 – Charles Sladen, English-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
1822 – Graham Berry, English-Australian politician, 11th Premier of Victoria (d. 1904)
1827 – Catherine Mikhailovna, Russian grand duchess (d. 1894)
1833 – Edward Burne-Jones, English artist of the Pre-Raphaelite movement (d. 1898)
1837 – Francis von Hohenstein, duke of Teck (d. 1900)
1840 – Alexander Cameron Sim, Scottish-Japanese pharmacist and businessman, founded Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club (d. 1900)
1853 – Vladimir Shukhov, Russian architect and engineer, designed the Adziogol Lighthouse (d. 1939)
1859 – Matilda Howell, American archer (d. 1938)
1859 – Vittorio Sella, Italian mountaineer and photographer (d. 1943)
1867 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer and academic (d. 1948)
1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
1884 – Peter Fraser, Scottish-New Zealand journalist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1950)
1885 – Vance Palmer, Australian author, playwright, and critic (d. 1959)
1887 – August Kippasto, Estonian-Australian wrestler and poet (d. 1973)
1887 – István Kühár, Slovenian priest and politician (d. 1922)
1888 – Evadne Price, Australian actress, astrologer, and author (d. 1985)
1891 – Benno Schotz, Estonian-Scottish sculptor and engineer (d. 1984)
1894 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor and director (d. 1981)
1896 – Firaq Gorakhpuri, Indian author, poet, and critic (d. 1982)
1898 – Charlie Grimm, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1983)
1899 – Charles Boyer, French-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1978)
1899 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 1981)
1899 – Andrei Platonov, Russian author and poet (d. 1951)
1899 – James Wong Howe, Chinese American cinematographer (d. 1976)
1901–present
1903 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (d. 1990)
1904 – Secondo Campini, Italian-American engineer (d. 1980)
1904 – Leho Laurine, Estonian chess player (d. 1998)
1905 – Cyril Walters, Welsh-English cricketer (d. 1992)
1906 – John Betjeman, English poet and academic (d. 1984)
1908 – Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and author (d. 1996)
1910 – Morris Graves, American painter and academic (d. 2001)
1910 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American mathematician and economist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1911 – Joseph Luns, Dutch politician and diplomat, 5th Secretary General of NATO (d. 2002)
1913 – Robertson Davies, Canadian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1995)
1913 – Jack Dreyfus, American businessman, founded the Dreyfus Corporation (d. 2009)
1913 – Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1993)
1913 – Robert Irving, English conductor and director (d. 1991)
1913 – Terence Reese, English bridge player and author (d. 1996)
1913 – Richard Tucker, American tenor and actor (d. 1975)
1915 – Max Robertson, Bengal-born English sportscaster and author (d. 2009)
1915 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
1916 – Hélène Baillargeon, Canadian singer and actress (d. 1997)
1916 – C. Wright Mills American sociologist and author (d. 1962)
1916 – Jack Vance, American author (d. 2013)
1917 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (d. 1994)
1918 – L. B. Cole, American illustrator and publisher (d. 1995)
1919 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English biophysicist and engineer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1921 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist and engineer (d. 1979)
1921 – Fernando Fernán Gómez, Spanish actor, director, and playwright (d. 2007)
1921 – Nancy Kulp, American actress and soldier (d. 1991)
1921 – Lidia Gueiler Tejada, the first female President of Bolivia (d. 2011)
1924 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (d. 2004)
1924 – Tony MacGibbon, New Zealand cricketer and engineer (d. 2010)
1924 – Peggy Ryan, American actress and dancer (d. 2004)
1924 – Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Ukrainian-American rabbi and author (d. 2014)
1925 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1925 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
1925 – Philip Purser, English author and critic (d. 2022)
1928 – F. William Free, American businessman (d. 2003)
1928 – Vilayat Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (d. 2004)
1929 – István Kertész, Hungarian conductor (d. 1973)
1929 – Roxie Roker, American actress (d. 1995)
1930 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (d. 2012)
1930 – Windsor Davies, British actor (d. 2019)
1931 – Tito Capobianco, Argentinian director and producer (d. 2018)
1931 – Cristina Deutekom, Dutch soprano and actress (d. 2014)
1931 – Ola L. Mize, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2014)
1931 – John Shirley-Quirk, English actor, singer, and educator (d. 2014)
1931 – Roger Williams, English hepatologist and academic (d. 2020)
1932 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2016)
1932 – Yakir Aharonov, Israeli academic and educator
1933 – Philip French, English journalist, critic, and producer (d. 2015)
1933 – Patrick Kalilombe, Malawian bishop and theologian (d. 2012)
1935 – Melvin Charney, Canadian sculptor and architect (d. 2012)
1935 – Gilles Rocheleau, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1998)
1935 – Sonny Shroyer, American actor
1936 – Don Denkinger, American baseball player and umpire (d. 2023)
1936 – Warren M. Washington, American atmospheric scientist
1938 – Marla Adams, American actress
1938 – Maurizio Costanzo, Italian journalist and academic (d. 2023)
1938 – Marcello Gandini, Italian automotive designer
1938 – Paul Martin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Canada
1938 – Bengt Fahlström, Swedish journalist (d. 2017)
1939 – John Kingman, English mathematician and academic
1940 – William Cohen, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Defense
1940 – Ken Jenkins, American actor
1940 – Roger Pingeon, French cyclist (d. 2017)
1941 – Michael Craig-Martin, Irish painter and illustrator
1941 – Toomas Leius, Estonian tennis player and coach
1941 – John Stanley Marshall, English drummer
1941 – Paul Plishka, American opera singer
1942 – Wendy Davies, Welsh historian and academic
1942 – Jorge Urosa, Venezuelan cardinal
1943 – Surayud Chulanont, Thai general and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Thailand
1943 – Robert Greenwald, American director and producer
1943 – Shuja Khanzada, Pakistani colonel and politician (d. 2015)
1943 – Lou Piniella, American baseball player and manager
1943 – David Soul, American actor and singer
1943 – Jihad Al-Atrash, Lebanese actor and voice actor
1944 – Marianne Heemskerk, Dutch swimmer
1945 – Bob Segarini, American-Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2023)
1947 – Emlyn Hughes, English footballer (d. 2004)
1947 – Debra Mooney, American actress
1947 – Liza Wang, Hong Kong actress and singer
1948 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American author (d. 2019)
1948 – Murray Parker, New Zealand cricketer and educator
1948 – Heather Reisman, Canadian publisher and businesswoman
1948 – Danny Seraphine, American drummer and producer
1948 – Elizabeth Wilmshurst, English academic and jurist
1949 – Hugh Cornwell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Svetislav Pešić, Serbian basketball player and coach
1950 – Ron Guidry, American baseball player and coach
1950 – Tony Husband, English cartoonist
1951 – Colin McAdam, Scottish footballer (d. 2013)
1951 – Wayne Osmond, American singer-songwriter and actor
1951 – Keiichi Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter
1952 – Jacques Chagnon, Canadian educator and politician
1952 – Rita Dove, American poet and essayist
1952 – Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman
1953 – Ditmar Jakobs, German footballer
1953 – Tõnu Kaljuste, Estonian conductor and journalist
1954 – Katharine Abraham, American feminist economist
1954 – George M. Church, American geneticist, chemist, and engineer
1954 – John Dorahy, Australian rugby player and coach
1954 – Ravi Kanbur, Indian-English economist and academic
1956 – Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican-American actor and producer
1956 – John Long, American basketball player
1956 – Steve Whiteman, American singer-songwriter
1957 – Greg Clark, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
1957 – Ivo Josipović, Croatian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 3rd President of Croatia
1957 – Daniel Stern, American actor and director
1957 – Ai Weiwei, Chinese sculptor and activist
1958 – Scott Hamilton, American figure skater
1959 – Brian Thompson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1960 – Emma Samms, English actress
1961 – Kim Appleby, English singer-songwriter and actress
1961 – Cliff Benson, American football player
1961 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress
1961 – Deepak Tijori, Indian actor and director
1961 – Ian Pont, English cricketer and coach
1962 – Paul Allen, English footballer
1962 – Craig Anton, American actor and screenwriter
1962 – David Fincher, American director and producer
1963 – Regina Jacobs, American runner
1963 – Maria Gheorghiu, Romanian folk singer-songwriter
1964 – Lee Janzen, American golfer
1964 – Kaj Leo Johannesen, Faroese footballer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
1965 – Dan Crowley, Australian rugby player
1965 – Sonia Kruger, Australian television host and actress
1965 – Satoshi Tajiri, Japanese video game developer; created Pokémon
1965 – Amanda Tapping, British-Canadian actress and director
1965 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer-songwriter
1966 – Priya Dutt, Indian social worker and politician
1967 – Jamie Osborne, English jockey and trainer
1968 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor and singer
1969 – Jack Black, American actor and comedian
1969 – Mary McCartney, English photographer and activist
1969 – Jason Priestley, Canadian actor, director, and producer
1969 – Sheryl Sandberg, American business executive
1969 – Pierre Turgeon, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1970 – Melina Aslanidou, German-Greek singer-songwriter
1970 – Rick Recht, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Shane Andrews, American baseball player
1971 – Todd Eldredge, American figure skater and coach
1971 – Janet Evans, American swimmer
1971 – Daniel Goddard, Australian-American actor
1971 – Raúl Márquez, Mexican-American boxer and sportscaster
1972 – Ravindu Shah, Kenyan cricketer
1972 – Jay Witasick, American baseball player and coach
1973 – J. August Richards, American actor
1974 – Johan Andersson, Swedish game designer and programmer
1974 – Takahito Eguchi, Japanese pianist and composer
1974 – Carsten Jancker, German footballer and manager
1975 – Jamie Cureton, English footballer
1975 – Gareth Farrelly, Irish footballer and manager
1975 – Hamish McLachlan, Australian television personality
1975 – Royce Willis, New Zealand rugby player
1976 – Federico Magallanes, Uruguayan footballer
1978 – Karine Turcotte, Canadian weightlifter
1979 – Shaila Dúrcal, Spanish singer-songwriter
1979 – Robert Hoyzer, German footballer and referee
1979 – Kristen Hughes, Australian netball player
1979 – Markus Pröll, German footballer
1979 – Ruth Riley, American basketball player
1980 – Antony Hämäläinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1980 – Debra Lafave, American sex offender and former teacher
1980 – Ryan Madson, American baseball player
1980 – Jaakko Ojaniemi, Finnish decathlete
1980 – Carly Pope, Canadian actress and producer
1980 – Jonathan Reynolds, English lawyer and politician
1981 – Matt Alrich, American lacrosse player
1981 – Kezia Dugdale, Scottish politician
1981 – Martin Erat, Czech ice hockey player
1981 – Daniel Gygax, Swiss footballer
1981 – Raphael Matos, Brazilian race car driver
1981 – Jake Owen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Ahmed Talbi, Moroccan footballer
1981 – Agata Wróbel, Polish weightlifter
1982 – Anderson Silva de França, Brazilian footballer
1982 – Kevin McNaughton, Scottish footballer
1982 – Thiago Motta, Brazilian-Italian footballer
1982 – Carlos Quentin, American baseball player
1982 – LeAnn Rimes, American singer-songwriter and actress
1983 – Lasith Malinga, Sri Lankan cricketer
1983 – Luke McAlister, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Lilli Schwarzkopf, German heptathlete
1984 – Will Harris, American baseball player
1985 – Kjetil Jansrud, Norwegian skier
1986 – Jeff Green, American basketball player
1986 – Armie Hammer, American actor
1986 – Tommy Hanson, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1986 – Simon Mannering, New Zealand rugby league player
1986 – Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier and hostage
1986 – Florence Welch, English singer-songwriter
1987 – Caleb Moore, American snowmobile racer (d. 2013)
1988 – Shalita Grant, American actress
1988 – Rosie MacLennan, Canadian trampoline gymnast
1989 – César Azpilicueta, Spanish footballer
1989 – Valtteri Bottas, Finnish race car driver
1989 – Jo Kwon, South Korean singer and dancer
1989 – Cassadee Pope, American singer-songwriter
1990 – Katie Findlay, Canadian actor
1990 – Bojan Krkić, Spanish footballer
1991 – Felicio Brown Forbes, German footballer
1991 – Samuel Larsen, American actor and singer
1991 – Kyle Massey, American actor
1991 – Andreja Pejić, Bosnian model
1992 – Gabriela Drăgoi, Romanian gymnast
1992 – Bismack Biyombo, Congolese basketball player
1992 – Max Collins, American-Filipino actress and model
1993 – Jakub Sokolík, Czech footballer
1994 – Manon Arcangioli, French tennis player
1994 – Ons Jabeur, Tunisian tennis player
1998 – Weston McKennie, American soccer player
2001 – Kamilla Rakhimova, Russian tennis player
2003 – Quvenzhané Wallis, American actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
388 – Magnus Maximus, Roman emperor (b. 335)
430 – Augustine of Hippo, Algerian bishop, theologian, and saint (b. 354)
476 – Orestes, Roman general and politician
632 – Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad (b. 605)
683 – Kʼinich Janaab Pakal I, ajaw of the city-state of Palenque (b. 615)
770 – Kōken, emperor of Japan (b. 718)
876 – Louis the German, Frankish king (b. 804)
919 – He Gui, Chinese general (b. 858)
1055 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1016)
1149 – Mu'in ad-Din Unur, Turkish ruler and regent
1231 – Eleanor of Portugal, Queen of Denmark
1341 – Levon IV, king of Armenia (b. 1309)
1406 – John de Sutton V, Baron Sutton of Dudley (b. 1380)
1481 – Afonso V, king of Portugal (b. 1432)
1540 – Federico II Gonzaga, duke of Mantua (b. 1500)
1601–1900
1609 – Francis Vere, English governor and general
1645 – Hugo Grotius, Dutch playwright, philosopher, and jurist (b. 1583)
1646 – Johannes Banfi Hunyades, English-Hungarian alchemist, chemist and metallurgist. (b. 1576)
1648 – George Lisle, English general (b. 1610)
1648 – Charles Lucas, English general (b. 1613)
1654 – Axel Oxenstierna, Swedish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden (b. 1583)
1665 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (b. 1638)
1678 – John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1602)
1735 – Edwin Stead, English landowner and cricketer (b. 1701)
1757 – David Hartley, English psychologist and philosopher (b. 1705)
1784 – Junípero Serra, Spanish priest and missionary (b. 1713)
1793 – Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine, French general (b. 1740)
1805 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader and author (b. 1722)
1818 – Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, American fur trader, founded Chicago (b. 1750)
1820 – Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor and urban planner (b. 1754)
1832 – Edward Dando, English thief
1839 – William Smith, English geologist and engineer (b. 1769)
1888 – Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (b. 1835)
1891 – Robert Caldwell, English missionary and linguist (b. 1814)
1900 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (b. 1838)
1901–present
1903 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and architect, co-designed Central Park (b. 1822)
1919 – Adolf Schmal, Austrian fencer and cyclist (b. 1872)
1934 – Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (b. 1858)
1937 – George Prendergast, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Victoria (b. 1854)
1943 – Georg Hellat, Estonian architect (b. 1870)
1943 – Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
1955 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
1959 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American composer and educator (b. 1890)
1965 – Giulio Racah, Italian-Israeli physicist and mathematician (b. 1909)
1968 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (b. 1887)
1971 – Reuvein Margolies, Israeli author and scholar (b. 1889)
1972 – Prince William of Gloucester (b. 1941)
1975 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)
1976 – Anissa Jones, American actress (b. 1958)
1978 – Bruce Catton, American historian and journalist (b. 1899)
1978 – Robert Shaw, English actor (b. 1927)
1981 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1899)
1982 – Geoff Chubb, South African cricketer (b. 1911)
1984 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (b. 1901)
1985 – Ruth Gordon, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1896)
1986 – Russell Lee, American photographer and journalist (b. 1903)
1987 – John Huston, Irish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1988 – Jean Marchand, Canadian union leader and politician, 43rd Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1918)
1988 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (b. 1919)
1989 – John Steptoe, American author and illustrator (b. 1950)
1990 – Willy Vandersteen, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1913)
1991 – Alekos Sakellarios, Greek director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
1993 – William Stafford, American poet and academic (b. 1914)
1995 – Earl W. Bascom, American rodeo performer and painter (b. 1906)
1995 – Michael Ende, German scientist and author (b. 1929)
2005 – Jacques Dufilho, French actor (b. 1914)
2005 – Esther Szekeres, Hungarian-Australian mathematician and academic (b. 1910)
2005 – George Szekeres, Hungarian-Australian mathematician and academic (b. 1911)
2006 – Heino Lipp, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower (b. 1922)
2006 – Benoît Sauvageau, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1963)
2006 – Melvin Schwartz, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
2007 – Arthur Jones, American businessman, founded Nautilus, Inc. and MedX Corporation (b. 1926)
2007 – Hilly Kristal, American businessman, founded CBGB (b. 1932)
2007 – Paul MacCready, American engineer and businessman, founded AeroVironment (b. 1925)
2007 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1935)
2007 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress (b. 1929)
2008 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (b. 1927)
2009 – Adam Goldstein, American drummer, DJ, and producer (b. 1973)
2009 – Richard Egan, US Ambassador, Owner of Dell EMC, Engineer (b. 1963)
2010 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator (b. 1919)
2011 – Bernie Gallacher, English footballer (b. 1967)
2012 – Rhodes Boyson, English educator and politician (b. 1925)
2012 – Shulamith Firestone, Canadian-American activist and author (b. 1945)
2012 – Dick McBride, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1928)
2012 – Saul Merin, Polish-Israeli ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1933)
2012 – Ramón Sota, Spanish golfer (b. 1938)
2013 – John Bellany, Scottish painter and academic (b. 1942)
2013 – Lorella Cedroni, Italian political scientist and philosopher (b. 1961)
2013 – Edmund B. Fitzgerald, American businessman (b. 1926)
2013 – Frank Pulli, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1935)
2013 – Barry Stobart, English footballer (b. 1938)
2013 – Rafael Díaz Ycaza, Ecuadorian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1925)
2014 – Glenn Cornick, English bass guitarist (b. 1947)
2014 – Hal Finney, American cryptographer and programmer (b. 1956)
2014 – John Anthony Walker, American soldier and spy (b. 1937)
2015 – Al Arbour, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1932)
2015 – Mark Krasniqi, Kosovan ethnographer, poet, and translator (b. 1920)
2015 – Nelson Shanks, American painter and educator (b. 1937)
2016 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer and songwriter (b. 1950)
2016 – Mr. Fuji, American professional wrestler and manager (b. 1934)
2017 – Mireille Darc, French actress and model (b. 1938)
2020 – Chadwick Boseman, American actor and playwright (b. 1976)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Alexander of Constantinople
Augustine of Hippo
Edmund Arrowsmith
Hermes
Moses the Black
August 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
National Grandparents Day (Mexico)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1787 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%209 | April 9 |
Events
Pre-1600
193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.
475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position.
537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16:1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
1601–1900
1609 – Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the "Expulsion of the Moriscos".
1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
1901–present
1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier and the Australian destroyer .
1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime.
1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.
1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.
1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
1952 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines
1952 – Japan Air Lines Flight 301 crashes into Mount Mihara, Izu Ōshima, Japan, killing 37.
1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.
1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
1960 – Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.
1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot.
1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.
1989 – Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
1990 – An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
1990 – The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is signed for in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.
1990 – An Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna's occupants.
1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
2003 – Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
2013 – A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.
2013 – At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.
2014 – A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
2017 – The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
2017 – After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Express flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.
2021 – Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed.
Births
Pre-1600
1096 – Al-Muqtafi, caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (d. 1160)
1285 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Emperor Renzong of Yuan (d. 1320)
1458 – Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (d. 1524)
1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
1586 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
1597 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (d. 1670)
1598 – Johann Crüger, Sorbian-German composer and theorist (d. 1662)
1601–1900
1624 – Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (d. 1679)
1627 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (d. 1693)
1634 – Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (d. 1696)
1648 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
1649 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1685)
1654 – Samuel Fritz, Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (d. 1725?)
1680 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright (d. 1754)
1686 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1721)
1691 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (d. 1761)
1717 – Georg Matthias Monn, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1750)
1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist and academic (d. 1831)
1773 – Étienne Aignan, French author and academic (d. 1824)
1794 – Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (d. 1881)
1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and philologist (d. 1884)
1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)
1807 – James Bannerman, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1868)
1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (d. 1867)
1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and cinematographer (d. 1904)
1835 – Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
1835 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (d. 1913)
1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian-English composer and educator (d. 1916)
1848 – Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz, Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (d. 1906)
1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general and politician (d. 1937)
1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Polish-American mathematician and engineer (d. 1923)
1867 – Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (d. 1932)
1872 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
1875 – Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (d. 1912)
1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1946)
1882 – Otz Tollen, German actor (d. 1965)
1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
1887 – Konrad Tom, Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (d. 1957)
1888 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American talent manager (d. 1974)
1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d.1967)
1893 – Victor Gollancz, English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (d. 1967)
1893 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian linguist, author, and scholar (d. 1963)
1895 – Mance Lipscomb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
1895 – Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1975)
1897 – John B. Gambling, American radio host (d. 1974)
1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football player and coach (d. 1965)
1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer, actor, and activist (d. 1976)
1900 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
1901–present
1901 – Jean Bruchési, Canadian historian and author (d. 1979)
1901 – Paul Willis, American actor and director (d. 1960)
1902 – Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
1904 – Sharkey Bonano, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1972)
1905 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
1906 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1988)
1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician and leader of the Labour Party (d. 1963)
1906 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (d. 1997)
1908 – Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1908 – Paula Nenette Pepin, French composer, pianist and lyricist (d. 1990)
1909 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (d. 1986)
1910 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 1998)
1912 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (d. 1997)
1915 – Daniel Johnson Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
1916 – Julian Dash, American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1974)
1916 – Heinz Meyer, German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (d. 1987)
1916 – Bill Leonard, American journalist (d. 1994)
1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German songwriter and poet (d. 1965)
1917 – Ronnie Burgess, Welsh international footballer and manager (d. 2005)
1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
1917 – Henry Hewes, American theater writer (d. 2006)
1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (d. 2008)
1919 – J. Presper Eckert, American engineer, invented the ENIAC (d. 1995)
1921 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (d. 2008)
1921 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
1922 – Carl Amery, German author and activist (d. 2005)
1923 – Leonard Levy, American historian and author (d. 2006)
1924 – Arthur Shaw, English professional footballer (d. 2015)
1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2013)
1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
1926 – Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (d. 2005)
1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)
1926 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author, and civil rights activist (d. 2019)
1927 – Tiny Hill, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
1928 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (d. 2006)
1928 – Tom Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician
1929 – Sharan Rani Backliwal, Indian sarod player and scholar (d. 2008)
1929 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (d. 1993)
1929 – Paule Marshall, American author and academic (d. 2019)
1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (d. 2014)
1930 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist and academic (d. 2007)
1930 – Jim Fowler, American zoologist and television host (d. 2019)
1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (d. 2011)
1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
1932 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (d. 2006)
1932 – Peter Moores, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor and producer (d. 2021)
1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (d. 2014)
1933 – Fern Michaels, American author
1933 – Richard Rose, American political scientist and academic
1933 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (d. 1994)
1934 – Bill Birch, New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
1934 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
1934 – Mariya Pisareva, Russian high jumper
1935 – Aulis Sallinen, Finnish composer and academic
1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
1936 – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
1936 – Drew Shafer, American LGBT rights activist from Missouri (d. 1989)
1936 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (d. 1988)
1937 – Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge (d. 2023)
1937 – Marty Krofft, Canadian screenwriter and producer
1937 – Valerie Singleton, English television and radio host
1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2010)
1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
1940 – Hans-Joachim Reske, German sprinter
1940 – Jim Roberts, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
1941 – Kay Adams, American singer-songwriter
1941 – Hannah Gordon, Scottish actress
1942 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (d. 1972)
1942 – Margo Smith, American singer-songwriter
1943 – Leila Khaled, Palestinian activist
1943 – Terry Knight, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
1943 – Clive Sullivan, Welsh rugby league player (d. 1985)
1944 – Joe Brinkman, American baseball player and umpire
1944 – Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg, German shot putter
1945 – Steve Gadd, American drummer and percussionist
1946 – Nate Colbert, American baseball player (d. 2023)
1946 – Alan Knott, English cricketer
1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician
1946 – David Webb, English footballer, coach, and manager
1947 – Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Italian economist and academic
1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
1948 – Tito Gómez, Puerto Rican salsa singer (d. 2007)
1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer
1949 – Tony Cragg, English sculptor
1952 – Robert Clark, American author
1952 – Bruce Robertson, New Zealand rugby player
1952 – Tania Tsanaklidou, Greek singer and actress
1953 – John Howard, English singer-songwriter and pianist
1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
1953 – Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (d. 2017)
1954 – Ken Kalfus, American journalist and author
1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor
1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1955 – Yamina Benguigui, Algerian-French director and politician
1955 – Joolz Denby, English poet and author
1956 – Miguel Ángel Russo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1956 – Nigel Shadbolt, English computer scientist and academic
1956 – Marina Zoueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer and architect (d. 2011)
1957 – Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
1957 – Jamie Redfern, English-born Australian television presenter and pop singer
1958 – Nadey Hakim, British-Lebanese surgeon and sculptor
1958 – Tony Sibson, English boxer
1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author
1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
1960 – Jaak Aab, Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
1961 – Mark Kelly, Irish keyboard player
1961 – Kirk McCaskill, Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
1962 – John Eaves, American production designer and illustrator
1962 – Ihor Podolchak, Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Imran Sherwani, English field hockey player
1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Marc Jacobs, American-French fashion designer
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1964 – Rob Awalt, German-American football player
1964 – Juliet Cuthbert, Jamaican sprinter
1964 – Doug Ducey, American politician and businessman, 23rd Governor of Arizona
1964 – Peter Penashue, Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American author
1964 – Rick Tocchet, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1965 – Helen Alfredsson, Swedish golfer
1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
1965 – Jeff Zucker, American businessman
1965 – Mark Pellegrino, American actor
1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster
1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
1967 – Natascha Engel, German-English translator and politician
1967 – Sam Harris, American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
1968 – Jay Chandrasekhar, American actor, comedian, writer and director
1969 – Barnaby Kay, English actor
1969 – Linda Kisabaka, German runner
1970 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1971 – Peter Canavan, Irish footballer and manager
1971 – Leo Fortune-West, English footballer and manager
1971 – Austin Peck, American actor
1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
1972 – Bernard Ackah, German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
1972 – Siiri Vallner, Estonian architect
1974 – Megan Connolly, Australian actress (d. 2001)
1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer
1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer and manager
1975 – David Gordon Green, American director and screenwriter
1976 – Kyle Peterson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1977 – Gerard Way, American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
1978 – Kousei Amano, Japanese actor
1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1979 – Jeff Reed, American football player
1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
1980 – Sarah Ayton, English sailor
1980 – Luciano Galletti, Argentinian footballer
1980 – Albert Hammond Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak ice hockey player
1981 – A. J. Ellis, American baseball player
1981 – Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
1981 – Dennis Sarfate, American baseball player
1981 – Eric Harris, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
1982 – Jay Baruchel, Canadian actor
1982 – Carlos Hernández, Costa Rican footballer
1982 – Kathleen Munroe, Canadian-American actress
1983 – Ryan Clark, Australian actor
1984 – Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian runner
1984 – Adam Loewen, Canadian baseball player
1984 – Óscar Razo, Mexican footballer
1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
1985 – David Robertson, American baseball player
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1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
1987 – Kassim Abdallah, French-Comorian footballer
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1987 – Craig Mabbitt, American singer
1987 – Jesse McCartney, American singer-songwriter and actor
1987 – Jarrod Mullen, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jazmine Sullivan, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Jeremy Metcalfe, English racing driver
1989 – Bianca Belair, American wrestler
1989 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
1990 – Ryan Williams, American football player
1991 – Gai Assulin, Israeli footballer
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1991 – Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer
1992 – Joshua Ledet, American singer
1993 – Alexandra Hunt, American politician
1994 – Joey Pollari, American actor
1995 – Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player
1995 – Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer
1995 – Demi Vermeulen, Dutch Paralympic equestrian
1996 – Jayden Brailey, Australian rugby league player
1996 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian international footballer
1997 – Luis Arráez, Venezuelan baseball player
1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress
1999 – Lil Nas X, American rapper
2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer
2004 – TommyInnit, British YouTuber and Twitch streamer
Deaths
Pre-1600
585 BC – Jimmu, emperor of Japan (b. 711 BC)
436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese general and politician
491 – Zeno, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 425)
682 – Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari, Egyptian politician, Governor of Egypt (b. 616)
715 – Constantine, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 664)
1024 – Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 980)
1137 – William X, duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
1241 – Henry II, High Duke of Poland (b. 1196)
1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (b. 1261)
1327 – Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (ca. 1296)
1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)
1484 – Edward of Middleheim, prince of Wales (b. 1473)
1550 – Alqas Mirza, Safavid prince (b. 1516)
1553 – François Rabelais, French monk and scholar (b. 1494)
1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish priest and scholar (b. 1510)
1561 – Jean Quintin, French priest, knight and writer (b. 1500)
1601–1900
1626 – Francis Bacon, English jurist and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1561)
1654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (b. 1618)
1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1667)
1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (b. 1679)
1761 – William Law, English priest and theologian (b. 1686)
1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)
1804 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1732)
1806 – William V, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (b. 1748)
1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
1876 – Charles Goodyear, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1804)
1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist and academic (b. 1786)
1901–present
1904 – Isabella II, Spanish queen (b. 1830)
1909 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (b. 1840)
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1922 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German entomologist and explorer (b. 1866)
1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1855)
1940 – Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
1944 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1920)
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1945 – Hans Oster, German general (b. 1887)
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1948 – George Carpenter, Australian 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
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1951 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (b. 1862)
1953 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (b. 1877)
1953 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and television host (b. 1891)
1953 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
1961 – Zog I of Albania (b. 1895)
1963 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist (b. 1891)
1963 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (b. 1896)
1976 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1903)
1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
1976 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (b. 1891)
1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883)
1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
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2000 – Tony Cliff, Trotskyist activist and founder of the Socialist Workers Party (b. 1917)
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2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)
2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian soldier, mathematician, and academic (b. 1891)
2003 – Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
2006 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, manager (b. 1916)
2006 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
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2010 – Zoltán Varga, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1945)
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2012 – Malcolm Thomas, Welsh rugby player and cricketer (b. 1929)
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2021 – Nikki Grahame, British reality-TV icon (b. 1982)
2021 – Ian Gibson, British scientist and Labour Party politician (b. 1938)
2021 – Ramsey Clark, American lawyer (b. 1927)
2022 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player (b. 1997)
2023 – Karl Berger, German-American jazz pianist (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Anglicanism, Lutheranism)
Gaucherius
Materiana
Waltrude
April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Constitution Day (Kosovo)
Day of National Unity (Georgia)
Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
Day of Valor or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
Martyr's Day (Tunisia)
National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)
Valour Day (CRPF)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 9
Days of the year
April |
1790 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander%20Selkirk | Alexander Selkirk | Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal but died from tropical illness years later while serving as a Lieutenant aboard off West Africa.
Selkirk was an unruly youth and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, west of South America, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. Selkirk's suspicions were soon justified, as Cinque Ports foundered near Malpelo Island 400 km (250 mi) from the coast of what is now Colombia.
By the time he was eventually rescued by English privateer Woodes Rogers, who was accompanied by Dampier, Selkirk had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources that he found on the island. His story of survival was widely publicized after his return, becoming one of the sources of inspiration for the writer Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe.
Early life and privateering
Alexander Selkirk was the son of a shoemaker and tanner in Lower Largo, Fife, Scotland, born in 1676. In his youth he displayed a quarrelsome and unruly disposition. He was summoned before the Kirk Session in August 1693 for his "indecent conduct in church", but he "did not appear, being gone to sea". He was back at Largo in 1701 when he again came to the attention of church authorities for assaulting his brothers.
Early on, he was engaged in buccaneering. In 1703, he joined an expedition of English privateer and explorer William Dampier to the South Pacific Ocean, setting sail from Kinsale in Ireland on 11 September. They carried letters of marque from the Lord High Admiral authorizing their armed merchant ships to attack foreign enemies as the War of the Spanish Succession was then going on between England and Spain. Dampier was captain of St George and Selkirk served on Cinque Ports, St Georges companion ship, as sailing master under Captain Thomas Stradling. By this time, Selkirk must have had considerable experience at sea.
In February 1704, following a stormy passage around Cape Horn, the privateers fought a long battle with a well-armed French vessel, St Joseph, only to have it escape to warn its Spanish allies of their arrival in the Pacific. A raid on the Panamanian gold mining town of Santa María failed when their landing party was ambushed. The easy capture of Asunción, a heavily laden merchantman, revived the men's hopes of plunder, and Selkirk was put in charge of the prize ship. Dampier took off some much-needed provisions of wine, brandy, sugar, and flour, then abruptly set the ship free, arguing that the gain was not worth the effort. In May 1704, Stradling decided to abandon Dampier and strike out on his own.
Castaway
In September 1704, after parting ways with Dampier, Captain Stradling brought Cinque Ports to an island known to the Spanish as Más a Tierra located in the uninhabited Juan Fernández archipelago off the coast of Chile for a mid-expedition restocking of fresh water and supplies.
Selkirk had grave concerns about the seaworthiness of their vessel and wanted to make the necessary repairs before going any further. He declared that he would rather stay on Juan Fernández than continue in a dangerously leaky ship. Stradling took him up on the offer and landed Selkirk on the island with a musket, a hatchet, a knife, a cooking pot, a Bible, bedding and some clothes. Selkirk immediately regretted his rashness, but Stradling refused to let him back on board.
Cinque Ports did indeed later founder off the coast of what is now Colombia. Stradling and some of his crew survived the loss of their ship but were forced to surrender to the Spanish. The survivors were taken to Lima, Peru, where they endured a harsh imprisonment.
Life on the island
At first, Selkirk remained along the shoreline of Más a Tierra. During this time he ate spiny lobsters and scanned the ocean daily for rescue, suffering all the while from loneliness, misery, and remorse. Hordes of raucous sea lions, gathered on the beach for the mating season, eventually drove him to the island's interior. Once inland, his way of life took a turn for the better. More foods were available there: feral goats—introduced by earlier sailors—provided him with meat and milk, while wild turnips, the leaves of the indigenous cabbage tree and dried Schinus fruits (pink peppercorns) offered him variety and spice. Rats would attack him at night, but he was able to sleep soundly and in safety by domesticating and living near feral cats.
Selkirk proved resourceful in using materials that he found on the island: he forged a new knife out of barrel hoops left on the beach, he built two huts out of pepper trees, one of which he used for cooking and the other for sleeping, and he employed his musket to hunt goats and his knife to clean their carcasses. As his gunpowder dwindled, he had to chase prey on foot. During one such chase, he was badly injured when he tumbled from a cliff, lying helpless and unable to move for about a day. His prey had cushioned his fall, probably sparing him a broken back.
Childhood lessons learned from his father, a tanner, now served him well. For example, when his clothes wore out, he made new ones from hair-covered goatskins using a nail for sewing. As his shoes became unusable, he did not need to replace them, since his toughened, calloused feet made protection unnecessary. He sang psalms and read from the Bible, finding it a comfort in his situation and a prop for his English.
During his sojourn on the island, two vessels came to anchor. Unfortunately for Selkirk, both were Spanish. As a Scotsman and a privateer, he would have faced a grim fate if captured and therefore did his best to hide. Once, he was spotted and chased by a group of Spanish sailors from one of the ships. His pursuers urinated beneath the tree in which he was hiding but failed to notice him. The would-be captors then gave up and sailed away.
Rescue
Selkirk's long-awaited deliverance came on 2 February 1709 by way of Duke, a privateering ship piloted by William Dampier, and its sailing companion Duchess. Thomas Dover led the landing party that met Selkirk. After four years and four months without human company, Selkirk was almost incoherent with joy. The Duke captain and leader of the expedition was Woodes Rogers, who wryly referred to Selkirk as the governor of the island. The agile castaway caught two or three goats a day and helped restore the health of Rogers' men, who had developed scurvy.
Captain Rogers was impressed by Selkirk's physical vigor, but also by the peace of mind that he had attained while living on the island, observing: "One may see that solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine, especially when people are fairly called or thrown into it unavoidably, as this man was." He made Selkirk Dukes second mate, later giving him command of one of their prize ships, Increase, before it was ransomed by the Spanish.
Selkirk returned to privateering with a vengeance. At Guayaquil in present-day Ecuador, he led a boat crew up the Guayas River where several wealthy Spanish ladies had fled and looted the gold and jewels they had hidden inside their clothing. His part in the hunt for treasure galleons along the coast of Mexico resulted in the capture of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desengaño, renamed Bachelor, on which he served as sailing master under Captain Dover to the Dutch East Indies. Selkirk completed the around-the-world voyage by the Cape of Good Hope as the sailing master of Duke, arriving at the Downs off the English coast on 1 October 1711. He had been away for eight years.
Later life and influence
Selkirk's experience as a castaway aroused a great deal of attention in England. Fellow crewman Edward Cooke mentioned Selkirk's ordeal in a book chronicling their privateering expedition, A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World (1712). A more detailed recounting was published by the expedition's leader, Rogers, within months. The following year, prominent essayist Richard Steele wrote an article about him for The Englishman newspaper. Selkirk appeared set to enjoy a life of ease and celebrity, claiming his share of Duke plundered wealth—about £800 (equivalent to £ today). However, legal disputes made the amount of any payment uncertain.
After a few months in London, he began to seem more like his former self again. But he still missed his secluded and solitary moments, "I am now worth eight hundred pounds, but shall never be as happy as when I was not worth a farthing." In September 1713, he was charged with assaulting a shipwright in Bristol and may have been kept in confinement for two years. He returned to Lower Largo, where he met Sophia Bruce, a young dairymaid. They eloped to London early and married on 4 March 1717. He was soon off to sea again, having enlisted in the Royal Navy. While on a visit to Plymouth in 1720, he married a widowed innkeeper named Frances Candis. He was serving as an officer on board , engaged in an anti-piracy patrol off the west coast of Africa. The ship lingered near the mouth of the River Gambia to resupply. However, the natives took several of their number hostages and ransomed them off for food. As the ship sailed down the coast of West Africa, men began to contract yellow fever from the swarms of mosquitoes that followed them. Selkirk became sick with the disease in early December. He died on 13 December 1721, along with shipmate William King. Both were buried at sea.
When Daniel Defoe published The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719), few readers could have missed the resemblance to Selkirk. An illustration on the first page of the novel shows "a rather melancholy-looking man standing on the shore of an island, gazing inland", in the words of modern explorer Tim Severin. He is dressed in the familiar hirsute goatskins, his feet and shins bare. Yet Crusoe's island is located not in the mid-latitudes of the South Pacific but away in the Caribbean, where the furry attire would hardly be comfortable in the tropical heat. This incongruity supports the popular belief that Selkirk was a model for the fictional character, though most literary scholars now accept that he was "just one of many survival narratives that Defoe knew about".
In other literary works
In film
Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe is a stop motion film by Walter Tournier based on Selkirk's life. It premièred simultaneously in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay on 2 February 2012, distributed by The Walt Disney Company. It was the first full-length animated feature to be produced in Uruguay.
Commemoration
Selkirk has been memorialized in his Scottish birthplace. Lord Aberdeen delivered a speech on 11 December 1885, after which his wife, Lady Aberdeen, unveiled a bronze statue and plaque in memory of Selkirk outside a house on the site of his original home on the Main Street of Lower Largo. David Gillies of Cardy House, Lower Largo, a descendant of the Selkirks, donated the statue created by Thomas Stuart Burnett.
The Scotsman is also remembered in his former island home. In 1869 the crew of placed a bronze tablet at a spot called Selkirk's Lookout on a mountain of Más a Tierra, Juan Fernández Islands, to mark his stay. On 1 January 1966 Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva renamed Más a Tierra Robinson Crusoe Island after Defoe's fictional character to attract tourists. The largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, known as Más Afuera, became Alejandro Selkirk Island, although Selkirk probably never saw that island since it is located to the west.
Archaeological findings
An archaeological expedition to the Juan Fernández Islands in February 2005 found part of a nautical instrument that likely belonged to Selkirk. It was "a fragment of copper alloy identified as being from a pair of navigational dividers" dating from the early 18th (or late 17th) century. Selkirk is the only person known to have been on the island at that time who is likely to have had dividers and was even said by Rogers to have had such instruments in his possession. The artifact was discovered while excavating a site not far from Selkirk's Lookout where the famous castaway is believed to have lived.
In 1825, during John Howell's research of Alexander Selkirk's biography, his "flip-can" was in the possession of his great-grand-nephew John Selkirk, and Alexander's musket was "in the possession of Major Lumsden of Lathallan."
See also
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
"Trapped on a Pacific Island: Scientists Research the Real Robinson Crusoe" by Marco Evers (6 February 2009) in Spiegel Online
"Island Gives Up Secret of Real Robinson Crusoe" in The Scotsman (22 Septem ber 2005)
"The Real Robinson Crusoe" by Bruce Selcraig (July 2005) in Smithsonian
An account of a trip to Selkirk's Island by James S. Bruce and Mayme S. Bruce (Spring 1993) in The Explorers Journal
"On a Piece of Stone: Alexander Selkirk on Greater Land" by Edward E. Leslie (1988) in Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors (pp. 61–85)
Satellite imagery of the Juan Fernández Islands from Google Maps
1676 births
1700s missing person cases
1721 deaths
18th century in Chile
18th-century Scottish people
British privateers
Burials at sea
Castaways
Circumnavigators of the globe
Date of birth unknown
Deaths from yellow fever
Formerly missing people
Juan Fernández Islands
Maritime folklore
People from Lower Largo
People who died at sea
Piracy in the Pacific Ocean
Robinson Crusoe
Scottish sailors |
1793 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2029 | August 29 |
Events
Pre-1600
708 – Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708).
870 – The city of Melite surrenders to an Aghlabid army following a siege, putting an end to Byzantine Malta.
1009 – Mainz Cathedral suffers extensive damage from a fire, which destroys the building on the day of its inauguration.
1219 – The Battle of Fariskur occurs during the Fifth Crusade.
1261 – Pope Urban IV succeeds Pope Alexander IV, becoming the 182nd pope.
1315 – Battle of Montecatini: The army of the Republic of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuola, wins a decisive victory against the joint forces of the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Florence despite being outnumbered.
1350 – Battle of Winchelsea (or Les Espagnols sur Mer): The English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships.
1475 – The Treaty of Picquigny ends a brief war between the kingdoms of France and England.
1484 – Pope Innocent VIII succeeds Pope Sixtus IV.
1498 – Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to the Kingdom of Portugal.
1521 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade).
1526 – Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.
1541 – The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
1588 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues a nationwide sword hunting ordinance, disarming the peasantry so as to firmly separate the samurai and commoner classes, prevent peasant uprisings, and further centralise his own power.
1601–1900
1728 – The city of Nuuk in Greenland is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by the royal governor Claus Paarss.
1741 – The eruption of Oshima–Ōshima and the Kampo tsunami: At least 2,000 people along the Japanese coast drown in a tsunami caused by the eruption of Oshima.
1756 – Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War in Europe.
1758 – The Treaty of Easton establishes the first American Indian reservation, at Indian Mills, New Jersey, for the Lenape.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle of Rhode Island.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: American forces battle and defeat the British and Iroquois forces at the Battle of Newtown.
1786 – Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.
1807 – British troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeat a Danish militia outside Copenhagen in the Battle of Køge.
1825 – Portuguese and Brazilian diplomats sign the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, which has Portugal recognise Brazilian independence, formally ending the Brazilian war of independence. The treaty will be ratified by the King of Portugal three months later.
1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
1842 – Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War.
1861 – American Civil War: The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries gives Federal forces control of Pamlico Sound.
1869 – The Mount Washington Cog Railway opens, making it the world's first mountain-climbing rack railway.
1871 – Emperor Meiji orders the abolition of the han system and the establishment of prefectures as local centers of administration. (Traditional Japanese date: July 14, 1871).
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
1898 – The Goodyear tire company is founded in Akron, Ohio.
1901–present
1903 – The , the last of the five s, is launched.
1907 – The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.
1910 – The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea.
1911 – Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
1911 – The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
1912 – A typhoon strikes China, killing at least 50,000 people.
1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of St. Quentin in which the French Fifth Army counter-attacked the invading Germans at Saint-Quentin, Aisne.
1915 – US Navy salvage divers raise , the first U.S. submarine sunk in an accident.
1916 – The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.
1918 – World War I: Bapaume taken by the New Zealand Division in the Hundred Days Offensive.
1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.
1941 – World War II: Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is occupied by Nazi Germany following an occupation by the Soviet Union.
1943 – World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves the Danish government.
1944 – World War II: Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazis.
1948 – Northwest Airlines Flight 421 crashes in Fountain City, Wisconsin, killing all 37 aboard.
1949 – Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
1950 – Korean War: British Commonwealth Forces Korea arrives to bolster the US presence.
1952 – American experimental composer John Cage’s 4’33” premieres at Maverick Concert Hall, played by American pianist David Tudor.
1958 – United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1960 – Air France Flight 343 crashes on approach to Yoff Airport in Senegal, killing all 63 aboard.
1965 – The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
1966 – The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
1966 – Leading Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb is executed for plotting the assassination of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
1970 – Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.
1975 – El Tacnazo: Peruvian Prime Minister Francisco Morales Bermúdez carries out a coup d’état in the city of Tacna, forcing the sitting President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, to resign and assuming his place as the new President.
1982 – The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.
1987 – Odaeyang mass suicide: Thirty-three individuals linked to a religious cult are found dead in the attic of a cafeteria in Yongin, South Korea. Investigators attribute their deaths to a murder-suicide pact.
1991 – Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.
1991 – Libero Grassi, an Italian businessman from Palermo, is killed by the Sicilian Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands.
1996 – Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.
1997 – Netflix is launched as an internet DVD rental service.
1997 – At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.
1998 – Eighty people are killed when Cubana de Aviación Flight 389 crashes during a rejected takeoff from the Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.
2001 – Four people are killed when Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261 crashes into the N-340 highway near Málaga Airport.
2003 – Sayed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.
2005 – Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing up to 1,836 people and causing $125 billion in damage.
2012 – At least 26 Chinese miners are killed and 21 missing after a blast in the Xiaojiawan coal mine, located at Panzhihua, Sichuan Province.
2012 – The XIV Paralympic Games open in London, England, United Kingdom.
2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War: Ukraine begins its southern counteroffensive in the Kherson Oblast, eventually culminating in the liberation of the city of Kherson.
Births
Pre-1600
979 – Otto (or Eudes), French nobleman (d. 1045)
1321 – John of Artois, French nobleman (d. 1387)
1347 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (d. 1375)
1434 – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop and poet (d. 1472)
1514 – García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca, Spanish noble and admiral (d. 1577)
1534 – Nicholas Pieck, Dutch Franciscan friar and martyr (d. 1572)
1597 – Henry Gage, Royalist officer in the English Civil War (d. 1645)
1601–1900
1619 – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (d. 1683)
1628 – John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1701)
1632 – John Locke, English physician and philosopher (d. 1704)
1724 – Giovanni Battista Casti, Italian poet and author (d. 1803)
1725 – Charles Townshend, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1767)
1728 – Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, electress of Bavaria (d. 1797)
1756 – Jan Śniadecki, Polish mathematician and astronomer (d. 1830)
1756 – Count Heinrich von Bellegarde, Austrian general and politician (d. 1845)
1772 – James Finlayson, Scottish Quaker (d. 1852)
1773 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (d. 1858)
1777 – Hyacinth, Russian religious leader, founded Sinology (d. 1853)
1780 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter and illustrator (d. 1867)
1792 – Charles Grandison Finney, American minister and author (d. 1875)
1805 – Frederick Denison Maurice, English priest, theologian, and author (d. 1872)
1809 – Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., American physician and author (d. 1894)
1810 – Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentinian theorist and diplomat (d. 1884)
1813 – Henry Bergh, American activist, founded the ASPCA (d. 1888)
1842 – Alfred Shaw, English cricketer, rugby player, and umpire (d. 1907)
1843 – David B. Hill, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of New York (d. 1910)
1844 – Edward Carpenter, English anthologist and poet (d. 1929)
1857 – Sandford Schultz, English cricketer (d. 1937)
1861 – Byron G. Harlan, American singer (d. 1936)
1862 – Andrew Fisher, Scottish-Australian politician and diplomat, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1928)
1862 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
1871 – Albert François Lebrun, French engineer and politician, 15th President of France (d. 1950)
1875 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian flute player and educator (d. 1962)
1876 – Charles F. Kettering, American engineer and businessman, founded Delco Electronics (d. 1958)
1876 – Kim Koo, South Korean politician, 6th President of The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (d. 1949)
1879 – Han Yong-un, Korean independence activist, reformer, and poet (d. 1944)
1887 – Jivraj Narayan Mehta, Indian physicians and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 1978)
1888 – Salme Dutt, Estonian-English politician (d. 1964)
1890 – Peder Furubotn, Norwegian Communist and anti-Nazi Resistance leader (d. 1975)
1891 – Marquis James, American journalist and author (d. 1955)
1898 – Preston Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1959)
1901–present
1901 – Aurèle Joliat, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 1986)
1904 – Werner Forssmann, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1905 – Dhyan Chand, Indian field hockey player (d. 1979)
1905 – Arndt Pekurinen, Finnish activist (d. 1941)
1910 – Vivien Thomas, American surgeon and academic (d. 1985)
1911 – John Charnley, British orthopedic surgeon (d. 1982)
1912 – Sohn Kee-chung, South Korean runner (d. 2002)
1912 – Barry Sullivan, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Wolfgang Suschitzky, Austrian-English cinematographer and photographer (d. 2016)
1913 – Len Butterfield, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1999)
1913 – Jackie Mitchell, American baseball pitcher (d. 1987)
1915 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
1915 – Nathan Pritikin, American nutritionist and author (d. 1985)
1916 – Luther Davis, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1917 – Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
1920 – Otis Boykin, American inventor and engineer (d. 1982)
1920 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
1920 – Herb Simpson, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1922 – Arthur Anderson, American actor (d. 2016)
1922 – Richard Blackwell, American actor, fashion designer, and critic (d. 2008)
1922 – John Edward Williams, American author and educator (d. 1994)
1923 – Richard Attenborough, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1924 – Dinah Washington, American singer and pianist (d. 1963)
1926 – Helene Ahrweiler, Greek historian and academic
1926 – Donn Fendler, American author and speaker (d. 2016)
1926 – Betty Lynn, American actress (d. 2021)
1927 – Jimmy C. Newman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
1928 – Herbert Meier, Swiss author and translator (d. 2018)
1929 – Thom Gunn, English-American poet and academic (d. 2004)
1930 – Jacques Bouchard, Canadian businessman (d. 2006)
1930 – Carlos Loyzaga, Filipino basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
1931 – Stelios Kazantzidis, Greek singer and guitarist (d. 2001)
1931 – Lise Payette, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2018)
1933 – Sorel Etrog, Romanian-Canadian sculptor, painter, and illustrator (d. 2014)
1933 – Arnold Koller, Swiss politician
1934 – Dimitris Papamichael, Greek actor and director (d. 2004)
1935 – Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (d. 2014)
1935 – William Friedkin, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2023)
1935 – László Garai, Hungarian psychologist and scholar (d. 2019)
1936 – John McCain, American captain and politician (d. 2018)
1937 – James Florio, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 49th Governor of New Jersey (d. 2022)
1938 – Elliott Gould, American actor and producer
1938 – Angela Huth, English journalist and author
1938 – Christian Müller, German footballer and manager
1938 – Robert Rubin, American lawyer and politician, 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1939 – Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek, Hungarian discus thrower and shot putter
1939 – Joel Schumacher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1940 – James Brady, American politician and activist, 15th White House Press Secretary (d. 2014)
1940 – Gary Gabelich, American race car driver (d. 1984)
1941 – Robin Leach, English journalist and television host (d. 2018)
1942 – James Glennon, American cinematographer (d. 2006)
1942 – Gottfried John, German actor (d. 2014)
1942 – Sterling Morrison, American singer and guitarist (d. 1995)
1943 – Mohamed Amin, Kenyan photographer and journalist (d. 1996)
1943 – Dick Halligan, American pianist and composer
1943 – Arthur B. McDonald, Canadian astrophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1945 – Chris Copping, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Wyomia Tyus, American sprinter
1946 – Bob Beamon, American long jumper
1946 – Francine D. Blau, American economist and academic
1946 – Demetris Christofias, Cypriot businessman and politician, 6th President of Cyprus (d. 2019)
1946 – Warren Jabali, American basketball player (d. 2012)
1946 – Giorgio Orsoni, Italian lawyer and politician, 17th Mayor of Venice
1947 – Temple Grandin, American ethologist, academic, and author
1947 – James Hunt, English race car driver and sportscaster (d. 1993)
1948 – Robert S. Langer, American chemical engineer, entrepreneur, and academic
1949 – Stan Hansen, American wrestler and actor
1949 – Darnell Hillman, American basketball player
1950 – Doug DeCinces, American baseball player
1950 – Frank Henenlotter, American director and screenwriter
1950 – Dave Reichert, American soldier and politician
1951 – Geoff Whitehorn, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Karen Hesse, American author and poet
1952 – Dave Malone, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Don Schlitz, American Hall of Fame country music songwriter
1952 – Deborah Van Valkenburgh, American actress
1953 – David Boaz, American businessman and author
1953 – Richard Harding, English rugby player
1953 – James Quesada, Nicaraguan-American anthropologist and academic
1954 – Michael P. Kube-McDowell, American journalist, author, and academic
1955 – Diamanda Galás, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1955 – Jack Lew, American lawyer and politician, 25th White House Chief of Staff
1956 – Mark Morris, American dancer and choreographer
1956 – Eddie Murray, American football player
1956 – Charalambos Xanthopoulos, Greek footballer
1956 – Steve Yarbrough, American novelist and short story writer
1957 – Jerry D. Bailey, American jockey and sportscaster
1957 – Grzegorz Ciechowski, Polish singer-songwriter, film music composer (d. 2001)
1958 – Lenny Henry, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1958 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (d. 2009)
1959 – Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
1959 – Ramón Díaz, Argentinian footballer and manager
1959 – Ray Elgaard, Canadian football player
1959 – Chris Hadfield, Canadian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1959 – Eddi Reader, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1959 – Timothy Shriver, American businessman and activist
1959 – Stephen Wolfram, English-American physicist and mathematician
1959 – Nagarjuna, Indian film actor, Producer and Businessman
1960 – Todd English, American chef and author
1960 – Tony MacAlpine, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1961 – Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player
1961 – Rodney McCray, American basketball player
1962 – Carl Banks, American football player and sportscaster
1962 – Hiroki Kikuta, Japanese game designer and composer
1962 – Ian James Corlett, Canadian voice actor, writer, producer and author
1962 – Simon Thurley, English historian and academic
1963 – Elizabeth Fraser, Scottish singer-songwriter
1964 – Perri "Pebbles" Reid, American dance-pop and urban contemporary singer-songwriter
1964 – Zisis Tsekos, Greek footballer
1965 – Will Perdue, American basketball player and sportscaster
1965 – Geir-Inge Sivertsen, Norwegian politician and engineer, Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Seafood
1966 – Jörn Großkopf, German footballer and manager
1967 – Neil Gorsuch, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1967 – Anton Newcombe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Meshell Ndegeocello, German-American singer-songwriter
1969 – Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
1969 – Jennifer Crittenden, American screenwriter and producer
1969 – Lucero, Mexican singer, songwriter, actress, and television host
1971 – Henry Blanco, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
1971 – Alex Griffin, English bass player
1971 – Carla Gugino, American actress
1972 – Amanda Marshall, Canadian singer-songwriter
1972 – Bae Yong-joon, South Korean actor
1973 – Vincent Cavanagh, English singer and guitarist
1973 – Olivier Jacque, French motorcycle racer
1974 – Kumi Tanioka, Japanese keyboard player and composer
1975 – Dante Basco, American actor
1975 – Kyle Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Stephen Carr, Irish footballer
1976 – Phil Harvey, English manager
1976 – Kevin Kaesviharn, American football player
1976 – Georgios Kalaitzis, Greek basketball player
1976 – Pablo Mastroeni, Argentine-American soccer player and manager
1976 – Jon Dahl Tomasson, Danish footballer and manager
1977 – Cayetano, Greek DJ and producer
1977 – Devean George, American basketball player
1977 – John Hensley, American actor
1977 – John Patrick O'Brien, American soccer player
1977 – Roy Oswalt, American baseball player
1977 – Charlie Pickering, Australian comedian and radio host
1977 – Aaron Rowand, American baseball player and sportscaster
1978 – Volkan Arslan, German-Turkish footballer
1978 – Celestine Babayaro, Nigerian footballer
1979 – Stijn Devolder, Belgian cyclist
1979 – Kristjan Rahnu, Estonian decathlete
1979 – Ryan Shealy, American baseball player
1980 – Chris Simms, American football player
1980 – David West, American basketball player
1981 – Martin Erat, Czech ice hockey player
1981 – Geneviève Jeanson, Canadian cyclist
1981 – Jay Ryan, New Zealand-Australian actor and producer
1982 – Ruhila Adatia-Sood, Kenyan journalist and radio host (d. 2013)
1982 – Carlos Delfino, Argentinian-Italian basketball player
1982 – Yakhouba Diawara, French basketball player
1982 – Vincent Enyeama, Nigerian footballer
1983 – Jennifer Landon, American actress
1983 – Antti Niemi, Finnish ice hockey player
1983 – Anthony Recker, American baseball player
1986 – Hajime Isayama, Japanese illustrator
1986 – Lea Michele, American actress and singer
1987 – Tony Kane, Irish footballer
1989 – Charlotte Ritchie, English actress
1990 – Jakub Kosecki, Polish footballer
1990 – Chris Taylor, American baseball player
1990 – Patrick van Aanholt, Dutch footballer
1991 – Néstor Araujo, Mexican footballer
1991 – Deshaun Thomas, American basketball player
1992 – Mallu Magalhães, Brazilian singer-songwriter
1992 – Noah Syndergaard, American baseball player
1993 – Liam Payne, English singer-songwriter
1994 – Ysaline Bonaventure, Belgian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
886 – Basil I, Byzantine emperor (b. 811)
939 – Wang Jipeng, Chinese emperor of Min
939 – Li Chunyan, Chinese empress
956 – Fu the Elder, Chinese empress
979 – Abu Taghlib, Hamdanid emir
1021 – Minamoto no Yorimitsu, Japanese nobleman (b. 948)
1046 – Gerard of Csanád Venetian monk and Hungarian bishop (b.980)
1093 – Hugh I, duke of Burgundy (b. 1057)
1123 – Eystein I, king of Norway (b. 1088)
1135 – Al-Mustarshid, Abbasid caliph (b. 1092)
1159 – Bertha of Sulzbach, Byzantine empress
1298 – Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar, English princess (b. 1269)
1315 – Peter Tempesta, Italian nobleman (b. 1291)
1315 – Charles of Taranto, Italian nobleman (b. 1296)
1395 – Albert III, duke of Austria (b. 1349)
1442 – John V, duke of Brittany (b. 1389)
1499 – Alesso Baldovinetti, Florentine painter (b. 1427)
1523 – Ulrich von Hutten, Lutheran reformer (b. 1488)
1526 – Louis II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1506)
1526 – Pál Tomori Hungarian archbishop and soldier (b. 1475)
1533 – Atahualpa, Inca emperor (b. 1497)
1542 – Cristóvão da Gama, Portuguese commander (b. 1516)
1601–1900
1604 – Hamida Banu Begum, Mughal empress (b. 1527)
1657 – John Lilburne, English activist (b. 1614)
1712 – Gregory King, English genealogist, engraver, and statistician (b. 1648)
1749 – Matthias Bel, Hungarian pastor and polymath (b. 1684)
1769 – Edmond Hoyle, English author and educator (b. 1672)
1780 – Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect, co-designed The Panthéon (b. 1713)
1799 – Pius VI, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1717)
1844 – Edmund Ignatius Rice, Irish missionary and educator, founded the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers (b. 1762)
1856 – Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, English author and activist (b. 1778)
1866 – Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1846)
1877 – Brigham Young, American religious leader, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1801)
1889 – Stefan Dunjov, Bulgarian colonel (b. 1815)
1891 – Pierre Lallement, French businessman, invented the bicycle (b. 1843)
1892 – William Forbes Skene, Scottish historian and author (b. 1809)
1901–present
1904 – Murad V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1840)
1911 – Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (b. 1866)
1917 – George Huntington Hartford, American businessman (b. 1833)
1930 – William Archibald Spooner, English priest and author (b. 1844)
1931 – David T. Abercrombie, American businessman, co-founded Abercrombie & Fitch (b. 1867)
1932 – Raymond Knister, Canadian poet and author (b. 1899)
1944 – Attik, Greek pianist and composer (b. 1885)
1946 – Adolphus Busch III, American businessman (b. 1891)
1946 – John Steuart Curry, American painter and academic (b. 1897)
1951 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (b. 1871)
1952 – Anton Piëch, Austrian lawyer (b. 1894)
1958 – Marjorie Flack, American author and illustrator (b. 1897)
1966 – Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian theorist, author, and poet (b. 1906)
1968 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (b. 1881)
1971 – Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr., American murderer (b. 1904)
1972 – Lale Andersen, German singer-songwriter (b. 1905)
1975 – Éamon de Valera, Irish soldier and politician, 3rd President of Ireland (b. 1882)
1977 – Jean Hagen, American actress (b. 1923)
1977 – Brian McGuire, Australian race car driver (b. 1945)
1979 – Gertrude Chandler Warner, American author and educator (b. 1890)
1981 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (b. 1892)
1982 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (b. 1915)
1982 – Lehman Engel, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
1985 – Evelyn Ankers, British-American actress (b. 1918)
1987 – Archie Campbell, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1914)
1987 – Lee Marvin, American actor (b. 1924)
1989 – Peter Scott, English explorer and painter (b. 1909)
1990 – Manly Palmer Hall, Canadian-American mystic and author (b. 1901)
1991 – Libero Grassi, Italian businessman (b. 1924)
1992 – Félix Guattari, French philosopher and theorist (b. 1930)
1995 – Frank Perry, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2000 – Shelagh Fraser, English actress (b. 1922)
2000 – Willie Maddren, English footballer and manager (b. 1951)
2000 – Conrad Marca-Relli, American-Italian painter and academic (b. 1913)
2001 – Graeme Strachan, Australian singer-songwriter & television personality (b. 1952)
2001 – Francisco Rabal, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2002 – Lance Macklin, English race car driver (b. 1919)
2003 – Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi politician (b. 1939)
2003 – Patrick Procktor, English painter and academic (b. 1936)
2004 – Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (b. 1942)
2007 – James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand businessman (b. 1914)
2007 – Richard Jewell, American police officer (b. 1962)
2007 – Pierre Messmer, French civil servant and politician, 154th Prime Minister of France (b. 1916)
2007 – Alfred Peet, Dutch-American businessman, founded Peet's Coffee & Tea (b. 1920)
2008 – Geoffrey Perkins, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1953)
2008 – Michael Schoenberg, American geophysicist and theorist (b. 1939)
2011 – Honeyboy Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1915)
2011 – Junpei Takiguchi, Japanese voice actor (b. 1931)
2012 – Ruth Goldbloom, Canadian academic and philanthropist, co-founded Pier 21 (b. 1923)
2012 – Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, English historian and author (b. 1953)
2012 – Shoshichi Kobayashi, Japanese-American mathematician and academic (b. 1932)
2012 – Anne McKnight, American soprano (b. 1924)
2012 – Les Moss, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1925)
2012 – Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian volleyball player and coach (b. 1969)
2013 – Joan L. Krajewski, American lawyer and politician (b. 1934)
2013 – Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, Zambian cardinal (b. 1931)
2013 – Bruce C. Murray, American geologist and academic, co-founded The Planetary Society (b. 1931)
2014 – Octavio Brunetti, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1975)
2014 – Björn Waldegård, Swedish race car driver (b. 1943)
2016 – Gene Wilder, American stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author (b. 1933)
2018 – James Mirrlees, Scottish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
2018 – Paul Taylor, American choreographer (b. 1930)
2021 – Ed Asner, American actor (b. 1929)
2021 – Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican reggae producer (b. 1936)
2021 – Jacques Rogge, Olympic sailor and Orthopedic Surgeon who served as the 8th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1942)
2023 – Mike Enriquez (b. 1951), Filipino broadcaster
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Adelphus of Metz
Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Eadwold of Cerne
Euphrasia Eluvathingal (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
John Bunyan (Episcopal Church)
Sabina
Vitalis, Sator and Repositus
August 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day against Nuclear Tests
Miners' Day (Ukraine)
Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine (Ukraine)
Municipal Police Day (Poland)
National Sports Day (India)
Slovak National Uprising Anniversary (Slovakia)
Telugu Language Day (India)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1794 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2030 | August 30 |
Events
Pre-1600
70 – Titus ends the siege of Jerusalem after destroying Herod's Temple.
1282 – Peter III of Aragon lands at Trapani to intervene in the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
1363 – The five-week Battle of Lake Poyang begins, in which the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders (Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang) meet to decide who will supplant the Yuan dynasty.
1464 – Pope Paul II succeeds Pope Pius II as the 211th pope.
1574 – Guru Ram Das becomes the Fourth Sikh Guru/Master.
1590 – Tokugawa Ieyasu enters Edo Castle. (Traditional Japanese date: August 1, 1590)
1594 – King James VI of Scotland holds a masque at the baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle.
1601–1900
1721 – The Great Northern War between Sweden and Russia ends in the Treaty of Nystad.
1727 – Anne, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain, is given the title Princess Royal.
1757 – Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf: Russian force under Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin beats a smaller Prussian force commanded by Field Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt, during the Seven Years' War.
1791 – sinks after having run aground on the outer Great Barrier Reef the previous day.
1799 – The entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell during the War of the Second Coalition.
1800 – Gabriel Prosser postpones a planned slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, but is arrested before he can make it happen.
1813 – First Battle of Kulm: French forces are defeated by an Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.
1813 – Creek War: Fort Mims massacre: Creek "Red Sticks" kill over 500 settlers (including over 250 armed militia) in Fort Mims, north of Mobile, Alabama.
1835 – Australia: Melbourne, Victoria is founded.
1836 – The city of Houston is founded by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Richmond: Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout Union forces under General William "Bull" Nelson.
1873 – Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discover the archipelago of Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Sea.
1896 – Philippine Revolution: After Spanish victory in the Battle of San Juan del Monte, eight provinces in the Philippines are declared under martial law by the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas.
1901–present
1909 – Burgess Shale fossils are discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.
1914 – World War I: Germans defeat the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg.
1916 – Ernest Shackleton completes the rescue of all of his men stranded on Elephant Island in Antarctica.
1917 – Vietnamese prison guards led by Trịnh Văn Cấn mutiny at the Thái Nguyên penitentiary against local French authority.
1918 – Fanni Kaplan shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, which along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.
1922 – Battle of Dumlupınar: The final battle in the Greco-Turkish War ("Turkish War of Independence").
1936 – The RMS Queen Mary wins the Blue Riband by setting the fastest transatlantic crossing.
1940 – The Second Vienna Award reassigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.
1941 – The Tighina Agreement, a treaty regarding administration issues of the Transnistria Governorate, is signed between Germany and Romania.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Alam el Halfa begins.
1945 – The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong comes to an end.
1945 – The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.
1945 – The Allied Control Council, governing Germany after World War II, comes into being.
1959 – South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Dan was elected to the National Assembly despite soldiers being bussed in to vote for President Ngo Dinh Diem's candidate.
1962 – Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since World War II and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.
1963 – The Moscow–Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union goes into operation.
1967 – Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1974 – A Belgrade–Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.
1974 – A powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Eight are killed, 378 are injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975, by Japanese authorities.
1974 – The Third World Population Conference ends in Bucharest, Romania. At the end of the ceremony, the UN-Romanian Demographic Centre is inaugurated.
1981 – President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran.
1983 – Aeroflot Flight 5463 crashes into Dolan Mountain while approaching Almaty International Airport in present-day Kazakhstan, killing all 90 people on board.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan declares independence from Soviet Union.
1992 – The 11-day Ruby Ridge standoff ends with Randy Weaver surrendering to federal authorities.
1995 – Bosnian War: NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.
1998 – Second Congo War: Armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and their Angolan and Zimbabwean allies recapture Matadi and the Inga dams in the western DRC from RCD and Rwandan troops.
2002 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4823 crashes on approach to Rio Branco International Airport, killing 23 of the 31 people on board.
2008 – A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three people on board.
2014 – Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane flees to South Africa as the army allegedly stages a coup.
2019 – A huge accident during the 2019 F2 Spa Feature Race caused young driver Anthoine Hubert to die after sustaining major injuries.
2021 – The last remaining American troops leave Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war.
2023 – Gabonese coup d'état: After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousted him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.
Births
Pre-1600
1334 – Peter of Castile (d. 1369)
1574 – Albert Szenczi Molnár, Hungarian writer and translator (d. 1634)
1601–1900
1609 – Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1644)
1609 – Artus Quellinus the Elder, Flemish sculptor (d. 1668)
1627 – Itō Jinsai, Japanese philosopher (d. 1705)
1716 – Capability Brown, English landscape architect (d. 1783)
1720 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded Whitbread (d. 1796)
1748 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter and illustrator (d. 1825)
1768 – Joseph Dennie, American author and journalist (d. 1812)
1797 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (d. 1851)
1812 – Agoston Haraszthy, Hungarian-American businessman, founded Buena Vista Winery (d. 1869)
1818 – Alexander H. Rice, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1839 – Gulstan Ropert, French-American bishop and missionary (d. 1903)
1842 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia (d. 1849)
1844 – Emily Ruete/Salama bint Said, also called Sayyida Salme, a Princess of Zanzibar and Oman (d. 1924)
1848 – Andrew Onderdonk, American surveyor and contractor (d. 1905)
1850 – Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino journalist and lawyer (d. 1896)
1852 – Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1911)
1852 – J. Alden Weir, American painter and academic (d. 1919)
1855 – Evelyn De Morgan, English painter (d. 1919)
1856 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist (d. 1927)
1858 – Ignaz Sowinski, Galician architect (d. 1917)
1860 – Isaac Levitan, Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1900)
1870 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia (d. 1891)
1871 – Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand-English physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1883 – Theo van Doesburg, Dutch artist (d. 1931)
1884 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1885 – Tedda Courtney, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1957)
1887 – Paul Kochanski, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1934)
1890 – Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson, English captain and pilot (d. 1918)
1893 – Huey Long, American lawyer and politician, 40th Governor of Louisiana (d. 1935)
1896 – Raymond Massey, Canadian-American actor and playwright (d. 1983)
1898 – Shirley Booth, American actress and singer (d. 1992)
1901–present
1901 – John Gunther, American journalist and author (d. 1970)
1901 – Roy Wilkins, American journalist and activist (d. 1981)
1903 – Bhagwati Charan Verma, Indian author (d. 1981)
1906 – Joan Blondell, American actress and singer (d. 1979)
1906 – Olga Taussky-Todd, Austrian mathematician (d. 1995)
1907 – Leonor Fini, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and author (d. 1996)
1907 – Bertha Parker Pallan, American archaeologist (d. 1978)
1907 – John Mauchly, American physicist and co-founder of the first computer company (d. 1980)
1908 – Fred MacMurray, American actor (d. 1991)
1909 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (d. 1968)
1910 – Roger Bushell, South African-English soldier and pilot (d. 1944)
1912 – Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1912 – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-English captain (d. 2011)
1913 – Richard Stone, English economist and statistician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1915 – Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland (d. 2013)
1915 – Robert Strassburg, American composer, conductor, and educator (d. 2003)
1916 – Shailendra, Pakistani-Indian songwriter (d. 1968)
1917 – Denis Healey, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 2015)
1917 – Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (d. 1992)
1918 – Harold Atcherley, English businessman (d. 2017)
1918 – Billy Johnson, American baseball player (d. 2006)
1918 – Ted Williams, American baseball player and manager (d. 2002)
1919 – Maurice Hilleman, American microbiologist and vaccinologist (d. 2005)
1919 – Wolfgang Wagner, German director and manager (d. 2010)
1919 – Kitty Wells, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
1920 – Arnold Green, Estonian soldier and politician (d. 2011)
1922 – Lionel Murphy, Australian jurist and politician, 22nd Attorney-General of Australia (d. 1986)
1922 – Regina Resnik, American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
1923 – Barbara Ansell, English physician and author (d. 2001)
1923 – Charmian Clift, Australian journalist and author (d. 1969)
1923 – Vic Seixas, American tennis player
1924 – Kenny Dorham, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player (d. 1972)
1924 – Lajos Kisfaludy, Hungarian chemist and engineer (d. 1988)
1925 – Laurent de Brunhoff, French author and illustrator
1925 – Donald Symington, American actor (d. 2013)
1926 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (d. 2010)
1927 – Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (d. 2004)
1927 – Bill Daily, American actor and comedian (d. 2018)
1927 – Piet Kee, Dutch organist and composer (d. 2018)
1928 – Lloyd Casner, American race car driver (d. 1965)
1928 – Harvey Hart, Canadian director and producer (d. 1989)
1928 – Johnny Mann, American singer-songwriter and conductor (d. 2014)
1929 – Guy de Lussigny, French painter and sculptor (d. 2001)
1929 – Ian McNaught-Davis, English mountaineer and television host (d. 2014)
1930 – Warren Buffett, American businessman and philanthropist
1930 – Noel Harford, New Zealand cricketer and basketball player (d. 1981)
1931 – Jack Swigert, American pilot and astronaut (d. 1982)
1933 – Don Getty, Canadian football player and politician, 11th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016)
1934 – Antonio Cabangon Chua, Filipino media mogul and businessman (d. 2016)
1935 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1935 – Alexandra Bellow, Romanian-American mathematician
1936 – Peter North, English scholar and academic
1937 – Bruce McLaren, New Zealand race car driver and engineer, founded the McLaren racing team (d. 1970)
1938 – Murray Gleeson, Australian lawyer and judge, 11th Chief Justice of Australia
1939 – Elizabeth Ashley, American actress
1939 – John Peel, English radio host and producer (d. 2004)
1941 – Ignazio Giunti, Italian race car driver (d. 1971)
1941 – Ben Jones, American actor and politician
1941 – Sue MacGregor, English journalist and radio host
1941 – John McNally, English singer and guitarist
1942 – Jonathan Aitken, Irish-British journalist and politician, Minister for Defence Procurement
1942 – John Kani, South African actor
1942 – Pervez Sajjad, Pakistani cricketer
1943 – Tal Brody, American-Israeli basketball player and coach
1943 – Robert Crumb, American illustrator
1943 – Colin Dann, English author
1943 – Nigel Hall, English sculptor and academic
1943 – Jean-Claude Killy, French skier
1943 – David Maslanka, American composer and academic (d. 2017)
1944 – Frances Cairncross, English economist, journalist, and academic
1944 – Freek de Jonge, Dutch singer and comedian
1944 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
1944 – Tug McGraw, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1944 – Alex Wyllie, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1946 – Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
1946 – Peggy Lipton, American model and actress (d. 2019)
1947 – Allan Rock, Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations
1948 – Lewis Black, American comedian, actor, and author
1948 – Fred Hampton, American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (d. 1969)
1948 – Victor Skumin, Russian psychiatrist, psychologist, and academic
1949 – Ted Ammon, American financier and banker (d. 2001)
1949 – Don Boudria, Canadian public servant and politician, 2nd Canadian Minister for International Cooperation
1950 – Antony Gormley, English sculptor and academic
1951 – Timothy Bottoms, American actor
1951 – Gediminas Kirkilas, Lithuanian politician, 11th Prime Minister of Lithuania
1951 – Jim Paredes, Filipino singer-songwriter and actor
1951 – Dana Rosemary Scallon, Irish singer and activist
1952 – Simon Bainbridge, English composer and educator (d. 2021)
1952 – Wojtek Fibak, Polish tennis player
1953 – Ron George, American businessman and politician
1953 – Lech Majewski, Polish director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Horace Panter, English bass player
1953 – Robert Parish, American basketball player
1954 – Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian marshal and politician, 1st President of Belarus
1954 – Ravi Shankar Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Communications and IT
1954 – David Paymer, American actor and director
1955 – Jamie Moses, English-American guitarist
1956 – Frank Conniff, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Gerald Albright, American musician
1958 – Karen Buck, Northern Irish politician
1958 – Fran Fraschilla, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1958 – Muriel Gray, Scottish journalist and author
1958 – Martin Jackson, English drummer
1958 – Anna Politkovskaya, Russian journalist and activist (d. 2006)
1958 – Peter Tunks, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1959 – Mark "Jacko" Jackson, Australian footballer, actor, and singer
1960 – Ben Bradshaw, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
1960 – Gary Gordon, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1993)
1960 – Guy A. Lepage, Canadian comedian and producer
1962 – Ricky Sanders, American football player
1962 – Craig Whittaker, English businessman and politician
1963 – Dave Brockie, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
1963 – Michael Chiklis, American actor, director, and producer
1963 – Sabine Oberhauser, Austrian physician and politician (d. 2017)
1963 – Phil Mills, Welsh race car driver
1964 – Gavin Fisher, English engineer and designer
1964 – Ra Luhse, Estonian architect
1966 – Peter Cunnah, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and producer
1966 – Joann Fletcher, English historian and academic
1966 – Michael Michele, American actress
1967 – Frederique van der Wal, Dutch model and actress
1967 – Justin Vaughan, New Zealand cricketer
1968 – Diran Adebayo, English author and critic
1968 – Vladimir Malakhov, Russian ice hockey player
1969 – Vladimir Jugović, Serbian footballer
1969 – Dimitris Sgouros, Greek pianist and composer
1970 – Carlo Checchinato, Italian rugby player and manager
1970 – Paulo Sousa, Portuguese footballer and manager
1970 – Michael Wong, Malaysian-Chinese singer-songwriter
1971 – Lars Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Julian Smith, Scottish politician
1972 – Cameron Diaz, American model, actress, and producer
1972 – Pavel Nedvěd, Czech footballer
1973 – Lisa Ling, American journalist and author
1974 – Javier Otxoa, Spanish cyclist (d. 2018)
1975 – Radhi Jaïdi, Tunisian footballer and coach
1976 – Mike Koplove, American baseball player
1977 – Shaun Alexander, American football player
1977 – Marlon Byrd, American baseball player
1977 – Raúl Castillo, American actor
1977 – Michael Gladis, American actor
1977 – Kamil Kosowski, Polish footballer
1977 – Félix Sánchez, American-Dominican runner and hurdler
1978 – Sinead Kerr, Scottish figure skater
1978 – Cliff Lee, American baseball player
1979 – Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentinian tennis player
1979 – Leon Lopez, English singer-songwriter and actor
1979 – Scott Richmond, Canadian baseball player
1980 – Roberto Hernández, Dominican baseball player
1980 – Justin Mortelliti, American actor and singer-songwriter
1981 – Germán Legarreta, Puerto Rican-American actor
1981 – Adam Wainwright, American baseball player
1982 – Will Davison, Australian race car driver
1982 – Andy Roddick, American tennis player
1983 – Emmanuel Culio, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Gustavo Eberto, Argentinian footballer (d. 2007)
1983 – Jun Matsumoto, Japanese singer, dancer, and actor
1983 – Simone Pepe, Italian footballer
1983 – Tian Qin, Chinese canoe racer
1983 – Marco Vianello, Italian footballer
1984 – Anthony Ireland, Zimbabwean cricketer
1984 – Joe Staley, American football player
1984 – Michael Grant Terry, American actor
1985 – Duane Brown, American football player
1985 – Richard Duffy, Welsh footballer
1985 – Joe Inoue, American singer-songwriter
1985 – Leisel Jones, Australian swimmer
1985 – Éva Risztov, Hungarian swimmer
1985 – Steven Smith, Scottish footballer
1985 – Eamon Sullivan, Australian swimmer
1985 – Anna Ushenina, Ukrainian chess player
1985 – Holly Weston, English actress
1986 – Theo Hutchcraft, English singer-songwriter
1986 – Lelia Masaga, New Zealand rugby player
1986 – Ryan Ross, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1986 – Zafer Yelen, Turkish footballer
1987 – Johanna Braddy, American actress
1987 – Tania Foster, English singer-songwriter
1988 – Ernests Gulbis, Latvian tennis player
1989 – Simone Guerra, Italian footballer
1989 – Ronald Huth, Paraguayan footballer
1989 – Bebe Rexha, American singer-songwriter
1991 – Seriki Audu, Nigerian footballer (d. 2014)
1991 – Jacqueline Cako, American tennis player
1991 – Liam Cooper, Scottish footballer
1992 – Jessica Henwick, British actress
1994 – Monika Povilaitytė, Lithuanian volleyball player
1994 – Heo Young-ji, South Korean singer
1994 – Kwon So-hyun, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress
1996 – Mikal Bridges, American basketball player
1996 – Trevor Jackson, American actor and singer-songwriter
2002 – Fábio Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
526 – Theodoric the Great, Italian ruler (b. 454)
832 – Cui Qun, Chinese chancellor (b. 772)
1131 – Hervey le Breton, bishop of Bangor and Ely
1181 – Pope Alexander III (b. c. 1100–1105)
1329 – Khutughtu Khan Kusala, Chinese emperor (b. 1300)
1428 – Emperor Shōkō of Japan (b. 1401)
1483 – Louis XI of France (b. 1423)
1500 – Victor, Duke of Münsterberg and Opava, Count of Glatz (b. 1443)
1580 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (b. 1528)
1601–1900
1604 – John Juvenal Ancina, Italian Oratorian and bishop (b. 1545)
1619 – Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1535)
1621 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, co-founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (b. 1547)
1751 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish physicist and engineer (b. 1661)
1773 – Peshwa Narayan Rao, Prime Minister of Maratha Empire (b. 1755, assassinated)
1856 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English lawyer and author (b. 1811)
1879 – John Bell Hood, American general (b. 1831)
1886 – Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general and politician (b. 1836)
1896 – Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky, Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia (b. 1824)
1901–present
1906 – Hans Auer, Swiss-Austrian architect and educator, designed the Federal Palace of Switzerland (b. 1847)
1907 – Richard Mansfield, American actor and manager (b. 1857)
1908 – Alexander P. Stewart, American general (b. 1821)
1928 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
1935 – Henri Barbusse, French journalist and author (b. 1873)
1935 – Namık İsmail, Turkish painter and educator (b. 1890)
1936 – Ronald Fellowes, 2nd Baron Ailwyn, English peer (b. 1886)
1938 – Max Factor, Sr., Polish-born American make-up artist and businessman, founded the Max Factor Company (b. 1877)
1940 – J. J. Thomson, English physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
1941 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish physicist and engineer (b. 1874)
1943 – Eddy de Neve, Indonesian-Dutch footballer and lieutenant (b. 1885)
1943 – Eustáquio van Lieshout, Dutch priest and missionary (b. 1890)
1945 – Alfréd Schaffer, Hungarian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1893)
1946 – Konstantin Rodzaevsky, Russian lawyer (b. 1907)
1947 – Gunnar Sommerfeldt, Danish actor and director (b. 1890)
1948 – Alice Salomon, German-American social reformer (b. 1872)
1949 – Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (b. 1877)
1951 – Konstantin Märska, Estonian director and cinematographer (b. 1896)
1954 – Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Italian cardinal (b. 1880)
1961 – Cristóbal de Losada y Puga, Peruvian mathematician (b. 1894)
1961 – Charles Coburn, American actor (b. 1877)
1963 – Guy Burgess, English-Soviet spy (b. 1911)
1964 – Salme Dutt, Estonian-English lawyer and politician (b. 1888)
1967 – Ad Reinhardt, American painter, illustrator, and academic (b. 1913)
1968 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
1970 – Del Moore, American comedian and actor (b. 1916)
1970 – Abraham Zapruder, American clothing manufacturer, witness to the assassination of John F. Kennedy (b. 1905)
1971 – Ali Hadi Bara, Iranian-Turkish sculptor (b. 1906)
1979 – Jean Seberg, American actress (b. 1938)
1981 – Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (b. 1921)
1981 – Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iranian politician, 2nd President of Iran (b. 1933)
1985 – Taylor Caldwell, English-American author (b. 1900)
1988 – Jack Marshall, New Zealand colonel, lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912)
1989 – Seymour Krim, American journalist and critic (b. 1922)
1990 – Bernard D. H. Tellegen, Dutch engineer and academic (b. 1900)
1991 – Cyril Knowles, English footballer and manager (b. 1944)
1991 – Vladimír Padrůněk, Czech bass player (b. 1952)
1991 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
1993 – Richard Jordan, American actor (b. 1938)
1994 – Lindsay Anderson, English director and screenwriter (b. 1923)
1995 – Fischer Black, American economist and academic (b. 1938)
1995 – Sterling Morrison, American guitarist and singer (b. 1942)
1996 – Christine Pascal, French actress, director, and screenwriter (b. 1953)
1999 – Reindert Brasser, Dutch discus thrower (b. 1912)
1999 – Raymond Poïvet, French illustrator (b. 1910)
2001 – Govan Mbeki, ANC activist and father of President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki (b. 1910)
2002 – J. Lee Thompson, English-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
2003 – Charles Bronson, American actor and soldier (b. 1921)
2003 – Donald Davidson, American philosopher and academic (b. 1917)
2004 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer and academic (b. 1906)
2006 – Robin Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon, New Zealand lawyer and judge (b. 1926)
2006 – Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor and producer (b. 1916)
2006 – Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2007 – Michael Jackson, English author and journalist (b. 1942)
2007 – Charles Vanik, American soldier and politician (b. 1918)
2008 – Brian Hambly, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1937)
2008 – Killer Kowalski, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1926)
2009 – Klaus-Peter Hanisch, German footballer (b. 1952)
2010 – J. C. Bailey, American wrestler (b. 1983)
2010 – Alain Corneau, French director and screenwriter (b. 1943)
2010 – Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (b. 1921)
2010 – Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1910)
2013 – William C. Campbell, American golfer (b. 1923)
2013 – Howie Crittenden, American basketball player and coach (b. 1933)
2013 – Allan Gotthelf, American philosopher and academic (b. 1942)
2013 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
2013 – Leo Lewis, American football player and coach (b. 1933)
2014 – Charles Bowden, American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist (b. 1945)
2014 – Bipan Chandra, Indian historian and academic (b. 1928)
2014 – Igor Decraene, Belgian cyclist (b. 1996)
2014 – Andrew V. McLaglen, English-American director and producer (b. 1920)
2014 – Felipe Osterling, Peruvian lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
2015 – Wes Craven, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1939)
2015 – Edward Fadeley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
2015 – M. M. Kalburgi, Indian scholar, author, and academic (b. 1938)
2015 – Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (b. 1920)
2015 – Oliver Sacks, English-American neurologist, author, and academic (b. 1933)
2017 – Louise Hay, American motivational author (b. 1926)
2017 – Skip Prokop, Canadian drummer, guitarist and keyboardist (b. 1943)
2019 – Valerie Harper, American actress and writer (b. 1939)
2022 – Mikhail Gorbachev, 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union. (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Alexander of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodoxy)
Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
Blessed Eustáquio van Lieshout
Blessed Stephen Nehmé (Maronite Church / Catholic Church)
Charles Chapman Grafton (Episcopal Church)
Fantinus
Felix and Adauctus
Fiacre
Jeanne Jugan
Narcisa de Jesús
Pammachius
August 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Kazakhstan)
Constitution Day (Turks and Caicos Islands)
Independence Day (Tatarstan, Russia not formally recognized)
International Day of the Disappeared
International Whale Shark Day
Popular Consultation Day (East Timor)
Saint Rose of Lima's Day (Peru)
Victory Day (Turkey)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
1826 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2018 | April 18 |
Events
Pre-1600
796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.
1428 – Peace of Ferrara between Republic of Venice, Duchy of Milan, Republic of Florence and House of Gonzaga: ending of the second campaign of the Wars in Lombardy fought until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, which will then guarantee the conditions for the development of the Italian Renaissance.
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
1601–1900
1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
1738 – Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") is founded in Madrid.
1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.
1831 – The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1857 – "The Spirits Book" by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
1899 – The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.
1901–present
1902 – The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.
1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
1912 – The Cunard liner brings 705 survivors from the to New York City.
1915 – World War I: French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines.
1916 – World War I: During a mine warfare in high altitude on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.
1930 – A fire kills 118 people at a wooden church in the small Romanian town of Costești, most of them schoolchildren, after starting during Good Friday services.
1939 – Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
1945 – World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
1945 – Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insurrectional strike begins.
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
1947 – The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
1972 – East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43.
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1988 – In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.
2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.
2018 – Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua
2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.
Births
Pre-1600
359 – Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
588 – K'an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)
812 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)
1446 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)
1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)
1503 – Henry II of Navarre, (d. 1555)
1534 – William Harrison, English clergyman (d. 1593)
1580 – Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)
1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
1601–1900
1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)
1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)
1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)
1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)
1771 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)
1772 – David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)
1794 – William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)
1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)
1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)
1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)
1838 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)
1854 – Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1858 – Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)
1858 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)
1863 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, Joint Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
1863 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)
1863 – Siegfried Bettmann, founder of the Triumph Motorcycle Company and Mayor of Coventry (d. 1955)
1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)
1874 – Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)
1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)
1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)
1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)
1882 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)
1883 – Aleksanteri Aava, Finnish poet (d. 1956)
1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)
1892 – Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)
1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)
1898 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)
1900 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women's rights activist (d. 1997)
1901–present
1901 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
1901 – László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)
1902 – Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)
1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
1904 – Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)
1905 – George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)
1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)
1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (d. 2014)
1915 – Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian American poet and author (d. 1960)
1916 – Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)
1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
1919 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1919 – Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)
1920 – John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1921 – Jean Richard, French actor and singer (d. 2001)
1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
1924 – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)
1926 – Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)
1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)
1927 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)
1928 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)
1928 – Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)
1929 – Peter Hordern, English soldier and politician
1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer
1931 – Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)
1934 – James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)
1934 – George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator
1935 – Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer (d. 2022)
1936 – Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)
1937 – Keiko Abe, Japanese marimba player and composer
1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (d. 2009)
1939 – Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger
1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
1941 – Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland
1942 – Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)
1944 – Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)
1944 – Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor and photographer
1945 – Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
1947 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)
1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – James Woods, American actor and producer
1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer
1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
1958 – Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F. (d. 2020)
1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)
1959 – Susan Faludi, American journalist, author and feminist
1960 – Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner
1961 – Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer
1961 – John Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1962 – Jeff Dunham, American ventriloquist and comedian
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor
1963 – Conan O'Brien, American television host, comedian, and podcaster
1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
1967 – Maria Bello, American actress
1969 – Keith DeCandido, American author
1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon
1970 – Willie Roaf, American football player
1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
1972 – Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
1972 – Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
1974 – Edgar Wright, English filmmaker
1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American television personality
1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese computer scientist and academic
1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
1984 – America Ferrera, American actress
1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
1988 – Vanessa Kirby, English actress
1989 – Jessica Jung, South Korean-American singer, songwriter, actress, author, fashion designer and businesswoman
1989 – Alia Shawkat, American actress
1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
1992 – Chloe Bennet, American actress
1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr
909 – Dionysius II, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
943 – Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)
963 – Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
1161 – Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)
1176 – Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint
1430 – John III, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count
1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)
1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)
1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)
1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
1587 – John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)
1601–1900
1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (b. 1557)
1650 – Simonds d'Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)
1674 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)
1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1648)
1732 – Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)
1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)
1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
1832 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
1859 – Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
1864 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)
1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
1890 – Paweł Bryliński, Polish sculptor (b. 1814)
1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)
1901–present
1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
1912 – Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)
1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)
1936 – Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)
1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)
1938 – George Bryant, American archer (b. 1878)
1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)
1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)
1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)
1951 – Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
1955 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)
1958 – Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)
1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)
1964 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
1965 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (b. 1917)
1974 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1895)
1986 – Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (b. 1892)
1988 – Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (b. 1914)
1995 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (b. 1908)
2002 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and explorer (b. 1914)
2004 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 2nd President of Fiji (b. 1920)
2008 – Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (b. 1907)
2012 – Dick Clark, American television host and producer, founded Dick Clark Productions (b. 1929)
2012 – René Lépine, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1929)
2012 – Robert O. Ragland, American musician (b. 1931)
2012 – K. D. Wentworth, American author (b. 1951)
2013 – Goran Švob, Croatian philosopher and author (b. 1947)
2013 – Anne Williams, English activist (b. 1951)
2014 – Guru Dhanapal, Indian director and producer (b. 1959)
2014 – Sanford Jay Frank, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1954)
2014 – Brian Priestman, English conductor and academic (b. 1927)
2019 – Lyra McKee, Irish journalist (b. 1990)
2022 – Harrison Birtwistle, British composer (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Apollonius the Apologist
Corebus
Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Eleutherius and Antia
Galdino della Sala
Molaise of Leighlin
Perfectus
April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Army Day (Iran)
Coma Patients' Day (Poland)
Friend's Day (Brazil)
Independence Day (Zimbabwe)
International Day For Monuments and Sites
Invention Day (Japan)
Victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice (Russia; Julian Calendar)
World Amateur Radio Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 18
Days of the year
April |
1827 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2023 | April 23 |
Events
Pre-1600
215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik'nal and sacking the city.
711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
1343 – St. George's Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George's Day.
1500 – Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral reaches new coastline (Brazil).
1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1601–1900
1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
1891 – Chilean Civil War: The ironclad Blanco Encalada is sunk at Caldera Bay by torpedo boats.
1901–present
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1919 – The Estonian Constituent Assembly is held in Estonia, which marks the birth of the Estonian Parliament, the Riigikogu.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of Nazi Germany. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a crewed spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1979 – SAETA Flight 011 crashes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage was not discovered until 1984.
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2005 – The first YouTube video, titled "Me at the zoo", was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 11 people and injures 15 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
2019 – The April 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.
Births
Pre-1600
1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
1601–1900
1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
1748 – Félix Vicq-d'Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
1897 – Folke Jansson, Swedish athlete (d. 1965)
1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
1901–present
1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2021)
1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director (d. 2021)
1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
1949 – David Cross, English violinist
1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist (d. 2021)
1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
1967 – Rhéal Cormier, Canadian baseball player (d. 2021)
1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
1971 – Uli Herzner, German-American fashion designer
1972 – Pierre Labrie, Canadian poet and playwright
1972 – Peter Dench, English photographer and journalist
1972 – Amira Medunjanin, Bosnian singer
1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Carlos Dengler, American bass player
1974 – Michael Kerr, New Zealand-German rugby player
1975 – Bobby Shaw, American football player
1976 – Gabriel Damon, American actor
1976 – Aaron Dessner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1977 – John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
1977 – Andruw Jones, Curaçaoan baseball player
1977 – David Kidwell, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – John Oliver, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – Kal Penn, Indian-American actor
1977 – Bram Schmitz, Dutch cyclist
1977 – Lee Young-pyo, South Korean international footballer
1978 – Gezahegne Abera, Ethiopian runner
1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
1979 – Jaime King, American actress and model
1979 – Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and television personality
1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
1980 – Nicole den Dulk, Dutch Paralympic equestrian
1982 – Kyle Beckerman, American footballer
1982 – Tony Sunshine, American singer-songwriter
1983 – Leon Andreasen, Danish international footballer
1983 – Daniela Hantuchová, Slovak tennis player
1983 – Ian Henderson, English rugby league player
1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
1984 – Moose, American professional wrestler and football player
1984 – Jesse Lee Soffer, American actor
1985 – Angel Locsin, Filipino actress, producer, and fashion designer
1986 – Sven Kramer, Dutch speed skater
1986 – Alysia Montaño, American runner
1986 – Rafael Fernandes, Brazilian baseball player
1987 – Michael Arroyo, Ecuadorian footballer
1987 – John Boye, Ghanaian footballer
1987 – Emily Fox, American basketball player
1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
1988 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
1988 – Signe Ronka, Canadian figure skater
1988 – Lenka Wienerová, Slovak tennis player
1989 – Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
1990 – Rui Fonte, Portuguese footballer
1990 – Dev Patel, English actor
1991 – Britt Baker, American professional wrestler
1991 – Nathan Baker, English footballer
1991 – Caleb Johnson, American singer-songwriter
1991 – Paul Vaughan, Australian-Italian rugby league player
1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
1994 – Song Kang, South Korean actor
1995 – Gigi Hadid, American fashion model and television personality
1995 – Jamie Hayter, English professional wrestler
1996 – Carolina Alves, Brazilian tennis player
1997 – Zach Apple, American swimmer
1999 – Son Chaeyoung, South Korean rapper and singer-songwriter
2000 – Chloe Kim, American snowboarder
2018 – Prince Louis of Wales
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr
711 – Childebert III, Frankish king (b. 670)
725 – Wihtred of Kent
871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
915 – Yang Shihou, Chinese general
944 – Wichmann the Elder, Saxon nobleman
990 – Ekkehard II, Swiss monk and abbot
997 – Adalbert of Prague, Czech bishop, missionary, and saint (b. 956)
1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
1014 – Domnall mac Eimín, Mormaer of Mar
1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
1151 – Adeliza of Louvain (b. 1103)
1170 – Minamoto no Tametomo, Japanese samurai (b. 1139)
1196 – Béla III of Hungary (b. )
1200 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (b. 1130)
1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
1262 – Aegidius of Assisi, companion of Saint Francis of Assisi
1307 – Joan of Acre (b. 1272)
1400 – Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, English politician and nobleman (b. c. 1338)
1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
1501 – Domenico della Rovere, Catholic cardinal (b. 1442)
1554 – Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet (b. 1523)
1601–1900
1605 – Boris Godunov, Russian ruler (b. 1551)
1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (b. 1564)
1616 – Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish writer and historian (b. 1539)
1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
1695 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet and author (b. 1621)
1702 – Margaret Fell, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1614)
1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general and politician (b. 1706)
1784 – Solomon I of Imereti (b. 1735)
1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (b. 1741)
1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French lawyer and politician (b. 1721)
1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780)
1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral and explorer (b. 1768)
1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet and author (b. 1770)
1865 – Silas Soule, American soldier and whistleblower of the Sand Creek Massacre (b. 1838)
1889 – Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, French author and critic (b. 1808)
1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (b. 1815)
1901–present
1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
1907 – Alferd Packer, American prospector (b. 1842)
1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
1936 – Teresa de la Parra, French-Venezuelan author (b. 1889)
1951 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (b. 1883)
1951 – Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1959 – Bak Jungyang, Korean politician
1965 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (b. 1891)
1966 – George Ohsawa, Japanese founder of the Macrobiotic diet (b. 1893)
1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and author (b. 1897)
1983 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (b. 1908)
1984 – Red Garland, American pianist (b. 1923)
1985 – Sam Ervin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1896)
1985 – Frank Farrell, Australian rugby league player and policeman (b. 1916)
1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
1986 – Jim Laker, English international cricketer and sportscaster; holder of world record for most wickets taken in a match (b. 1922)
1986 – Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1906)
1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
1991 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, Nepalese politician, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
1993 – Cesar Chavez, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers (b. 1927)
1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
1995 – Howard Cosell, American lawyer and journalist (b. 1918)
1995 – Riho Lahi, Estonian journalist (b. 1904)
1995 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (b. 1904)
1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (b. 1899)
1997 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1918)
1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1907)
1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (b. 1928)
1998 – Thanassis Skordalos, Greek singer-songwriter and lyra player (b. 1920)
2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer (b. 1910)
2004 – Herman Veenstra, Dutch water polo player (b. 1911)
2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
2005 – Robert Farnon, Canadian-English trumpet player, composer and conductor (b. 1917)
2005 – Al Grassby, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1928)
2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
2005 – Romano Scarpa, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
2005 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player, coach and educator (b. 1934)
2006 – Phil Walden, American record producer and manager, co-founder of Capricorn Records (b. 1940)
2007 – Paul Erdman, Canadian-American economist and author (b. 1932)
2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian and author (b. 1934)
2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930)
2007 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (b. 1931)
2010 – Peter Porter, Australian-born British poet (b. 1929)
2011 – James Casey, English comedian, radio scriptwriter and producer (b. 1922)
2011 – Tom King, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1943)
2011 – Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, English businessman and politician (b. 1921)
2011 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of State (b. 1924)
2011 – John Sullivan, English screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
2012 – Lillemor Arvidsson, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 34th Governor of Gotland (b. 1943)
2012 – Billy Bryans, Canadian drummer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2012 – Chris Ethridge, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1947)
2012 – Raymond Thorsteinsson, Canadian geologist and paleontologist (b. 1921)
2012 – LeRoy T. Walker, American football player and coach (b. 1918)
2013 – Bob Brozman, American guitarist (b. 1954)
2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (b. 1943)
2013 – Tony Grealish, English footballer (b. 1956)
2013 – Antonio Maccanico, Italian banker and politician (b. 1924)
2013 – Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
2013 – Kathryn Wasserman Davis, American philanthropist and scholar (b. 1907)
2014 – Benjamín Brea, Spanish-Venezuelan saxophonist, clarinet player, and conductor (b. 1946)
2014 – Michael Glawogger, Austrian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1959)
2014 – Jaap Havekotte, Dutch speed skater and producer of ice skates (b. 1912)
2014 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (b. 1911)
2014 – F. Michael Rogers, American general (b. 1921)
2014 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (b. 1951)
2014 – Patric Standford, English composer and educator (b. 1939)
2015 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (b. 1944)
2015 – Ray Jackson, Australian activist (b. 1941)
2015 – Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Canadian Senate (b. 1950)
2015 – Jim Steffen, American football player (b. 1936)
2015 – Francis Tsai, American author and illustrator (b. 1967)
2016 – Inge King, German-born Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
2016 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Thai politician, Prime Minister from 1995 to 1996 (b. 1932)
2019 – Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick, American soprano singer and presenter (b. 1983)
2019 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1921)
2021 – Dan Kaminsky, American internet security researcher (b. 1979)
2022 – Orrin Hatch, American politician, President pro tempore of the United States Senate (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Adalbert of Prague
Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus
Saint George
Blessed Giles of Assisi
Gerard of Toul
Ibar of Beggerin (Meath)
Toyohiko Kagawa (Episcopal and Lutheran Church)
St George's Day (England) and its related observances:
La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Canada Book Day (Canada)
Castile and León Day (Castile and León)
Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
Khongjom Day (Manipur)
National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
Navy Day (China)
World Book Day
UN English Language Day (United Nations)
UN Spanish Language Day (United Nations)
References
Bibliography
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 23
Days of the year
April |
1862 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2014 | April 14 |
Events
Pre-1600
43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho in the First Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
966 – Following his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
972 – Otto II, Co-Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, marries Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII in Rome the same day.
1395 – Tokhtamysh–Timur war: At the Battle of the Terek River, Timur defeats the army of the Golden Horde, beginning the khanate's permanent military decline.
1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward resumes the throne.
1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
1601–1900
1639 – Thirty Years' War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Electorate of Saxony are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz, ending the military effectiveness of the Saxon army for the rest of the war and allowing the Swedes to advance into Bohemia.
1775 – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolition society in North America, is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
1793 – The French troops led by Léger-Félicité Sonthonax defeat the slaves settlers in the Siege of Port-au-Prince.
1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion, for which he is remembered as the country's first national hero.
1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day.
1865 – William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurs in El Paso, Texas.
1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films.
1895 – The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs.
1900 – The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.
1901–present
1906 – The first meeting of the Azusa Street Revival, which will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, is held in Los Angeles.
1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water high downstream.
1909 – Muslims in the Ottoman Empire begin a massacre of Armenians in Adana.
1912 – The British passenger liner hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.
1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada, completing the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1929 – The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35.
1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, sweeps across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.
1941 – World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds.
1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years.
1978 – Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
1979 – The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and over 500 injuries.
1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing , fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
1988 – The strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
1994 – In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
1997 – Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing is kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder.
1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
2002 – Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military.
2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner in 1985.
2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people.
2014 – Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility.
2014 – Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.
2016 – The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan.
2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva sinks.
2023 – The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency.
Births
Pre-1600
1126 – Averroes, Andalusian Arab physician and philosopher (d. 1198)
1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (d. 1414)
1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (d. 1598)
1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1632)
1578 – Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
1601–1900
1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1695)
1669 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (d. 1717)
1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (d. 1783)
1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (d. 1788)
1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799)
1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)
1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-President of Texas (d. 1870)
1800 – John Appold, English engineer (d. 1865)
1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898)
1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (d. 1887)
1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (d. 1901)
1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900)
1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (d. 1941)
1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (d. 1923)
1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (d. 1960)
1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936)
1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (d. 1940)
1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1905)
1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1929)
1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (d. 1953)
1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934)
1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1936)
1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (d. 1956)
1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (d. 1928)
1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (d. 1975)
1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (d. 1956)
1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1958)
1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1962)
1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (d. 1957)
1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
1900 – Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist (d. 1977)
1901–present
1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978)
1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (d. 2002)
1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (d. 1999)
1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (d. 1987)
1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (d. 1999)
1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (d. 1975)
1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (d. 1971)
1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (d. 1994)
1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (d. 1978)
1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (d. 1998)
1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (d. 2013)
1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1975)
1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (d. 2018)
1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (d. 2017)
1924 – Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1994)
1924 – Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (d. 2019)
1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (d. 2010)
1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
1926 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (d. 2013)
1926 – Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
1926 – Liz Renay, American actress and author (d. 2007)
1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1927 – Dany Robin, French actress and singer (d. 1995)
1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1929 – Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
1930 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (d. 2013)
1930 – Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2013)
1930 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (d. 2007)
1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (d. 2018)
1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral (d. 2020)
1931 – Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player
1932 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2015)
1932 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2022)
1932 – Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire
1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver (d. 2022)
1933 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 2012)
1933 – Yuri Oganessian, Armenian-Russian nuclear physicist
1934 – Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist
1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician (d. 2023)
1935 – John Oliver, English bishop
1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss pseudohistorian and author
1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1936 – Bobby Nichols, American golfer
1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer
1937 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (d. 2013)
1937 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Mahmud Esad Coşan, Turkish author and academic (d. 2001)
1938 – Ralph Willis, Australian politician
1940 – Julie Christie, Indian-English actress and activist
1940 – David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, English archbishop and academic
1940 – Richard Thompson, English physician and academic
1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (d. 2003)
1942 – Valentin Lebedev, Russian engineer and astronaut
1942 – Björn Rosengren, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist
1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoan economist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Samoa
1945 – Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist and songwriter
1945 – Roger Frappier, Canadian producer, director and screenwriter
1946 – Mireille Guiliano, French-American author
1946 – Michael Sarris, Cypriot economist and politician, Cypriot Minister of Finance
1946 – Knut Kristiansen, Norwegian pianist and orchestra leader
1947 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1947 – Bob Massie, Australian cricketer
1948 – Berry Berenson, American model, actress, and photographer (d. 2001)
1948 – Anastasios Papaligouras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
1949 – Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator
1949 – DeAnne Julius, American-British economist and academic
1949 – Chris Langham, English actor and screenwriter
1949 – Chas Mortimer, English motorcycle racer
1949 – John Shea, American actor and director
1950 – Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist
1950 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian author (d. 2016)
1951 – Milija Aleksic, English footballer (d. 2012)
1951 – José Eduardo González Navas, Spanish politician
1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator
1951 – Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, English politician
1952 – Kenny Aaronson, American bass player
1952 – Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish footballer and manager
1952 – David Urquhart, Scottish bishop
1954 – Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese director, screenwriter, and illustrator
1956 – Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Croatian Parliament (d. 2012)
1957 – Lothaire Bluteau, Canadian actor
1957 – Bobbi Brown, American make-up artist and author
1957 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor
1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
1958 – Jim Smith, English musician
1959 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (d. 2015)
1959 – Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Canadian actress
1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian
1960 – Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese historian and journalist
1960 – Osamu Sato, Japanese graphic artist, programmer, and composer
1960 – Tina Rosenberg, American journalist and author
1960 – Pat Symcox, South African cricketer
1961 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor and director
1962 – Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete
1964 – Brian Adams, American wrestler (d. 2007)
1964 – Jeff Andretti, American race car driver
1964 – Jim Grabb, American tennis player
1964 – Jeff Hopkins, Welsh international footballer and manager
1964 – Gina McKee, English actress
1965 – Tom Dey, American director and producer
1965 – Alexandre Jardin, French author
1965 – Craig McDermott, Australian cricketer and coach
1966 – André Boisclair, Canadian lawyer and politician
1966 – Jan Boklöv, Swedish ski jumper
1966 – David Justice, American baseball player and sportscaster
1966 – Greg Maddux, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1967 – Nicola Berti, Italian international footballer
1967 – Barrett Martin, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1967 – Julia Zemiro, French-Australian actress, comedian, singer and writer
1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
1969 – Brad Ausmus, American baseball player and manager
1969 – Martyn LeNoble, Dutch-American bass player
1969 – Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist
1970 – Shizuka Kudo, Japanese singer and actress
1971 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1971 – Carlos Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
1971 – Gregg Zaun, American baseball player and sportscaster
1972 – Paul Devlin, English-Scottish footballer and manager
1972 – Roberto Mejía, Dominican baseball player
1972 – Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (d. 2015)
1973 – Roberto Ayala, Argentinian footballer
1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
1973 – Hidetaka Suehiro, Japanese video game director and writer
1973 – David Miller, American tenor
1974 – Da Brat, American rapper
1975 – Lita, American wrestler
1975 – Luciano Almeida, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Avner Dorman, Israeli-American composer and academic
1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
1976 – Christian Älvestam, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Georgina Chapman, English model, actress, and fashion designer, co-founded Marchesa
1976 – Anna DeForge, American basketball player
1976 – Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player
1976 – Nadine Faustin-Parker, Haitian hurdler
1976 – Jason Wiemer, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Nate Fox, American basketball player (d. 2014)
1977 – Martin Kaalma, Estonian footballer
1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress and producer
1977 – Rob McElhenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – Luke Priddis, Australian rugby league player
1978 – Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete
1979 – Rebecca DiPietro, American wrestler and model
1979 – Marios Elia, Cypriot footballer
1979 – Ross Filipo, New Zealand rugby player
1979 – Noé Pamarot, French footballer
1979 – Kerem Tunçeri, Turkish basketball player
1980 – Win Butler, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 – Jeremy Smith, New Zealand rugby league player
1981 – Mustafa Güngör, German rugby player
1981 – Amy Leach, English director and producer
1982 – Uğur Boral, Turkish footballer
1982 – Larissa França, Brazilian volleyball player
1983 – Simona La Mantia, Italian triple jumper
1983 – James McFadden, Scottish footballer
1983 – William Obeng, Ghanaian-American football player
1983 – Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player
1984 – Blake Costanzo, American football player
1984 – Charles Hamelin, Canadian speed skater
1984 – Harumafuji Kōhei, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 70th Yokozuna
1984 – Tyler Thigpen, American football player
1986 – Matt Derbyshire, English footballer
1987 – Michael Baze, American jockey (d. 2011)
1987 – Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer
1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner
1988 – Eric Gryba, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete
1988 – Brad Sinopoli, Canadian football player
1988 – Anthony Modeste, French footballer
1989 – Joe Haden, American football player
1995 – Baker Mayfield, American football player
1995 – Georgie Friedrichs, Australian rugby sevens player
1996 – Abigail Breslin, American actress
1997 – D. J. Moore, American football player
1999 – Chase Young, American football player
2000 – Patrick Surtain II, American football player
Deaths
Pre-1600
911 – Pope Sergius III, pope of the Roman Catholic Church
1070 – Gerard, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1030)
1099 – Conrad, Bishop of Utrecht (b. before 1040)
1132 – Mstislav I of Kiev (b. 1076)
1279 – Bolesław the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland (b. 1224)
1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1275)
1345 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of The United Kingdom (b. 1287)
1424 – Lucia Visconti, English countess (b. 1372)
1433 – Lidwina, Dutch saint (b. 1380)
1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English nobleman, known as "the Kingmaker" (b. 1428)
1471 – John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)
1480 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (b. c. 1415)
1488 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)
1574 – Louis of Nassau (b. 1538)
1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1534)
1587 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1548)
1599 – Henry Wallop, English politician (b. 1540)
1601–1900
1609 – Gasparo da Salò, Italian violin maker (b. 1540)
1662 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (b. 1582)
1682 – Avvakum, Russian priest and saint (b. 1620)
1721 – Michel Chamillart, French politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1652)
1740 – Lady Catherine Jones, English philanthropist (b.1672)
1759 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (b. 1685)
1785 – William Whitehead, English poet and playwright (b. 1715)
1792 – Maximilian Hell, Slovak-Hungarian astronomer and priest (b. 1720)
1843 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1801)
1864 – Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (b. 1777)
1886 – Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint, Dutch novelist (b. 1812)
1888 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (b. 1824)
1901–present
1910 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1856)
1911 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1880)
1911 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1836)
1912 – Henri Brisson, French politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (b. 1835)
1914 – Hubert Bland, English activist, co-founded the Fabian Society (b. 1855)
1916 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women's rights activist (b. 1847)
1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish physician and linguist, created Esperanto (b. 1859)
1919 – Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1837)
1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (b. 1856)
1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-Russian actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1893)
1931 – Richard Armstedt, German philologist, historian, and educator (b. 1851)
1935 – Emmy Noether, German-American mathematician and academic (b. 1882)
1938 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (b. 1893)
1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (b. 1907)
1950 – Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1879)
1951 – Al Christie, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer and scholar (b. 1860)
1963 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian monk and historian (b. 1893)
1964 – Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian-Dutch mathematician and theorist (b. 1876)
1964 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
1968 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)
1969 – Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Spanish actress (b. 1900)
1975 – Günter Dyhrenfurth, German-Swiss mountaineer, geologist, and explorer (b. 1886)
1975 – Fredric March, American actor (b. 1897)
1976 – José Revueltas, Mexican author and activist (b. 1914)
1978 – Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
1978 – F. R. Leavis, English educator and critic (b. 1895)
1983 – Pete Farndon, English bassist (The Pretenders) (b. 1952)
1983 – Gianni Rodari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1920)
1986 – Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and philosopher (b. 1908)
1990 – Thurston Harris, American singer (b. 1931)
1990 – Olabisi Onabanjo, Nigerian politician, 3rd Governor of Ogun State (b. 1927)
1991 – Randolfo Pacciardi, centre-left Italian politician (b. 1899)
1992 – Irene Greenwood, Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist (b. 1898)
1994 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist and scholar (b. 1897)
1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (b. 1909)
1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (b. 1924)
2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (b. 1962)
2000 – August R. Lindt, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
2000 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (b. 1918)
2001 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1939)
2001 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
2003 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish politician (b. 1941)
2004 – Micheline Charest, English-Canadian television producer, co-founded the Cookie Jar Group (b. 1953)
2006 – Mahmut Bakalli, Kosovo politician (b. 1936)
2007 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1924)
2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (b. 1930)
2007 – René Rémond, French historian and economist (b. 1918)
2008 – Tommy Holmes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
2008 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and voice actor (b. 1912)
2009 – Maurice Druon, French author (b. 1918)
2010 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (b. 1932)
2010 – Alice Miller, Polish-French psychologist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Peter Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1962)
2011 – Jean Gratton, Canadian Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1924)
2012 – Émile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1919)
2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (b. 1924)
2012 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (b. 1986)
2013 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (b. 1937)
2013 – Colin Davis, English conductor and educator (b. 1927)
2013 – R. P. Goenka, Indian businessman, founded RPG Group (b. 1930)
2013 – George Jackson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
2013 – Armando Villanueva, Peruvian politician, 121st Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1915)
2013 – Charlie Wilson, American politician (b. 1943)
2013 – Claudia Maupin and Oliver "Chip" Northup, residents of Davis, California who were tortured, murdered, and mutilated in their home by a 15-year-old, Daniel William Marsh
2014 – Nina Cassian, Romanian poet and critic (b. 1924)
2014 – Crad Kilodney, American-Canadian author (b. 1948)
2014 – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (b. 1930)
2014 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (b. 1940)
2015 – Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and author (b. 1942)
2015 – Mark Reeds, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1960)
2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)
2015 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal and theologian (b. 1921)
2019 – Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (b.1935)
2020 – Carol D'Onofrio, American public health researcher (b. 1936)
2021 – Bernie Madoff, American mastermind of the world's largest Ponzi scheme (b. 1938)
2022 – Mike Bossy, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (b. 1957)
2022 – Ilkka Kanerva, Finnish politician (b. 1948)
2022 – Orlando Julius, Nigerian saxophonist, singer (b. 1943)
2023 – Mark Sheehan, Irish guitarist (The Script) (b. 1976)
Holidays and observances
Ambedkar Jayanti (India)
Bengali New Year (Bangladesh)
Black Day (South Korea)
Christian feast day:
Anthony, John, and Eustathius
Bénézet
Henry Beard Delany (U.S. Episcopal Church)
Domnina of Terni
Lidwina
Peter González
Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus
April 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commemoration of Anfal Genocide Against the Kurds (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Day of Mologa (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia)
Day of the Georgian language (Georgia)
Dhivehi Language Day (Maldives)
N'Ko Alphabet Day (Mande speakers)
Pan American Day (several countries in the Americas)
Takayama Spring Festival begins (Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan)
Vaisakhi (Since 2011)
Youth Day (Angola)
World Quantum Day
References
Sources
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 14
Days of the year
April |
1914 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial%20resistance | Antimicrobial resistance | Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials (drugs used to treat infections). All classes of microbes can evolve resistance where the drugs are no longer effective. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistance. Protozoa evolve antiprotozoal resistance, and bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance. Together all of these come under the umbrella of antimicrobial resistance. Microbes resistant to multiple antimicrobials are called multidrug resistant (MDR) and are sometimes referred to as superbugs. Although antimicrobial resistance is a naturally occurring process, it is often the result of improper usage of the drugs and management of the infections.
Antibiotic resistance is a major subset of AMR, that applies specifically to bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics. Resistance in bacteria can arise naturally by genetic mutation, or by one species acquiring resistance from another. Resistance can appear spontaneously because of random mutations, but also arises through spreading of resistant genes through horizontal gene transfer. However, extended use of antibiotics appears to encourage selection for mutations which can render antibiotics ineffective. Antifungal resistance is a subset of AMR, that specifically applies to fungi that have become resistant to antifungals. Resistance to antifungals can arise naturally, for example by genetic mutation or through aneuploidy. Extended use of antifungals leads to development of antifungal resistance through various mechanisms.
Clinical conditions due to infections caused by microbes containing AMR cause millions of deaths each year. In 2019 there were around 1.27 million deaths globally caused by bacterial AMR. Infections caused by resistant microbes are more difficult to treat, requiring higher doses of antimicrobial drugs, more expensive antibiotics, or alternative medications which may prove more toxic. These approaches may also cost more.
The prevention of antibiotic misuse, which can lead to antibiotic resistance, includes taking antibiotics only when prescribed. Narrow-spectrum antibiotics are preferred over broad-spectrum antibiotics when possible, as effectively and accurately targeting specific organisms is less likely to cause resistance, as well as side effects. For people who take these medications at home, education about proper use is essential. Health care providers can minimize spread of resistant infections by use of proper sanitation and hygiene, including handwashing and disinfecting between patients, and should encourage the same of the patient, visitors, and family members.
Rising drug resistance is caused mainly by use of antimicrobials in humans and other animals, and spread of resistant strains between the two. Growing resistance has also been linked to releasing inadequately treated effluents from the pharmaceutical industry, especially in countries where bulk drugs are manufactured. Antibiotics increase selective pressure in bacterial populations, killing vulnerable bacteria; this increases the percentage of resistant bacteria which continue growing. Even at very low levels of antibiotic, resistant bacteria can have a growth advantage and grow faster than vulnerable bacteria. Similarly, the use of antifungals in agriculture increases selective pressure in fungal populations which triggers the emergence of antifungal resistance. As resistance to antimicrobials becomes more common there is greater need for alternative treatments. Calls for new antimicrobial therapies have been issued, but there is very little development of new drugs which would lead to an improved research process.
Antimicrobial resistance is increasing globally due to increased prescription and dispensing of antibiotic drugs in developing countries. Estimates are that 700,000 to several million deaths result per year and continues to pose a major public health threat worldwide. Each year in the United States, at least 2.8 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 35,000 people die and US$55 billion is spent on increased health care costs and lost productivity. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 350 million deaths could be caused by AMR by 2050. By then, the yearly death toll will be 10 million, according to a United Nations report.
There are public calls for global collective action to address the threat that include proposals for international treaties on antimicrobial resistance. The burden of worldwide antibiotic resistance is not completely identified, but low-and middle- income countries with weaker healthcare systems are more affected, with mortality being the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, priorities changed with action against antimicrobial resistance slowing due to scientists and governments focusing more on SARS-CoV-2 research. At the same time the threat of AMR has increased during the pandemic.
Definition
The WHO defines antimicrobial resistance as a microorganism's resistance to an antimicrobial drug that was once able to treat an infection by that microorganism. A person cannot become resistant to antibiotics. Resistance is a property of the microbe, not a person or other organism infected by a microbe. All types of microbes can develop drug resistance. Thus, there are antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral and antiparasitic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is a subset of antimicrobial resistance. This more specific resistance is linked to bacteria and thus broken down into two further subsets, microbiological and clinical. Microbiological resistance is the most common and occurs from genes, mutated or inherited, that allow the bacteria to resist the mechanism to kill the microbe associated with certain antibiotics. Clinical resistance is shown through the failure of many therapeutic techniques where the bacteria that are normally susceptible to a treatment become resistant after surviving the outcome of the treatment. In both cases of acquired resistance, the bacteria can pass the genetic catalyst for resistance through horizontal gene transfer: conjugation, transduction, or transformation. This allows the resistance to spread across the same species of pathogen or even similar bacterial pathogens.
Overview
WHO report released April 2014 stated, "this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance—when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections—is now a major threat to public health."
Global deaths attributable to AMR numbered 1.27 million in 2019. That year, AMR may have contributed to 5 million deaths and one in five people who died due to AMR were children under five years old.
In 2018, WHO considered antibiotic resistance to be one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development. Deaths attributable to AMR vary by area:
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control calculated that in 2015 there were 671,689 infections in the EU and European Economic Area caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in 33,110 deaths. Most were acquired in healthcare settings. In 2019 there were 133,000 deaths caused by AMR.
Causes
Antimicrobial resistance is mainly caused by the overuse/misuse of antimicrobials. This leads to microbes either evolving a defense against drugs used to treat them, or certain strains of microbes that have a natural resistance to antimicrobials becoming much more prevalent than the ones that are easily defeated with medication. While antimicrobial resistance does occur naturally over time, the use of antimicrobial agents in a variety of settings both within the healthcare industry and outside of has led to antimicrobial resistance becoming increasingly more prevalent.
Although many microbes develop resistance to antibiotics over time though natural mutation, overprescribing and inappropriate prescription of antibiotics have accelerated the problem. It is possible that as many as 1 in 3 prescriptions written for antibiotics are unnecessary. Every year, approximately 154 million prescriptions for antibiotics are written. Of these, up to 46 million are unnecessary or inappropriate for the condition that the patient has. Microbes may naturally develop resistance through genetic mutations that occur during cell division, and although random mutations are rare, many microbes reproduce frequently and rapidly, increasing the chances of members of the population acquiring a mutation that increases resistance. Many individuals stop taking antibiotics when they begin to feel better. When this occurs, it is possible that the microbes that are less susceptible to treatment still remain in the body. If these microbes are able to continue to reproduce, this can lead to an infection by bacteria that are less susceptible or even resistant to an antibiotic.
Natural occurrence
Antimicrobial resistance can evolve naturally due to continued exposure to antimicrobials. Natural selection means that organisms that are able to adapt to their environment, survive, and continue to produce offspring. As a result, the types of microorganisms that are able to survive over time with continued attack by certain antimicrobial agents will naturally become more prevalent in the environment, and those without this resistance will become obsolete.
Some contemporary antimicrobial resistances have also evolved naturally before the use of antimicrobials of human clinical uses. For instance, methicillin-resistance evolved as a pathogen of hedgehogs, possibly as a co-evolutionary adaptation of the pathogen to hedgehogs that are infected by a dermatophyte that naturally produces antibiotics. Also, many soil fungi and bacteria are natural competitors and the original antibiotic Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming rapidly lost clinical effectiveness in treating humans and, furthermore, none of the other natural penicillins (F, K, N, X, O, U1 or U6) are currently in clinical use.
Antimicrobial resistance can be acquired from other microbes through swapping genes in a process termed horizontal gene transfer. This means that once a gene for resistance to an antibiotic appears in a microbial community, it can then spread to other microbes in the community, potentially moving from a non-disease causing microbe to a disease-causing microbe. This process is heavily driven by the “natural selection” processes that happen during antibiotic use or misuse.
Over time, most of the strains of bacteria and infections present will be the type resistant to the antimicrobial agent being used to treat them, making this agent now ineffective to defeat most microbes. With the increased use of antimicrobial agents, there is a speeding up of this natural process.
Self-medication
In 89% of countries, antibiotics can only be prescribed by a doctor and supplied by a pharmacy. Self-medication by consumers is defined as "the taking of medicines on one's own initiative or on another person's suggestion, who is not a certified medical professional", and it has been identified as one of the primary reasons for the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. Self-medication with antibiotics is an unsuitable way of using them but a common practice in resource-constrained countries. The practice exposes individuals to the risk of bacteria that have developed antimicrobial resistance. Many people resort to this out of necessity, when access to a physician is unavailable due to lockdowns and GP surgery closures, or when the patients have a limited amount of time or money to see a prescribing doctor. This increased access makes it extremely easy to obtain antimicrobials and an example is India, where in the state of Punjab 73% of the population resorted to treating their minor health issues and chronic illnesses through self-medication.
Self-medication is higher outside the hospital environment, and this is linked to higher use of antibiotics, with the majority of antibiotics being used in the community rather than hospitals. The prevalence of self-medication in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) ranges from 8.1% to very high at 93%. Accessibility, affordability, and conditions of health facilities, as well as the health-seeking behavior, are factors that influence self-medication in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Two significant issues with self-medication are the lack of knowledge of the public on, firstly, the dangerous effects of certain antimicrobials (for example ciprofloxacin which can cause tendonitis, tendon rupture and aortic dissection) and, secondly, broad microbial resistance and when to seek medical care if the infection is not clearing. In order to determine the public's knowledge and preconceived notions on antibiotic resistance, a screening of 3,537 articles published in Europe, Asia, and North America was done. Of the 55,225 total people surveyed in the articles, 70% had heard of antibiotic resistance previously, but 88% of those people thought it referred to some type of physical change in the human body. With so many people around the world with the ability to self-medicate using antibiotics, and a vast majority unaware of what antimicrobial resistance is, it makes the increase of antimicrobial resistance and its global negative impact much more likely.
Clinical misuse
Clinical misuse by healthcare professionals is another contributor to increased antimicrobial resistance. Studies done in the US show that the indication for treatment of antibiotics, choice of the agent used, and the duration of therapy was incorrect in up to 50% of the cases studied. In 2010 and 2011 about a third of antibiotic prescriptions in outpatient settings in the United States were not necessary. Another study in an intensive care unit in a major hospital in France has shown that 30% to 60% of prescribed antibiotics were unnecessary. These inappropriate uses of antimicrobial agents promote the evolution of antimicrobial resistance by supporting the bacteria in developing genetic alterations that lead to resistance.
According to research conducted in the USA that aimed to evaluate physicians' attitudes and knowledge on antimicrobial resistance in ambulatory settings, only 63% of those surveyed reported antibiotic resistance as a problem in their local practices, while 23% reported the aggressive prescription of antibiotics as necessary to avoid failing to provide adequate care. This demonstrates how a majority of doctors underestimate the impact that their own prescribing habits have on antimicrobial resistance as a whole. It also confirms that some physicians may be overly cautious and prescribe antibiotics for both medical or legal reasons, even when clinical indications for use of these medications are not always confirmed. This can lead to unnecessary antimicrobial use, a pattern which may have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Studies have shown that common misconceptions about the effectiveness and necessity of antibiotics to treat common mild illnesses contribute to their overuse.
Pandemics, disinfectants and healthcare systems
Increased antibiotic use during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate this global health challenge. Moreover, pandemic burdens on some healthcare systems may contribute to antibiotic-resistant infections. On the other hand, "increased hand hygiene, decreased international travel, and decreased elective hospital procedures may have reduced AMR pathogen selection and spread in the short term" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of disinfectants such as alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and antiseptic hand wash may also have the potential to increase antimicrobial resistance. Extensive use of disinfectants can lead to mutations that induce antimicrobial resistance.
Environmental pollution
Untreated effluents from pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, hospitals and clinics, and inappropriate disposal of unused or expired medication can expose microbes in the environment to antibiotics and trigger the evolution of resistance.
Food production
Livestock
The antimicrobial resistance crisis also extends to the food industry, specifically with food producing animals. With an ever-increasing human population, there is constant pressure to intensify productivity in many agricultural sectors, including the production of meat as a source of protein. Antibiotics are fed to livestock to act as growth supplements, and a preventative measure to decrease the likelihood of infections.
This can result in the transfer of resistant bacterial strains into the food that humans eat, causing potentially fatal transfer of disease. While the practice of using antibiotics as growth promoters does result in better yields and meat products, it is a major issue and needs to be decreased in order to prevent antimicrobial resistance. Though the evidence linking antimicrobial usage in livestock to antimicrobial resistance is limited, the World Health Organization Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance strongly recommended the reduction of use of medically important antimicrobials in livestock. Additionally, the Advisory Group stated that such antimicrobials should be expressly prohibited for both growth promotion and disease prevention in food producing animals.
By mapping antimicrobial consumption in livestock globally, it was predicted that in 228 countries there would be a total 67% increase in consumption of antibiotics by livestock by 2030. In some countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa it is predicted that a 99% increase will occur. Several countries have restricted the use of antibiotics in livestock, including Canada, China, Japan, and the US. These restrictions are sometimes associated with a reduction of the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in humans.
Pesticides
Most pesticides protect crops against insects and plants, but in some cases antimicrobial pesticides are used to protect against various microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, and protozoa. The overuse of many pesticides in an effort to have a higher yield of crops has resulted in many of these microbes evolving a tolerance against these antimicrobial agents. Currently there are over 4000 antimicrobial pesticides registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and sold to market, showing the widespread use of these agents. It is estimated that for every single meal a person consumes, 0.3 g of pesticides is used, as 90% of all pesticide use is in agriculture. A majority of these products are used to help defend against the spread of infectious diseases, and hopefully protect public health. But out of the large amount of pesticides used, it is also estimated that less than 0.1% of those antimicrobial agents, actually reach their targets. That leaves over 99% of all pesticides used available to contaminate other resources. In soil, air, and water these antimicrobial agents are able to spread, coming in contact with more microorganisms and leading to these microbes evolving mechanisms to tolerate and further resist pesticides. The use of antifungal azole pesticides that drive environmental azole resistance have been linked to azole resistance cases in the clinical setting. The same issues confront the novel antifungal classes (e.g. orotomides) which are again being used in both the clinic and agriculture.
Prevention
There have been increasing public calls for global collective action to address the threat, including a proposal for an international treaty on antimicrobial resistance. Further detail and attention is still needed in order to recognize and measure trends in resistance on the international level; the idea of a global tracking system has been suggested but implementation has yet to occur. A system of this nature would provide insight to areas of high resistance as well as information necessary for evaluating programs, introducing interventions and other changes made to fight or reverse antibiotic resistance.
Duration of antimicrobials
Delaying or minimizing the use of antibiotics for certain conditions may help safely reduce their use. Antimicrobial treatment duration should be based on the infection and other health problems a person may have. For many infections once a person has improved there is little evidence that stopping treatment causes more resistance. Some, therefore, feel that stopping early may be reasonable in some cases. Other infections, however, do require long courses regardless of whether a person feels better.
Delaying antibiotics for ailments such as a sore throat and otitis media may have not different in the rate of complications compared with immediate antibiotics, for example. When treating respiratory tract infections, clinical judgement is required as to the appropriate treatment (delayed or immediate antibiotic use).
Monitoring and mapping
There are multiple national and international monitoring programs for drug-resistant threats, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA), extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacterales, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MRAB).
ResistanceOpen is an online global map of antimicrobial resistance developed by HealthMap which displays aggregated data on antimicrobial resistance from publicly available and user submitted data. The website can display data for a radius from a location. Users may submit data from antibiograms for individual hospitals or laboratories. European data is from the EARS-Net (European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network), part of the ECDC. ResistanceMap is a website by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy and provides data on antimicrobial resistance on a global level.
By comparison there is a lack of national and international monitoring programs for antifungal resistance.
Limiting antimicrobial use in humans
Antimicrobial stewardship programmes appear useful in reducing rates of antimicrobial resistance. The antimicrobial stewardship program will also provide pharmacists with the knowledge to educate patients that antibiotics will not work for a virus for example.
Excessive antimicrobial use has become one of the top contributors to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. Since the beginning of the antimicrobial era, antimicrobials have been used to treat a wide range of infectious diseases. Overuse of antimicrobials has become the primary cause of rising levels of antimicrobial resistance. The main problem is that doctors are willing to prescribe antimicrobials to ill-informed individuals who believe that antimicrobials can cure nearly all illnesses, including viral infections like the common cold. In an analysis of drug prescriptions, 36% of individuals with a cold or an upper respiratory infection (both usually viral in origin) were given prescriptions for antibiotics. These prescriptions accomplished nothing other than increasing the risk of further evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Using antimicrobials without prescription is another driving force leading to the overuse of antibiotics to self-treat diseases like the common cold, cough, fever, and dysentery resulting in an epidemic of antibiotic resistance in countries like Bangladesh, risking its spread around the globe. Introducing strict antibiotic stewardship in the outpatient setting to reduce inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics may reduce the emerging bacterial resistance.
The WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) antibiotic book has been introduced to guide antibiotic choice for the 30 most common infections in adults and children to reduce inappropriate prescribing in primary care and hospitals. Narrow spectrum antibiotics are preferred due to their lower resistance potential and broad-spectrum antibiotics are only recommended for people with more severe symptoms. Some antibiotics are more likely to confer resistance, so are kept as reserve antibiotics in the AWaRe book.
Various diagnostic strategies have been employed to prevent the overuse of antifungal therapy in the clinic, proving a safe alternative to empirical antifungal therapy, and thus underpinning antifungal stewardship schemes.
At the hospital level
Antimicrobial stewardship teams in hospitals are encouraging optimal use of antimicrobials. The goals of antimicrobial stewardship are to help practitioners pick the right drug at the right dose and duration of therapy while preventing misuse and minimizing the development of resistance. Stewardship interventions may reduce the length of stay by an average of slightly over 1 day while not increasing the risk of death.
At the primary care level
Given the volume of care provided in primary care (general practice), recent strategies have focused on reducing unnecessary antimicrobial prescribing in this setting. Simple interventions, such as written information explaining when taking antibiotics is not necessary, for example in common infections of the upper respiratory tract, have been shown to reduce antibiotic prescribing. Various tools are also available to help professionals decide if prescribing antimicrobials is necessary.
Parental expectations, driven by the worry for their children's health, can influence how often children are prescribed antibiotics. Parents often rely on their clinician for advice and reassurance. However a lack of plain language information and not having adequate time for consultation negatively impacts this relationship. In effect parents often rely on past experiences in their expectations rather than reassurance from the clinician. Adequate time for consultation and plain language information can help parents make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary antibiotic use.
The prescriber should closely adhere to the five rights of drug administration: the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route, and the right time. Microbiological samples should be taken for culture and sensitivity testing before treatment when indicated and treatment potentially changed based on the susceptibility report.
Health workers and pharmacists can help tackle antibiotic resistance by: enhancing infection prevention and control; only prescribing and dispensing antibiotics when they are truly needed; prescribing and dispensing the right antibiotic(s) to treat the illness.
At the individual level
People can help tackle resistance by using antibiotics only when prescribed by a doctor; completing the full prescription, never sharing antibiotics with others or using leftover prescriptions.
Country examples
The Netherlands has the lowest rate of antibiotic prescribing in the OECD, at a rate of 11.4 defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 people per day in 2011. The defined daily dose (DDD) is a statistical measure of drug consumption, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Germany and Sweden also have lower prescribing rates, with Sweden's rate having been declining since 2007.
Greece, France and Belgium have high prescribing rates for antibiotics of more than 28 DDD.
Water, sanitation, hygiene
Infectious disease control through improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure needs to be included in the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) agenda. The "Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance" stated in 2018 that "the spread of pathogens through unsafe water results in a high burden of gastrointestinal disease, increasing even further the need for antibiotic treatment." This is particularly a problem in developing countries where the spread of infectious diseases caused by inadequate WASH standards is a major driver of antibiotic demand. Growing usage of antibiotics together with persistent infectious disease levels have led to a dangerous cycle in which reliance on antimicrobials increases while the efficacy of drugs diminishes. The proper use of infrastructure for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) can result in a 47–72 percent decrease of diarrhea cases treated with antibiotics depending on the type of intervention and its effectiveness. A reduction of the diarrhea disease burden through improved infrastructure would result in large decreases in the number of diarrhea cases treated with antibiotics. This was estimated as ranging from 5 million in Brazil to up to 590 million in India by the year 2030. The strong link between increased consumption and resistance indicates that this will directly mitigate the accelerating spread of AMR. Sanitation and water for all by 2030 is Goal Number 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
An increase in hand washing compliance by hospital staff results in decreased rates of resistant organisms.
Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in health facilities offer significant co-benefits for combatting AMR, and investment should be increased. There is much room for improvement: WHO and UNICEF estimated in 2015 that globally 38% of health facilities did not have a source of water, nearly 19% had no toilets and 35% had no water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub for handwashing.
Industrial wastewater treatment
Manufacturers of antimicrobials need to improve the treatment of their wastewater (by using industrial wastewater treatment processes) to reduce the release of residues into the environment.
Limiting antimicrobial use in animals and farming
It is established that the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry can give rise to AMR resistances in bacteria found in food animals to the antibiotics being administered (through injections or medicated feeds). For this reason only antimicrobials that are deemed "not-clinically relevant" are used in these practices.
Unlike resistance to antibacterials, antifungal resistance can be driven by arable farming, currently there is no regulation on the use of similar antifungal classes in agriculture and the clinic.
Recent studies have shown that the prophylactic use of "non-priority" or "non-clinically relevant" antimicrobials in feeds can potentially, under certain conditions, lead to co-selection of environmental AMR bacteria with resistance to medically important antibiotics. The possibility for co-selection of AMR resistances in the food chain pipeline may have far-reaching implications for human health.
Country examples
Europe
In 1997, European Union health ministers voted to ban avoparcin and four additional antibiotics used to promote animal growth in 1999. In 2006 a ban on the use of antibiotics in European feed, with the exception of two antibiotics in poultry feeds, became effective. In Scandinavia, there is evidence that the ban has led to a lower prevalence of antibiotic resistance in (nonhazardous) animal bacterial populations. As of 2004, several European countries established a decline of antimicrobial resistance in humans through limiting the use of antimicrobials in agriculture and food industries without jeopardizing animal health or economic cost.
United States
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collect data on antibiotic use in humans and in a more limited fashion in animals. The FDA first determined in 1977 that there is evidence of emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains in livestock. The long-established practice of permitting OTC sales of antibiotics (including penicillin and other drugs) to lay animal owners for administration to their own animals nonetheless continued in all states.
In 2000, the FDA announced their intention to revoke approval of fluoroquinolone use in poultry production because of substantial evidence linking it to the emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter infections in humans. Legal challenges from the food animal and pharmaceutical industries delayed the final decision to do so until 2006. Fluroquinolones have been banned from extra-label use in food animals in the USA since 2007. However, they remain widely used in companion and exotic animals.
Global action plans and awareness
The increasing interconnectedness of the world and the fact that new classes of antibiotics have not been developed and approved for more than 25 years highlight the extent to which antimicrobial resistance is a global health challenge. A global action plan to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines was endorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the key objectives of the plan is to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training. This global action plan developed by the World Health Organization was created to combat the issue of antimicrobial resistance and was guided by the advice of countries and key stakeholders. The WHO's global action plan is composed of five key objectives that can be targeted through different means, and represents countries coming together to solve a major problem that can have future health consequences. These objectives are as follows:
improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training.
strengthen the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and research.
reduce the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene and infection prevention measures.
optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health.
develop the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the needs of all countries and to increase investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions.
Steps towards progress
React based in Sweden has produced informative material on AMR for the general public.
Videos are being produced for the general public to generate interest and awareness.
The Irish Department of Health published a National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance in October 2017. The Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland (SARI), Iaunched in 2001 developed Guidelines for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Hospitals in Ireland in conjunction with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, these were published in 2009. Following their publication a public information campaign 'Action on Antibiotics' was launched to highlight the need for a change in antibiotic prescribing. Despite this, antibiotic prescribing remains high with variance in adherence to guidelines.
The United Kingdom published a 20-year vision for antimicrobial resistance that sets out the goal of containing and controlling AMR by 2040. The vision is supplemented by a 5-year action plan running from 2019 to 2024, building on the previous action plan (2013-2018).
Antibiotic Awareness Week
The World Health Organization has promoted the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week running from 16 to 22 November 2015. The aim of the week is to increase global awareness of antibiotic resistance. It also wants to promote the correct usage of antibiotics across all fields in order to prevent further instances of antibiotic resistance.
World Antibiotic Awareness Week has been held every November since 2015. For 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are together calling for responsible use of antibiotics in humans and animals to reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
United Nations
In 2016 the Secretary-General of the United Nations convened the Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance. The IACG worked with international organizations and experts in human, animal, and plant health to create a plan to fight antimicrobial resistance. Their report released in April 2019 highlights the seriousness of antimicrobial resistance and the threat it poses to world health. It suggests five recommendations for member states to follow in order to tackle this increasing threat. The IACG recommendations are as follows:
Accelerate progress in countries
Innovate to secure the future
Collaborate for more effective action
Invest for a sustainable response
Strengthen accountability and global governance
Mechanisms and organisms
Bacteria
The five main mechanisms by which bacteria exhibit resistance to antibiotics are:
Drug inactivation or modification: for example, enzymatic deactivation of penicillin G in some penicillin-resistant bacteria through the production of β-lactamases. Drugs may also be chemically modified through the addition of functional groups by transferase enzymes; for example, acetylation, phosphorylation, or adenylation are common resistance mechanisms to aminoglycosides. Acetylation is the most widely used mechanism and can affect a number of drug classes.
Alteration of target- or binding site: for example, alteration of PBP—the binding target site of penicillins—in MRSA and other penicillin-resistant bacteria. Another protective mechanism found among bacterial species is ribosomal protection proteins. These proteins protect the bacterial cell from antibiotics that target the cell's ribosomes to inhibit protein synthesis. The mechanism involves the binding of the ribosomal protection proteins to the ribosomes of the bacterial cell, which in turn changes its conformational shape. This allows the ribosomes to continue synthesizing proteins essential to the cell while preventing antibiotics from binding to the ribosome to inhibit protein synthesis.
Alteration of metabolic pathway: for example, some sulfonamide-resistant bacteria do not require para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), an important precursor for the synthesis of folic acid and nucleic acids in bacteria inhibited by sulfonamides, instead, like mammalian cells, they turn to using preformed folic acid.
Reduced drug accumulation: by decreasing drug permeability or increasing active efflux (pumping out) of the drugs across the cell surface These pumps within the cellular membrane of certain bacterial species are used to pump antibiotics out of the cell before they are able to do any damage. They are often activated by a specific substrate associated with an antibiotic, as in fluoroquinolone resistance.
Ribosome splitting and recycling: for example, drug-mediated stalling of the ribosome by lincomycin and erythromycin unstalled by a heat shock protein found in Listeria monocytogenes, which is a homologue of HflX from other bacteria. Liberation of the ribosome from the drug allows further translation and consequent resistance to the drug.
There are several different types of germs that have developed a resistance over time.
The six pathogens causing most deaths associated with resistance are Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. They were responsible for 929,000 deaths attributable to resistance and 3.57 million deaths associated with resistance in 2019.
Penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae developed a resistance to penicillin in 1976. Another example is Azithromycin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which developed a resistance to azithromycin in 2011.
In gram-negative bacteria, plasmid-mediated resistance genes produce proteins that can bind to DNA gyrase, protecting it from the action of quinolones. Finally, mutations at key sites in DNA gyrase or topoisomerase IV can decrease their binding affinity to quinolones, decreasing the drug's effectiveness.
Some bacteria are naturally resistant to certain antibiotics; for example, gram-negative bacteria are resistant to most β-lactam antibiotics due to the presence of β-lactamase. Antibiotic resistance can also be acquired as a result of either genetic mutation or horizontal gene transfer. Although mutations are rare, with spontaneous mutations in the pathogen genome occurring at a rate of about 1 in 105 to 1 in 108 per chromosomal replication, the fact that bacteria reproduce at a high rate allows for the effect to be significant. Given that lifespans and production of new generations can be on a timescale of mere hours, a new (de novo) mutation in a parent cell can quickly become an inherited mutation of widespread prevalence, resulting in the microevolution of a fully resistant colony. However, chromosomal mutations also confer a cost of fitness. For example, a ribosomal mutation may protect a bacterial cell by changing the binding site of an antibiotic but may result in slower growth rate. Moreover, some adaptive mutations can propagate not only through inheritance but also through horizontal gene transfer. The most common mechanism of horizontal gene transfer is the transferring of plasmids carrying antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria of the same or different species via conjugation. However, bacteria can also acquire resistance through transformation, as in Streptococcus pneumoniae uptaking of naked fragments of extracellular DNA that contain antibiotic resistance genes to streptomycin, through transduction, as in the bacteriophage-mediated transfer of tetracycline resistance genes between strains of S. pyogenes, or through gene transfer agents, which are particles produced by the host cell that resemble bacteriophage structures and are capable of transferring DNA.
Antibiotic resistance can be introduced artificially into a microorganism through laboratory protocols, sometimes used as a selectable marker to examine the mechanisms of gene transfer or to identify individuals that absorbed a piece of DNA that included the resistance gene and another gene of interest.
Recent findings show no necessity of large populations of bacteria for the appearance of antibiotic resistance. Small populations of Escherichia coli in an antibiotic gradient can become resistant. Any heterogeneous environment with respect to nutrient and antibiotic gradients may facilitate antibiotic resistance in small bacterial populations. Researchers hypothesize that the mechanism of resistance evolution is based on four SNP mutations in the genome of E. coli produced by the gradient of antibiotic.
In one study, which has implications for space microbiology, a non-pathogenic strain E. coli MG1655 was exposed to trace levels of the broad spectrum antibiotic chloramphenicol, under simulated microgravity (LSMMG, or Low Shear Modeled Microgravity) over 1000 generations. The adapted strain acquired resistance to not only chloramphenicol, but also cross-resistance to other antibiotics; this was in contrast to the observation on the same strain, which was adapted to over 1000 generations under LSMMG, but without any antibiotic exposure; the strain in this case did not acquire any such resistance. Thus, irrespective of where they are used, the use of an antibiotic would likely result in persistent resistance to that antibiotic, as well as cross-resistance to other antimicrobials.
In recent years, the emergence and spread of β-lactamases called carbapenemases has become a major health crisis. One such carbapenemase is New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM-1), an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to a broad range of beta-lactam antibiotics. The most common bacteria that make this enzyme are gram-negative such as E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, but the gene for NDM-1 can spread from one strain of bacteria to another by horizontal gene transfer.
Viruses
Specific antiviral drugs are used to treat some viral infections. These drugs prevent viruses from reproducing by inhibiting essential stages of the virus's replication cycle in infected cells. Antivirals are used to treat HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, herpes viruses including varicella zoster virus, cytomegalovirus and Epstein–Barr virus. With each virus, some strains have become resistant to the administered drugs.
Antiviral drugs typically target key components of viral reproduction; for example, oseltamivir targets influenza neuraminidase, while guanosine analogs inhibit viral DNA polymerase. Resistance to antivirals is thus acquired through mutations in the genes that encode the protein targets of the drugs.
Resistance to HIV antivirals is problematic, and even multi-drug resistant strains have evolved. One source of resistance is that many current HIV drugs, including NRTIs and NNRTIs, target reverse transcriptase; however, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is highly error prone and thus mutations conferring resistance arise rapidly. Resistant strains of the HIV virus emerge rapidly if only one antiviral drug is used. Using three or more drugs together, termed combination therapy, has helped to control this problem, but new drugs are needed because of the continuing emergence of drug-resistant HIV strains.
Fungi
Infections by fungi are a cause of high morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised persons, such as those with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or receiving chemotherapy. The fungi Candida, Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus cause most of these infections and antifungal resistance occurs in all of them. Multidrug resistance in fungi is increasing because of the widespread use of antifungal drugs to treat infections in immunocompromised individuals and the use of some agricultural antifungals. Antifungal resistant disease is associated with increased mortality.
Some fungi (e.g. Candida krusei and fluconazole) exhibit intrinsic resistance to certain antifungal drugs or classes, whereas some species develop antifungal resistance to external pressures. Antifungal resistance is a One Health concern, driven by multiple extrinsic factors, including extensive fungicidal use, overuse of clinical antifungals, environmental change and host factors.
In the USA fluconazole-resistant Candida species and azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus have been highlighted as a growing threat.
More than 20 species of Candida can cause candidiasis infection, the most common of which is Candida albicans. Candida yeasts normally inhabit the skin and mucous membranes without causing infection. However, overgrowth of Candida can lead to candidiasis. Some Candida species (e.g. Candida glabrata) are becoming resistant to first-line and second-line antifungal agents such as echinocandins and azoles.
The emergence of Candida auris as a potential human pathogen that sometimes exhibits multi-class antifungal drug resistance is concerning and has been associated with several outbreaks globally. The WHO has released a priority fungal pathogen list, including pathogens with antifungal resistance.
The identification of antifungal resistance is undermined by limited classical diagnosis of infection, where a culture is lacking, preventing susceptibility testing. National and international surveillance schemes for fungal disease and antifungal resistance are limited, hampering the understanding of the disease burden and associated resistance. The application of molecular testing to identify genetic markers associating with resistance may improve the identification of antifungal resistance, but the diversity of mutations associated with resistance is increasing across the fungal species causing infection. In addition, a number of resistance mechanisms depend on up-regulation of selected genes (for instance reflux pumps) rather than defined mutations that are amenable to molecular detection.
Due to the limited number of antifungals in clinical use and the increasing global incidence of antifungal resistance, using the existing antifungals in combination might be beneficial in some cases but further research is needed. Similarly, other approaches that might help to combat the emergence of antifungal resistance could rely on the development of host-directed therapies such as immunotherapy or vaccines.
Parasites
The protozoan parasites that cause the diseases malaria, trypanosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis and leishmaniasis are important human pathogens.
Malarial parasites that are resistant to the drugs that are currently available to infections are common and this has led to increased efforts to develop new drugs. Resistance to recently developed drugs such as artemisinin has also been reported. The problem of drug resistance in malaria has driven efforts to develop vaccines.
Trypanosomes are parasitic protozoa that cause African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis). There are no vaccines to prevent these infections so drugs such as pentamidine and suramin, benznidazole and nifurtimox are used to treat infections. These drugs are effective but infections caused by resistant parasites have been reported.
Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoa and is an important public health problem worldwide, especially in sub-tropical and tropical countries. Drug resistance has "become a major concern".
Global and genomic data
In 2022, genomic epidemiologists reported results from a global survey of antimicrobial resistance via genomic wastewater-based epidemiology, finding large regional variations, providing maps, and suggesting resistance genes are also passed on between microbial species that are not closely related. The WHO provides the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) reports which summarize annual (e.g. 2020's) data on international AMR, also including an interactive dashboard.
Epidemiology
United Kingdom
Public Health England reported that the total number of antibiotic resistant infections in England rose by 9% from 55,812 in 2017 to 60,788 in 2018, but antibiotic consumption had fallen by 9% from 20.0 to 18.2 defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day between 2014 and 2018.
United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 2.8 million cases of antibiotic resistance have been reported. However, in 2019 overall deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections decreased by 18% and deaths in hospitals decreased by 30%.
The COVID pandemic caused a reversal of much of the progress made on attenuating the effects of antibiotic resistance, resulting in more antibiotic use, more resistant infections, and less data on preventative action. Hospital-onset infections and deaths both increased by 15% in 2020, and significantly higher rates of infections were reported for 4 out of 6 types of healthcare associated infections.
History
The 1950s to 1970s represented the golden age of antibiotic discovery, where countless new classes of antibiotics were discovered to treat previously incurable diseases such as tuberculosis and syphilis. However, since that time the discovery of new classes of antibiotics has been almost nonexistent, and represents a situation that is especially problematic considering the resiliency of bacteria shown over time and the continued misuse and overuse of antibiotics in treatment.
The phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance caused by overuse of antibiotics was predicted as early as 1945 by Alexander Fleming who said "The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily under-dose himself and by exposing his microbes to nonlethal quantities of the drug make them resistant." Without the creation of new and stronger antibiotics an era where common infections and minor injuries can kill, and where complex procedures such as surgery and chemotherapy become too risky, is a very real possibility. Antimicrobial resistance can lead to epidemics of enormous proportions if preventive actions are not taken. In this day and age current antimicrobial resistance leads to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased mortality.
Society and culture
Innovation policy
Since the mid-1980s pharmaceutical companies have invested in medications for cancer or chronic disease that have greater potential to make money and have "de-emphasized or dropped development of antibiotics". On 20 January 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, more than "80 pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies" from around the world called for "transformational commercial models" at a global level to spur research and development on antibiotics and on the "enhanced use of diagnostic tests that can rapidly identify the infecting organism". A number of countries are considering or implementing delinked payment models for new antimicrobials whereby payment is based on value rather than volume of drug sales. This offers the opportunity to pay for valuable new drugs even if they are reserved for use in relatively rare drug resistant infections.
Legal frameworks
Some global health scholars have argued that a global, legal framework is needed to prevent and control antimicrobial resistance. For instance, binding global policies could be used to create antimicrobial use standards, regulate antibiotic marketing, and strengthen global surveillance systems. Ensuring compliance of involved parties is a challenge. Global antimicrobial resistance policies could take lessons from the environmental sector by adopting strategies that have made international environmental agreements successful in the past such as: sanctions for non-compliance, assistance for implementation, majority vote decision-making rules, an independent scientific panel, and specific commitments.
United States
For the United States 2016 budget, U.S. president Barack Obama proposed to nearly double the amount of federal funding to "combat and prevent" antibiotic resistance to more than $1.2 billion. Many international funding agencies like USAID, DFID, SIDA and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged money for developing strategies to counter antimicrobial resistance.
On 27 March 2015, the White House released a comprehensive plan to address the increasing need for agencies to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The Task Force for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria developed The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria with the intent of providing a roadmap to guide the US in the antibiotic resistance challenge and with hopes of saving many lives. This plan outlines steps taken by the Federal government over the next five years needed in order to prevent and contain outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections; maintain the efficacy of antibiotics already on the market; and to help to develop future diagnostics, antibiotics, and vaccines.
The Action Plan was developed around five goals with focuses on strengthening health care, public health veterinary medicine, agriculture, food safety and research, and manufacturing. These goals, as listed by the White House, are as follows:
Slow the Emergence of Resistant Bacteria and Prevent the Spread of Resistant Infections
Strengthen National One-Health Surveillance Efforts to Combat Resistance
Advance Development and use of Rapid and Innovative Diagnostic Tests for Identification and Characterization of Resistant Bacteria
Accelerate Basic and Applied Research and Development for New Antibiotics, Other Therapeutics, and Vaccines
Improve International Collaboration and Capacities for Antibiotic Resistance Prevention, Surveillance, Control and Antibiotic Research and Development
The following are goals set to meet by 2020:
Establishment of antimicrobial programs within acute care hospital settings
Reduction of inappropriate antibiotic prescription and use by at least 50% in outpatient settings and 20% inpatient settings
Establishment of State Antibiotic Resistance (AR) Prevention Programs in all 50 states
Elimination of the use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion in food-producing animals.
Policies
According to World Health Organization, policymakers can help tackle resistance by strengthening resistance-tracking and laboratory capacity and by regulating and promoting the appropriate use of medicines. Policymakers and industry can help tackle resistance by: fostering innovation and research and development of new tools; and promoting cooperation and information sharing among all stakeholders.
Policy evaluation
Measuring the costs and benefits of strategies to combat AMR is difficult and policies may only have effects in the distant future. In other infectious diseases this problem has been addressed by using mathematical models. More research is needed to understand how AMR develops and spreads so that mathematical modelling can be used to anticipate the likely effects of different policies.
Further research
Rapid testing and diagnostics
Distinguishing infections requiring antibiotics from self-limiting ones is clinically challenging. In order to guide appropriate use of antibiotics and prevent the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance, diagnostic tests that provide clinicians with timely, actionable results are needed.
Acute febrile illness is a common reason for seeking medical care worldwide and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In areas with decreasing malaria incidence, many febrile patients are inappropriately treated for malaria, and in the absence of a simple diagnostic test to identify alternative causes of fever, clinicians presume that a non-malarial febrile illness is most likely a bacterial infection, leading to inappropriate use of antibiotics. Multiple studies have shown that the use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests without reliable tools to distinguish other fever causes has resulted in increased antibiotic use.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) can facilitate a precision medicine approach to treatment by helping clinicians to prescribe more effective and targeted antimicrobial therapy. At the same time with traditional phenotypic AST it can take 12 to 48 hours to obtain a result due to the time taken for organisms to grow on/in culture media. Rapid testing, possible from molecular diagnostics innovations, is defined as "being feasible within an 8-h working shift". There are several commercial Food and Drug Administration-approved assays available which can detect AMR genes from a variety of specimen types. Progress has been slow due to a range of reasons including cost and regulation. Genotypic AMR characterisation methods are, however, being increasingly used in combination with machine learning algorithms in research to help better predict phenotypic AMR from organism genotype.
Optical techniques such as phase contrast microscopy in combination with single-cell analysis are another powerful method to monitor bacterial growth. In 2017, scientists from Sweden published a method that applies principles of microfluidics and cell tracking, to monitor bacterial response to antibiotics in less than 30 minutes overall manipulation time. Recently, this platform has been advanced by coupling microfluidic chip with optical tweezing in order to isolate bacteria with altered phenotype directly from the analytical matrix.
Rapid diagnostic methods have also been trialled as antimicrobial stewardship interventions to influence the healthcare drivers of AMR. Serum procalcitonin measurement has been shown to reduce mortality rate, antimicrobial consumption and antimicrobial-related side-effects in patients with respiratory infections, but impact on AMR has not yet been demonstrated. Similarly, point of care serum testing of the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein has been shown to influence antimicrobial prescribing rates in this patient cohort, but further research is required to demonstrate an effect on rates of AMR. Clinical investigation to rule out bacterial infections are often done for patients with pediatric acute respiratory infections. Currently it is unclear if rapid viral testing affects antibiotic use in children.
Vaccines
Microorganisms usually do not develop resistance to vaccines because vaccines reduce the spread of the infection and target the pathogen in multiple ways in the same host and possibly in different ways between different hosts. Furthermore, if the use of vaccines increases, there is evidence that antibiotic resistant strains of pathogens will decrease; the need for antibiotics will naturally decrease as vaccines prevent infection before it occurs. However, there are well documented cases of vaccine resistance, although these are usually much less of a problem than antimicrobial resistance.
While theoretically promising, antistaphylococcal vaccines have shown limited efficacy, because of immunological variation between Staphylococcus species, and the limited duration of effectiveness of the antibodies produced. Development and testing of more effective vaccines is underway.
Two registrational trials have evaluated vaccine candidates in active immunization strategies against S. aureus infection. In a phase II trial, a bivalent vaccine of capsular proteins 5 & 8 was tested in 1804 hemodialysis patients with a primary fistula or synthetic graft vascular access. After 40 weeks following vaccination a protective effect was seen against S. aureus bacteremia, but not at 54 weeks following vaccination. Based on these results, a second trial was conducted which failed to show efficacy.
Merck tested V710, a vaccine targeting IsdB, in a blinded randomized trial in patients undergoing median sternotomy. The trial was terminated after a higher rate of multiorgan system failure–related deaths was found in the V710 recipients. Vaccine recipients who developed S. aureus infection were five times more likely to die than control recipients who developed S. aureus infection.
Numerous investigators have suggested that a multiple-antigen vaccine would be more effective, but a lack of biomarkers defining human protective immunity keep these proposals in the logical, but strictly hypothetical arena.
Alternating therapy
Alternating therapy is a proposed method in which two or three antibiotics are taken in a rotation versus taking just one antibiotic such that bacteria resistant to one antibiotic are killed when the next antibiotic is taken. Studies have found that this method reduces the rate at which antibiotic resistant bacteria emerge in vitro relative to a single drug for the entire duration.
Studies have found that bacteria that evolve antibiotic resistance towards one group of antibiotic may become more sensitive to others. This phenomenon can be used to select against resistant bacteria using an approach termed collateral sensitivity cycling, which has recently been found to be relevant in developing treatment strategies for chronic infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Despite its promise, large-scale clinical and experimental studies revealed limited evidence of susceptibility to antibiotic cycling across various pathogens.
Development of new drugs
Since the discovery of antibiotics, research and development (R&D) efforts have provided new drugs in time to treat bacteria that became resistant to older antibiotics, but in the 2000s there has been concern that development has slowed enough that seriously ill people may run out of treatment options. Another concern is that practitioners may become reluctant to perform routine surgeries because of the increased risk of harmful infection. Backup treatments can have serious side-effects; for example, antibiotics like aminoglycosides (such as amikacin, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, etc.) used for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis can cause respiratory disorders, deafness and kidney failure.
The potential crisis at hand is the result of a marked decrease in industry research and development. Poor financial investment in antibiotic research has exacerbated the situation. The pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to invest in antibiotics because of the high risk and because the potential financial returns are less likely to cover the cost of development than for other pharmaceuticals. In 2011, Pfizer, one of the last major pharmaceutical companies developing new antibiotics, shut down its primary research effort, citing poor shareholder returns relative to drugs for chronic illnesses. However, small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies are still active in antibiotic drug research. In particular, apart from classical synthetic chemistry methodologies, researchers have developed a combinatorial synthetic biology platform on single cell level in a high-throughput screening manner to diversify novel lanthipeptides.
In the 5–10 years since 2010, there has been a significant change in the ways new antimicrobial agents are discovered and developed – principally via the formation of public-private funding initiatives. These include CARB-X, which focuses on nonclinical and early phase development of novel antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics; Novel Gram Negative Antibiotic (GNA-NOW), which is part of the EU's Innovative Medicines Initiative; and Replenishing and Enabling the Pipeline for Anti-infective Resistance Impact Fund (REPAIR). Later stage clinical development is supported by the AMR Action Fund, which in turn is supported by multiple investors with the aim of developing 2-4 new antimicrobial agents by 2030. The delivery of these trials is facilitated by national and international networks supported by the Clinical Research Network of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), European Clinical Research Alliance in Infectious Diseases (ECRAID) and the recently formed ADVANCE-ID, which is a clinical research network based in Asia. The Global Antimicrobial Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is generating new evidence for global AMR threats such as neonatal sepsis, treatment of serious bacterial infections and sexually transmitted infections as well as addressing global access to new and strategically important antibacterial drugs.
The discovery and development of new antimicrobial agents has been facilitated by regulatory advances, which have been principally led by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These processes are increasingly aligned although important differences remain and drug developers must prepare separate documents. New development pathways have been developed to help with the approval of new antimicrobial agents that address unmet needs such as the Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs (LPAD). These new pathways are required because of difficulties in conducting large definitive phase III clinical trials in a timely way.
Some of the economic impediments to the development of new antimicrobial agents have been addressed by innovative reimbursement schemes that delink payment of antimicrobials from volume-based sales. In the UK, a market entry reward scheme has been pioneered by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) whereby an annual subscription fee is paid for use of strategically valuable antimicrobial agents – cefiderocol and ceftazidime-aviabactam are the first agents to be used in this manner and the scheme is potential blueprint for comparable programs in other countries.
The available classes of antifungal drugs are still limited but as of 2021 novel classes of antifungals are being developed and are undergoing various stages of clinical trials to assess performance.
Scientists have started using advanced computational approaches with supercomputers for the development of new antibiotic derivatives to deal with antimicrobial resistance.
Biomaterials
Using antibiotic-free alternatives in bone infection treatment may help decrease the use of antibiotics and thus antimicrobial resistance. The bone regeneration material bioactive glass S53P4 has shown to effectively inhibit the bacterial growth of up to 50 clinically relevant bacteria including MRSA and MRSE.
Nanomaterials
During the last decades, copper and silver nanomaterials have demonstrated appealing features for the development of a new family of antimicrobial agents.
Rediscovery of ancient treatments
Similar to the situation in malaria therapy, where successful treatments based on ancient recipes have been found, there has already been some success in finding and testing ancient drugs and other treatments that are effective against AMR bacteria.
Computational community surveillance
One of the key tools identified by the WHO and others for the fight against rising antimicrobial resistance is improved surveillance of the spread and movement of AMR genes through different communities and regions. Recent advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing as a result of the Human Genome Project have resulted in the ability to determine the individual microbial genes in a sample. Along with the availability of databases of known antimicrobial resistance genes, such as the Comprehensive Antimicrobial Resistance Database (CARD) and ResFinder, this allows the identification of all the antimicrobial resistance genes within the sample - the so-called “resistome”. In doing so, a profile of these genes within a community or environment can be determined, providing insights into how antimicrobial resistance is spreading through a population and allowing for the identification of resistance that is of concern.
Phage therapy
Phage therapy is the therapeutic use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections. Phage therapy has many potential applications in human medicine as well as dentistry, veterinary science, and agriculture.
Phage therapy relies on the use of naturally occurring bacteriophages to infect and lyse bacteria at the site of infection in a host. Due to current advances in genetics and biotechnology these bacteriophages can possibly be manufactured to treat specific infections. Phages can be bioengineered to target multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, and their use involves the added benefit of preventing the elimination of beneficial bacteria in the human body. Phages destroy bacterial cell walls and membrane through the use of lytic proteins which kill bacteria by making many holes from the inside out. Bacteriophages can even possess the ability to digest the biofilm that many bacteria develop that protect them from antibiotics in order to effectively infect and kill bacteria. Bioengineering can play a role in creating successful bacteriophages.
Understanding the mutual interactions and evolutions of bacterial and phage populations in the environment of a human or animal body is essential for rational phage therapy.
Bacteriophagics are used against antibiotic resistant bacteria in Georgia (George Eliava Institute) and in one institute in Wrocław, Poland. Bacteriophage cocktails are common drugs sold over the counter in pharmacies in eastern countries. In Belgium, four patients with severe musculoskeletal infections received bacteriophage therapy with concomitant antibiotics. After a single course of phage therapy, no recurrence of infection occurred and no severe side-effects related to the therapy were detected.
See also
References
Books
Journals
16-minute film about a post-antibiotic world. Review:
External links
Animation of Antibiotic Resistance
Bracing for Superbugs: Strengthening environmental action in the One Health response to antimicrobial resistance UNEP, 2023.
CDC Guideline "Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Healthcare Settings, 2006"
Antimicrobial Stewardship Project, at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota
AMR Industry Alliance, "members from large R&D pharma, generic manufacturers, biotech, and diagnostic companies"
Why won't antibiotics cure us anymore? - prof. dr. Nathaniel Martin (Universiteit Leiden)
Evolutionary biology
Health disasters
Pharmaceuticals policy
Veterinary medicine
Global issues |
1965 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%201 | Apollo 1 | Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital test of the Apollo command and service module. The mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor after the fire.
Immediately after the fire, NASA convened an Accident Review Board to determine the cause of the fire, and both chambers of the United States Congress conducted their own committee inquiries to oversee NASA's investigation. The ignition source of the fire was determined to be electrical, and the fire spread rapidly due to combustible nylon material and the high-pressure pure oxygen cabin atmosphere. Rescue was prevented by the plug door hatch, which could not be opened against the internal pressure of the cabin. Because the rocket was unfueled, the test had not been considered hazardous, and emergency preparedness for it was poor.
During the Congressional investigation, Senator Walter Mondale publicly revealed a NASA internal document citing problems with prime Apollo contractor North American Aviation, which became known as the Phillips Report. This disclosure embarrassed NASA Administrator James E. Webb, who was unaware of the document's existence, and attracted controversy to the Apollo program. Despite congressional displeasure at NASA's lack of openness, both congressional committees ruled that the issues raised in the report had no bearing on the accident.
Crewed Apollo flights were suspended for twenty months while the command module's hazards were addressed. However, the development and uncrewed testing of the lunar module (LM) and Saturn V rocket continued. The Saturn IB launch vehicle for Apollo1, SA-204, was used for the first LM test flight, Apollo 5. The first successful crewed Apollo mission was flown by Apollo1's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968.
Crew
First backup crew (April–December 1966)
Second backup crew (December 1966 – January 1967)
Apollo crewed test flight plans
AS-204 was to be the first crewed test flight of the Apollo command and service module (CSM) to Earth orbit, launched on a Saturn IB rocket. AS-204 was to test launch operations, ground tracking and control facilities and the performance of the Apollo-Saturn launch assembly and would have lasted up to two weeks, depending on how the spacecraft performed.
The CSM for this flight, number 012 built by North American Aviation (NAA), was a Block I version designed before the lunar orbit rendezvous landing strategy was chosen; therefore it lacked the capability of docking with the lunar module. This was incorporated into the Block II CSM design, along with lessons learned in Block I. Block II would be test-flown with the LM when the latter was ready.
Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton selected the first Apollo crew in January 1966, with Grissom as Command Pilot, White as Senior Pilot, and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot. But Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC-135 weightlessness training aircraft, and had to undergo surgery on January 27. Slayton replaced him with Chaffee, and NASA announced the crew selection on March 21, 1966. James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as the backup crew.
On September 29, Walter Schirra, Eisele, and Walter Cunningham were named as the prime crew for a second Block I CSM flight, AS-205. NASA planned to follow this with an uncrewed test flight of the LM (AS-206), then the third crewed mission would be a dual flight designated AS-278 (or AS-207/208), in which AS-207 would launch the first crewed Block II CSM, which would then rendezvous and dock with the LM launched uncrewed on AS-208.
In March, NASA was studying the possibility of flying the first Apollo mission as a joint space rendezvous with the final Project Gemini mission, Gemini 12 in November 1966. But by May, delays in making Apollo ready for flight just by itself, and the extra time needed to incorporate compatibility with the Gemini, made that impractical. This became moot when slippage in readiness of the AS-204 spacecraft caused the last-quarter 1966 target date to be missed, and the mission was rescheduled for February 21, 1967.
Mission background
In October 1966, NASA announced the flight would carry a small television camera to broadcast live from the command module. The camera would also be used to allow flight controllers to monitor the spacecraft's instrument panel in flight. Television cameras were carried aboard all crewed Apollo missions.
Insignia
Grissom's crew received approval in June 1966 to design a mission patch with the name Apollo1 (though the approval was subsequently withdrawn pending a final decision on the mission designation, which was not resolved until after the fire). The design's center depicts a command and service module flying over the southeastern United States with Florida (the launch point) prominent. The Moon is seen in the distance, symbolic of the eventual program goal. A yellow border carries the mission and astronaut names with another border set with stars and stripes, trimmed in gold. The insignia was designed by the crew, with the artwork done by North American Aviation employee Allen Stevens.
Spacecraft and crew preparation
The Apollo command and service module was much bigger and far more complex than any previous crewed spacecraft. In October 1963, Joseph F. Shea was named Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) manager, responsible for managing the design and construction of both the CSM and the LM.
In a spacecraft review meeting held with Shea on August 19, 1966 (a week before delivery), the crew expressed concern about the amount of flammable material (mainly nylon netting and Velcro) in the cabin, which both astronauts and technicians found convenient for holding tools and equipment in place. Although Shea gave the spacecraft a passing grade, after the meeting they gave him a crew portrait they had posed with heads bowed and hands clasped in prayer, with the inscription:
Shea gave his staff orders to tell North American to remove the flammables from the cabin, but did not supervise the issue personally.
North American shipped spacecraft CM-012 to Kennedy Space Center on August 26, 1966, under a conditional Certificate of Flight Worthiness: 113 significant incomplete planned engineering changes had to be completed at KSC. That was not all; an additional 623 engineering change orders were made and completed after delivery. Grissom became so frustrated with the inability of the training simulator engineers to keep up with the spacecraft changes that he took a lemon from a tree by his house and hung it on the simulator.
The command and service modules were mated in the KSC altitude chamber in September, and combined system testing was performed. Altitude testing was performed first uncrewed, then with both the prime and backup crews, from October 10 through December 30. During this testing, the environmental control unit in the command module was found to have a design flaw, and was sent back to the manufacturer for design changes and rework. The returned ECU then leaked water/glycol coolant, and had to be returned a second time. Also during this time, a propellant tank in another service module had ruptured during testing at NAA, prompting the removal from the KSC test chamber of the service module so it could be tested for signs of the tank problem. These tests were negative.
In December the second Block I flight AS-205 was canceled as unnecessary; Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham were reassigned as the backup crew for Apollo1. McDivitt's crew was now promoted to prime crew of the Block II/LM mission, re-designated AS-258 because the AS-205 launch vehicle would be used in place of AS-207. A third crewed mission was planned to launch the CSM and LM together on a SaturnV (AS-503) to an elliptical medium Earth orbit (MEO), to be crewed by Frank Borman, Michael Collins and William Anders. McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart had started their training for AS-258 in CM-101 at the NAA plant in Downey, California, when the Apollo1 accident occurred.
Once all outstanding CSM-012 hardware problems had been fixed, the reassembled spacecraft completed a successful altitude chamber test with Schirra's backup crew on December 30. According to the final report of the accident investigation board, "At the post-test debriefing the backup flight crew expressed their satisfaction with the condition and performance of the spacecraft." This would appear to contradict the account given in the 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo13 by Jeffrey Kluger and astronaut James Lovell, that "When the trio climbed out of the ship,... Schirra made it clear that he was not pleased with what he had seen," and that he later warned Grissom and Shea that "there's nothing wrong with this ship that I can point to, but it just makes me uncomfortable. Something about it just doesn't ring right," and that Grissom should get out at the first sign of trouble.
After the successful altitude tests, the spacecraft was removed from the altitude chamber on January 3, 1967, and mated to its Saturn IB launch vehicle on pad 34 on January 6.
Grissom said in a February 1963 interview that NASA could not eliminate risk despite precautions:
"I suppose that someday we are going to have a failure. In every other business there are failures, and they are bound to happen sooner or later", he added. Grissom was asked about the fear of potential catastrophe in a December 1966 interview:
Accident
Plugs-out test
The launch simulation on January 27, 1967, on pad 34, was a "plugs-out" test to determine whether the spacecraft would operate nominally on (simulated) internal power while detached from all cables and umbilicals. Passing this test was essential to making the February 21 launch date. The test was considered non-hazardous because neither the launch vehicle nor the spacecraft was loaded with fuel or cryogenics and all pyrotechnic systems (explosive bolts) were disabled.
At 1:00 pm EST (1800 GMT) on January 27, first Grissom, then Chaffee, and White entered the command module fully pressure-suited, and were strapped into their seats and hooked up to the spacecraft's oxygen and communication systems. Grissom immediately noticed a strange odor in the air circulating through his suit which he compared to "sour buttermilk", and the simulated countdown was put on hold at 1:20 pm, while air samples were taken. No cause of the odor could be found, and the countdown was resumed at 2:42 pm. The accident investigation found this odor not to be related to the fire.
Three minutes after the count was resumed the hatch installation was started. The hatch consisted of three parts: a removable inner hatch which stayed inside the cabin; a hinged outer hatch which was part of the spacecraft's heat shield; and an outer hatch cover which was part of the boost protective cover enveloping the entire command module to protect it from aerodynamic heating during launch and from launch escape rocket exhaust in the event of a launch abort. The boost hatch cover was partially, but not fully, latched in place because the flexible boost protective cover was slightly distorted by some cabling run under it to provide the simulated internal power (the spacecraft's fuel cell reactants were not loaded for this test). After the hatches were sealed, the air in the cabin was replaced with pure oxygen at , higher than atmospheric pressure.
Movement by the astronauts was detected by the spacecraft's inertial measurement unit and the astronauts' biomedical sensors, and also indicated by increases in oxygen spacesuit flow, and sounds from Grissom's stuck-open microphone. The stuck microphone was part of a problem with the communications loop connecting the crew, the Operations and Checkout Building, and the Complex 34 blockhouse control room. The poor communications led Grissom to remark: "How are we going to get to the Moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings?"
The simulated countdown was put on hold again at 5:40 pm while attempts were made to troubleshoot the communications problem. All countdown functions up to the simulated internal power transfer had been successfully completed by 6:20 pm, and at 6:30 the count remained on hold at T minus 10 minutes.
Fire
The crew members were using the time to run through their checklist again, when a momentary increase in AC Bus2 voltage occurred. Nine seconds later (at 6:31:04.7), one of the astronauts (some listeners and laboratory analysis indicate Grissom) exclaimed "Hey!", "Fire!", or "Flame!"; this was followed by two seconds of scuffling sounds through Grissom's open microphone. This was immediately followed at 6:31:06.2 (23:31:06.2 GMT) by someone (believed by most listeners, and supported by laboratory analysis, to be Chaffee) saying, "[I've, or We've] got a fire in the cockpit." After 6.8 seconds of silence, a second, badly garbled transmission was heard by various listeners as:
"They're fighting a bad fire—Let's get out... Open 'er up",
"We've got a bad fire—Let's get out... We're burning up", or
"I'm reporting a bad fire... I'm getting out..."
The transmission lasted 5.0 seconds and ended with a cry of pain.
Some blockhouse witnesses said that they saw White on the television monitors, reaching for the inner hatch release handle as flames in the cabin spread from left to right.
The heat of the fire fed by pure oxygen caused the pressure to rise to , which ruptured the command module's inner wall at 6:31:19 (23:31:19 GMT, initial phase of the fire). Flames and gases then rushed outside the command module through open access panels to two levels of the pad service structure. The intense heat, dense smoke, and ineffective gas masks designed for toxic fumes rather than smoke, hampered the ground crew's attempts to rescue the men. There were fears the command module had exploded, or soon would, and that the fire might ignite the solid fuel rocket in the launch escape tower above the command module, which would have likely killed nearby ground personnel, and possibly have destroyed the pad.
As the pressure was released by the cabin rupture, the rush of gases within the module caused flames to spread across the cabin, beginning the second phase. The third phase began when most of the oxygen was consumed and was replaced with atmospheric air, essentially quenching the fire, but causing high concentrations of carbon monoxide and heavy smoke to fill the cabin, and large amounts of soot to be deposited on surfaces as they cooled.
It took five minutes for the pad workers to open all three hatch layers, and they could not drop the inner hatch to the cabin floor as intended, so they pushed it out of the way to one side. Although the cabin lights remained on, they were unable to see the astronauts through the dense smoke. As the smoke cleared they found the bodies, but were not able to remove them. The fire had partly melted Grissom's and White's nylon space suits and the hoses connecting them to the life support system. Grissom had removed his restraints and was lying on the floor of the spacecraft. White's restraints were burned through, and he was found lying sideways just below the hatch. It was determined that he had tried to open the hatch per the emergency procedure, but was not able to do so against the internal pressure. Chaffee was found strapped into his right-hand seat, as procedure called for him to maintain communication until White opened the hatch. Because of the large strands of melted nylon fusing the astronauts to the cabin interior, removing the bodies took nearly 90 minutes.
Deke Slayton was possibly the first NASA official to examine the spacecraft's interior. His testimony contradicted the official report concerning the position of Grissom's body. Slayton said of Grissom and White's bodies, "it is very difficult for me to determine the exact relationships of these two bodies. They were sort of jumbled together, and I couldn't really tell which head even belonged to which body at that point. I guess the only thing that was real obvious is that both bodies were at the lower edge of the hatch. They were not in the seats. They were almost completely clear of the seat areas."
Investigation
As a result of the in-flight failure of the Gemini 8 mission on March 17, 1966, NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans wrote and implemented Management Instruction 8621.1 on April 14, 1966, defining Mission Failure Investigation Policy And Procedures. This modified NASA's existing accident procedures, based on military aircraft accident investigation, by giving the Deputy Administrator the option of performing independent investigations of major failures, beyond those for which the various Program Office officials were normally responsible. It declared, "It is NASA policy to investigate and document the causes of all major mission failures which occur in the conduct of its space and aeronautical activities and to take appropriate corrective actions as a result of the findings and recommendations."
Immediately after thefire NASA Administrator James E. Webb asked President Lyndon B. Johnson to allow NASA to handle the investigation according to its established procedure, promising to be truthful in assessing blame, and to keep the appropriate leaders of Congress informed. Seamans then directed establishment of the Apollo 204 Review Board chaired by Langley Research Center director Floyd L. Thompson, which included astronaut Frank Borman, spacecraft designer Maxime Faget, and six others. On February 1, Cornell University professor Frank A. Long left the board, and was replaced by Robert W. Van Dolah of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The next day North American's chief engineer for Apollo, George Jeffs, also left.
Seamans ordered all Apollo1 hardware and software impounded, to be released only under control of the board. After thorough stereo photographic documentation of the CM-012 interior, the board ordered its disassembly using procedures tested by disassembling the identical CM-014 and conducted a thorough investigation of every part. The board also reviewed the astronauts' autopsy results and interviewed witnesses. Seamans sent Webb weekly status reports of the investigation's progress, and the board issued its final report on April 5, 1967.
Cause of death
According to the Board, Grissom suffered severe third-degree burns on over one-third of his body and his spacesuit was mostly destroyed. White suffered third-degree burns on almost half of his body and a quarter of his spacesuit had melted away. Chaffee suffered third-degree burns over almost a quarter of his body and a small portion of his spacesuit was damaged. The autopsy report determined that the primary cause of death for all three astronauts was cardiac arrest caused by high concentrations of carbon monoxide. Burns suffered by the crew were not believed to be major factors, and it was concluded that most of them had occurred postmortem. Asphyxiation occurred after the fire melted the astronauts' suits and oxygen tubes, exposing them to the lethal atmosphere of the cabin.
Major causes of accident
The review board identified several major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts' deaths:
An ignition source most probably related to "vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power" and "vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant"
A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure
A cabin sealed with a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure
An extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin
Inadequate emergency preparedness (rescue or medical assistance, and crew escape)
Ignition source
The review board determined that the electrical power momentarily failed at 23:30:55 GMT, and found evidence of several electric arcs in the interior equipment. They were unable to conclusively identify a single ignition source. They determined that the fire most likely started near the floor in the lower left section of the cabin, close to the Environmental Control Unit. It spread from the left wall of the cabin to the right, with the floor being affected only briefly.
The board noted that a silver-plated copper wire, running through an environmental control unit near the center couch, had become stripped of its Teflon insulation and abraded by repeated opening and closing of a small access door.
This weak point in the wiring also ran near a junction in an ethylene glycol/water cooling line that had been prone to leaks. Electrolysis of ethylene glycol solution with the silver anode of the wire was discovered at the Manned Spacecraft Center on May 29, 1967, to be a hazard capable of causing a violent exothermic reaction, igniting the ethylene glycol mixture in the Command Module's pure oxygen atmosphere. Experiments at the Illinois Institute of Technology confirmed the hazard existed for silver-plated wires, but not for copper-only or nickel-plated copper. In July, ASPO directed both North American and Grumman to ensure no silver or silver-coated electrical contacts existed in the vicinity of possible glycol spills in the Apollo spacecraft.
Pure oxygen atmosphere
The plugs-out test had been run to simulate the launch procedure, with the cabin pressurized with pure oxygen at the nominal launch level of , above standard sea level atmospheric pressure. This is more than five times the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere, and provides an environment in which materials not normally considered flammable will be highly flammable and burst into flame.
The high-pressure oxygen atmosphere was similar to that which had been used successfully in the Mercury and Gemini programs. The pressure before launch was deliberately greater than ambient in order to drive out the nitrogen-containing air and replace it with pure oxygen, and also to seal the plug door hatch cover. During the launch, the pressure would have been gradually reduced to the in-flight level of , providing sufficient oxygen for the astronauts to breathe while reducing the fire risk. The Apollo1 crew had successfully tested this procedure with their spacecraft in the Operations and Checkout Building altitude (vacuum) chamber on October 18 and 19, 1966, and the backup crew of Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham had repeated it on December 30. The investigation board noted that, during these tests, the command module had been fully pressurized with pure oxygen four times, for a total of six hours and fifteen minutes, two and a half hours longer than it had been during the plugs-out test.
Flammable materials in the cabin
The review board cited "many types and classes of combustible material" close to ignition sources. The NASA crew systems department had installed of Velcro throughout the spacecraft, almost like carpeting. This Velcro was found to be flammable in a high-pressure 100% oxygen environment. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin states in his book Men From Earth that the flammable material had been removed per the crew's August 19 complaints and Joseph Shea's order, but was replaced before the August 26 delivery to Cape Kennedy.
Hatch design
The inner hatch cover used a plug door design, sealed by higher pressure inside the cabin than outside. The normal pressure level used for launch ( above ambient) created sufficient force to prevent removing the cover until the excess pressure was vented. Emergency procedure called for Grissom to open the cabin vent valve first, allowing White to remove the cover, but Grissom was prevented from doing this because the valve was located to the left, behind the initial wall of flames. Also, while the system could easily vent the normal pressure, its flow capacity was utterly incapable of handling the rapid increase to caused by the intense heat of the fire.
North American had originally suggested the hatch open outward and use explosive bolts to blow the hatch in case of emergency, as had been done in Project Mercury. NASA did not agree, arguing the hatch could accidentally open, as it had on Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 flight, so the Manned Spacecraft Center designers rejected the explosive design in favor of a mechanically operated one for the Gemini and Apollo programs. Before the fire, the Apollo astronauts had recommended changing the design to an outward-opening hatch, and this was already slated for inclusion in the Block II command module design. According to Donald K. Slayton's testimony before the House investigation of the accident, this was based on ease of exit for spacewalks and at the end of flight, rather than for emergency exit.
Emergency preparedness
The board noted that the test planners had failed to identify the test as hazardous; emergency equipment (such as gas masks) were inadequate to handle this type of fire; that fire, rescue, and medical teams were not in attendance; and that the spacecraft work and access areas contained many hindrances to emergency response such as steps, sliding doors, and sharp turns.
Choice of pure oxygen atmosphere
When designing the Mercury spacecraft, NASA had considered using a nitrogen/oxygen mixture to reduce the fire risk near launch, but rejected it based on a number of considerations. First, a pure oxygen atmosphere is comfortably breathable by humans at , greatly reducing the pressure load on the spacecraft in the vacuum of space. Second, nitrogen used with the in-flight pressure reduction carried the risk of decompression sickness (known as "the bends"). But the decision to eliminate the use of any gas but oxygen was crystalized when a serious accident occurred on April 21, 1960, in which McDonnell Aircraft test pilot G. B. North passed out and was seriously injured when testing a Mercury cabin / spacesuit atmosphere system in a vacuum chamber. The problem was found to be nitrogen-rich (oxygen-poor) air leaking from the cabin into his spacesuit feed. North American Aviation had suggested using an oxygen/nitrogen mixture for Apollo, but NASA overruled this. The pure oxygen design was judged to be safer, less complicated, and lighter in weight. In his monograph Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions, Deputy Administrator Seamans wrote that NASA's worst mistake in engineering judgment was not running a fire test on the command module before the plugs-out test. In the first episode of the 2009 BBC documentary series NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, Jim McDivitt said that NASA had no idea how a 100% oxygen atmosphere would influence burning. Similar remarks by other astronauts were expressed in the 2007 documentary film In the Shadow of the Moon.
Other oxygen incidents
Several fires in high-oxygen test environments had occurred before the Apollo fire. In 1962, USAF Colonel B. Dean Smith was conducting a test of the Gemini space suit with a colleague in a pure oxygen chamber at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, when a fire broke out, destroying the chamber. Smith and his partner narrowly escaped. On November 17, 1962, a fire broke out in a chamber at the Navy's Air Crew Equipment Laboratory during a pure oxygen test. The fire was started because a faulty ground wire arced onto nearby insulation. After attempts to extinguish the fire by smothering it, the crew escaped the chamber with minor burns across large parts of their bodies. On February 16, 1965, United States Navy Divers Fred Jackson and John Youmans were killed in a decompression chamber fire at the Experimental Diving Unit in Washington, D.C., shortly after additional oxygen was added to the chamber's atmospheric mix.
In addition to fires with personnel present, the Apollo Environmental Control System experienced several accidents from 1964 to 1966 due to various hardware malfunctions. Notable is the April 28, 1966 fire, as the subsequent investigation found that several new measures should be taken to avoid fires, including improved selection of materials and that ESC and Command Module circuits have a potential for arcing or short circuits.
Other oxygen fire occurrences are documented in reports archived in the National Air and Space Museum, such as:
Selection of Space Cabin Atmospheres. Part II: Fire and Blast Hazaards in Space Cabins. (Emanuel M. Roth; Dept of Aeronautics Medicine and Bioastronautics, Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research. c. 1964–1966)
"Fire Prevention in Manned Spacecraft and Test Chamber Oxygen Atmospheres". (Manned Spacecraft Center. NASA General Working Paper 10 063. October 10, 1966)
Incidents had also occurred in the Soviet space program, but due to the Soviet government's policy of secrecy, these were not disclosed until well after the Apollo1 fire. Cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko died on March 23, 1961, from burns sustained in a fire while participating in a 15-day endurance experiment in a high-oxygen isolation chamber, less than three weeks before the first Vostok crewed space flight; this was disclosed on January 28, 1986.
During the Voskhod 2 mission in March 1965, cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov could not completely seal the spacecraft hatch after Leonov's historic first walk in space. The spacecraft's environmental control system responded to the leaking air by adding more oxygen to the cabin, causing the concentration level to rise as high as 45%. The crew and ground controllers worried about the possibility of fire, remembering Bondarenko's death four years earlier.
On January 31, 1967, four days after the Apollo1 fire, United States Air Force airmen William F. Bartley Jr. and Richard G. Harmon were killed in a flash fire while tending laboratory rabbits in the Two Man Space Environment Simulator, a pure oxygen chamber at the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base. Like the Apollo1 fire, the School fire was caused by an electrical spark in a pure oxygen environment. The widows of the Apollo1 crew sent condolence letters to Bartley and Harmon's families.
Political fallout
Committees in both houses of the United States Congress with oversight of the space program soon launched investigations, including the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, chaired by Senator Clinton P. Anderson. Seamans, Webb, Manned Space Flight Administrator Dr. George E. Mueller, and Apollo Program Director Maj Gen Samuel C. Phillips were called to testify before Anderson's committee.
In the February 27 hearing, Senator Walter F. Mondale asked Webb if he knew of a report of extraordinary problems with the performance of North American Aviation on the Apollo contract. Webb replied he did not, and deferred to his subordinates on the witness panel. Mueller and Phillips responded they too were unaware of any such "report".
However, in late 1965, just over a year before the accident, Phillips had headed a "tiger team" investigating the causes of inadequate quality, schedule delays, and cost overruns in both the Apollo CSM and the Saturn V second stage (for which North American was also prime contractor). He gave an oral presentation (with transparencies) of his team's findings to Mueller and Seamans, and also presented them in a memo to North American president John L. Atwood, to which Mueller appended his own strongly worded memo to Atwood.
During Mondale's 1967 questioning about what was to become known as the "Phillips Report", Seamans was afraid Mondale might actually have seen a hard copy of Phillips' presentation, and responded that contractors have occasionally been subjected to on-site progress reviews; perhaps this was what Mondale's information referred to. Mondale continued to refer to "the Report" despite Phillips' refusal to characterize it as such, and, angered by what he perceived as Webb's deception and concealment of important program problems from Congress, he questioned NASA's selection of North American as prime contractor. Seamans later wrote that Webb roundly chastised him in the cab ride leaving the hearing, for volunteering information which led to the disclosure of Phillips' memo.
On May 11, Webb issued a statement defending NASA's November 1961 selection of North American as the prime contractor for Apollo. This was followed on June9 by Seamans filing a seven-page memorandum documenting the selection process. Webb eventually provided a controlled copy of Phillips' memo to Congress. The Senate committee noted in its final report NASA's testimony that "the findings of the [Phillips] task force had no effect on the accident, did not lead to the accident, and were not related to the accident", but stated in its recommendations:
Freshman Senators Edward W. Brooke III and Charles H. Percy jointly wrote an Additional Views section appended to the committee report, chastising NASA more strongly than Anderson for not having disclosed the Phillips review to Congress. Mondale wrote his own, even more strongly worded Additional View, accusing NASA of "evasiveness,... lack of candor,... patronizing attitude toward Congress... refusal to respond fully and forthrightly to legitimate Congressional inquiries, and... solicitous concern for corporate sensitivities at a time of national tragedy".
The potential political threat to Apollo blew over, due in large part to the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who at the time still wielded a measure of influence with the Congress from his own Senatorial experience. He was a staunch supporter of NASA since its inception, had even recommended the Moon program to President John F. Kennedy in 1961, and was skilled at portraying it as part of Kennedy's legacy.
Relations between NASA and North American deteriorated over the assignment of blame. North American argued unsuccessfully it was not responsible for the fatal error in spacecraft atmosphere design. Finally, Webb contacted Atwood, and demanded either he or Chief Engineer Harrison A. Storms resign. Atwood elected to fire Storms.
On the NASA side, Joseph Shea resorted to barbiturates and alcohol in order to help him cope. NASA administrator James Webb became increasingly worried about Shea's mental state. Shea was asked to take an extended voluntary leave of absence, but Shea refused, threatening to resign rather than take leave. As a compromise, he agreed to meet with a psychiatrist and to abide by an independent assessment of his psychological fitness. This approach to remove Shea from his position was also unsuccessful. Finally, six months after the fire, Shea's superiors reassigned him to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Shea felt that his new post was a "non-job," and left after only two months.
Program recovery
Gene Kranz called a meeting of his staff in Mission Control three days after the accident, delivering a speech which has subsequently become one of NASA's principles. Speaking of the errors and overall attitude surrounding the Apollo program before the accident, he said: "We were too 'gung-ho' about the schedule and we blocked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we." He reminded the team of the perils and mercilessness of their endeavor, and stated the new requirement that every member of every team in mission control be "tough and competent", requiring nothing less than perfection throughout NASA's programs. In 2003, following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe quoted Kranz's speech, applying it to the Columbia crew.
Command module redesign
After the fire, the Apollo program was grounded for review and redesign. The command module was found to be extremely hazardous and, in some instances, carelessly assembled (for example, a misplaced wrench socket was found in the cabin).
It was decided that the remaining Block I spacecraft would be used only for uncrewed Saturn V test flights. All crewed missions would use the Block II spacecraft, to which many command module design changes were made:
The cabin atmosphere at launch was adjusted to 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen at sea-level pressure: . During ascent the cabin rapidly vented down to , releasing approximately 2/3 of the gas originally present at launch. The vent then closed and the environmental control system maintained a nominal cabin pressure of as the spacecraft continued into vacuum. The cabin was then very slowly purged (vented to space and simultaneously replaced with 100% oxygen), so the nitrogen concentration gradually fell off to zero over the next day. Although the new cabin launch atmosphere was significantly safer than 100% oxygen, it still contained almost three times the amount of oxygen present in ordinary sea-level air (20.9% oxygen). This was necessary to ensure a sufficient partial pressure of oxygen when the astronauts removed their helmets after reaching orbit. (60% of five psi is three psi, compared to 60% of which is at launch, and 20.9% of which is in sea-level air.)
The environment within the astronauts' pressure suits was not changed. Because of the rapid drop in cabin (and suit) pressures during ascent, decompression sickness was likely unless the nitrogen had been purged from the astronauts' tissues before launch. They would still breathe pure oxygen, starting several hours before launch, until they removed their helmets on orbit. Avoiding the "bends" was considered worth the residual risk of an oxygen-accelerated fire within a suit.
Nylon used in the Block I suits was replaced in the Block II suits with Beta cloth, a non-flammable, highly melt-resistant fabric woven from fiberglass and coated with Teflon.
Block II had already been planned to use a completely redesigned hatch which opened outward, and could be opened in less than five seconds. Concerns of accidental opening were addressed by using a cartridge of pressurized nitrogen to drive the release mechanism in an emergency, instead of the explosive bolts used on Project Mercury.
Flammable materials in the cabin were replaced with self-extinguishing versions.
Plumbing and wiring were covered with protective insulation. Aluminum tubing was replaced with stainless steel tubing that used brazed joints when possible.
Thorough protocols were implemented for documenting spacecraft construction and maintenance.
New mission naming scheme
The astronauts' widows asked that Apollo 1 be reserved for the flight their husbands never made, and on April 24, 1967, Mueller, as Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, announced this change officially: AS-204 would be recorded as Apollo1, "first manned Apollo Saturn flight – failed on ground test". Even though three uncrewed Apollo missions (AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203) had previously occurred, only AS-201 and AS-202 carried spacecraft. Therefore, the next mission, the first uncrewed Saturn V test flight (AS-501) would be designated Apollo4, with all subsequent flights numbered sequentially in the order flown. The first three flights would not be renumbered, and the names Apollo2 and Apollo3 would officially go unused. Mueller considered AS-201 and AS-202, the first and second flights of the Apollo Block I CSM, as Apollo2 and3 respectively.
The crewed flight hiatus allowed work to catch up on the Saturn V and lunar module, which were encountering their own delays. Apollo4 flew in November 1967. Apollo1's (AS-204) Saturn IB rocket was taken down from Launch Complex 34, later reassembled at Launch complex 37B and used to launch Apollo5, an uncrewed Earth orbital test flight of the first lunar module, LM-1, in January 1968. A second uncrewed Saturn V AS-502 flew as Apollo6 in April 1968, and Grissom's backup crew of Wally Schirra, Don Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, finally flew the orbital test mission as Apollo7 (AS-205), in a Block II CSM in October 1968.
Memorials
Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee were buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Ed White was buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. NASA officials attempted to pressure Pat White, Ed White's widow, into allowing her husband also to be buried at Arlington, against what she knew to be his wishes; their efforts were foiled by astronaut Frank Borman. The names of the Apollo 1 crew are among those of multiple astronauts who have died in the line of duty, listed on the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida. President Jimmy Carter awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously to Grissom on October 1, 1978. President Bill Clinton awarded it to White and Chaffee on December 17, 1997.
An Apollo 1 mission patch was left on the Moon's surface after the first crewed lunar landing by Apollo11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The Apollo15 mission left on the surface of the Moon a tiny memorial statue, Fallen Astronaut, along with a plaque containing the names of the Apollo1 astronauts, among others including Soviet cosmonauts, who perished in the pursuit of human space flight.
Launch Complex 34
After the Apollo 1 fire, Launch Complex 34 was subsequently used only for the launch of Apollo7 and later dismantled down to the concrete launch pedestal, which remains at the site () along with a few other concrete and steel-reinforced structures. The pedestal bears two plaques commemorating the crew.
The "Ad Astra per aspera" plaque for "the crew of Apollo 1" is seen in the 1998 film Armageddon.
The "Dedicated to the living memory of the crew of the Apollo 1" plaque is quoted at the end of Wayne Hale's Requiem for the NASA Space Shuttle program. Each year the families of the Apollo1 crew are invited to the site for a memorial, and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex includes the site during the tour of the historic Cape Canaveral launch sites.
In January 2005, three granite benches, built by a college classmate of one of the astronauts, were installed at the site on the southern edge of the launch pad. Each bears the name of one of the astronauts and his military service insignia.
Stars, landmarks on the Moon and Mars
Apollo astronauts frequently aligned their spacecraft inertial navigation platforms and determined their positions relative to the Earth and Moon by sighting sets of stars with optical instruments. As a practical joke, the Apollo1 crew named three of the stars in the Apollo catalog after themselves and introduced them into NASA documentation. Gamma Cassiopeiae became Navi – Ivan (Gus Grissom's middle name) spelled backwards. Iota Ursae Majoris became Dnoces – "Second" spelled backwards, for Edward H. White II. And Gamma Velorum became Regor – Roger (Chaffee) spelled backwards. These names quickly stuck after the Apollo1 accident and were regularly used by later Apollo crews.
Craters on the Moon and hills on Mars are named after the three Apollo1 astronauts.
Civic and other memorials
Three public schools in Huntsville, Alabama (home of George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center): Virgil I. Grissom High School, Ed White Middle School, and the Chaffee Elementary School.
Ed White II Elementary e-STEM (Elementary-Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Magnet school in El Lago, Texas, near the Johnson Space Center. White lived in El Lago (next door to Neil Armstrong).
There are Grissom or Virgil I. Grissom middle schools in Mishawaka, Indiana, Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Tinley Park, Illinois.
Virgil Grissom Elementary School in Princeton, Iowa, and the Edward White Elementary School in Eldridge, Iowa, are both part of the North Scott Community School District also naming the other three elementary schools after astronauts Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, and Alan Shepard.
School #7 in Rochester, New York, is also known as the Virgil I. Grissom School.
In the early 1970s, three streets in Amherst, New York, were named for Chaffee, White and Grissom. By 1991, when no homes had been built on Grissom Drive, the area was repurposed as commercial property; the Grissom street sign was removed and the street renamed Classics V Drive for the banquet hall that occupied the land.
The THUMS Islands, four man-made oil drilling islands in the harbor off Long Beach, California, are named Grissom, White, Chaffee and Theodore Freeman.
The Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium is located at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Roger B. Chaffee Memorial Boulevard in Wyoming, Michigan, the largest suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is today an industrial park, but exists on the site of the former Grand Rapids Airport. A large portion of the north-south runway is used today as the roadway of the Roger B. Chaffee Memorial Boulevard.
Roger B. Chaffee Scholarship Fund in Grand Rapids, Michigan, each year in memory of Chaffee honors one student who intends to pursue a career in engineering or the sciences
Three adjacent parks in Fullerton, California, are each named for Grissom, Chaffee and White. The parks are located near a former Hughes Aircraft research and development facility. A Hughes subsidiary, Hughes Space and Communications Company, built components for the Apollo program.
Two buildings on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, are named for Grissom and Chaffee (both Purdue alumni). Grissom Hall houses the School of Industrial Engineering (and was home to the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics before it moved into the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering). Chaffee Hall, constructed in 1965, is the administration complex of Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories where combustion, propulsion, gas dynamics, and related fields are studied. The Chaffee Hall contains a 72-seat auditorium, offices, and administrative staff.
A tree for each astronaut was planted in NASA's Astronaut Memorial Grove at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, not far from the Saturn V building, along with trees for each astronaut from the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Tours of the space center pause briefly near the grove for a moment of silence, and the trees can be seen from nearby NASA Road 1.
In 1968, Bunker Hill Air Force Base near Peru, Indiana was renamed Grissom Air Force Base. The three-letter code for the VOR air navigation beacon at the base is GUS.
Remains of CM-012
The Apollo 1 command module has never been on public display. After the accident, the spacecraft was removed and taken to Kennedy Space Center to facilitate the review board's disassembly in order to investigate the cause of the fire. When the investigation was complete, it was moved to the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and placed in a secured storage warehouse.
On February 17, 2007, the parts of CM-012 were moved approximately to a newer, environmentally controlled warehouse. Only a few weeks earlier, Gus Grissom's brother Lowell publicly suggested CM-012 be permanently entombed in the concrete remains of Launch Complex 34.
On January 27, 2017, the 50th anniversary of the fire, NASA put the hatch from Apollo1 on display at the Saturn V Rocket Center at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. KSC's Visitor Complex also houses memorials that include parts of Challenger and Columbia, located in the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit. "This is way, way, way long overdue. But we're excited about it," said Scott Grissom, Gus Grissom's older son.
In popular culture
The accident and its aftermath are the subject of episode2, "Apollo One", of the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
The mission and accident are covered in the 2015 ABC television series The Astronaut Wives Club, episodes8 "Rendezvous" and9 "Abort".
The incident is the subject of the Public Service Broadcasting track "Fire in the Cockpit" from their 2015 album The Race for Space.
The incident is featured in the 2018 movie First Man.
A short dramatization of the accident is featured at the beginning of the 1995 film Apollo 13.
The accident and a subsequent emphasis on safety within NASA are the subject of investigation in the first two episodes of the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind.
See also
List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
STS-1 – First Space Shuttle flight, three technicians asphyxiated on the launch pad after a countdown test
STS-51-L – Space Shuttle Challenger, America's first in-flight fatality
STS-107 – Space Shuttle Columbia, America's first return-flight fatality
Valentin Bondarenko – a Soviet cosmonaut-in-training, died in a high-oxygen fire in an experimental chamber
Soyuz 1 – First Soviet spaceflight death
Soyuz 11 – Loss of an entire Soviet spacecraft crew
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
External links
Baron testimony at investigation before Olin Teague, 21. April 1967
Apollo 204 Review Board Final Report , NASA's final report on its investigation, April 5, 1967
Final report of the U.S. Senate investigation, January 30, 1968
Apollo Operations Handbook, Command and Service Module, Spacecraft 012 (The flight manual for CSM 012)
CBS News Special Report on Apollo 1 Disaster, January 27, 1967, C-SPAN
Apollo program missions
Fires in Florida
1967 fires in the United States
1967 in Florida
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
Gus Grissom
Ed White (astronaut) |
1966 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2010 | Apollo 10 | Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969) was the fourth human spaceflight in the United States' Apollo program and the second to orbit the Moon. NASA, the mission's operator, described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing (Apollo 11, two months later). It was designated an "F"mission, intended to test all spacecraft components and procedures short of actual descent and landing.
After the spacecraft reached lunar orbit, astronaut John Young remained in the Command and Service Module (CSM) while astronauts Thomas Stafford and Gene Cernan flew the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) to within of the lunar surface, the point at which powered descent for landing would begin on a landing mission. Then they rejoined Young in the CSM and, after the CSM completed its 31st orbit of the Moon, they returned safely to Earth.
While NASA had considered attempting the first crewed lunar landing on Apollo 10, mission planners ultimately decided that it would be prudent to have a practice flight to hone the procedures and techniques. The crew encountered some problems during the flight: pogo oscillations during the launch phase and a brief, uncontrolled tumble of the LM ascent stage in lunar orbit during its solo flight. However, the mission accomplished its major objectives. Stafford and Cernan observed and photographed Apollo 11's planned landing site in the Sea of Tranquility. Apollo 10 spent 61 hours and 37 minutes orbiting the Moon, for about eight hours of which Stafford and Cernan flew the LM apart from Young in the CSM, and about eight days total in space. Additionally, Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a crewed vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph) on May 26, 1969, during the return from the Moon.
The mission's call signs were the names of the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown for the CSM and Snoopy for the LM, who became Apollo 10's semi-official mascots. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew mission-related artwork for NASA.
Framework
Background
By 1967, NASA had devised a list of mission types, designated by letters, that needed to be flown before a landing attempt, which would be the "G" mission. The early uncrewed flights were considered "A" or "B" missions, while Apollo 7, the crewed-flight test of the Command and Service Module (CSM), was the "C" mission. The first crewed orbital test of the Lunar Module (LM) was accomplished on Apollo 9, the "D" mission. Apollo 8, flown to the Moon's orbit without an LM, was considered a "C-prime" mission, but its success gave NASA the confidence to skip the "E" mission, which would have tested the full Apollo spacecraft in medium or high Earth orbit. Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, was to be the "F" mission.
NASA considered skipping the "F" mission as well and attempting the first lunar landing on Apollo 10. Some with the agency advocated this, feeling it senseless to bring astronauts so close to the lunar surface, only to turn away. Although the lunar module intended for Apollo 10 was too heavy to perform the lunar mission, the one intended for Apollo 11 could be substituted by delaying Apollo 10 a month from its May 1969 planned launch. NASA official George Mueller favored a landing attempt on ; he was known for his aggressive approach to moving the Apollo program forward. However, Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft and others opposed this, feeling that new procedures would have to be developed for a rendezvous in lunar orbit and that NASA had incomplete information regarding the Moon's mass concentrations, which might throw off the spacecraft's trajectory. Lieutenant General Sam Phillips, the Apollo Program Manager, listened to the arguments on both sides and decided that having a dress rehearsal was crucial.
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
On November 13, 1968, NASA announced the crew members of Apollo 10. Thomas P. Stafford, the commander, was 38 years old at the time of the mission. A 1952 graduate of the Naval Academy, he was commissioned in the Air Force. Selected for the second group of astronauts in 1962, he flew as pilot of Gemini 6A (1965) and command pilot of Gemini 9A (1966). John Young, the command module pilot, was 38 years old and a commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 10. A 1952 graduate of Georgia Tech who entered the Navy after graduation and became a test pilot in 1959, he was selected as a Group 2 astronaut alongside Stafford. He flew in Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom in 1965, becoming the first American not of the Mercury Seven to fly in space. Young thereafter commanded Gemini 10 (1966), flying with Michael Collins. Eugene Cernan, the lunar module pilot, was a commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 10. A 1952 graduate of Purdue University, he entered the Navy after graduation. Selected for the third group of astronauts in 1963, Cernan flew with Stafford on Gemini 9A before his assignment to Apollo 10. With five prior flights among them, the Apollo 10 crew was the most experienced to reach space until the Space Shuttle era, and the first American space mission whose crew were all spaceflight veterans.
The backup crew for Apollo 10 was L. Gordon Cooper Jr as commander, Donn F. Eisele as command module pilot, and Edgar D. Mitchell as lunar module pilot. By the normal crew rotation in place during Apollo, Cooper, Eisele, and Mitchell would have flown on Apollo 13, but Cooper and Eisele never flew again. Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, felt that Cooper did not train as hard as he could have. Eisele was blackballed because of incidents during Apollo 7, which he had flown as CMP and which had seen conflict between the crew and ground controllers; he had also been involved in a messy divorce. Slayton only assigned the two as backups because he had few veteran astronauts available. Cooper and Eisele were replaced by Alan Shepard and Stuart Roosa respectively. Feeling they needed additional training time, George Mueller rejected the Apollo 13 crew. The crew was switched to Apollo 14, which saw Shepard and Mitchell walk on the Moon.
For projects Mercury and Gemini, a prime and a backup crew had been designated, but for Apollo, a third group of astronauts, known as the support crew, was also designated. Slayton created the support crews early in the Apollo program on the advice of McDivitt, who would lead Apollo 9. McDivitt believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the U.S., meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated. For Apollo 10, they were Joe Engle, James Irwin, and Charles Duke.
Flight directors were Gerry Griffin, Glynn Lunney, Milt Windler, and Pete Frank. Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description: "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success." CAPCOMs were Duke, Engle, Jack Lousma, and Bruce McCandless II.
Call signs and mission insignia
The command module was given the call sign "Charlie Brown" and the lunar module the call sign "Snoopy". These were taken from the characters in the comic strip, Peanuts, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. These names were chosen by the astronauts with the approval of Charles Schulz, the strip's creator, who was uncertain it was a good idea, since Charlie Brown was always a failure. The choice of names was deemed undignified by some at NASA, as were the choices for Apollo 9's CM and LM ("Gumdrop" and "Spider"). Public relations chief Julian Scheer urged a change for the lunar landing mission. But for Apollo 10, according to Cernan, "The P.R.-types lost this one big-time, for everybody on the planet knew the klutzy kid and his adventuresome beagle, and the names were embraced in a public relations bonanza." Apollo 11's call signs were "Columbia" for the command module and "Eagle" for the lunar module.
Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog, was chosen for the call sign of the lunar module since it was to "snoop" around the landing site, with Charlie Brown given to the command module as Snoopy's companion. Snoopy had been associated for some time with the space program, with workers who performed in an outstanding manner awarded silver "Snoopy pins", and Snoopy posters were seen at NASA facilities, with the cartoon dog having traded in his World War I aviator's headgear for a space helmet. Stafford stated that, given the pins, "the choice of Snoopy [as call sign] was a way of acknowledging the contributions of the hundreds of thousands of people who got us there". The use of the dog was also appropriate since, in the comic strip, Snoopy had journeyed to the Moon the year before, thus defeating, according to Schulz, "the Americans, the Russians, and that stupid cat next door".
The shield-shaped mission insignia shows a large, three-dimensional Roman numeral X sitting on the Moon's surface, in Stafford's words, "to show that we had left our mark". Although it did not land on the Moon, the prominence of the number represents the contributions the mission made to the Apollo program. A CSM circles the Moon as an LM ascent stage flies up from its low pass over the lunar surface with its engine firing. The Earth is visible in the background. On the mission patch, a wide, light blue border carries the word APOLLO at the top and the crew names around the bottom. The patch is trimmed in gold. The insignia was designed by Allen Stevens of Rockwell International.
Training and preparation
Apollo 10, the "F" mission or dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, had as its primary objectives to demonstrate crew, space vehicle and mission support facilities performance during a crewed mission to lunar orbit, and to evaluate the performance of the lunar module there. In addition, it was to attempt photography of Apollo Landing Site 2 (ALS-2) in the Sea of Tranquillity, the contemplated landing site for Apollo 11. According to Stafford, Our flight was to take the first lunar module to the moon. We would take the lunar module, go down to within about ten miles above the moon, nine miles above the mountains, radar map, photo map, pick out the first landing site, do the first rendezvous around the moon, pick out some future landing sites, and come home.
Apollo 10 was to adhere as closely as possible to the plans for Apollo 11, including its trajectory to and from lunar orbit, the timeline of mission events, and even the angle of the Sun at ALS-2. However, no landing was to be attempted. ALS-1, given that number because it was the furthest to the east of the candidate sites, and also located in the Sea of Tranquility, had been extensively photographed by Apollo 8 astronauts; at the suggestion of scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the launch of Apollo 10 had been postponed a day so ALS-2 could be photographed under proper conditions. ALS-2 was chosen as the lunar landing site since it was relatively smooth, of scientific interest, and ALS-1 was deemed too far to the east. Thus, when Apollo 10's launch date was announced on January 10, 1969, it was shifted from its placeholder date of May 1 to May 17, rather than to May 16. On March 17, 1969, the launch was slipped one day to May 18, to allow for a better view of ALS-3, to the west of ALS-2. Another deviation from the plans for Apollo 11 was that Apollo 10 was to spend an additional day in lunar orbit once the CSM and LM rendezvoused; this was to allow time for additional testing of the LM's systems, as well as for photography of possible future Apollo landing sites.
The Apollo 10 astronauts undertook five hours of formal training for each hour of the mission's eight-day duration. This was in addition to the normal mission preparations such as technical briefings, pilot meetings and study. They took part in the testing of the CSM at the Downey, California, facility of its manufacturer, North American Rockwell, and of the LM at Grumman in Bethpage, New York. They visited Cambridge, Massachusetts, for briefings on the Apollo Guidance Computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Instrumentation Laboratory. They each spent more than 300 hours in simulators of the CM or LM at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston and at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. To train for the high-acceleration conditions they would experience in returning to Earth's atmosphere, they endured MSC's centrifuge.
Lunar landing capability
While Apollo 10 was meant to follow the procedures of a lunar landing mission to the point of powered descent, Apollo 10's LM was not capable of landing and returning to lunar orbit. The ascent stage was loaded with the amount of fuel and oxidizer it would have had remaining if it had lifted off from the surface and reached the altitude at which the Apollo 10 ascent stage fired; this was only about half the total amount required for lift off and rendezvous with the CSM. The mission-loaded LM weighed , compared to for the Apollo 11 LM which made the first landing. Additionally, the software necessary to guide the LM to a landing was not available at the time of Apollo 10.
Craig Nelson wrote in his book Rocket Men that NASA took special precaution to ensure Stafford and Cernan would not attempt to make the first landing. Nelson quoted Cernan as saying "A lot of people thought about the kind of people we were: 'Don't give those guys an opportunity to land, 'cause they might!' So the ascent module, the part we lifted off the lunar surface with, was short-fueled. The fuel tanks weren't full. So had we literally tried to land on the Moon, we couldn't have gotten off." Mueller, NASA's Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, stated, There had been some speculation about whether or not the crew might have landed, having gotten so close. They might have wanted to, but it was impossible for that lunar module to land. It was an early design that was too heavy for a lunar landing, or, to be more precise, too heavy to be able to complete the ascent back to the command module. It was a test module, for the dress rehearsal only, and that was the way it was used.
Equipment
The descent stage of the LM was delivered to KSC on October 11, 1968, and the ascent stage arrived five days later. They were mated on November 2. The Service Module (SM) and Command Module (CM) arrived on November 24 and were mated two days later. Portions of the Saturn V launch vehicle arrived during November and December 1968, and the complete launch vehicle was erected in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on December 30. After being tested in an altitude chamber, the CSM was placed atop the launch vehicle on February 6, 1969. The completed space vehicle was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B on March 11, 1969—the fact that it had been assembled in the VAB's High Bay 2 (the first time it had been used) required the crawler to exit the rear of the VAB before looping around the building and joining the main crawlerway, proceeding to the launch pad. This rollout, using Mobile Launch Platform-3 (MLP-3), happened eight days after the launch of Apollo 9, while that mission was still in orbit.
The launch vehicle for Apollo 10 was a Saturn V, designated AS-505, the fifth flight-ready Saturn V to be launched and the third to take astronauts to orbit. The Saturn V differed from that used on Apollo 9 in having a lower dry weight (without propellant) in its first two stages, with a significant reduction to the interstage joining them. Although the S-IVB third stage was slightly heavier, all three stages could carry a greater weight of propellant, and the S-II second stage generated more thrust than that of Apollo 9.
The Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo 10 mission was composed of Command Module 106 (CM-106), Service Module 106 (SM-106, together with the CM known as CSM-106), Lunar Module 4 (LM-4), a spacecraft-lunar module adapter (SLA), numbered as SLA-13A, and a launch escape system. The SLA was a mating structure joining the Instrument Unit on the S-IVB stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle and the CSM, and acted as a housing for the LM, while the Launch Escape System (LES) contained rockets to propel the CM to safety if there was an aborted launch. At about 76.99 metric tons, Apollo 10 would be the heaviest spacecraft to reach orbit to that point.
Mission highlights
Launch and outbound trip
Apollo 10 launched from KSC on May 18, 1969, at 12:49:00 EDT (16:49:00 UT), at the start of a 4.5-hour launch window. The launch window was timed to secure optimal lighting conditions at Apollo Landing Site 2 at the time of the LM's closest approach to the site days later. The launch followed a countdown that had begun at 21:00:00 EDT on May 16 (01:00:00 UT on May 17). Because preparations for Apollo 11 had already begun at Pad 39A, Apollo 10 launched from Pad 39B, becoming the only Apollo flight to launch from that pad and the only one to be controlled from its Firing Room 3.
Problems that arose during the countdown were dealt with during the built-in holds, and did not delay the mission. On the day before launch, Cernan had been stopped for speeding while returning from a final visit with his wife and child. Lacking identification and under orders to tell no one who he was, Cernan later attested in his autobiography that he had feared being arrested. Launch pad leader Gunther Wendt, who had pulled over nearby after recognizing Cernan, explained the situation to the police officer, who then released Cernan despite the officer's skepticism that Cernan was an astronaut.
The crew experienced a somewhat rough ride on the way to orbit due to pogo oscillations. About 12 minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft entered a low Earth orbit with a high point of and a low point of . All appeared to be normal during the systems review period in Earth orbit, and the crew restarted the S-IVB third stage to achieve trans-lunar injection (TLI) and send them towards the Moon. The vehicle shook again while executing the TLI burn, causing Cernan to be concerned that they might have to abort. However, the TLI burn was completed without incident. Young then performed the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver, separating the CSM from the S-IVB stage, turning around, and docking its nose to the top of the lunar module (LM), before separating from the S-IVB. Apollo 10 was the first mission to carry a color television camera inside the spacecraft, and mission controllers in Houston watched as Young performed the maneuver. Soon thereafter, the large television audience was treated to color views of the Earth. One problem that was encountered was that the mylar cover of the CM's hatch had pulled loose, spilling quantities of fiberglass insulation into the tunnel, and then into both the CM and LM. The S-IVB was fired by ground command and sent into solar orbit with a period of 344.88 days.
The crew settled in for the voyage to the Moon. They had a light workload, and spent much of their time studying the flight plan or sleeping. They made five more television broadcasts back to Earth, and were informed that more than a billion people had watched some part of their activities. In June 1969, the crew would accept a special Emmy Award on behalf of the first four Apollo crews for their television broadcasts from space. One slight course correction was necessary; this occurred at 26:32:56.8 into the mission and lasted 7.1 seconds. This aligned Apollo 10 with the trajectory Apollo 11 was expected to take. One issue the crew encountered was bad-tasting food, as Stafford apparently used a double dose of chlorine in their drinking water, which had to be placed in their dehydrated food to reconstitute it.
Lunar orbit
Arrival and initial operations
At 75:55:54 into the mission, above the far side of the Moon, the CSM's service propulsion system (SPS) engine was fired for 356.1 seconds to slow the spacecraft into a lunar orbit of . This was followed, after two orbits of the Moon, with a 13.9-second firing of the SPS to circularize the orbit to at 80:25:08.1. Within the first couple of hours after the initial lunar orbit insertion burn and following the circularization burn, the crew turned to tracking planned landmarks on the surface below to record observations and take photographs. In addition to ALS-1, ALS-2, and ALS-3, the crew of Apollo 10 observed and photographed features on the near and far sides of the Moon, including the craters Coriolis, King, and Papaleksi. Shortly after the circularization burn, the crew partook in a scheduled half-hour color-television broadcast with descriptions and video transmissions of views of the lunar surface below.
About an hour after the second burn, the LM crew of Stafford and Cernan entered the LM to check out its systems. They were met with a blizzard of fiberglass particles from the earlier problem, which they cleaned up with a vacuum cleaner as best they could. Stafford had to help Cernan remove smaller bits from his hair and eyebrows. Stafford later commented that Cernan looked like he just came out of a chicken coop, and that the particles made them itch and got into the air conditioning system, and they were scraping it off the filter screens for the rest of the mission. This was merely an annoyance, but the particles may have gotten into the docking ring joining the two craft and caused it to misalign slightly. Mission Control determined that this was still within safe limits.
The flight of Snoopy
After Stafford and Cernan checked out Snoopy, they returned to Charlie Brown for a rest. Then they re-entered Snoopy and undocked it from the CSM at 98:29:20. Young, who remained in the CSM, became the first person to fly solo in lunar orbit. After undocking, Stafford and Cernan deployed the LM's landing gear and inspected the LM's systems. The CSM performed an 8.3-second burn with its RCS thrusters to separate itself from the LM by about 30 feet, after which Young visually inspected the LM from the CSM. The CSM performed another separation burn, this time separating the two spacecraft by about . The LM crew then performed the descent orbit insertion maneuver by firing their descent engine for 27.4 seconds at 99:46:01.6, and tested their craft's landing radar as they approached the altitude where the subsequent Apollo 11 mission would begin powered descent to land on the Moon. Previously, the LM's landing radar had only been tested under terrestrial conditions. While the LM executed these maneuvers, Young monitored the location and status of the LM from the CSM, standing by to rescue the LM crew if necessary. Cernan and Stafford surveyed ALS-2, coming within of the surface at a point 15 degrees to its east, then performed a phasing burn at 100:58:25.93, thrusting for just under 40 seconds to allow a second pass at ALS-2, when the craft came within of the Moon, its closest approach. Reporting on his observations of the site from the LM's low passes, Stafford indicated that ALS-2 seemed smoother than he had expected and described its appearance as similar to the desert surrounding Blythe, California; but he observed that Apollo 11 could face rougher terrain downrange if it approached off-target. Based upon Apollo 10's observations from relatively low altitude, NASA mission planners became comfortable enough with ALS-2 to confirm it as the target site for Apollo 11.
The next action was to prepare to separate the LM ascent stage from the descent stage, to jettison the descent stage, and fire the Ascent Propulsion System to return the ascent stage towards the CSM. As Stafford and Cernan prepared to do so, the LM began to gyrate out of control. Alarmed, Cernan exclaimed, "Son of a bitch!" into a hot mic being broadcast live, which, combined with other language used by the crew during the mission, generated some complaints back on Earth. Stafford discarded the descent stage about five seconds after the tumbling began and fought to regain control manually, suspecting that there might have been an "open thruster", or a thruster stuck firing. He did so in time to orient the spacecraft to rejoin Charlie Brown. The problem was traced to a switch controlling the mode of the abort guidance system; it was to be moved as part of the procedure, but both of the crew members switched it, thus returning it to the original position. Had they fired Snoopy in the wrong direction, they might have missed the rendezvous with Charlie Brown or crashed into the Moon. Once Stafford had regained control of the LM ascent stage, which took about eight seconds, the pair fired the ascent engine at the lowest point of the LM's orbit, mimicking the orbital insertion maneuver after launch from the lunar surface in a later landing mission. Snoopy coasted on that trajectory for about an hour before firing the engine once more to further fine-tune its approach to Charlie Brown.
Snoopy rendezvoused with and re-docked with Charlie Brown at 106:22:02, just under eight hours after undocking. The docking was telecast live in color from the CSM. Once Cernan and Stafford had re-entered Charlie Brown, Snoopy was sealed off and separated from Charlie Brown. The rest of the LM's ascent-stage engine fuel was burned to send it on a trajectory past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit.
It was the only Apollo LM to meet this fate; the Apollo 11 ascent stage would be left in lunar orbit to crash, while post-Apollo 11 ascent stages were steered into the Moon to obtain readings from seismometers placed on the surface, except for Apollo 13's ascent stage, which the crew used as a "life boat" to get safely back to Earth before releasing it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere, and Apollo 16's, which NASA lost control of after jettison.
Return to Earth
After ejecting the LM ascent stage, the crew slept and performed photography and observation of the lunar surface from orbit. Though the crew located 18 landmarks on the surface and took photographs of various surface features, crew fatigue necessitated the cancellation of two scheduled television broadcasts. Thereafter, the main Service Propulsion System engine of the CSM re-ignited for about 2.5 minutes to set Apollo 10 on a trajectory towards Earth, achieving such a trajectory at 137:39:13.7. As it departed lunar orbit, Apollo 10 had orbited the Moon 31 times over the span of about 61 hours and 37 minutes.
During their journey back to Earth, the crew performed some observational activities which included star-Earth horizon sightings for navigation. The crew also performed a scheduled test to gauge the reflectivity of the CSM's high-gain antenna and broadcast six television transmissions of varying durations to show views inside the spacecraft and of the Earth and Moon from the crew's vantage point. Cernan reported later that he and his crewmates became the first to "successfully shave in space" during the return trip, using a safety razor and thick shaving gel, as such items had been deemed a safety hazard and prohibited on earlier flights. The crew fired the engine of the CSM for the only mid-course-correction burn required during the return trip at 188:49:58, a few hours before separation of the CM from the SM. The burn lasted about 6.7 seconds.
As the spacecraft rapidly approached Earth on the final day of the mission, the Apollo 10 crew traveled faster than any humans before or since, relative to Earth: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph). This is because the return trajectory was designed to take only 42 hours rather than the normal 56. The Apollo 10 crew also traveled farther than any humans before or since from their (Houston) homes: (though the Apollo 13 crew was 200 km farther away from Earth as a whole). While most Apollo missions orbited the Moon at from the lunar surface, the distance between the Earth and Moon varies by about , between perigee and apogee, throughout each lunar month, and the Earth's rotation makes the distance to Houston vary by at most another each day. The Apollo 10 crew reached the farthest point in their orbit around the far side of the Moon at about the same time Earth's rotation put Houston nearly a full Earth diameter farther away.
At 191:33:26, the CM (which contained the crew) separated from the SM in preparation for reentry, which occurred about 15 minutes later at 191:48:54.5. Splashdown of the CM occurred about 15 minutes after reentry in the Pacific Ocean about east of American Samoa on May 26, 1969, at 16:52:23 UTC and mission elapsed time 192:03:23. The astronauts were recovered by . They spent about four hours aboard, during which they took a congratulatory phone call from President Richard Nixon. As they had not made contact with the lunar surface, Apollo 10's crew were not required to quarantine like the first landing crews would be. They were flown to Pago Pago International Airport in Tafuna for a greeting reception, before boarding a C-141 cargo plane to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston.
Aftermath
Orbital operations and the solo maneuvering of the LM in partial descent to the lunar surface paved the way for the successful Apollo 11 lunar landing by demonstrating the capabilities of the mission hardware and systems. The crew demonstrated that the checkout procedures of the LM and initial descent and rendezvous could be accomplished within the allotted time, that the communication systems of the LM were sufficient, that the rendezvous and landing radars of the LM were operational in lunar orbit, and that the two spacecraft could be adequately monitored by personnel on Earth. Additionally, the precision of lunar orbital navigation improved with Apollo 10 and, combined with data from Apollo 8, NASA expected that it had achieved a level of precision sufficient to execute the first crewed lunar landing. After about two weeks of Apollo 10 data analysis, a NASA flight readiness team cleared Apollo 11 to proceed with its scheduled July 1969 flight. On July 16, 1969, the next Saturn V to launch carried the astronauts of Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon, and four days later the three astronauts returned to Earth, fulfilling John F. Kennedy's challenge to Americans to land astronauts on the Moon and return them safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s.
In July 1969, Stafford replaced Alan Shepard as Chief Astronaut, and then became deputy director of Flight Crew Operations under Deke Slayton. In his memoirs, Stafford wrote that he could have put his name back in the flight rotation, but wanted managerial experience. In 1972, Stafford was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command the American portion of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, which flew in July 1975. He commanded the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and retired in November 1979 as a lieutenant general. Young commanded the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission flown in April 1972. From 1974 to 1987, Young served as Chief Astronaut, commanding the STS-1 (1981) and STS-9 (1983) Space Shuttle missions in April 1981 and November 1983, respectively, and retired from NASA's Astronaut Corps in 2004. Gene Cernan commanded the final Apollo lunar mission, Apollo 17, flown in December 1972. Cernan retired from NASA and the Navy as a captain in 1976.
Hardware disposition
The Smithsonian has been accountable for the command module Charlie Brown since 1970. The spacecraft was on display in several countries until it was placed on loan to the London Science Museum in 1978. Charlie Brown'''s SM was jettisoned just before re-entry and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, its remnants scattering in the Pacific Ocean.
After translunar injection, the Saturn V's S-IVB third stage was accelerated past Earth escape velocity to become space debris; , it remains in a heliocentric orbit.
The ascent stage of the Lunar Module Snoopy was jettisoned into a heliocentric orbit. Snoopys ascent stage orbit was not tracked after 1969, and its whereabouts were unknown. In 2011, a group of amateur astronomers in the UK started a project to search for it. In June 2019, the Royal Astronomical Society announced a possible rediscovery of Snoopy, determining that small Earth-crossing asteroid 2018 AV2 is likely to be the spacecraft with "98%" certainty. It is the only once-crewed spacecraft known to still be in outer space without a crew.
Snoopy's descent stage was jettisoned in lunar orbit; its current location is unknown, though it may have eventually crashed into the Moon as a result of orbital decay. Phil Stooke, a planetary scientist who studied the lunar crash sites of the LM's ascent stages, wrote that the descent stage "crashed at an unknown location", and another source stated that the descent stage "eventually impact(ed) within a few degrees of the equator on the near side". Richard Orloff and David M. Harland, in their sourcebook on Apollo, stated that "the descent stage was left in the low orbit, but perturbations by 'mascons' would have caused this to decay, sending the stage to crash onto the lunar surface".
Images
See also
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of vehicle speed records
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
"Apollo 10" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
NSSDC Master Catalog at NASA
Apollo 10 Flight JournalNASA reports The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
"Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
"Table 2-38. Apollo 10 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA History Series (1988)Multimedia' Apollo 10: "To Sort Out the Unknowns"'' Official NASA/JSC documentary film, JSC-519 (1969)
Apollo 10 16mm onboard film part 1, part 2 raw footage taken from Apollo 10 at the Internet Archive
Mission Transcripts: Apollo 10 at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Images from Apollo 10 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Apollo launch and mission videos at ApolloTV.net
Spacecraft launched in 1969
1969 in the United States
Apollo 10
Crewed missions to the Moon
Peanuts (comic strip)
Spacecraft which reentered in 1969
Articles containing video clips
May 1969 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
John Young (astronaut)
Gene Cernan
Thomas P. Stafford |
1967 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2012 | Apollo 12 | Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean performed just over one day and seven hours of lunar surface activity while Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon remained in lunar orbit.
Apollo 12 would have attempted the first lunar landing had Apollo 11 failed, but after the success of Neil Armstrong's mission, Apollo 12 was postponed by two months, and other Apollo missions also put on a more relaxed schedule. More time was allotted for geologic training in preparation for Apollo 12 than for Apollo 11, Conrad and Bean making several geology field trips in preparation for their mission. Apollo 12's spacecraft and launch vehicle were almost identical to Apollo 11's. One addition was hammocks to allow Conrad and Bean to rest more comfortably on the Moon.
Shortly after being launched on a rainy day at Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 12 was twice struck by lightning, causing instrumentation problems but little damage. Switching to the auxiliary power supply resolved the data relay problem, saving the mission. The outward journey to the Moon otherwise saw few problems. On November 19, Conrad and Bean achieved a precise landing at their expected location within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 robotic probe, which had landed on April 20, 1967. In making a pinpoint landing, they showed that NASA could plan future missions in the expectation that astronauts could land close to sites of scientific interest. Conrad and Bean carried the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, a group of nuclear-powered scientific instruments, as well as the first color television camera taken by an Apollo mission to the lunar surface, but transmission was lost after Bean accidentally pointed the camera at the Sun and its sensor was destroyed. On the second of two moonwalks, they visited Surveyor 3 and removed parts for return to Earth.
Lunar Module Intrepid lifted off from the Moon on November 20 and docked with the command module, which subsequently traveled back to Earth. The Apollo 12 mission ended on November 24 with a successful splashdown.
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
The commander of the all-Navy Apollo 12 crew was Charles "Pete" Conrad, who was 39 years old at the time of the mission. After receiving a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University in 1953, he became a naval aviator, and completed United States Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. He was selected in the second group of astronauts in 1962, and flew on Gemini 5 in 1965, and as command pilot of Gemini 11 in 1966. Command Module Pilot Richard "Dick" Gordon, 40 years old at the time of Apollo 12, also became a naval aviator in 1953, following graduation from the University of Washington with a degree in chemistry, and completed test pilot school at Patuxent River. Selected as a Group 3 astronaut in 1963, he flew with Conrad on Gemini 11.
The original Lunar Module pilot assigned to work with Conrad was Clifton C. Williams Jr., who was killed in October 1967 when the T-38 he was flying crashed near Tallahassee. When forming his crew, Conrad had wanted Alan L. Bean, a former student of his at the test pilot school, but had been told by Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton that Bean was unavailable due to an assignment to the Apollo Applications Program. After Williams's death, Conrad asked for Bean again, and this time Slayton yielded. Bean, 37 years old when the mission flew, had graduated from the University of Texas in 1955 with a degree in aeronautical engineering. Also a naval aviator, he was selected alongside Gordon in 1963, and first flew in space on Apollo 12. The three Apollo 12 crew members had backed up Apollo 9 earlier in 1969.
The Apollo 12 backup crew was David R. Scott as commander, Alfred M. Worden as Command Module pilot, and James B. Irwin as Lunar Module pilot. They became the crew of Apollo 15. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts, known as the support crew, was designated in addition to the prime and backup crews used on projects Mercury and Gemini. Slayton created the support crews because James McDivitt, who would command Apollo 9, believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the US, meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated; For Apollo 12, they were Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson and Paul J. Weitz. Flight directors were Gerry Griffin, first shift, Pete Frank, second shift, Clifford E. Charlesworth, third shift, and Milton Windler, fourth shift. Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success." Capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) were Scott, Worden, Irwin, Carr, Gibson, Weitz and Don Lind.
Preparation
Site selection
The landing site selection process for Apollo 12 was greatly informed by the site selection for Apollo 11. There were rigid standards for the possible Apollo 11 landing sites, in which scientific interest was not a major factor: they had to be close to the lunar equator and not on the periphery of the portion of the lunar surface visible from Earth; they had to be relatively flat and without major obstructions along the path the Lunar Module (LM) would fly to reach them, their suitability confirmed by photographs from Lunar Orbiter probes. Also desirable was the presence of another suitable site further west in case the mission was delayed, and the sun would have risen too high in the sky at the original site for desired lighting conditions. The need for three days to recycle if a launch had to be scrubbed meant that only three of the five suitable sites found were designated as potential landing sites for Apollo 11, of which the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquility was the easternmost. Since Apollo 12 was to attempt the first lunar landing if Apollo 11 failed, both sets of astronauts trained for the same sites.
With the success of Apollo 11, it was initially contemplated that Apollo 12 would land at the site next further west from the Sea of Tranquility, in Sinus Medii. However, NASA planning coordinator Jack Sevier and engineers at the Manned Spaceflight Center at Houston argued for a landing close enough to the crater in which the Surveyor 3 probe had landed in 1967 to allow the astronauts to cut parts from it for return to Earth. The site was otherwise suitable and had scientific interest. Given that Apollo 11 had landed several miles off-target, though, some NASA administrators feared Apollo 12 would land far enough away that the astronauts could not reach the probe, and the agency would be embarrassed. Nevertheless, the ability to perform pinpoint landings was essential if Apollo's exploration program was to be carried out, and on July 25, 1969, Apollo Program Manager Samuel Phillips designated what became known as Surveyor crater as the landing site, despite the unanimous opposition of members of two site selection boards.
Training and preparation
The Apollo 12 astronauts spent five hours in mission-specific training for every hour they expected to spend in flight on the mission, a total exceeding 1,000 hours per crew member. Conrad and Bean received more mission-specific training than Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had. This was in addition to the 1,500 hours of training they received as backup crew members for Apollo 9. The Apollo 12 training included over 400 hours per crew member in simulators of the Command Module (CM) and of the LM. Some of the simulations were linked in real time to flight controllers in Mission Control. To practice landing on the Moon, Conrad flew the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV), training in which continued to be authorized even though Armstrong had been forced to bail out of a similar vehicle in 1968, just before it crashed.
Soon after being assigned as Apollo 12 crew commander, Conrad met with NASA geologists and told them that the training for lunar surface activities would be conducted much as Apollo 11's, but there was to be no publicity or involvement by the media. Conrad felt he had been abused by the press during Gemini, and the sole Apollo 11 geology field trip had turned into a near-fiasco, with a large media contingent present, some getting in the way—the astronauts had trouble hearing each other due to a hovering press helicopter. After the successful return of Apollo 11 in July 1969, more time was allotted for geology, but the astronauts' focus was in getting time in the simulators without being pre-empted by the Apollo 11 crew. On the six Apollo 12 geology field trips, the astronauts would practice as if on the Moon, collecting samples and documenting them with photographs, while communicating with a CAPCOM and geologists who were out of sight in a nearby tent. Afterwards, the astronauts' performance in choosing samples and taking photographs would be critiqued. To the frustration of the astronauts, the scientists kept changing the photo documentation procedures; after the fourth or fifth such change, Conrad required that there be no more. After the return of Apollo 11, the Apollo 12 crew was able to view the lunar samples, and be briefed on them by scientists.
As Apollo 11 was targeted for an ellipse-shaped landing zone, rather than at a specific point, there was no planning for geology traverses, the designated tasks to be done at sites of the crew's choosing. For Apollo 12, before the mission, some of NASA's geology team met with the crew and Conrad suggested they lay out possible routes for him and Bean. The result was four traverses, based on four potential landing points for the LM. This was the start of geology traverse planning that on later missions became a considerable effort involving several organizations.
The stages of the lunar module, LM–6, were delivered to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on March 24, 1969, and were mated to each other on April 28. Command module CM–108 and service module SM–108 were delivered to KSC on March 28, and were mated to each other on April 21. Following installation of gear and testing, the launch vehicle, with the spacecraft atop it, was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A on September 8, 1969. The training schedule was complete, as planned, by November 1, 1969; activities after that date were intended as refreshers. The crew members felt that the training, for the most part, was adequate preparation for the Moon mission.
Hardware
Launch vehicle
There were no significant changes to the Saturn V launch vehicle used on Apollo 12, SA–507, from that used on Apollo 11. There were another 17 instrumentation measurements in the Apollo 12 launch vehicle, bringing the number to 1,365. The entire vehicle, including the spacecraft, weighed at launch, an increase from Apollo 11's . Of this figure, the spacecraft weighed , up from on Apollo 11.
Third stage trajectory
After LM separation, the third stage of the Saturn V, the S-IVB, was intended to fly into solar orbit. The S-IVB auxiliary propulsion system was fired, with the intent that the Moon's gravity slingshot the stage into solar orbit. Due to an error, the S-IVB flew past the Moon at too high an altitude to achieve Earth escape velocity. It remained in a semi-stable Earth orbit until it finally escaped Earth orbit in 1971, but briefly returned to Earth orbit 31 years later. It was discovered by amateur astronomer Bill Yeung who gave it the temporary designation J002E3 before it was determined to be an artificial object. Again in solar orbit as of 2021, it may again be captured by Earth's gravity, but not at least until the 2040s. The S-IVBs used on later lunar missions were deliberately crashed into the Moon to create seismic events that would register on the seismometers left on the Moon and provide data about the Moon's structure.
Spacecraft
The Apollo 12 spacecraft consisted of Command Module 108 and Service Module 108 (together Command and Service Modules 108, or CSM–108), Lunar Module 6 (LM–6), a Launch Escape System (LES), and Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter 15 (SLA–15). The LES contained three rocket motors to propel the CM to safety in the event of an abort shortly after launch, while the SLA housed the LM and provided a structural connection between the Saturn V and the LM. The SLA was identical to Apollo 11's, while the LES differed only in the installation of a more reliable motor igniter.
The CSM was given the call sign Yankee Clipper, while the LM had the call sign Intrepid. These sea-related names were selected by the all-Navy crew from several thousand proposed names submitted by employees of the prime contractors of the respective modules. George Glacken, a flight test engineer at North American Aviation, builder of the CSM, proposed Yankee Clipper as such ships had "majestically sailed the high seas with pride and prestige for a new America". Intrepid was from a suggestion by Robert Lambert, a planner at Grumman, builder of the LM, as evocative of "this nation's resolute determination for continued exploration of space, stressing our astronauts' fortitude and endurance of hardship".
The differences between the CSM and LM of Apollo 11, and those of Apollo 12, were few and minor. A hydrogen separator was added to the CSM to stop the gas from entering the potable water tank—Apollo 11 had had one, though mounted on the water dispenser in the CM's cabin. Gaseous hydrogen in the water had given the Apollo 11 crew severe flatulence. Other changes included the strengthening of the recovery loop attached following splashdown, meaning that the swimmers recovering the CM would not have to attach an auxiliary loop. LM changes included a structural modification so that scientific experiment packages could be carried for deployment on the lunar surface. Two hammocks were added for greater comfort of the astronauts while resting on the Moon, and a color television camera substituted for the black and white one used on the lunar surface during Apollo 11.
ALSEP
The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, was a suite of scientific instruments designed to be emplaced on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts, and thereafter operate autonomously, sending data to Earth. Development of the ALSEP was part of NASA's response to some scientists who opposed the crewed lunar landing program (they felt that robotic craft could explore the Moon more cheaply) by demonstrating that some tasks, such as deployment of the ALSEP, required humans. In 1966, a contract to design and build the ALSEPs was awarded to the Bendix Corporation Due to the limited time the Apollo 11 crew would have on the lunar surface, a smaller suite of experiments was flown, known as the Early Apollo Surface Experiment Package (EASEP). Apollo 12 was the first mission to carry an ALSEP; one would be flown on each of the subsequent lunar landing missions, though the components that were included would vary. Apollo 12's ALSEP was to be deployed at least away from the LM to protect the instruments from the debris that would be generated when the ascent stage of the LM took off to return the astronauts to lunar orbit.
Apollo 12's ALSEP included a Lunar Surface Magnetometer (LSM), to measure the magnetic field at the Moon's surface, a Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD, also known as the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge Experiment), intended to measure the density and temperature of the thin lunar atmosphere and how it varies, a Lunar Ionosphere Detector (LID, also known as the Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment, or CPLEE), intended to study the charged particles in the lunar atmosphere, and the Solar Wind Spectrometer, to measure the strength and direction of the solar wind at the Moon's surface—the free-standing Solar Wind Composition Experiment, to measure what makes up the solar wind, would be deployed and then brought back to Earth by the astronauts. A Dust Detector was used to measure the accumulation of lunar dust on the equipment. Apollo 12's Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE), a seismometer, would measure moonquakes and other movements in the Moon's crust, and would be calibrated by the nearby planned impact of the ascent stage of Apollo 12's LM, an object of known mass and velocity hitting the Moon at a known location, and projected to be equivalent to the explosive force of one ton of TNT.
The ALSEP experiments left on the Moon by Apollo 12 were connected to a Central Station, which contained a transmitter, receiver, timer, data processor, and equipment for power distribution and control of the experiments. The equipment was powered by SNAP-27, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. Containing plutonium, the RTG flown on Apollo 12 was the first use of atomic energy on a crewed NASA spacecraft—some NASA and military satellites had previously used similar systems. The plutonium core was brought from Earth in a cask attached to an LM landing leg, a container designed to survive re-entry in the event of an aborted mission, something NASA considered unlikely. The cask would survive re-entry on Apollo 13, sinking in the Tonga Trench of the Pacific Ocean, apparently without radioactive leakage.
The Apollo 12 ALSEP experiments were activated from Earth on November 19, 1969. The LAD returned only a small amount of useful data due to the failure of its power supply soon after activation. The LSM was deactivated on June 14, 1974, as was the other LSM deployed on the Moon, from Apollo 15. All powered ALSEP experiments that remained active were deactivated on September 30, 1977, principally because of budgetary constraints.
Mission highlights
Launch
With President Richard Nixon in attendance, the first time a current U.S. president had witnessed a crewed space launch, as well as Vice President Spiro Agnew, Apollo 12 launched as planned at 11:22:00 on November 14, 1969 (16:22:00 UT) from Kennedy Space Center. This was at the start of a launch window of three hours and four minutes to reach the Moon with optimal lighting conditions at the planned landing point. There were completely overcast rainy skies, and the vehicle encountered winds of during ascent, the strongest of any Apollo mission. There was a NASA rule against launching into a cumulonimbus cloud; this had been waived and it was later determined that the launch vehicle never entered such a cloud. Had the mission been postponed, it could have been launched on November 16 with landing at a backup site where there would be no Surveyor, but since time pressure to achieve a lunar landing had been removed by Apollo 11's success, NASA might have waited until December for the next opportunity to go to the Surveyor crater.
Lightning struck the Saturn V 36.5 seconds after lift-off, triggered by the vehicle itself. The static discharge caused a voltage transient that knocked all three fuel cells offline, meaning the spacecraft was being powered entirely from its batteries, which could not supply enough current to meet demand. A second strike at 52 seconds knocked out the "8-ball" attitude indicator. The telemetry stream at Mission Control was garbled, but the Saturn V continued to fly normally; the strikes had not affected the Saturn V instrument unit guidance system, which functioned independently from the CSM. The astronauts unexpectedly had a board red with caution and warning lights, but could not tell exactly what was wrong.
The Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager (EECOM) in Mission Control, John Aaron, remembered the telemetry failure pattern from an earlier test when a power loss caused a malfunction in the CSM signal conditioning electronics (SCE), which converted raw signals from instrumentation to data that could be displayed on Mission Control's consoles, and knew how to fix it. Aaron made a call, "Flight, EECOM. Try SCE to Aux", to switch the SCE to a backup power supply. The switch was fairly obscure, and neither Flight Director Gerald Griffin, CAPCOM Gerald P. Carr, nor Conrad knew what it was; Bean, who as LMP was the spacecraft's engineer, knew where to find it and threw the switch, after which the telemetry came back online, revealing no significant malfunctions. Bean put the fuel cells back online, and the mission continued. Once in Earth parking orbit, the crew carefully checked out their spacecraft before re-igniting the S-IVB third stage for trans-lunar injection. The lightning strikes caused no serious permanent damage.
Initially, it was feared that the lightning strike could have damaged the explosive bolts that opened the Command Module's parachute compartment. The decision was made not to share this with the astronauts and to continue with the flight plan, since they would die if the parachutes failed to deploy, whether following an Earth-orbit abort or upon a return from the Moon, so nothing was to be gained by aborting. The parachutes deployed and functioned normally at the end of the mission.
Outward journey
After systems checks in Earth orbit, performed with great care because of the lightning strikes, the trans-lunar injection burn, made with the S-IVB, took place at 02:47:22.80 into the mission, setting Apollo 12 on course for the Moon. An hour and twenty minutes later, the CSM separated from the S-IVB, after which Gordon performed the transposition, docking and extracting maneuver to dock with the LM and separate the combined craft from the S-IVB, which was then sent on an attempt to reach solar orbit. The stage fired its engines to leave the vicinity of the spacecraft, a change from Apollo 11, where the SM's Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine was used to distance it from the S-IVB.
As there were concerns the LM might have been damaged by the lightning strikes, Conrad and Bean entered it on the first day of flight to check its status, earlier than planned. They found no issues. At 30:52.44.36, the only necessary midcourse correction during the translunar coast was made, placing the craft on a hybrid, non-free-return trajectory. Previous crewed missions to lunar orbit had taken a free-return trajectory, allowing an easy return to Earth if the craft's engines did not fire to enter lunar orbit. Apollo 12 was the first crewed spacecraft to take a hybrid free-return trajectory, that would require another burn to return to Earth, but one that could be executed by the LM's Descent Propulsion System (DPS) if the SPS failed. The use of a hybrid trajectory allowed more flexibility in mission planning. It for example allowed Apollo 12 to launch in daylight and reach the planned landing spot on schedule. Use of a hybrid trajectory meant that Apollo 12 took 8 hours longer to go from trans-lunar injection to lunar orbit.
Lunar orbit and Moon landing
Apollo 12 entered a lunar orbit of with an SPS burn of 352.25 seconds at mission time 83:25:26.36. On the first lunar orbit, there was a television transmission that resulted in good-quality video of the lunar surface. On the third lunar orbit, there was another burn to circularize the craft's orbit to , and on the next revolution, preparations began for the lunar landing. The CSM and LM undocked at 107:54:02.3; a half hour later there was a burn by the CSM to separate them. The 14.4 second burn by some of the CSM's thrusters meant that the two craft would be apart when the LM began the burn to move to a lower orbit in preparation for landing on the Moon.
The LM's Descent Propulsion System began a 29-second burn at 109:23:39.9 to move the craft to the lower orbit, from which the 717-second powered descent to the lunar surface began at 110:20:38.1. Conrad had trained to expect a pattern of craters known as "the Snowman" to be visible when the craft underwent "pitchover", with the Surveyor crater in its center, but had feared he would see nothing recognizable. He was astonished to see the Snowman right where it should be, meaning they were directly on course. He took over manual control, planning to land the LM, as he had in simulations, in an area near the Surveyor crater that had been dubbed "Pete's Parking Lot", but found it rougher than expected. He had to maneuver, and landed the LM
at 110:32:36.2 (06:54:36 UT on November 19, 1969), just from the Surveyor probe. This achieved one objective of the mission, to perform a precision landing near the Surveyor craft.
The lunar coordinates of the landing site were 3.01239° S latitude, 23.42157° W longitude. The landing caused high velocity sandblasting of the Surveyor probe. It was later determined that the sandblasting removed more dust than it delivered onto the Surveyor, because the probe was covered by a thin layer that gave it a tan hue as observed by the astronauts, and every portion of the surface exposed to the direct sandblasting was lightened back toward the original white color through the removal of lunar dust.
Lunar surface activities
When Conrad, the shortest man of the initial groups of astronauts, stepped onto the lunar surface his first words were "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." This was not an off-the-cuff remark: Conrad had made a bet with reporter Oriana Fallaci he would say these words, after she had queried whether NASA had instructed Neil Armstrong what to say as he stepped onto the Moon. Conrad later said he was never able to collect the money.
To improve the quality of television pictures from the Moon, a color camera was carried on Apollo 12 (unlike the monochrome camera on Apollo 11). When Bean carried the camera to the place near the LM where it was to be set up, he inadvertently pointed it directly into the Sun, destroying the Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) tube. Television coverage of this mission was thus terminated almost immediately.
After raising a U.S. flag on the Moon, Conrad and Bean devoted much of the remainder of the first EVA to deploying the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP). There were minor difficulties with the deployment. Bean had trouble extracting the RTG's plutonium fuel element from its protective cask, and the astronauts had to resort to the use of a hammer to hit the cask and dislodge the fuel element. Some of the ALSEP packages proved hard to deploy, though the astronauts were successful in all cases. With the PSE able to detect their footprints as they headed back to the LM, the astronauts secured a core tube full of lunar material, and collected other samples. The first EVA lasted 3 hours, 56 minutes and 3 seconds.
Four possible geologic traverses had been planned, the variable being where the LM might set down. Conrad had landed it between two of these potential landing points, and during the first EVA and the rest break that followed, scientists in Houston combined two of the traverses into one that Conrad and Bean could follow from their landing point. The resultant traverse resembled a rough circle, and when the astronauts emerged from the LM some 13 hours after ending the first EVA, the first stop was Head crater, some from the LM. There, Bean noticed that Conrad's footprints showed lighter material underneath, indicating the presence of ejecta from Copernicus crater, to the north, something that scientists examining overhead photographs of the site had hoped to find. After the mission, samples from Head allowed geologists to date the impact that formed Copernicus—according to initial dating, some 810,000,000 years ago.
The astronauts proceeded to Bench crater and Sharp crater and past Halo crater before arriving at Surveyor crater, where the Surveyor 3 probe had landed. Fearing treacherous footing or that the probe might topple on them, they approached Surveyor cautiously, descending into the shallow crater some distance away and then following a contour to reach the craft, but found the footing solid and the probe stable. They collected several pieces of Surveyor, including the television camera, as well as taking rocks that had been studied by television. Conrad and Bean had procured an automatic timer for their Hasselblad cameras, and had brought it with them without telling Mission Control, hoping to take a selfie of the two of them with the probe, but when the time came to use it, could not locate it among the lunar samples they had already placed in their Hand Tool Carrier. Before returning to the LM's vicinity, Conrad and Bean went to Block crater, within Surveyor crater. The second EVA lasted 3 hours, 49 minutes, 15 seconds, during which they traveled . During the EVAs, Conrad and Bean went as far as from the LM, and collected of samples.
Lunar orbit solo activities
After the LM's departure, Gordon had little to say as Mission Control focused on the lunar landing. Once that was accomplished, Gordon sent his congratulations and, on the next orbit, was able to spot both the LM and the Surveyor on the ground and convey their locations to Houston. During the first EVA, Gordon prepared for a plane change maneuver, a burn to alter the CSM's orbit to compensate for the rotation of the Moon, though at times he had difficulty communicating with Houston since Conrad and Bean were using the same communications circuit. Once the two moonwalkers had returned to the LM, Gordon executed the burn, which ensured he would be in the proper position to rendezvous with the LM when it launched from the Moon.
While alone in orbit, Gordon performed the Lunar Multispectral Photography Experiment, using four Hasselblad cameras arranged in a ring and aimed through one of the CM's windows. With each camera having a different color filter, simultaneous photos would be taken by each, showing the appearance of lunar features at different points on the spectrum. Analysis of the images might reveal colors not visible to the naked eye or detectable with ordinary color film, and information could be obtained about the composition of sites that would not soon be visited by humans. Among the sites studied were contemplated landing points for future Apollo missions.
Return
LM Intrepid lifted off from the Moon at mission time 143:03:47.78, or 14:25:47 UT on November 20, 1969; after several maneuvers, CSM and LM docked three and a half hours later. At 147:59:31.6, the LM ascent stage was jettisoned, and shortly thereafter the CSM maneuvered away. Under control from Earth, the LM's remaining propellent was depleted in a burn that caused it to impact the Moon from the Apollo 12 landing point. The seismometer the astronauts had left on the lunar surface registered the resulting vibrations for more than an hour.
The crew stayed another day in lunar orbit taking photographs of the surface, including of candidate sites for future Apollo landings. A second plane change maneuver was made at 159:04:45.47, lasting 19.25 seconds.
The trans-Earth injection burn, to send the CSM Yankee Clipper towards home, was conducted at 172:27:16.81 and lasted 130.32 seconds. Two short midcourse correction burns were made en route. A final television broadcast was made, the astronauts answering questions submitted by the media. There was ample time for rest on the way back to Earth, One event was the photography of a solar eclipse that occurred when the Earth came between the spacecraft and the Sun; Bean described it as the most spectacular sight of the mission.
Splashdown
Yankee Clipper returned to Earth on November 24, 1969, at 20:58 UT (3:58pm Eastern Time, 10:58am HST), in the Pacific Ocean. The landing was hard, resulting in a camera becoming dislodged and striking Bean in the forehead. After recovery by , they entered the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF), while lunar samples and Surveyor parts were sent ahead by air to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) in Houston. Once the Hornet docked in Hawaii, the MQF was offloaded and flown to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston on November 29, from where it was taken to the LRL, where the astronauts remained until released from quarantine on December 10.
Mission insignia
The Apollo 12 mission patch shows the crew's naval background; all three astronauts at the time of the mission were U.S. Navy commanders. It features a clipper ship arriving at the Moon, representing the CM Yankee Clipper. The ship trails fire, and flies the flag of the United States. The mission name APOLLO XII and the crew names are on a wide gold border, with a small blue trim. Blue and gold are traditional U.S. Navy colors. The patch has four stars on it – one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission and one for Clifton Williams, the original LMP on Conrad's crew who was killed in 1967 and would have flown the mission. The star was placed there at the suggestion of his replacement, Bean.
The insignia was designed by the crew with the aid of several employees of NASA contractors. The Apollo 12 landing area on the Moon is within the portion of the lunar surface shown on the insignia, based on a photograph of a globe of the Moon, taken by engineers. The clipper ship was based on photographs of such a ship obtained by Bean.
Aftermath and spacecraft location
After the mission, Conrad urged his crewmates to join him in the Skylab program, seeing in it the best chance of flying in space again. Bean did so—Conrad commanded Skylab 2, the first crewed mission to the space station, while Bean commanded Skylab 3. Gordon, though, still hoped to walk on the Moon and remained with the Apollo program, serving as backup commander of Apollo 15. He was the likely commander of Apollo 18, but that mission was canceled and he did not fly in space again.
The Apollo 12 command module Yankee Clipper, was displayed at the Paris Air Show and was then placed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; ownership was transferred to the Smithsonian in July 1971. It is on display at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton.
Mission Control had remotely fired the service module's thrusters after jettison, hoping to have it skip off the atmosphere and enter a high-apogee orbit, but the lack of tracking data confirming this caused it to conclude it most likely burned up in the atmosphere at the time of CM re-entry. The S-IVB is in a solar orbit that is sometimes affected by the Earth.
The ascent stage of LM Intrepid impacted the Moon November 20, 1969, at 22:17:17.7 UT (5:17pm EST). In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographed the Apollo 12 landing site, where the descent stage, ALSEP, Surveyor3 spacecraft, and astronaut footpaths remain. In 2011, the LRO returned to the landing site at a lower altitude to take higher resolution photographs.
See also
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
References
Bibliography
External links
"Apollo 12" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
"Apollo 12" at NASA's National Space Science Data Center
Apollo 11, 12, and 14 Traverses, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
"Apollo 12 Traverse Map" at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Lunar Orbiter 3 image 154 H2, used for planning the mission (landing site is left of center).
Lunar Orbiter 1 sequence of images 157, 158, and 159, showing the Apollo 12 landing site and vicinity
NASA reports
"Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report" (PDF), NASA, NASA SP-235, 1970
"Analysis of Apollo 12 Lightning Incident", (PDF) February 1970
"Analysis of Surveyor 3 material and photographs returned by Apollo 12" (PDF) 1972
"Examination of Surveyor 3 surface sampler scoop"(PDF) 1971
"Table 2-40. Apollo 12 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA History Series (1988)
The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
"Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
Multimedia
"Apollo 12: Pinpoint For Science" on YouTube
"Apollo 12: The Bernie Scrivener Audio Tapes" – Apollo 12 audio recordings at the Apollo 12 Flight Journal
"Apollo 12: There and Back Again" – Image slideshow by Life magazine
"Apollo12: Comic Book" (50th Anniversary – November 20, 1969–2019)
"Apollo 12: Patch" – Image of Apollo 12 mission patch
Alan Bean
Pete Conrad
Richard F. Gordon Jr.
Apollo 12
Extravehicular activity
Crewed missions to the Moon
Sample return missions
Soft landings on the Moon
Spacecraft launched in 1969
Spacecraft which reentered in 1969
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
Articles containing video clips
1969 on the Moon
1969 in the United States
November 1969 events |
1968 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2014 | Apollo 14 | Apollo 14 (January 31February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the "H missions", landings at specific sites of scientific interest on the Moon for two-day stays with two lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks).
The mission was originally scheduled for 1970, but was postponed because of the investigation following the failure of Apollo 13 to reach the Moon's surface, and the need for modifications to the spacecraft as a result. Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on Sunday, January 31, 1971, at 4:03:02 p.m. EST. En route to the lunar landing, the crew overcame malfunctions that might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and possibly, the premature end of the Apollo program.
Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation – originally the target of Apollo 13. During the two walks on the surface, they collected of Moon rocks and deployed several scientific experiments. To the dismay of some geologists, Shepard and Mitchell did not reach the rim of Cone crater as had been planned, though they came close. In Apollo 14's most famous event, Shepard hit two golf balls he had brought with him with a makeshift club.
While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command and Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees, that were widely distributed in the following years. After liftoff from the lunar surface and a successful docking, the spacecraft was flown back to Earth where the three astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.
Astronauts and key Mission Control personnel
The mission commander of Apollo 14, Alan Shepard, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, became the first American to enter space with a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961. Thereafter, he was grounded by Ménière's disease, a disorder of the ear, and served as Chief Astronaut, the administrative head of the Astronaut Office. He had experimental surgery in 1968 which was successful and allowed his return to flight status. Shepard, at age 47, was the oldest U.S. astronaut to fly when he made his trip aboard Apollo 14, and he is the oldest person to walk on the Moon.
Apollo 14's Command Module Pilot (CMP), Stuart Roosa, aged 37 when the mission flew, had been a smoke jumper before joining the Air Force in 1953. He became a fighter pilot and then in 1965 successfully completed Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS) at Edwards Air Force Base in California prior to his selection as a Group 5 astronaut the following year. He served as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for Apollo 9. The Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), Edgar Mitchell, aged 40 at the time of Apollo 14, joined the Navy in 1952 and served as a fighter pilot, beginning in 1954. He was assigned to squadrons aboard aircraft carriers before returning to the United States to further his education while in the Navy, also completing the ARPS prior to his selection as a Group 5 astronaut. He served on the support crew for Apollo 9 and was the LMP of the backup crew for Apollo 10.
Shepard and his crew had originally been designated by Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations and one of the Mercury Seven, as the crew for Apollo 13. NASA's management felt that Shepard needed more time for training given he had not flown in space since 1961, and chose him and his crew for Apollo 14 instead. The crew originally designated for Apollo 14, Jim Lovell as the commander, Ken Mattingly as CMP and Fred Haise as LMP, all of whom had backed up Apollo 11, was made the prime crew for Apollo 13 instead.
Mitchell's commander on the Apollo 10 backup crew had been another of the original seven, Gordon Cooper, who had tentatively been scheduled to command Apollo 13, but according to author Andrew Chaikin, his casual attitude toward training resulted in him being not selected. Also on that crew, but excluded from further flights, was Donn Eisele, likely because of problems aboard Apollo 7, which he had flown, and because he had been involved in a messy divorce.
Apollo 14's backup crew was Eugene A. Cernan as commander, Ronald E. Evans Jr. as CMP and Joe H. Engle as LMP. The backup crew, with Harrison Schmitt replacing Engle, would become the prime crew of Apollo 17. Schmitt flew instead of Engle because there was intense pressure on NASA to fly a scientist to the Moon (Schmitt was a geologist) and Apollo 17 was the last lunar flight. Engle, who had flown the X-15 to the edge of outer space, flew into space for NASA in 1981 on STS-2, the second Space Shuttle flight.
During projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. Apollo 9 commander James McDivitt believed meetings that required a member of the flight crew were being missed, so for Apollo a third crew of astronauts was added, known as the support crew. Usually low in seniority, support crew members assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated; for Apollo 14, they were Philip K. Chapman, Bruce McCandless II, William R. Pogue and C. Gordon Fullerton. CAPCOMs, the individuals in Mission Control responsible for communications with the astronauts were Evans, McCandless, Fullerton and Haise. A veteran of Apollo 13, which had aborted before reaching the Moon, Haise put his training for that mission to use, especially during the EVAs, since both missions were targeted at the same place on the Moon. Had Haise walked on the Moon, he would have been the first Group 5 astronaut to do so, an honor that went to Mitchell.
The flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success." For Apollo 14, they were: Pete Frank, Orange team; Glynn Lunney, Black team; Milt Windler, Maroon team and Gerry Griffin, Gold team.
Preparation and training
Prime and backup crews for both Apollo 13 and 14 were announced on August 6, 1969. Apollo 14 was scheduled for July 1970, but in January of that year, due to budget cuts that saw the cancellation of Apollo 20, NASA decided there would be two Apollo missions per year with 1970 to see Apollo 13 in April and Apollo 14 likely in October or November.
The investigation into the accident which caused an abort of Apollo 13 delayed Apollo 14. On May 7, 1970, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine announced that Apollo 14 would launch no earlier than December 3, and the landing would be close to the site targeted by Apollo 13. The Apollo 14 astronauts continued their training. On June 30, 1970, following the release of the accident report and a NASA review of what changes to the spacecraft would be necessary, NASA announced that the launch would slip to no earlier than January 31, 1971.
The crew of Apollo 14 trained together for 19 months after assignment to the mission, longer than any other Apollo crew to that point. In addition to the normal training workload, they had to supervise the changes to the command and service module (CSM) made as a result of the Apollo 13 investigation, much of which was delegated by Shepard to Roosa. Mitchell later stated, "We realized that if our mission failed—if we had to turn back—that was probably the end of the Apollo program. There was no way NASA could stand two failures in a row. We figured there was a heavy mantle on our shoulders to make sure we got it right."
Before the abort of the Apollo 13 mission, the plan was to have Apollo 14 land near Littrow crater, in Mare Serenitatis, where there are features that were thought to be volcanic. After Apollo 13 returned, it was decided that its landing site, near Cone crater in the Fra Mauro formation, was scientifically more important than Littrow. The Fra Mauro formation is composed of ejecta from the impact event that formed Mare Imbrium, and scientists hoped for samples that originated deep under the Moon's surface. Cone crater was the result of a young, deep impact, and large enough to have torn through whatever debris was deposited since the Imbrium Event, which geologists hoped to be able to date. Landing at Fra Mauro would also allow orbital photography of another candidate landing site, the Descartes Highlands, which became the landing site for Apollo 16. Although Littrow went unvisited, a nearby area, Taurus-Littrow, was the landing site for Apollo 17. Apollo 14's landing site was located slightly closer to Cone crater than the point designated for Apollo 13.
The change in landing site from Littrow to Fra Mauro affected the geological training for Apollo 14. Before the switch, the astronauts had been taken to volcanic sites on Earth; afterwards, they visited crater sites, such as the Ries Crater in West Germany and an artificial crater field created for astronaut training in Arizona's Verde Valley. The effectiveness of the training was limited by a lack of enthusiasm shown by Shepard, which set the tone for Mitchell. Harrison Schmitt suggested that the commander had other things on his mind, such as overcoming a ten-year absence from spaceflight and ensuring a successful mission after the near-disaster of Apollo 13.
Roosa undertook training for his period alone in lunar orbit, when he would make observations of the Moon and take photographs. He had been impressed by the training given to Apollo 13 prime crew CMP Mattingly by geologist Farouk El-Baz and got El-Baz to agree to undertake his training. The two men pored over lunar maps depicting the areas the CSM would pass over. When Shepard and Mitchell were on their geology field trips, Roosa would be overhead in an airplane taking photographs of the site and making observations. El-Baz had Roosa make observations while flying his T-38 jet at a speed and altitude simulating the speed at which the lunar surface would pass below the CSM.
Another issue that had marked Apollo 13 was the last-minute change of crew due to exposure to communicable disease. To prevent another such occurrence, for Apollo 14 NASA instituted what was called the Flight Crew Health Stabilization Program. Beginning 21 days before launch, the crew lived in quarters at the launch site, Florida's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), with their contacts limited to their spouses, the backup crew, mission technicians, and others directly involved in training. Those individuals were given physical examinations and immunizations, and crew movements were limited as much as possible at KSC and nearby areas.
The Command and Service Modules were delivered to KSC on November 19, 1969; the ascent stage of the LM arrived on November 21 with the descent stage three days later. Thereafter, checkout, testing and equipment installation proceeded. The launch vehicle stack, with the spacecraft on top, was rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39A on November 9, 1970.
Hardware
Spacecraft
The Apollo 14 spacecraft consisted of Command Module (CM) 110 and Service Module (SM) 110 (together CSM-110), called Kitty Hawk, and Lunar Module 8 (LM-8), called Antares. Roosa had chosen the CSM's call sign after the town in North Carolina where, in 1903, the Wright Brothers first flew their Wright Flyer airplane (also known as Kitty Hawk). Antares was named by Mitchell after the star in the constellation Scorpius that the astronauts in the LM would use to orient the craft for its lunar landing. Also considered part of the spacecraft were a Launch Escape System and a Spacecraft/Launch Vehicle Adapter, numbered SLA-17.
The changes to the Apollo spacecraft between Apollo 13 and 14 were more numerous than with earlier missions, not only because of the problems with Apollo 13, but because of the more extensive lunar activities planned for Apollo 14. The Apollo 13 accident had been caused by the explosive failure of an oxygen tank, after the insulation of the internal wiring had been damaged by heating of the tank contents pre-launch—that the oxygen had gotten hot enough to damage the insulation had not been realized, since the protective thermostatic switches had failed because they were, through an error, not designed to handle the voltage applied during ground testing. The explosion damaged the other tank or its tubing, causing its contents to leak away.
The changes in response included a redesign of the oxygen tanks, with the thermostats being upgraded to handle the proper voltage. A third tank was also added, placed in Bay1 of the SM, on the side opposite the other two, and was given a valve that could isolate it in an emergency, and allow it to feed the CM's environmental system only. The quantity probe in each tank was upgraded from aluminum to stainless steel.
Also in response to the Apollo 13 accident, the electrical wiring in Bay4 (where the explosion had happened) was sheathed in stainless steel. The fuel cell oxygen supply valves were redesigned to isolate the Teflon-coated wiring from the oxygen. The spacecraft and Mission Control monitoring systems were modified to give more immediate and visible warnings of anomalies. The Apollo 13 astronauts had suffered shortages of water and of power after the accident. Accordingly, an emergency supply of of water was stored in Apollo 14's CM, and an emergency battery, identical to those that powered the LM's descent stage, was placed in the SM. The LM was modified to make the transfer of power from LM to CM easier.
Other changes included the installation of anti-slosh baffles in the LM descent stage's propellant tanks. This would prevent the low fuel light from coming on prematurely, as had happened on Apollo 11 and 12. Structural changes were made to accommodate the equipment to be used on the lunar surface, including the Modular Equipment Transporter.
Launch vehicle
The Saturn V used for Apollo 14 was designated SA-509, and was similar to those used on Apollo 8 through 13. At , it was the heaviest vehicle yet flown by NASA, heavier than the launch vehicle for Apollo 13.
A number of changes were made to avoid pogo oscillations, that had caused an early shutdown of the center J-2 engine on Apollo 13's S-II second stage. These included a helium gas accumulator installed in the liquid oxygen (LOX) line of the center engine, a backup cutoff device for that engine, and a simplified 2-position propellant utilization valve on each of the five J-2 engines.
ALSEP and other lunar surface equipment
The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) array of scientific instruments carried by Apollo 14 consisted of the Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE), Active Seismic Experiment (ASE), Suprathermal Ion Detector (SIDE), Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (CCIG), and Charged Particle Lunar Environmental Experiment (CPLEE). Two additional lunar surface experiments not part of the ALSEP were also flown, the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LRRR or LR3), to be deployed in the ALSEP's vicinity, and the Lunar Portable Magnetometer (LPM), to be used by the astronauts during their second EVA. The PSE had been flown on Apollo 12 and 13, the ASE on Apollo 13, the SIDE on Apollo 12, the CCIG on Apollo 12 and 13, and the LRRR on Apollo 11. The LPM was new, but resembled equipment flown on Apollo 12. The ALSEP components flown on Apollo 13 were destroyed when its LM burned up in Earth's atmosphere.
Deployment of the ALSEP, and of the other instruments, each formed one of Apollo 14's mission objectives.
The PSE was a seismometer, similar to one left on the Moon by Apollo 12, and was to measure seismic activity in the Moon. The Apollo 14 instrument would be calibrated by the impact, after being jettisoned, of the LM's ascent stage, since an object of known mass and velocity would be impacting at a known location on the Moon. The Apollo 12 instrument would also be activated by the spent Apollo 14 S-IVB booster, which would impact the Moon after the mission entered lunar orbit. The two seismometers would, in combination with those left by later Apollo missions, constitute a network of such instruments at different locations on the Moon.
The ASE would also measure seismic waves. It consisted of two parts. In the first, one of the crew members would deploy three geophones at distances up to from the ALSEP's Central Station, and on his way back from the furthest, fire thumpers every . The second consisted of four mortars (with their launch tubes), of different properties and set to impact at different distances from the experiment. It was hoped that the waves generated from the impacts would provide data about seismic wave transmission in the Moon's regolith. The mortar shells were not to be fired until the astronauts had returned to Earth, and in the event were never fired for fear they would damage other experiments. A similar experiment was successfully deployed, and the mortars launched, on Apollo 16.
The LPM was to be carried during the second EVA and used to measure the Moon's magnetic field at various points.
The SIDE measured ions on the lunar surface, including from the solar wind. It was combined with the CCIG, which was to measure the lunar atmosphere and detect if it varied over time. The CPLEE measured the particle energies of protons and electrons generated by the Sun that reached the lunar surface. The LRRR acts as a passive target for laser beams, allowing the measurement of the Earth/Moon distance and how it changes over time. The LRRRs from Apollo 11, 14 and 15 are the only experiments left on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts that are still returning data.
Flown for the first time on Apollo 14 was the Buddy Secondary Life Support System (BSLSS), a set of flexible hoses that would enable Shepard and Mitchell to share cooling water should one of their Primary Life Support System (PLSS) backpacks fail. In such an emergency, the astronaut with the failed equipment would get oxygen from his Oxygen Purge System (OPS) backup cylinder, but the BSLSS would ensure he did not have to use oxygen for cooling, extending the life of the OPS. The OPSs used on Apollo 14 were modified from those used on previous missions in that the internal heaters were removed as unnecessary.
Water bags were also taken to the lunar surface, dubbed "Gunga Dins", for insertion in the astronauts' helmets, allowing them sips of water during the EVAs. These had been flown on Apollo 13, but Shepard and Mitchell were the first to use them on the Moon. Similarly, Shepard was the first on the lunar surface to wear a spacesuit with commander's stripes: red stripes on arms, legs, and on the helmet, though one had been worn by Lovell on Apollo 13. These were instituted because of the difficulty in telling one spacesuited astronaut from the other in photographs.
Modular Equipment Transporter
The Modular Equipment Transporter (MET) was a two-wheeled handcart, used only on Apollo 14, intended to allow the astronauts to take tools and equipment with them, and store lunar samples, without needing to carry them. On later Apollo program missions, the self-propelled Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was flown instead.
The MET, when deployed for use on the lunar surface, was about long, wide and high. It had pressurized rubber tires wide and in diameter, containing nitrogen and inflated to about . The first use of tires on the Moon, these were developed by Goodyear and were dubbed their XLT (Experimental Lunar Tire) model. Fully loaded, the MET weighed about . Two legs combined with the wheels to provide four-point stability when at rest.
Mission highlights
Launch and flight to lunar orbit
Apollo 14 launched from Launch Complex 39-A at KSC at 4:03:02 pm (21:03:02 UTC), January 31, 1971. This followed a launch delay due to weather of 40 minutes and 2 seconds; the first such delay in the Apollo program. The original planned time, 3:23 pm, was at the very start of the launch window of just under four hours; had Apollo 14 not launched during it, it could not have departed until March. Apollo 12 had launched during poor weather and twice been struck by lightning, as a result of which the rules had been tightened. Among those present to watch the launch were U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and the Prince of Spain, the future King Juan Carlos I. The mission would take a faster trajectory to the Moon than planned, and thus make up the time in flight. Because it had, just over two days after launch, the mission timers would be put ahead by 40 minutes and 3 seconds so that later events would take place at the times scheduled in the flight plan.
After the vehicle reached orbit, the S-IVB third stage shut down, and the astronauts performed checks of the spacecraft before restarting the stage for translunar injection (TLI), the burn that placed the vehicle on course for the Moon. After TLI, the CSM separated from the S-IVB, and Roosa performed the transposition maneuver, turning it around in order to dock with the LM before the entire spacecraft separated from the stage. Roosa, who had practiced the maneuver many times, hoped to break the record for the least amount of propellant used in docking. But when he gently brought the modules together, the docking mechanism would not activate. He made several attempts over the next two hours, as mission controllers huddled and sent advice. If the LM could not be extracted from its place on the S-IVB, no lunar landing could take place, and with consecutive failures, the Apollo program might end. Mission Control proposed that they try it again with the docking probe retracted, hoping the contact would trigger the latches. This worked, and within an hour the joined spacecraft had separated from the S-IVB. The stage was set on a course to impact the Moon, which it did just over three days later, causing the Apollo 12 seismometer to register vibrations for over three hours.
The crew settled in for its voyage to Fra Mauro. At 60:30 Ground Elapsed Time, Shepard and Mitchell entered the LM to check its systems; while there they photographed a wastewater dump from the CSM, part of a particle contamination study in preparation for Skylab. Two midcourse corrections were performed on the translunar coast, with one burn lasting 10.19 seconds and one lasting 0.65 seconds.
Lunar orbit and descent
At 81:56:40.70 into the mission (February 4 at 1:59:43 am EST; 06:59:43 UTC), the Service Propulsion System engine in the SM was fired for 370.84 seconds to send the craft into a lunar orbit with apocynthion of and pericynthion of . A second burn, at 86:10:52 mission time, sent the spacecraft into an orbit of by . This was done in preparation for the release of the LM Antares. Apollo 14 was the first mission on which the CSM propelled the LM to the lower orbit—though Apollo 13 would have done so had the abort not already occurred. This was done to increase the amount of hover time available to the astronauts, a safety factor since Apollo 14 was to land in rough terrain.
After separating from the command module in lunar orbit, the LM Antares had two serious problems. First, the LM computer began getting an ABORT signal from a faulty switch. NASA believed the computer might be getting erroneous readings like this if a tiny ball of solder had shaken loose and was floating between the switch and the contact, closing the circuit. The immediate solution – tapping on the panel next to the switch – did work briefly, but the circuit soon closed again. If the problem recurred after the descent engine fired, the computer would think the signal was real and would initiate an auto-abort, causing the ascent stage to separate from the descent stage and climb back into orbit. NASA and the software teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scrambled to find a solution. The software was hard-wired, preventing it from being updated from the ground. The fix made it appear to the system that an abort had already happened, and it would ignore incoming automated signals to abort. This would not prevent the astronauts from piloting the ship, though if an abort became necessary, they might have to initiate it manually. Mitchell entered the changes with minutes to go until planned ignition.
A second problem occurred during the powered descent, when the LM landing radar failed to lock automatically onto the Moon's surface, depriving the navigation computer of vital information on the vehicle's altitude and vertical descent speed. After the astronauts cycled the landing radar breaker, the unit successfully acquired a signal near . Mission rules required an abort if the landing radar was out at , though Shepard might have tried to land without it. With the landing radar, Shepard steered the LM to a landing which was the closest to the intended target of the six missions that landed on the Moon.
Lunar surface operations
Shepard stated, after stepping onto the lunar surface, "And it's been a long way, but we're here." The first EVA began at 9:42 am EST (14:42 UTC) on February 5, 1971, having been delayed by a problem with the communications system which set back the start of the first EVA to five hours after landing. The astronauts devoted much of the first EVA to equipment offloading, deployment of the ALSEP and the US flag, as well as setting up and loading the MET. These activities were televised back to Earth, though the picture tended to degenerate during the latter portion of the EVA. Mitchell deployed the ASE's geophone lines, unreeling and emplacing the two lines leading out from the ALSEP's Central Station. He then fired the thumper explosives, vibrations from which would give scientists back on Earth information about the depth and composition of the lunar regolith. Of the 21 thumpers, five failed to fire. On the way back to the LM, the astronauts collected and documented lunar samples, and took photographs of the area. The first EVA lasted 4 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds.
The astronauts had been surprised by the undulating ground, expecting flatter terrain in the area of the landing, and this became an issue on the second EVA, as they set out, MET in tow, for the rim of Cone crater. The craters that Shepard and Mitchell planned to use for navigational landmarks looked very different on the ground than on the maps they had, based on overhead shots taken from lunar orbit. Additionally, they consistently overestimated the distance they travelled. Mission Control and the CAPCOM, Fred Haise, could see nothing of this, as the television camera remained near the LM, but they worried as the clock ticked on the EVA, and monitored the heavy breathing and rapid heartbeats of the astronauts. They topped one ridge that they expected was the crater rim, only to view more such terrain beyond. Although Mitchell strongly suspected the rim was nearby, they had become physically exhausted from the effort. They were then instructed by Haise to sample where they were and then start moving back towards the LM. Later analysis using the pictures they took determined that they had come within about of the crater's rim. Images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show the tracks of the astronauts and the MET come to within 30 m of the rim. The difficulties faced by Shepard and Mitchell would emphasize the need for a means of transportation on the lunar surface with a navigation system, which was met by the Lunar Roving Vehicle, already planned to fly on Apollo 15.
Once the astronauts returned to the vicinity of the LM and were again within view of the television camera, Shepard performed a stunt he had been planning for years in the event he reached the Moon, and which is probably what Apollo 14 is best remembered for. Shepard brought along a Wilson six iron golf club head, which he had modified to attach to the handle of the contingency sample tool, and two golf balls. Shepard took several one-handed swings (due to the limited flexibility of the EVA suit) and exuberantly exclaimed that the second ball went "miles and miles and miles" in the low lunar gravity. Mitchell then threw a lunar scoop handle as if it were a javelin. The "javelin" and one of the golf balls wound up in a crater together, with Mitchell's projectile a bit further. In an interview with Ottawa Golf, Shepard stated the other landed near the ALSEP. The second EVA lasted 4 hours, 34 minutes, 41 seconds. Shepard brought back the club, gave it to the USGA Museum in New Jersey, and had a replica made which he gave to the National Air and Space Museum. In February 2021, to commemorate Apollo 14's 50th anniversary, imaging specialist Andy Saunders, who had previously worked to produce the clearest image of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, produced new, digitally enhanced images that were used to estimate the final resting places of the two balls that Shepard hit - the first landed approximately 24 yards from the "tee", while the second managed 40 yards.
Lunar samples
A total of of Moon rocks, or lunar samples, were brought back from Apollo 14. Most are breccias, which are rocks composed of fragments of other, older rocks. Breccias form when the heat and pressure of meteorite impacts fuse small rock fragments together. There were a few basalts that were collected in this mission in the form of clasts (fragments) in breccia. The Apollo 14 basalts are generally richer in aluminum and sometimes richer in potassium than other lunar basalts. Most lunar mare basalts collected during the Apollo program were formed from 3.0 to 3.8 billion years ago. The Apollo 14 basalts were formed 4.0 to 4.3 billion years ago, older than the volcanism known to have occurred at any of the mare locations reached during the Apollo program.
Some geologists were pleased enough with the close approach to Cone crater to send a case of scotch to the astronauts while they were in post-mission quarantine, though their enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that Shepard and Mitchell had documented few of the samples they brought back, making it hard and sometimes impossible to discern where they came from. Others were less happy; Don Wilhelms wrote in his book on the geological aspects of Apollo, "the golf game did not set well with most geologists in light of the results at Cone crater. The total haul from the rim-flank of Cone ... was 16 Hasselblad photographs (out of a mission total of 417), six rock-size samples heavier than 50 g, and a grand total of 10 kg of samples, 9 kg of which are in one rock (sample 14321 [i.e., Big Bertha]). That is to say, apart from 14321 we have less than 1 kg of rock—962 g to be exact—from what in my opinion is the most important single point reached by astronauts on the Moon." Geologist Lee Silver stated, "The Apollo 14 crews did not have the right attitude, did not learn enough about their mission, had the burden of not having the best possible preflight photography, and they weren't ready." In their sourcebook on Apollo, Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland doubted that if Apollo 13 had reached the Moon, Lovell, and Haise, given a more distant landing point, could have got as close to Cone crater as Shepard and Mitchell did.
In January 2019 research showed that Big Bertha, which weighs , has characteristics that make it likely to be a terrestrial (Earth) meteorite. Granite and quartz, which are commonly found on Earth but very rarely found on the Moon, were confirmed to exist on Big Bertha. To find the sample's age, the research team from Curtin University looked at bits of the mineral zircon embedded in its structure. "By determining the age of zircon found in the sample, we were able to pinpoint the age of the host rock at about four billion years old, making it similar to the oldest rocks on Earth," researcher Alexander Nemchin said, adding that "the chemistry of the zircon in this sample is very different from that of every other zircon grain ever analyzed in lunar samples, and remarkably similar to that of zircons found on Earth." This would mean Big Bertha is both the first discovered terrestrial meteorite and the oldest known Earth rock.
Lunar orbit operations
Roosa spent almost two days alone aboard Kitty Hawk, performing the first intensive program of scientific observation from lunar orbit, much of which was intended to have been done by Apollo 13. After Antares separated and its crew began preparations to land, Roosa in Kitty Hawk performed an SPS burn to send the CSM to an orbit of approximately , and later a plane change maneuver to compensate for the rotation of the Moon.
Roosa took pictures from lunar orbit. The Lunar Topographic Camera, also known as the Hycon camera, was supposed to be used to image the surface, including the Descartes Highlands site being considered for Apollo 16, but it quickly developed a fault with the shutter that Roosa could not fix despite considerable help from Houston. Although about half of the photographic targets had to be scrubbed, Roosa was able to obtain photographs of Descartes with a Hasselblad camera and confirm that it was a suitable landing point. Roosa also used the Hasselblad to take photographs of the impact point of Apollo 13's S-IVB near Lansburg B crater. After the mission, troubleshooting found a tiny piece of aluminum contaminating the shutter control circuit, which caused the shutter to operate continuously.
Roosa was able to see sunlight glinting off Antares and view its lengthy shadow on the lunar surface on Orbit 17; on Orbit 29 he could see the sun reflecting off the ALSEP. He also took astronomical photographs, of the Gegenschein, and of the Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system that lies beyond the Earth (L), testing the theory that the Gegenschein is generated by reflections off particles at L. Performing the bistatic radar experiment, he also focused Kitty Hawk VHF and S-band transmitters at the Moon so that they would bounce off and be detected on Earth in an effort to learn more about the depth of the lunar regolith.
Return, splashdown and quarantine
Antares lifted off from the Moon at 1:48:42 pm EST (18:48:42 UTC) on February 6, 1971. Following the first direct (first orbit) rendezvous on a lunar landing mission, docking took place an hour and 47 minutes later. Despite concerns based on the docking problems early in the mission, the docking was successful on the first attempt, though the LM's Abort Guidance System, used for navigation, failed just before the two craft docked. After crew, equipment, and lunar samples were transferred to Kitty Hawk, the ascent stage was jettisoned, and impacted the Moon, setting off waves registered by the seismometers from Apollo 12 and 14.
A trans-earth injection burn took place on February 6 at 8:39:04 pm (February 7 at 01:39:04 UTC) taking 350.8 seconds, during Kitty Hawk 34th lunar revolution. During the trans-earth coast, two tests of the oxygen system were performed, one to ensure the system would operate properly with low densities of oxygen in the tanks, the second to operate the system at a high flow rate, as would be necessary for the in-flight EVAs scheduled for Apollo 15 and later. Additionally, a navigation exercise was done to simulate a return to Earth following a loss of communications. All were successful. During his rest periods on the voyage, Mitchell conducted ESP experiments without NASA's knowledge or sanction, attempting by prearrangement to send images of cards he had brought with him to four people on Earth. He stated after the mission that two of the four had gotten 51 out of 200 correct (the others were less successful), whereas random chance would have dictated 40.
On the final evening in space, the crew conducted a press conference, with the questions submitted to NASA in advance and read to the astronauts by the CAPCOM.
The command module Kitty Hawk splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on February 9, 1971, at 21:05 [UTC], approximately south of American Samoa. After recovery by the ship USS New Orleans, the crew was flown to Pago Pago International Airport in Tafuna, then to Honolulu, then to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston in a plane containing a Mobile Quarantine Facility trailer before they continued their quarantine in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. They remained there until their release from quarantine on February 27, 1971. The Apollo 14 astronauts were the last lunar explorers to be quarantined on their return from the Moon. They were the only Apollo crew to be quarantined both before and after the flight.
Roosa, who worked in forestry in his youth, took several hundred tree seeds on the flight. These were germinated after the return to Earth, and were widely distributed around the world as commemorative Moon trees. Some seedlings were given to state forestry associations in 1975 and 1976 to mark the United States Bicentennial.
Mission insignia
The mission insignia is an oval depicting the Earth and the Moon, and an astronaut pin drawn with a comet trail. The pin is leaving Earth and is approaching the Moon. A gold band around the edge includes the mission and astronaut names. The designer was Jean Beaulieu, who based it on a sketch by Shepard, who had been head of the Astronaut Office and meant the pin to symbolize that through him, the entire corps was in spirit flying to the Moon.
The backup crew spoofed the patch with its own version, with revised artwork showing a Wile E. Coyote cartoon character depicted as gray-bearded (for Shepard, who was 47 at the time of the mission and the oldest man on the Moon), pot-bellied (for Mitchell, who had a pudgy appearance) and red-furred (for Roosa's red hair), still on the way to the Moon, while Road Runner (for the backup crew) is already on the Moon, holding a U.S. flag and a flag labelled "1st Team". The flight name is replaced by "BEEP BEEP" and the backup crew's names are given. Several of these patches were hidden by the backup crew and found during the flight by the crew in notebooks and storage lockers in both the CSM Kitty Hawk and the LM Antares, and one patch was stored in the MET lunar handcart. One patch, attached to Shepard's PLSS, was worn on the lunar surface, and, mounted on a plaque, was presented by him to Cernan after the mission.
Spacecraft locations
The Apollo 14 command module Kitty Hawk is on display at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex after being on display at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame near Titusville, Florida, for several years. At the time of its transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in July 1977, it was on display at the facilities of North American Rockwell (the company that had constructed it) in Downey, California. The SM reentered Earth's atmosphere and was destroyed, though there was no tracking or sightings of it.
The S-IVB booster impacted the Moon on February4 at . The ascent stage of lunar module Antares impacted the Moon on February7, 1971, at 00:45:25.7 UT (February 6, 7:45 pm EST), at . Antares descent stage and the mission's other equipment remain at Fra Mauro at .
Photographs taken in 2009 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter were released on July 17, and the Fra Mauro equipment was the most visible Apollo hardware at that time, owing to particularly good lighting conditions. In 2011, the LRO returned to the landing site at a lower altitude to take higher resolution photographs.
Gallery
See also
Google Moon
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
References
Bibliography
External links
"Apollo 14" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
Apollo 11, 12, and 14 Traverses, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo 14 Traverse Map – United States Geological Survey (USGS)
Apollo Mission Traverse Maps – Several maps showing routes of moonwalks
Apollo 14 Science Experiments at the Lunar and Planetary InstituteNASA reports The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
"Table 2-42. Apollo 14 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA History Series (1988)
"Masking the Abort Discrete" – by Paul Fjeld at the Apollo 14 Lunar Surface Journal. NASA. Detailed technical article describing the ABORT signal problem and its solution
"Apollo 14 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription" (PDF) Manned Spacecraft Center, NASA, February 1971Multimedia'
– slideshow by Life magazine
"The Apollo Astronauts" – Interview with the Apollo 14 astronauts, March 31, 1971, from the Commonwealth Club of California Records at the Hoover Institution Archives
"Apollo 14 Lunar Liftoff – Video" at Maniac World
, with Cone crater
1971 in spaceflight
1971 in the United States
Edgar Mitchell
Stuart Roosa
Alan Shepard
Apollo program missions
Articles containing video clips
Extravehicular activity
Crewed missions to the Moon
Sample return missions
Soft landings on the Moon
Spacecraft which reentered in 1971
Spacecraft launched in 1971
January 1971 events
February 1971 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
1971 on the Moon |
1969 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2015 | Apollo 15 | Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to land on the Moon. It was the first J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greater focus on science than earlier landings. Apollo 15 saw the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle.
The mission began on July 26 and ended on August 7, with the lunar surface exploration taking place between July 30 and August 2. Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin landed near Hadley Rille and explored the local area using the rover, allowing them to travel further from the lunar module than had been possible on previous missions. They spent 18 hours on the Moon's surface on four extravehicular activities (EVA), and collected of surface material.
At the same time, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden orbited the Moon, operating the sensors in the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay of the service module. This suite of instruments collected data on the Moon and its environment using a panoramic camera, a gamma-ray spectrometer, a mapping camera, a laser altimeter, a mass spectrometer, and a lunar subsatellite deployed at the end of the moonwalks. The lunar module returned safely to the command module and, at the end of Apollo 15's 74th lunar orbit, the engine was fired for the journey home. During the return trip, Worden performed the first spacewalk in deep space. The Apollo 15 mission splashed down safely on August7 despite the loss of one of its three parachutes.
The mission accomplished its goals but was marred by negative publicity the following year when it emerged that the crew had carried unauthorized postal covers to the lunar surface, some of which were sold by a West German stamp dealer. The members of the crew were reprimanded for poor judgment, and did not fly in space again. The mission also saw the collection of the Genesis Rock, thought to be part of the Moon's early crust, and Scott's use of a hammer and a feather to validate Galileo's theory that when there is no air resistance, objects fall at the same rate due to gravity regardless of their mass.
Background
In 1962, NASA contracted for the construction of fifteen Saturn V rockets to achieve the Apollo program's goal of a crewed landing on the Moon by 1970; at the time no one knew how many missions this would require. Since success was obtained in 1969 with the sixth SaturnV on Apollo 11, nine rockets remained available for a hoped-for total of ten landings. These plans included a heavier, extended version of the Apollo spacecraft to be used in the last five missions (Apollo 16 through 20). The revamped lunar module would be capable of up to a 75-hour stay, and would carry a Lunar Roving Vehicle to the Moon's surface. The service module would house a package of orbital experiments to gather data on the Moon. In the original plan Apollo 15 was to be the last of the non-extended missions to land in Censorinus crater. But in anticipation of budget cuts, NASA cancelled three landing missions by September 1970. Apollo 15 became the first of three extended missions, known as J missions, and the landing site was moved to Hadley Rille, originally planned for Apollo 19.
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
Crew
Scott was born in 1932 in San Antonio, Texas, and, after spending his freshman year at the University of Michigan on a swimming scholarship, transferred to the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1954. Serving in the Air Force, Scott had received two advanced degrees from MIT in 1962 before being selected as one of the third group of astronauts the following year. He flew in Gemini 8 in 1966 alongside Neil Armstrong and as command module pilot of Apollo 9 in 1969. Worden was born in 1932 in Jackson, Michigan, and like his commander, had attended West Point (class of 1955) and served in the Air Force. Worden earned two master's degrees in engineering from Michigan in 1963. Irwin had been born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, and had attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1951 and serving in the Air Force, receiving a master's degree from Michigan in 1957. Both Worden and Irwin were selected in the fifth group of astronauts (1966), and Apollo 15 would be their only spaceflight. All three future astronauts had attended Michigan, and two had taken degrees from there; it had been the first university to offer an aeronautical engineering program.
The backup crew was Richard F. Gordon Jr. as commander, Vance D. Brand as command module pilot and Harrison H. Schmitt as lunar module pilot. By the usual rotation of crews, the three would most likely have flown Apollo 18, which was canceled. Brand flew later on the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project and on STS-5, the first operational Space Shuttle mission. With NASA under intense pressure to send a professional scientist to the Moon, Schmitt, a geologist, was selected as LMP of Apollo 17 instead of Joe Engle.
Apollo 15's support crew consisted of astronauts Joseph P. Allen, Robert A. Parker and Karl G. Henize. All three were scientist-astronauts, selected in 1967, as the prime crew felt they needed more assistance with the science than with the piloting. None of the support crew would fly during the Apollo program, waiting until the Space Shuttle program to go into space.
Mission Control
The flight directors for Apollo 15 were as follows:
Gerry Griffin, Gold team
Milton Windler, Maroon team
Glynn Lunney, Black team
Gene Kranz, White team
During a mission the capsule communicators (CAPCOMs), always fellow astronauts, were the only people who normally would speak to the crew. For Apollo 15, the CAPCOMs were Allen, Brand, C. Gordon Fullerton, Gordon, Henize, Edgar D. Mitchell, Parker, Schmitt and Alan B. Shepard.
Planning and training
Schmitt and other scientist-astronauts advocated for a greater place for science on the early Apollo missions. They were often met with disinterest from other astronauts, or found science displaced by higher priorities. Schmitt realized that what was needed was an expert teacher who could fire the astronauts' enthusiasm, and contacted Caltech geologist Lee Silver, whom Schmitt introduced to Apollo 13's commander, Jim Lovell, and to its lunar module pilot, Fred Haise, then in training for their mission. Lovell and Haise were willing to go on a field expedition with Silver, and geology became a significant part of their training. Geologist Farouk El-Baz trained the prime crew's command module pilot, Ken Mattingly to inform his planned observations from lunar orbit. The crew's newly acquired skills mostly went unused, due to the explosion that damaged the Apollo 13 spacecraft, and caused an abort of the mission. Apollo 14's CMP, Stuart Roosa, was enthusiastic about geology, but the mission commander, Shepard, less so.
Already familiar with the spacecraft as the backup crew for Apollo 12, Scott, Worden and Irwin could devote more of their training time as prime crew for Apollo 15 to geology and sampling techniques. Scott was determined that his crew bring back the maximum amount of scientific data possible, and met with Silver in April 1970 to begin planning the geological training. Schmitt's assignment as Apollo 15's backup LMP made him an insider, and allowed him to spark competition between the prime and backup crews. The cancellation of two Apollo missions in September 1970 transformed Apollo 15 into a J mission, with a longer stay on the lunar surface, and the first Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). This change was welcomed by Scott, who according to David West Reynolds in his account of the Apollo program, was "something more than a hotshot pilot. Scott had the spirit of a true explorer", one determined to get the most from the J mission. The additional need for communications, including from planned experiments and the rover, required the near-rebuilding of the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Australia.
Geology field trips took place about once a month throughout the crew's 20 months of training. At first, Silver would take the commanders and LMPs from the prime and backup crews to geological sites in Arizona and New Mexico as if for a normal field geology lesson, but closer to launch, these trips became more realistic. Crews began to wear mock-ups of the backpacks they would carry while hiking near the Rio Grande Gorge, and communicate using walkie-talkies to a CAPCOM in a tent. The CAPCOM was accompanied by a geologist unfamiliar with the area who would rely on the astronauts' descriptions to interpret the findings, and familiarized the crew members with describing landscapes to people who could not see them. Considering himself a serious amateur, Scott came to enjoy field geology.
The decision to land at Hadley came in September 1970. The Site Selection Committee had narrowed the field down to two sites—Hadley Rille, a deep channel on the edge of Mare Imbrium close to the Apennine mountains or the crater Marius, near which were a group of low, possibly volcanic, domes. Although not ultimately his decision, the commander of a mission always held great sway. To David Scott the choice was clear, as Hadley "had more variety. There is a certain intangible quality which drives the spirit of exploration and I felt that Hadley had it. Besides it looked beautiful and usually when things look good they are good." The selection of Hadley was made although NASA lacked high resolution images of the landing site; none had been made as the site was considered too rough to risk one of the earlier Apollo missions. The proximity of the Apennine mountains to the Hadley site required a landing approach trajectory of 26 degrees, far steeper than the 15 degrees in earlier Apollo landings.
The expanded mission meant that Worden spent much of his time at North American Rockwell's facilities at Downey, California, where the command and service module (CSM) was being built. He undertook a different kind of geology training. Working with El-Baz, he studied maps and photographs of the craters he would pass over while orbiting alone in the CSM. As El-Baz listened and gave feedback, Worden learned how to describe lunar features in a way that would be useful to the scientists who would listen to his transmissions back on Earth. Worden found El-Baz to be an enjoyable and inspiring teacher. Worden usually accompanied his crewmates on their geology field trips, though he was often in an airplane overhead, describing features of the landscape as the plane simulated the speed at which the lunar landscape would pass below the CSM.
The demands of the training strained both Worden's and Irwin's marriages; each sought Scott's advice, fearing a divorce might endanger their places on the mission as not projecting the image NASA wanted for the astronauts. Scott consulted Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton, their boss, who stated what was important was that the astronauts do their jobs. Although the Irwins overcame their marital difficulties, the Wordens divorced before the mission.
Hardware
Spacecraft
Apollo 15 used command and service module CSM-112, which was given the call sign Endeavour, named after HMS Endeavour, and lunar module LM-10, call sign Falcon, named after the United States Air Force Academy mascot. Scott explained the choice of the name Endeavour on the grounds that its captain, James Cook had commanded the first purely scientific sea voyage, and Apollo 15 was the first lunar landing mission on which there was a heavy emphasis on science. Apollo 15 took with it a small piece of wood from Cook's ship, while Falcon carried two falcon feathers to the Moon in recognition of the crew's service in the Air Force. Also part of the spacecraft were a Launch Escape System and a Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter, numbered SLA-19.
Technicians at the Kennedy Space Center had some problems with the instruments in the service module's scientific instrument module (SIM) bay. Some instruments were late in arriving, and principal investigators or representatives of NASA contractors sought further testing or to make small changes. Mechanical problems came from the fact the instruments were designed to operate in space, but had to be tested on the surface of the Earth. As such, things like the 7.5 m (24 ft) booms for the mass and gamma ray spectrometers could be tested only using equipment that tried to mimic the space environment, and, in space, the mass spectrometer boom several times did not fully retract.
On the lunar module, the fuel and oxidizer tanks were enlarged on both the descent and ascent stages, and the engine bell on the descent stage was extended. Batteries and solar cells were added for increased electrical power. In all this increased the weight of the lunar module to , heavier than previous models.
If Apollo 15 had flown as an H mission, it would have been with CSM-111 and LM-9. That CSM was used by the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975, but the lunar module went unused and is now at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Endeavour is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, following its transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in December 1974.
Launch vehicle
The Saturn V that launched Apollo 15 was designated SA-510, the tenth flight-ready model of the rocket. As the payload of the rocket was greater, changes were made to the rocket and to its launch trajectory. It was launched in a more southerly direction (80–100 degrees azimuth) than previous missions, and the Earth parking orbit was lowered to . These two changes meant more could be launched. The propellant reserves were reduced and the number of retrorockets on the S-IC first stage (used to separate the spent first stage from the S-II second stage) reduced from eight to four. The four outboard engines of the S-IC would be burned longer and the center engine would also burn longer. Changes were also made to the S-II to dampen pogo oscillations.
Once all major systems were installed in the SaturnV, it was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch site, Launch Complex 39A. During late June and early July 1971, the rocket and Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) were struck by lightning at least four times. There was no damage to the vehicle, and only minor damage to ground support equipment.
Space suits
The Apollo 15 astronauts wore redesigned space suits. On all previous Apollo flights, including the non-lunar flights, the commander and lunar module pilot had worn suits with the life support, liquid cooling, and communications connections in two parallel rows of three. On Apollo 15, the new suits, dubbed the "A7LB", had the connectors situated in triangular pairs. This new arrangement, along with the relocation of the entry zipper (which went in an up-down motion on the old suits), to run diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip, aided in suiting and unsuiting in the cramped confines of the spacecraft. It also allowed for a new waist joint, letting the astronauts bend completely over, and sit on the rover. Upgraded backpacks allowed for longer-duration moonwalks. As in all missions from and after Apollo 13, the commander's suit bore a red stripe on the helmet, arms and legs.
Worden wore a suit similar to those worn by the Apollo 14 astronauts, but modified to interface with Apollo 15's equipment. Gear needed only for lunar surface EVAs, such as the liquid cooling garment, was not included with Worden's suit, as the only EVA he was expected to do was one to retrieve film cartridges from the SIM bay on the flight home.
Lunar Roving Vehicle
A vehicle that could operate on the surface of the Moon had been considered by NASA since the early 1960s. An early version was called MOLAB, which had a closed cabin and would have massed about ; some scaled-down prototypes were tested in Arizona. As it became clear NASA would not soon establish a lunar base, such a large vehicle seemed unnecessary. Still, a rover would enhance the J missions, which were to concentrate on science, though its mass was limited to about and it was not then clear that so light a vehicle could be useful. NASA did not decide to proceed with a rover until May 1969, as Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for the Moon landing, made its way home from lunar orbit. Boeing received the contract for three rovers on a cost-plus basis; overruns (especially in the navigation system) meant the three vehicles eventually cost a total of $40 million. These cost overruns gained considerable media attention at a time of greater public weariness with the space program, when NASA's budget was being cut.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle could be folded into a space 5 ft by 20 in (1.5 m by 0.5 m). Unloaded, it weighed 460 lb (209 kg) and when carrying two astronauts and their equipment, 1500 lb (700 kg). Each wheel was independently driven by a horsepower (200 W) electric motor. Although it could be driven by either astronaut, the commander always drove. Travelling at speeds up to 6to 8mph (10to 12km/h), it meant that for the first time the astronauts could travel far afield from their lander and still have enough time to do some scientific experiments. The Apollo 15 rover bore a plaque, reading: "Man's First Wheels on the Moon, Delivered by Falcon, July 30, 1971". During pre-launch testing, the LRV was given additional bracing, lest it collapse if someone sat on it under Earth conditions.
Particles and Fields Subsatellite
The Apollo 15 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-1) was a small satellite released into lunar orbit from the SIM bay just before the mission left orbit to return to Earth. Its main objectives were to study the plasma, particle, and magnetic field environment of the Moon and map the lunar gravity field. Specifically, it measured plasma and energetic particle intensities and vector magnetic fields, and facilitated tracking of the satellite velocity to high precision. A basic requirement was that the satellite acquire fields and particle data everywhere on the orbit around the Moon. As well as measuring magnetic fields, the satellite contained sensors to study the Moon's mass concentrations, or mascons. The satellite orbited the Moon and returned data from August 4, 1971, until January 1973, when, following multiple failures of the subsatellite's electronics, ground support was terminated. It is believed to have crashed into the Moon sometime thereafter.
Mission highlights
Launch and outbound trip
Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, at 9:34am EDT from the Kennedy Space Center at Merritt Island, Florida. The time of launch was at the very start of the two-hour, 37-minute launch window, which would allow Apollo 15 to arrive at the Moon with the proper lighting conditions at Hadley Rille; had the mission been postponed beyond another window on July 27, it could not have been rescheduled until late August. The astronauts had been awakened five and a quarter hours before launch by Slayton, and after breakfast and suiting up, had been taken to Pad 39A, launch site of all seven attempts at crewed lunar landing, and entered the spacecraft about three hours before launch. There were no unplanned delays in the countdown.
At 000:11:36 into the mission, the S-IVB engine shut down, leaving Apollo 15 in its planned parking orbit in low Earth orbit. The mission remained there for 2hours and 40 minutes, allowing the crew (and Houston, via telemetry) to check the spacecraft's systems. At 002:50.02.6 into the mission, the S-IVB was restarted for trans-lunar injection (TLI), placing the craft on a path to the Moon. Before TLI, the craft had completed 1.5 orbits around the Earth.
The command and service module (CSM) and the lunar module remained attached to the nearly-exhausted S-IVB booster. Once trans-lunar injection had been achieved, placing the spacecraft on a trajectory towards the Moon, explosive cords separated the CSM from the booster as Worden operated the CSM's thrusters to push it away. Worden then maneuvered the CSM to dock with the LM (mounted on the end of the S-IVB), and the combined craft was then separated from the S-IVB by explosives. After Apollo 15 separated from the booster, the S-IVB maneuvered away, and, as planned, impacted the Moon about an hour after the crewed spacecraft entered lunar orbit, though due to an error the impact was away from the intended target. The booster's impact was detected by the seismometers left on the Moon by Apollo 12 and Apollo 14, providing useful scientific data.
There was a malfunctioning light on the craft's service propulsion system (SPS); after considerable troubleshooting, the astronauts did a test burn of the system that also served as a midcourse correction. This occurred about 028:40:00 into the mission. Fearing that the light meant the SPS might unexpectedly fire, the astronauts avoided using the control bank with the faulty light, bringing it online only for major burns, and controlling it manually. After the mission returned, the malfunction proved to be caused by a tiny bit of wire trapped within the switch.
After purging and renewing the LM's atmosphere to eliminate any contamination, the astronauts entered the LM about 34 hours into the mission, needing to check the condition of its equipment and move in items that would be required on the Moon. Much of this work was televised back to Earth, the camera operated by Worden. The crew discovered a broken outer cover on the Range/Range Rate tapemeter. This was a concern not only because an important piece of equipment, providing information on distance and rate of approach, might not work properly, but because bits of the glass cover were floating around Falcon'''s interior. The tapemeter was supposed to be in a helium atmosphere, but due to the breakage, it was in the LM's oxygen atmosphere. Testing on the ground verified the tapemeter would still work properly, and the crew removed most of the glass using a vacuum cleaner and adhesive tape.
As yet, there had been only minor problems, but at about 61:15:00 mission time (the evening of July 28 in Houston), Scott discovered a leak in the water system while preparing to chlorinate the water supply. The crew could not tell where it was coming from, and the issue had the potential to become serious. The experts in Houston found a solution, which was successfully implemented by the crew. The water was mopped up with towels, which were then put out to dry in the tunnel between the command module (CM) and lunar module—Scott stated it looked like someone's laundry.
At 073:31:14 into the mission, a second midcourse correction, with less than a second of burn, was made. Although there were four opportunities to make midcourse corrections following TLI, only two were needed. Apollo 15 approached the Moon on July 29, and the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) burn had to be made using the SPS, on the far side of the Moon, out of radio contact with Earth. If no burn occurred, Apollo 15 would emerge from the lunar shadow and come back in radio contact faster than expected; the continued lack of communication allowed Mission Control to conclude that the burn had taken place. When contact resumed, Scott did not immediately give the particulars of the burn, but spoke admiringly of the beauty of the Moon, causing Alan Shepard, the Apollo 14 commander, who was awaiting a television interview, to grumble, "To hell with that shit, give us details of the burn." The 398.36-second burn took place at 078:31:46.7 into the mission at an altitude of above the Moon, and placed Apollo 15 in an elliptical lunar orbit of .
Lunar orbit and landing
On Apollo 11 and 12, the lunar module decoupled from the CSM and descended to a much lower orbit from which the lunar landing attempt commenced; to save fuel in an increasingly heavy lander, beginning with Apollo 14, the SPS in the service module made that burn, known as descent orbit insertion (DOI), with the lunar module still attached to the CSM. The initial orbit Apollo 15 was in had its apocynthion, or high point, over the landing site at Hadley; a burn at the opposite point in the orbit was performed, with the result that Hadley would now be under the craft's pericynthion, or low point. The DOI burn was performed at 082:39:49.09 and took 24.53 seconds; the result was an orbit with apocynthion of and pericynthion of . Overnight between July 29 and 30, as the crew rested, it became apparent to Mission Control that mass concentrations in the Moon were making Apollo 15's orbit increasingly elliptical—pericynthion was by the time the crew was awakened on July 30. This, and uncertainty as to the exact altitude of the landing site, made it desirable that the orbit be modified, or trimmed. Using the craft's RCS thrusters, this took place at 095:56:44.70, lasting 30.40 seconds, and raised the pericynthion to and the apocynthion to .
As well as preparing the lunar module for its descent, the crew continued observations of the Moon (including of the landing site at Hadley) and provided television footage of the surface. Then, Scott and Irwin entered the lunar module in preparation for the landing attempt. Undocking was planned for 100:13:56, over the far side of the Moon, but nothing happened when separation was attempted. After analyzing the problem, the crew and Houston decided the probe instrumentation umbilical was likely loose or disconnected; Worden went into the tunnel connecting the command and lunar modules and determined this was so, seating it more firmly. With the problem resolved, Falcon separated from Endeavour at 100:39:16.2, about 25 minutes late, at an altitude of . Worden in Endeavour executed a SPS burn at 101:38:58.98 to send Endeavour to an orbit of by in preparation for his scientific work.
Aboard Falcon, Scott and Irwin prepared for powered descent initiation (PDI), the burn that was to place them on the lunar surface, and, after Mission Control gave them permission, they initiated PDI at 104:30:09.4 at an altitude of , slightly higher than planned. During the first part of the descent, Falcon was aligned so the astronauts were on their backs and thus could not see the lunar surface below them, but after the craft made a pitchover maneuver, they were upright and could see the surface in front of them. Scott, who as commander performed the landing, was confronted with a landscape that did not at first seem to resemble what he had seen during simulations. Part of this was due to an error in the landing path of some , of which CAPCOM Ed Mitchell informed the crew prior to pitchover; part because the craters Scott had relied on in the simulator were difficult to make out under lunar conditions, and he initially could not see Hadley Rille. He concluded that they were likely to overshoot the planned landing site, and, once he could see the rille, started maneuvering the vehicle to move the computer's landing target back towards the planned spot, and looked for a relatively smooth place to land.
Below about , Scott could see nothing of the surface because of the quantities of lunar dust being displaced by Falcons exhaust. Falcon had a larger engine bell than previous LMs, in part to accommodate a heavier load, and the importance of shutting down the engine at initial contact rather than risk "blowback", the exhaust reflecting off the lunar surface and going back into the engine (possibly causing an explosion) had been impressed on the astronauts by mission planners. Thus, when Irwin called "Contact", indicating that one of the probes on the landing leg extensions had touched the surface, Scott immediately shut off the engine, letting the lander fall the remaining distance to the surface. Already moving downward at about per second, Falcon dropped from a height of . Scott's speed resulted in what was likely the hardest lunar landing of any of the crewed missions, at about per second, causing a startled Irwin to yell "Bam!" Scott had landed Falcon on the rim of a small crater he could not see, and the lander settled back at an angle of 6.9 degrees and to the left of 8.6 degrees. Irwin described it in his autobiography as the hardest landing he had ever been in, and he feared that the craft would keep tipping over, forcing an immediate abort.
Falcon landed at 104:42:29.3 (22:16:29 GMT on July 30), with approximately 103 seconds of fuel remaining, about from the planned landing site. After Irwin's exclamation, Scott reported, "Okay, Houston. The Falcon is on the Plain at Hadley." Once within the planned landing zone, the increased mobility provided by the Lunar Roving Vehicle made unnecessary any further maneuvering.
Lunar surface
Stand-up EVA and first EVA
With Falcon due to remain on the lunar surface for almost three days, Scott deemed it important to maintain the circadian rhythm they were used to, and as they had landed in the late afternoon, Houston time, the two astronauts were to sleep before going onto the surface. But the time schedule allowed Scott to open the lander's top hatch (usually used for docking) and spend a half hour looking at their surroundings, describing them, and taking photographs. Lee Silver had taught him the importance of going to a high place to survey a new field site, and the top hatch served that purpose. Deke Slayton and other managers were initially opposed due to the oxygen that would be lost, but Scott got his way. During the only stand-up extravehicular activity (EVA) ever performed through the LM's top hatch on the lunar surface, Scott was able to make plans for the following day's EVA. He offered Irwin a chance to look out as well, but this would have required rearranging the umbilicals connecting Irwin to Falcon'''s life support system, and he declined. After repressurizing the spacecraft, Scott and Irwin removed their space suits for sleep, becoming the first astronauts to doff their suits while on the Moon.
Throughout the sleep period Mission Control in Houston monitored a slow but steady oxygen loss. Scott and Irwin eventually were awakened an hour early, and the source of the problem was found to be an open valve on the urine transfer device. In post-mission debriefing, Scott recommended that future crews be woken at once under similar circumstances. After the problem was solved, the crew began preparation for the first Moon walk.
After donning their suits and depressurizing the cabin, Scott and Irwin began their first full EVA, becoming the seventh and eighth humans, respectively, to walk on the Moon. They began deploying the lunar rover, stored folded up in a compartment of Falcons descent stage, but this proved troublesome due to the slant of the lander. The experts in Houston suggested lifting the front end of the rover as the astronauts pulled it out, and this worked. Scott began a system checkout. One of the batteries gave a zero voltage reading, but this was only an instrumentation problem. A greater concern was that the front wheel steering would not work. However, the rear wheel steering was sufficient to maneuver the vehicle. Completing his checkout, Scott said "Okay. Out of detent; we're moving", maneuvering the rover away from Falcon in mid-sentence. These were the first words uttered by a human while driving a vehicle on the Moon. The rover carried a television camera, controlled remotely from Houston by NASA's Ed Fendell. The resolution was not high compared to the still photographs that would be taken, but the camera allowed the geologists on Earth to indirectly participate in Scott and Irwin's activities.
The rille was not visible from the landing site, but as Scott and Irwin drove over the rolling terrain, it came into view. They were able to see Elbow crater, and they began to drive in that direction. Reaching Elbow, a known location, allowed Mission Control to backtrack and get closer to pinpointing the location of the lander. The astronauts took samples there, and then drove to another crater on the flank of Mons Hadley Delta, where they took more. After concluding this stop, they returned to the lander to drop off their samples and prepare to set up the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), the scientific instruments that would remain when they left. Scott had difficulty drilling the holes required for the heat flow experiment, and the work was not completed when they had to return to the lander. The first EVA lasted 6hours and 32 minutes.
Second and third EVAs
The rover's front steering, inoperative during the first EVA, worked during the second and third ones. The target of the second EVA, on August 1, was the slope of Mons Hadley Delta, where the pair sampled boulders and craters along the Apennine Front. They spent an hour at Spur crater, during which the astronauts collected a sample dubbed the Genesis Rock. This rock, an anorthosite, is believed to be part of the early lunar crust—the hope of finding such a specimen had been one reason the Hadley area had been chosen. Once back at the landing site, Scott continued to try to drill holes for experiments at the ALSEP site, with which he had struggled the day before. After conducting soil-mechanics experiments and raising the U.S. flag, Scott and Irwin returned to the LM. EVA2 lasted 7hours and 12 minutes.
Although Scott had eventually been successful at drilling the holes, he and Irwin had been unable to retrieve a core sample, and this was an early order of business during EVA 3, their third and final moonwalk. Time that could have been devoted to geology ticked away as Scott and Irwin attempted to pull it out. Once it had been retrieved, more time passed as they attempted to break the core into pieces for transport to Earth. Hampered by an incorrectly mounted vise on the rover, they eventually gave up on this—the core would be transported home with one segment longer than planned. Scott wondered if the core was worth the amount of time and effort invested, and the CAPCOM, Joe Allen, assured him it was. The core proved one of the most important items brought back from the Moon, revealing much about its history, but the expended time meant the planned visit to a group of hills known as the North Complex had to be scrubbed. Instead, the crew again ventured to the edge of Hadley Rille, this time to the northwest of the immediate landing site.
Once the astronauts were beside the LM, Scott used a kit provided by the Postal Service to cancel a first day cover of two stamps being issued on August 2, the current date. Scott then performed an experiment in view of the television camera, using a falcon feather and hammer to demonstrate Galileo's theory that all objects in a given gravity field fall at the same rate, regardless of mass, in the absence of aerodynamic drag. He dropped the hammer and feather at the same time; because of the negligible lunar atmosphere, there was no drag on the feather, which hit the ground at the same time as the hammer. This was Joe Allen's idea (he also served as CAPCOM during it) and was part of an effort to find a memorable popular science experiment to do on the Moon along the lines of Shepard's hitting of golf balls. The feather was most likely from a female gyrfalcon (a type of falcon), a mascot at the United States Air Force Academy.
Scott then drove the rover to a position away from the LM, where the television camera could be used to observe the lunar liftoff. Near the rover, he left a small aluminum statuette called Fallen Astronaut, along with a plaque bearing the names of 14 known American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in the furtherance of space exploration. The memorial was left while the television camera was turned away; he told Mission Control he was doing some cleanup activities around the rover. Scott disclosed the memorial in a post-flight news conference. He also placed a Bible on the control panel of the rover before leaving it for the last time to enter the LM.
The EVA lasted 4 hours, 49 minutes and 50 seconds. In total, the two astronauts spent 18 hours outside the LM and collected approximately of lunar samples.
Command module activities
After the departure of Falcon, Worden in Endeavour executed a burn to take the CSM to a higher orbit. While Falcon was on the Moon, the mission effectively split, Worden and the CSM being assigned their own CAPCOM and flight support team.
Worden got busy with the tasks that were to occupy him for much of the time he spent in space alone: photography and operating the instruments in the SIM bay. The door to the SIM bay had been explosively jettisoned during the translunar coast. Filling previously-unused space in the service module, the SIM bay contained a gamma-ray spectrometer, mounted on the end of a boom, an X-ray spectrometer and a laser altimeter, which failed part way through the mission. Two cameras, a stellar camera and a metric camera, together comprised the mapping camera, which was complemented by a panoramic camera, derived from spy technology. The altimeter and cameras permitted the exact time and location from which pictures were taken to be determined. Also present were an alpha particle spectrometer, which could be used to detect evidence of lunar volcanism, and a mass spectrometer, also on a boom in the hope it would be unaffected by contamination from the ship. The boom would prove troublesome, as Worden would not always be able to get it to retract.
Endeavour was slated to pass over the landing site at the moment of planned landing, but Worden could not see Falcon and did not spot it until a subsequent orbit. He also exercised to avoid muscle atrophy, and Houston kept him up to date on Scott and Irwin's activities on the lunar surface. The panoramic camera did not operate perfectly, but provided enough images that no special adjustment was made. Worden took many photographs through the command module's windows, often with shots taken at regular intervals. His task was complicated by the lack of a working mission timer in the Lower Equipment Bay of the command module, as its circuit breaker had popped en route to the Moon. Worden's observations and photographs would inform the decision to send Apollo 17 to Taurus-Littrow to search for evidence of volcanic activity. There was a communications blackout when the CSM passed over the far side of the Moon from Earth; Worden greeted each resumption of contact with the words, "Hello, Earth. Greetings from Endeavour", expressed in different languages. Worden and El-Baz had come up with the idea, and the geology instructor had aided the astronaut in accumulating translations.
Results from the SIM bay experiments would include the conclusion, from data gathered by the X-ray spectrometer, that there was greater fluorescent X-ray flux than anticipated, and that the lunar highlands were richer in aluminum than were the mares. Endeavour was in a more inclined orbit than previous crewed missions, and Worden saw features that were not known previously, supplementing photographs with thorough descriptions.
By the time Scott and Irwin were ready to take off from the lunar surface and return to Endeavour, the CSM's orbit had drifted due to the rotation of the Moon, and a plane change burn was required to ensure that the CSM's orbit would be in the same plane as that of the LM once it took off from the Moon. Worden accomplished the 18-second burn with the SPS.
Return to Earth
Falcon lifted off the Moon at 17:11:22 GMT on August2 after 66 hours and 55 minutes on the lunar surface. Docking with the CSM took place just under two hours later. After the astronauts transferred samples and other items from the LM to the CSM, the LM was sealed off, jettisoned, and intentionally crashed into the lunar surface, an impact registered by the seismometers left by Apollo 12, 14 and 15. The jettison proved difficult because of problems getting airtight seals, requiring a delay in discarding the LM. After the jettison, Slayton came on the loop to recommend the astronauts take sleeping pills, or at least that Scott and Irwin do so. Scott as mission commander refused to allow it, feeling there was no need. During the EVAs, the doctors had noticed irregularities in both Scott's and Irwin's heartbeats, but the crew were not informed during the flight. Irwin had heart problems after retiring as an astronaut and died in 1991 of a heart attack; Scott felt that he as commander should have been informed of the biomedical readings. NASA doctors at the time theorized the heart readings were due to potassium deficiency, due to their hard work on the surface and inadequate resupply through liquids.
The crew spent the next two days working on orbital science experiments, including more observations of the Moon from orbit and releasing the subsatellite. Endeavour departed lunar orbit with another burn of the SPS engine of 2minutes 21 seconds at 21:22:45 GMT on August4. The next day, during the return to Earth, Worden performed a 39-minute EVA to retrieve film cassettes from the service module's scientific instrument module (SIM) bay, with assistance from Irwin who remained at the command module's hatch. At approximately 171,000 nautical miles (197,000 mi; 317,000 km) from Earth, it was the first "deep space" EVA in history, performed at great distance from any planetary body. As of , it remains one of only three such EVAs, all performed during Apollo's J missions under similar circumstances. Later that day, the crew set a record for the longest Apollo flight to that point.
On approach to Earth on August7, the service module was jettisoned, and the command module reentered the Earth's atmosphere. Although one of the three parachutes on the CM failed after deploying, likely due to damage as the spacecraft vented fuel, only two were required for a safe landing (one extra for redundancy). Upon landing in the North Pacific Ocean, the CM and crew were recovered and taken aboard the recovery ship, , after a mission lasting 12 days, 7hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
Assessment
The mission objectives for Apollo 15 were to "perform selenological inspection, survey, and sampling of materials and surface features in a pre-selected area of the Hadley–Apennine region. Emplace and activate surface experiments. Evaluate the capability of the Apollo equipment to provide extended lunar surface stay time, increased extravehicular operations, and surface mobility. [and] Conduct inflight experiments and photographic tasks from lunar orbit." It achieved all those objectives. The mission also completed a long list of other tasks, including experiments. One of the photographic objectives, to obtain images of the gegenschein from lunar orbit, was not completed, as the camera was not pointed at the proper spot in the sky. According to the conclusions in the Apollo 15 Mission Report, the journey "was the fourth lunar landing and resulted in the collection of a wealth of scientific information. The Apollo system, in addition to providing a means of transportation, excelled as an operational scientific facility."
Apollo 15 saw an increase in public interest in the Apollo program, in part due to fascination with the LRV, as well as the attractiveness of the Hadley Rille site and the increased television coverage.
According to David Woods in the Apollo Lunar Flight Journal,
Controversies
Despite the successful mission, the careers of the crew were tarnished by a deal they had made before the flight to carry postal covers to the Moon in exchange for about $7,000 each, which they planned to set aside for their children. Walter Eiermann, who had many professional and social contacts with NASA employees and the astronaut corps, served as intermediary between the astronauts and a West German stamp dealer, Hermann Sieger, and Scott carried about 400 covers onto the spacecraft; they were subsequently transferred into Falcon and remained inside the lander during the astronauts' activities on the surface of the Moon. After the return to Earth, 100 of the covers were given to Eiermann, who passed them on to Sieger, receiving a commission. No permission had been received from Slayton to carry the covers, as required.
The 100 covers were put on sale to Sieger's customers in late 1971 at a price of about $1,500 each. After receiving the agreed payments, the astronauts returned them, and accepted no compensation. In April 1972, Slayton learned that unauthorized covers had been carried, and removed the three as the backup crew for Apollo 17. The matter became public in June 1972 and the three astronauts were reprimanded for poor judgment; none ever flew in space again. During the investigation, the astronauts had surrendered those covers still in their possession; after Worden filed suit, they were returned in 1983, something Slate magazine deemed an exoneration.
Another controversy surrounding the Fallen Astronaut statuette that Scott had left on the Moon, arose later. Before the mission, Scott had made a verbal agreement with Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck to sculpt the statuette. Scott's intent, in keeping with NASA's strict policy against commercial exploitation of the US government's space program, was for a simple memorial with a minimum of publicity, keeping the artist anonymous, no commercial replicas being made except for a single copy for public exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum commissioned after the sculpture's public disclosure during the post-flight press conference. Van Hoeydonck claims to have had a different understanding of the agreement, by which he would have received recognition as the creator of a tribute to human space exploration, with rights to sell replicas to the public. Under pressure from NASA, Van Hoeydonck canceled a plan to publicly sell 950 signed copies.
During the congressional hearings into the postal covers and Fallen Astronaut matters, two Bulova timepieces taken on the mission by Scott were also matters of controversy. Before the mission, Scott had been introduced to Bulova's representative, General James McCormack by Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman. Bulova had been seeking to have its timepieces taken on Apollo missions, but after evaluation, NASA had selected Omega watches instead. Scott brought the Bulova timepieces on the mission, without disclosing them to Slayton. During Scott's second EVA, the crystal on his NASA standard issue Omega Speedmaster watch popped off, and, during the third EVA, he used a Bulova watch. The Bulova Chronograph Model #88510/01 that Scott wore on the lunar surface was a prototype, given to him by the Bulova Company, and it is the only privately owned watch to have been worn while walking on the lunar surface. There are images of him wearing this watch, when he saluted the American flag on the Moon, with the Hadley Delta expanse in the background. In 2015, the watch sold for $1.625 million, which makes it one of the most expensive astronaut-owned artifact ever sold at auction and one of the most expensive watches sold at auction.
Mission insignia
The Apollo 15 mission patch carries Air Force motifs, a nod to the crew's service there, just as the Apollo 12 all-Navy crew's patch had featured a sailing ship. The circular patch features stylized red, white and blue birds flying over Hadley Rille. Immediately behind the birds, a line of craters forms the Roman numeral XV. The Roman numerals were hidden in emphasized outlines of some craters after NASA insisted that the mission number be displayed in Arabic numerals. The artwork is circled in red, with a white band giving the mission and crew names and a blue border. Scott contacted fashion designer Emilio Pucci to design the patch, who came up with the basic idea of the three-bird motif on a square patch.
The crew changed the shape to round and the colors from blues and greens to a patriotic red, white and blue. Worden stated that each bird also represented an astronaut, white being his own color (and as Command Module Pilot, uppermost), Scott being the blue bird and Irwin the red. The colors matched Chevrolet Corvettes leased by the astronauts at KSC; a Florida car dealer had, since the time of Project Mercury, been leasing Chevrolets to astronauts for $1 and later selling them to the public. The astronauts were photographed with the cars and the training LRV for the June 11, 1971, edition of Life magazine.
Visibility from space
The halo area of the Apollo 15 landing site, created by the LM's exhaust plume, was observed by a camera aboard the Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE and confirmed by comparative analysis of photographs in May 2008. This corresponds well to photographs taken from the Apollo 15 command module showing a change in surface reflectivity due to the plume, and was the first visible trace of crewed landings on the Moon seen from space since the close of the Apollo program.
Gallery
Still images
Multimedia
See also
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
Notes
References
Apollo Lunar Flight Journal
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
Bibliography
External links
Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report (1972) by the Manned Spacecraft Center
Apollo 15 Traverses, 41B4S4(25), Lunar Photomap at Lunar and Planetary Institute
1975 summary report by NASA
1972 NASA press releases at collectSPACE
Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations, a 1978 book published by NASA
Part 1 and part 2 of Apollo 15: In the Mountains of the Moon, a NASA documentary film on the Apollo 15 mission, at the Internet Archive
2011 podcast interview with AstrotalkUK
2016 interview with Worden at Medium
James Irwin
David Scott
Alfred Worden
Articles containing video clips
Apollo program missions
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Crewed missions to the Moon
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1971 on the Moon |
1970 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2016 | Apollo 16 | Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's "J missions", with an extended stay on the lunar surface, a focus on science, and the use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The landing and exploration were in the Descartes Highlands, a site chosen because some scientists expected it to be an area formed by volcanic action, though this proved not to be the case.
The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 experienced a number of minor glitches en route to the Moon. These culminated with a problem with the spaceship's main engine that resulted in a six-hour delay in the Moon landing as NASA managers contemplated having the astronauts abort the mission and return to Earth, before deciding the problem could be overcome. Although they permitted the lunar landing, NASA had the astronauts return from the mission one day earlier than planned.
After flying the lunar module to the Moon's surface on April 21, Young and Duke spent 71 hours—just under three days—on the lunar surface, during which they conducted three extravehicular activities or moonwalks, totaling 20 hours and 14 minutes. The pair drove the lunar rover, the second used on the Moon, for . On the surface, Young and Duke collected of lunar samples for return to Earth, including Big Muley, the largest Moon rock collected during the Apollo missions. During this time Mattingly orbited the Moon in the command and service module (CSM), taking photos and operating scientific instruments. Mattingly, in the command module, spent 126 hours and 64 revolutions in lunar orbit. After Young and Duke rejoined Mattingly in lunar orbit, the crew released a subsatellite from the service module (SM). During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly performed a one-hour spacewalk to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the service module. Apollo 16 returned safely to Earth on April 27, 1972.
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
John Young, the mission commander, was 41 years old and a captain in the Navy at the time of Apollo 16. Becoming an astronaut in 1962 as part of the second group to be selected by NASA, he flew in Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom in 1965, becoming the first American not of the Mercury Seven to fly in space. He thereafter flew in Gemini 10 (1966) with Michael Collins and as command module pilot of Apollo 10 (1969). With Apollo 16, he became the second American, after Jim Lovell, to fly in space four times.
Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly, the command module pilot, was 36 years old and a lieutenant commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 16. Mattingly had been selected in NASA's fifth group of astronauts in 1966. He was a member of the support crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 9. Mattingly then undertook parallel training with Apollo 11's backup CMP, William Anders, who had announced his resignation from NASA effective at the end of July 1969 and would thus be unavailable if the first lunar landing mission was postponed. Had Anders left NASA before Apollo 11 flew, Mattingly would have taken his place on the backup crew.
Mattingly had originally been assigned to the prime crew of Apollo 13, but was exposed to rubella through Charles Duke, at that time with Young on Apollo 13's backup crew; Duke had caught it from one of his children. Mattingly never contracted the illness, but three days before launch was removed from the crew and replaced by his backup, Jack Swigert. Duke, also a Group 5 astronaut and a space rookie, had served on the support crew of Apollo 10 and was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for Apollo 11. A lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, Duke was 36 years old at the time of Apollo 16, which made him the youngest of the twelve astronauts who walked on the Moon during Apollo as of the time of the mission. All three men were announced as the prime crew of Apollo 16 on March 3, 1971.
Apollo 16's backup crew consisted of Fred W. Haise Jr. (commander, who had flown on Apollo 13), Stuart A. Roosa (CMP, who had flown on Apollo 14) and Edgar D. Mitchell (LMP, also Apollo 14). Although not officially announced, Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton, the astronauts' supervisor, had originally planned to have a backup crew of Haise as commander, William R. Pogue (CMP) and Gerald P. Carr (LMP), who were targeted for the prime crew assignment on Apollo 19. However, after the cancellations of Apollos 18 and 19 were announced in September 1970, it made more sense to use astronauts who had already flown lunar missions as backups, rather than training others on what would likely be a dead-end assignment. Subsequently, Roosa and Mitchell were assigned to the backup crew, while Pogue and Carr were reassigned to the Skylab program where they flew on Skylab 4.
For projects Mercury and Gemini, a prime and a backup crew had been designated, but for Apollo, a third group of astronauts, known as the support crew, was also designated. Slayton created the support crews early in the Apollo Program on the advice of Apollo crew commander James McDivitt, who would lead Apollo 9. McDivitt believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the U.S., meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated. For Apollo 16, they were: Anthony W. England, Karl G. Henize, Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., Robert F. Overmyer and Donald H. Peterson.
Flight directors were Pete Frank and Philip Shaffer, first shift, Gene Kranz and Donald R. Puddy, second shift, and Gerry Griffin, Neil B. Hutchinson and Charles R. Lewis, third shift. Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description: "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success." CAPCOMs were Haise, Roosa, Mitchell, James B. Irwin, England, Peterson, Hartsfield, and C. Gordon Fullerton.
Mission insignia and call signs
The insignia of Apollo 16 is dominated by a rendering of an American eagle and a red, white and blue shield, representing the people of the United States, over a gray background representing the lunar surface. Overlaying the shield is a gold NASA vector, orbiting the Moon. On its gold-outlined blue border, there are 16 stars, representing the mission number, and the names of the crew members: Young, Mattingly, Duke. The insignia was designed from ideas originally submitted by the crew of the mission, by Barbara Matelski of the graphics shop at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
Young and Duke chose "Orion" for the lunar module's call sign, while Mattingly chose "Casper" for the command and service module. According to Duke, he and Young chose "Orion" for the LM because they wanted something connected with the stars. Orion is one of the brightest constellations as seen from Earth, and one visible to the astronauts throughout their journey. Duke also stated, "it is a prominent constellation and easy to pronounce and transmit to Mission Control". Mattingly said he chose "Casper", evoking Casper the Friendly Ghost, because "there are enough serious things in this flight, so I picked a non-serious name."
Planning and training
Landing site selection
Apollo 16 was the second of Apollo's J missions, featuring the use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, increased scientific capability, and three-day lunar surface stays. As Apollo 16 was the penultimate mission in the Apollo program and there was no major new hardware or procedures to test on the lunar surface, the last two missions (the other being Apollo 17) presented opportunities for astronauts to clear up some of the uncertainties in understanding the Moon's characteristics. Scientists sought information on the Moon's early history, which might be obtained from its ancient surface features, the lunar highlands. Previous Apollo expeditions, including Apollo 14 and Apollo 15, had obtained samples of pre-mare lunar material, likely thrown from the highlands by meteorite impacts. These were dated from before lava began to upwell from the Moon's interior and flood the low areas and basins. Nevertheless, no Apollo mission had actually visited the lunar highlands.
Apollo 14 had visited and sampled a ridge of material ejected by the impact that created the Mare Imbrium impact basin. Likewise, Apollo 15 had also sampled material in the region of Imbrium, visiting the basin's edge. Because the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 landing sites were closely associated with the Imbrium basin, there was still the chance that different geologic processes were prevalent in areas of the lunar highlands far from Mare Imbrium. Scientist Dan Milton, studying photographs of the highlands from Lunar Orbiter photographs, saw an area in the Descartes region of the Moon with unusually high albedo that he theorized might be due to volcanic rock; his theory quickly gained wide support. Several members of the scientific community noted that the central lunar highlands resembled regions on Earth that were created by volcanism processes and hypothesized the same might be true on the Moon. They hoped scientific output from the Apollo 16 mission would provide an answer. Some scientists advocated for a landing near the large crater, Tycho, but its distance from the lunar equator and the fact that the lunar module would have to approach over very rough terrain ruled it out.
The Ad Hoc Apollo Site Evaluation Committee met in April and May 1971 to decide the Apollo 16 and 17 landing sites; it was chaired by Noel Hinners of Bellcomm. There was consensus the final landing sites should be in the lunar highlands, and among the sites considered for Apollo 16 were the Descartes Highlands region west of Mare Nectaris and the crater Alphonsus. The considerable distance between the Descartes site and previous Apollo landing sites would also be beneficial for the network of seismometers, deployed on each landing mission beginning with Apollo 12.
At Alphonsus, three scientific objectives were determined to be of primary interest and paramount importance: the possibility of old, pre-Imbrium impact material from within the crater's wall, the composition of the crater's interior and the possibility of past volcanic activity on the floor of the crater at several smaller "dark halo" craters. Geologists feared, however, that samples obtained from the crater might have been contaminated by the Imbrium impact, thus preventing Apollo 16 from obtaining samples of pre-Imbrium material. There also remained the distinct possibility that this objective would have already been satisfied by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 missions, as the Apollo 14 samples had not yet been completely analyzed and samples from Apollo 15 had not yet been obtained.
On June 3, 1971, the site selection committee decided to target the Apollo 16 mission for the Descartes site. Following the decision, the Alphonsus site was considered the most likely candidate for Apollo 17, but was eventually rejected. With the assistance of orbital photography obtained on the Apollo 14 mission, the Descartes site was determined to be safe enough for a crewed landing. The specific landing site was between two young impact craters, North Ray and South Ray craters – in diameter, respectively – which provided "natural drill holes" which penetrated through the lunar regolith at the site, thus leaving exposed bedrock that could be sampled by the crew.
After the selection, mission planners made the Descartes and Cayley formations, two geologic units of the lunar highlands, the primary sampling interest of the mission. It was these formations that the scientific community widely suspected were formed by lunar volcanism, but this hypothesis was proven incorrect by the composition of lunar samples from the mission.
Training
In addition to the usual Apollo spacecraft training, Young and Duke, along with backup commander Fred Haise, underwent an extensive geological training program that included several field trips to introduce them to concepts and techniques they would use in analyzing features and collecting samples on the lunar surface. During these trips, they visited and provided scientific descriptions of geologic features they were likely to encounter. The backup LMP, Mitchell, was unavailable during the early part of the training, occupied with tasks relating to Apollo 14, but by September 1971 had joined the geology field trips. Before that, Tony England (a member of the support crew and the lunar EVA CAPCOM) or one of the geologist trainers would train alongside Haise on geology field trips.
Since Descartes was believed to be volcanic, a good deal of this training was geared towards volcanic rocks and features, but field trips were made to sites featuring other sorts of rock. As Young later commented, the non-volcanic training proved more useful, given that Descartes did not prove to be volcanic. In July 1971, they visited Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, for geology training exercises, the first time U.S. astronauts trained in Canada. The Apollo 14 landing crew had visited a site in West Germany; geologist Don Wilhelms related that unspecified incidents there had caused Slayton to rule out further European training trips. Geologists chose Sudbury because of a wide crater created about 1.8 billion years ago by a large meteorite. The Sudbury Basin shows evidence of shatter cone geology, familiarizing the Apollo crew with geologic evidence of a meteorite impact. During the training exercises the astronauts did not wear space suits, but carried radio equipment to converse with each other and England, practicing procedures they would use on the lunar surface. By the end of the training, the field trips had become major exercises, involving up to eight astronauts and dozens of support personnel, attracting coverage from the media. For the exercise at the Nevada Test Site, where the massive craters left by nuclear explosions simulated the large craters to be found on the Moon, all participants had to have security clearance and a listed next-of-kin, and an overflight by CMP Mattingly required special permission.
In addition to the field geology training, Young and Duke also trained to use their EVA space suits, adapt to the reduced lunar gravity, collect samples, and drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The fact that they had been backups for Apollo 13, planned to be a landing mission, meant that they could spend about 40 percent of their time training for their surface operations. They also received survival training and prepared for technical aspects of the mission. The astronauts spent much time studying the lunar samples brought back by earlier missions, learning about the instruments to be carried on the mission, and hearing what the principal investigators in charge of those instruments expected to learn from Apollo 16. This training helped Young and Duke, while on the Moon, quickly realize that the expected volcanic rocks were not there, even though the geologists in Mission Control initially did not believe them. Much of the training—according to Young, 350 hours—was conducted with the crew wearing space suits, something that Young deemed vital, allowing the astronauts to know the limitations of the equipment in doing their assigned tasks. Mattingly also received training in recognizing geological features from orbit by flying over the field areas in an airplane, and trained to operate the Scientific Instrument Module from lunar orbit.
Equipment
Launch vehicle
The launch vehicle which took Apollo 16 to the Moon was a Saturn V, designated as AS-511. This was the eleventh Saturn V to be flown and the ninth used on crewed missions. Apollo 16's Saturn V was almost identical to Apollo 15's. One change that was made was the restoration of four retrorockets to the S-IC first stage, meaning there would be a total of eight, as on Apollo 14 and earlier. The retrorockets were used to minimize the risk of collision between the jettisoned first stage and the Saturn V. These four retrorockets had been omitted from Apollo 15's Saturn V to save weight, but analysis of Apollo 15's flight showed that the S-IC came closer than expected after jettison, and it was feared that if there were only four rockets and one failed, there might be a collision.
ALSEP and other surface equipment
As on all lunar landing missions after Apollo 11, an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) was flown on Apollo 16. This was a suite of nuclear-powered experiments designed to keep functioning after the astronauts who set them up returned to Earth. Apollo 16's ALSEP consisted of a Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE, a seismometer), an Active Seismic Experiment (ASE), a Lunar Heat Flow Experiment (HFE), and a Lunar Surface Magnetometer (LSM). The ALSEP was powered by a SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator, developed by the Atomic Energy Commission.
The PSE added to the network of seismometers left by Apollo 12, 14 and 15. NASA intended to calibrate the Apollo 16 PSE by crashing the LM's ascent stage near it after the astronauts were done with it, an object of known mass and velocity impacting at a known location. However, NASA lost control of the ascent stage after jettison, and this did not occur. The ASE, designed to return data about the Moon's geologic structure, consisted of two groups of explosives: one, a line of "thumpers" were to be deployed attached to three geophones. The thumpers would be exploded during the ALSEP deployment. A second group was four mortars of different sizes, to be set off remotely once the astronauts had returned to Earth. Apollo 14 had also carried an ASE, though its mortars were never set off for fear of affecting other experiments.
The HFE involved the drilling of two holes into the lunar surface and emplacement of thermometers which would measure how much heat was flowing from the lunar interior. This was the third attempt to emplace a HFE: the first flew on Apollo 13 and never reached the lunar surface, while on Apollo 15, problems with the drill meant the probes did not go as deep as planned. The Apollo 16 attempt would fail after Duke had successfully emplaced the first probe; Young, unable to see his feet in the bulky spacesuit, pulled out and severed the cable after it wrapped around his leg. NASA managers vetoed a repair attempt due to the amount of time it would take. A HFE flew, and was successfully deployed, on Apollo 17.
The LSM was designed to measure the strength of the Moon's magnetic field, which is only a small fraction of Earth's. Additional data would be returned by the use of the Lunar Portable Magnetometer (LPM), to be carried on the lunar rover and activated at several geology stops. Scientists also hoped to learn from an Apollo 12 sample, to be briefly returned to the Moon on Apollo 16, from which "soft" magnetism had been removed, to see if it had been restored on its journey. Measurements after the mission found that "soft" magnetism had returned to the sample, although at a lower intensity than before.
A Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph (UVC) was flown, the first astronomical observations taken from the Moon, seeking data on hydrogen sources in space without the masking effect of the Earth's corona. The instrument was placed in the LM's shadow and pointed at nebulae, other astronomical objects, the Earth itself, and any suspected volcanic vents seen on the lunar surface. The film was returned to Earth. When asked to summarize the results for a general audience, Dr. George Carruthers of the Naval Research Laboratory stated, "the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the tropical airglow belt."
Four panels mounted on the LM's descent stage comprised the Cosmic Ray Detector, designed to record cosmic ray and solar wind particles. Three of the panels were left uncovered during the voyage to the Moon, with the fourth uncovered by the crew early in the EVA. The panels would be bagged for return to Earth. The free-standing Solar Wind Composition Experiment flew on Apollo 16, as it had on each of the lunar landings, for deployment on the lunar surface and return to Earth. Platinum foil was added to the aluminum of the previous experiments, to minimize contamination.
Particles and Fields Subsatellite PFS-2
The Apollo 16 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-2) was a small satellite released into lunar orbit from the service module. Its principal objective was to measure charged particles and magnetic fields all around the Moon as the Moon orbited Earth, similar to its sister spacecraft, PFS-1, released eight months earlier by Apollo 15. The two probes were intended to have similar orbits, ranging from above the lunar surface.
Like the Apollo 15 subsatellite, PFS-2 was expected to have a lifetime of at least a year before its orbit decayed and it crashed onto the lunar surface. The decision to bring Apollo 16 home early after there were difficulties with the main engine meant that the spacecraft did not go to the orbit which had been planned for PFS-2. Instead, it was ejected into a lower-than-planned orbit and crashed into the Moon a month later on May 29, 1972, after circling the Moon 424 times. This brief lifetime was because lunar mascons were near to its orbital ground track and helped pull PFS-2 into the Moon.
Mission events
Elements of the spacecraft and launch vehicle began arriving at Kennedy Space Center in July 1970, and all had arrived by September 1971. Apollo 16 was originally scheduled to launch on March 17, 1972. One of the bladders for the CM's reaction control system burst during testing. This issue, in combination with concerns that one of the explosive cords that would jettison the LM from the CSM after the astronauts returned from the lunar surface would not work properly, and a problem with Duke's spacesuit, made it desirable to slip the launch to the next launch window. Thus, Apollo 16 was postponed to April 16. The launch vehicle stack, which had been rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building on December 13, 1971, was returned thereto on January 27, 1972. It was rolled out again to Launch Complex 39A on February 9.
The official mission countdown began on Monday, April 10, 1972, at 8:30 am, six days before the launch. At this point the SaturnV rocket's three stages were powered up, and drinking water was pumped into the spacecraft. As the countdown began, the crew of Apollo 16 was participating in final training exercises in anticipation of a launch on April 16. The astronauts underwent their final preflight physical examination on April 11. The only holds in the countdown were the ones pre-planned in the schedule, and the weather was fair as the time for launch approached.
Launch and outward journey
The Apollo 16 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:54 pm EST on April 16, 1972. The launch was nominal; the crew experienced vibration similar to that on previous missions. The first and second stages of the SaturnV (the S-IC and S-II) performed nominally; the spacecraft entered orbit around Earth just under 12 minutes after lift-off.
After reaching orbit, the crew spent time adapting to the zero-gravity environment and preparing the spacecraft for trans-lunar injection (TLI), the burn of the third-stage rocket that would propel them to the Moon. In Earth orbit, the crew faced minor technical issues, including a potential problem with the environmental control system and the S-IVB third stage's attitude control system, but eventually resolved or compensated for them as they prepared to depart towards the Moon.
After two orbits, the rocket's third stage reignited for just over five minutes, propelling the craft towards the Moon at about . Six minutes after the burn of the S-IVB, the command and service modules (CSM), containing the crew, separated from the rocket and traveled away from it before turning around and retrieving the lunar module from inside the expended rocket stage. The maneuver, performed by Mattingly and known as transposition, docking, and extraction, went smoothly.
Following transposition and docking, the crew noticed the exterior surface of the lunar module was giving off particles from a spot where the LM's skin appeared torn or shredded; at one point, Duke estimated they were seeing about five to ten particles per second. Young and Duke entered the lunar module through the docking tunnel connecting it with the command module to inspect its systems, at which time they did not spot any major issues.
Once on course towards the Moon, the crew put the spacecraft into a rotisserie "barbecue" mode in which the craft rotated along its long axis three times per hour to ensure even heat distribution about the spacecraft from the Sun. After further preparing the craft for the voyage, the crew began the first sleep period of the mission just under 15 hours after launch.
By the time Mission Control issued the wake-up call to the crew for flight day two, the spacecraft was about away from the Earth, traveling at about . As it was not due to arrive in lunar orbit until flight day four, flight days two and three were largely preparatory, consisting of spacecraft maintenance and scientific research. On day two, the crew performed an electrophoresis experiment, also performed on Apollo 14, in which they attempted to demonstrate that electrophoretic separation in their near-weightless environment could be used to produce substances of greater purity than would be possible on Earth. Using two different sizes of polystyrene particles, one size colored red and one blue, separation of the two types via electrophoresis was achieved, though electro-osmosis in the experiment equipment prevented the clear separation of two particle bands.
The remainder of day two included a two-second mid-course correction burn performed by the CSM's service propulsion system (SPS) engine to tweak the spacecraft's trajectory. Later in the day, the astronauts entered the lunar module for the second time to further inspect the landing craft's systems. The crew reported they had observed additional paint peeling from a portion of the LM's outer aluminum skin. Despite this, the crew discovered that the spacecraft's systems were performing nominally. Following the LM inspection, the crew reviewed checklists and procedures for the following days in anticipation of their arrival and the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn. Command Module Pilot Mattingly reported "gimbal lock", meaning that the system to keep track of the craft's attitude was no longer accurate. Mattingly had to realign the guidance system using the Sun and Moon. At the end of day two, Apollo 16 was about away from Earth.
When the astronauts were awakened for flight day three, the spacecraft was about away from the Earth. The velocity of the craft steadily decreased, as it had not yet reached the lunar sphere of gravitational influence. The early part of day three was largely housekeeping, spacecraft maintenance and exchanging status reports with Mission Control in Houston. The crew performed the Apollo light flash experiment, or ALFMED, to investigate "light flashes" that were seen by Apollo lunar astronauts when the spacecraft was dark, regardless of whether their eyes were open. This was thought to be caused by the penetration of the eye by cosmic ray particles. During the second half of the day, Young and Duke again entered the lunar module to power it up and check its systems, and perform housekeeping tasks in preparation for the lunar landing. The systems were found to be functioning as expected. Following this, the crew donned their space suits and rehearsed procedures that would be used on landing day. Just before the end of flight day three at 59 hours, 19 minutes, 45 seconds after liftoff, while from the Earth and from the Moon, the spacecraft's velocity began increasing as it accelerated towards the Moon after entering the lunar sphere of influence.
After waking up on flight day four, the crew began preparations for the LOI maneuver that would brake them into orbit. At an altitude of the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay cover was jettisoned. At just over 74 hours into the mission, the spacecraft passed behind the Moon, temporarily losing contact with Mission Control. While over the far side, the SPS burned for 6minutes and 15 seconds, braking the spacecraft into an orbit with a low point (pericynthion) of 58.3 and a high point (apocynthion) of 170.4 nautical miles (108.0 and 315.6 km, respectively). After entering lunar orbit, the crew began preparations for the Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI) maneuver to further modify the spacecraft's orbital trajectory. The maneuver was successful, decreasing the craft's pericynthion to . The remainder of flight day four was spent making observations and preparing for activation of the lunar module, undocking, and landing the following day.
Lunar surface
The crew continued preparing for lunar module activation and undocking shortly after waking up to begin flight day five. The boom that extended the mass spectrometer in the SIM bay was stuck, semi-deployed. It was decided that Young and Duke would visually inspect the boom after undocking the LM from the CSM. They entered the LM for activation and checkout of the spacecraft's systems. Despite entering the LM 40 minutes ahead of schedule, they completed preparations only 10 minutes early due to numerous delays in the process. With the preparations finished, they undocked 96 hours, 13 minutes, 31 seconds into the mission.
For the rest of the two crafts' passes over the near side of the Moon, Mattingly prepared to shift Casper to a higher, near-circular orbit, while Young and Duke prepared Orion for the descent to the lunar surface. At this point, during tests of the CSM's steerable rocket engine in preparation for the burn to modify the craft's orbit, Mattingly detected oscillations in the SPS engine's backup gimbal system. According to mission rules, under such circumstances, Orion was to re-dock with Casper, in case Mission Control decided to abort the landing and use the lunar module's engines for the return trip to Earth. Instead, the two craft kept station, maintaining positions close to each other. After several hours of analysis, mission controllers determined that the malfunction could be worked around, and Young and Duke could proceed with the landing.
Powered descent to the lunar surface began about six hours behind schedule. Because of the delay, Young and Duke began their descent to the surface at an altitude higher than that of any previous mission, at . After descending to an altitude of about , Young was able to view the landing site in its entirety. Throttle-down of the LM's landing engine occurred on time, and the spacecraft tilted forward to its landing orientation at an altitude of . The LM landed north and west of the planned landing site at 104 hours, 29 minutes, and 35 seconds into the mission, at 2:23:35 UTC on April 21 (8:23:35 pm on April 20 in Houston). The availability of the Lunar Roving Vehicle rendered their distance from the targeted point trivial.
After landing, Young and Duke began powering down some of the LM's systems to conserve battery power. Upon completing their initial procedures, the pair configured Orion for their three-day stay on the lunar surface, removed their space suits and took initial geological observations of the immediate landing site. They then settled down for their first meal on the surface. After eating, they configured the cabin for sleep. The landing delay caused by the malfunction in the CSM's main engine necessitated significant modifications to the mission schedule. Apollo 16 would spend one less day in lunar orbit after surface exploration had been completed to afford the crew ample margins in the event of further problems. In order to improve Young's and Duke's sleep schedule, the third and final moonwalk of the mission was trimmed from seven hours to five.
First moonwalk
After waking up on April 21, Young and Duke ate breakfast and began preparations for the first extravehicular activity (EVA), or moonwalk. After the pair donned and pressurized their space suits and depressurized the lunar module cabin, Young climbed out onto the "porch" of the LM, a small platform above the ladder. Duke handed Young a jettison bag full of trash to dispose of on the surface. Young then lowered the equipment transfer bag (ETB), containing equipment for use during the EVA, to the surface. Young descended the ladder and, upon setting foot on the lunar surface, became the ninth human to walk on the Moon. Upon stepping onto the surface, Young expressed his sentiments about being there: "There you are: Mysterious and unknown Descartes. Highland plains. Apollo 16 is gonna change your image. I'm sure glad they got ol' Brer Rabbit, here, back in the briar patch where he belongs." Duke soon descended the ladder and joined Young on the surface, becoming the tenth person to walk on the Moon. Duke was then aged 36; no younger human has ever walked on the lunar surface. Duke expressed his excitement, stating to CAPCOM Anthony England: "Fantastic! Oh, that first foot on the lunar surface is super, Tony!" The pair's first task of the moonwalk was to offload the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph, and other equipment. This was done without problems. On first driving the lunar rover, Young discovered that the rear steering was not working. He alerted Mission Control to the problem before setting up the television camera, after which Duke erected the United States flag. During lunar surface operations, Commander Young always drove the rover, while Lunar Module Pilot Duke assisted with navigation; this was a division of responsibilities used consistently throughout Apollo's J missions.
The day's next task was to deploy the ALSEP; while they were parking the lunar rover, on which the TV camera was mounted, to observe the deployment, the rear steering began functioning. After ALSEP deployment, they collected samples in the vicinity. About four hours after the beginning of EVA-1, they mounted the lunar rover and drove to the first geologic stop, Plum Crater, a crater on the rim of Flag Crater, about across. There, at a distance of from the LM, they sampled material in the vicinity, which scientists believed had penetrated through the upper regolith layer to the underlying Cayley Formation. It was there that Duke retrieved, at the request of Mission Control, the largest rock returned by an Apollo mission, a breccia nicknamed Big Muley after mission geology principal investigator William R. Muehlberger. The next stop of the day was Buster Crater, a small crater located north of the larger Spook Crater, about from the LM. There, Duke took pictures of Stone Mountain and South Ray Crater, while Young deployed the LPM. By this point, scientists were beginning to reconsider their pre-mission hypothesis that Descartes had been the setting of ancient volcanic activity, as the two astronauts had yet to find any volcanic material. Following their stop at Buster, Young did a "Grand Prix" demonstration drive of the lunar rover, which Duke filmed with a 16 mm movie camera. This had been attempted on Apollo 15, but the camera had malfunctioned. After completing more tasks at the ALSEP, they returned to the LM to close out the moonwalk. They reentered the LM 7hours, 6minutes, and 56 seconds after the start of the EVA. Once inside, they pressurized the LM cabin, went through a half-hour debriefing with scientists in Mission Control, and configured the cabin for the sleep period.
Second moonwalk
Waking up three and a half minutes earlier than planned, they discussed the day's timeline of events with Houston. The second lunar excursion's primary objective was to visit Stone Mountain to climb up the slope of about 20 degrees to reach a cluster of five craters known as "Cinco craters". They drove there in the LRV, traveling from the LM. At above the valley floor, the pair were at the highest elevation above the LM of any Apollo mission. They marveled at the view (including South Ray) from the side of Stone Mountain, which Duke described as "spectacular", then gathered samples in the vicinity. After spending 54 minutes on the slope, they climbed aboard the lunar rover en route to the day's second stop, dubbed Station 5, a crater across. There, they hoped to find Descartes material that had not been contaminated by ejecta from South Ray Crater, a large crater south of the landing site. The samples they collected there, despite still uncertain origin, are according to geologist Wilhelms, "a reasonable bet to be Descartes".
The next stop, Station 6, was a blocky crater, where the astronauts believed they could sample the Cayley Formation as evidenced by the firmer soil found there. Bypassing station seven to save time, they arrived at Station 8 on the lower flank of Stone Mountain, where they sampled material on a ray from South Ray crater for about an hour. There, they collected black and white breccias and smaller, crystalline rocks rich in plagioclase. At Station 9, an area known as the "Vacant Lot", which was believed to be free of ejecta from South Ray, they spent about 40 minutes gathering samples. Twenty-five minutes after departing the Vacant Lot, they arrived at the final stop of the day, halfway between the ALSEP site and the LM. There, they dug a double core and conducted several penetrometer tests along a line stretching east of the ALSEP. At the request of Young and Duke, the moonwalk was extended by ten minutes. After returning to the LM to wrap up the second lunar excursion, they climbed back inside the landing craft's cabin, sealing and pressurizing the interior after 7hours, 23 minutes, and 26 seconds of EVA time, breaking a record that had been set on Apollo 15. After eating a meal and proceeding with a debriefing on the day's activities with Mission Control, they reconfigured the LM cabin and prepared for the sleep period.
Third moonwalk
Flight day seven was their third and final day on the lunar surface, returning to orbit to rejoin Mattingly in the CSM following the day's moonwalk. During the third and final lunar excursion, they were to explore North Ray crater, the largest of any of the craters any Apollo expedition had visited. After exiting Orion, the pair drove to North Ray crater. The drive was smoother than that of the previous day, as the craters were shallower and boulders were less abundant north of the immediate landing site. After passing Palmetto crater, boulders gradually became larger and more abundant as they approached North Ray in the lunar rover. Upon arriving at the rim of North Ray crater, they were away from the LM. After their arrival, the duo took photographs of the wide and deep crater. They visited a large boulder, taller than a four-story building, which became known as 'House Rock'. Samples obtained from this boulder delivered the final blow to the pre-mission volcanic hypothesis, proving it incorrect. House Rock had numerous bullet hole-like marks where micrometeoroids from space had impacted the rock.
About 1hour and 22 minutes after arriving at the North Ray crater, they departed for Station 13, a large boulder field about from North Ray. On the way, they set a lunar speed record, traveling at an estimated downhill. They arrived at a high boulder, which they called "Shadow Rock". Here, they sampled permanently shadowed soil. During this time, Mattingly was preparing the CSM in anticipation of their return approximately six hours later. After three hours and six minutes, they returned to the LM, where they completed several experiments and unloaded the rover. A short distance from the LM, Duke placed a photograph of his family and an Air Force commemorative medallion on the surface. Young drove the rover to a point about east of the LM, known as the 'VIP site,' so its television camera, controlled remotely by Mission Control, could observe Apollo 16's liftoff from the Moon. They then reentered the LM after a 5-hour and 40-minute final excursion. After pressurizing the LM cabin, the crew began preparing to return to lunar orbit.
Solo activities
After Orion was cleared for the landing attempt, Casper maneuvered away, and Mattingly performed a burn that took his spacecraft to an orbit of in preparation for his scientific work. The SM carried a suite of scientific instruments in its SIM bay, similar to those carried on Apollo 15. Mattingly had compiled a busy schedule operating the various SIM bay instruments, one that became even busier once Houston decided to bring Apollo 16 home a day early, as the flight directors sought to make up for lost time.
His work was hampered by various malfunctions: when the Panoramic Camera was turned on, it appeared to take so much power from one of the CSM's electrical systems, that it initiated the spacecraft Master Alarm. It was immediately shut off, though later analysis indicated that the drain might have been from the spacecraft's heaters, which came on at the same time. Its work was also hampered by the delay in the beginning of Casper'''s orbital scientific work and the early return to Earth, and by a malfunction resulting in the overexposure of many of the photographs. Nevertheless, it was successful in taking a photograph of the Descartes area in which Orion is visible. The Mass Spectrometer boom did not fully retract following its initial extension, as had happened on Apollo 15, though it retracted far enough to allow the SPS engine to be fired safely when Casper maneuvered away from Orion before the LM began its Moon landing attempt. Although the Mass Spectrometer was able to operate effectively, it stuck near its fully deployed position prior to the burn that preceded rendezvous, and had to be jettisoned. Scientists had hoped to supplement the lunar data gained with more on the trans-earth coast, but Apollo 15 data could be used instead. The Mapping Camera also did not function perfectly; later analysis found it to have problems with its glare shield. The changes to the flight plan meant that some areas of the lunar surface that were supposed to be photographed could not be; also, a number of images were overexposed. The Laser Altimeter, designed to accurately measure the spacecraft altitude, slowly lost accuracy due to reduced power, and finally failed just before it was due to be used for the last time.
Return to Earth
Eight minutes before the planned departure from the lunar surface, CAPCOM James Irwin notified Young and Duke from Mission Control that they were go for liftoff. Two minutes before launch, they activated the "Master Arm" switch and then the "Abort Stage" button, causing small explosive charges to sever the ascent stage from the descent stage, with cables connecting the two severed by a guillotine-like mechanism. At the pre-programmed moment, there was liftoff and the ascent stage blasted away from the Moon, as the camera aboard the LRV followed the first moments of the flight. Six minutes after liftoff, at a speed of about , Young and Duke reached lunar orbit. Young and Duke successfully rendezvoused and re-docked with Mattingly in the CSM. To minimize the transfer of lunar dust from the LM cabin into the CSM, Young and Duke cleaned the cabin before opening the hatch separating the two spacecraft. After opening the hatch and reuniting with Mattingly, the crew transferred the samples Young and Duke had collected on the surface into the CSM for transfer to Earth. After transfers were completed, the crew would sleep before jettisoning the empty lunar module ascent stage the next day, when it was to be crashed intentionally into the lunar surface in order to calibrate the seismometer Young and Duke had left on the surface.
The next day, after final checks were completed, the expended LM ascent stage was jettisoned. Likely because of a failure by the crew to activate a certain switch in the LM before sealing it off, it tumbled after separation. NASA could not control it, and it did not execute the rocket burn necessary for the craft's intentional de-orbit. The ascent stage eventually crashed into the lunar surface nearly a year after the mission. The crew's next task, after jettisoning the lunar module ascent stage, was to release a subsatellite into lunar orbit from the CSM's scientific instrument bay. The burn to alter the CSM's orbit to that desired for the subsatellite had been cancelled; as a result, the subsatellite lasted just over a month in orbit, far less than its anticipated one year. Just under five hours after the subsatellite release, on the CSM's 65th orbit around the Moon, its service propulsion system main engine was reignited to propel the craft on a trajectory that would return it to Earth. The SPS engine performed the burn flawlessly despite the malfunction that had delayed their landing several days previously.
During the return to Earth, Mattingly performed an 83-minute EVA to retrieve film cassettes from the cameras in the SIM bay, with assistance from Duke who remained at the command module's hatch. At approximately from Earth, it was the second "deep space" EVA in history, performed at great distance from any planetary body. , it remains one of only three such EVAs, all performed during Apollo's J-missions under similar circumstances. During the EVA, Mattingly set up a biological experiment, the Microbial Ecology Evaluation Device (MEED), an experiment unique to Apollo 16, to evaluate the response of microbes to the space environment. The crew carried out various housekeeping and maintenance tasks aboard the spacecraft and ate a meal before concluding the day.
The penultimate day of the flight was largely spent performing experiments, aside from a twenty-minute press conference during the second half of the day. During the press conference, the astronauts answered questions pertaining to several technical and non-technical aspects of the mission prepared and listed by priority at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston by journalists covering the flight. In addition to numerous housekeeping tasks, the astronauts prepared the spacecraft for its atmospheric reentry the next day. At the end of the crew's final full day in space, the spacecraft was approximately from Earth and closing at a rate of about .
When the wake-up call was issued to the crew for their final day in space by CAPCOM England, the CSM was about from Earth, traveling just over . Just over three hours before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the crew performed a final course correction burn, using the spacecraft's thrusters to change their velocity by . Approximately ten minutes before reentry into Earth's atmosphere, the cone-shaped command module containing the three crewmembers separated from the service module, which would burn up during reentry. At 265 hours and 37 minutes into the mission, at a velocity of about , Apollo 16 began atmospheric reentry. At its maximum, the temperature of the heat shield was between . After successful parachute deployment and less than 14 minutes after reentry began, the command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southeast of the island of Kiritimati 265 hours, 51 minutes, 5seconds after liftoff. The spacecraft and its crew was retrieved by the aircraft carrier . The astronauts were safely aboard the Ticonderoga 37 minutes after splashdown.
Scientific results and aftermath
Scientific analysis of the rocks brought back to Earth confirmed that the Cayley Formation was not volcanic in nature. There was less certainty regarding the Descartes Formation, as it was not clear which if any of the rocks came from there. There was no evidence that showed that Stone Mountain was volcanic. One reason why Descartes had been selected was that it was visually different from previous Apollo landing sites, but rocks from there proved to be closely related to those from the Fra Mauro Formation, Apollo 14's landing site. Geologists realized that they had been so certain that Cayley was volcanic, they had not been open to dissenting views, and that they had been over-reliant on analogues from Earth, a flawed model because the Moon does not share much of the Earth's geologic history. They concluded that there are few if any volcanic mountains on the Moon. These conclusions were informed by observations from Mattingly, the first CMP to use binoculars in his observations, who had seen that from the perspective of lunar orbit, there was nothing distinctive about the Descartes Formation—it fit right in with the Mare Imbrium structure. Other results gained from Apollo 16 included the discovery of two new auroral belts around Earth.
After the mission, Young and Duke served as backups for Apollo 17, and Duke retired from NASA in December 1975. Young and Mattingly both flew the Space Shuttle: Young, who served as Chief Astronaut from 1974 to 1987, commanded the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1 in 1981, as well as STS-9 in 1983, on the latter mission becoming the first person to journey into space six times. He retired from NASA in 2004. Mattingly also twice commanded Shuttle missions, STS-4 (1982) and STS-51-C (1985), before retiring from NASA in 1985.
Locations of spacecraft and other equipment
The Ticonderoga delivered the Apollo 16 command module to the North Island Naval Air Station, near San Diego, California, on Friday, May 5, 1972. On Monday, May 8, ground service equipment being used to empty the residual toxic reaction control system fuel in the command module tanks exploded in a Naval Air Station hangar. Forty-six people were sent to the hospital for 24 to 48 hours' observation, most suffering from inhalation of toxic fumes. Most seriously injured was a technician who suffered a fractured kneecap when a cart overturned on him. A hole was blown in the hangar roof 250 feet above; about 40 windows in the hangar were shattered. The command module suffered a three-inch gash in one panel.
The Apollo 16 command module Casper'' is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, following a transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in November 1973. The lunar module ascent stage separated from the CSM on April 24, 1972, but NASA lost control of it. It orbited the Moon for about a year. Its impact site remains unknown, though research published in 2023 suggests an impact date of May 29, 1972 (the same as for the subsattelite) and an impact location of 9.99° N, 104.26° E.
The S-IVB was deliberately crashed into the Moon. However, due to a communication failure before impact the exact location was unknown until January 2016, when it was discovered within Mare Insularum by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, approximately southwest of Copernicus Crater.
Duke left two items on the Moon, both of which he photographed while there. One is a plastic-encased photo portrait of his family. The reverse of the photo is signed by Duke's family and bears this message: "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth. Landed on the Moon, April 1972." The other item was a commemorative medal issued by the United States Air Force, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1972. He took two medals, leaving one on the Moon and donating the other to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
In 2006, shortly after Hurricane Ernesto affected Bath, North Carolina, eleven-year-old Kevin Schanze discovered a piece of metal debris on the ground near his beach home. Schanze and a friend discovered a "stamp" on the flat metal sheet, which upon further inspection turned out to be a faded copy of the Apollo 16 mission insignia. NASA later confirmed the object to be a piece of the first stage of the SaturnV that had launched Apollo 16 into space. In July 2011, after returning the piece of debris at NASA's request, 16-year-old Schanze was given an all-access tour of the Kennedy Space Center and VIP seating for the launch of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle program.
See also
List of artificial objects on the Moon
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
References
Bibliography
External links
Apollo 16 Traverses, Lunar Photomap 78D2S2(25)
On the Moon with Apollo 16: A guidebook to the Descartes Region by Gene Simmons, NASA, EP-95, 1972
Apollo 16: "Nothing so hidden..." (Part 1) – NASA film on the Apollo 16 mission at the Internet Archive
Apollo 16: "Nothing so hidden..." (Part 2) – NASA film on the Apollo 16 mission at the Internet Archive
Apollo Lunar Surface VR Panoramas – QTVR panoramas at moonpans.com
Apollo 16 Science Experiments at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Audio recording of Apollo 16 landing as recorded at the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station
Interview with the Apollo 16 Astronauts (28 June 1972) from the Commonwealth Club of California Records at the Hoover Institution Archives
"Apollo 16: Driving on the Moon" – Apollo 16 film footage of lunar rover at the Astronomy Picture of the Day, 29 January 2013
Astronaut's Eye View of Apollo 16 Site, from LROC
Apollo program missions
Crewed missions to the Moon
Charles Duke
Ken Mattingly
John Young (astronaut)
1972 on the Moon
1972 in the United States
April 1972 events
Extravehicular activity
Lunar rovers
Sample return missions
Soft landings on the Moon
Spacecraft launched in 1972
Spacecraft which reentered in 1972
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets |
1971 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%2017 | Apollo 17 | Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command module.
Mission planners had two primary goals in deciding on the landing site: to sample lunar highland material older than that at Mare Imbrium and to investigate the possibility of relatively recent volcanic activity. They therefore selected Taurus–Littrow, where formations that had been viewed and pictured from orbit were thought to be volcanic in nature. Since all three crew members had backed up previous Apollo lunar missions, they were familiar with the Apollo spacecraft and had more time for geology training.
Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, following the only launch-pad delay in the course of the whole Apollo program that was caused by a hardware problem, Apollo 17 was a "J-type" mission that included three days on the lunar surface, expanded scientific capability, and the use of the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus–Littrow valley, completed three moonwalks, took lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments. Orange soil was discovered at Shorty crater; it proved to be volcanic in origin, although from early in the Moon's history. Evans remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), taking scientific measurements and photographs. The spacecraft returned to Earth on December 19.
The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days, 14 hours), greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes), largest lunar-sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days, 4 hours), and greatest number of lunar orbits (75).
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
In 1969, NASA announced that the backup crew of Apollo 14 would be Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and former X-15 pilot Joe Engle. This put them in line to be the prime crew of Apollo 17, because the Apollo program's crew rotation generally meant that a backup crew would fly as prime crew three missions later. Harrison Schmitt, who was a professional geologist as well as an astronaut, had served on the backup crew of Apollo 15, and thus, because of the rotation, would have been due to fly as lunar module pilot on Apollo 18.
In September 1970, the plan to launch Apollo 18 was cancelled. The scientific community pressed NASA to assign a geologist, rather than a pilot with non-professional geological training, to an Apollo landing. NASA subsequently assigned Schmitt to Apollo 17 as the lunar module pilot. After that, NASA’s director of flight crew operations, Deke Slayton, was left with the question of who would fill the two other Apollo 17 slots: the rest of the Apollo 15 backup crew (Dick Gordon and Vance Brand), or Cernan and Evans from the Apollo 14 backup crew. Slayton ultimately chose Cernan and Evans. Support at NASA for assigning Cernan was not unanimous. Cernan had crashed a Bell 47G helicopter into the Indian River near Cape Kennedy during a training exercise in January 1971; the accident was later attributed to pilot error, as Cernan had misjudged his altitude before crashing into the water. Jim McDivitt, who was manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at the time, objected to Cernan's selection because of this accident, but Slayton dismissed the concern. After Cernan was offered command of the mission, he advocated for Engle to fly with him on the mission, but it was made clear to him that Schmitt would be assigned instead, with or without Cernan, so he acquiesced. The prime crew of Apollo 17 was publicly announced on August 13, 1971.
When assigned to Apollo 17, Cernan was a 38-year-old captain in the United States Navy; he had been selected in the third group of astronauts in 1963, and flown as pilot of Gemini 9A in 1966 and as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in 1969 before he served on Apollo 14's backup crew. Evans, 39 years old when assigned to Apollo 17, had been selected as part of the fifth group of astronauts in 1966, and had been a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. Schmitt, a civilian, was 37 years old when assigned Apollo 17, had a doctorate in geology from Harvard University, and had been selected in the fourth group of astronauts in 1965. Both Evans and Schmitt were making their first spaceflights.
For the backup crews of Apollo 16 and 17, the final Apollo lunar missions, NASA selected astronauts who had already flown Apollo lunar missions, to take advantage of their experience, and avoid investing time and money in training rookies who would be unlikely to ever fly an Apollo mission. The original backup crew for Apollo 17, announced at the same time as the prime crew, was the crew of Apollo 15: David Scott as commander, Alfred Worden as CMP and James Irwin as LMP, but in May 1972 they were removed from the backup crew because of their roles in the Apollo 15 postal covers incident. They were replaced with the landing crew of Apollo 16: John W. Young as backup crew commander, Charles Duke as LMP, and Apollo 14's CMP, Stuart Roosa. Originally, Apollo 16's CMP, Ken Mattingly, was to be assigned along with his crewmates, but he declined so he could spend more time with his family, his son having just been born, and instead took an assignment to the Space Shuttle program. Roosa had also served as backup CMP for Apollo 16.
For the Apollo program, in addition to the prime and backup crews that had been used in the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA assigned a third crew of astronauts, known as the support crew. Their role was to provide any assistance in preparing for the missions that the missions director assigned then. Preparations took place in meetings at facilities across the US and sometimes needed a member of the flight crew to attend them. Because McDivitt was concerned that problems could be created if a prime or backup crew member was unable to attend a meeting, Slayton created the support crews to ensure that someone would be able to attend in their stead. Usually low in seniority, they also assembled the mission's rules, flight plan and checklists, and kept them updated; for Apollo 17, they were Robert F. Overmyer, Robert A. Parker and C. Gordon Fullerton.
Flight directors were Gerry Griffin, first shift, Gene Kranz and Neil B. Hutchinson, second shift, and Pete Frank and Charles R. Lewis, third shift. According to Kranz, flight directors during the program Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success." Capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) were Fullerton, Parker, Young, Duke, Mattingly, Roosa, Alan Shepard and Joseph P. Allen.
Mission insignia and call signs
The insignia's most prominent feature is an image of the Greek sun god Apollo backdropped by a rendering of an American eagle, the red bars on the eagle mirroring those on the U.S. flag. Three white stars above the red bars represent the three crewmembers of the mission. The background includes the Moon, the planet Saturn, and a galaxy or nebula. The wing of the eagle partially overlays the Moon, suggesting humanity's established presence there.
The insignia includes, along with the colors of the U.S. flag (red, white, and blue), the color gold, representative of a "golden age" of spaceflight that was to begin with Apollo 17. The image of Apollo in the mission insignia is a rendering of the Apollo Belvedere sculpture in the Vatican Museums. It looks forward into the future, towards the celestial objects shown in the insignia beyond the Moon. These represent humanity's goals, and the image symbolizes human intelligence, wisdom and ambition. The insignia was designed by artist Robert McCall, based on ideas from the crew.
In deciding the call signs for the command module (CM) and lunar module (LM), the crew wished to pay tribute to the American public for their support of the Apollo program, and to the mission, and wanted names with a tradition within American history. The CM was given the call sign "America". According to Cernan, this evoked the 19th century sailing ships which were given that name, and was a thank-you to the people of the United States. The crew selected the name "Challenger" for the LM in lieu of an alternative, "Heritage". Cernan stated that the selected name "just seemed to describe more of what the future for America really held, and that was a challenge". After Schmitt stepped onto the Moon from Challenger, he stated, "I think the next generation ought to accept this as a challenge. Let's see them leave footprints like these."
Planning and training
Scheduling and landing site selection
Prior to the cancellation of Apollo 18 through 20, Apollo 17 was slated to launch in September 1971 as part of NASA's tentative launch schedule set forth in 1969. The in-flight abort of Apollo 13 and the resulting modifications to the Apollo spacecraft delayed subsequent missions. Following the cancellation of Apollo 20 in early 1970, NASA decided there would be no more than two Apollo missions per year. Part of the reason Apollo 17 was scheduled for December 1972 was to make it fall after the presidential election in November, ensuring that if there was a disaster, it would have no effect on President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. Nixon had been deeply concerned about the Apollo 13 astronauts, and, fearing another mission in crisis as he ran for re-election, initially decided to omit the funds for Apollo 17 from the budget; he was persuaded to accept a December 1972 date for the mission.
Like Apollo 15 and 16, Apollo 17 was slated to be a "J-mission", an Apollo mission type that featured lunar surface stays of three days, higher scientific capability, and the usage of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Since Apollo 17 was to be the final lunar landing of the Apollo program, high-priority landing sites that had not been visited previously were given consideration for potential exploration. Some sites were rejected at earlier stages. For instance, a landing in the crater Copernicus was rejected because Apollo 12 had already obtained samples from that impact, and three other Apollo expeditions had already visited the vicinity of Mare Imbrium, near the rim of which Copernicus is located. The lunar highlands near the crater Tycho were rejected because of the rough terrain that the astronauts would encounter there. A site on the lunar far side in the crater Tsiolkovskiy was rejected due to technical considerations and the operational costs of maintaining communication with Earth during surface operations. Lastly, a landing in a region southwest of Mare Crisium was rejected on the grounds that a Soviet spacecraft could easily access the site and retrieve samples; Luna 20 ultimately did so shortly after the Apollo 17 site selection was made. Schmitt advocated for a landing on the far side of the Moon until told by Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft that it would not happen as NASA lacked the funds for the necessary communications satellites.
The three sites that made the final consideration for Apollo 17 were Alphonsus crater, Gassendi crater, and the Taurus–Littrow valley. In making the final landing site decision, mission planners considered the primary objectives for Apollo 17: obtaining old highlands material a substantial distance from Mare Imbrium, sampling material from young volcanic activity (i.e., less than three billion years), and having minimal ground overlap with the orbital ground tracks of Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 to maximize the amount of new data obtained. A significant reason for the selection of Taurus–Littrow was that Apollo 15's CMP, Al Worden, had overflown the site and observed features he described as likely volcanic in nature.
Gassendi was eliminated because NASA felt that its central peak would be difficult to reach due to the roughness of the local terrain, and, though Alphonsus might be easier operationally than Taurus–Littrow, it was of lesser scientific interest. At Taurus–Littrow, it was believed that the crew would be able to obtain samples of old highland material from the remnants of a landslide event that occurred on the south wall of the valley and the possibility of relatively young, explosive volcanic activity in the area. Although the valley is similar to the landing site of Apollo 15 in that it is on the border of a lunar mare, the advantages of Taurus–Littrow were believed to outweigh the drawbacks. The Apollo Site Selection Board, a committee of NASA personnel and scientists charged with setting out scientific objectives of the Apollo landing missions and selecting landing sites for them, unanimously recommended Taurus–Littrow at its final meeting in February 1972. Upon that recommendation, NASA selected Taurus–Littrow as the landing site for Apollo 17.
Training
As with previous lunar landings, the Apollo 17 astronauts undertook an extensive training program that included learning to collect samples on the surface, usage of the spacesuits, navigation in the Lunar Roving Vehicle, field geology training, survival training, splashdown and recovery training, and equipment training. The geology field trips were conducted as much as possible as if the astronauts were on the Moon: they would be provided with aerial images and maps, and briefed on features of the site and a suggested routing. The following day, they would follow the route, and have tasks and observations to be done at each of the stops.
The geology field trips began with one to Big Bend National Park in Texas in October 1971. The early ones were not specifically tailored to prepare the astronauts for Taurus–Littrow, which was not selected until February 1972, but by June, the astronauts were going on field trips to sites specifically selected to prepare for Apollo 17's landing site. Both Cernan and Schmitt had served on backup crews for Apollo landing missions, and were familiar with many of the procedures. Their trainers, such as Gordon Swann, feared that Cernan would defer to Schmitt as a professional geologist on matters within his field. Cernan also had to adjust for the loss of Engle, with whom he had trained for Apollo 14. In spite of these issues, Cernan and Schmitt worked well together as a team, and Cernan became adept at describing what he was seeing on geology field trips, and working independently of Schmitt when necessary.
The landing crew aimed for a division of labor so that, when they arrived in a new area, Cernan would perform tasks such as adjusting the antenna on the Lunar Roving Vehicle so as to transmit to Earth while Schmitt gave a report on the geological aspects of the site. The scientists in the geology "backroom" relied on Schmitt's reports to adjust the tasks planned for that site, which would be transmitted to the CapCom and then to Cernan and Schmitt. According to William R. Muehlberger, one of the scientists who trained the astronauts, "In effect [Schmitt] was running the mission from the Moon. But we set it up this way. All of those within the geological world certainly knew it, and I had a sneaking hunch that the top brass knew it too, but this is a practical way out, and they didn't object."
Also participating in some of the geology field trips were the commander and lunar module pilot of the backup crew. The initial field trips took place before the Apollo 15 astronauts were assigned as the backup crew for Apollo 17 in February 1972. Either one or both of Scott and Irwin of Apollo 15 took part in four field trips, though both were present together for only two of them. After they were removed from the backup crew, the new backup commander and LMP, Young and Duke, took part in the final four field trips. On field trips, the backup crew would follow half an hour after the prime crew, performing identical tasks, and have their own simulated CapCom and Mission Control guiding them. The Apollo 17 astronauts had fourteen field trips—the Apollo 11 crew had only one.
Evans did not go on the geology field trips, having his own set of trainers—by this time, geology training for the CMP was well-established. He would fly with a NASA geologist/pilot, Dick Laidley, over geologic features, with part of the exercise conducted at , and part at to . The higher altitude was equivalent to what could be seen from the planned lunar orbit of about 60 nmi with binoculars. Evans would be briefed for several hours before each exercise, and given study guides; afterwards, there would be debriefing and evaluation. Evans was trained in lunar geology by Farouk El-Baz late in the training cycle; this continued until close to launch. The CMP was given information regarding the lunar features he would overfly in the CSM and which he was expected to photograph.
Mission hardware and experiments
Spacecraft and launch vehicle
The Apollo 17 spacecraft comprised CSM-114 (consisting of Command Module 114 (CM-114) and Service Module 114 (SM-114)); Lunar Module 12 (LM-12); a Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) numbered SLA-21; and a Launch Escape System (LES). The LES contained a rocket motor that would propel the CM to safety in the event of an aborted mission in the moments after launch, while the SLA housed the LM during the launch and early part of the flight. The LES was jettisoned after the launch vehicle ascended to the point that it was not needed, while the SLA was left atop the S-IVB third stage of the rocket after the CSM and LM separated from it.
The launch vehicle, SA-512, was one of fifteen Saturn V rockets built, and was the twelfth to fly. With a weight at launch of ( of which was attributable to the spacecraft), Apollo 17's vehicle was slightly lighter than Apollo 16, but heavier than every other crewed Apollo mission.
Preparation and assembly
The first piece of the launch vehicle to arrive at Kennedy Space Center was the S-II second stage, on October 27, 1970; it was followed by the S-IVB on December 21; the S-IC first stage did not arrive until May 11, 1972, followed by the Instrument Unit on June 7. By then, LM-12 had arrived, the ascent stage on June 16, 1971, and the descent stage the following day; they were not mated until May 18, 1972. CM-114, SM-114 and SLA-21 all arrived on March 24, 1972. The rover reached Kennedy Space Center on June 2, 1972.
The CM and the service module (SM) were mated on March 28, 1972, and the testing of the spacecraft began that month. The CSM was placed in a vacuum chamber at Kennedy Space Center, and the testing was conducted under those conditions. The LM was also placed in a vacuum chamber; both the prime and the backup crews participated in testing the CSM and LM. During the testing, it was discovered that the LM's rendezvous radar assembly had received too much voltage during earlier tests; it was replaced by the manufacturer, Grumman. The LM's landing radar also malfunctioned intermittently and was also replaced. The front and rear steering motors of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) also had to be replaced, and it required several modifications. Following the July 1972 removal from the vacuum chamber, the LM's landing gear was installed, and it, the CSM and the SLA were mated to each other. The combined craft was moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building in August for further testing, after which it was mounted on the launch vehicle. After completing testing, including a simulated mission, the LRV was placed in the LM on August 13.
Erection of the stages of the launch vehicle began on May 15, 1972, in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building, and was completed on June 27. Since the launch vehicles for Skylab 1 and Skylab 2 were being processed in that building at the same time, this marked the first time NASA had three launch vehicles there since the height of the Apollo program in 1969. After the spacecraft was mounted on the launch vehicle on August 24, it was rolled out to Pad 39-A on August 28. Although this was not the final time a Saturn V would fly (another would lift Skylab to orbit), area residents reacted as though it was, and 5,000 of them watched the rollout, during which the prime crew joined the operating crew from Bendix atop the crawler.
At Pad 39-A, testing continued, and the CSM was electrically mated to the launch vehicle on October 11, 1972. Testing concluded with the countdown demonstration tests, accomplished on November 20 and 21. The countdown to launch began at 7:53 a.m. (12:53 UTC) on December 5, 1972.
Lunar surface science
ALSEP
The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package was a suite of nuclear-powered experiments, flown on each landing mission after Apollo 11. This equipment was to be emplaced by the astronauts to continue functioning after the astronauts returned to Earth. For Apollo 17, the ALSEP experiments were a Heat Flow Experiment (HFE), to measure the rate of heat flow from the interior of the Moon, a Lunar Surface Gravimeter (LSG), to measure alterations in the lunar gravity field at the site, a Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE), to investigate what the lunar atmosphere is made up of, a Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment (LSPE), to detect nearby seismic activity, and a Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment (LEME), to measure the velocity and energy of dust particles. Of these, only the HFE had been flown before; the others were new.
The HFE had been flown on the aborted Apollo 13 mission, as well as on Apollo 15 and 16, but placed successfully only on Apollo 15, and unexpected results from that device made scientists anxious for a second successful emplacement. It was successfully deployed on Apollo 17. The lunar gravimeter was intended to detect wavers in gravity, which would provide support for Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity; it ultimately failed to function as intended. The LACE was a surface-deployed module that used a mass spectrometer to analyze the Moon's atmosphere. On previous missions, the Code Cathode Gauge experiment had measured the quantity of atmospheric particles, but the LACE determined which gases were present: principally neon, helium and hydrogen. The LSPE was a seismic-detecting device that used geophones, which would detect explosives to be set off by ground command once the astronauts left the Moon. When operating, it could only send useful data to Earth in high bit rate, meaning that no other ALSEP experiment could send data then, and limiting its operating time. It was turned on to detect the liftoff of the ascent stage, as well as use of the explosives packages, and the ascent stage's impact, and thereafter about once a week, as well as for some 100 hour periods. The LEME had a set of detectors to measure the characteristics of the dust particles it sought. It was hoped that the LEME would detect dust impacting the Moon from elsewhere, such as from comets or interstellar space, but analysis showed that it primarily detected dust moving at slow speeds across the lunar surface.
All powered ALSEP experiments that remained active were deactivated on September 30, 1977, principally because of budgetary constraints.
Other lunar-surface science
Like Apollo 15 and 16, Apollo 17 carried a Lunar Roving Vehicle. In addition to being used by the astronauts for transport from station to station on the mission's three moonwalks, the LRV was used to transport the astronauts' tools, communications equipment, and the lunar samples they gathered. The Apollo 17 LRV was also used to carry some of the scientific instruments, such as the Traverse Gravimeter Experiment (TGE) and Surface Electrical Properties (SEP) experiment. The Apollo 17 LRV traveled a cumulative distance of approximately in a total drive time of about four hours and twenty-six minutes; the greatest distance Cernan and Schmitt traveled from the lunar module was about .
This was the only mission to carry the TGE, which was built by Draper Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As gravimeters had been useful in studying the Earth's internal structure, the objective of this experiment was to do the same on the Moon. The gravimeter was used to obtain relative gravity measurements at the landing site in the immediate vicinity of the lunar module, as well as various locations on the mission's traverse routes. Scientists would then use this data to help determine the geological substructure of the landing site and the surrounding vicinity. Measurements were taken while the TGE was mounted on the LRV, and also while the device was placed on the lunar surface. A total of 26 measurements were taken with the TGE during the mission's three moonwalks, with productive results.
The SEP was also unique to Apollo 17, and included two major components: a transmitting antenna deployed near the lunar module and a receiver mounted on the LRV. At different stops during the mission's traverses, electrical signals traveled from the transmitting device, through the ground, and were received at the LRV. The electrical properties of the lunar regolith could be determined by comparison of the transmitted and received electrical signals. The results of this experiment, which are consistent with lunar rock composition, show that there is almost no water in the area of the Moon in which Apollo 17 landed, to a depth of .
A long, diameter device, the Lunar Neutron Probe was inserted into one of the holes drilled into the surface to collect core samples. It was designed to measure the quantity of neutrons which penetrated to the detectors it bore along its length. This was intended to measure the rate of the "gardening" process on the lunar surface, whereby the regolith on the surface is slowly mixed or buried due to micrometeorites and other events. Placed during the first EVA, it was retrieved during the third and final EVA. The astronauts brought it with them back to Earth, and the measurements from it were compared with the evidence of neutron flux in the core that had been removed from the hole it had been placed in. Results from the probe and from the cores were instrumental in current theories that the top centimeter of lunar regolith turns over every million years, whereas "gardening" to a depth of one meter takes about a billion years.
Orbital science
Biological experiments
Apollo 17's CM carried a biological cosmic ray experiment (BIOCORE), containing five mice that had been implanted with radiation monitors under their scalps to see whether they suffered damage from cosmic rays. These animals were placed in individual metal tubes inside a sealed container that had its own oxygen supply, and flown on the mission. All five were pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris); this species was chosen because it was well-documented, small, easy to maintain in an isolated state (not requiring drinking water during the mission and with highly concentrated waste), and for its ability to withstand environmental stress. Officially, the mice—four male and one female—were assigned the identification numbers A3326, A3400, A3305, A3356 and A3352. Unofficially, according to Cernan, the Apollo 17 crew dubbed them Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey.
Four of the five mice survived the flight, though only two of them appeared healthy and active; the cause of death of the fifth mouse was not determined. Of those that survived, the study found lesions in the scalp itself and, in one case, the liver. The scalp lesions and liver lesions appeared to be unrelated to one another; nothing was found that could be attributed to cosmic rays.
The Biostack experiment was similar to one carried on Apollo 16, and was designed to test the effects of the cosmic rays encountered in space travel on microorganisms that were included, on seeds, and on the eggs of simple animals (brine shrimp and beetles), which were carried in a sealed container. After the mission, the microorganisms and seeds showed little effect, but many of the eggs of all species failed to hatch, or to mature normally; many died or displayed abnormalities.
Scientific Instrument Module
The Apollo 17 SM contained the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay. The SIM bay housed three new experiments for use in lunar orbit: a lunar sounder, an infrared scanning radiometer, and a far-ultraviolet spectrometer. A mapping camera, panoramic camera, and a laser altimeter, which had been carried previously, were also included in the SIM bay.
The lunar sounder was to beam electromagnetic impulses toward the lunar surface, which were designed with the objective of obtaining data to assist in developing a geological model of the interior of the Moon to an approximate depth of . The infrared scanning radiometer was designed with the objective of generating a temperature map of the lunar surface to aid in locating surface features such as rock fields, structural differences in the lunar crust, and volcanic activity. The far-ultraviolet spectrometer was to be used to obtain information on the composition, density, and constituency of the lunar atmosphere. The spectrometer was also designed to detect far-UV radiation emitted by the Sun that had been reflected off the lunar surface. The laser altimeter was designed to measure the altitude of the spacecraft above the lunar surface within approximately , providing altitude information to the panoramic and mapping cameras, which were also in the SIM bay.
Light-flash phenomenon and other experiments
Beginning with Apollo 11, crew members observed light flashes that penetrated their closed eyelids. These flashes, described by the astronauts as "streaks" or "specks" of light, were usually observed while the spacecraft was darkened during a sleep period. These flashes, while not observed on the lunar surface, would average about two per minute and were observed by the crew members during the trip out to the Moon, back to Earth, and in lunar orbit.
The Apollo 17 crew repeated an experiment, also conducted on Apollo 16, with the objective of linking these light flashes with cosmic rays. Evans wore a device over his eyes that recorded the time, strength, and path of high-energy atomic particles that penetrated the device, while the other two wore blindfolds to keep out light. Investigators concluded that the available evidence supports the hypothesis that these flashes occur when charged particles travel through the retina in the eye.
Apollo 17 carried a sodium-iodide crystal identical to the ones in the gamma-ray spectrometer flown on Apollo 15 and 16. Data from this, once it was examined on Earth, was to be used to help form a baseline, allowing for subtraction of rays from the CM or from cosmic radiation to gain better data from the earlier results. In addition, the S-band transponders in the CSM and LM were pointed at the Moon to gain data on its gravitational field. Results from the Lunar Orbiter probes had revealed that lunar gravity varies slightly due to the presence of mass concentrations, or "mascons". Data from the missions, and from the lunar subsatellites left by Apollo 15 and 16, were used to map such variations in lunar gravity.
Mission events
Launch and outbound trip
Originally planned to launch on December 6, 1972, at 9:53 p.m. EST (2:53 a.m. on December 7 UTC), Apollo 17 was the final crewed SaturnV launch, and the only one to occur at night. The launch was delayed by two hours and forty minutes due to an automatic cutoff in the launch sequencer at the T-30 second mark in the countdown. The cause of the problem was quickly determined to be the launch sequencer's failure to automatically pressurize the liquid oxygen tank in the third stage of the rocket; although launch control noticed this and manually caused the tank to pressurize, the sequencer did not recognize the fix and therefore paused the countdown. The clock was reset and held at the T-22 minute mark while technicians worked around the malfunction in order to continue with the launch. This pause was the only launch delay in the Apollo program caused by a hardware problem. The countdown then resumed, and the liftoff occurred at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972. The launch window, which had begun at the originally planned launch time of 9:53 p.m. on December 6, remained open until 1:31 a.m., the latest time at which a launch could have occurred during the December 6–7 window.
Approximately 500,000 people observed the launch in the immediate vicinity of Kennedy Space Center, despite the early-morning hour. The launch was visible as far away as , and observers in Miami, Florida, reported a "red streak" crossing the northern sky. Among those in attendance at the program's final launch were astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dick Gordon, as well as centenarian Charlie Smith, who alleged he was 130 years old at the time of Apollo 17.
The ascent resulted in an orbit with an altitude and velocity almost exactly that which had been planned. In the hours following the launch, Apollo 17 orbited the Earth while the crew spent time monitoring and checking the spacecraft to ensure its readiness to depart Earth orbit. At 3:46 a.m. EST, the S-IVB third stage was reignited for the 351-second trans-lunar injection burn to propel the spacecraft towards the Moon. Ground controllers chose a faster trajectory for Apollo 17 than originally planned to allow the vehicle to reach lunar orbit at the planned time, despite the launch delay. The Command and Service Module separated from the S-IVB approximately half an hour following the S-IVB trans-lunar injection burn, after which Evans turned the spacecraft to face the LM, still attached to the S-IVB. The CSM then docked with the LM and extracted it from the S-IVB. Following the LM extraction, Mission Control programmed the S-IVB, no longer needed to propel the spacecraft, to impact the Moon and trip the seismometers left by prior Apollo crews. It struck the Moon just under 87 hours into the mission, triggering the seismometers from Apollo 12, 14, 15 and 16. Approximately nine hours after launch, the crew concluded the mission's first day with a sleep period, until waking up to begin the second day.
Mission Control and the crew decided to shorten the mission's second day, the first full day in space, in order to adjust the crew's wake-up times for the subsequent days in preparation for an early morning (EST) wake-up time on the day of the lunar landing, then scheduled for early afternoon (EST). This was done since the first day of the mission had been extended because of the launch delay. Following the second rest period, and on the third day of the mission, the crew executed the first mid-course correction, a two-second burn of the CSM's service propulsion engine to adjust the spacecraft's Moon-bound trajectory. Following the burn, the crew opened the hatch separating the CSM and LM in order to check the LM's systems and concluded that they were nominal. So that events would take place at the time indicated in the flight plan, the mission clocks were moved ahead by 2 hours and 40 minutes, the amount of the launch delay, with one hour of it at 45:00:00 into the mission and the remainder at 65:00:00.
Among their other activities during the outbound trip, the crew photographed the Earth from the spacecraft as it travelled towards the Moon. One of these photographs is now known as The Blue Marble. The crew found that one of the latches holding the CSM and LM together was unlatched. While Schmitt and Cernan were engaged in a second period of LM housekeeping beginning just before sixty hours into the Mission, Evans worked on the balky latch. He was successful, and left it in the position it would need to be in for the CSM-LM docking that would occur upon return from the lunar surface.
Also during the outward journey, the crew performed a heat flow and convection demonstration, as well as the Apollo light-flash experiment. A few hours before entry into lunar orbit, the SIM door on the SM was jettisoned. At approximately 2:47 p.m. EST on December 10, the service propulsion system engine on the CSM ignited to slow down the CSM/LM stack into lunar orbit. Following orbit insertion and orbital stabilization, the crew began preparations for the landing at Taurus–Littrow.
Lunar landing
The day of the landing began with a checkout of the Lunar Module's systems, which revealed no problems preventing continuation of the mission. Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt each donned their spacesuits, and Cernan and Schmitt entered the LM in preparation for separating from the CSM and landing. The LM undocked from the CSM, and the two spacecraft orbited close together for about an hour and a half while the astronauts made visual inspections and conducted their final pre-landing checks. After finally separating from the CSM, the LM Challenger and its crew of two adjusted their orbit, such that its lowest point would pass about above the landing site, and began preparations for the descent to Taurus–Littrow. While Cernan and Schmitt prepared for landing, Evans remained in orbit to take observations, perform experiments and await the return of his crewmates a few days later.
Soon after completing their preparations for landing and just over two hours following the LM's undocking from the CSM, Cernan and Schmitt began their descent to the Taurus–Littrow valley on the lunar surface with the ignition of the Lunar Module's descent propulsion system (DPS) engine. Approximately ten minutes later, as planned, the LM pitched over, giving Cernan and Schmitt their first look at the landing site during the descent phase and allowing Cernan to guide the spacecraft to a desirable landing target while Schmitt provided data from the flight computer essential for landing. The LM touched down on the lunar surface at 2:55 p.m. EST on December 11, just over twelve minutes after DPS ignition. Challenger landed about east of the planned landing point. Shortly thereafter, the two astronauts began re-configuring the LM for their stay on the surface and began preparations for the first moonwalk of the mission, or EVA-1.
Lunar surface
First EVA
During their approximately 75-hour stay on the lunar surface, Cernan and Schmitt performed three moonwalks (EVAs). The astronauts deployed the LRV, then emplaced the ALSEP and the seismic explosive charges. They drove the rover to nine planned geological-survey stations to collect samples and make observations. Additionally, twelve short sampling stops were made at Schmitt's discretion while riding the rover, during which the astronauts used a handled scoop to get a sample, without dismounting. During lunar-surface operations, Commander Cernan always drove the rover, while Lunar Module Pilot Schmitt was a passenger who assisted with navigation. This division of responsibilities between the two crew positions was used consistently throughout Apollo's J-missions.
The first lunar excursion began four hours after landing, at 6:54 p.m. EST on December 11. After exiting through the hatch of the LM and descending the ladder to the footpad, Cernan took the first step on the lunar surface of the mission. Just before doing so, Cernan remarked, "I'm on the footpad. And, Houston, as I step off at the surface at Taurus–Littrow, we'd like to dedicate the first step of Apollo 17 to all those who made it possible." After Cernan surveyed the exterior of the LM and commented on the immediate landing site, Schmitt joined Cernan on the surface. The first task was to offload the rover and other equipment from the LM. While working near the rover, Cernan caught his hammer under the right-rear fender extension, accidentally breaking it off. A similar incident occurred on Apollo 16 as John Young maneuvered around the rover. Although this was not a mission-critical issue, the loss of the part caused Cernan and Schmitt to be covered with dust stirred up when the rover was in motion. The crew made a short-lived fix using duct tape at the beginning of the second EVA, attaching a paper map to the damaged fender. Lunar dust stuck to the tape's surface, however, preventing it from adhering properly. Following deployment and testing the maneuverability of the rover, the crew deployed the ALSEP just west of the landing site. The ALSEP deployment took longer than had been planned, with the drilling of core holes presenting some difficulty, meaning the geological portion of the first EVA would need to be shortened, cancelling a planned visit to Emory crater. Instead, following the deployment of the ALSEP, Cernan and Schmitt drove to Steno crater, to the south of the landing site. The objective at Steno was to sample the subsurface material excavated by the impact that formed the crater. The astronauts gathered of samples, took seven gravimeter measurements, and deployed two explosive packages. The explosive packages were later detonated remotely; the resulting explosions detected by geophones placed by the astronauts and also by seismometers left during previous missions. The first EVA ended after seven hours and twelve minutes. and the astronauts remained in the pressurized LM for the next 17 hours.
Second EVA
On December 12, awakened by a recording of "Ride of the Valkyries" played from Mission Control, Cernan and Schmitt began their second lunar excursion. The first order of business was to provide the rover's fender a better fix. Overnight, the flight controllers devised a procedure communicated by John Young: taping together four stiff paper maps to form a "replacement fender extension" and then clamping it onto the fender. The astronauts carried out the new fix which did its job without failing until near the end of the third excursion. Cernan and Schmitt then departed for station 2—Nansen Crater, at the foot of the South Massif. When they arrived, their range from the Challenger was 7.6 kilometers (4.7 miles, 25,029 feet). This remains the furthest distance any spacefarers have ever traveled away from the safety of a pressurizable spacecraft while on a planetary body, and also during an EVA of any type. The astronauts were at the extremity of their "walkback limit", a safety constraint meant to ensure that they could walk back to the LM if the rover failed. They began a return trip, traveling northeast in the rover.
At station 3, Schmitt fell to the ground while working, looking so awkward that Parker jokingly told him that NASA's switchboard had lit up seeking Schmitt's services for Houston's ballet group, and the site of station 3 was in 2019 renamed Ballet Crater. Cernan took a sample at Station 3 that was to be maintained in vacuum until better analytical techniques became available, joking with the CAPCOM, Parker, about placing a note inside. The container remained unopened until 2022.
Stopping at station 4—Shorty crater—the astronauts discovered orange soil, which proved to be very small beads of volcanic glass formed over 3.5 billion years ago. This discovery caused great excitement among the scientists at Mission Control, who felt that the astronauts may have discovered a volcanic vent. However, post-mission sample analysis revealed that Shorty is not a volcanic vent, but rather an impact crater. Analysis also found the orange soil to be a remnant of a fire fountain. This fire fountain sprayed molten lava high into the lunar sky in the Moon's early days, some 3.5 billion years ago and long before Shorty's creation. The orange volcanic beads were droplets of molten lava from the fountain that solidified and were buried by lava deposits until exposed by the impact that formed Shorty, less than 20 million years ago.
The final stop before returning to the LM was Camelot crater; throughout the sojourn, the astronauts collected of samples, took another seven gravimeter measurements, and deployed three more explosive packages. Concluding the EVA at seven hours and thirty-seven minutes, Cernan and Schmitt had completed the longest-duration EVA in history to-date, traveling further away from a spacecraft and covering more ground on a planetary body during a single EVA than any other spacefarers. The improvised fender had remained intact throughout, causing the president of the "Auto Body Association of America" to award them honorary lifetime membership.
Third EVA
The third moonwalk, the last of the Apollo program, began at 5:25 p.m. EST on December 13. Cernan and Schmitt rode the rover northeast of the landing site, exploring the base of the North Massif and the Sculptured Hills. Stopping at station 6, they examined a house-sized split boulder dubbed Tracy's Rock (or Split Rock), after Cernan's daughter. The ninth and final planned station was conducted at Van Serg crater. The crew collected of lunar samples and took another nine gravimeter measurements. Schmitt had seen a fine-grained rock, unusual for that vicinity, earlier in the mission and had stood it on its edge; before closing out the EVA, he went and got it. Subsequently, designated Sample 70215, it was, at , the largest rock brought back by Apollo 17. A small piece of it is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, one of the few rocks from the Moon that the public may touch. Schmitt also collected a sample, designated as Sample 76535, at geology station 6 near the base of the North Massif; the sample, a troctolite, was later identified as the oldest known "unshocked" lunar rock, meaning it has not been damaged by high-impact geological events. Scientists have therefore used Sample 76535 in thermochronological studies to determine if the Moon formed a metallic core or, as study results suggest, a core dynamo.
Before concluding the moonwalk, the crew collected a breccia rock, dedicating it to the nations of Earth, 70 of which were represented by students touring the U.S. and present in Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, at the time. Portions of this sample, known as the Friendship Rock, were subsequently distributed to the nations represented by the students. A plaque located on the LM, commemorating the achievements made during the Apollo program, was then unveiled. Before reentering the LM for the final time, Cernan remarked,
Cernan then followed Schmitt into the LM; the final lunar excursion had a duration of seven hours and fifteen minutes. Following closing of the LM hatch and repressurization of the LM cabin, Cernan and Schmitt removed their spacesuits and reconfigured the cabin for a final rest period on the lunar surface. As they did following each of the previous two EVAs, Cernan and Schmitt discussed their geological observations from the day's excursion with mission control while preparing to rest.
Solo activities
While Cernan and Schmitt were on the lunar surface, Evans remained alone in the CSM in lunar orbit and was assigned a number of observational and scientific tasks to perform while awaiting the return of his crewmates. In addition to the operation of the various orbital science equipment contained in the CSM's SIM bay, Evans conducted both visual and photographic observation of surface features from his aerial vantage point. The orbit of the CSM having been modified to an elliptical orbit in preparation for the LM's departure and eventual descent, one of Evans' solo tasks in the CSM was to circularize its orbit such that the CSM would remain at approximately the same distance above the surface throughout its orbit. Evans observed geological features visible to him and used handheld cameras to record certain visual targets. Evans also observed and sketched the solar corona at "sunrise," or the period of time during which the CSM would pass from the darkened portion of the Moon to the illuminated portion when the Moon itself mostly obscured the sun. To photograph portions of the surface that were not illuminated by the sun while Evans passed over them, Evans relied in conjunction on exposure and Earthlight. Evans photographed such features as the craters Eratosthenes and Copernicus, as well as the vicinity of Mare Orientale, using this technique. According to the Apollo 17 Mission Report, Evans was able to capture all scientific photographic targets, as well as some other targets of interest.
Similarly to the crew of Apollo 16, Evans (as well as Schmitt, while in lunar orbit) reported seeing light "flashes" apparently originating from the lunar surface, known as transient lunar phenomena (TLP); Evans reported seeing these "flashes" in the vicinity of Grimaldi crater and Mare Orientale. The causes of TLP are not well-understood and, though inconclusive as an explanation, both of the sites in which Evans reported seeing TLP are the general locations of outgassing from the Moon's interior. Meteorite impacts are another possible explanation.
The flight plan kept Evans busy, making him so tired he overslept one morning by an hour, despite the efforts of Mission Control to awaken him. Before the LM departed for the lunar surface, Evans had discovered that he had misplaced his pair of scissors, necessary to open food packets. Cernan and Schmitt lent him one of theirs. The instruments in the SIM bay functioned without significant hindrance during the orbital portion of the mission, though the lunar sounder and the mapping camera encountered minor problems. Evans spent approximately 148 total hours in lunar orbit, including solo time and time spent together with Cernan and Schmitt, which is more time than any other individual has spent orbiting the Moon.
Evans was also responsible for piloting the CSM during the orbital phase of the mission, maneuvering the spacecraft to alter and maintain its orbital trajectory. In addition to the initial orbital recircularization maneuver shortly after the LM's departure, one of the solo activities Evans performed in the CSM in preparation for the return of his crewmates from the lunar surface was the plane change maneuver. This maneuver was meant to align the CSM's trajectory to the eventual trajectory of the LM to facilitate rendezvous in orbit. Evans fired the SPS engine of the CSM for about 20 seconds in successfully adjusting the CSM's orbital plane.
Return to Earth
Cernan and Schmitt successfully lifted off from the lunar surface in the ascent stage of the LM on December14, at 5:54 p.m. EST. The return to lunar orbit took just over seven minutes. The LM, piloted by Cernan, and the CSM, piloted by Evans, maneuvered, and redocked about two hours after liftoff from the surface. Once the docking had taken place, the crew transferred equipment and lunar samples from the LM to the CSM for return to Earth. The crew sealed the hatches between the CSM and the LM ascent stage following completion of the transfer and the LM was jettisoned at 11:51 p.m. EST on December14. The unoccupied ascent stage was then remotely deorbited, crashing it into the Moon with an impact recorded by the seismometers left by Apollo 17 and previous missions. At 6:35 p.m. EST on December16, the CSM's SPS engine was ignited once more to propel the spacecraft away from the Moon on a trajectory back towards Earth. The successful trans-Earth injection SPS burn lasted just over two minutes.
During the return to Earth, Evans performed a 65-minute EVA to retrieve film cassettes from the service module's SIM bay, with assistance from Schmitt who remained at the command module's hatch. At approximately 160,000 nautical miles (184,000 mi; 296,000 km) from Earth, it was the third "deep space" EVA in history, performed at great distance from any planetary body. As of , it remains one of only three such EVAs, all performed during Apollo's J-missions under similar circumstances. It was the last EVA of the Apollo program.
During the trip back to Earth, the crew operated the infrared radiometer in the SM, as well as the ultraviolet spectrometer. One midcourse correction was performed, lasting 9 seconds. On December 19, the crew jettisoned the no-longer-needed SM, leaving only the CM for return to Earth. The Apollo 17 spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere and splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean at 2:25 p.m. EST, from the recovery ship, . Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt were then retrieved by a recovery helicopter piloted by Commander Edward E. Dahill, III and were safe aboard the recovery ship 52 minutes after splashdown. As the final Apollo mission concluded successfully, Mission Control in Houston was filled with many former flight controllers and astronauts, who applauded as America returned to Earth.
Aftermath and spacecraft locations
Following their mission, the crew undertook both domestic and international tours, visiting 29 states and 11 countries. The tour kicked off at Super Bowl VII, with the crew leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance; the CM America was also displayed during the pregame activities.
None of the Apollo 17 astronauts flew in space again. Cernan retired from NASA and the Navy in 1976. He died in 2017. Evans retired from the Navy in 1976 and from NASA in 1977, entering the private sector. He died in 1990. Schmitt resigned from NASA in 1975 prior to his successful run for a United States Senate seat from New Mexico in 1976. There, he served one six-year term.
The Command Module America is currently on display at Space Center Houston at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The ascent stage of Lunar Module Challenger impacted the Moon on December 15, 1972, at 06:50:20.8 UTC (1:50 a.m. EST), at . The descent stage remains on the Moon at the landing site, . In 2023, a study of Apollo-era data from the Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment showed that the descent stage was causing very slight tremors each lunar morning as components expanded in the heat.
Eugene Cernan's flown Apollo 17 spacesuit is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), where it was transferred in 1974, and Harrison Schmitt's is in storage at NASM's Paul E. Garber Facility. Amanda Young of NASM indicated in 2004 that Schmitt's suit is in the best condition of the flown Apollo lunar spacesuits, and therefore is not on public display. Ron Evans' spacesuit was also transferred from NASA in 1974 to the collection of the NASM; it remains in storage.
Since Apollo 17's return, there have been attempts to photograph the landing site, where the LM's descent stage, LRV and some other mission hardware, remain. In 2009 and again in 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the landing site from increasingly low orbits. At least one group has indicated an intention to visit the site as well; in 2018, the German space company PTScientists said that it planned to land two lunar rovers nearby.
See also
List of Apollo missions
List of astronauts by year of selection
List of human spaceflights
List of human spaceflight programs
List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies
List of crewed spacecraft
List of NASA missions
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
Moon landing
The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks
Apollo in Real Time
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Apollo 17 Traverses, 43D1S2(25), Lunar Photomap at Lunar and Planetary Institute
"Apollo 17" – Detailed mission information by David R. Williams, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
"Table 2-45. Apollo 17 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA SP-4012, NASA History Series (1988)
Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal
"Apollo 17 Real-Time Mission Experience" – All mission audio, film, video, and photography presented in real-time.
Apollo 17 Mission Experiments Overview at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo 17 Voice Transcript Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing Site (PDF) by N. G. Bailey and G. E. Ulrich, United States Geological Survey, 1975
"Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
"The Final Flight" – Excerpt from the September 1973 issue of National Geographic magazine
Gene Cernan
Ronald Evans (astronaut)
Harrison Schmitt
1972 in the United States
Apollo program missions
Articles containing video clips
Extravehicular activity
Lunar rovers
Crewed missions to the Moon
Sample return missions
Soft landings on the Moon
Spacecraft launched in 1972
Spacecraft which reentered in 1972
Last events
December 1972 events
Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets
1972 on the Moon |
1974 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2017 | April 17 |
Events
Pre-1600
1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II.
1362 – Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege.
1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
1601–1900
1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.
1861 – The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.
1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
1869 – Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.
1876 – Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.
1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.
1901–present
1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
1941 – World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy.
1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
1945 – Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.
1946 – The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
1970 – Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
1971 – The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.
1982 – Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
1986 – An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.
1992 – The Katina P is deliberately run aground off Maputo, Mozambique, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
2003 – Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.
2006 – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
2014 – NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
2021 – The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Births
Pre-1600
1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
1455 – Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (d. 1538)
1497 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador, conquered northern Chile (d. 1553)
1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
1601–1900
1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
1635 – Edward Stillingfleet, British theologian and scholar (d. 1699)
1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
1734 – Taksin, King of Thailand (d. 1782)
1741 – Samuel Chase, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1811)
1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1828)
1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian commander (d. 1805)
1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (d. 1868)
1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (d. 1840)
1799 – Eliza Acton, English food writer and poet (d. 1859)
1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (d. 1888)
1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect and philanthropist (d. 1876)
1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and (disputed) inventor of baseball (d. 1892)
1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1900)
1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French businessman and politician, 53rd Prime Minister of France (d. 1911)
1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (d. 1927)
1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1941)
1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (d. 1961)
1878 – Demetrios Petrokokkinos, Greek tennis player (d. 1942)
1879 – Henri Tauzin, French hurdler (d. 1918)
1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
1888 – Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (d. 1954)
1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American soldier and author (d. 1948)
1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
1901–present
1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (d. 1978)
1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (d. 1976)
1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (d. 1975)
1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American journalist and actor (d. 1960)
1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded Kaiser Permanente (d. 1984)
1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister of Defence (d. 1990)
1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author and poet (d. 1996)
1911 – Lester Rodney, American soldier and journalist (d. 2009)
1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1914 – George Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (d. 1999)
1916 – Win Maung, 3rd President of Union of Myanmar (d. 1989)
1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (d. 1981)
1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world's first female prime minister (d. 2000)
1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2016)
1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (d. 2014)
1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian lyric tenor (d. 2008)
1923 – Harry Reasoner, American soldier and journalist (d. 1991)
1924 – Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant (d. 2022)
1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
1926 – Joan Lorring, British actress (d. 2014)
1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2004)
1927 – Margot Honecker, East German politician and First Lady (d. 2016)
1928 – Victor Lownes, American businessman (d. 2017)
1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian accountant and politician
1929 – James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2015)
1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader (d. 2021)
1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster
1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon and academic
1935 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (d. 2015)
1936 – Urs Wild, Swiss chemist
1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman (d. 2019)
1938 – Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
1938 – Ronald H. Miller, American theologian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist and author (d. 1988)
1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
1940 – Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (d. 1983)
1940 – John McCririck, English journalist (d. 2019)
1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano and actress
1940 – Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome
1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
1942 – Buster Williams, American jazz bassist
1942 – Dnyaneshwar Agashe, Indian businessman and cricketer (d. 2009)
1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic
1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author
1947 – Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish lawyer and judge
1947 – Richard Field, English lawyer and judge
1947 – Sherrie Levine, American photographer
1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager
1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
1948 – Alice Harden, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner
1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress
1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player and businessman (d. 2022)
1952 – Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)
1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander "Arkan" (d. 2000)
1952 – John Robertson, Scottish businessman and politician
1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler and actor (d. 2015)
1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer
1956 – Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge
1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, American disc jockey
1957 – Dwane Casey, American basketball coach
1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter
1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge
1957 – Frank McDonough, British historian
1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter
1960 – Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter
1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor union leader
1961 – Norman Cowans, Jamaican-English cricketer
1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer
1962 – Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer
1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer
1964 – Rachel Notley, Canadian politician
1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
1966 – Vikram, Indian actor and singer
1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor
1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Ian Jones, New Zealand rugby player
1967 – Barnaby Joyce, Australian politician, 17th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1968 – Eric Lamaze, Canadian jockey
1968 – Roger Twose, New Zealand cricketer
1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer and trainer
1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor
1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japanese footballer and referee
1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and fashion designer
1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player (d. 2020)
1976 – Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler and long jumper
1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist, and pianist
1978 – Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, German skier
1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress
1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper
1980 – Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer
1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager
1981 – Jenny Meadows, English runner
1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
1981 – Chris Thompson, English runner
1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Tyron Woodley, American mixed martial artist
1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model
1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
1988 – Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
1989 – Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter
1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
1992 – Lachlan Maranta, Australian rugby league footballer
1994 – Alanna Goldie, Canadian fencer
1996 – Lorna Fitzgerald, British actress
1996 – Caitlin Parker, Australian boxer
1998 – Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana, Thai actor and singer
Deaths
Pre-1600
485 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (b. 412)
617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
648 – Xiao, empress of the Sui Dynasty
744 – Al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 706)
818 – Bernard of Italy, Frankish king (b. 797)
858 – Benedict III, pope of the Catholic Church
1071 – Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (b. c. 1045)
1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
1111 – Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (b. 1027)
1298 – Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1237)
1321 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1259)
1331 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (b. 1257)
1344 – Constantine II, King of Armenia
1355 – Marin Falier, Doge of Venice (b. 1285)
1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (b. 1500)
1601–1900
1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (b. 1656)
1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (b. 1648)
1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
1799 – Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (b. 1728)
1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (b. 1758)
1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
1901–present
1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1863)
1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
1946 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (b. 1874)
1948 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (b. 1900)
1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
1961 – Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (b. 1899)
1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1939)
1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
1988 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (b. 1900)
1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
1993 – Gamal Hamdan, Egyptian scholar and geographer (b. 1928)
1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
1996 – Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (b. 1905)
1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
1998 – Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b. 1941)
2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1934)
2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
2006 – Henderson Forsythe, American actor (b. 1917)
2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (b. 1910)
2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (b. 1950)
2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
2011 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (b. 1926)
2012 – Leila Berg, English journalist and author (b. 1917)
2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (b. ≈1910)
2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (b. 1957)
2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (b. 1922)
2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (b. 1938)
2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (b. 1940)
2015 – Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1923)
2015 – Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2015 – Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (b. 1921)
2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
2016 – Chyna, American wrestler (b. 1969)
2016 – Doris Roberts, American actress (b. 1925)
2018 – Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (b. 1925)
2018 – Carl Kasell, American radio personality (b. 1934)
2019 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (b. 1949)
2022 – Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
Stephen Harding
April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
FAO Day (Iraq)
Flag Day (American Samoa)
Malbec World Day
Women's Day (Gabon)
World Hemophilia Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 17
Days of the year
April |
1979 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha%20Centauri | Alpha Centauri | Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, Alpha Cen, or α Cen) is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri A), Toliman (B) and Proxima Centauri (C). Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at 4.2465 light-years (1.3020 pc).
Alpha Centauri A and B are Sun-like stars (Class G and K, respectively), and together form the binary star system Alpha Centauri AB. To the naked eye, the two main components appear to be a single star with an apparent magnitude of −0.27. It is the brightest star in the constellation and the third-brightest in the night sky, outshone only by Sirius and Canopus.
Alpha Centauri A has 1.1 times the mass and 1.5 times the luminosity of the Sun, while Alpha Centauri B is smaller and cooler, at 0.9 solar mass and less than 0.5 solar luminosity. The pair orbit around a common centre with an orbital period of 79 years. Their elliptical orbit is eccentric, so that the distance between A and B varies from 35.6 astronomical units (AU), or about the distance between Pluto and the Sun, to 11.2 AU, or about the distance between Saturn and the Sun.
Alpha Centauri C, or Proxima Centauri, is a small faint red dwarf (Class M). Though not visible to the naked eye, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of , slightly closer than Alpha Centauri AB. Currently, the distance between Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB is about , equivalent to about 430 times the radius of Neptune's orbit.
Proxima Centauri has two confirmed planets: Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone discovered in 2016, and Proxima d, a candidate sub-Earth which orbits very closely to the star, announced in 2022. The existence of Proxima c, a mini-Neptune 1.5 AU away discovered in 2019, is controversial. Alpha Centauri A may have a candidate Neptune-sized planet in the habitable zone, though it is not yet known to be planetary in nature and could be an artifact of the discovery mechanism. Alpha Centauri B has no known planets: planet Bb, purportedly discovered in 2012, was later disproven, and no other planet has yet been confirmed.
Etymology and nomenclature
α Centauri (Latinised to Alpha Centauri) is the system's designation given by Johann Bayer in 1603. It bears the traditional name Rigil Kentaurus, which is a Latinisation of the Arabic name Rijl al-Qinṭūrus, meaning 'the Foot of the Centaur'. The name is frequently abbreviated to Rigil Kent or even Rigil, though the latter name is better known for Rigel (Beta Orionis).
An alternative name found in European sources, Toliman, is an approximation of the Arabic aẓ-Ẓalīmān (in older transcription, aṭ-Ṭhalīmān), meaning 'the (two male) Ostriches', an appellation Zakariya al-Qazwini had applied to Lambda and Mu Sagittarii, also in the southern hemisphere.
A third name that has been used is Bungula (). Its origin is not known, but it may have been coined from the Greek letter beta (β) and Latin 'hoof'.
Alpha Centauri C was discovered in 1915 by Robert T. A. Innes, who suggested that it be named Proxima Centaurus, . The name Proxima Centauri later became more widely used and is now listed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as the approved proper name.
In 2016, the Working Group on Star Names of the IAU, having decided to attribute proper names to individual component stars rather than to multiple systems, approved the name Rigil Kentaurus () as being restricted to Alpha Centauri A and the name Proxima Centauri () for Alpha Centauri C. On 10 August 2018, the IAU approved the name Toliman () for Alpha Centauri B.
Observation
To the naked eye, Alpha Centauri AB appears to be a single star, the brightest in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Their apparent angular separation varies over about 80 years between 2 and 22 arcseconds (the naked eye has a resolution of 60 arcsec), but through much of the orbit, both are easily resolved in binoculars or small telescopes. At −0.27 apparent magnitude (combined for A and B magnitudes), Alpha Centauri is a first-magnitude star and is fainter only than Sirius and Canopus. It is the outer star of The Pointers or The Southern Pointers, so called because the line through Beta Centauri (Hadar/Agena), some 4.5° west, points to the constellation Crux—the Southern Cross. The Pointers easily distinguish the true Southern Cross from the fainter asterism known as the False Cross.
South of about 29° South latitude, Alpha Centauri is circumpolar and never sets below the horizon. North of about 29° N latitude, Alpha Centauri never rises. Alpha Centauri lies close to the southern horizon when viewed from the 29° North latitude to the equator (close to Hermosillo and Chihuahua City in Mexico; Galveston, Texas; Ocala, Florida; and Lanzarote, the Canary Islands of Spain), but only for a short time around its culmination. The star culminates each year at local midnight on 24 April and at local 9 p.m. on 8 June.
As seen from Earth, Proxima Centauri is 2.2° southwest from Alpha Centauri AB; this distance is about four times the angular diameter of the Moon. Proxima Centauri appears as a deep-red star of a typical apparent magnitude of 11.1 in a sparsely populated star field, requiring moderately sized telescopes to be seen. Listed as V645 Cen in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars Version 4.2, this UV Ceti star or "flare star" can unexpectedly brighten rapidly by as much as 0.6 magnitude at visual wavelengths, then fade after only a few minutes. Some amateur and professional astronomers regularly monitor for outbursts using either optical or radio telescopes. In August 2015, the largest recorded flares of the star occurred, with the star becoming 8.3 times brighter than normal on 13 August, in the B band (blue light region).
Alpha Centauri may be inside the G-cloud of the Local Bubble, and its nearest known system is the binary brown dwarf system Luhman 16, at from Alpha Centauri.
Observational history
Alpha Centauri is listed in the 2nd-century Almagest, the star catalog of Ptolemy. He gave its ecliptic coordinates, but texts differ as to whether the ecliptic latitude reads or . (Presently the ecliptic latitude is , but it has decreased by a fraction of a degree since Ptolemy's time due to proper motion.) In Ptolemy's time, Alpha Centauri was visible from Alexandria, Egypt, at but, due to precession, its declination is now , and it can no longer be seen at that latitude. English explorer Robert Hues brought Alpha Centauri to the attention of European observers in his 1592 work Tractatus de Globis, along with Canopus and Achernar, noting:
The binary nature of Alpha Centauri AB was recognized in December 1689 by Jean Richaud, while observing a passing comet from his station in Puducherry. Alpha Centauri was only the second binary star to be discovered, preceded by Acrux.
The large proper motion of Alpha Centauri AB was discovered by Manuel John Johnson, observing from Saint Helena, who informed Thomas Henderson at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope of it. The parallax of Alpha Centauri was subsequently determined by Henderson from many exacting positional observations of the AB system between April 1832 and May 1833. He withheld his results, however, because he suspected they were too large to be true, but eventually published them in 1839 after Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel released his own accurately determined parallax for 61 Cygni in 1838. For this reason, Alpha Centauri is sometimes considered as the second star to have its distance measured because Henderson's work was not fully acknowledged at first. (The distance of Alpha Centauri from the Earth is now reckoned at 4.396 light-years .)
Later, John Herschel made the first micrometrical observations in 1834. Since the early 20th century, measures have been made with photographic plates.
By 1926, William Stephen Finsen calculated the approximate orbit elements close to those now accepted for this system. All future positions are now sufficiently accurate for visual observers to determine the relative places of the stars from a binary star ephemeris. Others, like D. Pourbaix (2002), have regularly refined the precision of new published orbital elements.
Robert T. A. Innes discovered Proxima Centauri in 1915 by blinking photographic plates taken at different times during a proper motion survey. These showed large proper motion and parallax similar in both size and direction to those of Alpha Centauri AB, which suggested that Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri system and slightly closer to Earth than Alpha Centauri AB. As such, Innes concluded that Proxima Centauri was the closest star to Earth yet discovered.
Kinematics
All components of Alpha Centauri display significant proper motion against the background sky. Over centuries, this causes their apparent positions to slowly change. Proper motion was unknown to ancient astronomers. Most assumed that the stars were permanently fixed on the celestial sphere, as stated in the works of the philosopher Aristotle. In 1718, Edmond Halley found that some stars had significantly moved from their ancient astrometric positions.
In the 1830s, Thomas Henderson discovered the true distance to Alpha Centauri by analysing his many astrometric mural circle observations. He then realised this system also likely had a high proper motion. In this case, the apparent stellar motion was found using Nicolas Louis de Lacaille's astrometric observations of 1751–1752, by the observed differences between the two measured positions in different epochs.
Calculated proper motion of the centre of mass for Alpha Centauri AB is about 3620 mas/y (milliarcseconds per year) toward the west and 694 mas/y toward the north, giving an overall motion of 3686 mas/y in a direction 11° north of west. The motion of the centre of mass is about 6.1 arcmin each century, or 1.02° each millennium. The speed in the western direction is and in the northerly direction . Using spectroscopy the mean radial velocity has been determined to be around towards the Solar System. This gives a speed with respect to the Sun of , very close to the peak in the distribution of speeds of nearby stars.
Since Alpha Centauri AB is almost exactly in the plane of the Milky Way as viewed from Earth, many stars appear behind it. In early May 2028, Alpha Centauri A will pass between the Earth and a distant red star, when there is a 45% probability that an Einstein ring will be observed. Other conjunctions will also occur in the coming decades, allowing accurate measurement of proper motions and possibly giving information on planets.
Predicted future changes
Based on the system's common proper motion and radial velocities, Alpha Centauri will continue to change its position in the sky significantly and will gradually brighten. For example, in about 6,200 AD, α Centauri's true motion will cause an extremely rare first-magnitude stellar conjunction with Beta Centauri, forming a brilliant optical double star in the southern sky. It will then pass just north of the Southern Cross or Crux, before moving northwest and up towards the present celestial equator and away from the galactic plane. By about 26,700 AD, in the present-day constellation of Hydra, Alpha Centauri will reach perihelion at away, though later calculations suggest that this will occur in 27,000 AD. At nearest approach, Alpha Centauri will attain a maximum apparent magnitude of −0.86, comparable to present-day magnitude of Canopus, but it will still not surpass that of Sirius, which will brighten incrementally over the next 60,000 years, and will continue to be the brightest star as seen from Earth (other than the Sun) for the next 210,000 years.
Stellar system
Alpha Centauri is a triple star system, with its two main stars, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, together comprising a binary component. The AB designation, or older A×B, denotes the mass centre of a main binary system relative to companion star(s) in a multiple star system. AB-C refers to the component of Proxima Centauri in relation to the central binary, being the distance between the centre of mass and the outlying companion. Because the distance between Proxima (C) and either of Alpha Centauri A or B is similar, the AB binary system is sometimes treated as a single gravitational object.
Orbital properties
The A and B components of Alpha Centauri have an orbital period of 79.762 years. Their orbit is moderately eccentric, as it has an eccentricity of almost 0.52; their closest approach or periastron is , or about the distance between the Sun and Saturn; and their furthest separation or apastron is , about the distance between the Sun and Pluto. The most recent periastron was in August 1955 and the next will occur in May 2035; the most recent apastron was in May 1995 and will next occur in 2075.
Viewed from Earth, the apparent orbit of A and B means that their separation and position angle (PA) are in continuous change throughout their projected orbit. Observed stellar positions in 2019 are separated by 4.92 arcsec through the PA of 337.1°, increasing to 5.49 arcsec through 345.3° in 2020. The closest recent approach was in February 2016, at 4.0 arcsec through the PA of 300°. The observed maximum separation of these stars is about 22 arcsec, while the minimum distance is 1.7 arcsec. The widest separation occurred during February 1976, and the next will be in January 2056.
Alpha Centauri C is about from Alpha Centauri AB, equivalent to about 5% of the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and the Sun. Until 2017, measurements of its small speed and its trajectory were of too little accuracy and duration in years to determine whether it is bound to Alpha Centauri AB or unrelated.
Radial velocity measurements made in 2017 were precise enough to show that Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB are gravitationally bound. The orbital period of Proxima Centauri is approximately years, with an eccentricity of 0.5, much more eccentric than Mercury's. Proxima Centauri comes within of AB at periastron, and its apastron occurs at .
Physical properties
Asteroseismic studies, chromospheric activity, and stellar rotation (gyrochronology) are all consistent with the Alpha Centauri system being similar in age to, or slightly older than, the Sun. Asteroseismic analyses that incorporate tight observational constraints on the stellar parameters for the Alpha Centauri stars have yielded age estimates of Gyr, Gyr, 5.2 ± 1.9 Gyr, 6.4 Gyr, and Gyr. Age estimates for the stars based on chromospheric activity (Calcium H & K emission) yield 4.4 ± 2.1 Gyr, whereas gyrochronology yields Gyr. Stellar evolution theory implies both stars are slightly older than the Sun at 5 to 6 billion years, as derived by their mass and spectral characteristics.
From the orbital elements, the total mass of Alpha Centauri AB is about – or twice that of the Sun. The average individual stellar masses are about and , respectively, though slightly different masses have also been quoted in recent years, such as and , totalling . Alpha Centauri A and B have absolute magnitudes of +4.38 and +5.71, respectively.
Alpha Centauri AB System
Alpha Centauri A
Alpha Centauri A, also known as Rigil Kentaurus, is the principal member, or primary, of the binary system. It is a solar-like main-sequence star with a similar yellowish colour, whose stellar classification is spectral type G2-V; it is about 10% more massive than the Sun, with a radius about 22% larger. When considered among the individual brightest stars in the night sky, it is the fourth-brightest at an apparent magnitude of +0.01, being slightly fainter than Arcturus at an apparent magnitude of −0.05.
The type of magnetic activity on Alpha Centauri A is comparable to that of the Sun, showing coronal variability due to star spots, as modulated by the rotation of the star. However, since 2005 the activity level has fallen into a deep minimum that might be similar to the Sun's historical Maunder Minimum. Alternatively, it may have a very long stellar activity cycle and is slowly recovering from a minimum phase.
Alpha Centauri B
Alpha Centauri B, also known as Toliman, is the secondary star of the binary system. It is a main-sequence star of spectral type K1-V, making it more an orange colour than Alpha Centauri A; it has around 90% of the mass of the Sun and a 14% smaller diameter. Although it has a lower luminosity than A, Alpha Centauri B emits more energy in the X-ray band. Its light curve varies on a short time scale, and there has been at least one observed flare. It is more magnetically active than Alpha Centauri A, showing a cycle of compared to 11 years for the Sun, and has about half the minimum-to-peak variation in coronal luminosity of the Sun. Alpha Centauri B has an apparent magnitude of +1.35, slightly dimmer than Mimosa.
Alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri)
Alpha Centauri C, better known as Proxima Centauri, is a small main-sequence red dwarf of spectral class M6-Ve. It has an absolute magnitude of +15.60, over 20,000 times fainter than the Sun. Its mass is calculated to be . It is the closest star to the Sun but is too faint to be visible to the naked eye.
Planetary system
The Alpha Centauri system as a whole has two confirmed planets, both of them around Proxima Centauri. While other planets have been claimed to exist around all of the stars, none of the discoveries have been confirmed.
Planets of Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri b is a terrestrial planet discovered in 2016 by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It has an estimated minimum mass of 1.17 (Earth masses) and orbits approximately 0.049 AU from Proxima Centauri, placing it in the star's habitable zone.
Proxima Centauri c is a planet that was formally published in 2020 and could be a super-Earth or mini-Neptune. It has a mass of roughly 7 and orbits about 1.49 AU from Proxima Centauri with a period of . In June 2020, a possible direct imaging detection of the planet hinted at the potential presence of a large ring system. However, a 2022 study disputed the existence of this planet.
A 2020 paper refining Proxima b's mass excludes the presence of extra companions with masses above at periods shorter than 50 days, but the authors detected a radial-velocity curve with a periodicity of 5.15 days, suggesting the presence of a planet with a mass of about . This planet, Proxima Centauri d, was confirmed in 2022.
Planets of Alpha Centauri A
In 2021, a candidate planet named Candidate 1 (abbreviated as C1) was detected around Alpha Centauri A, thought to orbit at approximately 1.1 AU with a period of about one year, and to have a mass between that of Neptune and one-half that of Saturn, though it may be a dust disk or an artifact. The possibility of C1 being a background star has been ruled out. If this candidate is confirmed, the temporary name C1 will most likely be replaced with the scientific designation Alpha Centauri Ab in accordance with current naming conventions.
GO Cycle 1 observations are planned for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to search for planets around Alpha Centauri A. The observations are planned to occur at a date between July and August 2023. Pre-launch estimates predicted that JWST will be able to find planets with a radius of 5 at 1–3 au. Multiple observations every 3–6 months could push the limit down to 3 . Post-processing techniques could push the limit down to 0.5 to 0.7 . Post-launch estimates based on observations of HIP 65426 b find that JWST will be able to find planets even closer to Alpha Centauri A and could find a 5 planet at 0.5 to 2.5 au. Candidate 1 has an estimated radius between 3.3 and 11 and orbits at 1.1 au. It is therefore likely within the reach of JWST observations.
Planets of Alpha Centauri B
In 2012, a planet around Alpha Centauri B was reported, Alpha Centauri Bb, but in 2015 a new analysis concluded that that report was an artifact of the datum analysis.
A possible transit-like event was observed in 2013, which could be associated with a separate planet. The transit event could correspond to a planetary body with a radius around . This planet would most likely orbit Alpha Centauri B with an orbital period of 20.4 days or less, with only a 5% chance of it having a longer orbit. The median of the likely orbits is 12.4 days. Its orbit would likely have an eccentricity of 0.24 or less. It could have lakes of molten lava and would be far too close to Alpha Centauri B to harbour life. If confirmed, this planet might be called Alpha Centauri Bc. However, the name has not been used in the literature, as it is not a claimed discovery. , it appears that no further transit-like events have been observed.
Hypothetical planets
Additional planets may exist in the Alpha Centauri system, either orbiting Alpha Centauri A or Alpha Centauri B individually, or in large orbits around Alpha Centauri AB. Because both stars are fairly similar to the Sun (for example, in age and metallicity), astronomers have been especially interested in making detailed searches for planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Several established planet-hunting teams have used various radial velocity or star transit methods in their searches around these two bright stars. All the observational studies have so far failed to find evidence for brown dwarfs or gas giants.
In 2009, computer simulations showed that a planet might have been able to form near the inner edge of Alpha Centauri B's habitable zone, which extends from 0.5 to 0.9 AU from the star. Certain special assumptions, such as considering that the Alpha Centauri pair may have initially formed with a wider separation and later moved closer to each other (as might be possible if they formed in a dense star cluster), would permit an accretion-friendly environment farther from the star. Bodies around Alpha Centauri A would be able to orbit at slightly farther distances due to its stronger gravity. In addition, the lack of any brown dwarfs or gas giants in close orbits around Alpha Centauri make the likelihood of terrestrial planets greater than otherwise. A theoretical study indicates that a radial velocity analysis might detect a hypothetical planet of in Alpha Centauri B's habitable zone.
Radial velocity measurements of Alpha Centauri B made with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrograph were sufficiently sensitive to detect a planet within the habitable zone of the star (i.e. with an orbital period P = 200 days), but no planets were detected.
Current estimates place the probability of finding an Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri at roughly 75%. The observational thresholds for planet detection in the habitable zones by the radial velocity method are currently (2017) estimated to be about for Alpha Centauri A, for Alpha Centauri B, and for Proxima Centauri.
Early computer-generated models of planetary formation predicted the existence of terrestrial planets around both Alpha Centauri A and B, but most recent numerical investigations have shown that the gravitational pull of the companion star renders the accretion of planets difficult. Despite these difficulties, given the similarities to the Sun in spectral types, star type, age and probable stability of the orbits, it has been suggested that this stellar system could hold one of the best possibilities for harbouring extraterrestrial life on a potential planet.
In the Solar System, it was once thought that Jupiter and Saturn were probably crucial in perturbing comets into the inner Solar System, providing the inner planets with a source of water and various other ices. However, since isotope measurements of the deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) ratio in comets Halley, Hyakutake, Hale–Bopp, 2002T7, and Tuttle yield values approximately twice that of Earth's oceanic water, more recent models and research predict that less than 10% of Earth's water was supplied from comets. In the Alpha Centauri system, Proxima Centauri may have influenced the planetary disk as the Alpha Centauri system was forming, enriching the area around Alpha Centauri with volatile materials. This would be discounted if, for example, Alpha Centauri B happened to have gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A (or vice versa), or if Alpha Centauri A and B themselves were able to perturb comets into each other's inner systems as Jupiter and Saturn presumably have done in the Solar System. Such icy bodies probably also reside in Oort clouds of other planetary systems. When they are influenced gravitationally by either the gas giants or disruptions by passing nearby stars, many of these icy bodies then travel star-wards. Such ideas also apply to the close approach of Alpha Centauri or other stars to the Solar System, when, in the distant future, the Oort Cloud might be disrupted enough to increase the number of active comets.
To be in the habitable zone, a planet around Alpha Centauri A would have an orbital radius of between about 1.2 and so as to have similar planetary temperatures and conditions for liquid water to exist. For the slightly less luminous and cooler Alpha Centauri B, the habitable zone is between about 0.7 and .
With the goal of finding evidence of such planets, both Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri-AB were among the listed "Tier-1" target stars for NASA's Space Interferometry Mission (S.I.M.). Detecting planets as small as three Earth-masses or smaller within two AU of a "Tier-1" target would have been possible with this new instrument. The S.I.M. mission, however, was cancelled due to financial issues in 2010.
Circumstellar discs
Based on observations between 2007 and 2012, a study found a slight excess of emissions in the 24-µm (mid/far-infrared) band surrounding , which may be interpreted as evidence for a sparse circumstellar disc or dense interplanetary dust. The total mass was estimated to be between to the mass of the Moon, or 10–100 times the mass of the Solar System's zodiacal cloud. If such a disc existed around both stars, disc would likely be stable to 2.8 AU, and would likely be stable to 2.5 AU This would put A's disc entirely within the frost line, and a small part of B's outer disc just outside.
View from this system
The sky from Alpha Centauri AB would appear much as it does from the Earth, except that Centaurus would be missing its brightest star. The Sun would appear as a white star of apparent magnitude +0.5, roughly the same as the average brightness of Betelgeuse from Earth. It would be at the antipodal point of Alpha Centauri AB's current right ascension and declination, at (2000), in eastern Cassiopeia, easily outshining all the rest of the stars in the constellation. With the placement of the Sun east of the magnitude 3.4 star Epsilon Cassiopeiae, nearly in front of the Heart Nebula, the "W" line of stars of Cassiopeia would have a "/W" shape.
The Winter Triangle would not look equilateral, but very thin and long, with Procyon outshining Pollux in the middle of Gemini, and Sirius lying less than a degree from Betelgeuse in Orion. With a magnitude of −1.2, Sirius would be a little fainter than from Earth but still the brightest star in the night sky. Both Vega and Altair would be shifted northwestward relative to Deneb, giving the Summer Triangle a more equilateral appearance.
A planet around either α Centauri A or B would see the other star as a very bright secondary. For example, an Earth-like planet at 1.25 AU from α Cen A (with a revolution period of 1.34 years) would get Sun-like illumination from its primary, and α Cen B would appear 5.7 to 8.6 magnitudes dimmer (−21.0 to −18.2), 190 to 2,700 times dimmer than α Cen A but still 150 to 2,100 times brighter than the full Moon. Conversely, an Earth-like planet at 0.71 AU from α Cen B (with a revolution period of 0.63 years) would get nearly Sun-like illumination from its primary, and α Cen A would appear 4.6 to 7.3 magnitudes dimmer (−22.1 to −19.4), 70 to 840 times dimmer than α Cen B but still 470 to 5,700 times brighter than the full Moon.
Proxima Centauri would appear dim as one of many stars.
Other names
In modern literature, colloquial alternative names of Alpha Centauri include Rigil Kent (also Rigel Kent and variants; ) and Toliman (the latter of which became the proper name of Alpha Centauri B on 10 August 2018 by approval of the International Astronomical Union).
Rigil Kent is short for Rigil Kentaurus, which is sometimes further abbreviated to Rigil or Rigel, though that is ambiguous with Beta Orionis, which is also called Rigel.
The name Toliman originates with Jacobus Golius' 1669 edition of Al-Farghani's Compendium. Tolimân is Golius' latinisation of the Arabic name "the ostriches", the name of an asterism of which Alpha Centauri formed the main star.
During the 19th century, the northern amateur popularist Elijah H. Burritt used the now-obscure name Bungula, possibly coined from "β" and the Latin ungula ("hoof").
Together, Alpha and Beta Centauri form the "Southern Pointers" or "The Pointers", as they point towards the Southern Cross, the asterism of the constellation of Crux.
In Chinese astronomy, Nán Mén, meaning Southern Gate, refers to an asterism consisting of Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Centauri. Consequently, the Chinese name for Alpha Centauri itself is Nán Mén Èr, the Second Star of the Southern Gate.
To the Australian aboriginal Boorong people of northwestern Victoria, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are Bermbermgle, two brothers noted for their courage and destructiveness, who speared and killed Tchingal "The Emu" (the Coalsack Nebula). The form in Wotjobaluk is Bram-bram-bult.
Future exploration
Alpha Centauri is a first target for crewed or robotic interstellar exploration. Using current spacecraft technologies, crossing the distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri would take several millennia, though the possibility of nuclear pulse propulsion or laser light sail technology, as considered in the Breakthrough Starshot program, could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in 20 years. An objective of such a mission would be to make a fly-by of, and possibly photograph, planets that might exist in the system. The existence of Proxima Centauri b, announced by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in August 2016, would be a target for the Starshot program.
NASA announced in 2017 that it plans to send a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in 2069, scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first crewed lunar landing in 1969, Apollo 11. Even at speed 10% of the speed of light (about 108 million km/h), which NASA experts say may be possible, it would take a spacecraft 44 years to reach the constellation, by the year 2113, and will take another 4 years for a signal, by the year 2117 to reach Earth.
Historical distance estimates
See also
Alpha Centauri in fiction
List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs
Project Longshot
Sagan Planet Walk
Notes
References
External links
SIMBAD observational data
Sixth Catalogue of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars U.S.N.O.
The Imperial Star – Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri – A Voyage to Alpha Centauri
Immediate History of Alpha Centauri
eSky: Alpha Centauri
Hypothetical planets or exploration
Alpha Centauri System
O Sistema Alpha Centauri (Portuguese)
Alpha Centauri – Associação de Astronomia (Portuguese)
G-type main-sequence stars
K-type main-sequence stars
M-type main-sequence stars
Centauri, Alpha
Maunder Minimum
Triple star systems
Hypothetical planetary systems
Centaurus
Rigil Kentaurus
Centauri, Alpha
PD-60 05483
0559
128620 and 128621
071681 and 071683
5759 and 5760
Articles containing video clips
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Astronomical objects known since antiquity |
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1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
1882 – Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, today known as ExxonMobil, is established officially. The company would later grow to become the holder of all Standard Oil companies and the entity at the center of the breakup of Standard Oil.
1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
1901–present
1901 – Peter O'Connor sets the first World Athletics recognised long jump world record of , a record that would stand for 20 years.
1906 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy.
1914 – World War I: The German minelayer lays a minefield about off the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser .
1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.
1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1939 – The Thirteen Roses: Thirteen female members of the Unified Socialist Youth are executed by Francoist forces in Madrid, Spain.
1940 – World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
1944 – World War II: At least 1,104 Japanese POWs in Australia attempt to escape from a camp at Cowra, New South Wales; 545 temporarily succeed but are later either killed, commit suicide, or are recaptured.
1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp (Gęsiówka) in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
1949 – In Montana, 12 smokejumper firefighters and 1 US Forest Service fire guard are killed in the Mann Gulch Fire.
1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1962 – American actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead at her home from a drug overdose.
1963 – Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers and bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1965 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
1966 – A group of red guards at Experimental High in Beijing, including Deng Rong and Liu Pingping, daughters of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi respectively, beat the deputy vice principal, Bian Zhongyun, to death with sticks after accusing her of counter-revolutionary revisionism, producing one of the first fatalities of the Cultural Revolution.
1969 – The Lonesome Cowboys police raid occurs in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to the creation of the Georgia Gay Liberation Front.
1971 – The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the "South Pacific Forum") is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
1973 – Mars 6 is launched from the USSR.
1974 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1974 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the "Smoking Gun" tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely.
1979 – In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake the Bala Hissar uprising against the Leninist government.
1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1984 – A Biman Bangladesh Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes on approach to Zia International Airport, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing all 49 people on board.
1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The city of Knin, Croatia, a significant Serb stronghold, is taken by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.
2003 – A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
2010 – The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately below the ground for 69 days.
2010 – Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team are killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
2012 – The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting took place in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six victims; the perpetrator committed suicide after being wounded by police.
2015 – The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases three million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.
2019 – The revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (state) occurred and the state was bifurcated into two union territories (Jammu and Kashmir (union territory) and Ladakh).
2020 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the 'Bhoomi Pujan' or land worship ceremony and lays the foundation stone of Rama Mandir in Ayodhya after a Supreme Court verdict ruling in favour of building the temple on disputed land.
2021 – Australia's second most populous state Victoria enters its sixth COVID-19 lockdown, enacting stage four restrictions statewide in reaction to six new COVID-19 cases recorded that morning.
Births
Pre-1600
79 BC – Tullia, Roman daughter of Cicero (d. 45 BC)
1262 – Ladislaus IV of Hungary (d. 1290)
1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1330)
1397 – Guillaume Dufay, Belgian-Italian composer and theorist (d. 1474)
1461 – Alexander Jagiellon, Polish king (d. 1506)
1540 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French philologist and historian (d. 1609)
1601–1900
1607 – Antonio Barberini, Italian cardinal (d. 1671)
1623 – Antonio Cesti, Italian organist and composer (d. 1669)
1626 – Richard Ottley, English politician (d. 1670)
1662 – James Anderson, Scottish lawyer and historian (d. 1728)
1681 – Vitus Bering, Danish explorer (d. 1741)
1694 – Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (d. 1744)
1749 – Thomas Lynch Jr., American commander and politician (d. 1779)
1797 – Friedrich August Kummer, German cellist and composer (d. 1879)
1802 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (d. 1829)
1811 – Ambroise Thomas, French composer (d. 1896)
1813 – Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet and linguist (d. 1896)
1815 – Edward John Eyre, English explorer and politician, Governor of Jamaica (d. 1901)
1827 – Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal and politician, 1st President of Brazil (d. 1892)
1828 – Louise of the Netherlands (d. 1871)
1833 – Carola of Vasa (d. 1907)
1843 – James Scott Skinner, Scottish violinist and composer (d. 1927)
1844 – Ilya Repin, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1930)
1850 – Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (d. 1893)
1860 – Louis Wain, English artist (d. 1939)
1862 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (d. 1890)
1866 – Carl Harries, German chemist and academic (d. 1923)
1866 – Harry Trott, Australian cricketer (d. 1917)
1868 – Oskar Merikanto, Finnish pianist and composer (d. 1924)
1872 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician, bacteriologist, and epidemiologist, founded the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (d. 1917)
1874 – Wesley Clair Mitchell, American economist and academic (d. 1948)
1874 – Horace Rawlins, English golfer (d. 1935)
1876 – Mary Ritter Beard, American historian and activist (d. 1958)
1877 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d. 1917)
1880 – Gertrude Rush, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1962)
1880 – Ruth Sawyer, American author and educator (d. 1970)
1882 – Anne Acheson, Irish sculptor (d. 1962)
1887 – Reginald Owen, English-American actor and singer (d. 1972)
1889 – Conrad Aiken, American novelist, short story writer, critic, and poet (d. 1973)
1890 – Naum Gabo, Russian-American sculptor (d. 1977)
1890 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor and director (d. 1956)
1897 – Roberta Dodd Crawford, American soprano and educator (d. 1954)
1897 – Aksel Larsen, Danish lawyer and politician (d. 1972)
1900 – Rudolf Schottlaender, German philosopher, classical philologist and translator (d. 1988)
1901–present
1901 – Claude Autant-Lara, French director, screenwriter, and politician (d. 2000)
1904 – Kenneth V. Thimann, English-American botanist and microbiologist (d. 1997)
1906 – Joan Hickson, English actress (d. 1998)
1906 – John Huston, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1906 – Wassily Leontief, German-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1908 – Harold Holt, Australian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
1908 – Jose Garcia Villa, Filipino short story writer and poet (d. 1997)
1910 – Bruno Coquatrix, French songwriter and manager (d. 1979)
1910 – Herminio Masantonio, Argentinian footballer (d. 1956)
1911 – Robert Taylor, American actor and singer (d. 1969)
1912 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and humanitarian (d. 2007)
1914 – Parley Baer, American actor (d. 2002)
1916 – Peter Viereck, American poet and academic (d. 2006)
1918 – Tom Drake, American actor and singer (d. 1982)
1918 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded Canada's National Ballet School (d. 2004)
1919 – Rosalind Hicks, British literary guardian and the only child of author, Agatha Christie (d. 2004)
1920 – George Tooker, American painter and academic (d. 2011)
1921 – Terry Becker, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1922 – L. Tom Perry, American businessman and religious leader (d. 2015)
1922 – Frank Stranahan, American golfer (d. 2013)
1923 – Devan Nair, Malaysian-Singaporean union leader and politician, 3rd President of Singapore (d. 2005)
1926 – Betsy Jolas, French composer
1926 – Jeri Southern, American jazz singer and pianist (d. 1991)
1927 – John H. Moore II, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
1929 – Don Matheson, American soldier, police officer, and actor (d. 2014)
1930 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (d. 2012)
1930 – Damita Jo DeBlanc, American comedian, actress, and singer (d. 1998)
1930 – Richie Ginther, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1930 – Michal Kováč, Slovak lawyer and politician, 1st President of Slovakia (d. 2016)
1931 – Tom Hafey, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
1932 – Tera de Marez Oyens, Dutch pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1932 – Vladimir Fedoseyev, Russian conductor
1934 – Karl Johan Åström, Swedish engineer and theorist
1934 – Wendell Berry, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
1934 – Gay Byrne, Irish radio and television host (d. 2019)
1935 – Michael Ballhaus, German director and cinematographer (d. 2017)
1935 – Peter Inge, Baron Inge, English field marshal (d. 2022)
1935 – Roy Benavidez, American Master Sergeant and Medal of Honor Winner (d. 1998)
1936 – Nikolai Baturin, Estonian author and playwright (d. 2019)
1936 – John Saxon, American actor (d. 2020)
1937 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
1937 – Brian G. Marsden, English-American astronomer and academic (d. 2010)
1939 – Roger Clark, English race car driver (d. 1998)
1939 – Carmen Salinas, Mexican actress and politician (d. 2021)
1940 – Bobby Braddock, American country music songwriter, musician, and producer
1940 – Roman Gabriel, American football player, coach, and actor
1940 – Rick Huxley, English bass player (d. 2013)
1941 – Bob Clark, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1941 – Leonid Kizim, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2010)
1941 – Airto Moreira, Brazilian-American drummer and composer
1942 – Joe Boyd, American record producer, founded Hannibal Records
1943 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1943 – Sammi Smith, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
1944 – Christopher Gunning, English composer (d. 2023)
1945 – Loni Anderson, American actress
1946 – Bruce Coslet, American football player and coach
1946 – Shirley Ann Jackson, American physicist
1946 – Rick van der Linden, Dutch keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2006)
1946 – Bob McCarthy, Australian rugby league player and coach
1946 – Erika Slezak, American actress
1946 – Xavier Trias, Spanish pediatrician and politician, 118th Mayor of Barcelona
1947 – Angry Anderson, Australian singer and actor
1947 – Bernie Carbo, American baseball player
1947 – France A. Córdova, American astrophysicist and academic
1947 – Rick Derringer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Greg Leskiw, Canadian guitarist and songwriter
1948 – Ray Clemence, English footballer and manager (d. 2020)
1948 – Barbara Flynn, English actress
1948 – David Hungate, American bass guitarist, producer, and arranger
1948 – Shin Takamatsu, Japanese architect and academic
1950 – Luiz Gushiken, Brazilian trade union leader and politician (d. 2013)
1950 – Mahendra Karma, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1951 – Samantha Sang, Australian pop singer
1952 – Tamás Faragó, Hungarian water polo player
1952 – John Jarratt, Australian actor and producer
1952 – Louis Walsh, Irish talent manager
1953 – Rick Mahler, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005)
1955 – Eddie Ojeda, American guitarist and songwriter
1956 – Christopher Chessun, English Anglican bishop
1956 – Jerry Ciccoritti, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1956 – Maureen McCormick, American actress
1957 – Larry Corowa, Australian rugby league player
1957 – David Gill, English businessman
1957 – Faith Prince, American actress and singer
1959 – Pete Burns, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1959 – Pat Smear, American guitarist and songwriter
1960 – David Baldacci, American lawyer and author
1961 – Janet McTeer, English actress
1961 – Athula Samarasekera, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach
1961 – Tim Wilson, American comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist (d. 2014)
1962 – Patrick Ewing, Jamaican-American basketball player and coach
1962 – Otis Thorpe, American basketball player
1963 – Steve Lee, Swiss singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1963 – Ingmar De Vos, Belgian sports administrator
1963 – Mark Strong, English actor
1964 – Rory Morrison, English journalist (d. 2013)
1964 – Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (d. 2012)
1965 – Jeff Coffin, American saxophonist and composer
1965 – Motoi Sakuraba, Japanese keyboard player and composer
1966 – Jennifer Finch, American singer, bass player, and photographer
1966 – Jonathan Silverman, American actor and producer
1967 – Matthew Caws, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Terri Clark, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Kendo Kashin, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1968 – Marine Le Pen, French lawyer and politician
1968 – Oleh Luzhnyi, Ukrainian footballer and manager
1968 – Colin McRae, Scottish race car driver (d. 2007)
1968 – John Olerud, American baseball player
1969 – Jackie Doyle-Price, English politician
1969 – Vasbert Drakes, Barbadian cricketer
1969 – Venkatesh Prasad, Indian cricketer and coach
1969 – Rob Scott, Australian rower
1970 – James Gunn, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Valdis Dombrovskis, Latvian academic and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Latvia
1972 – Ikuto Hidaka, Japanese wrestler
1972 – Aaqib Javed, Pakistani cricketer and coach
1972 – Darren Shahlavi, English-American actor and martial artist (d. 2015)
1972 – Jon Sleightholme, English rugby player
1972 – Theodore Whitmore, Jamaican footballer and manager
1972 – Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1973 – Paul Carige, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Justin Marshall, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
1974 – Alvin Ceccoli, Australian footballer
1974 – Kajol, Indian film actress
1974 – Olle Kullinger, Swedish footballer
1974 – Antoine Sibierski, French footballer
1975 – Dan Hipgrave, English guitarist and journalist
1975 – Josep Jufré, Spanish cyclist
1975 – Eicca Toppinen, Finnish cellist and composer
1976 – Jeff Friesen, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Marians Pahars, Latvian footballer and manager
1976 – Eugen Trică, Romanian footballer and manager
1977 – Eric Hinske, American baseball player and coach
1977 – Mark Mulder, American baseball player and sportscaster
1977 – Michael Walsh, English footballer
1978 – Cosmin Bărcăuan, Romanian footballer and manager
1978 – Kim Gevaert, Belgian sprinter
1978 – Harel Levy, Israeli tennis player
1979 – David Healy, Irish footballer
1980 – Wayne Bridge, English footballer
1980 – Salvador Cabañas, Paraguayan footballer
1980 – Jason Culina, Australian footballer
1980 – Jesse Williams, American actor, director, producer, and political activist
1981 – David Clarke, English ice hockey player
1981 – Carl Crawford, American baseball player
1981 – Maik Franz, German footballer
1981 – Erik Guay, Canadian skier
1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper, singer, and songwriter
1981 – Anna Rawson, Australian golfer
1981 – Rachel Scott, American murder victim, inspired the Rachel's Challenge (d. 1999)
1982 – Jamie Houston, English-German rugby player
1982 – Lolo Jones, American hurdler
1982 – Michele Pazienza, Italian footballer
1982 – Tobias Regner, German singer-songwriter
1982 – Jeff Robson, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Pete Sell, American mixed martial artist
1984 – Steve Matai, New Zealand rugby league player
1984 – Helene Fischer, German singer-songwriter
1985 – Laurent Ciman, Belgian footballer
1985 – Salomon Kalou, Ivorian footballer
1985 – Gil Vermouth, Israeli footballer
1985 – Erkan Zengin, Swedish footballer
1986 – Paula Creamer, American golfer
1986 – Kathrin Zettel, Austrian skier
1987 – Genelia D'Souza, Indian actress
1988 – Michael Jamieson, Scottish-English swimmer
1988 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer
1989 – Ryan Bertrand, English footballer
1989 – Mathieu Manset, French footballer
1989 – Jessica Nigri, American model and actress
1991 – Esteban Gutiérrez, Mexican race car driver
1991 – Konrad Hurrell, Tongan rugby league player
1991 – Daniëlle van de Donk, Dutch footballer
1991 – Andreas Weimann, Austrian footballer
1995 – Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Danish footballer
1996 – Takakeishō Mitsunobu, Japanese sumo wrestler
1996 – Cho Seung-youn, South Korean singer-songwriter and rapper
1997 – Jack Cogger, Australian rugby league player
1997 – Olivia Holt, American actress and singer
1997 – Wang Yibo, Chinese dancer, singer and actor
1997 – Yungblud, English musician and actor
1998 – Adam Doueihi, Australian-Lebanese rugby league player
1998 – Mimi Keene, English actress
1998 – Kanon Suzuki, Japanese singer and actress
2000 – Tom Gilbert, Australian rugby league player
2001 – Anthony Edwards, American basketball player
2003 – Toni Shaw, British Paralympic swimmer
2004 – Gavi, Spanish footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
553 – Xiao Ji, prince of the Liang dynasty (b. 508)
642 – Eowa, king of Mercia
642 – Oswald, king of Northumbria
824 – Heizei, Japanese emperor (b. 773)
877 – Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan, Abbasid vizier
882 – Louis III, Frankish king (b. 863)
890 – Ranulf II, duke of Aquitaine (b. 850)
910 – Eowils and Halfdan, joint kings of Northumbria
910 – Ingwær, king of Northumbria
917 – Euthymius I of Constantinople (b. 834)
940 – Li Decheng, Chinese general (b. 863)
1063 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd
1364 – Kōgon, Japanese emperor (b. 1313)
1415 – Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (b. 1375)
1415 – Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham (b. 1370)
1447 – John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter (b. 1395)
1579 – Stanislaus Hosius, Polish cardinal (b. 1504)
1600 – John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, Scottish conspirator (b. 1577)
1601–1900
1610 – Alonso García de Ramón, Spanish soldier and politician, Royal Governor of Chile (b. 1552)
1633 – George Abbot, English archbishop and academic (b. 1562)
1678 – Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican tenor and composer (b. 1619)
1729 – Thomas Newcomen, English engineer, invented the eponymous Newcomen atmospheric engine (b. 1664)
1743 – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English courtier and politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (b. 1696)
1778 – Charles Clémencet, French historian and author (b. 1703)
1778 – Thomas Linley the younger, English composer (b. 1756)
1792 – Frederick North, Lord North, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1732)
1799 – Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, English admiral and politician (b. 1726)
1868 – Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaeologist and historian (b. 1788)
1877 – Robert Williams (known as Trebor Mai), Welsh poet (b. 1830)
1880 – Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, Austrian physician and dermatologist (b. 1816)
1881 – Spotted Tail, American tribal chief (b. 1823)
1895 – Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b. 1820)
1901–present
1901 – Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and German Empress (b. 1840)
1904 – George Dibbs, Australian politician, 10th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1834)
1911 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1864)
1916 – George Butterworth, British composer, killed at the Battle of the Somme (b. 1885)
1921 – Dimitrios Rallis, Greek lawyer and politician, 78th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1844)
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English trade union leader and activist (b. 1847)
1933 – Charles Harold Davis, American painter and academic (b. 1856)
1935 – David Townsend, American art director and set designer (b. 1891)
1939 – Béla Jankovich, Hungarian economist and politician, Minister of Education of Hungary (b. 1865)
1944 – Maurice Turnbull, Welsh cricketer and rugby player (b. 1906)
1946 – Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1863)
1948 – Montagu Toller, English cricketer and lawyer (b. 1871)
1952 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian physicist and academic (b. 1917)
1955 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress and singer (b. 1909)
1957 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
1959 – Edgar Guest, English-American journalist and poet (b. 1881)
1960 – Arthur Meighen, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
1963 – Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer (b. 1898)
1964 – Moa Martinson, Swedish author (b. 1890)
1964 – Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1886)
1968 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)
1978 – Jesse Haines, American baseball player and coach (b. 1893)
1980 – Harold L. Runnels, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
1983 – Judy Canova, American actress and comedian (b. 1913)
1983 – Joan Robinson, English economist and author (b. 1903)
1984 – Richard Burton, Welsh-Swiss actor and producer (b. 1925)
1985 – Arnold Horween, American football player and coach (b. 1898)
1987 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1910)
1991 – Paul Brown, American football player and coach (b. 1908)
1991 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese engineer and businessman, founded Honda (b. 1906)
1992 – Robert Muldoon, New Zealand politician, 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1921)
1994 – Menachem Avidom, Israeli composer (b. 1908)
1994 – Alain de Changy, Belgian race car driver (b. 1922)
1998 – Otto Kretschmer, German commander (b. 1912)
1998 – Todor Zhivkov, Bulgarian commander and politician, 36th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1911)
2000 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian journalist and activist (b. 1920)
2000 – Tullio Crali, Montenegrin-Italian pilot and painter (b. 1910)
2000 – Lala Amarnath, Indian cricketer who scored India's first Test century (b. 1911)
2000 – Alec Guinness, English actor (b. 1914)
2001 – Otema Allimadi, Ugandan politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1929)
2001 – Christopher Skase, Australian-Spanish businessman (b. 1948)
2002 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
2002 – Chick Hearn, American sportscaster (b. 1916)
2002 – Franco Lucentini, Italian journalist and author (b. 1920)
2002 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player (b. 1952)
2002 – Matt Robinson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2005 – Polina Astakhova, Russian gymnast and coach (b. 1936)
2005 – Jim O'Hora, American football player and coach (b. 1915)
2005 – Raul Roco, Filipino lawyer and politician, 31st Filipino Secretary of Education (b. 1941)
2005 – Eddie Jenkins, Welsh footballer (b. 1909)
2007 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French cardinal (b. 1926)
2007 – Florian Pittiș, Romanian actor, singer, director, and producer (b. 1943)
2008 – Neil Bartlett, English-American chemist and academic (b. 1932)
2008 – Reg Lindsay, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1929)
2009 – Budd Schulberg, American author, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1914)
2011 – Andrzej Lepper, Polish farmer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1954)
2011 – Aziz Shavershian, Russian-born Australian Bodybuilder and internet sensation (b. 1989)
2012 – Erwin Axer, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1917)
2012 – Michel Daerden, Belgian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
2012 – Fred Matua, American football player (b. 1984)
2012 – Martin E. Segal, Russian-American businessman, co-founded Film Society of Lincoln Center (b. 1916)
2012 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1919)
2012 – Roland Charles Wagner, French author and translator (b. 1960)
2013 – Ruth Asawa, American sculptor and educator (b. 1926)
2013 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1966)
2013 – Willie Dunn, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942)
2013 – Roy Rubin, American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
2013 – May Song Vang, American activist (b. 1951)
2013 – Rob Wyda, American commander and judge (b. 1959)
2014 – Harold J. Greene, American general (b. 1962)
2014 – Vladimir Orlov, Russian author (b. 1936)
2014 – Chapman Pincher, Indian-English historian, journalist, and author (b. 1914)
2014 – Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, American physician and academic, 11th Surgeon General of the United States (b. 1927)
2015 – Arthur Walter James, English journalist and politician (b. 1912)
2015 – Tony Millington, Welsh footballer (b. 1943)
2018 – Alan Rabinowitz, American zoologist (b. 1953)
2019 – Toni Morrison, American author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Nobel laureate (b. 1931).
2020 – Hawa Abdi, Somali human rights activist and physician (b. 1947)
2022 – Judith Durham, Australian singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
2022 – Cherie Gil, Filipino actress (b. 1963)
2022 – Ali Haydar, Syrian army officer (b. 1932)
2022 – Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (b. 1938)
2022 – Dillon Quirke, Irish hurler (b. 1998)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Abel of Reims
Addai
Afra
Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald, and Lucas Cranach the Elder (Episcopal Church (USA))
Cassian of Autun
Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major (Catholic Church)
Emygdius
Memnius
Oswald of Northumbria
August 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day (Burkina Faso)
Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian defenders (Croatia)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
2041 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares | Ares | Ares (; , Árēs ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were generally ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war but can also personify sheer brutality and bloodlust, in contrast to his sister, the armored Athena, whose martial functions include military strategy and generalship. An association with Ares endows places, objects, and other deities with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.
Although Ares' name shows his origins as Mycenaean, his reputation for savagery was thought by some to reflect his likely origins as a Thracian deity. Some cities in Greece and several in Asia Minor held annual festivals to bind and detain him as their protector. In parts of Asia Minor, he was an oracular deity. Still further away from Greece, the Scythians were said to ritually kill one in a hundred prisoners of war as an offering to their equivalent of Ares. The later belief that ancient Spartans had offered human sacrifice to Ares may owe more to mythical prehistory, misunderstandings, and reputation than to reality.
Though there are many literary allusions to Ares' love affairs and children, he has a limited role in Greek mythology. When he does appear, he is often humiliated. In the Trojan War, Aphrodite, protector of Troy, persuades Ares to take the Trojans' side. The Trojans lose, while Ares' sister Athena helps the Greeks to victory. Most famously, when the craftsman-god Hephaestus discovers his wife Aphrodite is having an affair with Ares, he traps the lovers in a net and exposes them to the ridicule of the other gods.
Ares' nearest counterpart in Roman religion is Mars, who was given a more important and dignified place in ancient Roman religion as ancestral protector of the Roman people and state. During the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name of Mars, and in later Western art and literature, the mythology of the two figures became virtually indistinguishable.
Names
The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the Greek word (arē), the Ionic form of the Doric (ara), "bane, ruin, curse, imprecation". Walter Burkert notes that "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name. The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek , a-re, written in the Linear B syllabic script.
The adjectival epithet, Areios ("warlike") was frequently appended to the names of other gods when they took on a warrior aspect or became involved in warfare: Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, even Aphrodite Areia ("Aphrodite within Ares" or "feminine Ares"), who was warlike, fully armoured and armed, partnered with Athena in Sparta, and represented at Kythira's temple to Aphrodite Urania.
In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a common noun synonymous with "battle."
In the Classical period, Ares is given the epithet Enyalios, which seems to appear on the Mycenaean KN V 52 tablet as , e-nu-wa-ri-jo. Enyalios was sometimes identified with Ares and sometimes differentiated from him as another war god with separate cult, even in the same town; Burkert describes them as "doubles almost".
Cult
In mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, only a few places are known to have had a formal temple and cult of Ares. Pausanias (2nd century AD) notes an altar to Ares at Olympia, and the moving of a Temple of Ares to the Athenian agora during the reign of Augustus, essentially rededicating it (2 AD) as a Roman temple to the Augustan Mars Ultor. The Areopagus ("mount of Ares"), a natural rock outcrop in Athens, some distance from the Acropolis, was supposedly where Ares was tried and acquitted by the gods for his revenge-killing of Poseidon's son, Halirrhothius, who had raped Ares' daughter Alcippe. Its name was used for the court that met there, mostly to investigate and try potential cases of treason.
Numismatist M. Jessop Price states that Ares "typified the traditional Spartan character", but had no important cult in Sparta; and he never occurs on Spartan coins. Pausanias gives two examples of his cult, both of them conjointly with or "within" a warlike Aphrodite, on the Spartan acropolis. Gonzalez observes, in his 2005 survey of Ares' cults in Asia Minor, that cults to Ares on the Greek mainland may have been more common than some sources assert. Wars between Greek states were endemic; war and warriors provided Ares's tribute, and fed his insatiable appetite for battle.
Ares' attributes are instruments of war: a helmet, shield, and sword or spear. Libanius "makes the apple sacred to Ares", but "offers no further comment", nor connections to any aetiological myth. Apples are one of Aphrodites' sacred or symbolic fruits. Littlewood follows Artemidorus claim that to dream of sour apples presages conflict, and lists Ares alongside Eris and the mythological "Apples of Discord".
Chained statues
Gods were immortal but could be bound and restrained, both in mythic narrative and in cult practice. There was an archaic Spartan statue of Ares in chains in the temple of Enyalios (sometimes regarded as the son of Ares, sometimes as Ares himself), which Pausanias claimed meant that the spirit of war and victory was to be kept in the city. The Spartans are known to have ritually bound the images of other deities, including Aphrodite and Artemis (cf Ares and Aphrodite bound by Hephaestus), and in other places there were chained statues of Artemis and Dionysos.
Statues of Ares in chains are described in the instructions given by an oracle of the late Hellenistic era to various cities of Pamphylia (in Anatolia) including Syedra, Lycia and Cilicia, places almost perpetually under threat from pirates. Each was told to set up a statue of "bloody, man-slaying Ares" and provide it with an annual festival in which it was ritually bound with iron fetters ("by Dike and Hermes") as if a supplicant for justice, put on trial and offered sacrifice. The oracle promises that "thus will he become a peaceful deity for you, once he has driven the enemy horde far from your country, and he will give rise to prosperity much prayed for." This Ares karpodotes ("giver of Fruits") is well attested in Lycia and Pisidia.
Sacrifices
Like most Greek deities, Ares was given animal sacrifice; in Sparta, after battle, he was given an ox for a victory by stratagem, or a rooster for victory through onslaught. The usual recipient of sacrifice before battle was Athena. Reports of historic human sacrifice to Ares in an obscure rite known as the Hekatomphonia represent a very long-standing error, repeated through several centuries and well into the modern era. The hekatomphonia was an animal sacrifice to Zeus; it could be offered by any warrior who had personally slain one hundred of the enemy. Pausanias reports that in Sparta, each company of youths sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in a hand-to-hand "fight without rules" at the Phoebaeum. The chthonic night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares. Porphyry claims, without detail, that Apollodorus of Athens (circa second century BC) says the Spartans made human sacrifices to Ares, but this may be a reference to mythic pre-history.
Thrace and Scythia
A Thracian god identified by Herodotus ( – ) as Ares, through interpretatio Graeca, was one of three otherwise unnamed deities that Thracian commoners were said to worship. Herodotus recognises and names the other two as "Dionysus" and "Artemis", and claims that the Thracian aristocracy exclusively worshiped "Hermes". In Herodotus' Histories, the Scythians worship an indigenous form of Greek Ares, who is otherwise unnamed, but ranked beneath Tabiti (whom Herodotus claims as a form of Hestia), Api and Papaios in Scythia's divine hierarchy. His cult object was an iron sword. The "Scythian Ares" was offered blood-sacrifices (or ritual killings) of cattle, horses and "one in every hundred human war-captives", whose blood was used to douse the sword. Statues, and complex platform-altars made of heaped brushwood were devoted to him. This sword-cult, or one very similar, is said to have persisted among the Alans. Some have posited that the "Sword of Mars" in later European history alludes to the Huns having adopted Ares.
Asia Minor
In some parts of Asia Minor, Ares was a prominent oracular deity, something not found in any Hellennic cult to Ares or Roman cult to Mars. Ares was linked in some regions or polities with a local god or cultic hero, and recognised as a higher, more prestigious deity than in mainland Greece. His cults in southern Asia Minor are attested from the 5th century BC and well into the later Roman Imperial era, at 29 different sites, and on over 70 local coin issues. He is sometimes represented on coinage of the region by the "Helmet of Ares" or carrying a spear and a shield, or as a fully armed warrior, sometimes accompanied by a female deity. In what is now western Turkey, the Hellenistic city of Metropolis built a monumental temple to Ares as the city's protector, not before the 3rd century BC. It is now lost, but the names of some of its priests and priestesses survive, along with the temple's likely depictions on coins of the province.
Crete
A sanctuary of Aphrodite was established at Sta Lenika, on Crete, between the cities of Lato and Olus, possibly during the Geometric period. It was rebuilt in the late 2nd century BC as a double-sanctuary to Ares and Aphrodite. Inscriptions record disputes over the ownership of the sanctuary. The names of Ares and Aphrodite appear as witness to sworn oaths, and there is a Victory thanks-offering to Aphrodite, whom Millington believes had capacity as a "warrior-protector acting in the realm of Ares". There were cultic links between the Sta Lenika sanctuary, Knossos and other Cretan states, and perhaps with Argos on the mainland. While the Greek literary and artistic record from both the Archaic and Classical eras connects Ares and Aphrodite as complementary companions and ideal though adulterous lovers, their cult pairing and Aphrodite as warrior-protector is localised to Crete.
Aksum
In Africa, Maḥrem, the principal god of the kings of Aksum prior to the 4th century AD, was invoked as Ares in Greek inscriptions. The anonymous king who commissioned the Monumentum Adulitanum in the late 2nd or early 3rd century refers to "my greatest god, Ares, who also begat me, through whom I brought under my sway [various peoples]". The monumental throne celebrating the king's conquests was itself dedicated to Ares. In the early 4th century, the last pagan king of Aksum, Ezana, referred to "the one who brought me forth, the invincible Ares".
Characterisation
Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the archaic tradition represented by the Iliad and Odyssey. In Greek literature, Ares often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war and is the personification of sheer brutality and bloodlust ("overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering", as Burkert puts it), in contrast to his sister, the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality; but when Ares does appear in myths, he typically faces humiliation.
In the Iliad, Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from the battlefield at Troy:
This ambivalence is expressed also in the Greeks' association of Ares with the Thracians, whom they regarded as a barbarous and warlike people. Thrace was considered to be Ares's birthplace and his refuge after the affair with Aphrodite was exposed to the general mockery of the other gods.
A late-6th-century BC funerary inscription from Attica emphasizes the consequences of coming under Ares's sway:
Hymns
Homeric Hymn 8 to Ares (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic 7th to 4th centuries BC)
Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.
Orphic Hymn 65 to Ares (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns 3rd century BCE to 2nd century CE)
To Ares, Fumigation from Frankincense. Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Ares, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars; fierce and untamed, whose mighty power can make the strongest walls from their foundations shake: mortal-destroying king, defiled with gore, pleased with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar. Thee human blood, and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe embitter human life; to lovely Kyrpis [Aphrodite] and to Lyaios [Dionysos] yield, for arms exchange the labours of the field; encourage peace, to gentle works inclined, and give abundance, with benignant mind.
Mythology
Birth
He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera.
Argonautica
In the Argonautica, the Golden Fleece hangs in a grove sacred to Ares, until its theft by Jason. The Birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) drop feather darts in defense of the Amazons' shrine to Ares, as father of their queen, on a coastal island in the Black Sea.
Founding of Thebes
Ares plays a central role in the founding myth of Thebes, as the progenitor of the water-dragon slain by Cadmus. The dragon's teeth were sown into the ground as if a crop and sprang up as the fully armored autochthonic Spartoi. Cadmus placed himself in the god's service for eight years to atone for killing the dragon. To further propitiate Ares, Cadmus married Harmonia, a daughter of Ares's union with Aphrodite. In this way, Cadmus harmonized all strife and founded the city of Thebes. In reality, Thebes came to dominate Boeotia's great and fertile plain, which in both history and myth was a battleground for competing polities. According to Plutarch, the plain was anciently described as "The dancing-floor of Ares".
Aphrodite
In Homer's Odyssey, in the tale sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous, the Sun-god Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite having sex secretly in the hall of Hephaestus, her husband. Helios reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the illicit couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned a finely-knitted and nearly invisible net with which to snare them. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite locked in very private embrace.
But Hephaestus was not satisfied with his revenge, so he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once the couple was released, the embarrassed Ares returned to his homeland, Thrace, and Aphrodite went to Paphos.
In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon, who was Ares companion in drinking and even love-making, by his door to warn them of Helios's arrival as Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. The furious Ares turned the sleepy Alectryon into a rooster which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning, as a way of apologizing to Ares.
The Chorus of Aeschylus' Suppliants (written 463 BC) refers to Ares as Aphrodite's "mortal-destroying bedfellow". In the Illiad, Ares helps the Trojans because of his affection for their divine protector, Aphrodite; she thus redirects his innate destructive savagery to her own purposes.
Giants
In one archaic myth, related only in the Iliad by the goddess Dione to her daughter Aphrodite, two chthonic giants, the Aloadae, named Otus and Ephialtes, bound Ares in chains and imprisoned him in a bronze urn, where he remained for thirteen months, a lunar year. "And that would have been the end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the beautiful Eriboea, the young giants' stepmother, had not told Hermes what they had done," she related. In this, [Burkert] suspects "a festival of licence which is unleashed in the thirteenth month." Ares was held screaming and howling in the urn until Hermes rescued him, and Artemis tricked the Aloadae into slaying each other. In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, in the war between Cronus and Zeus, Ares killed an unnamed giant son of Echidna who was allied with Cronus, and described as spitting "horrible poison" and having "snaky" feet.
In the 2nd century AD Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis, when the monstrous Typhon attacked Olympus the gods transformed into animals and fled to Egypt; Ares changed into a fish, the Lepidotus (sacred to the Egyptian war-god Anhur). Liberalis's koine Greek text is a "completely inartistic" epitome of Nicander's now lost Heteroeumena (2nd century BC).
Iliad
In Homer's Iliad, Ares has no fixed allegiance. He promises Athena and Hera that he will fight for the Achaeans but Aphrodite persuades him to side with the Trojans. During the war, Diomedes fights Hector and sees Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes calls for his soldiers to withdraw. Zeus grants Athena permission to drive Ares from the battlefield. Encouraged by Hera and Athena, Diomedes thrusts with his spear at Ares. Athena drives the spear home, and all sides tremble at Ares's cries. Ares flees to Mount Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back. Ares overhears that his son Ascalaphus has been killed and wants to change sides again, rejoining the Achaeans for vengeance, disregarding Zeus's order that no Olympian should join the battle. Athena stops him. Later, when Zeus allows the gods to fight in the war again, Ares attacks Athena to avenge his previous injury. Athena overpowers him by striking him with a boulder.
Attendants
Deimos ("Terror" or "Dread") and Phobos ("Fear") are Ares' companions in war, and according to Hesiod, are also his children by Aphrodite. Eris, the goddess of discord, or Enyo, the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence, was considered the sister and companion of the violent Ares. In at least one tradition, Enyalius, rather than another name for Ares, was his son by Enyo.
Ares may also be accompanied by Kydoimos, the daemon of the din of battle; the Makhai ("Battles"); the "Hysminai" ("Acts of manslaughter"); Polemos, a minor spirit of war, or only an epithet of Ares, since it has no specific dominion; and Polemos's daughter, Alala, the goddess or personification of the Greek war-cry, whose name Ares uses as his own war-cry. Ares's sister Hebe ("Youth") also draws baths for him.
According to Pausanias, local inhabitants of Therapne, Sparta, recognized Thero, "feral, savage," as a nurse of Ares.
Offspring and affairs
Though Ares plays a relatively limited role in Greek mythology as represented in literary narratives, his numerous love affairs and abundant offspring are often alluded to.
The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, and Harmonia. Other versions include Alcippe as one of his daughters.
Cycnus (Κύκνος) of Macedonia was a son of Ares who tried to build a temple to his father with the skulls and bones of guests and travellers. Heracles fought him and, in one account, killed him. In another account, Ares fought his son's killer but Zeus parted the combatants with a thunderbolt.
Ares had a romantic liaison with Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Aphrodite discovered them, and in anger she cursed Eos with insatiable lust for men.
By a woman named Teirene he had a daughter named Thrassa, who in turn had a daughter named Polyphonte. Polyphonte was cursed by Aphrodite to love and mate with a bear, producing two sons, Agrius and Oreius, who were hubristic toward the gods and had a habit of eating their guests. Zeus sent Hermes to punish them, and he chose to chop off their hands and feet. Since Polyphonte was descended from him, Ares stopped Hermes, and the two brothers came into an agreement to turn Polyphonte's family into birds instead. Oreius became an eagle owl, Agrius a vulture, and Polyphonte a strix, possibly a small owl, certainly a portent of war; Polyphonte's servant prayed not to become a bird of evil omen and Ares and Hermes fulfilled her wish by choosing the woodpecker for her, a good omen for hunters.
List of offspring and their mothers
Sometimes poets and dramatists recounted ancient traditions, which varied, and sometimes they invented new details; later scholiasts might draw on either or simply guess. Thus while Phobos and Deimos were regularly described as offspring of Ares, others listed here such as Meleager, Sinope and Solymus were sometimes said to be children of Ares and sometimes given other fathers.
The following is a list of Ares' offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source dates.
Mars
The nearest counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars, a son of Jupiter and Juno, pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods but originally an agricultural deity. As a father of Romulus, Rome's legendary founder, Mars was given an important and dignified place in ancient Roman religion, as a guardian deity of the entire Roman state and its people. Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with Ares, but the character and dignity of the two deities differed fundamentally. Mars was represented as a means to secure peace, and he was a father (pater) of the Roman people. In one tradition, he fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia. In another, his lover, the goddess Venus, gave birth to Aeneas, the Trojan prince and refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus.
In the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name of Mars. Greek writers under Roman rule also recorded cult practices and beliefs pertaining to Mars under the name of Ares. Thus in the classical tradition of later Western art and literature, the mythology of the two figures later became virtually indistinguishable.
Renaissance and later depictions
In Renaissance and Neoclassical works of art, Ares's symbols are a spear and helmet, his animal is a dog, and his bird is the vulture. In literary works of these eras, Ares is replaced by the Roman Mars, a romantic emblem of manly valor rather than the cruel and blood-thirsty god of Greek mythology.
In popular culture
Genealogy
See also
Family tree of the Greek gods
Footnotes
Notes
References
Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, edited and translated by Francis Celoria, Routledge, 1992. . Online version at ToposText.
Apollodorus, Apollodorus: The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion, Harvard University Press, 1985. . Internet Archive.
Etymologicum Magnum, Friderici Sylburgii (ed.), Leipzig: J.A.G. Weigel, 1816. Internet Archive.
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. . Internet Archive.
Hansen, William, Handbook of Classical Mythology, ABC-CLIO, 2004. . Internet Archive.
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. . Google Books.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Internet Archive.
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homeric Hymn 8 to Ares, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, De Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Volume II: Books 16–35, translated by W. H. D. Rouse, Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at Harvard University Press. . Internet Archive (1940).
Oxford Classical Dictionary, revised third edition, Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (editors), Oxford University Press, 2003. . Internet Archive.
Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Peck, Harry Thurston, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1898. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis, in Plutarch's morals, Volume V, edited and translated by William Watson Goodwin, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1874. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnica: Volumen I Alpha - Gamma, edited by Margarethe Billerbeck, in collaboration with Jan Felix Gaertner, Beatrice Wyss and Christian Zubler, De Gruyter, 2006. . Online version at De Gruyter. Google Books.
Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). . Internet Archive.
Characters in the Odyssey
Children of Hera
Children of Zeus
Consorts of Aphrodite
Consorts of Eos
Deeds of Poseidon
Deities in the Iliad
Dog deities
Greek mythology of Thrace
Greek war deities
Martian deities
Planetary gods
Metamorphoses characters
Twelve Olympians
War gods |
2082 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautics | Aeronautics | Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies the aspects of "aeronautical Art, Science and Engineering" and "The profession of Aeronautics (which expression includes Astronautics)."
While the term originally referred solely to operating the aircraft, it has since been expanded to include technology, business, and other aspects related to aircraft.
The term "aviation" is sometimes used interchangeably with aeronautics, although "aeronautics" includes lighter-than-air craft such as airships, and includes ballistic vehicles while "aviation" technically does not.
A significant part of aeronautical science is a branch of dynamics called aerodynamics, which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft.
History
Early ideas
Attempts to fly without any real aeronautical understanding have been made from the earliest times, typically by constructing wings and jumping from a tower with crippling or lethal results.
Wiser investigators sought to gain some rational understanding through the study of bird flight. Medieval Islamic Golden Age scientists such as Abbas ibn Firnas also made such studies. The founders of modern aeronautics, Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance and Cayley in 1799, both began their investigations with studies of bird flight.
Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in ancient China. In 1282 the Italian explorer Marco Polo described the Chinese techniques then current. The Chinese also constructed small hot air balloons, or lanterns, and rotary-wing toys.
An early European to provide any scientific discussion of flight was Roger Bacon, who described principles of operation for the lighter-than-air balloon and the flapping-wing ornithopter, which he envisaged would be constructed in the future. The lifting medium for his balloon would be an "aether" whose composition he did not know.
In the late fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci followed up his study of birds with designs for some of the earliest flying machines, including the flapping-wing ornithopter and the rotating-wing helicopter. Although his designs were rational, they were not based on particularly good science. Many of his designs, such as a four-person screw-type helicopter, have severe flaws. He did at least understand that "An object offers as much resistance to the air as the air does to the object." (Newton would not publish the Third law of motion until 1687.) His analysis led to the realisation that manpower alone was not sufficient for sustained flight, and his later designs included a mechanical power source such as a spring. Da Vinci's work was lost after his death and did not reappear until it had been overtaken by the work of George Cayley.
Balloon flight
The modern era of lighter-than-air flight began early in the 17th century with Galileo's experiments in which he showed that air has weight. Around 1650 Cyrano de Bergerac wrote some fantasy novels in which he described the principle of ascent using a substance (dew) he supposed to be lighter than air, and descending by releasing a controlled amount of the substance. Francesco Lana de Terzi measured the pressure of air at sea level and in 1670 proposed the first scientifically credible lifting medium in the form of hollow metal spheres from which all the air had been pumped out. These would be lighter than the displaced air and able to lift an airship. His proposed methods of controlling height are still in use today; by carrying ballast which may be dropped overboard to gain height, and by venting the lifting containers to lose height. In practice de Terzi's spheres would have collapsed under air pressure, and further developments had to wait for more practicable lifting gases.
From the mid-18th century the Montgolfier brothers in France began experimenting with balloons. Their balloons were made of paper, and early experiments using steam as the lifting gas were short-lived due to its effect on the paper as it condensed. Mistaking smoke for a kind of steam, they began filling their balloons with hot smoky air which they called "electric smoke" and, despite not fully understanding the principles at work, made some successful launches and in 1783 were invited to give a demonstration to the French Académie des Sciences.
Meanwhile, the discovery of hydrogen led Joseph Black in to propose its use as a lifting gas, though practical demonstration awaited a gas tight balloon material. On hearing of the Montgolfier Brothers' invitation, the French Academy member Jacques Charles offered a similar demonstration of a hydrogen balloon. Charles and two craftsmen, the Robert brothers, developed a gas tight material of rubberised silk for the envelope. The hydrogen gas was to be generated by chemical reaction during the filling process.
The Montgolfier designs had several shortcomings, not least the need for dry weather and a tendency for sparks from the fire to set light to the paper balloon. The manned design had a gallery around the base of the balloon rather than the hanging basket of the first, unmanned design, which brought the paper closer to the fire. On their free flight, De Rozier and d'Arlandes took buckets of water and sponges to douse these fires as they arose. On the other hand, the manned design of Charles was essentially modern. As a result of these exploits, the hot air balloon became known as the Montgolfière type and the gas balloon the Charlière.
Charles and the Robert brothers' next balloon, La Caroline, was a Charlière that followed Jean Baptiste Meusnier's proposals for an elongated dirigible balloon, and was notable for having an outer envelope with the gas contained in a second, inner ballonet. On 19 September 1784, it completed the first flight of over 100 km, between Paris and Beuvry, despite the man-powered propulsive devices proving useless.
In an attempt the next year to provide both endurance and controllability, de Rozier developed a balloon having both hot air and hydrogen gas bags, a design which was soon named after him as the Rozière. The principle was to use the hydrogen section for constant lift and to navigate vertically by heating and allowing to cool the hot air section, in order to catch the most favourable wind at whatever altitude it was blowing. The balloon envelope was made of goldbeater's skin. The first flight ended in disaster and the approach has seldom been used since.
Cayley and the foundation of modern aeronautics
Sir George Cayley (1773–1857) is widely acknowledged as the founder of modern aeronautics. He was first called the "father of the aeroplane" in 1846 and Henson called him the "father of aerial navigation." He was the first true scientific aerial investigator to publish his work, which included for the first time the underlying principles and forces of flight.
In 1809 he began the publication of a landmark three-part treatise titled "On Aerial Navigation" (1809–1810). In it he wrote the first scientific statement of the problem, "The whole problem is confined within these limits, viz. to make a surface support a given weight by the application of power to the resistance of air." He identified the four vector forces that influence an aircraft: thrust, lift, drag and weight and distinguished stability and control in his designs.
He developed the modern conventional form of the fixed-wing aeroplane having a stabilising tail with both horizontal and vertical surfaces, flying gliders both unmanned and manned.
He introduced the use of the whirling arm test rig to investigate the aerodynamics of flight, using it to discover the benefits of the curved or cambered aerofoil over the flat wing he had used for his first glider. He also identified and described the importance of dihedral, diagonal bracing and drag reduction, and contributed to the understanding and design of ornithopters and parachutes.
Another significant invention was the tension-spoked wheel, which he devised in order to create a light, strong wheel for aircraft undercarriage.
The 19th century: Otto Lilienthal and the first human flights
During the 19th century Cayley's ideas were refined, proved and expanded on, culminating in the works of Otto Lilienthal.
Lilienthal was a German engineer and businessman who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders, therefore making the idea of "heavier than air" a reality. Newspapers and magazines published photographs of Lilienthal gliding, favourably influencing public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical.
His work lead to him developing the concept of the modern wing. His flight attempts in Berlin in the year 1891 are seen as the beginning of human flight and the "Lilienthal Normalsegelapparat" is considered to be the first air plane in series production, making the Maschinenfabrik Otto Lilienthal in Berlin the first air plane production company in the world.
Otto Lilienthal is often referred to as either the "father of aviation" or "father of flight".
Other important investigators included Horatio Phillips.
Branches
Aeronautics may be divided into three main branches, Aviation, Aeronautical science and Aeronautical engineering.
Aviation
Aviation is the art or practice of aeronautics. Historically aviation meant only heavier-than-air flight, but nowadays it includes flying in balloons and airships.
Aeronautical engineering
Aeronautical engineering covers the design and construction of aircraft, including how they are powered, how they are used and how they are controlled for safe operation.
A major part of aeronautical engineering is aerodynamics, the science of passing through the air.
With the increasing activity in space flight, nowadays aeronautics and astronautics are often combined as aerospace engineering.
Aerodynamics
The science of aerodynamics deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft.
The study of aerodynamics falls broadly into three areas:
Incompressible flow occurs where the air simply moves to avoid objects, typically at subsonic speeds below that of sound (Mach 1).
Compressible flow occurs where shock waves appear at points where the air becomes compressed, typically at speeds above Mach 1.
Transonic flow occurs in the intermediate speed range around Mach 1, where the airflow over an object may be locally subsonic at one point and locally supersonic at another.
Rocketry
A rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction. Rocket engines push rockets forwards simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast.
Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China. Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology of the Space Age, including setting foot on the Moon.
Rockets are used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight and exploration of other planets. While comparatively inefficient for low speed use, they are very lightweight and powerful, capable of generating large accelerations and of attaining extremely high speeds with reasonable efficiency.
Chemical rockets are the most common type of rocket and they typically create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks.
See also
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Aeronautics
Aviation Terminology
Jeppesen The AVIATION DICTIONARY for pilots and aviation technicians
DTIC ADA032206: Chinese-English Aviation and Space Dictionary
Courses
Research
+
Vehicle operation
Articles containing video clips |
2192 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2011 | August 11 |
Events
Pre-1600
3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins.
2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.
106 – The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia.
355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.
490 – Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan.
923 – The Qarmatians of Bahrayn capture and pillage the city of Basra.
1315 – The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage.
1332 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor: Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.
1473 – The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu.
1492 – Rodrigo de Borja is elected as Head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Alexander VI.
1601–1900
1675 – Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke.
1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.
1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
1813 – In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.
1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.
1871 – An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28.
1898 – Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
1901–present
1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.
1919 – Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.
1920 – The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney.
1920 – The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.
1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.
1945 – Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five.
1952 – Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.
1959 – Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.
1960 – Chad declares independence from France.
1961 – The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
1962 – Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.
1965 – Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon.
1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
1975 – East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
1979 – Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.
1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.
1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
1988 – A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda.
1992 – The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States.
2000 – An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries.
2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
2006 – The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.
2012 – At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
2017 – At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt.
2023 – Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Births
Pre-1600
1086 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1125)
1384 – Yolande of Aragon (d. 1442)
1472 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, Catholic cardinal (d. 1537)
1510 – Margaret Paleologa, Sovereign Marchioness of Montferrat (d. 1566)
1601–1900
1673 – Richard Mead, English physician and astrologer (d. 1754)
1718 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-English general and politician, 22nd Governor of Quebec (d. 1791)
1722 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (d. 1797)
1748 – Joseph Schuster, German composer (d. 1812)
1778 – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Prussian gymnast, educator, and politician (d. 1852)
1794 – James B. Longacre, American engraver (d. 1869)
1807 – David Rice Atchison, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1886)
1808 – William W. Chapman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
1816 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 1899)
1833 – Kido Takayoshi, Japanese samurai and politician (d. 1877)
1836 – Warren Brown, American historian and politician (d. 1919)
1837 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (d. 1894)
1855 – John Hodges, Australian cricketer (d. 1933)
1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930)
1860 – Ottó Bláthy, Hungarian engineer and chess player (d. 1939)
1870 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (d. 1912)
1874 – Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (d. 1953)
1877 – Adolph M. Christianson, American lawyer and judge (d. 1954)
1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and author (d. 1955)
1881 – Aleksander Aberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1920)
1884 – Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor (d. 1962)
1885 – Stephen Butterworth, English physicist and engineer (d. 1958)
1891 – Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and educator (d. 1962)
1891 – Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (d. 1944)
1892 – Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and linguist (d. 1978)
1892 – Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese author (d. 1962)
1897 – Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator (d. 1968)
1897 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (d. 1970)
1898 – Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1968)
1900 – Charley Paddock, American sprinter (d. 1943)
1900 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1994)
1901–present
1902 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986)
1902 – Lloyd Nolan, American actor (d. 1985)
1902 – Christian de Castries, French general (d. 1991)
1905 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (d. 2002)
1905 – Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomat (d. 1998)
1907 – Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and lawyer (d. 1989)
1908 – Don Freeman, American author and illustrator (d. 1978)
1908 – Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (d. 1999)
1909 – Yūji Koseki, Japanese composer (d. 1989)
1909 – Uku Masing, Estonian philosopher and theologian (d. 1985)
1911 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer and academic (d. 1954)
1912 – Raphael Blau, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
1913 – Paul Dupuis, Canadian actor (d. 1976)
1913 – Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
1913 – Angus Wilson, English author and academic (d. 1991)
1915 – Morris Weiss, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
1916 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (d. 1956)
1919 – Luis Olmo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and manager (d. 2017)
1920 – Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (d. 2006)
1920 – Chuck Rayner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)
1921 – Alex Haley, American historian and author (d. 1992)
1922 – John "Mule" Miles, American baseball player (d. 2013)
1923 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (d. 2015)
1925 – Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2006)
1925 – Arlene Dahl, American actress, businesswoman and writer (d. 2021)
1926 – Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
1927 – Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor (d. 2019)
1927 – Stuart Rosenberg, American director and producer (d. 2007)
1932 – Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright
1932 – Izzy Asper, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician, founded Canwest (d. 2003)
1932 – Geoffrey Cass, English businessman
1932 – Peter Eisenman, American architect, designed the City of Culture of Galicia
1932 – John Gorrie, English director and screenwriter
1933 – Jerry Falwell, American minister and television host (d. 2007)
1933 – Jerzy Grotowski, Polish director and producer (d. 1999)
1933 – Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor
1934 – Bob Hepple, South African lawyer and academic (d. 2015)
1936 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (d. 1999)
1936 – Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
1936 – Jonathan Spence, English-American historian and academic (d. 2021)
1937 – Anna Massey, English actress (d. 2011)
1937 – Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded International Data Group (d. 2014)
1939 – James Mancham, first President of Seychelles (d. 2017)
1939 – Ronnie Dawson, American singer and guitarist (d. 2003)
1940 – Glenys Page, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2012)
1941 – John Ellison, American-Canadian musician and songwriter
1942 – Mike Hugg, English drummer and keyboard player
1942 – Otis Taylor, American football player (d. 2023)
1943 – Jim Kale, Canadian bass player
1943 – Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan (d. 2023)
1943 – Denis Payton, English saxophonist (d. 2006)
1944 – Martin Linton, Swedish-English journalist and politician
1944 – Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, founded FedEx
1944 – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
1946 – John Conlee, American singer-songwriter
1946 – Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author
1947 – Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
1947 – Georgios Karatzaferis, Greek journalist and politician
1947 – Wilma van den Berg, Dutch sprinter
1948 – Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer, and screenwriter
1949 – Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Tim Hutchinson, American lawyer and politician
1949 – Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor and singer (d. 1990)
1950 – Erik Brann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1950 – Gennadiy Nikonov, Russian engineer, designed the AN-94 rifle (d. 2003)
1950 – Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc.
1952 – Reid Blackburn, American photographer (d. 1980)
1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh, American singer, guitarist, and producer
1953 – Hulk Hogan, American wrestler
1953 – Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer
1954 – Bryan Bassett, American guitarist
1954 – Vance Heafner, American golfer and coach (d. 2012)
1954 – Joe Jackson, English singer-songwriter and musician
1954 – Tarmo Rüütli, Estonian footballer, coach, and manager
1954 – Yashpal Sharma, Indian cricketer and umpire (d. 2021)
1955 – Marc Bureau, Canadian politician, 16th Mayor of Gatineau
1955 – Sylvia Hermon, Northern Irish academic and politician
1956 – Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician and academic
1957 – Ian Stuart Donaldson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993)
1957 – Masayoshi Son, Japanese technology entrepreneur and investor
1958 – Steven Pokere, New Zealand rugby player
1958 – Jah Wobble, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1959 – Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
1959 – Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese businessman
1959 – Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (d. 2005)
1959 – Richard Scudamore, English businessman
1959 – László Szlávics, Jr., Hungarian sculptor
1961 – David Brooks, American journalist and author
1961 – Craig Ehlo, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Brian Azzarello, American author
1962 – Charles Cecil, English video game designer and co-founded Revolution Software
1962 – John Micklethwait, English journalist and author
1962 – Rob Minkoff, American director and producer
1963 – Hiromi Makihara, Japanese baseball player
1964 – Jim Lee, South Korean-American author and illustrator
1964 – Grant Waite, New Zealand golfer
1965 – Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1965 – Embeth Davidtz, American actress
1965 – Viola Davis, American actress
1966 – Nigel Martyn, English footballer and coach
1966 – Juan María Solare, Argentinian pianist and composer
1967 – Massimiliano Allegri, Italian footballer and manager
1967 – Enrique Bunbury, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Joe Rogan, American actor, comedian, and television host
1967 – Petter Wettre, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
1968 – Anna Gunn, American actress
1968 – Sophie Okonedo, British actress
1968 – Charlie Sexton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Dirk Hannemann, German footballer and manager
1970 – Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer
1971 – Alejandra Barros, Mexican actress and screenwriter
1971 – Tommy Mooney, English footballer
1973 – Kristin Armstrong, American cyclist
1974 – Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian figure skater
1974 – Hadiqa Kiani, Pakistani singer, songwriter and philanthropist
1974 – Audrey Mestre, French biologist and diver (d. 2002)
1974 – Carolyn Murphy, American model and actress
1975 – Chris Cummings, Canadian singer-songwriter
1976 – Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer and manager
1976 – Bubba Crosby, American baseball player
1976 – Will Friedle, American actor and screenwriter
1976 – Ben Gibbard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Ľubomír Višňovský, Slovak ice hockey player
1977 – Gemma Hayes, Irish singer-songwriter
1977 – Dênio Martins, Brazilian footballer
1978 – Spyros Gogolos, Greek footballer
1978 – Charlotte Leslie, British politician
1978 – Lillian Nakate, Ugandan politician
1978 – Isy Suttie, English comedian, musician, actress, and writer
1979 – Walter Ayoví, Ecuadorian footballer
1980 – Daniel Lloyd, English cyclist and sportscaster
1980 – Lee Suggs, American football player
1981 – Daniel Poohl, Swedish journalist
1982 – Andy Lee, American football player
1983 – Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor
1983 – Luke Lewis, Australian rugby league player
1983 – Pavel 183, Russian painter (d. 2013)
1984 – Mojtaba Abedini, Iranian Olympic fencer
1984 – Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian race car driver
1985 – Jacqueline Fernandez, Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress
1985 – Asher Roth, American rapper
1986 – Mokhtar Benmoussa, Algerian footballer
1986 – Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player
1987 – Dany N'Guessan, French footballer
1987 – Drew Storen, American baseball player
1988 – Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Filipino basketball player
1988 – Patty Mills, Australian basketball player
1988 – Mustafa Pektemek, Turkish footballer
1989 – Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (d. 2013)
1989 – Sebastian Huke, German footballer
1990 – Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player
1991 – Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer
1992 – Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator
1993 – Alyson Stoner, American actor, singer, and dancer
1994 – Storm Sanders, Australian tennis player
1994 – Anton Cooper, New Zealand cross-country cyclist
1994 – Joseph Barbato, French footballer
1994 – Song I-han, South Korean singer
1997 – Sarah Clelland, Scottish footballer
2001 – Moyuka Uchijima, Japanese tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
223 – Jia Xu, Chinese politician and strategist (b. 147)
353 – Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303)
449 – Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople
632 – Rusticula, abbess of Arles
919 – Dhuka al-Rumi, Abbasid governor of Egypt
979 – Gero, Count of Alsleben
991 – Byrhtnoth, English soldier (b. 956)
1044 – Sokkate, king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (b. 1001)
1204 – Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199)
1253 – Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (b. 1194)
1259 – Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (b. 1208)
1268 – Agnes of Faucigny, Dame ruler of Faucigny, Countess consort of Savoy
1332 – Domhnall II, Earl of Mar
1332 – Robert II Keith, Marischal of Scotland
1332 – Thomas Randolph, 2nd Earl of Moray
1332 – Murdoch III, Earl of Menteith
1332 – Robert Bruce, Lord of Liddesdale
1456 – John Hunyadi, Hungarian general and politician (b. 1387)
1464 – Nicholas of Cusa, German cardinal and mystic (b. 1401)
1465 – Kettil Karlsson, regent of Sweden and Bishop of Linköping (b. 1433)
1486 – William Waynflete, English Lord Chancellor and bishop of Winchester (b. c. 1398)
1494 – Hans Memling, German-Belgian painter (b. 1430)
1519 – Johann Tetzel, German preacher (b. 1465)
1556 – John Bell, English bishop
1563 – Bartolomé de Escobedo, Spanish composer and educator (b. 1500)
1578 – Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician and academic (b. 1502)
1596 – Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare (b. 1585)
1601–1900
1614 – Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (b. 1552)
1656 – Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian-Italian field marshal (b. 1599)
1725 – Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (b. 1723)
1774 – Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche, French physician and author (b. 1722)
1813 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (b. 1745)
1851 – Lorenz Oken, German botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (b. 1779)
1854 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1798)
1868 – Halfdan Kjerulf, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1815)
1886 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (b. 1843)
1890 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal and theologian (b. 1801)
1892 – Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1813)
1901–present
1903 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican-American sociologist, philosopher, and lawyer (b. 1839)
1908 – Khudiram Bose, Indian Bengali revolutionary (b. 1889)
1919 – Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall (b. 1835)
1921 – Mary Sumner, English philanthropist, founded the Mothers' Union (b. 1828)
1936 – Blas Infante, Spanish historian and politician (b. 1885)
1937 – Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1862)
1939 – Jean Bugatti, German-Italian engineer (b. 1909)
1939 – Siegfried Flesch, Austrian fencer (b. 1872)
1945 – Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and theater producer (b. 1883)
1953 – Tazio Nuvolari, Italian race car driver and motorcycle racer (b. 1892)
1956 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (b. 1912)
1961 – Antanas Škėma, Lithuanian-American author, playwright, actor, and director (b. 1910)
1963 – Otto Wahle, Austrian-American swimmer and coach (b. 1879)
1965 – Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1897)
1969 – Miriam Licette, English soprano and educator (b. 1885)
1972 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1974 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan conductor and composer (b. 1887)
1977 – Frederic Calland Williams, British co-inventor of the Williams-Kilborn tube, used for memory in early computer systems (b. 1911)
1978 – Berta Ruck, Indian-born Welsh romance novelist (b. 1878)
1979 – J. G. Farrell, English author (b. 1935)
1980 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
1982 – Tom Drake, American actor and singer (b. 1918)
1984 – Alfred A. Knopf Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (b. 1892)
1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–American chemist and chess player (b. 1916)
1986 – János Drapál, Hungarian motorcycle racer (b. 1948)
1988 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (b. 1929)
1989 – John Meillon, Australian actor (b. 1934)
1991 – J. D. McDuffie, American race car driver (b. 1938)
1994 – Peter Cushing, English actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1904)
1996 – Rafael Kubelík, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1914)
1996 – Ambrosio Padilla, Filipino basketball player and politician (b. 1910)
2000 – Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic (b. 1916)
2001 – Percy Stallard, English cyclist and coach (b. 1909)
2002 – Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountaineer (b. 1940)
2003 – Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (b. 1923)
2003 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1937)
2006 – Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (b. 1920)
2008 – George Furth, American actor and playwright (b. 1932)
2008 – Dursun Karataş, founding leader of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C) in Turkey (b. 1952)
2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, founded the Special Olympics (b. 1921)
2010 – James Mourilyan Tanner, British paediatric endocrinologist (b. 1920)
2012 – Red Bastien, American wrestler, trainer, and promoter (b. 1931)
2012 – Michael Dokes, American boxer (b. 1958)
2012 – Lucy Gallardo, Argentinian-Mexican actress and screenwriter (b. 1929)
2013 – Raymond Delisle, French cyclist (b. 1943)
2013 – Zafar Futehally, Indian ornithologist and author (b. 1919)
2013 – David Howard, English ballet dancer and educator (b. 1937)
2014 – Vladimir Beara, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1928)
2014 – Raymond Gravel, Canadian priest and politician (b. 1952)
2014 – Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish author and blogger (b. 1917)
2014 – Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (b. 1951)
2015 – Serge Collot, French viola player and educator (b. 1923)
2015 – Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1941)
2015 – Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (b. 1920)
2017 – Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever (b. 1903)
2017 – Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (b. 1946)
2018 – V S Naipaul, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
2019 – Sergio Obeso Rivera, Mexican Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1931)
2020 – Trini Lopez, American singer and guitarist (b. 1937)
2020 – Sumner Redstone, American billionaire businessman (b. 1923)
2022 – Anne Heche, American actress (b. 1969)
2022 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (b. 1926)
2023 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances
Christian Feast Day:
Athracht
Clare of Assisi
Gaugericus
John Henry Newman (Church of England)
Philomena
Susanna
Taurinus of Évreux
Tiburtius and Chromatius
August 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Pakistan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960.
Mountain Day (Japan)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
2194 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%205 | April 5 |
Events
Pre-1600
823 – Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I.
919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army.
1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
1536 – Charles V makes a Royal Entry into Rome, demolishing a swath of the city to re-enact a Roman triumph.
1566 – Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces.
1601–1900
1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.
1792 – United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.
1795 – Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made.
1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
1879 – Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
1901–present
1902 – A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England.
1910 – The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated.
1922 – The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated.
1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.
1933 – Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.
1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi.
1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad.
1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers and are sunk southwest of the island.
1943 – World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit.
1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory".
1946 – Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm.
1946 – A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.
1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.
1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.
1956 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
1966 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down.
1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities.
1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
1976 – In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident.
1977 – The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip.
1991 – An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter.
1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War.
1998 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world.
1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
2007 – The cruise ship MS Sea Diamond strikes a volcanic reef near Nea Kameni and sinks the next day. Two passengers were never recovered and are presumed dead.
2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
2018 – Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a slaughterhouse in Tennessee, detaining nearly 100 undocumented Hispanic workers in one of the largest workplace raids in the history of the United States.
2021 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc took office as President of Vietnam after dismissing the title of Prime Minister.
Births
Pre-1600
1170 – Isabella of Hainault (d. 1190)
1219 – Wonjong of Goryeo, 24th ruler of Goryeo (d. 1274)
1279 – Al-Nuwayri, Egyptian Muslim historian (d. 1333)
1288 – Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
1315 – James III of Majorca (d. 1349)
1365 – William II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1417)
1472 – Bianca Maria Sforza, Italian wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
1521 – Francesco Laparelli, Italian architect (d. 1570)
1523 – Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer and diplomat (d. 1596)
1533 – Giulio della Rovere, Italian Catholic Cardinal (d. 1578)
1539 – George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1603)
1549 – Princess Elizabeth of Sweden (d. 1597)
1568 – Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644)
1588 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)
1591 – Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (d. 1634)
1595 – John Wilson, English composer and educator (d. 1674)
1601–1900
1604 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675)
1616 – Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1661)
1622 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1703)
1649 – Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (d. 1721)
1656 – Nikita Demidov, Russian industrialist (d. 1725)
1664 – Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine, French noblewoman and Princess of Epinoy (d. 1748)
1674 – Margravine Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg, (d. 1748)
1691 – Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1768)
1692 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
1719 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician, Lord Marshal of Sweden (d. 1794)
1726 – Benjamin Harrison V, American politician, planter and merchant (d. 1791)
1727 – Pasquale Anfossi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1797)
1729 – Frederick Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1809)
1730 – Jean Baptiste Seroux d'Agincourt, French archaeologist and historian (d. 1814)
1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter and etcher (d. 1806)
1735 – Franziskus Herzan von Harras, Czech Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1804)
1739 – Philemon Dickinson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1809)
1752 – Sébastien Érard, French instrument maker (d. 1831)
1761 – Sybil Ludington, American figure of the American Revolutionary War (d. 1839)
1769 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1839)
1773 – José María Coppinger, governor of Spanish East Florida (d. 1844)
1773 – Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (d. 1839)
1777 – Marie Jules César Savigny, French zoologist (d. 1851)
1782 – Wincenty Krasiński, Polish nobleman (d. 1858)
1784 – Louis Spohr, German violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1859)
1788 – Franz Pforr, German painter (d. 1812)
1793 – Casimir Delavigne, French poet and dramatist (d. 1843)
1793 – Felix de Muelenaere, Belgian politician (d. 1862)
1795 – Henry Havelock, British general (d. 1857)
1799 – Jacques Denys Choisy, Swiss clergyman and botanist (d. 1859)
1801 – Félix Dujardin, French biologist (d. 1860)
1801 – Vincenzo Gioberti, Italian philosopher, publicist and politician (d. 1852)
1804 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist (d. 1881)
1809 – Karl Felix Halm, German scholar and critic (d. 1882)
1810 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, British East India Company army officer and politician (d. 1895)
1811 – Jules Dupré, French painter (d. 1889)
1814 – Felix Lichnowsky, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1848)
1822 – Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye, Belgian economist (d. 1892)
1827 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon and academic (d. 1912)
1832 – Jules Ferry, French lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of France (d. 1893)
1834 – Prentice Mulford, American humorist and author (d. 1891)
1834 – Wilhelm Olbers Focke, German medical doctor and botanist (d. 1922)
1834 – Frank R. Stockton, American writer and humorist (d. 1902)
1835 – Vítězslav Hálek, Czech poet, writer, journalist, dramatist and theatre critic. (d. 1874)
1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic (d. 1909)
1839 – Robert Smalls, African-American ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician (d. 1915)
1840 – Ghazaros Aghayan, Armenian historian and linguist (d. 1911)
1842 – Hans Hildebrand, Swedish archaeologist (d. 1913)
1845 – Friedrich Sigmund Merkel, German anatomist and histopathologist (d. 1919)
1845 – Jules Cambon, French diplomat (d. 1935)
1846 – Sigmund Exner, Austrian physiologist (d. 1926)
1846 – Henry Wellesley, British peer and politician (d. 1900)
1848 – Thure de Thulstrup, American illustrator (d. 1930)
1848 – Ulrich Wille, Swiss army general (d. 1925)
1850 – Enrico Mazzanti, Italian engineer and cartoonist (d. 1910)
1852 – Émile Billard, French sailor (d. 1930)
1852 – Walter W. Winans, American marksman and sculptor (d. 1920)
1852 – Franz Eckert, German composer and musician (d. 1916)
1856 – Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, essayist and historian (d. 1915)
1857 – Alexander of Battenberg (d. 1893)
1858 – Washington Atlee Burpee, Canadian businessman, founded Burpee Seeds (d. 1915)
1859 – Reinhold Seeberg, German theologian (d. 1935)
1860 – Harry S. Barlow, British tennis player (d. 1917)
1862 – Louis Ganne, French conductor (d. 1923)
1862 – Leo Stern, English cellist (d. 1904)
1863 – Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1950)
1867 – Ernest Lewis, British tennis player (d. 1930)
1869 – Sergey Chaplygin, Russian physicist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 1942)
1869 – Albert Roussel, French composer (d. 1937)
1870 – Motobu Chōki, Japanese karateka (d. 1944)
1871 – Stanisław Grabski, Polish economist and politician (d. 1949)
1872 – Samuel Cate Prescott, American microbiologist and chemist (d. 1962)
1873 – Joseph Rheden, Austrian astronomer (d. 1946)
1874 – Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French Cardinal of the Catholic Church (d. 1949)
1874 – Manuel María Ponce Brousset, President of Peru (d. 1966)
1878 – Albert Champion, French cyclist (d. 1927)
1878 – Georg Misch, German philosopher (d. 1965)
1878 – Paul Weinstein, German high jumper (d. 1964)
1879 – Arthur Berriedale Keith, Scottish lawyer (d. 1944)
1879 – Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, German naval officer and author (d. 1956)
1880 – Eric Carlberg, Swedish Army officer, diplomat, shooter, fencer and modern pentathlete (d. 1963)
1880 – Vilhelm Carlberg, Swedish Army officer and shooter (d. 1970)
1882 – Song Jiaoren, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1913)
1882 – Natalia Sedova, 2nd wife of Leon Trotsky (d. 1962)
1883 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1950)
1884 – Ion Inculeț, Bessarabian academic and politician, President of Moldova (d. 1940)
1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian composer (d. 1978)
1886 – Gotthelf Bergsträsser, German linguist (d. 1933)
1886 – Frederick Lindemann, British physicist (d. 1957)
1886 – Gustavo Jiménez, Peruvian colonel and politician, 73rd President of Peru (d. 1933)
1887 – William Cowhig, British gymnast (d. 1964)
1889 – Vicente Ferreira Pastinha, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1981)
1890 – Karl Kirk, Danish gymnast (d. 1955)
1890 – William Moore, British track and field athlete (d. 1956)
1891 – Arnold Jackson, English runner, soldier, and lawyer (d. 1972)
1891 – Laura Vicuña, Chilean nun (d. 1904)
1892 – Raymond Bonney, American ice hockey player (d. 1964)
1893 – Frithjof Andersen, Norwegian wrestler (d. 1975)
1893 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973)
1894 – Lawrence Dale Bell, American industrialist and founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation (d. 1956)
1894 – Hans Hüttig, German SS officer (d. 1980)
1894 – Carl Rudolf Florin, Swedish botanist (d. 1965)
1895 – Mike O'Dowd, American boxer (d. 1957)
1896 – Einar Lundborg, Swedish aviator (d. 1931)
1897 – Hans Schuberth, German politician (d. 1976)
1898 – Solange d'Ayen, French noblewoman, Duchess of Ayen and journalist (d. 1976)
1899 – Alfred Blalock, American surgeon and academic (d. 1964)
1900 – Herbert Bayer, Austrian-American graphic designer, painter, and photographer (d. 1985)
1900 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1939)
1900 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
1901–present
1901 – Curt Bois, German actor (d. 1991)
1901 – Chester Bowles, American diplomat and ambassador (d. 1986)
1901 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)
1901 – Doggie Julian, American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach (d. 1967)
1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Russian-American rabbi (d. 1994)
1903 – Marion Aye, American actress (d. 1951)
1904 – Richard Eberhart, American poet and academic (d. 2005)
1906 – Albert Charles Smith, American botanist (d. 1999)
1906 – Fernando Germani, Italian organist (d. 1998)
1906 – Ted Morgan, New Zealand boxer (d. 1952)
1907 – Sanya Dharmasakti, Thai jurist (d. 2002)
1908 – Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
1908 – Kurt Neumann, German director (d. 1958)
1908 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1986)
1908 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor and manager (d. 1989)
1909 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer, co-founded Eon Productions (d. 1996)
1909 – Giacomo Gentilomo, Italian film director and painter (d. 2001)
1909 – Károly Sós, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1991)
1909 – Erwin Wegner, German hurdler (d. 1945)
1910 – Sven Andersson, Swedish politician (d. 1987)
1910 – Oronzo Pugliese, Italian football manager (d. 1990)
1911 – Hedi Amara Nouira, Tunisian politician (d. 1993)
1911 – Johnny Revolta, American golfer (d. 1991)
1912 – Jehan Buhan, French fencer (d. 1999)
1912 – Habib Elghanian, Iranian businessman (d. 1979)
1912 – Antonio Ferri, Italian scientist (d. 1975)
1912 – Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (d. 2000)
1912 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 1997)
1912 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (d. 1983)
1912 – István Örkény, Hungarian author and playwright (d. 1979)
1912 – Bill Roberts, English sprinter and soldier (d. 2001)
1913 – Antoni Clavé, Catalan artist (d. 2005)
1913 – Nicolas Grunitzky, 2nd President of Togo (d. 1969)
1913 – Ruth Smith, Faroese artist (d. 1958)
1914 – Felice Borel, Italian footballer (d. 1993)
1916 – Gregory Peck, American actor, political activist, and producer (d. 2003)
1917 – Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)
1917 – Frans Gommers, Belgian footballer (d. 1996)
1919 – Lester James Peries, Sri Lankan director, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2018)
1920 – Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2001)
1920 – Arthur Hailey, English-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2004)
1920 – Alfonso Thiele, Turkish-Italian race car driver (d. 1986)
1920 – John Willem Gran, Swedish bishop (d. 2008)
1921 – Christopher Hewett, English actor and theatre director (d. 2001)
1922 – Tom Finney, English footballer (d. 2014)
1922 – Harry Freedman, Polish-Canadian horn player, composer, and educator (d. 2005)
1922 – Andy Linden, American race car driver (d. 1987)
1922 – Gale Storm, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
1923 – Ernest Mandel, German-born Belgian Marxist economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist (d. 1995)
1923 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)
1923 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese general and politician, 5th President of South Vietnam (d. 2001)
1924 – Igor Borisov, Soviet rower (d. before 2005)
1925 – Janet Rowley, American human geneticist (d. 2013)
1925 – Pierre Nihant, Belgian cyclist (d. 1993)
1926 – Roger Corman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1926 – Liang Yusheng, Chinese writer (d. 2009)
1927 – Thanin Kraivichien, Thai lawyer and politician
1927 – Arne Hoel, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 2006)
1928 – Enzo Cannavale, Italian actor (d. 2011)
1928 – Tony Williams, American singer (d. 1992)
1929 – Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and painter (d. 2008)
1929 – Ivar Giaever, Norwegian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (d. 2001)
1929 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (d. 1967)
1929 – Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, Iranian wrestler
1930 – Mary Costa, American singer and actress
1930 – Pierre Lhomme, French director of photography (d. 2019)
1931 – Jack Clement, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
1931 – Héctor Olivera, Argentine director, producer and screenwriter
1933 – Feridun Buğeker, Turkish footballer (d. 2014)
1933 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005)
1933 – Barbara Holland, American author (d. 2010)
1933 – K. Kailasapathy, Sri Lankan journalist and academic (d. 1982)
1934 – John Carey, English author and critic
1934 – Roman Herzog, German lawyer and politician, 7th President of Germany (d. 2017)
1934 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (d. 2014)
1934 – Stanley Turrentine, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2000)
1935 – Giovanni Cianfriglia, Italian actor
1935 – Peter Grant, English talent manager (d. 1995)
1935 – Donald Lynden-Bell, English astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 2018)
1935 – Frank Schepke, German rower (d. 2017)
1936 – Ronnie Bucknum, American race car driver (d. 1992)
1936 – Glenn Jordan, American director and producer
1936 – Dragoljub Minić, Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster (d. 2005)
1937 – Joseph Lelyveld, American journalist and author
1937 – Colin Powell, American general and politician, 65th United States Secretary of State (d. 2021)
1937 – Andrzej Schinzel, Polish mathematician (d. 2021)
1937 – Arie Selinger, Israeli volleyball player and manager
1937 – Juan Vicente Lezcano, Paraguayan footballer (d. 2012)
1938 – Colin Bland, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (d. 2018)
1938 – Mal Colston, Australian educator and politician (d. 2003)
1938 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
1938 – Natalya Kustinskaya, Soviet actress (d. 2012)
1938 – Giorgos Sideris, Greek footballer
1939 – Leka I, Crown Prince of Albania (d. 2011)
1939 – Crispian St. Peters, English singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1939 – Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas, Prime Minister of Yemen
1939 – Ronald White, American singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1939 – David Winters, English-American actor, choreographer and producer (d. 2019)
1940 – Tommy Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1940 – Gilles Proulx, Canadian journalist, historian, and radio host
1941 – Michael Moriarty, American-Canadian actor
1941 – Dave Swarbrick, English singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2016)
1942 – Allan Clarke, English singer-songwriter
1942 – Pascal Couchepin, Swiss politician
1942 – Juan Gisbert Sr., Spanish tennis player
1942 – Peter Greenaway, Welsh director and screenwriter
1943 – Dean Brown, Australian politician, 41st Premier of South Australia
1943 – Max Gail, American actor and director
1943 – Fighting Harada, Japanese boxer
1943 – Miet Smet, Belgian politician
1943 – Jean-Louis Tauran, French cardinal (d. 2018)
1944 – Willeke van Ammelrooy, Dutch actress and director
1944 – János Martonyi, Hungarian politician
1944 – Evan Parker, British musician
1944 – Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (d. 2014)
1944 – Willy Planckaert, Belgian cyclist
1944 – Pedro Rosselló, Puerto Rican physician and politician, 7th Governor of Puerto Rico
1944 – Peter T. King, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1945 – Ove Bengtson, Swedish tennis player
1945 – Steve Carver, American director and producer (d. 2021)
1945 – Cem Karaca, Turkish musician (d. 2004)
1945 – Tommy Smith, English footballer (d. 2019)
1946 – Jane Asher, English actress
1946 – Julio Ángel Fernández, Uruguayan astronomer
1946 – Björn Granath, Swedish actor (d. 2017)
1946 – Georgi Markov, Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestler
1947 – Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav swimmer
1947 – Willy Chirino, Cuban-American musician
1947 – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Filipino academic and politician, 14th President of the Philippines
1947 – Ramón Mifflin, Peruvian footballer
1947 – Virendra Sharma, Indian-English lawyer and politician
1948 – Pierre-Albert Chapuisat, Swiss footballer
1948 – Dave Holland, English drummer (d. 2018)
1948 – Roy McFarland, English footballer and manager
1949 – Stanley Dziedzic, American wrestler
1949 – Larry Franco, American film producer
1949 – Judith Resnik, American engineer and astronaut (d. 1986)
1950 – Ann C. Crispin, American writer (d. 2013)
1950 – Franklin Chang Díaz, Costa Rican-Chinese American astronaut and physicist
1950 – Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Toshiko Fujita, Japanese actress, singer and narrator (d. 2018)
1950 – Miki Manojlović, Serbian actor
1951 – Les Binks, Irish drummer and songwriter
1951 – Yevgeniy Gavrilenko, Belarusian hurdler
1951 – Nedim Gürsel, Turkish writer
1951 – Dean Kamen, American inventor and businessman, founded Segway Inc.
1951 – Dave McArtney, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1951 – Ubol Ratana, Thai Princess
1952 – Alfie Conn, Scottish international footballer
1952 – John C. Dvorak, American author and editor
1952 – Sandy Mayer, American tennis player
1952 – Dennis Mortimer, English footballer
1952 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor
1953 – Frank Gaffney, American journalist and radio host
1953 – Keiko Han, Japanese actress
1953 – Tae Jin-ah, South Korean singer
1953 – Raleb Majadele, Israeli politician
1953 – Ian Swales, English accountant and politician
1954 – Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist and radio host
1954 – Peter Case, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Mohamed Ben Mouza, Tunisian footballer
1954 – Stan Ridgway, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Yoshiichi Watanabe, Japanese footballer
1955 – Charlotte de Turckheim, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Ricardo Ferrero, Argentine footballer (d. 2015)
1955 – Christian Gourcuff, French footballer and manager
1955 – Anthony Horowitz, English author and screenwriter
1955 – Bernard Longley, English prelate
1955 – Akira Toriyama, Japanese illustrator
1955 – Takayoshi Yamano, Japanese footballer
1956 – Diamond Dallas Page, American wrestler and actor
1956 – Leonid Fedun, Russian businessman
1956 – Reid Ribble, American politician
1957 – Sebastian Adayanthrath, Indian bishop
1957 – Karin Roßley, German hurdler
1958 – Kevin Dann, Australian rugby league player (d. 2021)
1958 – Henrik Dettmann, Finnish basketball coach
1958 – Ryoichi Kawakatsu, Japanese footballer
1958 – Johan Kriek, South African-American tennis player
1958 – Daniel Schneidermann, French journalist
1958 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan lawyer and journalist (d. 2009)
1959 – Paul Chung, Hong Kong actor and host (d. 1989)
1960 – Asteris Koutoulas, Romanian-German record producer, manager, and author
1960 – Larry McCray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Ian Redford, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1960 – Hiromi Taniguchi, Japanese long-distance runner
1960 – Adnan Terzić, Bosnian politician
1961 – Andrea Arnold, English filmmaker and actress
1961 – Anna Caterina Antonacci, Italian soprano
1961 – Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Bahraini-Danish human rights activist
1961 – Lisa Zane, American actress and singer
1962 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and model (d. 2003)
1962 – Sara Danius, Swedish scholar of literature and aesthetics (d. 2019)
1962 – Richard Gough, Swedish born Scottish international footballer
1962 – Arild Monsen, Norwegian cross-country skier
1962 – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian businessman and politician, 1st President of Kalmykia
1963 – Arthur Adams, American comic book artist and writer
1964 – Neil Eckersley, British judoka
1964 – Vakhtang Iagorashvili, Soviet modern pentathlete
1964 – Levon Julfalakyan, Soviet Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler
1964 – Marius Lăcătuș, Romanian footballer and coach
1965 – Aykut Kocaman, Turkish footballer and manager
1965 – Lang Tzu-yun, Taiwanese actress
1965 – Elizabeth McIntyre, American freestyle skier
1965 – Svetlana Paramygina, Belarusian biathlete
1966 – Yoon Hyun, South Korean judoka
1966 – Mike McCready, American guitarist and songwriter
1966 – Peter Overton, English-Australian journalist and television host
1967 – Troy Gentry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1967 – Franck Silvestre, French footballer
1967 – Erland Johnsen, Norwegian footballer
1967 – Laima Zilporytė, Soviet cyclist
1968 – Paula Cole, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1969 – Dinos Angelidis, Greek basketball player
1969 – Viatcheslav Djavanian, Russian cyclist
1969 – Pontus Kåmark, Swedish footballer
1969 – Pavlo Khnykin, Ukrainian swimmer
1969 – Tomislav Piplica, Bosnian footballer and manager
1969 – Ravindra Prabhat, Indian writer and journalist
1970 – Soheil Ayari, French race car driver
1970 – Valérie Bonneton, French actress
1970 – Diamond D, American hip hop producer
1970 – Petar Genov, Bulgarian chess grandmaster
1970 – Thea Gill, Canadian actress
1970 – Miho Hatori, Japanese singer-songwriter
1970 – Irina Timofeyeva, Russian long-distance runner
1971 – Dong Abay, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Krista Allen, American actress
1971 – Austin Berry, Costa Rican footballer
1971 – Simona Cavallari, Italian actress
1971 – Victoria Hamilton, English actress
1971 – Nelson Parraguez, Chilean footballer
1971 – Kim Soo-nyung, South Korean archer
1972 – Nima Arkani-Hamed, American-Canadian theoretical physicist
1972 – Tom Coronel, Dutch race car driver
1972 – Paul Okon, Australian footballer and manager
1972 – Duncan Spencer, English cricketer
1972 – Yasuhiro Takemoto, Japanese animator and director (d. 2019)
1972 – Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
1973 – Élodie Bouchez, French-American actress
1973 – Brendan Cannon, Australian rugby player
1973 – Lidia Trettel, Italian snowboarder
1973 – Pharrell Williams, American singer, songwriter and rapper
1974 – Sandra Bagarić, Croatian opera singer and actress
1974 – Julien Boutter, French tennis player
1974 – Katja Holanti, Finnish biathlete
1974 – Oleg Khodkov, Russian handball player
1974 – Ariel López, Argentine footballer
1974 – Lukas Ridgeston, Slovak actor and director
1974 – Vyacheslav Voronin, Russian high jumper
1975 – Sarah Baldock, English organist and conductor
1975 – John Hartson, Welsh footballer and coach
1975 – Juicy J, American rapper and producer
1975 – Serhiy Klymentiev, Ukrainian ice hockey player
1975 – Caitlin Moran, English journalist, author, and critic
1975 – Marcos Vales, Spanish footballer
1975 – Shammond Williams, American basketball player and coach
1976 – Luis de Agustini, Uruguayan footballer
1976 – Péter Biros, Hungarian water polo player
1976 – Sterling K. Brown, American actor
1976 – Aleksei Budõlin, Estonian judoka
1976 – Simone Inzaghi, Italian footballer
1976 – Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer and coach
1976 – Natascha Ragosina, Russian boxer
1976 – Henrik Stenson, Swedish golfer
1976 – Valeria Straneo, Italian long-distance runner
1976 – Indrek Tobreluts, Estonian biathlete
1976 – Anouska van der Zee, Dutch cyclist
1977 – Jonathan Erlich, Israeli tennis player
1977 – Trevor Letowski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1977 – Daniel Majstorović, Swedish footballer
1978 – Dwain Chambers, British track sprinter
1978 – Marcone Amaral Costa, Qatari footballer
1978 – Tarek El-Said, Egyptian footballer
1978 – Jairo Patiño, Colombian footballer
1978 – Sohyang, South Korean singer
1978 – Stephen Jackson, American basketball player
1978 – Arnaud Tournant, French cyclist
1978 – Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer
1978 – Günther Weidlinger, Austrian long-distance runner
1979 – Vlada Avramov, Serbian footballer
1979 – Josh Boone, American screenwriter and director
1979 – Song Dae-nam, South Korean judoka
1979 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer
1979 – Imany, French singer
1979 – Barel Mouko, Congolese footballer
1979 – Cesare Natali, Italian footballer
1979 – Mitsuo Ogasawara, Japanese footballer
1979 – Alexander Resch, German luger
1979 – Andrius Velička, Lithuanian footballer
1979 – Dante Wesley, American football player
1979 – Chen Yanqing, Chinese weightlifter
1980 – Matt Bonner, American basketball player
1980 – Alberta Brianti, Italian tennis player
1980 – Rafael Cavalcante, Brazilian mixed martial artist
1980 – David Chocarro, Argentinian baseball player and actor
1980 – Mike Glumac, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Mario Kasun, Croatian basketball player
1980 – Lee Jae-won, South Korean DJ and singer
1980 – Joris Mathijsen, Dutch footballer
1980 – Rasmus Quist Hansen, Danish rower
1980 – Odlanier Solís, Cuban boxer
1981 – Matthew Emmons, American rifle shooter
1981 – Michael A. Monsoor, American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
1981 – Mariqueen Maandig, Filipino-American musician and singer-songwriter
1981 – Daba Modibo Keïta, Malian taekwondo athlete
1981 – Marissa Nadler, American musician
1981 – Tom Riley, English actor and producer
1981 – Mompati Thuma, Botswana footballer
1981 – Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist
1982 – Hayley Atwell, English-American actress
1982 – Matheus Coradini Vivian, Brazilian footballer
1982 – Thomas Hitzlsperger, German footballer
1982 – Kelly Pavlik, American boxer
1982 – Matt Pickens, American soccer player
1982 – Alexandre Prémat, French race car driver
1982 – Danylo Sapunov, Ukrainian-Kazakhstani triathlete
1982 – Hubert Schwab, Swiss cyclist
1982 – Marcel Seip, Dutch former footballer
1983 – Jaime Castrillón, Colombian footballer
1983 – Jorge Andrés Martínez, Uruguayan footballer
1983 – Brock Radunske, Canadian-South Korean ice hockey player
1983 – Yohann Sangaré, French basketball player
1983 – Cécile Storti, French cross-country skier
1983 – Shikha Uberoi, Indian-American tennis player
1984 – Marshall Allman, American actor
1984 – Aram Mp3, Armenian singer and comedian
1984 – Rune Brattsveen, Norwegian biathlete
1984 – Alexei Glukhov, Russian ice hockey player
1984 – Maartje Goderie, Dutch field hockey player
1984 – Darija Jurak, Croatian tennis player
1984 – Dejan Kelhar, Slovenian footballer
1984 – Dmitry Kozonchuk, Russian cyclist
1984 – Shin Min-a, South Korean actress
1984 – Jess Sum, Hong Kong actress
1984 – Peter Penz, Austrian luger
1984 – Samuele Preisig, Swiss footballer
1984 – Cristian Săpunaru, Romanian footballer
1984 – Fabio Vitaioli, San Marinese footballer
1984 – Kisho Yano, Japanese footballer
1984 – Saba Qamar, Pakistani actress-model
1985 – Daniel Congré, French footballer
1985 – Erwin l'Ami, Dutch chess player
1985 – Jolanda Keizer, Dutch heptathlete
1985 – Sergey Khachatryan, Armenian violinist
1985 – Linas Pilibaitis, Lithuanian footballer
1985 – Jan Smeets, Dutch chess grandmaster
1985 – Kristof Vandewalle, Belgian cyclist
1986 – Anna Sophia Berglund, American model and actress
1986 – Anzor Boltukayev, Chechen wrestler
1986 – Diego Chará, Colombian footballer
1986 – Charlotte Flair, American wrestler, author and actress
1986 – Róbert Kasza, Hungarian Modern pentathlete
1986 – Eetu Muinonen, Finnish footballer
1986 – Manuel Ruz, Spanish footballer
1986 – Albert Selimov, Azerbaijani boxer
1987 – Max Grün, German footballer
1987 – Balázs Hárai, Hungarian water polo player
1987 – Anton Kokorin, Russian sprint athlete
1987 – Fyodor Kudryashov, Russian footballer
1987 – Etiënne Reijnen, Dutch footballer
1988 – Gerson Acevedo, Chilean footballer
1988 – Teresa Almeida, Angolan handball player
1988 – Quade Cooper, New Zealand-Australian rugby player and boxer
1988 – Jonathan Davies, Welsh rugby union player
1988 – Gevorg Ghazaryan, Armenian footballer
1988 – Alisha Glass, American ex-indoor volleyball player
1988 – Vurğun Hüseynov, Azerbaijani footballer
1988 – Matthias Jaissle, German footballer and manager
1988 – Christopher Papamichalopoulos, Cypriot skier
1988 – Zack Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Pape Sy, French basketball player
1988 – Alexey Volkov, Russian biathlete
1989 – Kader Amadou, Nigerien footballer
1989 – Yémi Apithy, Beninese fencer
1989 – Liemarvin Bonevacia, Dutch sprinter
1989 – Freddie Fox, English actor
1989 – Emre Güral, Turkish footballer
1989 – Justin Holiday, American basketball player
1989 – Rachel Homan, Canadian curler
1989 – Lily James, English actress
1989 – Trevor Marsicano, American speed skater
1989 – Jonathan Rossini, Swiss footballer
1989 – Kiki Sukezane, Japanese actress
1989 – Sosuke Takatani, Japanese wrestler
1990 – Amer Said Al-Shatri, Omani footballer
1990 – Alex Cuthbert, Welsh rugby player
1990 – Patrick Dangerfield, Australian footballer
1990 – Fredy Hinestroza, Colombian footballer
1990 – Chen Huijia, Chinese swimmer
1990 – Haruma Miura, Japanese actor and singer (d. 2020)
1990 – Ismaeel Mohammad, Qatari footballer
1990 – Iryna Pamialova, Belarusian canoeist
1990 – Jakub Sedláček, Czech ice hockey player
1990 – Sercan Yıldırım, Turkish footballer
1990 – Género Zeefuik, Dutch footballer
1991 – Yassine Bounou, Moroccan footballer
1991 – Nathaniel Clyne, English footballer
1991 – Adriano Grimaldi, Italian-German footballer
1991 – Joël Mall, Swiss footballer
1991 – Guilherme dos Santos Torres, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Emmalyn Estrada, Canadian singer-songwriter and dancer
1992 – Shintaro Kurumaya, Japanese footballer
1992 – Kaveh Rezaei, Iranian footballer
1992 – Dmytro Ryzhuk, Ukrainian footballer
1993 – Andreas Bouchalakis, Greek footballer
1993 – Maya DiRado, American swimmer
1993 – Laura Feiersinger, Austrian footballer
1993 – Benjamin Garcia, French rugby league player
1993 – Scottie Wilbekin, American-Turkish basketball player
1994 – Mateusz Bieniek, Polish volleyball player
1994 – Edem Rjaïbi, Tunisian footballer
1994 – Richard Sánchez, Mexican footballer
1995 – Viliame Kikau, Fijian rugby league player
1995 – Sei Muroya, Japanese footballer
1995 – Gleb Rassadkin, Belarusian footballer
1995 – Sebastian Starke Hedlund, Swedish footballer
1996 – Nicolas Beer, Danish race car driver
1996 – Raouf Benguit, Algerian footballer
1997 – Borja Mayoral, Spanish footballer
1997 – Dominik Mysterio, American wrestler
1999 – Bobby Miller, American baseball player
2000 – Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Indian actor
2001 – Johnny Beecher, American ice hockey player
2001 – Thylane Blondeau, French model and actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
517 – Timothy I of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch
582 – Eutychius of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch
584 – Ruadán of Lorrha, Irish abbot
902 – Al-Mu'tadid, Abbasid caliph
1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (b. 1104)
1183 – Ramon Berenguer III, Spanish count of Cerdanya and Provence
1205 – Isabella I of Jerusalem, queen regnant of Jerusalem (b. 1172)
1258 – Juliana of Liège, Belgian canoness and saint
1308 – Ivan Kőszegi, Hungarian baron and oligarch
1325 – Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron of Monthermer and Earl of Gloucester (b. c.1270)
1419 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)
1431 – Bernard I, margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1364)
1512 – Lazzaro Bastiani, Italian painter (b. 1429)
1534 – Jan Matthys, Dutch anabaptist reformer
1594 – Catherine of Palma, Spanish nun (b. 1533)
1601–1900
1612 – Diana Scultori, Italian engraver
1617 – Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer (b. 1555)
1626 – Anna Koltovskaya, Russian tsarina
1673 – François Caron, Belgian-French explorer and politician, 8th Governor of Formosa (b. 1600)
1679 – Anne Geneviève de Bourbon, French princess (b. 1619)
1684 – William Brouncker, English mathematician (b. 1620)
1684 – Karl Eusebius, prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1611)
1693 – Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, French noblewoman (b. 1627)
1693 – Philip William August, German nobleman (b. 1668)
1695 – George Savile, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1633)
1697 – Charles XI, king of Sweden (b. 1655)
1704 – Christian Ulrich I, German nobleman and Duke of Württemberg-Oels (b. 1652)
1708 – Christian Heinrich, German prince and member of the House of Hohenzollern (b. 1661)
1709 – Roger de Piles, French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat (b. 1635)
1712 – Jan Luyken, Dutch poet, illustrator and engraver (b. 1649)
1717 – Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
1723 – Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect, sculptor and historian (b. 1656)
1735 – William Derham, English minister and philosopher (b. 1657)
1751 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (b. 1676)
1765 – Edward Young, English poet and author (b. 1683)
1767 – Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, German princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (b. 1685)
1768 – Egidio Forcellini, Italian philologist (b. 1688)
1769 – Marc-Antoine Laugier, Jesuit priest (b. 1713)
1794 – Georges Danton, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice (b. 1759)
1794 – François Chabot, French politician (b. 1756)
1794 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1760)
1794 – Fabre d'Églantine, French actor, dramatist, poet and politician (b. 1750)
1794 – Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French judge and politician (b. 1759)
1794 – Pierre Philippeaux, French lawyer (b. 1754)
1794 – François Joseph Westermann, French general (b. 1751)
1799 – Johann Christoph Gatterer, German historian (b. 1727)
1804 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (b. 1761)
1808 – Johann Georg Wille, German engraver (b. 1715)
1830 – Richard Chenevix, Irish chemist and playwright (b. 1774)
1831 – Pierre Léonard Vander Linden, Belgian entomologist (b. 1797)
1842 – Shah Shujah Durrani, 5th Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1785)
1852 – Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, (b. 1800)
1861 – Ferdinand Joachimsthal, German mathematician (b. 1818)
1862 – Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Dutch artist (b. 1803)
1865 – Manfredo Fanti, Italian general (b. 1806)
1866 – Thomas Hodgkin, British physician (b. 1798)
1868 – Karel Purkyně, Czech painter (b. 1834)
1871 – Paolo Savi, Italian geologist and ornithologist (b. 1798)
1872 – Paul-Auguste-Ernest Laugier, French astronomer (b. 1812)
1873 – Milivoje Blaznavac, Serbian soldier and politician (b. 1824)
1882 – Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play, (b. 1806)
1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
1891 – Johann Hermann Bauer, (b. 1861)
1900 – Joseph Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (b. 1822)
1900 – Osman Nuri Pasha, Ottoman field marshal and the hero of the Siege of Plevna in 1877 (b. 1832)
1901–present
1901 – Angelo Messedaglia, Italian social scientist and statistician (b. 1820)
1902 – Hans Ernst August Buchner, German bacteriologist (b. 1850)
1904 – Ernst Leopold, 4th Prince of Leiningen (b. 1830)
1904 – Frances Power Cobbe, Irish writer (b. 1822)
1906 – Eastman Johnson, American painter (b. 1824)
1914 – Bernard Borggreve, German forestry scientist (b. 1836)
1916 – Maksim Kovalevsky, Russian sociologist (b. 1851)
1918 – George Tupou II, King of Tonga (b. 1874)
1918 – Paul Vidal de La Blache, French geographer (b. 1845)
1920 – Laurent Marqueste, French sculptor (b. 1848)
1921 – Alphons Diepenbrock, Dutch composer (b. 1862)
1921 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer and translator (b. 1853)
1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and businessman (b. 1866)
1924 – Victor Hensen, German zoologist (b. 1835)
1928 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1890)
1928 – Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
1929 – Francis Aidan Gasquet, English Benedictine monk (b. 1846)
1929 – Ludwig von Sybel, German archeologist (b. 1846)
1932 – María Blanchard, Spanish painter (b. 1881)
1933 – Earl Derr Biggers, American novelist and playwright (b. 1884)
1933 – Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and functional theorist (b. 1854)
1934 – Salvatore Di Giacomo, Italian poet, playwright, songwriter and fascist intellectual (b. 1860)
1934 – Jiro Sato, Japanese tennis player (b. 1908)
1935 – Achille Locatelli, Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1856)
1935 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (b. 1870)
1935 – Franz von Vecsey, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1893)
1936 – Chandler Egan, American golfer and architect (b. 1884)
1937 – Gustav Adolf Deissmann, (b. 1866)
1937 – José Benlliure y Gil, Spanish painter (b. 1858)
1938 – Helena Westermarck, Finnish artist and writer (b. 1857)
1938 – Verner Lehtimäki, Finnish revolutionary (b. 1890)
1940 – Charles Freer Andrews, English-Indian priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1871)
1940 – Robert Maillart, Swiss civil engineer (b. 1872)
1940 – Jay O'Brien, American bobsledder (b. 1883)
1940 – Song Zheyuan, Chinese general (b. 1885)
1941 – Parvin E'tesami, Persian poet (b. 1907)
1941 – Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (b. 1876)
1941 – Franciszek Kleeberg, Polish general (b. 1888)
1945 – Heinrich Borgmann, German officer (b. 1912)
1945 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (b. 1897)
1946 – Vincent Youmans, American composer and producer (b. 1898)
1947 – Bernhard Pankok, German painter, artist and architect (b. 1872)
1947 – Elis Strömgren, Swedish-Danish astronomer (b. 1870)
1948 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American socialite and philanthropist (b. 1874)
1949 – Erich Zeigner, Prime Minister of Saxony (b. 1886)
1950 – Hiroshi Yoshida, Japanese painter (b. 1876)
1952 – Agnes Morton, British tennis player (b.
1954 – Princess Märtha of Sweden, (b. 1901)
1954 – Claude Delvincourt, French pianist and composer (b. 1888)
1955 – Tibor Szele, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1918)
1956 – William Titt, British gymnast (b. 1881)
1958 – Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, (b. 1884)
1958 – Ásgrímur Jónsson, Icelandic painter (b. 1876)
1958 – Isidora Sekulić, Serbian writer (b. 1877)
1961 – Nikolai Kryukov, Russian composer (b. 1908)
1962 – Boo Kullberg, Swedish gymnast (b. 1889)
1963 – Jacobus Oud, Dutch architect (b. 1890)
1964 – James Chapin, American ornithologist (b. 1889)
1964 – Aloïse Corbaz, Swiss artist (b. 1886)
1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880)
1965 – Pedro Sernagiotto, Italian-Brazilian footballer (b. 1908)
1965 – Sándor Szalay, Hungarian figure skater (b. 1893)
1967 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (b. 1891)
1967 – Johan Falkberget, Norwegian author (b. 1879)
1967 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
1967 – Herbert Johnston, British runner (b. 1902)
1968 – Félix Couchoro, Togolese writer (b. 1900)
1968 – Lajos Csordás, Hungarian footballer
1968 – Giuseppe Paris, Italian gymnast (b. 1895)
1969 – Alberto Bonucci, Italian actor and director (b. 1918)
1969 – Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan novelist and politician (b. 1917)
1969 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian SS officer (b. 1903)
1970 – Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (b. 1877)
1970 – Alfred Sturtevant, American geneticist and academic (b. 1891)
1970 – Karl von Spreti, German diplomat (b. 1907)
1971 – José Cubiles, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1894)
1973 – David Murray, British race car driver (b. 1909)
1973 – Isabel Jewell, American actress and singer (b. 1907)
1973 – Alla Tarasova, Russian ballerina (b. 1898)
1974 – Bino Bini, Italian fencer (b. 1900)
1974 – A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882)
1975 – Tell Berna, American middle and long-distance runner (b. 1891)
1975 – Victor Marijnen, Dutch politician (b. 1917)
1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887)
1975 – Harold Osborn, American track and fielder (b. 1899)
1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (b. 1905)
1976 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian surgeon and academic (b. 1891)
1976 – Harry Wyld, British cyclist (b. 1900)
1977 – Carlos Prío Socarrás, President of Cuba, (b. 1903)
1977 – Yuri Zavadsky, Russian actor and director (b. 1894)
1981 – Émile Hanse, Belgian footballer (b. 1892)
1981 – Bob Hite, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
1981 – Pinchus Kremegne, French artist (b. 1890)
1982 – Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1910)
1983 – Abd al-Quddus al-Ansari, Saudi Arabian historian, journalist and writer. (b. 1907)
1984 – Hans Lunding, Danish military officer (b. 1899)
1984 – Giuseppe Tucci, Italian scholar of oriental cultures (b. 1894)
1986 – Manly Wade Wellman, American writer (b. 1903)
1987 – Leabua Jonathan, 2nd Prime Minister of Lesotho (b. 1914)
1988 – Alf Kjellin, Swedish actor and director (b. 1920)
1989 – Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (b. 1895)
1989 – Karel Zeman, Czech director, artist, production designer and animator (b. 1910)
1991 – Sonny Carter, American soccer player, physician, and astronaut (b. 1947)
1991 – Jay Miller, American basketball player (b. 1943)
1991 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist, writer and screenwriter (b. 1915)
1991 – William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle (b. 1909)
1991 – John Tower, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1925)
1992 – Takeshi Inoue, Japanese footballer (b. 1928)
1992 – Molly Picon, American actress (b. 1898)
1992 – Sam Walton, American businessman, founded Walmart and Sam's Club (b. 1918)
1993 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress (b. 1974)
1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1967)
1995 – Nicolaas Cortlever, Dutch chess player (b. 1915)
1995 – Emilio Greco, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1913)
1995 – Christian Pineau, French Resistance fighter (b. 1904)
1996 – Charlene Holt, American actress (b. 1928)
1997 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
1998 – Frederick Charles Frank, British theoretical physicist (b. 1911)
1998 – Cozy Powell, English drummer (b. 1947)
1999 – Giulio Einaudi, Italian book publisher (b. 1912)
2000 – Heinrich Müller, Austrian footballer (b. 1909)
2000 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)
2001 – Aldo Olivieri, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
2002 – Layne Staley, American singer-songwriter (b. 1967)
2002 – Kim Won-gyun, North Korean composer and politician (b. 1917)
2003 – Keizo Morishita, Japanese painter (b. 1944)
2004 – Fernand Goyvaerts, Belgian footballer (b. 1938)
2004 – Sławomir Rawicz, Polish lieutenant (b. 1915)
2004 – Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician and academic (b. 1936)
2005 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American novelist, essayist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
2005 – Robert Borg, American military officer and equestrian (b. 1913)
2005 – Chung Nam-sik, South Korean footballer (b. 1917)
2006 – Allan Kaprow, American painter and educator (b. 1927)
2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2006 – Yevgeny Seredin, Russian swimmer (b. 1958)
2006 – Pasquale Macchi, Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1923)
2007 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (b. 1923)
2007 – Leela Majumdar, Indian author and academic (b. 1908)
2007 – Werner Maser, German historian and journalist (b. 1922)
2007 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (b. 1956)
2007 – Thomas Stoltz Harvey, American pathologist (b. 1912)
2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director, and political activist (b. 1923)
2009 – I. J. Good, British mathematician (b. 1916)
2010 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Soviet cosmonaut and engineer (b. 1935)
2011 – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American physician and geneticist (b. 1925)
2011 – Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African politician (b. 1937)
2012 – Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, German designer (b. 1935)
2012 – Pedro Bartolomé Benoit, Dominican Republican politician military officer
2012 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (b. 1923)
2012 – Barney McKenna, Irish musician (b. 1939)
2012 – Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawian economist and politician, 3rd President of Malawi (b. 1934)
2013 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (b. 1921)
2013 – Piero de Palma, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1924)
2013 – Nikolaos Pappas, Greek Navy admiral (b. 1930)
2014 – Alan Davie, Scottish saxophonist and painter (b. 1920)
2014 – Mariano Díaz, Spanish cyclist (b. 1939)
2014 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (b. 1927)
2014 – John Pinette, American comedian (b. 1964)
2014 – José Wilker, Brazilian actor, director, and producer (b. 1947)
2015 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (b. 1949)
2015 – Juan Carlos Cáceres, Argentinian singer and pianist (b. 1936)
2016 – Koço Kasapoğlu, Turkish footballer (b. 1936)
2017 – Attilio Benfatto, Italian cyclist (b. 1943)
2017 – Arthur Bisguier, American chess Grandmaster (b. 1929)
2017 – Paul G. Comba, Italian-American computer scientist and astronomer (b. 1926)
2017 – Makoto Ōoka, Japanese poet and literary critic (b. 1931)
2017 – Paul O'Neill, American rock composer and producer (b. 1956)
2017 – Tim Parnell, British race car driver (b. 1932)
2017 – Memè Perlini, Italian actor and director (b. 1947)
2017 – Atanase Sciotnic, Romanian sprint canoeist (b. 1942)
2017 – Ilkka Sinisalo, Finnish ice hockey player (b. 1958)
2018 – Isao Takahata, Japanese director (b. 1935)
2019 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist (b. 1927)
2021 – Paul Ritter, English actor (b. 1966)
2022 – Nehemiah Persoff, Israeli-American actor (b. 1919)
2022 – Jimmy Wang Yu, Taiwanese actor (b. 1943)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Albert of Montecorvino
Derfel Gadarn
Æthelburh of Kent
Gerald of Sauve-Majeure
Juliana of Liège
Maria Crescentia Höss
Blessed Mariano de la Mata
Pandita Mary Ramabai (Episcopal Church (USA))
Ruadhán of Lorrha
Vincent Ferrer
April 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Cold Food Festival, held on April 4 if it is a leap year (China); and its related observances:
Earliest day on which Sham el-Nessim can fall, while May 9 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after the Orthodox Easter (Egypt)
Children's Day (Palestinian territories)
First Contact Day (International observance)
Sikmogil (South Korea)
National Maritime Day is observed in India, in commemoration of the first voyage of SS Loyalty of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. in 1919.
International Day of Conscience
Other
April the Fifth (1929–1954), British Thoroughbred racehorse
(ends 5 April)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 5
Days of the year
April |
2195 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2020 | April 20 |
Events
Pre-1600
1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1601–1900
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament.
1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
1792 – France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1861 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion.
1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry.
1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
1901–present
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.
1968 – South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near the Hosea Kutako International Airport in South West Africa (now Namibia), killing 123 people.
1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya'an, in China's Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.
2020 – For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war.
2021 – State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota.
2023 – SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes 4 minutes into flight.
Births
Pre-1600
1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
1601–1900
1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1901–present
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Miran Bakhsh, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
1921 – Katarína Kolníková, Slovak actress (d. 2006)
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer (d. 2022)
1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2023)
1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
1936 – Lisa Davis, English-American actress
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter (d. 2017)
1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
1941 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor
1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
1945 – Mike, American Wyandotte chicken, lived 18 months following decapitation (d. 1947)
1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
1949 – Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress
1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (d. 2015)
1949 – Massimo D'Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
1950 – N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1952 – Louka Katseli, Greek economist and politician
1953 – Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author
1955 – Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut
1955 – Svante Pääbo, Swedish geneticist and Nobel Laureate
1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for Justice
1956 – Peter Chelsom, English film director, writer, and actor
1956 – Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian economist and politician (d. 2014)
1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1960 – Debbie Flintoff-King, Australian hurdler and coach
1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
1963 – Rachel Whiteread, English sculptor
1964 – John Carney, American football player
1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor and filmmaker
1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor and director
1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1965 – Kostis Chatzidakis, Greek politician, Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism
1965 – Léa Fazer, Swiss film director, screenwriter and actress
1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher and academic
1966 – David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer and songwriter
1968 – Julia Morris, Australian entertainer
1969 – Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil
1969 – Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania
1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player
1972 – Carmen Electra, American model and actress
1972 – Stephen Marley, Jamaican-American musician
1973 – Julie Powell, American food writer and memoirist (d. 2022)
1975 – Killer Mike, American rapper
1978 – Carl Greenidge, English cricketer
1980 – Emma Husar, Australian politician
1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian model
1988 – Brandon Belt, American baseball player
1990 – Jason Behrendorff, Australian cricketer
1991 – Luke Kuechly, American football player
1997 – Alexander Zverev, German tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)
888 – Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 862)
1099 – Peter Bartholomew (b. 1061)
1164 – Antipope Victor IV
1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (b. 1130)
1248 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1206)
1284 – Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (b. 1251)
1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
1322 – Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar
1502 – Mary of Looz-Heinsberg, Dutch noble (b. 1424)
1521 – Zhengde, Chinese emperor (b. 1491)
1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (b. 1506)
1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (b. 1485)
1601–1900
1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (b. 1567)
1703 – Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (b. 1632)
1769 – Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (b. 1720)
1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (b. 1764)
1873 – William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (b. 1798)
1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1817)
1881 – William Burges, English architect and designer (b. 1827)
1886 – Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1814)
1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1826)
1899 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (b. 1820)
1901–present
1902 – Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (b. 1833)
1912 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (b. 1847)
1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
1927 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1866)
1929 – Prince Henry of Prussia (b. 1862)
1931 – Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (b. 1862)
1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1858)
1935 – John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1872)
1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (b. 1863)
1942 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (b. 1870)
1944 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (b. 1917)
1945 – Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (b. 1874)
1946 – Mae Busch, Australian actress (b. 1891)
1947 – Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1961 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (b. 1892)
1967 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1896)
1968 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (b. 1877)
1969 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914)
1980 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1924)
1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (b. 1892)
1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (b. 1916)
1991 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
1991 – Don Siegel, American director and producer (b. 1912)
1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (b. 1922)
1992 – Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1995 – Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (b. 1911)
1996 – Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1918)
1999 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
2003 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2004 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (b. 1956)
2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (b. 1904)
2007 – Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931)
2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931)
2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (b. 1912)
2011 – Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970)
2012 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920)
2014 – Neville Wran, Australian politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1926)
2016 – Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (b. 1953)
2018 – Avicii, Swedish DJ and musician (b. 1989)
2021 – Idriss Déby, Chadian politician and military officer (b. 1952)
2021 – Monte Hellman, American film director (b.1929)
2021 – Les McKeown, Scottish pop singer (b. 1955)
2022 – Gavin Millar, Scottish film director (b. 1938)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Agnes of Montepulciano
Beuno
Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran)
Theotimos
April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
420 (cannabis culture)
UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 20
Days of the year
April |
2196 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2019 | April 19 |
Events
Pre-1600
AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested.
531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).
1506 – The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which accused Jews are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.
1529 – Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
1539 – The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.
1601–1900
1608 – In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.
1677 – The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.
1713 – With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717.
1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
1782 – John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy.
1809 – An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.
1839 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.
1861 – American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
1901–present
1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
1942 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
1943 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16, an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day.
1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
1973 – The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
1975 – India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.
1975 – South Vietnamese forces withdrew from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.
1976 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least by the tornado and survived uninjured.
1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with "Good Night".
1989 – A gun turret explodes on the , killing 47 sailors.
1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
1999 – The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
2000 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.
2021 – The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.
Births
Pre-1600
1452 – Frederick IV, King of Naples (d. 1504)
1593 – Sir John Hobart, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1647)
1601–1900
1603 – Michel Le Tellier, French politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1685)
1613 – Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1661)
1633 – Willem Drost, Dutch painter (d. 1659)
1655 – George St Lo(e), Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)
1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German husband of Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (d. 1716)
1665 – Jacques Lelong, French author (d. 1721)
1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (d. 1750)
1715 – James Nares, English organist and composer (d. 1783)
1721 – Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
1734 – Karl von Ordóñez, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1786)
1757 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (d. 1833)
1758 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish admiral (d. 1831)
1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (d. 1858)
1787 – Deaf Smith, American soldier (d. 1837)
1793 – Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)
1806 – Sarah Bagley, American labor organizer (d. 1889)
1814 – Louis Amédée Achard, French journalist and author (d. 1875)
1831 – Mary Louise Booth, American writer, editor and translator (d. 1889)
1832 – José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
1835 – Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (d. 1888)
1863 – Hemmo Kallio, Finnish actor (d. 1940)
1872 – Alice Salomon, German social reformer (d. 1948)
1873 – Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1967)
1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
1877 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (d. 1934)
1879 – Arthur Robertson, Scottish runner (d. 1957)
1882 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (d. 1954)
1883 – Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938)
1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian-American mathematician and physicist (d. 1953)
1885 – Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (d. 1975)
1889 – Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946)
1891 – Françoise Rosay, French actress (d. 1974)
1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer and educator (d. 1983)
1894 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (d. 1966)
1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese super-centenarian, oldest verified man ever (d. 2013)
1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress and producer (d. 1973)
1899 – George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
1899 – Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (d. 1968)
1900 – Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (d. 1978)
1900 – Richard Hughes, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1976)
1900 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (d. 1991)
1900 – Rhea Silberta, American Yiddish songwriter and singing teacher (d. 1959)
1901–present
1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author and screenwriter (d. 1989)
1903 – Eliot Ness, American law enforcement agent (d. 1957)
1908 – Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (d. 1990)
1912 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1913 – Ken Carpenter, American discus thrower and coach (d. 1984)
1917 – Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (d. 2012)
1919 – Sol Kaplan, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
1920 – Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (d. 2015)
1920 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013)
1921 – Anna Lee Aldred, American jockey (d. 2006)
1921 – Leon Henkin, American logician (d. 2006)
1921 – Roberto Tucci, Italian Jesuit leader, cardinal, and theologian (d. 2015)
1922 – Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (d. 1993)
1922 – David Smith, politician in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe (d. 1996)
1925 – John Kraaijkamp, Sr., Dutch actor (d. 2011)
1925 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (d. 2016)
1926 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian captain and politician (d. 1997)
1928 – John Horlock, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Azlan Shah of Perak, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 2014)
1931 – Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2004)
1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor (d. 2023)
1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (d. 1967)
1934 – Dickie Goodman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1989)
1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (d. 2002)
1935 – Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal
1936 – Wilfried Martens, Belgian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013)
1936 – Jack Pardee, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author (d. 2017)
1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines
1938 – Stanley Fish, American theorist, author, and scholar
1939 – E. Clay Shaw, Jr., American accountant, judge, and politician (d. 2013)
1941 – Michel Roux, French-English chef and author (d. 2020)
1941 – Bobby Russell, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
1942 – Alan Price, English keyboard player, singer, and composer
1943 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1944 – James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1944 – Bernie Worrell, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2016)
1946 – Tim Curry, English actor and singer
1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
1952 – Simon Cowell, English conservationist and author
1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager (d. 2023)
1956 – Anne Glover, Scottish biologist and academic
1957 – Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries
1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian pianist, composer, and producer
1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player and coach
1964 – Kim Weaver, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
1965 – Suge Knight, American record executive
1966 – Véronique Gens, French soprano and actress
1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress
1968 – Mswati III, King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland)
1970 – Kelly Holmes, English athlete and double Olympic champion
1972 – Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, Brazilian footballer
1978 – James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Amanda Sage, American-Austrian painter and educator
1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress
1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
1981 – Troy Polamalu, American football player
1982 – Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter
1982 – Ali Wong, American comedian and actress
1983 – Joe Mauer, American baseball player
1986 – Candace Parker, American basketball player
1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer
1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
1989 – Simu Liu, Canadian actor
1990 – Jackie Bradley Jr., American baseball player
1990 – Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer
2002 – Loren Gray, American singer and internet personality
Deaths
Pre-1600
843 – Judith of Bavaria, Frankish empress
1012 – Ælfheah of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint (b. 954)
1013 – Hisham II, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (b. 966)
1044 – Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine
1054 – Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1002)
1321 – Gerasimus I, patriarch of Constantinople
1390 – Robert II, king of Scotland (b. 1316)
1405 – Thomas West, 1st Baron West, English nobleman (b. 1335)
1431 – Adolph III, count of Waldeck (b. 1362)
1560 – Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (b. 1497)
1567 – Michael Stifel, German monk and mathematician (b. 1487)
1578 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
1588 – Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528)
1601–1900
1608 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English poet, playwright, and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1536)
1618 – Thomas Bastard, English priest and author (b. 1566)
1619 – Jagat Gosain, Mughal empress (b. 1573)
1629 – Sigismondo d'India, Italian composer (b. 1582)
1686 – Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish historian and playwright (b. 1610)
1689 – Christina, queen of Sweden (b. 1626)
1733 – Elizabeth Hamilton, countess of Orkney (b. 1657)
1739 – Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1682)
1768 – Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (b. 1697)
1776 – Jacob Emden, German rabbi and author (b. 1697)
1791 – Richard Price, Welsh-English preacher and philosopher (b. 1723)
1813 – Benjamin Rush, American physician and educator (b. 1745)
1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1788)
1831 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1765)
1833 – James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, Bahamian-English admiral and politician, 36th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1756)
1840 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (b. 1777)
1854 – Robert Jameson, Scottish mineralogist and academic (b. 1774)
1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (b. 1809)
1893 – Martin Körber, Estonian-German pastor, composer, and conductor (b. 1817)
1901–present
1901 – Alfred Horatio Belo, American publisher, founded The Dallas Morning News (b. 1839)
1903 – Oliver Mowat, Canadian politician, third Premier of Ontario, eighth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1820)
1906 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
1906 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
1909 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (b. 1836)
1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1839)
1915 – Thomas Playford II, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (b. 1837)
1916 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer, designed the Shay locomotive (b. 1839)
1926 – Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian-Swiss statistician and theorist (b. 1874)
1930 – Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
1937 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English cartographer and politician (b. 1856)
1937 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and zoologist (b. 1865)
1940 – Jack McNeela, Irish Republican died on hunger strike
1941 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (b. 1878)
1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Danish-Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
1950 – Ernst Robert Curtius, French-German philologist and scholar (b. 1886)
1952 – Steve Conway, British singer (b. 1921)
1955 – Jim Corbett, British-Indian colonel, hunter, and author (b. 1875)
1960 – Beardsley Ruml, American economist and statistician (b. 1894)
1961 – Max Hainle, German swimmer (b. 1882)
1966 – Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland; the Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1881)
1967 – Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1971 – Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1913)
1975 – Percy Lavon Julian, American chemist and academic (b. 1899)
1988 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (b. 1901)
1989 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (b. 1907)
1991 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (b. 1905)
1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1917)
1993 – David Koresh, American religious leader (b. 1959)
1993 – George S. Mickelson, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941)
1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
1999 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian-German SS officer (b. 1919)
2000 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1918)
2002 – Reginald Rose, American writer (b. 1920)
2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (b. 1925)
2004 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (b. 1920)
2004 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (b. 1922)
2006 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1921)
2007 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
2009 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (b. 1946)
2012 – Levon Helm, American musician and actor (b. 1940)
2013 – François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2013 – Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (b. 1924)
2015 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (b. 1919)
2015 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (b. 1924)
2016 – Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (b. 1918)
2017 – Lu Chao-Hsuan, Taiwanese guitarist, performer and educator. (b. 1929)
2021 – Walter Mondale, American politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States (b. 1928)
2021 – Jim Steinman, American composer, lyricist (b. 1947)
2022 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1903)
2023 – Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor (b. 1998)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic)
Conrad of Ascoli
Emma of Lesum
Expeditus
George of Antioch
Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran)
Pope Leo IX
Ursmar
April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 19
Days of the year
April |
2224 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%208 | April 8 |
Events
Pre-1600
217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy.
1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.
1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
1271 – In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.
1601–1900
1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated.
1812 – Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki.
1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.
1832 – Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.
1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
1901–present
1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms.
1929 – Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
1940 – The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
1943 – Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities.
1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat–Nehru Pact.
1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike.
1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers.
1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1970 – Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers accidentally strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racist remarks he had made while on Nightline.
1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
1993 – The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations.
1993 – The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.
2004 – War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government, the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.
2005 – A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.
2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
2008 – The construction of the world's first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
2010 – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty.
2013 – The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.
2014 – Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported.
2020 – Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee.
Births
Pre-1600
1320 – Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
1408 – Jadwiga of Lithuania, Polish princess (d. 1431)
1435 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1461)
1533 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (d. 1604)
1536 – Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597)
1541 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (d. 1593)
1580 – William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English noble, courtier and patron of the arts (d. 1630)
1596 – Juan van der Hamen, Spanish artist (d. 1631)
1601–1900
1605 – Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665)
1605 – Mary Stuart, English-Scottish princess (d. 1607)
1641 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1704)
1692 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1770)
1726 – Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (d. 1798)
1732 – David Rittenhouse, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1796)
1761 – William Joseph Chaminade, French priest, founded the Society of Mary (d. 1850)
1770 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian banker and politician (d. 1830)
1798 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and author (d. 1857)
1818 – Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
1818 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (d. 1892)
1826 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890)
1827 – Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican ophthalmologist, journalist, and politician (d. 1898)
1842 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (d. 1933)
1859 – Edmund Husserl, German Jewish-Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1938)
1864 – Carlos Deltour, French rower and rugby player (d. 1920)
1867 – Allen Butler Talcott, American painter and educator (d. 1908)
1869 – Harvey Cushing, American surgeon and academic (d. 1939)
1871 – Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (d. 1925)
1874 – Manuel Díaz, Cuban fencer (d. 1929)
1874 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
1875 – Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
1882 (O.S. 27 March) – Dmytro Doroshenko, Lithuanian-Ukrainian historian and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Prime Minister of Ukraine (d. 1951)
1883 – R. P. Keigwin, English cricketer and academic (d. 1972)
1883 – Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1936)
1885 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek-French soldier, composer, and educator (d. 1951)
1886 – Margaret Ayer Barnes, American author and playwright (d. 1967)
1888 – Dennis Chávez, American journalist and politician (d. 1962)
1889 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
1892 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designer of the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (d. 1970)
1892 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of United Artists (d. 1979)
1896 – Yip Harburg, American composer (d. 1981)
1900 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979)
1901–present
1902 – Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1924)
1902 – Maria Maksakova Sr., Russian soprano (d. 1974)
1904 – John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1904 – Hirsch Jacobs, American horse trainer (d. 1970)
1905 – Joachim Büchner, German sprinter and graphic designer (d. 1978)
1905 – Helen Joseph, English-South African activist (d. 1992)
1905 – Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d. 1971)
1906 – Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (d. 1974)
1908 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1909 – John Fante, American author and screenwriter (d. 1983)
1910 – George Musso, American football player and police officer (d. 2000)
1911 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1911 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and academic (d. 1995)
1912 – Alois Brunner, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 2001 or 2010)
1912 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian-American figure skater and actress (d. 1969)
1914 – María Félix, Yaqui/Basque-Mexican actress (d. 2002)
1915 – Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and writer (d. 2007)
1917 – Winifred Asprey, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2007)
1917 – Lloyd Bott, Australian public servant (d. 2004)
1917 – Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017)
1917 – Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer (d. 1988)
1918 – Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
1918 – Glendon Swarthout, American author and academic (d. 1992)
1919 – Ian Smith, Zimbabwean lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007)
1921 – Franco Corelli, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2003)
1920 – Carmen McRae, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress (d. 1994)
1921 – Jan Novák, Czech composer (d. 1984)
1921 – Herman van Raalte, Dutch footballer (d. 2013)
1923 – George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
1923 – Edward Mulhare, Irish-American actor (d. 1997)
1924 – Frédéric Back, German-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1924 – Anthony Farrar-Hockley, English general and historian (d. 2006)
1924 – Kumar Gandharva, Hindustani classical singer (d. 1992)
1924 – Sara Northrup Hollister, American occultist (d. 1997)
1926 – Henry N. Cobb, American architect and academic, co-founded Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (d. 2020)
1926 – Shecky Greene, American comedian
1926 – Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian and academic
1927 – Tilly Armstrong, English author (d. 2010)
1927 – Ollie Mitchell, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
1928 – Fred Ebb, American lyricist (d. 2004)
1929 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1978)
1929 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (d. 1996)
1930 – Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma (d. 2010)
1931 – John Gavin, American actor and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Mexico (d. 2018)
1932 – Iskandar of Johor (d. 2010)
1933 – James Lockhart, American scholar of colonial Latin America, especially Nahua peoples (d. 2014)
1934 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower and Singapore Flyer (d. 2007)
1935 – Oscar Zeta Acosta, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974)
1935 – Albert Bustamante, American soldier, educator, and politician
1937 – Tony Barton, English footballer and manager (d. 1993)
1937 – Seymour Hersh, American journalist and author
1937 – Momo Kapor, Serbian author and painter (d. 2010)
1938 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian economist and diplomat, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 2018)
1938 – John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia
1938 – Mary W. Gray, American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer
1939 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer, composer and songwriter (d. 1989)
1939 – John Arbuthnott, Scottish microbiologist and academic
1939 – Trina Schart Hyman, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)
1939 – Martin J. Schreiber, American politician, 39th Governor of Wisconsin
1940 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019)
1941 – Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer (d. 2022)
1942 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (d. 2006)
1942 – Roger Chapman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer, and special effects artist (d. 2022)
1943 – Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987)
1943 – Miller Farr, American football player
1943 – James Herbert, English author and illustrator (d. 2013)
1943 – Chris Orr, English painter and illustrator
1944 – Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017)
1944 – Odd Nerdrum, Swedish-Norwegian painter and illustrator
1945 – Derrick Walker, Scottish businessman
1945 – Jang Yong, South Korean actor
1946 – Catfish Hunter, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1946 – Tim Thomerson, American actor and producer
1947 – Tom DeLay, American lawyer and politician
1947 – Steve Howe, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1947 – Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman, co-founded Cashflow Technologies
1947 – Pascal Lamy, French businessman and politician, European Commissioner for Trade
1947 – Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter, and producer (d. 2008)
1948 – Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, Scottish academic and politician
1949 – K. C. Kamalasabayson, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 39th Attorney General of Sri Lanka (d. 2007)
1949 – John Madden, English director and producer
1949 – Brenda Russell, African-American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1949 – John Scott, English sociologist and academic
1950 – Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer and coach
1951 – Gerd Andres, German politician
1951 – Geir Haarde, Icelandic economist, journalist, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Iceland
1951 – Mel Schacher, American bass player
1951 – Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian (d. 2021)
1952 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician (d. 2004)
1954 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
1954 – Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco (d. 2012)
1954 – G.V. Loganathan, Indian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007)
1955 – Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer (d. 2023)
1955 – Ron Johnson, American businessman and politician
1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet
1955 – David Wu, Taiwanese-American lawyer and politician
1956 – Michael Benton, Scottish-English paleontologist and academic
1956 – Christine Boisson, French actress
1956 – Roman Dragoun, Czech singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1958 – Detlef Bruckhoff, German footballer
1958 – Tom Petranoff, American javelin thrower and coach
1959 – Alain Bondue, French cyclist
1960 – John Schneider, American actor and country singer
1961 – Richard Hatch, American reality contestant
1961 – Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager
1962 – Paddy Lowe, English engineer
1962 – Izzy Stradlin, American guitarist and songwriter
1963 – Tine Asmundsen, Norwegian bassist
1963 – Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Dean Norris, American actor
1963 – Terry Porter, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Donita Sparks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Alec Stewart, English cricketer
1963 – Seth Tobias, American businessman (d. 2007)
1964 – Biz Markie, American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2021)
1964 – John McGinlay, Scottish footballer and manager
1965 – Steven Blaney, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Public Safety
1965 – Michael Jones, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1966 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014)
1966 – Mark Blundell, English race car driver
1966 – Andy Currier, English rugby league player
1966 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-Australian television host (d. 2014)
1966 – Dalton Grant, English high jumper
1966 – Mazinho, Brazilian footballer, coach, and manager
1966 – Harri Rovanperä, Finnish race car driver
1966 – Evripidis Stylianidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior
1966 – Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer
1967 – Kenny Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer
1968 – Patricia Arquette, American actress and director
1968 – Patricia Girard, French runner and hurdler
1968 – Tracy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Darren Jessee, American singer-songwriter and drummer
1972 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2010)
1972 – Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer and accountant (d. 2009)
1973 – Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer
1973 – Emma Caulfield, American actress
1974 – Toutai Kefu, Tongan-Australian rugby player
1974 – Chris Kyle, American sniper and memoirist (d. 2013)
1974 – Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American author and educator
1975 – Anouk, Dutch singer
1975 – Francesco Flachi, Italian footballer
1975 – Timo Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
1975 – Funda Arar, Turkish singer
1977 – Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress
1977 – Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist and author (d. 2008)
1977 – Mark Spencer, American computer programmer and engineer
1978 – Daigo, Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, and voice actor
1978 – Bernt Haas, Austrian-Swiss footballer
1978 – Rachel Roberts, Canadian model and actress
1978 – Jocelyn Robichaud, Canadian tennis player and coach
1978 – Evans Rutto, Kenyan runner
1979 – Alexi Laiho, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
1979 – Amit Trivedi, Indian singer-songwriter
1980 – Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
1980 – Katee Sackhoff, American actress
1980 – Mariko Seyama, Japanese announcer, photographer, and model
1981 – Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer
1981 – Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
1981 – Ofer Shechter, Israeli model, actor, and screenwriter
1982 – Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer
1982 – Brett White, Australian rugby league player
1983 – Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russian runner
1984 – Michelle Donelan, British politician
1984 – Ezra Koenig, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Pablo Portillo, Mexican singer and actor
1984 – Taran Noah Smith, American actor
1985 – Patrick Schliwa, German rugby player
1985 – Yemane Tsegay, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer
1986 – Félix Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player
1986 – Carlos Santana, Dominican baseball player
1987 – Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer
1987 – Jeremy Hellickson, American baseball player
1987 – Elton John, Trinidadian footballer
1987 – Sam Rapira, New Zealand rugby league player
1988 – Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player
1990 – Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer (d. 2017)
1992 – Jeff McNeil, American baseball player
1993 – Viktor Arvidsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1994 – Josh Chudleigh, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Cedi Osman, Turkish professional basketball player
1996 – Anna Korakaki, Greek Olympic shooter
1997 – Kim Woo-jin, South Korean singer
1997 – Saygrace, Australian singer and songwriter
1997 – Roquan Smith, American football player
1997 – Arno Verschueren, Belgian footballer
1998 – Lavinia Valbonesi, Ecuadorian nutritionist, businesswoman and First Lady-designate of Ecuador
1999 – CeeDee Lamb, American football player
2002 – Viktória Forster, Slovak track and field athlete
2002 – Skai Jackson, American actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
217 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (b. 188)
622 – Shōtoku, Japanese prince (b. 572)
632 – Charibert II, Frankish king (b. 607)
894 – Adalelm, Frankish nobleman
944 – Wang Yanxi, Chinese emperor
956 – Gilbert, Frankish nobleman
967 – Mu'izz al-Dawla, Buyid emir (b. 915)
1143 – John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1087)
1150 – Gertrude of Babenberg, duchess of Bohemia (b. 1118)
1321 – Thomas of Tolentino, Italian-Franciscan missionary (b. c. 1255)
1338 – Stephen Gravesend, bishop of London
1364 – John II, French king (b. 1319)
1450 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (b. 1397)
1461 – Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423)
1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1449)
1551 – Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
1586 – Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran theologian and reformer (b. 1522)
1601–1900
1608 – Magdalen Dacre, English noble (b. 1538)
1612 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575)
1691 – Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect, designed the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (b. 1611)
1697 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (b. 1629)
1704 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (b. 1624)
1704 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1641)
1709 – Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen, German nobleman (b. 1641)
1725 – John Wise, American minister (b. 1652)
1735 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
1848 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
1860 – István Széchenyi, Hungarian statesman and reformer (b.1791)
1861 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (b. 1811)
1870 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802)
1877 – Bernardino António Gomes, Portuguese physician and naturalist (b. 1806)
1894 – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1838)
1901–present
1906 – Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850)
1919 – Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist, academic, and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1848)
1920 – Charles Griffes, American pianist and composer (b. 1884)
1931 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
1936 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
1936 – Božena Benešová, Czech poet and novelist (b. 1873)
1941 – Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (b. 1862)
1942 – Kostas Skarvelis, Greek guitarist and composer (b. 1880)
1947 – Olaf Frydenlund, Norwegian target shooter (b. 1862)
1950 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish dancer and choreographer (b. 1890)
1959 – Marios Makrionitis, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens (b. 1913)
1961 – Joseph Carrodus, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
1962 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892)
1965 – Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886)
1969 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian astronomer (b. 1900)
1973 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
1974 – James Charles McGuigan, Canadian cardinal (b. 1894)
1979 – Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (b. 1952)
1981 – Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893)
1983 – Isamu Kosugi, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904)
1984 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894)
1985 – John Frederick Coots, American pianist and composer (b. 1897)
1990 – Ryan White, American activist, inspired the Ryan White Care Act (b. 1971)
1991 – Per Ohlin, Swedish musician (b. 1969)
1992 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
1993 – Marian Anderson, American operatic singer (b. 1897)
1994 – François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (b. 1899)
1996 – Ben Johnson, American actor and stuntman (b. 1918)
1996 – León Klimovsky, Argentinian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1996 – Mick Young, Australian politician (b. 1936)
1997 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1947)
2000 – František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer (b. 1927)
2000 – Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)
2002 – María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
2002 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter (b. 1937)
2004 – Werner Schumacher, German actor (b. 1921)
2005 – Onna White, Canadian choreographer and dancer (b. 1922)
2006 – Gerard Reve, Dutch author and poet (b. 1923)
2007 – Sol LeWitt, American painter and sculptor (b. 1928)
2008 – Kazuo Shiraga, Japanese painter (b. 1924)
2009 – Richard de Mille, American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (b. 1922)
2009 – Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976)
2010 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
2010 – Teddy Scholten, Dutch singer (b. 1926)
2011 – Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (b. 1910)
2012 – Blair Kiel, American football player and coach (b. 1961)
2012 – Jack Tramiel, Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (b. 1928)
2012 – Janusz K. Zawodny, Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (b. 1921)
2013 – Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist (b. 1958)
2013 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942)
2013 – Sara Montiel, Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (b. 1928)
2013 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (b. 1917)
2013 – Margaret Thatcher, English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
2014 – Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1927)
2014 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (b. 1924)
2014 – Ivan Mercep, New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (b. 1930)
2015 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1934)
2015 – Rayson Huang, Hong Kong chemist and academic (b. 1920)
2015 – Sergei Lashchenko, Ukrainian kick-boxer (b. 1987)
2015 – David Laventhol, American journalist and publisher (b. 1933)
2015 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936)
2019 – Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian-born American art curator (b. 1926)
2020 – Rick May, American-Canadian voice actor (b. 1940)
2020 – Abdul Momin Imambari, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (b. 1930)
2022 – Mimi Reinhardt, Austrian Jewish secretary (b. 1915)
Holidays and observances
Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival" (Japan)
Christian feast day:
Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))
Constantina
Julie Billiart of Namur
Perpetuus
Walter of Pontoise
William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))
April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia)
International Romani Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 8
Days of the year
April |
2279 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%203 | April 3 |
Events
Pre-1600
686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul.
1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
1077 – The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created.
1559 – The second of two treaties making up the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed, ending the Italian Wars.
1601–1900
1721 – Robert Walpole becomes, in effect, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, though he himself denied that title.
1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand after the death of his half-brother, Rama III.
1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1882 – American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James.
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for a light, high-speed, four-stroke engine, which he uses seven months later to create the world's first motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen.
1888 – Jack the Ripper: The first of 11 unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.
1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
1901–present
1920 – Attempts are made to carry out the failed assassination attempt on General Mannerheim, led by Aleksander Weckman by order of Eino Rahja, during the White Guard parade in Tampere, Finland.
1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1933 – First flight over Mount Everest, the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.
1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the infant son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
1946 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
1948 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1948 – In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju uprising begins.
1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.
1956 – Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day.
1969 – Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.
1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.
1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins.
1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.
1980 – US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
1989 – The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
1993 – The outcome of the Grand National horse race is declared void for the first (and only) time
1996 – Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.
1996 – A United States Air Force Boeing T-43 crashes near Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing 35, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
1997 – The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
2000 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record.
2008 – ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
2008 – Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.
2009 – Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
2013 – More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.
2017 – A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people.
2018 – YouTube headquarters shooting: A 38-year-old gunwoman opens fire at YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno, California, injuring three people before committing suicide.
Births
Pre-1600
1016 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1055)
1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d. 1202)
1395 – George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher, scholar and humanist (d. 1486)
1438 – John III of Egmont, Dutch nobleman (d. 1516)
1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581)
1540 – Maria de' Medici, Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. (d. 1557)
1593 – George Herbert, English poet (d. 1633)
1601–1900
1643 – Charles V, duke of Lorraine (d. 1690)
1682 – Valentin Rathgeber, German organist and composer (d. 1750)
1693 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1773)
1715 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (d. 1787)
1764 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1831)
1769 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (d. 1835)
1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843)
1778 – Pierre Bretonneau, French doctor who performed the first successful tracheotomy (d. 1862)
1781 – Swaminarayan, Indian religious leader (d. 1830)
1782 – Alexander Macomb, American general (d. 1841)
1783 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (d. 1859)
1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840)
1798 – Charles Wilkes, American admiral, geographer, and explorer (d.1877)
1807 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (d. 1877)
1814 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901)
1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1909)
1823 – George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (d. 1861)
1823 – William M. Tweed, American politician (d. 1878)
1826 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (d. 1900)
1837 – John Burroughs, American botanist and author (d. 1921)
1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (d. 1864)
1848 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (d. 1879)
1852 – Talbot Baines Reed, English author (d. 1893)
1858 – Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (d. 1937)
1860 – Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 1932)
1864 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (d. 1943)
1875 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
1876 – Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (d. 1958)
1876 – Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (d. 1932)
1880 – Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (d. 1903)
1881 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954)
1882 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1952)
1883 – Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1937)
1885 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
1885 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (d. 1944)
1885 – St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (d. 1960)
1886 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (d. 1953)
1887 – Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (d. 1956)
1887 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966)
1888 – Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (d. 1972)
1889 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1949)
1893 – Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943)
1895 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (d. 1968)
1895 – Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
1897 – Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (d. 1970)
1897 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (d. 1989)
1898 – David Jack, English footballer and manager (d. 1958)
1898 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1981)
1898 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time magazine (d. 1967)
1900 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (d. 1987)
1900 – Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
1901–present
1903 – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (d. 1988)
1904 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (d. 1999)
1904 – Sally Rand, American dancer (d. 1979)
1904 – Russel Wright, American furniture designer (d. 1976)
1905 – Robert Sink, American general (d. 1965)
1909 – Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1984)
1910 – Ted Hook, Australian public servant (d. 1990)
1911 – Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (d. 1956)
1911 – Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (d. 2001)
1911 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (d. 1980)
1912 – Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (d. 1982)
1912 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (d. 1963)
1913 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 2005)
1914 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
1914 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (d. 2008)
1915 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2016)
1915 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010)
1916 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
1916 – Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (d. 1988)
1916 – Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (d. 1991)
1918 – Mary Anderson, American actress (d. 2014)
1918 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (d. 2000)
1919 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (d. 2015)
1919 – Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (d. 2008)
1920 – Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (d. 2001)
1920 – Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (d. 1977)
1921 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (d. 1991)
1921 – Jan Sterling, American actress (d. 2004)
1922 – Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (d. 1996)
1922 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (d. 2019)
1923 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (d. 2013)
1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (d. 2004)
1924 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (d. 1945)
1925 – Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (d. 2014)
1926 – Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (d. 2019)
1926 – Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1967)
1927 – Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (d. 2012)
1928 – Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1928 – Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (d. 2018)
1928 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1928 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (d. 1999)
1929 – Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (d. 1982)
1929 – Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 2021)
1930 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (d. 1998)
1930 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 2017)
1930 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (d. 2015)
1930 – Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1931 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (d. 2015)
1933 – Bob Dornan, American politician
1933 – Rod Funseth, American golfer (d. 1985)
1934 – Pamela Allen, New Zealand children's writer and illustrator
1934 – Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist
1934 – Jim Parker, American football player (d. 2005)
1935 – Harold Kushner, American rabbi and author (d. 2023)
1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (d. 2008)
1936 – Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 1987)
1938 – Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer
1938 – Phil Rodgers, American golfer (d. 2018)
1939 – François de Roubaix, French composer (d. 1975)
1939 – Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
1939 – Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician
1941 – Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1941 – Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (d. 1984)
1942 – Marsha Mason, American actress
1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer
1942 – Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
1943 – Mario Lavista, Mexican composer
1943 – Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1943 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1986)
1943 – Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
1944 – Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic
1944 – Tony Orlando, American singer
1945 – Doon Arbus, American author and journalist
1945 – Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1945 – Catherine Spaak, French actress (d. 2022)
1946 – Nicholas Jones, English actor
1946 – Dee Murray, English bass player (d. 1992)
1946 – Hanna Suchocka, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland
1947 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (d. 2013)
1948 – Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter
1948 – Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO
1948 – Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer
1948 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico
1949 – Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (d. 1992)
1949 – A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic
1949 – Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist
1951 – Brendan Barber, English trade union leader
1951 – Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator
1951 – Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1952 – Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator
1953 – Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna
1953 – James Smith, American boxer
1954 – Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer
1954 – K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician
1956 – Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician
1956 – Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer
1956 – Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor
1956 – Ray Combs, American game show host (d. 1996)
1958 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host
1958 – Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist
1958 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (d. 1981)
1959 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist
1960 – Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Tim Crews, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1961 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
1962 – Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager
1962 – Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician
1963 – Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager
1963 – Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
1964 – Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager
1964 – Nigel Farage, English politician
1964 – Claire Perry, English banker and politician
1964 – Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager
1964 – Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach
1964 – Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia
1965 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000)
1966 – John de Vries, Australian race car driver
1967 – Cat Cora, American chef and author
1967 – Pervis Ellison, American basketball player
1967 – Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter
1967 – Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster
1968 – Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
1968 – Charlotte Coleman, English actress (d. 2001)
1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer
1968 – Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player
1969 – Rodney Hampton, American football player
1969 – Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach
1969 – Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor
1969 – Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer
1971 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager
1971 – Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver
1971 – Picabo Street, American skier
1972 – Jennie Garth, American actress and director
1972 – Catherine McCormack, English actress
1972 – Sandrine Testud, French tennis player
1973 – Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer
1973 – Adam Scott, American actor
1974 – Marcus Brown, American basketball player
1974 – Drew Shirley, American guitarist and songwriter
1974 – Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor
1975 – Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player
1975 – Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player
1975 – Aries Spears, American comedian and actor
1975 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player
1975 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player
1978 – Matthew Goode, English actor
1978 – Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player
1978 – John Smit, South African rugby player
1979 – Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach
1980 – Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer
1980 – Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist
1981 – Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player
1981 – DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player
1982 – Jared Allen, American football player
1982 – Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer
1982 – Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress
1983 – Ben Foster, English footballer
1983 – Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer
1984 – Maxi López, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver
1985 – Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress
1986 – Stephanie Cox, American soccer player
1986 – Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist
1986 – Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer
1987 – Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer
1987 – Jay Bruce, American baseball player
1987 – Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jason Kipnis, American baseball player
1987 – Martyn Rooney, English sprinter
1987 – Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Yuval Spungin, Israeli footballer
1988 – Kam Chancellor, American football player
1988 – Brandon Graham, American football player
1988 – Peter Hartley, English footballer
1988 – Tim Krul, Dutch footballer
1989 – Romain Alessandrini, French footballer
1989 – Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer
1989 – Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer
1990 – Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer
1990 – Madison Brengle, American tennis player
1990 – Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer
1990 – Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer
1991 – Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer
1992 – Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer
1992 – Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer
1993 – Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer
1994 – Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player
1994 – Dylann Roof, American mass murderer
1996 – Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player
1997 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer
1998 – Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer
1999 – Chanel Harris-Tavita, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
Deaths
Pre-1600
963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
1153 – al-Adil ibn al-Sallar, vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate
1171 – Philip of Milly, seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. )
1203 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)
1253 – Saint Richard of Chichester
1287 – Pope Honorius IV (b. 1210)
1325 – Nizamuddin Auliya, Sufi saint (b. 1238)
1350 – Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295)
1538 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480)
1545 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481)
1601–1900
1606 – Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1563)
1630 – Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English noble (b. c. 1593)
1637 – Joseph Yuspa Nördlinger Hahn, German rabbi
1680 – Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj , Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (b. 1630)
1682 – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1618)
1691 – Jean Petitot, French-Swiss painter (b. 1608)
1695 – Melchior d'Hondecoeter, Dutch painter (b. 1636)
1717 – Jacques Ozanam, French mathematician and academic (b. 1640)
1728 – James Anderson, Scottish lawyer and historian (b. 1662)
1792 – George Pocock, English admiral (b. 1706)
1804 – Jędrzej Kitowicz, Polish priest, historian, and author (b. 1727)
1826 – Reginald Heber, English priest (b. 1783)
1827 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist and academic (b. 1756)
1838 – François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician and author (b. 1780)
1844 – Edward Bigge, English cleric, 1st Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (b. 1807)
1846 – William Braine, English soldier and explorer (b. 1814)
1849 – Juliusz Słowacki, Polish-French poet and playwright (b. 1809)
1868 – Franz Berwald, Swedish composer and surgeon (b. 1796)
1880 – Felicita Vestvali, German actress and opera singer (b. 1831)
1882 – Jesse James, American criminal and outlaw (b. 1847)
1897 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (b. 1833)
1901–present
1901 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English composer and talent agent (b. 1844)
1902 – Esther Hobart Morris, American lawyer and judge (b. 1814)
1930 – Emma Albani, Canadian-English operatic soprano (b. 1847)
1936 – Richard Hauptmann, German-American murderer (b. 1899)
1941 – Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (b. 1877)
1941 – Pál Teleki, Hungarian academic and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1879)
1943 – Conrad Veidt, German actor, director, and producer (b. 1893)
1946 – Masaharu Homma, Japanese general (b. 1887)
1950 – Kurt Weill, German-American composer and pianist (b. 1900)
1950 – Carter G. Woodson, American historian, author, and journalist, founded Black History Month (b. 1875)
1951 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and playwright (b. 1890)
1952 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish minister and politician (b. 1866)
1957 – Ned Sparks, Canadian-American actor (b. 1883)
1958 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (b. 1891)
1962 – Manolis Kalomiris, Greek composer and educator (b. 1883)
1970 – Avigdor Hameiri, Israeli author (b. 1890)
1971 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster (b. 1904)
1972 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
1975 – Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (b. 1933)
1976 – David M. Dennison, American physicist and academic (b. 1900)
1976 – Claude-Henri Grignon, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1894)
1978 – Ray Noble, English bandleader, composer, and actor (b. 1903)
1978 – Winston Sharples, American composer (b. 1909)
1981 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (b. 1899)
1982 – Warren Oates, American actor (b. 1928)
1983 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English footballer and manager (b. 1934)
1986 – Peter Pears, English tenor and educator (b. 1910)
1987 – Tom Sestak, American football player (b. 1936)
1988 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
1990 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (b. 1924)
1991 – Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (b. 1901)
1991 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (b. 1904)
1993 – Pinky Lee, American television host (b. 1907)
1994 – Frank Wells, American businessman (b. 1932)
1995 – Alfred J. Billes, Canadian businessman, co-founded Canadian Tire (b. 1902)
1996 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1941)
1998 – Mary Cartwright, English mathematician and academic (b. 1900)
1999 – Lionel Bart, English composer (b. 1930)
1999 – Geoffrey Walsh, Canadian general (b. 1909)
2000 – Terence McKenna, American botanist and philosopher (b. 1946)
2000 – Dina Abramowicz, Librarian and YIVO and Yiddish language expert (b. 1909)
2005 – François Gérin, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
2007 – Nina Wang, Chinese businesswoman (b. 1937)
2008 – Hrvoje Ćustić, Croatian footballer (b. 1983)
2012 – Mingote, Spanish cartoonist and journalist (b. 1919)
2012 – Richard Descoings, French civil servant (b. 1958)
2012 – Govind Narain, Indian politician, 8th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1917)
2012 – Chief Jay Strongbow, American wrestler (b. 1928)
2012 – José María Zárraga, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1930)
2013 – Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
2013 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (b. 1927)
2014 – Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1935)
2014 – Fred Kida, American illustrator (b. 1920)
2014 – Prince Michael of Prussia (b. 1940)
2014 – Jovan Pavlović, Serbian metropolitan (b. 1936)
2014 – Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (b. 1921)
2015 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (b. 1942)
2015 – Bob Burns, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1950)
2015 – Shmuel Wosner, Austrian-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1913)
2016 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1932)
2016 – Joe Medicine Crow, American anthropologist, historian, and author (b. 1913)
2016 – Koji Wada, Japanese singer and songwriter (b. 1974)
2017 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical vocalist (b. 1931)
2021 – Stan Stephens, Canadian-American politician, 20th Governor of Montana (b. 1929)
2022 – June Brown, English actress (b. 1927)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Agape, Chionia, and Irene
Burgundofara
Luigi Scrosoppi
Richard of Chichester
April 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 3
Days of the year
April |
2315 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%2010 | August 10 |
Events
Pre-1600
654 – Pope Eugene I elected to succeed Martinus I.
955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
991 – Battle of Maldon: The English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex.
1030 – The Battle of Azaz ends with a humiliating retreat of the Byzantine emperor, Romanos III Argyros, against the Mirdasid rulers of Aleppo. The retreat degenerates into a rout, in which Romanos himself barely escapes capture.
1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
1346 – Jaume Ferrer sets out from Majorca for the "River of Gold", the Senegal River.
1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Italian War of 1551–59.
1585 – The Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch Rebels.
1601–1900
1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage off Stockholm.
1641 – The Treaty of London between England and Scotland, ending the Bishops' Wars, is signed.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1741 – King Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeats the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Colachel, effectively bringing about the end of the Dutch colonial rule in India.
1755 – Under the direction of Charles Lawrence, the British begin to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies and France.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace: Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
1808 – Finnish War: Swedish forces led by General von Döbeln defeat Russian forces led by General Šepelev in the Battle of Kauhajoki.
1856 – The Last Island hurricane strikes Louisiana, resulting in over 200 deaths.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek: A mixed force of Confederate, Missouri State Guard, and Arkansas State troops defeat outnumbered attacking Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
1864 – After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refuses Brazil's demands, José Antônio Saraiva announces that the Brazilian military will begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War.
1901–present
1901 – The U.S. Steel recognition strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1913 – Second Balkan War: Delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Regional Defence Council of Aragon is dissolved by the Second Spanish Republic.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Guam comes to an effective end.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a defensive German victory.
1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as The Candid Microphone.
1949 – An amendment to the National Security Act of 1947 enhances the authority of the United States Secretary of Defense over the Army, Navy and Air Force, and replaces the National Military Establishment with the Department of Defense.
1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
1961 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.
1966 – The Heron Road Bridge collapses while being built, killing nine workers in the deadliest construction accident in both Ottawa and Ontario.
1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: The head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
1993 – Two earthquakes affect New Zealand. A 7.0 shock (intensity VI (Strong)) in the South Island was followed nine hours later by a 6.4 event (intensity VII (Very strong)) in the North Island.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
1997 – Sixteen people are killed when Formosa Airlines Flight 7601 crashes near Beigan Airport in the Matsu Islands of Taiwan.
1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
1999 – Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting.
2001 – The 2001 Angola train attack occurred, causing 252 deaths.
2001 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-105 to the International Space Station, carrying the astronauts of Expedition 3 to replace the crew of Expedition 2.
2003 – The Okinawa Urban Monorail is opened in Naha, Okinawa.
2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history.
2012 – The Marikana massacre begins near Rustenburg, South Africa, resulting in the deaths of 47 people.
2014 – Forty people are killed when Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport.
2018 – Horizon Air employee Richard Russell hijacks and performs an unauthorized takeoff on a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 plane at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in Washington, flying it for more than an hour before crashing the plane and killing himself on Ketron Island in Puget Sound.
2018 – An anti-government rally turns into a riot when members of the Romanian Gendarmerie attack the 100,000 people protesting in front of the Victoria Palace, leading to 452 recorded injuries. The authorities alleged that the crowd was infiltrated by hooligans who began attacking law enforcement agents.
2019 – Thirty-two are killed and one million are evacuated as Typhoon Lekima makes landfall in Zhejiang, China. Earlier it had caused flooding in the Philippines.
2019 – Philip Manshaus shoots his stepsister and attacks a mosque in the Bærum mosque shooting.
2020 – Derecho in Iowa becomes the most costly thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history.
Births
Pre-1600
941 – Lê Hoàn, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1005)
1267 – James II of Aragon (d. 1327)
1296 – John of Bohemia (d. 1346)
1360 – Francesco Zabarella, Italian cardinal (d. 1417)
1397 – Albert II of Germany (d. 1439)
1439 – Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Duchess of York (d. 1476)
1449 – Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1503)
1466 – Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (d. 1519)
1489 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German lawyer and politician (d. 1553)
1520 – Madeleine of Valois (d. 1537)
1528 – Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1584)
1547 – Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1619)
1560 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German organist and composer (d. 1629)
1601–1900
1602 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician and academic (d. 1675)
1645 – Eusebio Kino, Italian priest and missionary (d. 1711)
1734 – Naungdawgyi, Burmese king (d. 1763)
1737 – Anton Losenko, Russian painter and academic (d. 1773)
1740 – Samuel Arnold, English organist and composer (d. 1802)
1744 – Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles, daughter of Madame de Pompadour (d. 1754)
1755 – Narayan Rao, fifth Peshwa of the Maratha Empire (d. 1773)
1782 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican insurgent leader and President of Mexico (d. 1831)
1805 – Ferenc Toldy, German-Hungarian historian and critic (d. 1875)
1809 – John Kirk Townsend, American ornithologist and explorer (d. 1851)
1810 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1861)
1814 – Henri Nestlé, German businessman, founded Nestlé (d. 1890)
1814 – John C. Pemberton, United States soldier and Confederate general (d. 1881)
1821 – Jay Cooke, American financier, founded Jay Cooke & Company (d. 1905)
1823 – Hugh Stowell Brown, English minister and reformer (d. 1886)
1825 – István Türr, Hungarian soldier, architect, and engineer, co-designed the Corinth Canal (d. 1908)
1827 – Lovro Toman, Slovenian lawyer and politician (d. 1870)
1839 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1896)
1845 – Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet, composer, and philosopher (d. 1904)
1848 – William Harnett, Irish-American painter and educator (d. 1892)
1856 – William Willett, English inventor, founded British Summer Time (d. 1915)
1860 – Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian singer and musicologist (d. 1936)
1865 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1936)
1868 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and businessman (d. 1954)
1869 – Laurence Binyon, English poet, playwright, and scholar (d. 1943)
1870 – Trần Tế Xương, Vietnamese poet and satirist (d. 1907)
1872 – William Manuel Johnson, American bassist (d. 1972)
1874 – Herbert Hoover, American engineer and politician, 31st President of the United States (d. 1964)
1874 – Antanas Smetona, Lithuanian jurist and politician, President of Lithuania (d. 1944)
1877 – Frank Marshall, American chess player and author (d. 1944)
1878 – Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (d. 1957)
1880 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1964)
1884 – Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1935)
1888 – Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (d. 1940)
1889 – Charles Darrow, American game designer, created Monopoly (d. 1967)
1889 – Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Polish writer and member of the WW II Polish Resistance (d. 1968)
1890 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1954)
1894 – V. V. Giri, Indian lawyer and politician, 4th President of India (d. 1980)
1895 – Hammy Love, Australian cricketer (d. 1969)
1897 – John W. Galbreath, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Darby Dan Farm (d. 1988)
1897 – Jack Haley, American actor and singer (d. 1979)
1900 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1994)
1901–present
1902 – Norma Shearer, Canadian-American actress (d. 1983)
1902 – Curt Siodmak, German-English author and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1902 – Arne Tiselius, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1903 – Ward Moore, American author (d. 1978)
1905 – Era Bell Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 1986)
1907 – Su Yu, Chinese general and politician (d. 1984)
1908 – Rica Erickson, Australian botanist, historian, and author (d. 2009)
1908 – Billy Gonsalves, American soccer player (d. 1977)
1909 – Leo Fender, American businessman, founded Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (d. 1991)
1909 – Richard J. Hughes, American politician, 45th Governor of New Jersey, and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (d. 1992)
1910 – Guy Mairesse, French racing driver (d. 1954)
1911 – Leonidas Andrianopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2011)
1911 – A. N. Sherwin-White, English historian and author (d. 1993)
1912 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist and poet (d. 2001)
1913 – Noah Beery Jr., American actor (d. 1994)
1913 – Kalevi Kotkas, Estonian-Finnish high jumper and discus thrower (d. 1983)
1913 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
1914 – Jeff Corey, American actor and director (d. 2002)
1914 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian racing driver and polo player (d. 1973)
1914 – Ray Smith, English cricketer (d. 1996)
1918 – Eugene P. Wilkinson, American admiral (d. 2013)
1920 – Red Holzman, American basketball player and coach (d. 1998)
1922 – Al Alberts, American pop singer and composer (d. 2009)
1923 – Bill Doolittle, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1923 – Rhonda Fleming, American actress (d. 2020)
1923 – Fred Ridgway, English cricketer and footballer (d. 2015)
1923 – SM Sultan, Bangladeshi painter and illustrator (d. 1994)
1924 – Nancy Buckingham, English author
1924 – Martha Hyer, American actress (d. 2014)
1924 – Jean-François Lyotard, French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist (d. 1998)
1925 – George Cooper, English general (d. 2020)
1926 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and educator (d. 2013)
1926 – Carol Ruth Vander Velde, American mathematician (d. 1972)
1927 – Jimmy Martin, American singer and guitarist (d. 2005)
1927 – Vernon Washington, American actor (d. 1988)
1928 – Jimmy Dean, American singer, actor, and businessman, founded the Jimmy Dean Food Company (d. 2010)
1928 – Eddie Fisher, American singer and actor (d. 2010)
1928 – Gerino Gerini, Italian racing driver (d. 2013)
1928 – Gus Mercurio, American-Australian actor (d. 2010)
1930 – Barry Unsworth, English-Italian author and academic (d. 2012)
1931 – Dolores Alexander, American journalist and activist (d. 2008)
1931 – Tom Laughlin, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1932 – Alexander Goehr, English composer and academic
1932 – Gaudencio Rosales, Filipino cardinal
1933 – Doyle Brunson, American poker player (d. 2023)
1933 – Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, English lawyer and judge
1933 – Rocky Colavito, American baseball player and sportscaster
1933 – Keith Duckworth, English engineer, founded Cosworth (d. 2005)
1934 – Tevfik Kış, Turkish wrestler and trainer (d. 2019)
1935 – Ian Stewart, Baron Stewartby, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces (d. 2018)
1935 – Ad van Luyn, Dutch bishop
1936 – Malene Schwartz, Danish actress
1937 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian scholar and politician, Mayor of Saint Petersburg (d. 2000)
1938 – Tony Ross, English author and illustrator
1939 – Kate O'Mara, English actress (d. 2014)
1939 – Charlie Rose, American lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
1940 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1940 – Sid Waddell, English sportscaster (d. 2012)
1941 – Anita Lonsbrough, English swimmer and journalist
1941 – Susan Dorothea White, Australian painter and sculptor
1942 – Speedy Duncan, American football player (d. 2021)
1942 – Betsey Johnson, American fashion designer
1942 – Michael Pepper, English physicist and engineer
1943 – Louise Forestier, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
1943 – Jimmy Griffin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1943 – Michael Mantler, American trumpet player and composer
1943 – Shafqat Rana, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
1943 – Ronnie Spector, American singer-songwriter (d. 2022)
1947 – Ian Anderson, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian academic and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia
1947 – John Spencer, English rugby player and manager
1947 – Alan Ward, English cricketer
1948 – Nick Stringer, English actor
1950 – Patti Austin, American singer-songwriter
1951 – Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian businessman and politician, 59th President of Colombia
1952 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
1952 – Diane Venora, American actress
1954 – Peter Endrulat, German footballer
1954 – Rick Overton, American screenwriter, actor and comedian
1955 – Jim Mees, American set designer (d. 2013)
1955 – Mel Tiangco, Filipino journalist and talk show host
1956 – Dianne Fromholtz, Australian tennis player
1956 – José Luis Montes, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1956 – Fred Ottman, American wrestler
1956 – Charlie Peacock, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1956 – Perween Warsi, Indian-English businesswoman
1957 – Fred Ho, American saxophonist, composer, and playwright (d. 2014)
1957 – Andres Põime, Estonian architect
1957 – Aqeel Abbas Jafari, Pakistani writer, poet, architect and chief editor Urdu Dictionary Board
1958 – Michael Dokes, American boxer (d. 2012)
1958 – Jack Richards, English cricketer, coach, and manager
1958 – Rosie Winterton, English nurse and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
1959 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress, director, and producer
1959 – Albert Owen, Welsh sailor and politician
1959 – Mark Price, English drummer
1959 – Florent Vollant, Canadian singer-songwriter
1960 – Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor and producer
1960 – Annely Ojastu, Estonian sprinter and long jumper
1960 – Kenny Perry, American golfer
1961 – Jon Farriss, Australian drummer, songwriter, and producer
1962 – Suzanne Collins, American author and screenwriter
1962 – Julia Fordham, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Phoolan Devi, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 2001)
1963 – Anton Janssen, Dutch footballer and coach
1963 – Andrew Sullivan, English-American journalist and author
1963 – Henrik Fisker, Danish automotive designer and businessman
1964 – Aaron Hall, American singer-songwriter
1964 – Kåre Kolve, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
1964 – Hiro Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1965 – Claudia Christian, American actress, singer, writer, and director
1965 – Mike E. Smith, American jockey and sportscaster
1965 – John Starks, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Charlie Dimmock, English gardener and television host
1966 – Hansi Kürsch, German singer-songwriter and bass player
1966 – Hossam Hassan, Egyptian footballer and manager
1967 – Philippe Albert, Belgian footballer and sportscaster
1967 – Riddick Bowe, American boxer
1967 – Gus Johnson, American sportscaster
1967 – Todd Nichols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Reinout Scholte, Dutch cricketer
1968 – Michael Bivins, American singer and producer
1968 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1969 – Emily Symons, Australian actress
1969 – Brian Drummond, Canadian voice actor
1970 – Doug Flach, American tennis player
1970 – Bret Hedican, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
1970 – Brendon Julian, New Zealand-Australian cricketer and journalist
1970 – Steve Mautone, Australian footballer and coach
1971 – Sal Fasano, American baseball player and coach
1971 – Stephan Groth, Danish singer-songwriter
1971 – Roy Keane, Irish footballer and manager
1971 – Mario Kindelán, Cuban boxer
1971 – Paul Newlove, English rugby player
1971 – Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler (d. 2016)
1971 – Justin Theroux, American actor
1972 – Dilana, South African singer-songwriter and actress
1972 – Lawrence Dallaglio, English rugby player and sportscaster
1972 – Angie Harmon, American model and actress
1972 – Christofer Johnsson, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1973 – Lisa Raymond, American tennis player
1973 – Javier Zanetti, Argentinian footballer
1974 – Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabian director and producer
1974 – Luis Marín, Costa Rican footballer and manager
1974 – Rachel Simmons, American scholar and author
1974 – David Sommeil, French footballer
1975 – İlhan Mansız, Turkish footballer and figure skater
1976 – Roadkill, American wrestler
1976 – Ian Murray, Scottish businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1977 – Danny Griffin, Irish footballer
1977 – Matt Morgan, English comedian, actor, and radio host
1978 – Danny Allsopp, Australian footballer
1978 – Marcus Fizer, American basketball player
1978 – Chris Read, English cricketer
1979 – Dinusha Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer
1979 – JoAnna Garcia Swisher, American actress
1979 – Ted Geoghegan, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1979 – Brandon Lyon, American baseball player
1979 – Rémy Martin, French rugby player
1979 – Matjaž Perc, Slovene physicist
1979 – Yannick Schroeder, French racing driver
1980 – Wade Barrett, English boxer, wrestler, and actor
1980 – Aaron Staton, American actor
1981 – Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player
1982 – John Alvbåge, Swedish footballer
1982 – Josh Anderson, American baseball player
1982 – Julia Melim, Brazilian actress
1983 – Kyle Brown, American soccer player
1983 – C. B. Dollaway, American mixed martial artist
1983 – Héctor Faubel, Spanish motorcycle racer
1983 – Alexander Perezhogin, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Mathieu Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Ryan Eggold, American actor and composer
1984 – Mokomichi Hayami, Japanese model and actor
1984 – Jigar Naik, English cricketer
1985 – Enrico Cortese, Italian footballer
1985 – Roy O'Donovan, Irish footballer
1985 – Kakuryū Rikisaburō, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1985 – Julia Skripnik, Estonian tennis player
1986 – Andrea Hlaváčková, Czech tennis player
1987 – Jim Bakkum, Dutch singer and actor
1987 – Ari Boyland, New Zealand actor and singer
1989 – Sam Gagner, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer
1989 – Brenton Thwaites, Australian actor
1990 – Cruze Ah-Nau, Australian rugby player
1990 – Lee Sung-kyung, South Korean model, actress, and singer
1990 – Lucas Till, American actor
1991 – Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, Icelandic footballer
1991 – Marcus Foligno, American-Canadian ice hockey player
1991 – Nikos Korovesis, Greek footballer
1991 – Chris Tremain, Australian cricketer
1992 – Archie Bradley, American baseball player
1993 – Andre Drummond, American basketball player
1994 – Bernardo Silva, Portuguese footballer
1995 – Dalvin Cook, American football player
1996 – Lauren Tait, Scottish netball player
1997 – Kylie Jenner, American television personality and businesswoman
1999 – Ja Morant, American basketball player
2000 – Sophia Smith, American soccer player
Deaths
Pre-1600
258 – Lawrence of Rome, Spanish-Italian deacon and saint (b. 225)
794 – Fastrada, Frankish noblewoman (b. 765)
796 – Eanbald, archbishop of York
847 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (b. 816)
955 – Bulcsú, Hungarian tribal chieftain (horka)
955 – Conrad ('the Red'), duke of Lorraine
1241 – Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (b. 1184)
1250 – Eric IV of Denmark (b. 1216)
1284 – Tekuder, Khan of the Mongol Ilkhanate
1316 – Felim mac Aedh Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht
1322 – John of La Verna, Italian ascetic (b. 1259)
1410 – Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1337)
1535 – Ippolito de' Medici, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
1536 – Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Dauphin of France, Brother of Henry II (b. 1518)
1601–1900
1653 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1598)
1655 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
1660 – Esmé Stewart, 2nd Duke of Richmond (b. 1649)
1723 – Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and politician, French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (b. 1656)
1759 – Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
1784 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish-English painter (b. 1713)
1796 – Ignaz Anton von Indermauer, Austrian nobleman and government official (b. 1759)
1802 – Franz Aepinus, German-Russian philosopher and academic (b. 1724)
1806 – Michael Haydn, Austrian composer and educator (b. 1737)
1839 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English lawyer and politician (b. 1758)
1862 – Hon'inbō Shūsaku, Japanese Go player (b. 1829)
1875 – Karl Andree, German geographer and journalist (b. 1808)
1889 – Arthur Böttcher, German pathologist and anatomist (b. 1831)
1890 – John Boyle O'Reilly, Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer (b. 1844)
1896 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (b. 1848)
1901–present
1904 – Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French lawyer and politician, 68th Prime Minister of France (b. 1846)
1913 – Johannes Linnankoski, Finnish author (b. 1869)
1915 – Henry Moseley, English physicist and engineer (b. 1887)
1916 – John J. Loud, American inventor (b. 1844)
1918 – Erich Löwenhardt, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1897)
1920 – Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician and academic (b. 1835)
1922 – Reginald Dunne, Irish Republican, executed for the killing of Sir Henry Wilson
1922 – Joseph O'Sullivan, Irish Republican, executed for the killing of Sir Henry Wilson
1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1878)
1929 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician (b. 1854)
1932 – Rin Tin Tin, American acting dog (b. 1918)
1933 – Alf Morgans, Welsh-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1850)
1945 – Robert H. Goddard, American physicist and engineer (b. 1882)
1948 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1873)
1948 – Andrew Brown, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1870)
1948 – Montague Summers, English clergyman and author (b. 1880)
1949 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (b. 1892)
1954 – Robert Adair, American-born British actor (b. 1900)
1958 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player and manager (b. 1910)
1960 – Hamide Ayşe Sultan, Ottoman princess (b. 1887)
1961 – Julia Peterkin, American author (b. 1880)
1963 – Estes Kefauver, American lawyer and politician (b. 1903)
1963 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss lawyer and jurist (b. 1877)
1969 – János Kodolányi, Hungarian author (b. 1899)
1976 – Bert Oldfield, Australian cricketer (b. 1894)
1979 – Dick Foran, American actor and singer (b. 1910)
1979 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (b. 1889)
1980 – Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
1982 – Anderson Bigode Herzer, Brazilian author and poet (b. 1962)
1985 – Nate Barragar, American football player and sergeant (b. 1906)
1987 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1893)
1991 – Lưu Trọng Lư, Vietnamese poet and playwright (b. 1912)
1993 – Euronymous, Norwegian singer, guitarist, and producer (b. 1968)
1997 – Jean-Claude Lauzon, Canadian director and screenwriter (b. 1953)
1997 – Conlon Nancarrow, American-Mexican pianist and composer (b. 1912)
1999 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television presenter (b. 1928)
1999 – Baldev Upadhyaya, Indian historian, scholar, and critic (b. 1899)
2000 – Gilbert Parkhouse, Welsh cricketer and rugby player (b. 1925)
2001 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
2002 – Michael Houser, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
2002 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist and politician (b. 1926)
2007 – Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1925)
2007 – James E. Faust, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1920)
2007 – Jean Rédélé, French race car driver and pilot, founded Alpine (b. 1922)
2007 – Tony Wilson, English journalist, producer, and manager, co-founded Factory Records (b. 1950)
2008 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (b. 1942)
2010 – Markus Liebherr, German-Swiss businessman (b. 1948)
2010 – Adam Stansfield, English footballer (b. 1978)
2010 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (b. 1928)
2011 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
2012 – Philippe Bugalski, French race car driver (b. 1963)
2012 – Ioan Dicezare, Romanian general and pilot (b. 1916)
2012 – Irving Fein, American producer and manager (b. 1911)
2012 – William W. Momyer, American general and pilot (b. 1916)
2012 – Carlo Rambaldi, Italian special effects artist (b. 1925)
2013 – William P. Clark Jr., American judge and politician, 12th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1931)
2013 – Jonathan Dawson, Australian historian and academic (b. 1941)
2013 – Eydie Gormé, American singer and actress (b. 1928)
2013 – David C. Jones, American general (b. 1921)
2013 – Jody Payne, American singer and guitarist (b. 1936)
2013 – Amy Wallace, American author (b. 1955)
2014 – Jim Command, American baseball player and scout (b. 1928)
2014 – Dotty Lynch, American journalist and academic (b. 1945)
2014 – Kathleen Ollerenshaw, English mathematician, astronomer, and politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (b. 1912)
2014 – Bob Wiesler, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2015 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
2015 – Endre Czeizel, Hungarian physician, geneticist, and academic (b. 1935)
2015 – Knut Osnes, Norwegian footballer and coach (b. 1922)
2015 – Eriek Verpale, Belgian author and poet (b. 1952)
2017 – Ruth Pfau, German-Pakistani doctor and nun (b. 1929)
2019 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier (b. 1953)
2021 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1943)
2022 – Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish actor, musician and comedian (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances
Argentine Air Force Day (Argentina)
Christian feast day:
Bessus
Blane (Roman Catholic Church)
Geraint of Dumnonia
Lawrence of Rome
Nicola Saggio
Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso de Parañaque, Patroness of Parañaque, Philippines
August 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on August 10, 1809. Independence was finally attained on May 24, 1822, at the Battle of Pichincha. (Ecuador)
International Biodiesel Day
National Veterans Day (Indonesia)
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
2326 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2027 | April 27 |
Events
Pre-1600
247 – Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ludi saeculares.
395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.
1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu.
1539 – Official founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (nowadays Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world
1601–1900
1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers' Register.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' Hymn).
1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York.
1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1901–present
1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time.
1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
1911 – The Second Canton Uprising took place in Guangzhou, Qing China but was suppressed.
1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.
1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1945 – World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.
1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
1953 – Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defects with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
1976 – Thirty-seven people are killed when American Airlines Flight 625 crashes at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
1978 – John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1978 – Willow Island disaster: In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia.
1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster.
1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft has its maiden test flight.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.
2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.
Births
Pre-1600
85 BC – Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC)
1468 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503)
1564 – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632)
1556 – François Béroalde de Verville, French writer (d. 1626)
1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (d. 1631)
1601–1900
1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670-1699) (d. 1714)
1654 – Charles Blount, English deist and philosopher (d. 1693)
1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790)
1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek-French philosopher and scholar (d. 1833)
1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1836)
1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (d. 1797)
1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist, and writer (d. 1863)
1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
1812 – William W. Snow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1886)
1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
1820 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1903)
1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
1840 – Edward Whymper, English-French mountaineer, explorer, author, and illustrator (d. 1911)
1848 – Otto, King of Bavaria (d. 1916)
1850 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (d. 1921)
1853 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (d. 1914)
1857 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1914)
1861 – William Arms Fisher, American composer and music historian (d. 1948)
1866 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
1875 – Frederick Fane, Irish-born, English cricketer (d. 1960)
1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958)
1882 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
1887 – Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
1888 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
1893 – Draža Mihailović, Serbian general (d. 1946)
1893 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1939)
1894 – George Petty, American painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1896 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1963)
1896 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (d. 1978)
1896 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor of nylon (d. 1937)
1898 – Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
1899 – Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
1900 – August Koern, Estonian politician and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs in exile (d. 1989)
1901–present
1902 – Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (d. 1972)
1904 – Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
1905 – John Kuck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
1906 – Yiorgos Theotokas, Greek author and playwright (d. 1966)
1910 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)
1911 – Bruno Beger, German anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 2009)
1911 – Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter and footballer (d. 1965)
1912 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (d. 2001)
1912 – Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
1913 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (d. 2004)
1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician, author, and academic (d. 2012)
1913 – Luz Long, German long jumper and soldier (d. 1943)
1916 – Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
1916 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player and manager (d. 2002)
1917 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (d. 2001)
1918 – Sten Rudholm, Swedish lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
1920 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
1920 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (d. 1997)
1920 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2010)
1920 – Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet and translator (d. 2010)
1921 – Robert Dhéry, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
1922 – Sheila Scott, English nurse and pilot (d. 1988)
1923 – Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief (d. 2011)
1924 – Vernon B. Romney, American lawyer and politician, 14th Attorney General of Utah (d. 2013)
1925 – Derek Chinnery, English broadcaster (d. 2015)
1926 – Tim LaHaye, American minister, activist, and author (d. 2016)
1926 – Basil A. Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 59th Secretary of State of New York (d. 2014)
1926 – Alan Reynolds, English painter and educator (d. 2014)
1927 – Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (d. 2006)
1927 – Joe Moakley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2001)
1929 – Nina Ponomaryova, Russian discus thrower and coach (d. 2016)
1931 – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist and educator (d. 2021)
1932 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
1932 – Pik Botha, South African lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 8th South African Ambassador to the United States (d. 2018)
1932 – Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40 (d. 2014)
1932 – Chuck Knox, American football coach (d. 2018)
1932 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
1932 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
1933 – Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert, English police officer and politician, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London (d. 2017)
1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1935 – Ron Morris, American pole vaulter and coach
1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, English singer and illustrator (d. 2016)
1937 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
1937 – Robin Eames, Irish Anglican archbishop
1937 – Richard Perham, English biologist and academic (d. 2015)
1938 – Earl Anthony, American bowler and sportscaster (d. 2001)
1938 – Alain Caron, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
1939 – Judy Carne, English actress and comedian (d. 2015)
1939 – Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
1941 – Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian
1941 – Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Indian archaeologist
1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer
1943 – Helmut Marko, Austrian race car driver and manager
1944 – Michael Fish, English meteorologist and journalist
1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer (d. 2017)
1944 – Herb Pedersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Martin Chivers, English footballer and manager
1945 – Jack Deverell, English general
1945 – Helen Hodgman, Scottish-Australian author
1945 – Terry Willesee, Australian journalist and television host
1945 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (d. 2005)
1946 – Franz Roth, German footballer
1947 – G. K. Butterfield, African-American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Nick Greiner, Hungarian-Australian politician, 37th Premier of New South Wales
1947 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1947 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
1947 – Ann Peebles, American soul singer-songwriter
1948 – Frank Abagnale Jr., American security consultant and criminal
1948 – Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer, coach, and manager
1948 – Kate Pierson, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Grant Chapman, Australian businessman and politician
1950 – Jaime Fresnedi, Filipino politician
1950 – Paul Lockyer, Australian journalist (d. 2011)
1951 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Larry Elder, American lawyer and talk show host
1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish race car driver and politician
1953 – Arielle Dombasle, French-American actress and model
1954 – Frank Bainimarama, Fijian commander and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Fiji
1954 – Herman Edwards, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
1954 – Mark Holden, Australian singer, actor, and lawyer
1955 – Gudrun Berend, German hurdler (d. 2011)
1955 – Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman
1956 – Bryan Harvey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1956 – Jeff Probyn, English rugby player, coach, and manager
1957 – Willie Upshaw, American baseball player and manager
1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
1959 – Marco Pirroni, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1960 – Mike Krushelnyski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Andrew Schlafly, American lawyer and activist, founded Conservapedia
1962 – Ángel Comizzo, Argentinian footballer and manager
1962 – Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower and coach
1962 – Im Sang-soo, South Korean director and screenwriter
1962 – Andrew Selous, English soldier and politician
1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
1965 – Anna Chancellor, English actress
1966 – Peter McIntyre, Australian cricketer
1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese illustrator
1967 – Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands
1967 – Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer, and educator
1967 – Erik Thomson, Scottish-New Zealand actor
1967 – Jason Whitlock, American football player and journalist
1968 – Dana Milbank, American journalist and author
1969 – Cory Booker, African-American lawyer and politician
1969 – Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
1971 – Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
1972 – Nigel Barker, English photographer and author
1972 – Almedin Civa, Bosnian footballer and coach
1973 – Duško Adamović, Serbian footballer
1973 – Sharlee D'Angelo, Swedish bass player and songwriter
1973 – Sébastien Lareau, Canadian tennis player
1974 – Frank Catalanotto, American baseball player
1974 – Richard Johnson, Australian footballer
1975 – Rabih Abdullah, American football player
1975 – Chris Carpenter, American baseball player and manager
1975 – Pedro Feliz, Dominican baseball player
1975 – Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japanese ski jumper
1976 – Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist
1976 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
1976 – Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter, and critic
1979 – Will Boyd, American bass player
1979 – Natasha Chokljat, Australian netball player
1979 – Vladimir Kozlov, Ukrainian wrestler
1980 – Sybille Bammer, Austrian tennis player
1980 – Talitha Cummins, Australian journalist
1980 – Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
1981 – Joey Gathright, American baseball player
1981 – Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
1982 – François Parisien, Canadian cyclist
1982 – Alexander Widiker, German rugby player
1983 – Ari Graynor, American actress and producer
1983 – Martin Viiask, Estonian basketball player
1984 – Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Daniel Holdsworth, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Patrick Stump, American musician, singer, and songwriter
1985 – José António de Miranda da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Jenna Coleman, English actress
1986 – Hayley Mulheron, Scottish netball player
1986 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
1987 – Taylor Chorney, American ice hockey player
1987 – Elliott Shriane, Australian speed skater
1987 – William Moseley, English actor
1987 – Wang Feifei, Chinese singer and actress
1988 – Joeri Dequevy, Belgian footballer
1988 – Lizzo, American singer and rapper
1988 – Kris Thackray, English footballer
1988 – Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
1989 – Lars Bender, German footballer
1989 – Sven Bender, German footballer
1989 – Dmytro Kozban, Ukrainian footballer
1990 – Austin Dillon, American race car driver
1990 – Trude Raad, Norwegian deaf track and field athlete
1991 – Isaac Cuenca, Spanish footballer
1991 – Lara Gut, Swiss skier
1992 – Keenan Allen, American football player
1994 – Corey Seager, American baseball player
1995 – Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis player
1997 – Josh Onomah, English footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
1160 – Rudolf I, Count of Bregenz (b. 1081)
1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
1321 – Nicolò Albertini, Italian cardinal statesman (b. c. 1250)
1353 – Simeon of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir
1403 – Maria of Bosnia, Countess of Helfenstein (b. 1335)
1404 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
1463 – Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer (b. 1480)
1599 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
1601–1900
1605 – Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
1607 – Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, Governor of Lecale (b. 1560)
1613 – Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
1656 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1596)
1694 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
1695 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1640)
1702 – Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
1782 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (b. 1710)
1813 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
1873 – William Macready, English actor and manager (b. 1793)
1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (b. 1803)
1893 – John Ballance, Irish-born New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1839)
1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian businessman and politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
1901–present
1915 – John Labatt, Canadian businessman (b. 1838)
1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1872)
1932 – Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
1936 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1857)
1937 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (b. 1891)
1938 – Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1859)
1949 – Benjamin Faunce, American druggist and businessman (b. 1873)
1952 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and statistician (b. 1865)
1961 – Roy Del Ruth, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
1962 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani lawyer and politician, Pakistani Minister of the Interior (b. 1873)
1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
1967 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand farmer, founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (b. 1884)
1969 – René Barrientos, Bolivian soldier, pilot, and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish rebel and actor (b. 1896)
1972 – Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
1973 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian race car driver and polo player (b. 1914)
1977 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
1988 – Fred Bear, American hunter and author (b. 1902)
1989 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (b. 1894)
1992 – Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
1992 – Gerard K. O'Neill, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1927)
1995 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (b. 1911)
1995 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (b. 1921)
1996 – William Colby, American diplomat, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1920)
1996 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1998 – John Bassett, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1915)
1998 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
1998 – Anne Desclos, French journalist and author (b. 1907)
1998 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (b. 1924)
1999 – Al Hirt, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1922)
1999 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian, author, and academic (b. 1923)
1999 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b. 1914)
2002 – George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
2002 – Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
2005 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1909)
2006 – Julia Thorne, American author (b. 1944)
2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
2009 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1914)
2009 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (b. 1983)
2009 – Feroz Khan (actor), Indian Actor, Film Director & Producer (b. 1939)
2011 – Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
2012 – Daniel E. Boatwright, American soldier and politician (b. 1930)
2012 – Bill Skowron, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2013 – Aída Bortnik, Argentinian screenwriter (b. 1938)
2013 – Lorraine Copeland, Scottish archaeologist (b. 1921)
2013 – Antonio Díaz Jurado, Spanish footballer (b. 1969)
2013 – Jérôme Louis Heldring, Dutch journalist and author (b. 1917)
2013 – Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
2013 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician, Kenyan Minister of Justice (b. 1948)
2014 – Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer (b. 1929)
2014 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2014 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
2014 – Harry Firth, Australian race car driver and manager (b. 1918)
2015 – Gene Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1931)
2015 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (b. 1926)
2015 – Alexander Rich, American biologist, biophysicist, and academic (b. 1924)
2017 – Vinod Khanna, Indian actor, producer and politician (b. 1946)
2017 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1938)
2021 – Manoj Das, Indian writer (b. 1934)
2022 – Liao Guoxun, Chinese politician (b. 1963)
2023 – Jerry Springer, American politician and actor (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast days:
Anthimus of Nicomedia
Assicus
Floribert of Liège
John of Constantinople
Liberalis of Treviso
Pollio
Virgin of Montserrat
Zita
Origen Adamantius
April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
Flag Day (Moldova)
Freedom Day (South Africa)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960.
King's Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday)
National Veterans' Day (Finland)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 27
Days of the year
April |
2395 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2011 | April 11 |
Events
Pre-1600
491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.
1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrarese forces led by Gaston de Foix and Alfonso I d'Este win the Battle of Ravenna against the Papal-Spanish forces.
1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: A French army defeats Habsburg forces at the Battle of Ceresole, but fails to exploit its victory.
1601–1900
1689 – William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Great Britain on the same day that the Scottish Parliament concurs with the English decision of 12 February.
1713 – France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Utrecht, bringing an end to the War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War). Britain accepts Philip V as King of Spain, while Philip renounces any claim to the French throne.
1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany).
1809 – Battle of the Basque Roads: Admiral Lord Gambier fails to support Captain Lord Cochrane, leading to an incomplete British victory over the French fleet.
1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time.
1856 – Second Battle of Rivas: Juan Santamaría burns down the hostel where William Walker's filibusters are holed up.
1868 – Former shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.
1876 – The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized.
1881 – Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women.
1901–present
1908 – , the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.
1909 – The city of Tel Aviv is founded.
1921 – Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan.
1935 – Stresa Front: opening of the conference between the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval to condemn the German violations of the Treaty of Versailles.
1945 – World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.
1951 – Korean War: President Truman relieves Douglas MacArthur of the command of American forces in Korea and Japan.
1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.
1952 – Bolivian National Revolution: Rebels take over Palacio Quemado.
1952 – Pan Am Flight 526A ditches near San Juan-Isla Grande Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after experiencing an engine failure, killing 52 people.
1955 – The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang.
1957 – United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.
1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
1963 – Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in terris, the first encyclical addressed to all Christians instead of only Catholics, and which described the conditions for world peace in human terms.
1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected president by the National Congress.
1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people.
1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
1968 – Assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement.
1970 – Apollo Program: Apollo 13 is launched.
1976 – The Apple I is created.
1977 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.
1986 – FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed.
1987 – The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.
1990 – Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.
1993 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs.
2001 – The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter, is released.
2002 – The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.
2002 – Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed.
2006 – Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium.
2007 – Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others.
2011 – An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus kills 15 people and injures 204 others.
2012 – A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (Very strong). Ten are killed, twelve are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias.
2018 – An Ilyushin Il-76 which was owned and operated by the Algerian Air Force crashes near Boufarik, Algeria, killing 257.
2021 – Twenty year old Daunte Wright is shot and killed in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota by officer Kimberly Potter, sparking protests in the city, when the officer allegedly mistakes her own gun for her taser.
2023 – During the Pazigyi massacre, an airstrike conducted by the Myanmar Air Force kills at least 100 villagers in Pazigyi, Sagaing Region.
Births
Pre-1600
145 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 211)
1184 – William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg (d. 1213)
1348 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385)
1357 – John I of Portugal (d. 1433)
1370 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1428)
1374 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England (d. 1398)
1493 – George I, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1531)
1591 – Bartholomeus Strobel, Silezian painter (d. 1650)
1592 – John Eliot, English lawyer and politician (d. 1632)
1601–1900
1644 – Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1724)
1658 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish peer (d. 1712)
1683 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer and conductor (d. 1738)
1715 – John Alcock, English organist and composer (d. 1806)
1721 – David Zeisberger, Czech-American clergyman and missionary (d. 1808)
1722 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1771)
1749 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, French miniaturist and portrait painter (d. 1803)
1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist (d. 1824)
1770 – George Canning, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
1794 – Edward Everett, English-American educator and politician, 15th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1865)
1798 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1854)
1819 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor (d. 1895)
1825 – Ferdinand Lassalle, German philosopher and jurist (d. 1864)
1827 – Jyotirao Phule, Indian scholar, philosopher, and activist (d. 1890)
1830 – John Douglas, English architect (d. 1911)
1854 – Hugh Massie, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
1856 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1903)
1859 – Stefanos Thomopoulos, Greek historian and author (d. 1939)
1862 – William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1938)
1862 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 44th United States Secretary of State (d. 1948)
1864 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (d. 1943)
1866 – Bernard O'Dowd, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1953)
1867 – Mark Keppel, American educator (d. 1928)
1869 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal (d. 1943)
1871 – Gyula Kellner, Hungarian runner (d. 1940)
1872 – Aleksandër Stavre Drenova, Albanian poet, rilindas and author of national anthem of Albania (d. 1947)
1873 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1955)
1876 – Paul Henry, Irish painter (d. 1958)
1876 – Ivane Javakhishvili, Georgian historian and academic (d. 1940)
1879 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German astronomer and optician (d. 1935)
1887 – Jamini Roy, Indian painter (d. 1972)
1893 – Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (d. 1971)
1896 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1967)
1899 – Percy Lavon Julian, African-American chemist and academic (d. 1975)
1900 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian journalist and author (d. 1989)
1901–present
1903 – Misuzu Kaneko, Japanese poet (d. 1930)
1904 – K. L. Saigal, Indian singer and actor (d. 1947)
1905 – Attila József, Hungarian poet and educator (d. 1937)
1906 – Dale Messick, American author and illustrator (d. 2005)
1907 – Paul Douglas, American actor (d. 1959)
1908 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (d. 2007)
1908 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1997)
1908 – Dan Maskell, English tennis player and sportscaster (d. 1992)
1908 – Leo Rosten, Polish-American author and academic (d. 1997)
1910 – António de Spínola, Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (d. 1996)
1912 – John Levy, American bassist and businessman (d. 2012)
1913 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (d. 2006)
1914 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator, director, and producer (d. 1987)
1914 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician, 17th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2003)
1914 – Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, American mathematician (d. 1988)
1916 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (d. 1983)
1916 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (d. 2001)
1917 – David Westheimer, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2005)
1918 – Richard Wainwright, English soldier and politician (d. 2003)
1919 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (d. 2015)
1920 – Emilio Colombo, Italian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013)
1920 – William Royer, American soldier and politician (d. 2013)
1921 – Jim Hearn, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1921 – Jack Rayner, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2008)
1922 – Arved Viirlaid, Estonian-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2015)
1923 – George J. Maloof, Sr., American businessman (d. 1980)
1924 – Mohammad Naseem, Pakistani-English activist and politician (d. 2014)
1925 – Yuriy Lituyev, Russian hurdler and commander (d. 2000)
1925 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
1925 – Viktor Masing, Estonian botanist and ecologist (d. 2001)
1925 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman, founded Quebecor (d. 1997)
1926 – David Manker Abshire, American commander and diplomat, United States Permanent Representative to NATO (d. 2014)
1926 – Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2011)
1926 – Karl Rebane, Estonian physicist and academic (d. 2007)
1927 – Lokesh Chandra, Indian historian
1928 – Ethel Kennedy, American philanthropist
1928 – Edwin Pope, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
1928 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
1930 – Nicholas F. Brady, American businessman and politician, 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1930 – Walter Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2018)
1930 – Anton LaVey, American occultist, founded the Church of Satan (d. 1997)
1931 – Lewis Jones, Welsh rugby player and coach
1932 – Joel Grey, American actor, singer, and dancer
1933 – Tony Brown, American journalist and academic
1934 – Mark Strand, Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014)
1934 – Ron Pember, English actor, director and playwright (d. 2022)
1935 – Richard Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1936 – Brian Noble, English bishop (d. 2019)
1937 – Jill Gascoine, English actress and author (d. 2020)
1938 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (d. 2013)
1938 – Michael Deaver, American politician, Deputy White House Chief of Staff (d. 2007)
1938 – Reatha King, American chemist and businesswoman
1939 – Luther Johnson, American singer and guitarist (d. 2022)
1939 – Louise Lasser, American actress
1940 – Col Firmin, Australian politician (d. 2013)
1940 – Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (d. 1998)
1941 – Ellen Goodman, American journalist and author
1941 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress (d. 2015)
1942 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2014)
1942 – Hattie Gossett, American writer
1942 – James Underwood, English pathologist and academic
1943 – John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich, English businessman and politician
1943 – Harley Race, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2019)
1944 – Peter Barfuß, German footballer
1944 – John Milius, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1945 – John Krebs, Baron Krebs, English zoologist and academic
1946 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (d. 2015)
1946 – Bob Harris, English journalist and radio host
1947 – Lev Bulat, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (d. 2016)
1947 – Uli Edel, German director and screenwriter
1947 – Frank Mantooth, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
1947 – Peter Riegert, American actor, screenwriter and film director
1947 – Michael T. Wright, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
1949 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (d. 2011)
1950 – Bill Irwin, American actor and clown
1951 – Paul Fox, English singer and guitarist (d. 2007)
1952 – Nancy Honeytree, American singer and guitarist
1952 – Indira Samarasekera, Sri Lankan engineer and academic
1952 – Peter Windsor, English-Australian journalist and sportscaster
1953 – Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium
1953 – Andrew Wiles, English mathematician and academic
1954 – Abdullah Atalar, Turkish engineer and academic
1954 – Aleksandr Averin, Azerbaijani cyclist and coach
1954 – Francis Lickerish, English guitarist and composer
1954 – David Perrett, Scottish psychologist and academic
1954 – Ian Redmond, English biologist and conservationist
1954 – Willie Royster, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1955 – Kevin Brady, American lawyer and politician
1955 – Michael Callen, American singer-songwriter and AIDS activist (d. 1993)
1955 – Micheal Ray Richardson, American basketball player and coach
1958 – Stuart Adamson, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1958 – Lyudmila Kondratyeva, Russian sprinter
1959 – Pierre Lacroix, Canadian ice hockey player
1959 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-American lawyer and judge
1959 – Zahid Maleque, Bangladeshi politician
1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter
1961 – Vincent Gallo, American actor, director, producer, and musician
1961 – Doug Hopkins, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
1961 – Nobuaki Kakuda, Japanese martial artist
1962 – Franck Ducheix, French fencer
1962 – Mark Lawson, English journalist and author
1963 – Billy Bowden, New Zealand cricketer and umpire
1963 – Waldemar Fornalik, Polish footballer and manager
1963 – Elizabeth Smylie, Australian tennis player
1963 – Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Greek singer
1964 – Steve Azar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – John Cryer, English journalist and politician
1964 – Johann Sebastian Paetsch, American cellist
1964 – Bret Saberhagen, American baseball player and coach
1964 – Patrick Sang, Kenyan runner
1966 – Steve Scarsone, American baseball player and manager
1966 – Shin Seung-hun, South Korean singer-songwriter
1966 – Lisa Stansfield, English singer-songwriter and actress
1968 – Sergei Lukyanenko, Kazakh-Russian journalist and author
1969 – Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer-songwriter
1969 – Dustin Rhodes, American wrestler
1969 – Michael von Grünigen, Swiss skier
1970 – Trevor Linden, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1970 – Whigfield, Danish singer and songwriter
1971 – Oliver Riedel, German bass player
1972 – Balls Mahoney, American wrestler (d. 2016)
1972 – Allan Théo, French singer
1972 – Jason Varitek, American baseball player and manager
1972 – Jennifer Esposito, American actress and writer
1973 – Olivier Magne, French rugby player
1974 – Àlex Corretja, Spanish tennis player and coach
1974 – Ashot Danielyan, Armenian weightlifter
1974 – David Jassy, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1974 – Tom Thacker, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Trot Nixon, American baseball player and sportscaster
1976 – Kelvim Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
1976 – Kotomitsuki Keiji, Japanese sumo wrestler
1977 – Ivonne Teichmann, German runner
1978 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1979 – Malcolm Christie, English footballer
1979 – Sebastien Grainger, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Michel Riesen, Swiss ice hockey player
1979 – Josh Server, American actor
1980 – Keiji Tamada, Japanese footballer
1980 – Mark Teixeira, American baseball player
1981 – Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
1981 – Alexandre Burrows, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Luis Flores, Dominican basketball player
1981 – Veronica Pyke, Australian cricketer
1982 – Ian Bell, English cricketer
1982 – Peeter Kümmel, Estonian skier
1983 – Jennifer Heil, Canadian skier
1983 – Rubén Palazuelos, Spanish footballer
1983 – Nicky Pastorelli, Dutch race car driver
1984 – Kelli Garner, American actress
1984 – Nikola Karabatić, French handball player
1985 – Pablo Hernández Domínguez, Spanish footballer
1985 – Will Minson, Australian footballer
1986 – Sarodj Bertin, Haitian model and human rights lawyer
1986 – Lena Schöneborn, German pentathlete
1987 – Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter
1988 – Leland Irving, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Torrin Lawrence, American sprinter (d. 2014)
1990 – Dimitrios Anastasopoulos, Greek footballer
1990 – Thulani Serero, South African footballer
1991 – Thiago Alcântara, Spanish footballer
1991 – Brennan Poole, American racing driver
1996 – Dele Alli, English international footballer
2000 – Milly Alcock, Australian actress
2001 – Manuel Ugarte, Uruguayan footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
618 – Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (b. 569)
678 – Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 610)
924 – Herman I, chancellor and archbishop of Cologne
1034 – Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine emperor (b. 968)
1077 – Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (b. 1014)
1079 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków (b. 1030)
1165 – Stephen IV, king of Hungary and Croatia
1240 – Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (b. 1172)
1349 – Ramadan ibn Alauddin, first known Muslim from Korea
1447 – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1377)
1512 – Gaston de Foix, French military commander (b. 1489)
1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader (b. 1521)
1587 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)
1601–1900
1609 – John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, English noble (b. 1533)
1612 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian and author (b. 1535)
1612 – Edward Wightman, English minister and martyr (b. 1566)
1626 – Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (b. 1568)
1712 – Richard Simon, French priest and critic (b. 1638)
1723 – John Robinson, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1650)
1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Polish-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1718)
1798 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet and academic (b. 1725)
1856 – Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier (b. 1831)
1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (b. 1824)
1873 – Edward Canby, American general (b. 1817)
1890 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (b. 1808)
1890 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (b. 1862)
1894 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist (b. 1832)
1895 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (b. 1830)
1901–present
1902 – Wade Hampton III, Confederate general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1818)
1903 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (b. 1878)
1906 – James Anthony Bailey, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1847)
1906 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Armed Forces Journal and The Galaxy Magazine (b. 1839)
1908 – Henry Bird, English chess player and author (b. 1829)
1916 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (b. 1864)
1918 – Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (b. 1841)
1926 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and academic (b. 1849)
1939 – Kurtdereli Mehmet, Turkish wrestler (b. 1864)
1953 – Kid Nichols, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
1954 – Paul Specht, American violinist and bandleader (b. 1895)
1958 – Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter and educator (b. 1875)
1960 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress (b. 1878)
1962 – Ukichiro Nakaya, Japanese physicist and academic (b. 1900)
1962 – George Poage, American hurdler and educator (b. 1880)
1967 – Thomas Farrell, American general (b. 1891)
1967 – Donald Sangster, Jamaican lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1911)
1970 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (b. 1923)
1970 – John O'Hara, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1905)
1974 – Ernst Ziegler, German actor (b. 1894)
1977 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1977 – Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Indian author and activist (b. 1921)
1980 – Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turkish journalist and producer (b. 1935)
1981 – Caroline Gordon, American author and critic (b. 1895)
1983 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904)
1984 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1910)
1985 – Bunny Ahearne, Irish-born English businessman (b. 1900)
1985 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (b. 1898)
1985 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908)
1987 – Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1903)
1987 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (b. 1919)
1990 – Harold Ballard, Canadian businessman (b. 1903)
1991 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
1991 – Bruno Hoffmann. German glass harp player (b. 1913)
1992 – James Brown, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
1992 – Eve Merriam, American author and poet (b. 1916)
1992 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, sculptor, and engraver (b. 1920)
1996 – Jessica Dubroff, American pilot (b. 1988)
1997 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (b. 1899)
1997 – Wang Xiaobo, contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist (b. 1952)
1999 – William H. Armstrong, American author and educator (b. 1911)
2000 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (b. 1945)
2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (b. 1900)
2005 – André François, Romanian-French cartoonist, painter, and sculptor (b. 1915)
2005 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (b. 1907)
2006 – June Pointer, American singer (b. 1953)
2006 – DeShaun Holton, American rapper and actor (b. 1973)
2007 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (b. 1922)
2007 – Loïc Leferme, French diver (b. 1970)
2007 – Janet McDonald, American lawyer and author (b. 1954)
2007 – Ronald Speirs, Scottish-American colonel (b. 1920)
2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1922)
2008 – Merlin German, American sergeant (b. 1985)
2009 – Gerda Gilboe, Danish actress and singer (b. 1914)
2009 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (b. 1912)
2009 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (b. 1927)
2010 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (b. 1948)
2011 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (b. 1981)
2012 – Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (b. 1916)
2012 – Roger Caron, Canadian criminal and author (b. 1938)
2012 – Tippy Dye, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
2012 – Hal McKusick, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (b. 1924)
2012 – Agustin Roman, American bishop (b. 1928)
2013 – Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1953)
2013 – Sue Draheim, American fiddler (b.1949)
2013 – Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
2013 – Thomas Hemsley, English actor and singer (b. 1927)
2013 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist (b. 1916)
2013 – Gilles Marchal, French singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
2013 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (b. 1925)
2013 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect (b. 1923)
2013 – Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (b. 1925)
2014 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (b. 1926)
2014 – Edna Doré, English actress (b. 1921)
2014 – Bill Henry, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2014 – Lou Hudson, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1944)
2014 – Myer S. Kripke, American rabbi and scholar (b. 1914)
2014 – Sergey Nepobedimy, Russian engineer (b. 1921)
2014 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
2015 – Jimmy Gunn, American football player (b. 1948)
2015 – Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1952)
2015 – François Maspero, French journalist and author (b. 1932)
2015 – Hanut Singh, Indian general (b. 1933)
2015 – Tekena Tamuno, Nigerian historian and academic (b. 1932)
2017 – J. Geils, American singer and guitarist (b. 1946)
2017 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (b. 1945)
2020 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician (b. 1937)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Antipas of Pergamum (Greek Orthodox Church)
Barsanuphius
Gemma Galgani
Godeberta
Guthlac of Crowland
George Selwyn (Anglicanism)
Stanislaus of Szczepanów
April 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica)
International Louie Louie Day
World Parkinson's Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 11
Days of the year
April |
2418 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August%204 | August 4 |
Events
Pre-1600
598 – Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo during the Manchurian rainy season, with a Chinese army and navy.
1265 – Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham: The army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.
1327 – First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.
1578 – Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir: The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is killed in the battle, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
1601–1900
1693 – Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of champagne; it is not clear whether he actually invented champagne, however he has been credited as an innovator who developed the techniques used to perfect sparkling wine.
1701 – Great Peace of Montreal between New France and First Nations is signed.
1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people (Tenmei eruption). The eruption causes a famine, which results in an additional 20,000 deaths.
1789 – France: abolition of feudalism by the National Constituent Assembly.
1790 – A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
1791 – The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.
1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.
1821 – The Saturday Evening Post is published for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
1854 – The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
1863 – Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin.
1873 – American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Cheyenne and Lakota people near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.
1889 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.
1892 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She will be tried and acquitted for the crimes a year later.
1901–present
1914 – World War I: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality.
1915 – World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915.
1921 – Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina.
1924 – Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.
1936 – Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.
1944 – The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others.
1944 – Under the state of emergency law, the Finnish Parliament elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as the President of Finland to replace the resigned Risto Ryti.
1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
1947 – The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
1964 – Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
1964 – Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers and mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1965 – The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.
1969 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
1972 – Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians.
1974 – A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.
1975 – The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.
1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
1983 – Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Captain Thomas Sankara.
1984 – The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
1987 – The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly".
1995 – Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
2006 – A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).
2007 – NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched.
2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign.
2019 – Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed.
2020 – Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.
Births
Pre-1600
1222 – Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (d. 1262)
1281 – Külüg Khan, Emperor Wuzong of Yuan (d. 1311)
1290 – Leopold I, Duke of Austria (d. 1326)
1463 – Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Florentine patron of the arts (d. 1503)
1469 – Margaret of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1528)
1470 – Bernardo Dovizi, Italian cardinal (d. 1520)
1470 – Lucrezia de' Medici, Italian noblewoman (d. 1553)
1521 – Pope Urban VII (d. 1590)
1522 – Udai Singh II, King of Mewar (d. 1572)
1601–1900
1604 – François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French cleric and author (d. 1676)
1623 – Friedrich Casimir, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1641–1680) and Hanau-Münzenberg (1642–1680) (d. 1685)
1701 – Thomas Blackwell, Scottish historian and scholar (d. 1757)
1704 – Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans (d. 1752)
1719 – Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1767)
1721 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1803)
1755 – Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French soldier, painter, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1805)
1792 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and playwright (d. 1822)
1805 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1865)
1821 – Louis Vuitton, French fashion designer, founded Louis Vuitton (d. 1892)
1821 – James Springer White, American religious leader, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church (d. 1881)
1834 – John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1923)
1836 – Jens Vilhelm Dahlerup, Danish architect (d. 1907)
1839 – Walter Pater, English author, critic, and academic (d. 1894)
1844 – Henri Berger, German composer and bandleader (d. 1929)
1853 – John Henry Twachtman, American painter, etcher, and academic (d. 1902)
1859 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1952)
1861 – Daniel Edward Howard, 16th president of Liberia (d. 1935)
1867 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1918)
1868 – Master C. V. V., Indian philosopher, yogi and guru (d. 1922)
1870 – Harry Lauder, Scottish actor and singer (d. 1950)
1871 – William Holman, English-Australian politician, 19th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1934)
1876 – Giovanni Giuriati, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1970)
1876 – John Scaddan, Australian politician, 10th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1934)
1877 – Dame Laura Knight, English artist (d. 1970)
1884 – Béla Balázs, Hungarian poet and critic (d. 1949)
1884 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (d. 1941)
1887 – Albert M. Greenfield, Ukrainian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1967)
1888 – Taher Saifuddin, Indian religious leader, 51st Da'i al-Mutlaq (d. 1965)
1890 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1957)
1893 – Fritz Gause, German historian and curator (d. 1973)
1898 – Ernesto Maserati, Italian race car driver and engineer (d. 1975)
1899 – Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader, 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
1900 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
1901–present
1901 – Louis Armstrong, American trumpet player and singer (d. 1971)
1901 – Clarence Passailaigue, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1972)
1902 – Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (d. 1981)
1904 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author and playwright (d. 1969)
1904 – Helen Kane, American singer and actress (d. 1966)
1904 – Joe Tate, English footballer and manager (d. 1973)
1905 – Abeid Karume, 1st President of Zanzibar (d. 1972)
1906 – Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist, director, and producer (d. 1973)
1908 – Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
1909 – Glenn Cunningham, American runner and academic (d. 1988)
1910 – Anita Page, American actress (d. 2008)
1910 – William Schuman, American composer and educator (d. 1992)
1910 – Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (d. 2011)
1912 – Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician, physicist, and mountaineer (d. 1999)
1912 – David Raksin, American composer and educator (d. 2004)
1912 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish architect and diplomat (d. 1947)
1913 – Wesley Addy, American actor (d. 1996)
1913 – Robert Hayden, American poet and educator (d. 1980)
1913 – Johann Niemann, German lieutenant (d. 1943)
1915 – Warren Avis, American businessman, founded Avis Rent a Car System (d. 2007)
1917 – John Fitch, American race car driver and engineer (d. 2012)
1918 – Brian Crozier, Australian-English historian and journalist (d. 2012)
1919 – Michel Déon, French novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 2016)
1920 – Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1921 – Herb Ellis, American guitarist (d. 2010)
1921 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2000)
1922 – Mayme Agnew Clayton, American librarian (d. 2006)
1922 – Luis Aponte Martínez, Puerto Rican cardinal (d. 2012)
1926 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (d. 2000)
1926 – Perry Moss, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1928 – Christian Goethals, Belgian race car driver (d. 2003)
1928 – Gerard Damiano, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1928 – Nadežka Mosusova, Serbian composer
1929 – Kishore Kumar, Indian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1987)
1929 – Vellore G. Ramabhadran, Mridangam artiste from Tamil Nadu, India (d. 2012)
1930 – Ali al-Sistani, Iranian-Iraqi cleric and scholar
1931 – Naren Tamhane, Indian cricketer (d. 2002)
1932 – Frances E. Allen, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2020)
1932 – Liang Congjie, Chinese environmentalist, founded Friends of Nature (d. 2010)
1934 – Dallas Green, American baseball player and manager (d. 2017)
1935 – Carol Arthur, American actress and producer (d. 2020)
1935 – Hans-Walter Eigenbrodt, German footballer and coach (d. 1997)
1935 – Michael J. Noonan, Irish farmer and politician, 25th Minister of Defence for Ireland (d. 2013)
1936 – Giorgos Zographos, Greek singer and actor (d. 2005)
1937 – David Bedford, English keyboard player, composer, and conductor (d. 2011)
1938 – Ellen Schrecker, American historian and academic
1939 – Jack Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, English politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
1939 – Frankie Ford, American R&B/rock and roll singer (d. 2015)
1940 – Coriún Aharonián, Uruguayan composer and musicologist (d. 2017)
1940 – Robin Harper, Scottish academic and politician
1940 – Larry Knechtel, American bass player and pianist (d. 2009)
1940 – Frances Stewart, English economist and academic
1940 – Timi Yuro, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1941 – Martin Jarvis, English actor
1941 – Andy Smillie, English footballer
1941 – Cliff Nobles, American musician (d. 2008)
1941 – Ted Strickland, American psychologist and politician, 68th Governor of Ohio
1942 – Don S. Davis, American actor (d. 2008)
1942 – Cleon Jones, American baseball player
1942 – David Lange, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
1943 – Vicente Álvarez Areces, Spanish politician, 6th President of the Principality of Asturias (d. 2019)
1943 – Barbara Saß-Viehweger, German politician, lawyer and civil law notary
1943 – Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper and footballer
1944 – Richard Belzer, American actor (d. 2023)
1944 – Doudou Ndoye, Senegalese lawyer and politician
1945 – Paul McCarthy, American painter and sculptor
1945 – Alan Mulally, American engineer and businessman
1946 – Aleksei Turovski, Estonian zoologist and ethologist
1947 – Klaus Schulze, German keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2022)
1948 – Johnny Grubb, American baseball player and coach
1949 – John Riggins, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
1950 – Caldwell Jones, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
1950 – N. Rangaswamy, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of Puducherry
1951 – Peter Goodfellow, English geneticist and academic
1952 – James Arbuthnot, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
1952 – Moya Brennan, Irish singer-songwriter and harp player
1952 – Gábor Demszky, Hungarian sociologist, lawyer, and politician
1953 – Hiroyuki Usui, Japanese footballer and manager
1954 – Anatoliy Kinakh, Ukrainian engineer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Ukraine
1954 – Steve Phillips, English footballer
1954 – François Valéry, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
1955 – Alberto Gonzales, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 80th United States Attorney General
1955 – Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1957 – Rupert Farley, British actor and voice actor
1957 – Brooks D. Simpson, American historian and author
1957 – Valdis Valters, Latvian basketball player and coach
1957 – John Wark, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
1958 – Allison Hedge Coke, American-Canadian poet and academic
1958 – Mary Decker, American runner
1958 – Silvan Shalom, Tunisian-Israeli sergeant and politician, 30th Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
1959 – Robbin Crosby, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2002)
1959 – John Gormley, Irish politician, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government
1960 – Chuck C. Lopez, American jockey
1960 – Dean Malenko, American wrestler
1960 – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Spain
1960 – Bernard Rose, English director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
1960 – Tim Winton, Australian author and playwright
1961 – Barack Obama, American lawyer and politician, 44th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate
1962 – Roger Clemens, American baseball player and actor
1962 – Paul Reynolds, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Keith Maurice Ellison, 30th Attorney General of Minnesota
1964 – Andrew Bartlett, Australian social worker and politician
1965 – Vishal Bhardwaj, Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer
1965 – Adam Afriyie, English businessman and politician
1965 – Dennis Lehane, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1965 – Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish soldier and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Sweden
1965 – Michael Skibbe, German footballer and manager
1967 – Michael Marsh, American sprinter
1968 – Daniel Dae Kim, South Korean-American actor
1968 – Lee Mack, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Mark Bickley, Australian footballer and coach
1969 – Max Cavalera, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Troy O'Leary, American baseball player
1970 – John August, American director and screenwriter
1970 – Bret Baier, American journalist
1970 – Steve House, American mountaineer
1970 – Steven Jack, South African cricketer
1970 – Kate Silverton, English journalist
1971 – Bethan Benwell, English linguist, author, and academic
1971 – Jeff Gordon, American race car driver and actor
1972 – Stefan Brogren, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Eva Amaral, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Xavier Marchand, French swimmer
1973 – Marek Penksa, Slovak footballer
1973 – Marcos Roberto Silveira Reis, Brazilian footballer
1974 – Kily González, Argentine footballer
1975 – Andy Hallett, American actor and singer (d. 2009)
1975 – Nikos Liberopoulos, Greek footballer
1975 – Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Finland
1975 – Daniella van Graas, Dutch model and actress
1976 – Paul Goldstein, American tennis player
1976 – Andrew McLeod, Australian footballer
1976 – Trevor Woodman, English rugby player and coach
1977 – Frankie Kazarian, American wrestler
1977 – Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer and manager
1978 – Jeremy Adduono, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1978 – Luke Allen, American baseball player (d. 2022)
1978 – Kurt Busch, American race car driver
1978 – Agnė Eggerth, Lithuanian sprinter
1978 – Ibán Espadas, Spanish footballer
1978 – Jon Knott, American baseball player
1978 – Karine Legault, Canadian swimmer
1978 – Sandeep Naik, Indian politician
1978 – Siri Nordby, Norwegian footballer
1978 – Ricardo Serrano, Spanish cyclist
1978 – Per-Åge Skrøder, Norwegian ice hockey player
1978 – Satoshi Hino, Japanese voice actor
1979 – Robin Peterson, South African cricketer
1980 – Richard Dawson, English cricketer and coach
1981 – Marques Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1981 – Benjamin Lauth, German footballer
1981 – Abigail Spencer, American actress
1981 – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, American actress and humanitarian, and member of British Royal Family
1983 – Greta Gerwig, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1984 – Terry Campese, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Mardy Collins, American basketball player
1985 – Crystal Bowersox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Robbie Findley, American soccer player
1985 – Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
1985 – Ha Seung-jin, South Korean basketball player
1985 – Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
1986 – Nick Augusto, American drummer
1986 – Leon Camier, English motorcycle racer
1986 – Cicinho, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Iosia Soliola, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
1986 – David Williams, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jang Keun-suk, South Korean actor and singer
1987 – Marreese Speights American basketball player
1987 – Tomoya Warabino, Japanese actor
1988 – Carly Foulkes, Canadian model and actress
1988 – Kelley O'Hara, American soccer player
1989 – Tomasz Kaczor, Polish sprint canoeist
1989 – Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1989 – Wang Hao, Chinese chess player
1990 – Hikmet Balioğlu, Turkish footballer
1990 – Siim Tenno, Estonian footballer
1991 – Thiago Cardoso, Brazilian footballer
1991 – Izet Hajrović, Bosnian footballer
1992 – Daniele Garozzo, Italian fencer
1992 – Domingo Germán, Dominican baseball player
1992 – Cole Sprouse, American actor
1992 – Dylan Sprouse, American actor
1995 – Bruna Marquezine, Brazilian actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
221 – Lady Zhen, Chinese empress (b. 183)
966 – Berengar II of Italy (b. 900)
1060 – Henry I of France (b. 1008)
1113 – Gertrude of Saxony, countess and regent of Holland (b. c. 1030)
1265 – Peter de Montfort, English politician (b. 1215)
1265 – Henry de Montfort (b. 1238)
1265 – Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, French-English soldier and politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1208)
1265 – Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, English politician (b. 1223)
1266 – Eudes of Burgundy, Count of Nevers (b. 1230)
1306 – Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
1345 – As-Salih Ismail, Sultan of Egypt (b. 1326)
1378 – Galeazzo II Visconti, Lord of Milan (b. c. 1320)
1430 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
1526 – Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer and navigator (b. 1476)
1578 – Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
1598 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English academic and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1520)
1601–1900
1612 – Hugh Broughton, English scholar and theologian (b. 1549)
1639 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican actor and playwright (b. 1581)
1718 – René Lepage de Sainte-Claire, French-Canadian founder of Rimouski (b. 1656)
1727 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
1741 – Andrew Hamilton, Scottish-American lawyer and politician (b. 1676)
1778 – Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial, Canadian-French politician, Governor General of New France (b. 1698)
1792 – John Burgoyne, English general and politician (b. 1723)
1795 – Timothy Ruggles, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1711)
1804 – Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Scottish admiral (b. 1731)
1822 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet and author (b. 1801)
1844 – Jacob Aall, Norwegian economist, historian, and politician (b. 1773)
1859 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (b. 1786)
1873 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter (b. 1834)
1875 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1805)
1886 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of New York (b. 1814)
1900 – Isaac Levitan, Russian painter and educator (b. 1860)
1901–present
1914 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (b. 1853)
1919 – Dave Gregory, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1845)
1922 – Enver Pasha, Ottoman general and politician (b. 1881)
1932 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (b. 1868)
1938 – Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
1940 – Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Ukrainian-American general, journalist, and activist (b. 1880)
1941 – Mihály Babits, Hungarian poet and author (b. 1883)
1942 – Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer and educator (b. 1860)
1944 – Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Polish soldier and poet (b. 1921)
1957 – John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (b. 1882)
1957 – Washington Luís, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 13th President of Brazil (b. 1869)
1958 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet, author, and painter (b. 1883)
1959 – József Révai, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1898)
1961 – Margarito Bautista, Nahua-Mexican evangelizer, theologian, and religious founder (b. 1878)
1962 – Marilyn Monroe, American model and actress (b. 1926)
1964 – Nätti-Jussi, Finnish lumberjack and forest laborer (b. 1890)
1967 – Peter Smith, English cricketer (b. 1908)
1976 – Enrique Angelelli, Argentinian bishop and martyr (b. 1923)
1976 – Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian-English publisher (b. 1894)
1977 – Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
1981 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
1982 – Bruce Goff, American architect, designed the Boston Avenue Methodist Church (b. 1904)
1985 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (b. 1933)
1990 – Ettore Maserati, Italian engineer and businessman (b. 1894)
1992 – Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese author (b. 1909)
1996 – Geoff Hamilton, English gardener, author, and television host (b. 1936)
1997 – Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian; holds records for the world's substantiated longest-lived person (b. 1875)
1998 – Yury Artyukhin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
1999 – Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1913)
2003 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
2004 – Mary Sherman Morgan, American chemist and engineer (b. 1921)
2004 – Hossein Panahi (Persian: حسین پناهی), Iranian actor and poet (b. 1956)
2005 – Anatoly Larkin, Russian-American physicist and theorist (b. 1932)
2005 – Iván Szabó, Hungarian economist and politician, Minister of Finance of Hungary (b. 1934)
2007 – Lee Hazlewood, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
2007 – Raul Hilberg, Austrian-American political scientist and historian (b. 1926)
2008 – Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (b. 1985)
2009 – Blake Snyder, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1957)
2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (b. 1977)
2012 – Johnnie Bassett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1935)
2012 – Brian Crozier, Australian-English journalist and historian (b. 1918)
2012 – Bud Riley, American football player and coach (b. 1925)
2013 – Keith H. Basso, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1940)
2013 – Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (b. 1925)
2013 – Olavi J. Mattila, Finnish engineer and politician, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1918)
2013 – Renato Ruggiero, Italian lawyer and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1930)
2013 – Tony Snell, English lieutenant and pilot (b. 1922)
2013 – Sandy Woodward, English admiral (b. 1932)
2014 – James Brady, American activist and politician, 15th White House Press Secretary (b. 1940)
2014 – Chester Crandell, American lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1953)
2015 – Elsie Hillman, American philanthropist and politician (b. 1925)
2015 – Les Munro, New Zealand soldier and pilot (b. 1919)
2015 – John Rudometkin, American basketball player (b. 1940)
2015 – Billy Sherrill, American songwriter and producer (b. 1936)
2019 – Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician and theorist for the Khmer Rouge (b. 1926)
2023 – Dalia Fadila, Israeli educator (b. 1971/1972)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Aristarchus
Euphronius
Blessed Frédéric Janssoone
John Vianney
Molua (or Lua)
Raynerius of Split
Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs
August 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Coast Guard Day (United States)
Constitution Day (Cook Islands); first Monday in August
Matica slovenská Day (Slovakia)
Barack Obama Day in Illinois in the United States
2020 Beirut explosion commemoration day in Lebanon
References
External links
Days of the year
August |
2483 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2021 | April 21 |
Events
Pre-1600
753 BC – Romulus founds Rome (traditional date).
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
1092 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II
1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1601–1900
1615 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1789 – John Adams sworn in as 1st US Vice President (nine days before George Washington)
1789 – George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1802 – Twelve thousand Wahhabis sack Karbala, killing over three thousand inhabitants.
1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
1821 – Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1856 – Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
1901–present
1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
1926 – Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi'a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
1934 – The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1994, it is revealed to be a hoax).
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1946 – The U.S. Weather Bureau publish a paper which stated the width of a tornado which struck the city of Timber Lake, South Dakota was , which would make this the widest tornado ever documented in history.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
1950 – The Nainital wedding massacre occurs, killing 22 members of the Harijan castle.
1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1958 – United Airlines Flight 736 collides with a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
1960 – Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1962 – The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
1965 – The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 – A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1972 – Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16's Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon's surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing.
1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1977 – Annie opens on Broadway.
1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
2012 – Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, killing one person and injuring 116 others.
2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires' disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
2019 – Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday; more than 250 people are killed.
2021 – Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board.
Births
Pre-1600
1132 – Sancho VI, king of Navarre (d. 1194)
1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)
1523 – Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian lawyer and military officer (d. 1571)
1555 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (d. 1619)
1601–1900
1619 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (d. 1677)
1630 – Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Dutch-English painter (d. 1700)
1631 – Francesco Maidalchini, Catholic cardinal (d. 1700)
1642 – Simon de la Loubère, French mathematician, poet, and diplomat (d. 1729)
1651 – Joseph Vaz, Sri Lankan priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1711)
1652 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (d. 1719)
1671 – John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1673 – Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1742)
1713 – Louis de Noailles, French general (d. 1793)
1730 – Antonín Kammel, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1788)
1752 – Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, French engineer, hydrographer, and politician, French Minister of Marine and the Colonies (d. 1807)
1752 – Humphry Repton, English gardener and author (d. 1818)
1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1862)
1775 – Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (d. 1870)
1783 – Reginald Heber, English priest (d. 1821) ; re-printed 2015 by Facsimile Publisher and distributed by Gyan Books, New Delhi.
1790 – Manuel Blanco Encalada, Spanish-Chilean admiral and politician, 1st President of Chile (d. 1876)
1810 – John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
1811 – Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
1814 – Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, English art collector and philanthropist (d. 1906)
1816 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (d. 1855)
1837 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish lieutenant and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
1838 – John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914)
1854 – William Stang, German-American bishop (d. 1907)
1864 – Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
1868 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (d. 1932)
1868 – Mary Rogers Miller, American author and educator (d. 1971)
1870 – Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1941)
1874 – Vincent Scotto, French composer and actor (d. 1952)
1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1885 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1967)
1887 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball manager (d. 1978)
1889 – Marcel Boussac, French businessman (d. 1980)
1889 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985)
1892 – Freddie Dixon, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (d. 1956)
1893 – Romeo Bertini, Italian runner (d. 1973)
1898 – Maurice Wilson, English soldier, pilot, and mountaineer (d. 1934)
1899 – Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (d. 1984)
1901–present
1903 – Luis Saslavsky, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1904 – Jean Hélion, French painter (d. 1987)
1904 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (d. 1945)
1905 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (d. 1996)
1911 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (d. 2000)
1911 – Kemal Satır, Turkish physician and politician (d. 1991)
1912 – Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (d. 2012)
1912 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1913 – Norman Parkinson, English photographer (d. 1990)
1914 – Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (d. 2013)
1915 – Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (d. 2003)
1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001)
1916 – Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013)
1918 – Eddy Christiani, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (d. 1981)
1919 – Licio Gelli, Italian financer (d. 2015)
1922 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1922 – Allan Watkins, Welsh-English cricketer (d. 2011)
1923 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (d. 2009)
1924 – Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (d. 1965)
1925 – Anthony Mason, Australian soldier and judge, 9th Chief Justice of Australia
1925 – John Swinton of Kimmerghame, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (d. 2018)
1926 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and her other realms (d. 2022)
1926 – Arthur Rowley, English footballer, manager, and cricketer (d. 2002)
1927 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (d. 1991)
1928 – Jack Evans, Welsh-Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
1930 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (d. 2004)
1930 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
1930 – Dieter Roth, German-Swiss illustrator and sculptor (d. 1998)
1930 – Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (d. 2012)
1931 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (d. 2020)
1932 – Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer
1932 – Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter
1932 – Angela Mortimer, English tennis player
1933 – Edelmiro Amante, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Easley Blackwood, Jr., American pianist, composer, and educator
1933 – Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (d. 2014)
1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (d. 2021)
1935 – Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey
1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family
1936 – Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2009)
1937 – Gary Peters, American baseball player
1937 – Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player
1939 – John McCabe, English pianist and composer (d. 2015)
1939 – Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author
1939 – Reni Santoni, American actor (d. 2020)
1940 – Jacques Caron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1940 – Souleymane Cissé, Malian director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – David L. Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma
1942 – Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand politician, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
1945 – Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Indian cricketer and umpire
1945 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (d. 2017)
1945 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (d. 2000)
1947 – Al Bumbry, American baseball player
1947 – Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1947 – John Weider, English bass player
1948 – Gary Condit, American businessman and politician
1948 – Paul Davis, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2008)
1948 – Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist
1948 – Dieter Fromm, German runner
1949 – Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
1950 – Shivaji Satam, Indian actor
1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and producer
1951 – Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic
1951 – Bob Varsha, American sportscaster
1951 – Steve Vickers, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Gerald Early, American author and academic
1952 – Cheryl Gillan, British businesswoman and politician, Secretary of State for Wales (d. 2021)
1953 – John Brumby, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Victoria
1954 – Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – James Morrison, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Mike Wingfield, South African academic and scientist
1955 – Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, poet, and playwright
1956 – Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1956 – Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist
1957 – Hervé Le Tellier, French linguist and author
1957 – Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor, and author
1958 – Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer
1958 – Yoshito Usui, Japanese illustrator (d. 2009)
1958 – Michael Zarnock, American author
1959 – Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter
1959 – Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (d. 2011)
1963 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1965 – Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian
1969 – Toby Stephens, English actor
1970 – Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian
1971 – Michael Turner, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
1973 – Steve Backshall, English naturalist, writer, and television presenter
1977 – Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator
1979 – Virginie Basselot, French chef
1979 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
1980 – Tony Romo, American football player and announcer
1983 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (d. 2020)
1988 – Ricky Berens, American swimmer
1988 – Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor
1989 – Nikki Cross, Scottish wrestler
1992 – Isco, Spanish footballer
1992 – Joc Pederson, American baseball player
1996 – Arianne Hartono, Dutch tennis player
1997 – Mikel Oyarzabal, Spanish footballer
1998 – Jarrett Allen, American basketball player
2003 – Xavi Simons, Dutch footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
234 – Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 181)
586 – Liuvigild, king of the Visigoths
847 – Odgar, Frankish archbishop of Mainz
866 – Bardas, de facto regent of the Byzantine Empire
941 – Bajkam, de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate
1073 – Pope Alexander II
1109 – Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-English archbishop and saint (b. 1033)
1136 – Stephen, Count of Tréguier Breton noblemen (b. )
1142 – Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1079)
1213 – Maria of Montpellier, Lady of Montpellier, Queen of Aragon (b. 1182)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1400 – John Wittlebury, English politician (b. 1333)
1509 – Henry VII of England (b. 1457)
1557 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1495)
1574 – Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
1591 – Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (b. 1522)
1601–1900
1650 – Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, Japanese samurai (b. 1607)
1668 – Jan Boeckhorst, Flemish painter (b. )
1699 – Jean Racine, French playwright and poet (b. 1639)
1719 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1640)
1720 – Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (b. 1646)
1722 – Robert Beverley, Jr., English historian and author (b. 1673)
1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy (b. 1663)
1740 – Thomas Tickell, English poet and author (b. 1685)
1758 – Francesco Zerafa, Maltese architect (b. 1679)
1815 – Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (b. 1746)
1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
1852 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
1863 – Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (b. 1782)
1900 – Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (b. 1819)
1901–present
1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (b. 1892)
1924 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
1930 – Robert Bridges, English poet and author (b. 1844)
1932 – Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Bohemian cardinal (b. 1864)
1938 – Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani National philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
1941 – Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (b. 1875)
1945 – Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)
1946 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist and philosopher (b. 1883)
1948 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (b. 1887)
1952 – Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (b. 1890)
1954 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
1956 – Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1965 – Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1971 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (b. 1907)
1973 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1973 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1910)
1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (b. 1892)
1978 – Sandy Denny, English singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (b. 1877)
1980 – Alexander Oparin, Russian biochemist and academic (b. 1894)
1980 – Sohrab Sepehri, Iranian poet and painter (b. 1928)
1983 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (b. 1902)
1984 – Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (b. 1895)
1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian engineer and mountaineer (b. 1943)
1985 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (b. 1922)
1985 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian banker and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (b. 1910)
1986 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (b. 1901)
1986 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1930)
1987 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
1990 – Erté, Russian-French illustrator (b. 1892)
1991 – Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (b. 1909)
1992 – Väinö Linna, Finnish author (b. 1920)
1996 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1925)
1996 – Jimmy Snyder, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
1998 – Jean-François Lyotard, French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1924)
1999 – Buddy Rogers, American actor (b. 1904)
2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933)
2005 – Zhang Chunqiao, Chinese writer and politician, member of the Gang of Four (b. 1917)
2010 – Gustav Lorentzen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
2010 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1920)
2010 – Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan-English engineer and civil servant (b. 1930)
2011 – Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1920)
2012 – Doris Betts, American author and academic (b. 1932)
2013 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (b. 1929)
2013 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author, and educator (b. 1905)
2014 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
2014 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (b. 1930)
2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)
2017 – Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (b. 1972)
2018 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1900)
2019 – Polly Higgins, Scottish barrister, author and environmental lobbyist (b. 1968)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Abdecalas
Anastasius Sinaita
Anselm of Canterbury
Beuno
Conrad of Parzham
Holy Infant of Good Health
Shemon Bar Sabbae
Wolbodo
April 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Parilia (ancient Rome)
Civil Service Day (India)
Grounation Day (Rastafari)
Heroic Defense of Veracruz (Mexico)
Kang Pan-sok's Birthday (North Korea)
Kartini Day (Indonesia)
Local Self Government Day (Russia)
National Tea Day (United Kingdom)
National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)
San Jacinto Day (Texas)
Queen or King's Official Birthday (Falkland Islands)
Tiradentes' Day (Brazil)
Vietnam Book Day (Vietnam)
References
Sources
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 21
Days of the year
April |
2564 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2010 | April 10 |
Events
Pre-1600
428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
1407 – Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing and is awarded the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma".
1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
1545 – The settlement of Villa Imperial de Carlos V (now the city of Potosí) in Bolivia is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.
1601–1900
1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
1717 – Robert Walpole resigns from the British government, commencing the Whig Split which lasts until 1720.
1741 – War of the Austrian Succession: Prussia gains control of Silesia at the Battle of Mollwitz.
1809 – Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.
1815 – The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth's climate for the next two years.
1816 – The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
1821 – Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Ottoman government from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: the island of Psara joins the Greek struggle for independence.
1826 – The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
1858 – After the original Big Ben, a bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
1864 – Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.
1865 – American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
1866 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
1868 – At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
1872 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.
1875 – India: Arya Samaj is founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda Saraswati to propagate his goal of social reform.
1887 – On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America.
1896 – 1896 Summer Olympics: The Olympic marathon is run ending with the victory of Greek athlete Spyridon Louis.
1900 – British suffer a sharp defeat by the Boers south of Brandfort. 600 British troops are killed and wounded and 800 taken prisoner.
1901–present
1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
1916 – The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
1919 – The Third Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.
1925 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City, by Charles Scribner's Sons.
1938 – The 1938 German parliamentary election and referendum seeks approval for a single list of Nazi candidates and the recent annexation of Austria.
1939 – Alcoholics Anonymous, A.A.'s "Big Book", is first published.
1941 – World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
1944 – Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp.
1963 – One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine sinks at sea.
1968 – The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm – the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734 people on board, fifty-three died.
1970 – Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1971 – Ping-pong diplomacy: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, China hosts the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
1972 – Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
1973 – Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland, killing 108 people.
1979 – Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
1988 – The Ojhri Camp explosion kills or injures more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan.
1991 – Italian ferry collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy, killing 140.
1991 – A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.
1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.
2009 – President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
2010 – Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
2016 – The Paravur temple accident in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu, kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.
2016 – An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, impacting India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.
2019 – Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, which was located in the centre of the M87 galaxy.
2023 – A mass shooting occurs at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky that leaves five victims dead and eight wounded.
Births
Pre-1600
401 – Theodosius II, Roman emperor (d. 450)
1018 – Nizam al-Mulk, Persian scholar and vizier (d. 1092)
1472 – Margaret of York, English princess (d. 1472)
1480 – Philibert II, duke of Savoy (d. 1504)
1487 – William I, count of Nassau-Siegen (d. 1559)
1512 – James V, king of Scotland (d. 1542)
1579 – Augustus II, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1666)
1583 – Hugo Grotius, Dutch philosopher and jurist (d. 1645)
1601–1900
1603 – Christian, Prince-Elect of Denmark (d. 1647)
1651 – Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician, physicist, and physician (d. 1708)
1656 – René Lepage de Sainte-Claire, French-Canadian settler, founded Rimouski (d. 1718)
1704 – Benjamin Heath, English scholar and author (d. 1766)
1707 – Michel Corrette, French organist, composer, and author (d. 1795)
1713 – John Whitehurst, English geologist and clockmaker (d. 1788)
1755 – Samuel Hahnemann, German-French physician and academic (d. 1843)
1762 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1834)
1769 – Jean Lannes, French marshal (d. 1809)
1778 – William Hazlitt, English essayist and critic (d. 1830)
1794 – Matthew C. Perry, English-Scottish American commander (d. 1858)
1806 – Juliette Drouet, French actress (d. 1883)
1806 – Leonidas Polk, Scottish-American general and bishop (d. 1884)
1827 – Lew Wallace, American general, lawyer, and politician, 11th Governor of New Mexico Territory (d. 1905)
1829 – William Booth, English minister, founded The Salvation Army (d. 1912)
1847 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-American journalist, publisher, and politician, founded Pulitzer, Inc. (d. 1911)
1864 – Eugen d'Albert, Scottish-German pianist and composer (d. 1932)
1865 – Jack Miner, American-Canadian farmer, hunter, and environmentalist (d. 1944)
1867 – George William Russell, Irish author, poet, and painter (d. 1935)
1868 – George Arliss, English actor and playwright (d. 1946)
1868 – Asriel Günzig, Moravian rabbi (d. 1931)
1873 – Kyösti Kallio, Finnish farmer, banker, and politician, 4th President of Finland (d. 1940)
1875 – George Clawley, English footballer (d. 1920)
1877 – Alfred Kubin, Austrian author and illustrator (d. 1959)
1879 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (d. 1939)
1879 – Coenraad Hiebendaal, Dutch rower and physician (d. 1921)
1880 – Frances Perkins, American sociologist, academic, and politician, United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1965)
1880 – Montague Summers, English clergyman and author (d. 1948)
1886 – Johnny Hayes, American runner and trainer (d. 1965)
1887 – Bernardo Houssay, Argentinian physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1889 – Louis Rougier, French philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1982)
1891 – Frank Barson, English footballer and coach (d. 1968)
1893 – Otto Steinböck, Austrian zoologist (d. 1969)
1894 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (d. 1982)
1897 – Prafulla Chandra Sen, Indian accountant and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1990)
1900 – Arnold Orville Beckman, American chemist, inventor, and philanthropist (d. 2004)
1901–present
1901 – Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, Indian economist (d. 1971)
1903 – Patroklos Karantinos, Greek architect (d. 1976)
1903 – Clare Turlay Newberry, American author and illustrator (d. 1970)
1906 – Steve Anderson, American hurdler (d. 1988)
1910 – Margaret Clapp, American scholar and academic (d. 1974)
1910 – Helenio Herrera, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1997)
1910 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and publisher, founded the Monthly Review (d. 2004)
1911 – Martin Denny, American pianist and composer (d. 2005)
1911 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs for France (d. 1998)
1912 – Boris Kidrič, Austrian-Slovenian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Slovenia (d. 1953)
1913 – Stefan Heym, German-American soldier and author (d. 2001)
1914 – Jack Badcock, Australian cricketer (d. 1982)
1915 – Harry Morgan, American actor and director (d. 2011)
1915 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (d. 2014)
1916 – Lee Jung-seob, Korean painter (d. 1956)
1917 – Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, Indian politician (d. 2013)
1917 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1919 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (d. 2014)
1921 – Chuck Connors, American baseball player and actor (d. 1992)
1921 – Jake Warren, Canadian soldier and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (d. 2008)
1921 – Sheb Wooley, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2003)
1923 – Roger Gaillard, Haitian historian and author (d. 2000)
1923 – Jane Kean, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1923 – Floyd Simmons, American decathlete and actor (d. 2008)
1923 – Sid Tickridge, English footballer (d. 1997)
1923 – John Watkins, South African cricketer (d. 2021)
1924 – Kenneth Noland, American soldier and painter (d. 2010)
1925 – Angelo Poffo, American wrestler and promoter (d. 2010)
1926 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (d. 2014)
1926 – Junior Samples, American comedian (d. 1983)
1927 – Norma Candal, Puerto Rican actress (d. 2006)
1927 – Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
1929 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (d. 1959)
1929 – Liz Sheridan, American actress (d. 2022)
1929 – Max von Sydow, Swedish-French actor (d. 2020)
1930 – Claude Bolling, French pianist, composer, and actor (d. 2020)
1930 – Dolores Huerta, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers
1930 – Spede Pasanen, Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor (d. 2001)
1931 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical vocalist (d. 2017)
1932 – Delphine Seyrig, Swiss/Alsatian French actress (d. 1990)
1932 – Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1933 – Rokusuke Ei, Japanese composer and author (d. 2016)
1933 – Helen McElhone, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
1934 – David Halberstam, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
1935 – Patrick Garland, English actor and director (d. 2013)
1935 – Peter Hollingworth, Australian bishop, 23rd Governor General of Australia
1935 – Christos Yannaras, Greek philosopher, theologian and author
1936 – John A. Bennett, American soldier (d. 1961)
1936 – John Howell, English long jumper
1936 – John Madden, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2021)
1936 – Bobby Smith, American singer (d. 2013)
1937 – Bella Akhmadulina, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator (d. 2010)
1938 – Don Meredith, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
1939 – Claudio Magris, Italian scholar, author, and translator
1940 – Gloria Hunniford, British radio and television host
1941 – Chrysostomos II of Cyprus, (d. 2022)
1941 – Harold Long, Canadian politician (d. 2013)
1941 – Paul Theroux, American novelist, short story writer, and travel writer
1942 – Nick Auf der Maur, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1998)
1942 – Ian Callaghan, English footballer
1942 – Stuart Dybek, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
1943 – Andrzej Badeński, Polish-German sprinter (d. 2008)
1943 – Margaret Pemberton, English author
1945 – Kevin Berry, Australian swimmer (d. 2006)
1946 – David Angell, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2001)
1946 – Bob Watson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2020)
1946 – Adolf Winkelmann, German director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – David A. Adler, American author and educator
1947 – Bunny Wailer, Jamaican singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2021)
1948 – Mel Blount, American football player
1949 – Daniel Mangeas, French banker and sportscaster
1949 – Eric Troyer, American singer-songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist
1950 – Ken Griffey, Sr., American baseball player and manager
1950 – Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (d. 1992)
1951 – David Helvarg, American journalist and activist
1952 – Narayan Rane, Indian politician, 16th Chief Minister of Maharashtra
1952 – Masashi Sada, Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, novelist, actor, and producer
1952 – Steven Seagal, American actor, producer, and martial artist
1953 – David Moorcroft, English runner and businessman
1953 – Pamela Wallin, Swedish-Canadian journalist, academic, and politician
1954 – Paul Bearer, American wrestler and manager (d. 2013)
1954 – Anne Lamott, American author and educator
1954 – Peter MacNicol, American actor
1954 – Juan Williams, Panamanian-American journalist and author
1955 – Lesley Garrett, English soprano and actress
1956 – Carol V. Robinson, English chemist and academic
1957 – Aliko Dangote, Nigerian businessman, founded Dangote Group
1957 – John M. Ford, American author and poet (d. 2006)
1957 – Steve Gustafson, Spanish-American bass player
1957 – Rosemary Hill, English historian and author
1958 – Bob Bell, Northern Irish engineer
1958 – Yefim Bronfman, Uzbek-American pianist
1958 – Brigitte Holzapfel, German high jumper
1959 – Babyface, American singer-songwriter and producer
1959 – Yvan Loubier, Canadian economist and politician
1959 – Brian Setzer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Steve Bisciotti, American businessman, co-founded Allegis Group
1960 – Katrina Leskanich, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Terry Teagle, American basketball player
1961 – Nicky Campbell, Scottish broadcaster and journalist
1961 – Carole Goble, English computer scientist and academic
1961 – Mark Jones, American basketball player
1962 – Steve Tasker, American football player and sportscaster
1963 – Warren DeMartini, American guitarist and songwriter
1963 – Jeff Gray, American baseball player and coach
1963 – Doris Leuthard, Swiss lawyer and politician, 162nd President of the Swiss Confederation
1965 – Tim Alexander, American drummer and songwriter
1966 – Steve Claridge, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
1967 – Donald Dufresne, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1967 – David Rovics, American singer-songwriter
1968 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (d. 1996)
1968 – Orlando Jones, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Steve Glasson, Australian lawn bowler
1969 – Ekaterini Koffa, Greek sprinter
1970 – Enrico Ciccone, Canadian ice hockey player
1970 – Leonard Doroftei, Romanian-Canadian boxer
1970 – Kenny Lattimore, American singer-songwriter
1970 – Q-Tip, American rapper, producer, and actor
1971 – Brad William Henke, American football player and actor
1971 – Indro Olumets, Estonian footballer and coach
1971 – Al Reyes, Dominican-American baseball player
1972 – Ian Harvey, Australian cricketer
1972 – Priit Kasesalu, Estonian computer programmer, co-created Skype
1972 – Gordon Buchanan, Scottish film maker
1973 – Guillaume Canet, French actor and director
1973 – Roberto Carlos, Brazilian footballer and manager
1973 – Aidan Moffat, Scottish singer-songwriter
1973 – Christopher Simmons, Canadian-American graphic designer, author, and academic
1974 – Eric Greitens, American soldier, author and politician
1974 – Petros Passalis, Greek footballer
1975 – Chris Carrabba, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Terrence Lewis, Indian dancer and choreographer
1975 – David Harbour, American actor
1976 – Clare Buckfield, English actress
1976 – Yoshino Kimura, Japanese actress and singer
1976 – Sara Renner, Canadian skier
1977 – Stephanie Sheh, Taiwanese-American voice actress, director, and producer
1978 – Sir Christus, Finnish guitarist (d. 2017)
1979 – Iván Alonso, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Kenyon Coleman, American football player
1979 – Rachel Corrie, American author and activist (d. 2003)
1979 – Tsuyoshi Domoto, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
1979 – Sophie Ellis-Bextor, English singer-songwriter
1979 – Pavlos Fyssas, Greek rapper (d. 2013)
1979 – Peter Kopteff, Finnish footballer
1980 – Sean Avery, Canadian ice hockey player and model
1980 – Charlie Hunnam, English actor
1980 – Shao Jiayi, Chinese footballer
1980 – Kasey Kahne, American race car driver
1980 – Andy Ram, Israeli tennis player
1980 – Bryce Soderberg, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1981 – Laura Bell Bundy, American actress and singer
1981 – Liz McClarnon, English singer and dancer
1981 – Michael Pitt, American actor, model and musician
1981 – Alexei Semenov, Russian ice hockey player
1982 – Andre Ethier, American baseball player
1982 – Chyler Leigh, American actress and singer
1983 – Jamie Chung, American actress
1983 – Andrew Dost, American guitarist and songwriter
1983 – Ryan Merriman, American actor
1983 – Hannes Sigurðsson, Icelandic footballer
1984 – Faustina Agolley, Australian television host
1984 – Jeremy Barrett, American figure skater
1984 – Mandy Moore, American singer-songwriter and actress
1984 – David Obua, Ugandan footballer
1984 – Damien Perquis, French-Polish footballer
1984 – Gonzalo Javier Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Barkhad Abdi, Somali-American actor and director
1985 – Willo Flood, Irish footballer
1985 – Jesús Gámez, Spanish footballer
1985 – Dion Phaneuf, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Olivia Borlée, Belgian sprinter
1986 – Fernando Gago, Argentine footballer
1986 – Corey Kluber, American baseball pitcher
1986 – Vincent Kompany, Belgian footballer
1986 – Tore Reginiussen, Norwegian footballer
1987 – Ahmed Adel Abdel Moneam, Egyptian footballer
1987 – Shay Mitchell, Canadian actress and model
1987 – Hayley Westenra, New Zealand soprano
1988 – Chris Heston, American baseball pitcher
1988 – Kareem Jackson, American football player
1988 – Haley Joel Osment, American actor
1989 – Charlie Culberson, American baseball player
1990 – Ben Amos, English footballer
1990 – Andile Jali, South African footballer
1990 – Ricky Leutele, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
1990 – Maren Morris, American singer
1990 – Alex Pettyfer, English actor
1991 – AJ Michalka, American actress and singer
1992 – Jack Buchanan, Australian rugby league player
1992 – Sadio Mané, Senegalese footballer
1992 – Chaz Mostert, Australian racing driver
1992 – Daisy Ridley, English actress
1993 – Sofia Carson, American singer and actress
1994 – Siobhan Hunter, Scottish footballer
1995 – Ian Nelson, American actor
1996 – Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australian tennis player
1996 – Audrey Whitby, American actress
1997 – Claire Wineland, American activist and author (d. 2018)
1998 – Anna Pogorilaya, Russian figure skater
2001 – Ky Baldwin, Australian singer and actor
2001 – Noa Kirel, Israeli singer
Deaths
Pre-1600
879 – Louis the Stammerer, king of West Francia (b. 846)
943 – Landulf I, prince of Benevento and Capua
948 – Hugh of Arles, king of Italy
1008 – Notker of Liège, French bishop (b. 940)
1216 – Eric X, king of Sweden (b. 1180)
1282 – Ahmad Fanakati, chief minister under Kublai Khan
1309 – Elisabeth von Rapperswil, Swiss countess (b. 1261)
1362 – Maud, English noblewoman (b. 1339)
1500 – Michael Tarchaniota Marullus, Greek scholar and poet
1533 – Frederick I, king of Denmark and Norway (b. 1471)
1545 – Costanzo Festa, Italian composer
1585 – Gregory XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1502)
1598 – Jacopo Mazzoni, Italian philosopher (b. 1548)
1599 – Gabrielle d'Estrées, French mistress of Henry IV of France (b. 1571)
1601–1900
1601 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish soldier and poet (b. 1562)
1619 – Thomas Jones, English-Irish archbishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of Ireland (b. 1550)
1640 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1578)
1644 – William Brewster, English official and pilgrim leader (b. 1566)
1646 – Santino Solari, Swiss architect and sculptor (b. 1576)
1667 – Jan Marek Marci, Czech physician and author (b. 1595)
1704 – Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg, German cardinal (b. 1629)
1756 – Giacomo Antonio Perti, Italian composer (b. 1661)
1760 – Jean Lebeuf, French historian and author (b. 1687)
1786 – John Byron, English admiral and politician, 24th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1723)
1806 – Horatio Gates, English-American general (b. 1727)
1813 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1736)
1821 – Gregory V of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1746)
1823 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher and academic (b. 1757)
1871 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1789)
1889 – William Crichton, Scottish engineer and shipbuilder (b. 1827)
1901–present
1909 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic (b. 1837)
1919 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general (b. 1879)
1920 – Moritz Cantor, German mathematician and historian (b. 1829)
1931 – Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, painter, and philosopher (b. 1883)
1935 – Rosa Campbell Praed, Australian novelist (b. 1851)
1938 – King Oliver, American cornet player and bandleader (b. 1885)
1942 – Carl Schenstrøm, Danish actor and director (b. 1881)
1943 – Andreas Faehlmann, Estonian-German sailor and engineer (b. 1898)
1945 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer and typographer (b. 1882)
1947 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant and author (b. 1887)
1950 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1876)
1954 – Auguste Lumière, French director and producer (b. 1862)
1954 – Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1888)
1955 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1881)
1958 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (b. 1928)
1960 – André Berthomieu, French director and screenwriter (b. 1903)
1962 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1886)
1962 – Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish artist and musician (b. 1940)
1965 – Lloyd Casner, American race car driver, founded Casner Motor Racing Division (b. 1928)
1965 – Linda Darnell, American actress (b. 1923)
1966 – Evelyn Waugh, English soldier, novelist, journalist and critic (b. 1903)
1968 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian lieutenant and politician (b. 1899)
1969 – Harley Earl, American businessman (b. 1893)
1975 – Walker Evans, American photographer (b. 1903)
1975 – Marjorie Main, American actress (b. 1890)
1978 – Hjalmar Mäe, Estonian politician (b. 1901)
1979 – Nino Rota, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1911)
1980 – Kay Medford, American actress and singer (b. 1919)
1981 – Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher and civil rights activist (b. 1899)
1983 – Issam Sartawi, Palestinian activist (b. 1935)
1985 – Zisis Verros, Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle (b. 1880)
1986 – Linda Creed, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
1988 – Ezekias Papaioannou, Greek Cypriot politician (b. 1908)
1991 – Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (b. 1955)
1991 – Martin Hannett, English guitarist and producer (b. 1948)
1991 – Natalie Schafer, American actress (b. 1900)
1992 – Sam Kinison, American comedian and actor (b. 1953)
1993 – Chris Hani, South African activist and politician (b. 1942)
1994 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1924)
1995 – Morarji Desai, Indian politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (b. 1896)
1997 – Michael Dorris, American author and academic (b. 1945)
1998 – Seraphim of Athens, Greek archbishop (b. 1913)
1999 – Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, German-American biochemist and physician (b. 1910)
1999 – Jean Vander Pyl, American actress and voice artist (b. 1919)
2000 – Peter Jones, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
2000 – Larry Linville, American actor (b. 1939)
2003 – Little Eva, American singer (b. 1943)
2004 – Jacek Kaczmarski, Polish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (b. 1957)
2004 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Sabancı Holding (b. 1933)
2005 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (b. 1923)
2005 – Scott Gottlieb, American drummer (b. 1970)
2005 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (b. 1911)
2005 – Al Lucas, American football player (b. 1978)
2005 – Wally Tax, Dutch singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
2006 – Kleitos Kyrou, Greek poet and translator (b. 1921)
2007 – Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (b. 1910)
2007 – Dakota Staton, American singer (b. 1930)
2009 – Deborah Digges, American poet and educator (b. 1950)
2009 – Ioannis Patakis, Greek politician (b. 1940)
2010 – Casualties in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash included:
Ryszard Kaczorowski, Polish soldier and politician, 6th President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1919)
Maria Kaczyńska, Polish economist, First Lady of Poland (b. 1942)
Lech Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 4th President of Poland (b. 1949)
Anna Walentynowicz, Ukrainian-Polish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
2010 – Dixie Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1939)
2012 – Raymond Aubrac, French engineer and activist (b. 1914)
2012 – Barbara Buchholz, German theremin player and composer (b. 1959)
2012 – Lili Chookasian, Armenian-American operatic singer (b. 1921)
2012 – Luis Aponte Martínez, Puerto Rican cardinal (b. 1922)
2012 – Akin Omoboriowo, Nigerian lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
2013 – Lorenzo Antonetti, Italian cardinal (b. 1922)
2013 – Raymond Boudon, French sociologist and academic (b. 1934)
2013 – Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Bangladeshi activist (b. 1911)
2013 – Robert Edwards, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
2013 – Olive Lewin, Jamaican anthropologist, musicologist, and author (b. 1927)
2013 – Gordon Thomas, English cyclist (b. 1921)
2013 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (b. 1951)
2014 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (b. 1947)
2014 – Jim Flaherty, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1949)
2014 – Richard Hoggart, English author and academic (b. 1918)
2014 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (b. 1946)
2015 – Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1930)
2015 – Raúl Héctor Castro, Mexican-American politician and diplomat, 14th Governor of Arizona (b. 1916)
2015 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (b. 1926)
2015 – Rose Francine Rogombé, Gabonese lawyer and politician, President of Gabon (b. 1942)
2015 – Peter Walsh, Australian farmer and politician, 6th Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1935)
2016 – Howard Marks, Welsh cannabis smuggler, writer, and legalisation campaigner (b. 1945)
2023 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist (b. 1921)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Fulbert of Chartres
James, Azadanus and Abdicius
Mikael Agricola (Lutheran)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Episcopal Church)
William of Ockham (Anglicanism)
William Law (Anglicanism)
April 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan)
Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
Siblings Day (International observance)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 10
Days of the year
April |
2577 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrastea%20%28moon%29 | Adrastea (moon) | Adrastea (), also known as , is the second by distance, and the smallest of the four inner moons of Jupiter. It was discovered in photographs taken by Voyager 2 in 1979, making it the first natural satellite to be discovered from images taken by an interplanetary spacecraft, rather than through a telescope. It was officially named after the mythological Adrasteia, foster mother of the Greek god Zeus—the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter.
Adrastea is one of the few moons in the Solar System known to orbit its planet in less than the length of that planet's day. It orbits at the edge of Jupiter's main ring and is thought to be the main contributor of material to the rings of Jupiter. Despite observations made in the 1990s by the Galileo spacecraft, very little is known about the moon's physical characteristics other than its size and the fact that it is tidally locked to Jupiter.
Discovery and observations
Adrastea was discovered by David C. Jewitt and G. Edward Danielson in Voyager 2 probe photographs taken on July 8, 1979, and received the designation . Although it appeared only as a dot, it was the first moon to be discovered by an interplanetary spacecraft. Soon after its discovery, two other of the inner moons of Jupiter (Thebe and Metis) were observed in the images taken a few months earlier by Voyager 1. The Galileo spacecraft was able to determine the moon's shape in 1998, but the images remain poor. In 1983, Adrastea was officially named after the Greek nymph Adrastea, the daughter of Zeus and his lover Ananke.
Although the Juno orbiter, which arrived at Jupiter in 2016, has a camera called JunoCam, it is almost entirely focused on observations of Jupiter itself. However, if all goes well, it should be able to capture some limited images of the moons Metis and Adrastea.
Physical characteristics
Adrastea has an irregular shape and measures 20×16×14 km across. A surface area estimate would be between 840 and 1,600 (~1,200) km2. This makes it the smallest of the four inner moons. The bulk, composition and mass of Adrastea are not known, but assuming that its mean density is like that of Amalthea, around 0.86 g/cm3, its mass can be estimated at about 2 kg. Amalthea's density implies that the moon is composed of water ice with a porosity of 10–15%, and Adrastea may be similar.
No surface details of Adrastea are known, due to the low resolution of available images.
Orbit
Adrastea is the smallest and second-closest member of the inner Jovian satellite family. It orbits Jupiter at a radius of about (1.806 Jupiter radii) at the exterior edge of the planet's main ring. The orbit has very small eccentricity and inclination—around 0.0015 and 0.03°, respectively. Inclination is relative to the equator of Jupiter.
Due to tidal locking, Adrastea rotates synchronously with its orbital period, keeping one face always looking toward the planet. Its long axis is aligned towards Jupiter, this being the lowest energy configuration.
The orbit of Adrastea lies inside Jupiter's synchronous orbit radius (as does Metis's), and as a result, tidal forces are slowly causing its orbit to decay so that it will one day impact Jupiter. If its density is similar to Amalthea's then its orbit would actually lie within the fluid Roche limit. However, since it is not breaking up, it must still lie outside its rigid Roche limit.
Adrastea is the second-fastest-moving of Jupiter's moons, with an orbital speed of 31.378 km/s.
Relationship with Jupiter's rings
Adrastea is the largest contributor to material in Jupiter's rings. This appears to consist primarily of material that is ejected from the surfaces of Jupiter's four small inner satellites by meteorite impacts. It is easy for the impact ejecta to be lost from these satellites into space. This is due to the satellites' low density and their surfaces lying close to the edge of their Hill spheres.
It seems that Adrastea is the most copious source of this ring material, as evidenced by the densest ring (the main ring) being located at and within Adrastea's orbit. More precisely, the orbit of Adrastea lies near the outer edge of Jupiter's main ring. The exact extent of visible ring material depends on the phase angle of the images: in forward-scattered light Adrastea is firmly outside the main ring, but in back-scattered light (which reveals much bigger particles) there appears to also be a narrow ringlet outside Adrastea's orbit.
Notes
References
Cited sources
(discovery)
(naming the moon)
External links
Adrastea Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
Moons of Jupiter
19790708
Discoveries by David C. Jewitt
Discoveries by G. Edward Danielson
Moons with a prograde orbit |
2618 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeacus | Aeacus | Aeacus (; also spelled Eacus; Ancient Greek: Αἰακός) was a mythological king of the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. He was a son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, and the father of the heroes Peleus and Telamon. According to legend, he was famous for his justice, and after he died he became one of the three judges in Hades alongside Minos and Rhadamanthos. In another story, he assisted Poseidon and Apollo in building the walls of Troy.
He had sanctuaries in Athens and Aegina, and the Aeginetan festival of the Aeacea (Αἰάκεια) was celebrated in his honour.
Mythology
Birth and early days
Aeacus was born on the island of Oenone or Oenopia, where his mother Aegina had been carried by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents; afterward, this island became known as Aegina. He was the father of Peleus, Telamon and Phocus and was the grandfather of the Trojan war warriors Achilles and Telemonian Ajax. In some accounts, Aeacus had a daughter called Alcimache who bore Medon to Oileus of Locris. Aeacus' sons Peleus and Telamon were jealous of Phocus and killed him. When Aeacus learned about the murder, he exiled Peleus and Telamon. Some traditions related that, at the time when Aeacus was born, Aegina was not yet inhabited, and that Zeus either changed the ants (μύρμηκες) of the island into the men (Myrmidons) over whom Aeacus ruled, or he made the men grow up out of the earth. Ovid, on the other hand, supposed that the island was not uninhabited at the time of the birth of Aeacus, instead stating that during the reign of Aeacus, Hera, jealous of Aegina, ravaged the island bearing the name of the latter by sending a plague or a fearful dragon into it, by which nearly all its inhabitants were carried off. Afterward, Zeus restored the population by changing the ants into men.
These legends seem to be a mythical account of the colonization of Aegina, which seems to have been originally inhabited by Pelasgians, and afterwards received colonists from Phthiotis, the seat of the Myrmidons, and from Phlius on the Asopus. While he reigned in Aegina, Aeacus was renowned in all Greece for his justice and piety, and was frequently called upon to settle disputes not only among men, but even among the gods themselves. He was such a favourite with the latter, that when Greece was visited by a drought as a consequence of a murder that had been committed, the oracle of Delphi declared that the calamity would not cease unless Aeacus prayed to the gods to end it. Aeacus prayed, and as a result, the drought ceased. Aeacus then demonstrated his gratitude by erecting a temple to Zeus Panhellenius on Mount Panhellenion, and afterward, the Aeginetans built a sanctuary on their island called Aeaceum, which was a square temple enclosed by walls of white marble. Aeacus was believed in later times to be buried under the altar of this sacred enclosure.
Later adventures
A legend preserved in Pindar relates that Apollo and Poseidon took Aeacus as their assistant in building the walls of Troy. When the work was completed, three dragons rushed against the wall, and though the two that attacked the sections of the wall built by the gods fell down dead, the third forced its way into the city through the portion of the wall built by Aeacus. Thereafter, Apollo prophesied that Troy would fall at the hands of Aeacus's descendants, the Aeacidae (i.e. his sons Telamon and Peleus joined Heracles when he sieged the city during Laomedon's rule. Later, his great-grandson Neoptolemus was present in the wooden horse).
Aeacus was also believed by the Aeginetans to have surrounded their island with high cliffs in order to protect it against pirates. Several other incidents connected to the story of Aeacus are mentioned by Ovid. By Endeïs Aeacus had two sons, Telamon (father of Ajax and Teucer) and Peleus (father of Achilles), and by Psamathe a son, Phocus, whom he preferred to the former two sons, both of whom conspired to kill Phocus during a contest, and then subsequently fled from their native island.
In the afterlife
After his death, Aeacus became one of the three judges in Hades (along with his Cretan half-brothers Rhadamanthus and Minos) and, according to Plato, was specifically concerned with the shades of Europeans upon their arrival to the underworld. In works of art he was depicted bearing a sceptre and the keys of Hades. Aeacus had sanctuaries in both Athens and in Aegina, and the Aeginetans regarded him as the tutelary deity of their island and celebrated the Aeacea in his honor.
In The Frogs (405 BC) by Aristophanes, Dionysus descends to Hades and proclaims himself to be Heracles. Aeacus, lamenting the fact that Heracles had stolen Cerberus, sentences Dionysus to Acheron to be tormented by the hounds of Cocytus, the Echidna, the Tartesian eel, and Tithrasian Gorgons.
Family
Aeacus was the son of Zeus by Aegina, a daughter of the river-god Asopus, and thus, brother of Damocrateia. In some accounts, his mother was Europa and thus possible full-brother to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. He was the father of Peleus, Telamon and Phocus and was the grandfather of the Trojan war warriors Achilles and Telemonian Ajax. In some accounts, Aeacus had a daughter called Alcimache who bore Medon to Oileus of Locris. Aeacus' sons Peleus and Telamon were jealous of Phocus and killed him. When Aeacus learned about the murder, he exiled Peleus and Telamon. Aeacus' descendants are collectively known as Aeacidae (). Several times in the Iliad, Homer refers to Achilles as Αἰακίδης (Aiakides: II.860, 874; IX.184, 191, etc.). The kings of Epirus and Olympias, mother to Alexander the Great, claimed to be members of this lineage.
Family tree of Aeacidae
See also
Chinvat Bridge, the bridge of the dead in Persian cosmology
Sraosha, Mithra and Rashnu, guardians and judges of souls in Zoroastrian tradition
Notes
References
Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Further reading
External links
Kings of the Myrmidons
Kings in Greek mythology
Children of Zeus
Greek judges of the dead
Chthonic beings
Underworld gods
Metamorphoses characters
Aeginetan characters in Greek mythology |
2733 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2025 | April 25 |
Events
Pre-1600
404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over the South Caucasus is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, Pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1601–1900
1607 – Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – Transition from Ming to Qing: The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – "La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the British Empire.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Marks' Mills, a force of 8,000 Confederate soldiers attacks 1,800 Union soldiers and a large number of wagon teamsters, killing or wounding 1,500 Union combatants.
1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Congress declares that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain has existed since April 21, when an American naval blockade of the Spanish colony of Cuba began.
1901–present
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1933 – Nazi Germany issues the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities limiting the number of Jewish students able to attend public schools and universities.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – World War II: United States and Soviet reconnaissance troops meet in Torgau and Strehla along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two. This would be later known as Elbe Day.
1945 – World War II: Liberation Day (Italy): The National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy calls for a general uprising against the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic.
1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
1945 – World War II: The last German troops retreat from Finnish soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military actions of the Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The United States Navy submarine completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1980 – One hundred forty-six people are killed when Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes near Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2001 – President George W. Bush pledges U.S. military support in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
2004 – The March for Women's Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – A seven-car commuter train derails and crashes into an apartment building near Amagasaki Station in Japan, killing 107, including the driver.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession 2005 to join the European Union.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin's funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2014 – The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city's water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination.
2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
Births
Pre-1600
1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
1601–1900
1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children's stories (d. 1962)
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi's law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1901–present
1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
1905 – George Nēpia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
1906 – Joel Brand, member of the Budapest Aid and Rescue Committee (d. 1964)
1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Louis O'Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2021)
1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2021)
1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer (d. 2023)
1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player Creedence Clearwater Revival, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland (d. 2018)
1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2022)
1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
1947 – Cathy Smith, Canadian singer and drug dealer (d. 2020)
1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
1961 – Dinesh D'Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
1977 – Constantinos Christoforou, Cypriot singer-songwriter
1977 – Ilias Kotsios, Greek footballer
1977 – Marguerite Moreau, American actress and producer
1977 – Matthew West, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1978 – Matt Walker, English swimmer
1980 – Ben Johnston, Scottish drummer and songwriter
1980 – James Johnston, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1980 – Daniel MacPherson, Australian actor and television host
1980 – Bruce Martin, New Zealand cricketer
1980 – Kazuhito Tadano, Japanese baseball player
1980 – Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
1981 – Dwone Hicks, American football player
1981 – Felipe Massa, Brazilian racing driver
1981 – John McFall, English sprinter
1981 – Anja Pärson, Swedish skier
1982 – Brian Barton, American baseball player
1982 – Monty Panesar, English cricketer
1982 – Marco Russo, Italian footballer
1983 – Johnathan Thurston, Australian rugby league player
1983 – DeAngelo Williams, American football player
1984 – Robert Andino, American baseball player
1984 – Isaac Kiprono Songok, Kenyan runner
1985 – Giedo van der Garde, Dutch racing driver
1986 – Alexei Emelin, Russian ice hockey player
1986 – Thin Seng Hon, Cambodian Paralympic athlete
1986 – Gwen Jorgensen, American triathlete
1986 – Claudia Rath, German heptathlete
1987 – Razak Boukari, Togolese footballer
1987 – Jay Park, American-South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
1987 – Johann Smith, American soccer player
1988 – Sara Paxton, American actress
1988 – James Sheppard, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Canadian skier
1989 – Michael van Gerwen, Dutch darts player
1989 – Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama
1990 – Jean-Éric Vergne, French racing driver
1990 – Taylor Walker, Australian footballer
1991 – Jordan Poyer, American football player
1991 – Alex Shibutani, American ice dancer
1993 – Alex Bowman, American race car driver
1993 – Daniel Norris, American baseball player
1993 – Raphaël Varane, French footballer
1994 – Omar McLeod, Jamaican hurdler
1995 – Lewis Baker, English footballer
1996 – Mack Horton, Australian swimmer
1997 – Julius Ertlthaler, Austrian footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
501 – Rusticus, saint and archbishop of Lyon (b. 455)
775 – Smbat VII Bagratuni, Armenian prince
775 – Mushegh VI Mamikonian, Armenian prince
908 – Zhang Wenwei, Chinese chancellor
1074 – Herman I, Margrave of Baden
1077 – Géza I of Hungary (b. 1040)
1185 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
1217 – Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
1228 – Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem (b. 1212)
1243 – Boniface of Valperga, Bishop of Aosta
1264 – Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, medieval English nobleman; Earl of Winchester (b. 1195)
1295 – Sancho IV of Castile (b. 1258)
1342 – Pope Benedict XII (b. 1285)
1397 – Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, English nobleman
1472 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian author, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
1516 – John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
1566 – Louise Labé, French poet and author (b. 1520)
1566 – Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
1595 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and songwriter (b. 1544)
1601–1900
1605 – Naresuan, Siamese King of Ayutthaya Kingdom (b. c. 1555)
1644 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (b. 1611)
1660 – Henry Hammond, English cleric and theologian (b. 1605)
1690 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish painter and educator (b. 1610)
1744 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1701)
1770 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French minister, physicist, and academic (b. 1700)
1800 – William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
1840 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1781)
1873 – Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1783)
1875 – 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
1878 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
1890 – Crowfoot, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1830)
1891 – Nathaniel Woodard, English priest and educator (b. 1811)
1892 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (b. 1840)
1892 – Karl von Ditmar, Estonian-German geologist and explorer (b. 1822)
1901–present
1906 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and educator (b. 1839)
1911 – Emilio Salgari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1862)
1913 – Joseph-Alfred Archambeault, Canadian bishop (b. 1859)
1915 – Frederick W. Seward, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (b. 1830)
1919 – Augustus D. Juilliard, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1836)
1921 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist and women's rights advocate (b. 1828)
1923 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
1928 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (b. 1878)
1936 – Wajed Ali Khan Panni, Bengali aristocrat and philanthropist (b. 1871)
1941 – Salih Bozok, Turkish commander and politician (b. 1881)
1943 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian director, producer, and playwright (b. 1858)
1944 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (b. 1880)
1944 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player (b. 1859)
1944 – William Stephens, American engineer and politician, 24th Governor of California (b. 1859)
1945 – Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (b. 1903)
1961 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (b. 1875)
1970 – Anita Louise, American actress (b. 1915)
1972 – George Sanders, English actor (b. 1906)
1973 – Olga Grey, Hungarian-American actress (b. 1896)
1974 – Gustavo R. Vincenti, Maltese architect and developer (b. 1888)
1975 – Mike Brant, Israeli singer and songwriter (b.1947)
1976 – Carol Reed, English director and producer (b. 1906)
1976 – Markus Reiner, Israeli engineer and educator (b. 1886)
1982 – John Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
1983 – William S. Bowdern, American priest and author (b. 1897)
1988 – Carolyn Franklin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
1988 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (b. 1904)
1990 – Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist, composer, and actor (b. 1923)
1992 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
1995 – Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
1995 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
1995 – Lev Shankovsky, Ukrainian military historian (b. 1903)
1996 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (b. 1920)
1998 – Wright Morris, American author and photographer (b. 1910)
1999 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author (b. 1914)
1999 – Roger Troutman, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1951)
2000 – Lucien Le Cam, French mathematician and statistician (b. 1924)
2000 – David Merrick, American director and producer (b. 1911)
2001 – Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver (b. 1956)
2002 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (b. 1971)
2003 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan runner (b. 1966)
2004 – Thom Gunn, English-American poet and academic (b. 1929)
2005 – Jim Barker, American politician (b. 1935)
2005 – Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk and educator (b. 1908)
2006 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1916)
2006 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent member of parliament (b. 1948)
2007 – Alan Ball Jr., English footballer and manager (b. 1945)
2007 – Arthur Milton, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1928)
2007 – Bobby Pickett, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
2008 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English trumpet player, composer, and radio host (b. 1921)
2009 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
2010 – Dorothy Provine, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
2010 – Alan Sillitoe, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (b. 1928)
2011 – Poly Styrene, British musician (b. 1957)
2012 – Gerry Bahen, Australian footballer (b. 1929)
2012 – Denny Jones, American rancher and politician (b. 1910)
2012 – Moscelyne Larkin, American ballerina and educator (b. 1925)
2012 – Louis le Brocquy, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1916)
2013 – Brian Adam, Scottish biochemist and politician (b. 1948)
2013 – Jacob Avshalomov, American composer and conductor (b. 1919)
2013 – György Berencsi, Hungarian virologist and academic (b. 1941)
2013 – Rick Camp, American baseball player (b. 1953)
2014 – Dan Heap, Canadian priest and politician (b. 1925)
2014 – William Judson Holloway Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and judge (b. 1923)
2014 – Earl Morrall, American football player and coach (b. 1934)
2014 – Tito Vilanova, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1968)
2014 – Stefanie Zweig, German journalist and author (b. 1932)
2015 – Jim Fanning, American-Canadian baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
2015 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (b. 1948)
2015 – Don Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1922)
2015 – Mike Phillips, American basketball player (b. 1956)
2016 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1922)
2018 – Madeeha Gauhar, Pakistani actress, playwright and director of social theater, and women's rights activist (b. 1956)
2019 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (b. 1940)
2023 – Harry Belafonte, American singer, activist, and actor (b. 1927)
Holidays and observances
Anzac Day (Australia, New Zealand, Tonga)
Christian feast day:
Giovanni Battista Piamarta
Major Rogation (Western Christianity)
Mark the Evangelist
Maughold
Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur
Philo and Agathopodes
Anianus of Alexandria
April 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Freedom Day (Portugal)
Liberation Day (Italy)
Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
World Malaria Day
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 25
Days of the year
April |
2734 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2024 | April 24 |
Events
Pre-1600
1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Eratosthenes, among others.
1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1601–1900
1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
1793 – French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is acquitted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of charges brought by the Girondin in Paris.
1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
1837 – The great fire in Surat city of India caused more than 500 deaths and destruction of more than 9,000 houses.
1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
1895 – Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
1901–present
1913 – The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
1914 – The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian genocide.
1916 – Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken .
1918 – World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1924 – Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark (first term).
1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1933 – Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1944 – World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963 – Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily".
1970 – China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1994 – A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive.
1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.
2013 – A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
2013 – Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.
Births
Pre-1600
1086 – Ramiro II of Aragon (d. 1157)
1492 – Sabina of Bavaria, Bavarian duchess and noblewoman (d. 1564)
1532 – Thomas Lucy, English politician (d. 1600)
1533 – William I of Orange, founding father of the Netherlands (d. 1584)
1538 – Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (d. 1587)
1545 – Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English Earl (d. 1581)
1562 – Xu Guangqi, Ming Dynasty Chinese politician, scholar and lay Catholic leader (d. 1633)
1581 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (d. 1660)
1601–1900
1608 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)
1620 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (d. 1674)
1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1780)
1718 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-English painter and educator (d. 1784)
1743 – Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom (d. 1823)
1784 – Peter Vivian Daniel, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1860)
1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (d. 1882)
1823 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico (d. 1889)
1829 – Luisa Cappiani, Austrian soprano, educator and essayist (d. 1919)
1845 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
1856 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (d. 1951)
1860 – Queen Marau, last Queen of Tahiti (d.1935)
1862 – Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist (d. 1957)
1868 – Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer (d. 1944)
1876 – Erich Raeder, German admiral (d. 1960)
1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter (d. 1958)
1879 – Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer (d. 1984)
1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (d. 1954)
1880 – Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist (d. 1964)
1882 – Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal (d. 1970)
1885 – Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper (d. 1962)
1885 – Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer (d. 1961)
1887 – Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter (d. 1931)
1888 – Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator (d. 1973)
1889 – Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1952)
1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic (d. 1924)
1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico (d. 1955)
1897 – Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer (d. 1941)
1899 – Oscar Zariski, Russian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
1900 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator (d. 1984)
1901–present
1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (d. 1936)
1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (d. 1997)
1905 – Al Bates, American long jumper (d. 1999)
1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (d. 1989)
1906 – William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster (d. 1946)
1906 – Mimi Smith, English nurse (d. 1991)
1907 – Gabriel Figueroa, Mexican cinematographer (d. 1997)
1908 – Marceline Day, American actress (d. 2000)
1908 – Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner (d. 1991)
1908 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (d. 1963)
1912 – Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower (d. 1994)
1913 – Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
1914 – William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1914 – Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
1914 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (d. 2001)
1916 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2002)
1919 – David Blackwell, American mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
1919 – Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (d. 2013)
1920 – Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver (d. 2011)
1922 – Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1923 – Doris Burn, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
1924 – Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician (d. 2009)
1924 – Ruth Kobart, American actress and singer (d. 2002)
1925 – Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter (d. 1992)
1926 – Marilyn Erskine, American actress
1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2016)
1927 – Josy Barthel, Luxembourgian runner and politician, Luxembourgian Minister for Energy (d. 1992)
1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2020)
1928 – Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (d. 2008)
1928 – Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist (d. 2012)
1929 – Dr. Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer (d. 2006)
1930 – Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author (d. 2019)
1930 – Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2021)
1930 – José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 31st President of Brazil
1931 – Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1931 – Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator
1934 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (d. 2015)
1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
1936 – David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto
1936 – Jill Ireland, English actress (d. 1990)
1937 – Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2001)
1940 – Sue Grafton, American author (d. 2017)
1941 – Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2010)
1941 – John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer
1942 – Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer
1943 – Richard Sterban, American country and gospel bass singer
1943 – Gordon West, English footballer (d. 2012)
1944 – Peter Cresswell, English judge
1944 – Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect
1944 – Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer
1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter
1946 – Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (d. 2013)
1946 – Phil Robertson, American hunter and television personality
1947 – Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
1947 – João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal
1947 – Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician
1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2013)
1948 – Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author
1949 – Eddie Hart, American sprinter
1949 – Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Rob Hyman, American singer-songwriter and musician
1951 – Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic
1951 – Christian Bobin, French author and poet
1951 – Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter
1951 – Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland
1952 – Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
1952 – Ralph Winter, American film producer
1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
1954 – Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, activist, and convicted murderer
1954 – Jack Blades, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1955 – Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician
1955 – John de Mol Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol
1955 – Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland
1955 – Margaret Moran, British politician and criminal
1955 – Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver (d. 1992)
1955 – Michael O'Keefe, American actor
1955 – Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player
1956 – James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral
1957 – Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician
1958 – Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician
1959 – Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author (d. 2000)
1961 – Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
1962 – Clemens Binninger, German politician
1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager
1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1963 – Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2010)
1964 – Helga Arendt, German sprinter (d. 2013)
1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer
1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer
1964 – Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator
1965 – Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1966 – Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor
1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
1966 – David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
1967 – Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player
1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach
1968 – Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
1968 – Todd Jones, American baseball player
1968 – Roxanna Panufnik, English composer
1968 – Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo
1969 – Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
1969 – Rory McCann, Scottish actor
1969 – Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician
1970 – Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1971 – Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire
1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
1972 – Jure Košir, Slovenian skier and singer
1973 – Gabby Logan, English gymnast, television and radio host
1973 – Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer
1973 – Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter
1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
1973 – Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer
1973 – Lee Westwood, English golfer
1974 – Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator
1975 – Dejan Savić, Yugoslavian and Serbian water polo player
1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish international footballer
1976 – Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach
1977 – Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1977 – Diego Placente, Argentine footballer
1978 – Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer
1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
1980 – Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (d. 2008)
1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
1981 – Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, talk show host
1982 – David Oliver, American hurdler
1982 – Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
1983 – Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
1985 – Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
1987 – Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer
1987 – Varun Dhawan, Indian actor
1989 – Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
1989 – David Boudia, American diver
1989 – Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player
1990 – Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress
1990 – Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
1991 – Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
1991 – Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater
1991 – Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
1992 – Joe Keery, American actor
1992 – Laura Kenny, English cyclist
1992 – Jack Quaid, American actor
1993 – Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer
1994 – Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor
1994 – Caspar Lee, British-South African Youtuber
1996 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
1997 – Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
1998 – Ryan Newman, American actress
1999 – Jerry Jeudy, American football player
2002 – Olivia Gadecki, Australian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
624 – Mellitus, saint and archbishop of Canterbury
1149 – Petronille de Chemillé, abbess of Fontevrault
1288 – Gertrude of Austria (b. 1226)
1338 – Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat (b. 1291)
1479 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)
1513 – Şehzade Ahmet, Ottoman prince (b. 1465)
1601–1900
1617 – Concino Concini, Italian-French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1575)
1622 – Fidelis of Sigmaringen, German friar and saint (b. 1577)
1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
1692 – Johannes Zollikofer, Swiss vicar (b. 1633)
1731 – Daniel Defoe, English journalist, novelist, and spy (b. 1660)
1748 – Anton thor Helle, German-Estonian clergyman and translator (b. 1683)
1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1719)
1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1783)
1889 – Zulma Carraud, French author (b. 1796)
1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (b. 1800)
1901–present
1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (b. 1844)
1931 – David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright (b. 1862)
1935 – Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general (b. 1857)
1938 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
1941 – Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet (b. 1900)
1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
1944 – Charles Jordan, American magician (b. 1888)
1945 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (b. 1899)
1947 – Hans Biebow, German SS officer (b. 1902)
1947 – Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1873)
1948 – Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (b. 1863)
1954 – Guy Mairesse, French racing driver (b. 1910)
1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
1961 – Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1888)
1962 – Milt Franklyn, American composer (b. 1897)
1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist (b. 1895)
1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
1966 – Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author (b. 1902)
1967 – Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and cosmonaut (b. 1927)
1967 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (b. 1885)
1968 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
1970 – Otis Spann, American singer and pianist (b. 1930)
1972 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
1974 – Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer (b. 1895)
1976 – Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator (b. 1890)
1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (b. 1904)
1982 – Ville Ritola, Finnish runner (b. 1896)
1983 – Erol Güngör, Turkish sociologist, psychologist, and academic (b. 1938)
1983 – Rolf Stommelen, German racing driver (b. 1943)
1984 – Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Spanish author (b. 1891)
1986 – Wallis Simpson, American socialite, Duchess of Windsor (b. 1896)
1993 – Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and activist (b. 1917)
1993 – Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher and theorist (b. 1917)
1995 – Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter (b. 1903)
1997 – Allan Francovich, American director and producer (b. 1941)
1997 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist (b. 1927)
1997 – Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle (b. 1922)
2001 – Josef Peters, German racing driver (b. 1914)
2001 – Johnny Valentine, American wrestler (b. 1928)
2002 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgian sculptor (b. 1908)
2003 – Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (b. 1910)
2004 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer (b. 1923)
2004 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (b. 1906)
2005 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (b. 1924)
2005 – Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
2006 – Brian Labone, English footballer (b. 1940)
2006 – Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author (b. 1914)
2008 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (b. 1921)
2011 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (b. 1926)
2014 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House (b. 1934)
2014 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1948)
2014 – Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1968)
2014 – Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1921)
2015 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1922)
2016 – Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach (b. 1930)
2017 – Robert Pirsig, American author and philosopher (b. 1928)
2022 – Andrew Woolfolk, American saxophonist (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia, France)
Christian feast day:
Benedict Menni
Dermot of Armagh
Dyfnan of Anglesey
Ecgberht of Ripon
Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Gregory of Elvira
Ivo of Ramsey
Johann Walter (Lutheran)
Mary of Clopas
Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
Mellitus
Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur
Salome (disciple)
Wilfrid (Church of England)
William Firmatus
April 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Concord Day (Niger)
Democracy Day (Nepal)
Fashion Revolution Day, and its related observances:
Labour Safety Day (Bangladesh, proposed)
National Panchayati Raj Day (India)
Republic Day (The Gambia)
World Day for Laboratory Animals
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 24
Days of the year
April |
2735 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%207 | April 7 |
Events
Pre-1600
451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
529 – First Corpus Juris Civilis, a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
1141 – Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England, adopting the title "Lady of the English".
1348 – Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV charters Prague University.
1449 – Felix V abdicates his claim to the papacy, ending the reign of the final Antipope.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1601–1900
1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67).
1788 – Settlers establish Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement created by U.S. citizens in the recently organized Northwest Territory.
1795 – The French First Republic adopts the kilogram and gram as its primary unit of mass.
1790 – Greek War of Independence: Greek revolutionary Lambros Katsonis loses three of his ships in the Battle of Andros.
1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
1831 – Pedro II becomes Emperor of Empire of Brazil.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union's Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
1901–present
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1922 – Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
1926 – Violet Gibson attempts to assassinate Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.
1927 – AT&T engineer Herbert Ives transmits the first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
1933 – Nazi Germany issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service banning Jews and political dissidents from civil service posts.
1939 – Benito Mussolini declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile.
1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
1943 – The National Football League makes helmets mandatory.
1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
1946 – The Soviet Union annexes East Prussia as the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
1956 – Francoist Spain agrees to surrender its protectorate in Morocco.
1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
1965 – Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate in Washington, D.C. against the termination of the Colville tribe.
1968 – Two-time Formula One British World Champion Jim Clark dies in an accident during a Formula Two race in Hockenheim.
1969 – The Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
1971 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.
1972 – Vietnam War: Communist forces overrun the South Vietnamese town of Loc Ninh.
1976 – Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party after being arrested for faking his own death.
1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
1982 – Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh is arrested.
1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
1988 – Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov orders the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway, killing 42 sailors.
1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
1990 – John Poindexter is convicted for his role in the Iran–Contra affair. In 1991 the convictions are reversed on appeal.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda, and soldiers kill the civilian Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
1999 – Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 crashes near Ceyhan in southern Turkey, killing six people.
2001 – NASA launches the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter.
2003 – Iraq War: U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime falls two days later.
2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.
2011 – The Israel Defense Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to successfully intercept a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza, marking the first short-range missile intercept ever.
2017 – A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people in Stockholm, Sweden, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.
2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump orders the 2017 Shayrat missile strike against Syria in retaliation for the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.
2018 – Former Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is arrested for corruption by determination of Judge Sérgio Moro, from the “Car-Wash Operation”. Lula stayed imprisoned for 580 days, after being released by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
2018 – Syria launches the Douma chemical attack during the Eastern Ghouta offensive of the Syrian Civil War.
2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan.
2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal of Brett Crozier.
2021 – COVID-19 pandemic: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States.
2022 – Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed for the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first black female justice.
Births
Pre-1600
1206 – Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1253)
1330 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English nobleman (d. 1352)
1470 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)
1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
1601–1900
1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730)
1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist, entomologist, and mycologist (d. 1806)
1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
1803 – James Curtiss, American journalist and politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1803 – Flora Tristan, French author and activist (d. 1844)
1811 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1881)
1817 – Francesco Selmi, Italian chemist and patriot (d. 1881)
1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist and academic (d. 1953)
1870 – Gustav Landauer, German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
1882 – Bert Ironmonger, Australian cricketer (d. 1971)
1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
1883 – Gino Severini, Italian-French painter and author (d. 1966)
1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971)
1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
1890 – Victoria Ocampo. Argentine writer (d. 1979)
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
1892 – Julius Hirsch, German footballer (d. 1945)
1893 – José Sobral de Almada Negreiros, Portuguese artist (d. 1970)
1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
1895 – John Bernard Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942)
1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918)
1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (d. 1972)
1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1900 – Adolf Dymsza, Polish actor (d. 1975)
1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
1901–present
1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
1903 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician (d. 1996)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
1908 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
1909 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (d. 1978)
1910 – Melissanthi, Greek poet, teacher and journalist (d. 1990)
1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007)
1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1914 – Domnitsa Lanitou-Kavounidou, Greek sprinter (d. 2011)
1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
1921 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian trade union leader and politician (d. 2011)
1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1928 – James White, Northern Irish author and educator (d. 1999)
1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer (d. 2021)
1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1930 – Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
1931 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1989)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author (d. 2023)
1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (d. 2015)
1933 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (d. 2004)
1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish-English actor (d. 2007)
1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
1937 – Charlie Thomas, American singer (d. 2023)
1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (d. 1992)
1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian academic and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (d. 2018)
1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (d. 2017)
1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor, TV and film producer
1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer and manager
1944 – Shel Bachrach, American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
1944 – Warner Fusselle, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
1944 – Oshik Levi, Israeli singer and actor
1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
1945 – Gerry Cottle, English circus owner (d. 2021)
1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher and academic
1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist and author
1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author (d. 2018)
1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005)
1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian poet, playwright, and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
1946 – Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian politician and diplomate
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (d. 2008)
1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer
1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (d. 2020)
1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
1948 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer
1948 – Arnie Robinson, American athlete (d. 2020)
1948 – Ecaterina Andronescu, Romanian politician
1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
1950 – Neil Folberg, American-Israeli photographer
1951 – Bruce Gary, American drummer (d. 2006)
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete
1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
1952 – Dennis Hayden, American actor
1953 – Santa Barraza, American mixed media artist
1953 – Douglas Kell, English biochemist and academic
1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish businesswoman and politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer and author
1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
1957 – Thelma Walker, British politician
1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer and actor
1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
1962 – Jon Cruddas, English lawyer and politician
1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish businessman
1963 – Nick Herbert, English businessman and politician, Minister for Policing
1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator
1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian, actor, and producer
1965 – Rozalie Hirs, Dutch composer and poet
1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor and politician
1966 – Zvika Hadar, Israeli entertainer
1966 – Béla Mavrák, Hungarian tenor singer
1966 – Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
1967 – Artemis Gounaki, Greek-German singer-songwriter
1967 – Bodo Illgner, German footballer
1967 – Simone Schilder, Dutch tennis player
1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer and sportscaster
1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Jože Možina, Slovenian historian, sociologist and journalist
1968 – Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
1969 – Ricky Watters, American football player
1970 – Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist and educator
1970 – Alexander Karpovtsev, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2011)
1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
1971 – Victor Kraatz, German-Canadian figure skater
1972 – Tim Peake, British astronaut
1973 – Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence
1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
1973 – Christian O'Connell, British radio DJ and presenter
1973 – Brett Tomko, American baseball player
1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – Ronde Barber, American football player and sportscaster
1975 – Tiki Barber, American football player and journalist
1975 – Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
1975 – John Cooper, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1975 – Simon Woolford, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Kevin Alejandro, American actor and producer
1976 – Martin Buß, German high jumper
1976 – Jessica Lee, English lawyer and politician
1976 – Aaron Lohr, American actor
1976 – Barbara Jane Reams, American actress
1976 – Gang Qiang, Chinese anchor
1977 – Tama Canning, Australian-New Zealand cricketer
1977 – Karin Haydu, Slovak actress
1978 – Jo Appleby, English soprano
1978 – Duncan James, English singer-songwriter and actor
1978 – Lilia Osterloh, American tennis player
1979 – Adrián Beltré, Dominican-American baseball player
1979 – Patrick Crayton, American football player
1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1980 – Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
1980 – Bruno Covas, Brazilian lawyer, politician (d. 2021)
1980 – Tetsuji Tamayama, Japanese actor
1981 – Hitoe Arakaki, Japanese singer
1981 – Kazuki Watanabe, Japanese songwriter and guitarist (d. 2000)
1981 – Vanessa Olivarez, American singer-songwriter, and actress
1981 – Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 – Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
1982 – Sonjay Dutt, American wrestler
1982 – Kelli Young, English singer
1983 – Hamish Davidson, Australian musician
1983 – Franck Ribéry, French footballer
1983 – Jon Stead, English footballer
1983 – Jakub Smrž, Czech motorcycle rider
1983 – Janar Talts, Estonian basketball player
1984 – Hiroko Shimabukuro, Japanese singer
1985 – KC Concepcion, Filipino actress and singer
1985 – Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician
1986 – Brooke Brodack, American comedian
1986 – Jack Duarte, Mexican actor, singer, and guitarist
1986 – Andi Fraggs, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer
1987 – Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
1987 – Jamar Smith, American football player
1988 – Antonio Piccolo, Italian footballer
1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentinian footballer
1989 – Mitchell Pearce, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Teddy Riner, French judoka
1990 – Nickel Ashmeade, Jamaican sprinter
1990 – Anna Bogomazova, Russian-American kick-boxer, martial artist, and wrestler
1990 – Sorana Cîrstea, Romanian tennis player
1990 – Trent Cotchin, Australian footballer
1991 – Luka Milivojević, Serbian footballer
1991 – Anne-Marie, English singer-songwriter
1992 – Andreea Acatrinei, Romanian gymnast
1992 – Guilherme Negueba, Brazilian footballer
1993 – Ichinojō Takashi, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1994 – Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
1994 – Aaron Gray, Australian rugby league player
1994 – Josh Hader, American baseball player
1996 – Emerson Hyndman, American international soccer player
1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
Deaths
Pre-1600
AD 30 – Jesus Christ (possible date of the crucifixion) (b. circa 4 BC)
821 – George the Standard-Bearer, archbishop of Mytilene (b. c. 776)
924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
1201 – Baha al-Din Qaraqush, regent of Egypt and builder of the Cairo Citadel
1206 – Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
1340 – Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia (b. 1308)
1498 – Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
1499 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (b. 1442)
1501 – Minkhaung II, king of Ava (b. 1446)
1601–1900
1606 – Edward Oldcorne, English martyr (b. 1561)
1614 – El Greco, Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyō (b. 1576)
1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603)
1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic and philosopher (b. 1595)
1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604)
1663 – Francis Cooke, English-American settler (b. 1583)
1668 – William Davenant, English poet and playwright (b. 1606)
1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1676)
1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
1766 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
1767 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and director (b. 1715)
1779 – Martha Ray, English singer (b.1746)
1782 – Taksin, Thai king (b. 1734)
1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
1789 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (b. 1722)
1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (b. 1724)
1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743)
1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
1823 – Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
1833 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Lithuanian composer and politician (b. 1775)
1836 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (b. 1756)
1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (b. 1777)
1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
1858 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian composer and publisher (b. 1781)
1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist, activist, and politician (b. 1825)
1879 – Begum Hazrat Mahal, Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (b. 1820)
1884 – Maria Doolaeghe, Flemish novelist (b. 1803)
1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (b. 1804)
1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier and politician (b. 1823)
1889 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician and president, 1872-1876 (b. 1823)
1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
1901–present
1917 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer and playwright (b. 1861)
1918 – David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
1918 – George E. Ohr, American potter (b. 1857)
1920 – Karl Binding, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1841)
1922 – James McGowen, Australian politician, 18th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1855)
1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1873)
1932 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
1938 – Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
1943 – Jovan Dučić, Serbian-American poet and diplomat (b. 1871)
1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (b. 1859)
1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)
1949 – John Gourlay, Canadian soccer player (b. 1872)
1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (b. 1883)
1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
1956 – Fred Appleby, English runner (b. 1879)
1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874)
1965 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
1966 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (b. 1919)
1968 – Edwin Baker, Canadian co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) (b. 1893)
1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (b. 1929)
1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
1981 – Kit Lambert, English record producer and manager (b. 1935)
1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (b. 1948)
1984 – Frank Church, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1924)
1985 – Carl Schmitt, German philosopher and jurist (b. 1888)
1986 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist (b. 1912)
1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
1991 – Memduh Ünlütürk, Turkish general (b. 1913)
1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1903)
1992 – Antonis Tritsis, Greek high jumper and politician, 71st Mayor of Athens (b. 1937)
1994 – Lee Brilleaux, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
1994 – Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer, manager, and politician (b. 1923)
1994 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (b. 1909)
1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwandan chemist, academic, and politician, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
1995 – Philip Jebb, English architect and politician (b. 1927)
1997 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1923)
1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935)
1998 – Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
1999 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1911)
2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
2002 – John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French pianist and author (b. 1903)
2003 – David Greene, English-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2004 – Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
2004 – Konstantinos Kallias, Greek politician (b. 1901)
2005 – Cliff Allison, English race car driver (b. 1932)
2005 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
2005 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
2005 – Melih Kibar, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1951)
2007 – Johnny Hart, American author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
2008 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese journalist and author (b. 1915)
2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
2011 – Pierre Gauvreau, Canadian painter (b. 1922)
2012 – Steven Kanumba, Tanzanian actor and director (b. 1984)
2012 – Satsue Mito, Japanese zoologist and academic (b. 1914)
2012 – Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian cardinal (b. 1930)
2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917)
2012 – Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Mike Wallace, American television news journalist (b. 1918)
2013 – Marty Blake, American businessman (b. 1927)
2013 – Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
2013 – Andy Johns, English-American record producer (b. 1950)
2013 – Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (b. 1931)
2013 – Irma Ravinale, Italian composer and educator (b. 1937)
2013 – Mickey Rose, American screenwriter (b. 1935)
2013 – Carl Williams, American boxer (b. 1959)
2014 – George Dureau, American painter and photographer (b. 1930)
2014 – James Alexander Green, American-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
2014 – V. K. Murthy, Indian cinematographer (b. 1923)
2014 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
2014 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
2014 – George Shuffler, American guitarist (b. 1925)
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2014 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1942)
2015 – Tim Babcock, American soldier and politician, 16th Governor of Montana (b. 1919)
2015 – José Capellán, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1981)
2015 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (b. 1926)
2015 – Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (b. 1983)
2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
2016 – Blackjack Mulligan, American professional wrestler (b. 1942)
2017 – Nicolae Șerban Tanașoca, Romanian historian and philologist (b. 1941)
2019 – Seymour Cassel, American actor (b. 1935)
2020 – John Prine, American country folk singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
2020 – Herb Stempel, American television personality (b. 1926)
2021 – Tommy Raudonikis, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1950)
2023 – Ben Ferencz, American lawyer (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast days:
Aibert of Crespin
Blessed Alexander Rawlins
Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
Blessed Notker the Stammerer
Brynach
Hegesippus
Henry Walpole
Hermann Joseph
Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Slovenia)
Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
National Beer Day (United States)
Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
Women's Day (Mozambique)
Veterans' Day (Belgium)
World Health Day (International observance)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 7
Days of the year
April |
2905 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis | Artemis | In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. In later times, in some places, she was identified with Selene, the personification of the Moon. She often roamed the forests of Greece, attended by her large entourage, mostly made up of nymphs, some mortals, and hunters. The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.
In Greek tradition, Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. In most accounts, the twins are the products of an extramarital liaison. For this, Zeus' wife Hera forbade Leto from giving birth anywhere on land. Only the island of Delos gave refuge to Leto, allowing her to give birth to her children. Usually, Artemis is the twin to be born first, who then proceeds to assist Leto in the birth of the second child, Apollo. Like her brother, she was a kourotrophic (child-nurturing) deity, that is the patron and protector of young children, especially young girls, and women, and was believed to both bring disease upon women and children and relieve them of it. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. Much like Athena and Hestia, Artemis preferred to remain a maiden goddess and was sworn never to marry, so was one of the three Greek virgin goddesses, over whom the goddess of love and lust, Aphrodite, had no power whatsoever.
In myth and literature, Artemis is presented as a hunting goddess of the woods, surrounded by her followers, who are not to be crossed. In the myth of Actaeon, when the young hunter sees her bathing naked, he is transformed into a deer by the angered goddess and is then devoured by his own hunting dogs, who do not recognize their master. In the story of Callisto, the girl is driven away from Artemis' company after breaking her vow of virginity, having lain with and been impregnated by Zeus. In the Epic tradition, Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, stranding the Greek fleet in Aulis, after King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's young daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice, Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving another deer in her place. In the war that followed, Artemis, along with her twin brother and mother, supported the Trojans against the Greeks, and challenged Hera into battle.
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities; her worship spread throughout ancient Greece, with her multiple temples, altars, shrines, and local veneration found everywhere in the ancient world. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, before it was burnt to the ground. Artemis' symbols included a bow and arrow, a quiver, and hunting knives, and the deer and the cypress were sacred to her. Diana, her Roman equivalent, was especially worshipped on the Aventine Hill in Rome, near Lake Nemi in the Alban Hills, and in Campania.
Etymology
The name "Artemis" (n., f.) is of unknown or uncertain etymology, although various sources have been proposed. R. S. P. Beekes suggested that the e/i interchange points to a Pre-Greek origin. Artemis was venerated in Lydia as Artimus. Georgios Babiniotis, while accepting that the etymology is unknown, also states that the name is already attested in Mycenean Greek and is possibly of pre-Greek origin.
The name may be related to Greek árktos "bear" (from PIE *h₂ŕ̥tḱos), supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica (Brauronia) and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave, as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis (Arcadian epithet kallisto); this cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger bear cult found further afield in other Indo-European cultures (e.g., Gaulish Artio). It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis. While connection with Anatolian names has been suggested, the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek , a-te-mi-to /Artemitos/ (gen.) and , a-ti-mi-te /Artimitei/ (dat.), written in Linear B at Pylos.
According to J. T. Jablonski, the name is also Phrygian and could be "compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon. Charles Anthon argued that the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from *arta, *art, *arte, all meaning "great, excellent, holy", thus Artemis "becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshipped at Ephesus". Anton Goebel "suggests the root στρατ or ῥατ, "to shake", and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter".
Ancient Greek writers, by way of folk etymology, and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis (Doric Artamis) to , artamos, i.e. "butcher" or, like Plato did in Cratylus, to , artemḗs, i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden". A. J. Van Windekens tried to explain both and Artemis from , atremḗs, meaning "unmoved, calm; stable, firm" via metathesis.
Description
Artemis was the most popular goddess in Ancient Greece. The most frequent name of a month in the Greek calendars was Artemision in Ionia, Artemisios or Artamitios in the Doric and Aeolic territories and in Macedonia. Also Elaphios in Elis, Elaphebolion in Athens, Iasos, Apollonia of Chalkidice and Munichion in Attica. In the calendars of Aetolia, Phocis and Gytheion there was the month Laphrios and in Thebes, Corcyra, and Byzantion the month Eucleios. The goddess was venerated in festivals during spring.
Artemis is presented as a goddess who delights in hunting and punishes harshly those who cross her. Artemis' wrath is proverbial, and represents the hostility of wild nature to humans. Homer calls her , "the mistress of animals", a title associated with representations in art going back as far as the Bronze Age, showing a woman between a pair of animals. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths.
In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear (arktos: bear). Kallisto in Arcadia is a hypostasis of Artemis with the shape of a bear, and her cults at Brauron and at Piraeus (Munichia) are remarkable for the arkteia where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears.
The ancient Greeks called potnia theron the representation of the goddess between animals; on a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. "Potnia theron" is very close to the daimons and this differentiates her from the other Greek divinities. This is the reason that Artemis was later identified with Hecate, since the daimons were tutelary deities. Hecate was the goddess of crossroads and she was the queen of the witches.
Laphria is the Pre-Greek "mistress of the animals" at Delphi and Patras. There was a custom to throw animals alive into the annual fire of the fest. The festival at Patras was introduced from Calydon and this relates Artemis to the Greek heroine Atalanta who symbolizes freedom and independence. Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are Amarynthia and Kolainis.
In the Homeric poems Artemis is mainly the goddess of hunting, because it was the most important sport in Mycenean Greece. An almost formulaic epithet used in the Iliad and Odyssey to describe her is iocheaira, "she who shoots arrows", often translated as "she who delights in arrows" or "she who showers arrows". She is called Artemis Chrysilakatos, of the golden shafts, or Chrysinios, of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. The Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis paints this picture of the goddess:
According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia Artemis is the first nymph, a goddess of free nature. She is an independent free woman, and she doesn't need any partner. She is hunting surrounded by her nymphs. This idea of freedom and women's skill is expressed in many Greek myths.
In Peloponnese the temples of Artemis were built near springs, rivers and marshes. Artemis was closely related to the waters and especially to Poseidon, the god of the waters. Her common epithets are Limnnaia, Limnatis (relation to waters) and Potamia and Alphaea (relation to rivers). In some cults she is the healer goddess of women with the surnames Lousia and Thermia.
Artemis is the leader of the nymphs (Hegemone) and she is hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs appear during the festival of the marriage, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname Eucleia in several cities. Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets Lochia and Lecho.
The Dorians interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with the common epithets Orthia, Korythalia and Dereatis. The female dancers wore masks and were famous in antiquity. The goddess of vegetation was also related to the tree-cult with temples near the holy trees and the surnames Apanchomene, Caryatis and Cedreatis.
According to Greek beliefs the image of a god or a goddess gave signs or tokens and had divine and magic powers. With these conceptions she was worshipped as Tauria (the Tauric, goddess), Aricina (Italy) and Anaitis (Lydia). In the bucolic (pastoral) songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames Lygodesma and Phakelitis.
In the European folklore, a wild hunter is chasing an elfish woman who falls in the water. In the Greek myths the hunter is chasing a female deer (doe) and both disappear into the waters. In relation to these myths Artemis was worshipped as Saronia and Stymphalia . The myth of a goddess who is chased and then falls in the sea is related to the cults of Aphaea and Diktynna.
Artemis carrying torches was identified with Hecate and she had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros . In Athens and Tegea, she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste, "the most beautiful". Sometimes the goddess had the name of an Amazon like Lyceia (with a helmet of a wolf-skin) and Molpadia. The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence.
In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis' beauty and erotic aspect; in the Odyssey, Odysseus compares Nausicaa to Artemis in terms of appearance when trying to win her favor, Libanius, when praising the city of Antioch, wrote that Ptolemy was smitten by the beauty of (the statue of) Artemis; whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty. She has several stories surrounding her where men such as Actaeon, Orion, and Alpheus tried to couple with her forcibly, only to be thwarted or killed. Ancient poets note Artemis' height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all the nymphs accompanying her.
Epithets and functions
Artemis is rooted to the less developed personality of the Mycenean goddess of nature. The goddess of nature was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain chthonic aspects. The Mycenean goddess was related to the Minoan mistress of the animals, who can be traced later in local cults, however we don't know to what extent we can differentiate the Minoan from the Mycenean religion. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths. According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia, Artemis is the first nymph, a divinity of free nature. She was a great goddess and her temples were built near springs marshes and rivers where the nymphs live, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. In Greek religion we must see less tractable elements which have nothing to do with the Olympians, but come from an old, less organized world–exorcisms, rituals to raise crops, gods and goddesses conceived not quite in human shape. Some cults of Artemis retained the pre-Greek features which were consecrated by immemorial practices and connected with daily tasks. Artemis shows sometimes the wild and darker side of her character and can bring immediate death with her arrows, however she embodies the idea of "the free nature" which was introduced by the first Greeks. The Dorians came later in the area, probably from Epirus and the goddess of nature was mostly interpreted as a vegetation goddess who was related to the ecstatic Minoan tree-cult. She was worshipped in orgiastic cults with lascivious and sometimes obscene dances, which have pure Greek elements introduced by the Dorians. The feminine (sometimes male) dancers wore usually masks, and they were famous in the antiquity. The great popularity of Artemis corresponds to the Greek belief in freedom and she is mainly the goddess of women in a patriarchal society. The goddess of free nature is an independent woman and doesn't need a partner. Artemis is frequently depicted carrying a torch and she was occasionally identified with Hecate. Like other Greek deities, she had a number of other names applied to her, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the goddess.
Aeginaea, probably huntress of chamois or the wielder of the javelin, at Sparta However the word may mean "from the island Aegina", that relates Artemis with Aphaia (Britomartis).
Aetole, of Aetolia at Nafpaktos. A marble statue represented the goddess in the attitude of one hurling a javelin.
Agoraea, guardian of popular assemblies in Athens. She was considered to be the protector of the assemblies of the people in the agora. At Olympia the cult of "Artemis Agoraea" was related to the cult of Despoinai. (The double named goddesses Demeter and Persephone).
Agrotera, the huntress of wild wood, in the Iliad and many cults. It was believed that she first hunted at Agrae of Athens after her arrival from Delos. There was a custom of making a "slaughter sacrifice", to the goddess before a battle. The deer always accompanies the goddess of hunting. Her epithet Agraea is similar with Agrotera.
Alphaea, in the district of Elis. The goddess had an annual festival at Olympia and a temple at Letrinoi near the river Alpheus. At the festival of Letrinoi, the girls were dancing wearing masks. In the legend, Alphaea and her nymphs covered their faces with mud and the river god Alpheus, who was in love with her, could not distinguish her from the others. This explains, somehow, the clay masks at Sparta.
Amarynthia, or Amarysia, with a famous temple at Amarynthus near Eretria. The goddess was related to the animals, however she was also a healer goddess of women. She is identified with Kolainis.
Amphipyros, with fire at each end, a rare epithet of Artemis as bearing a torch in either hand. Sophocles calls her, "Elaphebolos, (deer slayer) Amphipyros", reminding the annual fire of the festival Laphria The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi (Phaedriades).
Anaitis, in Lydia. The fame of Tauria (the Tauric goddess) was very high, and the Lydians claimed that the image of the goddess was among them. It was considered that the image had divine powers. The Athenians believed that the image became booty to the Persians and was carried from Brauron to Susa.
Angelos, messenger, envoy, title of Artemis at Syracuse in Sicily.
Apanchomene, the strangled goddess, at Caphyae in Arcadia. She was a vegetation goddess related to the ecstatic tree cult. The Minoan tree goddesses Helene, Dentritis, and Ariadne were also hanged. This epithet is related to the old traditions where icons and puppets of a vegetation goddess would be hung on a tree. It was believed that the plane tree near the spring at Caphyae, was planted by Menelaus, the husband of Helen of Troy. The tree was called "Menelais". The previous name of the goddess was most likely Kondyleatis.
Aphaea, or Apha, unseen or disappeared, a goddess at Aegina and a rare epithet of Artemis. Aphaea is identified with Britomartis. In the legend Britomartis (the sweet young woman) escaped from Minos, who fell in love with her. She travelled to Aegina on a wooden boat and then she disappeared. The myth indicates an identity in nature with Diktynna.
Aricina, derived from the town Aricia in Latium, or from Aricia, the wife of the Roman forest god Virbius (Hippolytus). The goddess was related with Artemis Tauria (the Tauric Artemis). Her statue was considered the same with the statue that Orestes brought from Tauris. Near the sanctuary of the goddess there was a combat between slaves who had run away from their masters and the prize was the priesthood of Artemis.
Ariste, the best, a goddess of the women. Pausanias describes xoana of "Ariste" and "Kalliste" in the way to the academy of Athens and he believes that the names are surnames of the goddess Artemis, who is depicted carrying a torch. Kalliste is not related to Kalliste of Arcadia.
Aristobule, the best advisor, at Athens. The politician and general Themistocles built a temple of Artemis Aristobule near his house in the deme of Melite, in which he dedicated his own statue.
Astrateias, she that stops an invasion, at Pyrrichos in Laconia. A wooden image (xoanon), was dedicated to the goddess, because she stopped the invasion of the Amazons in this area. Another xoanon represented "Apollo Amazonios".
Basileie, at Thrace and Paeonia. The women offered wheat stalks to the goddess. In this cult, which reached Athens, Artemis is relative to the Thracian goddess Bendis.
Brauronia, worshipped at Brauron in Attica. Her cult is remarkable for the "arkteia", young girls who dressed with short saffron-yellow chitons and imitated bears (she-bears: arktoi). In the Acropolis of Athens, the Athenian girls before puberty should serve the goddess as "arktoi". Artemis was the goddess of marriage and childbirth. The name of the small "bears" indicate the theriomorphic form of Artemis in an old pre-Greek cult. In the cult of Baubronia, the myth of the sacrifice of Iphigenia was represented in the ritual.
Boulaia, of the council, in Athens.
Boulephoros, counselling, advising, at Miletus, probably a Greek form of the mother-goddess.
Caryatis, the lady of the nut-tree, at Caryae on the borders between Laconia and Arcadia. Artemis was strongly related to the nymphs, and young girls were dancing the dance Caryatis. The dancers of Caryai were famous in antiquity. In a legend, Carya, the female lover of Dionysos was transformed into a nut tree and the dancers into nuts. The city is considered to be the place of the origin of the bucolic (pastoral) songs.
Cedreatis, near Orchomenus in Arcadia. A xoanon was mounted on the holy cedar (kedros).
Chesias, from the name of a river at Samos.
Chitonia, wearing a loose tunic, at Syracuse in Sicily, as goddess of hunting. The festival was distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute.
Chrisilakatos, of the golden arrow, in Homer's Iliad as a powerful goddess of hunting. In the Odyssey, she descends from a peak and travels along the ridges of Mount Erymanthos, that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals". In a legend, when the old goddess became wrathful, she would send the terrible Erymanthian boar to lay waste to fields. Artemis can bring an immediate death with her arrows. In the Iliad, Hera stresses the wild and darker side of her character and she accuses her of being "a lioness between women".
Chrisinios, of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. In the Iliad, in her wrath, she kills the daughter of Bellerophon.
Coryphaea, of the peak, at Epidaurus in Argolis.
On the top of the mountain Coryphum there was a sanctuary of the goddess. The famous lyric poet Telesilla mentions "Artemis Coryphaea" in an ode.
Cnagia, near Sparta in Laconia. In a legend the native Cnageus was sold as a slave in Crete. He escaped to his country taking with him the virgin priestess of the goddess Artemis. The priestess carried with her from Crete the statue of the goddess, who was named Cnagia.
Cynthia, as goddess of the moon, from her birthplace on Mount Cynthos at Delos. Selene, the Greek personification of the moon, and the Roman Diana were also sometimes called Cynthia.
Daphnaea, as goddess of vegetation. Her name is most likely derived from the "laurel-branch" which was used as "May-branch", or an allusion to her statue being made of laurel-wood (daphne) Strabo refers to her annual festival at Olympia.
Delia, the feminine form of Apollo Delios
Delphinia, the feminine form of Apollo Delphinios (literally derived from Delphi).
Dereatis, at Sparta near Taygetos. Dancers were performing the obscene dance "kallabis".
Diktynna, from Mount Dikti, who is identified with the Minoan goddess Britomartis. Her name is derived from the mountain Dikti in Crete. A folk etymology derives her name from the word "diktyon" (net). In the legend Britomartis (the sweet young woman) was hunting together with Artemis who loved her desperately. She escaped from Minos, who fell in love with her, by jumping into the sea and falling into a net of fishes.
Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth in Boeotia and other local cults especially in Crete and Laconia. During the Bronze Age, in the cave of Amnisos, she was related to the annual birth of the divine child. In the Minoan myth the child was abandoned by his mother and then he was nurtured by the powers of nature.
Elaphia, goddess of hunting (deer). Strabo refers to her annual festival at Olympia.
Elaphebolos, shooter of deer, with the festival "Elaphebolia" at Phocis and Athens, and the name of a month in several local cults. Sophocles calls Artemis "Elaphebolos, Amphipyros", carrying a torch in each hand. This was used during the annual fire of the festival of Laphria at Delphi.
Ephesia, at the city Ephesus of Minor Asia. The city was a great center of the cult of the goddess, with a magnificent temple, (Artemision). Ephesia belongs to the series of the Anatolian goddesses (Great mother, or mountain-mother). However she is not a mother-goddess, but the goddess of free nature. In the Homeric Ionic sphere she is the goddess of hunting.
Eucleia, as a goddess of marriage in Boeotia, Locris and other cities. Epheboi and girls who wanted to marry should make a preliminary sacrifice in honour of the goddess. "Eukleios" was the name of a month in several cities and "Eucleia" was the name of a festival at Delphi. In Athens Peitho, Harmonia and Eucleia can create a good marriage. The bride would sacrifice to the virgin goddess Artemis.
Eupraxis, fine acting. On a relief from Sicily the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other. The torch was used for the ignition of the fire on the altar.
Eurynome, wide ruling, at Phigalia in Arcadia. Her wooden image (xoanon) was bound with a roller golden chain. The xoanon depicted a woman's upper body and the lower body of a fish. Pausanias identifies her as one of the Oceanids daughters of Oceanus and Tethys
Hagemo, or Hegemone, leader, as the leader of the nymphs. Artemis was playing and dancing with the nymphs who lived near springs, waters and forests and she was hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs joined the festival of the marriage and then they returned to their original form. The pregnant women appealed to the nymphs for help. In Greek popular culture the commandress of the Neraiden (fairies) is called "Great lady", "Lady Kalo" or "Queen of the mountains".
Heleia, related to the marsh or meadow in Arcadia, Messenia and Kos.
Hemeresia, the soothing goddess worshipped at well Lusoi
Heurippa, horse finder, at Pheneus in Arcadia. Her sanctuary was near the bronze statue of Poseidon Hippios (horse). In a legend, Odysseus lost his mares and travelled throughout Greece to find them. He found his mares at Pheneus, where he founded the temple of "Artemis Heurippa".
Hymnia, at Orchomenos in Boeotia. She was a goddess of dance and songs, especially of female choruses. The priestesses of Artemis Hymnia couldn't have a normal life like the other women. They were at first virgins and were to remain celibate in the priesthood. They could not use the same baths and they were not allowed to enter the house of a private man.
Iakinthotrophos, nurse of Hyacinthos at Knidos. Hyacinthos was a god of vegetation with Minoan origin. After his birth he was abandoned by his mother and then he was nurtured by Artemis who represents the first power of nature.
Imbrasia, from the name of a river at Samos.
Iocheaira, shooter of arrows by Homer (archer queen), as goddess of hunting. She has a wild character and Hera advises her to kill animals in the forest, instead of fighting with her superiors. Apollo and Artemis kill with their arrows the children of Niobe because she offended her mother Leto. In the European and Greek popular religion the arrow-shots from invisible beings can bring diseases and death.
Issora, or Isora, at Sparta, with the surname Limnaia or Pitanitis. Issorium was a part of a great summit which advances into the level of Eurotas a Pausanias identifies her with the Minoan Britomartis.
Kalliste, the most beautiful, another form of Artemis with the shape of a bear at Tricoloni near Megalopolis a mountainous area full of wild beasts. Kallisto the attendant of Artemis, bore Arcas the patriarch of the Arcaden. In a legend Kallisto was transformed into a bear and in another myth Artemis shot her. Kallisto is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorphic form from a pre-Greek cult.
'Keladeini, echoing chasing (noisy) in Homer's Iliad because she hunts wild boars and deer surrounded by her nymphs.
'Kithone, as a goddess of childbirth at Millet. Her name is probably derived from the custom of clothes consecration to the goddess, for a happy childbirth.
Kolainis, related with the animals at Euboea and Attica. At Eretria she had a major temple and she was called Amarysia. The goddess became a healer goddess of women.
Kolias, in a cult of women. Men were excluded because the fertility of the earth was related to motherhood. Aristophanes mentions Kolias and Genetyllis who are accused for lack of restraint. Their cult had a very emotional character.
Kondyleatis, named after the village Kondylea, where she had a grove and a temple. In a legend some boys tied a rope around the image of the goddess and said that Artemis was hanged. The boys were killed by the inhabitants and this caused a divine punishment. All the women brought dead children in the world, until the boys were honourably buried. An annual sacrifice was instituted to the divine spirits of the boys. Kondyleatis was most likely the original name of Artemis Apanchomeni.
Kordaka, in Elis. Τhe dancers performed the obscene dance kordaka, which is considered the origin of the dance of the old comedy. The dance is famous for its nudge and hilarity and gave the name to the goddess.
Korythalia, derived from Korythale, probably the "laurel May-branch", as a goddess of vegetation at Sparta. The epheboi and the girls who entered the marriage age placed the Korythale in front of the door of the house. In the cult the female dancers (famous in the antiquity) performed boisterous dances and were called Korythalistriai. In Italy, the male dancers wore wooden masks and they were called kyrritoi (pushing with the horns).
Kourotrophos, protector of young boys. During the Apaturia the front hair of young girls and young boys (koureion) were offered to the goddess.
Laphria, the mistress of the animals (Pre-Greek name) in many cults, especially in central Greece, Phocis and Patras. "Laphria" was the name of the festival. The characteristic rite was the annual fire and there was a custom to throw animals alive in the flames during the fest. The cult of "Laphria" at Patras was transferred from the city Calydon of Aetolia In a legend during the Calydonian boar hunt the fierce-huntress Atalanta was the first who wounded the boar. Atalanta was a Greek heroine, symbolizing the free nature and independence
Lecho, protector of a woman in childbed, or of one who has just given birth.
Leukophryene, derived from the city Leucophrys in Magnesia of Ionia. The original form of the cult of the goddess is unknown, however it seems that once the character of the goddess was similar with her character in Peloponnese.
Limnaia, of the marsh, at Sparta, with a swimming place Limnaion. (λίμνη: lake).
Limnatis, of the marsh and the lake, at Patras, Ancient Messene and many local cults. During the festival, the Messenian young ladies were violated. Cymbals have been found around the temple, indicating that the festival was celebrated with dances.
Lochia, as goddess of childbirth and midwifery. Women consecrated clothes to the goddess for a happy childbirth. Other less common epithets of Artemis as goddess of childbirth are Eulochia and Geneteira.
Lousia, bather or purifier, as a healer goddess at Lusoi in Arcadia, where Melampus healed the Proitiden.
Lyaia, at Syracuse in Sicily. (Spartan colony). There is a clear influence from the cult of Artemis Caryatis in Laconia. The Sicilian songs were transformed songs from the Laconic bucolic (pastoral) songs at Caryai.
Lyceia, of the wolf or with a helmet of a wolf skin, at Troezen in Argolis. It was believed that her temple was built by the hunter Hippolytus who abstained from sex and marriage. Lyceia was probably a surname of Artemis among the Amazons from whom Hippolytus descended from his mother. (Hippolyta).
Lycoatis, with a bronze statue at the city Lycoa in Arcadia. The city was near the foot of the mountain Mainalo, which was sacred to, Pan. On the south slope the Mantineians fetched the bones of Arcas, the son of Kallisto.(Kalliste).
Lygodesma, willow bound, at Sparta (another name of Orthia). In a legend
her image was discovered in a thicket of willows. standing upright (orthia).
Melissa, bee or beauty of nature, as a moon goddess. In Neoplatonic philosophy melissa is any pure being of souls coming to birth. The goddess took suffering away from mothers giving birth. It was Melissa who drew souls coming to birth.
Molpadia, singer of divine songs, a rare epithet of Artemis as a goddess of dances and songs and leader of the nymphs. In a legend Molpadia was an Amazon. During the Attic war she killed Antiope to save her by the Athenian king Theseus, but she was killed by Theseus.
Munichia, in a cult at Piraeus, related to the arkteia of Brauronian Artemis. According to legend, if someone killed a bear, he should be punished by sacrificing his daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter by dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the adyton. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.
Mysia, with a temple on the road from Sparta to Arcadia near the "Tomb of the Horse".
Oenoatis, derived from the city Oenoe in Argolis. Above the town there was the mountain Artemisium, with the temple of the goddess on the summit.
In a Greek legend the mountain was the place where Heracles chased and captured the terrible Ceryneian Hind, an enormous female deer with golden antlers and hooves of bronze. The deer was sacred to Artemis.
Orthia, upright, with a famous festival at Sparta. Her cult was introduced by the Dorians. She was worshipped as a goddess of vegetation in an orgiastic cult with boisterous cyclic dances.
Among the offerings, there were teracotta masks representing grotesque faces and it seems that animal-masks were also used. In literature there was a great fight for taking the pieces of cheese that were offered to the goddess. The whipping of the epheboi near the altar was a ritual of initiation, preparing them for their future life as soldiers. During this ritual the altar was full of blood.
Paidotrophos, protector of children at Corone in Messenia. During a festival of Korythalia the wet-nurses brought the infants in the sanctuary of the goddess, to get her protection.
Peitho, Persuasion, at the city Argos in Argolis. Her sanctuary was in the market place. In Pelopponnese Peitho is related to Artemis. In Athens Peitho is the consensual force in civilized society and emphasizes civic armony.
Pergaia, who was worshipped at Pamphylia of Ionia. A famous annual festival was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the city Perga. Filial cults existed in Pisidia, north of Pamphylia.
Pheraia, from the city Pherai, at Argos, Athens and Sicyon. It was believed that the image of the goddess was brought from the city Pherai of Thessaly. This conception relates Artemis with the distinctly Thessalian goddess Enodia. Enodia had similar functions with Hecate and she carried the common epithet "Pheraia".
Phakelitis, of the bundle, at Tyndaris in Sicily. In the local legend the image of the goddess was found in a bundle of dry sticks.
Phoebe, bright, as a moon goddess sister of Phoebus. The epithet Phoebe is also given to the moon goddess Selene.
Phosphoros, carrier of light. In Ancient Messene she is carrying a torch as a moon-goddess and she is identified with Hecate.
Polo, in Thasos, with inscriptions and statues from the Hellenistic and Roman period. The name is probably related to "parthenos" (virgin).
Potamia, of the river, at Ortygia in Sicily. In a legend Arethusa, was a chaste nymph and tried to escape from the river god Alpheus who fell in love with her. She was transformed by Artemis into a stream, traversed underground and appeared at Ortygia, thus providing water for the city. Ovid calls Arethusa, "Alfeias" (Alfaea) (of the river god).
Potnia Theron, mistress of the animals. The origin of her cult is Pre-Greek and the term is used by Homer for the goddess of hunting. Potnia was the name of the Mycenean goddess of nature. In the earliest Minoan conceptions the "Master of the animals" is depicted between lions and daimons (Minoan Genius). Sometimes "potnia theron" is depicted with the head of a Gorgon, who is her distant ancestor. She is the only Greek goddess who stands close to the daimons and she has a wild side which differentiates her from other Greek gods. In the Greek legends when the goddess was offended she would send terrible animals like the Erymanthian boar and Calydonian boar to laid waste the farmer's land, or voracious birds like the Stymphalian birds to attack farms and humans. In Arcadia and during the festival of Laphria, there is evidence of barbaric animal sacrifices.
Pythia, as a goddess worshipped at Delphi.
Saronia, of Saron, at Troezen across the Saronic gulf. In a legend the king Saron was chasing a doe that dashed into the sea. He followed the doe in the waters and he was drowned in the waves of the sea. He gave his name to the Saronic gulf.
Selasphoros, carrier of light, flame, as a moon-goddess identified with Hecate, in the cult of Munichia at Piraeus.
Soteira (Kore Soteira), Kore saviour, at Phigalia. In Arcadia the mistress of the animals is the first nymph closely related to the springs and the animals, in a surrounding of animal-headed daimons. At Lycosura Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides Demeter and Persephone. It was said that she was not the daughter of Leto, but the daughter of Demeter.
Stymphalia, of Stymphalus, a city in Arcadia. In a legend the water of the river descended in a chasm which was clogged up and the water overflowed creating a big marsh on the plain. A hunter was chasing a deer and both fell into the mud at the bottom of the chasm. The next day the whole water of the marsh dried up and the land was cultivated. The monstrous man eating Stymphalian birds that were killed by Heracles were considered birds of Artemis.
Tauria, or Tauro (the Tauric goddess), from the Tauri or of the bull. Euripides mentions the image of "Artemis Tauria". It was believed that the image of the goddess had divine powers. Her image was considered to have been carried from Tauris by Orestes and Iphigenia and was brought to Brauron, Sparta or Aricia.
Tauropolos, usually interpreted as hunting bull goddess. Tauropolos was not original in Greece and she has similar functions with foreign goddesses, especially with the mythical bull-goddess. The cult can be identified at Halae Araphenides in Attica. At the end of the peculiar festival, a man was sacrificed. He was killed in the ritual with a sword cutting his throat. Strabo mentions that during the night-fest of Tauropolia a girl was raped.
Thermia, as a healer goddess at Lousoi in Arcadia, where Melampus healed the Proitiden.
Toxia, or Toxitis, bowstring in torsion, as goddess of hunting in the island of Kos and at Gortyn. She is the sister of "Apollo Toxias".
Triclaria, at Patras. Her cult was superimposed on the cult of Dionysos Aisemnetis. During the festival of the god the children were wearing garlands of corn-ears. In a ritual they laid them aside to the goddess Artemis. Triclaria was a priestess of Artemis who made love with her lover in the sanctuary. They were punished to be sacrificed in the temple and each year the people should sacrifice a couple to the goddess. Europylus came carrying a chest with the image of Dionysos who put an end to the killings.
Mythology
Birth
Various conflicting accounts are given in Greek mythology regarding the birth of Artemis and Apollo, her twin brother. In terms of parentage, though, all accounts agree that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo. In some sources, she is born at the same time as Apollo; but in others, earlier or later.
Although traditionally stated to be twins, the author of The Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo (the oldest extant account of Leto's wandering and birth of her children) is only concerned with the birth of Apollo, and sidelines Artemis; in fact in the Homeric Hymn they are not stated to be twins at all.
It is a slightly later poet, Pindar, who speaks of a single pregnancy. The two earliest poets, Homer and Hesiod, confirm Artemis and Apollo's status as full siblings born to the same mother and father, but neither explicitly makes them twins.
According to Callimachus, Hera, who was angry with her husband Zeus for impregnating Leto, forbade her from giving birth on either terra firma (the mainland) or on an island, but the island of Delos disobeyed and allowed Leto to give birth there. According to some, this rooted the once freely floating island to one place.
According to the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, however, the island where she and her twin were born was Ortygia. In ancient Cretan history, Leto was worshipped at Phaistos, and in Cretan mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the islands known today as Paximadia.
A scholium of Servius on Aeneid iii. 72 accounts for the island's archaic name Ortygia by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a quail (ortux) to prevent Hera from finding out about his infidelity, and Kenneth McLeish suggested further that in quail form, Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail suffers when she lays an egg.
The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. Most stories depict Artemis as firstborn, becoming her mother's midwife upon the birth of her brother Apollo. Servius, a late fourth/early fifth-century grammarian, wrote that Artemis was born first because at first it was night, whose instrument is the Moon, which Artemis represents, and then day, whose instrument is the Sun, which Apollo represents. Pindar however writes that both twins shone like the Sun when they came into the bright light.
After their troubling childbirth, Leto took the twin infants and crossed over to Lycia, in the southwest corner of Asia Minor, where she tried to drink from and bathe the babies in a spring she found there. However, the local Lycian peasants tried to prevent the twins and their mother from making use of the water by stirring up the muddy bottom of the spring, so the three of them could not drink it. Leto, in her anger that the impious Lycians had refused to offer hospitality to a fatigued mother and her thirsty infants, transformed them all into frogs, forever doomed to swim and hop around the spring.
Childhood
The childhood of Artemis is not fully related to any surviving myth. A poem by Callimachus to the goddess "who amuses herself on mountains with archery" imagines a few vignettes of a young Artemis. While sitting on the knee of her father, she asks him to grant her 10 wishes:
to forever remain a virgin
to have many names to set her apart from her brother Phoebus (Apollo)
to have a bow and arrow made by the Cyclopes
to be the Phaesporia or Light Bringer
to have a short, knee-length tunic so she could hunt
to have 60 "daughters of Okeanos", all nine years of age, to be her choir
to have 20 Amnisides nymphs as handmaidens so they would watch over her hunting dogs and bow while she rested
to rule over all the mountains
to be assigned any city, and only to visit when called by birthing mothers
to have the ability to help women in the pains of childbirth.
Artemis believed she had been chosen by the Fates to be a midwife, particularly as she had assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin brother Apollo. All of her companions remained virgins, and Artemis closely guarded her own chastity. Her symbols included the golden bow and arrow, the hunting dog, the stag, and the moon.
Callimachus then tells how Artemis spent her girlhood seeking out the things she would need to be a huntress, and how she obtained her bow and arrows from the isle of Lipara, where Hephaestus and the Cyclopes worked. While Oceanus' daughters were initially fearful, the young Artemis bravely approached and asked for a bow and arrows. He goes on to describe how she visited Pan, god of the forest, who gave her seven female and six male hounds. She then captured six golden-horned deer to pull her chariot. Artemis practiced archery first by shooting at trees and then at wild game.
Relations with men
The river god Alpheus was in love with Artemis, but as he realized he could do nothing to win her heart, he decided to capture her. When Artemis and her companions at Letrenoi go to Alpheus, she becomes suspicious of his motives and covers her face with mud so he does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis' attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendant drink.
Bouphagos, son of the Titan Iapetus, sees Artemis and thinks about raping her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him down at Mount Pholoe.
Daphnis was a young boy, a son of Hermes, who was accepted by and became a follower of the goddess Artemis; Daphnis would often accompany her in hunting and entertain her with his singing of pastoral songs and playing of the panpipes.
Artemis taught a man, Scamandrius, how to be a great archer, and he excelled in the use of a bow and arrow with her guidance.
Broteas was a famous hunter who refused to honour Artemis, and boasted that nothing could harm him, not even fire. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to walk into fire, ending his life.
According to Antoninus Liberalis, Siproites was a Cretan who was metamorphized into a woman by Artemis, for, while hunting, seeing the goddess bathing. Artemis changed a Calydonian man named Calydon, son of Ares and Astynome, into stone when he saw the goddess bathing naked.
Divine retribution
Actaeon
Multiple versions of the Actaeon myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The details vary but at the core, they involve the great hunter Actaeon whom Artemis turns into a stag for a transgression, and who is then killed by hunting dogs. Usually, the dogs are his own, but no longer recognize their master. Occasionally they are said to be the hounds of Artemis.
Various tellings diverge in terms of the hunter's transgression: sometimes merely seeing the virgin goddess naked, sometimes boasting he is a better hunter than she, or even merely being a rival of Zeus for the affections of Semele. Apollodorus, who records the Semele version, notes that the ones with Artemis are more common.
According to Lamar Ronald Lacey's The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies, the standard modern text on the work, the most likely original version of the myth portrays Actaeon as the hunting companion of the goddess who, seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempts to force himself on her. For this hubris, he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds. However, in some surviving versions, Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon Artemis.
A single line from Aeschylus's now lost play Toxotides ("female archers") is among the earlier attestations of Actaeon's myth, stating that "the dogs destroyed their master utterly", with no confirmation of Actaeon's metamorphosis or the god he offended (but it is heavily implied to be Artemis, due to the title). Ancient artwork depicting the myth of Actaeon predate Aeschylus. Euripides, coming in a bit later, wrote in the Bacchae that Actaeon was torn to shreds and perhaps devoured by his "flesh-eating" hunting dogs when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis. Like Aeschylus, he does not mention Actaeon being deer-shaped when that happens. Callimachus writes that Actaeon chanced upon Artemis bathing in the woods, and she caused him to be devoured by his own hounds for the sacrilege, and he makes no mention of transformation into a deer either.
Diodorus Siculus wrote that Actaeon dedicated his prizes in hunting to Artemis, proposed marriage to her, and even tried to forcefully consummate said "marriage" inside the very sacred temple of the goddess; for this he was given the form "of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt", and then torn to shreds by his hunting dogs. Diodorus also mentioned the alternative of Actaeon claiming to be a better hunter than the goddess of the hunt. Hyginus also mentions Actaeon attempting to rape Artemis when he finds her bathing naked, and her transforming him into the doomed deer.
Apollodorus wrote that when Actaeon saw Artemis bathing, she turned him into a deer on the spot, and intentionally drove his dogs into a frenzy so that they would kill and devour him. Afterward, Chiron built a sculpture of Actaeon to comfort his dogs in their grief, as they could not find their master no matter how much they looked for him.
According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid, Actaeon was a hunter who after returning home from a long day's hunting in the woods, he stumbled upon Artemis and her retinue of nymphs bathing in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis' naked body with their own, as Artemis splashed some water on Actaeon, saying he was welcome to share with everyone the tale of seeing her without any clothes as long as he could share it at all. Immediately, he was transformed into a deer, and in panic ran away. But he did not go far, as he was hunted down and eventually caught and devoured by his own fifty hunting dogs, who could not recognize their own master.
Pausanias says that Actaeon saw Artemis naked and that she threw a deerskin on him so that his hounds would kill him, in order to prevent him from marrying Semele.
Niobe
The story of Niobe, queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, who blasphemously boasted of being superior to Leto. This myth is very old; Homer knew of it and wrote that Niobe had given birth to twelve children, equally divided in six sons and six daughters (the Niobids).
Other sources speak of fourteen children, seven sons, and seven daughters. Niobe claimed of being a better mother than Leto, for having more children than Leto's own two, "but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others." Leto was not slow to catch up on that and grew angry at the queen's hubris. She summoned her children and commanded them to avenge the slight against her.
Swiftly Apollo and Artemis descended on Thebes. While the sons were hunting in the woods, Apollo crept up on them and slew all seven with his silver bow. The dead bodies were brought to the palace. Niobe wept for them, but did not relent, saying that even now she was better than Leto, for she still had seven children, her daughters.
On cue, Artemis then started shooting the daughters one by one. Right as Niobe begged for her youngest one to be spared, Artemis killed that last one. Niobe cried bitter tears, and was turned into a rock. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. The gods themselves entombed them. In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more.
Orion
Orion was Artemis' hunting companion; after giving up on trying to find Oenopion, Orion met Artemis and her mother Leto, and joined the goddess in hunting. A great hunter himself, he bragged that he would kill every beast on earth. Gaia, the earth, was not too pleased to hear that, and sent a giant scorpion to sting him. Artemis then transferred him into the stars as the constellation Orion. In one version Orion died after pushing Leto out of the scorpion's way.
In another version, Orion tries to violate Opis, one of Artemis' followers from Hyperborea, and Artemis kills him. In a version by Aratus, Orion grabs Artemis' robe and she kills him in self-defense. Other writers have Artemis kill him for trying to rape her or one of her attendants.
Istrus wrote a version in which Artemis fell in love with Orion, apparently the only time Artemis ever fell in love. She meant to marry him, and no talk from her brother Apollo would change her mind.
Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, and while Orion was off swimming in the sea, he pointed at him (barely a spot in the horizon) and wagered that Artemis could not hit that small "dot". Artemis, ever eager to prove she was the better archer, shot Orion, killing him. She then placed him among the stars.
In Homer's Iliad, the goddess of the dawn Eos seduces Orion, angering the gods who did not approve of immortal goddesses taking mortal men for lovers, causing Artemis to shoot and kill him on the island of Ortygia.
Callisto
Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia,
was one of Artemis' hunting attendants, and, as a companion of Artemis, took a vow of chastity.
According to Hesiod in his lost poem Astronomia, Zeus appeared to Callisto, and seduced her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Though she was able to hide her pregnancy for a time, she was soon found out while bathing. Enraged, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear, and in this form she gave birth to her son Arcas. Both of them were then captured by shepherds and given to Lycaon, and Callisto thus lost her child. Sometime later, Callisto "thought fit to go into" a forbidden sanctuary of Zeus, and was hunted by the Arcadians, her son among them. When she was about to be killed, Zeus saved her by placing her in the heavens as a constellation of a bear.
In his De Astronomica, Hyginus, after recounting the version from Hesiod, presents several other alternative versions. The first, which he attributes to Amphis, says that Zeus seduced Callisto by disguising himself as Artemis during a hunting session, and that when Artemis found out that Callisto was pregnant, she replied saying that it was the goddess's fault, causing Artemis to transform her into a bear. This version also has both Callisto and Arcas placed in the heavens, as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Hyginus then presents another version in which, after Zeus lay with Callisto, it was Hera who transformed her into a bear. Artemis later, while hunting, kills the bear, and "later, on being recognized, Callisto was placed among the stars". Hyginus also gives another version, in which Hera tries to catch Zeus and Callisto in the act, causing Zeus to transform her into a bear. Hera, finding the bear, points it out to Artemis, who is hunting; Zeus, in panic, places Callisto in the heavens as a constellation.
Ovid gives a somewhat different version: Zeus seduced Callisto once again disguised as Artemis, but she seems to realise that it is not the real Artemis, and she thus does not blame Artemis when, during bathing, she is found out. Callisto is, rather than being transformed, simply ousted from the company of the huntresses, and she thus gives birth to Arcas as a human. Only later is she transformed into a bear, this time by Hera. When Arcas, fully grown, is out hunting, he nearly kills his mother, who is saved only by Zeus placing her in the heavens.
In the Bibliotheca, a version is presented in which Zeus raped Callisto, "having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo". He then turned her into a bear himself so as to hide the event from Hera. Artemis then shot the bear, either upon the persuasion of Hera, or out of anger at Callisto for breaking her virginity. Once Callisto was dead, Zeus made her into a constellation, took the child, named him Arcas, and gave him to Maia, who raised him.
Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, presents another version, in which, after Zeus seduced Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear, which Artemis killed to please Hera. Hermes was then sent by Zeus to take Arcas, and Zeus himself placed Callisto in the heavens.
Minor myths
When Zeus' gigantic son Tityos tried to rape Leto, she called out to her children for help, and both Artemis and Apollo were quick to respond by raining down their arrows on Tityos, killing him.
Chione was a princess of Phokis. She was beloved by two gods, Hermes and Apollo, and boasted that she was more beautiful than Artemis because she had made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was furious and killed Chione with an arrow, or struck her mute by shooting off her tongue. However, some versions of this myth say Apollo and Hermes protected her from Artemis' wrath.
Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of exposure after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to nurse the baby, who was then raised by hunters. In some stories, Artemis later sent a bear to injure Atalanta because others claimed Atalanta was a superior hunter. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the Calydonian boar hunt, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices.
In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood and was awarded the prize of the boar's hide. She hung it in a sacred grove at Tegea as a dedication to Artemis. Meleager was a hero of Aetolia. King Oeneus ordered him to gather heroes from all over Greece to hunt the Calydonian boar. After the death of Meleager, Artemis turns his grieving sisters, the Meleagrids, into guineafowl that Artemis favoured.
In Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Aura, the daughter of Lelantos and Periboia, was a companion of Artemis. When out hunting one day with Artemis, she asserts that the goddess's voluptuous body and breasts are too womanly and sensual, and doubts her virginity, arguing that her own lithe body and man-like breasts are better than Artemis' and a true symbol of her own chastity. In anger, Artemis asks Nemesis for help to avenge her dignity. Nemesis agrees, telling Artemis that Aura's punishment will be to lose her virginity, since she dared question that of Artemis.
Nemesis then arranges for Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. Dionysus intoxicates Aura and rapes her as she lies unconscious, after which she becomes a deranged killer. While pregnant, she tries to kill herself or cut open her belly, as Artemis mocks her over it. When she bore twin sons, she ate one, while the other, Iacchus, was saved by Artemis.
The twin sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia, Otos and Ephialtes, grew enormously at a young age. They were aggressive and skilled hunters who could not be killed except by each other. The growth of the Aloadae never stopped, and they boasted that as soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer that jumped out between them. In another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe and jumped between them.
The Aloadae threw their spears and so mistakenly killed one another. In another version, Apollo sent the deer into the Aloadae's midst, causing their accidental killing of each other. In another version, they start pilling up mountains to reach Mount Olympus in order to catch Hera and Artemis, but the gods spot them and attack. When the twins had retreated the gods learnt that Ares has been captured. The Aloadae, not sure about what to do with Ares, lock him up in a pot. Artemis then turns into a deer and causes them to kill each other.
In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill him as punishment for boasting that he was a better hunter than her. In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis is a favorite of Aphrodite, who was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, who had been a hunter of Artemis. Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus's death. In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares as punishment for being with Aphrodite.
Polyphonte was a young woman who fled home in pursuit of a free, virginal life with Artemis, as opposed to the conventional life of marriage and children favoured by Aphrodite. As a punishment, Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to mate and have children with a bear. Artemis, seeing that, was disgusted and sent a horde of wild animals against her, causing Polyphonte to flee to her father's house. Her resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately the entire family was transformed into birds who became ill portents for mankind.
Coronis was a princess from Thessaly who became the lover of Apollo and fell pregnant. While Apollo was away, Coronis began an affair with a mortal man named Ischys. When Apollo learnt of this, he sent Artemis to kill the pregnant Coronis, or Artemis had the initiative to kill Coronis on her own accord for the insult done against her brother. The unborn child, Asclepius, was later removed from his dead mother's womb.
When two of her hunting companions who had sworn to remain chaste and be devoted to her, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, fell in love with each other and broke their vows in a cavern, Artemis turned Rhodopis into a fountain inside that very cavern as punishment. The two had fallen in love not on their own but only after Eros had struck them with his love arrows, commanded by his mother Aphrodite, who had taken offence in that Rhodopis and Euthynicus rejected love and marriage in favour of a chaste life.
When the queen of Kos Echemeia ceased to worship Artemis, she shot her with an arrow; Persephone then snatched the still-living Euthemia and brought her to the Underworld.
Trojan War
Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother Apollo was the patron god of the city, and she herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical times. Artemis plays a significant role in the war; like Leto and Apollo, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. In Iliad Artemis on her chariot with the golden reigns, kills the daughter of Bellerophon. Bellorophone was a divine Greek hero who killed the monster Chimera. At the beginning of the Greek's journey to Troy, Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred stag in a sacred grove and boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess.
When the Greek fleet was preparing at Aulis to depart for Troy to commence the Trojan War, Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer Calchas erroneously advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. In some version of the myth, Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from the altar and substituted a deer; in others, Artemis allowed Iphigenia to be sacrificed. In versions where Iphigenia survived, a number of different myths have been told about what happened after Artemis took her; either she was brought to Tauris and led the priests there, or she became Artemis' immortal companion.Aeneas was also helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo. Apollo found him wounded by Diomedes and lifted him to heaven. There, the three deities secretly healed him in a great chamber.
During the theomachy, Artemis found herself standing opposite of Hera, on which a scholium to the Iliad wrote that they represent the Moon versus the air around the Earth. Artemis chided her brother Apollo for not fighting Poseidon and told him never to brag again; Apollo did not answer her. An angry Hera berated Artemis for daring to fight her:
How now art thou fain, thou bold and shameless thing, to stand forth against me? No easy foe I tell thee, am I, that thou shouldst vie with me in might, albeit thou bearest the bow, since it was against women that Zeus made thee a lion, and granted thee to slay whomsoever of them thou wilt. In good sooth it is better on the mountains to be slaying beasts and wild deer than to fight amain with those mightier than thou. Howbeit if thou wilt, learn thou of war, that thou mayest know full well how much mightier am I, seeing thou matchest thy strength with mine.
Hera then grabbed Artemis' hands by the wrists, and holding her in place, beat her with her own bow. Crying, Artemis left her bow and arrows where they lay and ran to Olympus to cry at her father Zeus' knees, while her mother Leto picked up her bow and arrows and followed her weeping daughter.
Worship
Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout ancient Greece. Her best known cults were on the island of Delos
(her birthplace), in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia (near Piraeus), and in Sparta. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer.
The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new military campaign.
Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis included Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, and Brauronia. The festival of Artemis Orthia was observed in Sparta.
Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time, the girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears.
A myth explaining this servitude states that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that, over time, the bear became tame. A girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her, while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death.
Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Dedications of clothing to her sanctuaries after a successful birth was common in the Classical era. Artemis could be a deity to be feared by pregnant women, as deaths during this time were attributed to her. As childbirth and pregnancy was a very common and important event, there were numerous other deities associated with it, many localized to a particular geographic area, including but not limited to Aphrodite, Hera and Hekate.
It was considered a good sign when Artemis appeared in the dreams of hunters and pregnant women, but a naked Artemis was seen as an ill omen. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. Older sources, such as Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo (in Line 115), have the arrival of Eileithyia on Delos as the event that allows Leto to give birth to her children. Contradictory is Hesiod's presentation of the myth in Theogony, where he states that Leto bore her children before Zeus' marriage to Hera with no commentary on any drama related to their birth.
Despite her being primarily known as a goddess of hunting and the wilderness, she was also connected to dancing, music, and song like her brother Apollo; she is often seen singing and dancing with her nymphs, or leading the chorus of the Muses and the Graces at Delphi. In Sparta, girls of marriageable age performed the partheneia (choral maiden songs) in her honor. An ancient Greek proverb, written down by Aesop, went "For where did Artemis not dance?", signifying the goddess' connection to dancing and festivity.
During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hekate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya).
There was a women's cult at Cyzicus worshiping Artemis, which was called Dolon (Δόλων).
Festivals
Artemis was born on the sixth day of the month Thargelion (around May), which made it sacred for her, as her birthday. On the seventh day of the same month was Apollo's birthday. Artemis was worshipped in many festivals throughout Greece mainland and the islands, Asia Minor and south Italy. Most of these festivals were celebrated during spring.
Attica
Athens. The festival Elaphebolia was celebrated on the sixth day of the month Elaphebolion (ninth month) . The name is related to elaphos (deer) and Artemis is the Deer Huntress. Cakes made from flour, honey, and sesame and in the shape of stags were offered to the goddess during the festival.
Brauron. The festival was remarkable for the arkteia, where girls, aged between five and ten, were dressed in saffron robes and played at being bears, or "act the bear" to appease the goddess after she sent the plague when her bear was killed. Another commentator says that girls had to ‘placate the goddess for their virginity (parthenia), so that they would not be the object of revenge from her.
Piraeus. The festival of Artemis Munichia was celebrated on the 6th or 16th day of the month Munichion (tenth month). Young girls were dressed up as bears, as for the Brauronia. In the temple have been found sherds grom the geometric period. The festival commemorated the victory of the Greek fleet over the Persians at Salamis.
Athens. Artemis had a filial cult of Brauronia, near the Acropolis.
Agrae, a district of Athens, with a temple of Artemis-Agrotera. (huntress) On the 6th day of the month Boedromion , an armed procession would take a large numbe of goats to the temple. They would all be sacrificed in honor of the victory at the Battle of Marathon. The festival was called "Charisteria", also known as the Athenian "Thanksgiving".
Myrrhinus, a deme near Merenda (Markopoulo).There was a cult of Kolainis. Kolainis is usually identified with Artemis Amarysia in Euboia. Some rites and animal sacrifices were probably similar with the rites of Laphria.
Athmonia, a deme near Marousi. The festival of Artemis Amarysia, was no less splendid that the festival of Amarysia in Euboea.
Halae Araphenides, a deme near Brauron. The fest Tauropolia was celebrated in honour of Artemis Tauropolos. During the festival a human sacrifice was represented in a ritual.
Erchia a district of Athens. The modern Athenian airport was built over the ruins of the deme. A festival was celebrated on the 16th day of the month Metageitnion. Sacrifices were offered to Artemis and Hekate.
Central Greece
Hyampolis in Phocis. During an attack of the Thessalians, the Phocians terrified gathered together in one spot their women, children, movable property, and also their clothes, gold and made a vast pyre. The order was that if they would be defeated, all should be killed and would be thrown into the flames together with their property. The Phocians achieved a great victory and each year they celebrated their victory in the festival Elaphebolia-Laphria in honour of Artemis. All kinds of oferrings were burned in an annual fire, reminding the great pyre of the battle.
Delphi in Phocis. The festival Laphria was celebrated in the month Laphrios. The cult of Artemis Laphria was introduced by the priests of Delphi Lab(r)yaden who had probably Cretan origin. Laphria is certainly the Pre-Greek "Mistress of the animals".
Delphi in Phocis . The festival Eucleia was celebrated in honour of Artemis. According to the Labyaden-incriptions the oferrings darata are determined by the specified gamela and pedēia. Eucleia was a godess of marriage.
Tithorea in Ancient Phocis. It seems that the festival of Isis was a reform of the festival of Artemis Laphria.
Erineos in Doris. Festival of Artemis Laphria, indicated by the month Laphrios in the local calendar.
Antikyra in Phocis.Cult of Artemis-Diktynaia, a popular goddess who was worshipped with great respect.
Thebes in Boeotia. Before marriage a premilinary sacrifice should be made by the bride and the groom to Artemis-Eucleia.
Amarynthos in Euboia. Festival of Artemis Amarysia. Animals were sacrificed with rites probably similar with the fest Laphria.
Aulis in Boeotia. In a festival all kinds of sacrificial animals were oferred to the goddess. It seems that the festival was a reverberation of the rites of Laphria.
Calydon in Aetolia. Calydon is considered the origin of the cult of Artemis Laphria at Patras. In the Aetolian calendar there was the month Laphrios. Near the city there was the temple of Apollo Laphrius;
Nafpaktos in Aetolia. Cult of Artemis Laphria.
Acarnania. Cult of Artemis-Agrotera (huntress) in a society of hunters.
Peloponnese
Patras in Achaea. The great festival Laphria was celebrated in honour of Artemis. The characteristic rite was the annual fire. Birds, deers, sacrificial animals, young wolves and young bears were thrown alive in a great pyre. Laphria (Pre-Greek name) is the "Mistress of Animals". Traditionally her cult was introduced from Calydon of Aetolia.
Patras. The Ionians who lived in Ancient Achaea celebrated the annual festival of Artemis Triclaria. Pausanias mentions the legend of human sacrifices to the outraged goddess. The new deity Dionysus, put an end to the sacrifices .
Corinth. The festival Eucleia was celebrated in honor of Artemis.
Aigeira in Achaea. Festival of Artemis Agrotera (huntress). When the Sicyonians attacked the city, the Aigeirians tied torches on all goats of the area and during night they set the torches alight. The Sicyonians believed that Aigeira had a great army and they retreated.
Sparta. Festival of Artemis-Orthia. The goddess was associated with the female initiatory rite Partheneion. Women performed round dances. In a legend Theseus stole Helene from the dancing floor of Orthia, during the round-dancing. The significant prize of the competetions was an iron sickle (drepanē) indicating that Orthia was a goddess of vegetation.
Sparta on the road to Amyklai. Artemis-Korythalia was a goddess of vegetation. Women performed lascivious dances. The fest was celebrated in round huts covered with leaves. The nurses brought the infants in the temple of Korythalia during the fest Tithenedia.
Messene near the borders with Laconia. Festival of Artemis Limnatis (of the lake). The festival was celebrated with cymbals and dances. The goddess was worshipped by young women during the festivals of transition from childhood to adulthood.
Dereion on Taygetos in Laconia. Cult of Artemis -Dereatis. The festival was celebrated with the hymns calavoutoi and with the obscene dance callabis.
Epidauros Limera in Laconia. Cult of Artemis-Limnatis.
Caryae on the borders between Laconia and Arcadia . Festival of Artemis-Caryatis, a goddess of vegetation related to the tree-cult. Each year women performed an exstatic dance called the caryatis.
Boiai in Laconia. Cult of Artemis-Soteira (savior), which was related to the myrtle tree. When the inhabitants of the cities near the gulf were expelled, Artemis with the shape of a hare guided them to a myrtle tree where they built the new city.
Gytheion in Laconia. Cult of Artemis Laphria, in the month Laphrios.
Elis . Pelops (Peloponnese: Pelop's island) had won the sovereignity of Pisa and his followers celebrated their victory near the temple of Artemis-Kordaka. They danced the peculiar dance kordax.
Elis . Festival of Artemis-Elaphia in the month Elaphios (elaphos:deer). Elaphia was a goddess of hunting.
Letrinoi in Elis . Festival of Artemis Alpheaia. Girls wearing masks performed dances.
Olympia in Elis. Annual festival (panegeris) of Artemis Alpheaia .
Olympia in Elis. Annual festival of Artemis Elaphia.
Olympia in Elis. Annual festival of Artemis Daphnaia (of the laurel-branch), as a goddess of vegetation.
Hypsus in Arcadia near the borders of Laconia. Annual festival of Artemis-Diktynna. Her temple was built near the sea.
Hypsus . Annual fest of Artemis Daphnaia.(Of the laurel-branch).
Stymphalus in Arcadia . Festival of Artemis-Stymphalia. The festival begun near the Katavothres where the water overflowed and created a big marsh.
Orchomenus, in Arcadia. A sanctuary was built for Artemis Hymnia where her festival was celebrated every year.
Tegea in Arcadia, on the road to Laconia. Cult of Artemis-Limnatis (of the lake).
Phigalia in Arcadia. In a battle the Phigalians expelled the conquerors Spartans and recovered their city. On the summit of the Acropolis they built the sanctuary of Artemis-Soteira (Savior) and a statue of the goddess. At the beginning of festivals, all their processions started from the sunctuary.
Troizen in Argolis. Festival of Artemis-Saronia. Near the temple was the grave of the king Saron who was drowned into the sea.
Northern Greece
Aegae, in Macedonia. Eucleia had a shrine with dedications in the agora of the city. The goddess is associated with Artemis-Eucleia, the goddess of marriage who was widely worshipped in Boeotia.
Apollonia of Chalcidice. The festival Elaphebolia was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the month Elaphebolion
Greek islands
Icaria. The Tauropolion, the temple of Artemis Tauropolos was built at Oinoe. There was another smaller temenos that was sacred to Artemis-Tauropolos on the coast of the island.
Cephalonia. Cult of Artemis-Laphria who is related to the legend of Britomartis.
Corcyra. Cult of Artemis-Laphria in the month Laphrios.
Asia Minor
Ephesus in Ionia. The great festival Artemisia was celebreted in honor of Artemis. The wealth and splendor of temple and city were taken as evidence of Artemis Ephesia's power. Under Hellenic rule, and later, under Roman rule, the Ephesian Artemisia festival was increasingly promoted as a key element in the pan-Hellenic festival circuit .
Perga in Ionia. Famous festival of Artemis-Pergaia. Under Roman rule Diana-Pergaia is identified with Selene.
Iasos in Caria. The festival Elaphebolia was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the month Elaphebolion
Byzantion. Festival of Artemis-Eucleia in the month Eucleios.
Magna Graecia
Syracuse in Sicily. The festival of Artemis Chitonia was
distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute. Chitonia (wearing a loose tunic) was a goddess of hunting.
Syracuse in Sicily. Festival of Artemis-Lyaia. Men from the countryside came to the city in a rustic dress. They carried a deer-antler on their head and holded a shepherd's stab. They sang satirical songs drinking wine. The festival was the link between the comic performance and the countryside.
Tauromenion in Sicily. Festival of Artemis-Eucleia in the month Eucleios.
Festival of Artemis-Korythalia. The male dancers wore wooden masks.
Attributes
Virginity
An important aspect of Artemis' persona and worship was her virginity, which may seem contradictory, given her role as a goddess associated with childbirth. The idea of Artemis as a virgin goddess likely is related to her primary role as a huntress. Hunters traditionally abstained from sex prior to the hunt as a form of ritual purity and out of a belief that the scent would scare off potential prey. The ancient cultural context in which Artemis' worship emerged also held that virginity was a prerequisite to marriage, and that a married woman became subservient to her husband.
In this light, Artemis' virginity is also related to her power and independence. Rather than a form of asexuality, it is an attribute that signals Artemis as her own master, with power equal to that of male gods. Her virginity also possibly represents a concentration of fertility that can be spread among her followers, in the manner of earlier mother-goddess figures. However, some later Greek writers did come to treat Artemis as inherently asexual and as an opposite to Aphrodite. Furthermore, some have described Artemis along with the goddesses Hestia and Athena as being asexual; this is mainly supported by the fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, To Aphrodite, Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses.
As a mother goddess
Despite her virginity, both modern scholars and ancient commentaries have linked Artemis to the archetype of the mother goddess. Artemis was traditionally linked to fertility and was petitioned to assist women with childbirth. According to Herodotus, Greek playwright Aeschylus identified Artemis with Persephone as a daughter of Demeter. Her worshipers in Arcadia also traditionally associated her with Demeter and Persephone. In Asia Minor, she was often conflated with local mother-goddess figures, such as Cybele, and Anahita in Iran.
The archetype of the mother goddess, though, was not highly compatible with the Greek pantheon, and though the Greeks had adopted the worship of Cybele and other Anatolian mother goddesses as early as the seventh century BCE, she was not directly conflated with any Greek goddesses. Instead, bits and pieces of her worship and aspects were absorbed variously by Artemis, Aphrodite, and others as Eastern influence spread.
As the Lady of Ephesus
At Ephesus in Ionia, Turkey, her temple became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best-known center of her worship except for Delos. There, the Lady whom the Ionians associated with Artemis through interpretatio graeca was worshipped primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess Cybele, in an ancient sanctuary where her cult image depicted the "Lady of Ephesus" adorned with multiple large beads. Excavation at the site of the Artemision in 1987–88 identified a multitude of tear-shaped amber beads that had been hung on the original wooden statue (xoanon), and these were probably carried over into later sculpted copies.
In Acts of the Apostles, Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul's preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in her defense, shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Some scholars contend that the statement "saved by childbearing" in the First Epistle to Timothy is a reference to Artemis's midwifery. Of the 121 columns of Artemis's temple, only one composite, made up of fragments, still stands as a marker of the temple's location.
As a lunar deity
No records have been found of the Greeks referring to Artemis as a lunar deity, as their lunar deity was Selene, but the Romans identified Artemis with Selene leading them to perceive her as a lunar deity, though the Greeks did not refer to her or worship her as such. As the Romans began to associate Apollo more with Helios, the personification of the Sun, it was only natural that the Romans would then begin to identify Apollo's twin sister, Artemis, with Helios' own sister, Selene, the personification of the Moon. Evidence of the syncretism of Artemis and Selene is found early on; a scholium on the Iliad, claiming to be reporting sixth century BCE author Theagenes's interpretation of the theomachy in Book 21, says that in the fight between Artemis and Hera, Artemis represents the Moon, while Hera represents the earthly air.
Active references to Artemis as an illuminating goddess start much later. Notably, Roman-era author Plutarch writes how during the Battle of Salamis, Artemis led the Athenians to victory by shining with the full moon, but all lunar-related narratives of this event come from Roman times, and none of the contemporary writers (such as Herodotus) makes any mention of the night or the Moon.
Artemis' connection to childbed and women's labour naturally led to her becoming associated with the menstrual cycle in course of time, thus the Moon. Selene, just like Artemis, was linked to childbirth, as it was believed that women had the easiest labours during the full moon, paving thus the way for the two goddesses to be seen as the same. On that, Cicero writes:
Apollo, a Greek name, is called Sol, the sun; and Diana, Luna, the moon. [...] Luna, the moon, is so called a lucendo (from shining); she bears the name also of Lucina: and as in Greece the women in labor invoke Diana Lucifera,
Association to health was another reason Artemis and Selene were syncretized; Strabo wrote that Apollo and Artemis were connected to the Sun and the Moon, respectively, which was due to the changes the two celestial bodies caused in the temperature of the air, as the twins were gods of pestilential diseases and sudden deaths.
Roman authors applied Artemis/Diana's byname, "Phoebe", to Luna/Selene, the same way as "Phoebus" was given to Helios due to his identification with Apollo. Another epithet of Artemis that Selene appropriated is "Cynthia", meaning "born in Mount Cynthus."
The goddesses Artemis, Selene, and Hecate formed a triad, identified as the same goddess with three avatars: Selene in the sky (moon), Artemis on earth (hunting), and Hecate beneath the earth (Underworld).
In Italy, those three goddesses became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities. The Romans enthusiastically celebrated the multiple identities of Diana as Hecate, Luna, and Trivia.
Roman poet Horace in his odes enjoins Apollo to listen to the prayers of the boys, as he asks Luna, the "two-horned queen of the stars", to listen to those of the girls in place of Diana, due to their role as protectors of the young. In Virgil's Aeneid, when Nisus addresses Luna/the Moon, he calls her "daughter of Latona."
In works of art, the two goddesses were mostly distinguished; Selene is usually depicted as being shorter than Artemis, with a rounder face, and wearing a long robe instead of a short hunting chiton, with a billowing cloak forming an arc above her head. Artemis was sometimes depicted with a lunate crown.
As Hecate
Hecate was the goddess of crossroads, boundaries, ghosts and witchcraft. She is the queen of the witches. Artemis absorbed the Pre-Greek goddess Potnia Theron who was closely associated with the daimons. In the Mycenean age daimons were lesser deities of ghosts, divine spirits and tutelary deities.
Some scholars believe that Hecate was an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon.
Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate.
Both goddesses carried torches, and were accompanied by a dog. It seems that the character of Artemis in Arcadia was original. At Acacesium Artemis Hegemone is depicted
holding two torches, and at Lycosura Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch. A bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Sophocles calles Artemis Amphipyros, carrying a torch in each hand, however the adjective refers also to the twin fire on the two peaks of the mountain Parnassus behind Delphi. In the fest of Laphria at Delphi Artemis is related to the Pre-Greek mistress of the animals, with barbaric sacrifices and possible connections with magic and ghosts since Potnia Theron was close to the daimons. The annual fire was the characteristique custom of the fest.
At Kerameikos in Athens Artemis is clearly identified with Hecate. Pausanias believes that Kalliste (the most beautiful ) is a surname of Artemis carrying a torch. In Thessaly the distinctly local goddess Enodia with the surname Pheraia is identified with Hecate. Artemis Pheraia was worshipped in Argos, Athens and Sicyon.
Symbols
Bow and arrow
In Iliad and Odyssey, Artemis is a goddess of hunting, which was a very important sport for the Myceneans. She had a golden bow and arrows and the epithets was Chrisilakatos, she of the golden shaft and Iocheaira, shooter of arrows or archer queen. The arrows of Artemis could also sudden death, a belief which appears also in Indoeuropean folklore and religion (Rudra). The arrows of the goddess bring an immediate and mild death without a previous disease. Apollo and Artemis kill with their arrows the children of Niobe because she offended her mother Leto.
Chariots
Homer uses the epithet Chrisinios, of the golden reigns, to illustrate the chariot of the goddess of hunting. At the fest of Laphria at Delphi the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.
Spears, nets, and lyre
Artemis is rarely portrayed with a hunting spear. In her cult in Aetolia, the Artemis Aetole was depicted with a hunting spear or javelin. Artemis is also sometimes depicted with a fishing spear connected with her cult as a patron goddess of fishing. This conception relates her with Diktynna (Britomartis). As a goddess of maiden dances and songs, Artemis is often portrayed with a lyre in ancient art.
Deer
Deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. On seeing a deer larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden-horned deer and harnessed them to her chariot. At Lycosura in isolated Arcadia Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides Demeter and Persephone. It seems that the depictions of Artemis and Demeter-Melaina (black) in Arcadia correspond to the earliest conceptions of the first Greeks in Greece. At the fest of Laphria at Delphi the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.
The third labour of Heracles, commanded by Eurystheus, consisted of chasing and catching the terrible Ceryneian Hind. The hind was a female deer with golden andlers and hooves of bronze and was sacred to Artemis. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him, but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath.
Hunting dog
In a legend Artemis got her hunting dogs from Pan in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also gave Artemis seven bitches of the finest Arcadian race, but Artemis only ever brought seven dogs hunting with her at any one time. In the earliest conceptions of Artemis at Lycosura, a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Bear
In a Pre-Greek cult Artemis was conceived as a bear. Kallisto was transformed into a bear, and she is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorph form. In the cults of Artemis at Brauron and at Piraeus Munichia (arkteia) young virgin girls were disguished to she-bears (arktoi) in a ritual and they served the goddess before marriage.
An etiological myth tries to explain the origin of the Arkteia. Every year, a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis' temple at Brauron. A bear was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague. The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear's blood, no Athenian virgin should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple (played the bear for the goddess).
In a legend of the cult of Munichia if someone killed a bear, then they were to be punished by sacrificing their daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the adyton. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.
Boar
The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to tame. In honor of Artemis' skill, they sacrificed it to her. Oeneus and Adonis were both killed by Artemis' boar. In The Odyssey, she descends from a peak and she travels along the ridges of Mount Erymanthos, that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals". When the goddess became wrathful she would send the terrible Erymanthian boar to laid waste the farmer's fields. Heracles managed to kill the terrible creature during his Twelve Labors.
In one legend, the Calydonian boar had terrorized the territory of Calydon because Artemis (the mistress of the animals) was offended. The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. The most famous Greek heroes including Meleager and Atalanta took part in the expedition. The fierce-hunter virgin Atalanta allied to the goddess Artemis was the first who wounded the Calydonian boar.
Ovid describes the boar as follows:
A dreadful boar.—His burning, bloodshot eyes
seemed coals of living fire, and his rough neck
was knotted with stiff muscles, and thick-set
with bristles like sharp spikes. A seething froth
dripped on his shoulders, and his tusks
were like the spoils of Ind [India]. Discordant roars
reverberated from his hideous jaws;
and lightning—belched forth from his horrid throat—
scorched the green fields.
— Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.284–289 (Brookes More translation)
Guinea fowl
Artemis felt pity for the Calydonian princesses Meleagrids as they mourned for their lost brother, Meleager, so she transformed them into Guinea fowl to be her favorite animals.
Buzzard hawk
Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included.
Bull
Artemis is sometimes identified with the mythical bull-goddess in a cult foreign in Greece. The cult can be identified in Halae Araphenides in Attica, where at the end of the peculiar fest a man was sacrificed.Euripides relates her cult with Tauris (tauros:bull) and with the myth of Iphigenia at Brauron. Orestes brought the image of the goddess from Tauris, to Brauron Sparta or Aricia.
Torch
Artemis is often depicted holding one or two torches. There is not any sufficient explanation for this depiction. The character of the goddess in Arcadia seems to be original. At Acacesium Artemis Hegemone (the leader) is depicted holding two torches. At Lycosura the goddess is depicted holding a snake and a torch, and a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her sideSophocles calls Artemis "Elaphebolos, (deer slayer) Amphipyros (with a fire in each end)" reminding the annual fire of the fest Laphria at Delphi. The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi (Phaedriades). Heshychius believes that Kalliste is the name of Hecate established at Kerameikos of Athens, who some call Artemis (torch bearing). On a relief from Sicily the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other. The torch was used for the ignition of the fire on the altar.
Archaic and classical art
During the Bronze Age, the "mistress of the animals" is usually depicted between two lions with a peculiar crown on her head.
The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as Potnia Theron ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and lioness in her hands, or sometimes a lioness and a lion. Potnia theron is the only Greek goddess close to the daimons and sometimes is depicted with a Gorgon head, and the Gorgon is her distant ancestor. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as Artemis Orthia, with a sanctuary close by Sparta.
In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young, tall, and slim, clothed in a girl's short skirt, with hunting boots, a quiver, a golden or silver bow and arrows.
Often, she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by a hunting dog or stag. When portrayed as a lunar deity, Artemis wore a long robe and sometimes a veil covered her head. Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women, such as the daughters of Niobe.
Artemis was sometimes represented in Classical art with the crown of the crescent moon, such as also found on Luna and others.
On June 7, 2007, a Roman-era bronze sculpture of Artemis and the Stag was sold at Sotheby's auction house in New York state by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for $25.5 million.
Modern art
Legacy
In astronomy
105 Artemis (an asteroid discovered in 1868)
Artemis (crater) (a tiny crater on the moon, named in 2010)
Artemis Chasma (a nearly circular fracture on the surface of the planet Venus, described in 1980)
Artemis Corona (an oval feature largely enclosed by the Artemis Chasma, also described in 1980)
Acronym (ArTeMiS) for "Architectures de bolometres pour des Telescopes a grand champ de vue dans le domaine sub-Millimetrique au Sol", a large bolometer camera in the submillimeter range that was installed in 2010 at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
In taxonomy
The taxonomic genus Artemia, which entirely comprises the family Artemiidae, derives from Artemis. Artemia species are aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp, the best-known species of which, Artemia salina, or sea monkeys, was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758. Artemia species live in salt lakes, and although they are almost never found in an open sea, they do appear along the Aegean coast near Ephesus, where the Temple of Artemis once stood.
In modern spaceflight
The Artemis program is an ongoing robotic and crewed spaceflight program carried out by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as ESA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. The program has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the lunar south pole region no earlier than 2025.
Genealogy
See also
Bendis
Dali (goddess)
Janus
Lunar deity
Palermo Fragment
Regarding Tauropolos:
Bull (mythology)
Iphigenia in Tauris
Taurus (Mythology)
References
Bibliography
Aelian, On Animals, Volume III: Books 12-17, translated by A. F. Scholfield, Loeb Classical Library No. 449, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1959. Online version at Harvard University Press. .
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Aratus Solensis, Phaenomena translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, Volume V: Books 10.420e-11. Edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson. Loeb Classical Library 274. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Budin, Stephanie, Artemis, Routledge publications, 2016, . Google books.
Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion, Harvard University Press, 1985. .
Callimachus. Hymns, translated by Alexander William Mair (1875–1928). London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Internet Archive. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Celoria, Francis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, Routledge, 1992. .
Cicero, Nature of the Gods, from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero, translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878, in the public domain. Text available online at Topos text.
Collins-Clinton, Jacquelyn, Cosa: The Sculpture and Furnishings in Stone and Marble, University of Michigan Press, 2020, . Google books.
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Evelyn-White, Hugh, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Google Books. Internet Archive.
Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy, Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress, University of California Press, 1981. .
Forbes Irving, P. M. C., Metamorphosis in Greek Myths, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1990. .
Freeman, Kathleen, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker, Harvard University Press, 1983. .
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
Robert Graves (1955) 1960. The Greek Myths (Penguin)
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. .
Hansen, William, Handbook of Classical Mythology, ABC-CLIO, 2004. .
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod, Astronomia, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Internet Archive.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, De Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
Kerényi, Karl (1951), The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Mikalson, Jon D., The Sacred and Civil Calendar of the Athenian Year, Princeton University Press, 1975. Google books.
Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. . Internet Archive.
Most, G.W., Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
Most, G.W., Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, in three volumes. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Ovid. Metamorphoses, Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977, first published 1916. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
Ovid, Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1959. Internet Archive.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal: Volume 24, 1996, . Google books.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary, second edition, Hammond, N.G.L. and Howard Hayes Scullard (editors), Oxford University Press, 1992. .
Pannen, Imke, When the Bad Bleeds: Mantic Elements in English Renaissance Revenge Tragedy, Volume 3 of Representations & Reflections; V&R unipress GmbH, 2010. .
Papathomopoulos, Manolis, Antoninus Liberalis: Les Métamorphoses, Collection Budé, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1968. .
Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
.
Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). .
West, M. L. (2003), Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC, edited and translated by Martin L. West, Loeb Classical Library No. 497, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2003. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
External links
Theoi Project, Artemis, information on Artemis from original Greek and Roman sources, images from classical art.
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. G. E. Marindin, William Smith, LLD, William Wayte)
Fischer-Hansen T., Poulsen B. (eds.) From Artemis to Diana: the goddess of man and beast. Collegium Hyperboreum and Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 2009
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1,150 images of Artemis)
Animal goddesses
Childhood goddesses
Hunting goddesses
Lunar goddesses
Nature goddesses
Night goddesses
Greek virgin goddesses
Mythological Greek archers
Children of Zeus
Divine twins
Deities in the Iliad
Metamorphoses characters
Rape of Persephone
Dog deities
Deities in the Aeneid
Light goddesses
Bear deities
Women in Greek mythology
Mountain goddesses
Dance goddesses
Tree goddesses
Health goddesses
Women of the Trojan war
Fertility goddesses
Twelve Olympians
Plague goddesses
Music and singing goddesses
Mythological hunters
Kourotrophoi
Shapeshifters in Greek mythology
Wolf deities |
3077 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran | Aldebaran | Aldebaran () is a star located in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It has the Bayer designation α Tauri, which is Latinized to Alpha Tauri and abbreviated Alpha Tau or α Tau. Aldebaran varies in brightness from an apparent visual magnitude 0.75 down to 0.95, making it the brightest star in the constellation, as well as (typically) the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky. It is positioned at a distance of approximately 65 light-years from the Sun. The star lies along the line of sight to the nearby Hyades cluster.
Aldebaran is a red giant, meaning that it is cooler than the Sun with a surface temperature of , but its radius is about 44 times the Sun's, so it is over 400 times as luminous. As a giant star, it has moved off the main sequence on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram after depleting its supply of hydrogen in the core. The star spins slowly and takes 520 days to complete a rotation. Aldebaran is believed to host a planet several times the mass of Jupiter, named .
The planetary exploration probe Pioneer 10 is heading in the general direction of the star and should make its closest approach in about two million years.
Nomenclature
The traditional name Aldebaran derives from the Arabic (), meaning , because it seems to follow the Pleiades. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) approved the proper name Aldebaran for this star.
Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and so has the Bayer designation α Tauri, Latinised as Alpha Tauri. It has the Flamsteed designation 87 Tauri as the 87th star in the constellation of approximately 7th magnitude or brighter, ordered by right ascension. It also has the Bright Star Catalogue number 1457, the HD number 29139, and the Hipparcos catalogue number 21421, mostly seen in scientific publications.
It is a variable star listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, but it is listed using its Bayer designation and does not have a separate variable star designation.
Aldebaran and several nearby stars are included in double star catalogues such as the Washington Double Star Catalog as WDS 04359+1631 and the Aitken Double Star Catalogue as ADS 3321. It was included with an 11th-magnitude companion as a double star as H IV 66 in the Herschel Catalogue of Double Stars and Σ II 2 in the Struve Double Star Catalog, and together with a 14th-magnitude star as β 550 in the Burnham Double Star Catalogue.
Observation
Aldebaran is one of the easiest stars to find in the night sky, partly due to its brightness and partly due to being near one of the more noticeable asterisms in the sky. Following the three stars of Orion's belt in the direction opposite to Sirius, the first bright star encountered is Aldebaran.
It is best seen at midnight between late November and early December.
The star is, by chance, in the line of sight between the Earth and the Hyades, so it has the appearance of being the brightest member of the open cluster, but the cluster that forms the bull's-head-shaped asterism is more than twice as far away, at about 150 light years.
Aldebaran is 5.47 degrees south of the ecliptic and so can be occulted by the Moon. Such occultations occur when the Moon's ascending node is near the autumnal equinox. A series of 49 occultations occurred starting on 29 January 2015 and ending at 3 September 2018. Each event was visible from points in the northern hemisphere or close to the equator; people in e.g. Australia or South Africa can never observe an Aldebaran occultation since it is too far south of the ecliptic. A reasonably accurate estimate for the diameter of Aldebaran was obtained during the occultation of 22 September 1978. In the 2020s, Aldebaran is in conjunction in ecliptic longitude with the sun around May 30 of each year.
With a near-infrared J band magnitude of −2.1, only Betelgeuse (−2.9), R Doradus (−2.6), and Arcturus (−2.2) are brighter at that wavelength.
Observational history
On 11 March AD 509, a lunar occultation of Aldebaran was observed in Athens, Greece. English astronomer Edmund Halley studied the timing of this event, and in 1718 concluded that Aldebaran must have changed position since that time, moving several minutes of arc further to the north. This, as well as observations of the changing positions of stars Sirius and Arcturus, led to the discovery of proper motion. Based on present day observations, the position of Aldebaran has shifted 7′ in the last 2000 years; roughly a quarter the diameter of the full moon. Due to precession of the equinoxes, 5,000 years ago the vernal equinox was close to Aldebaran. Between 420,000 and 210,000 years ago, Alderbaran was the brightest star in the night sky, peaking in brightness 320,000 years ago with an apparent magnitude of .
English astronomer William Herschel discovered a faint companion to Aldebaran in 1782; an 11th-magnitude star at an angular separation of 117″. This star was shown to be itself a close double star by S. W. Burnham in 1888, and he discovered an additional 14th-magnitude companion at an angular separation of 31″. Follow-on measurements of proper motion showed that Herschel's companion was diverging from Aldebaran, and hence they were not physically connected. However, the companion discovered by Burnham had almost exactly the same proper motion as Aldebaran, suggesting that the two formed a wide binary star system.
Working at his private observatory in Tulse Hill, England, in 1864 William Huggins performed the first studies of the spectrum of Aldebaran, where he was able to identify the lines of nine elements, including iron, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. In 1886, Edward C. Pickering at the Harvard College Observatory used a photographic plate to capture fifty absorption lines in the spectrum of Aldebaran. This became part of the Draper Catalogue, published in 1890. By 1887, the photographic technique had improved to the point that it was possible to measure a star's radial velocity from the amount of Doppler shift in the spectrum. By this means, the recession velocity of Aldebaran was estimated as (48 km/s), using measurements performed at Potsdam Observatory by Hermann C. Vogel and his assistant Julius Scheiner.
Aldebaran was observed using an interferometer attached to the Hooker Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in 1921 in order to measure its angular diameter, but it was not resolved in these observations.
The extensive history of observations of Aldebaran led to it being included in the list of 33 stars chosen as benchmarks for the Gaia mission to calibrate derived stellar parameters. It had previously been used to calibrate instruments on board the Hubble Space Telescope.
Physical characteristics
Aldebaran is listed as the spectral standard for type K5+ III stars. Its spectrum shows that it is a giant star that has evolved off the main sequence band of the HR diagram after exhausting the hydrogen at its core. The collapse of the center of the star into a degenerate helium core has ignited a shell of hydrogen outside the core and Aldebaran is now on the red giant branch (RGB).
The effective temperature of Aldebaran's photosphere is . It has a surface gravity of , typical for a giant star, but around 25 times lower than the Earth's and 700 times lower than the Sun's. Its metallicity is about 30% lower than the Sun's.
Measurements by the Hipparcos satellite and other sources put Aldebaran around away. Asteroseismology has determined that it is about 16% more massive than the Sun, yet it shines with 518 times the Sun's luminosity due to the expanded radius. The angular diameter of Aldebaran has been measured many times. The value adopted as part of the Gaia benchmark calibration is . It is 44 times the diameter of the Sun, approximately 61 million kilometres.
Aldebaran is a slightly variable star, assigned to the slow irregular type LB. The General Catalogue of Variable Stars indicates variation between apparent magnitude 0.75 and 0.95 from historical reports. Modern studies show a smaller amplitude, with some showing almost no variation. Hipparcos photometry shows an amplitude of only about 0.02 magnitudes and a possible period around 18 days. Intensive ground-based photometry showed variations of up to 0.03 magnitudes and a possible period around 91 days. Analysis of observations over a much longer period still find a total amplitude likely to be less than 0.1 magnitudes, and the variation is considered to be irregular.
The photosphere shows abundances of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen that suggest the giant has gone through its first dredge-up stage—a normal step in the evolution of a star into a red giant during which material from deep within the star is brought up to the surface by convection. With its slow rotation, Aldebaran lacks a dynamo needed to generate a corona and hence is not a source of hard X-ray emission. However, small scale magnetic fields may still be present in the lower atmosphere, resulting from convection turbulence near the surface. The measured strength of the magnetic field on Aldebaran is . Any resulting soft X-ray emissions from this region may be attenuated by the chromosphere, although ultraviolet emission has been detected in the spectrum. The star is currently losing mass at a rate of (about one Earth mass in 300,000 years) with a velocity of . This stellar wind may be generated by the weak magnetic fields in the lower atmosphere.
Beyond the chromosphere of Aldebaran is an extended molecular outer atmosphere (MOLsphere) where the temperature is cool enough for molecules of gas to form. This region lies at about 2.5 times the radius of the star and has a temperature of about . The spectrum reveals lines of carbon monoxide, water, and titanium oxide. Outside the MOLSphere, the stellar wind continues to expand until it reaches the termination shock boundary with the hot, ionized interstellar medium that dominates the Local Bubble, forming a roughly spherical astrosphere with a radius of around , centered on Aldebaran.
Visual companions
Five faint stars appear close to Aldebaran in the sky. These double star components were given upper-case Latin letter designations more or less in the order of their discovery, with the letter A reserved for the primary star. Some characteristics of these components, including their position relative to Aldebaran, are shown in the table.
Some surveys, for example Gaia Data Release 2, have indicated that Alpha Tauri B may have about the same proper motion and parallax as Aldebaran and thus may be a physical binary system. These measurements are difficult, since the dim B component appears so close to the bright primary star, and the margin of error is too large to establish (or exclude) a physical relationship between the two. So far neither the B component, nor anything else, has been unambiguously shown to be physically associated with Aldebaran. A spectral type of M2.5 has been published for Alpha Tauri B.
Alpha Tauri CD is a binary system with the C and D component stars gravitationally bound to and co-orbiting each other. These co-orbiting stars have been shown to be located far beyond Aldebaran and are members of the Hyades star cluster. As with the rest of the stars in the cluster they do not physically interact with Aldebaran in any way.
Planetary system
In 1993 radial velocity measurements of Aldebaran, Arcturus and Pollux showed that Aldebaran exhibited a long-period radial velocity oscillation, which could be interpreted as a substellar companion. The measurements for Aldebaran implied a companion with a minimum mass 11.4 times that of Jupiter in a 643-day orbit at a separation of in a mildly eccentric orbit. However, all three stars surveyed showed similar oscillations yielding similar companion masses, and the authors concluded that the variation was likely to be intrinsic to the star rather than due to the gravitational effect of a companion.
In 2015 a study showed stable long-term evidence for both a planetary companion and stellar activity. An asteroseismic analysis of the residuals to the planet fit has determined that Aldebaran b has a minimum mass of Jupiter masses, and that when the star was on the main sequence it would have given this planet Earth-like levels of illumination and therefore, potentially, temperature. This would place it and any of its moons in the habitable zone. Follow-up study in 2019 have found the evidence for planetary existence inconclusive though.
Etymology and mythology
Aldebaran was originally ( in Arabic), meaning , since it follows the Pleiades; in fact, the Arabs sometimes also applied the name to the Hyades as a whole. A variety of transliterated spellings have been used, with the current Aldebaran becoming standard relatively recently.
Mythology
This easily seen and striking star in its suggestive asterism is a popular subject for ancient and modern myths.
Mexican culture: For the Seris of northwestern Mexico, this star provides light for the seven women giving birth (Pleiades). It has three names: , , and (). The lunar month corresponding to October is called .
Australian Aboriginal culture: amongst indigenous people of the Clarence River, in north-eastern New South Wales, this star is the ancestor Karambal, who stole another man's wife. The woman's husband tracked him down and burned the tree in which he was hiding. It is believed that he rose to the sky as smoke and became the star Aldebaran.
Names in other languages
In Indian astronomy it is identified as the lunar station Rohini. In Hindu mythology, Rohini is one of the twenty-seven daughters of the sage-king Daksha and Asikni, and the favourite wife of the moon god, Chandra.
In Ancient Greek it has been called , literally or .
In Chinese, (), meaning , refers to an asterism consisting Aldebaran, ε Tauri, δ3 Tauri, δ1 Tauri, γ Tauri, 71 Tauri and λ Tauri. Consequently, the Chinese name for Aldebaran itself is (), .
In modern culture
As the brightest star in a Zodiac constellation, it is given great significance within astrology.
The name Aldebaran or Alpha Tauri has been adopted many times, including
Aldebaran Rock in Antarctica
United States Navy stores ship and
proposed micro-satellite launch vehicle Aldebaran
French company Aldebaran Robotics
fashion brand AlphaTauri
Formula 1 team Scuderia AlphaTauri, previously known as Toro Rosso
The star also appears in works of fiction such as Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) and Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). It is frequently seen in science fiction, including the Lensman series (1948-1954) and Fallen Dragon (2001).
Aldebaran regularly features in conspiracy theories as one of the origins of extraterrestrial aliens, often linked to Nazi UFOs. A well-known example is the German conspiracy theorist Axel Stoll, who considered the star the home of the Aryan race and the target of expeditions by the Wehrmacht.
The planetary exploration probe Pioneer 10 is no longer powered or in contact with Earth, but its trajectory is taking it in the general direction of Aldebaran. It is expected to make its closest approach in about two million years.
The Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach proposed the name aldebaranium (chemical symbol Ad) for a rare earth element that he (among others) had found. Today, it is called ytterbium (symbol Yb).
See also
Lists of stars
List of brightest stars
List of nearest bright stars
Historical brightest stars
Taurus (Chinese astronomy)
References
External links
Daytime occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon (Moscow, Russia) YouTube video
K-type giants
Slow irregular variables
Hypothetical planetary systems
Taurus (constellation)
Tauri, Alpha
1457
BD+16 0629
Tauri, 087
0171.1
029139
021421
Aldebaran
245873777 |
3124 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterglow | Afterglow | An afterglow in meteorology consists of several atmospheric optical phenomena, with a general definition as a broad arch of whitish or pinkish sunlight in the twilight sky, consisting of the bright segment and the purple light. Purple light mainly occurs when the Sun is 2–6° below the horizon, from civil to nautical twilight, while the bright segment lasts until the end of the nautical twilight. Afterglow is often in cases of volcanic eruptions discussed, while its purple light is discussed as a different particular volcanic purple light. Specifically in volcanic occurrences it is light scattered by fine particulates, like dust, suspended in the atmosphere. In the case of alpenglow, which is similar to the Belt of Venus, afterglow is used in general for the golden-red glowing light from the sunset and sunrise reflected in the sky, and in particularly for its last stage, when the purple light is reflected. The opposite of an afterglow is a foreglow, which occurs before sunrise.
Sunlight reaches Earth around civil twilight during golden hour intensely in its low-energy and low-frequency red component.
During this part of civil twilight after sunset and before sundawn the red sunlight remains visible by scattering through particles in the air. Backscattering, possibly after being reflected off clouds or high snowfields in mountain regions, furthermore creates a reddish to pinkish light. The high-energy and high-frequency components of light towards blue are scattered out broadly, producing the broader blue light of nautical twilight before or after the reddish light of civil twilight, while in combination with the reddish light producing the purple light. This period of blue dominating is referred to as the blue hour and is, like the golden hour, widely treasured by photographers and painters.
After the 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa, a remarkable series of red sunsets appeared worldwide. An enormous amount of exceedingly fine dust were blown to a great height by the volcano's explosion, and then globally diffused by the high atmospheric winds. Edvard Munch's painting The Scream possibly depicts an afterglow during this period.
See also
Airglow
Belt of Venus
Earth's shadow
Gegenschein
Red sky at morning
Sunset
References
External links
Atmospheric optical phenomena
es:Arrebol
fi:Purppuravalo |
3263 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid%20rain | Acid rain | Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid rain has a pH level lower than this and ranges from 4–5 on average. The more acidic the acid rain is, the lower its pH is. Acid rain can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids.
Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters, soils, microbes, insects and aquatic life-forms. In ecosystems, persistent acid rain reduces tree bark durability, leaving flora more susceptible to environmental stressors such as drought, heat/cold and pest infestation. Acid rain is also capable of detrimenting soil composition by stripping it of nutrients such as calcium and magnesium which play a role in plant growth and maintaining healthy soil. In terms of human infrastructure, acid rain also causes paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and weathering of stone buildings and statues as well as having impacts on human health.
Some governments, including those in Europe and North America, have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere through air pollution regulations. These efforts have had positive results due to the widespread research on acid rain starting in the 1960s and the publicized information on its harmful effects. The main source of sulfur and nitrogen compounds that result in acid rain are anthropogenic, but nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions.
Definition
"Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of a mixture from wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloudwater, and dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. Distilled water, once carbon dioxide is removed, has a neutral pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and those with a pH greater than 7 are alkaline. "Clean" or unpolluted rain has an acidic pH, but usually no lower than 5.7, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid according to the following reaction:
Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low concentrations of carbonate and hydronium ions:
Unpolluted rain can also contain other chemicals which affect its pH (acidity level). A common example is nitric acid produced by electric discharge in the atmosphere such as lightning. Acid deposition as an environmental issue (discussed later in the article) would include additional acids other than .
Occasional pH readings in rain and fog water of well below 2.4 have been reported in industrialized areas.
The main sources of the SO2 and NOx pollution that causes acid rain are burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and power internal combustion vehicles, to refine oil, and in industrial manufacturing and other processes.
History
Acid rain was first systematically studied in Europe, in the 1960s, and in the United States and Canada, the following decade.
In Europe
The corrosive effect of polluted, acidic city air on limestone and marble was noted in the 17th century by John Evelyn, who remarked upon the poor condition of the Arundel marbles.
Since the Industrial Revolution, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere have increased. In 1852, Robert Angus Smith was the first to show the relationship between acid rain and atmospheric pollution in Manchester, England. Smith coined the term "acid rain" in 1872.
In the late 1960s, scientists began widely observing and studying the phenomenon. At first, the main focus in this research lay on local effects of acid rain. Waldemar Christofer Brøgger was the first to acknowledge long-distance transportation of pollutants crossing borders from the United Kingdom to Norway – a problem systematically studied by Brynjulf Ottar in the 1970s. Ottar's work was strongly influenced by Swedish soil scientist Svante Odén, who had drawn widespread attention to Europe's acid rain problem in popular newspapers and wrote a landmark paper on the subject in 1968.
In the United States
The earliest report about acid rain in the United States came from chemical evidence gathered from Hubbard Brook Valley; public awareness of acid rain in the US increased in the 1970s after The New York Times reported on these findings.
In 1972, a group of scientists including Gene Likens discovered the rain that was deposited at White Mountains of New Hampshire was acidic. The pH of the sample was measured to be 4.03 at Hubbard Brook. The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study followed up with a series of research studies that analyzed the environmental effects of acid rain. Acid rain that mixed with stream water at Hubbard Brook was neutralized by the alumina from soils. The result of this research indicated that the chemical reaction between acid rain and aluminium leads to an increasing rate of soil weathering. Experimental research was done to examine the effects of increased acidity in streams on ecological species. In 1980, a group of scientists modified the acidity of Norris Brook, New Hampshire, and observed the change in species' behaviors. There was a decrease in species diversity, an increase in community dominants, and a decrease in the food web complexity.
In 1980, the US Congress passed an Acid Deposition Act. This Act established an 18-year assessment and research program under the direction of the National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). NAPAP enlarged a network of monitoring sites to determine how acidic the precipitation actually was, seeking to determine long-term trends, and established a network for dry deposition. Using a statistically based sampling design, NAPAP quantified the effects of acid rain on a regional basis by targeting research and surveys to identify and quantify the effects of acid precipitation on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. NAPAP also assessed the effects of acid rain on historical buildings, monuments, and building materials. It also funded extensive studies on atmospheric processes and potential control programs.
From the start, policy advocates from all sides attempted to influence NAPAP activities to support their particular policy advocacy efforts, or to disparage those of their opponents. For the US Government's scientific enterprise, a significant impact of NAPAP were lessons learned in the assessment process and in environmental research management to a relatively large group of scientists, program managers, and the public.
In 1981, the National Academy of Sciences was looking into research about the controversial issues regarding acid rain. President Ronald Reagan dismissed the issues of acid rain until his personal visit to Canada and confirmed that the Canadian border suffered from the drifting pollution from smokestacks originating in the US Midwest. Reagan honored the agreement to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's enforcement of anti-pollution regulation. In 1982, Reagan commissioned William Nierenberg to serve on the National Science Board. Nierenberg selected scientists including Gene Likens to serve on a panel to draft a report on acid rain. In 1983, the panel of scientists came up with a draft report, which concluded that acid rain is a real problem and solutions should be sought. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reviewed the draft report and sent Fred Singer's suggestions of the report, which cast doubt on the cause of acid rain. The panelists revealed rejections against Singer's positions and submitted the report to Nierenberg in April. In May 1983, the House of Representatives voted against legislation that aimed to control sulfur emissions. There was a debate about whether Nierenberg delayed to release the report. Nierenberg himself denied the saying about his suppression of the report and stated that the report was withheld after the House's vote because it was not ready to be published.
In 1991, the US National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) provided its first assessment of acid rain in the United States. It reported that 5% of New England Lakes were acidic, with sulfates being the most common problem. They noted that 2% of the lakes could no longer support Brook Trout, and 6% of the lakes were unsuitable for the survival of many species of minnow. Subsequent Reports to Congress have documented chemical changes in soil and freshwater ecosystems, nitrogen saturation, decreases in amounts of nutrients in soil, episodic acidification, regional haze, and damage to historical monuments.
Meanwhile, in 1990, the US Congress passed a series of amendments to the Clean Air Act. Title IV of these amendments established a cap and trade system designed to control emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Both these emissions proved to cause a significant problem on U.S. citizens and their access to healthy clean air. Title IV called for a total reduction of about 10 million tons of SO2 emissions from power plants, close to a 50% reduction. It was implemented in two phases. Phase I began in 1995, and limited sulfur dioxide emissions from 110 of the largest power plants to a combined total of 8.7 million tons of sulfur dioxide. One power plant in New England (Merrimack) was in Phase I. Four other plants (Newington, Mount Tom, Brayton Point, and Salem Harbor) were added under other provisions of the program. Phase II began in 2000, and affects most of the power plants in the country.
During the 1990s, research continued. On March 10, 2005, the EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This rule provides states with a solution to the problem of power plant pollution that drifts from one state to another. CAIR will permanently cap emissions of SO2 and NOx in the eastern United States. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO2 emissions in 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia by over 70% and NOx emissions by over 60% from 2003 levels.
Overall, the program's cap and trade program has been successful in achieving its goals. Since the 1990s, SO2 emissions have dropped 40%, and according to the Pacific Research Institute, acid rain levels have dropped 65% since 1976. Conventional regulation was used in the European Union, which saw a decrease of over 70% in SO2 emissions during the same time period.
In 2007, total SO2 emissions were 8.9 million tons, achieving the program's long-term goal ahead of the 2010 statutory deadline.
In 2007 the EPA estimated that by 2010, the overall costs of complying with the program for businesses and consumers would be $1 billion to $2 billion a year, only one fourth of what was originally predicted. Forbes says: "In 2010, by which time the cap and trade system had been augmented by the George W. Bush administration's Clean Air Interstate Rule, SO2 emissions had fallen to 5.1 million tons."
The term citizen science can be traced back as far as January 1989 to a campaign by the Audubon Society to measure acid rain. Scientist Muki Haklay cites in a policy report for the Wilson Center entitled 'Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective' a first use of the term 'citizen science' by R. Kerson in the magazine MIT Technology Review from January 1989. Quoting from the Wilson Center report: "The new form of engagement in science received the name "citizen science". The first recorded example of the use of the term is from 1989, describing how 225 volunteers across the US collected rain samples to assist the Audubon Society in an acid-rain awareness raising campaign. The volunteers collected samples, checked for acidity, and reported back to the organization. The information was then used to demonstrate the full extent of the phenomenon."
In Canada
Canadian Harold Harvey was among the first to research a "dead" lake. In 1971, he and R. J. Beamish published a report, "Acidification of the La Cloche Mountain Lakes", documenting the gradual deterioration of fish stocks in 60 lakes in Killarney Park in Ontario, which they had been studying systematically since 1966.
In the 1970s and 80s, acid rain was a major topic of research at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Researchers added sulfuric acid to whole lakes in controlled ecosystem experiments to simulate the effects of acid rain. Because its remote conditions allowed for whole-ecosystem experiments, research at the ELA showed that the effect of acid rain on fish populations started at concentrations much lower than those observed in laboratory experiments. In the context of a food web, fish populations crashed earlier than when acid rain had direct toxic effects to the fish because the acidity led to crashes in prey populations (e.g. mysids). As experimental acid inputs were reduced, fish populations and lake ecosystems recovered at least partially, although invertebrate populations have still not completely returned to the baseline conditions. This research showed both that acidification was linked to declining fish populations and that the effects could be reversed if sulfuric acid emissions decreased, and influenced policy in Canada and the United States.
In 1985, seven Canadian provinces (all except British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan) and the federal government signed the Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program. The provinces agreed to limit their combined sulfur dioxide emissions to 2.3 million tonnes by 1994. The Canada-US Air Quality Agreement was signed in 1991. In 1998, all federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers of Energy and Environment signed The Canada-Wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000, which was designed to protect lakes that are more sensitive than those protected by earlier policies.
Emissions of chemicals leading to acidification
The most important gas which leads to acidification is sulfur dioxide. Emissions of nitrogen oxides which are oxidized to form nitric acid are of increasing importance due to stricter controls on emissions of sulfur compounds. 70 Tg(S) per year in the form of SO2 comes from fossil fuel combustion and industry, 2.8 Tg(S) from wildfires, and 7–8 Tg(S) per year from volcanoes.
Natural phenomena
The principal natural phenomena that contribute acid-producing gases to the atmosphere are emissions from volcanoes. Thus, for example, fumaroles from the Laguna Caliente crater of Poás Volcano create extremely high amounts of acid rain and fog, with acidity as high as a pH of 2, clearing an area of any vegetation and frequently causing irritation to the eyes and lungs of inhabitants in nearby settlements. Acid-producing gasses are also created by biological processes that occur on the land, in wetlands, and in the oceans. The major biological source of sulfur compounds is dimethyl sulfide.
Nitric acid in rainwater is an important source of fixed nitrogen for plant life, and is also produced by electrical activity in the atmosphere such as lightning.
Acidic deposits have been detected in glacial ice thousands of years old in remote parts of the globe.
Human activity
The principal cause of acid rain is sulfur and nitrogen compounds from human sources, such as electricity generation, animal agriculture, factories, and motor vehicles. These also include power plants, which use electric power generators that account for a quarter of nitrogen oxides and two-thirds of sulfur dioxide within the atmosphere. Industrial acid rain is a substantial problem in China and Russia and areas downwind from them. These areas all burn sulfur-containing coal to generate heat and electricity.
The problem of acid rain has not only increased with population and industrial growth, but has become more widespread. The use of tall smokestacks to reduce local pollution has contributed to the spread of acid rain by releasing gases into regional atmospheric circulation; dispersal from these taller stacks causes pollutants to be carried farther, causing widespread ecological damage. Often deposition occurs a considerable distance downwind of the emissions, with mountainous regions tending to receive the greatest deposition (because of their higher rainfall). An example of this effect is the low pH of rain which falls in Scandinavia. Regarding low pH and pH imbalances in correlation to acid rain, low levels, or those under the pH value of 7, are considered acidic. Acid rain falls at a pH value of roughly 4, making it harmful to consume for humans. When these low pH levels fall in specific regions, they not only affect the environment but also human health. With acidic pH levels in humans comes hair loss, low urinary pH, severe mineral imbalances, constipation, and many cases of chronic disorders like Fibromyalgia and Basal Carcinoma.
Chemical process
Combustion of fuels produces sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides. They are converted into sulfuric acid and nitric acid.
Gas phase chemistry
In the gas phase sulfur dioxide is oxidized by reaction with the hydroxyl radical via an intermolecular reaction:
SO2 + OH· → HOSO2·
which is followed by:
HOSO2· + O2 → HO2· + SO3
In the presence of water, sulfur trioxide (SO3) is converted rapidly to sulfuric acid:
SO3 (g) + H2O (l) → H2SO4 (aq)
Nitrogen dioxide reacts with OH to form nitric acid:
NO2 + OH· → HNO3
Chemistry in cloud droplets
When clouds are present, the loss rate of SO2 is faster than can be explained by gas phase chemistry alone. This is due to reactions in the liquid water droplets.
Hydrolysis
Sulfur dioxide dissolves in water and then, like carbon dioxide, hydrolyses in a series of equilibrium reactions:
SO2 (g) + H2O SO2·H2O
SO2·H2O H+ + HSO3−
HSO3− H+ + SO32−
Oxidation
There are a large number of aqueous reactions that oxidize sulfur from S(IV) to S(VI), leading to the formation of sulfuric acid. The most important oxidation reactions are with ozone, hydrogen peroxide and oxygen (reactions with oxygen are catalyzed by iron and manganese in the cloud droplets).
Acid deposition
Wet deposition
Wet deposition of acids occurs when any form of precipitation (rain, snow, and so on) removes acids from the atmosphere and delivers it to the Earth's surface. This can result from the deposition of acids produced in the raindrops (see aqueous phase chemistry above) or by the precipitation removing the acids either in clouds or below clouds. Wet removal of both gases and aerosols are both of importance for wet deposition.
Dry deposition
Acid deposition also occurs via dry deposition in the absence of precipitation. This can be responsible for as much as 20 to 60% of total acid deposition. This occurs when particles and gases stick to the ground, plants or other surfaces.
Adverse effects
Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms as well as causing damage to buildings and having impacts on human health.
Surface waters and aquatic animals
Both the lower pH and higher aluminium concentrations in surface water that occur as a result of acid rain can cause damage to fish and other aquatic animals. At pH lower than 5 most fish eggs will not hatch and lower pH can kill adult fish. As lakes and rivers become more acidic biodiversity is reduced. Acid rain has eliminated insect life and some fish species, including the brook trout in some lakes, streams, and creeks in geographically sensitive areas, such as the Adirondack Mountains of the United States. However, the extent to which acid rain contributes directly or indirectly via runoff from the catchment to lake and river acidity (i.e., depending on characteristics of the surrounding watershed) is variable. The United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website states: "Of the lakes and streams surveyed, acid rain caused acidity in 75% of the acidic lakes and about 50% of the acidic streams". Lakes hosted by silicate basement rocks are more acidic than lakes within limestone or other basement rocks with a carbonate composition (i.e. marble) due to buffering effects by carbonate minerals, even with the same amount of acid rain.
Soils
Soil biology and chemistry can be seriously damaged by acid rain. Some microbes are unable to tolerate changes to low pH and are killed. The enzymes of these microbes are denatured (changed in shape so they no longer function) by the acid. The hydronium ions of acid rain also mobilize toxins, such as aluminium, and leach away essential nutrients and minerals such as magnesium.
2 H+ (aq) + Mg2+ (clay) 2 H+ (clay) + Mg2+ (aq)
Soil chemistry can be dramatically changed when base cations, such as calcium and magnesium, are leached by acid rain, thereby affecting sensitive species, such as sugar maple (Acer saccharum).
Soil acidification
Impacts of acidic water and soil acidification on plants could be minor or in most cases major. Most minor cases which do not result in fatality of plant life can be attributed to the plants being less susceptible to acidic conditions and/or the acid rain being less potent. However, even in minor cases, the plant will eventually die due to the acidic water lowering the plant's natural pH. Acidic water enters the plant and causes important plant minerals to dissolve and get carried away; which ultimately causes the plant to die of lack of minerals for nutrition. In major cases, which are more extreme, the same process of damage occurs as in minor cases, which is removal of essential minerals, but at a much quicker rate. Likewise, acid rain that falls on soil and on plant leaves causes drying of the waxy leaf cuticle, which ultimately causes rapid water loss from the plant to the outside atmosphere and eventually results in death of the plant. To see if a plant is being affected by soil acidification, one can closely observe the plant leaves. If the leaves are green and look healthy, the soil pH is normal and acceptable for plant life. But if the plant leaves have yellowing between the veins on their leaves, that means the plant is suffering from acidification and is unhealthy. Moreover, a plant suffering from soil acidification cannot photosynthesize; the acid-water-induced process of drying out of the plant can destroy chloroplast organelles. Without being able to photosynthesize, a plant cannot create nutrients for its own survival or oxygen for the survival of aerobic organisms, which affects most species on Earth and ultimately ends the purpose of the plant's existence.
Forests and other vegetation
Adverse effects may be indirectly related to acid rain, like the acid's effects on soil (see above) or high concentration of gaseous precursors to acid rain. High altitude forests are especially vulnerable as they are often surrounded by clouds and fog which are more acidic than rain.
Other plants can also be damaged by acid rain, but the effect on food crops is minimized by the application of lime and fertilizers to replace lost nutrients. In cultivated areas, limestone may also be added to increase the ability of the soil to keep the pH stable, but this tactic is largely unusable in the case of wilderness lands. When calcium is leached from the needles of red spruce, these trees become less cold tolerant and exhibit winter injury and even death.
Ocean acidification
Acid rain has a much less harmful effect on oceans on a global scale, but it creates an amplified impact in the shallower waters of coastal waters. Acid rain can cause the ocean's pH to fall, known as ocean acidification, making it more difficult for different coastal species to create their exoskeletons that they need to survive. These coastal species link together as part of the ocean's food chain, and without them being a source for other marine life to feed off of, more marine life will die. Coral's limestone skeleton is particularly sensitive to pH decreases, because the calcium carbonate, a core component of the limestone skeleton, dissolves in acidic (low pH) solutions.
In addition to acidification, excess nitrogen inputs from the atmosphere promote increased growth of phytoplankton and other marine plants, which, in turn, may cause more frequent harmful algal blooms and eutrophication (the creation of oxygen-depleted "dead zones") in some parts of the ocean.
Human health effects
Acid rain does not directly affect human health. The acid in the rainwater is too dilute to have direct adverse effects. The particulates responsible for acid rain (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) do have an adverse effect. These particulates come together and react in the atmosphere, forming nitrate particles and fine sulfate. Increased amounts of fine particulate matter in the air contribute to heart and lung problems, including asthma and bronchitis. These particular effects on the heart and lungs can alter their function, including heart attack caused death for those with an increased risk of heart disease and other heart conditions.
Other adverse effects
Acid rain can damage buildings, historic monuments, and statues, especially those made of rocks, such as limestone and marble, that contain large amounts of calcium carbonate. Acids in the rain react with the calcium compounds in the stones to create gypsum, which then flakes off.
CaCO3 (s) + H2SO4 (aq) CaSO4 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)
The effects of this are commonly seen on old gravestones, where acid rain can cause the inscriptions to become completely illegible. Acid rain also increases the corrosion rate of metals, in particular iron, steel, copper and bronze.
Affected areas
Places significantly impacted by acid rain around the globe include most of eastern Europe from Poland northward into Scandinavia, the eastern third of the United States, and southeastern Canada. Other affected areas include the southeastern coast of China and Taiwan.
Prevention methods
Technical solutions
Many coal-firing power stations use flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) to remove sulfur-containing gases from their stack gases. For a typical coal-fired power station, FGD will remove 95% or more of the SO2 in the flue gases. An example of FGD is the wet scrubber which is commonly used. A wet scrubber is basically a reaction tower equipped with a fan that extracts hot smoke stack gases from a power plant into the tower. Lime or limestone in slurry form is also injected into the tower to mix with the stack gases and combine with the sulfur dioxide present. The calcium carbonate of the limestone produces pH-neutral calcium sulfate that is physically removed from the scrubber. That is, the scrubber turns sulfur pollution into industrial sulfates.
In some areas the sulfates are sold to chemical companies as gypsum when the purity of calcium sulfate is high. In others, they are placed in landfill. The effects of acid rain can last for generations, as the effects of pH level change can stimulate the continued leaching of undesirable chemicals into otherwise pristine water sources, killing off vulnerable insect and fish species and blocking efforts to restore native life.
Fluidized bed combustion also reduces the amount of sulfur emitted by power production.
Vehicle emissions control reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides from motor vehicles.
International treaties
International treaties on the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants have been agreed upon by western countries for some time now. Beginning in 1979, European countries convened in order to ratify general principles discussed during the UNECE Convention. The purpose was to combat Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. The 1985 Helsinki Protocol on the Reduction of Sulfur Emissions under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution furthered the results of the convention. Results of the treaty have already come to fruition, as evidenced by an approximate 40 percent drop in particulate matter in North America. The effectiveness of the Convention in combatting acid rain has inspired further acts of international commitment to prevent the proliferation of particulate matter. Canada and the US signed the Air Quality Agreement in 1991. Most European countries and Canada signed the treaties. Activity of the Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention remained dormant after 1999, when 27 countries convened to further reduce the effects of acid rain. In 2000, foreign cooperation to prevent acid rain was sparked in Asia for the first time. Ten diplomats from countries ranging throughout the continent convened to discuss ways to prevent acid rain. Following these discussions, the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) was established in 2001 as an intergovernmental initiative to provide science-based inputs for decision makers and promote international cooperation on acid deposition in East Asia. In 2023, the EANET member countries include Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Emissions trading
In this regulatory scheme, every current polluting facility is given or may purchase on an open market an emissions allowance for each unit of a designated pollutant it emits. Operators can then install pollution control equipment, and sell portions of their emissions allowances they no longer need for their own operations, thereby recovering some of the capital cost of their investment in such equipment. The intention is to give operators economic incentives to install pollution controls.
The first emissions trading market was established in the United States by enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The overall goal of the Acid Rain Program established by the Act is to achieve significant environmental and public health benefits through reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), the primary causes of acid rain. To achieve this goal at the lowest cost to society, the program employs both regulatory and market based approaches for controlling air pollution.
See also
Alkaline precipitation
Citizen science – one of two 'first uses' of the term was in an acid rain campaign in 1989.
Gene Likens
List of environmental issues
Lists of environmental topics
Ocean acidification
Rain dust (an alkaline rain)
Soil retrogression and degradation
References
External links
National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report – a 98-page report to Congress (2005)
Acid rain for schools
Acid rain for schools – Hubbard Brook
United States Environmental Protection Agency – New England Acid Rain Program (superficial)
Acid Rain (more depth than ref. above)
U.S. Geological Survey – What is acid rain?
Acid Rain: A Continuing National Tragedy – a report from The Adirondack Council on acid rain in the Adirondack region (1998)
What Happens to Acid Rain?
Acid Rain and how it affects fish and other aquatic organisms
Fourth Report for Policy Makers (RPM4): Towards Clean Air for Sustainable Future in East Asia through Collaborative Activities- a report for policy-makers, Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia, EANET, (2019).
Rain
Pollution
Air pollution
Water pollution
Forest pathology
Environmental chemistry
Sulfuric acid |
4550 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini | Bikini | A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by girls and women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering the intergluteal cleft and a little, some, or all of the buttocks. The size of the top and bottom can vary, from bikinis that offer full coverage of the breasts, pelvis, and buttocks, to more revealing designs with a thong or G-string bottom that covers only the mons pubis, but exposes the buttocks, and a top that covers only the areolae. Bikini bottoms covering about half the buttocks may be described as "Brazilian-cut", while those covering about three-quarters of the buttocks may be described as "cheeky" or "cheeky-cut".
In May 1946, Parisian fashion designer Jacques Heim released a two-piece swimsuit design that he named the ('Atom') and advertised as "the smallest swimsuit in the world". Like swimsuits of the era, it covered the wearer's belly button, and it failed to attract much attention. Clothing designer Louis Réard introduced his new, smaller design in July. He named the swimsuit after the Bikini Atoll, where the first public test of a nuclear bomb had taken place four days before. His skimpy design was risqué, exposing the wearer's navel and much of her buttocks. No runway model would wear it, so he hired a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris named Micheline Bernardini to model it at a review of swimsuit fashions.
Due to its revealing design, the bikini was once considered controversial, facing opposition from a number of groups and being accepted only very slowly by the general public. In many countries, the design was banned from beaches and other public places: in 1949, France banned the bikini from being worn on its coastlines; Germany banned the bikini from public swimming pools until the 1970s, and some communist groups condemned the bikini as a "capitalist decadence". The bikini also faced criticism from some feminists, who reviled it as a garment designed to suit men's tastes, and not those of women. Despite this backlash, however, the bikini still sold well throughout the mid to later 20th century.
The bikini gained increased exposure and acceptance as film stars like Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, and Ursula Andress wore them and were photographed on public beaches and seen in film. The minimalist bikini design became common in most Western countries by the mid-1960s as both swimwear and underwear. By the late 20th century, it was widely used as sportswear in beach volleyball and bodybuilding. There are a number of modern stylistic variations of the design used for marketing purposes and as industry classifications, including monokini, microkini, tankini, trikini, pubikini, skirtini, thong, and g-string. A man's single piece brief swimsuit may also be called a bikini or "bikini brief", particularly if it has slimmer sides. Similarly, a variety of men's and women's underwear types are described as bikini underwear. The bikini has gradually gained wide acceptance in Western society. By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, and boosted spin off services such as bikini waxing and sun tanning.
Etymology and terminology
While the two-piece swimsuit as a design existed in classical antiquity, the modern design first attracted public notice in Paris on July 5, 1946. French automotive engineer Louis Réard introduced a design he named the "bikini", adopting the name from the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, which was the colonial name the Germans gave to the atoll, borrowed from the Marshallese name for the island, . Four days earlier, the United States had initiated its first peacetime nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads. Réard hoped his swimsuit's revealing style would create an "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar to the explosion at Bikini Atoll.
By making an analogy with words like bilingual and bilateral containing the Latin prefix "bi-" (meaning "two" in Latin), the word bikini was first back-derived as consisting of two parts, [bi + kini] by Rudi Gernreich, who introduced the monokini in 1964. Later swimsuit designs like the tankini and trikini further cemented this derivation. Over time the "–kini family" (as dubbed by author William Safire), including the "–ini sisters" (as dubbed by designer Anne Cole), expanded into a variety of swimwear including the monokini (also known as a numokini or unikini), seekini, tankini, camikini, (also hipkini), minikini, face-kini, burkini, and microkini. The Language Report, compiled by lexicographer Susie Dent and published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) in 2003, considers lexicographic inventions like bandeaukini and camkini, two variants of the tankini, important to observe. Although "bikini" was originally a registered trademark of Réard, it has since become genericized.
Variations of the term are used to describe stylistic variations for promotional purposes and industry classifications, including monokini, microkini, tankini, trikini, pubikini, bandeaukini and skirtini. A man's brief swimsuit may also be referred to as a bikini. Similarly, a variety of men's and women's underwear types are described as bikini underwear.
History
In antiquity
According to archaeologist James Mellaart, a mural from the Chalcolithic era (around 5600 BC) in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia depicts a mother goddess astride two leopards wearing a costume somewhat like a bikini. The two-piece swimsuit can be traced back to the Greco-Roman world, where bikini-like garments worn by women athletes are depicted on urns and paintings dating back to 1400 BC.
In Coronation of the Winner, a mosaic in the floor of a Roman villa in Sicily that dates from the Diocletian period (286–305 AD), young women participate in weightlifting, discus throwing, and running ball games dressed in bikini-like garments (technically bandeaukinis in modern lexicon). The mosaic, found in the Sicilian Villa Romana del Casale, features ten maidens who have been anachronistically dubbed the "Bikini Girls". Other Roman archaeological finds depict the goddess Venus in a similar garment. In Pompeii, depictions of Venus wearing a bikini were discovered in the Casa della Venere, in the tablinum of the House of Julia Felix, and in an atrium garden of Via Dell'Abbondanza.
Precursors in the West
Swimming or bathing outdoors was discouraged in the Christian West, so there was little demand or need for swimming or bathing costumes until the 18th century. The bathing gown of the 18th century was a loose ankle-length full-sleeve chemise-type gown made of wool or flannel that retained coverage and modesty.
In 1907, Australian swimmer and performer Annette Kellermann was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing form-fitting sleeveless one-piece knitted swimming tights that covered her from neck to toe, a costume she adopted from England, although it became accepted swimsuit attire for women in parts of Europe by 1910. In 1913, designer Carl Jantzen made the first functional two-piece swimwear. Inspired by the introduction of females into Olympic swimming he designed a close-fitting costume with shorts for the bottom and short sleeves for the top.
During the 1920s and 1930s, people began to shift from "taking in the water" to "taking in the sun", at bathhouses and spas, and swimsuit designs shifted from functional considerations to incorporate more decorative features. Rayon was used in the 1920s in the manufacture of tight-fitting swimsuits, but durability issues, especially when wet, proved problematic. Jersey and silk were also sometimes used. By the 1930s, manufacturers had lowered necklines in the back, removed sleeves, and tightened the sides. With the development of new clothing materials, particularly latex and nylon, swimsuits gradually began hugging the body through the 1930s, with shoulder straps that could be lowered for tanning.
Women's swimwear of the 1930s and 1940s incorporated increasing degrees of midriff exposure. The 1932 Hollywood film Three on a Match featured a midriff-baring two-piece bathing suit. Actress Dolores del Río was the first major star to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen in Flying Down to Rio (1933).
Teen magazines of late 1940s and 1950s featured similar designs of midriff-baring suits and tops. However, midriff fashion was stated as only for beaches and informal events and considered indecent to be worn in public. Hollywood endorsed the new glamor in films like 1949's Neptune's Daughter in which Esther Williams wore provocatively named costumes such as "Double Entendre" and "Honey Child".
Wartime production during World War II required vast amounts of cotton, silk, nylon, wool, leather, and rubber. In 1942, the United States War Production Board issued Regulation L-85, cutting the use of natural fibers in clothing and mandating a 10% reduction in the amount of fabric in women's beachwear. To comply with the regulations, swimsuit manufacturers removed skirt panels and other attachments, while increasing production of the two-piece swimsuit with bare midriffs. At the same time, demand for all swimwear declined as there was not much interest in going to the beach, especially in Europe.
Modern bikini
In the summer of 1946, Western Europeans enjoyed their first war-free summer in many years. French designers sought to deliver fashions that matched the liberated mood of the people. Fabric was still in short supply, and in an endeavor to resurrect swimwear sales, two French designers – Jacques Heim and Louis Réard – almost simultaneously launched new two-piece swimsuit designs in 1946. Heim launched a two-piece swimsuit design in Paris that he called the atome, after the smallest known particle of matter. He announced that it was the "world's smallest bathing suit." Although briefer than the two-piece swimsuits of the 1930s, the bottom of Heim's new two-piece beach costume still covered the wearer's navel.
Soon after, Louis Réard created a competing two-piece swimsuit design, which he called the bikini. He noticed that women at the beach rolled up the edges of their swimsuit bottoms and tops to improve their tan. On 5 July, Réard introduced his design at a swimsuit review held at a popular Paris public pool, Piscine Molitor, four days after the first test of a US nuclear weapon at the Bikini Atoll. The newspapers were full of news about it and Réard hoped for the same with his design. Réard's bikini undercut Heim's atome in its brevity. His design consisted of two side-by-side triangles of fabric forming a bra, and two front-and-back triangular pieces of fabric covering the mons pubis and the buttocks, respectively, connected by string. When he was unable to find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design, Réard hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. He announced that his swimsuit, was "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit". Réard said that "like the [atom] bomb, the bikini is small and devastating". Fashion writer Diana Vreeland described the bikini as the "atom bomb of fashion". Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters, many of them from men.
Photographs of Bernardini and articles about the event were widely carried by the press. The International Herald Tribune alone ran nine stories on the event. French newspaper Le Figaro wrote, "People were craving the simple pleasures of the sea and the sun. For women, wearing a bikini signaled a kind of second liberation. There was really nothing sexual about this. It was instead a celebration of freedom and a return to the joys in life."
Heim's atome was more in keeping with the sense of propriety of the 1940s, but Réard's design won the public's attention. Although Heim's design was the first worn on the beach and initially sold more swimsuits, it was Réard's description of the two-piece swimsuit as a bikini that stuck. As competing designs emerged, he declared in advertisements that a swimsuit could not be a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring." Modern bikinis were first made of cotton and jersey.
Social resistance
Despite the garment's initial success in France, women worldwide continued to wear traditional one-piece swimsuits. When his sales stalled, Réard went back to designing and selling orthodox knickers. In 1950, American swimsuit mogul Fred Cole, owner of mass market swimwear firm Cole of California, told Time that he had "little but scorn for France's famed Bikinis." Réard himself would later describe it as a "two-piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother's maiden name." Fashion magazine Modern Girl Magazine in 1957 stated that "it is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing".
In 1951, Eric Morley organized the Festival Bikini Contest, a beauty contest and swimwear advertising opportunity at that year's Festival of Britain. The press, welcoming the spectacle, referred to it as Miss World, a name Morley registered as a trademark. The winner was Kiki Håkansson of Sweden, who was crowned in a bikini. After the crowning, Håkansson was condemned by Pope Pius XII, while Spain and Ireland threatened to withdraw from the pageant. In 1952, bikinis were banned from the pageant and replaced by evening gowns. As a result of the controversy, the bikini was explicitly banned from many other beauty pageants worldwide. Although some regarded the bikini and beauty contests as bringing freedom to women, they were opposed by some feminists as well as religious and cultural groups who objected to the degree of exposure of the female body.
Paula Stafford was an Australian fashion designer credited with introducing the bikini to Australia; in a famous incident in 1952, model Ann Ferguson was asked to leave a beach in Surfers Paradise because her Paula Stafford bikini was too revealing. The bikini was banned in Australia, on the French Atlantic coastline, in Spain, in Italy, and in Portugal, and was prohibited or discouraged in a number of US states. The United States Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, enforced from 1934, allowed two-piece gowns but prohibited the display of navels in Hollywood films. The National Legion of Decency, a Roman Catholic body overseeing American media content, also pressured Hollywood and foreign film producers to keep bikinis from being featured in Hollywood movies. As late as 1959 one of the United States' largest swimsuit designers, Anne Cole of the Anne Cole brand, said, "It's nothing more than a G-string. It's at the razor's edge of decency." The Hays Code was abandoned by the mid-1960s, and with it the prohibition of female navel exposure, as well as other restrictions. The influence of the National Legion of Decency also waned by the 1960s.
Rise to popularity
Increasingly common glamour shots of popular actresses and models on either side of the Atlantic played a large part in bringing the bikini into the mainstream. During the 1950s, Hollywood stars such as Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Tina Louise, Marilyn Monroe, Esther Williams, and Betty Grable took advantage of the risqué publicity associated with the bikini by posing for photographs wearing them—pin-ups of Hayworth and Williams in costume were especially widely distributed in the United States. In 1950, Elvira Pagã walked at the Rio Carnival, Brazil in a golden bikini, starting the bikini tradition of the carnival.
In Europe, 17-year-old Brigitte Bardot wore scanty bikinis (by contemporary standards) in the French film Manina, la fille sans voiles ("Manina, the girl unveiled"). The promotion for the film, released in France in March 1953, drew more attention to Bardot's bikinis than to the film itself. By the time the film was released in the United States in 1958, it was re-titled Manina, the Girl in the Bikini. Bardot was also photographed wearing a bikini on the beach during the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Working with her husband and agent Roger Vadim, she garnered significant attention with photographs of her wearing a bikini on every beach in the south of France.
Similar photographs were taken of Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren, among others. According to The Guardian, Bardot's photographs in particular turned Saint-Tropez into the beachwear capital of the world, with Bardot identified as the original Cannes bathing beauty. Bardot's photography helped to enhance the public profile of the festival, and Cannes in turn played a crucial role in her career.
Brian Hyland's novelty-song hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" became a Billboard No. 1 hit during the summer of 1960: the song tells a story about a young girl who is too shy to wear her new bikini on the beach, thinking it too risqué. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962; the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut two years later featured Babette March in a white bikini on the cover.
Ursula Andress, appearing as Honey Ryder in the 1962 British James Bond film, Dr. No, wore a white bikini, which became known as the "Dr. No bikini". It became one of the most famous bikinis of all time and an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history. Andress said that she owed her career to that white bikini, remarking, "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr. No as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent."
The bikini finally caught on, and by 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol, though Funicello was barred from wearing Réard's bikini unlike the other young females in the films. In 1965, a woman told Time that it was "almost square" not to wear a bikini; the magazine wrote two years later that "65% of the young set had already gone over".
Raquel Welch's fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. (1966) gave the world the most iconic bikini shot of all time and the poster image became an iconic moment in cinema history. Her deer skin bikini in One Million Years B.C., advertised as "mankind's first bikini", (1966) was later described as a "definitive look of the 1960s". Her role wearing the leather bikini made Welch a fashion icon and the photo of her in the bikini became a best-selling pinup poster.
Stretch nylon bikini briefs and bras complemented the adolescent boutique fashions of the 1960s, allowing those to be minimal. DuPont introduced lycra (DuPont's name for spandex) in the same decade. Spandex expanded the range of novelty fabrics available to designers which meant suits could be made to fit like a second skin without heavy linings. "The advent of Lycra allowed more women to wear a bikini," wrote Kelly Killoren Bensimon, a former model and author of The Bikini Book, "It didn't sag, it didn't bag, and it concealed and revealed. It wasn't so much like lingerie anymore." Increased reliance on stretch fabric led to simplified construction. This fabric allowed designers to create the string bikini, and allowed Rudi Gernreich to create the topless monokini. Alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early '70s.
Mass acceptance
Réard's company folded in 1988, four years after his death. Meanwhile, the bikini had become the most popular beachwear around the globe. According to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard, this was due to "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". By 1988 the bikini made up nearly 20% of swimsuit sales, more than any other model in the US, though one-piece suits made a comeback during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997, Miss Maryland Jamie Fox became the first contestant in 50 years to compete in a two-piece swimsuit at the Miss America Pageant. Actresses in action films like Blue Crush (2002) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) made the two-piece "the millennial equivalent of the power suit", according to Gina Bellafonte of The New York Times,
According to Beth Dincuff Charleston, research associate at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The bikini represents a social leap involving body consciousness, moral concerns, and sexual attitudes." By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a $811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company, and had boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries. The first bikini museum in the world is being built in Bad Rappenau in Germany. The development of swimwear from 1880 to the present is presented on 2,000 square metres of exhibition space.
By 2017, the global swimwear market was valued at US$18,5 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 6.2%. Part of the increased consumption of bikinis and swimwears can be attributed to influencers who promote and endorse various brands around the year. Soccer player and best selling author Mo Isom describes it as, "We're flooded with Instagram bikini pics." It was estimated in 2016 that in 2019 the USA would be the largest swimwear market (US$10 billion), followed by Europe (US$5 billion), Asia-Pacific (US$4 billion) and Middle East and Africa (about 1 billion).
Outside the Western world
The 1967 Bollywood film An Evening in Paris is mostly remembered because it featured actress Sharmila Tagore as the first Indian actress to wear a bikini on film. She also posed in a bikini for the glossy Filmfare magazine. The costume shocked a conservative Indian audience, but it also set in motion a trend carried forward by Zeenat Aman in Heera Panna (1973) and Qurbani (1980), Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973), and Parveen Babi in Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982). Indonesian actress Nurnaningsih's bikini clad photos were widely distributed in early 1950s, though she was banned in Kalimantan.
Indian women generally wear bikinis when they vacation abroad or in Goa without the family. But, despite the conservative ideas prevalent in India, bikinis also become more popular in summer when women, from Bollywood stars to the middle class, take up swimming, often in a public space. A lot of tankinis, shorts and single-piece swimsuits are sold in the summer, along with real bikinis and bandeaukinis. The maximum sales for bikinis happen in the winter, the honeymoon season. For more coverage, designers Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja invented the bikini-saree popularised by TV anchor Mandira Bedi.
By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the Chinese bikini industry became a serious international threat for the Brazilian bikini industry. Huludao, Liaoning, China set the world record for the largest bikini parade in 2012, with 1,085 participants and a photo shoot involving 3,090 women. "Beijing Bikini" refers to the Chinese urban practice of men rolling up their shirts to expose their midriff to cool off in public in the summer. In Japan, wearing a bikini is common on the beach and at baths or pools. But, according to a 2013 study, 94% women are not body confident enough to wear a bikini in public without resorting to sarongs, zip-up sweatshirts, T-shirts, or shorts. Japanese women also often wear a "facekini" to protect their face from sunburns.
In most parts of the Middle East, bikinis are either banned or are highly controversial. On March 18, 1973, when Lebanese magazine Ash-Shabaka printed a bikini-clad woman on the cover, they had to make a second version with only the face of the model. In 2011, when Huda Naccache (Miss Earth 2011) posed for the cover of Lilac (based in Israel), she became the first bikini-clad Arab model on the cover of an Arabic magazine. Lebanese-Australian fashion designer Aheda Zanetti created the "burkini" as a modest option to the bikini, which has become very popular among Muslims. Rehab Shaaban, an Egyptian designer, tried an even more abaya-like design, but her design was banned due to safety reasons.
Variants
While the name "bikini" was at first applied only to beachwear that revealed the wearer's navel, today the fashion industry considers any two-piece swimsuit a bikini. Modern bikini fashions are characterized by a simple, brief design: two triangles of fabric that form a bra and cover the woman's breasts and a third that forms a panty cut below the navel that covers the groin and the intergluteal cleft.
Bikinis can and have been made out of almost every possible clothing material, and the fabrics and other materials used to make bikinis are an essential element of their design. Modern bikinis were first made of cotton and jersey, but in the 1960s, Lycra became the common material. Alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early 1970s.
In a single fashion show in 1985, there were two-piece suits with cropped tank tops instead of the usual skimpy bandeaux, suits that resembled bikinis from the front and one-pieces from the back, suspender straps, ruffles, and deep navel-baring cutouts. Metal and stone jewelry pieces are now often used to dress up look and style according to tastes. To meet the fast pace of demands, some manufacturers now offer made-to-order bikinis ready in as few as seven minutes. The world's most expensive bikini was designed in February 2006 by Susan Rosen; containing of diamond, it was valued at £20 million.
Major styles
There is a range of distinct bikini styles available — string bikinis, monokinis (topless or top and bottom connected), trikinis (three pieces instead of two), tankinis (tank top, bikini bottom), camikinis (camisole top, bikini bottom), bandeaukini (bandeau top, bikini bottom), skirtini (bikini top, skirt bottom), "granny bikini" (bikini top, boy shorts bottom), (also ), seekinis (transparent), minikinis, microkinis, miniminis, slingshots (or suspender bikinis), thong bottoms, tie-sides (a variety of string bikini) and teardrops.
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! Variant !! Image !! Year !! Description
|-
| Bandeaukini || || || A bandeaukini (alternatively called a bandini) is a bandeau top (no straps going over the shoulders) worn with any bikini bottom. It is the oldest form of bikini, with one of the earliest examples found in Sicilian Villa Romana del Casale (dubbed the "Bikini Girls"), dating back to the 4th century AD. Reintroduced, its appeal grew fast among young women, with bandeau tops edging into the sales of the classic tankini.
|-
| Microkini || || 1995 || A microkini, also known as a micro bikini, is an exceptionally meager bikini. The designs for both women and men typically use only enough fabric to cover the genitals and, for women, the nipples. Any additional straps are merely to keep the garment attached to the wearer's body. Some variations of the microkini use adhesive or wire to hold the fabric in place over the genitals. Microkinis keep the wearer just within legal limits of decency and fill a niche between nudism and conservative swimwear, though they are often accepted in Europe and are becoming more normalized in Western cultures.
|-
| Monokini || || 1964 || A monokini (also called topless swimsuit, unikini or numokini) is a women's one-piece garment equivalent to the lower half of a bikini. Originally a specific design conceived by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, the term is now used to describe any topless swimsuit, particularly a bikini bottom worn without a top. An extreme version of the monokini, the thong-style pubikini (which exposed the pubic region), was also designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1985. Today, monokinis usually refer to swimsuits in which the top and bottom are connected but provide coverage of the breasts as to be accepted in most western cultures.
|-
| Skirtini || || || The skirtini, which features a bikini top and a small, skirted bottom, is also an innovation for bikini-style clothes with more coverage. Two-piece swimsuits with skirt panels were popular in the US before the government ordered a 10% reduction in fabric used in woman's swimwear in 1943 as wartime rationing. In 2011, The Daily Telegraph identified the skirted bikini as one of the top 10 swimwear designs of that season.
|-
| Sling bikini || || || The sling bikini (also known as sling-kini, onepiecekini or sling swimsuit) is an unbroken suit, technically one-piece, which resembles a bikini bottom with the side straps extending upwards to cover the breasts and go over the shoulders, or encircling the neck while a second set of straps pass around the midriff (also known as pretzel bikini or pretzel swimsuit). Sling swimsuits emerged in the early 1990s, and were introduced into the mainstream in 1994. When designed for or worn by a man, it is called a mankini, popularized by Sacha Baron Cohen in the film Borat.
|-
| String bikini || || 1974 || A string bikini (or a tie-side) gets its name from its design that consists of two triangular shaped pieces connected at the groin but not at the sides, where a thin "string" wraps around the waist tied together to connect the two parts. The structure of the side tie bottom leaves the hips bare and just tie the knots on the sides with spaghetti ties or with the sash ties. The first formal presentation of string bikini was done by Glen Tororich, a public relations agent, and his wife Brandi Perret-DuJon, a fashion model, for the opening of Le Petite Centre, a shopping area in the French Quarter of the New Orleans, Louisiana in 1974. String bikinis are one of the most popular variations of bikini.
|-
| Tankini || || 1998 || The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom. Tankinis can be made of spandex-and-cotton or Lycra-and-nylon. Designer Anne Cole, the US swimwear mogul, was the originator of this style in 1998. A variation is named camkini, with spaghetti straps instead of tank-shaped straps over a bikini bottom.
|-
| Trikini || || 1967 || The trikini appeared briefly in 1967, defined as "a handkerchief and two small saucers." It reappeared in the 1990s as a bikini bottom with a stringed halter of two triangular pieces covering the breasts, and in the 2000s as a costume of three separate pieces. The trikini top comes essentially in two separate parts. The name of this woman's bathing suit is formed from the word "bikini", replacing "bi-", meaning "two", with "tri-", meaning "three". In a variation the three pieces are sold as part of one continuous garment.
|}
In sport
Bikinis have become a major component of marketing various women's sports. It is an official uniform for beach volleyball and is widely worn in athletics and other sports. Sports bikinis have gained popularity since the 1990s. However, the trend has raised some criticism as an attempt to sell sex. Female swimmers do not normally wear bikinis in competitive swimming. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) voted to prohibit female swimmers from racing in bikinis in its meeting at Rome in 1960.
Beach volleyball
In 1994, the bikini became the official uniform of women's Olympic beach volleyball. In 1999, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) standardized beach volleyball uniforms, with the bikini becoming the required uniform for women. That regulation bottom is called a "bun-hugger", and players names are often written on the back of the bottom.
The uniform made its Olympic debut at Bondi Beach, Sydney during the 2000 Summer Olympics amid some criticism. It was the fifth largest television audience of all the sports at the 2000 Games. Much of the interest was because of the sex appeal of bikini-clad players along with their athletic ability. Bikini-clad dancers and cheerleaders entertain the audience during match breaks in many beach volleyball tournaments, including the Olympics. Even indoor volleyball costumes followed suit to become smaller and tighter.
However, the FIVB's mandating of the bikini ran into problems. Some sports officials consider it exploitative and impractical in colder weather. It also drew the ire of some athletes. At the 2006 Asian Games at Doha, Qatar, only one Muslim country – Iraq – fielded a team in the beach volleyball competition because of concerns that the uniform was inappropriate. They refused to wear bikinis. The weather during the evening games in 2012 London Olympics was so cold that the players sometimes had to wear shirts and leggings. Earlier in 2012, FIVB had announced it would allow shorts (maximum length above the knee) and sleeved tops at the games. Richard Baker, the federation spokesperson, said that "many of these countries have religious and cultural requirements so the uniform needed to be more flexible".
The bikini remains preferred by most players and corporate sponsors. US women's team has cited several advantages of bikini uniforms, such as comfort while playing on sand during hot weather. Competitors Natalie Cook and Holly McPeak support the bikini as a practical uniform for a sport played on sand during the heat of summer. Olympic gold medal winner Kerry Walsh said, "I love our uniforms." According to fellow gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and Walsh it does not restrict movement.
One feminist viewpoint sees the bikini uniform as objectification of women athletes. US beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece described the bikini bottoms as uncomfortable with constant "yanking and fiddling." Many female beach volleyball players have sustained injuries by over-training the abdominal muscles while many others have gone through augmentation mammoplasty to look appealing in their uniforms. Australian competitor Nicole Sanderson said about match break entertainment that "it's kind of disrespectful to the female players. I'm sure the male spectators love it, but I find it a little bit offensive."
Sports journalism expert Kimberly Bissell conducted a study on the camera angles used during the 2004 Summer Olympics beach volleyball games. Bissell found that 20% of the camera angles were focused on the women's chests, and 17% on their buttocks. Bissell theorized that the appearance of the players draws fans attention more than their actual athleticism.
Sports commentator Jeanne Moos commented, "Beach volleyball has now joined go-go girl dancing as perhaps the only two professions where a bikini is the required uniform." British Olympian Denise Johns argues that the regulation uniform is intended to be "sexy" and to attract attention. Rubén Acosta, president of the FIVB, says that it makes the game more appealing to spectators.
Bodybuilding
From the 1950s to mid-1970s, men's bodybuilding contest formats were often supplemented with women's beauty contests or bikini shows. The winners earned titles like Miss Body Beautiful, Miss Physical Fitness and Miss Americana, and also presented trophies to the winners of the men's contest. In the 1980s, the Ms Olympia competition started in the US and in the UK the NABBA (National Amateur Body Building Association) renamed Miss Bikini International to Ms Universe. In 1986, the Ms Universe competition was divided into two sections – "physique" (for a more muscular physique) and "figure" (traditional feminine presentation in high heels). In November 2010 the IFBBF (International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness) introduced a women's bikini contest for women who do not wish to build their muscles to figure competition levels.
Costumes are regulation "posing trunks" (bikini briefs) for both men and women. Female bodybuilders in America are prohibited from wearing thongs or T-back swimsuits in contests filmed for television, though they are allowed to do so by certain fitness organizations in closed events. For men, the dress code specifies "swim trunks only (no shorts, cut-off pants, or Speedos)."
Other sports
Women in athletics often wear bikinis of similar size as those worn in beach volleyball. Amy Acuff, a US high-jumper, wore a black leather bikini instead of a track suit at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Runner Florence Griffith-Joyner mixed bikini bottoms with one-legged tights at the 1988 Summer Olympics, earning her more attention than her record-breaking performance in the women's 200 meters event. In the 2007 South Pacific Games, the rules were adjusted to allow players to wear less revealing shorts and cropped sports tops instead of bikinis. At the 2006 Asian Games, organizers banned bikini-bottoms for female athletes and asked them to wear long shorts.
String bikinis and other revealing clothes are common in surfing, though most surfing bikinis are more robust with more coverage than sunning bikinis. Surfing Magazine printed a pictorial of Kymberly Herrin, Playboy Playmate March 1981, surfing in a revealing bikini, and eventually started an annual bikini issue. The Association of Surfing Professionals often pairs female surf meets with bikini contests, an issue that divides the female pro-surfing community into two parts. It has often been more profitable to win the bikini contest than the female surfing event.
Body ideals
In 1950, American swimsuit mogul Fred Cole, owner of Cole of California, told Time that bikinis were designed for "diminutive Gallic women", as because "French girls have short legs... swimsuits have to be hiked up at the sides to make their legs look longer." In 1961, The New York Times reported the opinion that the bikini is permissible for people who are not "too fat or too thin". In the 1960s etiquette writer Emily Post decreed that "[A bikini] is for perfect figures only, and for the very young." In The Bikini Book by Kelly Killoren Bensimon, swimwear designer Norma Kamali says, "Anyone with a tummy" should not wear a bikini. Since then, a number of bikini designers including Malia Mills have encouraged women of all ages and body types to take up the style. The 1970s saw the rise of the lean ideal of female body and figures like Cheryl Tiegs. Her figure remained in vogue in the 21st century.
The fitness boom of the 1980s led to one of the biggest leaps in the evolution of the bikini. According to Mills, "The leg line became superhigh, the front was superlow, and the straps were superthin." Women's magazines used terms like "Bikini Belly", and workout programs were launched to develop a "bikini-worthy body". The tiny "fitness-bikinis" made of lycra were launched to cater to this hardbodied ideal. Movies like Blue Crush and TV reality shows like Surf Girls merged the concepts of bikini models and athletes together, further accentuating the toned body ideal. Motivated by yearly Spring Break festivities that mark the start of the bikini season in North America, many women diet in an attempt to achieve the ideal bikini body; some take this to extremes including self-starvation, leading to eating disorders.
In 1993, Suzy Menkes, then Fashion Editor of the International Herald Tribune, suggested that women had begun to "revolt" against the "body ideal" and bikini "exposure." She wrote, "Significantly, on the beaches as on the streets, some of the youngest and prettiest women (who were once the only ones who dared to bare) seem to have decided that exposure is over." Nevertheless, professional beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece, who competes in a bikini, claims that "confidence" alone can make a bikini sexy. One survey commissioned by Diet Chef, a UK home delivery service, reported by The Today Show and ridiculed by More magazine, showed that women should stop wearing bikinis by the age of 47.
Bikini underwear
Certain types of underwear are described as bikini underwear and are designed for men and women. For women, bikini or bikini-style underwear is underwear that is similar in size and form to a regular bikini. It can refer to virtually any undergarment that provides less coverage to the midriff than lingerie, panties or knickers, especially suited to clothing such as crop tops. For men, bikini briefs are underpants that resemble women's bikini bottoms, being smaller and more revealing than men's classic briefs. Men's bikini briefs can be low- or high-side that are usually lower than the true waist, often at hips, and usually have no access pouch or flap, nor leg bands at tops of thighs. String bikini briefs have front and rear sections that meet in the crotch but not at the waistband, with no fabric on the side of the legs.
Swimwear and underwear have similar design considerations, both being form-fitting garments. The main difference is that, unlike underwear, swimwear is open to public view. The swimsuit was, and is, following underwear styles, and at about the same time that attitudes towards the bikini began to change, underwear underwent a redesign towards a minimal, unboned design that emphasized comfort first.
History
As the swimsuit was evolving, underwear also started to change. Between 1900 and 1940, swimsuit lengths followed the changes in underwear designs. In the 1920s women started discarding the corset, while the Cadole company of Paris started developing something they called the "breast girdle". During the Great Depression, panties and bras became softly constructed and were made of various elasticized yarns making underwear fit like a second skin. By the 1930s underwear styles for both women and men were influenced by the new brief models of swimwear from Europe. Although the waistband was still above the navel, the leg openings of the panty brief were cut in an arc to rise from the crotch to the hip joint. The brief served as a template for most variations of panties for the rest of the century. Warner standardized the concept of Cup size in 1935. The first underwire bra was developed in 1938. Beginning in the late thirties, , a type of men's briefs, were introduced, featuring very high-cut leg openings and a lower rise to the waistband. Howard Hughes designed a push-up bra to be worn by Jane Russell in The Outlaw in 1943, although Russell stated in interviews that she never wore the 'contraption'. In 1950 Maidenform introduced the first official bust enhancing bra.
By the 1960s, the bikini swimsuit influenced panty styles and coincided with the cut of the new lower rise jeans and pants. In the seventies, with the emergence of skintight jeans, thong versions of the panty became mainstream, since the open, stringed back eliminated any tell-tale panty lines across the rear and hips. By the 1980s the design of the French-cut panty pushed the waistband back up to the natural waistline and the rise of the leg openings was nearly as high (French Cut panties come up to the waist, has a high cut leg, and usually are full in the rear). As with the bra and other type of lingerie, manufacturers of the last quarter of the century marketed panty styles that were designed primarily for their sexual allure. From this decade sexualization and eroticization of the male body was on the rise. The male body was celebrated through advertising campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein, particularly by photographers Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. Male bodies and men's undergarments were commodified and packaged for mass consumption, and swimwear and sportswear were influenced by sports photography and fitness. Over time, swimwear evolved from weighty wool to high-tech skin-tight garments, eventually cross-breeding with sportswear, underwear and exercise wear, resulting in the interchangeable fashions of the 1990s.
Men's bikini
The term men's bikini is sometimes used to describe swim briefs. Men's bikinis can have high or low side panels, and string sides or tie sides. Most lack a button or flap front. Unlike swim briefs, bikinis are not designed for drag reduction and generally lack a visible waistband. Suits less than 1.5 inches wide at the hips are less common for sporting purposes and are most often worn for recreation, fashion, and sun tanning. The posing brief standard to bodybuilding competitions is an example of this style. Male punk rock musicians have performed on the stage wearing bikini briefs. The 2000 Bollywood film Hera Pheri shows men sunbathing in bikinis, who were mistakenly believed to be women from a distance.
Male bikini tops also exist and are often used as visual gags. A mankini is a type of sling swimsuit worn by men. The term is inspired by the word bikini. It was popularized by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen when he donned one for comic effect in the film Borat.
Bikini waxing
Bikini waxing is the epilation of pubic hair beyond the bikini line by use of waxing. The bikini line delineates the part of a woman's pubic area to be covered by the bottom part of a bikini, which means any pubic hair visible beyond the boundaries of a swimsuit. Visible pubic hair is widely culturally disapproved, considered to be embarrassing, and often removed.
As popularity of bikinis grew, the acceptability of pubic hair diminished. But, with certain styles of women's swimwear, pubic hair may become visible around the crotch area of a swimsuit. With the reduction in the size of swimsuits, especially since the advent of the bikini after 1945, the practice of bikini waxing has also become popular. The Brazilian style which became popular with the rise of thong bottoms.
Depending on the style of bikini-bottom and the amount of skin visible outside the bikini, pubic hair may be styled into several styles: American waxing (removal of pubic hair from the sides, top of the thighs, and under the navel), French waxing (leaving only a vertical strip in front), or Brazilian waxing (removal of all hair in the pelvic area, particularly suitable for thong bottoms).
Bikini tan
The tan lines created by the wearing of a bikini while tanning are known as a bikini tan. These tan lines separate pale breasts, crotch, and buttocks from otherwise tanned skin. Prominent bikini tan lines were popular in the 1990s, and a spa in Brazil started offering perfect bikini tan lines using masking tapes in 2016.
As bikinis leave most of the body exposed to potentially dangerous UV radiation, overexposure can cause sunburn, skin cancer, as well as other acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eyes, and immune system. As a result, medical organizations recommend that bikini wearers protect themselves from UV radiation by using broad-spectrum sunscreen, which has been shown to protect against sunburn, skin cancer, wrinkling and sagging skin.
A 1969 innovation of tan-through swimwear uses fabric which is perforated with thousands of micro holes that are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but which let enough sunlight through to produce a line-free tan.
See also
Women's beachwear fashion
Cultural views on the navel
Bikini in popular culture
References
External links
Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition—The Bikini
The California Swimsuit
Two-Piece Be With You: LIFE Celebrates the Bikini
1940s fashion
1990s fashion
2000s fashion
2010s fashion
1946 clothing
Bikini Atoll
Women's clothing |
4864 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket%20argument | Bucket argument | Isaac Newton's rotating bucket argument (also known as Newton's bucket) was designed to demonstrate that true rotational motion cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies. It is one of five arguments from the "properties, causes, and effects" of "true motion and rest" that support his contention that, in general, true motion and rest cannot be defined as special instances of motion or rest relative to other bodies, but instead can be defined only by reference to absolute space. Alternatively, these experiments provide an operational definition of what is meant by "absolute rotation", and do not pretend to address the question of "rotation relative to what?" General relativity dispenses with absolute space and with physics whose cause is external to the system, with the concept of geodesics of spacetime.
Background
These arguments, and a discussion of the distinctions between absolute and relative time, space, place and motion, appear in a scholium at the end of Definitions sections in Book I of Newton's work, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) (not to be confused with General Scholium at the end of Book III), which established the foundations of classical mechanics and introduced his law of universal gravitation, which yielded the first quantitatively adequate dynamical explanation of planetary motion.
Despite their embrace of the principle of rectilinear inertia and the recognition of the kinematical relativity of apparent motion (which underlies whether the Ptolemaic or the Copernican system is correct), natural philosophers of the seventeenth century continued to consider true motion and rest as physically separate descriptors of an individual body. The dominant view Newton opposed was devised by René Descartes, and was supported (in part) by Gottfried Leibniz. It held that empty space is a metaphysical impossibility because space is nothing other than the extension of matter, or, in other words, that when one speaks of the space between things one is actually making reference to the relationship that exists between those things and not to some entity that stands between them. Concordant with the above understanding, any assertion about the motion of a body boils down to a description over time in which the body under consideration is at t1 found in the vicinity of one group of "landmark" bodies and at some t2 is found in the vicinity of some other "landmark" body or bodies.
Descartes recognized that there would be a real difference, however, between a situation in which a body with movable parts and originally at rest with respect to a surrounding ring was itself accelerated to a certain angular velocity with respect to the ring, and another situation in which the surrounding ring were given a contrary acceleration with respect to the central object. With sole regard to the central object and the surrounding ring, the motions would be indistinguishable from each other assuming that both the central object and the surrounding ring were absolutely rigid objects. However, if neither the central object nor the surrounding ring were absolutely rigid then the parts of one or both of them would tend to fly out from the axis of rotation.
For contingent reasons having to do with the Inquisition, Descartes spoke of motion as both absolute and relative.
By the late 19th century, the contention that all motion is relative was re-introduced, notably by Ernst Mach (1883).
The argument
Newton discusses a bucket () filled with water hung by a cord. If the cord is twisted up tightly on itself and then the bucket is released, it begins to spin rapidly, not only with respect to the experimenter, but also in relation to the water it contains. (This situation would correspond to diagram B above.)
Although the relative motion at this stage is the greatest, the surface of the water remains flat, indicating that the parts of the water have no tendency to recede from the axis of relative motion, despite proximity to the pail. Eventually, as the cord continues to unwind, the surface of the water assumes a concave shape as it acquires the motion of the bucket spinning relative to the experimenter. This concave shape shows that the water is rotating, despite the fact that the water is at rest relative to the pail. In other words, it is not the relative motion of the pail and water that causes concavity of the water, contrary to the idea that motions can only be relative, and that there is no absolute motion. (This situation would correspond to diagram D.) Possibly the concavity of the water shows rotation relative to something else: say absolute space? Newton says: "One can find out and measure the true and absolute circular motion of the water".
In the 1846 Andrew Motte translation of Newton's words:
The argument that the motion is absolute, not relative, is incomplete, as it limits the participants relevant to the experiment to only the pail and the water, a limitation that has not been established. In fact, the concavity of the water clearly involves gravitational attraction, and by implication the Earth also is a participant. Here is a critique due to Mach arguing that only relative motion is established:
The degree in which Mach's hypothesis is integrated in general relativity is discussed in the article Mach's principle; it is generally held that general relativity is not entirely Machian.
All observers agree that the surface of rotating water is curved. However, the explanation of this curvature involves centrifugal force for all observers with the exception of a truly stationary observer, who finds the curvature is consistent with the rate of rotation of the water as they observe it, with no need for an additional centrifugal force. Thus, a stationary frame can be identified, and it is not necessary to ask "Stationary with respect to what?":
A supplementary thought experiment with the same objective of determining the occurrence of absolute rotation also was proposed by Newton: the example of observing two identical spheres in rotation about their center of gravity and tied together by a string. Occurrence of tension in the string is indicative of absolute rotation; see Rotating spheres.
Detailed analysis
The historic interest of the rotating bucket experiment is its usefulness in suggesting one can detect absolute rotation by observation of the shape of the surface of the water. However, one might question just how rotation brings about this change. Below are two approaches to understanding the concavity of the surface of rotating water in a bucket.
Newton's laws of motion
The shape of the surface of a rotating liquid in a bucket can be determined using Newton's laws for the various forces on an element of the surface. For example, see Knudsen and Hjorth. The analysis begins with the free body diagram in the co-rotating frame where the water appears stationary. The height of the water h = h(r) is a function of the radial distance r from the axis of rotation Ω, and the aim is to determine this function. An element of water volume on the surface is shown to be subject to three forces: the vertical force due to gravity Fg, the horizontal, radially outward centrifugal force FCfgl, and the force normal to the surface of the water Fn due to the rest of the water surrounding the selected element of surface. The force due to surrounding water is known to be normal to the surface of the water because a liquid in equilibrium cannot support shear stresses. To quote Anthony and Brackett:
Moreover, because the element of water does not move, the sum of all three forces must be zero. To sum to zero, the force of the water must point oppositely to the sum of the centrifugal and gravity forces, which means the surface of the water must adjust so its normal points in this direction. (A very similar problem is the design of a banked turn, where the slope of the turn is set so a car will not slide off the road. The analogy in the case of rotating bucket is that the element of water surface will "slide" up or down the surface unless the normal to the surface aligns with the vector resultant formed by the vector addition Fg + FCfgl.)
As r increases, the centrifugal force increases according to the relation (the equations are written per unit mass):
where Ω is the constant rate of rotation of the water. The gravitational force is unchanged at
where g is the acceleration due to gravity. These two forces add to make a resultant at an angle φ from the vertical given by
which clearly becomes larger as r increases. To ensure that this resultant is normal to the surface of the water, and therefore can be effectively nulled by the force of the water beneath, the normal to the surface must have the same angle, that is,
leading to the ordinary differential equation for the shape of the surface:
or, integrating:
where h(0) is the height of the water at r = 0. In other words, the surface of the water is parabolic in its dependence upon the radius.
Potential energy
The shape of the water's surface can be found in a different, very intuitive way using the interesting idea of the potential energy associated with the centrifugal force in the co-rotating frame.
In a reference frame uniformly rotating at angular rate Ω, the fictitious centrifugal force is conservative and has a potential energy of the form:
where r is the radius from the axis of rotation. This result can be verified by taking the gradient of the potential to obtain the radially outward force:
The meaning of the potential energy (stored work) is that movement of a test body from a larger radius to a smaller radius involves doing work against the centrifugal force and thus gaining potential energy. But this test body at the smaller radius where its elevation is lower has now lost equivalent gravitational potential energy.
Potential energy therefore explains the concavity of the water surface in a rotating bucket. Notice that at equilibrium the surface adopts a shape such that an element of volume at any location on its surface has the same potential energy as at any other. That being so, no element of water on the surface has any incentive to move position, because all positions are equivalent in energy. That is, equilibrium is attained. On the other hand, were surface regions with lower energy available, the water occupying surface locations of higher potential energy would move to occupy these positions of lower energy, inasmuch as there is no barrier to lateral movement in an ideal liquid.
We might imagine deliberately upsetting this equilibrium situation by somehow momentarily altering the surface shape of the water to make it different from an equal-energy surface. This change in shape would not be stable, and the water would not stay in our artificially contrived shape, but engage in a transient exploration of many shapes until non-ideal frictional forces introduced by sloshing, either against the sides of the bucket or by the non-ideal nature of the liquid, killed the oscillations and the water settled down to the equilibrium shape.
To see the principle of an equal-energy surface at work, imagine gradually increasing the rate of rotation of the bucket from zero. The water surface is flat at first, and clearly a surface of equal potential energy because all points on the surface are at the same height in the gravitational field acting upon the water. At some small angular rate of rotation, however, an element of surface water can achieve lower potential energy by moving outward under the influence of the centrifugal force; think of an object moving with the force of gravity closer to the Earth's center: the object lowers its potential energy by complying with a force. Because water is incompressible and must remain within the confines of the bucket, this outward movement increases the depth of water at the larger radius, increasing the height of the surface at larger radius, and lowering it at smaller radius. The surface of the water becomes slightly concave, with the consequence that the potential energy of the water at the greater radius is increased by the work done against gravity to achieve the greater height. As the height of water increases, movement toward the periphery becomes no longer advantageous, because the reduction in potential energy from working with the centrifugal force is balanced against the increase in energy working against gravity. Thus, at a given angular rate of rotation, a concave surface represents the stable situation, and the more rapid the rotation, the more concave this surface. If rotation is arrested, the energy stored in fashioning the concave surface must be dissipated, for example through friction, before an equilibrium flat surface is restored.
To implement a surface of constant potential energy quantitatively, let the height of the water be : then the potential energy per unit mass contributed by gravity is and the total potential energy per unit mass on the surface is
with the background energy level independent of r. In a static situation (no motion of the fluid in the rotating frame), this energy is constant independent of position r. Requiring the energy to be constant, we obtain the parabolic form:
where h(0) is the height at r = 0 (the axis). See Figures 1 and 2.
The principle of operation of the centrifuge also can be simply understood in terms of this expression for the potential energy, which shows that it is favorable energetically when the volume far from the axis of rotation is occupied by the heavier substance.
See also
Centrifugal force
Inertial frame of reference
Mach's principle
Mechanics of planar particle motion
Philosophy of space and time: Absolutism vs. relationalism
Rotating reference frame
Rotating spheres
Rotational gravity
Sagnac effect
References
Further reading
The isotropy of the cosmic background radiation is another indicator that the universe does not rotate. See:
External links
Newton's Views on Space, Time, and Motion from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, article by Robert Rynasiewicz. At the end of this article, loss of fine distinctions in the translations as compared to the original Latin text is discussed.
Life and Philosophy of Leibniz see section on Space, Time and Indiscernibles for Leibniz arguing against the idea of space acting as a causal agent.
Newton's Bucket An interactive applet illustrating the water shape, and an attached PDF file with a mathematical derivation of a more complete water-shape model than is given in this article.
Classical mechanics
Isaac Newton
Thought experiments in physics
Rotation |
5165 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country | Country | A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the country of Wales is a component of a multi-part sovereign state, the United Kingdom. A country may be a historically sovereign area (such as Korea), a currently sovereign territory with a unified government (such as Senegal), or a non-sovereign geographic region associated with certain distinct political, ethnic, or cultural characteristics (such as the Basque Country).
The definition and usage of the word "country" is flexible and has changed over time. The Economist wrote in 2010 that "any attempt to find a clear definition of a country soon runs into a thicket of exceptions and anomalies." Most sovereign states, but not all countries, are members of the United Nations. Countries are often associated with symbols such as flags or anthems; they may also evoke strong feelings of devotion and patriotism in their populations.
The largest country by area is Russia, while the smallest is the microstate Vatican City. The most populous is India; Vatican City is the least populous.
Etymology
The word country comes from Old French , which derives from Vulgar Latin () ("(land) lying opposite"; "(land) spread before"), derived from ("against, opposite"). It most likely entered the English language after the Franco-Norman invasion during the 11th century.
Definition of a country
In English
In English the word has increasingly become associated with political divisions, so that one sense, associated with the indefinite article – "a country" – is now frequently applied as a synonym for a state or a former sovereign state. It may also be used as a synonym for "nation". Taking as examples Canada, Sri Lanka, and Yugoslavia, cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote in 1997 that "it is clear that the relationships between 'country' and 'nation' are so different from one [place] to the next as to be impossible to fold into a dichotomous opposition as they are into a promiscuous fusion."
Areas much smaller than a political state may be referred to as countries, such as the West Country in England, "big sky country" (used in various contexts of the American West), "coal country" (used to describe coal-mining regions in several sovereign states) and many other terms. The word "country" is also used for the sense of native sovereign territory, such as the widespread use of Indian country in the United States. The term "country" in English may also be wielded to describe rural areas, or used in the form "countryside." Raymond Williams, a Welsh scholar, wrote in 1975:
The unclear definition of "country" in modern English was further commented upon by philosopher Simon Keller:
Melissa Lucashenko, an Aboriginal Australian writer, expressed the difficulty of defining "country" in a 2005 essay, "Unsettlement":
In other languages
The equivalent terms in various Romance languages (e.g. the French ) have not carried the process of being identified with sovereign political states as far as the English country. These terms are derived from the Roman term , which continued to be used in the Middle Ages for small geographical areas similar to the size of English counties. In many European countries, the words are used for sub-divisions of the national territory, as in the German , as well as a less formal term for a sovereign state. France has very many "" that are officially recognized at some level and are either natural regions, like the Pays de Bray, or reflect old political or economic entities, like the Pays de la Loire.
A version of "country" can be found in modern French as , derived from the Old French word , that is used similarly to the word to define non-state regions, but can also be used to describe a political state in some particular cases. The modern Italian is a word with its meaning varying locally, but usually meaning a ward or similar small division of a town, or a village or hamlet in the countryside.
Identification
Symbols of a country may incorporate cultural, religious or political symbols of any nation that the country includes. Many categories of symbols can be seen in flags, coats of arms, or seals.
Name
Most countries have a long name and a short name. The long name is typically used in formal contexts and often describes the country's form of government. The short name is the country's common name by which it is typically identified. The names of most countries are derived from a feature of the land, the name of a historical tribe or person, or a directional description. The International Organization for Standardization maintains a list of country codes as part of ISO 3166 to designate each country with a two-letter country code. The name of a country can hold cultural and diplomatic significance. Upper Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso to reflect the end of French colonization, and the name of North Macedonia was disputed for years due to a conflict with the similarly named Macedonia region in Greece.
Flags
Originally, flags representing a country would generally be the personal flag of its rulers; however, over time, the practice of using personal banners as flags of places was abandoned in favor of flags that had some significance to the nation, often its patron saint. Early examples of these were the maritime republics such as Genoa which could be said to have a national flag as early as the 12th century. However, these were still mostly used in the context of marine identification.
Although some flags date back earlier, widespread use of flags outside of military or naval context begins only with the rise of the idea of the nation state at the end of the 18th century and particularly are a product of the Age of Revolution. Revolutions such as those in France and America called for people to begin thinking of themselves as citizens as opposed to subjects under a king, and thus necessitated flags that represented the collective citizenry, not just the power and right of a ruling family. With nationalism becoming common across Europe in the 19th century, national flags came to represent most of the states of Europe. Flags also began fostering a sense of unity between different peoples, such as the Union Jack representing a union between England and Scotland, or began to represent unity between nations in a perceived shared struggle, for example, the Pan-Slavic colors or later Pan-Arab colors.
As Europeans colonized significant portions of the world, they exported ideas of nationhood and national symbols, including flags, with the adoption of a flag becoming seen as integral to the nation-building process. Political change, social reform, and revolutions combined with a growing sense of nationhood among ordinary people in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the birth of new nations and flags around the globe. With so many flags being created, interest in these designs began to develop and the study of flags, vexillology, at both professional and amateur levels, emerged. After World War II, Western vexillology went through a phase of rapid development, with many research facilities and publications being established.
National anthems
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. Though the custom of an officially adopted national anthem became popular only in the 19th century, some national anthems predate this period, often existing as patriotic songs long before designation as national anthem. Several countries remain without an official national anthem. In these cases, there are established de facto anthems played at sporting events or diplomatic receptions. These include the United Kingdom ("God Save the King") and Sweden (). Some sovereign states that are made up of multiple countries or constituencies have associated musical compositions for each of them (such as with the United Kingdom, Russia, and the former Soviet Union). These are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not sovereign states (for example, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is used for Wales, part of the United Kingdom).
Other symbols
Coats of arms or national emblems
Seals or stamps
National mottos
National colors
Sovereignty and recognition
When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, a constituent country, or a dependent territory. A sovereign state is a political entity that has supreme legitimate authority over a part of the world. There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world since several states have disputed sovereignty status, and a number of non-sovereign entities are commonly called countries.
By one application of the declarative theory of statehood and constitutive theory of statehood, there are 206 sovereign states; of which 193 are members of the UN, two have observer status at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (the Holy See and Palestine), and 11 others are neither a member nor observer at the UNGA.
Some countries, such as Taiwan and the Sahrawi Republic, have disputed sovereignty status. Some sovereign states are unions of separate polities, each of which may also be considered a country in its own right, called constituent countries. The Danish Realm consists of Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of the Netherlands proper, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. The United Kingdom consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Dependent territories are the territories of a sovereign state that are outside of its proper territory. These include the overseas territories of New Zealand, the dependencies of Norway, the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, the territories of the United States, the external territories of Australia, the special administrative regions of China, the autonomous regions of the Danish Realm, Åland, Overseas France, and the Caribbean Netherlands. Most dependent territories have ISO country codes. In total there are 249 ISO country codes, including all 193 UN members and a number of other countries. Some dependent territories are treated as a separate "country of origin" in international trade, such as Hong Kong, Greenland, and Macau.
Patriotism
A positive emotional connection to a country a person belongs to is called patriotism. Patriotism is a sense of love for, devotion to, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, and language relating to one's homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political, or historical aspects. It encompasses a set of concepts closely related to nationalism, mostly civic nationalism and sometimes cultural nationalism.
Economy
Several organizations seek to identify trends to produce economy country classifications. Countries are often distinguished as developing countries or developed countries.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs annually produces the World Economic Situation and Prospects Report classifies states as developed countries, economies in transition, or developing countries. The report classifies country development based on per capita gross national income (GNI). The UN identifies subgroups within broad categories based on geographical location or ad hoc criteria. The UN outlines the geographical regions for developing economies like Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The 2019 report recognizes only developed countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. The majority of economies in transition and developing countries are found in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
The World Bank also classifies countries based on GNI per capita. The World Bank Atlas method classifies countries as low-income economies, lower-middle-income economies, upper-middle-income economies, or high-income economies. For the 2020 fiscal year, the World Bank defines low-income economies as countries with a GNI per capita of $1,025 or less in 2018; lower-middle-income economies as countries with a GNI per capita between $1,026 and $3,995; upper-middle-income economies as countries with a GNI per capita between $3,996 and $12,375; high-income economies as countries with a GNI per capita of $12,376 or more.
It also identifies regional trends. The World Bank defines its regions as East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Lastly, the World Bank distinguishes countries based on its operational policies. The three categories include International Development Association (IDA) countries, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) countries, and Blend countries.
See also
City network
Country (identity)
Lists of sovereign states and dependent territories
List of former sovereign states
List of sovereign states and dependent territories by continent
List of states with limited recognition
List of transcontinental countries
Micronation
Princely state
Quasi-state
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
Defining what makes a country The Economist
External links
The CIA World Factbook
Country Studies from the United States Library of Congress
Foreign Information by Country and Country & Territory Guides from GovPubs at UCB Libraries
United Nations statistics division
Human geography |
5236 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast | Coast | The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. Shores are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape, as well as by water induced erosion, such as waves. The geological composition of rock and soil dictates the type of shore which is created. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity. On land, they harbor important ecosystems such as freshwater or estuarine wetlands, which are important for bird populations and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas they harbor saltmarshes, mangroves or seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic species. Rocky shores are usually found along exposed coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessile animals (e.g. mussels, starfish, barnacles) and various kinds of seaweeds. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore, representing the intertidal zone where there is one. Along tropical coasts with clear, nutrient-poor water, coral reefs can often be found between depths of .
According to an atlas prepared by the United Nations, 44% of all humans live within 150 km (93 mi) of the sea. Due to its importance in society and its high population concentrations, the coast is important for major parts of the global food and economic system, and they provide many ecosystem services to humankind. For example, important human activities happen in port cities. Coastal fisheries (commercial, recreational, and subsistence) and aquaculture are major economic activities and create jobs, livelihoods, and protein for the majority of coastal human populations. Other coastal spaces like beaches and seaside resorts generate large revenues through tourism. Marine coastal ecosystems can also provide protection against sea level rise and tsunamis. In many countries, mangroves are the primary source of wood for fuel (e.g. charcoal) and building material. Coastal ecosystems like mangroves and seagrasses have a much higher capacity for carbon sequestration than many terrestrial ecosystems, and as such can play a critical role in the near-future to help mitigate climate change effects by uptake of atmospheric anthropogenic carbon dioxide.
However, the economic importance of coasts makes many of these communities vulnerable to climate change, which causes increases in extreme weather and sea level rise, and related issues such as coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion and coastal flooding. Other coastal issues, such as marine pollution, marine debris, coastal development, and marine ecosystem destruction, further complicate the human uses of the coast and threaten coastal ecosystems. The interactive effects of climate change, habitat destruction, overfishing and water pollution (especially eutrophication) have led to the demise of coastal ecosystem around the globe. This has resulted in population collapse of fisheries stocks, loss of biodiversity, increased invasion of alien species, and loss of healthy habitats. International attention to these issues has been captured in Sustainable Development Goal 14 "Life Below Water" which sets goals for international policy focused on preserving marine coastal ecosystems and supporting more sustainable economic practices for coastal communities. Likewise, the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, but restoration of coastal ecosystems has received insufficient attention.
Because coasts are constantly changing, a coastline's exact perimeter cannot be determined; this measurement challenge is called the coastline paradox. The term coastal zone is used to refer to a region where interactions of sea and land processes occur. Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to describe a geographic location or region located on a coastline (e.g., New Zealand's West Coast, or the East, West, and Gulf Coast of the United States.) Coasts with a narrow continental shelf that are close to the open ocean are called pelagic coast, while other coasts are more sheltered coast in a gulf or bay. A shore, on the other hand, may refer to parts of land adjoining any large body of water, including oceans (sea shore) and lakes (lake shore).
Size
The Earth has approximately of coastline. Coastal habitats, which extend to the margins of the continental shelves, make up about 7 percent of the Earth's oceans, but at least 85% of commercially harvested fish depend on coastal environments during at least part of their life cycle. about 2.86% of exclusive economic zones were part of marine protected areas.
The definition of coasts varies. Marine scientists think of the "wet" (aquatic or intertidal) vegetated habitats as being coastal ecosystems (including seagrass, salt marsh etc.) whilst some terrestrial scientist might only think of coastal ecosystems as purely terrestrial plants that live close to the seashore (see also estuaries and coastal ecosystems).
While there is general agreement in the scientific community regarding the definition of coast, in the political sphere, the delineation of the extents of a coast differ according to jurisdiction. Government authorities in various countries may define coast differently for economic and social policy reasons.
Exact length of coastline
Formation
Tides often determine the range over which sediment is deposited or eroded. Areas with high tidal ranges allow waves to reach farther up the shore, and areas with lower tidal ranges produce deposition at a smaller elevation interval. The tidal range is influenced by the size and shape of the coastline. Tides do not typically cause erosion by themselves; however, tidal bores can erode as the waves surge up the river estuaries from the ocean.
Geologists classify coasts on the basis of tidal range into macrotidal coasts with a tidal range greater than ; mesotidal coasts with a tidal range of ; and microtidal coasts with a tidal range of less than . The distinction between macrotidal and mesotidal coasts is more important. Macrotidal coasts lack barrier islands and lagoons, and are characterized by funnel-shaped estuaries containing sand ridges aligned with tidal currents. Wave action is much more important for determining bedforms of sediments deposited along mesotidal and microtidal coasts than in macrotidal coasts.
Waves erode coastline as they break on shore releasing their energy; the larger the wave the more energy it releases and the more sediment it moves. Coastlines with longer shores have more room for the waves to disperse their energy, while coasts with cliffs and short shore faces give little room for the wave energy to be dispersed. In these areas, the wave energy breaking against the cliffs is higher, and air and water are compressed into cracks in the rock, forcing the rock apart, breaking it down. Sediment deposited by waves comes from eroded cliff faces and is moved along the coastline by the waves. This forms an abrasion or cliffed coast.
Sediment deposited by rivers is the dominant influence on the amount of sediment located in the case of coastlines that have estuaries. Today, riverine deposition at the coast is often blocked by dams and other human regulatory devices, which remove the sediment from the stream by causing it to be deposited inland. Coral reefs are a provider of sediment for coastlines of tropical islands.
Like the ocean which shapes them, coasts are a dynamic environment with constant change. The Earth's natural processes, particularly sea level rises, waves and various weather phenomena, have resulted in the erosion, accretion and reshaping of coasts as well as flooding and creation of continental shelves and drowned river valleys (rias).
Importance for humans and ecosystems
Human settlements
More and more of the world's people live in coastal regions. According to a United Nations atlas, 44% of all people live within 150 km (93 mi) of the sea. Many major cities are on or near good harbors and have port facilities. Some landlocked places have achieved port status by building canals.
Nations defend their coasts against military invaders, smugglers and illegal migrants. Fixed coastal defenses have long been erected in many nations, and coastal countries typically have a navy and some form of coast guard.
Tourism
Coasts, especially those with beaches and warm water, attract tourists often leading to the development of seaside resort communities. In many island nations such as those of the Mediterranean, South Pacific Ocean and Caribbean, tourism is central to the economy. Coasts offer recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, surfing, boating, and sunbathing.
Growth management and coastal management can be a challenge for coastal local authorities who often struggle to provide the infrastructure required by new residents, and poor management practices of construction often leave these communities and infrastructure vulnerable to processes like coastal erosion and sea level rise. In many of these communities, management practices such as beach nourishment or when the coastal infrastructure is no longer financially sustainable, managed retreat to remove communities from the coast.
Ecosystem services
Types
Emergent coastline
According to one principle of classification, an emergent coastline is a coastline that has experienced a fall in sea level, because of either a global sea-level change, or local uplift. Emergent coastlines are identifiable by the coastal landforms, which are above the high tide mark, such as raised beaches. In contrast, a submergent coastline is one where the sea level has risen, due to a global sea-level change, local subsidence, or isostatic rebound. Submergent coastlines are identifiable by their submerged, or "drowned" landforms, such as rias (drowned valleys) and fjords
Concordant coastline
According to the second principle of classification, a concordant coastline is a coastline where bands of different rock types run parallel to the shore. These rock types are usually of varying resistance, so the coastline forms distinctive landforms, such as coves. Discordant coastlines feature distinctive landforms because the rocks are eroded by the ocean waves. The less resistant rocks erode faster, creating inlets or bay; the more resistant rocks erode more slowly, remaining as headlands or outcroppings.
Rivieras
Riviera is an Italian word for "shoreline", ultimately derived from Latin ripa ("riverbank"). It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of the Ligurian Sea, in the form riviera ligure, then shortened to riviera. Historically, the Ligurian Riviera extended from Capo Corvo (Punta Bianca) south of Genoa, north and west into what is now French territory past Monaco and sometimes as far as Marseilles. Today, this coast is divided into the Italian Riviera and the French Riviera, although the French use the term "Riviera" to refer to the Italian Riviera and call the French portion the "Côte d'Azur".
As a result of the fame of the Ligurian rivieras, the term came into English to refer to any shoreline, especially one that is sunny, topographically diverse and popular with tourists. Such places using the term include the Australian Riviera in Queensland and the Turkish Riviera along the Aegean Sea.
Other coastal categories
A cliffed coast or abrasion coast is one where marine action has produced steep declivities known as cliffs.
A flat coast is one where the land gradually descends into the sea.
A graded shoreline is one where wind and water action has produced a flat and straight coastline.
Landforms
The following articles describe some coastal landforms:
Barrier island
Bay
Headland
Cove
Peninsula
Cliff erosion
Much of the sediment deposited along a coast is the result of erosion of a surrounding cliff, or bluff. Sea cliffs retreat landward because of the constant undercutting of slopes by waves. If the slope/cliff being undercut is made of unconsolidated sediment it will erode at a much faster rate than a cliff made of bedrock.
A natural arch is formed when a headland is eroded through by waves.
Sea caves are made when certain rock beds are more susceptible to erosion than the surrounding rock beds because of different areas of weakness. These areas are eroded at a faster pace creating a hole or crevice that, through time, by means of wave action and erosion, becomes a cave.
A stack is formed when a headland is eroded away by wave and wind action.
A stump is a shortened sea stack that has been eroded away or fallen because of instability.
Wave-cut notches are caused by the undercutting of overhanging slopes which leads to increased stress on cliff material and a greater probability that the slope material will fall. The fallen debris accumulates at the bottom of the cliff and is eventually removed by waves.
A wave-cut platform forms after erosion and retreat of a sea cliff has been occurring for a long time. Gently sloping wave-cut platforms develop early on in the first stages of cliff retreat. Later, the length of the platform decreases because the waves lose their energy as they break further offshore.
Coastal features formed by sediment
Beach
Beach cusps
Cuspate foreland
Dune system
Mudflat
Raised beach
Ria
Shoal
Spit
Strand plain
Surge channel
Tombolo
Coastal features formed by another feature
Estuary
Lagoon
Salt marsh
Mangrove forests
Kelp forests
Coral reefs
Oyster reefs
Other features on the coast
Concordant coastline
Discordant coastline
Fjord
Island
Island arc
Machair
Coastal waters
"Coastal waters" (or "coastal seas") is a rather general term used differently in different contexts, ranging geographically from the waters within a few kilometers of the coast, through to the entire continental shelf which may stretch for more than a hundred kilometers from land. Thus the term coastal waters is used in a slightly different way in discussions of legal and economic boundaries (see territorial waters and international waters) or when considering the geography of coastal landforms or the ecological systems operating through the continental shelf (marine coastal ecosystems). The research on coastal waters often divides into these separate areas too.
The dynamic fluid nature of the ocean means that all components of the whole ocean system are ultimately connected, although certain regional classifications are useful and relevant. The waters of the continental shelves represent such a region. The term "coastal waters" has been used in a wide variety of different ways in different contexts. In European Union environmental management it extends from the coast to just a few nautical miles while in the United States the US EPA considers this region to extend much further offshore.
"Coastal waters" has specific meanings in the context of commercial coastal shipping, and somewhat different meanings in the context of naval littoral warfare. Oceanographers and marine biologists have yet other takes. Coastal waters have a wide range of marine habitats from enclosed estuaries to the open waters of the continental shelf.
Similarly, the term littoral zone has no single definition. It is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments, the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged.
Coastal waters can be threatened by coastal eutrophication and harmful algal blooms.
In geology
The identification of bodies of rock formed from sediments deposited in shoreline and nearshore environments (shoreline and nearshore facies) is extremely important to geologists. These provide vital clues for reconstructing the geography of ancient continents (paleogeography). The locations of these beds show the extent of ancient seas at particular points in geological time, and provide clues to the magnitudes of tides in the distant past.
Sediments deposited in the shoreface are preserved as lenses of sandstone in which the upper part of the sandstone is coarser than the lower part (a coarsening upwards sequence). Geologists refer to these are parasequences. Each records an episode of retreat of the ocean from the shoreline over a period of 10,000 to 1,000,000 years. These often show laminations reflecting various kinds of tidal cycles.
Some of the best-studied shoreline deposits in the world are found along the former western shore of the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea that flooded central North America during the late Cretaceous Period (about 100 to 66 million years ago). These are beautifully exposed along the Book Cliffs of Utah and Colorado.
Geologic processes
The following articles describe the various geologic processes that affect a coastal zone:
Attrition
Currents
Denudation
Deposition
Erosion
Flooding
Longshore drift
Marine sediments
Saltation
Sea level change
eustatic
isostatic
Sedimentation
Coastal sediment supply
sediment transport
solution
subaerial processes
suspension
Tides
Water waves
diffraction
refraction
wave breaking
wave shoaling
Weathering
Wildlife
Animals
Larger animals that live in coastal areas include puffins, sea turtles and rockhopper penguins, among many others. Sea snails and various kinds of barnacles live on rocky coasts and scavenge on food deposited by the sea. Some coastal animals are used to humans in developed areas, such as dolphins and seagulls who eat food thrown for them by tourists. Since the coastal areas are all part of the littoral zone, there is a profusion of marine life found just off-coast, including sessile animals such as corals, sponges, starfish, mussels, seaweeds, fishes, and sea anemones.
There are many kinds of seabirds on various coasts. These include pelicans and cormorants, who join up with terns and oystercatchers to forage for fish and shellfish. There are sea lions on the coast of Wales and other countries.
Coastal fish
Plants
Many coastal areas are famous for their kelp beds. Kelp is a fast-growing seaweed that can grow up to half a meter a day in ideal conditions. Mangroves, seagrasses, macroalgal beds, and salt marsh are important coastal vegetation types in tropical and temperate environments respectively. Restinga is another type of coastal vegetation.
Threats
Coasts also face many human-induced environmental impacts and coastal development hazards. The most important ones are:
Pollution which can be in the form of water pollution, nutrient pollution (leading to coastal eutrophication and harmful algal blooms), oil spills or marine debris that is contaminating coasts with plastic and other trash.
Sea level rise, and associated issues like coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion.
Pollution
The pollution of coastlines is connected to marine pollution which can occur from a number of sources: Marine debris (garbage and industrial debris); the transportation of petroleum in tankers, increasing the probability of large oil spills; small oil spills created by large and small vessels, which flush bilge water into the ocean.
Marine pollution
Marine debris
Microplastics
Sea level rise due to climate change
Global goals
International attention to address the threats of coasts has been captured in Sustainable Development Goal 14 "Life Below Water" which sets goals for international policy focused on preserving marine coastal ecosystems and supporting more sustainable economic practices for coastal communities. Likewise, the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, but restoration of coastal ecosystems has received insufficient attention.
See also
Bank (geography)
Beach cleaning
Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
European Atlas of the Seas
Intertidal zone
Land reclamation
List of countries by length of coastline
List of U.S. states by coastline
Offshore or Intertidal zone
Ballantine Scale
Coastal path
Shorezone
References
External links
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - organization dedicated to ocean research, exploration, and education
Coastal and oceanic landforms
Coastal geography
Oceanographical terminology
Articles containing video clips |
5367 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian | Cambrian | The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period mya. Its subdivisions, and its base, are somewhat in flux.
The period was established as "Cambrian series" by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for 'Cymru' (Wales), where Britain's Cambrian rocks are best exposed. Sedgwick identified the layer as part of his task, along with Roderick Murchison, to subdivide the large "Transition Series", although the two geologists disagreed for a while on the appropriate categorization.
The Cambrian is unique in its unusually high proportion of sedimentary deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. As a result, our understanding of the Cambrian biology surpasses that of some later periods.
The Cambrian marked a profound change in life on Earth: prior to the Cambrian, the majority of living organisms on the whole were small, unicellular and simple (Ediacaran fauna and earlier Tonian Huainan biota being notable exceptions). Complex, multicellular organisms gradually became more common in the millions of years immediately preceding the Cambrian, but it was not until this period that mineralized – hence readily fossilized – organisms became common.
The rapid diversification of lifeforms in the Cambrian, known as the Cambrian explosion, produced the first representatives of all modern animal phyla. Phylogenetic analysis has supported the view that before the Cambrian radiation, in the Cryogenian or Tonian, animals (metazoans) evolved monophyletically from a single common ancestor: flagellated colonial protists similar to modern choanoflagellates.
Although diverse life forms prospered in the oceans, the land is thought to have been comparatively barren – with nothing more complex than a microbial soil crust and a few molluscs and arthropods (albeit not terrestrial) that emerged to browse on the microbial biofilm.
By the end of the Cambrian, myriapods, arachnids, and hexapods started adapting to the land, along with the first plants. Most of the continents were probably dry and rocky due to a lack of vegetation. Shallow seas flanked the margins of several continents created during the breakup of the supercontinent Pannotia. The seas were relatively warm, and polar ice was absent for much of the period.
Stratigraphy
The Cambrian Period followed the Ediacaran Period and was followed by the Ordovician Period.
The base of the Cambrian lies atop a complex assemblage of trace fossils known as the Treptichnus pedum assemblage.
The use of Treptichnus pedum, a reference ichnofossil to mark the lower boundary of the Cambrian, is problematic because very similar trace fossils belonging to the Treptichnids group are found well below T. pedum in Namibia, Spain and Newfoundland, and possibly in the western US. The stratigraphic range of T. pedum overlaps the range of the Ediacaran fossils in Namibia, and probably in Spain.
Subdivisions
The Cambrian is divided into four epochs (series) and ten ages (stages). Currently only three series and six stages are named and have a GSSP (an internationally agreed-upon stratigraphic reference point).
Because the international stratigraphic subdivision is not yet complete, many local subdivisions are still widely used. In some of these subdivisions the Cambrian is divided into three epochs with locally differing names – the Early Cambrian (Caerfai or Waucoban, mya), Middle Cambrian (St Davids or Albertan, mya) and Late Cambrian ( mya; also known as Merioneth or Croixan).
Trilobite zones allow biostratigraphic correlation in the Cambrian. Rocks of these epochs are referred to as belonging to the Lower, Middle, or Upper Cambrian.
Each of the local series is divided into several stages. The Cambrian is divided into several regional faunal stages of which the Russian-Kazakhian system is most used in international parlance:
*Most Russian paleontologists define the lower boundary of the Cambrian at the base of the Tommotian Stage, characterized by diversification and global distribution of organisms with mineral skeletons and the appearance of the first Archaeocyath bioherms.
Dating the Cambrian
The International Commission on Stratigraphy lists the Cambrian Period as beginning at and ending at .
The lower boundary of the Cambrian was originally held to represent the first appearance of complex life, represented by trilobites. The recognition of small shelly fossils before the first trilobites, and Ediacara biota substantially earlier, led to calls for a more precisely defined base to the Cambrian Period.
Despite the long recognition of its distinction from younger Ordovician rocks and older Precambrian rocks, it was not until 1994 that the Cambrian system/period was internationally ratified. After decades of careful consideration, a continuous sedimentary sequence at Fortune Head, Newfoundland was settled upon as a formal base of the Cambrian Period, which was to be correlated worldwide by the earliest appearance of Treptichnus pedum. Discovery of this fossil a few metres below the GSSP led to the refinement of this statement, and it is the T. pedum ichnofossil assemblage that is now formally used to correlate the base of the Cambrian.
This formal designation allowed radiometric dates to be obtained from samples across the globe that corresponded to the base of the Cambrian. Early dates of quickly gained favour, though the methods used to obtain this number are now considered to be unsuitable and inaccurate. A more precise date using modern radiometric dating yield a date of . The ash horizon in Oman from which this date was recovered corresponds to a marked fall in the abundance of carbon-13 that correlates to equivalent excursions elsewhere in the world, and to the disappearance of distinctive Ediacaran fossils (Namacalathus, Cloudina). Nevertheless, there are arguments that the dated horizon in Oman does not correspond to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, but represents a facies change from marine to evaporite-dominated strata – which would mean that dates from other sections, ranging from 544 or 542 Ma, are more suitable.
Paleogeography
Plate reconstructions suggest a global supercontinent, Pannotia, was in the process of breaking up early in the Cambrian, with Laurentia (North America), Baltica, and Siberia having separated from the main supercontinent of Gondwana to form isolated land masses. Most continental land was clustered in the Southern Hemisphere at this time, but was drifting north. Large, high-velocity rotational movement of Gondwana appears to have occurred in the Early Cambrian.
With a lack of sea ice – the great glaciers of the Marinoan Snowball Earth were long melted – the sea level was high, which led to large areas of the continents being flooded in warm, shallow seas ideal for sea life. The sea levels fluctuated somewhat, suggesting there were "ice ages", associated with pulses of expansion and contraction of a south polar ice cap.
In Baltoscandia a Lower Cambrian transgression transformed large swathes of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain into an epicontinental sea.
Climate
Glaciers likely existed during the earliest Cambrian at high and possibly even at middle palaeolatitudes, possibly due to the ancient continent of Gondwana covering the South Pole and cutting off polar ocean currents. Middle Terreneuvian deposits, corresponding to the boundary between the Fortunian and Stage 2, show evidence of glaciation. However, other authors believe these very early, pretrilobitic glacial deposits may not even be of Cambrian age at all but instead date back to the Neoproterozoic, an era characterised by numerous severe icehouse periods. The beginning of Stage 3 was relatively cool, with the period between 521 and 517 Ma being known as the Cambrian Arthropod Radiation Cool Event (CARCE). The Earth was generally very warm during Stage 4; its climate was comparable to the hot greenhouse of the Late Cretaceous and Early Palaeogene, as evidenced by a maximum in continental weathering rates over the last 900 million years and the presence of tropical, lateritic palaeosols at high palaeolatitudes during this time. The Archaecyathid Extinction Warm Event (AEWE), lasting from 511 to 510.5 Ma, was particularly warm. Another warm event, the Redlichiid-Olenid Extinction Warm Event, occurred at the beginning of the Wuliuan. It became even warmer towards the end of the period, and sea levels rose dramatically. This warming trend continued into the Early Ordovician, the start of which was characterised by an extremely hot global climate.
Flora
The Cambrian flora was little different from the Ediacaran. The principal taxa were the marine macroalgae Fuxianospira, Sinocylindra, and Marpolia. No calcareous macroalgae are known from the period.
No land plant (embryophyte) fossils are known from the Cambrian. However, biofilms and microbial mats were well developed on Cambrian tidal flats and beaches 500 mya, and microbes forming microbial Earth ecosystems, comparable with modern soil crust of desert regions, contributing to soil formation. Although molecular clock estimates suggest terrestrial plants may have first emerged during the Middle or Late Cambrian, the consequent large-scale removal of the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere through sequestration did not begin until the Ordovician.
Oceanic life
The Cambrian explosion was a period of rapid multicellular growth. Most animal life during the Cambrian was aquatic. Trilobites were once assumed to be the dominant life form at that time, but this has proven to be incorrect. Arthropods were by far the most dominant animals in the ocean, but trilobites were only a minor part of the total arthropod diversity. What made them so apparently abundant was their heavy armor reinforced by calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which fossilized far more easily than the fragile chitinous exoskeletons of other arthropods, leaving numerous preserved remains.
The period marked a steep change in the diversity and composition of Earth's biosphere. The Ediacaran biota suffered a mass extinction at the start of the Cambrian Period, which corresponded with an increase in the abundance and complexity of burrowing behaviour. This behaviour had a profound and irreversible effect on the substrate which transformed the seabed ecosystems. Before the Cambrian, the sea floor was covered by microbial mats. By the end of the Cambrian, burrowing animals had destroyed the mats in many areas through bioturbation. As a consequence, many of those organisms that were dependent on the mats became extinct, while the other species adapted to the changed environment that now offered new ecological niches. Around the same time there was a seemingly rapid appearance of representatives of all the mineralized phyla, including the Bryozoa, which were once thought to have only appeared in the Lower Ordovician. However, many of those phyla were represented only by stem-group forms; and since mineralized phyla generally have a benthic origin, they may not be a good proxy for (more abundant) non-mineralized phyla.
While the early Cambrian showed such diversification that it has been named the Cambrian Explosion, this changed later in the period, when there occurred a sharp drop in biodiversity. About 515 million years ago, the number of species going extinct exceeded the number of new species appearing. Five million years later, the number of genera had dropped from an earlier peak of about 600 to just 450. Also, the speciation rate in many groups was reduced to between a fifth and a third of previous levels. 500 million years ago, oxygen levels fell dramatically in the oceans, leading to hypoxia, while the level of poisonous hydrogen sulfide simultaneously increased, causing another extinction. The later half of Cambrian was surprisingly barren and showed evidence of several rapid extinction events; the stromatolites which had been replaced by reef building sponges known as Archaeocyatha, returned once more as the archaeocyathids became extinct. This declining trend did not change until the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.
Some Cambrian organisms ventured onto land, producing the trace fossils Protichnites and Climactichnites. Fossil evidence suggests that euthycarcinoids, an extinct group of arthropods, produced at least some of the Protichnites. Fossils of the track-maker of Climactichnites have not been found; however, fossil trackways and resting traces suggest a large, slug-like mollusc.
In contrast to later periods, the Cambrian fauna was somewhat restricted; free-floating organisms were rare, with the majority living on or close to the sea floor; and mineralizing animals were rarer than in future periods, in part due to the unfavourable ocean chemistry.
Many modes of preservation are unique to the Cambrian, and some preserve soft body parts, resulting in an abundance of . These include Sirius Passet, the Sinsk Algal Lens, the Maotianshan Shales, the Emu Bay Shale, and the Burgess Shale,.
Symbol
The United States Federal Geographic Data Committee uses a "barred capital C" character to represent the Cambrian Period.
The Unicode character is .
Gallery
See also
Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event – circa 488 mya
Dresbachian extinction event—circa 499 mya
End Botomian extinction event—circa 513 mya
List of fossil sites (with link directory)
Type locality (geology), the locality where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified
References
Further reading
External links
Biostratigraphy – includes information on Cambrian trilobite biostratigraphy
Sam Gon's trilobite pages (contains numerous Cambrian trilobites)
Examples of Cambrian Fossils
Paleomap Project
Report on the web on Amthor and others from Geology vol. 31
Weird Life on the Mats
Chronostratigraphy scale v.2018/08 | Cambrian
Geological periods |
5375 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country%20code | Country code | A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed.
The term country code frequently refers to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, as well as the telephone country code, which is embodied in the E.164 recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
ISO 3166-1
The standard ISO 3166-1 defines short identification codes for most countries and dependent areas:
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: two-letter code
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: three-letter code
ISO 3166-1 numeric: three-digit code
The two-letter codes are used as the basis for other codes and applications, for example,
for ISO 4217 currency codes
with deviations, for country code top-level domain names (ccTLDs) on the Internet: list of Internet TLDs.
Other applications are defined in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.
ITU country codes
In telecommunication, a country code, or international subscriber dialing (ISD) code, is a telephone number prefix used in international direct dialing (IDD) and for destination routing of telephone calls to a country other than the caller's. A country or region with an autonomous telephone administration must apply for membership in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to participate in the international public switched telephone network (PSTN). County codes are defined by the ITU-T section of the ITU in standards E.123 and E.164.
Country codes constitute the international telephone numbering plan, and are dialed only when calling a telephone number in another country. They are dialed before the national telephone number. International calls require at least one additional prefix to be dialing before the country code, to connect the call to international circuits, the international call prefix. When printing telephone numbers this is indicated by a plus-sign (+) in front of a complete international telephone number, per recommendation E164 by the ITU.
Other country codes
European Union:
Before the 2004 EU enlargement the EU used the UN Road Traffic Conventions license plate codes. Since then, it has used the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, but with two modifications:
EL for Greece (instead of GR)
(formerly) UK for United Kingdom (instead of GB)
The Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics, NUTS) of the European Union, mostly focusing on subdivisions of the EU member states
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) assigns a three-letter code (dubbed FIFA Trigramme) to each of its member and non-member countries: List of FIFA country codes
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 defined two-letter codes used by the U.S. government and in the CIA World Factbook: list of FIPS country codes. On September 2, 2008, FIPS 10-4 was one of ten standards withdrawn by NIST as a Federal Information Processing Standard.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT), maintains its own list of codes, so-called World Area Codes (WAC), for state and country codes.
GOST 7.67: country codes in Cyrillic from the GOST standards committee
From the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO):
The national prefixes used in aircraft registration numbers
Location prefixes in four-character ICAO airport codes
International Olympic Committee (IOC) three-letter codes used in sporting events: list of IOC country codes
From the International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
the E.212 mobile country codes (MCC), for mobile/wireless phone addresses,
the first few characters of call signs of radio stations (maritime, aeronautical, amateur radio, broadcasting, and so on) define the country: the ITU prefix,
ITU letter codes for member-countries,
ITU prefix - amateur and experimental stations - The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) assigns national telecommunication prefixes for amateur and experimental radio use, so that operators can be identified by their country of origin. These prefixes are legally administered by the national entity to which prefix ranges are assigned.
Three-digit codes used to identify countries in maritime mobile radio transmissions, known as maritime identification digits
License plates for automobiles:
Under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Road Traffic Conventions (distinguishing signs of vehicles in international traffic): List of international license plate codes.
Diplomatic license plates in the United States, assigned by the U.S. State Department.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) used two-letter codes of its own: list of NATO country codes. They were largely borrowed from the FIPS 10-4 codes mentioned below. In 2003 the eighth edition of the Standardisation Agreement (STANAG) adopted the ISO 3166 three-letter codes with one exception (the code for Macedonia). With the ninth edition, NATO is transitioning to four- and six-letter codes based on ISO 3166 with a few exceptions and additions
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also has its own list of trigram country codes
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): WIPO ST.3 gives two-letter codes to countries and regional intellectual property organizations
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) maintains a list of country codes, used in reporting meteorological observations
UIC (the International Union of Railways): UIC Country Codes
The developers of ISO 3166 intended that in time it would replace other coding systems.
Other codings
Country identities may be encoded in the following coding systems:
The initial digits of International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) are group identifiers for countries, areas, or language regions.
The first three digits of GS1 Company Prefixes used to identify products, for example, in barcodes, designate (national) numbering agencies.
Lists of country codes by country
A -
B -
C -
D–E -
F -
G -
H–I -
J–K -
L -
M -
N -
O–Q -
R -
S -
T -
U–Z
See also
List of ISO 3166 country codes
ISO 639 language codes
Language code
Numbering scheme
References
External links
Comparison of various systems
Another comparison:
A comparison with ISO, IFS and others with notes
United Nations Region Codes
Geocodes |
5401 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous | Carboniferous | The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago (mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, mya. The name Carboniferous means "coal-bearing", from the Latin ("coal") and ("bear, carry"), and refers to the many coal beds formed globally during that time.
The first of the modern 'system' names, it was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, based on a study of the British rock succession. The Carboniferous is often treated in North America as two geological periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian.
Terrestrial animal life was well established by the Carboniferous Period. Tetrapods (four limbed vertebrates), which had originated from lobe-finned fish during the preceding Devonian, became pentadactylous in and diversified during the Carboniferous, including early amphibian lineages such as temnospondyls, with the first appearance of amniotes, including synapsids (the group to which modern mammals belong) and reptiles during the late Carboniferous. The period is sometimes called the Age of Amphibians, during which amphibians became dominant land vertebrates and diversified into many forms including lizard-like, snake-like, and crocodile-like.
Insects underwent a major radiation during the late Carboniferous. Vast swaths of forest covered the land, which eventually fell and became the coal beds characteristic of the Carboniferous stratigraphy evident today.
The later half of the period experienced glaciations, low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea. A minor marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous rainforest collapse, occurred at the end of the period, caused by climate change.
Etymology and history
The term "Carboniferous" had first been used as an adjective by Irish geologist Richard Kirwan in 1799, and later used in a heading entitled "Coal-measures or Carboniferous Strata" by John Farey Sr. in 1811, becoming an informal term referring to coal-bearing sequences in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe. Four units were originally ascribed to the Carboniferous, in ascending order, the Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous Limestone, Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures. These four units were placed into a formalised Carboniferous unit by William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, and later into the Carboniferous System by Phillips in 1835. The Old Red Sandstone was later considered Devonian in age. Subsequently, separate stratigraphic schemes were developed in Western Europe, North America, and Russia. The first attempt to build an international timescale for the Carboniferous was during the Eighth International Congress on Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology in Moscow in 1975, when all of the modern ICS stages were proposed.
Stratigraphy
The Carboniferous is divided into two subsystems, the lower Mississippian and upper Pennsylvanian, which are sometimes treated as separate geological periods in North American stratigraphy.
Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ratify global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype) identifying the lower boundary of the stage. The ICS subdivisions from youngest to oldest are as follows:
ICS units
The Mississippian was first proposed by Alexander Winchell, and the Pennsylvanian was proposed by J. J. Stevenson in 1888, and both were proposed as distinct and independent systems by H. S. Williams in 1881.
The Tournaisian was named after the Belgian city of Tournai. It was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1832. The GSSP for the base of the Tournaisian is located at the La Serre section in Montagne Noire, southern France. It is defined by the first appearance datum of the conodont Siphonodella sulcata, which was ratified in 1990. However, the GSSP was later shown to have issues, with Siphonodella sulcata being shown to occur 0.45 m below the proposed boundary.
The Viséan Stage was introduced by André Dumont in 1832. Dumont named this stage after the city of Visé in Belgium's Liège Province. The GSSP for the Visean is located in Bed 83 at the Pengchong section, Guangxi, southern China, which was ratified in 2012. The GSSP for the base of the Viséan is the first appearance datum of fusulinid (an extinct group of forams) Eoparastaffella simplex.
The Serpukhovian Stage was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin. It is named after the city of Serpukhov, near Moscow. The Serpukhovian Stage currently lacks a defined GSSP. The proposed definition for the base of the Serpukhovian is the first appearance of conodont Lochriea ziegleri.
The Bashkirian was named after Bashkiria, the then Russian name of the republic of Bashkortostan in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. The stage was introduced by Russian stratigrapher Sofia Semikhatova in 1934. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is located at Arrow Canyon in Nevada, US, which was ratified in 1996. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus.
The Moscovian is named after Moscow, Russia, and was first introduced by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The Moscovian currently lacks a defined GSSP.
The Kasimovian is named after the Russian city of Kasimov, and originally included as part of Nikitin's original 1890 definition of the Moscovian. It was first recognised as a distinct unit by A.P. Ivanov in 1926, who named it the "Tiguliferina" Horizon after a kind of brachiopod. The Kasimovian currently lacks a defined GSSP.
The Gzhelian is named after the Russian village of Gzhel (), nearby Ramenskoye, not far from Moscow. The name and type locality were defined by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The base of the Gzhelian currently lacks a defined GSSP.
The GSSP for the base of the Permian is located in the Aidaralash River valley near Aqtöbe, Kazakhstan, which was ratified in 1996. The beginning of the stage is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus postfusus.
Regional stratigraphy
North America
In North American stratigraphy, the Mississippian is divided, in ascending order, into the Kinderhookian, Osagean, Meramecian and Chesterian series, while the Pennsylvanian is divided into the Morrowan, Atokan, Desmoinesian, Missourian and Virgilian series.
The Kinderhookian is named after the village of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. It corresponds to the lower part of the Tournasian.
The Osagean is named after the Osage River in St. Clair County, Missouri. It corresponds to the upper part of the Tournaisian and the lower part of the Viséan.
The Meramecian is named after the Meramec Highlands Quarry, located the near the Meramec River, southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. It corresponds to the mid Viséan.
The Chesterian is named after the Chester Group, a sequence of rocks named after the town of Chester, Illinois. It corresponds to the upper Viséan and all of the Serpukhovian.
The Morrowan is named after the Morrow Formation located in NW Arkansas, it corresponds to the lower Bashkirian.
The Atokan was originally a formation named after the town of Atoka in southwestern Oklahoma. It corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and lower Moscovian
The Desmoinesian is named after the Des Moines Formation found near the Des Moines River in central Iowa. It corresponds to the middle and upper Moscovian and lower Kasimovian.
The Missourian was named at the same time as the Desmoinesian. It corresponds to the middle and upper Kasimovian.
The Virgilian is named after the town of Virgil, Kansas, it corresponds to the Gzhelian.
Europe
The European Carboniferous is divided into the lower Dinantian and upper Silesian, the former being named for the Belgian city of Dinant, and the latter for the Silesia region of Central Europe. The boundary between the two subdivisions is older than the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary, lying within the lower Serpukhovian. The boundary has traditionally been marked by the first appearance of the ammonoid Cravenoceras leion. In Europe, the Dinantian is primarily marine, the so-called "Carboniferous Limestone", while the Silesian is known primarily for its coal measures.
The Dinantian is divided up into two stages, the Tournaisian and Viséan. The Tournaisian is the same length as the ICS stage, but the Viséan is longer, extending into the lower Serpukhovian.
The Silesian is divided into three stages, in ascending order, the Namurian, Westphalian, Stephanian. The Autunian, which corresponds to the middle and upper Gzhelian, is considered a part of the overlying Rotliegend.
The Namurian is named after the city of Namur in Belgium. It corresponds to the middle and upper Serpukhovian and the lower Bashkirian.
The Westphalian is named after the region of Westphalia in Germany it corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and all but the uppermost Moscovian.
The Stephanian is named after the city of Saint-Étienne in eastern France. It corresponds to the uppermost Moscovian, the Kasimovian, and the lower Gzhelian.
Palaeogeography
A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian reversed early in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread inland seas and the carbonate deposition of the Mississippian. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwanaland was glaciated for much of the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the Devonian or not. These conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers.
Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major marine extinction, one that hit crinoids and ammonites especially hard. This sea level drop and the associated unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian Subperiod from the Pennsylvanian Subperiod. This happened about 323 million years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation.
The Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building as the supercontinent Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with North America–Europe (Laurussia) along the present line of eastern North America. This continental collision resulted in the Hercynian orogeny in Europe, and the Alleghenian orogeny in North America; it also extended the newly uplifted Appalachians southwestward as the Ouachita Mountains. In the same time frame, much of present eastern Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line of the Ural Mountains. Most of the Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea was now assembled, although North China (which collided in the Latest Carboniferous), and South China continents were still separated from Laurasia. The Late Carboniferous Pangaea was shaped like an "O".
There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous: Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the "O" in the Carboniferous Pangaea. Other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed: the Rheic Ocean (closed by the assembly of South and North America), the small, shallow Ural Ocean (which was closed by the collision of Baltica and Siberia continents, creating the Ural Mountains), and the Proto-Tethys Ocean (closed by North China collision with Siberia/Kazakhstania). In the Late Carboniferous, a shallow epicontinental sea covered a significant part of what is today northwestern Europe.
Climate
Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were high: approximately 20 °C (68 °F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12 °C (54 °F). Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fell during the Carboniferous Period from roughly 8 times the current level in the beginning, to a level similar to today's at the end. The Carboniferous is considered part of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age, which began in the latest Devonian with the formation of small glaciers in Gondwana. During the Tournaisian the climate warmed, before cooling, there was another warm interval during the Viséan, but cooling began again during the early Serpukhovian. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian around 323 million years ago, glaciers began to form around the South Pole, which grew to cover a vast area of Gondwana. This area extended from the southern reaches of the Amazon basin and covered large areas of southern Africa, as well as most of Australia and Antarctica. Cyclothems, which began around 313 million years ago, and continue into the following Permian indicate that the size of the glaciers were controlled by Milankovitch cycles akin to recent ice ages, with glacial periods and interglacials. Deep ocean temperatures during this time were cold due to the influx of cold bottom waters generated by seasonal melting of the ice cap.
The cooling and drying of the climate led to the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse (CRC) during the late Carboniferous. Tropical rainforests fragmented and then were eventually devastated by climate change.
Rocks and coal
Carboniferous rocks in Europe and eastern North America largely consist of a repeated sequence of limestone, sandstone, shale and coal beds. In North America, the early Carboniferous is largely marine limestone, which accounts for the division of the Carboniferous into two periods in North American schemes. The Carboniferous coal beds provided much of the fuel for power generation during the Industrial Revolution and are still of great economic importance.
The large coal deposits of the Carboniferous may owe their existence primarily to two factors. The first of these is the appearance of wood tissue and bark-bearing trees. The evolution of the wood fiber lignin and the bark-sealing, waxy substance suberin variously opposed decay organisms so effectively that dead materials accumulated long enough to fossilise on a large scale. The second factor was the lower sea levels that occurred during the Carboniferous as compared to the preceding Devonian Period. This fostered the development of extensive lowland swamps and forests in North America and Europe. Based on a genetic analysis of basidiomycetes, it was proposed that large quantities of wood were buried during this period because animals and decomposing bacteria and fungi had not yet evolved enzymes that could effectively digest the resistant phenolic lignin polymers and waxy suberin polymers. They suggest that fungi that could break those substances down effectively became dominant only towards the end of the period, making subsequent coal formation much rarer. The delayed fungal evolution hypothesis has been challenged by other researchers, who conclude that tectonic and climatic conditions during the formation of Pangaea, which created water filled basins alongside developing mountain ranges, resulted in the development of widespread humid, tropical conditions and the burial of massive quantities of organic matter, were responsible for the high rate of coal formation, with large amounts of coal also being formed during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic well after lignin digesting fungi had become well established, and that fungal degredation of lignin had likely already evolved by the end of the Devonian, even if the specific enzymes used by basidiomycetes had not.
Although it is often asserted that Carboniferous atmospheric oxygen concentrations were signficiantly higher than today, at around 30% of total atmospheric concentration, prehistoric atmospheric oxygen concentration estimates are highly uncertain, with other estimates suggesting that the amount of oxygen was actually lower than that present in todays atmosphere.
In eastern North America, marine beds are more common in the older part of the period than the later part and are almost entirely absent by the late Carboniferous. More diverse geology existed elsewhere, of course. Marine life is especially rich in crinoids and other echinoderms. Brachiopods were abundant. Trilobites became quite uncommon. On land, large and diverse plant populations existed. Land vertebrates included large amphibians.
Life
Plants
Early Carboniferous land plants, some of which were preserved in coal balls, were very similar to those of the preceding Late Devonian, but new groups also appeared at this time.
The main Early Carboniferous plants were the Equisetales (horse-tails), Sphenophyllales (scrambling plants), Lycopodiales (club mosses), Lepidodendrales (scale trees), Filicales (ferns), Medullosales (informally included in the "seed ferns", an assemblage of a number of early gymnosperm groups) and the Cordaitales. These continued to dominate throughout the period, but during late Carboniferous, several other groups, Cycadophyta (cycads), the Callistophytales (another group of "seed ferns"), and the Voltziales, appeared.
The Carboniferous lycophytes of the order Lepidodendrales, which are cousins (but not ancestors) of the tiny club-moss of today, were huge trees with trunks 30 meters high and up to 1.5 meters in diameter. These included Lepidodendron (with its cone called Lepidostrobus), Anabathra, Lepidophloios and Sigillaria. The roots of several of these forms are known as Stigmaria. Unlike present-day trees, their secondary growth took place in the cortex, which also provided stability, instead of the xylem. The Cladoxylopsids were large trees, that were ancestors of ferns, first arising in the Carboniferous.
The fronds of some Carboniferous ferns are almost identical with those of living species. Probably many species were epiphytic. Fossil ferns and "seed ferns" include Pecopteris, Cyclopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris, and Sphenopteris; Megaphyton and Caulopteris were tree ferns.
The Equisetales included the common giant form Calamites, with a trunk diameter of 30 to and a height of up to . Sphenophyllum was a slender climbing plant with whorls of leaves, which was probably related both to the calamites and the lycopods.
Cordaites, a tall plant (6 to over 30 meters) with strap-like leaves, was related to the cycads and conifers; the catkin-like reproductive organs, which bore ovules/seeds, is called Cardiocarpus. These plants were thought to live in swamps. True coniferous trees (Walchia, of the order Voltziales) appear later in the Carboniferous, and preferred higher drier ground.
Marine invertebrates
In the oceans the marine invertebrate groups are the Foraminifera, corals, Bryozoa, Ostracoda, brachiopods, ammonoids, hederelloids, microconchids and echinoderms (especially crinoids). The diversity of brachiopods and fusilinid foraminiferans, surged beginning in the Visean, continuing through the end of the Carboniferous, although cephalopod and nektonic conodont diversity declined. This evolutionary radiation was known as the Carboniferous-Earliest Permian Biodiversification Event. For the first time foraminifera take a prominent part in the marine faunas. The large spindle-shaped genus Fusulina and its relatives were abundant in what is now Russia, China, Japan, North America; other important genera include Valvulina, Endothyra, Archaediscus, and Saccammina (the latter common in Britain and Belgium). Some Carboniferous genera are still extant. The first true priapulids appeared during this period.
The microscopic shells of radiolarians are found in cherts of this age in the Culm of Devon and Cornwall, and in Russia, Germany and elsewhere. Sponges are known from spicules and anchor ropes, and include various forms such as the Calcispongea Cotyliscus and Girtycoelia, the demosponge Chaetetes, and the genus of unusual colonial glass sponges Titusvillia.
Both reef-building and solitary corals diversify and flourish; these include both rugose (for example, Caninia, Corwenia, Neozaphrentis), heterocorals, and tabulate (for example, Chladochonus, Michelinia) forms. Conularids were well represented by Conularia
Bryozoa are abundant in some regions; the fenestellids including Fenestella, Polypora, and Archimedes, so named because it is in the shape of an Archimedean screw. Brachiopods are also abundant; they include productids, some of which reached very large for brachiopods size and had very thick shells (for example, the -wide Gigantoproductus), while others like Chonetes were more conservative in form. Athyridids, spiriferids, rhynchonellids, and terebratulids are also very common. Inarticulate forms include Discina and Crania. Some species and genera had a very wide distribution with only minor variations.
Annelids such as Serpulites are common fossils in some horizons. Among the mollusca, the bivalves continue to increase in numbers and importance. Typical genera include Aviculopecten, Posidonomya, Nucula, Carbonicola, Edmondia, and Modiola. Gastropods are also numerous, including the genera Murchisonia, Euomphalus, Naticopsis. Nautiloid cephalopods are represented by tightly coiled nautilids, with straight-shelled and curved-shelled forms becoming increasingly rare. Goniatite ammonoids such as Aenigmatoceras are common.
Trilobites are rarer than in previous periods, on a steady trend towards extinction, represented only by the proetid group. Ostracoda, a class of crustaceans, were abundant as representatives of the meiobenthos; genera included Amphissites, Bairdia, Beyrichiopsis, Cavellina, Coryellina, Cribroconcha, Hollinella, Kirkbya, Knoxiella, and Libumella.
Crinoids were highly numerous during the Carboniferous, though they suffered a gradual decline in diversity during the middle Mississippian. Dense submarine thickets of long-stemmed crinoids appear to have flourished in shallow seas, and their remains were consolidated into thick beds of rock. Prominent genera include Cyathocrinus, Woodocrinus, and Actinocrinus. Echinoids such as Archaeocidaris and Palaeechinus were also present. The blastoids, which included the Pentreinitidae and Codasteridae and superficially resembled crinoids in the possession of long stalks attached to the seabed, attain their maximum development at this time.
Freshwater and lagoonal invertebrates
Freshwater Carboniferous invertebrates include various bivalve molluscs that lived in brackish or fresh water, such as Anthraconaia, Naiadites, and Carbonicola; diverse crustaceans such as Candona, Carbonita, Darwinula, Estheria, Acanthocaris, Dithyrocaris, and Anthrapalaemon.
The eurypterids were also diverse, and are represented by such genera as Adelophthalmus, Megarachne (originally misinterpreted as a giant spider, hence its name) and the specialised very large Hibbertopterus. Many of these were amphibious.
Frequently a temporary return of marine conditions resulted in marine or brackish water genera such as Lingula, Orbiculoidea, and Productus being found in the thin beds known as marine bands.
Terrestrial invertebrates
Fossil remains of air-breathing insects, myriapods and arachnids are known from the Carboniferous. Their diversity when they do appear, however, shows that these arthropods were both well-developed and numerous. Some arthropods grew to large sizes with the up to millipede-like Arthropleura being the largest-known land invertebrate of all time. Among the insect groups are the huge predatory Protodonata (griffinflies), among which was Meganeura, a giant dragonfly-like insect and with a wingspan of ca. —the largest flying insect ever to roam the planet. Further groups are the Syntonopterodea (relatives of present-day mayflies), the abundant and often large sap-sucking Palaeodictyopteroidea, the diverse herbivorous Protorthoptera, and numerous basal Dictyoptera (ancestors of cockroaches). Many insects have been obtained from the coalfields of Saarbrücken and Commentry, and from the hollow trunks of fossil trees in Nova Scotia. Some British coalfields have yielded good specimens: Archaeoptilus, from the Derbyshire coalfield, had a large wing with preserved part, and some specimens (Brodia) still exhibit traces of brilliant wing colors. In the Nova Scotian tree trunks land snails (Archaeozonites, Dendropupa) have been found.
Fish
Many fish inhabited the Carboniferous seas; predominantly Elasmobranchs (sharks and their relatives). These included some, like Psammodus, with crushing pavement-like teeth adapted for grinding the shells of brachiopods, crustaceans, and other marine organisms. Other groups of elasmobranchs, like the ctenacanthiformes grew to large sizes, with some genera like Saivodus reaching around 6-9 meters (20-30 feet). Other fish had piercing teeth, such as the Symmoriida; some, the petalodonts, had peculiar cycloid cutting teeth. Most of the other cartilaginous fish were marine, but others like the Xenacanthida, and several genera like Bandringa invaded fresh waters of the coal swamps. Among the bony fish, the Palaeonisciformes found in coastal waters also appear to have migrated to rivers. Sarcopterygian fish were also prominent, and one group, the Rhizodonts, reached very large size.
Most species of Carboniferous marine fish have been described largely from teeth, fin spines and dermal ossicles, with smaller freshwater fish preserved whole.
Freshwater fish were abundant, and include the genera Ctenodus, Uronemus, Acanthodes, Cheirodus, and Gyracanthus.
Chondrichthyes (especially holocephalans like the Stethacanthids) underwent a major evolutionary radiation during the Carboniferous. It is believed that this evolutionary radiation occurred because the decline of the placoderms at the end of the Devonian Period caused many environmental niches to become unoccupied and allowed new organisms to evolve and fill these niches. As a result of the evolutionary radiation Carboniferous holocephalans assumed a wide variety of bizarre shapes including Stethacanthus which possessed a flat brush-like dorsal fin with a patch of denticles on its top. Stethacanthus unusual fin may have been used in mating rituals. Other groups like the eugeneodonts filled in the niches left by large predatory placoderms. These fish were unique as they only possessed one row of teeth in their upper or lower jaws in the form of elaborate tooth whorls. The first members of the helicoprionidae, a family eugeneodonts that were characterized by the presence of one circular tooth whorl in the lower jaw, appeared during the lower Carboniferous. Perhaps the most bizarre radiation of holocephalans at this time was that of the iniopterygiformes, an order of holocephalans that greatly resembled modern day flying fish that could have also "flown" in the water with their massive, elongated pectoral fins. They were further characterized by their large eye sockets, club-like structures on their tails, and spines on the tips of their fins.
Tetrapods
Carboniferous amphibians were diverse and common by the middle of the period, more so than they are today; some were as long as 6 meters, and those fully terrestrial as adults had scaly skin. They included a number of basal tetrapod groups classified in early books under the Labyrinthodontia. These had long bodies, a head covered with bony plates and generally weak or undeveloped limbs. The largest were over 2 meters long. They were accompanied by an assemblage of smaller amphibians included under the Lepospondyli, often only about long. Some Carboniferous amphibians were aquatic and lived in rivers (Loxomma, Eogyrinus, Proterogyrinus); others may have been semi-aquatic (Ophiderpeton, Amphibamus, Hyloplesion) or terrestrial (Dendrerpeton, Tuditanus, Anthracosaurus).
The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse slowed the evolution of amphibians who could not survive as well in the cooler, drier conditions. Amniotes, however, prospered due to specific key adaptations. One of the greatest evolutionary innovations of the Carboniferous was the amniote egg, which allowed the laying of eggs in a dry environment, as well as keratinized scales and claws, allowing for the further exploitation of the land by certain tetrapods. These included the earliest sauropsid reptiles (Hylonomus), and the earliest known synapsid (Archaeothyris). Synapsids quickly became huge and diversified in the Permian, only for their dominance to stop during the Mesozoic Era. Sauropsids (reptiles, and also, later, birds) also diversified but remained small until the Mesozoic, during which they dominated the land, as well as the water and sky, only for their dominance to stop during the Cenozoic Era.
Reptiles underwent a major evolutionary radiation in response to the drier climate that preceded the rainforest collapse. By the end of the Carboniferous Period, amniotes had already diversified into a number of groups, including several families of synapsid pelycosaurs, protorothyridids, captorhinids, saurians and araeoscelids.
Fungi
As plants and animals were growing in size and abundance in this time (for example, Lepidodendron), land fungi diversified further. Marine fungi still occupied the oceans. All modern classes of fungi were present in the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian Epoch).
During the Carboniferous, animals and bacteria had great difficulty with processing the lignin and cellulose that made up the gigantic trees of the period. Microbes had not evolved that could process them. The trees, after they died, simply piled up on the ground, occasionally becoming part of long-running wildfires after a lightning strike, with others very slowly degrading into coal. White rot fungus were the first organisms to be able to process these and break them down in any reasonable quantity and timescale. Thus, some have proposed that fungi helped end the Carboniferous Period, stopping accumulation of undegraded plant matter, although this idea remains highly controversial.
Extinction events
Romer's gap
The first 15 million years of the Carboniferous had very limited terrestrial fossils. This gap in the fossil record is called Romer's gap after the American palaentologist Alfred Romer. While it has long been debated whether the gap is a result of fossilisation or relates to an actual event, recent work indicates the gap period saw a drop in atmospheric oxygen levels, indicating some sort of ecological collapse. The gap saw the demise of the Devonian fish-like ichthyostegalian labyrinthodonts, and the rise of the more advanced temnospondyl and reptiliomorphan amphibians that so typify the Carboniferous terrestrial vertebrate fauna.
Carboniferous rainforest collapse
Before the end of the Carboniferous Period, an extinction event occurred. On land this event is referred to as the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse (CRC). Vast tropical rainforests collapsed suddenly as the climate changed from hot and humid to cool and arid. This was likely caused by intense glaciation and a drop in sea levels.
The new climatic conditions were not favorable to the growth of rainforest and the animals within them. Rainforests shrank into isolated islands, surrounded by seasonally dry habitats. Towering lycopsid forests with a heterogeneous mixture of vegetation were replaced by much less diverse tree-fern dominated flora.
Amphibians, the dominant vertebrates at the time, fared poorly through this event with large losses in biodiversity; reptiles continued to diversify due to key adaptations that let them survive in the drier habitat, specifically the hard-shelled egg and scales, both of which retain water better than their amphibian counterparts.
See also
List of Carboniferous tetrapods
Carboniferous rainforest collapse
Important Carboniferous Lagerstätten
Granton Shrimp Bed; 359 mya; Edinburgh, Scotland
East Kirkton Quarry; c. 350 mya; Bathgate, Scotland
Bear Gulch Limestone; 324 mya; Montana, US
Mazon Creek; 309 mya; Illinois, US
Hamilton Quarry; 300 mya; Kansas, US
List of fossil sites (with link directory)
References
Sources
Rainer Zangerl and Gerard Ramon Case: Iniopterygia: a new order of Chondrichthyan fishes from the Pennsylvanian of North America. Fieldiana Geology Memoirs, v. 6, Field Museum of Natural History, 1973 Biodiversity Heritage Library (Volltext, engl.)
External links
Examples of Carboniferous Fossils
60+ images of Carboniferous Foraminifera
Carboniferous (Chronostratography scale)
Geological periods |