EVENTS OF THIS DAY IN THE PAST 7/4

• 161 – Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by his adoptive sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
• 238 – Roman subjects in the province of Africa revolt against Maximinus Thrax and elect Gordian I as emperor.
• 321 – Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.
• 1277 – Stephen Tempier, bishop of Paris, condemns 219 philosophical and theological theses.
• 1573 – A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–73) and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands.
• 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
• 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.
• 1827 – Brazilian marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina.
• 1827 – Shrigley abduction: Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future politician in colonial New Zealand.
• 1850 – Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces defeat Confederate troops at the Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
• 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the "telephone".
• 1900 – The German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore.
• 1902 – Second Boer War: In the Battle of Tweebosch, a Boer commando led by Koos de la Rey inflicts the biggest defeat upon the British since the beginning of the war.
• 1912 – Roald Amundsen announces that his expedition had reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
• 1914 – Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania to begin his reign as King.
• 1936 – Prelude to World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
• 1945 – World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen.
• 1950 – Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.
• 1951 – Korean War: Operation Ripper: United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
• 1957 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 124 is adopted.
• 1965 – Bloody Sunday: a group of 600 civil rights marchers is brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.
• 1967 – Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (MPRS), Indonesian provisional parliament, revoked Sukarno's mandate as President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnamese military begin Operation Truong Cong Dinh to root out Viet Cong forces from the area surrounding Mỹ Tho.
• 1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivers his historic speech at Suhrawardy Udyan.
• 1985 – The song "We Are the World" receives its international release.
• 1986 – Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.
• 1987 – Lieyu massacre: Taiwanese military massacre of 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees at Donggang, Lieyu, Kinmen.
• 1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
• 2006 – The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.
• 2007 – The British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.
• 2009 – The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and two civilians at Massereene Barracks, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since the end of The Troubles.
• 2009 – The Kepler space observatory, designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, is launched.
• 2014 – The opening ceremony for the 2014 Winter Paralympics take place in Sochi, Russia.

Births

• 189 – Publius Septimius Geta, Roman emperor (d. 211)
• 1481 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1537)
• 1507 – Magdalena of Saxony (d. 1534)
• 1556 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and author (d. 1621)
• 1671 – Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish outlaw (d. 1734)
• 1678 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Superga (d. 1736)
• 1693 – Pope Clement XIII (d. 1769)
• 1715 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German soldier and poet (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (d. 1725)
• 1730 – Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, French soldier and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1807)
• 1765 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, invented photography (d. 1833)
• 1785 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian author and poet (d. 1873)
• 1788 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and biochemist (d. 1878)
• 1792 – John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871)
• 1811 – Increase A. Lapham, American botanist and author (d. 1875)
• 1837 – Henry Draper, American physician and astronomer (d. 1882)
• 1841 – William Rockhill Nelson, American businessman and publisher, founded The Kansas City Star (d. 1915)
• 1849 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and author (d. 1926)
• 1850 – Champ Clark, American lawyer and politician, 41st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1921)
• 1850 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Austrian-Czech sociologist and politician, 1st President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1937)
• 1857 – Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
• 1872 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (d. 1944)
• 1873 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (d. 1959)
• 1875 – Maurice Ravel, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1937)
• 1878 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (d. 1927)
• 1885 – Milton Avery, American painter (d. 1965)
• 1885 – John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, English admiral (d. 1971)
• 1886 – Virginia Pearson, American actress (d. 1958)
• 1888 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-American journalist and author (d. 1977)
• 1888 – Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, Dutch lawyer and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1978)
• 1900 – Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg (d. 1950)
• 1902 – Heinz Rühmann, German actor and director (d. 1994)
• 1904 – Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1969)
• 1904 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer (d. 1942)
• 1908 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
• 1911 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian journalist and author (d. 1987)
• 1912 – Adile Ayda, Turkish engineer and diplomat (d. 1992)
• 1913 – Dollard Ménard, Canadian general (d. 1997)
• 1915 – Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
• 1917 – Janet Collins, American ballerina and choreographer (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Betty Holberton, American engineer and programmer (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Olga Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian journalist and author (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Bill Boedeker, American football player (d. 2014)
• 1925 – Rene Gagnon, American soldier (d. 1979)
• 1927 – James Broderick, American actor and director (d. 1982)
• 1929 – Dan Jacobson, South African-English author and critic (d. 2014)
• 1930 – Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and politician
• 1930 – Robert Trotter, Scottish actor and photographer (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer and accountant (d. 1998)
• 1933 – Ed Bouchee, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1934 – Willard Scott, American journalist, actor, and author
• 1936 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (d. 2013)
• 1936 – Georges Perec, French author and screenwriter (d. 1982)
• 1938 – David Baltimore, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1939 – Danyel Gérard, French singer-songwriter
• 1940 – Rudi Dutschke, German activist (d. 1979)
• 1940 – Daniel J. Travanti, American actor
• 1941 – Piers Paul Read, English historian and author
• 1942 – Michael Eisner, American businessman
• 1942 – Tammy Faye Messner, American evangelist, singer, and talk show host (d. 2007)
• 1943 – Chris White, English bass player and songwriter (The Zombies)
• 1944 – Ranulph Fiennes, English soldier and explorer
• 1944 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1945 – John Heard, American actor and producer
• 1945 – Bob Herbert, American journalist
• 1945 – Arthur Lee, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Love) (d. 2006)
• 1945 – Elizabeth Moon, American lieutenant and author
• 1946 – Matthew Fisher, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Procol Harum)
• 1946 – Daniel Goleman, American psychologist and author
• 1946 – Peter Wolf, American singer-songwriter (The J. Geils Band)
• 1947 – Helen Eadie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
• 1947 – Richard Lawson, American actor and producer
• 1947 – Walter Röhrl, German race car driver
• 1949 – Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician, Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare
• 1949 – Genyo Takeda, Japanese businessman
• 1950 – Iris Chacón, Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1950 – Billy Joe DuPree, American football player
• 1950 – Franco Harris, American football player and businessman
• 1950 – J. R. Richard, American baseball player and minister
• 1951 – Rocco Prestia, American bass player (Tower of Power)
• 1952 – William Boyd, Ghanaian-English author and screenwriter
• 1952 – Ernie Isley, American guitarist and songwriter (The Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley)
• 1952 – Viv Richards, Caribbean cricketer and footballer
• 1952 – Lynn Swann, American football player, sportscaster, and politician
• 1954 – Eva Brunne, Swedish bishop
• 1955 – Anupam Kher, Indian actor, singer, director, and producer
• 1955 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
• 1956 – Bryan Cranston, American actor, director, and producer
• 1956 – Andrea Levy, English author
• 1957 – Robert Harris, English journalist and author
• 1957 – Mark Richards, Australian surfer
• 1957 – Tomás Yarrington, Mexican economist and politician, Governor of Tamaulipas
• 1958 – Rick Bass, American author and activist
• 1958 – Rik Mayall, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1958 – Merv Neagle, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
• 1959 – Tom Lehman, American golfer
• 1959 – Donna Murphy, American actress and singer
• 1959 – Nick Searcy, American actor and director
• 1960 – Joe Carter, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1960 – Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player and coach
• 1960 – Jim Spivey, American runner and coach
• 1961 – Mary Beth Evans, American actress and producer
• 1961 – David Rutley, English businessman and politician
• 1962 – Irma Adlawan, Filipino actress
• 1962 – Taylor Dayne, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1963 – Mike Eagles, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1963 – E. L. James, English author
• 1964 – Bret Easton Ellis, American author and screenwriter
• 1964 – Denyce Graves, American soprano
• 1964 – Wanda Sykes, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
• 1965 – Jean-Pierre Barda, French-Swedish singer and actor (Army of Lovers)
• 1965 – Steve Beuerlein, American football player and sportscaster
• 1965 – Cameron Daddo, Australian actor and producer
• 1965 – Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer
• 1966 – Terry Carkner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1966 – Atsushi Sakurai, Japanese singer-songwriter (Buck-Tick and Schwein)
• 1966 – Joy Tanner, American-Canadian actress
• 1967 – Muhsin al-Ramli, Iraqi author, poet, translator, and academic
• 1967 – Ruthie Henshall, English actress, singer, and dancer
• 1967 – Ai Yazawa, Japanese author and illustrator
• 1968 – Jeff Kent, American baseball player
• 1969 – Shin Ae-ra, South Korean actress
• 1969 – Warrel Dane, American singer-songwriter (Nevermore and Sanctuary)
• 1969 – Massimo Lotti, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Hideki Noda, Japanese race car driver
• 1970 – Rachel Weisz, English-American actress and producer
• 1971 – Peter Sarsgaard, American actor
• 1971 – Matthew Vaughn, English director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 – Jang Dong-gun, South Korean actor and singer
• 1972 – Craig Polla-Mounter, Australian rugby league player
• 1973 – Jason Bright, Australian race car driver
• 1973 – Sébastien Izambard, French tenor and producer (Il Divo)
• 1973 – Işın Karaca, English-Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1973 – Ray Parlour, English footballer
• 1974 – Antonio de la Rúa, Argentinian lawyer
• 1974 – Hugo Ferreira, Angolan-American singer-songwriter (Tantric)
• 1974 – Jenna Fischer, American actress and director
• 1974 – Krizz Kaliko, American rapper (K.A.B.O.S.H.)
• 1975 – T. J. Thyne, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1977 – Paul Cattermole, English singer and actor (S Club 7)
• 1977 – Hiroki Hasegawa, Japanese actor
• 1977 – Ronan O'Gara, Irish rugby player and coach
• 1978 – Jaqueline Jesus, Brazilian psychologist and activist
• 1979 – Rodrigo Braña, Argentinian footballer
• 1979 – Amanda Somerville, American singer-songwriter (Aina and Kiske/Somerville)
• 1980 – Murat Boz, Turkish singer-songwriter
• 1980 – Eric Godard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Laura Prepon, American actress and producer
• 1981 – Brent Kite, Australian rugby league player
• 1981 – Rica Peralejo, Filipino actress and singer
• 1982 – Kate Michael, American model, Miss District of Columbia 2006
• 1982 – Erika Yamakawa, Japanese model and actress
• 1983 – Manucho, Angolan footballer
• 1983 – Taylor Tankersley, American baseball player
• 1983 – Sebastián Viera, Uruguayan footballer
• 1984 – Mathieu Flamini, French footballer
• 1984 – Jacob Lillyman, Australian rugby league player
• 1984 – Lindsay McCaul, American singer-songwriter
• 1984 – Rachel Rice, Welsh model and actress
• 1985 – Andre Fluellen, American football player
• 1985 – Cameron Prosser, Australian swimmer
• 1986 – Ben Griffin, Australian footballer
• 1987 – Hatem Ben Arfa, French footballer
• 1987 – Niclas Bergfors, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1988 – Larry Asante, American football player
• 1989 – Gerald Anderson, Filipino-American actor
• 1990 – Choi Jong-hoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist (F.T. Island)
• 1990 – Taylor Jardine, American singer-songwriter (We Are the In Crowd)
• 1990 – Lefteris Matsoukas, Greek footballer
• 1991 – Michele Rigione, Italian footballer
• 1992 – Bel Powley, English actress
• 1993 – Denisa Allertová, Czech tennis player
• 1993 – Robbie Thomson, Scottish footballer
• 1994 – An-Sophie Mestach, Belgian tennis player
• 1995 – Jerome Binnom-Williams, English footballer
• 1996 – Liam Donnelly, Northern Irish footballer
• 1997 – Honoka Miki, Japanese model and actress
• 2009 – Prince Umberto of Savoy-Aosta

Deaths

• 161 – Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor (b. 86)
• 413 – Heraclianus, Roman politician
• 1226 – William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1176)
• 1274 – Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italian priest and philosopher (b. 1225)
• 1550 – William IV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1493)
• 1578 – Margaret Douglas, English daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (b. 1515)
• 1625 – Johann Bayer, German lawyer and cartographer (b. 1572)
• 1724 – Pope Innocent XIII (b. 1655)
• 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1680)
• 1778 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (b. 1720)
• 1810 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, English admiral (b. 1750)
• 1838 – Robert Townsend, American spy (b. 1753)
• 1904 – Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist and petrologist (b. 1828)
• 1913 – Pauline Johnson, Canadian poet and author (b. 1861)
• 1920 – Jaan Poska, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1866)
• 1928 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (b. 1851)
• 1932 – Aristide Briand, French journalist and politician, Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• 1934 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (b. 1875)
• 1938 – Andreas Michalakopoulos, Greek politician, 116th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
• 1949 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player, physician, and politician (b. 1884)
• 1952 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1893)
• 1954 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• 1957 – Wyndham Lewis, English author and painter (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Govind Ballabh Pant, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Louise Mountbatten, German-Swedish wife of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (b. 1889)
• 1967 – Alice B. Toklas, American-French journalist and author (b. 1877)
• 1969 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 2nd Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1891)
• 1974 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor (Lecuona Cuban Boys) (b. 1906)
• 1975 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1895)
• 1975 – Ben Blue, Canadian-American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1901)
• 1976 – Wright Patman, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1893)
• 1981 – Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
• 1982 – Ida Barney, American astronomer, mathematician, and academic (b. 1886)
• 1983 – Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor and composer (b. 1912)
• 1986 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York State Attorney General (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Divine, American drag queen performer, actor, and singer (b. 1945)
• 1991 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1997 – Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Stanley Kubrick, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Charles Gray, English actor and singer (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903)
• 2004 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941)
• 2005 – John Box, English production designer and art director (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Debra Hill, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1950)
• 2006 – Gordon Parks, American photographer, director, and composer (b. 1912)
• 2006 – Ali Farka Touré, Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
• 2007 – Ronnie Wells, American singer and educator (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Jang Ja-yeon, South Korean actress (b. 1982)
• 2010 – Mary Josephine Ray, Canadian-American super-centenarian (b. 1895)
• 2012 – Ravi, Indian director and composer (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Włodzimierz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1957)
• 2012 – Pierre Tornade, French actor (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Peter Banks, English guitarist and songwriter (Yes, The Syn, and Flash) (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Sybil Christopher, Welsh-American actress and director (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Damiano Damiani, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Frederick B. Karl, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Claude King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Anatoly Borisovich Kuznetsov, Russian actor and director (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Tamás Nádas, Hungarian pilot (b. 1969)
• 2014 – Ned O'Gorman, American poet and educator (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Victor Shem-Tov, Israeli lawyer and politician, 8th Israeli Minister of Health (b. 1915)
• 2015 – G. Karthikeyan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
• 2015 – F. Ray Keyser, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 72nd Governor of Vermont (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1935)
• 2016 – Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (b. 1951)
• 2016 – Michael White, Scottish-American producer and manager (b. 1936)
• 2016 – Quentin Young, American physician and activist (b. 1923)