July 16

Events

*622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
*1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing an invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar in the Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. This is often dated as the start of the East-West Schism.
*1661 - The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
*1683 - Manchu/Chinese Qing Dynasty naval forces under commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
*1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
*1782 - First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio".
*1790 - The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after the signing of the Residence Act.
*1809 - The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declared its independence from Spanish Crown and formed the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, lead by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
*1862 - American Civil War: David Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
*1880 - Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licenced to practice medicine in Canada.
*1931 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
*1935 - The world's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
*1942 - Holocaust: "Rafle du Vel'd'Hiv": the Vichy France government orders French police officers to round up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
*1945 - Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
*1948 - The city of Nazareth, hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel led by Ben Dunkelman, after little more than token resistance, during 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
*1951 - King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
*1957 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
*1965 - The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
*1969 - Apollo program: "Apollo 11", the first manned space mission to land on the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
*1973 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
*1979 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
*1981 - Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister until he retired on October 31, 2003, making him Asia's longest-serving political leaders (22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia).
*1983 - Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
*1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22nd.
*1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy.
*2004 - Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
*2007 - An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and aftershock of 6.6 occurs off the Niigata coast, Japan, killing 8 people with at least 800 injured and damaging a nuclear power plant. See 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake.

Births

*1194 - Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (d. 1253)
*1486 - Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
*1611 - Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1644)
*1714 - Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer (d. 1800)
*1722 - Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
*1723 - Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
*1796 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
*1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910)
*1858 - Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (d. 1931)
*1862 - Ida B. Wells, American civil rights activist (d. 1931)
*1870 - Lambert McKenna, Irish scholar (d. 1956)
*1872 - Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (d. 1928)
*1883 - Charles Sheeler, American photographer and artist (d. 1965)
*1884 - Anna Vyrubova, Russian memoirist (d. 1964)
*1888 - Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
* 1888 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
* 1888 - "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
*1889 - Larry Semon, American comedian (d. 1928)
*1896 - Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
* 1896 - Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German eugenicist and Nazi physician (d. 1969)
* 1896 - Evelyn Preer, American actress (d. 1932)
*1902 - Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist (d. 1977)
*1903 - Carmen Lombardo, Canadian musician (d. 1971)
* 1903 - Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993)
* 1903 - Fritz Bauer, German judge (d. 1968)
*1906 - Vincent Sherman, American film director (d. 2006)
*1907 - Frances Horwich, American educator and television personality (d. 2001)
* 1907 - Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995)
* 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
*1910 - Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
*1911 - Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)
* 1911 - Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
*1912 - Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
*1915 - Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
*1918 - Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 1989)
*1919 - Choi Kyuha, President of South Korea (d. 2006)
* 1919 - Hermine Braunsteiner, Nazi war criminal (d. 1999)
*1920 - Anwar Hussain, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2002)
*1923 - Chris Argyris, American educator
*1924 - Bess Myerson, American beauty queen
*1925 - Cal Tjader, American musician (d. 1982)
*1926 - Irwin Rose, American biologist, Nobel laureate
*1927 - John Warr, English cricketer
*1928 - Anita Brookner, English novelist
* 1928 - Robert Sheckley, American author (d. 2005)
* 1928 - David C. Treen, American politician
* 1928 - Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993)
*1930 - Michael Bilirakis, American politician
* 1930 - Guy Béart, Egyptian-born French singer and songwriter
*1932 - Max McGee, American football player (d. 2007)
* 1932 - Dick Thornburgh, American politician
*1934 - Don Payne, American politician
*1936 - Buddy Merrill, American musician ("The Lawrence Welk Show")
* 1936 - Venkatraman Subramanya, Indian cricketer
*1937 - Richard Bryan, American politician
*1938 - Tony Jackson, English bass player (The Searchers) (d. 2003)
*1939 - Corin Redgrave, English actor
* 1939 - Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (d. 1995)
*1941 - Desmond Dekker, Jamaican musician (d. 2006)
*1941 - Mišo Kovač, Croatian musician
*1942 - Margaret Court, Australian tennis player
*1943 - Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet (d. 1990)
*1946 - Barbara Lee, American politician
* 1946 - Richard LeParmentier, American actor
* 1946 - Ron Yary, American football player
*1947 - Alexis Herman, 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor
* 1947 - Assata Shakur, American activist
*1948 - Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer and actor
* 1948 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
*1950 - Pierre Paradis, Quebec politician
* 1950 - Dennis Priestley, English darts player
* 1950 - Tom Terrell, musicologist, deejay
*1951 - Jean-Luc Mongrain, French-Canadian journalist
*1952 - Stewart Copeland, American drummer (The Police)
* 1952 - Robert David Steele, American spy
*1953 - Douglas J. Feith, American Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
*1954 - Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
*1956 - Jerry Doyle, American actor
* 1956 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
*1957 - Alexandra Marinina, Russian writer
*1958 - Michael Flatley, Irish-born American dancer
* 1958 - Pierre Roland Renoir, Canadian artist
* 1958 - Mike D. Rogers, American politician
*1959 - Gary Anderson, American football player
* 1959 - Doug Herzog, American television executive
*1960 - Terry Pendleton, American baseball player
*1963 - Phoebe Cates, American actress
* 1963 - Srečko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
*1964 - Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
* 1964 - Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist
* 1964 - Anne Provoost, Belgian author
*1965 - Claude Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1965 - Tina Tyler, Canadian porn star
*1966 - Johnny Vaughan, English writer and broadcaster
*1967 - Will Ferrell, American comedian
* 1967 - Christopher Rocancourt, French con artist
*1968 - Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
* 1968 - Barry Sanders, American football player
* 1968 - Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia
*1969 - Kathryn Harby-Williams, Australian netballer
* 1969 - Daryl Mitchell, American actor
* 1969 - Rain Pryor, American actress
*1970 - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai film director
*1971 - Ed Kowalczyk, American singer (Live)
* 1971 - Corey Feldman, American actor
*1973 - Stefano Garzelli, Italian cyclist
* 1973 - Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
* 1973 - Tim Ryan, American politician
* 1973 - Graham Robertson, American filmmaker and author
*1974 - Jeremy Enigk, American singer/songwriter and guitarist (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fire Theft)
* 1974 - Chris Pontius, American actor and Jackass cast member
* 1974 - Wendell Sailor, Australian rugby league and union footballer
*1975 - Bas Leinders, Belgian racing car driver
* 1975 - Ana Paula Arósio, Brazilian actress
* 1975 - Jamie Oliver, Welsh keyboardist
*1976 - Bobby Lashley, American Professional Wrestler
* 1976 - Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguyan footballer
* 1976 - Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player
* 1976 - Tomasz Kuchar, Polish Rally driver
*1977 - Bryan Budd, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 2006)
*1978 - Taj Anwar, model and activist
*1979 - Jayma Mays, American actress
* 1979 - Chris Mihm, American basketball player
*1980 - Jesse Jane, American pornographic actress
* 1980 - Adam Scott, Australian golfer
*1982 - Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer
*1984 - Katrina Kaif, Indian Actress
* 1984 - Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese racing driver
*1986 - Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor
*1989 - Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
*1991 - Randall Bentley, American actor
*1994 - Mark Indelicato, American singer and actor

Deaths

*1324 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267)
*1342 - King Charles I of Hungary
*1546 - Anne Askew, English Protestant (burned at the stake) (b. 1521)
*1557 - Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)
*1594 - Thomas Kyd, author of "The Spanish Tragedy" (b. 1558)
*1647 - Masaniello, Neapolitan rebel (b. 1622)
*1664 - Andreas Gryphius, German writer (b. 1616)
*1686 - John Pearson, English theologian (b. 1612)
*1691 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (b. 1641)
*1729 - Johann David Heinichen, German composer (b. 1683)
*1747 - Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Italian painter (b. 1665)
*1770 - Francis Cotes, English painter (b. 1726)
*1796 - George Howard, British field marshal (b. 1718)
*1831 - Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
*1871 - Tad Lincoln, son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln
*1879 - Edward Deas Thomson, Australian politician (b. 1800)
*1882 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)
*1886 - Ned Buntline, American pulp novelist (b. 1823)
*1896 - Edmond Goncourt, French writer and critic (b. 1822)
*1915 - Ellen White, American co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (b. 1827)
*1916 - Ilya Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1845)
*1917 - Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
*1947 - Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish humanitarian (exact date of death uncertain) (b. 1912)
*1949 - Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet (b. 1866)
*1953 - Hilaire Belloc, English writer (b. 1870)
*1960 - Albert Kesselring, German field marshal (b. 1881)
* 1960 - John P. Marquand, American novelist (b. 1893)
*1976 - Carmelo Soria, Spanish diplomat assassinated in 1976 by the Chilean DINA
*1979 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (b. 1912)
*1981 - Harry Chapin, American musician (b. 1942)
*1982 - Patrick Dewaere, French actor (b. 1947)
* 1982 - C.R. Swart, South African (b. 1894)
*1985 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
* 1985 - Wayne King, American musician, songwriter and bandleader (b. 1901)
*1989 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
*1990 - Robert Blackburn, Irish educationist (b. 1927)
* 1990 - Sidney Torch, English composer, conductor and organist (b. 1908)
*1991 - Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
* 1991 - Frank Rizzo, American politician (b. 1920
*1992 - Buck Buchanan, American football player (b. 1940)
*1994 - Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
* 1994 - Marcel-Marie Desmarais, French Canadian priest, writer, preacher and broadcaster (b. 1908)
*1995 - May Sarton, Belgian-born American poet (b. 1912)
* 1995 - Stephen Spender, English poet (b. 1909)
*1996 - John Panozzo, American musician (Styx) (b. 1948)
* 1996 - Adolf von Thadden, German politician, (b. 1921)
*1998 - John Henrik Clarke, American historian and scholar (b. 1915)
*1999 - Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (b. 1966)
* 1999 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (b. 1960)
* 1999 - Hiromi Yanagihara, Japanese singer (b. 1979)
*2001 - Maurice De Bevere, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1923)
* 2001 - Terry Gordy, American professional wrestler (b. 1961)
*2002 - John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
*2003 - Celia Cruz, Cuban musician (b. 1924)
* 2003 - Carol Shields, Canadian author (b. 1935)
*2004 - George Busbee, Governor of Georgia (b. 1927)
*2005 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (b. 1920)
* 2005 - Prince Gu of Korea (b. 1931)
* 2005 - Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer, lyricist, and entertainer (b. 1920)
*2006 - Bob Orton, Sr., American professional wrestler (b. 1929)
* 2006 - Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (b. 1948)
*2008 - Jo Stafford, American singer of traditional pop music (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

* Our Lady of Mount Carmel
* Saint Helier, hermit, martyr
* Saint Gondulph, bishop of Tongeren, confessors

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/16 BBC: On This Day]
*
* [http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jul&day=16 On This Day in Canada] ----