births and deaths - events

1750 BC	Babylon	Hammurabi, sixth Babylonian king of the Amorite dynasty c. 1792–c.1750 BC, dies.
c. 1370 BC	Egypt	Tutankhamen, King of Egypt (1361–1352 BC), whose intact tomb was discovered in 1922, born (–1352 BC).
1352 BC	Egypt	Tutankhamen, King of Egypt 1361–1352 BC, whose intact tomb was discovered in 1922, dies (c. 18).
c. 990 BC	Israel	Solomon, King of Israel, traditionally regarded as the author of the Old Testament books, the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, born (–931 BC).
c. 962 BC	Israel	David, second king of Israel, who established Israel as a united kingdom, and features prominently in the holy texts of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions, dies (c. 70).
c. 930 BC	Israel	Solomon, King of Israel, traditionally regarded as the author of the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon of the Old Testament, dies (c. 59).
c. 690 BC	Assyria	Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria (668–c. 627 BC), who created, at Nineveh, the first ancient library in the Middle East, born (–c. 627 BC).
c. 630 BC	Greece	Solon, Athenian statesman who replaced the ruling aristocracy with a rule by the wealthy, born (–c. 560 BC).
c. 627 BC	Assyria, Neo-Assyrian Empire	Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria (668–c. 627 BC), who created, at Nineveh, the first ancient library in the Middle East, dies (c. 63).
c. 581 BC	Persia	Cyrus the Elder (‘Cyrus the Great’), Persian emperor who founded the Achaemenid empire which stretched from the Indus River to the Aegean, born in Media Orpersis (–c. 529 BC).
c. 570 BC	Greece	Cleithenes of Athens, statesman and magistrate of Athens (525–524 BC), who founded Athenian democracy, born (–c. 508 BC).
563 BC	India	Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism, born in Kapilavastu, India (–c. 483 BC).
c. 560 BC	Greece	Solon, Athenian statesman who replaced the ruling aristocracy with a rule by the wealthy, dies (c. 70).
551 BC	China	Confucius (Chinese: K'ung-fu-tzu, or Pinyin: Kongfuzi), celebrated Chinese philosopher and political theorist, born in Ch'u-fu, Lu, now in Shantung Province, China (–479 BC).
529 BC	Persia, Persian Empire	King Cyrus II the Great of Persia, who founded the Persian Achaemenid Empire, dies leading an expedition against the Massagetae, an Asiatic people from around the Sea of Aral (c. 52).
c. 525 BC	Greece	Aeschylus, first Athenian tragic dramatist, born (–c. 456).
c. 519 BC	Persia	Xerxes I, King of Persia (486–465 BC), who invaded Greece, born in Persia (–465 BC).
c. 508 BC	Greece	Cleithenes of Athens, statesman and magistrate of Athens (525–524 BC), who founded Athenian democracy, dies (c. 62).
496 BC	Greece	Sophocles, Greek playwright, author of Oedipus Rex, born in Colonus, near Athens (–406 BC).
c. 495 BC	Greece	Pericles, Athenian statesman chiefly responsible for making Athens the centre of Greece and for Athenian democracy, born in Athens, Greece (–429 BC).
486 BC	Persia, Persian Empire	Darius I the Great, Achaemenid king of Persia 522–486 BC, who made several attempts to conquer Greece, dies.
484 BC	Greece, Turkey	Herodotus, Greek historian, author of an important history of the Greco-Persian wars, born in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (now Bodrum, Turkey) (–c. 425 BC).
c. 484 BC	Greece	Euripides, one the great Athenian tragic dramatists, whose best-known plays include Medea (431 BC) and Electra (418 BC), born (–406 BC).
c. 483 BC	India	Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism, dies in Kusinagara, Nepal (c. 80).
479 BC	China	Confucius (Chinese: K'ung-fu-tzu, or Pinyin: Kongfuzi), celebrated Chinese philosopher and political theorist, dies in Lu, now in Shantung Province, China (c. 72).
c. 470 BC	Greece	Socrates, Athenian philosopher, born in Athens (–399 BC).
465 BC	Persia	Xerxes I, king of Persia 486–465 BC, who invaded Greece, is assassinated in Persepolis, Persia, by Artabanus, his uncle and the head of his bodyguard (c. 54).
c. 456 BC	Greece	Aeschylus, first Athenian tragic dramatist, dies in Gela, Sicily (c. 69).
450 BC	Greece	Aristophanes, outstanding Greek comic dramatist, 11 of whose plays survive, including The Clouds, The Birds, and The Frogs, born (–c. 388 BC).
429 BC	Greece	Pericles, an Athenian statesman chiefly responsible for making Athens the centre of Greece and for establishing Athenian democracy, dies in Athens, Greece (c. 66).
428 BC	Greece	Plato, Greek philosopher, often considered one of the greatest in history, born in Athens, or possibly Aegina, Greece (–347 BC).
c. 425 BC	Greece	Herodotus, Greek historian, author of an important history of the Greco-Persian wars, dies (c. 59).
406 BC	Greece	Sophocles, Greek playwright, author of Oedipus Rex, dies in Athens (90).
406 BC	Greece, Macedon	Euripides, one the great Athenian tragic dramatists, whose best-known plays include Medea (431 BC) and Electra (418 BC), dies in Macedon (c. 78).
399 BC	Greece	Socrates, Athenian philosopher, commits suicide in Athens (c. 70).
388 BC	Greece	Aristophanes, outstanding Greek comic dramatist, 11 of whose plays survive, including The Clouds, The Birds, and The Frogs, dies (c. 62).
384 BC	Greece	Aristotle, celebrated Greek philosopher and scientist, pupil of Plato, and tutor of Alexander the Great, born in Stagira, Chalcidice, Greece (–322 BC).
367 BC	Macedonia, Egypt	Ptolemy I, Macedonian ruler of Egypt (323–285), and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, born in Macedonia (–283).
356 BC	Macedon	Alexander the Great, King of Macedon who conquered Persia and much of the Near East, born in Pella, Macedon (–323 BC).
347 BC	Greece	Plato, Greek philosopher, often considered one of the greatest in history, dies in Athens (c. 81).
13 June 323 BC	Macedon	Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, who conquered Persia and much of the Near East, develops a fever and dies in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon (now in Iraq) (c. 33).
322 BC	Greece	Aristotle, celebrated Greek philosopher and scientist, pupil of Plato, and tutor of Alexander the Great, dies in Chalcis, Euboea (c. 62).
247 BC	Carthage	Hannibal the Great, celebrated Carthaginian general who conducted the Second Punic War against Rome 218–201 BC, born in North Africa (–c. 182 BC).
234 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Marcus Porcius Cato (‘the Elder’ or ‘the Censor’), Roman statesman and orator, the first major Latin prose writer, whose De agri cultura/On Agriculture survives, born in Tusculum, Latium (–149 BC).
149 BC	Roman Empire	Marcus Porcius Cato (‘the Elder’ or ‘the Censor’), Roman statesman and orator, the first major Latin prose writer, whose De agri cultura/On Agriculture survives, dies (c. 85).
106 BC	Roman Empire	Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, orator, and writer, whose major works include De republica/On the Republic, born in Arpino, Italy (–43 BC).
29 September 106 BC	Roman Empire	Pompey, Roman general and statesman, born in Rome (–48 BC).
c. 12 July 100 BC	Roman Empire	(Gaius) Julius Caesar, Roman general, dictator, and statesman, conqueror of Transalpine Gaul, born (–44 BC).
84 BC	Italy	Gaius (Valerius Maximianus) Catullus, outstanding Roman lyric poet, born in Verona, Cisalpine Gaul (modern Italy) (–c. 54).
c. 82 BC	Rome	Mark Antony, Roman general who influenced the end of the Roman Republic, and who is known for his association with Cleopatra of Egypt, born (–30 BC).
78 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Felix), Roman consul who fought King Mithridates VI of Pontus in Rome's first civil war, and then became Roman dictator 82–79 BC, dies in Puteoli, near Naples (60).
73 BC	Palestine	Herod the Great, King of Judaea under the Romans 37–4 BC, born (–4 BC).
15 October 70 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Virgil, Roman poet, author of the Aeneid, born in Andes, near Mantua, Italy (–19 BC).
69 BC	Egypt	Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt 51–30 BC, lover and ally of Mark Antony, born (–30 BC).
December 65 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), celebrated Roman lyric poet and satirist, born in Venusia, Italy (–8 BC).
23 September 63 BC	Roman Empire	Augustus, first emperor of the Roman Empire 27 BC–AD 14, born as Gaius Octavius (Octavian) (–AD 14).
c. 54 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Gaius (Valerius Maximianus) Catullus, outstanding Roman lyric poet, dies in Rome (c. 30).
20 March 43 BC	Roman Empire	Ovid, Roman poet known for his poem ‘Ars amatoria’/‘Art of Love’, born in Sulmo, Roman Empire (–AD 18).
7 December 43 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, orator, author of De republica/On the Republic, having inflamed the Senate against the Roman consul Mark Antony by his brilliant series of speeches The Philippics (in which he accuses Antony of aiming at dictatorship), is executed at the order of the Second Triumvirate, in Formia, Italy (c. 63).
16 November 42 BC	Roman Empire	Tiberius, second Roman emperor AD 14–37, born (–AD 37).
c. 35 BC	Egypt	King Menes, first king of Egypt c. 3100–c. 3040 BC, who united Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom, founding the 1st dynasty, dies in Egypt. According to Manetho, a 3rd-century BC Egyptian historian, he is killed by a hippopotamus.
30 August 30 BC	Roman Empire, Egypt	Mark Antony, Roman general under Julius Caesar and later triumvir 43–32 BC, ally and husband of Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt, commits suicide in Alexandria, Egypt (53).
30 August 30 BC	Egypt	Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt 51–30 BC, lover and ally of Mark Antony, commits suicide in Alexandria, Egypt (c. 39).
21 September 19 BC	Roman Empire, Italy	Virgil, Roman poet, dies in Brundisium, Italy (50), leaving his Aeneid unfinished. It is published posthumously.
27 November 8 BC	Roman Empire	Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), celebrated Roman lyric poet and satirist, dies (56).
4 BC	Palestine	Jesus Christ, Jewish religious teacher, probably born this year, although 6 BC is another possible date (–AD 30).
4 BC	Roman Empire, Spain	Seneca, Roman philosopher, orator, tragedian, and virtual ruler of Rome 54–62, born in Córdoba, Spain (–AD 65).
March 4 BC	Palestine	Herod the Great, king of Judaea under the Romans 37–4 BC, dies in Jericho, Judaea (c. 69).
3	Roman Empire, Asia Minor	Paul the Apostle, who spread Christianity through his journeys and letters, born in Tarsus, Cilicia, Roman Asia Minor (–c. AD 65).
19 August 14	Roman Empire	Augustus, first emperor of the Roman Empire 27 BC–AD 14, dies in Nola, near Naples, Italy (75).
17	Rome, Roman Empire	Ovid, Roman poet known for his poem ‘Ars amatoria’/‘Art of Love’, dies in Tomis, Moesia (60).
23	Roman Empire	Pliny the Elder, prolific Roman writer, author of Historia naturalis/Natural History, born in Como, Italy (–AD 79).
17 March 30	Palestine	Jesus Christ, Jewish religious teacher, probably crucified for sedition at this time, at Golgotha, Judea (c. 35).
16 March 37	Roman Empire	Tiberius, second Roman emperor 14–37, dies in Capri, Italy (78).
15 December 37	Roman Empire	Nero, Roman emperor 54–68, born in Antium (modern Anzio), in Latium, Italy (–68).
46	Greece, Roman Empire	Plutarch, Latin essayist and biographer whose work had a major influence on the development of the essay, biography, and historical writing in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries, born in Chaeronea, Boeotia, in Roman Greece (–c. AD 120).
c. 60	Roman Empire, Italy	Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis), Roman satirical poet, author of 16 ‘Satires’, born in Aquinum, Roman Italy (–c. 140).
c. 65	Palestine, Roman Empire	Paul the Apostle, who spread Christianity through his journeys and letters, is executed in Rome (c. 62).
65	Roman Empire	The Latin poet Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) and his uncle Seneca the Younger, Roman orator, philosopher, poet, dramatist, and political adviser to Nero, die (26 and c. 68). They were implicated in a plot against Nero and were forced to commit suicide. Lucan leaves an epic poem, De Bello Civili/Civil War, sometimes known as the Pharsalia. Seneca, who virtually ruled Rome (54–62) leaves his Letters, a collection of tragedies, and many works on Stoic philosophy and ethics.
9 June 68	Roman Empire	Nero, Roman emperor 54–68, hearing that provincial governors have risen against him, commits suicide just outside Rome (31).
76	Roman Empire	Hadrian, Roman emperor 117–138, adopted as his heir by the emperor Trajan, born in Rome (–138).
24 August 79	Roman Empire	Pliny the Elder, Roman writer on natural history and other subjects, is killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, near Stabiae, in Italy (56).
117	Roman Empire	Trajan, Roman emperor 98–117, who expanded the Roman Empire eastward to include Dacia, Armenia, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, and who undertook major public works projects, dies in Selinus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, following a stroke (65). Hadrian, his second cousin and nearest male relative, succeeds to the throne. Hadrian is initially uncertain whether Trajan has nominated him his successor but finds allies in Trajan's widow, Plotina, and the Praetorian prefect, who back his claim to the throne.
c. 120	Roman Empire, Greece	Plutarch, Greek essayist, philosopher, and biographer, whose work had a major influence on the development of the essay, biography, and historical writing in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries, dies at his home in Chaeronea, Greece (c. 75).
10 July 138	Roman Empire, Italy	Hadrian, Roman emperor 117–138, dies in Baiae, near Naples (62). He had moved into his villa at Tibur while his vast mausoleum was being built on the banks of the River Tiber in Rome, before retiring to Baiae to see the sea for a last time.
c. 140	Roman Empire, Italy	Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis), Roman satirical poet, author of 16 ‘Satires’, dies, probably in Rome (c. 73).
c. 170	Greece, Egypt	Claudius Ptolemy, Greek scientist, creator of the Ptolemaic astronomical system which dominated Western science for over 1,000 years, dies, probably in Alexandria, Egypt (c. 78).
205	Roman Empire, Egypt	Plotinus, Roman philosopher, founder of the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy, born in Lyco, Egypt (–270).
236	China	Wu-ti (Wudi), founder and first emperor of the Western Chin dynasty 265–90, born in China (–290).
244	Roman Empire, Mesopotamia	Gordian III, Roman emperor 238–244, grandson of Gordian I, is murdered in Zaitha, Mesopotamia, while campaigning (18). A mound is raised Carchemish in his memory.
245	Roman Empire, Dalmatia	Diocletian, Roman emperor (284–305), noted for restoring efficient government to the empire, born, possibly in Salonae, Dalmatia, now Split, Croatia (–316).
247	Japan	Himiko, Queen of Japan, first known Japanese ruler, dies.
270	Roman Empire, Italy	Plotinus, Roman philosopher, founder of the neo-Platonic school of philosophy, dies in Campania (65).
275	Roman Empire, Thrace	While on his way to attack Persia, the Roman emperor Aurelian (full name Lucius Domitius Aurelianus)is murdered by a group of officers who mistakenly believe that their lives are in danger. Aurelian, Roman emperor 270–275, who reunited the empire, dies in Byzantium, Thrace (now Istanbul, Turkey).
283	Roman Empire	The Roman emperor Marcus Aurielius Carus dies in mysterious circumstances during an expedition against the Sasanians near Ctesiphon in Persia, reputedly after being hit by a stroke of lightning.
c. 287	Roman Empire, Moesia	Constantine I the Great, first Christian Roman emperor (312–324 western empire; 324–337 whole empire), born at Naissus in Roman Moesia Superior (modern Niš, Serbia (–337).
290	China	Wu-ti (Wudi), founder and first emperor of the Western Chin dynasty 265–90, dies in Lo-yang, China (c. 54).
316	Roman Empire, Dalmatia	Diocletian, Roman emperor 284–305, noted for restoring efficient government to the empire, dies in Salonae, Dalmatia, now Split, Croatia (68).
324		The Eastern Roman emperor Licinius (308–324) is pardoned following his defeat in 324 by the Western emperor Constantine I the Great as a result of the supplication of his wife (who is Constantine's sister). He is banished to Thessaloníki (Salonika), and is subsequently executed on the charge of indulging in renewed intrigue.
331	Roman Empire, Turkey	Flavius Claudius Julianus (Julian the Apostate), Roman emperor 361–63, a noted scholar and military commander, born in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) (–363).
22 May 337	Asia Minor	Constantine I the Great, first Christian Roman emperor of Western empire 312–324, And of whole empire 324–337, dies in Ancyrona, near Nicomedia, in Bithynia, Asia Minor (now Izmit, Turkey) (c. 57).
363	Roman Empire, Persia	Flavius Claudius Julianus (Julian the Apostate), Roman emperor 361–363, a noted scholar and military commander, dies from wounds received in battle at Ctesiphon, near Baghdad, Persia (c. 32).
c. 385	Ireland, UK	Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland who brought Christianity to the island, born in Britain (–c. 461).
406	Europe	Attila, King of the Huns jointly with his brother Bleda 434–45 and on his own 445–53, who invaded the southern Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire, Greece, Gaul, and Italy, born (–453).
453	Europe	Attila, King of the Huns jointly with his brother Bleda 434–45 and on his own 445–53, who invaded the southern Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire, Greece, Gaul, and Italy, dies (c. 47).
c. 461	Ireland	Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland who brought Christianity to the island, dies (c. 76).
482	Eastern Roman Empire, Moesia	Justinian I (Flavius Justinianus), Eastern Roman emperor 527–65, nephew of Justin I, born in Tauresium, Moesia (near the modern Niš, Serbia) (–565).
c. 500	Byzantine Empire	Theodora, Byzantine empress, influential wife of Justinian I (527–65), born (–548).
27 November 511	Frankish Kingdom	Clovis I, Merovingian founder of the Frankish kingdom, dies (c. 45).
c. 521	Ireland	St Columba, Irish abbot and missionary, traditionally considered chiefly responsible for converting Scotland to the Christian faith, born in Tyrconnell, in modern County Donegal, Ireland (–597).
540	Rome	St Gregory, Pope Gregory I the Great 590–604, theologian and reformer of church organization and liturgy, born in Rome, Italy (–604).
541	China	Wen Ti, Chinese emperor 581–604 who reunified and reorganized China, and founded the Sui dynasty, born in China (–604).
June 548	Byzantine Empire	Theodora, Byzantine empress, influential wife of Justinian I (527–65), dies (48).
November 565	Eastern Roman Empire	Justinian I (Flavius Justinianus), Eastern Roman emperor 527–65, nephew of Justin I, dies in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) (c. 83).
570	Arabia	Muhammad, founder of Islam, born in Mecca, Arabia (–632).
8 June 597	Scotland	St Columba, Irish abbot and important missionary, traditionally considered chiefly responsible for converting Scotland to the Christian faith, dies on the island of Iona, in modern Scotland (c. 76).
602	Umayyad Caliphate	Mu'awiyah I (also Moawiyah), caliph 661–80, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, who assumed the caliphate after the assassination of 'Ali, reunified the Arab empire, and transferred the capital to Damascus, born in Mecca (–680).
604	China	Wen Ti, Chinese emperor 581–604 who reunified and reorganized China, and founded the Sui dynasty, dies in China (65).
604	Rome	St Gregory, Pope Gregory I the Great 590–604, theologian and reformer of church organization and liturgy, dies in Rome, Italy (c. 64).
614	England	St Hilda of Whitby, one of the leading abbesses of Anglo-Saxon England, founder of Whitby Abbey, born in Northumbria, England (–680).
24 February 616	England	Aethelbert I, King of Kent (560–616), who issued the first code of Angle-Saxon laws, dies.
625	China	Wu Hou, Chinese concubine who became Empress of China 655–705, and unified the Chinese Empire, born in China (–705).
8 June 632	Arabia	Muhammad, founder of Islam, dies in Medina, Arabia (62).
23 August 634	Arab Caliphate	Abu Bakr, companion of the prophet Muhammad and first caliph 632–34, who brought central Arabia under Muslim control, and began Arab expansion into Persia and Syria, dies.
673	Northumbria	St Bede (Baeda or Beda; ‘the Venerable Bede’), Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian, and chronologist, known chiefly for his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum/Ecclesiastical History of the English People, born, possibly in Monkton in Jarrow, Northumbria, England (–735).
680	Arab Caliphate, Syria	Mu'awiyah I (also Moawiyah), caliph 661–80, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, who assumed the caliphate after the assassination of Ali (ibn Abi Talib), who reunified the Arab empire and transferred the capital to Damascus, dies in Damascus (c. 78).
17 November 680	Northumbria	St Hilda of Whitby, one of the leading abbesses of Anglo-Saxon England, founder of Whitby Abbey, dies in Whitby, Northumbria, England (c. 66).
16 December 705	China	Wu Hou, Chinese concubine who became empress of China 655–705, and who unified the Chinese Empire, dies in China (80).
25 May 735	Northumbria	St Bede (Baeda or Beda; ‘the Venerable Bede’), Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian, and chronologist, known chiefly for his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum/Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731), dies in Jarrow, England (c. 63).
2 April 742	Frankish Kingdom	Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus), King of the Franks 768–814 and Frankish emperor 800–14, who united much of Western Europe under his rule, born (–814).
February 766	Arab Caliphate, Persia	Haroun al-Rashid, fifth caliph of the Islamic Abbasid dynasty 786–809, who made Baghdad wealthy and whose court was immortalized in Alf Laylah wa-Laylah/A Thousand and One Nights – The Arabian Nights, born in Rayy, Persia (–809).
780	Persia	Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim theologian, who founded a school of Islamic law called the Hanbali and adopted a traditionalist approach in interpreting and codifying the legal aspects of the Koran (the sharia), born in Baghdad, Persia (–855).
24 March 809	Middle East	Harun ar-Rashid, 5th caliph of the Abbasid dynasty 786–809, who made Baghdad wealthy and whose court was immortalized in Alf Laylah wa-Laylah/A Thousand and One Nights – The Arabian Nights, dies in Tus, Persia (43).
28 January 814	Frankish Kingdom, Carolingian Empire	Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus), king of the Franks 768–814 and Frankish emperor 800–14, who united much of Western Europe under his rule, dies (in Aachen, modern Germany) (71).
c. 830	Byzantine Empire	Basil the Macedonian, Byzantine emperor (867–86), who founded the Macedonian dynasty and formulated the Basilica, the Byzantine legal code, born in Thrace (–886).
849	Wessex, England	Alfred the Great, King of Wessex 871–99, who defended Saxon England against the Danes, born, probably in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England (–899).
855	Persia	Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim theologian, who founded a school of Islamic law called the Hanbali and adopted a traditionalist approach in interpreting and codifying the legal aspects of the Koran (the sharia), dies in Baghdad, Persia (c. 75).
876	Saxony	Henry I the Fowler, German king 919–36, founder of the Saxon dynasty, born (–936).
29 August 886	Byzantine Empire	Basil the Macedonian, Byzantine emperor (867–86), who founded the Macedonian dynasty and formulated the Basilica, the Byzantine legal code, dies (c. 56).
January 891	Spain	'Abd ar-Rahman III, first caliph 929–61 and greatest ruler of the Umayyad dynasty of Spain, born (–961).
26 October 899	Wessex	Alfred the Great, king of Wessex 871–99, who defended Saxon England against the Danes, dies (c. 50).
23 November 912	Saxony	Otto I, Duke of Saxony 936–961 (as Otto II), German king 936–973, and Emperor 962–973, born (–973).
927	China	T'ai Tsu, Chinese emperor (960–76) who reunited China and founded the Sung dynasty, born in Lo-yang, China (–976).
2 July 936	Germany, Saxony	Henry I the Fowler, German king 919–36, founder of the Saxon dynasty, dies in Memleben, Saxony (c. 60).
938	Arab Caliphate, Spain	Abu 'Amir al-Mansur (Almanzor), chief minister (vizier) and virtual ruler of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba, Spain 978–1002, born (–1002).
27 October 939	Wessex, Mercia, England	Athelstan (or Aethelstan or Ethelstan), Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex and Mercia 924–25 and first king of England 925–39, dies in England (c. 44).
941	Ireland	Brian Bórumha, high king of Ireland 1002–14, born near Killaloe, Ireland (–1014).
c. 956	Kiev	Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev who united Kiev and Novgorod into a single state, and who determined the course of Christianity in Russia, born in Kiev (–1015).
15 October 961	Spain	Abd-ar-Rahman III, first caliph 929–61 and greatest ruler of the Umayyad dynasty of Spain, dies in Córdoba, Spain (70).
c. 964	Norway	Olaf I Tryggvason, Viking king of Norway 995–1000, who was the first to attempt to Christianize Norway, born (–1000).
967	Poland	Boleslaw I the Brave, first king of Poland 1024–25, who made Poland a major European state, born in Gniezno, Poland (–1025).
971	Afghanistan	Mahmud III, Emir of Ghazni 998–1030, an area covering modern Afghanistan and northeastern Persia, who conquered Kashmir, the Punjab, and much of Persia, also noted as a patron of the arts, born (–1030).
6 May 973	Saxony, Bavaria	Henry II (St Henry), German king 1002–24 and Emperor 1014–24, last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors, born, probably in Albach, Bavaria (–1024).
7 May 973	Saxony, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Otto I, Duke of Saxony 936–961 (as Otto II), German king 936–973, and Holy Roman Emperor 962–973, dies in Memleben, Thuringia (60).
14 November 976	China	T'ai Tsu, Chinese emperor (960–76) who reunited China and founded the Song dynasty, dies in K'ai-feng, China (49).
977	Hungary	Stephen I, first king of Hungary (1000–38), founder of the Hungarian state, born (–1038).
c. 995	Norway	Olaf II Haraldsson, Viking king 1015–30, and patron saint of Norway, who was the first to rule the entire country and who also introduced a religious code which became the country's first national legislation, born (–1030).
c. 1000	Norway	Olaf I Tryggvason, Viking king of Norway 995–1000, who was the first to attempt to Christianize Norway, dies (c. 36).
10 August 1002	Spain	Abu 'Amir al-Mansur (Almanzor), chief minister (vizier) and virtual ruler of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba, Spain, dies in Spain (c. 64).
23 April 1014	Ireland	Brian Bórumha, high king of Ireland 1002–14, is killed at the Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, Ireland (c. 73).
15 July 1015	Kiev	St Vladimir I, grand prince of Kiev, who united Kiev and Novgorod into a single state, and who determined the course of Christianity in Russia, dies in Berestova, near Kiev (59).
13 July 1024	Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Henry II (St Henry), German king 1002–24 and Holy Roman Emperor 1014–24, last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors, dies without heirs near Göttingen, Germany (50).
17 June 1025	Poland	Boleslaw I Chrobry (the Brave), first king of Poland 1024–25 who made Poland a major European state, dies at Gniezno, Poland (c. 58).
1028	Normandy, England	William I the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy 1035–87, King of England 1066–87, born in Falaise, Normandy (–1087).
21 April 1030	Ghaznavid Emirate, Afghanistan, Persia	Mahmud III, emir of Ghazni 998–1030, an area covering modern Afghanistan and northeastern Persia, who conquered Kashmir, the Punjab, and much of Persia, also noted as a patron of the arts, dies in Ghazni (c. 59).
29 July 1030	Norway	Olaf II Haraldsson, Viking king 1015–30, and patron saint of Norway, who was the first to rule the entire country and who also introduced a religious code which became the country's first national legislation, dies in Stiklestad, Norway (c. 35).
12 November 1035	Denmark, England, Norway	Cnut (Canute I) the Great, powerful Danish king of England 1016–35, of Denmark (as Cnut II) 1019–35, and of Norway 1028–35, dies (c. 40).
15 August 1038	Hungary	Stephen I, first king of Hungary 1000–38, founder of the Hungarian state, dies in Esztergom, Hungary (c. 61).
1043	Spain	Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (‘El Cid’), Spanish military leader and national hero, conqueror of Valencia, born in Vivar, near Burgos, in Castile, Spain (–1099).
18 May 1048	Persia	Omar Khayyam, Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, famous for his Rubaiyat, born in Nishapur, Persia (–1131).
11 November 1050	Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Henry IV, German king 1054–1106 and Emperor 1084–1106, son of Henry III, born, possibly in Goslar, Saxony (–1106).
11 August 1086	Holy Roman Empire, Germany	Henry V, German king 1099–1125 and Emperor 1111–25, the last emperor of the Salian dynasty, born (–1125).
9 September 1087	Normandy, England	William I the Conqueror, duke of Normandy 1035–87, king of England 1066–87, dies in Rouen, Normandy (59).
1098	Germany	Hildegard von Bingen, German Benedictine abbess, philosopher, mystic, and musician, born in Bermersheim, Germany (–1179).
10 July 1099	Spain	Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (‘El Cid’), Spanish military leader and national hero, conqueror of Valencia, dies in Valencia (c. 56).
1102	England	Empress Matilda (or Maud), daughter of King Henry I of England, consort of Emperor Henry V, thereafter claimant to the English throne, born in London, England (–1167).
1105	Rome	Alexander III (original name Rolando Bandinelli), Pope 1159–81, a vigorous defender of papal authority against the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and Henry II of England, born in Siena, Italy (–1181).
7 August 1106	Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Henry IV, German king 1054–1106 and Holy Roman Emperor 1084–1106, son of Henry III, dies in Liège, Lorraine, France (55).
c. 1118	England	Saint Thomas Becket, chancellor of England 1155–62 and archbishop of Canterbury 1162–70, born in Cheapside, London (–1170).
c. 1123	Holy Roman Empire, Germany	Frederick I Barbarossa, German king and Holy Roman Emperor 1152–90, born (–1190).
23 May 1125	Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Henry V, German king 1099–1125 and Holy Roman Emperor 1111–25, the last emperor of the Salian dynasty, dies in Utrecht, in the modern Netherlands (38).
4 December 1131	Persia	Omar Khayyam, Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, famous for his Rubaiyat, dies in Nishapur, Persia (83).
1138	Mesopotamia	Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine 1171–1193, who successfully captured Jerusalem from the Franks during the Third Crusade, born in Takrit, Mesopotamia (–1193).
20 August 1153	France	St Bernard of Clairvaux, influential Cistercian abbot and mystic, founder of the abbey of Clairvaux, dies in Clairvaux, France (c. 63).
8 September 1157	England	Richard I (‘Richard the Lionheart’), King of England 1189–99, who gained popularity through his bravery during the Third Crusade, born in Oxford, England (–1199).
21 August 1165	France	Philip II (Philip Augustus), King of France 1179–1223, who reconquered French territories lost previously to England, born in Paris (–1223).
1167	Mongolia	Genghis Khan (original name Temüjin), great Mongol military leader who established the Mongol empire, born at Deligun Bulduk, on the River Onon (–1227).
10 September 1167	France	Empress Matilda (or Maud), daughter of Henry I of England, consort of Emperor Henry V, thereafter claimant to the English throne, dies near Rouen, France (c. 65).
24 December 1167	England	John I (‘John Lackland’), King of England 1199–1216, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, brother of Richard I, born in Oxford, England (–1216).
17 September 1179	Germany	Hildegard von Bingen, German Benedictine abbess, philosopher, mystic, and musician, dies in Rupertsberg, near Bingen, Germany (c. 81).
1181	Italy	St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan monastic orders and church reformer, principal patron saint of Italy, born in Assisi (–1226).
30 August 1181	Rome	Alexander III (original name Rolando Bandinelli), pope 1159–81, a vigorous defender of papal authority against the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and King Henry II of England, dies in Rome, Italy (c. 76).
10 June 1190	Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor 1152–90 and German king, drowns in Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) during the Third Crusade (c. 67).
4 March 1193	Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Palestine	Saladin, sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine 1171–93, who successfully captured Jerusalem from the Franks during the Third Crusade, dies in Damascus (c. 56).
26 December 1194	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Frederick II, King of Sicily 1197–1250, king of Germany 1212–1250, and Holy Roman Emperor 1220–1250, King of Jerusalem 1229–1243, grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, born in Jesi, Ancona, Italy (–1250).
1 April 1204	Anjou, France	Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Consort first of King Louis VII of France, then of King Henry II of England, mother of King Richard I the Lionheart and King John of England, and one of the most influential women in 12th-century Europe, dies in Fontevrault, Anjou, France (c. 82).
1215	Mongolia	Kublai Khan, Mongol general, grandson of Genghis Khan, conqueror of China, and first emperor of the Yüan dynasty, born (–1294).
19 October 1216	England	John I (‘John Lackland’), King of England 1199–1216, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, brother of Richard I, dies in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England (48).
14 July 1223	France	Philip II, King of France 1179–1223, who reconquered French territories lost previously to England, dies in Nantes, France (57).
1224	Sicily	St Thomas Aquinas (‘Doctor Angelicus’), Italian Dominican theologian, outstanding medieval scholasticist, author of Summa theologiae/Summary of Theology and Summa contra gentiles/The Main Argument Against the Gentiles, born in Roccasecca, near Aquino, Sicily (–1274).
3 October 1226	Italy	St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan monastic orders and church reformer, principal patron saint of Italy, dies in Assisi, Italy (c. 44).
18 August 1227	Mongol Empire	Genghis Khan (original name Temüjin), great Mongol military leader who established the Mongol Empire, dies (c. 72).
1239	England	Edward I Longshanks, King of England 1272–1307, son of Henry III, who subdued Wales, born in Westminster, London (–1307).
13 December 1250	Sicily, Germany, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Jerusalem	Frederick II, king of Sicily 1197–1250, king of Germany 1212–50, and Holy Roman Emperor 1220–50, king of Jerusalem 1229–43, grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, dies in Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Italy (55).
c. 1254	Venice	Marco Polo, Venetian explorer who spent 17 years in China and whose Il milione/The Million (Travels of Marco Polo) has become a classic in geography, born in Venice, Venetian Dalmatia (–1324).
1258	Turkey	Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Turkish state, born (–1324).
1265	Italy	Dante Alighieri, Italian poet, prose writer, moral philosopher, and political theorist, author of Divina commedia/Divine Comedy, born in Florence, Italy (–1321).
1268	France	Philip IV, King of France 1285–1314, born in Fontainebleau, France (–1314).
c. 1270	Scotland	William Wallace, Scottish hero who led the first resistance movements to free Scotland from English rule, born near Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland (–1305).
11 July 1274	Scotland	Robert I the Bruce, King of Scotland 1306–29, who freed Scotland from English rule, winning a decisive victory at Bannockburn (1314), born (–1329).
1294	Mongol Empire	Kublai Khan, Mongol general, grandson of Genghis Khan, conqueror of China and first emperor of the Yüan dynasty 1294, dies (c. 79).
20 July 1304	Tuscany	Petrarch (Petrarca), Italian poet whose work was a major influence on the growth of Renaissance poetry, born in Arezzo, Tuscany (–1374).
17 June 1307	England	Edward I Longshanks, king of England 1272–1307, son of Henry III, who subdued Wales, dies in Burgh by Sands, near Carlisle, England (68).
1313	France	Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian poet and scholar who, with Petrarch, laid the foundations of Renaissance humanism, author of the Decameron, born in Paris, France (–1375).
29 November 1314	France	Philip IV, king of France 1285–1314, dies in Fontainebleau, France (46).
c. 1318	Rome	Urban V, Italian pope whose election caused the French cardinals to establish the antipope, born in Naples (–1389).
14 September 1321	Italy	Dante Alighieri, Italian poet, prose writer, moral philosopher, and political theorist, author of Divina commedia/Divine Comedy, dies in Ravenna, Italy (56).
1324	Venice	Marco Polo, Venetian explorer who spent 17 years in China, and whose Il milione/The Million (Travels of Marco Polo), has become a classic in geography, dies in Venice (c. 70).
1324	Ottoman Empire	Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Turkish state, dies in Sogut, Ottoman Empire (c. 66).
21 October 1328	China	Hongwu or Hung-wu, Chinese emperor 1368–98, founder of the Ming dynasty, born in Hao-chou, China (–1398).
7 June 1329	Scotland	Robert I the Bruce, King of Scotland 1306–29, who freed Scotland from English rule, winning a decisive victory at Bannockburn (1314), dies in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland (c. 55).
1336	Uzbekistan	Timur Leng (Tamerlane), ruthless Turkic leader who conquered Persia, India, and Anatolia, born in Kesh, near Samarkand, Transoxiana (–1405).
21 January 1337	France	Charles V the Wise, King of France 1364–80 who led France to recovery after the first phase of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), born in Vincennes, France (–1380).
c. 1342	England	Geoffrey Chaucer, the principal English writer before Shakespeare, whose best-known work is The Canterbury Tales, born (–1400).
1353	Denmark, Norway, Sweden	Margaret I, regent of Denmark 1375–97, Norway 1380–89, and Sweden 1388–97, thereafter effective ruler of all three countries through her son Erik VIII, born in Søborg, Denmark (–1412).
April 1366	England	Henry IV, King of England 1399–1413, son of John of Gaunt, born in Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, England (–1413).
19 July 1374	Italy	Petrarch (Petrarca), Italian poet whose work was a major influence on the growth of Renaissance poetry, dies in Arqua, near Padua, Carrara (70).
21 December 1375	Italy	Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian poet and scholar who, with Petrarch (Petrarca), laid the foundations of Renaissance humanism, author of the Decameron, dies in Certaldo, Tuscany, Italy (c. 62).
1380	Germany	Thomas à Kempis (original name Thomas Hemerken), theologian to whom the highly influential De imitatione Christi/On the Imitation of Christ is attributed, born in Kempen, near Düsseldorf, Germany (–1471).
16 September 1380	France	Charles V the Wise, king of France 1364–80, who led France to recovery after the first phase of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), dies in Nogent-sur-Marne, France (42).
16 September 1387	Wales	Henry V, King of England 1413–22, son of Henry IV, born in Monmouth, Wales (–1422).
15 June 1389	Ottoman Empire	Murad I, Ottoman sultan 1360–89, father of Bayezid I, whose reign saw rapid expansion in Anatolia and the Balkans, is killed at the Battle of Kosovo, in Serbia (c. 63).
27 September 1389	Florence	Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, financier and statesman, born in Florence, Italy (–1464).
15 October 1389	Rome	Urban V, Italian pope whose election caused the French cardinals to establish the antipope, dies in Rome (c. 71).
24 June 1398	China	Hongwu or Hung-wu, Chinese emperor 1368–98, founder of the Ming dynasty, dies (69).
25 October 1400	England	Geoffrey Chaucer, the principal English writer before Shakespeare, whose best-known work is The Canterbury Tales (1390s), dies in London, England (c. 58).
19 February 1405	Central Asia	Timur Leng (Tamerlane), ruthless Turkic leader who conquered Persia, India, and Anatolia, dies in Otrar, near Chimkent, Transoxiana.
27 November 1412	Denmark, Norway, Sweden	Margaret I, regent of Denmark 1375–97, Norway 1380–89, and Sweden 1388–97, thereafter effective ruler of all three countries through her son Erik VIII, dies in Flensburg, now in Germany (c. 59).
20 March 1413	England	Henry IV, king of England 1399–1413, son of John of Gaunt, dies in London, England (46).
c. 1416	Wales	Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower), Welsh leader, self-proclaimed prince of Wales and rebel against English rule, dies (c. 62).
c. 1422	England	William Caxton, the first English printer and influential translator and publisher, born in Kent, England (–1491).
31 August 1422	England	Henry V, king of England 1413–22, son of Henry IV, dies in Bois de Vincennes, France (34).
1430	Ottoman Empire	Selim I, Ottoman sultan (1512–20), who extended the Ottoman empire to Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz, born in Amasya, Ottoman Empire (–1520).
1431	Rome	Alexander VI (original name Rodrigo Borgia), Pope 1492–1503, notorious for his corruption and worldliness, father of Cesare and Lucretia Borgia, born in Játiva, Aragon, Spain (–1503).
1442	Central Asia	King Alexander I the Great of Georgia, who has reunited the kingdom, dies.
1445	Florence	Sandro Botticelli (original name Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, whose major works include The Birth of Venus (c. 1485) and Primavera/Spring (1477–78), born in Florence (–1510).
1 January 1449	Italy	Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent, statesman and ruler of Florence 1453–92, born in Florence, Italy (–1492).
c. 1450	Netherlands	Hieronymus Bosch (pseudonym of Jerome van Aeken), highly original Dutch painter, associated with complex and fantastic symbolism and allegory, whose major works include The Temptation of St Antony and The Garden of Earthly Delights, born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Brabant (–1516).
1451	Genoa	Christopher Columbus, navigator and explorer, the first discoverer of the New World to achieve long-term historical impact, born in Genoa, Italy (–1506).
22 April 1451	Castile	Isabella I the Catholic, Queen of Castile 1474–1504 and Aragon 1479–1504, who ruled the two kingdoms jointly with her husband, Ferdinand, from 1479, born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile (–1504).
1452	Florence	Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, draughtsman, architect, engineer, and scientist, one of the most influential Renaissance humanists, who painted Mona Lisa, and Last Supper, and whose science was ahead of its time, born in Vinci, Republic of Florence (–1519).
10 March 1452	Aragon	Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Sicily (as Ferdinand II) 1468–1516, Aragon (as Ferdinand II) 1479–1516, Castile (as Ferdinand V and joint sovereign with his wife Isabella I) 1474–1504, and Naples (as Ferdinand III) 1504–16, who united the Spanish kingdoms into one nation and began Spain's period of imperial expansion, born in Sos, Aragon (–1516).
9 March 1454	Florence	Amerigo Vespucci, Italian-born Spanish explorer who participated in a number of voyages to the New World and after whom North and South America are named, born in Florence (–1512).
1 August 1464	Florence	Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, financier and statesman, dies in Careggi, near Florence, Italy (74).
1466	Aztec Empire	Montezuma II (or Moctezuma), ninth Aztec emperor 1502–20, born (–1520).
1469	India	Nanak, Indian religious leader, first Guru of the Sikhs, born in Rai Bhoi di Talvandi, near Lahore, India (–1539).
3 May 1469	Florence	Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian statesman, writer, and political theorist whose best-known work is Il principe/The Prince (1513), born in Florence, Italy (–1527).
28 October 1469	Netherlands	Desiderius Erasmus, humanist, considered the greatest scholar of the northern European Renaissance, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (–1536).
21 May 1471	Germany	Albrecht Dürer, considered to be the greatest German painter and printmaker of the Renaissance, born in Nuremberg, Germany (–1528).
8 August 1471	Netherlands	Thomas à Kempis (original name Thomas Hemerken), theologian to whom the highly influential De imitatione Christi/On the Imitation of Christ is attributed, dies in Agnietenberg, near Zwolle, Netherlands (c. 92).
19 February 1473	Poland	Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, who put forward the theory that the Earth revolved about its axis and around the Sun, born in Torun, Poland (–1543).
c. 1475	England	Thomas Wolsey (Cardinal Wolsey), English cardinal and statesman who dominated King Henry VIII's government (1515–29), born (–1530).
6 March 1475	Italy	Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, and architect, also poet, whose best-known works include the fresco The Last Judgement (1534–41) and the sculptures Pietà (c. 1500) and David (1504), born in Caprese, Italy (–1564).
11 December 1475	Milan	Giovanni de' Medici, Pope Leo X 1513–21, noted for his political skill and personal extravagance, born in Milan, Italy (–1521).
7 February 1477	England	Thomas More, English humanist and statesman, Chancellor of England 1529–32, born (–1535).
1480	Portugal	Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator and explorer, born in Sabrosa or Porto, Portugal (–1521).
April 1480	Italy	Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and sister of Cesare Borgia, Italian noblewoman, and a central figure in the notorious Borgia family, born in Rome (–1519).
15 February 1483	Uzbekistan	Babur (original name Zahir-ud-Din Mohammad), emperor of India 1526–30, founder of the Mogul dynasty, descendant of Genghis Khan and of Timur Leng (Tamerlane), born in the principality of Fergana, Uzbekistan (–1530).
10 November 1483	Saxony	Martin Luther, great German theologian, preacher, and biblical translator, instigator of the Protestant Reformation, born in Eisleben, Saxony (–1546).
1491	England	William Caxton, the first English printer and influential translator and publisher, dies in London (c. 69).
1491	Castile	St Ignatius de Loyola, highly influential Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (1534), born in Loyola, Castile, Spain (–1556).
28 June 1491	England	Henry VIII, King of England 1509–47, who broke with the Roman Catholic Church and had six wives, two of whom he executed and two of whom he divorced, born in Greenwich, near London, England (–1547).
9 April 1492	Florence	Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent, statesman and ruler of Florence 1453–92, dies in Careggi, near Florence, Italy (43).
November 1494	Turkey	Süleyman I the Magnificent or the Law Giver, Ottoman sultan 1520–66, whose reign saw imperial expansion in Europe and the Middle East, and major achievements in Ottoman administration and culture, born (–1566).
24 February 1500	Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Austria	Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1519–56, King of Spain as Charles I 1516–56, and Archduke of Austria as Charles I 1519–21, born in Ghent (–1558).
1 November 1500	Florence	Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine sculptor, goldsmith and author, a leading Mannerist artist, whose best-known sculpture is Perseus, born in Florence, Italy (–1571).
1502	China, Ming Empire	Mi-lu, the female ‘bandit’ who has led the Lolo people's rebellion in the Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan for three years, is finally pursued to her death.
18 August 1503	Rome	Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), pope 1492–1503, notorious for his corruption and worldliness, father of Cesare and Lucretia Borgia, dies in Rome, Italy (c. 72).
26 November 1504	Spain	Isabella I the Catholic, queen of Castile 1474–1504 and Aragon 1479–1504, who ruled the two kingdoms jointly with her husband, Ferdinand from 1479, dies in Medina del Campo, Spain (53).
21 May 1506	Spain, Genoa	Christopher Columbus, Italian navigator and explorer, the first explorer of the New World to achieve long-term historical impact, dies in Valladolid, Spain (54).
10 July 1509	France	John Calvin (French: Jean Calvin or Cauvin), leading French Protestant Reformer, whose doctrines are expressed in his Institutio Christianae religionis/Institutes of the Christian Religion, born in Noyon, Picardy, France (–1564).
17 May 1510	Florence	Sandro Botticelli (original name Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, whose major works include The Birth of Venus (c. 1484) and Primavera/Spring (c. 1478), dies in Florence, Italy (c. 65).
22 February 1512	Spain	Amerigo Vespucci, Italian-born Spanish explorer who participated in a number of voyages to the New World and after whom North and South America are named, dies in Seville, Spain (57).
1514	Scotland	John Knox, Scottish religious reformer, leader of the Scottish Reformation, born near Haddington, Lothian, Scotland (–1572).
11 April 1514	Rome	Donato Bramante, Italian chief architect of St Peter's in Rome, who introduced the High Renaissance style, dies in Rome, Italy (c. 70).
23 January 1516	Spain	Ferdinand the Catholic, king of Sicily (as Ferdinand II, 1468–1516), Aragon (as Ferdinand II, 1479–1516), Castile (as Ferdinand V and joint sovereign with his wife Isabella I 1474–1504), and Naples (as Ferdinand III, 1504–16), who united the Spanish kingdoms into one nation and began Spain's period of imperial expansion, dies (63).
18 February 1516	England	Mary I (‘Bloody Mary’), first reigning queen of England 1553–58, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, wife of Philip II of Spain, born in Greenwich, near London, England (–1558).
9 August 1516	Netherlands	Hieronymus Bosch (pseudonym of Jerome van Aeken), highly original Dutch painter, associated with complex and fantastic symbolism and allegory, whose major works include The Temptation of St Antony and The Garden of Earthly Delights, dies in 's-Hertogenbosch, Brabant, Netherlands (c. 66).
16 February 1519	France	Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral, and Huguenot leader during the early years of the Wars of Religion 1562–98, born in Châtillon-sur-Loing, France (–1572).
13 April 1519	Florence, France	Catherine de' Medici, Queen Consort of Henry II of France, regent of France 1560–74, mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III of France, one of the most influential figures in the French Wars of Religion, born in Florence, Italy (–1589).
2 May 1519	Italy, France	Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, draughtsman, architect, engineer, and scientist, one of the most influential Renaissance humanists, who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and whose science was ahead of its time, dies in Cloux, France (c. 67).
12 June 1519	Florence	Cosimo I the Great de' Medici, Duke of Florence 1537–74 and Grand Duke of Tuscany 1569–74, born in Florence, Italy (–1574).
24 June 1519	Italy	Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and sister of Cesare Borgia, Italian noblewoman, and a central figure in the notorious Borgia family, dies in Ferrara (39).
3 June 1520	Aztec Empire	Montezuma II (or Moctezuma), ninth Aztec emperor 1502–20, captured by Hernán Cortés, dies in Tenochtitlán (near modern Mexico City) (c. 54).
22 September 1520	Ottoman Empire	Selim I, Ottoman sultan (1512–20), who extended the Ottoman Empire to Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz, dies in Corlu, Ottoman Empire (c. 50).
1 December 1521	Rome	Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici), pope 1513–21, noted for his political skill and personal extravagance, dies in Rome, Italy (56).
c. 1524	Portugal	Luís Vaz de Camões, national poet of Portugal, whose best-known work is Os lusíadas/The Lusiads (1572), born in Lisbon (–1580).
May 1524	Ottoman Empire	Selim II, Ottoman sultan (1566–74), who brought peace to Europe and Asia, but during whose reign the power of the sultans began to diminish, born (–1574).
c. 1525	Flanders, Netherlands	Pieter Breughel the Elder, foremost Flemish painter of the 16th century, noted for landscapes and genre scenes, whose works include The Tower of Babel (1563) and The Seasons (1565), born, probably in Breda, Brabant, Netherlands (–1569).
21 May 1527	Spain, Portugal	Philip II, King of Spain 1556–98, and King of Portugal 1580–98, who brought Spain to the zenith of its power, born in Valladolid, Spain (–1598).
21 June 1527	Florence	Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian statesman, writer, and political theorist whose best-known work is Il principe/The Prince (1513), dies in Florence, Italy (58).
6 April 1528	Germany	Albrecht Dürer, considered to be the greatest German painter and printmaker of the Renaissance, dies in Nuremberg, Germany (56).
25 August 1530	Russia	Ivan IV (‘Ivan the Terrible’), Grand Prince of Moscow (1533–84), Tsar of Russia (1547–84), who waged war with Sweden and Livonia, and who is noted for executing at least 3,000 noblemen and boyars, born in Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, Russia (–1584).
29 November 1530	England	Thomas Wolsey (Cardinal Wolsey), English statesman who dominated King Henry VIII's government (1515–29), dies of a bowel disorder in Leicester, England, while under arrest as a traitor for his secret correspondence with Pope Clement VII (55).
26 December 1530	India, Mogul Empire	Babur (original name Zahir-ud-Din Mohammad), emperor of India 1526–30, founder of the Mogul dynasty, descendant of Genghis Khan and of Timur Leng (Tamerlane), dies in Agra, India (47).
28 February 1533	France	Michel de Montaigne, French writer, creator of the essay as a literary genre, born in Château de Montaigne, near Bordeaux, France (–1592).
7 September 1533	England	Queen Elizabeth I, Queen of England 1558–1603, daughter of Henry VIII, whose reign saw growth in England's political and economic power, as well as major achievements in the arts, born in Greenwich, near London, England (–1603).
1534	Japan	Oda Nobunaga, Japanese noble who overthrew the Ashikaga shogunate, ended feudal wars, and unified more than half of Japan, born in Owari Province, Japan (–1582).
1536	Japan	Toyotomi Hideyoshi (original name Hiyo-Shimaru, also known as Hashiba Chikuzen no kami), Japanese military leader, feudal lord, and chief imperial minister 1585–98 who completed the unification of Japan, born in Owari Province, Japan (–1598).
12 July 1536	Swiss Confederation, Netherlands	Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist, considered the greatest scholar of the northern European Renaissance, dies in Basel, Swiss Confederation (66).
1539	India	Nanak, Indian religious leader, first Guru of the Sikhs, dies in Kartarpur, Punjab (70).
1541	Greece, Spain	El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), celebrated Greco-Spanish painter, whose major works include View of Toledo (c. 1610) and The Adoration of the Shepherds (1612–14), born in Candia, now Iráklion, Crete (–1614).
28 January 1541	England	Sir Francis Drake, most famous English admiral of the Elizabethan Age, circumnavigator of the globe, born in Devonshire, England (–1596).
15 October 1542	Mogul Empire	Akbar, Mogul emperor of India 1556–1605, who brought most of India under Mogul rule, born (–1605).
8 December 1542	Scotland	Mary Queen of Scots, Queen of Scotland 1542–67, who was deposed because of her marital affairs and political incompetence and was forced to flee to England, born in Linlithgow Palace, Lothian, Scotland (–1587).
31 January 1543	Japan	Tokugawa Ieyasu (original name Tokugawa Takechiyo), Japanese shogun (military ruler), founder of the Tokugawa (or Edo) shogunate, born in Okazaki, Japan (–1616).
24 May 1543	Prussia, Poland	Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, who put forward the theory that the Earth revolved about its axis and around the Sun, dies in Frauenberg, East Prussia, now Frombork, Poland (70).
14 December 1546	Scandinavia	Tycho Brahe, leading Danish astronomer, teacher of Johannes Kepler, born in Knudstrup, Scania, Denmark-Norway (–1601).
28 January 1547	England	Henry VIII, king of England 1509–47, who broke with the Roman Catholic Church and had six wives, two of whom he executed and two of whom he divorced, dies in London, England (55).
24 February 1547	Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire	Don John of Austria, illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, who defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), born in Regensburg, Bavaria (now Germany) (–1578).
29 September 1547	Spain	Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, celebrated Spanish novelist, dramatist, and poet, whose best-known work is Don Quixote (1605, 1615), born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, Spain (–1616).
1550	Scotland	John Napier (or Neper), Scottish mathematician and theologian who developed the concept of logarithms, born in Merchiston Castle, near Edinburgh, Scotland (–1617).
29 December 1552	France	Henri I de Bourbon, second Prince of Condé, French Huguenot leader, born in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, France (–1588).
13 December 1553	France	Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France 1589–1610, born in Pau, Béarn, France (–1610).
c. 1554	England	Walter Raleigh, English adventurer and colonizer of North America, born in Hayes Barton, Devon (–1618).
31 July 1556	Rome, Spain	St Ignatius de Loyola, highly influential Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (1534), dies in Rome, Italy (c. 65).
21 September 1558	Holy Roman Empire, Spain	Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1519–56, king of Spain as Charles I 1516–56, and archduke of Austria as Charles I 1519–21, dies in the monastery at San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain (58).
17 November 1558	England	Mary I (‘Bloody Mary’), first reigning queen of England 1553–58, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, wife of Philip II of Spain, dies in London, England (42).
22 January 1561	England	Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans, Baron Verulam, lord chancellor of England 1618–21, philosopher, and man of letters, whose best-known works are Novum organum/New Engine and Essays, born in London, England (–1626).
February 1564	England	Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan poet and dramatist who established blank verse as a dramatic medium in plays such as Dr Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great, born in Canterbury, Kent, England (–1593).
15 February 1564	Italy	Galileo Galilei, Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer, who developed the astronomical telescope, born in Pisa, Italy (–1642).
18 February 1564	Rome	Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, and architect, also poet, whose best-known works include the fresco The Last Judgement (1534–41) and the sculptures Pietà (c. 1500) and David (1504), dies in Rome, Italy (89).
26 April 1564	England	William Shakespeare, English dramatist and poet, often considered the greatest playwright in history, baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (–1616).
27 May 1564	Swiss Confederation, France	John Calvin (French: Jean Calvin or Cauvin), leading French Protestant Reformer, whose doctrines are expressed in his Institutio Christianae religionis/Institutes of the Christian Religion, dies in Geneva, Swiss Confederation (54).
19 June 1566	Scotland, England	James VI of Scotland (1567–1625) and I of England (1603–1625), son of Mary Queen of Scots, born in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland (–1625).
5 September 1566	Hungary, Ottoman Empire	Suleiman I (‘the Magnificent’ or ‘the Law Giver’), Ottoman sultan 1520–1566, whose reign saw imperial expansion in Europe and the Middle East, and major achievements in Ottoman administration and culture, dies near Szigetvár, Hungary, shortly after he directed his forces in the capture of the fortress of Szigetvár, Hungary, and having brought the Ottoman Empire to its apogee (71).
May 1567	Italy	Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer, key developer of secular music and particularly of opera as a musical genre with works such as Orfeo/Orpheus (1607), born in Cremona, Italy (–1643).
5 September 1569	Spanish Netherlands, Flanders	Pieter Breughel the Elder, foremost Flemish painter of the 16th century, noted for landscapes and genre scenes, whose works include The Tower of Babel (1563) and The Seasons (1565), dies in Brussels, Spanish Netherlands (c. 44).
1570	England	Guy Fawkes, soldier and best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot, born in York, England (–1606).
27 January 1571	Persia	'Abbas I the Great, Shah of Persia 1588–1629, who expelled the Ottomans and Uzbekhs from Persia, born (–1629).
27 December 1571	Germany	Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, who discovered the elliptical nature of orbits, born in Weil der Stadt, Württemberg (now Germany) (–1630).
January 1572	England	John Donne, the best-known English poet of the metaphysical school, born in London, England (–1631).
11 June 1572	England	Ben Jonson, a leading English dramatist, lyric poet, and critic of the Jacobean age, whose works include The Alchemist (1610), born in London, England (–1637).
24 November 1572	Scotland	John Knox, Scottish religious reformer, leader of the Scottish Reformation, dies in Edinburgh, Scotland (c. 58).
c. 1573	Italy	Caravaggio (real name Michelangelo Merisi), outstanding Italian baroque painter, whose major works include The Supper at Emmaus (1596–98) and Death of the Virgin (1605–06), born In Caravaggio, Italy (–1610).
1574	Ottoman Empire	Selim II, Ottoman sultan (1566–1574), who brought peace to Europe and Asia, but during whose reign the power of the sultans began to diminish, dies in Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire (c. 50).
21 April 1574	Florence	Cosimo I the Great de' Medici, Duke of Florence 1537–74 and Grand Duke of Tuscany 1569–74, dies in Castello, near Florence, Italy (54).
1 October 1578	Spanish Netherlands	Don John of Austria, illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, who defeated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), dies at Bouges, near Namur, Spanish Netherlands (31).
6 January 1580	England	John Smith, English explorer who founded Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, born in Lincolnshire, England (–1631).
10 June 1580	Portugal	Luís Vaz de Camões, national poet of Portugal, whose best-known work is Os lusíadas/The Lusiads (1572), dies in Lisbon (c. 56).
21 June 1582	Japan	Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese dictator who overthrew the Ashikaga shogunate, ended feudal wars, and unified more than half of Japan, is wounded in battle and dies in Kyoto, Japan (c. 48).
18 March 1584	Russia	Ivan IV (‘the Terrible’), grand prince of Moscow (1533–84), tsar of Russia (1547–84), who waged war with Sweden and Livonia, and who is noted for executing at least 3,000 noblemen and boyars, dies in Moscow, Russia (53).
9 September 1585	France	Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal et duc de Richelieu, (‘Cardinal Richelieu’), chief minister (1624–42) to King Louis XIII of France, who defeated the Habsburg hegemony in Europe, born in Richelieu, Poitou, France (–1642).
8 February 1587	England	Mary Queen of Scots, queen of Scotland 1542–67, who was deposed because of her marital affairs and political incompetence and was forced to flee to England, is executed in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England (44).
5 March 1588	France	Henri I de Bourbon, second Prince of Condé, French Huguenot leader, dies in Saint-Jean-d'Angély, France, of wounds received at the Battle of Coutras the previous year (36).
5 April 1588	England	Thomas Hobbes, major English philosopher and political theorist, whose best-known work is Leviathan (1651), born in Westport, Wiltshire, England (–1679).
4 September 1588	England	Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favourite and suitor of Queen Elizabeth I of England, dies in Cornbury, Oxfordshire, England (c. 56).
5 January 1589	France	Catherine de' Medici, Queen Consort of Henry II of France, regent of France 1560–74, mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III of France, one of the most influential figures in the French Wars of Religion, dies in Blois, France (69).
13 September 1592	France	Michel de Montaigne, French writer, creator of the essay as a literary genre, dies (59).
30 May 1593	England	Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan poet and dramatist, who established blank verse as a dramatic medium in plays such as Dr Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great, killed in a brawl in Deptford, London, England (29).
September 1595	Poland	Wladyslaw IV Vasa, King of Poland 1632–48, who secured Poland against the Russians and Ottomans, born in Kraków, Poland (–1648).
28 January 1596	Panama, England	Sir Francis Drake, most famous English admiral of the Elizabethan Age, circumnavigator of the globe, dies at sea off Puerto Belo, Panama (c. 50).
31 March 1596	France	René Descartes, French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, considered to be the founder of modern philosophy, whose best-known work is Discours de la méthode/Discourse on Method (1637), born in La Haye, Touraine, France (–1650).
13 September 1598	Spain	Philip II, king of Spain 1556–98, and king of Portugal 1580–98, who brought Spain to the zenith of its power, dies in El Escorial, Spain (71).
18 September 1598	Japan	Toyotomi Hideyoshi (original name Hiyo-Shimaru, also known as Hashiba Chikuzen no kami), Japanese military leader, feudal lord, and chief imperial minister 1585–98 who completed the unification of Japan, dies in Fushimi, Japan (c. 61).
25 April 1599	England	Oliver Cromwell, English soldier and statesman, commander of parliamentarian forces in the English Civil Wars (1642–51), Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland 1653–58, born in Huntingdon, England (–1658).
19 November 1600	UK	Charles I, King of Great Britain and Ireland 1625–49, whose authoritarian rule provoked the English Civil Wars (1642–51), born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, Scotland (–1649).
27 September 1601	France	Louis XIII the Just, King of France 1610–43 who, together with the Cardinal de Richelieu, greatly increased his country's political power, born in Fontainebleau, France (–1643).
24 October 1601	Bohemia	Tycho Brahe, leading Danish astronomer, teacher of Johannes Kepler, dies in Prague, Bohemia (54).
14 July 1602	Italy	Jules Mazarin, cardinal, diplomat, and statesman, first minister of France 1642–61, born in Pescina, Abruzzi, Italy (–1661).
24 March 1603	England	Queen Elizabeth I, queen of England 1558–1603, daughter of Henry VIII, whose reign saw growth in England's political and economic power, as well as major achievements in the arts, dies in Richmond, Surrey, England (69).
13 April 1605	Muscovy	Boris (Fyodorovich) Godunov, tsar of Muscovy 1598–1605, whose reign saw the start of the ‘Time of Troubles’ (1598–1613), dies in Moscow, Russia (c. 54).
17 October 1605	Mogul Empire	Akbar, Mogul emperor of India 1556–1605, who brought most of India under Mogul rule, dies in Agra, India (c. 63).
15 July 1606	United Netherlands	Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch painter, often regarded as one of the greatest in history, born in Leiden, United Netherlands (–1669).
9 December 1608	England	John Milton, English poet, scholar, historian, and republican whose best-known work is Paradise Lost (1667), born in London, England (–1674).
14 May 1610	France	Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France 1589–1610, dies in Paris, France (56).
18 July 1610	Tuscany	Caravaggio (real name Michelangelo Merisi), outstanding Italian baroque painter, whose major works include The Supper at Emmaus (1596–98) and Death of the Virgin (1605–06), dies in Porto Ercole, Tuscany, Italy (c. 37).
11 September 1611	France	Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, French military leader, marshal of France 1643–68, born in Sedan, France (–1675).
7 April 1614	Spain, Greece	El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), celebrated Greco-Spanish painter, whose major works include View of Toledo (c. 1610) and The Adoration of the Shepherds (1612–14), dies in Toledo, Spain (c. 73).
22 April 1616	Spain	Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, celebrated Spanish novelist, dramatist and poet, whose best-known work is Don Quixote (1605, 1615), dies in Madrid, Spain (68).
23 April 1616	England	William Shakespeare, English dramatist and poet, often considered the greatest playwright in history, dies in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (52).
1 June 1616	Japan	Tokugawa Ieyasu (original name Tokugawa Takechiyo), Japanese shogun (military ruler), founder of the Tokugawa (or Edo) shogunate, dies in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan (73).
4 April 1617	Scotland	John Napier (or Neper), Scottish mathematician and theologian who developed the concept of logarithms, dies in Merchiston Castle, near Edinburgh, Scotland (67).
3 November 1618	India	Aurangzeb, Mogul emperor of India 1658–1707, born in Dhod, Malwa, India (–1707).
7 January 1619	England	Nicholas Hilliard, first great English portraitist and miniaturist of the Renaissance, dies in London, England (c. 72).
6 March 1619	France	Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, French satirist and dramatist, the subject of many romantic legends, whose best-known works include Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune/Comic History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1656), born in Paris, France (–1655).
29 August 1619	France	Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay, French statesman and controller of finance for France 1665–83, whose programme of economic reconstruction led to France becoming a dominant European power, born in Reims, France (–1683).
8 September 1621	France	Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, French noble, leader of the last of the Fronde uprisings (1648–53), later an outstanding general under King Louis XIV, born (–1686).
15 January 1622	France	Molière (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), French comic dramatist, whose best-known works include Le Tartuffe, ou l'imposteur/Tartuffe, or the Impostor (1664) and L'Avare/The Miser (1668), born in Paris, France (–1673).
19 June 1623	France	Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and physicist who founded the theory of probability, and invented the first digital calculator, the syringe, and hydraulic press, born in Clermont-Ferrand, France (–1662).
July 1624	England	George Fox, English preacher and missionary, founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers), born in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire, England (–1691).
27 March 1625	Scotland, England	James VI of Scotland (1567–1625) and I of England (1603–1625), son of Mary Queen of Scots, dies in Theobalds, Hertfordshire, England (58).
23 September 1625	United Netherlands	Johan de Witt, Dutch statesman, political leader of the United Netherlands (1653–72), who led his country during the First and Second Anglo-Dutch Wars, born in Dordrecht, United Netherlands (–1672).
9 April 1626	England	Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans, Baron Verulam, lord chancellor of England 1618–21, philosopher and man of letters, whose best-known works are Novum organum/New Engine and Essays, dies in London, England (65).
25 January 1627	Ireland	Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish chemist and natural philosopher, who conducted pioneering experiments on the properties of gases, born in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland (–1691).
November 1628	England	John Bunyan, English Puritan minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England (–1688).
19 January 1629	Persia	'Abbas I the Great, Shah of Persia 1588–1629, who expelled the Ottomans and Uzbeks from Persia, dies (57).
14 April 1629	United Netherlands	Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who developed the wave theory of light, born in The Hague, United Netherlands (–1695).
29 May 1630	England	Charles II, King of Great Britain and Ireland 1660–85, who was restored to the throne after the Puritan Commonwealth, born in London, England (–1685).
15 November 1630	Bavaria	Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, who discovered the elliptical nature of orbits, dies in Regensburg, Bavaria (now Germany) (58).
31 March 1631	England	John Donne, the best-known English poet of the metaphysical school, dies in London, England (59).
21 June 1631	England	John Smith, English explorer who founded Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, dies in London, England (51).
19 August 1631	England	John Dryden, outstanding English poet, playwright and critic, poet laureate, whose major works include ‘Annus Mirabilis’ (1667) and Marriage à la mode (1672), born in Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, England (–1700).
29 August 1632	England	John Locke, highly influential English political and educational philosopher, whose major work is Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), born in Wrington, Somerset, England (–1704).
20 October 1632	England	Christopher Wren, English architect, astronomer and geometrician, who designed Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, England, and over 50 other London churches, and founded the Royal Society, born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, England (–1723).
24 November 1632	United Netherlands	Benedict de Spinoza, Dutch philosopher, leading exponent of rationalism, born in Amsterdam, United Netherlands (–1677).
23 February 1633	England	Samuel Pepys, English diarist known for his Diary, which provides a look at upper class life in England during the 1660s, born in London, England (–1703).
14 October 1633	England	James II, King of Great Britain 1685–88, son of Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, deposed in the Glorious Revolution (1688), born in London, England (–1701).
6 August 1637	England	Ben Jonson, a leading English dramatist, lyric poet, and critic of the Jacobean age, whose works include The Alchemist (1610), dies in London, England (65).
5 September 1638	France	Louis XIV (the ‘Sun King’), King of France 1643–1715, famous for his patronage of the arts and his embodiment of the doctrine of Absolutism, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (–1715).
22 December 1639	France	Jean Racine, French poet and dramatist known for his tragedies Briannicus, Bérénice, and Phèdre/Phaedra, baptized in La Ferté-Milon, France (–1699).
July 1640	England	Aphra Behn (née Johnson), English dramatist, novelist and poet, the first Englishwoman to earn her living by writing, whose works include Oroonoko (1688) and The Rover (1678), born (–1689).
8 January 1642	Florence	Galileo Galilei, Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer, who developed the astronomical telescope, dies in Arcetri, near Florence, Italy (77).
4 December 1642	France	Armand-Jean du Plessis, French cardinal and duc de Richelieu, (‘Cardinal Richelieu’), chief minister (1624–42) to King Louis XIII of France, who defeated the Habsburg hegemony in Europe, dies in Paris, France (57).
25 December 1642	England	Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician who laid the foundations of calculus and gravitation theory, born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England (–1727).
14 May 1643	France	Louis XIII the Just, king of France 1610–43 who together with Cardinal de Richelieu greatly increased his country's political power, dies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (41).
29 November 1643	Venice	Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer, key developer of opera as a musical genre with works such as Orfeo/Orpheus (1607), dies in Venice (76).
26 December 1646	France	Henry II de Bourbon, 3rd Prince of Condé, French army commander and former rebel against the late kings Henry IV and Louis XIII, dies.
20 May 1648	Poland	Wladyslaw IV Vasa, king of Poland 1632–48, who secured Poland against the Russians and Turks, dies in Merecz, Poland (52).
30 January 1649	Great Britain, Ireland	Charles I, king of Great Britain and Ireland 1625–49, whose authoritarian rule provoked the English Civil Wars (1642–51), is executed in London, England (48).
11 February 1650	France, Sweden	René Descartes, French philosopher, scientist and mathematician, considered to be the founder of modern philosophy, whose best-known work is Discours de la méthode/Discourse on Method (1637), dies in Stockholm, Sweden (53).
26 May 1650	England	John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, English general famed for his victories over the French at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Oudenaarde (1708), born in Ashe, Devonshire, England (–1722).
14 November 1650	United Netherlands, England	William III, stadtholder (provincial governor) of the United Netherlands 1672–1702, King of England 1689–1702, born in The Hague, United Netherlands (–1702).
1 September 1653	Germany	Johann Pachelbel, German organ composer, known particularly for his Canon in D Major, baptized in Nuremberg, Germany (–1706).
28 July 1655	France	Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, French satirist and dramatist, the subject of many romantic legends, whose best-known works include Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune/Comic History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1656), dies in Paris, France (36).
8 November 1656	England	Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician, born in Haggerston, Shoreditch, London, England (–1742).
3 September 1658	England, Scotland, Ireland	Oliver Cromwell, English soldier and statesman, commander of Parliamentarian forces in the English Civil Wars (1642–51), Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland 1653–58, dies (59).
c. 1659	England	Henry Purcell, English composer, born in London, England (–1695).
1660	England	Daniel Defoe, English novelist and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722), born in London, England (–1731).
28 May 1660	Hanover	George I, Elector of Hanover 1698–1727 and first Hanoverian king of Great Britain 1714–27, born in Osnabrück, Hanover, Germany (–1727).
9 March 1661	France	Jules Mazarin, cardinal, diplomat and statesman, first minister of France 1642–61, dies in Vincennes, France (58).
19 August 1662	France	Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and physicist who founded the theory of probability, and invented the first digital calculator, the syringe, and hydraulic press, dies in Paris, France (39).
12 February 1663	America	Cotton Mather, New England author, educator, and Congregational minister, son of Increase Mather, born in Boston, Massachusetts (–1728).
6 February 1665	England	Queen Anne, last Stuart monarch of Great Britain and Ireland 1702–14, born in London, England (–1714).
30 November 1667	Ireland	Jonathan Swift, Irish author and satirist, author of Gulliver's Travels, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1745).
4 October 1669	United Netherlands	Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch painter, often regarded as one of the greatest in history, dies in Amsterdam, United Netherlands (63).
9 June 1672	Russian Empire	Peter I the Great, Tsar of Russia with his brother Ivan V 1682–96 and then alone 1696–1725, who westernized Russia, born in Moscow, Russia (–1725).
17 February 1673	France	Molière (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), French comic dramatist, whose best-known works include Le Tartuffe, ou l'imposteur/Tartuffe, or the Impostor (1664) and L'Avare/The Miser (1668), dies in Paris, France (51).
8 November 1674	England	John Milton, English poet, scholar, historian, and republican whose best-known work is Paradise Lost (1667), dies in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England (66).
27 July 1675	France, Germany	Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, French military leader, marshal of France 1643–68, is killed in battle at Sasbach, Baden-Baden, Germany (63).
26 August 1676	England	Robert Walpole, prime minister of Britain 1721–42, a Whig, born in Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England (–1745).
21 February 1677	United Netherlands	Baruch (Benedict) de Spinoza, Dutch philosopher, leading exponent of rationalism, dies in The Hague, United Netherlands (44).
4 March 1678	Venice	Antonio Vivaldi, important Italian composer during the baroque period, born in Venice, Italy (–1741).
4 December 1679	England	Thomas Hobbes, major English philosopher and political theorist, whose best-known work is Leviathan (1651), dies at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, England (91).
6 September 1683	France	Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Seignelay, French statesman and controller of finance for France 1665–83, whose programme of economic reconstruction led to France becoming a dominant European power, dies in Paris, France (64).
15 April 1684	Russia	Catherine I (original name Marta Skowronska), ruling empress of Russia 1725–27, wife of Peter I the Great of Russia, born (–1727).
6 February 1685	UK	Charles II, King of Great Britain and Ireland 1660–85, who was restored to the throne after the Puritan Commonwealth, dies in London, England (54).
23 February 1685	Germany, England	George Frideric Handel, German-born English baroque composer, whose best-known works include the oratorio Messiah (1741), born in Halle, Germany (–1759).
21 March 1685	Germany	Johann Sebastian Bach, leading German composer of the baroque period, born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany (–1750).
30 June 1685	England	John Gay, English poet and dramatist, author of The Beggar's Opera (1728), born in Barnstaple, Devonshire, England (–1732).
11 December 1686	France	Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, French noble, leader of the last of the Fronde uprisings (1648–53), later an outstanding general under King Louis XIV, dies in Fontainebleu, France (65).
21 May 1688	England	Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist, author of ‘Essay on Man’, born in London, England (–1744).
31 August 1688	England	John Bunyan, English Puritan minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), dies in London, England (59).
16 April 1689	England	Aphra Behn (maiden name unknown), English dramatist, novelist and poet, the first Englishwoman to earn her living by writing, whose works include The Rover (1678) and Oroonoko (1688), dies in London, England (48).
13 January 1691	England	George Fox, English preacher and missionary, founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers), dies in London, England (66).
30 December 1691	Ireland, England	Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish chemist and natural philosopher, who conducted pioneering experiments on the properties of gases, dies in London, England (64).
21 November 1694	France	Voltaire (original name François-Marie Arouet), celebrated French philosopher and writer, whose major works include Candide (1758) and the Dictionnaire philosophique/Philosophical Dictionary (1764), born in Paris, France (–1778).
8 July 1695	United Netherlands	Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who developed the wave theory of light, dies in The Hague, United Netherlands (66).
21 November 1695	England	Henry Purcell, English baroque composer, dies in London, England (36).
18 November 1697	England	William Hogarth, celebrated English satirical painter and engraver, whose works include the series A Rake's Progress (from 1732), born in London, England (–1764).
21 April 1699	France	Jean Racine, French poet and dramatist known for his tragedies Briannicus, Bérénice, and Phèdre/Phaedra, dies in Paris, France (59).
1 May 1700	England	John Dryden, outstanding English poet, playwright, and critic, poet laureate, whose major works include ‘Annus Mirabilis’ (1667) and Marriage à la mode (1672), dies (68).
16 September 1701	England, France	James II, king of Great Britain 1685–88, son of Charles I, deposed in the ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688), dies in Saint-Germain, France (67).
8 March 1702	United Netherlands, England	William III, stadtholder (provincial governor) of the United Netherlands 1672–1702, king of England 1689–1702, dies in London, England (51).
25 May 1703	England	Samuel Pepys, English diarist whose diary provides a look at upper class life during the 1660s, dies in London, England (70).
17 June 1703	England	John Wesley, Anglican clergyman and evangelist who, with his brother Charles Wesley, founded the Methodist movement in the Church of England, born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England (–1791).
28 October 1704	England	John Locke, highly influential English political and educational philosopher, whose major work is Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), dies in Oates, Essex, England (72).
17 January 1706	America	Benjamin Franklin, North American printer, publisher, and inventor who helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, born in Boston, Massachusetts (–1790).
3 March 1706	Germany	Johann Pachelbel, German organ composer, known particularly for his Canon in D Major, dies in Nuremberg, Germany (53).
3 March 1707	India	Aurangzeb, Mogul emperor of India 1658–1707, dies in India (88).
18 September 1709	England	Samuel Johnson, English essayist, critic, and lexicographer, author of the Dictionary of the English Language, born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England (–1784).
7 May 1711	Scotland	David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1776).
24 January 1712	Prussia	Frederick II the Great, King of Prussia 1740–86, born in Potsdam, near Berlin, Prussia (–1786).
28 June 1712	France, Swiss Confederation	Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher whose writings provided inspiration to the leaders of the French Revolution, born in Geneva, Swiss Confederation (–1778).
15 October 1713	France	Denis Diderot, French philosopher of the Enlightenment, editor of the Encyclopédie/Encyclopedia, born in Langres, France (–1784).
24 November 1713	England, Ireland	Laurence Sterne, Irish-born English novelist, born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland (–1768).
1 August 1714	Britain	Queen Anne, last Stuart monarch of Great Britain and Ireland 1702–14, dies in London, England (49).
1 September 1715	France	Louis XIV (the ‘Sun King’), king of France 1643–1715, famous for his patronage of the arts and his embodiment of the doctrine of Absolutism, dies in Versailles, France (76).
16 June 1722	England, France	John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, English general famed for his victories over the French at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Oudenaarde (1708), dies in Windsor, England (72).
25 February 1723	England	Christopher Wren, English architect, astronomer, and geometrician, who designed Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, England, and over 50 other London churches, and founded the Royal Society, dies in London, England (91).
5 June 1723	Scotland	Adam Smith, Scottish social philosopher known for his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations on laissez-faire economics, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland (–1790).
22 April 1724	Prussia	Immanuel Kant, German philosopher whose work had a major influence on subsequent philosophy, born in Königsberg, Prussia (–1804).
8 February 1725	Russia	Peter I the Great, tsar of Russia with his brother Ivan V 1682–96 and then alone 1696–1725, who westernized Russia, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (62).
17 October 1725	England	John Wilkes, outspoken English journalist and politician who championed radical principles of political and civil liberty, born in London, England (–1797).
20 March 1727	England	Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician who laid the foundations of calculus and gravitation theory, dies in London, England (84).
14 May 1727	England	Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter, baptized in Sudbury, Suffolk, England (–1788).
17 May 1727	Russia	Catherine I (original name Marta Skowronska), ruling empress of Russia 1725–27, wife of Peter I the Great of Russia, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (43).
11 June 1727	Hanover	George I, elector of Hanover 1698–1727 and first Hanoverian king of Great Britain 1714–27, dies in Osnabrück, Hanover (now Germany) (67).
13 February 1728	America	Cotton Mather, New England author, educator, and Congregational minister, son of Increase Mather, dies in Boston, Massachusetts (65).
28 October 1728	England, Canada, Pacific	James Cook, English naval captain and navigator who explored Canada's coasts and the Pacific, born in Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England (–1779).
12 January 1729	Ireland, UK	Edmund Burke, British statesman and political theorist, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1797).
2 May 1729	Russian Empire, Prussia	Catherine the Great, German-born empress of Russia 1762–96 who brings Russia into the political and cultural life of Europe, born in Szczecin, Prussia (–1796).
26 April 1731	England	Daniel Defoe, English novelist and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722), dies in London, England (70).
22 February 1732	USA	George Washington, commander in chief during the American Revolution, and first president of the USA 1789–97, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia (–1799).
31 March 1732	Austria	Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian classical composer, born in Rohrau, Austria (–1809).
6 October 1732	England	Nevil Maskelyne, English astronomer who developed a method of determining longitude by observing the Moon, and published The British Mariner's Guide (1763) and the Nautical Almanac (1766), born in London, England (–1811).
6 December 1732	UK, India	Warren Hastings, British statesman and the first governor general of India, born in Churchill, Oxfordshire, England (–1818).
30 October 1735	USA	John Adams, first vice-president 1778–97 and second president 1797–1801 of the USA, a Federalist, born in Braintree, Massachusetts (–1826).
19 January 1736	Scotland	James Watt, Scottish inventor whose improved steam engine had a major impact on the Industrial Revolution, born in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland (–1819).
14 June 1736	France	Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist who formulated Coulomb's law which relates the forces of electrical charges to the distance between them, born in Angoulême, France (–1806).
29 January 1737	America, England	Thomas Paine, British-born American political pamphleteer whose writings influenced the American Revolution, born in Thetford, Norfolk, England (–1809).
27 April 1737	England	Edward Gibbon, English historian, author of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, born in Putney, England (–1794).
9 September 1737	Papal States	Luigi Galvani, Italian physician who investigated electrical conduction in living tissues, born in Bologna, Papal States, Italy (–1798).
18 December 1737	Italy	Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin-maker, dies in Cremona, Duchy of Milan (c. 93).
4 June 1738	UK, Ireland	George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland 1760–1820, born in London, England (–1820).
15 November 1738	England, Germany	William Herschel, German-born English astronomer who discovered Uranus and developed a theory of stellar evolution, born in Hanover, Germany (–1822).
26 August 1740	France	Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French aeronaut who, with his brother Jacques-Etienne, developed the hot-air balloon, born in Annonay, France (–1810).
29 October 1740	Scotland	James Boswell, Scottish diarist, friend and biographer of Samuel Johnson, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1795).
28 July 1741	Italy	Antonio Vivaldi, important Italian composer during the baroque period, dies in Vienna (now in Austria) (63).
14 January 1742	England	Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician, dies in Greenwich, London, England (85).
13 April 1743	USA	Thomas Jefferson, third president of the USA 1801–09, a Democratic-Republican, born in Shadwell, Virginia (–1826).
30 May 1744	England	Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist, author of ‘Essay on Man’, dies in Twickenham, near London, England (66).
19 October 1745	Ireland	Jonathan Swift, Irish author and satirist, author of Gulliver's Travels, dies in Dublin, Ireland (77).
30 March 1746	Spain	Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter and engraver known for his depiction of contemporary events, born in Fuendetodos, Spain (–1828).
24 January 1749	England	Charles James Fox, first foreign secretary of Britain (1782, 1783, and 1806), born in London, England (–1806).
17 May 1749	England	Edward Jenner, English surgeon who discovered and developed a smallpox vaccination, born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England (–1823).
28 August 1749	Germany	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist, and philosopher, born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (–1832).
28 July 1750	Germany	Johann Sebastian Bach, leading German composer of the baroque period, dies in Leipzig (now Germany) (65).
4 November 1751	Ireland, UK	Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish-born British playwright, orator, and Whig politician, baptized in Dublin, Ireland (–1816).
23 August 1754	France	Louis XVI, King of France 1774–93, born in Versailles, France (–1793).
5 July 1755	England	Sarah Siddons, English tragic actor, born in Brecon, Brecknockshire, Wales (–1831).
2 November 1755	France, Holy Roman Empire, Austria	Marie-Antoinette (Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna von Österreich-Lothringen), Queen Consort of King Louis XVI of France, 11th daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, born in Vienna (now in Austria) (–1793).
27 January 1756	Austria	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, considered one of the world's greatest composers, born in Salzburg, Austria (–1791).
6 September 1757	France, America	Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier, marquis de Lafayette, French aristocrat and political leader who fought against the British during the American Revolution, born in Chavaniac, France (–1834).
28 November 1757	England	William Blake, English poet, painter, engraver, and mystic, born in London, England (–1828).
6 May 1758	France	Maximilien François Robespierre, French Jacobin leader during the French Revolution, born in Arras, France (–1794).
29 September 1758	England, France	Horatio Nelson, British naval commander who won decisive battles against France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England (–1805).
25 January 1759	Scotland	Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland, born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland (–1796).
14 April 1759	Germany, England	George Frideric Handel, German-born English baroque composer, whose best-known works include the oratorio Messiah (1741), dies in London, England (74).
28 May 1759	England	William Pitt the Younger, prime minister of Britain 1783–1801 and 1804–06, a Tory, born in Hayes, Kent, England (–1806).
26 October 1759	France	Georges-Jacques Danton, leader in the French Revolution instrumental in overthrowing the monarchy and establishing France's First Republic, born in Arcis-sur-Aube, France (–1794).
10 November 1759	Württemberg	Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, German dramatist and poet, born in Marbach, Württemberg (now Germany) (–1805).
23 June 1763	France	Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of France 1804–10 and consort of Napoleon I, born in Trois-Ilets, Martinique (–1814).
26 October 1764	England	William Hogarth, celebrated English satirical painter and engraver, whose works include the series A Rake's Progress (from 1732), dies in London, England (67).
17 February 1766	England	Thomas Malthus, English economist and demographer who theorized that population growth, unless checked, would always outstrip the food supply, born near Guildford, England (–1834).
18 March 1768	Ireland, England	Laurence Sterne, Irish-born English novelist, dies in London, England (55).
10 January 1769	France	Michel Ney, French marshal during the Napoleonic Wars, born in Paris, France (–1815).
1 May 1769	Ireland	Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington), British army commander and Tory prime minister 1828–30, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1852).
1 August 1769	France	Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte), French general, First Consul 1799–1804, and emperor of France 1804–15, born in Ajaccio, Corsica (–1821).
7 April 1770	England	William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet, and poet laureate 1843–50, born in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England (–1850).
27 August 1770	Germany	Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher of the idealist school, born in Stuttgart, Germany (–1831).
17 December 1770	Germany	Ludwig van Beethoven, German classical Romantic composer, born in Bonn, Germany (–1827).
15 August 1771	Scotland	Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, poet, historian, and biographer who developed the historical novel, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1832).
21 October 1772	England	Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Romantic poet, literary critic, and philosopher, born in Ottery St Mary, Devon, England (–1834).
22 January 1775	France	André Marie Ampère, French physicist who founded the science of electromagnetism, born in Lyon, France (–1836).
23 March 1775	England	J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam) Turner, English Romantic landscape painter, born in London, England (–1851).
16 December 1775	England	Jane Austen, English novelist, born in Steventon, Hampshire, England (–1817).
11 June 1776	England	John Constable, English landscape painter, born in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England (–1837).
25 August 1776	Scotland	David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, dies in Edinburgh, Scotland (65).
30 May 1778	France	Voltaire, celebrated French philosopher and writer, whose major works include Candide (1758) and the Dictionnaire philosophique/Philosophical Dictionary (1764), dies in Paris, France (83).
2 July 1778	France	Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher whose writings provided inspiration to the leaders of the French Revolution, dies in Ermenonville, France (66).
13 February 1779	England, Pacific	James Cook, the English naval captain and navigator who explored Canada's coasts and the Pacific, is killed in Hawaii (50).
9 June 1781	England	George Stephenson, English engineer, inventor of the railway locomotive, born in Wylam, Northumberland, England (–1848).
24 July 1783	New Granada, Venezuela	Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan soldier who liberated Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia from Spanish rule, born in Caracas, New Granada (in modern Venezuela) (–1830).
30 July 1784	France	Denis Diderot, French philosopher of the Enlightenment, editor of the Encyclopédie/Encyclopedia, dies in Paris, France (71).
13 December 1784	England	Samuel Johnson, English essayist, critic, and lexicographer, author of the Dictionary of the English Language, dies in London, England (74).
17 August 1786	Prussia	Frederick II the Great, King of Prussia 1740–86, dies in Potsdam, near Berlin, Prussia (74).
16 March 1787	Germany	Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist who discovered Ohm's law, which relates electric current to voltage, born in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany (–1854).
22 January 1788	England	George Gordon, Lord Byron, English Romantic poet, born in London, England (–1824).
5 February 1788	England	Robert Peel, British prime minister 1834–35 and 1841–46, founder of the Conservative Party, born in Bury, Lancashire, England (–1850).
2 August 1788	England	Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter, dies in London, England (61).
15 September 1789	USA	James Fenimore Cooper, US novelist who wrote of life on the frontier, born in Burlington, New Jersey (–1851).
15 September 1789	France	Louis Daguerre, French painter and physicist who invented the first practical method of photography, the daguerreotype, born in Cormeilles, near Paris, France (–1851).
17 April 1790	America, USA	Benjamin Franklin, American printer, publisher, and inventor who helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, dies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (84).
17 July 1790	Scotland	Adam Smith, Scottish social philosopher known for his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations on laissez-faire economics, dies in Edinburgh, Scotland (63).
2 March 1791	England	John Wesley, Anglican clergyman and evangelist who, with his brother Charles Wesley, founded the Methodist movement in the Church of England, dies in London, England (87).
27 April 1791	USA	Samuel Finley Breese Morse, US painter and inventor of Morse Code, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts (–1872).
22 September 1791	England	Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist whose work contributed to a basic understanding of electromagnetism, born in Newington, Surrey, England (–1867).
5 December 1791	Austria	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer, considered one of the world's greatest composers, dies in Vienna, Austria (35).
29 February 1792	Italy	Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer, born in Pesaro, Papal States (–1868).
4 August 1792	England	Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic lyric poet, born in Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, England (–1822).
26 December 1792	England	Charles Babbage, English inventor who designed the first digital computer, born in Teignmouth, Devon, England (–1871).
21 January 1793	France	Louis XVI, King of France 1774–92, now known as ‘Citizen Capet’, is guillotined in Paris, France (38).
16 October 1793	France, Holy Roman Empire	Marie-Antoinette, Queen Consort of King Louis XVI of France, 11th daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, is guillotined on the orders of the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France (37).
1 November 1793	England	Lord George Gordon, English lord who in 1780 instigated the Gordon riots against the Catholic Relief Act, dies in Newgate prison, London, England (41).
16 January 1794	England	Edward Gibbon, English historian, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, dies in London, England (57).
28 July 1794	France	Maximilien François Robespierre, French Jacobin leader during the French Revolution, is guillotined in Paris, France (36).
19 May 1795	Scotland	James Boswell, Scottish diarist, friend and biographer of the English writer and critic Samuel Johnson, dies in London, England (56).
31 October 1795	England	John Keats, English Romantic lyric poet, born in London, England (–1821).
31 July 1796	Scotland	Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland, dies in Dumfries, Scotland (37).
17 November 1796	Russia	Catherine the Great, German-born empress of Russia 1762–96 who brings Russia into the political and cultural life of Europe, dies in Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg, Russia (67).
1797	USA	Sojourner Truth, freed slave turned orator, famous for her ‘Ain't I a Woman?’ speech, born in Ulster County, New York (–1883).
31 January 1797	Austria	Franz Schubert, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austria (–1828).
30 August 1797	England	Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, English writer, author of Frankenstein, born in London, England (–1851).
26 December 1797	England	John Wilkes, outspoken English journalist and politician who championed radical principles of political and civil liberty, dies in London, England (70).
4 December 1798	Italy	Luigi Galvani, Italian physician who investigated electrical conduction in living tissues, dies in Bologna, Italy (61).
20 May 1799	France	Honoré de Balzac, French novelist whose writings helped establish the modern form of the novel, born in Tours, France (–1850).
14 December 1799	America, USA	George Washington, commander in chief during the American Revolution, and first president of the USA 1789–97, dies and is buried in Mount Vernon, Virginia (67).
1 June 1801	USA	Brigham Young, US religious leader of the Mormon Church who leads converts to colonize the US West and establishes a base at Salt Lake City, born in Whitingham, Vermont (–1877).
26 February 1802	France	Victor Hugo, French Romantic novelist, born in Besançon, France (–1885).
24 July 1802	France	Alexandre Dumas (père), French novelist best known for The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers (both 1844), born in Villers-Cotterêts, France (–1870).
12 February 1804	Prussia	Immanuel Kant, German philosopher whose work had a major influence on subsequent philosophy, dies in Königsberg, Prussia (80).
21 December 1804	England	Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, British prime minister 1868 and 1874–80, a Conservative, born in London, England (–1881).
2 April 1805	Denmark	Hans Christian Andersen, Danish storyteller, born in Odense, Denmark (–1875).
9 May 1805	Germany	Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, German dramatist and poet, dies in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar (45).
22 June 1805	Genoa	Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian revolutionary and founder of Young Italy, a secret revolutionary society which strove for Italian unity, born in Genoa, Italy (–1872).
21 October 1805	Spain	Horatio Nelson, British naval commander who won decisive battles against France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, is killed at sea off Cape Trafalgar, Spain (46).
9 April 1806	England	Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British marine engineer who builds the first transatlantic steamer the Great Western (1838), and the Great Eastern (1858), the largest ship in the world for 40 years, born in Portsmouth, England (–1859).
23 August 1806	France	Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist who formulated Coulomb's law which relates the forces of electrical charges to the distance between them, dies in Paris, France (69).
13 September 1806	England	Charles James Fox, first foreign secretary of Britain (1782, 1783, and 1806), dies in Chiswick, Devon, England (57).
19 January 1807	USA	Robert E Lee, Confederate general who commands the Southern armies during the American Civil War, born in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia (–1870).
4 July 1807	France, Sicily, Naples	Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian soldier whose conquest of Sicily and Naples helps to unify Italy, born in Nice, France (–1882).
20 April 1808	France	Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III), emperor of France 1852–71, born in Paris, France (–1873).
19 January 1809	USA	Edgar Allan Poe, US poet, critic and short-story writer, born in Boston, Massachusetts (–1849).
12 February 1809	USA	Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the USA 1861–65, a Republican, born in Hodgenville, Kentucky (–1865).
12 February 1809	England	Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist who develops the theory of evolution through natural selection, born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England (–1882).
31 May 1809	Austria	Franz Josef Haydn, Austrian classical composer, dies in Vienna, Austria (77).
8 June 1809	USA, UK	Thomas Paine, British-born American political pamphleteer whose writings influenced the American Revolution, dies in Boston, Massachusetts (72).
29 December 1809	England	William Ewart Gladstone, prime minister of Britain 1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, and 1892–94, a Liberal, born in Liverpool, England (–1898).
1 March 1810	France, Poland	Frédéric Chopin, French composer known for his works for piano, born in Zelazowa, Poland (–1849).
26 June 1810	France	Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French aeronaut who, with his brother Jacques-Etienne, developed the hot-air balloon, dies in Balaruc-les-bains, France (69).
5 July 1810	USA	P(hineas) T(aylor) Barnum, US showman and promoter who popularizes the three-ring circus, born in Bethel, Connecticut (–1891).
9 February 1811	England	Nevil Maskelyne, English astronomer who developed a method of determining longitude by observing the Moon, and published The British Mariner's Guide (1763) and the Nautical Almanac (1766), dies in Greenwich, London, England (78).
14 June 1811	USA	Harriet Beecher Stowe, US writer, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, born in Litchfield, Connecticut (–1896).
22 October 1811	Hungary	Franz (Ferencz) Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer, born in Raiding, Hungary (–1886).
7 February 1812	England	Charles Dickens, English novelist of the Victorian era, born in Portsmouth, England (–1870).
19 March 1813	Scotland, Africa	David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer who explores much of East Africa in search of the source of the Nile, born in Blantyre, Lancashire, Scotland (–1873).
22 May 1813	Germany	(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner, German dramatic composer and theorist who writes the operatic sequence Der Ring des Nibelungen/The Ring of the Nibelung, born in Leipzig, Germany (–1883).
10 October 1813	Parma	Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, Italian operatic composer, born in Le Roncole, near Busseto, Duchy of Parma (–1901).
29 May 1814	France	Joséphine de Beauharnais, empress of France 1804–10 and consort of Napoleon I, dies in Malmaison, France (50).
1 April 1815	German Empire, Brandenburg	Otto von Bismarck, founder and first chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90, born in Schönhausen, Brandenburg (–1898).
2 November 1815	England	George Boole, English mathematician who develops Boolean algebra which is central to computer operations, born in Lincoln, England (–1864).
21 April 1816	England	Charlotte Brontë, English novelist who writes Jane Eyre (1847), born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England (–1855).
18 July 1817	England	Jane Austen, English novelist, dies in Winchester, England (41).
29 April 1818	Russia	Alexander II, Tsar of Russia 1855–81 who is responsible for emancipating the Russian serfs, born in Moscow, Russia (–1881).
5 May 1818	Prussia	Karl Marx, Prussian political theorist, economist, and sociologist whose ideas formed the basis of communism, born in Trier, Prussia (–1883).
30 July 1818	England	Emily Brontë, English novelist known for Wuthering Heights (1847), born in Thornton, Yorkshire (now West Yorkshire), England (–1848).
22 August 1818	England	Warren Hastings, British statesman and the first governor general of Bengal (most of British India) (1774), dies in Daylesford, Oxfordshire, England (86).
24 December 1818	England	James Prescott Joule, English physicist who demonstrated that the various forms of energy can be transformed one into another, born in Salford, Lancashire, England (–1889).
24 May 1819	UK, Ireland, India	Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1837–1901, empress of India 1876–1901, born in London, England (–1901).
31 May 1819	USA	Walt Whitman, US journalist, essayist, and poet, born in West Hills, New York (–1892).
1 August 1819	USA	Herman Melville, US novelist, short-story writer, and poet who writes Moby Dick, born in New York City (–1891).
19 August 1819	Scotland, England	James Watt, Scottish inventor whose improved steam engine had a major impact on the Industrial Revolution, dies in Heathfield Hall, near Birmingham, England (83).
22 November 1819	England	George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans), English novelist, born in Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, England (–1880).
29 January 1820	England	George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland 1760–1820, dies in Windsor Castle, England (81).
15 February 1820	USA	Susan B(rownell) Anthony, US suffragette whose work eventually leads to women's suffrage in the USA (1920), born in Adams, Massachusetts (–1906).
12 May 1820	England, Florence	Florence Nightingale, ‘Lady of the Lamp’, English nurse who is in charge of nursing the British troops during the Crimean War and who establishes nursing as a profession for women, born in Florence, Italy (–1910).
28 November 1820	Prussia	Friedrich Engels, German socialist philosopher who, with Karl Marx, writes The Communist Manifesto (1848) which lays the foundations of modern communism, born in Barmen, Prussia (now Germany) (–1895).
23 February 1821	England, Rome	John Keats, English Romantic lyric poet, dies in Rome, Italy (26).
5 May 1821	France	Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte), French general, First Consul 1799–1804, and emperor of France 1804–15, dies in exile on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic (52).
11 October 1821	Russia	Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist best known for Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80), born in Moscow, Russia (–1881).
12 December 1821	France	Gustave Flaubert, French realist novelist best known for Madame Bovary (1857), born in Rouen, France (–1880).
27 April 1822	USA	Ulysses S Grant, US general who commands the Union army during the last two years of the American Civil War and president 1863–77, born in Point Pleasant, Ohio (–1885).
25 June 1822	Germany	E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus) Hoffmann, German writer, composer, and painter, dies in Berlin, Germany (46).
8 July 1822	England, Tuscany	Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic lyric poet, dies at sea off Livorno, Tuscany, Italy (29).
22 July 1822	Austria	Gregor Mendel, Austrian monk and botanist who lays the mathematical foundations of genetics, born in Heinzendorf, Austria (–1884).
25 August 1822	England, Germany	William Herschel, German-born English astronomer who discovered Uranus and developed a theory of stellar evolution, dies in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England (83).
28 September 1822	France	Louis Pasteur, French microbiologist who proves that micro-organisms cause disease and fermentation and develops the process of pasteurization, born in Dole, France (–1895).
26 January 1823	England	Edward Jenner, English surgeon who discovered and developed a smallpox vaccination, dies in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England (73).
21 January 1824	USA	Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, one of the ablest Confederate generals in the American Civil War, born in Clarksburg, Virginia (–1863).
19 April 1824	Greece, England	George Gordon, Lord Byron, English Romantic poet, dies in Missolonghi, Greece (36).
26 June 1824	Scotland, Northern Ireland	William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Scottish physicist who developed the absolute temperature scale, born in Belfast, Ireland (–1907).
4 May 1825	England	Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist known for his defence of Darwinian evolution, born in Ealing, Middlesex, England (–1895).
10 October 1825	Southern Africa	Paul Kruger, Boer statesman who founds the Afrikaaner nation and is instrumental in initiating the Second Anglo-Boer War, born in Cradock district, Cape Colony, Southern Africa (–1904).
25 October 1825	Austria	Johann Strauss, Austrian composer of Viennese waltzes and operettas, born in Vienna, Austria (–1899).
4 July 1826	USA	Thomas Jefferson, third president of the USA 1801–09, a Democratic-Republican, dies in Monticello, Virginia (83).
26 March 1827	Germany, Austria	Ludwig van Beethoven, German classical Romantic composer, dies in Vienna, Austria (56).
8 February 1828	France	Jules Verne, French author who pioneers modern science fiction writing, born in Nantes, France (–1905).
20 March 1828	Norway	Henrik Johan Ibsen, Norwegian poet and playwright whose works include Peer Gynt (1867) and A Doll's House (1879), born in Skien, Norway (–1906).
16 April 1828	Spain, France	Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter and engraver known for his depiction of contemporary events, dies in Bordeaux, France (81).
12 August 1828	England	William Blake, English poet and engraver, dies in London, England (70).
9 September 1828	Russia	Lev Nikolayevich (‘Leo’) Tolstoy, Russian author best known for War and Peace and Anna Karenina, born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia (–1910).
19 November 1828	Austria	Franz Schubert, Austrian composer, dies in Vienna, Austria (31).
10 December 1830	USA	Emily Dickinson, US poet, born in Amherst, Massachusetts (–1886).
17 December 1830	Venezuela, Central America	Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan soldier who liberated Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia from Spanish rule, dies in Santa Marta, Colombia (47).
13 November 1831	Scotland	James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist who formulated the theory of electromagnetism, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1879).
14 November 1831	Germany	Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher of the idealist school, dies in Berlin, Germany (61).
23 January 1832	France	Edouard Manet, French realist painter and important 19th-century artist, born (–1883).
27 January 1832	England	Lewis Carroll (pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), English novelist who writes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England (–1898).
22 March 1832	Germany	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist, and philosopher, dies in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar (now Germany) (82).
21 September 1832	Scotland	Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, poet, historian, and biographer who developed the historical novel, dies in Abbotsford, Roxburgh, Scotland (61).
29 November 1832	USA	Louisa May Alcott, US author of children's books, best known for Little Women (1869), born in Germantown, Pennsylvania (–1888).
1834	Russia	Dimitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev, Russian chemist who develops the periodic table of the elements, born in Tobolsk, Siberia, Russia (–1907).
17 March 1834	Germany	Gottlieb Daimler, German mechanical engineer who builds one of the first successful cars powered by an internal combustion engine, born in Schorndorf, Württemberg (now Germany) (–1900).
20 May 1834	France	Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier, marquis de Lafayette, French aristocrat and political leader who fought against the British during the American Revolution, dies in Paris, France (76).
19 July 1834	France	Edgar Degas, French artist known for his paintings, drawings, and bronzes of the human figure in motion, born in Paris, France (–1917).
25 July 1834	England	Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Romantic poet, literary critic, and philosopher, dies in Highgate, London, England (61).
23 December 1834	England	Thomas Malthus, English economist and demographer who theorized that population growth, unless checked, would always outstrip the food supply, dies in St Catherine, near Bath, England (68).
25 November 1835	USA, Scotland	Andrew Carnegie, US steel magnate and philanthropist, born in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland (–1919).
30 November 1835	USA	Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens), US author who creates the characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, born in Florida, Missouri (–1910).
10 June 1836	France	André Marie Ampère, French physicist who founded the science of electromagnetism, dies in Marseille, France (61).
18 November 1836	England	William Schwenk Gilbert, English playwright known for his works produced with Arthur Seymour Sullivan, born in London, England (–1911).
31 March 1837	England	John Constable, English landscape painter, dies in London, England (59).
8 July 1838	Germany	Ferdinand (Adolf August Heinrich) Graf von Zeppelin, German builder of rigid dirigible airships, born in Konstanz, Baden, Germany (–1917).
19 January 1839	France	Paul Cézanne, French post-Impressionist painter whose work leads to the development of cubism, born in Aix-en-Provence, France (–1906).
8 July 1839	USA	John D(avison) Rockefeller, US industrialist who founds Standard Oil, and philanthropist who founded the Rockefeller Foundation, born in Richford, New York (–1937).
2 April 1840	France	Emile Zola, French novelist and critic who founds the Naturalist movement, born in Paris, France (–1902).
7 May 1840	Russia	Peter Illich Tchaikovsky, leading 19th-century Russian composer who, amongst a great variety of works, composes the music for the ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, born in Votkinsk, Russia (–1893).
2 June 1840	England	Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet, born in Bockhampton, Dorset, England (–1928).
12 November 1840	France	Auguste Rodin, French sculptor reknowned for his realistic treatment of the human figure, born in Paris, France (–1917).
14 November 1840	France	Claude Monet, French Impressionist painter, born in Paris, France (–1926).
25 February 1841	France	Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist painter, born in Limoges, France (–1919).
13 May 1842	England	Arthur Seymour Sullivan, British composer of operettas with William Schwenk Gilbert, born in London, England (–1900).
15 April 1843	USA, UK	Henry James, US-born British novelist and playwright, born in New York City (–1916).
19 September 1843	France	Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis, French engineer who was the first to describe the Coriolis force, dies in Paris, France (50).
15 October 1844	Prussia	Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, German philosopher and critic, especially of Christianity, born in Röcken, Saxony, Prussia (–1900).
23 October 1845	France	Sarah Bernhardt, French actor, born in Paris, France (–1923).
27 June 1846	Ireland	Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish nationalist who leads the movement for Irish home rule, born in Avondale, County Wicklow, Ireland (–1891).
11 February 1847	USA	Thomas Alva Edison, prolific US inventor who invents the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture projector, born in Milan, Ohio (–1931).
3 March 1847	Scotland, USA	Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born US scientist who invents the telephone, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1922).
4 November 1847	Germany	Felix Mendelssohn(-Bartholdy), German composer, dies in Leipzig, Germany (38).
7 June 1848	France	Paul Gauguin, French post-Impressionist painter, born in Paris, France (–1903).
12 August 1848	England	George Stephenson, English engineer, inventor of the railway locomotive, dies in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England (67).
19 December 1848	England	Emily Brontë, English novelist known for Wuthering Heights (1847), dies in Haworth, Yorkshire (now West Yorkshire), England (30).
7 October 1849	USA	Edgar Allan Poe, US poet, critic, and short-story writer, dies in Baltimore, Maryland (40).
17 October 1849	France	Frédéric Chopin, French composer known for his works for piano, dies in Paris, France (39).
23 April 1850	England	William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet, and poet laureate 1843–50, dies in Grasmere, Westmorland, England (80).
2 July 1850	England	Robert Peel, British prime minister 1834–35 and 1841–46, founder of the Conservative Party, dies in London, England (62).
5 August 1850	France	Guy de Maupassant, French short-story writer in the Naturalist school, born near Dieppe, France (–1893).
18 August 1850	France	Honoré de Balzac, French novelist whose writings helped establish the modern form of the novel, dies in Paris, France (51).
13 November 1850	Scotland	Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist who writes Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1894).
1 February 1851	England	Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, English writer, author of Frankenstein, dies in London, England (53).
10 July 1851	France	Louis Daguerre, French painter and physicist who invented the first practical method of photography, the daguerreotype, dies in Bry-sur-Marne, France (62).
14 September 1851	USA	James Fenimore Cooper, US novelist who wrote of life on the frontier, dies in Cooperstown, New York (61).
19 December 1851	England	J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam) Turner, English Romantic landscape painter, dies in London, England (76).
25 June 1852	Spain	Antonio Gaudí, Spanish architect known for his free-flowing forms and rich colours, born in Reus, Spain (–1926).
14 September 1852	England	Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, British army commander and Tory prime minister 1828–30, dies in Walmer Castle, Kent, England (83).
30 March 1853	Netherlands	Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter whose work inspires the expressionists, born in Zundert, the Netherlands (–1890).
7 July 1854	Germany	Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist who discovered Ohm's law, which relates electric current to voltage, dies in Munich, Germany (67).
12 July 1854	USA	George Eastman, US inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist who introduces the Kodak camera, born in Waterville, New York (–1932).
31 March 1855	England	Charlotte Brontë, English novelist who wrote Jane Eyre (1847), dies in Haworth, Yorkshire (now West Yorkshire), England (38).
24 April 1856	France	Henri-Philippe Pétain, French general during World War I, born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour, France (–1951).
6 May 1856	Moravia	Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis, born in Freiberg, Moravia (now Príbor, Czech Republic) (–1939).
26 July 1856	Ireland	George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist propagandist, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1950).
16 October 1856	Ireland, UK	Oscar O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Irish poet and dramatist, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1900).
28 December 1856	USA	(Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the USA 1913–21, a Democrat, born in Staunton, Virginia (–1924).
26 November 1857	Switzerland	Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist whose ideas about the structure of language lay the foundation of modern linguistics, born in Geneva, Switzerland (–1913).
3 December 1857	UK, Poland	Joseph Conrad (pen-name of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski), Polish-born British novelist whose works include Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and Chance, born in Berdichev, Poland (–1924).
23 April 1858	Germany	Max Planck, German theoretical physicist who is the originator of quantum theory, born in Kiel, in the duchy of Schleswig (–1947).
14 July 1858	England	Emmeline Pankhurst, militant English suffragette, born in Manchester, England (–1928).
27 January 1859	Prussia	Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor and king of Prussia 1888–1918, born in Potsdam, near Berlin, Prussia (–1941).
22 May 1859	Scotland	Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish novelist who creates the detective Sherlock Holmes, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1930).
15 September 1859	England	Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British marine engineer who built the first transatlantic steamer, the Great Western (1838), and the Great Eastern (1858), the largest ship in the world for 40 years, dies in Westminster, London, England (53).
27 October 1859	USA	Theodore (‘Teddy’) Roosevelt, twenty-sixth president of the USA 1901–09, a Republican, born in New York City (–1919).
17 January 1860	Russia	Anton Chekhov, Russian writer and dramatist known for his mastery of the short story, born in Taganrog, Russia (–1904).
19 March 1860	USA	William Jennings Bryan, US lawyer, three-time Democratic presidential candidate, and prosecuting attorney in the Scopes trial against Tennessee schoolteacher John T Scopes for teaching Darwinism, born in Salem, Illinois (–1925).
19 May 1861	Australia	Nellie Melba, Australian soprano, born in Richmond, near Melbourne, Australia (–1931).
30 June 1861	England, Florence	Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet and wife of the English poet Robert Browning, dies in Florence, Italy (55).
31 March 1862	Ireland	Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist and nationalist, founder of Sinn Fein (1905) and president of the Irish Republic (1922), born in Dublin, Ireland (–1922).
22 August 1862	France	Claude Debussy, French composer, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (–1918).
11 September 1862	USA	O Henry (pen-name of William Sydney Porter), US short-story writer and novelist, born in Greensboro, North Carolina (–1910).
1 January 1863	France	Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, French administrator responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games and who serves as the first president of the International Olympic Committee 1896–1925, born in Paris, France (–1937).
17 January 1863	Wales, England	David Lloyd George, Welsh Liberal politician, British prime minister 1916–22, born in Manchester, England (–1945).
10 May 1863	USA	Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, one of the most able Confederate generals in the American Civil War, dies from pneumonia in Guiney's Station, Virginia, eight days after being accidentally shot by one of his own men (39).
30 July 1863	USA	Henry Ford, US industrialist who develops the mass-production of cheap Ford cars, born in Wayne County, Michigan (–1947).
20 September 1863	Germany	Jacob Grimm, German author (with his brother Wilhelm) of Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812), dies in Berlin, Germany (78).
12 December 1863	Norway	Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter of psychological subjects such as The Scream, born in Löten, Norway (–1944).
23 August 1864	Crete	Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek politician, prime minister of Greece 1910–15, 1917, 1924, and 1928–30, born in Mourniés, Crete (–1936).
24 November 1864	France	Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French artist who depicts the personalities of Parisian night life, born in Albi, France (–1901).
8 December 1864	Ireland, England	George Boole, English mathematician who developed Boolean algebra, which is central to computer operations, dies in Ballintemple, Ireland (49).
15 April 1865	USA	Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the USA 1861–65, a Republican, dies in Washington, DC, and is succeeded by Vice-President Andrew Johnson (56).
13 June 1865	Ireland	W(illiam) B(utler) Yeats, Irish poet, dramatist, and nationalist, born in Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland (–1939).
30 December 1865	England, India	Rudyard Kipling, English novelist, short-story writer, and poet, born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India (–1936).
21 September 1866	England	H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells, English novelist, sociologist, and historian, who writes The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Invisible Man, born in Bromley, Kent, England (–1946).
12 October 1866	Scotland	Ramsay MacDonald, British politician, first Labour Party prime minister of Britain 1924, prime minister again in 1929, and in a coalition government 1931–35, born in Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland (–1937).
16 April 1867	USA	Wilbur Wright, US pioneer of aviation who, with his brother Orville, is the first to achieve sustained powered flight, born near Millville, Indiana (–1912).
25 August 1867	England	Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist whose work contributed to a basic understanding of electromagnetism, dies in Hampton Court, Surrey, England (76).
7 November 1867	France, Poland	Marie Curie (born Sklodowska), Polish-born French physicist who, with her husband Pierre Curie, discovers polonium and radium, and who wins the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and for Chemistry in 1911, born in Warsaw, Poland (–1934).
12 November 1867	China	Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat-sen), leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang) which overthrows the Manchu dynasty, first president of the Republic of China 1911–12, and de facto ruler 1923–25, born in Xiangshan, Guangdong Province, China (–1925).
23 February 1868	USA	W E B Du Bois, US sociologist, writer, and black leader, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (–1963).
18 May 1868	Russia	Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia 1895–1917, born in Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg, Russia (–1918).
13 November 1868	Italy, France	Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer, dies in Passy, near Paris, France (76).
3 March 1869	England	Henry Joseph Wood, English conductor, founder of the Promenade Concerts (the ‘Proms’) in 1895, born in London, England (–1944).
2 October 1869	India, UK	Mahatma Gandhi (honorific name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), leader of the nationalist movement to free India from British rule, born in Porbandar, India (–1948).
31 December 1869	France	Henri Matisse, French painter, sculptor, illustrator, and designer, born in Le Cateau, France (–1954).
22 April 1870	Russia, USSR	Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Russian Revolution, and head of the Soviet Union 1917–24, born in Simbirsk, Russia (–1924).
9 June 1870	England	Charles Dickens, English novelist of the Victorian era, dies in Gad's Hill, Chatham, Kent, England (58).
12 October 1870	USA	Robert E Lee, Confederate general who commanded the Southern armies during the American Civil War, dies in Lexington, Virginia (63).
5 December 1870	France	Alexandre Dumas (père), French novelist best known for The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers (both 1844), dies in Puys, France (68).
10 July 1871	France	Marcel Proust, French novelist who writes A la recherche du temps perdu/Remembrance of Things Past (1913–27), born in Auteuil, France (–1922).
19 August 1871	USA	Orville Wright, US pioneer of aviation who, with his brother Wilbur, is the first to achieve sustained powered flight, born in Dayton, Ohio (–1948).
30 August 1871	New Zealand	Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand physicist and investigator of radioactivity, born in Spring Grove, New Zealand (–1937).
18 October 1871	England	Charles Babbage, English inventor who designed the first digital computer, dies in London, England (78).
1 November 1871	USA	Stephen Crane, US novelist known for his book The Red Badge of Courage (1895), born in Newark, New Jersey (–1900).
c. 1872	Russia	Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, Siberian peasant and mystic who influences the Russian tsar Nicholas II and tsarina Alexandra, born in Pokrovskoye, Siberia, Russia (–1916).
2 April 1872	USA	Samuel Finley Breese Morse, US painter and inventor of Morse Code, dies in New York City (80).
16 July 1872	Norway, Antarctica	Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer who was the first person to reach the South Pole, born in Oslo, Norway (–1928).
9 January 1873	England, France	Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III), emperor of France 1852–71, dies in Chislehurst, Kent, England (64).
1 April 1873	Russia	Sergey Vasilevich Rachmaninov, Russian composer and piano virtuoso, born in Oneg, near Semenovo, Russia (–1943).
1 May 1873	Zambia	David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer who explored much of East Africa in search of the source of the River Nile, dies in Chitambo, Barotseland (Zambia) (59).
3 February 1874	USA	Gertrude Stein, US avant-garde writer and eccentric, born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (–1946).
25 April 1874	Italy	Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and inventor of radio, born in Bologna, Italy (–1937).
10 August 1874	USA	Herbert Hoover, thirty-first president of the USA 1929–33, a Republican, born in West Branch, Iowa (–1964).
13 September 1874	Austria	Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer who develops a new ‘atonal’ method of musical composition, born in Vienna, Austria (–1951).
27 November 1874	Israel, Poland, Russian Empire	Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel 1949–52, born in Motol, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire (–1952).
30 November 1874	England	Winston Churchill, British prime minister 1940–45 and 1951–55, who leads Britain through World War II, born at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England (–1965).
22 January 1875	USA	D(avid Lewelyn) W(ark) Griffith, US pioneer of film-making, born in Flodysfork, Kentucky (–1948).
26 July 1875	Switzerland	Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist who founds analytic psychology, born in Kesswil, Switzerland (–1961).
4 August 1875	Denmark	Hans Christian Andersen, Danish storyteller, dies in Copenhagen, Denmark (70).
12 January 1876	USA	Jack London (pseudonym of John Griffith Chaney), US novelist and short-story writer, born in San Francisco, California (–1916).
25 December 1876	India, Pakistan	Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indian/Pakistani Muslim politician, founder and first premier of Pakistan 1947–48, born in Karachi, India (now Pakistan) (–1948).
29 August 1877	USA	Brigham Young, US religious leader of the Mormon Church who led converts to colonize the US West and established a base at Salt Lake City, dies in Salt Lake City, Utah (76).
21 March 1878	USA	Jack Johnson, US boxer and the first black person to win the world heavyweight boxing championship (1908–15), born in Galveston, Texas (–1946).
5 June 1878	Mexico	Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, Mexican revolutionary who fights against the regimes of Porfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerto, born in Hacienda de Rio Grande, Mexico (–1923).
5 March 1879	UK, India	William Henry Beveridge, British economist who was the chief architect of Britain's welfare policies, born in Rangpur, India (–1963).
14 March 1879	USA, Germany	Albert Einstein, German-born US physicist who develops the theory of relativity, born in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany (–1955).
19 May 1879	USA, UK	Nancy Witcher Langhorne, Lady Astor, British politician and the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, born in Danville, Virginia (–1964).
8 August 1879	Mexico	Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary who leads a guerilla force during the Mexican Revolution, born in Anenecuilo, Mexico (–1919).
5 November 1879	Scotland, England	James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist who formulated the theory of electromagnetism, dies in Cambridge, England (48).
7 November 1879	Russian Empire, Ukraine	Leon Trotsky (adopted name of Lev Davidovitch Bronstein), communist theorist and activist, a leader in Russia's October Revolution of 1917, born in Ianovka, Ukraine, Russian Empire (–1940).
18 December 1879	Switzerland	Paul Klee, Swiss Abstract artist, born in Münchenbuchsee, near Bern, Switzerland (–1940).
21 December 1879	USSR, Russian Empire	Joseph Stalin (adopted name, Russian for steel, of Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1922–53, and premier 1941–53, born in Gori, Georgia, Russian Empire (–1953).
c. 1880	Arabia	Ibn Saud, Arabian tribal and Muslim leader who founds the modern state of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and begins to exploit its oil resources, born in Riyadh, Arabia (–1953).
8 May 1880	France	Gustave Flaubert, French realist novelist best known for Madame Bovary (1857), dies in Croisset, France (58).
2 December 1880	England	George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans), English novelist, dies in London, England (61).
1881	Turkey, Greece	(Mustafa) Kemal Atatürk, Turkish soldier, statesman, and reformer, founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey 1923–38, born in Greece (–1938).
9 February 1881	Russia	Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist best known for Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80), dies in St Petersburg, Russia (59).
13 March 1881	Russia	Alexander II, tsar of Russia 1855–81 who was responsible for emancipating the Russian serfs, is assassinated in St Petersburg, Russia, after calling an assembly of Russian nobles (62).
19 April 1881	England	Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, British prime minister 1868 and 1874–80, a Conservative, dies in London, England (76).
4 May 1881	Russia	Alexander Kerensky, Russian revolutionary and head of the Russian provisional government July–October 1917, born in Simbirsk, Russia (–1970).
6 August 1881	Scotland	Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist who discovers penicillin, born in Lochfield, Ayr, Scotland (–1955).
12 August 1881	USA	Cecil B de Mille, US motion picture director and producer known for his spectacular films, born in Ashfield, Massachusetts (–1959).
15 October 1881	England	P(elham) G(renville) Wodehouse, English novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and lyricist, creator of Jeeves, the archetypal gentleman's gentleman, born in Guildford, Surrey, England (–1975).
25 October 1881	Spain	Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor who, along with Georges Braque, founds cubism, born in Málaga, Spain (–1973).
18 January 1882	England	A(lan) A(lexander) Milne, English author who creates Winnie-the-Pooh, born in London, England (–1956).
25 January 1882	England	Virginia Woolf, English author and critic, born in London, England (–1941).
30 January 1882	USA	Franklin Delano Roosevelt, US statesman, thirty-second president of the USA 1933–45 (re-elected three times), a Democrat, born in Hyde Park, New York (–1945).
2 February 1882	Ireland	James Joyce, Irish novelist and poet, born in Dublin, Ireland (–1941).
19 April 1882	England	Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist who developed the theory of evolution through natural selection, dies in Downe, Kent, England (73).
2 June 1882	Italy	Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian soldier whose conquest of Sicily and Naples helped to unify Italy, dies in Caprera, Italy (74).
27 August 1882	USA, Poland	Samuel Goldwyn, US pioneer Hollywood film-maker and producer, one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), born in Warsaw, Poland (–1974).
30 September 1882	Germany	Hans Geiger, German physicist who invents the Geiger counter to measure radioactivity, born in Neustadt-an-der-Haardt, Germany (–1945).
5 October 1882	USA	Robert Goddard, US astronautics pioneer who develops modern rockets used for launching spacecraft, born in Worcester, Massachusetts (–1945).
14 October 1882	Ireland, USA, UK	Eamon de Valéra, Irish politician and revolutionary, president 1959–73 who takes Ireland out of the British Commonwealth, born in New York City (–1975).
3 January 1883	England	Clement Attlee, Earl Attlee, British prime minister 1945–51, a member of the Labour Party, born in London, England (–1967).
13 February 1883	Germany, Venice	(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner, German dramatic composer and theorist, who wrote the operatic sequence Der Ring des Nibelungen/The Ring of the Nibelung dies in Venice, Italy (69).
14 March 1883	Prussia, England	Karl Marx, Prussian political theorist, economist, and sociologist whose ideas formed the basis of communism, dies in London, England (65).
30 April 1883	France	Edouard Manet, French realist painter and important 19th-century artist, dies in Paris, France (51).
5 June 1883	England	John Maynard Keynes, English economist concerned with the causes and solutions of long-term unemployment, born in Cambridge, England (–1946).
3 July 1883	Bohemia	Franz Kafka, Bohemian-born German writer, born in Prague, Bohemia (–1924).
19 July 1883	Italy	Benito Mussolini, ‘Il Duce’, Italian prime minister 1922–43, first of Europe's fascist dictators, born in Predappio, Italy (–1945).
19 August 1883	France	Coco (Gabrielle) Chanel, French couturier whose classic designs become widely copied, born in Saumur, France (–1971).
4 September 1883	Russia, France	Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, Russian novelist, poet, and playwright, dies in Bougival, near Paris, France (65).
14 September 1883	USA	Margaret Sanger, US birth control advocate who opens the first birth control clinic in the USA, born in Corning, New York (–1966).
8 May 1884	USA	Harry S Truman, thirty-third president of the USA 1945–53, a Democrat, born in Lamar, Missouri (–1972).
6 July 1884	Austria-Hungary	Gregor Mendel, Austrian monk and botanist who laid the mathematical foundations of genetics, dies in Brünn, Austro-Hungarian Empire (61).
2 May 1885	France	Victor Hugo, French Romantic novelist, dies in Paris, France (83).
20 May 1885	Saudi Arabia, Iraq	Faisal I, King of Iraq 1921–33 and promoter of pan-Arab nationalism, born in Mecca, Hejaz (–1933).
4 July 1885	Russia, USA	Louis B Mayer, US film executive, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) 1924–48, born in Minsk, Russia (–1957).
23 July 1885	USA	Ulysses S Grant, US general who commanded the Union army during the last two years of the American Civil War and president 1863–1877, dies in Mount McGregor, New York (63).
11 September 1885	England	D(avid) H(erbert) Lawrence, English poet and novelist, author of the controversial Lady Chatterley's Lover, born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England (–1930).
30 October 1885	USA	Ezra Pound, US poet and literary critic, born in Hailey, Idaho (–1972).
26 May 1886	Russia, USA	Al Jolson (stage name of Asa Yoelson), US popular singer and comedian, star of The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature film with synchronized speech and music, born in Srednike, Russia (–1950).
31 July 1886	Hungary, Germany	Franz (Ferencz) Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer, dies in Bayreuth, Germany (74).
16 October 1886	Israel, Poland	David Ben-Gurion, Zionist statesman and first prime minister of the newly formed state of Israel 1948–53 and 1955–63, born in Plonsk, Poland (–1973).
12 August 1887	Austria	Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist who develops the wave theory of matter, born in Vienna, Austria (–1961).
6 October 1887	Switzerland	Le Corbusier (assumed name of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret), Swiss architect and city planner whose designs combines expressionism and functionalism, born in Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (–1965).
31 October 1887	China, Taiwan	Jiang Jie Shi (Chiang Kai-shek), Chinese statesman, leader of the Nationalist government 1928–49, and then of the Chinese Nationalist government in exile on Taiwan, born in Zhejiang Province, China (–1975).
6 March 1888	USA	Louisa May Alcott, US author of children's books, best known for Little Women (1869), dies in Boston, Massachusetts (65).
23 July 1888	USA	Raymond Chandler, US author, creator of the private detective Philip Marlowe, born in Chicago, Illinois (–1959).
13 August 1888	Scotland	John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer who is the first to televise moving pictures, born in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland (–1946).
15 August 1888	Wales	T(homas) E(dward) Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’), British scholar, military strategist, and author, born in Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire, Wales (–1935).
26 September 1888	USA, UK	T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot, US-born British modernist poet and playwright who has a strong influence on 20th-century poetry, born in St Louis, Missouri (–1965).
16 October 1888	USA	Eugene O'Neill, US dramatist, born in New York City (–1953).
16 April 1889	England, USA	Charlie Chaplin, British-born US actor and director of the silent film era, who gains fame playing a pathetic but humorous character, born in London, England (–1977).
20 April 1889	Germany	Adolf Hitler, German fascist leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, dictator of Germany 1933–45, born in Braunau, Germany (–1945).
26 April 1889	Austria, UK	Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born British philosopher, one of the most influential in the 20th century, born in Vienna, Austria (–1951).
5 July 1889	France	Jean Cocteau, French writer, actor, and painter, born in Maisons-Lafitte, near Paris, France (–1963).
11 October 1889	England	James Prescott Joule, English physicist who demonstrated that the various forms of energy can be transformed one into another, dies in Sale, Cheshire, England (70).
14 November 1889	India	Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of independent India 1947–64, born in Allahabad, India (–1964).
20 November 1889	USA	Edwin Powell Hubble, US astronomer who provides the first proof that the universe is expanding, born in Marshfield, Missouri (–1953).
29 July 1890	Netherlands, France	Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter whose work inspired the expressionists, dies in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, France (37).
2 October 1890	USA	Groucho Marx (born Julius Marx), US comedian of stage, film, radio, and television along with two of his brothers, Harpo and Chico, born in New York City (–1977).
14 October 1890	USA	Dwight David Eisenhower, thirty-fourth president of the USA 1953–61, a Republican, born in Denison, Texas (–1969).
22 November 1890	France	Charles de Gaulle, French general and president of France 1958–69, born in Lille, France (–1970).
5 December 1890	Austria, USA	Fritz Lang, Austrian-born US film director who makes Metropolis, born in Vienna, Austria (–1976).
11 April 1891	Russia	Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev, Russian composer, born in Sontsovka, Ukraine, Russia (–1953).
28 September 1891	USA	Herman Melville, US novelist, short-story writer, and poet who wrote Moby Dick, dies in New York City (72).
6 October 1891	England, Ireland	Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish nationalist who led the movement for Irish home rule, dies in Brighton, Sussex, England (45).
26 December 1891	USA	Henry Miller, US novelist, born in New York City (–1980).
3 January 1892	South Africa	J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) Tolkien, English novelist, known for his Lord of the Rings trilogy, born in Bloemfontein, South Africa (–1973).
26 March 1892	USA	Walt Whitman, US journalist, essayist and poet, dies in Camden, New Jersey (72).
23 July 1892	Ethiopia	Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor 1930–74, who modernizes the country but is deposed, born in Harer, Ethiopia (–1975).
4 December 1892	Spain	Francisco Franco, Spanish leader of the right-wing nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War 1936–39, then dictator for life, born in El Ferrol, Spain (–1975).
12 January 1893	Germany	Hermann Goering, German Nazi leader under Hitler, born in Rosenheim, Germany (–1946).
11 May 1893	USA	Martha Graham, US choreographer of modern dance, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (–1991).
9 June 1893	USA	Cole Porter, US composer and lyricist, born in Peru, Indiana (–1964).
6 July 1893	France	Guy de Maupassant, French short-story writer in the Naturalist school, dies in Paris, France (42).
6 November 1893	Russia	Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky, leading 19th-century Russian composer who, amongst a great variety of works, composed the music for the ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (53).
26 December 1893	China	Mao Zedong, Chinese Marxist theorist who is chairman of the People's Republic of China 1949–59 and chairman of the Chinese Communist Party 1949–76, born in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China (–1976).
10 February 1894	England	Harold Macmillan, British politician, Conservative prime minister 1957–63, born in London, England (–1986).
17 April 1894	USSR, Ukraine	Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1953–64 and premier 1958–64, born in Kalinovka, Ukraine in the Russian Empire (–1971).
26 April 1894	Egypt, Germany	Rudolf Hess, German Nazi leader and deputy of Adolf Hitler, born in Alexandria, Egypt (–1987).
23 June 1894	England	Edward VIII, king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January–December 1936) who abdicates to marry the US divorcée Wallis Simpson, born in Richmond, Surrey, England (–1972).
3 December 1894	Scotland, Pacific	Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist who wrote Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, dies in Vailima, Samoa (44).
1895	Germany, England	Friedrich Engels, German socialist philosopher who, with Karl Marx, wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) which laid the foundations of modern communism, dies in London, England (75).
1 February 1895	USA	John Ford (adopted name of Sean O'Feeney), US film director best known for his Westerns, born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (–1973).
6 February 1895	USA	(George Herman) ‘Babe’ Ruth, US professional baseball player, born in Baltimore, Maryland (–1948).
6 May 1895	Italy, USA	Rudolph Valentino, Italian-born US silent film star, known as the ‘Great Lover’, born in Castellaneta, Italy (–1926).
28 September 1895	France	Louis Pasteur, French microbiologist who proved that micro-organisms cause disease and fermentation and who developed the process of pasteurization, dies in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France (73).
1 July 1896	USA	Harriet Beecher Stowe, US writer, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, dies in Hartford, Connecticut (85).
24 September 1896	USA	F Scott Fitzgerald, US novelist and short-story writer, born in St Paul, Minnesota (–1940).
10 December 1896	Sweden, Italy	Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist who invented dynamite and founded the Nobel prizes, dies in San Remo, Italy (63).
18 May 1897	Italy, USA	Frank Capra, Italian-born US film director who directs It's a Wonderful Life and Mr Smith Goes to Washington, born near Palermo, Sicily (–1991).
25 September 1897	USA	William Faulkner, US novelist, author of a series of novels known as the Yoknapatawpha cycle and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, born in New Albany, Mississippi (–1962).
15 November 1897	Wales	Aneurin Bevan, British Labour politician who introduced the National Health Service (NHS), born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales (–1960).
14 January 1898	England	Lewis Carroll (pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), English novelist who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), dies in Guildford, Surrey, England (65).
23 January 1898	Latvia, Russia	Sergey Mikhaylovich Eisenstein, Russian film director, born in Riga, Latvia (–1948).
10 February 1898	Germany	Bertolt Brecht, German poet and playwright, born in Augsburg, Germany (–1956).
19 May 1898	Wales	William Ewart Gladstone, prime minister of Britain 1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, and 1892–94, a Liberal, dies in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales (88).
7 June 1898	Austria-Hungary	Imre Nagy, independent communist and premier of Hungary 1953–55 who tries to gain Hungary's independence from the Soviet Union, born in Kaposvár, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (–1958).
30 July 1898	German Empire	Otto von Bismarck, founder and first chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90, dies in Hamburg, Germany (83).
26 September 1898	USA	George Gershwin, US composer and songwriter of Broadway musicals, born in Brooklyn, New York (–1937).
7 January 1899	France	Francis Poulenc, French composer, born in Paris, France (–1963).
17 January 1899	USA	Al Capone, US gangster, born in Brooklyn, New York City (–1947).
3 June 1899	Austria	Johann Strauss, Austrian composer of Viennese waltzes and operettas, dies in Vienna, Austria (74).
21 July 1899	USA	Ernest Hemingway, US novelist who writes A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1941), born in Oak Park, Illinois (–1961).
13 August 1899	England	Alfred Hitchcock, US film director known for his films of suspense, born in London, England (–1980).
24 August 1899	Argentina	Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine poet, short-story writer, and essayist who establishes the modernist Ultraist movement in South America, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (–1986).
25 December 1899	USA	Humphrey Bogart, US actor, born in New York City (–1957).
c. 1900	Persia, Iran	Ruhollah Khomeini (Ruholla Hendi), Persian Shiite Muslim, organizer of the 1979 revolution after which he became political and religious leader of Iran for life, born in Khomeyn, Persia (–1989).
6 March 1900	Germany	Gottlieb Daimler, German mechanical engineer who built one of the first successful cars powered by an internal combustion engine, dies in Cannstatt, Germany (65).
25 April 1900	Austria	Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born US physicist, who discovers the principle that no two electrons in the same atom can have the same energy, born in Vienna, Austria (–1958).
4 July 1900	USA	Louis Armstrong, US jazz trumpeter, composer, and band leader, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (–1971).
25 August 1900	Germany	Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and critic, especially of Christianity, dies in Weimar, Thuringian States (55).
7 October 1900	Germany	Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi leader, head of the SS, and organizer of the Nazi death camps, born in Munich, Germany (–1945).
22 November 1900	England	Arthur Seymour Sullivan, British composer of operettas with William Schwenk Gilbert, dies in London, England (58).
30 November 1900	Ireland, France	Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and dramatist, dies in Paris, France (44).
22 January 1901		Victoria, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1837–1901, empress of India 1876–1901, dies in Osborne, near Cowes, Isle of Wight, with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany at her side (80).
27 January 1901		Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, Italian operatic composer, dies in Milan, Italy (87).
9 September 1901		Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French artist who depicted the personalities of Parisian night life, dies in Malromé, France (36).
5 December 1901		Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and philosopher who introduced the uncertainty principle into quantum mechanics, born in Würzburg, Germany (–1976).
5 December 1901		Walt Disney, US motion-picture producer and creator of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other characters, born in Chicago, Illinois (–1966).
4 February 1902		Charles Lindbergh, US aviator, the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, born in Detroit, Michigan (–1974).
27 February 1902		John Steinbeck, US novelist who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, born in Salinas, California (–1968).
8 August 1902		Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, English physicist, author of the complete theoretical formulation of quantum mechanics, born in Bristol, England (–1984).
20 September 1902		(Florence Margaret) ‘Stevie’ Smith, English poet, born in Hull, Yorkshire, England (–1971).
29 September 1902		Emile Zola, French novelist and critic who founded the Naturalist movement, dies in Paris, France (62).
5 October 1902		Ray Kroc, US restaurateur who founded McDonald's fast-food hamburger restaurants, born in Chicago, Illinois (–1984).
1903		George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), English novelist who wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, born in Motihari, Bengal, India (–1950).
8 May 1903		Paul Gauguin, French post-Impressionist painter, dies in Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia (54).
19 June 1903		Lou Gehrig, US professional baseball player, born in New York City (–1941).
28 October 1903		Evelyn Waugh, English satirical novelist, born in London, England (–1966).
18 January 1904		Cary Grant, British-born US film actor, born in Bristol, England (–1986).
2 March 1904		Dr Seuss (pseudonym of Theodore Seuss Geisel), US writer of children's books, born in Springfield, Massachusetts (–1991).
22 April 1904		J Robert Oppenheimer, US theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos laboratory which built the first atomic bomb, born in New York City (–1967).
24 April 1904		Willem de Kooning, Dutch-born US abstract expressionist painter, born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
11 May 1904		Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter who also designed furniture, jewellery, and stage and film sets, born in Figueras, Spain (–1989).
2 July 1904		Anton Chekhov, Russian writer and dramatist known for his mastery of the short story, dies in Badenweiler, Germany (44).
14 July 1904		Paul Kruger, South African statesman who founded the Afrikaaner nation and was instrumental in initiating the Second Anglo-Boer War, dies in Clarens, Switzerland (79).
2 October 1904		Graham Greene, English novelist, born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England (–1991).
24 March 1905		Jules Verne, French author who pioneered modern science fiction writing, dies in Amiens, France (77).
24 April 1905		Robert Penn Warren, US novelist and poet, the only US writer to win Pulitzer prizes for fiction and poetry, and the first poet laureate in the USA (1986), born in Guthrie, Kentucky (–1989).
16 May 1905		Henry Fonda, US actor of stage and film, born in Grand Island, Nebraska (–1982).
21 June 1905		Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and playwright, born in Paris, France (–1980).
18 September 1905		Greta Garbo, Swedish-born US film star of the 1920s and 1930s, then a legendary recluse after 1941, born in Stockholm, Sweden (–1990).
19 September 1905		Thomas John Barnardo, English social worker who founded 90 homes for destitute children, dies in Surbiton, Surrey, England (60).
13 March 1906		Susan B(rownell) Anthony, US suffragette whose work eventually led to women's suffrage in the USA (1920), dies in Rochester, New York (85).
13 April 1906		Samuel Beckett, Irish writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, born in Foxrock, Ireland (–1989).
23 May 1906		Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet and playwright whose works include Peer Gynt (1867) and A Doll's House (1879), dies in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway (78).
22 June 1906	Austria-Hungary	Billy Wilder, Academy Award-winning film director and scriptwriter, born (–2002).
25 September 1906		Dmitry Shostakovich, Russian composer, born in St Petersburg, Russia (–1975).
22 October 1906		Paul Cézanne, French post-Impressionist painter whose work led to the development of cubism, dies in Aix-en-Provence, France (67).
19 December 1906		Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet statesman, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party 1964–82, born in Kamenskoye, Russia (–1982).
2 February 1907		Dmitry Mendeleyev, Russian chemist who developed the periodic table of elements, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (72).
22 May 1907		Laurence Olivier, English stage and film actor, director, and producer, born in Dorking, Surrey, England (–1989).
26 May 1907		John Wayne, US film actor who usually starred in westerns and war films, born in Winterset, Iowa (–1979).
4 September 1907		Edvard Grieg, Norwegian nationalist composer, dies in Bergen, Norway (64).
17 December 1907		William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Scottish physicist who developed the absolute temperature scale, dies in Netherhall near Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland (84).
9 January 1908		Simone de Beauvoir, French existentialist writer, philosopher, and feminist, born in Paris, France (–1986).
20 May 1908		James Stewart, US actor, born in Indiana, Pennsylvania (–1997).
27 August 1908		Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th president of the USA 1963–69, a Democrat, born in Gillespie County, Texas (–1973).
15 October 1908		John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born US economist known for his liberal ideas, born in Iona Station, Ontario, Canada.
10 December 1908		Olivier Messiaen, French composer and organist, born in Avignon, France (–1992).
21 April 1910		Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens), US author who created the characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, dies in Redding, Connecticut (74).
13 August 1910		Florence Nightingale, ‘Lady of the Lamp’, English nurse who was in charge of nursing the British troops during the Crimean War and who established nursing as a profession for women, dies in London, England (90).
27 August 1910		Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu), Albanian-born Indian ascetic who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to helping the poor, born in Yugoslavia of Albanian parents (–1997).
20 November 1910		Lev Nikolayevich (‘Leo’) Tolstoy, Russian author best known for War and Peace and Anna Karenina, dies in Astapovo, Russia (82).
6 February 1911		Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the USA 1981–89, a Republican, born in Tampico, Illinois.
26 March 1911		Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams), US dramatist, most of whose plays are set in the Deep South, born in Columbus, Mississippi (–1983).
23 March 1912		Werner von Braun, German rocket engineer who was also involved in the exploration of space in Germany and the USA, born in Wirsitz, Germany (–1977).
15 April 1912		Kim Il Sung, Korean dictator 1948–94, born near Pyongyang, Korea (now North Korea) (–1994).
30 May 1912		Wilbur Wright, US pioneer of aviation, who, with his brother Orville, was the first to achieve sustained powered flight, dies in Dayton, Ohio (45).
23 June 1912		Alan Mathison Turing, English mathematician who pioneered computer theory and computer processes, born in London, England (–1954).
20 August 1912		William Booth, English preacher who founded the Salvation Army, dies in London, England (83).
9 January 1913		Richard M(ilhous) Nixon, 37th president of the USA 1969–74, a Republican, the first president to resign, born in Yorba Linda, California (–1994).
22 February 1913		Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist whose ideas about the structure of language laid the foundation of modern linguistics, dies in Geneva, Switzerland (55).
14 July 1913		Gerald Ford, 38th president of the USA (1974–77), a Republican, born in Omaha, Nebraska.
15 May 1914		Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa who, with Edmund Hillary, was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, born in Solo Khumbu, Nepal (–1986).
7 April 1915		Billie Holiday (real name Eleanora Fagan), US jazz singer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (–1959).
6 May 1915		Orson Welles, US film actor, director, producer, and writer, best known for Citizen Kane, born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (–1985).
25 November 1915		Augusto Pinochet, Chilean president 1973–89, and military dictator, born.
12 December 1915		Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor, born in Hoboken, New Jersey.
11 March 1916		Harold Wilson, Labour prime minister of Britain 1964–70 and 1974–76, born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England (–1995).
9 July 1916		Edward Heath, prime minister of Britain 1970–74, a Conservative, born in Broadstairs, Kent, England.
26 October 1916		François Mitterrand, Socialist president of France 1981–96, born in Jarnac, France (–1996).
29 May 1917		John F Kennedy, 35th president of the USA 1961–63, a Democrat, born in Brookline, Massachusetts (–1963).
27 September 1917		Edgar Degas, French artist known for his paintings, drawings, and bronzes of the human figure in motion, dies in Paris, France (83).
17 November 1917		Auguste Rodin, French sculptor renowned for his realistic treatment of the human figure, dies in Meudon, France (77).
15 January 1918		Gamal Abdel Nasser, prime minister of Egypt 1954–56 and then president 1956–70, born in Alexandria, Egypt (–1970).
26 January 1918		Nicolae Ceausescu, president of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1967–89, born in Scornicesti, Romania (–1989).
25 March 1918		Claude Debussy, French composer, dies in Paris, France (55).
11 May 1918		Richard Feynman, US theoretical physicist in the field of quantum electrodynamics, born in New York City (–1988).
18 July 1918		Nelson Mandela, South African nationalist, political prisoner, and president from 1994, born in Umtata, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
4 November 1918		Wilfred Owen, English poet noted for his war poems, is killed in action in France (25).
6 January 1919		Theodore (‘Teddy’) Roosevelt, 26th president of the USA 1901–09, a Republican, dies in Oyster Bay, New York (60).
31 January 1919		Jackie Robinson, US baseball player, the first black player in the major leagues, born in Cairo, Georgia (–1972).
17 March 1919		Nat ‘King’ Cole, US jazz and popular singer, born in Montgomery, Alabama (–1965).
7 May 1919		Eva Perón, unofficial Argentine political leader and wife of Juan Perón, born in Los Todos, Argentina (–1952).
3 December 1919		Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist painter, dies in Cannes, France (78).
2 January 1920		Isaac Asimov, US science fiction writer, born in Petrovichi, Russia (–1992).
18 May 1920		John Paul II, pope from 1978, the first non-Italian pope in 456 years, born in Wadowice, Poland.
29 August 1920		Charlie ‘Yardbird’ or ‘Bird’ Parker, US saxophonist, composer and bandleader, born in Kansas City, Kansas, (–1955).
21 May 1921		Andrey Dimitriyevich Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist and outspoken supporter of human rights and civil liberties, born in Moscow, Russia (–1989).
27 November 1921		Alexander Dubcek, Czechoslovak communist leader 1968–69 whose liberal policies led to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech and Slovak Republics), born in Uhrovec, Slovakia (–1992).
16 April 1922		Kingsley Amis, English writer, born in London, England (–1995).
2 August 1922		Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born US scientist who invented the telephone, dies in Beinn Bhreagh, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada (75).
12 August 1922		Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist and nationalist, founder of Sinn Fein 1905, president of the Dáil of the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) 1922, dies suddenly of a brain haemorrhage, in Dublin, Ireland (60).
8 November 1922		Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon, who performed the first successful heart transplant, born in Beaufort West, South Africa (–2001).
18 November 1922		Marcel Proust, French novelist who wrote A la recherche du temps perdu/Remembrance of Things Past (1913–27), dies in Paris, France (51).
13 February 1923		Charles (Chuck) E Yeager, US test pilot, the first person to break the sound barrier, born in Myra, West Virginia.
1 May 1923		Joseph Heller, US novelist known best for Catch 22 (1961), born in Brooklyn, New York City.
20 June 1923		Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, Mexican revolutionary who fought against the regimes of Porfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerto, is assassinated at his ranch in Parral, Mexico (44).
21 January 1924		Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Russian Revolution, and head of the Soviet Union 1917–24, dies in Gorky, near Moscow, USSR (53).
3 February 1924		(Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the USA 1913–21, a Democrat, dies in Washington, DC (67).
3 April 1924		Marlon Brando, US actor, born in Omaha, Nebraska.
12 June 1924		George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president of the USA 1989–93, a Republican, born in Greenwich, Connecticut.
3 August 1924		Joseph Conrad (pen-name of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski), Polish-born British novelist whose works include Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and Chance, dies in Canterbury, Kent, England (66).
30 September 1924		Truman Capote, US playwright and novelist, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (–1984).
1 October 1924		Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the USA 1977–81, a Democrat, born in Plains, Georgia.
c. 1925		Idi Amin (Dada Oumee), president of Uganda 1971–79, who tortured and murdered between 100,000 and 300,000 Ugandans during his presidency, born in Koboko, Uganda.
12 March 1925		Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat-sen), leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang) which overthrew the Manchu dynasty, first president of the Republic of China 1911–12, and de facto ruler 1923–25, dies in Beijing, China (58).
19 May 1925		Malcolm X, US black militant leader, born in Omaha, Nebraska (–1965).
3 October 1925		Gore Vidal, US novelist, playwright, and essayist, born in West Point, New Hampshire.
13 October 1925		Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Britain 1979–90, a Conservative, born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
21 April 1926		Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1952, born in London, England.
16 May 1926		Mehmed VI, last sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1918–22, dies in San Remo, Italy (65).
1 June 1926		Marilyn Monroe, US actor and sex symbol, born in Los Angeles, California (–1962).
13 August 1926		Fidel Castro, Cuban communist revolutionary and leader of Cuba from 1959, born near Birán, Cuba.
18 October 1926		Chuck Berry, US singer and guitarist and one of the first rock and roll stars, born in St Louis, Missouri.
5 December 1926		Claude Monet, French Impressionist painter, dies in Giverny, France (87).
6 August 1927		Andy Warhol, US artist and film-maker, a leading exponent of Pop Art in the 1960s, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (–1987).
11 January 1928		Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet, dies in Dorchester, Dorset, England (87).
14 June 1928		Che (Ernesto) Guevara, Cuban and South American communist guerrilla, born in Rosario, Argentina (–1967).
14 June 1928		Emmeline Pankhurst, militant English suffragette, dies in London, England (69).
18 June 1928		Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer who was the first person to reach the South Pole, dies in the Arctic Ocean sometime after this date (he disappeared on this day; the exact date of his death is not known), while trying to rescue the Italian explorer Umberto Nobile (55).
4 May 1929		Audrey Hepburn (born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston), US motion picture actor, born in Brussels, Belgium (–1993).
12 June 1929		Anne Frank, German Jew whose diary written while hiding from the Nazis has been translated into over 30 languages, born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (–1945).
24 August 1929		Yassir Arafat, Palestinian nationalist politician and president of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969, born in Jerusalem, in the British mandate of Palestine.
2 March 1930		D(avid) H(erbert) Lawrence, English poet and novelist, author of the controversial Lady Chatterley's Lover, dies in Vence, near Antibes, France (45).
31 May 1930		Clint Eastwood, US actor, director, and producer, star of many westerns, born in San Francisco, California.
7 July 1930		Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish novelist who created the detective Sherlock Holmes, dies in Crowborough, Sussex, England (71).
5 August 1930		Neil Armstrong, US astronaut and the first person to set foot on the Moon (1969), born in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
1 February 1931		Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician who was a prime force in the establishment of a new Commonwealth of Independent States to replace the USSR, born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia.
23 February 1931		Nellie Melba, Australian soprano, dies in Sydney, Australia (72).
2 March 1931		Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian politician, president of USSR 1990–91 during the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, born in Stavropol Kray, Russia.
7 October 1931		Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican bishop, a vigorous opponent of apartheid, born in Klerksdorp, South Africa.
18 October 1931		Thomas Alva Edison, prolific US inventor who invented the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture projector, dies in West Orange, New Jersey (84).
14 March 1932		George Eastman, US inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist who introduced the Kodak camera, dies in Rochester, New York (77).
27 October 1932		Sylvia Plath, US poet and novelist, born in Boston, Massachusetts (–1963).
8 September 1933		Faisal I, King of Iraq 1921–33 and promoter of pan-Arab nationalism, dies in Bern, Switzerland (48).
9 March 1934		Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and the first person to travel in space, born near Gzhatsk, Russia (–1968).
4 July 1934		Marie Curie (born Sklodowska), Polish-born French physicist who, with her husband Pierre Curie, discovered polonium and radium, and who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and for Chemistry in 1911, dies near Sallanches, France (66).
13 July 1934		Wole Soyinka, Nigerian poet, novelist, playwright, and critic, born near Abeokuta, Nigeria.
8 January 1935		Elvis Presley, US rock and roll singer, whose great success changed US popular culture, born in Tupelo, Mississippi (–1977).
19 May 1935		T(homas) E(dward) Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’), British scholar, military strategist, and author, dies in Clouds Hill, Dorset, England (46).
1 December 1935		Woody Allen, US film director, screenwriter, actor, and author, born in Brooklyn, New York City.
18 January 1936	England	Rudyard Kipling, English novelist, short-story writer, and poet, dies in London, England (70).
18 March 1936	South Africa	F(rederik) W(illem) de Klerk, South African politician, president of South Africa 1989–94, who ended the apartheid system, born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
23 May 1937	USA	John D Rockefeller, US industrialist who founded Standard Oil, and philanthropist who founded the Rockefeller Foundation, dies in Ormond Beach, Florida (97).
11 July 1937	USA	George Gershwin, US composer and songwriter for Broadway musicals, dies in Hollywood, California (38).
20 July 1937	Italy	Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and inventor of radio, dies in Rome, Italy (63).
2 September 1937	France	Pierre, baron de Coubertin, French administrator who was responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games and who served as the first president of the International Olympic Committee 1896–1925, dies in Geneva, Switzerland (64).
9 November 1937	Scotland	Ramsay MacDonald, British politician, first Labour Party prime minister of Britain 1924, prime minister again in 1929, and in a coalition government 1931–35, dies at sea (71).
10 November 1938	Turkey	Kemal Atatürk, Turkish soldier, statesman, and reformer, founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey 1923–38, dies in Istanbul, Turkey (57).
28 January 1939	Ireland	W B Yeats, Irish poet, dramatist, and nationalist, dies in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France (73).
23 September 1939	Austria	Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis, dies in London, England (83).
18 November 1939	Canada	Margaret (Eleanor) Atwood, Canadian novelist, poet, short-story writer, and critic, born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
21 August 1940	Russia	Leon Trotsky, communist theorist and activist, a leader in Russia's October Revolution of 1917, is assassinated in Coyaocán, near Mexico City, Mexico (61).
23 October 1940	Brazil	Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), Brazilian footballer, born in Três Corações, Brazil.
13 January 1941	Ireland	James Joyce, Irish novelist and poet, dies in Zürich, Switzerland (58).
28 March 1941	England	Virginia Woolf, English author and critic, dies near Rodmell, Sussex, England (59).
24 May 1941	USA	Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman), US singer and songwriter, known for his ‘protest songs’ of the 1960s, born in Duluth, Minnesota.
4 June 1941	German Empire, Prussia	Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor and king of Prussia 1888–1918, dies in Doorn, the Netherlands (82).
8 January 1942	England	Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist known for his theory of expanding black holes, born in Oxford, England.
17 January 1942	USA	Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), US professional boxer, born in Louisville, Kentucky.
28 March 1942	Wales	Neil Kinnock, British politician, leader of the Labour Party 1983–92, born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales.
17 November 1942	USA	Martin Scorsese, US film writer and director, born in Flushing, Long Island.
27 November 1942	USA	Jimi Hendrix, US rock singer and influential guitarist, born in Seattle, Washington (–1970).
7 January 1943	USA	Nikola Tesla, Croatian-born US electrical engineer who discovered the rotating magnetic field and invented a polyphase system of alternating current, dies in New York City (86).
10 July 1943	USA	Arthur Ashe, US tennis player and the first black man to win a major men's singles championship, born in Richmond, Virginia (–1993).
23 January 1944	Norway	Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter of pyschological subjects such as The Scream, dies in Ekely, near Oslo, Norway (80).
9 February 1944	USA	Alice Walker, US novelist, author of The Color Purple (1983), born in Eatonton, Georgia.
14 May 1944	USA	George Lucas, US film director and producer, born in Modesto, California.
19 August 1944	England	Henry Wood, English conductor, founder of the Promenade Concerts (the ‘Proms’) in 1895, dies in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England (75).
March 1945	Germany, Netherlands	Anne Frank, German Jew whose diary written while hiding from the Nazis has been translated into over 30 languages, dies in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Hanover, Germany (15).
26 March 1945	Wales	David Lloyd George, Welsh Liberal politician, British prime minister 1916–22, dies in Ty-newydd, Caernarvonshire, Wales (82).
12 April 1945	USA	Franklin Delano Roosevelt, US statesman, 32nd president of the USA 1933–45 (re-elected three times), a Democrat, dies in Warm Springs, Georgia (63).
23 May 1945	Germany	Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi leader, head of the SS, and organizer of the Nazi death camps, commits suicide after being captured in Lüneberg, Germany (44).
10 August 1945	USA	Robert Goddard, US astronautics pioneer who developed modern rockets used for launching spacecraft, dies in Baltimore, Maryland (62).
10 June 1946	USA	Jack Johnson, US boxer and the first black person to win the world heavyweight boxing championship (1908–15), dies in Raleigh, North Carolina (68).
14 June 1946	Scotland	John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer who was the first to televise moving pictures, dies in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England (57).
13 August 1946	England	H G Wells, English novelist, sociologist, and historian, who wrote The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Invisible Man, dies in London, England (70).
19 August 1946	USA	(William Jefferson) ‘Bill’ Clinton, US Democratic politician, 42nd president of the USA from 1993, born in Hope, Arkansas.
25 January 1947	USA	Al Capone, US gangster, dies in Miami Beach, Florida (48).
7 April 1947	USA	Henry Ford, US industrialist who developed the mass-production of cheap Ford cars, dies in Dearborn, Michigan (82).
16 May 1947	England	Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist who discovered vitamins, dies in Cambridge, England (85).
4 October 1947	Germany	Max Planck, German theoretical physicist who was the originator of quantum theory, dies in Göttingen, Germany (89).
30 January 1948	USA	Orville Wright, US pioneer of aviation who, with his brother Wilbur, was the first to achieve sustained powered flight, dies in Dayton, Ohio (76).
30 January 1948	India	Mahatma Gandhi (honorific name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), leader of the nationalist movement to free India from British rule, assassinated in Delhi, India (78).
February 1948	Russia	Sergey Mikhaylovich Eisenstein, Russian film director, dies in Moscow, USSR (50).
22 March 1948	England	Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer of popular musicals with lyricist Tim Rice, born in London, England.
23 July 1948	USA	D W Griffith, US pioneer of film-making, dies in Hollywood, California (73).
14 November 1948	UK	Charles Philip Arthur George, British heir to the throne, eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, born in Buckingham Palace, London, England.
21 January 1950	England	George Orwell, English novelist who wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, dies in London, England (46).
2 October 1950	USA	Al Jolson, US popular singer and comedian, star of The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature film with synchronized speech and music, dies in San Francisco, California (64).
2 November 1950	Ireland	George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist propagandist, dies in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England (94).
29 April 1951	UK, Austria	Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born British philosopher, one of the most influential in the 20th century, dies in Cambridge, England (62).
13 July 1951	Austria, USA	Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer who developed a new ‘atonal’ method of musical composition, dies in Los Angeles, California (76).
26 July 1952	Argentina	Eva Perón, unofficial Argentine political leader and wife of Juan Perón, dies in Buenos Aires, Argentina (33).
5 March 1953	USSR	Joseph Stalin (adopted name, Russian for steel, of Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1922–53, and premier 1941–53, dies in Moscow, USSR (73).
6 May 1953	Scotland	Tony (Antony Charles Lynton) Blair, British prime minister from 1997, a Labour politician, is born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
21 June 1953	Pakistan	Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan 1988–90 and from 1993, born in Karachi, Pakistan.
28 September 1953	USA	Edwin Powell Hubble, US astronomer who provided the first proof that the universe is expanding, dies in San Marino, California (63).
7 June 1954	England	Alan Mathison Turing, English mathematician who pioneered computer theory and computer processes, dies in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England (41).
3 November 1954	France	Henri Matisse, French painter, sculptor, illustrator and designer, dies in Nice, France (84).
11 March 1955	Scotland, England	Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, dies in London, England (73).
12 March 1955	USA	Charlie ‘Yardbird’ or ‘Bird’ Parker, US jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, dies in New York City (34).
18 April 1955	USA, Germany	Albert Einstein, German-born US physicist who developed the theory of relativity, dies in Princeton, New Jersey (76).
28 October 1955	USA	Bill Gates, US computer software executive who developed and marketed the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) which is standard on almost all IBM and IBM-compatible computers, born in Seattle, Washington.
31 January 1956	England	A(lan) A(lexander) Milne, English author who created Winnie-the-Pooh, dies in Hartfield, Sussex, England (74).
1 August 1956	East Germany	Bertolt Brecht, German poet and playwright, dies in East Berlin, East Germany (now Berlin, Germany) (58).
29 October 1957	USA	Louis B Mayer, US film executive, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) 1924–48, dies in Los Angeles, California (72).
28 August 1958	USA	Michael Jackson, US rock singer, born in Gary, Indiana.
15 December 1958	USA, Switzerland, Austria	Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born US physicist, who discovered the principle that no two electrons in the same atom can have the same energy, dies in Zürich, Switzerland (57).
21 January 1959	USA	Cecil B DeMille, US film director and producer known for his spectacular films such as The Greatest Show on Earth, dies in Hollywood, California (77).
6 July 1960	England	Aneurin Bevin, British Labour politician who introduced the National Health Service (NHS), dies in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England (62).
4 January 1961	Austria	Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist who developed the wave theory of matter, dies in Vienna, Austria (73).
6 June 1961	Switzerland	Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist who founded analytic psychology, dies in Küsnacht, Switzerland (85).
1 July 1961	England	Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, humanitarian, and charity worker, born at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk (– 1997).
2 July 1961	USA	Ernest Hemingway, US novelist who wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1941), commits suicide in Ketchum, Idaho (61).
30 October 1961	Italy	Luigi Einaudi, first president of the Republic of Italy (1948–55), dies in Rome, Italy (87).
6 July 1962	USA	William Faulkner, US novelist, author of a series of novels known as the Yoknapatawpha cycle and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, dies near Oxford, Mississippi (64).
5 August 1962	USA	Marilyn Monroe, US actor and sex symbol, dies in Los Angeles, California, from an overdose of sleeping pills (36).
11 February 1963	USA, England	Sylvia Plath, US poet and novelist, commits suicide in London, England (30).
2 May 1964	England	Nancy Witcher Langhorne, Lady Astor, British politician and the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, dies in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, England (84).
27 May 1964	India	Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of independent India 1947–64, dies in New Delhi, India (74).
15 October 1964	USA	Cole Porter, US composer and lyricist, dies in Santa Monica, California (73).
20 October 1964	USA	Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the USA 1929–33, a Republican, dies in New York City (90).
4 January 1965	England, USA	T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot, US-British modernist poet and playwright who had a strong influence on 20th-century poetry, dies in London, England (76).
24 January 1965	England	Winston Churchill, British prime minister 1940–45 and 1951–55 who led Britain through World War II, dies in London, England (90).
15 February 1965	USA	Nat ‘King’ Cole, US jazz and popular singer, dies in Santa Monica, California (45).
10 April 1966	England	Evelyn Waugh, English satirical novelist, dies in Combe Florey, near Taunton, Somerset, England (62).
6 September 1966	USA	Margaret Sanger, US birth control advocate who opened the first birth control clinic in the USA, dies in Tucson, Arizona (82).
1 December 1966	USA	Walt Disney, US motion-picture producer and creator of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other characters, dies in Los Angeles, California (65).
18 February 1967	USA	J Robert Oppenheimer, US theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos laboratory which built the first atomic bomb, dies in Princeton, New Jersey (62).
October 1967	Bolivia, Cuba, South America	Che (Ernesto) Guevara, Cuban and South American communist guerrilla, is shot dead in Bolivia by the Bolivian army (39).
8 October 1967	England	Clement Attlee, Earl Attlee, British prime minister 1945–51, a member of the Labour Party, dies in Westminster, London, England (84).
27 March 1968	USSR	Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and the first person to travel in space, is killed when his jet aircraft crashes near Moscow, USSR (34).
4 April 1968	USA	Martin Luther King, Jr, US Baptist minister and civil-rights leader, is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, by a sniper later identified as escaped convict James Earl Ray (39).
20 December 1968	USA	John Steinbeck, US novelist who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, dies in New York City (66).
28 March 1969	USA	Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the USA 1953–61, a Republican, dies in Washington, DC (78).
22 June 1969	USA, England	Judy Garland, US singer and actor, dies in London, England (47).
18 September 1970	USA, England	Jimi Hendrix, US rock singer and influential guitarist, dies as a result of mixing drugs and alcohol in London, England (27).
28 September 1970	Egypt	Gamal Abdel Nasser, prime minister of Egypt 1954–56 and then president 1956–70, dies in Cairo, Egypt (52).
9 November 1970	France	Charles de Gaulle, French general and president of France 1958–69, dies in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, France (79).
10 January 1971	France	Coco (Gabrielle) Chanel, French couturier whose classic designs have been widely copied, dies in Paris, France (87).
6 July 1971	USA	Louis Armstrong, US jazz trumpeter, composer, and band leader, dies in New York City (71).
18 December 1971	USA	Bobby Jones, US amateur golfer, the first man to win the Grand Slam – the British and US Amateur and Open Championships – dies in Atlanta, Georgia (69).
28 May 1972	UK	Edward VIII, King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January–December 1936) who abdicated to marry the US divorcée Wallis Simpson, dies in Paris, France (77).
24 October 1972	USA	Jackie Robinson, US baseball player, the first black player in the major leagues, dies in Stamford, Connecticut (53).
26 December 1972	USA	Harry S Truman, 33rd president of the USA 1945–53, a Democrat, dies in Kansas City, Missouri (88).
22 January 1973	USA	Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th president of the USA 1963–69, a Democrat, dies in Texas (64).
8 April 1973	Spain, France	Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor who, along with Georges Braque, founded cubism, dies in Mougins, France (91).
2 September 1973	England	J R R Tolkien, English novelist known for his Lord of the Rings trilogy, dies in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England (81).
1 December 1973	Israel	David Ben-Gurion, Zionist statesman and first prime minister of the newly formed state of Israel 1948–53 and 1955–63, dies in Tel Aviv, Israel (87).
31 January 1974	USA	Samuel Goldwyn, US pioneer Hollywood film-maker and producer, one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), dies in Los Angeles, California (91).
26 August 1974	USA	Charles Lindbergh, US aviator, the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, dies in Maui, Hawaii (72).
14 February 1975	England	P G Wodehouse, English novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and lyricist, creator of Jeeves, the archetypal gentleman's gentleman, dies in Southampton, Long Island, New York (93).
5 April 1975	China, Taiwan	Jiang Jie Shi (Chiang Kai-shek), Chinese statesman, leader of the Nationalist government 1928–49, and then of the Chinese Nationalist government in exile on Taiwan, dies in Taipei, Taiwan (87).
20 November 1975	Spain	Francisco Franco, Spanish leader of the right-wing nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War 1936–39, then dictator for life, dies in Madrid, Spain (82).
12 January 1976	England	Agatha Christie, English playwright and author of detective novels, dies in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England (85).
9 September 1976	China	Mao Zedong, Chinese Marxist theorist who was chair of the People's Republic of China 1949–59 and chair of the Chinese Communist Party 1949–76, dies in Beijing, China (83).
16 August 1977	USA	Elvis Presley, US rock and roll singer, whose great success changed US popular culture, dies of heart failure (probably associated with drug abuse) at his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee (42).
19 August 1977	USA	Groucho Marx (born Julius Marx), US comedian of stage, film, radio, and television along with two of his brothers, Harpo and Chico, dies in Los Angeles, California (86).
25 December 1977	England, USA	Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director of the silent film era, who gained fame playing a pathetic but humorous character, dies in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland (88).
11 June 1979	USA	John Wayne, US film actor who usually starred in Westerns and war films, dies in Los Angeles, California (72).
31 March 1980	USA	Jesse Owens, black US track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, dies in Phoenix, Arizona (66).
15 April 1980	France	Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and playwright, dies in Paris, France (74).
29 April 1980	England	Alfred Hitchcock, English film director best known for his films of suspense, dies in Bel Air, California (80).
4 May 1980	Yugoslavia	Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavian communist leader from 1943, elected president 1953–80, dies in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (87).
December 1980	England, USA	John Lennon, English pop singer and songwriter, former member of the Beatles, is shot dead by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota, his apartment building in New York City (40).
12 April 1981	USA	Joe Louis, US world heavyweight champion boxer 1937–49, dies in Las Vegas, Nevada (66).
4 September 1982	UK	Douglas Bader, British pilot who lost both legs in a flying accident, and went on to become an ace pilot in World War II, dies in London, England (72).
10 November 1982	USSR	Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet statesman, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party 1964–82, dies in Moscow, USSR (75).
10 October 1985	USA	Orson Welles, US film actor, director, producer, and writer, best known for Citizen Kane, dies in Los Angeles, California (70).
9 May 1986	Nepal	Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa who, with Edmund Hillary, was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, dies in Darjeeling, India (72).
29 December 1986	UK	Harold Macmillan, British politician, Conservative prime minister 1957–63, dies in Birch Grove, Sussex, England (92).
23 February 1987	USA	Andy Warhol, US artist and film-maker, a leading exponent of Pop Art in the 1960s, dies in New York City (59).
11 April 1987	Italy	Primo Levi, Italian Jewish writer and chemist who wrote an account of his survival in a Nazi concentration camp, dies in Turin, Italy (67).
22 June 1987	USA	Fred Astaire, US dancer who starred in many musical comedies with Ginger Rogers, dies in Los Angeles, California (88).
17 August 1987	Germany	Rudolf Hess, German Nazi leader and deputy of Adolf Hitler, dies in Spandau prison in West Berlin, West Germany, where he had remained imprisoned since World War II (93).
15 February 1988	USA	Richard Feynman, US theoretical physicist in the field of quantum electrodynamics, dies in Los Angeles, California (69).
1 September 1988	USA	Luis W Alvarez, US physicist who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1968 for his discovery of several subatomic particles, dies in Berkeley, California (77).
7 January 1989	Japan	Hirohito, emperor of Japan 1927–89, dies in Tokyo, Japan (87).
23 January 1989	Spain	Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter who also designed furniture, jewellery, and stage and film sets, dies in Figueras, Spain (84).
3 June 1989	Iran	Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shiite Muslim Ayatollah and organizer of the 1979 revolution that made him political and religious leader of Iran for life, dies in Tehran, Iran (89).
11 July 1989	England	Laurence Olivier, English stage and film actor, director, and producer, dies near London, England (82).
22 December 1989	Ireland, France	Samuel Beckett, Irish writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, dies in Paris, France (83).
25 December 1989	Romania	Nicolae Ceausescu, president of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1967–89, is captured (together with Elena Ceausescu), given a summary trial, and executed by the army near Bucharest, Romania (71).
15 April 1990	Sweden, USA	Greta Garbo, Swedish-born US film star of the 1920s and 1930s, then a legendary recluse after 1941, dies in New York City (84).
1 April 1991	USA	Martha Graham, US choreographer of modern dance, dies in New York City (96).
3 April 1991	England, Switzerland	Graham Greene, English novelist, dies in Vevey, Switzerland (86).
3 September 1991	Italy, USA	Frank Capra, Italian-born US film director who directed It's a Wonderful Life and Mr Smith Goes to Washington, dies in La Quinta, California (94).
24 September 1991	USA	Dr Seuss (pseudonym of Theodore Seuss Geisel), US writer of children's books, dies in La Jolla, California (87).
24 October 1991	USA	Gene Roddenberry, US writer and film and television producer who created Star Trek, dies in Santa Monica, California (70).
6 February 1993	USA	Arthur Ashe, US tennis player and the first black man to win a major men's singles championship, dies in New York City (49).
31 October 1993	Rome	Federico Fellini, Italian film director, dies in Rome, Italy (73).
6 February 1994	USA	Jack Kirby, US comic book artist who created over 400 characters including Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, and Captain America, dies in Thousand Oaks, California (76).
22 April 1994	USA	Richard M(ilhous) Nixon, 37th president of the USA 1969–74, a Republican, the first president to resign, dies in New York City (81).
1 May 1994	Italy	Ayrton Senna, Brazilian racing car driver, is killed at Imola, Italy, when his car crashes during the San Marino Grand Prix (34).
8 July 1994	North Korea	Kim Il Sung, Korean dictator 1948–94, dies in Pyongyang, North Korea (82).
2 February 1995	England	Fred (Frederick John) Perry, English lawn-tennis player who dominated men's singles tennis in the mid-1930s and was the last Briton to win the men's singles at Wimbledon (1936), dies in Melbourne, Australia (85).
24 May 1995	England	Harold Wilson, Labour prime minister of Britain 1964–70, 1974–76, dies in London, England (79).
22 October 1995	England	Kingsley Amis, English writer, dies in London, England (73).
8 January 1996	France	François Mitterrand, Socialist president of France 1981–95 dies in Paris, France (79).
25 June 1997	France	Jacques Cousteau, French oceanographer who invented the aqualung, dies in Paris, France (87).
2 July 1997	USA	James Stewart, US actor, dies in Beverly Hills, California (89).
31 August 1997	France, UK	Diana Spencer, princess of Wales, humanitarian, and charity worker, is killed in a car crash in the Place de l'Alma underpass in Paris, France, along with her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver (36).
6 September 1997	India	Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu), Albanian-born Indian ascetic who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to helping the poor, dies in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India (87).
5 January 1998	USA	Sonny Bono, US singer, songwriter, and politician, is killed in a skiing accident in Lake Tahoe, California (62).
26 January 1998	Japan	Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violinist and teacher of the Suzuki method, dies in Matsumoto, Japan (99).
8 February 1998	England	(John) Enoch Powell, charismatic British Conservative politician known for his controversial views on immigration, dies in London, England (85).
10 March 1998	USA	Lloyd Bridges, US actor, dies in Los Angeles, USA (85).
7 April 1998	USA	Tammy Wynette, US country singer, dies in Nashville, Tennessee (55).
19 April 1998	USA, UK	Linda McCartney, US-born British businesswoman and photographer, dies of cancer, near Tucson, Arizona (56).
23 April 1998	USA	James Earl Ray, US gunman who pleaded guilty to the 1968 assassination of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King JR, dies in prison in Nashville, Tennessee (70).
29 October 1998	England	Ted Hughes, English poet laureate, dies in Devon, England (68).
7 February 1999	Jordan	Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan 1953–99, dies in Jordan (63).
8 February 1999	England	Iris Murdoch (Jean Iris Bayley), novelist and philosopher, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, dies in Oxford, England (79).
5 August 2000	England	Alec Guinness, the English Oscar-winning actor and star of dozens of films including Bridge on the River Kwai and Star Wars, dies in Midhurst, England (86).
10 October 2000	Sri Lanka	Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first woman prime minister, dies in Sri Lanka (84).
25 February 2001	Australia	Donald Bradman, the Australian batsman considered to be the greatest cricketer of the 20th century, dies in Adelaide, Australia (92).
27 June 2001	USA	Jack Lemmon, US Academy Award-winning actor and comedian who starred in such memorable films such as Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), and The Odd Couple (1968), dies in Los Angeles, California (76).
20 August 2001	England	Fred(erick) Hoyle, English astronomer, scientist, and science fiction writer, dies in Bournemouth, England (86).
29 November 2001	USA	George Harrison, English musician, songwriter, and film producer, and member of the legendary Beatles pop group of the 1960s, dies in Los Angeles, California (58).
30 March 2002	England	Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother dies at Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Castle, England (101).
15 November 2002	England	Myra Hindley, child murderer and one of Britain's most infamous prisoners, dies in Bury St Edmunds, England (60).
12 January 2003	USA	Maurice Gibb, musician and singer with the hugely successful British pop music trio the Bee Gees, dies in Miami, Florida (53).
29 June 2003	USA	Katharine Hepburn, US film star for more than fifty years and winner of four Academy Awards for Best Actress, dies in Old Saybrook, Connecticut (96).
22 July 2003	Iraq	Uday Hussein, fugitive son of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein renowned for violence and cruelty, is killed by US special forces in Mosul, northern Iraq (39).
22 July 2003	Iraq	Qusay Hussein, fugitive son and heir apparent of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is killed by US special forces in Mosul, northern Iraq (37).
27 July 2003	USA	Bob Hope, British-born US comedian, one of the most enduring and best-loved figures of stage and screen, dies in Toluca Lake, California (100).
5 June 2004	USA	Ronald Reagan, former actor turned Republican politician and 40th President of the USA 1981–89, dies in California (93).
10 June 2004	USA	Ray Charles, legendary US soul, blues, and jazz singer, dies in Beverly Hills, California (73).
1 July 2004	USA	Marlon Brando, iconic US Academy Award-winning cinema actor who starred in films such as On the Waterfront (1954), The Godfather (1972), and Apocalypse Now (1979), dies in Los Angeles, California (80).
10 February 2005	USA	Arthur Miller, prolific US prize-winning playwright, most famous for Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, dies in Roxbury, Connecticut (89).
26 March 2005	England	James (Lord) Callaghan, Labour Party politician who, uniquely, held all four of the main UK offices of state – chancellor of the exchequer (1964–67), home secretary (1967–70), foreign secretary (1974–76) and prime minister (1976–79) – dies in Ringmer, England (92).
20 June 2005	USA	Jack Kilby, US electrical engineer, Nobel Prize winner and acknowledged co-inventor of the microchip, dies in Dallas, Texas (81).
20 September 2005	Austria	Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor and veteran hunter of Nazi war criminals after World War II, dies in Vienna, Austria (96).
25 November 2005	England	George Best, Northern Irish football icon who played for Manchester United and Northern Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, dies in London, England (59).
30 December 2006	Iraq	Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi dictator from 1979–2003, is executed for crimes against humanity in Baghdad, Iraq (69).