October 15

October 15 in recent years

2024 (Tuesday)

2023 (Sunday)

2022 (Saturday)

2021 (Friday)

2020 (Thursday)

2019 (Tuesday)

2018 (Monday)

2017 (Sunday)

2016 (Saturday)

2015 (Thursday)

October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 77 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later.
• 1211 – Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.
• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.
• 1582 – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.

1601–1900

• 1651 – Qing forces capture the island of Zhoushan. Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu, resident of the island and regent of the Southern Ming, flees to Kinmen.
• 1781 – The Battle of Raft Swamp marks the last battle fought in North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War with a Patriot victory. It occurred four days before the British surrender at Yorktown.
• 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.
• 1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.
• 1815 – Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.
• 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
• 1888 – The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.

1901–present

• 1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
• 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.
• 1928 – The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
• 1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
• 1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
• 1940 – President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.
• 1944 – World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.
• 1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.
• 1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
• 1956 – FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.
• 1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
• 1970 – During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.
• 1979 – Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
• 1979 – A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
• 1987 – Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.
• 1987 – A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
• 1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
• 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
• 1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
• 1991 – The leaders of the Baltic States, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia, Anatolijs Gorbunovs of Latvia and Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania, signed the OSCE Final Act in Helsinki, Finland.
• 1994 – The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
• 1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
• 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles (180 km) of Jupiter's moon Io.
• 2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.
• 2006 – The 6.7 M_w Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
• 2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.
• 2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
• 2013 – The 7.2 M_w Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.
• 2016 – One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
• 2018 – 13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered.

Births

Pre-1600

• 99 BC (probable) – Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (d. 55 BCE)
• 70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
• 1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (d. 1307)
• 1440 – Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse, German noble (d. 1483)
• 1471 – Konrad Mutian, German epigrammatist and academic (d. 1526)
• 1542 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (d. 1605)
• 1561 – Richard Field, English cathedral dean (d. 1616)
• 1564 – Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1613)
• 1599 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor and regent of Amsterdam (d. 1664)

1601–1900

• 1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)
• 1622 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (d. 1686)
• 1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (d. 1758)
• 1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian nun and saint, founded Grey Nuns (d. 1771)
• 1711 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (d. 1741)
• 1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)
• 1767 – Gabriel Richard, French-born American Roman Catholic priest, missionary, educator, and politician (d. 1832)
• 1775 – Bernhard Crusell, Finnish composer (d. 1838)
• 1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician, Governor-General of Algeria (d. 1849)
• 1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and politician (d. 1821)
• 1789 – William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds (d. 1847)
• 1802 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, head of state of France in 1848 (d. 1857)
• 1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (d. 1841)
• 1816 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1891)
• 1818 – Alexander Dreyschock, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1869)
• 1825 – Marie of Prussia (d. 1889)
• 1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (d. 1907)
• 1833 – John Alexander MacPherson, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Victoria (d. 1894)
• 1836 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (d. 1902)
• 1840 – Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
• 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (d. 1900)
• 1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, actor, and journalist (d. 1918)
• 1865 – Charles W. Clark, American singer and educator (d. 1925)
• 1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian educator and politician, 3rd President of Austria (d. 1956)
• 1872 – August Nilsson, Swedish pole vaulter, shot putter, and tug of war competitor (d. 1921)
• 1874 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1899)
• 1878 – Paul Reynaud, French lawyer and politician, 118th Prime Minister of France (d. 1966)
• 1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
• 1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (d. 1941)
• 1884 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (d. 1910)
• 1887 – Frederick Fleet, English sailor (d. 1965)
• 1888 – S. S. Van Dine, American author and critic (d. 1939)
• 1890 – Álvaro de Campos, Portuguese poet and engineer (d. 1935)
• 1893 – Carol II of Romania (d. 1953)
• 1894 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
• 1897 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1960)
• 1899 – Adolf Brudes, Polish-German racing driver (d. 1986)
• 1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1987)

1901–present

• 1901 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (d. 1952)
• 1905 – C. P. Snow, English chemist and author (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (d. 2004)
• 1906 – Alicia Patterson, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1963)
• 1906 – Victoria Spivey, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1976)
• 1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist and author (d. 1967)
• 1908 – Herman Chittison, American pianist (d. 1967)
• 1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (d. 2006)
• 1909 – Jesse L. Greenstein, American astronomer and academic (d. 2002)
• 1909 – Robert Trout, American journalist (d. 2000)
• 1910 – Edwin O. Reischauer, Japanese-American scholar and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 1990)
• 1912 – Nellie Lutcher, American singer and pianist (d. 2007)
• 1913 – Wolfgang Lüth, German commander (d. 1945)
• 1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (d. 2007)
• 1916 – Al Killian, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1950)
• 1916 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian and critic (d. 2007)
• 1917 – Paul Tanner, American trombonist and educator (d. 2013)
• 1919 – Malcolm Ross, American captain, balloonist, and physicist (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (d. 1995)
• 1920 – Chris Economaki, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Patricia Jessel, Hong Kong-English actress (d. 1968)
• 1920 – Peter Koch, American industrial engineer and wood scientist (d. 1998)
• 1920 – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Henri Verneuil, Turkish-French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Angelica Rozeanu, Romanian-Israeli table tennis player (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese author (d. 2019)
• 1922 – Preben Munthe, Norwegian economist and politician, State Conciliator of Norway (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and politician (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Lindsay Thompson, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Victoria (d. 2008)
• 1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German-Canadian author and educator (d. 2022)
• 1924 – Lee Iacocca, American businessman and author (d. 2019)
• 1924 – Warren Miller, American director and screenwriter (d. 2018)
• 1925 – Mickey Baker, American-French guitarist (d. 2012)
• 1925 – Aurora Bautista, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
• 1925 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (d. 2009)
• 1926 – James E. Akins, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Agustín García Calvo, Spanish philosopher and poet (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (d. 1984)
• 1926 – Ed McBain, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
• 1926 – Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Karl Richter, German organist and conductor (d. 1981)
• 1927 – B. S. Abdur Rahman, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
• 1929 – Will Insley, American painter and architect (d. 2011)
• 1930 – FM-2030, Belgian-Iranian basketball player, philosopher and diplomat (d. 2000)
• 1930 – Ned McWherter, American politician, 46th Governor of Tennessee (d. 2011)
• 1931 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark, English academic and politician
• 1932 – Jaan Rääts, Estonian guitarist and composer (d. 2020)
• 1933 – Nicky Barnes, American drug lord (d. 2012)
• 1934 – Alan Elsdon, English trumpet player (d. 2016)
• 1934 – N. Ramani, Indian flute player (d. 2015)
• 1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1935 – Dick McTaggart, Scottish boxer
• 1935 – Bobby Morrow, American sprinter (d. 2020)
• 1935 – Willie O'Ree, Canadian ice hockey player, first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL)
• 1936 – Michel Aumont, French actor (d. 2019)
• 1936 – Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, South African-English businessman (d. 2019)
• 1937 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer
• 1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997)
• 1938 – Brice Marden, American painter (d. 2023)
• 1938 – Robert Ward, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
• 1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player and coach
• 1940 – Peter C. Doherty, Australian surgeon and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1941 – Roy Masters, Australian rugby league coach, journalist, and author
• 1942 – Hilo Chen, Taiwanese-American painter
• 1942 – Harold W. Gehman, Jr., American admiral
• 1942 – Don Stevenson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
• 1943 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer (d. 2018)
• 1944 – Sali Berisha, Albanian cardiologist and politician, 2nd President of Albania
• 1944 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan Tamil merchant seaman and politician (d. 2005)
• 1944 – Haim Saban, Israeli-American businessman, co-founded Saban Entertainment
• 1944 – David Trimble, Northern Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
• 1945 – Steve Camacho, Guyanese cricketer (d. 2015)
• 1945 – Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Spanish cardinal
• 1945 – Neophyte of Bulgaria, Bulgarian patriarch (d. 2024)
• 1945 – Jim Palmer, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1946 – Victor Banerjee, Indian actor and director
• 1946 – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1946 – Palle Danielsson, Swedish bassist and composer
• 1946 – Stewart Stevenson, Scottish engineer and politician, Minister for Environment and Climate Change
• 1947 – Hümeyra, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
• 1947 – Jaroslav Erno Šedivý, Czech drummer
• 1948 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2016)
• 1948 – Chris de Burgh, British-Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1949 – Laurie McBain, American author
• 1949 – Prannoy Roy, Indian journalist, economist, and broadcaster, founded NDTV
• 1950 – Candida Royalle, American porn actress, director, and producer (d. 2015)
• 1951 – Peter Richardson, English actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1951 – Roscoe Tanner, American tennis player
• 1951 – Rafael Vaganian, Armenian chess player
• 1953 – Betsy Clifford, Canadian skier
• 1953 – Tito Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2024)
• 1953 – Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
• 1953 – Peter Phillips, English conductor and musicologist
• 1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet and educator
• 1954 – Steve Bracks, Australian politician, 44th Premier of Victoria
• 1954 – Jere Burns, American actor
• 1954 – Julia Yeomans, English physicist and academic
• 1955 – Kulbir Bhaura, Indian field hockey player
• 1955 – Emma Chichester Clark, English author and illustrator
• 1955 – Tanya Roberts, American actress (d. 2021)
• 1957 – Michael Caton-Jones, Scottish actor, director, and producer
• 1957 – Mira Nair, Indian-American actress, director, and producer
• 1957 – Stacy Peralta, American skateboarder, director, producer, and businessman, co-founded Powell Peralta
• 1958 – Stephen Clarke, English-French journalist and author
• 1959 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef and author
• 1959 – Alex Paterson, English keyboard player
• 1959 – Sarah, Duchess of York
• 1959 – Todd Solondz, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1961 – Vyacheslav Butusov, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 – Stanley Menzo, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1964 – Roberto Vittori, Italian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1965 – Nasser El Sonbaty, German bodybuilder and trainer (d. 2013)
• 1966 – Eric Benét, American singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer and manager
• 1966 – Bill Charlap, American pianist and composer
• 1966 – Ilse Huizinga, Dutch singer
• 1966 – Dave Stead, English drummer
• 1967 – Dan Forest, American politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
• 1967 – Götz Otto, German actor and screenwriter
• 1968 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer and manager
• 1968 – Vanessa Marcil, American actress
• 1968 – Rod Wishart, Australian rugby league player
• 1968 – Trent Zimmerman, Australian politician
• 1969 – Vítor Baía, Portuguese footballer
• 1969 – Dominic West, English actor and director
• 1970 – Ginuwine, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
• 1970 – Pernilla Wiberg, Swedish skier
• 1971 – Joey Abs, American wrestler
• 1971 – Andy Cole, English footballer and coach
• 1971 – Lauri Pilter, Estonian author and translator
• 1972 – Fred Hoiberg, American basketball player and coach
• 1972 – Matt Keeslar, American actor
• 1972 – Michél Mazingu-Dinzey, German-Congolese footballer and manager
• 1973 – Aleksandr Filimonov, Russian footballer
• 1973 – Maria Hjorth, Swedish golfer
• 1974 – Ömer Çatkıç, Turkish footballer
• 1974 – Bianca Rinaldi, Brazilian actress
• 1975 – Alessandro Doga, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Glen Little, English footballer and manager
• 1976 – Elisa Aguilar, Spanish basketball player
• 1976 – Christian Allen, American video game designer
• 1976 – Manuel Dallan, Italian rugby player
• 1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
• 1977 – David Trezeguet, French footballer
• 1977 – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1978 – Devon Gummersall, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1978 – Wes Moore, American politician, author, nonprofit executive, and television producer, 63rd Governor of Maryland
• 1978 – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese wrestler
• 1979 – Blue Adams, American football player and coach
• 1979 – Bohemia, Pakistani-American rapper and producer
• 1979 – Jekaterina Golovatenko, Estonian figure skater
• 1979 – Paul Robinson, English footballer
• 1979 – Jaci Velasquez, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1979 – Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer
• 1980 – Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist
• 1980 – Brandon Jay McLaren, Canadian actor
• 1981 – Keyshia Cole, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1981 – Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
• 1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer
• 1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer
• 1984 – Johan Voskamp, Dutch footballer
• 1984 – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player
• 1985 – Walter Alberto López, Uruguayan footballer
• 1985 – Marcos Martínez, Spanish racing driver
• 1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter
• 1986 – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier
• 1986 – Nolito, Spanish footballer
• 1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian racing driver
• 1988 – Dominique Jones, American basketball player
• 1988 – Lassy Mbouity, Congolese writer and politician
• 1988 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
• 1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player
• 1989 – Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
• 1989 – Leandro Antonio Martínez, Argentinian-Italian footballer
• 1990 – Jeon Ji-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
• 1991 – Brock Nelson, American ice hockey player
• 1991 – Lil' Kleine, Dutch rapper
• 1992 – Ncuti Gatwa, Rwandan-Scottish actor
• 1992 – Teoscar Hernández, Dominican baseball player
• 1992 – Vincent Martella, American actor
• 1993 – Richaun Holmes, American basketball player
• 1994 – Babar Azam, Pakistani cricket player
• 1995 – Jack Flaherty, American baseball player
• 1995 – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player
• 1996 – Charly Musonda, Belgian footballer
• 1996 – Grace Van Dien, American actress
• 1996 – Zelo, South Korean rapper and dancer
• 1998 – Teuku Wariza Aris Munandar, Indonesian activist and politician
• 1999 – Bailee Madison, American-Canadian actress and singer
• 2000 – Melki Sedek Huang, Indonesian activist and sex offender
• 2005 – Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
• 892 – Al-Mu'tamid, Abbasid caliph
• 898 – Lambert of Italy (b. 880)
• 912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, Spanish emir (b. 844)
• 925 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (b. 864)
• 961 – Abd-al-Rahman III, caliph of Córdoba
• 1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
• 1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfelden (b. 1025)
• 1173 – Petronilla of Aragon (b. 1135)
• 1240 – Razia Sultana, sultan of Delhi (b. 1205)
• 1243 – Hedwig of Silesia, Polish saint (b. 1174)
• 1326 – Walter Stapledon, bishop and Lord High Treasurer of England, and his brother Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician.
• 1385 – Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow
• 1389 – Pope Urban VI (b. 1318)
• 1404 – Marie Valois, French princess (b. 1344)
• 1496 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (b. 1443)
• 1564 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (b. 1514)

1601–1900

• 1674 – Robert Herrick, English poet (b. 1591)
• 1684 – Géraud de Cordemoy, French historian, philosopher and lawyer (b. 1626)
• 1690 – Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish painter and illustrator (b. 1622)
• 1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1675)
• 1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
• 1810 – Alfred Moore, American captain and judge (b. 1755)
• 1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (b. 1735)
• 1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (b. 1746)
• 1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1744)
• 1820 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (b. 1771)
• 1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (b. 1760)
• 1838 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (b. 1802)
• 1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English author and songwriter (b. 1837)
• 1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1850)

1901–present

• 1910 – Stanley Ketchel, American boxer (b. 1886)
• 1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)
• 1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru and saint (b. 1838)
• 1925 – Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1848?)
• 1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (b. 1866)
• 1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (b. 1860)
• 1940 – Lluís Companys, Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (b. 1882)
• 1945 – Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (b. 1883)
• 1946 – Hermann Göring, German general and politician (b. 1893)
• 1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
• 1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
• 1958 – Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1907)
• 1958 – Elizabeth Alexander, British geologist, academic, and physicist (b. 1908)
• 1959 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (b. 1909)
• 1959 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1880)
• 1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress and producer (b. 1890)
• 1961 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (b. 1896)
• 1963 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (b. 1908)
• 1964 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (b. 1891)
• 1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
• 1966 – Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1876)
• 1968 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)
• 1976 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1902)
• 1978 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (b. 1918)
• 1978 – Rolf Stenersen, Norwegian businessman (b. 1899)
• 1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)
• 1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
• 1983 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (b. 1949)
• 1987 – Donald Wandrei, American author and poet (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer, music critic, pianist and writer (b. 1892)
• 1989 – Danilo Kiš, Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. (b. 1935)
• 1990 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress and director (b. 1932)
• 1993 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (b. 1913)
• 1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher and academic (b. 1934)
• 1995 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1967)
• 1995 – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver, only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series (b. 1976)
• 1999 – Josef Locke, British-Irish soldier, policeman, tenor and actor (b. 1917)
• 2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• 2000 – Vincent Canby, American journalist and critic (b. 1924)
• 2001 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (b. 1901)
• 2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian journalist and activist (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Rajat Kumar, A professional video editor.
• 2004 – Per Højholt, Danish poet (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (b. 1977)
• 2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
• 2007 – Piet Boukema, Dutch jurist and politician (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (b. 1927)
• 2008 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (b. 1914)
• 2008 – Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Heinz Versteeg, Dutch-German footballer (b. 1939)
• 2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)
• 2010 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Johnny Sheffield, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Erol Günaydın, Turkish actor and screenwriter (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Maria Petrou, Greek-English computer scientist and academic (b. 1953)
• 2012 – Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Pat Ward, American lawyer and politician (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Donald Bailey, American drummer (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Nevill Drury, English-Australian journalist and publisher (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Cancio Garcia, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Gloria Lynne, American singer (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Hans Riegel, German businessman (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Giovanni Reale, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic designer (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Robert Tiernan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Nobby Wirkowski, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Sergei Filippenkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1971)
• 2015 – Nate Huffman, American basketball player (b. 1975)
• 2015 – Neill Sheridan, American baseball player (b. 1921)
• 2015 – Kenneth D. Taylor, Canadian businessman and diplomat (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Tyrone Young, American football player (b. 1960)
• 2017 – Chinggoy Alonzo, Filipino theater, movie & television actor (b. 1950)
• 2018 – Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (b. 1953)
• 2021 – David Amess, British politician, member of Parliament for Southend West (b. 1952)
• 2024 – Mike Jackson, English general (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances

• Breast Health Day (Europe)
• Christian feast day:
  • Bruno of Querfurt
  • Cúan of Ahascragh
  • Teresa of Ávila
  • Thecla of Kitzingen
  • October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
• Shwmae Su'mae Day (Wales)
• World Students' Day

External links

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day
• "Historical Events on October 15". OnThisDay.com.