September 15
September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 107 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
- 921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
- 1556 - Departing from Vlissingen, ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain.
- 1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.
- 1600 - Battle of Sekigahara.
- 1616 - The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.
- 1762 - Battle of Signal Hill.
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
- 1789 - The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign Affairs).
- 1812 - The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
- 1820 - Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal; (see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
- 1821 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica jointly declare independence from Spain.
- 1830 - The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens (see also deaths, below).
- 1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
- 1835 - HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
- 1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
- 1873 - Franco-Prussian War: The last German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.
- 1883 - The Bombay Natural History Society is founded in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
- 1894 - First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats China in the Battle of Pyongyang.
- 1916 - World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
- 1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
- 1931 - In Scotland, the two-day Invergordon Mutiny against Royal Navy pay cuts begins.
- 1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
- 1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
- 1940 - World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoots down large numbers of Luftwaffe aircraft.
- 1942 - World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
- 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
- 1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
- 1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
- 1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit Tone River, Saitama and Tokyo area, killing at least 1,930 and injuring 1,750.[1].
- 1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 mph (1080 km/h).
- 1950 - Korean War: United States forces land at Incheon, Korea.
- 1952 - United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
- 1957 - West Germany holds its third parliamentary election. Konrad Adenauer remains chancellor.
- 1958 - A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.
- 1959 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
- 1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.
- 1962 - The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1963 - The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
- 1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
- 1968 - The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
- 1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
- 1972 - An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.
- 1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
- 1975 - The French département of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- 1981 - The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.
- 1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
- 1981 - Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations.
- 1983 - Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.
- 1987 - U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
- 1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
- 1990 - France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf
- 1993 - Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands Parliament
- 1998 - With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
- 2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.
- 2008 - The DOW Jones Industrial Average falls 504 points prompting the largest government buyout of private Wall Street Companies in US History.
Births
- 973 - Al-Biruni, mathematician (d. 1048)
- 1254 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
- 1533 - Catherine of Austria, queen consort of Poland and Lithuania (d. 1572)
- 1580 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (d. 1659)
- 1613 - François de La Rochefoucauld, French writer (d. 1680)
- 1649 - Titus Oates, English minister and plotter (d. 1705)
- 1666 - Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle (d. 1726)
- 1715 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (d. 1789)
- 1760 - Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien, Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars (d. 1824)
- 1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist (d. 1851)
- 1828 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov, Russian chemist (d. 1886)
- 1830 - Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico (d. 1915)
- 1852 - Edward Bouchet, American physicist (d. 1918)
- 1857 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (d. 1930)
- 1858 - Jenő Hubay, Hungarian violinist (d. 1937)
- 1860 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya, Indian engineer (d. 1962)
- 1863 - Horatio Parker, American composer (d. 1919)
- 1867 - Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1920)
- 1876 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (d. 1962)
- 1876 - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian novelist (d. 1938)
- 1877 - Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist (d. 1938)
- 1879 - Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
- 1881 - Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile engineer and designer (d. 1947)
- 1883 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Spanish mathematician and engineer (d. 1950)
- 1887 - Carlos Dávila, former President of Chile (d. 1955)
- 1888 - Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (d. 1925)
- 1889 - Robert Benchley, American author (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
- 1890 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
- 1892 - Silpa Bhirasri, Italian sculptor (d. 1962)
- 1894 - Jean Renoir, French film director (d. 1979)
- 1894 - Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist (d. 1977)
- 1895 - Magda Lupescu, consort of King Carol II of Romania (d. 1977)
- 1895 - Charles "Chic" Harley, American football player (d. 1974)
- 1898 - J. Slauerhoff, Dutch poet and novelist (d. 1936)
- 1901 - Sir Donald Bailey, British engineer (d. 1985)
- 1903 - Roy Acuff, American country musician (d. 1992)
- 1904 - King Umberto II of Italy (d. 1983)
- 1906 - Jacques Becker, French screenwriter and director (d. 1960)
- 1907 - Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and writer (d. 1968)
- 1907 - Fay Wray, Canadian-born American actress (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1909 - C.N.Annadurai, Former Chief Minister of Tamilnadu
- 1911 - Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born American golf entrepreneur (d. 2000)
- 1913 - John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General and Watergate figure (d. 1988)
- 1913 - Johannes Steinhoff, German fighter pilot & NATO commander (d.1994)
- 1914 - Creighton Abrams, American Army general (d. 1974)
- 1914 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (d. 1999)
- 1915 - Albert Whitlock, English motion picture matte artist (d. 1999)
- 1915 - Ismail Yasin, Egyptian comedian and actor (d. 1972)
- 1916 - Margaret Lockwood, English actress (d. 1990)
- 1918 - Nipsey Russell, American comedian (d. 2005)
- 1919 - Fausto Coppi, Italian racing cyclist (d. 1960)
- 1919 - Nelson Gidding, American screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (d. 2001)
- 1922 - Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
- 1922 - Bob Anderson (fencer), English sword-master
- 1923 - Anton Heiller, Austrian organist (d. 1979)
- 1924 - Bobby Short, American musician (d. 2005)
- 1926 - Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician
- 1926 - Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (d. 2006)
- 1927 - David Stove, Australian philosopher, (d. 1994)
- 1928 - Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1975)
- 1929 - Eva Burrows, the 13th General of The Salvation Army
- 1929 - Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1933 - Henry Darrow, American actor
- 1933 - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor
- 1934 - Fred Nile, Australian politician
- 1937 - Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel laureate
- 1937 - Fernando de la Rúa, 51st President of Argentina
- 1938 - Gaylord Perry, baseball player
- 1940 - Merlin Olsen, American football player and actor
- 1940 - Norman Spinrad, American science fiction author
- 1941 - Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer
- 1941 - Signe Toly Anderson, American singer
- 1941 - Mirosław Hermaszewski, Polish cosmonaut
- 1941 - Yuri Norstein, Russian animator
- 1941 - Viktor Zubkov, Russian government official
- 1942 - Lee Dorman, American Bassist
- 1944 - Sotirios Hatzigakis, Greek politician
- 1945 - Hans-Gert Pöttering, well-known German politician in the European union, President of the European Parliament since 16 January 2007.
- 1945 - Carmen Maura, Spanish actress
- 1945 - Jessye Norman, American opera singer
- 1945 - Ron Shelton, American film director
- 1946 - Ola Brunkert, Swedish session drummer for ABBA (d. 2008)
- 1946 - Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
- 1946 - Oliver Stone, American film director
- 1946 - Howard Waldrop, American science fiction author
- 1948 - Suzyn Waldman, American Sportscaster
- 1949 - Joe Barton, American politician
- 1951 - Pete Carroll, American football coach
- 1951 - Johan Neeskens, Dutch footballer
- 1954 - Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor (d. 2007)
- 1955 - Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- 1955 - Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
- 1956 - Jaki Graham, English singer
- 1956 - Maggie Reilly, Scottish folk singer
- 1958 - Dr. Know, American guitarist (Bad Brains)
- 1958 - Joel Quenneville, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1958 - Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1960 - Kevin Allen, Welsh actor
- 1961 - Terry Lamb, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1961 - Dan Marino, American football player
- 1962 - Dina Lohan, American actress and reality television star, mother of Lindsay Lohan
- 1964 - Róbert Fico, Slovak Prime minister
- 1964 - Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, former guitarist for horror punk band The Misfits
- 1968 - Danny Nucci, American actor
- 1969 - Jim Curtiss, American writer
- 1971 - Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricketer
- 1971 - Josh Charles, American actor
- 1971 - Ben Wallers, English musician and songwriter (Country Teasers)
- 1972 - Jimmy Carr, English comedian
- 1972 - Kit Chan, Singaporean singer
- 1972 - Princess Letizia of Spain
- 1973 - Julie Cox, English actress
- 1974 - Jamie Stevens, German singer
- 1976 - Paul Thomson, Scottish drummer (Franz Ferdinand)
- 1976 - Matt Thornton, American baseball player
- 1977 - Angela Aki, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1977 - Sophie Dahl, English model
- 1977 - Leander Jordan, National Football League offensive lineman
- 1977 - Marisa Ramirez, American actress
- 1977 - Jason Terry, American basketball player
- 1977 - Tom Hardy, British actor
- 1978 - Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
- 1979 - Dave Annable, American actor
- 1979 - Amy Davidson, American actress
- 1979 - Carlos Ruiz, Guatemalan soccer player
- 1979 - Patrick Marleau, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 - David Diehl, American football player
- 1980 - Jolin Tsai, Taiwanese pop singer
- 1980 - Mike Dunleavy, Jr., American basketball player
- 1983 - Luke Hochevar, American baseball player
- 1984 - Prince Henry of Wales
- 1986 - Heidi Montag, American reality television star
- 1987 - Aly Cissokho, French football (soccer) player
- 1988 - Chelsea Staub, American actress
- 1989 - Chetan Ramlu, New Zealand musician
Deaths
- 668 - Constans II, Byzantine emperor (b. 630)
- 866 - Robert the Strong, Margrave of Neustria
- 1231 - Louis I, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1173)
- 1352 - Ewostatewos, Ethiopian monk and religious leader (b. 1273)
- 1500 - John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1596 - Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (b. 1535 or 1540)
- 1613 - Thomas Overbury, English writer (b. 1581)
- 1643 - Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, Irish politician (b. 1566)
- 1649 - John Floyd, English Jesuit preacher (b. 1572)
- 1700 - André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect (b. 1613)
- 1701 - Edmé Boursault, French writer (b. 1638)
- 1707 - George Stepney, English poet and diplomat (b. 1663)
- 1712 - Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician
- 1750 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1690)
- 1794 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1725)
- 1803 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1719)
- 1830 - William Huskisson, first rail fatality (b. 1770)
- 1835 - Sarah Knox Taylor, wife of Jefferson Davis (b. 1814)
- 1842 - Pierre Baillot, French violinist and composer (b. 1771)
- 1842 - José Francisco Morazán Quezada, President of The Federal Republic of Central America (b. 1792)
- 1859 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (b. 1806)
- 1864 - John Hanning Speke, British explorer (b. 1827)
- 1883 - Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist (b. 1801)
- 1885 - Jumbo, P. T. Barnum's circus elephant (hit by a train)
- 1893 - Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (b. 1807)
- 1921 - Roman Ungern von Sternberg, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1886)
- 1926 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
- 1930 - Milton Sills, American actor (b. 1882)
- 1945 - André Tardieu, Prime Minister of France (b. 1876)
- 1945 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer (b. 1883)
- 1965 - Steve Brown, American musician (b. 1890)
- 1972 - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1887)
- 1973 - Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (b. 1882)
- 1973 - Victor Jara, Chilean musician (b. 1941)
- 1978 - Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer (b. 1898)
- 1978 - Robert Cliche, French Canadian politician and judge (b. 1921)
- 1980 - Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (b. 1929)
- 1981 - Harold Bennett, English actor (b. 1899)
- 1983 - Prince Far I, reggae toaster and producer
- 1985 - Cootie Williams, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1910)
- 1987 - Steven Tuomi, murder victim of Jeffery Dahmer (b. 1963)
- 1989 - Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b. 1905)
- 1991 - John Hoyt, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1993 - Ethan Allen, American baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1995 - Harry Calder, South African cricketer (b. 1901)
- 2000 - Vincent Canby, American movie critic (b. 1924)
- 2003 - Jack Brymer, English clarinetist (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Josef Hirsal, Czech novelist (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist (b. 1931)
- 2005 - Sidney Luft, American film director (b. 1915)
- 2006 - Raymond Baxter, British television presenter (b. 1922)
- 2006 - Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and writer (b. 1929)
- 2006 - Pablo Santos, Mexican actor (b. 1987)
- 2007 - Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver (b. 1968)
- 2007 - Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan musician (b. 1928)
- 2007 - Brett Somers, Canadian-born American actress and Match Game panelist (b. 1924)
- 2008 - Richard Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd (b. 1943)
Holidays and observances
- International Day of Democracy.
- In ancient Greece, the second day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the priests of Demeter declared the public start of the rites.
- Catholic Calendar of Saints - Feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows.
- Also see September 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
- The United Kingdom - the British commemorate the Battle of Britain on the day of the last massive Luftwaffe attack in 1940.
- Japan - Respect for the Aged Day before 2003; beginning in 2003, Respect for the Aged Day is held on the third Monday of September.
- Thailand - Silpa Bhirasri Day.
- In India Engineer's Day celebrated on birthday of Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya.
- Slovenia - Restoration of Primorska to the Motherland Day