On this day in History - Jul 21

• 356 BC - A young man called Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
• 0285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.
• 0810 - Imam Bukhari was born. Islamic theologist.
• 1298 - Battle of Falkirk (1298): England's King, Edward Longshank, defeats William Wallace's Scottish rebels.
• 1403 - Battle of Shrewsbury: England's King Henry IV defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.
  
• 1403 - Henry Percy dies killed in battle. English soldier.
• 1414 - Pope Sixtus IV was born (d. 1484)-
• 1425 - Manuel II Palaeologus dies (b. 1350). Byzantine Emperor.
• 1515 - Philip Neri was born (d. 26 May 1595). Italian priest and mystic.
• 1542 - Paul III, by the Bull "Licet ab initio", of 21 July, 1542, declared the Roman Inquisition to be the supreme tribunal for the whole world; and he assigned to it six cardinals. Alleged heretics were tried and tortured in an effort to stem the spread of the Reformation.
• 1545 - The first landing of French troops onto the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight occurs.
• 1568 -Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.
  
• 1613 - Michael Romanov was crowned tsar of Russia, founding the Romanov dynasty.
• 1615 - Salvator Rosa was born in Naples (d. 1673). Italian painter.
• 1620 - Jean Picard was born (d. 12 Jul 1682). French astronomer. Picard is regarded as the founder of modern astronomy in France.
• 1664 - Matthew Prior was born (d. 1721). English poet and diplomat.
• 1667 - The Treaties of Breda signed, ended the second Anglo-Dutch war after a Dutch fleet has broken the chain in England's Medway River, reached Chatham, and captured the flagship Royal Charles.
• 1688 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde dies (b. 1610). English statesman and soldier.
• 1693 - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was born. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  
• 1694 - Georg Brandt was born (d. 29 Apr 1768). Swedish chemist who was the first person to discover a metal unknown in ancient times which he isolated and named cobalt (1730).
• 1710 - Paul Möhring was born (d. 1792). German physician.
• 1718 - Treaty of Passarowitz signed. The Turkish threat to Europe was eliminated with the signing of the Treaty of Passarowitz between Austria, Venice and the Ottoman Empire.
• 1773 - Clemente XIV dissolve a Companhia de Jesus, por meio da bula «Dominus ac Redemptor». Será restaurada em 1814 por Pio VII.
• 1774 - Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774.
• 1793 - Bruni d'Entrecasteaux dies (b. 1739). French explorer.
• 1796 - Robert Burns dies (b. 1759). Scottish poet.
• 1798 - Egyptians defeated in the Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon's Army of Egypt used a new military tactic, the massive divisional square, to defeat the Egyptian forces of Murad Bey this day in 1798 at the Battle of the Pyramids during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.
• 1798 - François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt dies (b. 1733). Austrian field marshal.
• 1810 - Henri Victor Regnault was born (d. 19 Jan 1878). French chemist and physicist noted for his work on the properties of gases.
• 1816 - No "Congreso de Tucumán", na Argentina, fica solenemente declarada a independência das Províncias Unidas do Rio da Prata.
• 1816 - Paul Reuter was born (d. 1899). German-born British journalist and media owner (Reuters).
• 1817 - Sir John Gilbert was born (d. 10 May 1897). English painter and illustrator.
• 1822 - Agustín Iturbide é coroado imperador do México, passando a ter a alcunha Agustín I.
• 1831 - Belgium became independent as Leopold I of Belgium is proclaimed King of the Belgians.
• 1853 - Central Park in New York City was officially born on this day when the State legislature authorized the City to buy more than 800 acres. The enormous park was designed by America's most famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted
• 1856 - Louise Blanchard Bethune was born (d. 18 Dec 1913). American architect.
• 1858 - Lovis Corinth was born (d. 12 Jul 1925). Russian-born German Impressionist painter and graphic artist.
• 1858 - Maria Christina of Austria was born (d. 1929). Queen of Spain.
• 1858 - Alfred Henry O'Keeffe was born (d. 1941). New Zealand artist.
• 1861 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).
• 1865 - In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
• 1870 - Emil Orlik was born (d. 1932). Czech painter and graphic artist.
• 1870 - Josef Strauss dies (b. 1827). Austrian composer.
• 1873 - At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West.
• 1877 - After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of 9 rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
• 1880 - Milan Rastislav Štefánik was born (d. 1919). Slovak politician, French general and astronomer.
• 1880 - Hiram Walden dies (b. 1800). American politician.
• 1881 - George Frederick Dick was born (d. 10 Oct 1967). American physician and pathologist who, with his wife, Gladys Henry Dick, isolated the hemolytic streptococcus that was the cause of, and developed an immunization to treat, the dangerous scarlet fever (1924).
• 1882 - David Burliuk was born (d. 1967). Ukrainian artist.
• 1888 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet, born on June 13, is baptized.
• 1889 - Nelson Dewey dies (b. 1813). American politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin.
• 1893 - Hans Fallada was born (d. 1947). German writer.
• 1897 - The Tate Gallery opened in England.
• 1899 - Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville, Ohio(d. 1932). American poet.
• 1899 - Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois (d. 2 Jul 1961). American Nobel Prize-winning (1955) novelist and short story writer.
• 1899 - Robert G. Ingersoll dies (b. 1833). American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel.
• 1899 - Sri Sarada Devi dies (b. 1853). Saint and wife of Sri Ramakrishna.
• 1902 - Fundado o Fluminense Football Club, primeiro clube de futebol do Rio de Janeiro
• 1903 - Roy Neuberger was born. American financier and art collector.
• 1904 - After 13 years of work, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway was completed and opened up Siberia to large-scale colonization.
• 1908 - Harold "Jug" McSpaden was born (d. 1996). American professional golfer.
• 1911 - Marshall McLuhan was born (d. 1980). Canadian author.
• 1918 - U-156 shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans, Massachusetts.
• 1919 - The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
• 1920 - Isaac Stern was born (d. 2001). Ukrainian violinist.
• 1920 - Constance Dowling was borm (d. 1969). American actress.
• 1920 - C.Anton Nieuwenhuys was born. Dutch artist.
• 1921 - Billy Taylor was born. Jazz pianist.
• 1922 - Djemal Pasha, dictator of Turkey, was murdered.
• 1922 - Kay Starr was born. American singer.
• 1923 - Rudolph A. Marcus was born. Canadian-born American chemist, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the theory of electron-transfer reactions in chemical systems.
• 1924 - Don Knotts was born (d. 2006). American Emmy Award-winning actor.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
• 1925 - Anne Meacham was born. American actress.
• 1926 - Karel Reisz was born (d. 2002). British film director.
• 1926 - Norman Jewison was born. Canadian film director.
• 1926 - Paul Burke was born. American actor.
• 1926 - Queenie Watts was born (d. 1980). English actress.
• 1926 - Rahimuddin Khan was born. Pakistani general.
• 1926 - Washington Roebling dies (b. 26 May 1837). Washington Augustus Roebling was an engineer, who completed the Brooklyn Bridge started by his late father, John Roebling.
• 1928 - Marcel Gauthier was born (d. 1998). Canadian wrestler.
• 1929 - Bob Orton, Sr. was born (d. 2006). American wrestler.
• 1931 - CBS's New York City station begins broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the U. S.
• 1932 - Ernie Warlick was born. American football player.
• 1932 - Bill Gleason dies. Late 19th century baseball player.
• 1933 - John Gardner was born (d. 1982). American author.
• 1934 - Américo Amorim was born. Portuguese industrialist.
• 1935 - Norbert Blüm was born. German politician.
• 1935 - Moe Drabowsky was born (d. 2002). Polish-American baseball player.
• 1936 - Georg Michaelis dies (b. 1857). 6th Chancellor of the German Empire.
• 1938 - Anton Kuerti was born. Canadian pianist, composer and conductor.
• 1938 - Janet Reno was born. 79th United States Attorney General.
• 1938 - É firmado na Argentina um tratado de paz entre a Bolívia e o Paraguai, que pôs fim a Guerra do Chaco.
• 1938 - Owen Wister dies (b. 1860). American author.
• 1939 - John Negroponte was born. 1st United States Director of National Intelligence.
• 1940 - João Perry was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1941 - Martin Bandier was born. Music publisher.
• 1941 - Diogo Freitas do Amaral was born. Portuguese politician.
• 1941 - Bohdan Lepky dies (b. 1872). Ukrainian writer and poet.
• 1942 - Patricia Elliot was born. Actress (''One Life To Live'')
• 1943 - Edward Herrmann was born. American actor.
• 1943 - Charlie Paddock dies (b. 1900). American athlete.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
• 1944 - Tony Scott was born. British film director.
• 1944 - Paul Wellstone was born (d. 2002). American politician, senator from Minnesota.
• 1944 - Claus von Stauffenberg dies by exection b. 1907). German, leader of failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
• 1944 - Ludwig Beck dies (b. 1880). German Chief of Staff.
• 1945 - John Lowe was born. English darts player.
• 1945 - Leigh_Lawson was born. English actor.
• 1945 - Lydia Shum was born (d. 2008). Hong Kong comedian and actress.
• 1945 - João Carlos Craveiro Lopes dies (b. 1871). Portuguese general and militar.
• 1946 - Barry Whitwam was born. British musician (Herman's Hermits).
• 1946 - Kenneth Starr was born. American lawyer.
• 1946 - Gualberto Villarroel dies hanged (b. 1908). President of Bolivia.
• 1947 - Wendell Burton was born in San Antonio, Texas. American actor.
• 1948 - Ed Hinton was born. American sportswriter
• 1948 - Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) was born. English singer- songwriter.
• 1948 - Art_Hindle was born. Canadian actor and director.
• 1948 - Ed Hinton was born. American sportswriter.
• 1948 - Garry Trudeau was born. American cartoonist.
• 1948 - Arshile Gorky die (b. 1904). Armenian-born American artist.
• 1949 - The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
• 1949 - Al Hrabosky was born. American baseball player.
• 1950 - Ubaldo Fillol was born. Argentinian football player (goalkeeper).
• 1951 - Robin Williams was born. American comedian.
• 1951 - O general Craveiro Lopes (n. em Lisboa a 12 de Abril de 1894 e faleceu também em Lisboa a 2 de Setembro de 1964), é eleito Presidente da Republica - Portugal.
• 1952 - John Barrasso was born. American politician, junior senator from Wyoming.
• 1953 - Brian Talbot was born. British footballer.
• 1953 - Jeff Fatt was born. Chinese Australian actor.
• 1954 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. / Ficam firmados os acordos de Genebra sobre a divisão da Indochina. Com isso, foram criados os territórios oficiais de Laos, Camboja e Vietname.
• 1955 - Howie Epstein was born (d. 2003). American musician.
• 1955 - Taco Ockerse was born. Indonesian singer.
• 1956 - Michael Connelly was born. American author.
• 1957 - Jon Lovitz was born. American comedian.
• 1957 - George Landress was born. American songwriter, music producer and sound engineer.
• 1959 - Luiz Edmundo Alves was born in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia. Brazilian poet.
• 1959 - Paul "Fatty" Vautin was born. Australian rugby league player.
• 1960 - Ceilan (now Sri Lanka) - Sirimavo_Bandaranaike (b. 1916) became the first woman to be Prime Minister. In 1972 converted Ceilan into Republic of Sri Lanka.
• 1960 - Lance Guest was born. American actor.
• 1960 - Fritz Walter was born. German footballer.
• 1961 - Mercury program: Gus Grissom piloting the Mercury 4 capsule "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into orbit around the Earth.
• 1961 - Amar Singh Chamkila was born. Punjabi folk singer.
• 1961 - "Big" Jim Martin was born. American musician (Faith No More).
• 1962 - Wesley Snipes was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Pope Paul VI elected by College of Cardinals.
• 1963 - Kevin Poole was born. English footballer.
• 1964 - Jens Weißflog was born. German ski jumper.
• 1965 - Gudni Bergsson was born. Icelandic footballer.
• 1965 - Jovy Marcelo was bn (d. 1992). Filipino racing driver.
• 1965 - Mike Bordick was born. American baseball player.
• 1966 - Arija Bareikis was born. American actress.
• 1967 - Jimmie Foxx dies (b. 1907). American baseball player.
• 1967 - Basil Rathbone dies (b. 1892). English actor.
• 1967 - Albert John Luthuli, president of the African National Congress (1952–60) and the first African to be awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace (1960), died after being struck by a train.
• 1968 - Brandi Chastain was born. American soccer player.
• 1968 - Lyle Odelein was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1968 - Ruth St. Denis dies (b. 1878). Dancer, choreographer.
• 1969 - Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.
• 1969 - Emerson Hart was born. American musician (Tonic).
• 1969 - Klaus Graf was born. German racing driver.
• 1969 - Manuel D'Assumpção dies. Portuguese painter.
• 1970 - After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
• 1970 - Shawn Stasiak was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1970 - Bob Kalsu dies (b. 1945). American football player.
• 1970 - Mikhail Gerasimov dies (b. 1907). Russian anthropologist and sculptor.
• 1971 - Charlotte Gainsbourg was born. French actress and singer.
• 1971 - Emmanuel Bangué was born. French long jumper.
• 1971 - Nuno Markl was born. Portuguese comedian and radio host.
• 1972 - Bloody Friday bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) around Belfast, Northern Ireland - 22 bomb explosions, 9 people killed and 130 people seriously injured.
• 1972 - Ralph Craig dies (b. 1889). American athlete.
• 1972 - Paul Brandt was born. Country singer.
• 1973 - In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in 1972's Munich Olympics Massacre.
• 1974 - Geoff Jenkins was born. American baseball player.
• 1975 - Mike Sellers was born. National Football League fullback.
• 1976 - Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.
  
• 1977 - Start of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
• 1977 - Paul Casey was born. English golfer.
• 1978 - Bolivia: After a militar coup General Pereda becomes President.
• 1978 - Josh Hartnett was born. American actor.
• 1978 - Justin Bartha was born. American actor.
• 1978 - Damian Marley was born. Jamacian musician.
• 1978 - Gary Teale was born. Scottish football player.
• 1979 - David Carr was born. American football player.
• 1979 - Tamika Catchings was born. American basketball player.
• 1980 - Salah Eddin Bitar is assassinated in Paris. Former Prime-Minister of Syria.
• 1980 - C.C. Sabathia was born. American baseball player.
• 1980 - Tailor James was born. Canadian model.
• 1981 - O turco Ali Agca, que tentou matar o Papa João Paulo II, é condenado à prisão perpétua por um júri de Roma.
• 1981 - Titus Bramble was born. English footballer.
• 1981 - Stefan Schumacher was born. German cyclist.
• 1981 - Veronica Belmont was born. CNET TV personality.
• 1981 - Blake Lewis was born. American Idol finalist.
• 1981 - Chrishell Stause was born. American actress.
• 1981 - Joaquín Sánchez was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1982 - Claudette Ortiz was born. American soul singer.
• 1982 - Dave Garroway dies (b. 1913). American television host.
• 1983 - The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2°C (−129°F).
• 1983 - Eivør Pálsdóttir was born. Faroese singer.
• 1983 - Kellen Winslow II was born. American football player.
• 1984 - In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.
• 1984 - Liam Ridgewell was born. English footballer.
• 1985 - Vanessa Lengies was born. Actress (''American Dreams'').
• 1985 - Von Wafer was born. American basketball player.
• 1986 - Virginia Hewitt dies at 60. Actress (Carol-Space Patrol).
• 1986 - Ernest Maas dies (b. 1892). American screenwriter.
• 1988 - Chris Mitchell was born. Scottish footballer.
• 1989 - Mike Tyson TKOs Carl "the Truth" Williams in 1:33 of first round.
• 1989 - Chris Gunter was born. Welsh footballer.
• 1989 - Rory Culkin was born. American actor.
• 1990 - Goodwill Games opens in Seattle, Washington.
• 1990 - Serguei Pasradjanov dies (b. 1924). Soviet film director.
• 1991 - O presidente da Mauritânia, Muauiya Uld Sidi, firma o decreto da primeira Constituição do país, legalizando os partidos políticos.
• 1991 - Paul Warwick dies (b. 1969). English racing driver.
• 1992 - Rachael Flatt was born. American figure skater.
• 1994 - Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way to him becoming Prime Minister in 1997.
• 1995 - Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
• 1996 - Rafael Cepeda Atiles dies (b. 1910). Puerto Rican musician and composer.
• 1997 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
• 1998 - Alan Shepard dies (b. 18 Nov 1923). Astronaut. America's first man in space and one of only 12 humans who walked on the Moon. Named as one of the nation's original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959, Shepard became the first American into space on 5 May 1961.
• 1998 - Robert Young dies (b. 1907). American actor.
• 2000 - Group of Eight leaders met for an economic summit on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
• 2001 - Steve Barton dies (b. 1954). American actor.
• 2001 - Sivaji Ganesan dies (b. 1927). South Indian Tamil actor.
• 2002 - Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history.
• 2002 - Ernie Els won the British Open in the first sudden-death finish in the 142-year history of the tournament.
• 2003 - Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies dies. American film art director
• 2003 - John Davies dies (b. 1938). President of the New Zealand Olympic Committee2003 - In Peru 8 mountain climbers were missing after an avalanche on Alpamayo mountain. Four Germans, two Israelis, one Venezuelan and one Peruvian were believed to have been buried.
• 2003 - Monsoon rains were reported to have killed at least 579 people in South Asia. India reported a total of 263 deaths, Bangladesh 169, Pakistan 78, and Nepal 69.
• 2004 - The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.
• 2004 - Elder Neal A. Maxwell dies. Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  
• 2004 - Jerry Goldsmith dies (b. 1929). American composer.
• 2004 - Edward B. Lewis (b. 20 May 1918). American developmental geneticist who was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the functions that control early embryonic development with co-winners Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus who identified and classified 15 key genes that determine the body plan and formation of body segments of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
• 2005 - Clarence Richard Silva ordained to the episcopate as bishop of Honolulu.
• 2005 - Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar July 7 bombings, target London's public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers escape.
• 2005 - Andrzej Grubba dies (b. 1958). Polish table tennis player.
• 2005 - Long John Baldry dies (b. 1941). British blues musician.
• 2005 - Lord Alfred Hayes dies (b. 1928). British Wrestling Announcer for WWE.
• 2006 - Mako dies (b. 1933). Japanese-born American actor
• 2006 - Ta Mok, "The Khmer Rouge Butcher", dies (b. 1926). War criminal in Democratic Kampuchea.
  
• 2006 - Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira dies (b. 1928). Brazilian anthropologist.
• 2007 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released at 00:01 worldwide, the book broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever, selling more than 11 million copies in the first twenty-four hours following its release.
• Belgium: National holiday (1831 - inauguration of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians).
• Bolivia: Martyrs' Day.
• Guam: Liberation Day (1944).
• Russia: summer Kazanskaya.
  
• Singapore: Racial Harmony Day.