October 21
October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 71 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
- 1520 - Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
- 1600 - Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, who in effect rule Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
- 1774 - First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
- 1797 - In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
- 1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signalled the virtual end of French maritime power and left Britain navally unchallenged until the twentieth century.
- 1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at Ulm, reaping Napoleon over 30,000 prisoners and inflicting 10,000 casualties on the losers. Ulm was considered to be one of Napoleon's finest hours.
- 1816 - The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
- 1824 - Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
- 1854 - Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff - Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
- 1867 - Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty - Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western Oklahoma.
- 1879 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).
- 1892 - Opening ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition were held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.
- 1895 - The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
- 1902 - In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
- 1921 - President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.
- 1941 - 7000 Serbs were shot in Kragujevac, Serbia by Nazi Germans.
- 1944 - The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
- 1945 - Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
- 1945 - Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita.
- 1959 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
- 1959 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
- 1965 - Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
- 1966 - Aberfan disaster: A coal tip falls on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
- 1967 - Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, DC. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility (event lasts until October 23; 683 people were arrested). Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
- 1969 - A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
- 1973 - John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.
- 1973 - Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
- 1977 - The European Patent Institute is founded.
- 1978 - Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
- 1983 - The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
- 1986 - In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he was released in August 1991).
- 1987 - Former Miss America Bess Myerson is arrested on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud, all involving an alimony-fixing scandal. She is later found not guilty.
- 1990 - The first Apple Day, is held in Covent Garden, London.
- 1994 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.
- 1994 - In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
- 1995 - Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2001 - "United We Stand" benefit concert for September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks victims, held at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. Event organized and headlined by Michael Jackson, also featuring pop stars Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, The Backstreet Boys, and others.
- 2002 - Violence in Badlapur, suburb of Mumbai created a tension in the city resulted in a lot of property damage injuring 4 people.
- 2003 - Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz.
- 2007 - San Diego County has its worst wildfire disaster in San Diegan history as the Harris and Witch Fires blazed across the county. Together, they have burned at least 200,000 acres (810 km2) of land. Only one casualty has been reported.
Births
- 1449 - George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III (d. 1478)
- 1527 - Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1578)
- 1581 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (d. 1641)
- 1650 - Jean Bart, French admiral (d. 1702)
- 1660 - Georg Ernst Stahl, German scientist (d. 1734)
- 1675 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (d. 1710)
- 1687 - Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1759)
- 1712 - Sir James Steuart, British economist (d. 1780)
- 1725 - Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (d. 1801)
- 1757 - Pierre Augereau, Marshal of France and duc de Castiglione (d. 1816)
- 1762 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (d. 1818)
- 1772 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British poet (d. 1834)
- 1775 - Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (d. 1844)
- 1790 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer (d. 1869)
- 1821 - Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
- 1833 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (d. 1896)
- 1847 - Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian writer (d. 1906)
- 1851 - George Ulyett, English cricketer (d. 1898)
- 1886 - Eugene Burton Ely, American aviation pioneer (d. 1911)
- 1895 - Edna Purviance, American actress (d. 1958)
- 1898 - Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wresler and Olympic medalist (d. 1960)
- 1904 - Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet (d. 1967)
- 1906 - Lillian Asplund, last American Titanic survivor (d. 2006)
- 1907 - Nikos Engonopoulos, Greek painter and poet (d. 1985)
- 1907 - Jules Chevalier, French priest (b. 1824)
- 1912 - Sir Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (d. 1997)
- 1912 - Alfredo Pián, Argentine racing driver (d. 1990)
- 1914 - Martin Gardner, American mathematician and writer
- 1917 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
- 1921 - Sir Malcolm Arnold, British composer (d. 2006)
- 1922 - Liliane de Bettencourt, heir to L'Oreal
- 1924 - Celia Cruz, Cuban singer, Queen of Salsa. (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Joyce Randolph, American actress
- 1925 - Louis J. Robichaud, Canadian premier of New Brunswick (d. 2005)
- 1928 - Whitey Ford, American baseball player
- 1929 - Ursula K. Le Guin, American author
- 1930 - Ivan Stepanovich Silayev, Last prime minister of the Soviet Union
- 1938 - Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2001)
- 1940 - Geoff Boycott, English cricketer
- 1940 - Manfred Mann, English musician
- 1941 - Steve Cropper, American musician
- 1942 - Elvin Bishop, American musician
- 1942 - Judy Sheindlin, American judge ("Judge Judy")
- 1942 - Allan Grice, Australian racing driver
- 1943 - Brian Piccolo, American football player (d. 1970)
- 1945 - Everett McGill, American actor
- 1946 - Jim Hill, American sportscaster
- 1946 - Lux Interior, American singer (The Cramps)
- 1946 - Lee Loughnane, American musician
- 1948 - Shaye Cohen, Historian and Professor at Harvard University
- 1948 - Tom Everett, American actor
- 1949 - Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1971)
- 1949 - Mike Keenan, Canadian ice hockey coach
- 1949 - Benjamin Netanyahu, 9th Prime Minister of Israel
- 1950 - Ronald McNair, American astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1952 - Trevor Chappell, Australian cricketer
- 1952 - Patti Davis, American actress and novelist
- 1952 - Allen Hoey, American poet and novelist
- 1952 - Brent Mydland, American keyboardist (Grateful Dead) (d. 1990)
- 1953 - Keith Green, American musician (d. 1982)
- 1953 - Peter Mandelson, British politician
- 1953 - Charlotte Caffey, American musician (The Go-Go's)
- 1954 - Brian Tobin, Canadian premier of Newfoundland
- 1955 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1956 - Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer
- 1957 - Julian Cope, English musician and writer
- 1957 - Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1957 - Steve Lukather, American musician
- 1959 - George Bell, Dominican baseball player
- 1959 - Tony Ganios, American Actor
- 1959 - Rose McDowall, Scottish musician
- 1959 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
- 1962 - David Campese, Australian rugby union footballer
- 1964 - Jon Carin, American musician (Pink Floyd, The Who)
- 1965 - Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, Spanish footballer
- 1967 - Paul Ince, English footballer
- 1968 - Melora Walters, American actress
- 1969 - Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, crown prince of Bahrain
- 1969 - Mo Lewis, American football player
- 1971 - Damien Martyn, Australian cricketer
- 1971 - Jade Jagger, Socialite and Jewelery Designer
- 1971 - Nick Oliveri, American musician
- 1971 - Paul Norman Telfer, Scottish footballer
- 1972 - Felicity Andersen, Australian actress
- 1972 - Saffron Burrows, English actress
- 1972 - Masakazu Morita, seiyu and actor
- 1972 - Matthew Friedberger, American musician (The Fiery Furnaces)
- 1972 - Evhen Tsybulenko, Ukrainian professor of international law
- 1973 - Lera Auerbach, Russian composer
- 1973 - Charlie Lowell, American Musician
- 1975 - Toby Hall, American baseball player
- 1975 - Henrique Hilário, Portuguese footballer
- 1976 - Jeremy Miller, American TV actor
- 1976 - Lavinia Miloşovici, Romanian gymnast
- 1976 - Mélanie Turgeon, French Canadian alpine skier
- 1978 - Will Estes, American actor
- 1978 - Joey Harrington, American football player
- 1979 - Khalil Greene, American baseball player
- 1979 - Gabe Gross, American baseball player
- 1980 - Kim Kardashian, American socialite
- 1980 - Brian Pittman, American musician (Relient K)
- 1981 - Nemanja Vidić, Serbian footballer
- 1982 - James White, American basketball player
- 1982 - Matt Dallas, American Actor
- 1983 - Zack Greinke, American baseball player
- 1983 - Ninette Tayeb, Israeli singer
- 1984 - Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, French Canadian short track speed skater
- 1984 - Marvin Mitchell, American football player
- 1984 - Kieran Richardson, English footballer
- 1986 - Alex Kew, British actor
- 1986 - Christopher Uckermann, Mexican actor and singer in the Latin pop group RBD
- 1986 - Patrick-Alexander Moosmaier, Austrian Politician
- 1990 - Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player
- 1995 - Sam Kapur- American Basketball player
Deaths
- 1125 - Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian writer
- 1204 - Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English nobleman
- 1221 - Alix of Thouars, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)
- 1266 - Birger jarl, Swedish statesman (b. 1210)
- 1422 - King Charles VI of France (b. 1368)
- 1500 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (b. 1442)
- 1505 - Paul Scriptoris, German mathematician
- 1558 - Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian scholar (b. 1484)
- 1600 - Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (b. 1557)
- 1623 - William Wade, English statesman and diplomat (b. 1546)
- 1662 - Henry Lawes, English composer (b. 1595)
- 1687 - Sir Edmund Waller, English poet (b. 1606)
- 1765 - Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (b. 1691)
- 1775 - Peyton Randolph, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)
- 1777 - Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)
- 1805 - Horatio Nelson, British admiral (b. 1758)
- 1872 - Jacques Babinet, French physicist (b. 1794)
- 1873 - Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (b. 1807)
- 1896 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer (b. 1844)
- 1904 - Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and writer (b. 1877)
- 1931 - Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian writer (b. 1862)
- 1940 - William G. Conley, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)
- 1944 - Alois Kayser, German missionary to Nauru (b. 1877)
- 1965 - Bill Black, American musician (b. 1926)
- 1969 - Jack Kerouac, American novelist (b. 1922)
- 1969 - Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (b. 1882)
- 1973 - Nasif Estéfano, Argentine racing driver (b. 1932)
- 1975 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1887)
- 1978 - Anastas Mikoyan, Soviet politician (b. 1895)
- 1980 - Hans Asperger, Austrian psychologist (b. 1906)
- 1984 - François Truffaut, French film director (b. 1932)
- 1986 - Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge (b. 1922)
- 1989 - Jean Image, Hungarian-born French animator (b. 1910)
- 1990 - Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1921)
- 1992 - Jim Garrison, American attorney (b. 1921)
- 1995 - Shannon Hoon, American singer (Blind Melon) (b. 1967)
- 1995 - Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (b. 1919)
- 1995 - Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1916)
- 1998 - Francis W. Sargent, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Fred Berry, American actor (b. 1951)
- 2003 - Luis A. Ferré, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1940)
- 2003 - Louise Day Hicks, American politician (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969)
- 2005 - Tara Correa-McMullen, American actress (b. 1989)
- 2007 - Paul Fox, English musician and singer (The Ruts) (b. 1951)
Holidays and observances
- Apple Day
- R.C. saints - Saint Ursula; Saint Hilarion; John of Bridlington
- Republic of China - Overseas Chinese Day
- Trafalgar Day — celebrated throughout much of the British Empire in the 19th and early 20th Century.
- Diwali in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism (2006)
- French Republican Calendar - Tonneau (Barrel) Day, thirtieth day in the Month of Vendémiaire