On this day in history

August 4

25 births · 14 deaths · 5 events

Prev Leo Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

2020 Beirut explosions

6 years ago

Born this day

1961

Barack Obama

Turns 65

Photo (modified): Official White House Photo by Pete Souza · Public domain

Oldest record

966th

Henry I of France

death anniversary

View profile

Famous births25

1521 · 505 yrs

Urban VII

Pope Urban VII (Latin: Urbanus VII; Italian: Urbano VII; 4 August 1521 – 27 September 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was head of the Catholic Church, and leader of the Papal States from 15 to 27 September 1590. His papacy is the shortest recognized in history.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Jacopino del Conte · Public domain

1792 · 234 yrs

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley ( BISH; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 29

View profile Photo (modified): After Amelia Curran · Public domain

1805 · 221 yrs

William Rowan Hamilton

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made numerous major contributions to algebra, classical mechanics, and optics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 60

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1834 · 192 yrs

John Venn

John Venn, FRS, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in logic, set theory, probability, statistics, and computer science.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 88

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Maull & Fox. studio) · Public domain

1859 · 167 yrs

Knut Hamsun

Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel Growth of the Soil. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective and environment.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 92

View profile Photo (modified): Nasjonalbiblioteket from Norway · Public domain

1900 · 126 yrs100 Club

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 126

View profile Photo (modified): Richard Stone · Public domain

1901 · 125 yrs

Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American jazz and blues trumpeter and vocalist. Among the most influential figures in jazz, his career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of the genre.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): World-Telegram staff photographer · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

Witold Gombrowicz

Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 122

View profile Photo (modified): Creator:Bohdan Paczowski · Public domain

1912 · 114 yrs

Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945) was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during the later stages of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 114

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1940 · 86 yrs

Abdurrahman Wahid

Abdurrahman Wahid ( AHB-doo-RAHKH-mahn wah-HEED; Indonesian:; né ad-Dakhil, 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), more colloquially known as Gus Dur (Indonesian: ), was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indonesia, from his election in 1999 until he was removed…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 86

View profile Photo (modified): National Information and Communication Agency Republic of Indonesia · Public domain

1948 · 78 yrs

Giorgio Parisi

Giorgio Parisi (Italian:; born 4 August 1948) is an Italian theoretical physicist, whose research has focused on quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and complex systems.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 78

View profile Photo (modified): Lorenza Parisi · CC BY-SA 4.0

1953 · 73 yrs

Antonio Tajani

Antonio Tajani (Italian pronunciation:; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsAge 73

View profile Photo (modified): European People's Party · CC BY 2.0

Showing 12 of 25

Famous deaths14

1060 · 966 yrs

Henry I of France

Henry I (4 May 1008 – 4 August 1060) was King of the Franks from 1031 to 1060. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 52

View profile Photo (modified): Merry-Joseph Blondel · Public domain

1526 · 500 yrs

Juan Sebastián Elcano

Juan Sebastián Elcano (Elkano in modern Basque; also known as del Cano; 1486/1487 – 4 August 1526) was a Spanish navigator, ship-owner and explorer best known for having completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth in the ship Victoria on the Magellan expedition to the Spice Islands.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1578 · 448 yrs

Sebastian of Portugal

Sebastian (Portuguese: Sebastião I; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz. He was the only child of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and Joanna of Austria.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 24

View profile Photo (modified): Cristóvão de Morais · Public domain

1859 · 167 yrs

Jean-Marie Vianney

John Vianney (born Jean-Marie Vianney and later Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney; 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859) was a French Catholic priest and member of the Third Order of Mary who is often referred to as the Curé d'Ars ("the parish priest of Ars").

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Romary · CC BY-SA 3.0

1875 · 151 yrs

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen ( AN-dər-sən; Danish:; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish writer. A prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is also best remembered for his literary fairy tales.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Thora Hallager · Public domain

1908 · 118 yrs

Radoje Domanović

Radoje Domanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радоје Домановић; February 16, 1873 – August 17, 1908) was a Serbian journalist, writer and teacher, most famous for his satirical short stories. His adult years were a constant fight against tuberculosis.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 35

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1922 · 104 yrs

Enver Pasha

İsmâil Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was a Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and convicted war criminal who served as the Ottoman Empire's Minister of War from 1914 to 1918.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 144

View profile Photo (modified): Unidentified photographer · Public domain

1948 · 78 yrs

Mileva Marić

Mileva Marić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милева Марић, pronounced; 19 December 1875 – 4 August 1948), sometimes called Mileva Marić-Einstein (Милева Марић-Ајнштајн, Mileva Marić-Ajnštajn), was a Serbian mathematician. She was also the first wife of Albert Einstein from 1903 to 1919.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1962 · 64 yrs

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ( MAIR-ə-lin mən-ROH; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FashionWould be 100

View profile Photo (modified): Sam Shaw · Public domain

1977 · 49 yrs

Edgar Douglas Adrian

Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (30 November 1889 – 4 August 1977) was an English electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons. He provided experimental evidence for the all-or-none law of nerves.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 136

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1977 · 49 yrs

Ernst Bloch

Ernst Simon Bloch (German:; 8 July 1885 – 4 August 1977) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers such as Thomas Müntzer, Paracelsus, and Jacob Böhme.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): Krueger · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1981 · 45 yrs

Melvyn Douglas

Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor, whose stage and screen careers spanned from the late 1920s until the early 1980s.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): Studio publicity still · Public domain

Showing 12 of 14

Events5

1578 · 448 yrs

Battle of Alcácer Quibir

The Battle of Alcácer Quibir (also known as "Battle of Three Kings" (Arabic: معركة الملوك الثلاثة) or "Battle of Wadi al-Makhazin" (Arabic: معركة وادي المخازن) in Morocco) was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir (variant spellings: Ksar El Kebir, Alcácer-Quivir, Alcazarquivir, Alcassar, etc.)…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1914 · 112 yrs

Battle of Liège

The Battle of Liège (5–16 August 1914) was the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium and the first battle of the First World War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1976 · 50 yrs

1976 Summer Paralympics

The 1976 Summer Paralympics (French: Jeux paralympiques d'été de 1976), branded as Torontolympiad – 1976 Olympiad for the Physically Disabled, was the fifth Paralympic Games to be held.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

1995 · 31 yrs

Operation Storm

Operation Storm (Serbo-Croatian: Operacija Oluja / Операција Олуја) in August 1995 was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2020 · 6 yrs

2020 Beirut explosions

On 4 August 2020, a major explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, caused by the ignition of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

Nearby dates

Born on August 4? Find your birthday matches →

Share August 4

Living room with framed Who Shares My Birthday poster

Close-up

FrameShown to scale · framed 34 × 46 cmThis is the frame we'll deliver, with a white mount

Printable keepsake

Your birthday matches poster

A personalised A3 framed print of everyone famous born on August 4, what happened on your birthday in history and your zodiac sign. We print and frame it for you and deliver it to your door (UK only).

Name on poster

Your photo

Kept private and only used to make your poster.