On this day in history

December 31

31 births · 21 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

33 years ago

Born this day

1869

Henri Matisse

Died aged 84

Photo (modified): Carl Van Vechten · Public domain

Oldest record

1833rd

Commodus

death anniversary

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Famous births31

AD 225 · 1800 yrs

Lawrence of Rome

Saint Lawrence or Laurence (Latin: Laurentius, lit. 'laurelled'; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Valerian in 258.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 32

View profile Photo (modified): Burkhard Mücke · CC BY-SA 4.0

1491 · 534 yrs

Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier (Breton: Jakez Karter; 31 December 1491 – 1 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Théophile Hamel / After François Nicholas Riss · CC BY-SA 4.0

1514 · 511 yrs

Andreas Vesalius

Andries van Wezel (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564), Latinized as Andreas Vesalius, was an anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (On the fabric of the human body in seven books), which is considered one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major advance over the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Jan van Calcar · Public domain

1617 · 408 yrs

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( mure-IL-oh, m(y)uu-REE-oh, Spanish:; late December 1617, baptised 1 January 1618 – 3 April 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Bartolomé Esteban Murillo · Public domain

1822 · 203 yrs

Sándor Petőfi

Sándor Petőfi (né Petrovics; Slovak: Alexander Petrovič; Serbian: Александар Петровић; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 26

View profile Photo (modified): Soma Orlai Petrich · Public domain

1830 · 195 yrs

Isma'il Pasha

Isma'il Pasha (Arabic: إسماعيل باشا Ismā‘īl Bāshā; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 64

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

ÉL

1838 · 187 yrs

Émile Loubet

Émile François Loubet (French:; 30 December 1838 – 20 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906. Trained in law, he became mayor of Montélimar, where he was noted as a forceful orator.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 90

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1869 · 156 yrs

Henri Matisse

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (French:; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 84

View profile Photo (modified): Carl Van Vechten · Public domain

1877 · 148 yrs

Viktor Dyk

Viktor Dyk (Czech pronunciation:; 31 December 1877 – 14 May 1931) was a nationalist Czech poet, prose writer, playwright, politician and political writer. He was sent to jail during the First World War for opposing the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 148

View profile Photo (modified): Studio of Jan Nepomuk Langhans · Public domain

1880 · 145 yrs

George Marshall

General of the Army George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American military officer and diplomat.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 145

View profile Photo (modified): NASA on The Commons · No restrictions

1898 · 127 yrs

Umm Kulthum

Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi (4 May 1904 – 3 February 1975), known by her stage name Umm Kulthum, was an Egyptian singer and film actress. She was given the honorific title Kawkab el-Sharq (Egyptian Arabic: كوكب الشرق, lit. 'Planet of the East').

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 127

View profile Photo (modified): Production company · Public domain

1908 · 117 yrs

Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 1908 – 20 September 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lviv at the outbreak of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MediaWould be 117

View profile Photo (modified): Rob Bogaerts for Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 31

Famous deaths21

AD 192 · 1833 yrs

Commodus

Commodus (Latin:; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 31

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

1556 · 469 yrs

Pontormo

Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (IPA:; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (IPA:), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Giorgio Vasari · Public domain

1691 · 334 yrs

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle (25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish chemist, alchemist, physicist, theologian, and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Johann Kerseboom · Public domain

1705 · 320 yrs

Catherine of Braganza

Catherine of Braganza (25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 21 May 1662 to 6 February 1685, through her marriage to Charles II of England. After his death, Catherine returned to Portugal and served as regent for her brother Peter II in 1701, and again in 1704–1705.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Peter Lely · Public domain

1719 · 306 yrs

John Flamsteed

John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, Catalogus Britannicus, and a star atlas called Atlas Coelestis, both published posthumously.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Gibson · Public domain

1864 · 161 yrs

George M. Dallas

George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 11th vice president of the United States from 1845 to 1849. He also served as the mayor of Philadelphia from 1828 to 1829, and as the U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom from 1856 to 1861.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 72

View profile Photo (modified): Mathew Brady · CC0

1872 · 153 yrs

Aleksis Kivi

Aleksis Kivi (Finnish pronunciation:; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers), published in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 play, Nummisuutarit (Heath Cobblers).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 38

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

1877 · 148 yrs

Gustave Courbet

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (UK: KOOR-bay; US: koor-BAY; French:; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar · Public domain

1882 · 143 yrs

Léon Gambetta

Léon Gambetta (French pronunciation:; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 44

View profile Photo (modified): Étienne Carjat · Public domain

1905 · 120 yrs

Aleksandr Popov

Alexander Stepanovich Popov (sometimes spelled Popoff; Russian: Александр Степанович Попов; 16 March 1859 – 13 January 1906) was a Russian physicist who was one of the first people to invent a radio receiving device.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 46

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

1936 · 89 yrs

Miguel de Unamuno

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo ( OO-nə-MOO-noh, Spanish:; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher and academic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 72

View profile Photo (modified): Agence de presse Meurisse · Public domain

1950 · 75 yrs

Karl Renner

Karl Renner (14 December 1870 – 31 December 1950) was an Austrian politician and jurist of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Theodor Bauer (-1931) · Public domain

Showing 12 of 21

Events5

1944 · 81 yrs

Operation Nordwind

Operation Northwind (German: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in the Battle of the Bulge, which by late December 1944 had decisively turned against the German forces.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1981 · 44 yrs

Brain in a vat

In philosophy, the brain in a vat (BIV) is a scenario used in a variety of thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of human conceptions of knowledge, reality, truth, mind, consciousness, and meaning.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Science

1992 · 33 yrs

Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 31 December 1992, was the self-determined partition of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1994 · 31 yrs

Battle of Grozny

The First Battle of Grozny was the Russian Army's invasion and subsequent conquest of the Chechen capital, Grozny, during the early months of the First Chechen War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2015 · 10 yrs

New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany

During the 2015–2016 celebrations of New Year's Eve in several German cities, a large number of sexual assaults occurred. Approximately 1,200 women were reported to have been sexually assaulted, especially in the city of Cologne.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

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