On this day in history

July 16

25 births · 19 deaths · 5 events

Prev Cancer Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Trinity

81 years ago

Born this day

1872

Roald Amundsen

Died aged 55

Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

Oldest record

832nd

Clare of Assisi

birth anniversary

View profile

Famous births25

1194 · 832 yrs

Clare of Assisi

Chiara Offreduccio (16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253), known as Clare of Assisi (sometimes spelled Clara, Clair or Claire; Italian: Chiara d'Assisi), is an Italian saint who was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. Inspired by the teachings of St.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): Simone Martini · Public domain

1486 · 540 yrs

Andrea del Sarto

Andrea del Sarto (US:, UK:, Italian:; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altarpieces, portraitist, draughtsman, and colorist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 44

View profile Photo (modified): Andrea del Sarto · Public domain

1723 · 303 yrs

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1746 · 280 yrs

Giuseppe Piazzi

Giuseppe Piazzi (16 July 1746 – 22 July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe S. Vaiana.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Costanzo Angelini · Public domain

1796 · 230 yrs

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (UK: KORR-oh, US: kə-ROH, kor-OH; French:; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 78

View profile Photo (modified): Victor Lainé · Public domain

1821 · 205 yrs

Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the Mother Church of the Christian Science movement.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 89

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

1831 · 195 yrs

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar

Naser al-Din or Naseroddin Shah Qajar (Persian: ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار, romanized: Nâseroddin Shâh Qâjâr, pronounced; 17 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1860 · 166 yrs

Otto Jespersen

Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (Danish:; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who worked in foreign-language pedagogy, historical phonetics, and other areas, but is best known for his description of the grammar of the English language.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Laurberg & Gad · Public domain

1862 · 164 yrs

Ida B. Wells

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MediaDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1872 · 154 yrs

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (UK:, US:; Norwegian:; 16 July 1872 – c. 18 June 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 55

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

1888 · 138 yrs

Frits Zernike

Frederik "Frits" Zernike (Dutch:; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel foundation · Public domain

1896 · 130 yrs

Trygve Lie

Trygve Halvdan Lie ( LEE, Norwegian:; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Norwegian government in exile in London from 1940 to 1945.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 130

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

Showing 12 of 25

Famous deaths19

1216 · 810 yrs

Innocent III

Pope Innocent III (Latin: Innocentius III; born Lotario de' Conti di Segni; 1160/1161 – 16 July 1216) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death in 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): Carlo Raso · Public domain

1557 · 469 yrs

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves (German: Anna von Kleve; 28 June or 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was a German princess who briefly became Queen of England in 1540 as the fourth wife of Henry VIII, from their marriage on 6 January until its annulment on 12 July.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 42

View profile Photo (modified): Hans Holbein the Younger · Public domain

1857 · 169 yrs

Pierre-Jean de Béranger

Pierre-Jean de Béranger (French pronunciation:; 19 August 1780 – 16 July 1857) was a prolific French poet and chansonnier (songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 76

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

1882 · 144 yrs

Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Ann Lincoln (née Todd; December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Mary_Todd_Lincoln2.jpg : Mathew Brady derivative work: Materialscientist ( talk ) · Public domain

1896 · 130 yrs

Edmond de Goncourt

Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (pronounced; 26 May 1822 – 16 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar · Public domain

1915 · 111 yrs

Ellen G. White

Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author, and was both the prophet and a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 87

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

1953 · 73 yrs

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (27 July 1870 – 16 July 1953) was a French-English writer and political activist. Belloc was considered one of the most versatile authors of the 20th century, producing essays on history, politics and economics as well as poetry, travelogues and satire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): T. & R. Annan & Sons · Public domain

1985 · 41 yrs

Heinrich Böll

Heinrich Theodor Böll (German:; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post–World War II writers, Böll received the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 108

View profile Photo (modified): Hoffmann, Harald · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1989 · 37 yrs

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan (German:; born Heribert Adolf Ernst Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 118

View profile Photo (modified): Bilsen, Joop van / Anefo, derivative work Lämpel · CC0

1994 · 32 yrs

Julian Seymour Schwinger

Julian Seymour Schwinger (February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was an American theoretical physicist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 108

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel foundation · Public domain

1999 · 27 yrs

John F. Kennedy Jr.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), also referred to as JFK Jr., was an American businessman, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LawWould be 65

View profile Photo (modified): John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

2003 · 23 yrs

Celia Cruz

Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname La Guarachera de Cuba.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): Ibrahim Arce (Narcy Studios photographer), most likely · Public domain

Showing 12 of 19

Events5

1212 · 814 yrs

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (Arabic: معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the history of medieval Spain.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1918 · 108 yrs

Execution of the Romanov family

Members of the Romanov family–the former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra, and their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei–were shot and stabbed to death by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

1945 · 81 yrs

Trinity

Trinity was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. Mountain War Time (11:29:21 GMT) on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1950 · 76 yrs

Uruguay v Brazil 1950

The match between Uruguay and Brazil was the decisive match of the final stage at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. It was played at the Maracanã Stadium in the then-capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, on 16 July 1950.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2017 · 9 yrs

2017 British Grand Prix

The 2017 British Grand Prix (formally known as the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 16 July 2017 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

Nearby dates

Born on July 16? Find your birthday matches →

Share July 16

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 July 16, 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.