On this day in history

July 31

27 births · 21 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

109

Third Battle of Ypres

109 years ago

Born this day

1965

J. K. Rowling

Turns 61

Photo (modified): Daniel Ogren · CC BY 2.0

Oldest record

630th

Philip III the Good

birth anniversary

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Famous births27

1396 · 630 yrs

Philip III the Good

Philip III (31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467), also known as Philip the Good (French: Philippe le Bon; Dutch: Filips de Goede), was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the House of Valois, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): After Rogier van der Weyden · Public domain

1527 · 499 yrs

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death in 1576. A member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, he was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on 24 November 1562.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Workshop of Nicolas Neufchatel · Public domain

1800 · 226 yrs

Friedrich Wöhler

Friedrich Wöhler FRS(For) HonFRSE (German:; 31 July 1800 – 23 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in both organic and inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Rudolph Hoffmann · Public domain

1831 · 195 yrs

Helena Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (née Hahn von Rottenstern; 12 August 1831 – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian and American mystic and writer who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the primary founder of Theosophy as a belief system.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): Unsure · Public domain

1880 · 146 yrs

Premchand

Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (pronounced ), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 146

View profile Photo (modified): Ankur8563 · CC BY-SA 3.0

1901 · 125 yrs

Jean Dubuffet

Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (French pronunciation:; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor of the École de Paris (School of Paris).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): Paolo Monti · CC BY-SA 4.0

1912 · 114 yrs

Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 114

View profile Photo (modified): Bachrach Studios · Public domain

1914 · 112 yrs

Louis de Funès

Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (French:; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. His acting style is remembered for its high-energy performance and his wide range of facial expressions and tics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 112

View profile Photo (modified): Marisa Rastellini (Mondadori Publisher) · Public domain

1918 · 108 yrs

Primo Levi

Primo Michele Levi (Italian:; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 108

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · Public domain

1918 · 108 yrs

Paul D. Boyer

Paul Delos Boyer (July 31, 1918 – June 2, 2018) was an American biochemist, analytical chemist, and a professor of chemistry at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 108

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

1932 · 94 yrs

John Searle

John Rogers Searle (July 31, 1932 – September 17, 2025) was an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He was the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyWould be 94

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

1933 · 93 yrs

Cees Nooteboom

Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom (Dutch pronunciation:; 31 July 1933 – 11 February 2026) was a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 93

View profile Photo (modified): Hpschaefer www.reserv-art.de · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths21

1556 · 470 yrs

Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; c.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 64

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

1849 · 177 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

1875 · 151 yrs

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Mathew Brady, Retouched by Mmxx · Public domain

1886 · 140 yrs

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Franz Hanfstaengl · Public domain

1900 · 126 yrs

Vladimir Solovyov

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (Russian: Владимир Сергеевич Соловьёв; 28 January 1853 – 13 August 1900) was a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer, and literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): S. Sdobnov · Public domain

1914 · 112 yrs

Jean Jaurès

Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 1859 – 31 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (French:; Occitan: Joan Jaurés), was a French socialist leader.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar · Public domain

1944 · 82 yrs

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – c. 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (UK:, US:; French: ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 126

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

1967 · 59 yrs

Richard Kuhn

Richard Johann Kuhn (German pronunciation:; 3 December 1900 – 31 July 1967) was an Austrian-German biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938 "for his work on carotenoids and vitamins".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 125

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

1972 · 54 yrs

Paul-Henri Spaak

Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (French:; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat, and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknamed "Mr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 127

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

1980 · 46 yrs

Mohammed Rafi

Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of India.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 101

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1993 · 33 yrs

Baudouin I of Belgium

Baudouin (US:; 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of the Congo, before it became independent in 1960 and became the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known from 1971 to 1997 as Zaire).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 96

View profile Photo (modified): Anefo · CC0

2001 · 25 yrs

Poul Anderson

Poul William Anderson ( POH-əl; November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 99

View profile Photo (modified): Slawomir Burzynski (burz[at]poczta.onet.pl) · Public domain

Showing 12 of 21

Events5

1826 · 200 yrs

Russo-Persian War of 1826–28

The Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 was the last major military conflict between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran, which was fought over territorial disputes in the South Caucasus region.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1917 · 109 yrs

Third Battle of Ypres

The Third Battle of Ypres (German: Dritte Flandernschlacht; French: Troisième Bataille des Flandres; Dutch: Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( PASH-ən-dayl), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1991 · 35 yrs

START I

START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2016 · 10 yrs

2016 German Grand Prix

The 2016 German Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland 2016) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 31 July 2016. After a one-year absence, the race returned to the Hockenheimring near Hockenheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, which last held the race in 2014.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2024 · 2 yrs

Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh

On 31 July 2024, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated along with his personal bodyguard in the Iranian capital Tehran by an Israeli attack. Haniyeh was killed in his accommodation in a military-run guesthouse after attending the inauguration ceremony for Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

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