On this day in history

June 15

31 births · 15 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

811

Signing of the Magna Carta

811 years ago

Born this day

1953

Xi Jinping

Turns 73

Oldest record

1103rd

Robert I of France

death anniversary

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Famous births31

1330 · 696 yrs

Edward, the Black Prince

Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father, and his son Richard II therefore succeeded to the throne instead.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 45

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1397 · 629 yrs

Paolo Uccello

Paolo Uccello ( oo-CHEL-oh, Italian:; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian Renaissance painter and mathematician from Florence who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 78

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Photo: Florentine School, Unknown Master, Italian (active late 15th century) ; généralement attribuée à Paolo Uccello · Public domain

1594 · 432 yrs

Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin (UK:, US:, French:; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group of Italian and French collectors.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 71

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Photo: Nicolas Poussin · Public domain

1843 · 183 yrs

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( GREEG; Norwegian:; 15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 64

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Photo: Bergen Public Library Norway from Bergen, Norway · No restrictions

1902 · 124 yrs

Erik Erikson

Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 124

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1914 · 112 yrs

Yuri Andropov

Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (15 June 1914 – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the chairman of the KGB from 1967 until 1982.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 112

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Photo: TASS · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

Herbert Simon

Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 110

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Photo: Rochester Institute of Technology · Public domain

1917 · 109 yrs

John Fenn

John Bennett Fenn (June 15, 1917 – December 10, 2010) was an American analytical chemist who was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002, sharing half of the award with Koichi Tanaka for their work in mass spectrometry (the other half went to Kurt Wüthrich).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 109

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1920 · 106 yrs

Alberto Sordi

Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter. Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the best in commedia all'italiana.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 106

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Photo: Unknown · Public domain

1933 · 93 yrs

Mohammad-Ali Rajai

Mohammad-Ali Rajai (Persian: محمدعلی رجایی; 15 June 1933 – 30 August 1981) was an Iranian politician who served as the president of Iran from 2 August 1981 until his assassination four weeks later.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 93

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1937 · 89 yrs

Anna Hazare

Kisan Baburao "Anna" Hazare (born 15 June 1937) is an Indian social activist who has led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan—the third-highest civilian award—by the Government of India in 1992.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ActivismAge 89

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Photo: AbhiSuryawanshi · CC BY-SA 4.0

1941 · 85 yrs

Harry Nilsson

Harold "Harry" Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer and songwriter known for his versatile tenor range, pioneering use of vocal overdubbing, explorations of the Great American Songbook, and Caribbean fusion sounds.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 85

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Photo: RCA Records · Public domain

Showing 12 of 31

Famous deaths15

AD 923 · 1103 yrs

Robert I of France

Robert I (c. 866 – 15 June 923) was the elected King of West Francia from 922 to 923. Before his election to the throne he was Count of Poitiers, Count of Paris and Marquis of Neustria and Orléans.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 62

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Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1341 · 685 yrs

Andronikos III Palaiologos

Andronikos III Palaiologos (Greek: Ἀνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος, romanized: Andrónikos Doúkās Ángelos Komnēnós Palaiológos; 25 March 1297 – 15 June 1341), commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus, was the Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 44

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Photo: unknown Byzantine period art. · Public domain

1467 · 559 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

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Photo: After Rogier van der Weyden · Public domain

1849 · 177 yrs

James K. Polk

James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of American expansionism and Jacksonian democracy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 53

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Photo: George Peter Alexander Healy · Public domain

1888 · 138 yrs

Frederick III, German Emperor

Frederick III (Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl; 18 October 1831 – 15 June 1888), or Friedrich III, was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days from 9 March 1888 until his death in June that year, during the Year of the Three Emperors.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 56

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Photo: Reichard & Lindener · Public domain

1889 · 137 yrs

Mihai Eminescu

Mihai Eminescu (Romanian pronunciation:; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 39

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Photo: Jan Tomas · Public domain

1938 · 88 yrs

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. He was one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 146

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Photo: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · Public domain

1971 · 55 yrs

Wendell Meredith Stanley

Wendell Meredith Stanley (August 16, 1904 – June 15, 1971) was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel laureate. Stanley's work contributed to lepracidal compounds, diphenyl stereochemistry, and the chemistry of the sterols.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 122

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1991 · 35 yrs

Arthur Lewis

Sir William Arthur Lewis (23 January 1915 – 15 June 1991) was a Saint Lucian economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Lewis remains the only black person to have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 111

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Photo: Ulises Icardi · CC BY-SA 4.0

1992 · 34 yrs

Lev Gumilev

Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev (also Gumilyov; Russian: Лев Николаевич Гумилёв; 1 October 1912 – 15 June 1992) was a Soviet and Russian historian, ethnologist, anthropologist, and translator. He had a reputation for his highly unorthodox theories of ethnogenesis and historiosophy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 114

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Photo: unknown author · Public domain

1996 · 30 yrs

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 109

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Photo: Carl Van Vechten · Public domain

2013 · 13 yrs

Kenneth G. Wilson

Kenneth Geddes "Ken" Wilson (June 8, 1936 – June 15, 2013) was an American theoretical physicist and a pioneer in using computers for studying particle physics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 90

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Photo: The Nobel Prize · CC BY-SA 4.0

Showing 12 of 15

Events5

1215 · 811 yrs

Signing of the Magna Carta

King John agrees to the Magna Carta, limiting royal power and laying foundations for the rule of law.

Politics

1826 · 200 yrs

Auspicious Incident

The Auspicious Incident or Auspicious Event (Ottoman Turkish: وقعۀ خيريّه, romanized: Vak'a-i Hayriyye, lit. 'The Fortunate Event' in Constantinople; Vaka-i Şerriyye, lit. 'Event of Malignity' in the Balkans) was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old janissary corps by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1846 · 180 yrs

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country through partition.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1859 · 167 yrs

Pig War

The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the British–U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island (present-day Canada) and the Washington Territory (present-day State of Washington).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1944 · 82 yrs

Battle of Saipan

The Battle of Saipan was an amphibious assault launched by the United States against the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II between 15 June and 9 July 1944.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

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