On this day in history

October 8

31 births · 15 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

114

First Balkan War

114 years ago

Born this day

1949

Sigourney Weaver

Turns 77

Photo (modified): Desmond Herzfelder · CC BY 4.0

Oldest record

1575th

Council of Chalcedon

event anniversary

Famous births31

1585 · 441 yrs

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz (German:; 18 October 1585 – 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of the 17th century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 87

View profile Photo (modified): Christoph Spätner · Public domain

1850 · 176 yrs

Henry Louis Le Châtelier

Henry Louis Le Chatelier (French pronunciation:; 8 October 1850 – 17 September 1936) was a French chemist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He devised Le Chatelier's principle, used by chemists to predict the effect a changing condition has on a system in chemical equilibrium.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 85

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

1864 · 162 yrs

Branislav Nušić

Branislav Nušić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранислав Нушић, pronounced; 20 October 1864 – 19 January 1938) was a Serbian playwright, satirist, essayist, novelist. Nušić was the founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Creator:Milan Jovanović · Public domain

1873 · 153 yrs

Ejnar Hertzsprung

Ejnar Hertzsprung (Danish:; 8 October 1873 – 21 October 1967) was a Danish chemist and astronomer. He is best remembered for his role in developing the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of stars.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 94

View profile Photo (modified): The Göttingen Observatory photo, courtesy Hartmut Grosser. · Public domain

1883 · 143 yrs

Otto Heinrich Warburg

Otto Heinrich Warburg (German pronunciation:,; 8 October 1883 – 1 August 1970) was a German physiologist, medical doctor, and Nobel laureate. He served as an officer in the elite Uhlans (cavalry) during the First World War, and was awarded the Iron Cross (1st Class) for bravery.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 143

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1895 · 131 yrs

Zog I of Albania

Zog I (born Ahmed Muhtar Bey Zogolli; 8 October 1895 – 9 April 1961) was an Albanian statesman and aristocrat who served as the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's youngest ever prime minister (1922–1924), then as president (1925–1928), and finally as king (1928–1939).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 131

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1895 · 131 yrs

Juan Perón

Juan Domingo Perón (UK:, US:, Spanish:; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and politician who was the 29th and 40th president of Argentina, serving from 1946 to his overthrow in 1955, and from 1973 until his death in 1974.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 131

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

1917 · 109 yrs

Rodney Robert Porter

Rodney Robert Porter (8 October 1917 – 6 September 1985) was a British biochemist and Nobel laureate.

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ScienceWould be 109

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1918 · 108 yrs

Jens Christian Skou

Jens Christian Skou (Danish pronunciation:; 8 October 1918 – 28 May 2018) was a Danish biochemist and Nobel laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 108

View profile Photo (modified): Lars Kruse · CC BY-SA 2.5

1919 · 107 yrs

Kiichi Miyazawa

Kiichi Miyazawa (宮澤喜一, Miyazawa Kiichi; 8 October 1919 – 28 June 2007) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1991 to 1993. Born in Tokyo, Miyazawa graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a law degree, and in 1942 joined the Ministry of Finance.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 107

View profile Photo (modified): 内閣官房内閣広報室 · CC BY 4.0

1920 · 106 yrs

Frank Herbert

Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was an American science-fiction author, best known for his 1965 novel Dune and its five sequels.

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LiteratureWould be 106

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

1927 · 99 yrs

César Milstein

César Milstein, CH, FRS (8 October 1927 – 24 March 2002) was an Argentine biochemist in the field of antibody research. Milstein shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Niels Kaj Jerne and Georges J. F. Köhler for developing the hybridoma technique for the production of monoclonal antibodies.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 99

View profile Photo (modified): original file: Diario La Nueva Provincia de Bahía Blanca derivative work: Rexmania · Public domain

Showing 12 of 31

Famous deaths15

1735 · 291 yrs

Yongzheng Emperor

The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, personal name Yinzhen, was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): anonymous · Public domain

1754 · 272 yrs

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and judge known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His famous novels include Shamela (1741), Joseph Andrews (1742), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) and Amelia (1751).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): William Hogarth / Henry Fielding · CC0

1803 · 223 yrs

Vittorio Alfieri

Count Vittorio Amedeo Alfieri (also US:; Italian:; 16 January 1749 – 8 October 1803) was an Italian playwright and poet, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy." He wrote nineteen tragedies, sonnets, satires, a notable autobiography, and translated Virgil and other works from Latin and Greek.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): François-Xavier Fabre · Public domain

1869 · 157 yrs

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain

1910 · 116 yrs

Maria Konopnicka

Maria Konopnicka (Polish pronunciation:; née Wasiłowska; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including Jan Sawa.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Aleksander Regulski · Public domain

1936 · 90 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

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1945 · 81 yrs

Felix Salten

Felix Salten (German:; born Siegmund Salzmann; 6 September 1869 – 8 October 1945) was an Austrian author and literary critic. His most famous work is Bambi, a Life in the Woods, which was adapted into an animated feature film, Bambi, by Walt Disney Productions in 1942.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 78

View profile Photo (modified): Ferdinand Schmutzer · Public domain

1967 · 59 yrs

Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 143

View profile Photo (modified): Presumably Yousuf Karsh · Public domain

1970 · 56 yrs

Jean Giono

Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 131

View profile Photo (modified): Inconnu. Collection AAJG. · Public domain

1973 · 53 yrs

Gabriel Marcel

Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889 – 8 October 1973) was a French philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist. The author of over a dozen books and at least thirty plays, Marcel's work focused on the modern individual's struggle in a technologically dehumanizing society.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 136

View profile Photo (modified): Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo · CC0

1982 · 44 yrs

Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker

Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker (born Philip John Baker; 1 November 1889 – 8 October 1982) was a British politician, diplomat, academic, athlete, and renowned campaigner for disarmament.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 136

View profile Photo (modified): Howard Coster · Public domain

1986 · 40 yrs

Megumu Tamura

Megumu Tamura (田村恵, Tamura Megumu; January 10, 1927 – October 8, 1986) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 99

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Showing 12 of 15

Events5

AD 451 · 1575 yrs

Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon (Latin: Concilium Chalcedonense) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1856 · 170 yrs

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War (simplified Chinese: 第二次鸦片战争; traditional Chinese: 第二次鴉片戰爭), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War, was fought between the United Kingdom and France against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1871 · 155 yrs

Great Chicago Fire

The Great Chicago Fire burned in Chicago, Illinois, United States, during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed 17,000 structures across roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2), and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

1912 · 114 yrs

First Balkan War

The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro) against the Ottoman Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2005 · 21 yrs

2005 Kashmir earthquake

On 8 October 2005, at 08:50:39 PKT, a Mw 7.6 earthquake struck the Azad Kashmir region in northern Pakistan. Its epicenter was located in the tehsil of Patikka, near the city of Muzaffarabad.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

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