On this day in history

September 2

26 births · 16 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

834

Third Crusade

834 years ago

Born this day

1962

Keir Starmer

Turns 64

Photo (modified): Prime Minister's Office · OGL 3

Oldest record

834th

Third Crusade

event anniversary

Famous births26

1778 · 248 yrs

Louis Bonaparte

Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French client state roughly corresponding to the modern-day Netherlands).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Charles Howard Hodges · Public domain

1838 · 188 yrs

Liliʻuokalani

Liliʻuokalani (Hawaiian pronunciation:; Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha; September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893, in a coup that was led…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 79

View profile Photo (modified): James J. Williams / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1839 · 187 yrs

Henry George

Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 58

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

1852 · 174 yrs

Paul Bourget

Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (French:; 2 September 1852 – 25 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): Charles Gallot · Public domain

1877 · 149 yrs

Frederick Soddy

Frederick Soddy FRS (2 September 1877 – 22 September 1956) was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also proved the existence of isotopes of certain radioactive elements.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 149

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

1894 · 132 yrs

Joseph Roth

Moses Joseph Roth (Austrian German:; 2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austro-Hungarian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life Job (1930) and his seminal essay "Juden auf Wanderschaft"…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 132

View profile Photo (modified): s/a · Public domain

1913 · 113 yrs

Bill Shankly

William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the UEFA Cup.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 113

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

1922 · 104 yrs

Arthur Ashkin

Arthur Ashkin (September 2, 1922 – September 21, 2020) was an American scientist and Nobel laureate who worked at Bell Labs.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 104

View profile Photo (modified): Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden · CC BY 2.0

1924 · 102 yrs

Daniel arap Moi

Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( MOH-ee; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 102

View profile Photo (modified): Croes, Rob C. / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

1926 · 100 yrs

Yevgeny Leonov

Yevgeny Pavlovich Leonov (Russian: Евгений Павлович Леонов; 2 September 1926 – 29 January 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor who played main parts in several of the most famous Soviet films, such as Gentlemen of Fortune, Mimino and Striped Trip.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 100

View profile Photo (modified): Igor Gnevashev · CC BY 4.0

1933 · 93 yrs

Mathieu Kérékou

Mathieu Kérékou (French pronunciation:; 2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician and revolutionary who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 93

View profile Photo (modified): Ricardo Stuckert/ABr · CC BY 3.0 br

1934 · 92 yrs

Chuck McCann

Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. His career spanned over 70 years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 92

View profile Photo (modified): Rob DiCaterino · CC BY 2.0

Showing 12 of 26

Famous deaths16

1652 · 374 yrs

Jusepe de Ribera

Jusepe de Ribera (Valencian:; baptised 17 February 1591 – 3 November 1652) was a Spanish painter and printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 61

View profile Photo (modified): Jusepe de Ribera · Public domain

1865 · 161 yrs

William Rowan Hamilton

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made numerous major contributions to algebra, classical mechanics, and optics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 60

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

1910 · 116 yrs

Henri Rousseau

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (French:; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910) was a French post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Dornac · Public domain

1937 · 89 yrs

Pierre de Coubertin

Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (French:; born Pierre de Frédy; 1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937), also known as Pierre de Coubertin and Baron de Coubertin, was a French educator and historian, co-founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and its second president.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph from Bain News Service. · Public domain

1969 · 57 yrs

Ho Chi Minh

Hồ Chí Minh (born Nguyễn Sinh Cung; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho (Bác Hồ) among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese communist revolutionary and statesman who founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 (known as North Vietnam after 1954).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 136

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

1973 · 53 yrs

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and academic philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown photo studio commissioned by Tolkien's students 1925/6 (private communication from Catherine McIlwaine, Tolkien · Public domain

1991 · 35 yrs

Alfonso García Robles

Alfonso García Robles (20 March 1911 – 2 September 1991) was a Mexican diplomat and politician who, in conjunction with Sweden's Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 115

View profile Photo (modified): Marcel Antonisse · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

1992 · 34 yrs

Barbara McClintock

Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 124

View profile Photo (modified): Smithsonian Institution /Science Service; Restored by Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1997 · 29 yrs

Viktor Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl (Austrian German:; 26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997) was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 121

View profile Photo (modified): Prof. Dr. Franz Vesely · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

2001 · 25 yrs

Christiaan Barnard

Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 103

View profile Photo (modified): Eric Koch for Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

2013 · 13 yrs100 Club

Ronald Coase

Ronald Harry Coase (29 December 1910 – 2 September 2013) was a British economist and author. Coase was educated at the London School of Economics, where he was a member of the faculty until 1951.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 115

View profile Photo (modified): University of Chicago Law School · Attribution

2013 · 13 yrs

Frederik Pohl

Frederik George Pohl Jr. (November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", to the 2011 novel All the Lives He Led.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 106

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

Showing 12 of 16

Events5

1192 · 834 yrs

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. For this reason, the Third Crusade is also known as the Kings' Crusade.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1666 · 360 yrs

Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London occurred from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the wall to the west.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

1792 · 234 yrs

September Massacres

The September Massacres were a series of killings and summary executions of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792 from 2 September to 6 September during the French Revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

1945 · 81 yrs

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1945 · 81 yrs

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the printed agreement that formalized the surrender of Japan, marking the end of hostilities in World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

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