October 16

Events
Up to 1950
456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
690 - Empress Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire.
1590 - Composer Carlo Gesualdo murders his wife, Donna Maria d'Avalos and her lover Fabrizio Carafa, the Duke of Andria, at the Palazzo San Saverio in Naples.
1780 - Great Hurricane of 1780 devastates the Caribbean.
1781 - George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia, after the Siege of Yorktown.
1793 - Marie Antoinette is executed on the guillotine.
1813 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Leipzig between Napoleon Bonaparte and the forces of the Sixth Coalition.
1834 - Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.
1843 - William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers.
1846 - William T. G. Morton demonstrates anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
1859 - John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).
1875 - Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
1905 - Partition of Bengal in India.
1909 - William Howard Taft and Porfirio Diaz hold the first summit meeting between Presidents of the United States and Mexico.
1916 - In Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States.
1923 - The Walt Disney Company is founded.
1934 - Chinese Communists begin the Long March.
1939 - World War II: First attack on British territory by the German Luftwaffe.
1940 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.
1945 - The Food and Agriculture Organization is founded in Quebec City.
1946 - Execution of Nazi war criminals who were sentenced in the Nuremberg Trials.
1949 - East Germany and the Soviet Union form diplomatic relations.
1951 2000
1951 - Pakistan's Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated.
1962 - John F. Kennedy is shown photographs of military sites in Cuba.
1963 - Ludwig Erhard is chosen to succeed Konrad Adenauer as Chancellor of Germany.
1964 - The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon.
1964 - Leonid Brezhnev is inaugurated as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with Alexei Kosygin becoming Premier.
1968 - At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked off the US team for their part in the Black Power Salute.
1970 - In response to the October Crisis, Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act.
1970 - The University of Augsburg in Bavaria opens.
1973 - Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are announced as the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
1975 - Rahima Banu, a two-year-old girl from Bangladesh, is the last person known to be infected with naturally-occurring smallpox.
1978 - Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II.
1978 - Wanda Rutkiewicz becomes the first person from Poland, and the first European woman, to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
1984 - Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1984 - The British TV series The Bill is first shown.
1986 - Reinhold Messner reaches the top of Lhotse in the Himalayas with Hans Kammerlander. Messner becomes the first person to climb all the mountains over 8000 metres high.
1987 - The southern part of the United Kingdom is hit by a major storm which causes a lot of damage, especially with fallen trees, and kills 18 people.
1991 - George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 people.
1994 - The majority of voters in Finland support entry into the EU.
1995 - The Skye Bridge, linking the Isle of Skye to mainland Scotland, is opened.
1995 - Million-Man March on Washington, DC.
1996 - 84 people are crushed to death at the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala.
1998 - Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London after Spain issued an arrest warrant for murder.
From 2001
2002 - The Bibliotheca Alexandrina library is opened in Alexandria, Egypt.
2006 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Hawaii, causing widespread damage.
2012 - Planet Alpha Centauri Bb is discovered orbiting a star outside the Solar System.
2013 - Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashes on approach to Pakse International Airport in Laos, killing 49 people.
2013 - Erna Solberg becomes Prime Minister of Norway, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg. Solberg is Norway's second female Prime Minister, after Gro Harlem Brundtland.
2013 - US politicians agree to end the government shutdown, and narrowly avoid the United States being unable to repay its debts.
2017 - The remainder of Hurricane Ophelia hits the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
2017 - Maltese blogger and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia is murdered in a car bomb attack.
2020 - Murder of Samuel Paty of Islamist terrorism happens.
Births
Up to 1800
1396 - William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English soldier (d. 1450)
1430 - King James II of Scotland (d. 1460)
1483 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (d. 1542)
1535 - Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (d. 1585)
1620 - Pierre Paul Puget, French painter and sculptor (d. 1694)
1663 - Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (d. 1736)
1679 - Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (d. 1745)
1710 - Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (d. 1790)
1714 - Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (d. 1795)
1726 - Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (d. 1801)
1729 - Pierre van Maldere, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1768)
1751 - Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen of Prussia (d. 1805)
1752 - Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, German theologian (d. 1827)
1754 - Morgan Lewis, Governor of New York (1804-07) (d. 1844)
1758 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)
1760 - Jonathan Dayton, American politician (d. 1824)
1762 - Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina (1804-06) and U.S. Secretary of Navy (1809-12) (d. 1816)
1789 - William Burton, Governor of Delaware (1859-63) (d. 1866)
1795 - William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and writer (d. 1876)
1801 1900
1802 - Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
1804 - Benjamin Russell, American artist (d. 1885)
1806 - William Pitt Fessenden, U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1864-65) (d. 1869)
1815 - Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
1819 - Austin F. Pike, American politician from New Hampshire (d. 1886)
1831 - Lucy Stanton, American abolitionist (d. 1910)
1840 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1900)
1841 - Prince Hirobumi Ito, Japanese governor of Korea and 1st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1909)
1847 - Maria Pia of Savoy (d. 1911)
1849 - George Washington Williams, American jurist, historian and politician (d. 1891)
1854 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900)
1854 - Karl Kautsky, Czech-born German theoretician (d. 1938)
1855 - Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (d. 1931)
1861 - J. B. Bury, Irish historian (d. 1927)
1863 - Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)
1876 - Jimmy Sinclair, South African cricketer, rugby union and soccer player (d. 1913)
1878 - Eugenio Canfari, Italian sports official (d. 1962)
1878 - Miguel Llobet, Catalan guitarist and composer (d. 1938)
1878 - Maxie Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
1884 - Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (d. 1916)
1885 - Dorando Pietri, Italian marathon runner (d. 1942)
1886 - David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1973)
1886 - Armin T. Wegner, German poet (d. 1978)
1888 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer (d. 1953)
1890 - Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
1890 - Maria Goretti, Italian murder victim and saint (d. 1902)
1895 - Ling Hau Shang, Convicted Triad Leader (d. 1954)
1897 - Louis de Cazenave, French World War I veteran (d. 2008)
1900 - Primo Conti, Italian painter and poet (d. 1988)
1901 1950
1901 - Federico Munerati, Italian footballer (d. 1980)
1903 - Big Joe Williams, American blues guitarist (d. 1982)
1905 - Ernst Kuzorra, German footballer (d. 1990)
1908 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian political leader (d. 1985)
1912 - Clifford Hansen, American politician, Governor of Wyoming (d. 2009)
1914 - Mohammed Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan (d. 2007)
1918 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (d. 1990)
1918 - Geori Boue, French soprano (d. 2017)
1918 - Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician (d. 2013)
1918 - Henri Vernes, Belgian writer and comics creator
1922 - Max Bygraves, English singer, songwriter and entertainer (d. 2012)
1923 - Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby commentator (d. 2010)
1923 - Linda Darnell, American actress (d. 1965)
1925 - Angela Lansbury, British-born actress
1927 - Gunter Grass, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1928 - Mary Daly, American philosopher, theologian and professor (d. 2010)
1928 - Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress (d. 2016)
1929 - Fernanda Montenegro, Brazilian actress
1929 - Ivor Allchurch, Welsh footballer (d. 1997)
1930 - John Polkinghorne, English physicist, theologian and priest
1930 - Carmen Sevilla, Spanish actress and singer
1931 - Valery Klimov, Ukrainian-Russian violinist
1931 - Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator (d. 2012)
1932 - Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, German politician and manager (d. 1991)
1932 - Gudbergur Bergsson, Icelandic writer
1936 - Akira Machida, Japanese judge, 15th Chief Justice of Japan
1936 - Peter Bowles, English actor
1936 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
1938 - Nico, German musician, fashion model and actress (d. 1988)
1940 - Ivan Della Mea, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
1941 - Baddeley Devesi, 1st Governor-General of the Solomon Islands (d. 2012)
1941 - Tim McCarver, American baseball player and sportscaster
1941 - Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, English computer programmer and politician
1943 - Fred Turner, Canadian bassist (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
1946 - Suzanne Somers, American actress
1947 - Bob Weir, American singer and musician
1947 - Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player
1947 - David Zucker, American director and screenwriter
1950 - Angry Grandpa, American internet personality (d. 2017)
1951 1975
1952 - Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton, English politician
1954 - Corinna Harfouch, German actress
1954 - Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean, Scottish politician
1956 - Marin Alsop, American conductor
1958 - Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and writer
1959 - Tessa Munt, English politician
1959 - John Whittingdale, English politician
1960 - Bob Mould, American singer and guitarist
1960 - Cressida Dick, English police officer, Head of the London Metropolitan Police
1960 - Guy LeBlanc, Canadian keyboardist and composer (d. 2015)
1961 - Yahiro Kazama, Japanese footballer
1962 - Manute Bol, Sudanese basketball player (d. 2010)
1962 - Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian opera singer (d. 2017)
1962 - Flea, Australian-American musician (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
1964 - James Thompson, American-Finnish author (d. 2014)
1965 - Steve Lamacq, British DJ
1965 - Tom Tolbert, American basketball player
1966 - Stefan Reuter, German footballer
1967 - Davina McCall, English television presenter
1968 - Francesco Libetta, Italian pianist, composer and conductor
1970 - Mehmet Scholl, German footballer
1972 - Adrianne Frost, American comedienne, actress and author
1972 - Tomas Lindberg, Swedish singer-songwriter
1973 - Justin Credible, American wrestler
1973 - Thomas Myhre, Norwegian footballer
1974 - Paul Kariya, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 - Brynjar Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer
1975 - Kellie Martin, American actress and director
From 1976
1977 - John Mayer, American singer-songwriter
1979 - Erin Brown, American actress, model, movie maker and musician
1982 - Prithotraj Sukumaran, Indian actor, producer and singer
1982 - Cristian Riveros, Paraguayan footballer
1982 - Frederic Michalak, French rugby player
1983 - Remi Ochlik, French photographer (d. 2012)
1983 - Philipp Kohlschreiber, German tennis player
1983 - Loreen, Swedish singer
1984 - Shayne Ward, English singer, winner of the 2005 X Factor
1985 - Verena Sailer, German sprinter
1985 - Casey Stoner, Australian motorcycle racer
1986 - Inna, Romanian singer
1986 - Craig Pickering, British sprinter
1988 - Zoltan Stieber, Hungarian footballer
1988 - Max Thieriot, American actor
1988 - Tumua Anae, American water polo player
1989 - Dan Biggar, Welsh rugby player
1990 - Johanna Gudrun Jonsdottir (Yohanna), Icelandic singer
1990 - Amina Sato, Japanese singer (AKB48)
1991 - Jedward, Irish pop singers
1992 - Viktorija Golubic, Swiss tennis player
1992 - Bryce Harper, American baseball player
1994 - Amelia Lily, English singer
1997 - Naomi Osaka, Japanese tennis player
2003 - Princess Kritika of Nepal, Nepalese princess
Deaths
Up to 1900
640 - Saint Gall, monk and missionary (b. around 550)
1333 - Antipope Nicholas V (b. 1260)
1355 - Louis, King of Sicily (b. 1337)
1396 - Agnolo Gaddi, Italian painter
1553 - Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (b. 1472)
1591 - Pope Gregory XIV (b. 1535)
1628 - Francois de Malherbe, French poet (b. 1555)
1655 - Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician and theorist (b. 1591)
1730 - Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French-American explorer and politician (b. 1658)
1750 - Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German composer (b. 1687)
1755 - Gerard Majella, Italian saint (b. 1725)
1791 - Grigory Potemkin, Russian general and statesman (b. 1739)
1793 - Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (b. 1755)
1793 - John Hunter, Scottish anatomist (b. 1728)
1796 - Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b. 1726)
1799 - Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian activist (b. 1760)
1822 - Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian ballet dancer (b. 1724)
1888 - John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
1901 2000
1913 - Ralph Rose, American athlete (b. 1885)
1937 - Jean de Brunhoff, French poet and playwright (b. 1899)
1944 - Jon Sveinsson, Icelandic writer (b. 1857)
1946 - Nazi war criminals executed following Nuremberg trials:
Joachim von Ribbentrop, German politician (b. 1893)
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi leader (b. 1892)
Julius Streicher, German propagandist (b. 1884)
Alfred Jodl, German military officer (b. 1890)
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, SS officer (b. 1903)
1947 - Jean de Brunhoff, French poet and playwright (b. 1899)
1951 - Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1895)
1952 - Ghulam Bhik Nairang, Indian-Pakistani Muslim leader and poet (b. 1876)
1954 - Jules Rimet, French football administrator (b. 1873)
1959 - George Marshall, United States Secretary of State (b. 1880)
1962 - Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (b. 1884)
1966 - George O'Hara, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1899)
1971 - Robin Boyd, Australian architect (b. 1919)
1973 - Gene Krupa, American drummer and composer (b. 1909)
1975 - Vittorio Gui, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1885)
1981 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
1982 - Mario del Monaco, Italian tenor (b. 1915)
1983 - Jakob Gotovac, Croatian composer (b. 1895)
1983 - Willi Ritschard, Swiss politician (b. 1918)
1989 - Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1915)
1990 - Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (b. 1919)
1991 - Ole Beich, Danish bass player (b. 1955)
1992 - Shirley Booth, American actress and singer (b. 1898)
1997 - James Michener, American writer (b. 1907)
From 2001
2003 - Laszlo Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
2004 - Pierre Salinger, White House Press Secretary (b. 1925)
2006 - Valentin Paniagua Corazao, President of Peru (b. 1936)
2007 - Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)
2007 - Tose Proeski, Macedonian singer (b. 1981)
2010 - Barbara Billingsley, American actress (b. 1915)
2011 - Dan Wheldon, British auto racer (b. 1978)
2012 - Eddie Yost, American baseball player (b. 1926)
2013 - Ed Lauter, American actor (b. 1938)
2014 - John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English peer (b. 1926)
2014 - Patrick Paul D'Souza, Indian bishop (b. 1928)
2014 - Sumi Haru, American actress (b. 1939)
2014 - Tim Hauser, American musician (b. 1941)
2015 - Ralph Andrews, American television producer (b. 1928)
2015 - Francesc de Paula Burguera, Spanish journalist (b. 1928)
2016 - Anthony Foley, Irish rugby player and coach (b. 1973)
2016 - Kigeli V, former King of Rwanda (b. 1936)
2016 - Arsen Pavlov, Russian soldier (b. 1983)
2017 - Roy Dotrice, English actor (b. 1923)
2017 - Sean Hughes, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1965)
2017 - Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese blogger and journalist (b. 1964)
2017 - John Dunsworth, Canadian actor (b. 1946)
Observances
Teacher's Day (Poland, Chile)
World Food Day (FAO)
Air Force Day (Bulgaria)
World Anesthesia Day
Days of the year