October 11

Events
Up to 1900
1138 1138 Aleppo earthquake: A massive earthquake destroys much of Aleppo, Syria.
1142 A peace treaty between the Jin Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty is formally ratified when a Jin Dynasty envoy arrives at the Song court.
1531 Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
1634 A flood disaster kills 15,000 people in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1649 After a 10-day siege, the English New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell storms the town of Wexford, Ireland - 2,000 Irish troops and 1,500 civilians are killed.
1727 King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned king and queen.
1737 Calcutta is struck by an earthquake, killing around 300,000 people.
1746 War of Austrian Succession: The French defeat an army consisiting of Austrians, Dutch and British troops.
1767 Surveying for the Mason-Dixon line, separating Maryland and Pennsylvania, is completed.
1776 American War of Independence: In the Battle of Valcou, British forces destroy most United States Navy ships.
1797 French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captures eleven Dutch Navy ships without any losses in the Battle of Camperdown.
1809 Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies in mysterious circumstances.
1833 A big demonstration at the gates of the legislature of Buenos Aires forces the ousting of governor Juan Ramon Balcarce and his replacement with Juan Jose Viamonte.
1852 The University of Sydney, Australia is inaugurated.
1864 Campina Grande, Brazil becomes a city.
1890 In Washington, DC, the group Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
1899 The Second Boer War erupts between the United Kingdom and the Boers of Transvaal and the Orange Free State in present-day South Africa.
1901 2000
1906 The San Francisco school board orders Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools (different schools from White American students), sparking a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan.
1910 Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to fly in an airplane.
1912 First Balkan War: The Greek army liberates the city of Kozani.
1918 The San Fermin earthquake hits Puerto Rico.
1941 Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
1942 World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - In northwest Guadalcanal, US troops intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
1949 Wilhelm Pieck is elected the first, and only, President of East Germany.
1954 Frist Indochina War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
1957 M.I.T. scientists calculate Sputnik's booster rocket's orbit.
1958 NASA launches the Pioneer 1 lunar probe, which falls back to Earth and burns up.
1963 West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, aged 87, submits his resignation.
1968 NASA launches the Apollo 7 mission; Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham on board.
1975 Saturday Night Live is first broadcast.
1982 The Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, is salvaged near Portsmouth, England.
1984 On board the Space Shuttle Challenger, Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.
1984 An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-54 airplane crashes into maintenance vehicles in Omsk, Siberia, killing 178 people.
1986 Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan meet for talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.
1987 German politician Uwe Barschel is found dead in his hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland.
1996 A wood lorry and a school bus collide in Jogeva County, Estonia, killing 8 children.
2000 The 100th Space Shuttle mission launches, with the Space Shuttle Discovery.
From 2001
2002 7 people are killed in a bomb attack on a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland.
2006 A small aircraft piloted by baseball player Cory Lidle crashes into a residential building (a building where people live) in New York City, killing both Lidle and his flight instructor, with 21 people being injured.
2008 Austrian far-right politician Jorg Haider is killed in a car crash.
2012 The UN designates this the first International Day of the Girl Child.
2013 The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons wins the Nobel Peace Prize, the second time in a row that an organization has won the prize outright.
2013 At least 30 people die when a boat carrying them from North Africa gets into trouble off Lampedusa, in the Mediterranean Sea, just over a week after over 300 people are killed in a similar accident there.
2014 Charles Michel becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, replacing Elio Di Rupo.
2019 Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Births
Up to 1900
1335 Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1408)
1616 Andreas Gryphius, German poet (d. 1664)
1661 Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (d. 1742)
1671 King Frederick IV of Denmark (d. 1730)
1672 Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian diplomat (d. 1742)
1675 Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (d. 1729)
1738 Arthur Phillip, British admiral, Governor of New South Wales (d. 1814)
1739 Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader and statesman (d. 1791)
1755 Fausto Elhuyar, Spanish chemist (d. 1833)
1758 Hermann Wilhelm Olbers, German physician and astronomer (d. 1840)
1788 Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
1806 Alexander Karadordevic, Prince of Serbia (d. 1886)
1814 Jean Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1888)
1815 Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian-born adventurer (d. 1881)
1821 George Williams, English founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
1844 Henry Heinz, American food manufacturer (d. 1916)
1846 Carlos Pellegrini, President of Argentina (d. 1906)
1863 Louis Cyr, famous Canadian strongman (d. 1912)
1865 Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian philologist and author (d. 1926)
1871 Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader (d. 1943)
1872 Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
1872 Emily Davison, British Women's Rights activist (d. 1913)
1876 Paul Masson, French cyclist (d. 1944)
1879 Ernst Mally, Austrian philosopher (d. 1944)
1881 Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist
1881 Lewis Fry Richardson, British meteorologist (d. 1953)
1884 Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
1884 Eleanor Roosevelt, American human rights activist, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
1884 Sig Ruman, American actor (d. 1967)
1885 Francois Mauriac, French writer (d. 1970)
1885 Alfred Haar, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1933)
1887 Willie Hoppe, American billiards champion (d. 1959)
1891 Kim Seong-Su, Korean journalist and politician (d. 1955)
1895 Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)
1899 Eddie Dyer, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1901 1950
1902 Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1979)
1905 Jean-Marie Villot, French cardinal (d. 1979)
1905 Fred Trump, American businessman, father of Donald Trump (d. 1999)
1911 Juan Carlos Zabala, Argentine long-distance runner (d. 1983)
1913 Joe Simon, American comic book artist and writer (d. 2011)
1918 Jerome Robbins, choreographer (d. 1998)
1919 Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d. 1990)
1919 Kader Firoud, Algerian footballer (d. 2005)
1919 Jean Vander Pyl, voice of Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones cartoon (d. 1999).
1920 James Aloysius Hickey, American cardinal (d. 2004)
1920 Edgar Negret, Colombian sculptor (d. 2012)
1924 Mal Whitfield, American runner (d. 2015)
1925 Elmore Leonard, American novelist (d. 2013)
1926 Jean Alexander, English actress (d. 2016)
1926 Thich Nhat Wanh, Vietnamese author, monk and poet
1926 Neville Wran, former Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014)
1927 Princess Josephine Charlotte of Belgium (d. 2005)
1927 William Perry, former United States Secretary of Defense
1927 Jim Prior, English politician (d. 2016)
1928 Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Grand Prix driver (d. 1957)
1929 Curtis Amy, American saxophonist (d. 2002)
1929 Raymond Moriyama, Canadian architect
1929 Liselotte Pulver, Swiss actress
1930 Ronnie Simpson, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
1932 Dottie West, country music singer (d. 1991)
1936 C. Gordon Fullerton, American astronaut (d. 2013)
1937 Bobby Charlton, English footballer
1937 Jaan Kundla, Estonian politician
1939 Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (d. 2018)
1940 Pouri Banayi, Iranian actress
1942 Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor, singer, producer, UNICEF Ambassador.
1942 Richard Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton, British academic and politician
1943 John Nettles, British actor
1943 Ilmar Reepalu, Swedish politician
1946 Sawao Kato, Japanese gymnast
1946 Oba Chandler, American convicted murderer (d. 2011)
1947 Lucas Papademos, Greek economist and former Prime Minister of Greece
1947 Al Atkins, English singer-songwriter (Judas Priest)
1948 Cecilia, Spanish singer (d. 1976)
1948 Peter Turkson, Ghanaian cardinal
1949 Daryl Hall, musician
1950 Robert Pugh, Welsh actor
1951 1975
1951 Jean-Jacques Goldman, French pop singer, songwriter
1951 Kim Ja-ok, South Korean actress (d. 2014)
1951 Charles Shyer, American director, producer and writer
1953 David Morse, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1955 Hans-Peter Briegel, German footballer
1956 Nicanor Duarte Frutos, former President of Paraguay
1957 Dawn French, British comedienne
1958 Gregory Dudek, Canadian computer scientist and academic
1959 Allan Little, Scottish BBC correspondent
1961 Steve Young, American football player
1962 Joan Cusack, American actress
1962 Andy McCoy, Finnish-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1963 Jordi Villacampa, Spanish basketball player
1963 Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein of Jordan
1963 Ronny Rosenthal, Israeli footballer
1965 Sean Patrick Flanery, American actor
1965 Juan Ignacio Cirac, Spanish physicist
1966 Luke Perry, American actor (d. 2019)
1966 Todd Snider, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 Daniel Razon, Filipino TV host, singer and minister
1968 Claude Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
1969 Merieme Chadid, Moroccan astronomer
1972 Cherokee Parks, American basketball player
1973 Steven Pressley, Scottish footballer
1975 Orlando Maturana, Colombian footballer
From 1976
1976 Emily Deschanel, American actress
1976 Dominic Aitchison, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1976 Raivo Kotov, Estonian architect
1976 Claudia Black, Australian actress
1977 Ty Wigginton, American baseball player
1979 Bae Doona, South Korean model and actress
1979 Andy Douglas, American professional wrestler
1980 Juan Jose Ribera, Chilean footballer
1981 Beau Brady, Australian actor
1982 Jermaine V. Mitchell, Rap musician
1983 Bradley James, British actor
1983 Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukrainian chess player
1985 Michelle Trachtenberg, actress
1985 Alvaro Fernandez, Uruguayan footballer
1985 Margaret Berger, Norwegian singer
1987 Mike Conley, Jr., American basketball player
1988 Cinthia Fernandez, Argentine acrobat-dancer, actress and model
1988 Omar Gonzalez, American soccer player
1988 Seamus Coleman, Irish footballer
1989 Michelle Wie, American golfer
1991 Jack Garratt, English singer and songwriter
1992 Cardi B, American rapper
1992 Emilia Bottas, Finnish swimmer
1993 Sean Murray, Irish footballer
2001 Daniel Maldini, Italian footballer
Deaths
Up to 1900
1188 Robert I, Count of Dreux (b. 1123)
1303 Pope Boniface VIII
1347 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1282)
1424 Jan Zizka, Czech general (b. 1360)
1531 Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (b. 1484)
1705 Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (b. 1663)
1708 Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician, physicist and physician and philosopher (d. 1651)
1779 Casimir Pulaski, Polish fighter for American independence (b. 1745)
1809 Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (suicide) (b. 1774)
1811 Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (b. 1724)
1813 Robert Kerr, Scottish physician, writer and zoologist (b. 1757)
1830 Jose de La Mar, President of Peru (b. 1778)
1852 Ferdinand Eisenstein, mathematician (b. 1823)
1889 James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
1896 Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
1896 Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
1901 2000
1915 Jean-Henri Fabre, French writer, poet and naturalist (b. 1823)
1916 King Otto of Bavaria (b. 1848)
1940 Lluis Companys, Spanish President of Generalitat of Catalonia, (shot) (b. 1882)
1940 Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1860)
1961 Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
1963 Edith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
1963 Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
1965 Dorothea Lange, American photographer (b. 1895)
1965 Walther Stampfli, Swiss politician (b. 1884)
1971 Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1944)
1976 Alfredo Bracchi, Italian writer (b. 1897)
1977 MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (b. 1904)
1987 Uwe Barschel, German politician (b. 1944)
1989 M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1904)
1991 Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (b. 1902)
1993 Jess Thomas, American tenor (b. 1927)
1996 Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)
1996 Renato Russo, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
1998 Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
2000 Donald Dewar, main writer of the Scotland Act and initial First Minister of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1937)
From 2001
2003 Edward Breathitt, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1924)
2004 Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)
2005 Edward Szczepanik, Polish economist and Prime Minister-in-exile (b. 1915)
2006 Cory Lidle, American baseball player (b. 1972)
2007 Werner von Trapp, one of the von Trapp family singers (b. 1915)
2007 Sri Chinmoy, Indian spiritual teacher (b. 1931)
2008 Jorg Haider, Austrian far-right politician (car crash) (b. 1950)
2012 Helmut Haller, German footballer (b. 1939)
2012 Edgar Negret, Colombian sculptor (b. 1920)
2013 Maria de Villota, Spanish racing driver (b. 1980)
2013 Erich Priebke, German Nazi war criminal (b. 1913)
2014 Carmelo Simeone, Argentine footballer (b. 1933)
2014 Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Israeli basketball player (b. 1939)
2015 Steve Mackay, American saxophonist (b. 1949)
2016 Patricia Barry, American actress (b. 1922)
2017 James R. Ford, American politician (b. 1925)
2017 Clifford Husbands, Governor-General of Barbados (b. 1926)
2018 Doug Ellis, English businessman (b. 1924)
2018 Labinot Harbuzi, Swedish footballer (b. 1986)
2018 Dieter Kemper, German cyclist (b. 1937)
2018 Pran Nevile, Indian art historian (b. 1922)
2018 Yoshito Sengoku, Japanese politician (b. 1946)
2018 Hege Skjeie, Norwegian political scientist and columnist (b. 1955)
2018 Greg Stafford, American game designer (b. 1948)
2018 Hebe Uhart, Argentine novelist and columnist (b. 1936)
2019 Sam Bobrick, American television writer (b. 1932)
2019 Robert Forster, American actor (b. 1941)
2019 John Giorno, American poet and performance artist (b. 1936)
2019 Kadri Gopalnath, Indian saxophonist and composer (b. 1949)
2019 Alexei Leonov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (b. 1934)
2020 Hugo Arana, Argentine actor and comedian (b. 1943)
2020 Harold Betters, American jazz trombonist (b. 1928)
2020 Gary F. Jones, American racehorse trainer (b. 1944)
2020 Terry McBrayer, American politician (b. 1937)
2020 Ilya Moiseev, Russian chemist (b. 1929)
2020 Joe Morgan, American baseball player (b. 1943)
2020 John A. Ruthven, American wildlife artist (b. 1924)
Observances
International Day of the Girl Child
National Coming Out Day in some countries
Revolution Day (Republic of Macedonia)
Old Michaelmas (Christianity)
Days of the year