September 2

Events 
 Up to 1900 
 44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co–ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
 31 BC – Roman Civil War: Battle of Actium – Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
 1192 – The Third Crusade ends, after a peace agreement Sultan Saladin and Richard I of England.
 1649 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
 1666 – The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral.
 1667 – Street lighting is introduced in Paris.
 1752 – The United Kingdom adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
 1789 – United States Department of the Treasury was founded.
 1792 – During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughtered three Roman Catholic Church bishops and more than two hundred priests.
 1806 – A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457 people.
 1807 – British Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to stop Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon. 70% of the city was destroyed and 2000 citizens were killed.
 1811 – The University of Oslo is founded as The Royal Fredericks University, named after King Frederick VI of Denmark and Norway.
 1859 – A solar super storm affects the electrical telegraph service.
 1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run.
 1864 – American Civil War: Union forces under General William T. Sherman enter Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.
 1867 – Mutsuhito, the Meiji Emperor of Japan marries Ichijo Masako. The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko.
 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces defeat the French armies and take emperor Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner at Sedan.
 1885 – In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners attack their Chinese coworkers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.
 1898 – Battle of Omdurman – British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan.

 1901 – 2000 
 1901 – Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
 1935 – Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: A large hurricane hit the Florida Keys killing 423.
 1939 – Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) ruled by Nazi leader Forster is annexed to Nazi Germany.
 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They arrive three days later.
 1945 – World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
 1945 – Vietnam declares its independence forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).
 1946 – A caretaker government is formed in India, with Jawaharlal Nehru taking Prime Ministerial powers.
 1957 – South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem makes the first–ever state visit to Australia.
 1958 – United States Air Force C–130 A–II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan, Armenia, when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a mission, killing all crew members.
 1960 – First election to Parliament of Central Tibetan Administration.
 1963 – CBS Evening News becomes network television's first half–hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
 1967 – The microstate Principality of Sealand unilaterally declared its independence.
 1969 – The first automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York.
 1970 – NASA cancels two planned Moon missions, Apollo 15 and Apollo 19.
 1973 – France pulls its last troops out of Madagascar.
 1984 – Typhoon Ike kills over 1,400 people.
 1987 – In Moscow, the trial of 19–year–old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May 1987, begins.
 1990 – Transnistria is declared a Soviet republic on its own right. Mikhail Gorbachev declares the move illegal.
 1991 – The United States recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
 1992 – An earthquake in Nicaragua kills 116 people.
 1995 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio. The building was designed by I. M. Pei.
 1995 – Frank Bruno becomes Boxing Heavyweight Champion, defeating Oliver McCall in London.
 1998 – In Canada, pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
 1998 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner carrying Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva. All 229 people on board are killed.
 1998 – A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.

 From 2001 
 2001 – Cartoon Network begins its adult–orientated block, Adult Swim.
 2004 – Resolution 1559: The United Nations Security Council calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon.
 2013 – The new eastern part of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
 2016 – President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov dies aged 78, after several days of speculation over his ill health.
 2018 – National Museum of Brazil fire: The National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro is heavily damaged by fire. Many cultural treasures are lost in the blaze.
 2019 – Sinking of MV Conception: 34 people are killed when the boat "MV Conception" goes on fire and sinks near Santa Cruz, California.

 Births 
 Up to 1900 
 1661 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (d. 1733)
 1675 – William Somerville, English poet (d. 1742)
 1753 – Marie Josephine of Savoy, Italian–born Queen Consort of France (d. 1810)
 1763 – Caroline Schelling, German writer and translator (d. 1809)
 1778 – Louis Bonaparte, King of the Netherlands (d. 1846)
 1798 – Thomas Holliday Higgins, Governor of Maryland (d. 1865)
 1805 – Esteban Echeverria, Argentine writer (d. 1851)
 1810 – Lysander Button, American engineer (d. 1898)
 1810 – William Seymour Tyler, American historian and educator (d. 1897)
 1811 – J. C. Jacobsen, Danish industrialist and philanthropist, founder of the Carlsberg brewery (d. 1887)
 1812 – William Fox, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893)
 1814 – Ernst Curtius, German archaeologist and philologist (d. 1896)
 1820 – Lucretia Hale, American journalist and author (d. 1900)
 1830 – William P. Frye, American politician (d. 1911)
 1838 – Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii (d. 1917)
 1838 – Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Indian/Bengali writer and religious figure (d. 1914)
 1839 – Henry George, American economist (d. 1897)
 1840 – Giovanni Verga, Italian writer (d. 1922)
 1850 – Albert Spalding, American baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (d. 1915)
 1850 – Alfred Pringsheim, German mathematician and art collector (d. 1941)
 1850 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (d. 1919)
 1853 – Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
 1866 – Hiram Johnson, Governor of California (d. 1945)
 1877 – Frederick Soddy, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1956)
 1878 – Ion Dragoumis, Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary (d. 1920)
 1879 – An Jung-geun, Korean assassin of Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910)
 1883 – Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, Austrian archduchess (d. 1963)
 1883 – Rudolf Weigl, Polish biologist (d. 1957)
 1884 – Frank Laubach, American Christian missionary (d. 1970)
 1886 – Warren Brittingham, American soccer player (d. 1962)
 1894 – Joseph Roth, Austrian novelist (d. 1939)
 1898 – Pietro Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (d. 1949)
 1898 – Alfons Gorbach, Chancellor of Austria (d. 1972)

 1901 – 1950 
 1901 – Adolph Rupp, American College basketball coach (d. 1977)
 1904 – Set Svanholm, Swedish tenor (d. 1964)
 1912 – Ingeborg Rapoport, German paediatrician (d. 2017)
 1913 – Israel Gelfand, Russian mathematician (d. 2009)
 1913 – Bill Shankly, Scottish football manager (d. 1981)
 1915 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (d. 2010)
 1917 – Cleveland Amory, writer (d. 1998)
 1918 – Allen Drury, American writer (d. 1998)
 1919 – Marge Champion, American actress, dancer and choreographer
 1922 – Arthur Ashkin, American physicist
 1923 – René Thom, French mathematician (d. 2002)
 1924 – Daniel arap Moi, former President of Kenya
 1925 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
 1925 – Russ Conway, British pianist, composer and singer (d. 2000)
 1926 – Stanley Cavell, American philosopher (d. 2018)
 1926 – Ibrahim Nasir, President of the Maldives (d. 2008)
 1927 – Milo Hamilton, American sportscaster (d. 2015)
 1927 – Francis Matthews, English actor (d. 2014)
 1928 – Horace Silver, American jazz pianist (d. 2014)
 1928 – Mel Stuart, American director and producer (d. 2012)
 1929 – Hal Ashby, American movie director (d. 1988)
 1929 – Victor Spinetti, Welsh actor and director (d. 2012)
 1930 – Andrey Petrov, Russian composer (d. 2006)
 1931 – Clifford Jordan, American jazz musician (d. 1993)
 1933 – Mathieu Kérékou, former President of Benin (d. 2015)
 1934 – Chuck McCann, American actor and comedian (d. 2018)
 1936 – Andrew Grove, American computer chip manufacturer (d. 2016)
 1937 – Len Carlson, Canadian voice actor (d. 2006)
 1938 – Giuliano Gemma, Italian actor (d. 2013)
 1941 – David Bale, South African activist
 1942 – Andrew Kohut, American political scientist (d. 2015)
 1943 – Rosalind Ashford, American singer (Martha and the Vandellas)
 1944 – Al Matthews, American actor (d. 2002)
 1946 – Billy Preston, American musician (d. 2006)
 1947 – Louis Michel, Belgian educator and politician
 1948 – Terry Bradshaw, American football player
 1948 – Christa McAuliffe, American schoolteacher and astronaut (d. 1986)
 1949 – Moira Stuart, British broadcast journalist
 1950 – Michael Rother, German guitarist and keyboardist
 1950 – Yuen Wah, Chinese actor, martial artist and stuntman

 1951 – 1975 
 1951 – Mark Harmon, American actor
 1952 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
 1953 – Keith Allen, British actor
 1953 – John Zorn, American musician
 1954 – Andrej Babis, Czech businessman and politician, Prime minister of the Czech Republic
 1956 – Doria Ragland, mother of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
 1956 – Mario Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player
 1957 – Steve Porcaro, American musician (Toto)
 1958 – Lynne Kosky, Australian politician (d. 2014)
 1958 – Olivier Grouillard, French racing driver
 1959 – Guy Laliberté, Canadian poker player and entrepreneur, founder of the Cirque du Soleil
 1960 – Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician
 1961 – Eric Dickerson, American football player
 1961 – Claude Puel, French footballer and manager
 1961 – Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
 1962 – Eugenio Derbez, Mexican actor, director, producer and screenwriter
 1962 – Keir Starmer, English lawyer and politician
 1963 – Prachya Pinkaew, Thai movie director, producer and screenwriter
 1963 – Stanislav Cherchesov, Russian footballer and manager
 1964 – Keanu Reeves, Canadian actor
 1965 – Lennox Lewis, Canadian–British boxer
 1966 – Salma Hayek, Mexican actress
 1967 – Andreas Moeller, German footballer
 1969 – Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, singer
 1969 – Stephane Matteau, Canadian ice hockey player
 1971 – Kjetil André Aamodt, Norwegian alpine skier
 1971 – Tommy Maddox, American football player
 1972 – Sergei Zholtok, ice hockey player
 1973 – Mark Shield, Australian football referee
 1974 – Sami Salo, Finnish ice hockey player

 From 1976 
 1976 – Momodu Mutairu, Nigerian footballer
 1977 – Frédéric Kanouté, Malian footballer
 1979 – Tomer Ben Yosef, Israeli footballer
 1980 – Danny Shittu, Nigerian footballer
 1981 – Chris Tremlett, English cricketer
 1982 – Joey Barton, English footballer
 1983 – José Alfredo Castillo, Bolivian footballer
 1983 – Aimee Osbourne, American model and actress
 1986 – Gelson Fernandes, Swiss footballer
 1986 – Rafik Halliche, Algerian footballer
 1986 – Kyle Hines, American basketball player
 1987 – Spencer Smith, American drummer (Panic! at the Disco)
 1987 – Jevan Snead, American football player (d. 2019)
 1988 – Javi Martínez, Spanish footballer
 1988 – Dimitrij Ovtcharov, German table tennis player
 1989 – Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer
 1989 – Marcus Morris, American basketball player
 1989 – Markieff Morris, American basketball player
 1990 – Marcus Ericsson, Swedish racing driver
 1992 – Alberto Masi, Italian footballer
 1993 – Montana Cox, Australian model
 1996 – Sungha Jung, South Korean musician
 1997 – Brandon Ingram, American basketball player

 Deaths 
 Up to 1900 
 490 BC – Pheidippides, Greek hero (b. around 530 BC)
 421 – Constantius III, Roman Emperor (b. late 300s)
 459 – Simeon Stylites, Byzantine saint (b. 390)
 595 – Patriarch John IV of Constantinople
 1031 – Saint Emeric of Hungary
 1274 – Prince Munetaka, 6th Kamakura shogun in Japan (b. 1242)
 1397 – Francesco Landini, Italian composer (b. between 1325 and 1335)
 1540 – Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1501)
 1680 – Per Brahe, Swedish soldier and statesman (b. 1602)
 1690 – Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b. 1615)
 1721 – Kwon Sang-ha, politician and Neo Confucian scholar of Korea (b. 1641)
 1764 – Revd Nathaniel Bliss, British astronomer Royal (b. 1700)
 1768 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b. 1703)
 1813 – Jean-Victor Moreau, French general (b. 1763)
 1820 – Jiaqing Emperor, Emperor of China (b. 1760)
 1832 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian scientific editor, astronomer (b. 1754)
 1834 – Thomas Telford, British civil engineer (b. 1757)
 1845 – Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentine statesman (b. 1780)
 1865 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (b. 1805)
 1872 – Nicolai Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher (b. 1783)
 1877 – Constantine Kanaris, Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician (b. 1793)
 1884 – Henry B. Anthony, Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1815)
 1895 – Charles Anderson, 27th Governor of Ohio (b. 1814)
 1898 – Wilford Woodruff, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1807)

 1901 – 2000 
 1910 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (b. 1844)
 1921 – Anthony Francis Lucas, Croatian–American oil exploration pioneer (b. 1855)
 1921 – Henry Austin Dobson, poet (b. 1840)
 1927 – Umegatani Totaro II, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1878)
 1934 – Alcide Nunez, jazz musician (b. 1884)
 1934 – James Allan, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1860)
 1937 – Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b. 1863)
 1948 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and spy (b. 1883)
 1964 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese President (b. 1894)
 1964 – Alvin York, most decorated American soldier of World War I (b. 1887)
 1969 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese political leader (b. 1890)
 1971 – Robert Mensah, Ghanaian footballer (b. 1939)
 1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b. 1892)
 1973 – Carl Dudley, American movie director (b. 1910)
 1976 – Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish poet and dramatist (b. 1934)
 1981 – Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (b. 1901)
 1985 – Abe Lenstra, Dutch footballer (b. 1920) 
 1991 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican politician (b. 1911)
 1992 – Barbara McClintock, American geneticist (b. 1902)
 1994 – Roy Castle, English actor, singer and dancer (b. 1932)
 1997 – Rudolf Bing, Austrian–born British opera singer (b. 1902)
 1997 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b. 1905)
 1998 – Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1933)
 1998 – Allen Drury, American writer (b. 1918)
 2000 – Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (b. 1905)
 2000 – Curt Siodmak, science fiction writer (b. 1907)

 From 2001 
 2001 – Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon (b. 1922)
 2001 – Troy Donahue, American actor (b. 1936)
 2008 – Bill Melendez, Mexican–American animator, director, producer and voice actor (b. 1916)
 2009 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1949)
 2010 – Shmuel Eisenstadt, Israeli sociologist (b. 1923)
 2013 – Frederik Pohl, American science fiction writer (b. 1919)
 2013 – Ronald Coase, British economist (b. 1910)
 2013 – Valérie Benguigui, French actress (b. 1965)
 2013 – David Jacobs, English radio and television host (b. 1926)
 2013 – Paul Scoon, 2nd Governor–General of Grenada (b. 1935)
 2014 – Steven Sotloff, American journalist (b. 1983)
 2014 – Norman Gordon, South African cricketer (b. 1911)
 2014 – Helena Rakoczy, Polish gymnast (b. 1921)
 2014 – J. LaMoine Jenson, American religious leader (b. 1935)
 2014 – Peter Carter, British diplomat (b. 1956)
 2014 – Antonis Vardis, Greek composer and singer (b. 1948)
 2015 – Charles Gyamfi, Ghanaian footballer (b. 1929)
 2015 – Aleksander Mandziara, Polish footballer and coach (b. 1940)
 2015 – Simo Salminen, Finnish comic actor (b. 1932)
 2015 – Brianna Lea Pruett, American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and moviemaker (b. 1983)
 2016 – Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan (b. 1938)
 2017 – Viktor Cherepkov, Russian politician (b. 1942)
 2017 – Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian composer (b. 1921)
 2017 – Xiang Shouzhi, Chinese general (b. 1917)
 2018 – Conway Savage, Australian rock singer–songwriter and pianist (b. 1960)
 2018 – Claire Wineland, American entrepreneur and health activist (b. 1997)
 2019 – Ryszard Czerniawski, Polish lawyer and economist (b. 1952)
 2019 – Carlo Fonseka, Sri Lankan physician (b. 1933)
 2019 – Joan Antoni Solans Huguet, Spanish urban planner (b. 1941)
 2019 – Gyoji Matsumoto, Japanese footballer (b. 1934)

 Observances 
 National Day (Vietnam)
 Democracy Day (Tibet)
 Independence Day (Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh)

September 02