June 4

Events
Up to 1900
780 BC - The first historic solar eclipse is recorded in China.
1039 - Henry III becomes King of Germany.
1615 - Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
1745 - Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick I of Prussia's army defeats the Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1760 - Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians.
1769 - A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in the historical past.
1783 - In Annonay, France, the Montgolfier Brothers demonstrate their unmanned hot air balloon.
1792 - Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Great Britain.
1794 - British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
1802 - Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy.
1805 - The Ligurian Republic and the Duchy of Parma are merged into a part of the French Empire.
1812 - After Louisiana becomes a U.S. state, the territory previously known by that name was renamed the Missouri Territory.
1859 - Italian Independence wars: in the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeats an Austrian army.
1862 - American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
1876 - An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.
1878 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
1896 - Henry Ford test-drives the first automobile he designed - the Quadricycle (it was also the first automobile he ever drove).
1901 1950
1912 - Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to introduce a minimum wage
1913 - Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V of the United Kingdom's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trampled and dies a few days later, never having regained consciousness.
1917 - The very first Pulitzer Prizes are given: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history (for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days). Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism (for his work for the New York World).
1917 - The Order of the British Empire is introduced.
1919 - Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1920 - Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
1924 - During a British expedition, Edward Felix Norton reaches the height of above sea level (on Mount Everest), the highest point climbed by anyone until then, but because of it being evening, he is unable to go up to the summit.
1926 - Robert Earl Hughes sets current record for world's heaviest human.
1928 - President of the Republic of China, Chang Tso-Lin, is assassinated by Japanese agents.
1936 - Leon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France.
1939 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, United States, after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
1940 - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is published.
1940 - World War II: Dunkirk evacuation ends; British forces complete evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
1940 - The Destroyer War Badge for Kriegsmarine was instituted.
1942 - World War II: Reinhard Heydrich dies in Prague due to the assassination by Czechoslovak paratroopers (Operation Anthropoid).
1942 - World War II: Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island with much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1943 - Military coup in Argentina ousts Ramon Castillo.
1944 - World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy capture the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 - World War II: Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis powers capital to fall.
1946 - Juan Domingo Peron becomes President of Argentina.
1950 - With a 5-2 win over the Poland national football team, the Hungary national football team starts a winning run that ends in the FIFA World Cup final in 1954.
From 1951
1961 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
1967 - Stockport Air Disaster: British Midland Flight G-ALHG crashes in Hopes Carr, Stockport, England, killing 72 people.
1970 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom. Taufa'ahau Tupou IV is King, a position he had held since 1965 when Tonga was a British protectorate.
1973 - A patent for the automated teller machine (ATM) is granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
1974 - Baseball: The Cleveland Indians host "Ten Cent Beer Night", but have to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers due to drunken and unruly fans.
1979 - Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana.
1986 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1988 - The Canadian Heraldic Authority is founded.
1989 - The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing and are covered live on television.
1989 - Solidarity's victory in the first partly free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe.
1989 - Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 645 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
1991 - Britain's Conservative government announces that some British regiments would disappear or be merged into others - the largest armed forces cuts in almost twenty years.
1998 - Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2000 - A magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Indonesia kills 103 people.
2001 - Gyanendra becomes King of Nepal, after the death of Dipendra of Nepal, who was King for three days after the Royal Massacre, in which he was injured.
2002 - The wall of the Zeyzoun reservoir in Syria breaks. The resulting flood kills 100 people.
2003 - U.S. lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
2005 - First day of Einstein Symposium in Alexandria, Egypt.
2011 - The Puyehue Cordon Caulle volcanic structure in Chile erupts, sending an ash cloud over parts of South America and as far away as Oceania. Many flights are cancelled.
2015 - An explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana, kills over 200 people.
Births
Up to 1900
1394 - Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (died 1430)
1489 - Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (died 1544)
1604 - Claudia de' Medici, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (died 1648)
1694 - Francois Quesnay, French economist (died 1774)
1704 - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (died 1776)
1738 - King George III of Great Britain (died 1820)
1744 - Patrick Ferguson, Scottish officer in the British Army, and rifle designer (died 1780)
1754 - Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian editor and astronomer (died 1832)
1809 - Columbus Delano, American politician (died 1896)
1821 - Apollon Maykov, Russian poet (died 1797)
1829 - Jinmaku Kyugoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (died 1903)
1860 - Alexis Lapointe, Canadian runner (died 1949)
1866 - Miina Sillanpaa, Finnish politician (died 1952)
1867 - Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish general and President (died 1951)
1877 - Heinrich Otto Wieland, German biochemist (died 1957)
1879 - Mabel Lucie Attwell, English author and illustrator (died 1964)
1880 - Clara Blandick, American actress (died 1962)
1881 - Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter (died 1962)
1882 - Karl Valentin, German actor, comedian and singer (died 1948)
1885 - Arturo Rawson, 26th President of Argentina (died 1952)
1887 - Tom Longboat, Native Canadian marathon runner (died 1949)
1889 - Beno Gutenberg, German seismologist (died 1960)
1891 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (died 2002)
1893 - Armand Calinescu, Romanian politician (died 1939)
1894 - La Bolduc, Canadian singer-songwriter (died 1941)
1895 - Dino Grandi, Italian politician (died 1988)
1899 - Stringer Davis, English actor (died 1973)
1901 1950
1903 - Yevgeny Mravinsky, Soviet-Russian conductor (died 1988)
1907 - Rosalind Russell, American actress (died 1976)
1908 - Alejandro Villanueva, Peruvian footballer (died 1944)
1910 - Christopher Cockerell, British engineer and inventor (died 1999)
1910 - Robert B. Anderson, American politician (died 1989)
1915 - Modibo Keita, 1st President of Mali (died 1977)
1916 - Robert F. Furchgott, American chemist (died 2009)
1916 - Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (died 2014)
1920 - Russell B. Train, American actor (died 2012)
1924 - Dennis Weaver, American actor (died 2006)
1924 - Tofilau Eti Alesana, Prime Minister of Samoa (died 1999)
1925 - Antonio Puchades, Spanish footballer (died 2013)
1926 - Robert Earl Hughes, American former obesity record holder (died 1958)
1926 - Judith Malina, German-American actress, writer and director (died 2015)
1927 - Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer and screenwriter (died 2014)
1927 - Geoffrey Palmer, British actor
1928 - Ruth Westheimer, German-American therapist and author
1929 - Karolos Papoulias, former President of Greece
1930 - Viktor Tikhonov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (died 2014)
1930 - Morgana King, American singer and actress
1932 - John Drew Barrymore, American actor (died 2004)
1933 - Godfried Danneels, Belgian cardinal
1933 - Frank D. White, 41st Governor of Arkansas (died 2003)
1934 - Daphne Sheldrick, Kenyan writer and conservationist (died 2018)
1934 - Monica Dacon, former acting Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1936 - Nutan, Indian actress and singer (died 1991)
1936 - Oleg Fedoseyev, Russian triple jumper (died 2001)
1936 - Bruce Dern, American actor
1937 - Freddy Fender, American musician (died 2006)
1938 - John Harvard, Canadian politician (died 2015)
1939 - George Reid, Scottish politician
1942 - Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer
1944 - Michelle Phillips, American actress and singer (The Mamas & the Papas)
1946 - S. Balasubrahmanyan, Indian singer, actor, director and movie producer
1947 - Viktor Klima, former Chancellor of Austria
1948 - Jurgen Sparwasser, German footballer
1948 - Bob Champion, English jockey
1951 1975
1951 - Bronislaw Malinowski, Polish athlete
1952 - Bronislaw Komorowski, former President of Poland
1953 - Walter Novellino, Italian footballer
1953 - Linda Lingle, American politician, 6th State Governor of Hawaii
1954 - Luc-Adolphe Tiao, Prime Minister of Burkina Faso
1954 - Raphael Ravenscroft, English musical composer and author (died 2014)
1955 - Val McDermid, Scottish writer
1956 - Martin Adams, English darts player
1958 - Eddie Velez, American actor
1959 - Juan Camacho, Bolivian runner
1960 - Bradley Walsh, English actor
1960 - Milos Delmas, Serbian footballer
1961 - Ferenc Gyurcsany, former Prime Minister of Hungary
1961 - Dani Kouyate, Burkinabe movie director
1964 - Sean Pertwee, British actor
1964 - Koji Yamamura, Japanese animator
1965 - Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
1965 - Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player
1966 - Cecilia Bartoli, Italian opera singer
1967 - Robert Shane Kimbrough, American astronaut
1968 - Roger Lim, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1969 - Horatio Sanz, Chilean-born comedian
1970 - Izabella Scorupco, Polish-Swedish actress and model
1971 - Noah Wyle, American actor
1971 - Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1972 - Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey player
1972 - Stoja, Serbian singer
1975 - Russell Brand, British comedian
1975 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
1975 - Julian Marley, Jamaican-British reggae musician
From 1976
1977 - Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer
1977 - Navi Rawat, American actress
1977 - Berglind Icey, Icelandic swimmer and actress
1977 - Ingrid Visser, Dutch volleyball player (died 2013)
1977 - Tetiana Chornovol, Ukrainian journalist, politician and activist
1979 - Christopher Dorner, American police officer and murderer (died 2013)
1979 - Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
1980 - Francois Beauchemin, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 - Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spanish tennis player
1983 - Emmanuel Eboue, Ivorian footballer
1983 - Koffi Ndri Romaric, Ivorian footballer
1985 - Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
1985 - Lukas Podolski, German footballer
1985 - Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian model (died 2006)
1986 - Shelly Woods, British athlete
1986 - Oona Chaplin, British actress
1986 - Yoochun, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
1987 - Mollie King, British singer (The Saturdays)
1988 - Li Man, Chinese actress
1989 - Eldar Gasimov, Azerbaijani singer (Ell & Nikki)
1990 - Jetsun Pema, Queen of Bhutan
1990 - Zac Farro, American singer and drummer (Paramore)
1991 - Jordan Hinson, American actress
1991 - Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer
1991 - Kathryn Prescott, English actress
1991 - Megan Prescott, English actress
1992 - Morgan Griffin, Australian actress
1992 - Brooke Vincent, English actress
1999 - Kim So-hyun, South Korean actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
1039 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (born (about) 990)
1094 - Sancho Ramirez, King of Aragon and Navarra (born around 1043)
1102 - Wladyslaw I Herman, Duke of Poland (born 1043)
1134 - King Magnus I of Sweden (born 1106)
1135 - Emperor Huizong of China (born 1082)
1206 - Adele of Champagne, Queen Consort of France (born 1140)
1257 - Duke Przemysl I of Poland (born (about) 1220)
1394 - Mary de Bohun, Queen Consort of England (born 1369)
1472 - Nezahualcoyotl, Aztec ruler, philosopher and poet (born 1402)
1585 - Muretus, Flemish humanist (born 1526)
1663 - William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1582)
1798 - Giacomo Casanova, Italian lover (born 1725)
1801 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1750)
1830 - Antonio Jose de Sucre, 2nd President of Bolivia (born 1795)
1872 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (born 1798)
1875 - Eduard Morike, German poet (born 1804)
1876 - Abdulaziz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (born 1830)
1887 - William A. Wheeler, Vice President of the United States (born 1819)
1901 2000
1916 - Herbert Horatio Kitchener (Lord Kitchener), British Secretary of State for War (born 1850)
1922 - W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist (born 1864)
1926 - Fred Spofforth, Australian-English cricketer (born 1853)
1928 - Chang Tso-lin, Chinese warlord (born 1873)
1929 - Harry Frazee, American director, producer and agent (born 1881)
1937 - Ketevan Galadze, mother of Joseph Stalin (born 1858)
1939 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz musician (born 1900)
1941 - Kaiser Wilhelm II, last German emperor (born 1859)
1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official (born 1904)
1951 - Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (born 1874)
1956 - Katherine MacDonald, American actress (born 1881)
1968 - Dorothy Gish, American actress (born 1898)
1971 - Georg Lukacs, Hungarian philosopher (born 1885)
1973 - Maurice Rene Frechet, French mathematician (born 1878)
1973 - Murry Wilson, American songwriter, producer and manager (born 1917)
1983 - Ivan Tors, producer, writer, animal trainer
1990 - Stiv Bators, American musician ("The Dead Boys") (born 1949)
1992 - Carl Stotz, American businessman (born 1910)
1994 - Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (born 1953)
1994 - Derek Leckenby, English guitarist (born 1943)
1997 - Ronnie Lane, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer (born 1946)
From 2001
2001 - King Dipendra of Nepal (born 1971)
2001 - John Hartford, American musician, composer (born 1937)
2002 - Fernando Belaunde Terry, Peruvian politician, President of Peru (born 1912)
2004 - Steve Lacy, American saxophonist (born 1934)
2004 - Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (born 1921)
2005 - Chloe Jones, American pornographic actress (born 1975)
2007 - Craig L. Thomas, American politician (born 1933)
2010 - John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (born 1910)
2011 - Lawrence Eagleburger, American diplomat and politician, 62nd United States Secretary of State (born 1930)
2011 - Lilian Jackson Braun, American writer (born 1913)
2012 - Eduard Khil, Russian baritone singer (born 1934)
2014 - Doc Neeson, Australian musician (born 1947)
2014 - Don Zimmer, American baseball player (born 1931)
2014 - George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (born 1919)
2014 - Chester Nez, American soldier (born 1921)
2015 - Leonid Plyushch, Ukrainian-Soviet dissident and mathematician (born 1938)
2015 - Kurt Weber, Polish cinematographer (born 1928)
2015 - Bengt Berndtsson, Swedish footballer (born 1933)
2015 - Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer (born 1918)
2015 - Albert West, Dutch singer (born 1949)
2016 - Sulabha Deshpande, Indian actress (born 1937)
2016 - Antti Hyry, Finnish writer (born 1931)
2016 - Gil Bartosh, American football player and coach (born 1956)
2016 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano (born 1921)
2016 - Carmen Pereira, Guinea-Bissau politician (born 1937)
2017 - Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist (born 1931)
2017 - Babatunde Osotimehin, Nigerian politician and civil servant (born 1949)
2017 - Roger Smith, American actor (born 1932)
2017 - Zhang Tianfu, Chinese agronomist and tea expert (born 1910)
2018 - Dwight Clark, American football player (born 1957)
2018 - Eunice Lam, Hong Kong columnist and socialite (born 1943)
2018 - J. B. Munro, New Zealand politician and disability activist (born 1936)
Holidays and observances
Feast day of St Francis Caracciolo
Feast day of Saint Petrock of Cornwall
International Innocent Child Abuse Victim Day
Independence Day (Tonga)
National Unity Day (Hungary)
Flag Day (Estonia)
Other websites
BBC: On This Day
June 04