World History of May 20

1520 Event

"Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination."

🌍 Historical Events

325
The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
491
Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
685
The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
794
While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.
1217
The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
1293
King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
1426
King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava.
1449
The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
1497
John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
1498
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
1520
Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination.
1521
Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
1570
Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1609
Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631
The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1645
Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of the residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
1714
Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar.
1741
The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
1775
The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
1802
By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
1813
Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1861
American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
1861
American Civil War: The State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
1862
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers.
1864
American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
1873
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1875
Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
1882
The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
1883
Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1891
History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1902
Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
1927
Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1927
Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}33+1⁄2 hours later.
1932
Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1940
The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1941
World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
1943
The Luttra Woman, a bog body from the Early Neolithic period (radiocarbon-dated c. 3928-3651 BC), was discovered near Luttra, Sweden.
1948
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.
1949
In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
1956
In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1958
Capital Airlines Flight 300 collides in mid-air with a United States Air Force Lockheed T-33 over Brunswick, Maryland, killing 12.
1964
Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
1965
One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.
1967
The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1969
The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
1971
In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
1980
In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, with 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
1983
First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.
1983
Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by UMkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
1985
Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
1989
The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1990
The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
1996
Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
2002
The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
2009
An Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100 Hercules crashes in Magetan Regency, killing 99.
2011
Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
2012
At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
2013
An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
2016
The government of Singapore authorised the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite the international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations.
2019
The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
2022
Russo-Ukrainian War: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.

🐣 Notable Births

1315
Bonne of Luxembourg, first wife of John II of France (died 1349)
1470
Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal, poet, and scholar (died 1547)
1505
Levinus Lemnius, Dutch writer (died 1568)
1531
Thado Minsaw of Ava, Viceroy of Ava (died 1584)
1537
Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (died 1619)
1575
Robert Heath, English judge and politician (died 1649)
1664
Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor and architect (died 1714)
1726
Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (died 1770)
1759
William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (died 1828)
1769
Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (died 1835)
1772
Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, English inventor and politician, developed Congreve rockets (died 1828)
1776
Simon Fraser, American-Canadian fur trader and explorer (died 1862)
1795
Pedro María de Anaya, Mexican soldier. President (1847-1848) (died 1854)
1799
Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (died 1850)
1806
John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (died 1873)
1811
Alfred Domett, English-New Zealand poet and politician, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1887)
1818
William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (died 1881)
1822
Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1912)
1824
Cadmus M. Wilcox, Confederate States Army general (died 1890)
1825
Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the U.S. (died 1921)
1830
Hector Malot, French author (died 1907)
1838
Jules Méline, French lawyer and politician, 65th Prime Minister of France (died 1925)
1851
Emile Berliner, German-American inventor, invented the Gramophone record (died 1929)
1854
George Prendergast, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Victoria (died 1937)
1856
Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (died 1910)
1860
Eduard Buchner, German chemist, zymologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1917)
1875
Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch Olympic rower and head of the Dutch Red Cross (died 1953)
1877
Pat Leahy, Irish-American Olympic jumper (died 1927)
1879
Hans Meerwein, German chemist (died 1965)
1882
Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1949)
1883
Faisal I of Iraq (died 1933)
1886
Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded the Galatasaray Sports Club (died 1951)
1894
Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian guru and scholar (died 1994)
1895
R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire and Supermarine S.6B (died 1937)
1897
Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish economist and author (died 1983)
1897
Malcolm Nokes, English hammer and discus thrower (died 1986)
1898
Eduard Ole, Estonian painter (died 1995)
1899
Aleksandr Deyneka, Russian painter and sculptor (died 1969)
1899
John Marshall Harlan II, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court (died 1971)
1900
Sumitranandan Pant, Indian poet and author (died 1977)
1901
Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (died 1981)
1901
Doris Fleeson, American journalist (died 1970)
1904
Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (died 1966)
1906
Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (died 1989)
1907
Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (died 2004)
1908
Henry Bolte, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (died 1990)
1908
Louis Daquin, French actor and director (died 1980)
1908
Francis Raymond Fosberg, American botanist and author (died 1993)
1908
James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)
1911
Gardner Fox, American author (died 1986)
1911
Annie M. G. Schmidt, Dutch author and playwright (died 1995)
1913
Teodoro Fernández, Peruvian footballer (died 1996)
1913
William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (died 2001)
1913
Carlos J. Gradin, Argentine Archaeologist (died 2002)
1915
Peter Copley, English actor (died 2008)
1915
Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1981)
1915
Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (died 1999)
1916
Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, and academic (died 2015)
1916
Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (died 2001)
1916
Ondina Valla, Italian sprinter and hurdler (died 2006)
1917
Tony Cliff, Israeli-English author and activist (died 2000)
1917
Guy Favreau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 28th Canadian Minister of Justice (died 1967)
1918
Alexandra Boyko, Russian tank commander (died 1996)
1918
Edward B. Lewis, American biologist, geneticist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004)
1919
George Gobel, American comedian (died 1991)
1920
John Cruickshank, Scottish lieutenant and banker, Victoria Cross recipient (died 2025)
1921
Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright (died 1947)
1921
Hal Newhouser, American baseball player and scout (died 1998)
1921
Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (died 1995)
1922
Ted Hinton, Northern Irish international footballer (died 1988)
1923
Edith Fellows, American actress (died 2011)
1923
Sam Selvon, Trinidad-born writer (died 1994)
1924
David Chavchavadze, English-American CIA officer and author (died 2014)
1924
Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (died 1976)
1925
Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (died 2001)
1926
Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (died 1956)
1927
Bud Grant, American football player and coach (died 2023)
1927
David Hedison, American actor (died 2019)
1927
Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (died 2016)
1929
Pedro Trebbau, German-born Venezuelan zoologist (died 2021)
1929
Gilles Loiselle, Canadian politician and diplomat, 33rd Canadian Minister of Finance (died 2022)
1930
Sam Etcheverry, American football player and coach (died 2009)
1931
Ken Boyer, American baseball player and manager (died 1982)
1931
Louis Smith, American trumpeter (died 2016)
1932
Dieter Rams, German industrial designer
1933
Constance Towers, American actress and singer
1935
José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay (died 2025)
1936
Anthony Zerbe, American actor
1937
Dave Hill, American golfer (died 2011)
1937
Derek Lampe, English footballer
1939
Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (died 2014)
1940
Shorty Long, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1969)
1940
Stan Mikita, Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (died 2018)
1940
Sadaharu Oh, Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager
1941
Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore
1941
John Strasberg, American actor and teacher
1942
Raymond Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
1942
Lynn Davies, Welsh sprinter and long jumper
1942
Carlos Hathcock, American sergeant and sniper (died 1999)
1942
Frew McMillan, South African tennis player
1943
Albano Carrisi, Italian singer, actor, and winemaker
1943
Deryck Murray, Trinidadian cricketer
1944
Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (died 2014)
1944
Boudewijn de Groot, Indonesian-Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944
Keith Fletcher, English cricketer and manager
1944
Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman, co-founder of Red Bull GmbH (died 2022)
1945
Vladimiro Montesinos, Peruvian intelligence officer
1946
Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1946
Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster (died 2008)
1947
Steve Currie, English bass player (died 1981)
1947
Greg Dyke, English journalist and academic
1949
Robert Morin, Canadian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
1949
Michèle Roberts, English author and poet
1949
Dave Thomas, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1950
Andy Johns, English-American engineer and producer (died 2013)
1950
Reinaldo Merlo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1950
Jane Parker-Smith, English organist (died 2020)
1951
Thomas Akers, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1951
Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (died 2020)
1951
Mike Crapo, American lawyer and politician
1952
Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer and manager
1952
Michael Wills, English politician, British Minister of Justice
1953
Robert Doyle, Australian educator and politician, 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne
1954
David Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of New York
1954
Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, Scottish lawyer and judge
1955
Steve George, American keyboard player and songwriter
1955
Zbigniew Preisner, Polish composer and producer
1956
Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian-German author and critic (died 2025)
1956
Gerry Peyton, English born Irish international footballer and coach
1956
Douglas Preston, American journalist and author
1957
Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan
1958
Ron Reagan, American journalist and radio host
1958
Jane Wiedlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1959
Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter
1960
Tony Goldwyn, American actor and director
1961
Clive Allen, English international footballer and manager
1961
Nick Heyward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963
David Wells, American baseball player and sportscaster
1964
Kōichirō Genba, Japanese politician, 80th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
1964
Edin Osmanović, Slovenian footballer, coach, and manager
1964
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author
1965
Ted Allen, American television host and author
1965
Stu Grimson, Canadian ice hockey player, sportscaster, and lawyer
1966
Dan Abrams, American journalist and author
1967
Graham Brady, English politician
1967
Gabriele Muccino, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
1968
Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer
1969
Road Dogg, American wrestler, producer, and soldier
1970
Terrell Brandon, American basketball player
1970
Louis Theroux, Singaporean-English journalist and producer
1971
Šárka Kašpárková, Czech triple jumper and coach
1971
Hanne Stenvaag, Norwegian politician
1971
Tony Stewart, American race car driver
1972
Michael Diamond, Australian shooter
1972
Christophe Dominici, French rugby player (died 2020)
1972
Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor
1973
Nathan Long, Australian rugby league player
1974
Allison Amend, American novelist and short story writer
1974
Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Indian film director, writer and actor
1975
Juan Minujín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
1976
Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1976
Tomoya Satozaki, Japanese baseball player
1977
Matt Czuchry, American actor
1977
Leo Franco, Argentinian footballer
1977
Angela Goethals, American actress
1977
Stirling Mortlock, Australian rugby player
1977
Vesa Toskala, Finnish ice hockey player
1978
Hristos Banikas, Greek chess player
1978
Pavla Hamáčková-Rybová, Czech pole vaulter
1978
Nils Schumann, German runner
1979
Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician, 28th Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
1979
Jayson Werth, American baseball player
1980
Austin Kearns, American baseball player
1980
Kassim Osgood, American football player
1981
Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
1981
Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter
1981
Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
1981
Mark Winterbottom, Australian race car driver
1982
Petr Čech, Czech footballer
1982
Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer
1982
Jessica Raine, English actress
1982
Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
1983
N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Indian Film Actor
1983
Óscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer
1983
Matt Langridge, English rower
1984
Mauro Rafael da Silva, Brazilian footballer
1984
Patrick Ewing Jr., American basketball player
1984
Keith Grennan, American football player
1985
Chris Froome, Kenyan-English cyclist
1985
Brendon Goddard, Australian footballer
1986
Dexter Blackstock, English footballer
1986
Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer
1986
Jiřina Svobodová, Czech pole vaulter
1987
Mike Havenaar, Japanese footballer
1987
Julian Wright, American basketball player
1988
Joel Moon, Australian rugby league player
1989
Siosia Vave, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
1990
Josh O'Connor, British actor
1991
Bastian Baker, Swiss singer, songwriter, and performer
1991
Emre Çolak, Turkish footballer
1992
Cate Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer
1992
Jack Gleeson, Irish actor
1992
Enes Kanter, Turkish basketball player
1992
Fanny Smith, Swiss freestyle skier
1993
Ramy Rabia, Egyptian footballer
1993
Caroline Zhang, American figure skater
1996
Brian Kelly, Australian rugby league player
1997
Kaoru Mitoma, Japanese footballer
1998
Jamie Chadwick, English race car driver
1998
Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater
2012
Doug the Pug, American celebrity dog

🕯️ Notable Deaths

685
Ecgfrith of Northumbria (born 645)
794
Æthelberht II, king of East Anglia
965
Gero the Great, Saxon ruler (bornc. 900)
1062
Bao Zheng, Chinese magistrate and mayor of Kaifeng (born 999)
1277
Pope John XXI (born 1215)
1285
John I of Cyprus (born 1259)
1291
Sufi Saint Sayyid Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari
1366
Maria of Calabria, Empress of Constantinople (born 1329)
1444
Bernardino of Siena, Italian-Spanish missionary and saint (born 1380)
1449
Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches
1449
Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra (born 1392)
1476
Isabel Ingoldisthorpe, English noblewoman (born 1441)
1501
Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister (born 1467)
1503
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian banker and politician (born 1463)
1506
Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, early European explorer of the Americas (born 1451)
1550
Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shōgun (born 1510)
1579
Isabella Markham, English courtier (born 1527)
1622
Osman II, Ottoman sultan (born 1604)
1645
Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (born 1601)
1648
Władysław IV Vasa, Polish son of Sigismund III Vasa (born 1595)
1677
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, Spanish-English politician, English Secretary of State (born 1612)
1713
Thomas Sprat, English bishop (born 1635)
1717
John Trevor, Welsh lawyer and politician, 102nd Speaker of the House of Commons (born 1637)
1722
Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (born 1669)
1732
Thomas Boston, Scottish author and educator (born 1676)
1782
William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (born 1701)
1793
Charles Bonnet, Swiss botanist and biologist (born 1720)
1812
Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (born 1732)
1834
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (born 1757)
1841
Joseph Blanco White, Spanish poet and theologian (born 1775)
1864
John Clare, English poet (born 1793)
1873
George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of East Canada (born 1814)
1880
Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (born 1814)
1896
Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (born 1819)
1909
Ernest Hogan, American actor and composer (born 1859)
1917
Valentine Fleming, Scottish soldier and politician (born 1887)
1917
Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (born 1850)
1924
Bogd Khan, Mongolian ruler (c. 1869)
1925
Joseph Howard, Maltese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malta (born 1862)
1931
Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician (born 1831)
1940
Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859)
1942
Hector Guimard, French Architect (born 1867)
1946
Jacob Ellehammer, Danish pilot and engineer (born 1871)
1947
Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
1947
Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (born 1890)
1949
Damaskinos of Athens, Greek archbishop and politician, 137th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1891)
1956
Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (born 1872)
1956
Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer and trainer (born 1881)
1961
Josef Priller, German colonel and pilot (born 1915)
1962
Timothy (Szretter), a Polish Orthodox clergyman, the third Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland (born 1901)
1964
Rudy Lewis, American singer (born 1936)
1971
Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic (born 1904)
1973
Renzo Pasolini, Italian motorcycle racer (born 1938)
1973
Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (born 1945)
1975
Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor and lithographer (born 1903)
1976
Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1911)
1976
Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (born 1924)
1976
Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (born 1934)
1989
John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904)
1989
Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (born 1946)
1995
Les Cowie, Australian rugby league player (born 1925)
1996
Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (born 1919)
1998
Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (born 1916)
2000
Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (born 1922)
2000
Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (born 1970)
2000
Yevgeny Khrunov, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1933)
2001
Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1920)
2002
Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and academic (born 1941)
2005
Paul Ricœur, French philosopher and academic (born 1913)
2005
William Seawell, American general (born 1918)
2007
Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (born 1914)
2008
Hamilton Jordan, American politician, 8th White House Chief of Staff (born 1944)
2009
Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect and urban planner, designed Roy Thomson Hall (born 1924)
2009
Lucy Gordon, American actress and model (born 1980)
2009
Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (born 1919)
2011
Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (born 1952)
2012
Leela Dube, Indian anthropologist and scholar (born 1923)
2012
Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (born 1949)
2012
David Littman, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (born 1933)
2012
Ken Lyons, American bass guitarist (born 1953)
2012
Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (born 1915)
2012
Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer (born 1958)
2013
Flavio Costantini, Italian painter and illustrator (born 1926)
2013
Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (born 1924)
2013
Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (born 1947)
2013
Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (born 1924)
2013
Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (born 1939)
2013
Denys Roberts, English judge and politician (born 1923)
2013
Zach Sobiech, American singer-songwriter (born 1995)
2014
Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (born 1944)
2014
Ross Brown, New Zealand rugby player (born 1934)
2014
Robyn Denny, English-French painter (born 1930)
2014
Arthur Gelb, American journalist, author, and critic (born 1924)
2014
Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English businessman (born 1933)
2014
Barbara Murray, English actress (born 1929)
2015
Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (born 1956)
2015
Femi Robinson, Nigerian actor and playwright (born 1940)
2016
Kho Jabing, Malaysian convicted murderer who was executed by hanging in Singapore (born 1984)
2019
Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver (born 1949)
2021
Gary Wilson, American anti-pornography activist (born 1956)
2022
Roger Angell, American sportswriter and author (born 1920)
2022
Susan Roces, Filipino actress (born 1941)
2024
Ivan Boesky, American stock trader (born 1937)
2025
George Wendt, American actor and comedian (born 1948)