- 390 BC - Beadu Allian: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
- AD 64 - Grēat Rōmisc Fyr: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rōme and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
- 1830 - Uruquaria gewȳscaþ his forme grundgesetnes.
- 1863 - Americanisc Ingefeoht: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
- 1873 - Osgar II Swēolandes and Norþweges Cyning is swa Norrena cyning gehalgod on Trondheim
- 1898 - Marie Curie and Pierre Curie announced the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.
- 1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
- 1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
- 1942 - Ōðru Woruldgūþ: Þā Þēodiscas test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
- 1944 - Ōðru Woruldgūþ: Hideki Tojo resigns as Forma Þegn of Iapane due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
- 1947 - Foresittend Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
- 1968 - Fietnamesgūþ: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese foresittend Nguyen Van Thieu.
- 1968 - Intel incorporated.
- 1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.
- 1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.
- 1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.
- 1982 - Plan de Sānchez massacre in Rīos Montt's Guatemala.
- 1984 - In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gun-fire killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
- 1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
- 1986 - Aliens opens in theaters.
- 1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.
- 1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.
- 1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay Ēa on Quebece, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
- 1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur 3 years later, a tornado ranking as a F5 hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.
- 2001 - In Baltimore, Marianland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut down downtown Baltimore.
- 1552 - Rudolf II, Hālig Romanisc Cāsere
- 1635 - Robert Hooke, scientist (d. 1703)
- 1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, author (d. 1863)
- 1821 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, singer/composer (d. 1910)
- 1853 - Hendrik Lorentz, Niðerlandisc physicist and Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
- 1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
- 1864 - Ricarda Huch, wrītere (d. 1947)
- 1864 - Phillip Snowden, Britisc politician (d. 1937)
- 1887 - Vidkun Quisling, Norþwegisc politician and famous traitor (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Frank Forde, fifteenth Forma Minister Australian (d. 1983)
- 1902 - Nathalie Sarraute, wrītere (d. 1999)
- 1902 - Jessamyn West, wrītere (d. 1984)
- 1902 - Chill Wills, actor (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Clifford Odets, author, playwright (d. 1963)
- 1906 - S. I. Hayakawa, semanticist and politician (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet diplomat and President 1985-1989 (d. 1989)
- 1909 - Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghani President (1973-1978) (d. 1978)
- 1911 - Hume Cronyn, actor (d. 2003)
- 1913 - Red Skelton, actor, comedian (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Nelson Mandela, Sūþafrican revolutionary and foresittend (d. 2013)
- 1921 - John Glenn, American astronaut and politician
- 1922 - Thomas Kuhn, philosopher (d. 1996)
- 1925 - Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete
- 1927 - Ludwig Harig, writer
- 1927 - Kurt Masur, Silesian-born conductor
- 1929 - Dick Button, Olympic gold medal figure skater
- 1929 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (d. 2000)
- 1933 - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, poet
- 1935 - Jayendra Saraswathi, Hindu religious leader
- 1937 - Roald Hoffman, Nobel prize-winning theoretical chemist
- 1937 - Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author
- 1940 - James Brolin, actor
- 1940 - Joe Torre, baseball player, manager, New York Yankees
- 1941 - Martha Reeves, singer
- 1947 - Steve Forbes, entrepreneur, politician
- 1950 - Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur
- 1963 - Martīn Torrijos Espino, Panamanian president-elect
- 1963 - Mike Greenwell, baseball player
- 1967 - Vin Diesel, American actor, writer, and director
- 1975 - Torii Hunter, baseball player
- 1975 - Daron Malakian, guitarist for System of a Down
- 1978 - Ben Sheets, baseball player
- 1374 - Petrarch, Italian Humanist
- 1623 - Pāpa Gregory XV
- 1721 - Antoine Watteau, Frencisc painter
- 1792 - John Paul Jones, American naval commander
- 1817 - Jane Austen, novelist
- 1949 - Vitezslav Novāk, composer
- 1988 - Nico (Christa Paffgen), Þēodisc and American model and sangere
- 1990 - Yoon Boseon, Foresittend Sūþcorean
- 2001 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
- 2003 - Jane Barbe, stefn of the telephone operator recording in þǣm Geānlǣhtan Underrīcum
- 2004 - Paul Foot, radical British investigative journalist
