October 15

October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in Leap years). There are 77 days remaining.

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Events

• 533 – Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.
• 1552 – Khanate of Kazan is conquered by troops of Ivan Grozny.
• 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15, skipping over 10 days. Other countries follow at various later dates.
• 1764 – While visiting Rome, Edward Gibbon observes a group of barefoot friars singing vespers in the ruined Temple of Jupiter, a sight which inspires him to begin work on a history that will be published as The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• 1815 – Napoleon I of France begins his exile on St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.
• 1878 – The Edison Electric Company begins operation.
• 1880 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
• 1883 – The Supreme Court of the United States declares part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to be unconstitutional since it allowed individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.
• 1894  – Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying – Dreyfus affair begins.
• 1904  – The Russian Baltic Fleet leaves Reval, Estonia for Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
• 1917 – World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
• 1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
• 1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
• 1940 – The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is released.
• 1945 – World War II: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason.
• 1946 – Nuremberg Trials: Founder of the Gestapo and recently convicted Nazi war criminal, Hermann Göring, poisons himself hours before his scheduled execution.
• 1951 – Television sitcom I Love Lucy premieres starring comedian Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.
• 1953 – British nuclear test Totem 1 detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: A stand-off ensues between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, putting the entire world under threat of a nuclear war (crisis lasts 13 days from this point).
• 1965 – Vietnam War: The anti-war student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States.
• 1966 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a bill creating the United States Department of Transportation.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations across the United States.
• 1970 – 35 construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses into the river below.
• 1987 – The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
• 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
• 1991 – Following a bitter confirmation hearing that involved allegations of sexual misconduct, the United States Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1992 – In Russia, Andrei Chikatilo is found guilty of 52 serial murders.
• 1995 – Saddam Hussein gains 99.96% of votes in Iraq's presidential elections.
• 1997 – The first supersonic land speed record is set by the ThrustSSC team from the United Kingdom.
• 1997 – The Cassini probe was launched from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
• 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
• 2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
• 2003 – Ilham Aliyev becomes President of Azerbaijan succeeding his father Heydar Aliyev.

Births

• 70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
• 1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, author (d. 1841)
• 1829 – Asaph Hall, astronomer (d. 1907)
• 1836 – James Tissot, French artist (d. 1902)
• 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)
• 1858 – John L. Sullivan, boxing champion (d. 1918))
• 1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, British comic novelist (d. 1975)
• 1894 – Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
• 1898 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (d. 1951)
• 1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, film director (d. 1987)
• 1906 – Hiram Leong Fong, Hawaian politician (d. 2004)
• 1907 – Varian Fry, rescuer of Jewish and other intellectuals from Marseilles in 1940 (d. 1987)
• 1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist
• 1909 – Robert Trout, reporter (d. 2000)
• 1917 – Arthur Schlesinger Jr., political commentator, author
• 1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Mario Puzo, American novelist (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Chris Economaki, Indianapolis 500 reporter
• 1923 – Italo Calvino. Italian writer (d. 1985)
• 1924 – Lee Iacocca, industrialist
• 1924 – Jose Quintero, stage director
• 1924 – Mark Lenard, actor (d. 1996)
• 1926 – Michel Foucault, philosopher (d. 1984)
• 1926 – Evan Hunter (Ed McBain, Curt Cannon), author
• 1926 – Jean Peters, actress
• 1926 – Karl Richter, German conductor (d. 1981)
• 1930 – FM-2030 born Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, transhumanist philosopher
• 1931 – Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Indian president and scientist
• 1935 – Bobby Joe Morrow, American athlete
• 1937 – Barry McGuire, singer
• 1942 – Penny Marshall, actress, comedienne, film director
• 1945 – Jim Palmer, baseball star
• 1946 – Richard Carpenter, singer, pianist, composer (Carpenters)
• 1957 – Mira Nair, Indian director
• 1959 – Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
• 1959 – Emeril Lagasse, chef
• 1959 – Todd Solondz, director
• 1959 – Kernan Coleman, Graphic Designer
• 1970 – Eric Benét, singer
• 1972 – Sandra Kim, Belgian singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1975 – Ginuwine, singer
• 1981 – Elena Dementieva, tennis player

Deaths

• 767 – Constantine II, Patriarch of Constantinople (executed)
• 1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy
• 1389 – Pope Urban VI
• 1582 – Saint Teresa of Avila, Spanish Carmelite nun and poet (b. 1515)
• 1811 – Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, painter
• 1880 – Victorio, Apache leader
• 1891 – Gilbert Arthur a Beckett, British writer
• 1900 – Zdenek Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
• 1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer and spy
• 1945 – Pierre Laval, premier of Vichy France
• 1946 – Hermann Göring, German air force commander
• 1964 – Cole Porter, American composer
• 2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-American biochemist
• 2001 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese warlord and military figure
• 2003 – Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian physicist
• 2003 – Ben Metcalfe, environmental activist

Holidays and observances

• United States – White Cane Safety Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

October 14 – October 16 – September 15 – November 15 – more historical anniversaries