April 16

April 16 is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 259 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege.
1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
1521 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and other estates of the empire.
1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the city of Salta, Argentina.
1705 – Isaac Newton is knighted, becoming a Sir.
1746 – The Battle of Culloden is fought near Inverness, Scotland, as a Highlander army is defeated by a Lowlander army, led by the Duke of Cumberland.
1780 – The University of Muenster in Germany is founded.
1799 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon Bonaparte drives the Ottoman Turks across the Jordan River near Acre, in present-day Israel.
1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Treaty, establishing the border with Canada.
1847 – The accidental shooting of a Maori by an English sailor results in the start of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Land Wars.
1853 – India's first passenger rail opens from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills, Virginia
1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg
1881 – Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle in Dodge City, Kansas.
1888 – Germany annexes Nauru.
1894 – Manchester City F.C. is formed from Ardwick F.C.

1901 – 2000

1908 – The Natural Bridges National Monument is created in Utah.
1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd from exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mahatma Gandhi organizes a day of "Prayer and Fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protestors in Amritsar, in the Jallianwala Massacre by British colonial troops three days earlier.
1919 – Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in present-day Lithuania.
1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo is signed, re-establishing diplomatic relations between Germany and Soviet Russia.
1925 – A Communist assault on Saint Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria, kills 150 people.
1941 – World War II: Italian convoy Duisburg is destroyed by British ships.
1941 – A Fascist government led by Ante Pavelic comes to power in Croatia.
1941 – Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians throws the only opening day no-hitter in Major League Baseball, defeating the Chicago White Sox 1–0.
1943 – Albert Hofmann first discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
1944 – World War II: The Allied bombing of Belgrade kills around 1,100 people.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins its final assault on German forces around Berlin.
1945 – World War II: German refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine torpedo, killing around 7,000 people.
1947 – Texas City, Texas, is set on fire after an explosion on a freighter, killing around 600 people.
1947 – Bernard Baruch first uses the term Cold War.
1953 – Queen Elizabeth II launches the royal yacht HMY Britannia.
1961 – Fidel Castro declares himself a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is officially adopting Communism.
1962 – Walter Cronkite becomes the lead anchor of CBS Evening News.
1963 – Martin Luther King, Jr. writes the 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' while imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against racial segregation.
1964 – The participants of the Great Train Robbery are sentenced to prison.
1972 – Apollo 16 is launched.
1990 – Jack Kevorkian participates in his first assisted suicide.
1992 – The Katina P runs aground off Maputo, Mozambique, spilling around 60,000 tons of crude oil into the Indian Ocean.
1994 – Hutu soldiers in Rwanda begin the Massacre of Nyarubuye on the Tutsi people. By the time it ends the next day, around 2,000 people have been killed.
1996 – Basketball: The Chicago Bulls win a record 70th game in one NBA season. The team's most famous player at the time was Michael Jordan.

From 2001

2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border war.
2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens, allowing 10 new members to join the EU on May 1, 2004.
2007 – Seung-Hui Cho, kills 33 people, including himself in the Virginia Tech massacre, the worst shooting spree in modern US history.
2012 – Anders Behring Breivik goes on trial for the July 22, 2011 Norway attacks.
2013 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes southeast Iran, near the border with Pakistan. Damage is reported on both sides of the border.
2014 – The MV Sewol ferry, travelling from Incheon to Jeju Island off the south coast of South Korea, sinks near Jindo Island off the southwest coast, killing 295 people.
2014 – Scientists announce the possible discovery of a new moon of Saturn being created out of its rings.
2016 – A large scale earthquake strikes Ecuador.
2017 – Turkey holds a referendum on changing the constitution to that of a Presidential republic; Results indicate just over half of voters support the proposal.
2019 – The Notre-Dame de Paris fire, which broke out the previous evening, is extinguished by firefighters.

Births

Up to 1800

778 – King Louis the Pious (d. 840)
1319 – King John II of France (d. 1364)
1488 – Jungjong of Joseon of Korea (d. 1544)
1495 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d. 1557)
1516 – Tabinshwehti, King of Burma (d. 1550)
1619 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch ship doctor, salesman and colonial official (d. 1677)
1646 – Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (d. 1708)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1660 – Hans Sloane, English scientist (d. 1753)
1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (d. 1715)
1682 – John Hadley, English inventor (d. 1744)
1693 – Anne Sophie Reventlow, Queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1743)
1728 – Joseph Black, Scottish scientist who discovered carbon gas (d. 1799)
1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795)
1786 – John Franklin, British royal navy officer and Arctic explorer (d. 1847)
1799 – John Wesley Davis, American politician (d. 1850)

1801 – 1900

1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician (d. 1864)
1821 – Ford Madox Brown, English painter (d. 1893)
1823 – Gotthold Eisenstein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1852)
1838 – Ernest Solvay, Belgian chemist (d. 1922)
1839 – Antonio Starabba, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908)
1844 – Anatole France, French writer (d. 1924)
1847 – Hans Auer, Swiss architect (d. 1906)
1848 – Kandukuri Veerasalingam, Indian social reformer (d. 1919)
1863 – Emile Friant, French painter (d. 1932)
1866 – Jose de Diego, Puerto Rican statesman and journalist (d. 1918)
1867 – Wilbur Wright of the Wright brothers, air travel pioneer (d. 1912)
1868 – Spottiswoode Aitken, Scottish-American actor (d. 1933)
1871 – Henry Stephenson, English actor (d. 1956)
1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish writer (d. 1909)
1885 – Leo Weiner, Hungarian composer and music educator (d. 1960)
1886 – Ernst Thaelmann, German politician (d. 1944)
1886 – Margaret Woodrow Wilson, daughter of Woodrow Wilson (d. 1944)
1887 – Gudjon Samuelsson, Icelandic architect (d. 1950)
1888 – Billy Minter, English footballer (d. 1940)
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, British actor and movie producer (d. 1977)
1890 – Vernon Sturdee, Australian army commander (d. 1966)
1890 – Michalis Dorizas, Greek javelin thrower (d. 1957)
1890 – Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Russian linguist and ethnologist (d. 1938)
1893 – Federico Mompou, Catalan composer and pianist (d. 1987)
1894 – Ernst Ziegler, German actor (d. 1974)
1895 – Ove Arup, English-Danish engineer (d. 1988)
1896 – Pat Clayton, British surveyor and explorer (d. 1962)
1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian poet (d. 1963)
1900 – Polly Adler, Russian–born writer (d. 1962)

1901 – 1950

1905 – Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor of the snowmobile (d. 1964)
1908 – Ray Ventura, French pianist and bandleader (d. 1979)
1911 – Guy Burgess, English-Soviet spy (d. 1963)
1912 – Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (d. 1997)
1915 – Joan Alexander, American actress (d. 2009)
1917 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007)
1917 – Charlotte Salomon, German artist (d. 1943)
1918 – Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (d. 2002)
1919 – Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (d. 2009)
1921 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and writer (d. 2014)
1921 – Peter Ustinov, British actor (d. 2004)
1922 – Kingsley Amis, British writer (d. 1995)
1922 – Samuel Youd, British writer (d. 2012)
1922 – Leo Tindemans, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014)
1923 – Arch A. Moore, Jr., American politician, 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia (d. 2015)
1924 – Henry Mancini, American composer (d. 1994)
1924 – Rudy Pompilli, American musician (d. 1976)
1927 – Peter Mark Richman, American actor
1927 – Pope Benedict XVI
1930 – Herbie Mann, American jazz flute player (d. 2003)
1932 – Henk Schouten, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1933 – Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
1933 – Vera Krepkina, Russian long jumper
1933 – Marcos Alonso Imaz, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
1934 – Robert Stigwood, Australian-British music entrepreneur (d. 2016)
1934 – Barrie Unsworth, Australian politician, 38th Premier of New South Wales
1935 – Sarah Kirsch, German writer (d. 2013)
1935 – Dominique Venner, French historian and writer (d. 2013)
1935 – Bobby Vinton, American musician
1936 – Derrick Sherwin, English television producer and actor (d. 2018)
1937 – Vince Hill, English singer-songwriter and record producer
1937 – Vadim Kuzmin, Russian physicist (d. 2015)
1938 – Gordon Wilson, Scottish politician (d. 2017)
1939 – Dusty Springfield, British singer (d. 1999)
1940 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
1940 – Konstantin K. Kuzminsky, Russian poet (d. 2015)
1941 – Cliff Stearns, American businessman and politician
1942 – Frank Williams, Formula One team principal
1944 – Richard Bradshaw, British opera conductor
1944 – Dennis Russell Davies, American conductor and pianist
1944 – Elmar Wepper, German actor
1945 – Tom Allen, American politician
1946 – Margot Adler, American writer, journalist and Wiccan priest (d. 2014)
1946 – Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (d. 2014)
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish musician (d. 2011)
1949 – Ann Romney, wife of Mitt Romney and former First Lady of Massachusetts

1951 – 1975

1951 – Björgvin Halldórsson, Icelandic singer
1951 – Ari Kristinsson, Icelandic director and screenwriter
1951 – Bill Walker, American politician, former Governor of Alaska
1952 – Bill Belichick, American football coach
1952 – Yoshikazu Nagai, Japanese footballer
1952 – Billy West, American voice actor
1954 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
1954 – Sibylle Lewitscharoff, German writer
1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
1956 – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot and astronaut (d. 2003)
1960 – Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007)
1960 – Rafael Benítez, Spanish football manager
1960 – Pierre Littbarski, German footballer
1961 – Jarbom Gamlin, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (d. 2014)
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer
1963 – Saleem Malik, Pakistani cricketer
1964 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish jazz pianist (d. 2008)
1965 – Jon Cryer, American actor, screenwriter, movie director and producer
1965 – Martin Lawrence, American actor and comedian
1965 – Michael Wong Man Tak, Hong Kong actor and singer
1968 – Martin Dahlin, Swedish footballer
1969 – Patrik Jaerbyn, Swedish ski racer
1969 – Michael Baur, Austrian footballer
1970 – Gabrielle, English singer
1971 – Selena, Mexican-American singer (d. 1995)
1971 – Natasha Zvereva, Belarussian tennis player
1971 – Max Beesley, English actor and singer
1971 – Peter Billingsley, American actor, director and producer
1972 – Conchita Martínez, Spanish tennis player
1973 – Akon, American singer
1975 – Sean Maher, American actor

From 1976

1976 – Shu Qi, Taiwanese actress
1976 – Robert Dahlqvist, Swedish guitarist and singer (d. 2017)
1977 – Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
1977 – Thomas Rasmussen, Danish footballer
1977 – Alek Wek, Sudanese model
1978 – Lara Dutta, Indian actress and model
1978 – Igor Tudor, Croatian footballer
1978 – Nikki Griffin, American actress
1979 – Sixto Peralta, Argentine footballer
1979 – Sean Costello, American blues musician (d. 2008)
1980 – Reeyot Alemu, Ethiopian journalist
1982 – Gina Carano, American actress, television personality, model and former mixed martial artist
1982 – Boris Diaw, French basketball player
1983 – Marié Digby, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
1984 – Claire Foy, British actress
1985 – Luol Deng, Sudanese-British basketball player
1985 – Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Sam Tillen, English footballer
1985 – Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer
1986 – Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer
1986 – Paul di Resta, Scottish racing driver
1986 – Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast
1987 – Aaron Lennon, English footballer
1987 – Aleksander Vinter, Norwegian musician
1988 – Hayley Squires, British actress
1990 – Lily Loveless, British actress
1990 – Lorraine Nicholson, American actress
1991 – Kim Kyung-jung, South Korean footballer
1992 – Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg
1993 – Mirai Nagasu, American figure skater
1993 – Chance the Rapper, American singer and rapper
1994 – Liliana Mumy, American actress
1996 – Kento Misao, Japanese footballer
2002 – Sadie Sink, American actress
2008 – Princess Eléonore of Belgium

Deaths

Up to 1900

69 – Otho, Roman Emperor (b. 32)
665 – Fructuosus of Braga, French archbishop and saint
744 – al-Walid II ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph
1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev (b. 1050)
1118 – Adelaide of Vasto, Italian wife of Roger II of Sicily (b. 1075)
1198 – Duke Frederick I of Austria
1687 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman and poet (b. 1628)
1689 – Aphra Behn, dramatist (b. ca. 1640)
1742 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet (b. 1672)
1756 – Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (b. 1677)
1783 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b. 1719)
1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
1828 – Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter (b. 1746)
1846 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer (b. 1763)
1850 – Marie Tussaud, French creator of waxworks (Madame Tussaud's) (b. 1761)
1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
1879 – Bernadette Soubirous, French Roman Catholic saint (b. 1844)
1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wroblewski, Polish physicist (b. 1845)
1898 – Robert Milligan McLane, Governor of Maryland (b. 1815)
1899 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet and revolutionary (b. 1875)

1901 – 2000

1904 – Samuel Smiles, Scottish writer and reformer (b. 1812)
1914 – George William Hill, astronomer (b. 1838)
1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841)
1930 – Jose Carlos Mariategui, Peruvian journalist, philosopher and activist (b. 1894)
1934 – John J. Blaine, 24th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1875)
1938 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
1941 – Hans Driesch, German biologist and philosopher (b. 1867)
1942 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1878)
1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and Automobile designer (b. 1884)
1958 – Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b. 1920)
1968 – Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893)
1968 – Edna Ferber, American writer (b. 1885)
1972 – Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese writer (b. 1899)
1973 – Istvan Kertesz, Hungarian conductor (b. 1929)
1973 – Nino Bravo, Spanish pop singer (b. 1944)
1978 – Lucius Clay, American general (b. 1897)
1978 – Philibert Tsiranana, President of Madagascar (b. 1912)
1985 – Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian military leader (b. 1935)
1991 – David Lean, American movie director (b. 1908)
1991 – Sergio Peresson, Italian violin maker (b. 1913)
1992 – Neville Brand, actor (b. 1920)
1994 – Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
1995 – Iqbal Masih, Pakistani child slave (b. 1982)
1996 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (b. 1927)
1997 – Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. 1951)
1997 – Roland Topor, French actor, director and painter (b. 1938)
1998 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
1998 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (b. 1880)

From 2001

2001 – Michael Ritchie, American movie director (b. 1938)
2002 – Olivier Eggimann, Swiss footballer (b. 1919)
2002 – Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b. 1927)
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
2003 – Graham Stuart Thomas, British horticultural artist, writer, and garden designer (b. 1909)
2005 – Kay Walsh, British actress (b. 1911)
2007 – Deaths in the Virginia Tech Massacre:
- Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, Canadian French instructor (b. 1958)
- Kevin Granata, American professor of languages (b. 1961)
- Liviu Librescu, Romanian-born engineer and professor (b. 1930)
- Seung-Hui Cho, perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre (b. 1984)
2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1915)
2008 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917)
2010 – Carlos Franqui, Cuban writer and political activist (b. 1921)
2010 – Tomas Spidlik, Czech cardinal (b. 1919)
2011 – Allan Blakeney, Canadian politician, 10th Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1925)
2012 – Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, Danish shipping magnate (b. 1913)
2013 – Pat Summerall, American football player (b. 1930)
2013 – Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925)
2013 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American gospel singer (b. 1909)
2013 – Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (b. 1928)
2014 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian politician (b. 1949)
2014 – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (b. 1923)
2014 – Albert André, German Roman Catholic priest (b. 1930)
2015 – Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1948)
2015 – Attaphol Buspakom, Thai footballer and coach (b. 1962)
2015 – Stanislav Gross, 5th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (b. 1969)
2015 – Lee Remmel, American PR spokesman (b. 1924)
2015 – Oles Buzina, Ukrainian journalist (b. 1969)
2015 – Johnny Kemp, Bahamian singer (b. 1959)
2015 – Heino Kleiminger, German footballer (b. 1939)
2016 – Rubén Mendoza Ayala, Mexican politician (b. 1961)
2016 – Jeanette Bonnier, Swedish media proprietor, journalist and writer (b. 1934)
2016 – Rod Daniel, American film director (b. 1942)
2016 – William M. Gray, American meteorologist (b. 1929)
2016 – Charlie Hodge, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
2016 – Louis Pilot, Luxembourgian footballer (b. 1940)
2016 – Helmut Rohde, German politician (b. 1925)
2016 – Peter Rock, Chilean musician and actor (b. 1945)
2016 – Kit West, British special effects artist (b. 1936)
2017 – Gianni Boncompagni, Italian television presenter, producer and screenwriter (b. 1932)
2017 – Arcan Cetin, Turkish-American terrorist (b. 1996)
2017 – Allan Holdsworth, British guitarist and composer (b. 1946)
2018 – Harry Anderson, American actor (b. 1952)
2018 – Choi Eun-hee, South Korean actress (b. 1926)
2018 – Dona Ivone Lara, Brazilian singer and composer (b. 1921)
2018 – Ivan Mauger, New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider (b. 1939)
2018 – Lynn Stout, American law scholar (b. 1957)
2018 – Pamela Gidley, American actress (b. 1965)
2018 – Henri Landwirth, Belgian-American hotelier (b. 1927)
2018 – Paul Singer, Austrian-Brazilian economist (b. 1932)
2019 – Ahmad Eghtedari, Iranian teacher, writer and lawyer (b. 1925)
2019 – Guro Fjellanger, Norwegian politician (b. 1964)
2019 – Jörg Demus, Austrian pianist (b. 1928)
2019 – Kent Harris, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1930)
2019 – Suzanne Twelftree, Australian wheelchair tennis player and powerlifter (b. 1956)
2019 – Hansjörg Auer, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1984)
2019 – David Lama, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1990)
2019 – Jess Roskelley, American mountaineer (b. 1982)

Observances

Birthday of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
Emancipation Day (Washington, DC)
World Voice Day