✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 197th day of the year

July 16

A look at July 16 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Larry Sanger and Roald Amundsen, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♋ZodiacCancer ◈BirthstoneRuby ❀Birth flowerLarkspur
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Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2019

    Mumbai

    A 100-year-old building in Mumbai, India, collapses, killing at least 10 people and leaving many others trapped.

    Capital of Maharashtra, India
  2. 2007

    2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake

    An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing eight people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.

    Earthquake in Japan
  3. 2004

    Millennium Park

    Millennium Park, considered Chicago's first and most ambitious early 21st-century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

    Public park in Chicago,
  4. 1994

    Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9

    The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is destroyed in a head-on collision with Jupiter.

    Comet that collided with
  5. 1965

    Army of the Republic of Vietnam

    South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.

    Defunct South Vietnamese ground
  6. 1950

    Uruguay national football team

    Uruguay beats hosts Brazil 2–1 to win the World Cup in a match dubbed as the Maracanazo.

    Men's association football team
  7. 1916

    Max Reger

    Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem is first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.

    German composer, musician, conductor,
  8. 1809

    La Paz

    The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.

    Seat of government of
  9. 1790

    Washington, D.C.

    The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.

    Federal capital district of
  10. 1377

    Richard II of England

    King Richard II of England is crowned.

    King of England from
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Famous birthday twins

Born on July 16

Larry Sanger

b. 1968

American philosopher and businessman, co-founded Wikipedia and Citizendium

Roald Amundsen

b. 1872

Norwegian pilot and explorer

Trygve Lie

b. 1896

Norwegian trade union leader and politician, 1st Secretary-General of the United Nations

Andrea del Sarto

b. 1486

Italian painter

Katrina Kaif

b. 1983

British Indian actress and model

Phoebe Cates

b. 1963

American actress

James Maslow

b. 1990

American actor, singer and dancer

Sergio Busquets

b. 1988

Spanish footballer

Deaths

  • 2023Kevin Mitnick, American hacker
  • 2019John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
  • 2017George A. Romero, American filmmaker
  • 2014Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi
  • 2014Heinz Zemanek, Austrian computer scientist and academic
  • 1985Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Gondulphus of Tongeren
  • —Christian feast day: Helier
  • —Christian feast day: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Fiesta de La Tirana (Tarapacá Region, Chile)
  • —Christian feast day: Reineldis
  • —Christian feast day: July 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Engineer's Day (Honduras)
  • —Holocaust Memorial Day (France)

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