July 16

July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar, with 168 days remaining.

Events

   * 1779 - American Revolutionary War: United States forces led by General
     Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.
   * 1783 - Grants of land in Canada to American loyalists announced.
   * 1790 - The signing of the Residence Bill establishes a site along the
     Potomac River as the District of Columbia (seat of government) of the
     United States (see Washington, DC).
   * 1862 - American Civil War: David G. Farragut becomes the first United
     States Navy rear admiral.
   * 1880 - First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada - Dr. Emily
     Howard Stowe.
   * 1918 - Russian Revolution: At Ekaterinburg, Bolsheviks execute Czar
     Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
   * 1942 - Holocaust: On order from the Vichy France government headed by
     Pierre Laval, French police officers round-up 13,000-20,000 Jews and
     imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
   * 1945 - Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States
     successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the
     Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
   * 1957 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U supersonic jet
     from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds
     setting a new transcontinental speed record.
   * 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 launches off from Cape Kennedy,
     Florida with the goal to become the first manned space mission to land
     on the moon.
   * 1973 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P.
     Butterfield informs the United States Senate committee investigating
     scandal that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially
     incriminating conversations.
   * 1979 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Saddam Hussein
     replaces him.
   * 1990 - In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter
     Scale kills over 1600.
   * 1999 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F.
     Kennedy Jr. crashes with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her
     sister Lauren Bessette on board. All three are killed in the crash.
   * 2001 - The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas for
     violating a provision of the DMCA.

Births

   * 1486 - Andrea del Sarto, painter (+ 1530)
   * 1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, founded Christian Science (+ 1910)
   * 1834 - Franz Adolf LŸderitz, salesman and politician (+ 1886)
   * 1872 - Roald Amundsen, explorer, discovered South Pole (+ 1928)
   * 1888 - Percy Kilbride, actor (Pa Kettle) (+ 1964)
   * 1896 - Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General (+ 1968)
   * 1902 - Georg Schwarz, writer (+ 1991)
   * 1903 - Carmen Lombardo - singer, saxophonist, composer, arranger (+
     1971)
   * 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress
   * 1907 - Dr. Frances Horwich, "Miss Francis" from Ding Dong School (+
     2001)
   * 1911 - Ginger Rogers, actress and dancer
   * 1913 - Peter van Eyck, actor (+ 1969)
   * 1924 - Bess Myerson, former Miss America, television personality
   * 1925 - Cal Tjader, musician (+ 1982)
   * 1948 - RubŽn Blades, actor, musician, politician
   * 1952 - Stewart Copeland, musician
   * 1963 - Phoebe Cates, actress
   * 1963 - Fatboy Slim, musician
   * 1964 - Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist

Deaths

   * 1848 - Jons Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist
   * 1979 - Alfred Deller, singer, early modern countertenor
   * 1981 - Harry Chapin, singer and songwriter
   * 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr.
   * 2003 - Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa musician
   * 2003 - Carol Shields, Canadian author

Holidays and observances

   * Botswana - President's Day (2nd day)