European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation (The European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation (#EODD; takes place to raise awareness on the importance of organ, tissue and cell donation as a way to improve and save lives)
Fall World Migratory Bird Day (Held on the second Saturday of May and October with the support of the United Nations Environment Program - UNEP)
World Economist Day (the day when outstanding representatives of the profession are awarded a prize by decision of the Nobel Committee)
Events
1984 – American actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally shoots himself with a prop gun. He dies six days later.
1979 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
1970 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
1964 – The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits.
1963 – After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
1928 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
1917 – World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history.
1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.
1849 – The city of Manizales, Colombia is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.
1847 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens & Halske, which later becomes Siemens AG.
1823 – Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.
1810 – First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
1799 – Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute, from an altitude of 900 metres (3,000 ft).
1793 – The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
1792 – The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.
1773 – America's first insane asylum opens.
1113 – The city of Oradea is first mentioned under the Latin name Varadinum ("vár" means fortress in Hungarian).
Births
2002 – Iris Apatow, American actress. Iris Apatow (/ˈæpətaʊ/; born October 12, 2002) is an American actress known for her role as Arya in the Netflix series Love, as well as Charlotte in the movies Knocked Up and This Is 40.
1994 – Olivia Smoliga, American swimmer. Olivia Smoliga (born October 12, 1994) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in backstroke and freestyle events.
1992 – Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer. His first film role was in Miracle Dogs (2003) on Animal Planet, followed by a motion-capture performance in The Polar Express (2004) and a voice-acting role in Howl's Moving Castle (2005).
1981 – Giuseppe Lanzone, American rower. Giuseppe Lanzone (born October 12, 1982 in La Punta, Peru) is an American rower and 2005 graduate of the University of Washington.
1979 – Jordan Pundik, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was also the guitarist in the band's now defunct side-project, the International Superheroes of Hardcore, where he performed under the pseudonym of "Chugga Chugga".
1977 – Bode Miller, American skier. Samuel Bode Miller (/ˈboʊdi/; born October 12, 1977) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer.
1977 – Cristie Kerr, American golfer. Kerr was the number one-ranked golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings for three time periods in 2010.
1975 – Marion Jones, American basketball player and runner. Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA.
1972 – Neriah Davis, American model and actress. The following is a list of Playboy Playmates of 1994, the 40th anniversary year of the publication.
1971 – Bronzell Miller, American football player and actor (d. 2013), was a professional American football player and entertainer. As a football player he played for the University of Utah in college and then a series of professional teams being drafted by the St.
1971 – Tony Fiore, American baseball player. Anthony James Fiore (born October 12, 1971) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher.
1970 – Charlie Ward, American basketball player and coach. Charlie Ward Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is an American retired professional basketball player, college football Heisman Trophy winner and Davey O'Brien Award winner and a National Basketball Association player.
1970 – Kirk Cameron, American actor, screenwriter, and Christian evangelical/anti-evolution activist. Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor.
1970 – Tanyon Sturtze, American baseball player. Tanyon James Sturtze (born October 12, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.
1969 – José Valentín, American baseball player, coach, and manager. José Antonio Valentín (born October 12, 1969) is a former Major League Baseball infielder.
1969 – Martie Maguire, American singer-songwriter, violinist, and producer. Martha "Martie" Elenor Maguire (née Erwin; October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of both the female alternative country band Dixie Chicks and country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds.
1968 – Bill Auberlen, American race car driver. Bill Auberlen (born October 12, 1968) is an American factory race car driver known for his affiliation with BMW, driving cars made and run by the famous German marque for a number of years.
1968 – Leon Lett, American football player. Lett played in the NFL for 11 seasons and spent the majority of his career with the Cowboys, who drafted him in 1991.
1967 – Becky Iverson, American golfer. Becky Iverson (born October 12, 1967) is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She currently works as the director of golf at The Bridges Golf Club in Madison, Wisconsin
1966 – Brenda Romero, American game designer. Brenda Louise Romero (née Garno, born October 12, 1966), previously known as Brenda Brathwaite, is an American game designer and developer in the video game industry.
1965 – Scott O'Grady, American captain and pilot. Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot.
1962 – Carlos Bernard, American actor and director. Carlos Bernard Papierski (born October 12, 1962) is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Tony Almeida in 24, which he played from 2001 to 2006, and then reprised again in 2009, 2014 in 24: Solitary and 2017 in 24: Legacy.
1962 – Chris Botti, American trumpet player and composer. Christopher Stephen Botti (/ˈboʊti/ BOH-tee; born October 12, 1962), is an American trumpeter and composer.
1962 – Deborah Foreman, American actress and photographer. She is also regarded as a scream queen and known for playing in various horror films of the 1980s, such as April Fool's Day, Waxwork, Destroyer, and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat.
1960 – Steve Lowery, American golfer. Stephen Brent Lowery (born October 12, 1960) is an American professional golfer.
1959 – Anna Escobedo Cabral, American lawyer and politician, 42nd Treasurer of the United States. Anna Escobedo Cabral (born October 12, 1959) serves as the Unit Chief for Strategic Communications in the External Relations Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
1958 – Jeff Keith, American rock singer-songwriter (Tesla). Jeffrey Lynn Keith (born October 12, 1958 in Texarkana, Arkansas) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the band Tesla.
1958 – Steve Austria, American lawyer and politician. Stephen Clement Austria (born October 12, 1958) is the former U.S.
1955 – Pat DiNizio, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, was the lead singer, songwriter, and founding member of the band The Smithereens, which he formed in 1980 with Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, and Mike Mesaros, from Carteret, New Jersey.
1954 – Michael Roe, American, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is a member of the band The 77s.
1951 – Ed Royce, American businessman and politician. Edward Randall Royce (born October 12, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2019.
1951 – Sally Little, South African-American golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1971 and won 15 LPGA Tour events, including two major championship, during her career.
1950 – Dave Freudenthal, American economist and politician, 31st Governor of Wyoming. David Duane Freudenthal (/ˈfriːdənθɔːl/; born October 12, 1950) is an American attorney, economist, and politician who served as the 31st Governor of Wyoming from 2003 to 2011.
1950 – Susan Anton, American actress and model. Susan Ellen Anton (born October 12, 1950) is an American actress and singer.
1947 – Chris Wallace, American journalist. Wallace (born October 12, 1947) is an American television anchor and political commentator who is the host of the Fox Broadcasting Company/Fox News program Fox News Sunday.
1942 – Melvin Franklin, American soul bass singer (The Temptations) (d. 1995), was an American bass singer. Franklin was best known for his role as a founding member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994.
1937 – Robert Mangold, American painter. He is also father of film director and screenwriter James Mangold.
1935 – Sam Moore, American soul singer-songwriter (Sam & Dave), was a member of the soul and R&B group Sam & Dave from 1961 to 1981. He is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame (for "Soul Man"), and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
1935 – Tony Kubek, American baseball player and sportscaster. For NBC television, he later broadcast twelve World Series between 1968 and 1982, and fourteen League Championship Series between 1969 and 1989.
1934 – James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2012), was an American R&B musician based in New Orleans. He was the author of "Jock-A-Mo" (1954), which was later rerecorded as "Iko Iko" by the Dixie Cups, and became a huge hit.
1934 – Richard Meier, American architect, designed the Getty Center and City Tower. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings including the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and San Jose City Hall.
1932 – Dick Gregory, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2017), was an American comedian, civil rights activist, social critic, writer, and occasional actor. During the 1960s, Gregory became a pioneer in stand-up comedy for his "no-holds-barred" sets, in which he mocked bigotry and racism.
1932 – Ned Jarrett, American race car driver and sportscaster. Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion.
1929 – Nappy Brown, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 2008). His hits include the 1955 Billboard chart #2, "Don't Be Angry", "Little By Little", and "Night Time Is the Right Time".
1928 – Al Held, American painter and academic (d. 2005), was an American Abstract expressionist painter. He was particularly well known for his large scale Hard-edge paintings.
1923 – Goody Petronelli, American boxer, trainer, and manager (d. 2012), was an American boxing trainer and co-manager.
1923 – Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (d. 2015), was an American business entrepreneur who was the founder of the Weight Watchers organization.
1922 – William H. Sullivan, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (d. 2013), was an American Foreign Service career officer who served as Ambassador to Laos from 1964–1969, the Philippines from 1973–1977, and Iran from 1977–1979.
1921 – Art Clokey, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor, created Gumby (d. 2010), was an American pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation, best known as the creator of the character Gumby and the original voice of Gumby's sidekick, Pokey. Clokey's career began in 1953 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, which was influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California.
1919 – Doris Miller, American chef and soldier (d. 1943), was an American Messman Third Class in the United States Navy. During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Miller manned anti-aircraft guns (despite having no formal training in their use) and attended to the wounded.
1916 – Alice Childress, American actress and playwright (d. 1994), was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as "the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades." Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society, saying: "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different.
1916 – Lock Martin, American actor (d. 1959), was the stage name of American actor Joseph Lockard Martin Jr. He is best remembered for playing the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).
1914 – John E. Hodge, African-American chemist (d. 1996), was an African-American chemist, born in Kansas City, Kansas.
1910 – Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic (d. 2013), was an American polymer chemist, inventor, and professor emeritus at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Renfrew Hall, the university's chemistry building, was named for him in 1985.
1910 – Robert Fitzgerald, American poet, critic, and translator (d. 1985), was an American poet, critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students". He was best known as a translator of ancient Greek and Latin.
1908 – Ann Petry, American novelist (d. 1997), was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism. Her 1946 debut novel The Street became the first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies.
1908 – Paul Engle, American novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International Writing Program (IWP), both at the University of Iowa.
1906 – Joe Cronin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1984). Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 – September 7, 1984) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop, manager and general manager.
1904 – Lester Dent, American journalist and author (d. 1959), was an American pulp-fiction author, best known as the creator and main author of the series of novels about the scientist and adventurer Doc Savage. The 159 novels written over 16 years were credited to the house name Kenneth Robeson.
1903 – Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (d. 1998). She acted in several theater plays and films.
1893 – Velvalee Dickinson, American spy (d. 1980), was convicted of espionage against the United States on behalf of Japan during World War II. Known as the "Doll Woman", she used her business in New York City to send information on the United States Navy to contacts in Argentina via steganographic messages.
1878 – Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower (d. 1956), was an American track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw and all-rounder events. He was also a college football player for the Penn Quakers football team of the University of Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1900.
1874 – Jimmy Burke, American baseball player and manager (d. 1942). Jimmy Burke is the name of:
1868 – August Horch, German engineer and businessman, founded Audi (d. 1951), was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.
1860 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry, American engineer and businessman, co-invented the gyrocompass (d. 1930), was an American inventor and entrepreneur, most famous as co-inventor, with Herman Anschütz-Kaempfe, of the gyrocompass and as founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company. He was known as the "father of modern navigation technology."
1840 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (d. 1909), was Modrzejewska (Polish pronunciation: ), was a renowned actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles.
1815 – William J. Hardee, American general (d. 1873). William Joseph Hardee (October 12, 1815 – November 6, 1873) was a career U.S.
1710 – Jonathan Trumbull, American colonel and politician, 16th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1785), was an American politician and statesman who served as Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Trumbull was the only man to serve as governor of both a British colony and an American state, and he was the only governor to take up the Patriot cause at the start of the Revolutionary War.
1576 – Thomas Dudley, English-American soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1653), was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home.
Deaths
2015 – Joan Leslie, American actress, dancer, and vaudevillian (b. 1925)
2014 – Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1933)
2013 – George Herbig, American astronomer and academic (b. 1920)
2013 – Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic (b. 1910)
2013 – Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (b. 1951)
2012 – Norm Grabowski, American hot rod builder and actor (b. 1933)
2011 – Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language (b. 1941)
2011 – Patricia Breslin, American actress (b. 1931)
2010 – Belva Plain, American author (b. 1919)
2010 – Woody Peoples, American football player (b. 1943)
2009 – Dickie Peterson American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1948)
2007 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower (b. 1934)
2005 – C. Delores Tucker, American activist and politician (b. 1927)
2003 – Bill Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
2003 – Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (b. 1928)
2002 – Ray Conniff, American bandleader and composer (b. 1916)
1999 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach (b. 1936)
1998 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
1997 – John Denver, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1943)
1996 – René Lacoste, French tennis player and fashion designer, co-founded Lacoste (b. 1904)
1993 – Leon Ames, American actor (b. 1902)
1991 – Regis Toomey, American actor (b. 1898)
1989 – Jay Ward, American animator, producer, and screenwriter, founded Jay Ward Productions (b. 1920)
1988 – Coby Whitmore, American painter and illustrator (b. 1913)
1987 – Alf Landon, American lieutenant and politician, 26th Governor of Kansas (b. 1887)
1985 – Johnny Olson, American radio host and game show announcer (b. 1910)
1971 – Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (b. 1893)
Remind me of this day
