On this day: 15 April
Events, births and deaths on 15 April. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Wink Martindale
10 years ago2016
Nothing recorded for that year.
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1931 · Births · Tomas Tranströmer
- 1920 · Births · Richard von Weizsäcker
- 1930 · Births · Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1053 · Deaths · Godwin, Earl of Wessex
- 943 · Deaths · Liu Fen
Events · 18
- 1450Battle of Formigny — 1450 battle during the Hundred Years' War
- 1642Battle of Kilrush — 1642 battle
- 1861Proclamation 80 — proclamation signed by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
- 1865assassination of Abraham Lincoln — 1865 murder in Washington, D.C
- 1900Siege of Catubig — 1900 battle of the Philippine-American War
- 1969
- 1983Tokyo Disneyland — theme park in Japan, owned by The Oriental Land Company
- 19861986 United States bombing of Libya — US April 1986 military operation in Libya
- 19891989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre — Chinese pro-democracy movement and subsequent massacre
- 1989Hillsborough disaster — incident which occurred during the FA Cup semi-final match in 1989
- 1999Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316 — 1999 aviation accident in China
- 2002Air China Flight 129 — 2002 aviation accident in South Korea
- 2013Boston Marathon bombings — 2013 terrorist event in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- 2013
- 2014Bentiu massacre — 2014 massacre in South Sudan
- 20192019 fire at Notre-Dame de Paris — 2019 church fire in Paris, France
- 20212021 Indianapolis shooting — mass shooting in Indianapolis, Indiana
- 20262026 Onikişubat school shooting — 2026 mass shooting in Turkey
Births · 60
- 1452(Julian date)Leonardo da Vinci — Italian Renaissance polymath (1452−1519)
- 1469(Julian date)Guru Nanak — First Sikh Guru and founder of Sikhism
- 1563(Julian date)Guru Arjan — guru of Sikhism (1563-1606)
- 1642Suleiman II — 20th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1687–1691)
- 1646(Julian date)Christian V of Denmark — king of Denmark and Norway (1646–1699)
- 1707Leonhard Euler — Swiss mathematician, physicist, and engineer (1707–1783)
- 1772Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire — French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition" (1772-1844)
- 1793Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve — Baltic German astronomer (1793–1864)
- 1797Adolphe Thiers — President of France from 1871 to 1873 (1797-1877)
- 1800James Clark Ross — British explorer and naval officer (1800–1862)
- 1809Hermann Grassmann — German polymath, linguist and mathematician (1809–1877)
- 1812Théodore Rousseau — French painter (1812–1867)
- 1832Wilhelm Busch — German painter, poet and cartoonist (1832–1908)
- 1843Henry James — American and British writer (1843–1916)
- 1858Émile Durkheim — French sociologist (1858–1917)
- 1874Johannes Stark — German physicist (1874-1957)
- 1878Robert Walser — Swiss writer (1878–1956)
- 1883S. M. Bruce — Australian politician, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (1883-1967)
- 1886Nikolay Gumilev — Russian poet (1886-1921)
- 1894Bessie Smith — American blues singer (1892–1937)
- 1904Arshile Gorky — Armenian-American painter (1904–1948)
- 1907Nikolaas Tinbergen — Dutch Zoologist, ethologist (1907-1988)
- 1910Miguel Najdorf — Polish-Argentine chess player (1910-1997)
- 1912Kim Il-sung — Supreme Leader of North Korea from 1948 to 1994
- 1920Richard von Weizsäcker — President of Germany from 1984 to 1994
Deaths · 60
- 628(Julian date)Suiko — Empress of Japan from 592 to 628
- 1053Godwin, Earl of Wessex — Anglo-Saxon nobleman; son of Wulfnoth Cild
- 1446(Julian date)Filippo Brunelleschi — Italian architect, sculptor and engineer
- 1558(Julian date)Hürrem Sultan — Wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
- 1659Simon Dach — German writer
- 1719Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon — Mistress and later secret wife of King Louis XIV of France (1635-1719)
- 1754Jacopo Riccati — Italian mathematician (1676-1754)
- 1757Rosalba Carriera — Italian portrait painter and pastellist (1675–1757)
- 1764Madame de Pompadour — chief mistress of Louis XV of France (1721-1764)
- 1765Mikhail Lomonosov — Russian polymath (1711-1765)
- 1854Arthur Aikin — British chemist, mineralogist, author (1771/73 - 1854)
- 1855Wilhem de Haan — Dutch zoologist (1801–1855)
- 1865Abraham Lincoln — president of the United States from 1861 to 1865 (1809-1865)
- 1888Matthew Arnold — British poet and cultural critic (1822–1888)
- 1889Father Damien — 19th century Belgian Roman Catholic priest and saint (1840–1889)
- 1912Edward Smith — captain of the RMS Titanic (1850–1912)
- 1912William Thomas Stead — English newspaper editor (1849–1912)
- 1912Thomas Andrews — British businessman and shipbuilder (1873–1912)
- 1912John Jacob Astor IV — American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel (1864–1912)
- 1912Benjamin Guggenheim — American businessman (1865–1912)
- 1912William McMaster Murdoch — British sailor (1873–1912)
- 1912Wallace Hartley — band leader on the RMS Titanic (1878–1912)
- 1912James Paul Moody — sailor (1887–1912)
- 1912Jack Phillips — British wireless operator (1887–1912)
- 1912Isidor Straus — retailing magnate victim of the Titanic sinking (1845–1912)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.