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What happened in history on this day: November 15?
On November 15 in ...
- 1136 - Death of St. Leopold III (born about 1073 in Melk, Austria); duke of Austria from 1095, founded three monasteries.
- 1280 - Death of Albertus Magnus (Albert von Bollstädt) in Cologne (born about 1200); German scholar.
- 1397 - Birth of Nicholas V pope (1447-55); ended schism, founded Vatican Library.
- 1492 - Christopher Columbus notes first recorded reference to tobacco.
- 1492 - In Spain, six Jews and five Conversos are accused of using black magic.
- 1630 - Death of Johannes Keppler at age 58 in Regensburg; German mathematician/astronomer, developed the idea that the planets moved in elliptical orbits around the sun.
- 1660 - First kosher butcher (Asser Levy) licensed in New Amsterdam.
- 1672 - Death of Franciscus Sylvius in Leiden, Netherlands; physician, concluded that the basis of life and disease is chemical and that chemical compounds can be used to treat disease.
- 1708 - Birth of William Pitt the Elder (Whig) Great Britain Prime Minister (1756-61, 1766-68) 'Great Commoner'.
- 1712 - In Hyde Park, London, England, Whig Charles 4th Baron Mohun and Tory James Douglas 4th Earl of Hamilton engage in a duel to the death. Both die.
- 1715 - Barrier Treaty, Austria cedes area to the Netherlands.
- 1738 - Birth of William Herschel; astronomer (discovered Uranus).
- 1761 - French merchant ship L'Auguste de Bordeaux sinks near Nova Scotia during a storm.
- 1763 - Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
- 1777 - Articles of Confederation adopted by Continental Congress.
- 1791 - First Catholic college in the US opens, Georgetown.
- 1806 - First US college magazine, Yale Literary Cabinet, publishes first issue.
- 1815 - Birth of John Banvard in New York City, New York, USA; painted world's largest painting (3-mile canvas).
- 1822 - Brazil is declared an independent republic.
- 1824 - Series of fires kills ten (Edinburgh, Scotland).
- 1862 - Birth of Gerhart Hauptmann in Germany; writer (Before Dawn - Nobel Prize 1912).
- 1864 - First US mines school opens in basement of Columbia University, New York.
- 1864 - USA Army General Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1865 - Newfoundland introduces decimal currency.
- 1867 - Stock tickers are introduced at the New York Stock Exchange.
- 1869 - Free US postal delivery formally inaugurated.
- 1874 - Birth of August Krogh in Denmark; physiologist (Nobel Prize-1920).
- 1877 - In Eastern Nebraska, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurs.
- 1879 - Birth of Lewis Stone in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Prisoner of Zenda).
- 1881 - American Federation of Labor (AFL) is founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1881 - Birth of Franklin P Adams in Chicago, Illinois, USA; columnist (Information Please).
- 1882 - Birth of Felix Frankfurter in Vienna, Austria; US supreme court justice (1939-62).
- 1884 - Colonization of Africa organized at international conference in Berlin.
- 1886 - Birth of Pedro Sanjuan in San Sebastian, Spain; composer (Castilla).
- 1887 - Birth of Georgia O'Keeffe in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA; painter (Cow's Skull).
- 1887 - Birth of Marianne Moore in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; poet (Pulitzer Prize - 1951 - Collected Poems).
- 1889 - End of Brazilian rule as emperor by Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga.
- 1891 - Birth of Erwin Rommel; German field marshall (WW II-African campaign).
- 1891 - Birth of W Averell Harriman; American politician (Governor-Democrat-New York), ambassador to USSR (1943-46).
- 1895 - Birth of Ina Claire; actress (Claudia, Ninotchka, Rebound).
- 1897 - Birth of Sacheverell Sitwell; English poet/writer (People's Palace).
- 1902 - Birth of Jack Ingram in Illinois, USA; actor (Melody Ranch, Annie Oakley, The Cisco Kid, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Lone Ranger).
- 1902 - A meteorite falls to earth, landing in Sharpsburg, Kentucky, USA. The main piece weighs 181 pounds.
- 1905 - Birth of Annunzio Paolo Mantovani in Venice, Italy; orchestra leader ("Charmaine", "Song from Moulin Rouge", "Cara Mia").
- 1907 - The daily comic strip "Mr. A. Mutt" by Bud Fisher begins in San Francisco Chronicle.
- 1909 - Birth of Don Large in Canada; choral director (Wayne King).
- 1912 - Pacific Steam Navigation Company mail steamer Oravia sinks off Port Stanley, Falklands, after running aground on Billy Rock, November 12.
- 1914 - Birth of Jorge Bolet in Havana, Cuba; pianist (C'eurties Instituka).
- 1919 - Birth of Carol Bruce in Great Neck, New York, USA; actress (Lillian Carlson - WKRP in Cincinnati, General Hospital, Knot's Landing).
- 1919 - Birth of Joseph Albert Wapner in Los Angeles, California, USA; judge (California state Superior Court), TV judge (People's Court, Animal Court).
- 1919 - US Senate first invokes closure to end a filibuster (Versailles Treaty).
- 1920 - Free City of Danzig established under League of Nations protection.
- 1920 - League of Nations holds first meeting, in Geneva, Switzerland.
- 1922 - Birth of Francesco Rosi in Naples, Italy; director (Lucky Luciano).
- 1923 - Birth of Peter Hammond in London, England; actor (Buccaneers).
- 1925 - Birth of Howard Baker; American politician (Senator-Republican-Tennessee), presidential chief of staff.
- 1926 - NBC on-air debut with a radio network of 24 stations.
- 1928 - Birth of C. W. McCall; singer/songwriter ("Convoy").
- 1929 - Birth of Edward Asner in Kansas City, Kansas, USA; actor (Lou Grant - Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant).
- 1930 - Birth of Whitman Mayo in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Grady - Sanford and Son).
- 1931 - Birth of John Kerr in New York City, USA; actor (South Pacific, Peyton Place, The Pit and the Pendulum, Streets of San Francisco, The FBI, Arrest and Trial).
- 1931 - Birth of Mwai Kibaki; third President of Kenya.
- 1932 - Birth of Clyde McPhatter in Durham, North Carolina, USA; singer (Dominoes, Drifters, "A Lover's Question", Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987)).
- 1932 - Birth of Petula Clark in England; singer ("Downtown", "My Love").
- 1933 - Birth of Barbara Carson in Memphis, Tennessee, USA; actress (Comedy Tonight, Carter Country).
- 1933 - Birth of Jack Burns in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; comedian (Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour, Flip Wilson Show).
- 1934 - Birth of Joanna Barnes in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; actress (Parent Trap, Spartacus, Goodbye Charlie, 21 Beacon Street, Dateline: Hollywood).
- 1935 - Commonwealth of Phillipines inaugurated, within the United States of America.
- 1937 - Birth of Yaphet Kotto in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Brubaker, Alien, Raid on Entebbe).
- 1937 - Birth of Little Willie John AKA William Edward John in Cullendale, Arkansas, USA; singer ("Sleep", "Talk to Me Talk to Me", "Fever").
- 1938 - First telecast of an unscheduled event (fire), W2XBT, New York.
- 1939 - Birth of Erik Hansen in Denmark; 1000m kayak (Olympic-gold-1960).
- 1939 - Birth of Thalmus Rasulala [Jack Crowder] in Miami, Florida, USA; actor (Blacula, Roots).
- 1939 - Germans begin mass murder of Warsaw Jews.
- 1939 - Social Security Administration approves first unemployment check.
- 1940 - First 75,000 men called to armed forces duty during peacetime in US.
- 1940 - Birth of Sam Waterston in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Law and Order, Capricorn One, Heaven's Gate).
- 1941 - German forces in Russia make a final push for Moscow before winter sets in. The German 4th Army makes a frontal assault, while Panzer groups attack toward the north and south-east.
- 1945 - Birth of Anni-Frid Lyngsdtad [Fryeda Anderson] in Sweden; rocker (ABBA - "Dancing Queen").
- 1945 - Birth of Judith Chapman; actress (Days of Our Lives, Ryan's Hope).
- 1945 - Birth of Bob Gunton; actor (Desperate Housewives, Pepper Dennis).
- 1946 - Birth of Janet Lennon in Culver City, California, USA; singer (Lennon Sisters).
- 1948 - William Lyon Mackenzie King retires as Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1953 - Birth of James Widdoes; director-actor (My Wife and Kids, Charles in Charge).
- 1954 - First regularly scheduled commercial flight over North Pole begins.
- 1954 - Birth of Beverly D'Angelo in Columbus, Ohio, USA; actress (Vacation, European Vacation, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Talk to Me).
- 1954 - Death of Lionel Barrymore at age 76; actor (Mayor of the Town radio show, Scrooge - A Christmas Carol).
- 1955 - Birth of Oliver Conant in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Summer of '42).
- 1956 - Birth of Margaret Reed; actress (As The World Turns)
- 1956 - Birth of John Roberts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; CNN anchor.
- 1957 - Birth of Kevin Eubanks; bandleader (Jay Leno Show).
- 1957 - US sentences Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel to 30 years and US$3,000 fine.
- 1958 - Actor Tyrone Power dies of a heart attack at age 44 during the filming of a fencing scene in Solomon and Sheba in Madrid, Spain.
- 1960 - Elgin Baylor of NBA Los Angeles Lakers scores 71 points versus New York Knicks.
- 1963 - Fritz Reiner, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), dies at age 74.
- 1964 - Mickey Wright shoots a 62, lowest golf score for a woman professional.
- 1965 - Craig Breedlove sets land speed record (600.601 mph [966.57 kph]).
- 1965 - At the Cherry Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney, Roy Disney, and Florida Governor Hayden Burns make the first public announcement of plans to build a new Disney theme park near Orlando.
- 1966 - Gemini XII returns to Earth.
- 1968 - Birth of Brenda Alyce Bassett in Kokomo, Indiana, USA; Miss Indiana-America (1991).
- 1968 - Birth of James Brady in Brooklyn, New York, USA; columnist (New York Post).
- 1969 - Birth of Rachel True; actress (Half and Half, Once and Again, Drew Carey Show).
- 1969 - 250,000 peacefully demonstrate in Washington DC against the Vietnam War.
- 1972 - Birth of Jonny Lee Miller; actor (Smith, Dead Man's Walk, EastEnders).
- 1972 - Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 48 is launched to study gamma rays.
- 1974 - Birth of Chad Kroeger in Alberta, Canada; singer (Nickelback).
- 1974 - Birth of Jesse Sandoval; drummer (The Shins).
- 1974 - Birth of David Carr; Christian rock musician (Third Day).
- 1977 - Birth of Peter Mark Andrew Phillips, 9th in sucession to British throne.
- 1977 - US President Jimmy Carter welcomes Shah of Iran.
- 1978 - 183 die as Icelandic Airlines DC-8 crashes in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- 1979 - British government identifies Sir Anthony Blunt as fourth man in Soviet spy ring.
- 1980 - Pope John Paul II begins five-day visit to Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1981 - Death of Enid Markey at age 85; actress (Studio One, Kraft Television Theatre, Philco Television Playhouse, Aunt Violet - Bringing Up Buddy).
- 1982 - Funeral services held in Moscow's Red Square for Leonid I Brezhnev.
- 1983 - Mike Bossy scores 75th hat trick in New York Islanders' history.
- 1983 - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus proclaimed.
- 1984 - Baby Fae, who received a baboon's heart, dies at California medical center.
- 1985 - In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 1985 - CBS airs the 200th episode of the Dallas TV show.
- 1987 - 28 of 82 aboard Continental Airlines DC-9 die in crash at Denver, Colorado, USA.
- 1988 - 91-metre radio telescope dish at Green Bank, West Virginia collapses.
- 1988 - An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46.
- 1988 - In the Soviet Union, the unmanned space shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
- 1990 - US President George Bush signs the Clean Air Act of 1990.
- 1990 - US 68th manned space mission STS 38 (Atlantis 7) launches into orbit on a classified military mission.
- 1991 - Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 120.31 points (5th largest dive).
- 1991 - Buena Vista releases the film Beauty and the Beast to theaters.
- 1994 - Helmut Kohl is re-elected German Chancellor by the Bundestag with a vote of 338-333.
- 1996 - Death of Alger Hiss, U.S. State Department official (born 1904).
- 2000 - A new Indian state called Jharkhand is formed, carving out the South Chhota Nagpur area from Bihar in India.
- 2001 - Microsoft launches the Xbox video game system in North America. Price is US$299. The system features four controller ports, one controller, 8 GB hard drive, 733 MHz Intel main processor, 250 MHz NVidia XGP graphics processor, 64 MB RAM, 3D audio support, Ethernet port, broadband Internet connection. Games come on dual-layer DVD-ROM discs that can store 9 GB of data. The system can also play DVD movies. 500,000 units are sold in the first seven days; 1.5 million in the first month.
- 2001 - Microsoft releases the Halo video game for the Xbox in the USA.
- 2002 - Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
- 2002 - Warner Bros. releases the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to theaters.
- 2002 - In England, Myra Hindley, who was involved in the murders of five children between 1963 and 1965, dies in hospital at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack in prison.
- 2003 - Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting two synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
- 2004 - Death of John Morgan at age 74 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; actor/comic (founding and longtime member of The Royal Canadian Air Farce radio and TV shows).
- 2005 - In Australia, workers stage a massive protest against the Coalition government's planned Industrial Reform legislation.
- 2005 - The American baseball players' association and franchise owners agree to toughen the current penalties for the use of steroids, using a 50-game suspension for a first offense, 100 games for a second, and then lifetime ban for a third.
- 2005 - An earthquake hits near Sanriku in Japan, prompting a tsunami warning to be issued.
- 2006 - Al Jazeera launches its new English language news channel, Al Jazeera English.
- 2006 - Start of the Sales and Use Tax in Puerto Rico; a response to the Puerto Rico budget crisis of May 2006.
- 2006 - The State of Hawaii bans smoking in all enclosed public places.
- 2006 - In the Kuril Islands, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurs. A tsunami with a recorded wave height of 176 cm damages a dock at Crescent City, California.
- 2008 - Pakistan agrees to borrow US$7.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund, to prevent a run on the rupee and defaults on international loans.
- 2008 - In Washington, D.C., leaders of the "G20" nations, representing 90 percent of global GDP, meet for an economic summit, for the first time ever.
- 2008 - Somali pirates seize Saudi Arabian supertanker Sirius Star off the Kenya coast, taking it to a Somali port to hold for ransom.
- 2008 - Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa announces the capture of Pooneryn from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, for the first time in 15 years.
- 2009 - Death of Patriarch Pavle, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (born 1914).
- 2009 - Death of Pierre Harmel, 39th Prime Minister of Belgium (born 1911).
- 2010 - Guinea holds its first proper election since 1958 independence. Alpha Condé wins the presidential run-off election.
- 2013 - Death of Glafcos Clerides, 4th President of Cyprus (born 1919).
- 2017 - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is placed under house arrest, as the military take control of the country.
- 2017 - A Leonardo da Vinci painting, Salvator Mundi, sells for US$450 million at Christie's in New York, a new record price for any work of art.
- 2020 - The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries to form the world's largest free-trade bloc, covering a third of the world's population.
- 2020 - NASA and SpaceX launch the SpaceX Crew-1 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A to the ISS, the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon capsule.
- 2022 - The human population is estimated to have exceeded 8 billion.
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