October 15

Pre-1600

 * 1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later.
 * 1211 – Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.
 * 1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.
 * 1582 – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.

1601–1900

 * 1651 – Qing forces capture the island of Zhoushan. Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu, resident of the island and regent of the Southern Ming, flees to Kinmen.
 * 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.
 * 1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.
 * 1815 – Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
 * 1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks, killing its inventor.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.
 * 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
 * 1888 – The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.

1901–present

 * 1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
 * 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.
 * 1928 – The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
 * 1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
 * 1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
 * 1940 – President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.
 * 1944 – World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.
 * 1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.
 * 1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
 * 1956 – FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
 * 1965 – Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.
 * 1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
 * 1970 – During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.
 * 1979 – Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
 * 1979  – A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
 * 1987 – Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.
 * 1987 – A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
 * 1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
 * 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
 * 1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
 * 1991  – The leaders of the Baltic States, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia, Anatolijs Gorbunovs of Latvia and Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania, signed the OSCE Final Act in Helsinki, Finland.
 * 1994 – The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
 * 1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
 * 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 mi of Jupiter's moon Io.
 * 2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.
 * 2006 – The 6.7 Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
 * 2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.
 * 2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
 * 2013 – The 7.2 Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.
 * 2016 – One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
 * 2018 – 13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered.

Pre-1600

 * 99 BC (probable) – Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (d. 55 BCE)
 * 70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
 * 1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (d. 1307)
 * 1440 – Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse, German noble (d. 1483)
 * 1471 – Konrad Mutian, German epigrammatist and academic (d. 1526)
 * 1542 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (d. 1605)
 * 1561 – Richard Field, English cathedral dean (d. 1616)
 * 1564 – Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1613)
 * 1599 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor and regent of Amsterdam (d. 1664)

1601–1900

 * 1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)
 * 1622 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (d. 1686)
 * 1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (d. 1758)
 * 1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian nun and saint, founded Grey Nuns (d. 1771)
 * 1711 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (d. 1741)
 * 1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)
 * 1767 – Gabriel Richard, French-born American Roman Catholic priest, missionary, educator, and politician (d. 1832)
 * 1775 – Bernhard Crusell, Finnish composer (d. 1838)
 * 1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician, Governor-General of Algeria (d. 1849)
 * 1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and politician (d. 1821)
 * 1789 – William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds (d. 1847)
 * 1802 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, head of state of France in 1848 (d. 1857)
 * 1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (d. 1841)
 * 1816 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1891)
 * 1818 – Alexander Dreyschock, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1869)
 * 1825 – Marie of Prussia (d. 1889)
 * 1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (d. 1907)
 * 1833 – John Alexander MacPherson, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Victoria (d. 1894)
 * 1836 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (d. 1902)
 * 1840 – Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
 * 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (d. 1900)
 * 1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, actor, and journalist (d. 1918)
 * 1865 – Charles W. Clark, American singer and educator (d. 1925)
 * 1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian educator and politician, 3rd President of Austria (d. 1956)
 * 1872  – August Nilsson, Swedish pole vaulter, shot putter, and tug of war competitor (d. 1921)
 * 1874 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1899)
 * 1878 – Paul Reynaud, French lawyer and politician, 118th Prime Minister of France (d. 1966)
 * 1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (d. 1967)
 * 1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
 * 1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (d. 1941)
 * 1884 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (d. 1910)
 * 1887 – Frederick Fleet, English sailor (d. 1965)
 * 1888 – S. S. Van Dine, American author and critic (d. 1939)
 * 1890 – Álvaro de Campos, Portuguese poet and engineer (d. 1935)
 * 1893 – Carol II of Romania (d. 1953)
 * 1894 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
 * 1897 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1960)
 * 1899 – Adolf Brudes, Polish-German racing driver (d. 1986)
 * 1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1987)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (d. 1952)
 * 1905 – C. P. Snow, English chemist and author (d. 1980)
 * 1906 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (d. 2004)
 * 1906  – Alicia Patterson, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1963)
 * 1906  – Victoria Spivey, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1976)
 * 1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist and author (d. 1967)
 * 1908 – Herman Chittison, American pianist (d. 1967)
 * 1908  – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (d. 2006)
 * 1909 – Jesse L. Greenstein, American astronomer and academic (d. 2002)
 * 1909  – Robert Trout, American journalist (d. 2000)
 * 1910 – Edwin O. Reischauer, Japanese-American scholar and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 1990)
 * 1912 – Nellie Lutcher, American singer and pianist (d. 2007)
 * 1913 – Wolfgang Lüth, German commander (d. 1945)
 * 1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (d. 2007)
 * 1916 – Al Killian, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1950)
 * 1916  – George Turner, Australian author and critic (d. 1997)
 * 1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
 * 1917  – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian and critic (d. 2007)
 * 1917  – Paul Tanner, American trombonist and educator (d. 2013)
 * 1919 – Malcolm Ross, American captain, balloonist, and physicist (d. 1985)
 * 1919  – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (d. 1995)
 * 1920 – Chris Economaki, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2012)
 * 1920  – Patricia Jessel, Hong Kong-English actress (d. 1968)
 * 1920  – Peter Koch, American industrial engineer and wood scientist (d. 1998)
 * 1920  – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
 * 1920  – Henri Verneuil, Turkish-French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
 * 1921 – Angelica Rozeanu, Romanian-Israeli table tennis player (d. 2006)
 * 1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese author (d. 2019)
 * 1922  – Preben Munthe, Norwegian economist and politician, State Conciliator of Norway (d. 2013)
 * 1923 – Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (d. 1985)
 * 1923  – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and politician (d. 2010)
 * 1923  – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (d. 2013)
 * 1923  – Lindsay Thompson, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Victoria (d. 2008)
 * 1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German-Canadian author and educator (d. 2022)
 * 1924  – Lee Iacocca, American businessman and author (d. 2019)
 * 1924  – Warren Miller, American director and screenwriter (d. 2018)
 * 1925 – Mickey Baker, American-French guitarist (d. 2012)
 * 1925  – Aurora Bautista, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
 * 1925  – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (d. 2009)
 * 1926 – James E. Akins, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (d. 2010)
 * 1926  – Agustín García Calvo, Spanish philosopher and poet (d. 2012)
 * 1926  – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (d. 1984)
 * 1926  – Ed McBain, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
 * 1926  – Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)
 * 1926  – Karl Richter, German organist and conductor (d. 1981)
 * 1927 – B. S. Abdur Rahman, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
 * 1929 – Will Insley, American painter and architect (d. 2011)
 * 1930 – FM-2030, Belgian-Iranian basketball player, philosopher and diplomat (d. 2000)
 * 1931 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (d. 2015)
 * 1931  – Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark, English academic and politician
 * 1932 – Jaan Rääts, Estonian guitarist and composer (d. 2020)
 * 1933 – Nicky Barnes, American drug lord (d. 2012)
 * 1934 – Alan Elsdon, English trumpet player (d. 2016)
 * 1934  – N. Ramani, Indian flute player (d. 2015)
 * 1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1935  – Dick McTaggart, Scottish boxer
 * 1935  – Bobby Morrow, American sprinter (d. 2020)
 * 1935  – Willie O'Ree, Canadian ice hockey player, first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL)
 * 1936 – Michel Aumont, French actor (d. 2019)
 * 1936  – Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, South African-English businessman (d. 2019)
 * 1937 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer
 * 1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1993)
 * 1938  – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997)
 * 1938  – Brice Marden, American painter (d. 2023)
 * 1938  – Robert Ward, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
 * 1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player and coach
 * 1940  – Peter C. Doherty, Australian surgeon and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1941 – Roy Masters, Australian rugby league coach, journalist, and author
 * 1942 – Hilo Chen, Taiwanese-American painter
 * 1942  – Harold W. Gehman, Jr., American admiral
 * 1942  – Don Stevenson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
 * 1943 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer (d. 2018)
 * 1944 – Sali Berisha, Albanian cardiologist and politician, 2nd President of Albania
 * 1944  – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan Tamil merchant seaman and politician (d. 2005)
 * 1944  – Haim Saban, Israeli-American businessman, co-founded Saban Entertainment
 * 1944  – David Trimble, Northern Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
 * 1945 – Steve Camacho, Guyanese cricketer (d. 2015)
 * 1945  – Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Spanish cardinal
 * 1945  – Neophyte of Bulgaria, Bulgarian patriarch (d. 2024)
 * 1945  – Jim Palmer, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1946 – Victor Banerjee, Indian actor and director
 * 1946  – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1946  – Palle Danielsson, Swedish bassist and composer
 * 1946  – Stewart Stevenson, Scottish engineer and politician, Minister for Environment and Climate Change
 * 1947 – Hümeyra, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1947  – Jaroslav Erno Šedivý, Czech drummer
 * 1948 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2016)
 * 1948  – Chris de Burgh, British-Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1949 – Laurie McBain, American author
 * 1949  – Prannoy Roy, Indian journalist, economist, and broadcaster, founded NDTV
 * 1950 – Candida Royalle, American porn actress, director, and producer (d. 2015)
 * 1951 – Peter Richardson, English actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1951  – Roscoe Tanner, American tennis player
 * 1951  – Rafael Vaganian, Armenian chess player
 * 1953 – Betsy Clifford, Canadian skier
 * 1953  – Tito Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1953  – Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
 * 1953  – Peter Phillips, English conductor and musicologist
 * 1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet and educator
 * 1954  – Steve Bracks, Australian politician, 44th Premier of Victoria
 * 1954  – Jere Burns, American actor
 * 1954  – Julia Yeomans, English physicist and academic
 * 1955 – Kulbir Bhaura, Indian field hockey player
 * 1955  – Emma Chichester Clark, English author and illustrator
 * 1955  – Tanya Roberts, American actress (d. 2021)
 * 1957 – Michael Caton-Jones, Scottish actor, director, and producer
 * 1957  – Mira Nair, Indian-American actress, director, and producer
 * 1957  – Stacy Peralta, American skateboarder, director, producer, and businessman, co-founded Powell Peralta
 * 1958 – Stephen Clarke, English-French journalist and author
 * 1959 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef and author
 * 1959  – Alex Paterson, English keyboard player
 * 1959  – Sarah, Duchess of York
 * 1959  – Todd Solondz, American actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1961 – Vyacheslav Butusov, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1963 – Stanley Menzo, Dutch footballer and manager
 * 1964 – Roberto Vittori, Italian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
 * 1965 – Nasser El Sonbaty, German bodybuilder and trainer (d. 2013)
 * 1966 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer and manager
 * 1966  – Bill Charlap, American pianist and composer
 * 1966  – Ilse Huizinga, Dutch singer
 * 1966  – Dave Stead, English drummer
 * 1967 – Eric Benét, American singer-songwriter
 * 1967  – Dan Forest, American politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
 * 1967  – Götz Otto, German actor and screenwriter
 * 1968 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer and manager
 * 1968  – Vanessa Marcil, American actress
 * 1968  – Rod Wishart, Australian rugby league player
 * 1968  – Trent Zimmerman, Australian politician
 * 1969 – Vítor Baía, Portuguese footballer
 * 1969  – Dominic West, English actor and director
 * 1970 – Eric Benét, American musician
 * 1970  – Ginuwine, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
 * 1970  – Pernilla Wiberg, Swedish skier
 * 1971 – Joey Abs, American wrestler
 * 1971  – Andy Cole, English footballer and coach
 * 1971  – Lauri Pilter, Estonian author and translator
 * 1972 – Fred Hoiberg, American basketball player and coach
 * 1972  – Matt Keeslar, American actor
 * 1972  – Michél Mazingu-Dinzey, German-Congolese footballer and manager
 * 1973 – Aleksandr Filimonov, Russian footballer
 * 1973  – Maria Hjorth, Swedish golfer
 * 1974 – Ömer Çatkıç, Turkish footballer
 * 1974  – Bianca Rinaldi, Brazilian actress
 * 1975 – Alessandro Doga, Italian footballer
 * 1975  – Glen Little, English footballer and manager
 * 1976 – Elisa Aguilar, Spanish basketball player
 * 1976  – Christian Allen, American video game designer
 * 1976  – Manuel Dallan, Italian rugby player
 * 1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
 * 1977  – David Trezeguet, French footballer
 * 1977  – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer
 * 1978 – Devon Gummersall, American actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1978  – Wes Moore, American politician, author, nonprofit executive, and television producer, 63rd Governor of Maryland
 * 1978  – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese wrestler
 * 1979 – Blue Adams, American football player and coach
 * 1979  – Bohemia, Pakistani-American rapper and producer
 * 1979  – Jekaterina Golovatenko, Estonian figure skater
 * 1979  – Paul Robinson, English footballer
 * 1979  – Jaci Velasquez, American singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1979  – Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer
 * 1980 – Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist
 * 1980  – Brandon Jay McLaren, Canadian actor
 * 1981 – Keyshia Cole, American singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1981  – Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
 * 1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer
 * 1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer
 * 1984  – Johan Voskamp, Dutch footballer
 * 1984  – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter
 * 1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player
 * 1985  – Walter Alberto López, Uruguayan footballer
 * 1985  – Marcos Martínez, Spanish racing driver
 * 1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter
 * 1986  – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier
 * 1986  – Nolito, Spanish footballer
 * 1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian racing driver
 * 1988 – Dominique Jones, American basketball player
 * 1988  – Lassy Mbouity, Congolese writer and politician
 * 1988  – Mesut Özil, German footballer
 * 1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player
 * 1989  – Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
 * 1989  – Leandro Antonio Martínez, Argentinian-Italian footballer
 * 1990 – Jeon Ji-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
 * 1991 – Brock Nelson, American ice hockey player
 * 1991 – Lil' Kleine, Dutch rapper
 * 1992 – Ncuti Gatwa, Rwandan-Scottish actor
 * 1992  – Vincent Martella, American actor
 * 1993 – Richaun Holmes, American basketball player
 * 1994 – Babar Azam, Pakistani cricket player


 * 1995 – Jack Flaherty, American baseball player
 * 1995  – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player
 * 1996 – Charly Musonda, Belgian footballer
 * 1996  – Zelo, South Korean rapper and dancer
 * 1998 – Teuku Wariza Aris Munandar, Indonesian activist and politician who is known as coordinator of 2023 Banda Aceh anti-Rohingya protest
 * 1999 – Bailee Madison, American actress
 * 2000  – Melki Sedek Huang, Indonesian activist and sex offender who formerly served as Chairman of The Student Executive Board at University of Indonesia
 * 2005 – Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark

Pre-1600

 * 412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
 * 892 – Al-Mu'tamid, Muslim caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate
 * 898 – Lambert of Italy (b. 880)
 * 912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, Spanish emir (b. 844)
 * 925 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (b. 864)
 * 961 – Abd-al-Rahman III, caliph of Córdoba
 * 1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
 * 1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfelden (b. 1025)
 * 1173 – Petronilla of Aragon (b. 1135)
 * 1240 – Razia Sultana, sultan of Delhi (b. 1205)
 * 1243 – Hedwig of Silesia, Polish saint (b. 1174)
 * 1326 – Walter Stapledon, bishop and Lord High Treasurer of England, and his brother Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician.
 * 1385 – Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow
 * 1389 – Pope Urban VI (b. 1318)
 * 1404 – Marie Valois, French princess (b. 1344)
 * 1496 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (b. 1443)
 * 1564 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (b. 1514)

1601–1900

 * 1674 – Robert Herrick, English poet (b. 1591)
 * 1684 – Géraud de Cordemoy, French historian, philosopher and lawyer (b. 1626)
 * 1690 – Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish painter and illustrator (b. 1622)
 * 1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1675)
 * 1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
 * 1810 – Alfred Moore, American captain and judge (b. 1755)
 * 1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (b. 1735)
 * 1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (b. 1746)
 * 1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1744)
 * 1820 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (b. 1771)
 * 1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (b. 1760)
 * 1838 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (b. 1802)
 * 1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English author and songwriter (b. 1837)
 * 1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1850)

1901–present

 * 1910 – Stanley Ketchel, American boxer (b. 1886)
 * 1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)
 * 1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru and saint (b. 1838)
 * 1925 – Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1848?)
 * 1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (b. 1866)
 * 1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (b. 1860)
 * 1940 – Lluís Companys, Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (b. 1882)
 * 1945 – Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (b. 1883)
 * 1946 – Hermann Göring, German general and politician (b. 1893)
 * 1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
 * 1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
 * 1958 – Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1907)
 * 1958  – Elizabeth Alexander, British geologist, academic, and physicist (b. 1908)
 * 1959 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (b. 1909)
 * 1959  – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1880)
 * 1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress and producer (b. 1890)
 * 1961 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (b. 1896)
 * 1963 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (b. 1908)
 * 1964 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (b. 1891)
 * 1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
 * 1966 – Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1876)
 * 1968 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)
 * 1976 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1902)
 * 1978 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (b. 1918)
 * 1978  – Rolf Stenersen, Norwegian businessman (b. 1899)
 * 1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)
 * 1980  – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
 * 1983 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
 * 1987 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (b. 1949)
 * 1987  – Donald Wandrei, American author and poet (b. 1908)
 * 1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer, music critic, pianist and writer (b. 1892)
 * 1989 – Danilo Kiš, Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. (b. 1935)
 * 1990 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress and director (b. 1932)
 * 1993 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (b. 1913)
 * 1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher and academic (b. 1934)
 * 1995 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1967)
 * 1995  – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver, only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series (b. 1976)
 * 1999 – Josef Locke, British-Irish soldier, policeman, tenor and actor (b. 1917)
 * 2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
 * 2000  – Vincent Canby, American journalist and critic (b. 1924)
 * 2001 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (b. 1901)
 * 2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian journalist and activist (b. 1919)
 * 2004 – Per Højholt, Danish poet (b. 1928)
 * 2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (b. 1977)
 * 2005  – Matti Wuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
 * 2007 – Piet Boukema, Dutch jurist and politician (b. 1933)
 * 2008 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (b. 1927)
 * 2008  – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (b. 1914)
 * 2008  – Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (b. 1922)
 * 2009 – Heinz Versteeg, Dutch-German footballer (b. 1939)
 * 2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)
 * 2010  – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
 * 2010  – Johnny Sheffield, American actor (b. 1931)
 * 2011 – Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (b. 1920)
 * 2012 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
 * 2012  – Erol Günaydın, Turkish actor and screenwriter (b. 1933)
 * 2012  – Maria Petrou, Greek-English computer scientist and academic (b. 1953)
 * 2012  – Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1922)
 * 2012  – Pat Ward, American lawyer and politician (b. 1957)
 * 2013 – Donald Bailey, American drummer (b. 1933)
 * 2013  – Nevill Drury, English-Australian journalist and publisher (b. 1947)
 * 2013  – Cancio Garcia, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1937)
 * 2013  – Gloria Lynne, American singer (b. 1931)
 * 2013  – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
 * 2013  – Hans Riegel, German businessman (b. 1923)
 * 2014 – Giovanni Reale, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1931)
 * 2014  – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic designer (b. 1929)
 * 2014  – Robert Tiernan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
 * 2014  – Nobby Wirkowski, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1926)
 * 2015 – Sergei Filippenkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1971)
 * 2015  – Nate Huffman, American basketball player (b. 1975)
 * 2015  – Neill Sheridan, American baseball player (b. 1921)
 * 2015  – Kenneth D. Taylor, Canadian businessman and diplomat (b. 1934)
 * 2015  – Tyrone Young, American football player (b. 1960)
 * 2017 – Chinggoy Alonzo, Filipino theater, movie & television actor (b. 1950)
 * 2018 – Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (b. 1953)
 * 2021 – David Amess, British politician, member of Parliament for Southend West (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances

 * Anniversary of the 1987 Coup d'État (Burkina Faso)
 * Breast Health Day (Europe)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Bruno of Querfurt
 * Cúan of Ahascragh
 * Teresa of Ávila
 * Thecla of Kitzingen
 * October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Evacuation Day (Tunisia)
 * King Father's Commemoration Day (Cambodia)
 * National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
 * Shwmae Su'mae Day (Wales)