What are the important events that happened on July 16? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

July 16: Facts & Myths About This Day

July 16 is the 197^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 168 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 3, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 486,840 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaenneacontaheptagon’ day.

Cancer is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Ruby is the modern birthstone for this month. Ruby is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 216 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,590 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

July 16 Historical Events

• 1683 –
  Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
• 1769 –
  Father Junipero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego.
• 1931 –
  Emperor Haile Selassie I signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
• 1941 –
  Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as a MLB record.
• 1942 –
  Holocaust: Vel‘ d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel’d'Hiv): the government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
• 1945 –
  World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
• 1948 –
  The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
• 1957 –
  United States Marine major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
• 1993 –
  The Slackware operating system is first released.
• 2007 –
  2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake: an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing 8 people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.

Who were born on July 16?

• 1723 –
  Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
• 1903 –
  Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer and composer (d. 1971)
• 1928 –
  Anita Brookner, English novelist
• 1939 –
  Corin Redgrave, English actor and political activist (d. 2010)
• 1947 –
  Alexis Herman, American politician, 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor
• 1956 –
  Tony Kushner, American playwright
• 1971 –
  Ed Kowalczyk, American singer (Live)
• 1976 –
  Tomasz Kuchar, Polish rally driver
• 1977 –
  Bryan Budd, British soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2006)
• 1987 –
  AnnaLynne McCord, American actress

Who died on July 16?

• 1546 –
  Anne Askew, English Protestant (b. 1521)
• 1647 –
  Masaniello, Neapolitan rebel (b. 1622)
• 1729 –
  Johann David Heinichen, German composer (b. 1683)
• 1886 –
  Ned Buntline, American pulp novelist (b. 1823)
• 1915 –
  Ellen White, American religious figure (b. 1827)
• 1982 –
  Charles Robberts Swart, South African politician (b. 1894)
• 1992 –
  Buck Buchanan, American football player (b. 1940)
• 1996 –
  John Panozzo, American drummer (Styx) (b. 1948)
• 2004 –
  Charles Sweeney, American general (b. 1919)
• 2004 –
  George Busbee, American politician (b. 1927)