Wednesday 15 July 2020 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• Bon Festival (Kantō region, Japan)
• Marine Day or Ocean Day or Sea Day in Japan (is a Japanese national holiday celebrated on the third Monday in July)
• President's Day in Botswana (celebrated on the third Monday of July)
• Social Media Giving Day

Events

• 2006 – Twitter is launched, becoming one of the largest social media platforms in the world.
• 2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
• 2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
• 1975 – Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first joint Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was both the last launch of an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets.
• 1971 – The United Red Army is founded in Japan.
• 1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.
• 1959 – The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
• 1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.
• 1954 – First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series.
• 1916 – In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
• 1910 – In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer's disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer.
• 1870 – Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
• 1870 – Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are established from these vast territories.
• 1862 – The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. The encounter changed the complexion of warfare on the Mississippi and helped to reverse Rebel fortunes on the river in the summer of 1862.
• 1806 – Pike expedition: United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the west.
• 1741 – Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
• 1149 – The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem.
• 1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.

Births

• 1992 – Tobias Harris, American basketball player
• 1991 – Derrick Favors, American basketball player
• 1990 – Damian Lillard, American basketball player
• 1990 – Zach Bogosian, American ice hockey player
• 1989 – Anthony Randolph, American basketball player
• 1989 – Tristan Wilds, American actor, singer-songwriter and producer
• 1983 – Heath Slater, American wrestler
• 1980 – Kelli Martin, American fashion designer
• 1980 – Reggie Abercrombie, American baseball player
• 1979 – Laura Benanti, American actress and singer
• 1977 – John St. Clair, American football player
• 1977 – Lana Parrilla, American actress
• 1977 – Ray Toro, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 – Gabriel Iglesias, Mexican-American comedian and voice actor
• 1976 – Steve Cunningham, American boxer
• 1975 – Cherry, American wrestler and manager
• 1973 – Brian Austin Green, American actor
• 1972 – Scott Foley, American actor
• 1968 – Eddie Griffin, American comedian, actor, and producer
• 1967 – Adam Savage, American actor and special effects designer
• 1967 – Elbert West, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1961 – Forest Whitaker, American actor
• 1961 – Scott Ritter, American soldier and international weapons inspector
• 1960 – Kim Alexis, American fashion model
• 1958 – Mac Thornberry, American lawyer and politician
• 1956 – Joe Satriani, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1954 – Giorgos Kaminis, American-Greek lawyer and politician, 78th Mayor of Athens
• 1954 – Jeff Jarvis, American journalist and blogger
• 1953 – Alicia Bridges, American singer-songwriter
• 1952 – David Pack, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1952 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
• 1952 – Marky Ramone, American drummer and songwriter
• 1952 – Terry O'Quinn, American actor
• 1951 – Jesse Ventura, American wrestler, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of Minnesota
• 1950 – Arianna Huffington, Greek-American journalist and publisher (The Huffington Post)
• 1949 – Richard Russo, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter
• 1948 – Artimus Pyle, American rock drummer and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• 1947 – Lydia Davis, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
• 1947 – Roky Erickson, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1946 – Linda Ronstadt, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1945 – Peter Lewis (musician), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor
• 1944 – Millie Jackson, American singer-songwriter
• 1942 – Vivian Malone Jones, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
• 1940 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and convicted murderer (d. 1990)
• 1938 – Barry Goldwater, Jr., American lawyer and politician
• 1938 – Carmen Callil, Australian publisher, founded Virago Press
• 1938 – Ernie Barnes, American football player, actor, and painter (d. 2009)
• 1936 – George Voinovich, American lawyer and politician, 65th Governor of Ohio (d. 2016)
• 1935 – Alex Karras, American football player, wrestler, and actor (d. 2012)
• 1935 – Donn Clendenon, American baseball player and lawyer (d. 2005)
• 1935 – Ken Kercheval, American actor and director
• 1931 – Clive Cussler, American archaeologist and author
• 1931 – Joanna Merlin, American actress and casting director
• 1930 – Stephen Smale, American mathematician and computer scientist
• 1929 – Charles Anthony, American tenor and actor (d. 2012)
• 1928 – Carl Woese, American microbiologist and biophysicist (d. 2012)
• 1927 – Carmen Zapata, American actress (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Nan Martin, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Philip Carey, American actor (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Taylor Hardwick, American architect, designed Haydon Burns Library and Friendship Fountain Park (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Jeremiah Denton, American admiral and politician (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Leon M. Lederman, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1921 – Jack Beeson, American pianist and composer (d. 2010)
• 1921 – Robert Bruce Merrifield, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Joan Roberts, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
• 1917 – Robert Conquest, English-American historian, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
• 1916 – Sumner Gerard, American politician and diplomat (d. 2004)
• 1915 – Albert Ghiorso, American chemist and academic (d. 2010)
• 1913 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1963)
• 1905 – Dorothy Fields, American songwriter (d. 1974)
• 1904 – Rudolf Arnheim, German-American psychologist and author (d. 2007)
• 1903 – Walter D. Edmonds, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
• 1894 – Tadeusz Sendzimir, Polish-American engineer (d. 1989)
• 1893 – Dick Rauch, American football player and coach (d. 1970)
• 1893 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Wharton Esherick, American sculptor (d. 1970)
• 1865 – Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Irish-English publisher, founded the Amalgamated Press (d. 1922)
• 1850 – Francesca S. Cabrini, Italian-American nun and saint (d. 1917)
• 1827 – W. W. Thayer American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Oregon (d. 1899)
• 1817 – Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, English engineer, designed the Forth Bridge (d. 1898)
• 1800 – Sidney Breese, American jurist and politician (d. 1878)
• 1799 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of Alabama (d. 1882)
• 1796 – Thomas Bulfinch, American mythologist (d. 1867)
• 1779 – Clement Clarke Moore, American author, poet, and educator (d. 1863)
• 1573 – Inigo Jones, English architect, designed the Queen's House (d. 1652)

Deaths

• 2017 – Martin Landau, American film and television actor (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Masahiko Aoki, Japanese-American economist and academic (b. 1938)
• 2014 – Edward Perl, American neuroscientist and academic (b. 1926)
• 2014 – James MacGregor Burns, American historian, political scientist, and author (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Earl Gros, American football player (b. 1940)
• 2013 – Henry Braden, American lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
• 2013 – John T. Riedl, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1962)
• 2013 – Ninos Aho, Syrian-American poet and activist (b. 1945)
• 2013 – Noël Lee, Chinese-American pianist and composer (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Tom Greenwell, American lawyer and judge (b. 1956)
• 2012 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Grant Feasel, American football player (b. 1960)
• 2010 – James E. Akins, American politician and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (b. 1926)
• 2006 – Robert H. Brooks, American businessman, founder of Hooters and Naturally Fresh, Inc. (b. 1937)
• 2003 – Elisabeth Welch, American actress and singer (b. 1904)
• 1997 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, founded Versace (b. 1946)
• 1991 – Bert Convy, American actor, singer, and game show host (b. 1933)
• 1990 – Omar Abu Risha, Syrian poet and diplomat, 4th Syrian Ambassador to the United States (b. 1910)
• 1988 – Eleanor Estes, American librarian, author, and illustrator (b. 1906)
• 1986 – Billy Haughton, American harness racer and trainer (b. 1923)
• 1982 – Bill Justis, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1926)
• 1976 – Paul Gallico, American journalist and author (b. 1897)
• 1974 – Christine Chubbuck, American journalist (b. 1944)
• 1965 – Francis Cherry, American lawyer and politician, 35th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1908)
• 1960 – Lawrence Tibbett, American singer and actor (b. 1896)
• 1959 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer and academic (b. 1880)
• 1957 – James M. Cox, American publisher and politician, 46th Governor of Ohio (b. 1870)
• 1953 – Geevarghese Mar Ivanios, Indian archbishop, founded the Order of the Imitation of Christ (b. 1882)
• 1948 – John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
• 1947 – Walter Donaldson, American soldier and songwriter (b. 1893)
• 1940 – Robert Wadlow, American giant, 8"11' 271 cm (b.1918)
• 1933 – Freddie Keppard, American cornet player (b. 1890)
• 1933 – Irving Babbitt, American scholar, critic, and academic (b. 1865)
• 1898 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1825)
• 1883– General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (b. 1838)