One of the aims of the Institute of World Culture is “to honour through appropriate observance the contributions of men and women of all ages to world culture.”  This calendar offers just a taste of the rich diversity of those contributions.  We attempt to substantiate the dates but dates can vary depending on the calendar in use when the date was determined or if the date is based on the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Certain dates are the best estimate of scholars as the original dates are lost to history. The intention of this calendar is to show the great diversity and excellence in the contributions of men and women of world culture and in this case the dates are secondary. You can click on a particular month, listed in the column on the left, or scroll down to see listings for the entire year.  This calendar is a work in progress so please let us know if you have contributions or corrections by contacting donna@worldculture.org

“Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Undated

3rd  Cicero, Roman statesman, constitutionalist, orator b.106 B.C.E.
3rd  Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister from 1945-1951 b.1883
4th Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician (quote) b. 1643
4th Louis Braille, French inventor, teacher of the blind (quote) b.1809
5th George Washington Carver, African-American inventor, scientist,
       educator (quote) d.1943
6th Joan of Arc, French heroine, Catholic saint b.1412
6th  Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American artist, poet, writer b.1883
7th  Charles Peguy, French poet, essayist, philosopher b.1873
8th  Stephen Hawking, British theoretical physicist, cosmologist b. 1942
9th Marco Polo, Italian trader, explorer d.1324
11th  William James, American philosopher, psychologist b.1842
12th  Edmund Burke, Irish statesman, author (quote) b.1729
14th  Albert Schweitzer, German physician, Nobel laureate b.1875
15th  Moliére, French playwright, actor b.1622
15th  Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American civil rights leader b.1929
17th  Benjamin Franklin, American printer, statesman b.1706
17th  Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright, author, doctor b.1860
18th  Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, French
         political philosopher (quotes) b.1689
18th  Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, French philosopher, mystic b.1743
19th  James Watt, Scottish inventor, engineer b.1736
19th  Edgar Allan Poe, American poet, writer, editor b.1809
20th  André-Marie Ampére, French physicist, mathematician b.1775
22nd  Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, author b.1561
22nd  George Gordon, Lord Byron, British poet b.1788
23rd  David Hilbert, German mathematician b.1862
25th  Robert Boyle, Irish-born chemist, inventor b.1627
25th  Robert Burns, Scottish poet b.1759
27th  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer b.1756
27th  Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), English author b.1832
29th  Thomas Paine, British pamphleteer, revolutionary, inventor b.1737
29th  Romain Rolland, French dramatist, Nobel laureate b.1866
30th  Franklin D. Roosevelt, American 32nd U.S. President b.1882
30th  Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader d.1948
31st  Franz Schubert, Austrian composer b.1797
31st Anna Pavlova, Russian prima ballerina b.1881 (Feb 12, New Style)

1st  New Year’s Day observed in the U.S.
1st  Ancient Druid Mistletoe Festival
1st  Gantan-sai, Shinto New Year observed
1st  Ceres, smallest identified dwarf planet in the Solar System, discovered
       by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801
1st  Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 committed the U.S. to ending slavery
5th Twelfth Night, a Christian holiday concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas
6th  Epiphany (Dia de los Reyes Mago) honors the three wise men who attended the
       birth of Jesus and announced the birth to the world
6th  First Bulgarian Gypsy (Roma) Congress held in Sofia in 1906
7th Christmas celebrated in the Coptic community and Orthodox churches
7th Three of Jupiter’s moons first observed by Galileo in 1610
10th  Thomas Paine’s Common Sense published in 1776
10th Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 B.C.E. starting a civil war that
        led to the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire
10th League of Nations founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1920 to preserve
        international peace
10th Reforms made in 1840 to the original Penny-Post established in London in 1680
10th Caesar crossed the Rubcon River in 49 BCE
15th Discovery of artificial radioactivity by Frédéric and Iréne Joliot-Curie mid-January 1934
15th (2024) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observed in the U.S.
17th Edict of Tolerance of St. Germain, an edict of limited toleration which sought
        to end persecution of non-Catholics in France was drawn up in 1952
21st (2024) World Religion Day observation initiated in 1950 by the Bahá’is of the U.S.
21st First B.B.C. broadcast to the world in 1930
24th (2024) Tu B’Shevat, Jewish New Year of the Trees
25th (2024) Mahayana Buddhist New Year, first full moon day in January
26th  Niels Bohr announced the splitting of the Uranium atom in 1939
26th  Republic Day of India marks the adoption of the Indian Constitution in 1950
27th  British government formally abolished the death penalty in the U.K. in 1998
29th First boat specialized as a lifeboat was tested on the River Tyne in England in 1790

Day unknown:
• Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BCE

1st  President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution
       abolishing slavery in1865
7th, 8th and 9th (2024) Isra and Miraj, Muhammad’s night journey and ascension to heaven celebrated on one of these days in various countries of the world
10th (2024) Chinese Lunar New Year (Year of the Dragon)
10th (2024) Losar (Tibetan New Year) begins
14th (2024) Vasant Panchami, Hindu and Sikh start of spring
14th (2024) Ash Wedesday,Christian first day of Lent
14th Feast of Saint Valentine, Western Christian feast day honororing two early saints named Valentinus
14th (2024) Saraswati Puja, also rendered Basant/Vasant Panchami. In honor of the Hindu goddess
18th John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress published in 1678
18th Discovery of the planet Pluto by Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930
19th (2024) Presidents’ Day celebrated in the U.S.
19th Emancipation Manifesto legally granted full rights of citizenship to Russian serfs in 1861
20th John H. Glenn orbits the earth three times in 1962
24th (2024) Chinese Lantern Festival symbolized the letting go of the past year and the welcoming of the new year.
28th Celebrates the Kalevala, the Finish National Epic poem published in 1835

2nd Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian and Soviet politician, eight and last leader of the Soviet Union. Born: 3/2/1931, Died: 8/30/22.
3rd  Georg Cantor, German mathematician b.1845
3rd  Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish scientist, inventor b.1847 (quote)
4th  Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer, priest, violinist b.1678
6th  Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter, sculptor b.1475
6th  Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet b.1806
7th  Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter b.1872
7th  Maurice Ravel, French composer b.1875
8th  Oliver Wendell Holmes, American jurist, U.S. Supreme
       Court Justice b.1841
8th Hypatia, Hellenistic Neoplatonist, astronomer, mathematician d. 415
12th  George Berkeley, Irish philosopher, metaphysician b.1685
14th  Johann Strauss, Austrian composer b.1804
14th  Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist b.1879
15th  Julius Caesar, Roman political leader d.44 B.C.E.
16th  René Daumal, French writer, philosopher, poet b.1908 (quote)
18th  Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet, critic b.1842
18th  Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer b.1844
19th  David Livingstone, Scottish explorer, medical missionary b.1813
20th  Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso), Roman poet b.43 B.C.E.
20th  Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright b.1828
21st Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer b.1685
23rd  Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace, French astronomer,
         mathematician b.1749
23rd Emmy Noether, German Jewish mathematician b.1882
24th John Wesley Powell, American explorer, geologist,U.S. soldier,
         professor and founder of National Geographic b.1834; d.September 23, 1902
24th  Dorothy Irene Height, American educator, civil and women’s rights activist
b. 1912
24th  William Morris, English designer, artist, b.1834
25th  Béla Viktor János Bartók, Hungarian composer and pianist b.1881
25th Ishi, last member of the California Yana Indian tribe d. 1916
26th  Edward Bellamy, American author b.1850
26th  Joseph John Campbell, American mythologist, writer, lecturer b.1874
26th  Robert Frost, American poet b.1874
27th  Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, German physicist b.1845
28th  Teresa of Avila, Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun b.1515
30th  Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), Spanish rabbi, physician,
         philosopher b.1135
30th  Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter, printmaker b.1746
30th  Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Post-Impressionist artist b.1853
31st  Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer, organist b.1685
31st  René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician b.1596
31st  Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer b.1732
31st  César Chávez, Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader,
         civil rights activist b.1927
Pocahantas, Native American Powhatan princess, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, married to Englishman John Rolfe d. 1617

8th  International Women’s Day sponsored by the U.N. honors the achievements of women
8th (2024) Maha Shivaratri (Vigil Night of Shiva) celebrated in India
10th Tibetian uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet began in 1959
11th (2024) Commonwealth Day, celebrating the Commonwealth of Nations
13th Santa Lucia Day, festival of light and Christian holiday celebrated in Sweden and
        around the world honoring the legend of Saint Lucia
13th Discovery of the planet Uranus by William Herschel in 1781
14th Pi Day, the mathematical constant Pi (π), the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter,       has been celebrated widely since 1988

19th (2024) Vernal (Spring) Equinox 8:06 pm PDT
20th International Day of Happiness, founded by the United Nations in 2012
21th (2024) Nowruz, Iranian and ancient Persian/Parsi festival marking the New Year celebrated,
         originally the most holy of all Zoroastrian festivals
21st  International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (United Nations)
23rd (2024) Purim begins, commerates salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia
25th (2024) Holi, Hindu Festival of Colors, begins, celebrates the beginning of spring
28th Discovery of Pallas asteroid, one of the largest in the solar system in 1802

1st  William Harvey, English physician b.1578
1st  Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, conductor b.1873
1st  Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental political activist, 2004 Nobel Peace
       Prize, founder of the Green Belt Movement, b.1940; d. Sept 25, 2011
2nd  Charlemagne, German King of the Franks and Emperor
        of the Holy Roman Empire b.742
2nd  Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author, poet b.1805
3rd  Washington Irving, American author, essayist, historian b.1783
4th  Dorothea Dix, American mental health activist b. 1802
4th  Mary Colter, American architect and designer b. 1869
4th  Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American clergyman, civil rights
       leader d.1968
5th  Joseph Lister, English surgeon b.1827
5th  Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, orator,
       author b.1856
6th  Raphael, Italian High Renaissance painter, architect b.1483 (or Mar 28)
7th  William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet b.1770
8th  Hugo von Mohl, German botanist b.1805
9th  Charles Baudelaire, French poet, critic, translator b.1821
9th  Paul Robeson, African-American singer, actor, activist, lawyer b 1898
10th  Hugo Grotius, Dutch jurist, playwright, poet b.1583
10th  George William Russell, Irish nationalist, writer, editor b.1867
11th  Kasturbai Gandhi, Indian activist and teacher b.1869
13th  Thomas Jefferson, American political philosopher, Founding Father
         and 3rd President of the U.S. b.1743
14th  Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist,
         horologist b.1629
14th  Anne Sullivan, American teacher and companion of Helen Keller b.1866
14th  Arnold J. Toynbee, British historian, author b.1889
14th Shri Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage of Arunacchula d.1950
15th  Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist, scientist, inventor b.1452
15th  Guru Nanak, Indian founder of the Sikh religion b.1469
15th  Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician, physicist b.1707
16th  Anatole France, French poet, journalist, novelist, Nobel laureate
         b.1844
16th  Charlie Chaplin (Charles Spencer Chaplin), English actor, filmmaker b.1889
17th  Thornton Wilder, American playwright, novelist b.1897
18/19th David Ricardo, British economist, member of Parliament b.1772
21st  Peter Abelard, French philosopher, theologian, logician d.1142
21st  John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, author,
         conservationist b.1838
21st  Max Weber, German political economist, sociologist b.1864
22nd  Immanuel Kant, German philosopher b.1724
22nd  Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, politician b.1870
23rd  William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright d.1616
23rd  Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel laureate b.1858
23rd Edwin Markham, American poet b.1852
23rd  Serge Prokofiev, Russian composer b.1891
23rd  Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author, playwright d.1616
24th  Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman, inventor b.1743
25th  Oliver Cromwell, English soldier, statesman b.1599
25th  Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, electrical engineer, Nobel Prize in
         Physics in 1990 b.1874
26th  Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, philosopher b.121
26th  David Hume, Scottish philosopher, economist, historian b.1711
26th  John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist, naturalist,
         painter b.1785
27th  Edward Gibbon, English historian, member of Parliament b.1737
27th  Mary Wollstonecraft, British writer, philosopher, advocate of women’s
         rights b.1759
27th  Samuel F. B. Morse, American painter, inventor b.1791
27th  Herbert Spencer, English philosopher, political theorist b.1820
28th  Kurt Gödel, Austrian-American logician, mathematician,
         philosopher b.1906
29th  C. P. Cavafy, Greek poet, journalist b.1863 & d.1933
30th  Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, scientist b.1777

6th Expedition lead by American explorer Robert Perry reached the geographical North Pole in 1909
7th U.N. World Health Day celebrated
8th International Day of the Roma, established in honor of the first World Romani Congress in 1971
12th Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, first human in space and the first to orbit the earth, both in 1961
13th Isra and Miraj, Muhammed’s night journey and ascension to heaven18th (2023) Mahavir Jayanti celebrated in India to honor the birth of Lord Mahavir, founder
      of the Jain religion20th  Radium isolated as an element by Marie Curie in 1902, for which
         she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911
17th (2024) Ram Navami commerates the birth of the Hindu deity Ram in India
22nd  Earth Day official date; celebrated worldwide on various days (50th anniversary in 2020)
23rd (2024) Hanuman Jayanti celebrated in India to honor the birth of the Hindu god Hanuman
24th (2024) Palm Sunday, first day of Christian Holy Week5th British Museum founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding
24th  Library of Congress established in the U.S. in 1800
25th Discovery of DNA structure by Watson & Crick in 1953
29th Discovery of the electron by J.J. Thompson in 1897
29th (2024) Good Friday marks the crucifixion of Christ
31st (2024) Easter, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus

1st  May Day celebrates the ancient Druid new year
1st  International Workers’ Day (Labor Day) celebrated in many countrie
 11th Diamond Sutra, world’s oldest known printed book, printed in 868
12th  (2024) Mother’s Day celebrated in the U.S. Celebrated in many other countries as well
15th International Day of Families observed annually worldwide
16th Mexican Independence Day commemorates the day Mexico declared
        its independence from Spain in 1810
16th Ramadan begins, commorates first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad
17th Brown vs Board of Education, landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme
       Court regarding segregation, first announced in 1954
20th David Livingstone crossed Africa coast to coast in1856
20th  Charles Lindbergh begins the first solo, non-stop, transalantic
         flight from New York to Paris in 1927
24th  First telegraph message sent by Samuel Morse in 1844
25th  Africa Day celebrates unity ans freedom from foreign domination
29th  Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks in 1453
25th (2024) Buddha Purnima (Vesak) observed in India and worldwide to
       honor the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha
27th (2024) Memorial Day in the U.S. honors men and women who
         died in military service
 

5th  John Maynard Keynes, British economist b.1883
5th  Adam Smith, Scottish economist, moral philosopher, author b.1723 (baptized)
6th  Thomas Mann, German novelist, social critic, Nobel laureate b.1875
6th  Alexander Pushkin, Russian author, poet b.1799
6th  Johann Müller von Königsberg (Regiomontanus), German mathematician,
        astronomer, astrologer b.1436
7th  Paul Gauguin, French Post-Impressionist painter (quote) b.1848
8th  Thomas Paine, British pamphleteer, revolutionary, inventor,
       Founding Father of the U.S. d.1809
8th  Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, writer, educator b.1867
9th  Bertha von Suttner, Austrian novelist, pacifist, Nobel laureate b.1843

10th  Sir Edwin Arnold, English poet, journalist b.1832
11th  John Constable, English Romantic painter b.1776
14th  Harriet Beecher Stowe, American abolitionist, author b.1832
17th  William Crookes, English chemist, physicist b.1832
19th  Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, religious
        philosopher b.1623
23rd  Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian
         jurist b.1668
23rd  Alan M. Turing, British computer scientist, mathematician,
        logician, cryptanalyst b.1912
24th  John of the Cross, Spanish mystic, Carmelite friar,
        Catholic reformer b.1542
26th  Lord Kelvin, Irish-born mathematical physicist, engineer b.1824
26th  Pearl S. Buck, American scholar and novelist of China,
        Nobel laureate b.1892
27th  Helen Keller, American author, political activist, lecturer b.1880
28th  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher, writer b.1712

2nd Ascent of Mt. Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay announced in 1953
5th World Environment Day established by the U.N. in 1972
11th (2024) Shavout begins, ancient agricultural festival, coinsides with the day God gave the
      Torah to the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai
11th Kamehameha Day, honors King Kahehameha I who first unified Hawai’i
14th (2024) Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the largest annual pilgrimage in the
        world and the fifth pillar of Islam, begins
15th Magna Carta signed in 1215, one of the world’s most significant
       legal documents, leading to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world
16th  International Day of the African Child sponsored by UNICEF
16th  International Court of Justice (World Court) established by the
        U.N. in The Hague, Netherlands in 1945
16th  Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in
         space in 1963.
16th (2024) Father’s Day celebrated in the U.S.A; also in many other countries 
19th Juneteenth, a Federal holiday commorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. It is also celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from U.S. slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuilla, Mexico.
20th  Great Seal of the United States adopted in 1782
20th  World Refugee Day, set forth by the United Nations in 2000
20th  (2024) Summer Solstice, 1:51 PM PDT
24th  Inti Raymi, Incan Sun Festival celebrated in Peru
26th  United Nations (U.N.) formally founded in 1945
30th  Special Theory of Relativity propounded in 1905 by Albert Einstein

1st  Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, German philosopher,
       mathematician b.1646
2nd  Hermann Hesse, German-Swiss poet, novelist, painter,
       Nobel laureate b.1877
3rd  Franz Kafka, Austro-Hungarian novelist b.1883
4th  Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist, short story writer b.1804
4th  Edmonia Lewis, first African American and Native American sculptor to earn
      international recognition for her art (b. July 4,1844 – d. September 17, 1907)
6th  John (Jan) Huss, Czech religious thinker, philosopher,
       reformer d.1415
6th  Frida Kahlo de Rivera, Mexican painter b.July 6,1907, d. July 13, 1954


6th  Tenzin Gyatso, Tibetan spiritual and political leader, XIVth Dalai
       Lama of Tibet b.1935
9th  Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter b.1577
10th  William the Silent, Prince of Orange, Dutch statesman,
         founder of the Dutch Republic d.1584
10th  Sir William Blackstone, English jurist, professor b.1723
11th  John Quincy Adams, American diplomat, 6th U.S. President b.1767
12th  Henry David Thoreau, American author, poet,
         transcendentalist b.1817
12th  Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani human rights advocate, youngest Nobel
         laureate b.1997
13th  Julius Caesar, Roman military and political leader
         and ruler b.102/100 B.C.E.
14th/24th  Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born American author, Nobel
                laureate b.1904
15th  Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter, printmaker b.1606
15th  Thomas Bulfinch, American writer, mythologist b.1796
15th  Iris Murdoch, Irish and British novelist and philosophert b.1919 d. 2/8/1999
16th  Ida B. Wells, African American journalist,educator, civil rights leader b.1862
16th/17th  Jean Baptiste Corot, French painter, printmaker b.1796
18th  Robert Hooke, English natural philosopher, polymath b.1635
18th  Nelson Mandela, South African former President and activist b.1918
19th  Edgar Degas, French painter, sculptor, printmaker b.1834
20th  Francesco Petrarch, Italian scholar, poet, Father of Humanism b.1304
20th/22nd  Gregor Mendel, Austrian Augustinian priest, scientist b.1822
24th  Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan military general, political leader b.1783
25th  Thomas å Kempis, German Catholic monk, mystic, author d.1471
26th  George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, Nobel laureate b.1856
26th  Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist b.1875
26th  Aldous Huxley, English writer, essayist b.1894
28th  Jean de la Fontaine, French poet, fabulist b.1621
29th  Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, Secretary-General
         of the U.N. (quote) b.1905

4th  Independence Day in the U.S., celebrates the adoption in 1776 of the
       Declaration of Independence
5th  Discovery of radio waves coming from the Milky Way galaxy
       announced in 1939
8th (2024) Muharrum or Al-Hijra, Islamic New Year Festival celebrated is U.S. (tent date)
11th  Breakthough in the understanding of infinitesimal calculus by
        Leibniz in 1675
14th  Storming of the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution
         in 1789, is celebrated annually as Bastille Day
15th  Spanish Inquisition abolished in Spain by royal decree in 1834
15th  First photograph of solar flares by George Ellory Hale in 1892
16th  First atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S. in 1945
16th/17th  First photograph of a star taken by William Bond in 1850
18th  Nelson Mandela International Day celebrated
20th  Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the
        first human beings to step onto the moon’s surface in 1969
20th  First successful landing of a space vehicle on Mars in 1972
21st (2024) Guru Purnima observed, Hindu day to honor one’s spiritual teachers
26th Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990
30th Society of Freemasons opened an American lodge in Boston in 1733
Days Unknown:
• Breakthrough in the foundation of quantum mechanics theory by Werner
  Heisenberg in 1925
• First Olympic Games staged in 776 B.C.E.
•  First world atlas, attributed to Claudius Ptolemy, was printed in 1477

1st  Herman Melville, American author, poet b.1819 (quote)
4th  Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic poet b.1792
4th  Knut Hamsun (Pedersen), Norwegian author, Nobel laureate b.1859
4th  Louis Armstrong, African-American jazz trumpeter, singer b.1901
5th or 6th  Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English Poet Laureate of the United
       Kingdom b.1809
6th  Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist,
       Nobel laureate b.1881
9th  Amedeo Avogadro, Italian physicist, mathematician,
       educator b.1776
12th  H.P. Blavatsky, Russian author, co-founder of the Theosophical
         Society b.1831
12th  Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian theoretical physicist, Nobel
         laureate b.1887
15th  Shri Aurobindo Ghose, Indian nationalist, poet, philosopher
         spiritual teacher b.1872
17th  Pierre de Fermat, French lawyer, mathematician b.1601
23rd  Georges Cuvier, French naturalist, zoologist b.1769
24th  Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist, physician d.1541
24th  William Wilberforce, British politician, philanthropist,
         abolitionist b.1759
24th  Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer, poet, essayist b. 1899
26th  Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, French chemist, biologist, father
         of modern chemistry b.1743
27th  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher b.1770
27th  Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician b.1858
28th  Johann Wolfgang von Goëthe, German writer, playwright b.1749
29th  John Locke, British philosopher b.1632
29th  Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian playwright, poet, essayist, Nobel
         laureate b.1862
30th  Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand chemist, Nobel laureate b.1871
30th  Mary Shelley, British novelist, writer b.1797

31st  Maria Montessori, Italian educator, physician, first woman in Italy
         to receive a medical degree b.1870
31st  John Bunyan, English Christian writer, preacher d.1688
31st  Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician, physicist b.1821

2nd  Ratification of the U.S. Declaration of Independence begins in 1776
2nd  First underground subway opens in London in 1870
3rd  Jesse Owen wins four gold metals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany
6th  Atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945
8th  Gandhi launched his “Quit India” movement in 1942 to gain independence
       from British rule
9th  UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous People celebrated
12th  International Youth Day declared by the United Nations in 199
12th/18th Discovery of the two moons of Mars by Asaph Hall in 1877
15th  India’s Independence Day celebrated commemorating independence
         from British rule and birth as a sovereign nation, both in 1947
20th (2024) Khordad Sal celebrates the birth of the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster)
26th  Women’s Equality Day commemorates the day women in the U.S.
         gained the right to vote in 1920
27th  The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen adopted
         by France’s National Assembly in 1789
28th  William Herschel first used his newly completed astronomical reflecting
         telescope in 1789
29th  Discovery of electromagnetic induction by Michael Faraday in 1831

2nd  Adoption of the Gregorian calendar by England in 1752
2nd  (2024)  Labor Day celebrated in the U.S., established in 1882 to honor contributions of workers
3rd  French Civil Code renamed Code Napoléon in 1807
6th  Mayflower leaves England carrying English Separatists to America in 1620
6th (2024) Ganesh or Vinayaka Chaturthi begins; in honor of the Hindu god, Lord Ganesha
8th  International Literacy Day established by the U.N. in 1965 and celebrated annually
15th (2023) Rosh Hashanah begins; Jewish new year and beginning of High Holy Days
16th  Mexican Independence Day celebrates Mexico’s independence from Spain
17th Constitution Day celebrates the final draft of the U.S. Constitution which was approved
        for submission to the States by the Constitutional Congress in 1787
21st  International Day of Peace established by the U.N. in 1981
22nd  Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862
         declaring the freedom of American slaves in the Confederate states
22nd (2024) Autumnal Equinox, 5:43 AM PDT
23rd Planet Neptune discovered by the German astronomer Galleo in 1846
25th Sandra Day O’Conner became the first women appointed to the
       U.S. Supreme Court, 1981
26th  (2024) Krishna Janmashtami, birth of Lord Krishna, Hinduism’s most venerated god
30th First astrophotograph of the Orion Nebula taken in 1880

2nd  Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader b.1869
3rd  St. Francis of Assisi, Italian Christian saint, founder of the
        Franciscan Order d.1226
5th  Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher, writer b.1713
6th  Richard Dedekind, German mathematician b.1831

6th  Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris), Swiss-French
       architect, designer, urban planner b.1887
7th  Neils Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate b.1885
9th  Camille Saint-Saens, French composer, conductor, musician b.1835
9th  John Lennon, British musician, singer-songwriter b.1940
10th  Henry Cavendish, British scientist b.1731

11th  Eleanor Roosevelt, social reformer, wife of 32nd U.S. President
         Franklin D. Roosevelt b.1884
14th  William Penn, British Quaker community leader, founder of
         the Province of Pennsylvania b.1644
15th  Virgil, Roman classical poet b.70 BCE
15th  Friedrich Nietzche, German philosopher b.1844
15th  Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist, mathematician b.1608
16th  Noah Webster, American lexicographer, author b.1758
17th  Frederic Chopin, Polish composer, pianist d.1849
18th  Henri Bergson, French philosopher, Nobel laureate b.1859
19th  Marsilio Ficino, Italian humanist philosopher, physician b.1433
20th  Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, urban planner b.1632
21st  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet b.1772
24th  Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist, tradesman b.1632
25th  Johann Strauss, Austrian musician, composer b.1825
26th  Alfred the Great, English king, reformer d.899
27th  Nicolo Paganini, Italian violinist, composer b.1782
27/28th  Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch theologian, humanist b.1466/1469
30th  Paul Valery, French poet, essayist, philosopher b.1871
29th/31st  John Keats, English Romantic poet b.1795

1st  Yosemite National Park formed in the US in 1890 and later designated
       a World Heritage Site
4th  Sputnik 1, first Earth-orbiting satellite, entered into orbit around the Earth in 1957
4th  Saint Francis Day honors the Christian mystic and saint.
11th (2024) Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement begins
13th  Earliest known record of a solar eclipse made by the Chinese in 2128 B.C.E.
14th (2024) Indigenous Peoples’ Day, celebrated in many states in place of Columbus Day in the U.S
16th  World Food Day first celebrated in 1981 to increase awareness and
         take ation to alleviate worldwide hunger
21st  Table of Atomic Weights first presented by John Dalton in 1803
21st  Speed of light officially included in the International System of Units in 1983
22nd Electric light bulb successfully tested by Thomas Edison in 1879
24th  United Nations Day
24th (2024) Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement begins
31st Reformation Day observed, a religious holiday celebrated by some
        Protestant Christian traditions in rememberance of the the work of
        Martin Luther in the 16th c. to reform the Roman Catholic Church
31st All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) celebrated as an evening of revelry the
        night before All Saints’ Day; an ancient Celtic observance

2nd  George Boole, British mathematician, logician (quote) b.1815
3rd  Vilhjálmur Stefánsson, Icelandic explorer b.1879
4th  Will Rogers, Cherokee-American humorist, actor (quote) b.1879
7th  Marie Curie, Polish physicist, chemist, twice Nobel laureate b.1867
8th  John D. Scotus, Irish theologian, philosopher d.1308
8th  Edmond Halley, English astronomer, mathematician,
       discoverer of Halley’s Comet b.1656
10th  Martin Luther, German monk, theologian, reformer b.1483
10th  Johann Schiller, German poet, dramatist, philosopher b.1759
11th  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (quote) b.1821
11th  Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Muslim scholar, political activist,
         co-worker with Gandhi in the movement for Indian independence b.1888       
12th  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American social activist b.1815

12th  August Rodin, French sculptor b.1840
14th  Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist b.1797
14th  Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman, first Prime Minister
         of India b.1889
15th  William Herschel, German-born British astronomer b.1738
17th  Catherine the Great, Russian, Empress of Russia d.1796
17th  Jacob Boehme, German Christian mystic, theologian d.1624
20th  Edwin Hubble, American scientist, astronomer; showed other galaxies
         existed, helped prove the universe is expanding b.1889; d. Sept. 28, 1953
24th  Benedict Spinoza, Dutch philosopher b.1632
26th  Sojourner Truth, African- American former slave, speaker on civil rights and
        abolition of slavery b.1797; d. November 26, 1883

28th  William Blake, English poet, painter, mystic b.1757
28th  Friedrich Engels, German social scientist, philosopher b.1820

30th  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American humorist, author b.1835
30th  Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish author, cleric b.1667

1st  Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician b.1792
1st  Black Elk (Heháka Sápa), Holy Man of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) b. 1863
3rd  Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet, author and teacher, d.2000
4th  Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian, essayist b.1795
4th  Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet (quote) b.1875
5th Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter, art theorist, teacher b.1866
5th  Nelson Mandela, S. African anti-apartheid revolutionary, President of
       South Africa 1994-1999, Nobel laureate d.2013
5th  Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel laureate b.1901
7th  Giovanni Bernini, Italian sculptor, architect b.1598
8th  Horace, Roman poet b.65 BCE
9th  John Milton, English poet b.1608
10th  William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist, editor b.1805
10th  Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, English mathematician, writer b. 1815

10th  Emily Dickinson, American poet b.1830
14th  Nostradamus, French seer, apothecary, healer b.1503
15th  Antoine Henri Becquerel, French, physicist, Nobel laureate b.1852
16th/17th  Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, pianist b.1770
16th  Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist b.1901
15th/16th  Jan Vermeer, Dutch Baroque painter d.1675
17th  Sir Humphrey Davy, British chemist, inventor b.1778
18th  J. J. Thomson, British physicist, Nobel laureate b.1856
18th  Francis Thompson, English poet b.1859
19th  Albert A. Michelson, American physicist, Nobel laureate b.1852

20th/22nd  Sacagawea, Native American (Shoshone) guide,
                interpreter for Lewin and Clark b. 1787, d. Dec 20/22, 1812 or 1854
22nd Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian self-taught mathematical genius b.1887
22nd Guru Gobindh Singh, Indian 10th Guru of Sikhism b.1666 (Julian), (celebrated most often on Jan 5)
24th  James Prescott Joule, English physicist b.1818
24th  Matthew Arnold, English poet, cultural critic, essayist b.1822
25th  Anwar al-Sadat, Egyptian statesman, President of Egypt b.1918
26th  Thomas Gray, English poet, classical scholar b.1716
26th  Charles Babbage, English mathematician, philosopher,
         inventor b.1791
27th  Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer b.1571
27th  Louis Pasteur, French chemist, microbiologist b.1822
30th  Sri Ramana Maharshi, Indian teacher, sage b.1879
31st  John Wycliffe, English theologian, translator, reformist d.1384
31st  “Odetta” Holmes, African-American singer, activist b.1930
31st   John Flamsteed, English astronomer d.1719

1st First Nobel Prize given to an American was for Peace and went to
      Theodore Roosevelt in 1906
2nd First controlled nuclear chain reaction begun by Enrico Fermi at the
      University of Chicago in 1942
3rd Planet Uranus discovered by John Flamsteed in 1714
6th  Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery
       ratified by U.S. Congress in 1865

10th  Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the U.N.
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
14th  Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached South Pole 1911
15th  Bill of Rights becomes part of the United States Constitution in 1791
         providing protection for the basic rights of the individual to free
         expression and justice
17th First airplane flight by Wilbur and Orville Wright 1903
18th House of Lords in England confirmed abolition of capital punishment for
       murder 1969
19th First Gypsy Congress, Sofia, Bulgaria 1905
21st English Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620
21st  (2024) Winter Solstice, 1:20 AM PST
24th First extended radio audio broadcast of the human voice was
        transmitted through the air in 1906
25th (2024) Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins
25th Christmas Day traditionally celebrated as the day of the birth of Christ
26th Kwanzaa, beginning of a week-long honoring of African culture and tradition

Menes, Egyptian first pharaoh of First Dynasty 3100 – 2850 B.C.E.
Zarathustra (Zoroaster), Persian prophet, religious poet, founder
                  of Zoroasterianism around 1200-1500 B.C.E.
Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher born around 605 B.CE..; died around 531 B.C.E.
Confucius, Chinese thinker, social philosopher b. 551 B.C.E; d. 479 B.C.E
Thales, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher died 546 B.C.E.
Pythagoras, Ionian Greek mathematician, mystic, scientis, born around 570 B.C.E.
Euripides, Greek playwright b. around 480 B.C.E.
Socrates, Greek philosopher b.470/469 B.C.E., d. 399 B.C.E.
Plato, Greek philosopher, mathematician b.428/427 B.C.E. .
Ashoka, Indian emperor b.304 B.C.E.
Emperor Julian, Roman Emperor b.331 B.C.E.
Philo Judaeus, Greek Jewish philosopher born around 20 B.C.E.
Tsong-Kha-Pa, Tibetan Buddhist Master, teacher b.135
Plotinus, Greek philosopher, founder of Neoplatonism born around 204/205 Porphyry, Phoenician Neoplatonist philosopher born around 233/234
Apollonius of Tyana, Greek philosopher born around the year 15
Ammonius Saccas, Greek Neoplatonic philosopher, born around 175 or 204
Mohammed, Islamic religious leader, founder, born around 570
Averroës, Andalusian Islamic religious philosopher, physician b.1126
Albertus Magnus, German philosopher, theologian b.1193
Marco Polo, Italian world traveler, explorer, trader d.1324
Goswami Tulsidas, Indian philosopher, author b.16th or 17th century

First ancient Olympic Games held in ancient Greece in 776 B.C.E.
First printed almanac published by Gutenberg in 1457
Gutenberg Bible printed in Germany in the 1450’s
First observation of micro-organisims made by Antony van Leeuwenhoek
       in Delft, Holland in 1676
Cherokee Indians forcibly moved from their homelands to
       reservations in 1838 in what was to become known as the Trail of Tears
Cosmic rays dscovered by Victor Hess in 1912
Discovery of insulin announced by Banting and Best in 1921
Abu Simbel Temples in Egypt restored in the 1960s
Discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896