Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take Jerusalem after a difficult siege. 1410 - Battle of Grunwald (a.k.a. Tannenberg or Zalgiris), power of the Teutonic Knights broken by a defeat from Poles and Lithuanians. 1685 - In England, the Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, after he was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemore. 1799 - In the Egyptian village of Rosette, French Captain Pierre Bouchard finds the Rosetta Stone. 1806 - Pike expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike leads an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west. 1870 - Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. 1916 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing). 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack. 1958 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there. 1975 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space. 1997 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home. 2002 - So-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges. Births 1573 - Inigo Jones, architect 1606 - Rembrandt, artist (+ 1669) 1779 - Clement Moore, author, poet 1796 - Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist, author Bulfinch's Mythology (+ 1867) 1848 - Vilfredo Pareto, economist and sociologist (+ 1923) 1865 - Alfred Charles William Northcliffe, newspaper publisher (+ 1922) 1892 - Walter Benjamin, literary critic and writer (+ 1940) 1902 - Jean Ray, politician, President of the European Commission 1967-1970 (+ 1983) 1918 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, Nobel Prize-winning physicist 1919 - Iris Murdoch, writer (+ 1999) 1927 - Nan Clow Martin, actress 1928 - Carl Woese, microbiologist 1930 - Stephen Smale, mathematician who broke the dimension barrier 1931 - Clive Cussler, author 1934 - Harrison Birtwistle, composer 1942 - Mil Mascaras, former professional wrestler 1945 - Jürgen Möllemann, German politician 1946 - Linda Ronstadt, singer 1949 - Carl Bildt, politician 1951 - Jesse Ventura, former professional wrestler, former governor of Minnesota 1961 - Forest Whitaker, actor 1966 - Irène Jacob, actress 1978 - Olivier Mercanti, Scientist Deaths 518 - Anastasius I, Byzantine Emperor 1828 - Jean Antoine Houdon, sculptor 1881 - William Bonney, American West outlaw ("Billy the Kid") 1940 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, giant: 8 feet, 11-1/10 inches tall 439 pounds. 1948 - John J. Pershing, American General 1959 - Billie Holiday, jazz and blues singer 1992 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (*1922) 1997 - Gianni Versace, fashion designer 2003 - Adi Preißler, German soccer player 2003 - Roberto Bolaño, Chilenian poet Holidays and observances Botswana - President's Day Brunei - Birthday of the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam Palermo, Sicily - Festival of Santa Rosalia Saint Swithun's feast day (Anglican Church) See Also: July 14 - July 16 - June 15 - August 15 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.