July 22 is the 203rd day (204th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 162 days remaining.

Events

1400-1899

• 1499 - Battle of Dornach - The Swiss decisively defeat the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.
• 1587 - Colony of Roanoke: A second group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
• 1793 - Pacific Ocean becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing north of Mexico.
• 1796 - Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
• 1812 - Peninsular War: British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) defeat French troops near Salamanca in Spain.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta - Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill.

1900-1999

• 1908 - Albert Fisher establishes the Fisher Body Company to manufacture carriage and automobile bodies.
• 1916 - In San Francisco, California, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade killing 10 and injuring 40.
• 1933 - Wiley Post becomes first person to fly solo around the world traveling 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
• 1934 - Outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.
• 1937 - New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1942 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
• 1946 - King David Hotel bombing: Irgun bombs King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British civil and military administration, killing 90.
• 1962 - Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
• 1977 - Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.
• 1991 - Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee apartment.
• 1992 - Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States.
• 1997 - The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.

2000-2099

• 2003 - Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year old son, and a bodyguard.

Births

1500-1899

• 1519 - Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
• 1784 - Friedrich Bessel, mathematician
• 1822 - Gregor Mendel, pioneering geneticist (d. 1884)
• 1844 - William Archibald Spooner, known for verbal inversions called spoonerisms (d. 1930)
• 1849 - Emma Lazarus, poet
• 1882 - Edward Hopper, painter (d. 1967)
• 1887 - Gustav Ludwig Hertz, quantum physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1925 (d. 1975)
• 1890 - Rose Kennedy, mother of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1995)
• 1893 - James Whale, film director (d. 1957)
• 1894 - Oskar Maria Graf, writer (d. 1967)
• 1898 - Stephen Vincent Benét, author (d. 1943)
• 1898 - Alexander Calder, artist (d. 1976)

1900-1999

• 1905 - Doc Cramer, Major League Baseball center fielder (d. 1990)
• 1908 - Amy Vanderbilt, author on etiquette
• 1913 - Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter
• 1916 - Marcel Cerdan, World Champion Boxer (d. 1949)
• 1923 - Bob Dole - former Senator from Kansas, former Presidential candidate
• 1923 - Mukesh, singer (d. 1976)
• 1924 - Margaret Whiting, singer
• 1932 - Oscar De la Renta, fashion designer
• 1934 - Louise Fletcher, actress, won Academy Award for Best Actress in 1976
• 1936 - Tom Robbins, author
• 1939 - Terence Stamp, actor
• 1939 - Erhard Walther, artist
• 1940 - Alex Trebek, game show host
• 1941 - George Clinton, musician
• 1944 - Estelle Bennett, singer, member of the Ronettes
• 1946 - Mireille Mathieu, singer
• 1946 - Stephen M. Wolownik, pioneering Russian-music ensemble leader and arrangist (d. 2000)
• 1947 - Albert Brooks, comedian
• 1947 - Danny Glover, actor
• 1947 - Don Henley, drummer, singer, songwriter
• 1948 - Otto Waalkes, comedian
• 1949 - Alan Menken, composer
• 1954 - Al Di Meola, guitarist
• 1955 - Willem Dafoe, actor
• 1961 - Keith Sweat, R&B/Soul singer
• 1964 - David Spade, comedian
• 1971 - Kristine Lilly, American soccer star, all-time US leader in international matches played (men or women)
• 1973 - Rufus Wainwright, singer, songwriter

Deaths

1600-1899

• 1645 - Gaspar de Guzman, Count of Olivares, Duke of San Lucar
• 1676 - Pope Clement X
• 1832 - Napoleon II of France

1900-1999

• 1904 - Wilson Barrett, actor
• 1916 - James Whitcomb Riley, author, poet
• 1922 - Jokichi Takamine, chemist
• 1932 - Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., theatrical producer
• 1934 - John Dillinger, bank robber, shot at the Biograph Theater in Chicago
• 1950 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1967 - Carl Sandburg, poet
• 1974 - Wayne Morse, former Senator from Oregon
• 1989 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (b. 1935)
• 1990 - Manuel Puig, author
• 1998 - Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929)
• 1998 - Alan Shepard, astronaut

2000-2099

• 2000 - Eric Christmas, actor
• 2003 - Wahome Muthahi, Kenyan humourist
• 2003 - Qusay Hussein of Iraq, son of Saddam Hussein
• 2003 - Uday Hussein of Iraq, son of Saddam Hussein
• 2004 - Sacha Distel, singer
• 2004 - George Kidd, Canadian diplomat

Holidays and observances

• Saint Mary Magdalene
• Swaziland - Birthday of former King Sobhuza II
• Pi Approximation Day
• Ratcatcher's Day. See:The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

July 21 - July 23 - June 22 - August 22 -- listing of all days