October 15

Pre-1600

• 1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later.
• 1211 – Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.
• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.
• 1582 – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.

1601–1900

• 1651 – Qing forces capture the island of Zhoushan. Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu, resident of the island and regent of the Southern Ming, flees to Kinmen.
• 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.
• 1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.
• 1815 – Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks, killing its inventor.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.
• 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
• 1888 – The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.

1901–present

• 1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
• 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.
• 1928 – The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
• 1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
• 1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
• 1940 – President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.
• 1944 – World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.
• 1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.
• 1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
• 1956 – FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.
• 1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
• 1970 – During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.
• 1979 – Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
• 1979 – A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
• 1987 – Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.
• 1987 – A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
• 1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
• 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
• 1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
• 1991 – The leaders of the Baltic States, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia, Anatolijs Gorbunovs of Latvia and Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania, signed the OSCE Final Act in Helsinki, Finland.
• 1994 – The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
• 1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
• 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles (180 km) of Jupiter's moon Io.
• 2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.
• 2006 – The 6.7 M_w Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
• 2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.
• 2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
• 2013 – The 7.2 M_w Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.
• 2016 – One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
• 2018 – 13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered.

Pre-1600

• 99 BC (probable) – Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (d. 55 BCE)
• 70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
• 1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (d. 1307)
• 1440 – Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse, German noble (d. 1483)
• 1471 – Konrad Mutian, German epigrammatist and academic (d. 1526)
• 1542 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (d. 1605)
• 1561 – Richard Field, English cathedral dean (d. 1616)
• 1564 – Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1613)
• 1599 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor and regent of Amsterdam (d. 1664)

1601–1900

• 1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)
• 1622 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (d. 1686)
• 1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (d. 1758)
• 1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian nun and saint, founded Grey Nuns (d. 1771)
• 1711 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (d. 1741)
• 1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)
• 1767 – Gabriel Richard, French-born American Roman Catholic priest, missionary, educator, and politician (d. 1832)
• 1775 – Bernhard Crusell, Finnish composer (d. 1838)
• 1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician, Governor-General of Algeria (d. 1849)
• 1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and politician (d. 1821)
• 1789 – William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds (d. 1847)
• 1802 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, head of state of France in 1848 (d. 1857)
• 1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (d. 1841)
• 1816 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1891)
• 1818 – Alexander Dreyschock, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1869)
• 1825 – Marie of Prussia (d. 1889)
• 1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (d. 1907)
• 1833 – John Alexander MacPherson, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Victoria (d. 1894)
• 1836 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (d. 1902)
• 1840 – Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
• 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (d. 1900)
• 1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, actor, and journalist (d. 1918)
• 1865 – Charles W. Clark, American singer and educator (d. 1925)
• 1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian educator and politician, 3rd President of Austria (d. 1956)
• 1872 – August Nilsson, Swedish pole vaulter, shot putter, and tug of war competitor (d. 1921)
• 1874 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1899)
• 1878 – Paul Reynaud, French lawyer and politician, 118th Prime Minister of France (d. 1966)
• 1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
• 1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (d. 1941)
• 1884 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (d. 1910)
• 1887 – Frederick Fleet, English sailor (d. 1965)
• 1888 – S. S. Van Dine, American author and critic (d. 1939)
• 1890 – Álvaro de Campos, Portuguese poet and engineer (d. 1935)
• 1893 – Carol II of Romania (d. 1953)
• 1894 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
• 1897 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1960)
• 1899 – Adolf Brudes, Polish-German racing driver (d. 1986)
• 1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1987)

1901–present

• 1901 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (d. 1952)
• 1905 – C. P. Snow, English chemist and author (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (d. 2004)
• 1906 – Alicia Patterson, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1963)
• 1906 – Victoria Spivey, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1976)
• 1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist and author (d. 1967)
• 1908 – Herman Chittison, American pianist (d. 1967)
• 1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (d. 2006)
• 1909 – Jesse L. Greenstein, American astronomer and academic (d. 2002)
• 1909 – Robert Trout, American journalist (d. 2000)
• 1910 – Edwin O. Reischauer, Japanese-American scholar and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 1990)
• 1912 – Nellie Lutcher, American singer and pianist (d. 2007)
• 1913 – Wolfgang Lüth, German commander (d. 1945)
• 1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (d. 2007)
• 1916 – Al Killian, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1950)
• 1916 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian and critic (d. 2007)
• 1917 – Paul Tanner, American trombonist and educator (d. 2013)
• 1919 – Malcolm Ross, American captain, balloonist, and physicist (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (d. 1995)
• 1920 – Chris Economaki, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Patricia Jessel, Hong Kong-English actress (d. 1968)
• 1920 – Peter Koch, American industrial engineer and wood scientist (d. 1998)
• 1920 – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Henri Verneuil, Turkish-French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Angelica Rozeanu, Romanian-Israeli table tennis player (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese author (d. 2019)
• 1922 – Preben Munthe, Norwegian economist and politician, State Conciliator of Norway (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and politician (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Lindsay Thompson, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Victoria (d. 2008)
• 1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German-Canadian author and educator (d. 2022)
• 1924 – Lee Iacocca, American businessman and author (d. 2019)
• 1924 – Warren Miller, American director and screenwriter (d. 2018)
• 1925 – Mickey Baker, American-French guitarist (d. 2012)
• 1925 – Aurora Bautista, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
• 1925 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (d. 2009)
• 1926 – James E. Akins, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Agustín García Calvo, Spanish philosopher and poet (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (d. 1984)
• 1926 – Ed McBain, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
• 1926 – Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Karl Richter, German organist and conductor (d. 1981)
• 1927 – B. S. Abdur Rahman, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
• 1929 – Will Insley, American painter and architect (d. 2011)
• 1930 – FM-2030, Belgian-Iranian basketball player, philosopher and diplomat (d. 2000)
• 1931 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark, English academic and politician
• 1932 – Jaan Rääts, Estonian guitarist and composer (d. 2020)
• 1933 – Nicky Barnes, American drug lord (d. 2012)
• 1934 – Alan Elsdon, English trumpet player (d. 2016)
• 1934 – N. Ramani, Indian flute player (d. 2015)
• 1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1935 – Dick McTaggart, Scottish boxer
• 1935 – Bobby Morrow, American sprinter (d. 2020)
• 1935 – Willie O'Ree, Canadian ice hockey player, first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL)
• 1936 – Michel Aumont, French actor (d. 2019)
• 1936 – Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, South African-English businessman (d. 2019)
• 1937 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer
• 1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997)
• 1938 – Brice Marden, American painter
• 1938 – Robert Ward, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
• 1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player and coach
• 1940 – Peter C. Doherty, Australian surgeon and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1941 – Roy Masters, Australian rugby league coach, journalist, and author
• 1942 – Hilo Chen, Taiwanese-American painter
• 1942 – Harold W. Gehman, Jr., American admiral
• 1942 – Don Stevenson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
• 1943 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer (d. 2018)
• 1944 – Sali Berisha, Albanian cardiologist and politician, 2nd President of Albania
• 1944 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan Tamil merchant seaman and politician (d. 2005)
• 1944 – Haim Saban, Israeli-American businessman, co-founded Saban Entertainment
• 1944 – David Trimble, Northern Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
• 1945 – Steve Camacho, Guyanese cricketer (d. 2015)
• 1945 – Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Spanish cardinal
• 1945 – Neophyte of Bulgaria, Bulgarian patriarch (d. 2024)
• 1945 – Jim Palmer, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1946 – Victor Banerjee, Indian actor and director
• 1946 – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1946 – Palle Danielsson, Swedish bassist and composer
• 1946 – Stewart Stevenson, Scottish engineer and politician, Minister for Environment and Climate Change
• 1947 – Hümeyra, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
• 1947 – Jaroslav Erno Šedivý, Czech drummer
• 1948 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2016)
• 1948 – Chris de Burgh, British-Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1949 – Laurie McBain, American author
• 1949 – Prannoy Roy, Indian journalist, economist, and broadcaster, founded NDTV
• 1950 – Candida Royalle, American porn actress, director, and producer (d. 2015)
• 1951 – Peter Richardson, English actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1951 – Roscoe Tanner, American tennis player
• 1951 – Rafael Vaganian, Armenian chess player
• 1953 – Betsy Clifford, Canadian skier
• 1953 – Tito Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1953 – Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
• 1953 – Peter Phillips, English conductor and musicologist
• 1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet and educator
• 1954 – Steve Bracks, Australian politician, 44th Premier of Victoria
• 1954 – Jere Burns, American actor
• 1954 – Julia Yeomans, English physicist and academic
• 1955 – Kulbir Bhaura, Indian field hockey player
• 1955 – Emma Chichester Clark, English author and illustrator
• 1955 – Tanya Roberts, American actress (d. 2021)
• 1957 – Michael Caton-Jones, Scottish actor, director, and producer
• 1957 – Mira Nair, Indian-American actress, director, and producer
• 1957 – Stacy Peralta, American skateboarder, director, producer, and businessman, co-founded Powell Peralta
• 1958 – Stephen Clarke, English-French journalist and author
• 1959 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef and author
• 1959 – Alex Paterson, English keyboard player
• 1959 – Sarah, Duchess of York
• 1959 – Todd Solondz, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1961 – Vyacheslav Butusov, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 – Stanley Menzo, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1964 – Roberto Vittori, Italian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1965 – Nasser El Sonbaty, German bodybuilder and trainer (d. 2013)
• 1966 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer and manager
• 1966 – Bill Charlap, American pianist and composer
• 1966 – Ilse Huizinga, Dutch singer
• 1966 – Dave Stead, English drummer
• 1967 – Eric Benét, American singer-songwriter
• 1967 – Dan Forest, American politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
• 1967 – Götz Otto, German actor and screenwriter
• 1968 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer and manager
• 1968 – Vanessa Marcil, American actress
• 1968 – Rod Wishart, Australian rugby league player
• 1968 – Trent Zimmerman, Australian politician
• 1969 – Vítor Baía, Portuguese footballer
• 1969 – Dominic West, English actor and director
• 1970 – Eric Benét, American musician
• 1970 – Ginuwine, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
• 1970 – Pernilla Wiberg, Swedish skier
• 1971 – Joey Abs, American wrestler
• 1971 – Andy Cole, English footballer and coach
• 1971 – Lauri Pilter, Estonian author and translator
• 1972 – Fred Hoiberg, American basketball player and coach
• 1972 – Matt Keeslar, American actor
• 1972 – Michél Mazingu-Dinzey, German-Congolese footballer and manager
• 1973 – Aleksandr Filimonov, Russian footballer
• 1973 – Maria Hjorth, Swedish golfer
• 1974 – Ömer Çatkıç, Turkish footballer
• 1974 – Bianca Rinaldi, Brazilian actress
• 1975 – Alessandro Doga, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Glen Little, English footballer and manager
• 1976 – Elisa Aguilar, Spanish basketball player
• 1976 – Christian Allen, American video game designer
• 1976 – Manuel Dallan, Italian rugby player
• 1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
• 1977 – David Trezeguet, French footballer
• 1977 – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1978 – Devon Gummersall, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1978 – Wes Moore, American politician, author, nonprofit executive, and television producer, 63rd Governor of Maryland
• 1978 – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese wrestler
• 1979 – Blue Adams, American football player and coach
• 1979 – Bohemia, Pakistani-American rapper and producer
• 1979 – Jekaterina Golovatenko, Estonian figure skater
• 1979 – Paul Robinson, English footballer
• 1979 – Jaci Velasquez, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1979 – Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer
• 1980 – Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist
• 1980 – Brandon Jay McLaren, Canadian actor
• 1981 – Keyshia Cole, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1981 – Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
• 1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer
• 1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer
• 1984 – Johan Voskamp, Dutch footballer
• 1984 – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player
• 1985 – Walter Alberto López, Uruguayan footballer
• 1985 – Marcos Martínez, Spanish racing driver
• 1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter
• 1986 – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier
• 1986 – Nolito, Spanish footballer
• 1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian racing driver
• 1988 – Dominique Jones, American basketball player
• 1988 – Lassy Mbouity, Congolese writer and politician
• 1988 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
• 1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player
• 1989 – Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
• 1989 – Leandro Antonio Martínez, Argentinian-Italian footballer
• 1990 – Jeon Ji-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
• 1991 – Brock Nelson, American ice hockey player
• 1991 – Lil' Kleine, Dutch rapper
• 1992 – Ncuti Gatwa, Rwandan-Scottish actor
• 1992 – Vincent Martella, American actor
• 1993 – Richaun Holmes, American basketball player
• 1994 – Babar Azam, Pakistani cricket player

• 1995 – Jack Flaherty, American baseball player
• 1995 – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player
• 1996 – Charly Musonda, Belgian footballer
• 1996 – Zelo, South Korean rapper and dancer
• 1998 – Teuku Wariza Aris Munandar, Indonesian activist and politician who is known as coordinator of 2023 Banda Aceh anti-Rohingya protest
• 1999 – Bailee Madison, American actress
• 2000 – Melki Sedek Huang, Indonesian activist and sex offender who formerly served as Chairman of The Student Executive Board at University of Indonesia
• 2005 – Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark

Pre-1600

• 412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
• 892 – Al-Mu'tamid, Muslim caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate
• 898 – Lambert of Italy (b. 880)
• 912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, Spanish emir (b. 844)
• 925 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (b. 864)
• 961 – Abd-al-Rahman III, caliph of Córdoba
• 1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
• 1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfelden (b. 1025)
• 1173 – Petronilla of Aragon (b. 1135)
• 1240 – Razia Sultana, sultan of Delhi (b. 1205)
• 1243 – Hedwig of Silesia, Polish saint (b. 1174)
• 1326 – Walter Stapledon, bishop and Lord High Treasurer of England, and his brother Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician.
• 1385 – Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow
• 1389 – Pope Urban VI (b. 1318)
• 1404 – Marie Valois, French princess (b. 1344)
• 1496 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (b. 1443)
• 1564 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (b. 1514)

1601–1900

• 1674 – Robert Herrick, English poet (b. 1591)
• 1684 – Géraud de Cordemoy, French historian, philosopher and lawyer (b. 1626)
• 1690 – Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish painter and illustrator (b. 1622)
• 1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1675)
• 1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
• 1810 – Alfred Moore, American captain and judge (b. 1755)
• 1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (b. 1735)
• 1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (b. 1746)
• 1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1744)
• 1820 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (b. 1771)
• 1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (b. 1760)
• 1838 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (b. 1802)
• 1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English author and songwriter (b. 1837)
• 1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1850)

1901–present

• 1910 – Stanley Ketchel, American boxer (b. 1886)
• 1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)
• 1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru and saint (b. 1838)
• 1925 – Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1848?)
• 1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (b. 1866)
• 1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (b. 1860)
• 1940 – Lluís Companys, Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (b. 1882)
• 1945 – Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (b. 1883)
• 1946 – Hermann Göring, German general and politician (b. 1893)
• 1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
• 1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
• 1958 – Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1907)
• 1958 – Elizabeth Alexander, British geologist, academic, and physicist (b. 1908)
• 1959 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (b. 1909)
• 1959 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1880)
• 1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress and producer (b. 1890)
• 1961 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (b. 1896)
• 1963 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (b. 1908)
• 1964 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (b. 1891)
• 1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
• 1966 – Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1876)
• 1968 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)
• 1976 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1902)
• 1978 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (b. 1918)
• 1978 – Rolf Stenersen, Norwegian businessman (b. 1899)
• 1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)
• 1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
• 1983 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (b. 1949)
• 1987 – Donald Wandrei, American author and poet (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer, music critic, pianist and writer (b. 1892)
• 1989 – Danilo Kiš, Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. (b. 1935)
• 1990 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress and director (b. 1932)
• 1993 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (b. 1913)
• 1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher and academic (b. 1934)
• 1995 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1967)
• 1995 – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver, only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series (b. 1976)
• 1999 – Josef Locke, British-Irish soldier, policeman, tenor and actor (b. 1917)
• 2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• 2000 – Vincent Canby, American journalist and critic (b. 1924)
• 2001 – Chang Hsüeh-liang, Chinese general and warlord (b. 1901)
• 2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian journalist and activist (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Per Højholt, Danish poet (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (b. 1977)
• 2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
• 2007 – Piet Boukema, Dutch jurist and politician (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (b. 1927)
• 2008 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (b. 1914)
• 2008 – Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Heinz Versteeg, Dutch-German footballer (b. 1939)
• 2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)
• 2010 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Johnny Sheffield, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Erol Günaydın, Turkish actor and screenwriter (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Maria Petrou, Greek-English computer scientist and academic (b. 1953)
• 2012 – Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Pat Ward, American lawyer and politician (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Donald Bailey, American drummer (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Nevill Drury, English-Australian journalist and publisher (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Cancio Garcia, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Gloria Lynne, American singer (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Hans Riegel, German businessman (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Giovanni Reale, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic designer (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Robert Tiernan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Nobby Wirkowski, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Sergei Filippenkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1971)
• 2015 – Nate Huffman, American basketball player (b. 1975)
• 2015 – Neill Sheridan, American baseball player (b. 1921)
• 2015 – Kenneth D. Taylor, Canadian businessman and diplomat (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Tyrone Young, American football player (b. 1960)
• 2017 – Chinggoy Alonzo, Filipino theater, movie & television actor (b. 1950)
• 2018 – Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (b. 1953)
• 2021 – David Amess, British politician, member of Parliament for Southend West (b. 1952)

• Anniversary of the 1987 Coup d'État (Burkina Faso)
• Breast Health Day (Europe)
• Christian feast day:
  • Bruno of Querfurt
  • Cúan of Ahascragh
  • Teresa of Ávila
  • Thecla of Kitzingen
  • October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Evacuation Day (Tunisia)
• King Father's Commemoration Day (Cambodia)
• National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
• Shwmae Su'mae Day (Wales)

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day
• "Historical Events on October 15". OnThisDay.com.