What are the important events that happened on July 16? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

July 16: Facts & Myths About This Day

July 16 is the 197^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 168 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 3, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 486,840 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaenneacontaheptagon’ day.

Cancer is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Ruby is the modern birthstone for this month. Ruby is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 216 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,590 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

July 16 Historical Events

• 1769 –
  Father Junipero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego.
• 1809 –
  The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
• 1935 –
  The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• 1965 –
  The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
• 1969 –
  Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• 1981 –
  Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia’s 4th Prime Minister; his 22 years in office, ending with retirement on 31 October 2003, made him Asia’s longest-serving political leader.
• 1990 –
  The Luzon Earthquake strikes in Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac, Philippines, with an intensity of 7.7.
• 1990 –
  The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
• 1993 –
  The Slackware operating system is first released.
• 2007 –
  2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake: an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing 8 people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.

Who were born on July 16?

• 1722 –
  Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
• 1907 –
  Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1928 –
  Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993)
• 1930 –
  Michael Bilirakis, American politician
• 1941 –
  Mišo Kovač, Croatian singer
• 1954 –
  Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
• 1956 –
  Jerry Doyle, American actor
• 1968 –
  Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of Citizendium
• 1973 –
  Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
• 1986 –
  Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor

Who died on July 16?

• 1831 –
  Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
• 1896 –
  Edmond Goncourt, French writer and critic (b. 1822)
• 1947 –
  Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish humanitarian (exact date of death uncertain) (b. 1912)
• 1990 –
  Sidney Torch, English composer, conductor and organist (b. 1908)
• 1991 –
  Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
• 2001 –
  Terry Gordy, American professional wrestler (b. 1961)
• 2002 –
  John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
• 2005 –
  Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer, lyricist and entertainer (b. 1920)
• 2005 –
  Prince Gu of Korea (b. 1931)
• 2006 –
  Bob Orton, Sr., American professional wrestler (b. 1929)