What are the important events that happened on October 4? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

October 4: Facts & Myths About This Day

October 4 is the 277^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 88 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is September 21, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,759,536,000 seconds 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 ‘dihectaheptacontaheptagon’ day.

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

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 136 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 4,670 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

October 4 Historical Events

• 1693 –
  Battle of Marsaglia: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
• 1795 –
  Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a “Whiff of Grapeshot”, using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention).
• 1876 –
  Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
• 1883 –
  First meeting of the Boys’ Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1957 –
  Sputnik 1 is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1974 –
  Founding of the New Democracy party in Greece.
• 1988 –
  U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
• 1997 –
  The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. An FBI investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million in cash which had been taken.
• 2001 –
  Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: a Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.
• 2004 –
  SpaceShipOne‘’wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.

Who were born on October 4?

• 1331 –
  James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (d. 1382)
• 1657 –
  Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (d. 1747)
• 1936 –
  Charlie Hurley, Irish footballer
• 1940 –
  Vic Hadfield, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 –
  Robert Wilson, American theatre director
• 1942 –
  Christopher Stone, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1945 –
  Clifton Davis, American actor
• 1957 –
  Alexander Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast
• 1979 –
  Adam Voges, Australian cricketer
• 1980 –
  Sarah Fisher, American IndyCar driver and team owner

Who died on October 4?

• 1754 –
  Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief
• 1904 –
  Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (b. 1834)
• 1970 –
  Janis Joplin, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1982 –
  Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, 165th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1898)
• 1991 –
  J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (b. 1941)
• 1997 –
  Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (b. 1941)
• 1999 –
  Art Farmer, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1928)
• 2000 –
  Michael Smith, biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1932)
• 2002 –
  Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics (b. 1917)
• 2010 –
  Sir Norman Wisdom, English comedian, singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1915)