What are the important events that happened on October 15? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

October 15: Facts & Myths About This Day

October 15 is the 288^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 77 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is October 2, 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, 489,024 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 ‘dihectaoctacontaoctagon’ 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 125 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 4,681 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

October 15 Historical Events

• 1815 –
  Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1878 –
  The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
• 1880 –
  Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
• 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.
• 1945 –
  World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.
• 1970 –
  Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
• 1979 –
  Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party.
• 1997 –
  The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth’s atmosphere.
• 2003 –
  China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.

Who were born on October 15?

• 1840 –
  Honoré Mercier, politician and premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
• 1881 –
  P. G. Wodehouse, British novelist (d. 1975)
• 1917 –
  Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1924 –
  Mark Lenard, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1949 –
  Laurie McBain, U.S.American novelist.
• 1968 –
  Didier Deschamps, French footballer
• 1977 –
  Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
• 1979 –
  Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer
• 1983 –
  Holly Montag, American reality TV personality
• 1987 –
  Jesse Levine, Canadian/American tennis player

Who died on October 15?

• 1564 –
  Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (b. 1514)
• 1917 –
  Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)
• 1930 –
  Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (b. 1866)
• 1945 –
  Pierre Laval, French politician (b. 1883)
• 1948 –
  Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
• 1980 –
  Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
• 1987 –
  Thomas Sankara, Burkinan military officer and politician (b. 1949)
• 1995 –
  Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1976)
• 2005 –
  Matti Wuori, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
• 2009 –
  Heinz Versteeg, Dutch footballer in Germany (b. 1939)