On This Day — 15 October
2000s
2018
13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered.
Kidnapping of Jayme Closs
2016
One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
Montreal Protocol
2013
The 7.2 Mw Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.
Seismic magnitude scales
2008
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
2007
Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.
2007 New Zealand police raids
2006
The 6.7 Mw Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
Seismic magnitude scales
2003
China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.
Shenzhou 5
2001
NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles (180 km) of Jupiter's moon Io.
Galileo (spacecraft)
1900s
1997
The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
Cassini–Huygens
1994
The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
Presidency of Bill Clinton
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.
Oh-My-God particle
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.
Baltic states
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.
Mikhail Gorbachev
1989
Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
Wayne Gretzky
1987
Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.
Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460
1987
A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état
1979
Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
Black Monday (Malta)
1979
A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
1979 Salvadoran coup d'état
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.
West Gate Bridge
1966
The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Black Panther Party
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.
Vietnam War
1956
FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
Fortran
1954
Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
Hurricane Hazel
1951
Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.
Luis E. Miramontes
1944
World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.
World War II
1940
President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.
Lluís Companys
1939
The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
LaGuardia Airport
1932
Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
Air India
1928
The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin
1923
The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.
Rentenmark
1910
Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
America (airship)
1800s
1888
The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.
From Hell letter
1864
American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.
American Civil War
1815
Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Napoleon
Before 1800
1793
Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.
Marie Antoinette
1783
The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.
Montgolfier brothers
1781
The Battle of Raft Swamp marks the last battle fought in North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War with a Patriot victory. It occurred four days before the British surrender at Yorktown.
Battle of Raft Swamp
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.
Qing dynasty
1582
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
1529
The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.
Siege of Vienna (1529)
1211
Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.
Battle of the Rhyndacus (1211)
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.
Battle of Hastings