# On this day: September 29

September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years), with 93 days left until the end of the year.

## September 29 in one line

Headline entries for September 29, from Wikipedia: in 1941, The Holocaust: Nazi forces, aided by Ukrainian collaborators, began a massacre of Jews in a ravine in Kyiv, killing more than 30,000 civilians in two days and thousands more in the following months; born 1547: Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (died 1616); died 1902: Émile Zola, French journalist, author, and playwright (born 1840). In 2026 it is a Tuesday, in 2027 a Wednesday.

## Events on September 29

- 440 Consecration of pope Leo I, later called Leo the Great, following the death of pope Sixtus III in the month before. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sixtus_III)
- 1011 An army of Viking pirates that had besieged the English city of Canterbury for weeks took Archbishop Ælfheah prisoner and seized power. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Canterbury)
- 1227 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades during the Investiture Controversy. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
- 1724 J. S. Bach led the first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, BWV 130, based on Paul Eber's hymn in twelve stanzas, for the feast of archangel Michael. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr_Gott%2C_dich_loben_alle_wir%2C_BWV_130)
- 1726 Johann Sebastian Bach led the first performance of Es erhub sich ein Streit, a cantata for Michaelmas. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Es_erhub_sich_ein_Streit%2C_BWV_19)
- 1760 The Williamsburg Bray School, the oldest-surviving school building in the U.S. dedicated to educating Black children, opened at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg_Bray_School)
- 1833 The Spanish American wars of independence ended with the death of King Ferdinand VII, with what had once been the Spanish Empire disintegrating into independent Latin American states. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_wars_of_independence)
- 1848 The Battle of Pákozd is a stalemate between Hungarian and Croatian forces and is the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_P%C3%A1kozd)
- 1918 World War I: The Battle of St Quentin Canal took place, which led to the British Fourth Army making the first breach of the German defensive Hindenburg Line. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St_Quentin_Canal)
- 1918 World War I: Germany's Supreme Army Command tells Kaiser Wilhelm II and Imperial Chancellor Georg Michaelis to open negotiations for an armistice to end the war. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918)
- 1923 The Mandate for Palestine came into effect, officially creating the protectorates of Mandatory Palestine under British administration and Transjordan as a separate emirate under King Abdullah I. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Palestine)
- 1940 During a Royal Australian Air Force training exercise over Brocklesby, two planes collided and interlocked in mid-air; the pilot of the upper plane was able to land safely using the lower plane's engines. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Brocklesby_mid-air_collision)
- 1941 The Holocaust: Nazi forces, aided by Ukrainian collaborators, began a massacre of Jews in a ravine in Kyiv, killing more than 30,000 civilians in two days and thousands more in the following months. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar)
- 1954 Willie Mays of the New York Giants made The Catch, one of the most famous defensive plays in the history of Major League Baseball. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catch_(baseball))
- 1954 The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN)
- 1955 The first Indonesian legislative election resulted in an unexpectedly poor result for the Masyumi Party of incumbent prime minister Burhanuddin Harahap. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burhanuddin_Harahap)
- 1957 An explosion at the Soviet nuclear reprocessing plant Mayak released 74 to 1,850 PBq of radioactive material. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster)
- 1963 The University of East Anglia was founded in Norwich, England, after talk of establishing a university in the city began as early as the 19th century. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_East_Anglia)
- 1964 Mafalda, a popular comic strip by Quino, was first published in newspapers in Argentina. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda)
- 1971 Oman joins the Arab League. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League)
- 1988 NASA launches STS-26, the first Space Shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-26)
- 1990 The Lockheed YF-22, the prototype for the F-22 Raptor, made its first flight. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-22)
- 1991 The award-winning Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast premiered while unfinished at the New York Film Festival. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(1991_film))
- 2004 Archaeologists and volunteers began excavation of the remains of Fort Tanjong Katong in Singapore. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Tanjong_Katong)
- 2005 John Roberts became the 17th Chief Justice of the United States; he would be the first Chief Justice to serve for twenty years since Melville Fuller in 1908. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts)
- 2006 Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy business jet near Peixoto de Azevedo, Brazil, killing 154 people and triggering a national aviation crisis. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Transportes_A%C3%A9reos_Flight_1907)

## Born on September 29

- 106 BC Pompey, Roman general and politician (died 48 BC) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey)
- 1511 Michael Servetus, Spanish physician, cartographer, and theologian (died 1553) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Servetus)
- 1547 Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (died 1616) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Cervantes)
- 1758 Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, English admiral (died 1805) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson%2C_1st_Viscount_Nelson)
- 1810 Elizabeth Gaskell, English author (died 1865) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell)
- 1864 Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher and author (died 1936) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno)
- 1881 Ludwig von Mises, Austrian-American economist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1973) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises)
- 1901 Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1954) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi)
- 1912 Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2007) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo_Antonioni)
- 1931 Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (died 2015) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Ekberg)
- 1931 James Cronin, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cronin)
- 1933 Samora Machel, Mozambican commander and politician, 1st President of Mozambique (died 1986) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel)
- 1935 Jerry Lee Lewis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2022) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lee_Lewis)
- 1936 Silvio Berlusconi, Italian businessman and politician, Prime Minister of Italy (died 2023) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi)
- 1942 Ian McShane, English actor [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McShane)
- 1943 Lech Wałęsa, Polish electrician and politician, 2nd President of Poland, Nobel Prize laureate [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa)
- 1951 Michelle Bachelet, Chilean politician, President of Chile [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Bachelet)
- 1959 Jon Fosse, Norwegian author and dramatist [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Fosse)
- 1961 Julia Gillard, Welsh-Australian lawyer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Australia [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard)
- 1966 Bujar Nishani, Albanian politician, 7th President of Albania (died 2022) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bujar_Nishani)
- 1984 Per Mertesacker, German footballer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_Mertesacker)
- 1988 Kevin Durant, American basketball player [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Durant)

## Died on September 29

- 855 Lothair I, Carolingian emperor (born 795) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_I)
- 1560 Gustav I of Sweden (born 1496) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Vasa)
- 1833 Ferdinand VII of Spain (born 1784) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_VII)
- 1902 Émile Zola, French journalist, author, and playwright (born 1840) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola)
- 1908 Machado de Assis, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (born 1839) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machado_de_Assis)
- 1913 Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the diesel engine (born 1858) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Diesel)
- 1925 Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1851) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Bourgeois)
- 1927 Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1860) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Einthoven)
- 1930 Ilya Repin, Ukrainian-Russian painter and illustrator (born 1844) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Repin)
- 1973 W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and critic (born 1907) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden)
- 1981 Bill Shankly, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1913) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shankly)
- 2001 Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, South Vietnamese military officer and politician, 2nd President of South Vietnam (born 1923) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_Thi%E1%BB%87u)
- 2010 Tony Curtis, American actor (born 1925) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis)
- 2020 Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Emir (born 1929) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabah_Al-Ahmad_Al-Jaber_Al-Sabah)

## Holidays and observances

- Christian feast day: Charles, Duke of Brittany [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_of_Blois-Ch%C3%A2tillon)
- Christian feast day: Cyriacus the Anchorite [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyriacus_the_Anchorite)
- Christian feast day: Hripsime [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hripsime)
- Christian feast day: Blessed Francesc de Paula Castelló Aleu [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesc_de_Paula_Castell%C3%B3_Aleu)
- Christian feast day: Guillaume Courtet [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Courtet)
- Christian feast day: Jean de Montmirail [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Montmirail)
- Christian feast day: John of Dukla [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Dukla)
- Christian feast day: René Goupil [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Goupil)
- Christian feast day: Theodota of Philippi [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodota_of_Philippi)
- Christian feast day: September 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_29_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics))
- Christian feast day: the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. One of the four quarter days in the Irish calendar. (England and Ireland). Called Michaelmas in some western liturgical traditions. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(archangel))
- Inventors' Day (Argentina) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventors'_Day)
- Victory of Boquerón Day (Paraguay) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Paraguay)

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — “September 29”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_29) — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 29”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/September_29) — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence)](https://github.com/vacanza/holidays) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article [“September 29”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_29) and the articles it links to ([authors and history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_29?action=history)), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for September 29 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.

## September 29 in the calendar

| Year | Weekday | ISO week | Moon (UTC) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | Tuesday | 2026-W40 | 🌖 Waning Gibbous |
| 2027 | Wednesday | 2027-W39 | 🌘 Waning Crescent |
| 2028 | Friday | 2028-W39 | 🌔 Waxing Gibbous |
| 2029 | Saturday | 2029-W39 | 🌖 Waning Gibbous |
| 2030 | Sunday | 2030-W39 | 🌒 Waxing Crescent |

Moon phases are for the day in UTC; at the edges of a phase your local date can differ.

## Public holidays on September 29

None of the 28 countries we track has a public holiday on September 29 in 2026 or 2027.

[Today's holidays in 28 countries →](https://whathappen.today/holidays/)

## Nearby dates

[← September 28](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/september-28/) · [September 30 →](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/september-30/)

[All 366 days](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/)

Last updated: 15 October 2026

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Web page: https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/september-29/