July 2: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining.

It is the middle day of a non-leap year, because there are 182 days before and 182 days after. It falls on the same day of the week as New Year's Day (of non-leap years).

Events

• 1298 - The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
• 1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
• 1613 - First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia - led by Samuel Argall.
• 1644 - Battle of Marston Moor in the English Civil War.
• 1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi - led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
• 1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain, though a formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.
• 1777 - Vermont becomes the first American state to abolish slavery.
• 1808 - Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
• 1819 - The Factory Act is passed in Britain, creating restrictions on child labor.
• 1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
• 1850 - The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
• 1853 - The Russian Army invades Turkey, beginning the Crimean War.
• 1863 - Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
• 1878 - What will become the BMT Brighton Line opens in the City of Brooklyn (which merged with Manhattan and other counties to become the City of Greater New York in 1898)
• 1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19.
• 1890 - The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
• 1900 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
• 1917 - 48 die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black laborers clash with whites.
• 1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.
• 1947 - An object speculated to be a UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico, though the United States Air Force claims it is a weather balloon.
• 1950 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law.
• 1973 - James R. Schlesinger is sworn in as the 12th United States Secretary of Defense.
• 1976 - North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• 1978 - The New York Times publishes its last edition composed using hot metal typesetting.
• 1979 - The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
• 1980 - Airplane! released
• 1982 - Larry Walters uses 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet.
• 1985 - Andrei Gromyko is appointed the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
• 1990 - A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel led to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims in Mecca during hajj.
• 2000 - Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) after more than 70 years of continuous rule from the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
• 2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
• 2003 - International Olympic Committee session in Prague. Vancouver is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
• 2005 - Ten Live 8 concerts are held around the world in an attempt to force G8 countries to address poverty.
• 2005 - Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimed July 2, 2005 as “Chet Baker Day”.

• 419 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor (d. 455)
• 1029 - Caliph Al-Mustansir of Cairo (d. 1094)
• 1262 - Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1312)
• 1489 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1556)
• 1647 - Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English privy councilor (d. 1730)
• 1665 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (d. 1726)
• 1714 - Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (d. 1787)
• 1724 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (d. 1803)
• 1821 - Sir Charles Tupper, sixth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1915)
• 1856 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist leader (d. 1920)
• 1862 - William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)
• 1865 - Lily Braun, German writer (d. 1916)
• 1877 - Hermann Hesse, German-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)
• 1884 - Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist (d. 1931)
• 1900 - Tyrone Guthrie, English actor (d. 1971)
• 1903 - Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
• 1903 - King Olav V of Norway (d. 1991)
• 1906 - Hans Bethe, German-born nuclear physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
• 1908 - Thurgood Marshall, U. S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1993)
• 1914 - Frederick Fennell, American conductor (d. 2004)
• 1914 - Mário Schenberg, Brazilian physicist (d. 1990)
• 1916 - Ken Curtis, American actor and singer (d. 1991)
• 1916 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German pilot (d. 1982).
• 1918 - Wibo, Dutch cartoonist (d. 2005)
• 1923 - Wisława Szymborska, Polish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1925 - Medgar Evers, American civil rights activist (d. 1963)
• 1925 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 1961)
• 1927 - Brock Peters, American actor
• 1929 - Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines
• 1930 - Carlos Menem, President of Argentina
• 1932 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (d. 2002)
• 1937 - Polly Holliday, American actress
• 1937 - Richard Petty, American race car driver
• 1939 - John H. Sununu, U.S. Secretary of State
• 1940 - Kenneth Harry Clarke, British politician
• 1942 - Vicente Fox, President of Mexico
• 1946 - Richard Axel, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1946 - Ron Silver, American actor
• 1947 - Larry David, American television producer
• 1955 - Andrew Divoff, Venezuelan actor
• 1956 - Jerry Hall, American actress and model
• 1957 - Bret "Hitman" Hart, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1958 - Thomas Bickerton, American Methodist bishop
• 1959 - Mike Hallett, English snooker player
• 1964 - Jose Canseco, baseball player
• 1970 - Yancy Butler, American actress
• 1971 - Evelyn Lau, Canadian author
• 1974 - Matthew Reilly, Australian author
• 1975 - Erik Ohlsson, Swedish guitarist (Millencolin)
• 1976 - Tomas Vokoun, Czech hockey player
• 1983 - Michelle Branch, American musician
• 1985 - Ashley Tisdale, American actress
• 1986 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress

• 862 - St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester
• 1298 - Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg, King of the Romans
• 1504 - Ştefan cel Mare, Prince of Moldova (b. 1434)
• 1582 - Akechi Mitsuhide, Japanese samurai (b. 1528)
• 1591 - Vincenzo Galilei, Italian composer (b. 1520)
• 1621 - Thomas Harriot, English astronomer and mathematician
• 1656 - François-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-born French commander (b. 1611)
• 1674 - Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1614)
• 1684 - John Rogers, American President of Harvard University (b. 1630)
• 1743 - Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, English statesman
• 1746 - Thomas Baker, English antiquarian (b. 1656)
• 1778 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (b. 1712)
• 1778 - Bathsheba Ruggles, American murderer
• 1833 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine leader (b. 1757)
• 1843 - Samuel Hahnemann, German physician
• 1912 - Tom Richardson, English cricket player (b. 1870)
• 1926 - Émile Coué, French psychologist (b. 1857)
• 1932 - King Manuel II of Portugal (b. 1889)
• 1937 - Amelia Earhart, American aviator (disappeared) (b. 1897)
• 1961 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (suicide) (b. 1899)
• 1964 - Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1929)
• 1966 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
• 1972 - Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876)
• 1973 - Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
• 1977 - Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (b. 1899)
• 1989 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister (b. 1909)
• 1991 - Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
• 1994 - Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (murdered)
• 1997 - James Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
• 1999 - Mario Puzo, American author (b. 1920)
• 2004 - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese writer and poet (b. 1919)
• 2004 - John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (b. 1919)
• 2005 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (b. 1915)

• Originally, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Feast of the Visitation was celebrated on this day, although it has since been transferred to May 31
• Palio di Provenzano in Siena

July 1 - July 3 - June 2 - August 2 -- listing of all days