15 November: On This Day in History

Today is 15 November 2025, the 319th day of the Gregorian calendar (320th in a leap year). Only 46 days remain until the end of the year. Let’s take a look at the important events, notable births and deaths, and special observances associated with this day in history.

Events
1621 — Mughal Emperor Jahangir captured the Kangra Fort in northern India.
1791 — The first Catholic college was established in America.
1795 — Under the initiative of Liebeh Diyeff, Bengal’s first stage drama ‘Chhaddabeshi’ was performed.
1806 — The first college magazine was published in the United States.
1830 — Social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy became the first Indian to travel to England.
1837 — Isaac Pitman’s shorthand system was first published.
1859 — The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece.
1889 — Brazil became a republic.
1904 — C. Gillette patented the famous Gillette blade.
1920 — The first session of the League of Nations was held in Geneva.
1924 — The first issue of the Kolkata Corporation’s mouthpiece ‘Municipal Gazette’ was published.
1926 — Radio NBC began broadcasting from 24 centers.
1932 — Walt Disney Art School was founded.
1935 — The Commonwealth of the Philippines was inaugurated.
1981 — Presidential election in Bangladesh; Justice Abdus Sattar elected with a landslide victory.
1983 — Turkish-occupied Cyprus declared independence.
1984 — The historic Berlin Conference on the partition of European colonies was held in Berlin.
1988 — PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat declared the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

Birthdays
1397 — Pope Nicholas V.
1670 — Bernard Mandeville, Anglo-Dutch philosopher and satirist.
1738 — William Herschel, astronomer and composer.
1862 — Gerhart Hauptmann, Nobel laureate German writer.
1874 — August Krogh, Nobel Prize–winning Danish scientist.
1907 — Claus von Stauffenberg, German military officer.
1925 — Yuli Daniel, Russian writer and poet.
1929 — Ed Asner, American actor and producer.
1945 — Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini, Islamic thinker and jurist.
1959 — Tibor Fischer, English writer.
1982 — Kalu Uche, Nigerian footballer.
1986 — Sania Mirza, Indian tennis star.

Deaths
1629 — Bethlen Gabor, King of Hungary.
1630 — Johannes Kepler, renowned astronomer.
1856 — Madhusudan Gupta, the first Bengali physician to perform human dissection.
1916 — Henryk Sienkiewicz, Nobel Prize–winning Polish writer.
1919 — Alfred Werner, Nobel Prize–winning Swiss chemist.
1923 — Panch Kari Bandopadhyay, journalist and editor.
1959 — Charles T. R. Wilson, Nobel Prize–winning Scottish physicist.
1981 — Enid Markey, American actress.
1986 — Muhammad Taqi Modarres Razavi, Iranian scholar and writer.
2005 — Arto Salminen, Finnish writer and journalist.

Observances
United States — America Recycles Day.
International — Day of the Imprisoned Writer.
Palestine — Independence Day (based on the 1988 declaration).
Sri Lanka — National Tree Planting Day.

Khaborwala/TSN