16 July History
- 1765 - English Prime Minister Lord Greenville resigns and is replaced by Lord Rockingham.
- 1774 - Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji, ending their six-year war.
- 1779 - American troops under General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, N.Y.
- 1875 - The new French constitution is finalized.
- 1882 - Mary Todd Lincoln, the widow of Abraham Lincoln, dies of a stroke.
- 1918 - Czar Nicholas and his family are murdered by Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg, Russia.
- 1940 - Adolf Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of England.
- 1944 - Soviet troops occupy Vilna, Lithuania, in their drive towards Germany.
- 1945 - The United States detonates the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, N. M.
- 1969 - Apollo 11 blasts off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, heading for a landing on the moon.
- 1999 - A private plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. is lost over the waters off Martha's Vinyard, Mass.
16 July Birthdays
- 1723 - Joshua Reynolds, British portrait painter.
- 1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science movement.
- 1862 - Ida Bell Wells, journalist.
- 1896 - Trygve Lie, first secretary-general of the United Nations.
- 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress.
- 1911 - Ginger Rogers, actress and dancer.
- 1928 - Anita Brookner, writer (Hotel du Lac).
- 1941 - Dag Solstad, Norwegian novelist and playwright.
- 1948 - Ruben Blades, songwriter and actor.
- 1948 - Pinchas Zukerman, violinist and conductor.