Today in History: Ranger 7 Sends Close-Up Photos of the Moon's Surface

July 31 is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 153.

Railways

• 31 July 1908 Hejaz Railway reached Madinah.

Events

• 1492 – The Alhambra Decree, stating the grounds that Jews would be expelled from Spain, was signed and entered into force.
• 1560 – Piyale Pasha captured Tunisia's Djerba Island.
• 1722 – III. The Sadabad Palace built for Ahmet was inaugurated with a ceremony.
• 1908 – II. The "sleuth", which became an official duty during the reign of Abdulhamid, was officially abolished.
• 1914 – The French Socialist Party (1902) and Humanity newspaper's founder, writer, speaker and statesman Jean Jaurés was murdered by a madman.
• 1921 – Greek King Constantine I arrived in Eskişehir.
• 1922 – The Independence Courts Law was accepted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
• 1922 – Turkey's first official sports organization, the Turkish İdman Associations Alliance was established.
• 1932 – The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) became the first party, winning 230 seats in the elections in Germany. Social democrats elected 133 deputies, communists 89 deputies.
• 1932 – Keriman Halis was elected World Beauty Queen in Belgium; Atatürk gave himself the surname "Ece".
• 1936 – In Spain, the fascist forces of General Franco besieged Madrid.
• 1944 - Little Prince French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, famous for his work, was lost during an F-5B reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean.
• 1949 – Spectators at Veliefendi Racecourse burned the referee's tower and tribunes on the grounds that horse races were rigged.
• 1952 – Turkey's first trade union confederation, the Turkish Confederation of Workers' Unions (Türk-İş) was established.
• 1959 – The Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA) organization is founded.
• 1959 – Turkey officially applied for the European Economic Community (EEC) candidacy.
• 1962 – “Aid Club to Turkey” was founded in Paris. The nine-country consortium will cooperate with the Common Market and the European Investment Bank.
• 1964 - The United States satellite Ranger 7 sent close-up photos of the Moon's surface.
• 1965 – Cigarette advertisements banned on British television.
• 1966 – Police intervened in racist demonstrations in Chicago, New York and Cleveland: 6 people were killed and 84 injured.
• 1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin toured the lunar surface in a 4-wheeled vehicle.
• 1973 – A Delta Airlines Douglas DC-9 passenger plane crashed at Boston Airport during its descent due to heavy fog: 89 people were killed.
• 1980 – ASELSAN produced the first Turkish radio.
• 1980 – Turkey's Athens Embassy Administrative Attache Galip Özmen was killed in an armed attack by ASALA militants.
• 1987 – A hurricane in Edmonton, Alberta, killed 27 people.
• 1987 – More than 400 people were killed in the clash between the Saudi security forces and the group led by Iranian pilgrims, who gathered to protest the countries they define as enemies of Islam in Mecca.
• 1988 – A ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia: 32 people are killed and 1674 injured.
• 1992 – An Airbus A300 type passenger plane belonging to Thai Airways crashes in the mountainous region of Kathmandu: 113 people are killed.
• 1996 – The law restricting the promotional activities of newspapers to cultural products only is passed.
• 1996 – Gheorghe Hagi signed a 3-year contract with Galatasaray.
• 2006 – Yaşar Büyükanıt was appointed as the Chief of General Staff.

Births

• 1527 – II. Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)
• 1598 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
• 1803 – John Ericsson, Swedish explorer and engineer (d. 1889)
• 1883 – Fred Quimby, American cartoon producer (d. 1965)
• 1901 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
• 1911 George Liberace, American musician (d. 1983)
• 1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
• 1914 – Louis de Funes, French comedian (d. 1983)
• 1915 – Henri Decaë, French cinematographer (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Paul D. Boyer, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
• 1921 – Peter Benenson, English lawyer and founder of Amnesty International (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Ahmet Ertegün, Turkish music producer and owner of Atlantic Records (d. 2006)
• 1929 – José Santamaría, Uruguayan football player and manager
• 1932 - John Searle, American philosopher
• 1935 – Geoffrey Lewis, American western actor (d. 2015)
• 1939 – Susan Flannery, American actress
• 1942 – Modibo Keita, Malian politician (d. 2021)
• 1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
• 1944 – Robert C. Merton, American economist
• 1945 – William Weld, American lawyer and businessman
• 1947 – Richard Griffiths, English film, television and stage actor (d. 2013)
• 1947 – Hubert Védrine, French politician and diplomat
• 1948 - Russell Morris, Australian singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Richard Berry, French actor
• 1951 – Evonne Goolagong, Australian former tennis player
• 1956 – Michael Biehn, American actor
• 1956 – Deval Patrick, American politician
• 1958 – Mark Cuban, American dollar billionaire businessman
• 1959 – Cem Kurtoğlu, Turkish cinema and theater actor
• 1960 – Hürser Tekinoktay, Turkish coach
• 1962 – Wesley Snipes, American actor and producer
• 1963 – Abdullah Avci, Turkish football player and coach
• 1963 – Fatboy Slim, English musician, DJ and producer
• 1964 – Caroline Müller, German singer and composer
• 1965 – JK Rowling, English writer
• 1965 – John Laurinaitis, retired American professional wrestler
• 1965 – Scott Brooks, American professional basketball player
• 1967 – Elizabeth Wurtzel, American feminist, lawyer, author, and journalist (d. 2020)
• 1969 – Antonio Conte, Italian football player and manager
• 1969 – Aslı Omağ, Turkish opera singer and actress
• 1970 – Ben Chaplin, English actor
• 1973 – Durukan Ordu, Turkish theater and film actor
• 1974 – Luran Ahmeti, Macedonian actress of Albanian origin
• 1974 – Emilia Fox, English actress
• 1976 – Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican football player
• 1979 – Per Krøldrup, Danish national football player
• 1979 - Carlos Marchena, Spanish retired football player and manager
• 1981 – Hakan Akkaya, Turkish fashion designer and presenter
• 1981 Titus Bramble, English former football player
• 1984 – İpek Yaylacıoğlu, Turkish cinema and TV series actress
• 1987 – Michael Bradley, American football player
• 1989 – Viktoriya Azarenka, a Belarusian professional tennis player
• 1994 – Selim Ay, Turkish football player
• 1994 – Lil Uzi Vert, American rapper, singer and songwriter
• 1998 – Çağatay Akman, Turkish singer

Deaths

• 54 BC – Aurelia Cotta, mother of Dictator Gaius Julius Caesar (b. 120 BC)
• 451 – Petrus Chrysologus, a theologian and advisor to Pope Leo I (b. 380)
• 855 – Ahmad bin Hanbal, Hanbali sect pioneer and Islamic scholar (b. 780)
• 1556 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish clergyman and founder of the Jesuit order (b. 1491)
• 1784 – Denis Diderot, French writer and philosopher (b. 1713)
• 1795 – José Basilio da Gama, Brazilian writer (b. 1740)
• 1849 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet (b. 1823)
• 1864 – Louis Hachette, French publisher (b. 1800)
• 1875 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
• 1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1811)
• 1914 – Jean Jaures, French socialist politician (b. 1859)
• 1935 – Tryggvi Þórhallsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1889)
• 1944 – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and author (b. 1900)
• 1953 – Nikolai Zelinsky, Soviet chemist (b. 1861)
• 1958 – Eino Kaila, Finnish philosopher, critic, and teacher (b. 1890)
• 1972 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian statesman (who pioneered the founding of NATO and the EEC) (b. 1899)
• 1972 – Alfons Gorbach, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1898)
• 1980 – Galip Özmen, Turkish diplomat (Administrative Attache of the Embassy of Turkey in Athens (assassinated))
• 1980 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)
• 1981 – Omar Torrijos Herrera, Panamanian politician (b. 1929)
• 1986 - Chiune Sugihara, II. Japanese diplomat, vice-consul of Japan to Lithuania during World War II (b. 1900)
• 1992 – Ralph Strait, American television and film actor (b. 1936)
• 1993 – Baudouin I, King of Belgium (b. 1930)
• 1997 – Feyyaz Tokar, Turkish journalist and businessman (b. 1931)
• 2001 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese soldier and statesman (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Laura Betti, Italian actress (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Virginia Gray, American actress (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician (b. 1935)
• 2009 – Bobby Robson, English manager (b. 1933)
• 2010 – Pedro Dellacha, Argentinean former international football player and manager (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Tom Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and director (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Rudolf Kreitlein, Former German football referee (b. 1919)
• 2012 – Gore Vidal, American novelist, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-born American theatre, screen, film, television and voice actor (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Warren Bennis, American scientist (b. 1925)
• 2014 – Murat Gogebakan, Turkish singer (b. 1968)
• 2014 – Kenny Ireland, Scottish actor and theater director (b. 1945)
• 2015 – Roddy Piper, Canadian former professional wrestler and actor (b. 1954)
• 2016 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1955)
• 2016 – Fazil Iskander, Abkhaz writer (b. 1929)
• 2017 – Jean-Claude Bouillon, French actor (b. 1941)
• 2017 – Jérôme Golmard, French male tennis player (b. 1973)
• 2017 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (b. 1928)
• 2017 – Les Murray, Hungarian-Australian sports journalist, football reporter and analyst (b. 1945)
• 2017 – Sam Shepard, American playwright and actor (b. 1943)
• 2018 – Alex Fergusson, Scottish politician (b. 1949)
• 2019 – María Auxiliadora Delgado, Uruguayan government official, health activist, and first lady (b. 1937)
• 2019 – Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden (b. 1989)
• 2019 – Harold Prince, American theater and film producer, director (b. 1928)
• 2020 – Eusebio Leal, Cuban-Mexican historian (b. 1942)
• 2020 – Dilma Lóes, Brazilian theater, film and television actress (b. 1950)
• 2020 – Bill Mack, Grammy award winner, American country music singer, songwriter, and radio host (b. 1932)
• 2020 – Alan Parker, British film director (b. 1944)
• 2020 – Zamuxolo Peter, South African politician (b. 1965)
• 2020 – Musa Yerniyazov, Soviet, later Uzbek state political figure (b. 1947)
• 2021 – Nedret Güvenç, Turkish actor, director, voice actor and writer (b. 1930)