- 1188: birth of Infante Fernando, Count of Flanders, son of King Sancho I of Portugal
- 1844: birth of Camille Lemonnier, writer and poet
- 1866: death of Jean-Baptist David, professor Dutch and history, president of twe first two "taelcongressen" (language congresses)
- 1992 - launch of STS-45: aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, Dirk Frimout becomes the first Belgian in space
- 1999: when a Belgian transport truck catches fire, the subsequent fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel leaves 39 dead