193 Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
1028 Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected king of the Germans.
1205 Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
1434 The foundation stone of Cathedral St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes, France is laidied
1471 In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
1471 Richard Neville (died), 16th Earl of Warwick, English commander and politician (born 1428)
1527 Abraham Ortelius (born), Flemish cartographer and geographer (died 1598)
1572 Adam Tanner (born), Austrian mathematician (died 1632)
1578 James Hepburn (died), 4th Earl of Bothwell, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (born 1534)
1629 Christiaan Huygens (born), Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (died 1695)
1715 The Yamasee War begins in South Carolina.
1721 Michel Chamillart (died), French politician (born 1652)
1759 George Frideric Handel (died), German-English composer (born 1685)
1775 The first abolition society in North America is establishedied The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
1785 William Whitehead (died), English poet and playwright (born 1715)
1800 John Appold (born), English engineer (died 1865)
1827 Augustus Pitt Rivers (born), English army officer and archaeologist (died 1900)
1828 Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
1846 The Donner Party of pioneers departs Springfield, Illinois, for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship, cannibalism, and survival.
1849 Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
1857 Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (born) (died 1944)
1860 The first Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California.
1865 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth (died April 15th).
1865 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.
1866 Anne Sullivan (born), American educator (died 1936)
1868 Peter Behrens (born), German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (died 1940)
1872 Abdullah Yusuf Ali (born), Indian-English scholar and translator (died 1953)
1882 Moritz Schlick (born), German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1936)
1889 Arnold J. Toynbee (born), English historian (died 1975)
1890 The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, DIEDC.
1892 V. Gordon Childe (born), Australian archaeologist and philologist (died 1957)
1894 The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.
1904 John Gielgud (born), English actor, director, and producer (died 2000)
1905 Elizabeth Huckaby (born), American educator (died 1999)
1907 François Duvalier (born), Haitian politician, 40th President of Haiti (died 1971)
1912 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40pm (sinks morning of April 15th).
1924 Shorty Rogers (born), American trumpet player and composer (died 1994)
1925 Gene Ammons (born), American saxophonist (died 1974)
1925 John Singer Sargent (died), American painter (born 1856)
1925 Rod Steiger (born), American actor (died 2002)
1927 The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1928 –The Bremen, a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada – the first successful transatlantic airplane flight from east to west.
1931 First edition of the Highway Code published in Great Britain.
1932 Loretta Lynn (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 “Black Sunday Storm”, the worst dust storm of the U.S. Dust Bowl.
1935 Erich von Däniken (born), Swiss author
1936 Frank Serpico (born), American police officer
1941 World War II: Rommel attacks Tobruk.
1945 Ritchie Blackmore (born), English guitarist and songwriter (The Outlaws, Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Blackmore’s Night)
1950 Francis Collins (born), American physician and geneticist
1953 David Buss (born), American psychologist
1956 In Chicago, Illinois, videotape is first demonstratedied
1957 Richard Jeni (born), American comedian and actor (died 2007)
1958 The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days.
1964 Rachel Carson (died), American biologist and author (born 1907)
1969 At the U.S. Academy Awards there is a tie for the Academy Award for Best Actress between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisandied
1981 STS-1 The first operational space shuttle, Columbia (OV-102) completes its first test flight.
1983 Pete Farndon (died), English bass player (The Pretenders) (born 1952)
1986 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These are the heaviest hailstones
1986 In retaliation for the April 5 bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen, U.S. president Ronald Reagan orders major bombing raids against Libya, killing 60 people.
1986 Simone de Beauvoir (died), French philosopher and author (born 1908)
1995 Burl Ives (died), American actor and singer (born 1909)
1999 Anthony Newley (died), English-American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1931)
2002 Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
2003 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
2005 The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
2007 Don Ho (died), American singer and ukulele player (born 1930)
2007 René Rémond (died), French historian and economist (born 1918)
2010 Alice Miller (died), Polish-French psychologist and author (born 1923)
2010 Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, China.
2010 Peter Steele (died), American singer-songwriter and bass player (Type O Negative, Carnivore, and Fallout) (born 1962)
2013 Adolph Herseth (died), American trumpet player (born 1921)
2013 Charlie Wilson (died), American politician (born 1943)
2013 George Jackson (died), American singer-songwriter (born 1945)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017