April 30

Birthdays:

1986 ~ Dianna Agron, American actress and singer best known for her role as Quinn Fabray on Glee.

1961 ~ Isiah Thomas, American baseball player.

1959 ~ Paul Gross, Canadian actor best known for his role as the upright Canadian Mounted Police Officer working in with the Chicago Police Department in the TV series, Due South.

1946 ~ Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

1945 ~ Michael J. Smith (d. Jan. 28, 1986), American astronaut who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.  He was 40 years old.

1944 ~ Jill Clayburg (d. Nov. 5, 2010), American actress.  She died of leukemia at age 66.

1930 ~ Nathaniel Branden (né Nathaniel Blumenthal, d. Dec. 3, 2014), Canadian-American psychologist who became Ayn Rand’s lover.  He died at age 84.

1926 ~ Cloris Leachman, American actress.

1925 ~ Johnny Horton (né John LaGale Horton, d. Nov. 5, 1960), American musician and singer, best known for his song, The Battle of New Orleans.  He was killed in a car accident at age 35.

1921 ~ Robert L. Easton (d. May 8, 2014), American scientist and co-inventor of the GPS.  He was born in Vermont and died in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He died 8 days after his 93^rd birthday.

1916 ~ Claude Shannon (d. Feb. 24, 2001), American engineer and mathematician.  He died at age 84.

1909 ~ Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (d. Mar. 20, 2004).  She died at age 94.

1908 ~ Eve Arden (d. Nov. 12, 1990), American actress.  She died at age 82 of heart disease.

1905 ~ Sergey Nikolsky (d. Nov. 9, 1912), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 107.

1902 ~ Theodore Schultz (d. Feb. 26, 1998), American economist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 95.

1901 ~ Simon Kuznets (d. July 8, 1985), Ukrainian economist and recipient of the 1971 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 84.

1877 ~ Alice B. Toklas (d. Mar. 7, 1967), American writer and companion of Gertrude Stein.  She died at age 89.

1777 ~ Carl Friedrich Gauss (d. Feb. 23, 1855), German mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1662 ~ Mary II of England (d. Dec. 28, 1694).  She died of smallpox at age 32.

1245 ~ King Philip III of France (d. Oct. 5, 1285).  He died at age 40.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated in favor of her son, Willem-Alexander, who became King of the Netherlands.

2009 ~ Chrysler automobile company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

2008 ~ Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia were confirmed to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

1995 ~ President Bill Clinton became the first US President to visit Northern Ireland.

1993 ~ Tennis star Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by an obsessed fan during the quarterfinal match of the 1993 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany.

1980 ~ Beatrix of the Netherlands (b. 1938) became Queen of the Netherlands.  She abdicated the throne on April 30, 2013 in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.

1975 ~ The Vietnam War formally ended with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Văn Minh (1916 ~ 2001).  Communist forces gained control of Saigon.

1973 ~ Richard Nixon’s top White House aides, including H.R. Haldeman (1926 ~ 1993) and John Ehrlichman (1925 ~ 1999), resigned amid the Watergate Scandal.

1947 ~ The Boulder Dam in Nevada was renamed the Hoover Dam.

1939 ~ The 1939-40 New York World’s Fair opened.

1939 ~ Television was first publically broadcast from the Empire State Building in New York City.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the New York World’s Fair ceremonial address on NBC.

1927 ~ Douglas Fairbanks (1883 ~ 1939) and Mary Pickford (1892 ~ 1979) became the first Hollywood celebrities to leave their footprints in the concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

1927 ~ The first women’s federal prison in the United States opened in Alderson, West Virginia as the Federal Industrial Institute for Women.

1904 ~ The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair opened in St. Louis, Missouri.

1900 ~ Hawaii became a territory of the United States.

1885 ~ The governor of New York State signed legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, the first state park in New York State.

1812 ~ Louisiana became the 18^th State of the Union.

1803 ~ The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France under the Louisiana Purchase Agreement which, although was signed on May 2, was dated as of April 30.  The purchase price was $15 Million.

1789 ~ George Washington was inaugurated as the first United States President.  The ceremony took place on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City.

1492 ~ Spain granted Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.

Good-byes:

2016 ~ Sir Harry Kroto (né Harold Walter Krotoschiner, b. Oct. 7, 1939), British chemist and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 76.

2016 ~ Father Daniel Berrigan (b. May 9, 1921), American Catholic priest, political and anti-war/peace activist.  He died 9 days before his 95^th birthday.

2012 ~ Benzion Netanyahu (b. Mar. 25, 1910), Israeli historian whose field of expertise was the history of Jews in Spain during the Inquisition.  He was also the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  He died at age 102.

2007 ~ Tom Poston (b. Oct. 17, 1921), American actress.  He died at age 85.

1994 ~ Richard Scarry (b. June 5, 1919), American author and illustrator of children’s books.  He died at age 74.

1983 ~ Muddy Waters (né McKinley Morganfield, b. Apr. 4, 1913), American jazz musician, considered the “father of modern Chicago blues.”  He died at 26 days after his 70^th birthday.

1983 ~ George Balanchine (b. Jan. 22, 1904), Russian dancer and choreographer.  He died at age 79.

1974 ~ Agnes Moorehead (b. Dec. 6, 1900), American actress.  She died of cancer at age 73.

1956 ~ Alben W. Barkley (b. Nov. 24, 1877). 35^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President Harry S. Truman from January 1949 until January 1953.  He collapsed and died of a heart attack while giving a speech in Virginia.  He died at age 78.

1945 ~ Adolf Hitler (b. Apr. 20, 1889) dictator of Nazi Germany.  He committed suicide along with Eva Braun (b. 1912), his wife of one day 10 days before his 57^th birthday.

1936 ~ A.E. Housman (né Alfred Edward Housman, b. Mar. 26, 1859), English poet.  He died at age 77.

1900 ~ Casey Jones (né John Luther Jones, b. Mar. 14, 1863), American railroad engineer who died in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, when his train, the Cannonball Express, collided with a stalled freight train.  He gave his life to prevent a crash and to save the lives of his passengers.  He was the only fatality in the crash.  He was 37 years old at the time of his death.

1883 ~ Édouard Manet (b. Jan. 23, 1832), French painter.  He died of gangrene following an operation to amputate his foot.  He was 51 years old.

1513 ~ Edmund de la Pole, 3^rd Duke of Suffolk (b. 1471), Yorkist pretender to the English throne.  Henry VIII had him executed.  He was the son of Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

April 14

Birthdays:

1996 ~ Abigail Breslin, American actress, best known for her role in Little Miss Sunshine.

1977 ~ Chandra Levy (d. May 1, 2001), American murder victim.  The exact date of her death is unknown, but she went missing on May 1, 2001.  She disappeared 2 weeks after her 24^th birthday.

1973 ~ Adrien Brody, American actor.

1968 ~ Anthony Michael Hall, American actor best known for his role in The Breakfast Club.

1961 ~ Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor.

1940 ~ Julie Christie, British actress.

1932 ~ Loretta Lynn, American country singer.

1927 ~ Alan MacDiarmid (d. Feb. 7, 2007), New Zealand chemist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

1921 ~ Thomas Schelling (d. Dec. 13, 2016), American economist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 95.

1912 ~ Béla Király (d. July 4, 2009), the Hungarian general who lead the 1956 revolt.  He died at age 97.

1907 ~ François Duvalier (d. Apr. 21, 1971) Haitian President known as Papa Doc.  His rule was dictatorial.  He died a week after his 64^th birthday.

1906 ~ King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. Mar. 25, 1975).  He was shot and killed by a nephew.  He died less than a month before his 69^th birthday.

1904 ~ Sir John Gielgud (né Arthur John Gielgud, d. May 21, 2000), English actor.  He died at age 96.

1866 ~ Anne Sullivan (née Johanna Mansfield Sullivan, d. Oct. 20, 1936), American teacher, instructor and companion to Helen Keller.  She died at age 70.

1738 ~ William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3^rd Duke of Portland (d. Oct. 30, 1809), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of King George III, from March 1807 until October 1809, and he was the Prime Minister of Great Britain from April 1783 until December 1783.  He died at age 71.

1820 ~ Levi Lincoln, Sr. (b. May 15, 1749), 4^th United States Attorney General.  He served under President Thomas Jefferson from March 1801 until March 1805.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died in Worcester, Massachusetts a month before his 71^st birthday.

1629 ~ Christiaan Huygens (d. July 8, 1695), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 66.

1572 ~ Adam Tanner (d. May 25, 1632), Austrian mathematician.  He died at age 60.

1126 ~ Averroes (d. Dec. 10, 1198), Spanish physician, mathematician and philosopher.  He died at age 72.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Good Friday.

2014 ~ Passover began at sundown.

2014 ~ Over 270 young women students were declared missing after a mass abduction by the extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria.

2010 ~ Ash from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull disrupted air traffic across Europe.  Air travel was interrupted through April 20.

2010 ~ A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Yushi, Qinghai, China killing over 2,700 people.

2003 ~ The Human Genome Project was completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

1939 ~ John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was first published.

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m.  The ship sank the in the early hours following morning (April 15) with the loss of over 1,500 lives.

1865 ~ Abraham Lincoln (b. 1809), the 16^th President of the United States was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theater.  He died the following day.

1865 ~ In his last official act as President, Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service.

1846 ~ The Donner Party of pioneers left Springfield, Illinois for California for what would eventually end in tragedy and cannibalism.

1828 ~ Noah Webster (1758 ~ 1843) copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary.

70 ~ The traditional date associated with the Siege of Jerusalem, which began when Titus, son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, surrounded the city.

Good-byes:

2015 ~ Percy Sledge (b. Nov. 25, 1940), American balladeer who recorded the defining love song, When a Man Loves a Woman.  Although born in Alabama, he lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for over 40 years.  He died at age 74.

2013 ~ Charlie Wilson (b. Jan. 18, 1943), American politician.  He died at age 70.

2013 ~ Armando Villanueva (b. Nov. 25, 1915), Prime Minister of Peru.  He was Prime Minister from May 1988 until May 1989.  He died at age 97.

2013 ~ Sir Colin Davis (b. Sept. 25, 1927), Longtime British conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.  He died at age 85.

2010 ~ Alice Miller (née Alicija Englard, b. Jan. 12, 1923), the Swiss psychologist who explored childhood trauma.  She died at age 87.

2008 ~ Werner Groebili (b. Apr. 21, 1915), Swiss skater who was half of the skating team, Frick and Frack.  He died 7 days before his 93^rd birthday.

2007 ~ Don Ho (b. Aug. 13, 1930), American singer and musician.  He died at age 76.

1995 ~ Burl Ives (b. June 14, 1909), American actor, writer and singer.  He died of cancer at age 85.

1986 ~ Simone de Beauvoir (b. Jan. 9, 1908), French feminist and lover of Jean Paul Sartre.  She is best known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex.  She died at age 78.

1964 ~ Rachel Carson (b. May 27, 1907), American biologist and environmentalist.  She is best known for her book, The Silent Spring, which led to the banning of certain pesticides.  The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, which was named in her honor, is located in southern Maine.  She died of breast cancer at age 56

1964 ~ Tatyana Afanasyeva (b. Nov. 19, 1876), Russian-born Dutch mathematician.  She died at age 87.

1935 ~ Amalie Emmy Noether (b. Mar. 23, 1882), German mathematician.  She was one of the leading mathematicians of her time.  Because she was Jewish, when Hitler came into power, she lost her university position.  She fled to the United States where she took a university position at Bryn Mawr.  She developed theories in ring theory.  She died of uterine cancer 3 weeks after her 53^rd birthday.

1925 ~ John Singer Sargent (b. Jan. 12, 1856), American artist and painter.  He died at age 69.

1759 ~ George Frederic Handel (b. Mar. 5, 1685), German composer.  [Note: the date of his birth is sometimes shown as Feb. 23, because of the calendar in use at the time of his birth.]  He died at age 74.

911 ~ Pope Sergius III.  He was Pope from January 904 until his death 7 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.

April 3

Birthdays:

1973 ~ Adam Scott, American actor best known for his role as Ben Wyatt on the television sit-com, Parks and Recreation.

1961 ~ Eddie Murphy, American comedian.

1959 ~ David Hyde Pierce, American actor best known for his role as Nigel on Fraiser.

1958 ~ Alec Baldwin, American actor.

1953 ~ Sandra Boynton, American illustrator.

1944 ~ Tony Orlando (né Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis), American musician.

1942 ~ Marsha Mason, American actress.

1942 ~ Wayne Newton, American Las Vegas singer.

1934 ~ Dame Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist.

1930 ~ Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany.

1928 ~ Earl Lloyd (d. Feb. 26, 2015), American NBA player who broke the color barrier.  In 1950, he became the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association.  He was drafted by the Washington Capitols.  He was 86 years old.

1926 ~ Virgil “Gus” Grissom (d. Jan. 27, 1967), American astronaut, who was killed during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission.  He was also one of the original astronauts in the Mercury program.  He was 40 years old.

1924 ~ Marlon Brando (d. July 1, 2004), American actor.  He died at age 80.

1924 ~ Doris Day (née Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff), American actress and singer.

1920 ~ John Demjanjuk (d. Mar. 17, 2012), Ukrainian-American auto worker convicted Nazi war criminal who managed to escape detection for many years.  He was convicted of murdering many Jews while a guard at concentration camps during World War II.  He was ultimately convicted of war crimes in 2011.  He died at age 91

1904 ~ Sally Rand (née Hattie Helen Gould Beck, d. Aug. 31, 1979), American burlesque dancer.  She died at age 75 from congestive heart failure.

1898 ~ Henry Luce (d. Feb. 28, 1967), American publisher who launched Time and Life magazines.  He died at age 68.

1893 ~ Leslie Howard (né Leslie Howard Steiner, d. June 1, 1943), English actor, best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind.  He died at age 50 when the plane he was in was shot down by a German fighter plane during World War II.

1858 ~ Mary Harrison McKee (d. Oct. 28, 1930), American daughter of President Benjamin Harrison.  She served as First Lady during her father’s presidency after her mother, Caroline died.  She died at age 72.

1823 ~ William Magear “Boss” Tweed (d. Apr. 12, 1878), American political figure.  He died of pneumonia 9 days after his 55^th birthday.

1783 ~ Washington Irving (d. Nov. 28, 1859), American author.  He is best known for his short stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  He died at age 76.

1529 ~ Michael Neander (d. Oct. 23, 1581), German mathematician and astronomer.  The Neander crater on the moon is named after him.  He died at age 52.

Events that Changed the World:

2015 ~ Good Friday.

2015 ~ Passover began at sundown.

2013 ~ Over 50 people died in flooding that resulted from extraordinary heavy rainfalls in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

2010 ~ The first generation iPads, the Apple tablet computer, was first made available to the public.

2008 ~ Over 500 women and children were taken into custody from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Texas.  State law officers entered the community after Texas Child Protection Services received calls of child abuse taking place in the community.

2000 ~ The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Microsoft that Microsoft’s business practices violated the US antitrust laws.

1996 ~ A United States Air Force plane carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1941 ~ 1996) crashed in Croatia, killing Brown and the other 34 crew and passengers aboard.

1996 ~ Theodore Kaczynski (b. 1942), the suspect in the Unabomber actions, was captured in Montana.

1948 ~ President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) signed the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries for rebuilding after World War II.

1922 ~ Joseph Stalin (1878 ~ 1953) became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1888 ~ The first of eleven unsolved murders of women was committed in or near the Whitechapel district of East London.  These murders became known as the “Jack the Ripper” murders due to the brutal nature of the killing.

1885 ~ Gottlieb Daimler (1834 ~ 1900) was granted a German patent for his engine design.

1865 ~ During the American Civil War, Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, which was the capital of the Confederate States of America.

1860 ~ The Pony Express service began in the United States, running horses and mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.

1043 ~ Edward the Confessor (1003 ~ 1066) was crowned King of England.

33 ~ The traditional date for the historical crucifixion of Jesus.

Good-byes:

2015 ~ Sarah Brady (b. Feb. 6, 1942), prominent campaigner for gun control after her husband former White House Press Secretary, James Brady, was shot when President Ronald Reagan was shot.  She was a tireless campaigner who pushed for gun control.  She was 73 years old.

2015 ~ Robert Rietti (né Lucio Rietti, b. Feb. 8, 1923), British voice actor who played Bond villains again and again.  He was 92 years old.

2013 ~ Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (b. May 7, 1927), German-born American novelist and screenwriter.  Her family fled to Britain in 1939 to escape the Nazism.  She wrote the screenplay for The Remains of the Day.  She died just over a month before her 86^th birthday.

2007 ~ Eddie Robinson (b. Feb. 13, 1919), American football coach and Louisiana native.  He died at age 88.

1998 ~ Dame Mary Cartwright (b. Dec. 17, 1900), English mathematician.  She died at age 97.

1996 ~ Ron Brown (né Ronald Harmon Brown, b. Aug. 1, 1941), 30^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until his death 3 months later.  He was killed while in Office when the plane he was in crashed in Croatia.  He was 54 years old.  All 35 crew and passengers aboard the plane were killed.

1991 ~ Graham Greene (né Henry Graham Greene, b. Oct. 2, 1904), English writer.  He is best known for such novels at The End of the Affair and The Quiet American.  He died at age 86.

1990 ~ Sarah Vaughan (b. Mar. 27, 1924), African-American jazz singer.  She died a week after her 66^th birthday.

1950 ~ Kurt Weill (b. Mar, 2, 1900), German composer, best known for The Threepenny Opera.  He grew up in a religious Jewish family.  He fled Nazi Germany in 1993.  He died of a heart attack about a month after his 50^th birthday.

1936 ~ Bruno Hauptmann (b. Nov. 26, 1899), German convicted kidnapper and killer of the son of Charles Lindbergh.  He was executed for his crime although there has been some question as to whether or not he was actually guilty.  He was 36 years old.

1902 ~ Esther Morris (b. Aug. 8, 1814), American judge.  She was the first female Justice of the Peace in the United States.  She died at age 87.

1897 ~ Johannes Brahms (b. May 7, 1833), German composer.  He died about a month before his 64^th birthday.

1882 ~ Jesse James (b. Sept. 5, 1847), American outlaw in the Wild American West.  He was killed at age 34 by Robert Ford, another outlaw.

1776 ~ John Harrison (Mar. 24, 1693), British carpenter and clockmaker.  He invented the Marine chronometer.  Under the Julian calendar, which was in effect when he was born, indicates he died on his 83^rd birthday.

1717 ~ Jacques Ozanam (b. June 16, 1640), French mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1287 ~ Pope Honorius IV (né Giacomo Savelli, b. 1210).  He was Pope from April 1285 until his death 2 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 77 years old at the time of his death.