April 7
April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.
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2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances |
Events
- 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
- 1795 - France adopts the metre as the unit of length
- 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II
- 1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
- 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
- 1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming.
- 1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City; image was of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
- 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- 1943 - First synthesis of LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, by Albert Hoffman
- 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
- 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
- 1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
- 1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his"domino theory" speech during a news conference.
- 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- 1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
- 1964 - IBM announces the System/360
- 1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
- 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
- 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
- 1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- 1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors died.
- 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
- 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
- 1998 - Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
- 2000 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
- 2001 - An M-17 helicopter crashes into mountain in south of Hanoi, Vietnam killing 16. The flight was carrying United States armed forces personnel searching for MIAs from Vietnam War
Births
- 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus († 1552)
- 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet († 1850)
- 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher († 1837)
- 1873 - John McGraw, baseball coach, manager, player
- 1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, in Denmark, inventor of Lego
- 1893 - Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency († 1969)
- 1897 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist († 1972)
- 1904 - Ralph Bunche, diplomat, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1908 - Percy Faith, composer, musician († 1976)
- 1915 - Billie Holiday, American jazz and Blues singer († 1959)
- 1915 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction writer († 1958)
- 1920 - Ravi Shankar, musician
- 1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Latin jazz musician († 2003)
- 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
- 1928 - James Garner, actor
- 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, producer, director († 1998)
- 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- 1939 - Sir David Frost, broadcaster, television host
- 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
- 1949 - John Oates, musician ("Hall and Oates")
- 1951 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Jackie Chan, actor
- 1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football star
- 1964 - Russell Crowe, actor
Deaths
- 1614 - El Greco, artist
- 1739 - Dick Turpin Highwayman, hanged
- 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman sultan
- 1858 - Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer
- 1891 - P. T. Barnum, circus impresario
- 1947 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist
- 1950 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor
- 1955 - Theda Bara, silent film actress
- 1968 - Jim Clark, racing driver
- 1981 - Norman Taurog, director
- 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut
- 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, preeminent conservationist and eviromentalist, dies at age 108.
- 2003 - Ferdinand Seibt, historian
- 2003 - Jutta Hipp, piano player
Holidays and observances
- Araw ng Kagitingan was moved this year from April 9 to April 7 to give the residents a long weekend and help tourism in the Philippines.
See Also:
April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n
