April 15

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). There are 260 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

1450 - Battle of Formigny; Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in northern France.
1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language published in London.
1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending Revolutionary War ratified.
1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy come across a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth.
1865 - Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
1892 - The General Electric Company is formed through the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company.
1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic almost three hours earlier.
1915 - The Armenian Genocide began when the Ottoman Empire undertook the systematic annihilation of Armenian intellectuals and entrepreneurs within the city of Constantinople and later the entire Armenian population of the Empire.
1920 - Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards while robbing a shoe store.
1923 - Insulin first became generally available for use by diabetics.
1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
1927 - Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Norma and Constance Talmadge become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
1940 - The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 - George Cross awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI.
1945 - The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
1955 - The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens.
1985 - Marvin Hagler defeats Thomas Hearns by a knockout in round three to retain boxing's world Middleweight championship in a fight nicknamed The War.
1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human stampede occurs at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives.
1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
1994 - Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and setting up the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
2001 - Easter day (not again until 2063).
2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea killing 128.

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Births

1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist (d. 1519)
1489 - Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
1580 - George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician and colonizer
1588 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and antiquarian (d. 1722)
1642 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
1646 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
1684 - Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
1688 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
1772 - Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
1794 - Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
1800 - James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1877)
1832 - Wilhelm Busch, German poet and artist (d. 1908)
1843 - Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
1858 - Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
1861 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1878 - Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
1879 - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
1883 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
1889 - Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
1889 - A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
1894 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
1895 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (d. 1980)
1896 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
1902 - Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
1912 - Kim Il Sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
1916 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
1920 - Richard von Weizäcker, President of Germany
1921 - Georgi Beregovoi, cosmonaut (d. 1995)
1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
1922 - Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
1924 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist
1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
1930 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
1933 - Roy Clark, American musician
1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
1933 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author
1938 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
1940 - Jeffrey Archer, British author and Member of Parliament
1940 - Robert Walker Jr., American actor
1942 - Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
1942 - Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
1944 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
1947 - Lois Chiles, American actress
1948 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
1950 - Amy Wright, American actress
1951 - Heloise, American newspaper columnist
1954 - Seka, American actress
1955 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
1959 - Emma Thompson, English actress
1959 - Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
1960 - Tony Jones, English snooker player
1962 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
1965 - Linda Perry, American musician
1966 - Samantha Fox, English singer and model
1967 - Frankie Poullain, British bassist (The Darkness)
1967 - Dara Torres, American swimmer
1968 - Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
1968 - Stacey Williams, American model
1970 - Flex Alexander, American actor
1972 - Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer
1974 - Danny Pino, American actor
1974 - Josh Todd, musician and singer (Buckcherry)
1977 - Chandra Levy, American Congressional intern (d. 2001)
1980 - Raúl López, Spanish basketball player
1983 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian hockey player
1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Dutch footballer
1990 - Emma Watson, English actress
1991 - Jacob Muller, Canadian Gamer

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Deaths

1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
1220 - Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne
1415 - Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek humanist
1446 - Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
1610 - Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)
1621 - John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony
1641 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
1659 - Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
1704 - Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician [[b. 1628)
1718 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian geographer (b. 1793)
1719 - Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
1754 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
1761 - Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1682)
1761 - William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (b. 1696)
1765 - Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
1788 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
1804 - Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
1843 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
1854 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist, and scientific writer (b. 1773)
1865 - Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States (b. 1809)
1888 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
1888 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary (b. 1840)
1898 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
1912 - Victims of the RMS Titanic
- Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (b. 1850)
- John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864)
- Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
1942 - Robert Musil, German novelist (b. 1880)
1949 - Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
1962 - Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1881)
1964 - Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
1969 - Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (b. 1887)
1974 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b.1906)
1975 - Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)
1980 - Raymond Bailey, American actor (b. 1904)
1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1905)
1982 - Arthur Lowe, British actor (b. 1915)
1984 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
1986 - Jean Genet, French author (b. 1910)
1988 - Kenneth Williams, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
1988 - Tony Mann, Australian footballer
1989 - Hu Yaobang, leader of China (b. 1915)
1990 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
1993 - John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (b. 1908)
1993 - Leslie Charteris, Singapore-born author (b. 1907)
1994 - John Curry, English figure skater (b. 1949)
1998 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
2000 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (b. 1925)
2001 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
2002 - Damon Knight, author (b. 1922)
2002 - Byron "Whizzer" White, American football player and U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
2003 - Erin Fleming, Canadian actress (b. 1941)

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Holidays and observances

Ancient Latvia — Tipsa Diena was observed
April 15 or, if it falls on the weekend, the following Monday, is the deadline for Americans to file their tax returns—post offices across the United States stay open until midnight to accommodate procrastinators
Father Damien Day — celebrated annually in Hawai'i
Feast day of Saint Paternus
Roman Empire — the Fordicia was celebrated in honor of Terra
Major League Baseball celebrates "Jackie Robinson Day" each April 15 in all MLB ballparks