April 7

April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.

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.

April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 -- listing of all days

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