On this day in History - Apr. 24

• 1184 BC- Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional).
• 0624 - Mellitus dies. third Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1066 - Halley's Comet spotted.
• 1342 - Pope Benedict XII dies (b. 1285) .
• 1533 - William I of Orange was born (d. 1584). Dutch national "father".
• 1585 - Início do pontificado do Papa Sixto V
• 1620 - John Grauntwas born (d. 18 Apr 1674). English statistician, generally considered to be the founder of the science of demography, the statistical study of human populations
• 1704 - The first regular newspaper in the United States, the Boston, Massachusetts New-Letter, is published.
• 1718 - Nathaniel Hone, was born (d. 1784). Irish-born painter
• 1731 - Daniel Defoe dies (b. c. 1660). English writer.
• 1736 - Eugene of Savoy dies (b. 1663). French-Austrian general .
• 1743 - Edmund Cartwright was born (d. 30 Oct 1823). English inventor of the power loom.
• 1792 - French army officer Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem.
• 1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
• 1808 - Joaquim Albino Cardoso Casado Giraldes was born in Porto (d. 27 Nov 1875) . Portuguese anatomist and surgeon
• 1815 - Anthony Trollope, was born (d. 6 Dec 1882). English novelist .
• 1817 - Jean-Charles-Galinard de Marignac as born (d. 15 Apr 1894). Swiss chemist whose life work consisted of making many precise determinations of atomic weights suggested the possibility of isotopes and the packing fraction of nuclei.
• 1821 - Johann Peter Frank dies (b. 19 Mar 1745). German physician who was a pioneer in public health. His fame rests on his System einer vollständigen medicimschen Policey (1779; "System of a Complete Medical Policy"), which covers the hygiene of all stages of a man's life.
• 1833 - Jacob Ebert of Cadiz, Ohio, with George Dulty of Wheeling, West Virgina, patented the soda fountain.
• 1845 - Carl Spitteler was born. Swiss poet. Nobel Prize in Literature 1919
• 1846 - The beginning of the Mexican-American War.
• 1856 - Henri Philippe Pétain, was born (d. 1851). French soldier and statesman
• 1861 - D. Beatriz de Passos Manuel recebe o título de viscondessa de Passos - Portugal
• 1862 - American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut pases two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1863 - The Keyesville Massacre: a massacre of 53 Native American men from the Tehachapi tribe in Keyesville, California.
• 1866 - Morte de Anastasio Hartmann (declarado Venerável em 21 Dec 1998)
• 1873 - Theodor Körner was born (d. 1957). General and politician
• 1875 - Jeno Huszka born in Szeged (d. 2 Feb 1960). Hungarian composer
• 1876 - Erich Raeder, was born . Commander in chief of the German navy
• 1877 - War broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of the Serbo-Turkish War, resulting in independence for Serbia and Montenegro.
• 1878 - Jean Crotti was born (d. 1958). Swiss artist
• 1882 - Hugh Dowding was born (d. 1970). Scottish fighter pilot.
• 1886 -Petroleum was discovered in the Middle East. The first well to come in was on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea.
• 1888 - The Eastman Kodak company was formed.
• 1889 - Sir Stafford Cripps was born (d. 1952). British politician.
• 1896 - Benjamin Whorf was born (d. 1941). American linguist
• 1897 - Manuel Ávila Camacho was born. President of Mexico
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: Spain declares war on the United States / Começa a Guerra Hispano-Americana. A Espanha declara guerra contra os Estados Unidos após rejeitar um ultimato destes para retirar-se de Cuba.
• 1899 - Oscar Zariski was born (d. 1986). Mathematician.
• 1901 - Nascimento de Barreto Poeira. Actor português (Um homem às direitas ; Amor de Perdição; "Frei de Luís de Sousa"-1950...)
• 1903 - Siegrfried Frederick. Nadel was born (d. 14 Jan 1956). Austrian-born British anthropologist whose investigations of African ethnology led him to explore theoretical questions. ("The Foundations of Social Anthropology"; "A Theory of Social Structure")
• 1904 - Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam (d. 1977). Dutch painter, one of the leading exponents of Abstract Expressionism.
• 1905 - Robert Penn Warren was born (d. 1989). Pulitzer Prize winner, first American Poet Laureate .
• 1905 - Robert Porter Allen was born (d. 28 Jun 1963). American author and conservationist recognized for saving the whooping crane from extinction by discovering (1955) the nesting ground of the sole remaining flock near the Arctic Circle
• 1906 - William Joyce was born (d. 1946). Irish-British fascist propagandist, writer and traitor.
• 1908 - Ralph DePalma makes his racing debut at the Briarcliff Trophy Race in Westchester, New York.
• 1913 - Woolworth Building opening ceremony.
• 1914 - Justin Wilson was born (d. 2001). Cajun humorist, celebrity chef, writer
• 1914 - William Castle was born (d. 1977). Director and producer
• 1915 - The Ottoman Government began their genocidal campaign to annihilate the Armenians of Anatolia.
• 1916 - Easter Uprising begins: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalist Patrick Pearse start a rebellion in Ireland.
• 1917 - Abel Botelho dies. Portuguese soldier and writer.
• 1922 - In Australia, Colin Ross is hanged for the rape and murder of 13-year-old Alma Tirtsche.
• 1924 - Sir Clement Freud, was born. British writer, radio personality and politician
• 1924 - Thorbjörn Fälldin, was born. Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1924 - G. Stanley Hall dies (b. 1 Feb 1844). Psychologist who gave early impetus and direction to the development of psychology in the United States.
• 1925 - John Scopes taught Darwin's theory of evolution, leading to the Scopes monkey trial.
• 1928 - The fathometer was patented by Herbert Grove Dorsey (No. 1,667,540).
• 1930 - Jerome Callet was born. Musician.
• 1930 - Richard Donner was born. Director, producer.
• 1930 - José Sarney was born. President of Brazil.
• 1930 - Nascimento de Maria da Conceição Tavares em Anadia, Portugal. Economista e política desenvolveu a sua actividade no Brasil;
• 1930 - Canto e Castro was born (d. 01 Feb 2005). Portuguese actor.
• 1933 - Na Alemanha nazi, foi criada a Gestapo
• 1934 - Shirley MacLaine was born. Actress and author.
• 1934 - the first pipeless organ was patented by Laurens Hammond (No. 1,956,350).
• 1935 - Ivone Silva was born. Portuguese actress.
• 1938 - George Grey Barnard dies (b. 1863). Sculptor.
• 1940 - Sue Grafton was born. Author
• 1940 - World War II: Operation Demon - The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.
• 1941 - John Williams was born. Australian guitarist.
• 1942 - Leonid Kulik dies (b. 1883). Russian minerologist who conducted the first scientific expedition (for which records survive) to study the Tungusta meteor impact site.
• 1942 - Richard M. Daley was born. Politician
• 1942 - Barbra Streisand was born. Singer and actress [Funny Girl (1968), Hello, Dolly (1969)]
• 1942 - Lucy Maude Montgomery dies (b. 1874). Canadian author.
• 1947 - Willa Cather dies (b. 1873). Writer.
• 1948 - Jorge Gaitán dies assassinated. Colombian politic leader.
• 1949 - Communist forces occupied the Chinese capital, Nanking (Nanjing), after crossing the Yangtze River virtually unopposed by adherents to the Nationalist government under President Chiang Kai-shek.
• 1950 - O Estado da Jordânia é formado. Ele é composto de partes da Palestina ocupada por jordanianos e pelo Reino da Transjordânia.
• 1952 - Hendrik Anthony Kramers dies (b. 17 Dec 1894). Dutch physicist who, with Ralph de Laer Kronig, derived important equations relating the absorption to the dispersion of light. He also predicted (1924) the existence of the Raman effect, an inelastic scattering of light.
• 1952 - Jean-Paul Gaultier was born. Fashion designer
• 1953 - Eric Bogosian was born. Actor and writer
• 1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• 1954 - Mumia Abu-Jamal was born. Journalist and political activist.
• 1955 - Bandung Conference ends: 29 "non-aligned" nations finish a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
• 1958 - Richard Benedict Goldschmidt dies (b. 12 Apr 1878). German-born U.S. zoologist and geneticist, formulator of the theory that chromosome molecules are the more decisive factors in inheritance (rather than the qualities of the individual genes).
• 1961 - The salvage of the famous Swedish ship HMS Wasa.
• 1962 - Jeff Minter was born. Computer games programmer
• 1963 - Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus James Bruce Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 1964 - Gerhard Domagk dies (b. 30 Oct 1895). German bacteriologist and pathologist who was awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs.
• 1964 - Cedric the Entertainer was born. Comedian and actor
• 1964 - Djimon Hounsou was born. Actor
• 1965 - Louise Dresser dies (b. 1878). Actress.
• 1965 - Em Villanueva, Espanha, foram descobertos os cadáveres do General Humberto Delgado e da sua secretária Arajaryr Campos.
• 1966 - Alessandro Costacurta . Italian footballer.
• 1967 - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 (b. 1927). Soviet cosmonaut, the first man known to have died during a space mission. He flew on two space missions.He was Command Pilot of Voskhod I, on a day-long mission, 12-13 Oct 1964. During the landing after his second space mission, when he was Commander of Soyuz-I, 23-24 Apr 1967, on a nearly 27 hour flight. On its return, his spacecraft became entangled in its main parachute and fell several miles to Earth.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
• 1968 - Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.
• 1968 - Stacy Haiduk was born. Actress
• 1970 - The first Chinese satellite is launched.
• 1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic.
• 1972 - Chipper Jones was born. Baseball player
• 1973 - Sachin Tendulkar was born. Indian cricket player
• 1974 - Bud Abbott dies (b. 1895). Actor, comedian.
• 1975 - The Baader-Meinhof Gang blow up the West German embassy in Stockholm.
• 1977 - Carlos Beltran, was born. Baseball player
• 1980 - An American attempt to rescue the American hostages held in Tehran ends with eight American servicemen dead and no hostages freed.
• 1980 - Morte do escritor cubano Alejo Carpentier
• 1981 - Introduction of the first IBM PC.
• 1982 - Kelly Clarkson, was born. Singer, winner of the first American Idol competition
• 1982 - In Harrogate, United Kingdom, Nicole wins the twenty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Germany singing "Ein bißchen Frieden" (A little bit of peace).
• 1982 - Ville Ritola dies (b. 1896). Finnish athlete
• 1983 - Iman was born. Princess of Jordania
• 1984 - Apple Computer unveils its Apple IIc portable computer.
• 1984 - O governo militar brasileiro impôs o encerramento de duas universidades e a censura à rádio e à televisão.
• 1984 - Salim Ahmed Salim assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Tanzânia
• 1985 - Kebby Musokotwane assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Zâmbia
• 1986 - Wallis Simpson, dies (b. 1896). mistress and wife of The Duke of Windsor
• 1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope is launched by Space Shuttle Discovery.
• 1990 - Gruinard island is officially declared free of anthrax after 48 years of quarantine.
• 1992 - Casamento de David Bowie com Ima
• 1993 - An IRA bomb devastates Bishopsgate area of City of London.
• 1994 - The world's largest lollipop weighing 3,011 pounds (1,366 kg) is made in Denmark
• 1994 - Papa João Paulo II beatifica Gianna Beretta (1922-1962)
• 1995 - The last Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 rolls off the assembly line.
• 1996 - In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced.
• 1997 - 88 countries ratified the worldwide Chemical Weapons Convention treaty between 88 countries that would take effect on 29 Apr 1997. USA signed it, however Russia and a number of other states known to possess such weapons failed to do so.
• 1997 - A group of paleontologists announced the discovery of a trove containing a large number of fossilized dinosaurs in northeastern China.
• 1997 - Pepetela is laureated with Camões Prize.
• 1997 - Pat Paulsen dies (b. 1927). American comedian and politician.
• 1997 - Eugene Stoner dies (b. 1922). American engineer and weapons designer.
• 2001 - Al Hibbler dies (b. 1915). American singer.
• 2003 - Officials of North Korea informed U.S. diplomats that it had nuclear weapons and was making bomb-grade plutonium.
• 2004 - US lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years ago as a 'reward' for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
• 2004 - Referenda on a United Nations plan, which proposes to re-unite the island of Cyprus, take place in both the Republic of Cyprus controlled and Turkish controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.
• 2004 - Estée Lauder dies (b. 1906). American cosmetics entrepreneur
• 2005 - Ezer Weizman dies (b. 1924). President of Israel
• 2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2005 - Fei Xiaotong dies (b. 1910). Chinese sociologist.
• Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
• The feast day of Saint Egbert of Northumbria.
• 24-hour comics day