Today in History

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 21

753 BC – Romulus and Remus founded Rome (traditional date).
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
571 – Prophet Muhammad was born in Makkah.
900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: the Honourable Namwaran and his children, Lady Angkatan and Bukah, are granted pardon from all their debts by the Commander in chief of Tundun, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah. Luzon, Philippines.
1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900.
1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi Dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1863 – Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, declares his mission as "He whom God shall make manifest".
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
1922 – The first Aggie Muster is held as a remembrance for fellow Texas A&M graduates who had died in the previous year.
1934 – The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
1941 – Emmanouil Tsouderos becomes the 132nd Prime Minister of Greece.
1942 – World War II: The most famous (and first international) Aggie Muster is held on the Philippine island of Corregidor, by Brigadier General George F. Moore (with 25 fellow Texas A&M graduates who are under his command), while 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the island over a 5 hour attack.
1945 – World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1960 – Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1962 – The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
1963 – The Universal House of Justice of the Bahá'í Faith is elected for the first time.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 – Greek military junta of 1967–1974: A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1970 – The Hutt River Province Principality secedes from Australia.
1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 – Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Alexander Wolszczan and Dale Frail .They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.


Tiradentes

Joaquim José da Silva Xavier ([ʒwaˈkĩ ʒuˈzɛ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ ʃɐviˈɛʁ]), known as Tiradentes (August 16, 1746–-April 21, 1792, IPA: [tʃiɾɐˈdẽtʃis]), was a leading member of the Brazilian revolutionary movement known as the Inconfidência Mineira whose aim was full independence from the Portuguese colonial power and to create a Brazilian republic. When the plan was discovered, Tiradentes was arrested, tried and publicly hanged. Since the 19th century he has been considered a national hero of Brazil and patron of the Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais (Minas Gerais Military Police).


Manfred von Richthofen

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during World War I. He is considered the top ace of that war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915, becoming one of the first members of Jasta 2 in 1916. He quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became leader of Jasta 11 and then the larger unit Jagdgeschwader 1 (better known as the "Flying Circus"). By 1918, he was regarded as a national hero in Germany, and was very well known by the other side.

Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918. There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains perhaps the most widely known fighter pilot of all time, and has been the subject of many books, films and other media.


Extrasolar planet

The first published discovery to receive subsequent confirmation was made in 1988 by the Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Yang of University of Victoria and University of British Columbia. Although they were cautious about claiming a planetary detection, their radial-velocity observations suggested that a planet orbits the star Gamma Cephei. Partly because the observations were at the very limits of instrumental capabilities at the time, astronomers remained skeptical for several years about this and other similar observations. It was thought some of the apparent planets might instead have been brown dwarfs, objects intermediate in mass between planets and stars. In 1990 additional observations were published that supported the existence of the planet orbiting Gamma Cephei, but subsequent work in 1992 again raised serious doubts. Finally, in 2003, improved techniques allowed the planet's existence to be confirmed.

On 21 April 1992, radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12. This discovery was confirmed, and is generally considered to be the first definitive detection of exoplanets. These pulsar planets are believed to have formed from the unusual remnants of the supernova that produced the pulsar, in a second round of planet formation, or else to be the remaining rocky cores of gas giants that somehow survived the supernova and then decayed into their current orbits.


21 April 2004 Basra bombings

On April 21, 2004, a series of large car bomb explosions ripped through Basra, Iraq. 74 people died and more than 100 were injured. The attacks were some of the deadliest in southern Iraq since the fall of President Saddam Hussein.

Three separate bombs exploded outside police stations in central Basra; two in the Ashar area and one in the Old City. In these bombings, many children on passing buses were killed.

A fourth, separate attack also occurred around the same time in the town of Az Zubayr. In the fourth attack, two car bombs exploded which killed three Iraqis and wounded five British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, one seriously. British forces trying to aid casualties were stoned by crowds, who blamed the coalition for not doing enough to protect Iraqi citizens from such attacks.

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 22
238 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil.
1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
1529 – Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.
1622 – The Capture of Ormuz by the East India Company ends Portuguese control of Hormuz Island.
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: the Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that mandates that the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
1876 – The first ever National League baseball game is played in Philadelphia.
1889 – At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Run of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
1898 – Spanish-American War: The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
1906 – The 1906 Summer Olympics, not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, open in Athens.
1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded.
1912 – Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg.
1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR operations in the China-Burma-India theater.
1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. 520 are killed and 80 escape.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, a major port of Israel, is captured from Arab forces.
1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong.
1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings begins.
1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season.
1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.
1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated.
1972 – Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
1983 – The German magazine Der Stern claims that the "Hitler Diaries" had been found in wreckage in East Germany; the diaries are subsequently revealed to be forgeries.
1992 – In an explosion in Guadalajara, Mexico, 206 people are killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 left homeless.
1993 – Version 1.0 of the Mosaic web browser is released.
1997 – Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria – 93 villagers killed.
1997 – The Japanese embassy hostage crisis ends in Lima, Peru.
1998 – Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
2000 – In a pre-dawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida.
2000 – The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom.
2000 – Second Battle of Elephant Pass: Tamil Tigers capture a strategic Sri Lankan Army base and hold it for 8 years.
2004 – Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.
2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
2006 – 243 people are injured in pro-democracy protest in Nepal after Nepali security forces open fire on protesters against King Gyanendra.
2008 – The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service.


Treaty of Zaragoza

The Treaty of Zaragoza (Portuguese: Tratado de Saragoça, Spanish: Tratado de Zaragoza), also referred to as the Capitulation of Zaragoza was a peace treaty between Spain and Portugal signed on April 22, 1529 by King John III and the Emperor Charles V, in the Spanish city of Zaragoza. The treaty defined the areas of Spanish and Portuguese influence in Asia to resolve the "Moluccas issue", when both kingdoms claimed the Moluccas islands for themselves, considering it within their exploration area established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The conflict sprung in 1520, when the expeditions of both kingdoms reached the Pacific Ocean, since there was not a set limit to the east.


Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University (abbreviation: Tsinghua or THU), is a university located in Beijing. It was originally established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua College" (清華學堂; Qīnghuá Xuétáng) and had been renamed several times since then, from "Tsinghua School" which was used one year after its establishment to "National Tsinghua University" which was adopted in 1928 after the foundation of its university section in 1925, and now the "Tsinghua University". With a motto of Self-Discipline and Social Commitment, Tsinghua University describes itself as being dedicated to academic excellence, the well-being of Chinese society and to global development. Nowadays, the university is one of the nine tertiary institutes in the C9 League and has been frequently regarded as one of the top two universities in mainland China by most national and international rankings.


Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year.

In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, the date proposed was March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in recognition of his work. While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues.

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 23
215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as king of England,
1343 – Estonia: St. George's Night Uprising.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St George's Day.
1516 – Bayerische Reinheitsgebot is signed in Ingolstadt.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
1660 – Treaty of Oliwa is established between Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising – a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1910 – Theodore Roosevelt makes his "The Man in the Arena" speech.
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1920 – The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara.
1927 – Turkey becomes the first country to celebrate Children's Day as a national holiday.
1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
1932 – The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, Netherlands burns down. It is rebuilt and reopens exactly 70 years later.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
1955 – The Canadian Labour Congress is formed by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacred approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately 4 weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria: 42 villagers are killed.


Battle of Clontarf

The Battle of Clontarf (Irish: Cath Chluain Tarbh) took place on 23 April 1014 between the forces of Brian Boru and the forces led by the King of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada: composed mainly of his own men, Viking mercenaries from Dublin and the Orkney Islands led by his cousin Sigtrygg, as well as the one rebellious king from the province of Ulster. It ended in a rout of the Máel Mórda's forces, along with the death of Brian, who was killed by a few Norsemen who were fleeing the battle and stumbled upon his tent. After the battle, Ireland returned to a fractious status quo between the many small, separate kingdoms that had existed for some time.


St. George's Night Uprising

St. George’s Night Uprising in 1343–1346 (Estonian: Jüriöö ülestõus, Estonian pronunciation: [jyriøø ylestɤus]) was an unsuccessful attempt by the indigenous Estonian population in the Duchy of Estonia, the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek, and the insular territories of the State of the Teutonic Order to rid themselves of the Danish and German rulers and landlords, who had conquered the country in the 13th century during the Livonian crusade, and to eradicate the non-indigenous Christian religion. After initial success the revolt was ended by the invasion of the Teutonic Order. In 1346 the Duchy of Estonia was sold for 19,000 Köln marks by the King of Denmark to the Teutonic Order. The shift of sovereignty from Denmark to the State of the Teutonic Order took place on November 1, 1346.


Citizenship in a Republic

Citizenship in a Republic is the title of a speech given by the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

One notable passage on page seven of the 35-page speech is referred to as "The Man in the Arena":

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Someone who is heavily involved in a situation that requires courage, skill, or tenacity (as opposed to someone sitting on the sidelines and watching), is sometimes referred to as "the man in the arena."

The title – as the reference to "dust and sweat and blood" – echoes Spanish bullfighting and Roman gladiatorial combat.

The "Man in the Arena" passage was quoted by another US president, Richard Nixon, both in his victory speech on November 6, 1968, and in his resignation address to the nation on August 8, 1974:

Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, 'whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, [...]

Nelson Mandela also gave a copy of this speech to François Pienaar, captain of the South African rugby team, before the start of the 1995 Rugby World Cup,[4] in which the South African side eventually defeated the heavily favoured All Blacks. In the film based on those events, the poem Invictus is used instead.

Mark DeRosa, an American professional baseball utility player then with the Washington Nationals, read the passage to teammates prior to the Nationals' pivotal Game Four versus the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2012 National League Division Series which was won on a walk-off home run by the Nationals' Jayson Werth. Since his days at the University of Pennsylvania, DeRosa would turn to those words before important games.


Soyuz 1

Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. The mission plan was complex, involving a rendezvous with Soyuz 2, swapping crew members before returning to Earth.

Soyuz 1 was plagued with technical issues, and Komarov was killed when the spacecraft crashed during its return to Earth. This was the first in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight.

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 24

1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).
1184 BC – Traditional date of the fall of Troy.
1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, the News-Letter, is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley was hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
1904 – The Lithuanian press ban is lifted after almost 40 years.
1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
1913 – The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City is opened.
1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1916 – Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett starts a rebellion in Ireland.
1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance.
1918 – First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1923 – In Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud is published, which outlines Freud's theories of the id, ego, and super-ego.
1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1933 – Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: 29 non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963 – Marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
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.
1970 – The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
1971 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Shuttle mission STS-31 lifts off, carrying Hubble into orbit.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2005 – Snuppy becomes world's first cloned dog.
2013 – At least 87 people are killed and 600 injured when a building collapses in Dhaka, Bangladesh.


The fall of Troy

The end of the war came with one final plan. Odysseus devised a new ruse—a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by Epeius and guided by Athena, from the wood of a cornel tree grove sacred to Apollo, with the inscription:

The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home.

The hollow horse was filled with soldiers led by Odysseus. The rest of the army burned the camp and sailed for Tenedos.

When the Trojans discovered that the Greeks were gone, believing the war was over, they "joyfully dragged the horse inside the city", while they debated what to do with it. Some thought they ought to hurl it down from the rocks, others thought they should burn it, while others said they ought to dedicate it to Athena.

Both Cassandra and Laocoön warned against keeping the horse. While Cassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, she was also cursed by Apollo never to be believed. Serpents then came out of the sea and devoured either Laocoön and one of his two sons, Laocoön and both his sons, or only his sons, a portent which so alarmed the followers of Aeneas that they withdrew to Ida. The Trojans decided to keep the horse and turned to a night of mad revelry and celebration. Sinon, an Achaean spy, signaled the fleet stationed at Tenedos when "it was midnight and the clear moon was rising" and the soldiers from inside the horse emerged and killed the guards.

The Acheans entered the city and killed the sleeping population. A great massacre followed which continued into the day.

Blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth,
As Trojans and their alien helpers died.
Here were men lying quelled by bitter death
All up and down the city in their blood.

The Trojans, fuelled with desperation, fought back fiercely, despite being disorganized and leaderless. With the fighting at its height, some donned fallen enemies' attire and launched surprise counterattacks in the chaotic street fighting. Other defenders hurled down roof tiles and anything else heavy down on the rampaging attackers. The outlook was grim though, and eventually the remaining defenders were destroyed along with the whole city.

Neoptolemus killed Priam, who had taken refuge at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard. Menelaus killed Deiphobus, Helen's husband after Paris' death, and also intended to kill Helen, but, overcome by her beauty, threw down his sword and took her to the ships.

Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra on Athena's altar while she was clinging to her statue. Because of Ajax's impiety, the Acheaens, urged by Odysseus, wanted to stone him to death, but he fled to Athena's altar, and was spared.

Antenor, who had given hospitality to Menelaus and Odysseus when they asked for the return of Helen, and who had advocated so, was spared, along with his family. Aeneas took his father on his back and fled, and, according to Apollodorus, was allowed to go because of his piety.

The Greeks then burned the city and divided the spoils. Cassandra was awarded to Agamemnon. Neoptolemus got Andromache, wife of Hector, and Odysseus was given Hecuba, Priam's wife.

The Achaeans threw Hector's infant son Astyanax down from the walls of Troy, either out of cruelty and hate or to end the royal line, and the possibility of a son's revenge They (by usual tradition Neoptolemus) also sacrificed the Trojan princess Polyxena on the grave of Achilles as demanded by his ghost, either as part of his spoil or because she had betrayed him.

Aethra, Theseus' mother, and one of Helen's handmaids, was rescued by her grandsons, Demophon and Acamas.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide[4] (Armenian: Հայոց Ցեղասպանություն, [hɑˈjɔtsʰ tsʰɛʁɑspɑnuˈtʰjun]), also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, traditionally among Armenians, as the Great Crime (Armenian: Մեծ Եղեռն, [mɛts jɛˈʁɛrn]; English transliteration: Medz Yeghern [Medz/Great + Yeghern/Crime] was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland in the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. It took place during and after World War I and was implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and forced labor, and the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert. The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million. The Assyrians, the Greeks and other minority groups were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government, and their treatment is considered by many historians to be part of the same genocidal policy.

It is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides, as scholars point to the organized manner in which the killings were carried out to eliminate the Armenians, and it is the second most-studied case of genocide after the Holocaust. The word genocide was coined in order to describe these events.

The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day when Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace. The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded as a result of the Armenian genocide.

Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies the word genocide is an accurate description of the events. In recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide. To date, twenty countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view.


Voyage of the James Caird

Elephant Island was remote, uninhabited, and rarely visited by whalers or any other ships. If the party was to return to civilization it would be necessary to summon help. The only realistic way this could be done was to adapt one of the lifeboats for an 800-mile (1,300 km) voyage across the Southern Ocean, to South Georgia. Shackleton had abandoned thoughts of taking the party on the less dangerous journey to Deception Island, because of the poor physical condition of many of his party. Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands was closer than South Georgia, but could not be reached, as this would require sailing against the strong prevailing winds.

Shackleton selected the boat party: himself, Worsley as navigator, Crean, McNish, John Vincent and Timothy McCarthy. On instructions from Shackleton, McNish immediately set about adapting the James Caird, improvising tools and materials. Frank Wild was to be left in charge of the Elephant Island party, with instructions to make for Deception Island the following spring, should Shackleton not return. Shackleton took supplies for only four weeks, knowing that if land had not been reached within that time the boat would be lost.

The 22.5-foot (6.85 m) James Caird was launched on 24 April 1916. The success of the voyage depended on the pin-point accuracy of Worsley's navigation, using observations that would have to be made in the most unfavourable of conditions. The prevailing wind was helpfully north-west, but the heavy sea conditions quickly soaked everything in icy water. Soon ice settled thickly on the boat, making her ride sluggishly. On 5 May a north-westerly gale almost caused the boat's destruction as it faced what Shackleton described as the largest waves he had seen in twenty-six years at sea. On 8 May South Georgia was sighted, after a 14-day battle with the elements that had driven the boat party to their physical limits. Two days later, after a prolonged struggle with heavy seas and hurricane-force winds to the south of the island, the party struggled ashore at King Haakon Bay.


Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany

Jehovah's Witnesses suffered religious persecution in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 after refusing to perform military service, join Nazi organizations or give allegiance to the Hitler regime. An estimated 10,000 Witnesses—half of the number of members in Germany during that period—were imprisoned, including 2000 who were sent to concentration camps. An estimated 1200 died in custody, including 250 who were executed. They were the first Christian denomination banned in the Third Reich and the most extensively and intensively persecuted. Unlike Jews and Gypsies who were persecuted on the basis of their ethnicity, Jehovah's Witnesses could escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs by signing a document indicating renouncement of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military. Historian Sybil Milton concludes that "their courage and defiance in the face of torture and death punctures the myth of a monolithic Nazi state ruling over docile and submissive subjects."

The group came under increasing public and governmental persecution from 1933, with many expelled from jobs and schools, deprived of income and suffering beatings and imprisonment, despite early attempts to demonstrate shared goals with the National Socialist regime. Historians are divided over whether the Nazis intended to exterminate them, but several authors have claimed the Witnesses' militancy and outspoken condemnation of the Nazis contributed to their level of suffering.


STS-31

STS-31 was the thirty-fifth mission of the American Space Shuttle program, which launched the Hubble Space Telescope astronomical observatory into Earth orbit. The mission used the Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from Launch Pad 39B on 24 April 1990 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Discovery's crew deployed the telescope on 25 April, and spent the rest of the mission tending to various scientific experiments in the shuttle's payload bay and operating a set of IMAX cameras to record the mission. Discovery's launch marked the first time since January 1986 that two Space Shuttles had been on the launch pad at the same time – Discovery on 39B and Columbia on 39A.

Launched 24 April 1990, 8:33:51 am EDT. Launch scheduled for 18 April, then 12 April, then 10 April, following Flight Readiness Review (FRR). First time date set at FRR was earlier than that shown on previous planning schedules. Launch 10 April scrubbed at T-4 minutes due to faulty valve in auxiliary power unit (APU) number one. APU replaced and payload batteries recharged. Countdown briefly halted at T-31 seconds when computer software failed to shut down a fuel valve line on ground support equipment. Engineers ordered valve to shut and countdown continued. Launch Weight: 112,994 kilograms (249,110 lb).

STS-31 was the tenth launch of the Shuttle Discovery. On board were Charles Bolden, Loren Shriver, Bruce McCandless, Steven Hawley, and Kathryn D. Sullivan.

The primary payload was the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), deployed in a 380 statute mile (612 kilometres (380 mi)) orbit. The shuttle's orbit in this mission was its second highest orbit up to that date, in order that the HST could be released near to its operational altitude well outside of the atmosphere. Discovery orbited the earth 80 times during the mission.

The main purpose of this mission was to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) astronomical observatory. It was designed to operate above the Earth's turbulent and obscuring atmosphere to observe celestial objects at ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths. This was a joint NASA-ESA effort. The rest of the mission was devoted to photography and onboard experiments. To launch HST into an orbit that guaranteed longevity, Discovery soared to 600 kilometres (370 mi) – the highest shuttle altitude ever at the time. The record height permitted the crew to photograph earth's large scale geographic features not apparent from lower orbits. Motion pictures were recorded by two IMAX cameras, and the results appeared in the IMAX film Destiny in Space. Experiment activity included a biomedical technology study, advanced materials research; particle contamination and ionizing radiation measurements; and student science project studying zero gravity effects on electronic arcs. Discovery’s reentry from its higher than usual orbit required a deorbit burn of 4 min 58 s, the longest in shuttle history up to that time.

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 25

404 BC – Peloponnesian War: Lysander's Spartan Armies defeated the Athenians and the war ends.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming Dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
1847 – The last survivors of the Donner Party are out of the wilderness.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills.
1898 – Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins—The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1943 – The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket is instituted.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.
1945 – The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of Italy.
1945 – Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland's soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1959 – The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1965 – Teenage sniper Michael Andrew Clark kills three and wounds six others shooting from a hilltop along Highway 101 just south of Santa Maria, California.
1966 – The city of Tashkent is destroyed by a huge earthquake.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the fascist Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed two and a half years earlier than expected.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
2005 – 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin's funeral – the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.


Li Zicheng

Li advocated the slogan of "dividing land equally and abolishing the grain taxes payment system" which won great support of peasants. The song of "killing cattle and sheep, preparing tasty wine and opening the city gate to welcome the Dashing King" was widely spread at that time.

The 1642 Kaifeng flood (during the 3rd Battle of Taifeng), caused by breaches of the Yellow River dykes by both sides, ended the siege of Kaifeng and killed over 300,000 of its 378,000 residents. After the battles of Luoyang and Kaifeng, the Ming government was unable to stop Li's rebellion, as most of its military force was involved in the battle against the Manchurians in the north. Li declared himself King of Shun Dynasty in Xi'an, Shaanxi.

In 1642, Li captured Xiangyang, the current Xiangfan city, and claimed himself King Xinshun.

In April 1644, Li's rebels sacked the Ming capital of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. Li proclaimed himself as the Emperor of Shun Dynasty.

After Li's army was defeated on 27 May 1644 at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the combined forces of the defecting Ming general Wu Sangui and the Manchurians, Li fled from Beijing towards his base in Shaanxi.

After a number of defeats Li Zicheng disappeared. In the long term, it led to the development of myths and legends concerning Li. The principal one being that he was a great hope. Some folk tales hold that Li survived after his defeats and became a monk for the rest of his life. Li mysteriously disappeared and there were different theories about his death too, at the age of 40. Some suggested that he committed suicide by hanging himself on a lotus tree, while others thought that he was killed by pro-Ming militia during his escape in 1645. It is thought that in 1645, Li Zicheng was killed in battle at Mount Jiugong. He fled into the south, in present-day Hubei Province.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Spanish–American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American attacks on Spain's Pacific possessions led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War.

Revolts against Spanish rule had occurred for some years in Cuba. There had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. In the late 1890's, American public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda led by journalists such as Joseph Pulitzer which used yellow journalism to criticize Spanish administration of Cuba. After the mysterious sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor, political pressures from the Democratic Party and certain industrialists pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war he had wished to avoid. Compromise was sought by Spain, but rejected by the United States which sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding it surrender control of Cuba. First Madrid, then Washington, formally declared war.

Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, revealing American interest in both Cuba and Spain's Pacific territories of Guam and the Philippines. American naval power proved decisive, allowing U.S. expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison which had been fighting insurgent attacks for some time. Spanish forces and Cuban rebels had all been suffering from yellow fever. Cuban, Philippine, and American forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila owing to their numerical superiority in most of the battles and despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and spirited defenses in places such as San Juan Hill. With two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts, Madrid sued for peace.

The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the U.S., which allowed temporary American control of Cuba, ceded indefinite colonial authority over Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine islands from Spain. The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche, and provoked a thoroughgoing philosophical and artistic reevaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98. The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism.


Gallipoli Campaign

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire (now Gelibolu in modern day Turkey) between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul) and secure a sea route to Russia. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides. The campaign was considered one of the greatest victories of the Turks and was reflected on as a major failure by the Allies.

The Gallipoli campaign resonated profoundly among all nations involved. In Turkey, the battle is perceived as a defining moment in the history of the Turkish people—a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the ageing Ottoman Empire was crumbling. The struggle laid the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, himself a commander at Gallipoli.

The campaign was the first major battle undertaken in the war by Australia and New Zealand, and is often considered to mark the birth of national consciousness in both of these countries. Anzac Day, 25 April, remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in Australia and New Zealand, surpassing Armistice Day/Remembrance Day.


Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid

"Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" was an article published by Francis Crick and James D. Watson in the scientific journal Nature in its 171st volume on pages 737–738 (dated 25 April 1953). It was the first publication which described the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. This discovery had a major impact on biology, particularly in the field of genetics.

This article is often termed a "pearl" of science because it is brief and contains the answer to a fundamental mystery about living organisms. This mystery was the question of how it was possible that genetic instructions were held inside organisms and how they were passed from generation to generation. The article presents a simple and elegant solution, which surprised many biologists at the time who believed that DNA transmission was going to be more difficult to detail and understand.


Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.

The first official funding for the Project originated with the Department of Energy’s Office of Health and Environmental Research, headed by Charles DeLisi, and was in the Reagan Administration’s 1987 budget submission to the Congress. It subsequently passed both Houses. The Project was planned for 15 years.

In 1990, the two major funding agencies, DOE and NIH, developed a memorandum of understanding in order to coordinate plans, and set the clock for initiation of the Project to 1990. At that time David Galas was Director of the renamed “Office of Biological and Environmental Research” in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and James Watson headed the NIH Genome Program. In 1993 Aristides Patrinos succeeded Galas, and Francis Collins succeeded James Watson, and assumed the role of overall Project Head as Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Human Genome Research Institute. A working draft of the genome was announced in 2000 and a complete one in 2003, with further, more detailed analysis still being published.

A parallel project was conducted outside of government by the Celera Corporation, or Celera Genomics, which was formally launched in 1998. Most of the government-sponsored sequencing was performed in universities and research centres from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany and Spain. Researchers continue to identify protein-coding genes and their functions; the objective is to find disease-causing genes and possibly use the information to develop more specific treatments. It also may be possible to locate patterns in gene expression, which could help physicians glean insight into the body's emergent properties.

While the objective of the Human Genome Project is to understand the genetic makeup of the human species, the project has also focused on several other nonhuman organisms such as Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse. It remains one of the largest single investigative projects in modern science.

The Human Genome Project originally aimed to map the nucleotides contained in a human haploid reference genome (more than three billion). Several groups have announced efforts to extend this to diploid human genomes including the International HapMap Project, Applied Biosystems, Perlegen, Illumina, J. Craig Venter Institute, Personal Genome Project, and Roche-454.

The "genome" of any given individual (except for identical twins and cloned organisms) is unique; mapping "the human genome" involves sequencing multiple variations of each gene. The project did not study the entire DNA found in human cells; some heterochromatic areas (about 8% of the total genome) remain unsequenced.

Among the many social and ethical issues spurred by bio-genetic sciences is a concern regarding bio-genetic warfare (e.g. ethnic bio-weapons targeted towards specific populations).

[Duke of Buckingham]

April 26
1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
1478 – The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence.
1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, as part of a reconciliary gesture with the factions of the Ancien Regime and to eventually consolidate his own rule.
1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European science that meteors exist.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the date of Confederate Memorial Day for two states.
1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.
1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica (or Gernika in Basque), Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen – last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army was liberated in Baguio City and they fought against the Japanese forces under by General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
1946 – Naperville train disaster kills 47.
1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
1956 – SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.
1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after twelve years of dictatorial rule.
1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
1965 – A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
1966 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent.
1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
1982 – 57 people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
1989 – People's Daily publishes the People's Daily editorial of April 26 which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests
1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado (see Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak).
1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
2002 – Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).


Bombing of Guernica

The bombing of Guernica (April 26, 1937) was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, Spain, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths, during the Spanish Civil War. The raid by planes of the German Luftwaffe "Condor Legion" and the Italian Fascist Aviazione Legionaria was called Operation Rügen.

The number of victims of the attack is disputed; The Basque government reported 1,654 people killed, although modern speculations suggests between 126 to 400 civilians died. Russian archives reveal 800 deaths on May 1, 1937, but this number may not include victims who later died of their injuries in hospitals or whose bodies were discovered buried in the rubble. The bombing has often been considered one of the first raids in the history of modern military aviation on a defenceless civilian population, although the capital (Madrid) had been bombed many times previously. The bombing was the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was depicted by Heinz Kiwitz, a German artist who made a woodcut of it and later was killed fighting in the International Brigades. The bombing shocked and inspired many artists: Guernica is also the name of one of the most violent of René Iché sculptures, one of the first electroacoustic music by Patrick Ascione, of a musical composition by René-Louis Baron and a poem by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain Resnais entitled Guernica.



Ranger 4

Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to crashing upon the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. An onboard computer failure caused failure of the deployment of the solar panels and navigation systems; as a result the spacecraft crashed on the far side of the Moon without returning any scientific data. It was the first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body.

[Duke of Buckingham]

June 22

Controversy over heliocentrism

Biblical references Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same manner, Psalm 104:5 says, "the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place."

In September 1632, Galileo was ordered to come to Rome to stand trial. He finally arrived in February 1633 and was brought before inquisitor Vincenzo Maculani to be charged. Throughout his trial Galileo steadfastly maintained that since 1616 he had faithfully kept his promise not to hold any of the condemned opinions, and initially he denied even defending them. However, he was eventually persuaded to admit that, contrary to his true intention, a reader of his Dialogue could well have obtained the impression that it was intended to be a defence of Copernicanism. In view of Galileo's rather implausible denial that he had ever held Copernican ideas after 1616 or ever intended to defend them in the Dialogue, his final interrogation, in July 1633, concluded with his being threatened with torture if he did not tell the truth, but he maintained his denial despite the threat. The sentence of the Inquisition was delivered on June 22. It was in three essential parts:

Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions.
He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition.[60] On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life.
His offending Dialogue was banned; and in an action not announced at the trial, publication of any of his works was forbidden, including any he might write in the future.

Tomb of Galileo Galilei, Santa Croce

According to popular legend, after recanting his theory that the Earth moved around the Sun, Galileo allegedly muttered the rebellious phrase And yet it moves, but there is no evidence that he actually said this or anything similar. The first account of the legend dates to a century after his death.