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Karl Ferdinand Braun

Karl Ferdinand Braun

Karl Ferdinand Braun (June 6, 1850 - April 20, 1918) was a German physicist, born in Fulda. Braun was educated at the University of Marburg and received a Ph.D from the University of Berlin in 1872. In 1874 he discovered the point-contact rectifier effect. He became director of the Physical Institute and professor of physics at Strasbourg in 1895. In 1897 he built the first cathode-ray tube oscilloscope. The CRT is still called the "Braun tube" in German-speaking countries. He also worked on wireless telegraphy from 1898, inventing the crystal rectifier. Guglielmo Marconi admitted to 'borrowing' Braun's patents. In 1909 Braun shared the Nobel Prize for physics with Marconi for "contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy." Braun went to the United States at the beginning of WWI to help defend the German wireless station at Sayville against attacks by the British Marconi Corporation. He died in his house in Brooklyn before the war ended in 1918.

References


- "[http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1909/braun-bio.html Ferdinand Braun – Biography]". Nobel Lectures. Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967.
- Naughton, Russell, "[http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/BRAUN_BIO.html Karl Ferdinand Braun, Dr : 1850 - 1918]".
- "[http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/braun.htm Karl Ferdinand Braun ]". Biographies of Famous Electrochemists and Physicists Contributed to Understanding of Electricity.
- "[http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/karl_ferdinand_braun.html Karl Ferdinand Braun]". Timeline of Nobel Prize Winners, PHYSICS.
- Rybak, James P., "Forgotten" Pioneers of Wireless; [http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/forgoten.htm Part 5 - Karl Ferdinand Braun]".
- "[http://www.hars.de/braun/ Karl Ferdinand Braun, 1850-1918]". (German) ([http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?url=http%3A//www.hars.de/braun/&lp=de_en&tt=url English] translation) Braun, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Karl Ferdinand]] ko:카를 페르디난트 브라운 ja:フェルディナント・ブラウン

1850

1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 4 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- January 29 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress
- February 28 - University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
- March 7 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
- March 18 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
- April 4 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
- July 9 - President Zachary Taylor dies while in office and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States (he is inaugurated the next day).
- July 9 - The Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith, is executed by firing squad in Tabriz, Persia
- August 28 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres
- September 9 - California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.
- September 9 - New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the U.S. Congress
- December 16 - The first four sailing ships arrived at the Port of Lyttelton (New Zealand), with 792 emigrants or Canterbury Pilgrims as they called themselves. On this day they founded an exclusive theocratic Utopia, which they called Christchurch.
- December - Christian mystic Hong Xiuquan begins the Taiping Rebellion.
- The United States Republican Party is founded
- Foundation of the University of Sydney, the oldest in Australia
- The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Mass.U.S.A. Waltham Watch Company
- Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose- built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.
- Pinkerton Detective Agency
- France begins to transport colonists to Algeria
- Modern acoustic guitar created in Spain
- Rifling becomes common in firearms
- Entre Ríos Province in Argentina revolts - it is backed by Brazil in alliance with Paraguay and the Uruguayan Colorado Party
- Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the Underground Railroad
- James Beckwourth discovers Beckwourth Pass.

Births

January - April


- January 4 - Frederick York Powell, English historian and scholar (died 1904)
- January 6 - Eduard Bernstein, German social democratic theoretician and politician (died 1932)
- January 6 - Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (died 1924)
- January 10 - John Wellborn Root, U.S. architect (died 1891)
- January 11 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (died 1917)
- January 14 - Pierre Loti, French sailor and writer (died 1923)
- January 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian romantic poet (died 1889)
- January 15 - Leonard Darwin, son of the British naturalist Charles Darwin (died 1943)
- January 15 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (died 1891)
- January 17 - Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (died 1918)
- January 18 - Seth Low, American educator (died 1916)
- January 19 - Augustine Birrell, English author and politician (died 1933)
- January 24 - Mary Noailles Murfree, American novelist (died 1922)
- January 27 - Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (died 1912)
- January 27 - Samuel Gompers, U.S. labor union leader (died 1924)
- January 28 - Edward Merritt Hughes, U.S. Navy officer (died 1903)
- February 12 - William Morris Davis, U.S. geographer (died 1934)
- February 14 - Kiyoura Keigo, Prime Minister of Japan (died 1942)
- February 15 - Albert B. Cummins, U.S. political figure (died 1926)
- February 17 - Alf Morgans, Premier of Western Australia (died 1933)
- February 23 - César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (died 1918)
- February 27 - Henry Huntington, U.S. railroad pioneer and art collector (died 1927)
- March 7 - Tomáš Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia (died 1937)
- March 7 - Champ Clark, U.S. politician (died 1921)
- March 7 - Éphrem-A. Brisebois, Canadian police officer (died 1890)
- March 13 - Hugh John Macdonald, premier of Manitoba (died 1929)
- March 26 - Edward Bellamy, U.S. author (died 1898)
- March 31 - Charles Doolittle Walcott, U.S. invertebrate paleontologist (died 1927)
- April 11 - Isidor Rayner, U.S. senator (died 1912)
- April 12 - Nikolai Golitsyn, Prime Minister of Russia (died 1925)
- April 13 - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (died 1917)
- April 15 - William Thomas Pipes, Nova Scotia politician (died 1909)
- April 15 - Edmund Peck, Canadian missionary (died 1924)
- April 16 - Paul von Breitenbach, German railway planner (died 1930)
- April 18 - Joseph Labadie, U.S. labor organizer (died 1933)
- April 20 - Daniel Chester French, U.S. sculptor (died 1931)
- April 26 - Harry Bates, British sculptor (died 1899)
- April 26 - James Drake, Australian politician (died 1915)
- April 27 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German soldier (died 1921)
- April 29 - George Murdoch, first mayor of Calgary (died 1910)

May - December


- May 1 - Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom (died 1942)
- May 7 - Anton Seidl, Hungarian conductor (died 1898)
- May 8 - Ross Barnes, U.S. baseball player (died 1915)
- May 10 - Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant and yachtsman (died 1931)
- May 12 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (died 1924)
- May 12 - Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, Scottish Liberal politician and jurist (died 1934)
- May 12 - Frederick Holder, premier of South Australia (died 1909)
- May 14 - Alva Adams, Governor of Colorado (died 1922)
- May 18 - Oliver Heaviside, British engineer (died 1925)
- May 21 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (died 1914)
- May 27 - Thomas Neill Cream, serial killer (died 1892)
- May 28 - Frederic William Maitland, English jurist and historian (died 1906)
- May 30 - Frederick Dent Grant, U.S.soldier and statesman (died 1912)
- June 2 - Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, British businessman (died 1931)
- June 3 - Albert M. Todd, American businessman and politician (died 1931)
- June 5 - Pat Garrett, American bartender and sheriff (died 1908)
- June 6 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918)
- June 12 - Roberto Ivens, Portuguese explorer of Africa (died 1898)
- June 22 - Ignaz Goldziher, Jewish Hungarian orientalist (died 1921)
- June 24 - Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal and statesman (died 1916)
- June 27 - Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet (died 1921)
- June 27 - Lafcadio Hearn, Greco-Japanese author (died 1904)
- June 27 - Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (died 1916)
- July 2 - Robert Ridgway, U.S. ornithologist (died 1929)
- July 8 - Charles Rockwell Lanman, U.S. Sanskrit scholar (died 1941)
- July 12 - Newell Sanders, U.S. businessman and politician (died 1938)
- July 12 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (died 1912)
- July 15 - Mother Cabrini, U.S. saint (died 1917)
- July 20 - John G. Shedd, U.S. businessman (died 1926)
- July 28 - William Whittingham Lyman, U.S. vintner (died 1921)
- July 31 - Robert Love Taylor, Tennessee congressman (died 1912)
- July 31 - Robert Planquette, French composer of stage musicals (died 1903)
- August 5 - Guy de Maupassant, French writer
- August 6 - Henri Chantavoine, French writer (died 1918)
- August 14 - W. W. Rouse Ball, British mathematician (died 1925)
- August 26 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935)
- August 27 - Silas Alexander Ramsay, mayor of Calgary (died 1942)
- August 30 - Cal McVey, U.S. baseball player (died 1926)
- September 2 - Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (died 1919)
- September 2 - Eugene Field, U.S. writer (died 1895)
- September 2 - Albert Spalding, U.S. baseball player and businessman (died 1915)
- September 2 - Alfred Pringsheim, German mathematician (died 1941)
- September 8 - Paul Gerson Unna, German dermatologist (died 1929)
- September 9 - Jane Ellen Harrison, British classical scholar and feminist (died 1928)
- September 28 - Charles William Dorsett, U.S. prohibitionist (died 1936)
- October 1 - David R. Francis, Governor of Missouri (died 1927)
- October 18 - Pablo Iglesias, Spanish socialist politician (died 1925)
- October 18 - Basil Hall Chamberlain, British Japanologist (died 1935)
- October 22 - Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (died 1908)
- October 30 - John Patton, Jr., U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan (died 1907)
- November 5 - Ella Wheeler Wilcox, U.S. author and poet (died 1919)
- November 12 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (died 1908)
- November 13 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (died 1894)
- November 13 - Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, British politician (died 1922)
- November 16 - Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, Chilean political figure (died 1901)
- November 22 - Georg Dehio, German historian of art (died 1932)
- November 28 - Robert Koehler, German born painter and art teacher (died 1917)
- November 30 - Cayetano Coll y Toste, Puerto Rican historian and writer (died 1930)
- December 8 - Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania (died 1904)
- December 9 - Emma Abbott, U.S. opera singer (died 1891)
- December 11 - Mary Victoria Hamilton, Scottish-German-French great-grandmother of Prince Rainier III of Monaco (died 1922)
- December 12 - Martin F. Ansel, Governor of South Carolina (died 1945)
- December 21 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (died 1900)
- December 24 - Brandon Thomas, British actor and playwright (died 1914)
- December 25 - Florence Griswold, U.S. art curator (died 1937)
- December 28 - Francesco Tamagno, Italian operatic tenor (died 1905)

Unknown Date

A - H


- Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Saudi ruler (died 1928)
- Abraham Fischer, Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa (died 1913)
- Alexandre Luigini, French conductor and composer (died 1906)
- Alfred Gabriel Nathorst, Swedish Arctic explorer and geologist (died 1921)
- Alfred Maudslay, British colonial diplomat (died 1931)
- Andria Dadiani, Prince of Samegrelo (died 1910)
- Bernhard Baron, Jewish cigarette-manufacturer and philanthropist (died 1929)
- Artur Władysław Potocki, Polish nobleman (died 1890)
- Bernardo Reyes, Mexican general (died 1913)
- Charles Braithwaite, Manitoba politician and agrarian leader (died 1910)
- Charles Hazelius Sternberg, U.S. fossil collector and amateur paleontologist (died 1943)
- Cuthbert A. Brereton, British civil engineer (died 1910)
- Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, U.S. publisher (died 1933)
- Daniel Carter Beard, U.S. scouting pioneer (died 1941)
- Daniel J. Greene, Newfoundland politician (died 1911)
- Ebenezer Howard, British urban planner (died 1928)
- Edgar Wilson Nye, U.S. humorist (died 1896)
- Edmond Holmes, English writer and poet (died 1936)
- Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian and microbiologist (died 1903)
- Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, responsible for diabetes mellitus (died 1935)
- Edward John Gregory, British painter (died 1909)
- Emanuel Schiffers, Russian chess player (died 1904)
- Ernest Albert Waterlow, English painter (died 1919)
- Ernst Bernheim, German-Jewish historian (died 1922)
- Fanny Davenport, U.S. actress (died 1898)
- Fernando Fernandez, Puerto Rican distiller (approximate date; died 1940)
- Georg von Vollmar, Socialist politician in Bavaria (died 1922)
- George Henschel, English musician (died 1934)
- George Hitchcock, U.S. artist (died 1913)
- Hamo Thornycroft, British sculptor (died 1925)
- Hendry Brown, U.S. outlaw (approximate date; died 1884)
- Henricus van de Wetering, Archbishop of Utrecht (died 1929)
- Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (died 1909)
- Hermann von Ihering, German-Brazilian zoologist (died 1930)

J-Z


- J. Walter Fewkes, U.S. anthropologist (died 1930)
- James Kenyon, British pioneer of cinematography (died 1925)
- James Moore, British cyclist
- Johann Büttikofer, Swiss zoologist (died 1929)
- John Casper Branner, U.S. geologist (died 1922)
- John Collier, British writer and painter (died 1934)
- John Perry, Irish engineer (died 1920)
- John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, Canadian portrait painter (died 1938)
- Johnny Ringo, U.S. cowboy (died 1892)
- Julius Wernher, German born British businessman and art collector (died 1912)
- Kate Chopin, U.S. novelist (died 1904)
- László Lukács, Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1932)
- Laura E. Richards, U.S. author (died 1943)
- Lawrence Hargrave, Australian engineer (died 1915)
- Léon-Adolphe Cardinal Amette, French Catholic cardinal and archbishop of Paris (died 1920)
- Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Catalan architect (died 1923)
- Lucien Gaulard, French inventor (died 1888)
- Maria Beatrix Krasińska, Polish noblewoman (died 1884)
- Montague Aldous, Canadian surveyor
- Murdo MacKenzie, Scottish-Brazilian rancher
- Oscar Straus, U.S. politician (died 1936)
- Pavel Axelrod, Russian politician (died 1928)
- Per Hasselberg, Swedish sculptor (died 1371)
- Philip Bourke Marston, English poet (died 1887)
- Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, U.S. Roman Catholic nun and social worker (died 1926)
- Rose la Touche, lover of John Ruskin
- Rudolf Hoernes, Austrian geologist
- Solomon Schechter, founder of the United Synagogue of America (died 1915)
- Steve Bellan, Cuban baseball player (died 1932)
- Thomas Alexander Smith, U.S. politician (died 1932)
- Victor Henry, French philologist (died 1907)
- Victor Laloux, French Beaux-Arts architect (died 1937)
- Vissarion Jughashvili, Joseph Stalin's father (approximate date; died 1890)
- William Lawrence, U.S. Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts (died 1941)
- William Pugsley, Canadian politician and lawyer (died 1925)
- William Wallace Wotherspoon, U.S. general (died 1921)
- Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Edweso (approximate date; died 1921)
- Zaharoff Basil, Anglo-Turkish financier and arms manufacturer (died 1936)

Deaths

January - May


- January 20 - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (born 1779)
- January 22 - William Joseph Chaminade, French Catholic priest (born 1761)
- January 26 - Francis Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic (born 1773)
- January 27 - Johann Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor (born 1764)
- January 27 - Philipp Roth, composer (born 1779)
- February 4 - Daniel Turner, officer in the United States Navy (born 1794)
- February 25 - Daoguang Emperor, of the Qing dynasty of China (born 1782)
- February 27 - Samuel Adams, Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas (born 1805)
- March 3 - Oliver Cowdery, U.S. religious leader (born 1806)
- March 26 - Samuel Turell Armstrong, U.S. political figure (born 1784)
- March 27 - Wilhelm Beer, German banker and astronomer (born 1797)
- March 28 - Gerard Brandon, Governor of Mississippi (born 1788)
- March 31 - John C. Calhoun, U.S. politician (born 1782)
- April 7 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (born 1762)
- April 9 - William Prout, English chemist and physician (born 1785)
- April 16 - Marie Tussaud, French wax sculptor (born 1761)
- April 23 - William Wordsworth, English poet (born 1770)
- April 24 - John Norvell, U.S. newspaperman and senator (born 1789)
- May 1 - Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (born 1777)
- May 10 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (born 1778)
- May 21 - Christoph Friedrich von Ammon, German theological writer and preacher (born 1766)
- May 31 - Giuseppe Giusti, Tuscan satirical poet (born 1809)

June - December


- June 19 - Margaret Fuller, U.S. journalist (born 1810)
- June 30 - Richard Dillingham, U.S. Quaker teacher (born 1823)
- July 2 - Robert Peel, British Prime Minister (born 1788)
- July 4 - William Kirby, English entomologist (born 1759)
- July 7 - Timothy Hackworth, British steam locomotive engineer
- July 8 - Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge (born 1774)
- July 9 - The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (born 1819)
- July 9 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (born 1784)
- July 9 - Jean Pierre Boyer, president of Haiti (born 1776)
- July 14 - August Neander, German theologian and church historian (born 1789)
- July 25 - Richard Barnes Mason, military governor of California (born 1797)
- August 3 - Jacob Jones, officer in the United States Navy (born 1768)
- August 13 - Martin Archer Shee, Irish portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy (born 1770)
- August 18 - Honoré de Balzac, French author (born 1799)
- August 22 - Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (born 1802)
- August 26 - King Louis-Philippe of France (born 1773)
- August 27 - Thomas Kidd, English classical scholar and schoolmaster (born 1770)
- September 12 - Presley O'Bannon, officer in the United States Marine Corps (born 1784)
- September 22 - Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist (born 1783)
- September 23 - José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan revolutionary (born 1764)
- October 2 - Sarah Biffen, English painter (born 1784)
- October 29 - Marmaduke Williams, Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (born 1774)
- November 2 - Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Democratic governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina (born 1796)
- November 3 - Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois (born 1800)
- November 4 - Gustav Schwab, German classical scholar (born 1792)
- November 19 - Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States (born 1780)
- November 22 - Lin Zexu, Chinese politician (born 1785)
- November 30 - Germain Henri Hess, Swiss chemist and doctor (born 1802)
- December 4 - William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor (born 1783)
- December 10 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (born 1787)
- December 22 - William Plumer, U.S. lawyer and lay preacher (born 1759)
- December 24 - Frédéric Bastiat French author and economist (born 1801)
- December 28 - Heinrich Christian Schumacher, German astronomer (born 1780)

Unknown Date


- Adoniram Judson, U.S. Baptist missionary (born 1788)
- Antoni Potocki, Polish nobleman (born 1780)
- Báb, Bahá'í herald (born 1819)
- Charles Arbuthnot, British Tory politician (born 1767)
- Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, British Tory politician (born 1775)
- Edward Bickersteth, English evangelical divine (born 1786)
- Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe (born 1762)
- Frances Sargent Osgood, U.S. poet (born 1811)
- François-Xavier-Joseph Droz, French writer on ethics and political science (born 1773)
- Hone Heke, Maori chief and war leader
- Jan Krukowiecki, Polish general (born 1772)
- Jane Porter, English novelist (born 1776)
- José Manuel de la Peña y Peña, interim President of Mexico (born 1789)
- Józef Bem, Polish general (born 1794)
- Juan Martín de Pueyrredón y O'Dogan, Argentine general and politician (born 1776)
- Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł, Polish noble (born 1778)
- Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, British military officer and colonial administrator (born 1775)
- Owen Stanley, British naval officer and explorer of New Guinea (born 1811)
- Robert Gilfillan, Scottish poet (born 1798)
- Robert Stevenson, Scottish lighthouse engineer (born 1772)
- Tan Tock Seng, Singaporean businessman philanthropists
- Valentín Canalizo, acting president of Mexico (born 1794)
- Saint Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary (born 1795)
- William Lawson, British explorer of New South Wales (born 1774)
- William Hamilton Maxwell, Scots-Irish novelist (born 1792) Category:1850 ko:1850년 ms:1850 simple:1850

April 20

April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). There are 255 days remaining.

Events


- 1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
- 1657 - Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City) granted freedom of religion.
- 1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
- 1770 - Lieutenant James Cook's expedition (first voyage) makes first sighting of eastern Australian coastline, naming the spot Cape Hicks. His logbook recorded the date as April 19, but the 20th was the actual calendar date.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: British troops begin siege of Boston, Massachusetts
- 1792 - France declares war on Austria.
- 1836 - U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
- 1862 - The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
- 1884 - Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus.
- 1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
- 1908 - Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
- 1912 - Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1914 - Seventeen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a bitter Colorado coal-miner's strike.
- 1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
- 1926 - Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
- 1945 - US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
- 1953 - Project BLUEBIRD turns into Project MKULTRA.
- 1967 - A Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at Toronto, Canada, killing 126.
- 1968 - A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, South-West Africa, killing 122.
- 1968 - Pierre Trudeau succeeds Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.
- 1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
- 1978 - Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
- 1979 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
- 1985 - ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
- 1992 - An all-star concert in memory of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is held at Wembley Stadium in London.
- 1997 - The San Diego Padres face the St. Louis Cardinals in the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Hawaii.
- 1998 - An Air France Boeing 727-200 crashes into mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
- 1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
- 1999 - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves in the Columbine High School massacre.
- 2001 - Anti-globalization marches and a "People's Summit" are held to protest the Quebec City Summit of the Americas, a FTAA summit in Quebec City, Quebec.
- 2002 - The Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition holds its first Community Smoke-In for Human Rights in Darwin, Australia. Police arrest five activists.
- 2004 - Severe thunderstorms strike Chicagoland, USA. An F3 tornado touches down in Utica, Illinois, claiming eight lives.
- 2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars were fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents. 22 detainees were killed and 92 wounded. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-20-iraq_x.htm]

Births


- 702 - Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765)
- 1494 - Johannes Agricola, German protestant reformer (d. 1566)
- 1586 - Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
- 1633 - Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
- 1650 - William Bedloe, English informer (d. 1680)
- 1668 - Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d. 1739)
- 1718 - David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
- 1723 - Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (d. 1781)
- 1745 - Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
- 1808 - Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1873)
- 1818 - Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
- 1871 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian inventor, (d. 1922)
- 1879 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
- 1889 - Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and social activist (d. 1996)
- 1889 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator (d. 1945)
- 1893 - Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Joan Miró, Catalan painter (d. 1983)
- 1895 - Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
- 1896 - Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
- 1904 - Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1908 - Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
- 1914 - Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
- 1915 - Joseph Wolpe, South African-born psychotherapist (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Edward L. Beach, American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1920 - John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- 1923 - Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
- 1925 - Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
- 1927 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
- 1939 - Peter S. Beagle, American author
- 1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway
- 1940 - George Takei, American actor
- 1941 - Ryan O'Neal, American actor
- 1943 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
- 1943 - Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971)
- 1945 - Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
- 1949 - Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy
- 1949 - Jessica Lange, American actress
- 1950 - Veronica Cartwright, American actress
- 1950 - Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general, politician (d. 2002)
- 1951 - Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
- 1961 - Don Mattingly, baseball player
- 1963 - Izhar Cohen,illustrator
- 1964 - Crispin Glover, American actor
- 1964 - Andy Serkis, English actor
- 1964 - Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
- 1967 - Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
- 1967 - Mike Portnoy, American musician
- 1971 - Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
- 1972 - Carmen Electra, American actress
- 1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor
- 1980 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer

Deaths


- 1176 - Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English soldier (b. 1130)
- 1314 - Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
- 1521 - Zhengde, Emperor of China (b. 1491)
- 1534 - Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed)
- 1558 - Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485)
- 1643 - Christoph Demantius, German composer (b. 1567)
- 1703 - Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)
- 1765 - Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials (b. 1674)
- 1769 - Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa
- 1831 - John Abernethy, English surgeon (b. 1764)
- 1873 - William Tite, English architect (b. 1798)
- 1899 - Joseph Wolf, German artist (b. 1820)
- 1912 - Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847)
- 1918 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
- 1932 - Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (b. 1858)
- 1947 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
- 1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
- 1982 - Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892)
- 1984 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
- 1991 - Steve Marriott, British musician and actor (b. 1945)
- 1991 - Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
- 1992 - Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924)
- 1993 - Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911)
- 1996 - Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (b. 1920)
- 1999 - Victims of the Columbine High School massacre
- 1999 - Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
- 1999 - Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist and comedian (b. 1896)
- 2001 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
- 2002 - Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
- 2003 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b. 1904)

Holidays and observances


- 2003, 2014 - Easter Sunday
- April 20 (4/20) is associated with 420 (drug culture)
- Astrology: First day of sun sign Taurus

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/20 BBC: On This Day] ---- April 19 - April 21 - March 20 - May 20 – listing of all days ko:4월 20일 ms:20 April ja:4月20日 simple:April 20 th:20 เมษายน

1918

1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January-February


- January 8 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- January 22 - Manitoba, Canada film censor board bans comedies
- January 24 - a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, introducing the Gregorian calendar in Russia since February 1 (Julian calendar date), issued
- January 28 - Vladimir Lenin decrees the establishment of the Red Army.
- February 3 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service in San Francisco as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long).
- February 8 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper
- February 14 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar). As a consequence the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, previously October, now falls in November.
- February 16 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany
- February 18 - White Cossack troops retreat from the Don after advancing Bolsheviks
- February 24 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia
- February 26 - Grandstands at the Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse - 604 dead

March-April


- March 1 - German submarine U 19 sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island, Nothern Ireland.
- March 3 - World War I: Germany, Austria and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in the war.
- March 5 - The Soviet Russia moves its national capital from Petrograd to Moscow
- March 6 - Finnish Air Force founded. The blue swastika is adopted as its symbol as a tribute to the Swedish explorer and aviator Eric von Rosen who donated the first plane. Von Rosen had painted the Buddhist symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.
- March 7 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany.
- March 12 – Moscow becomes the capital of Soviet Russia
- March 19 - The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST went into effect on March 31).
- March 21 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins
- March 23 - The giant German cannon, the so called Paris Gun begins to shell Paris from 114 km (75 miles) away
- March 23 - In London at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling Soo (William E Robinson, US-born magician) dies during his trick where he was supposed to "catch" two separate bullets – one of them perforates his lung. He dies the following morning in hospital.
- March 23 - The Social Revolutionary Party declares Belorussia independent; Bolshevik armies soon crush them
- March 25 - for the first time Belarus declares independence.
- April 1 - The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service are merged to form the Royal Air Force.

May-July


- May 1 - German troops enter Don province - they take Rostov May 6
- May 2 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
- May 15 - The Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
- May 16 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by US Congress.
- May 26 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
- May 28 - Armenia gains independence from the Ottoman Empire
- June 1 - World War I: Battle for Belleau Wood begins.
- July - The Siberian Expedition is launched to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian civil war.
- July 4 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Mehmed V (Resad) (1909-1918) to Mehmed VI (Vahdettin) (1918-1922)
- July 9 - Great train wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101.
- July 15 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
- July 16 - Russian Revolution: At Ekaterinburg, Bolsheviks execute Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.

August-October


- August - "Spanish Flu" Influenza becomes pandemic; over twenty-five million people die in the following six months (three times as many as died during the war).
- August 1 - British anti-Bolshevik forces occupy Archangel, Russia. August 10 commander is told to help White Russians
- August 1 - Emma Susan Daugherty Banister becomes the first female sheriff in the United States following the death of her husband, John Riley Banister.
- August 8 - World War I: Battle of Amiens - Canadian troops, backed by Australians, begin a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the German front lines. German General Erich Ludendorff will later call this the "black day of the German army."
- August 30 - Strike of 20,000 London policemen with demands of increased pay and union recognition.
- August 30 - Fanya Kaplan tries to shoot Lenin. Petrograd head of Cheka is assassinated the same day.
- September 11 - The Boston Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs for the 1918 World Series championship. (their last World Series win until 2004)
- September 28 - Don Voisko adopts a constitution including declaration of independence. Collapse of Imperial Germany makes it void
- October 3 - Kaiser makes Max von Baden a German chancellor.
- October 3 - Poland declares independence.
- October 8 - World War I - In the Argonne Forest in France, US Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
- October 25 - The Princess Sophia sinks on Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau, Alaska, 353 people die in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.
- October 28 - Czechoslovakia gains its independence from Austria-Hungary.
- October 28 - New Polish government in Western Galicia (Central Europe)

November


- November 1 - Malbone Street Wreck: the worst rapid transit accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93 dead.
- November 1 - Ruthenia in eastern Czechoslovakia declares brief independence
- November 3 - World War I: Austria-Hungary enters an armistice with the Allies.
- November 3 - Poland declares its independence from Russia.
- November 4 - World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.
- November 4 - Mutiny in the German fleet at Kiel begin the German Revolution.
- November 6 - A new Polish government is proclaimed in Lublin.
- November 8 - German army withdraws its support of the Kaiser
- November 9 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates and chooses to live in exile in the Netherlands.
- November 9 - Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner declares Bavaria to be a republic.
- November 11 - World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France.
- November 11 - Poland regains independence after 123 years of partitions. Józef Piłsudski is appointed Commander-in-Chief.
- November 11 - Emperor Charles I of Austria abdicates.
- November 12 - Austria becomes a republic.
- November 14 - Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.
- November 14 - Józef Piłsudski is appointed head of state of Poland
- November 16 - Hungary declares independence from Austria
- November 16 - Hungarian People's Republic declared
- November 18 - Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
- November 22 - Spartacist League founds German Communist Party
- November 22 - Belgian royal family returns to Brussels after the war
- November 26 - the Podgorica Assembly voted for "union of the people", declaring a joining into the Kingdom of Serbia

December


- December 1 - Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains united with Denmark.
- December 1 - New voting laws in Sweden. Votes no longer dependent on taxable assets. One person, one vote.
- December 1 - Proclamation of Union of Alba Iulia. Following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina, Transylvania unites with Romania.
- December 1 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
- December 4 - US President Woodrow Wilson sails for the Paris_Peace_Conference, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
- December 27 - Beginning of Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in Greater Poland (or Grand Duchy of Poznań rise against the Germans.
- December 28 - Constance Markiewicz becomes the first woman elected to the House of Commons.

Unknown dates


- Finnish Civil War between the Reds and the Whites, January - April.
- Habsburg Empire ceases to exist.
- Grand Duchy of Baden ceases to exist.
- British occupy Palestine
- Katla erupts in Iceland.
- Native American Church is founded.
- Ernest Ansermet founds the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
- John Riley Banister becomes sherrif of Coleman County, Texas.
- Clifton Hillegass, American author born (d. 2001)
- Association Against the Prohibition Amendment founded to promote repeal of prohibition in U.S.

Births

January-February


- January 10 - Arthur Chung, President of Guyana
- January 15 - Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)
- January 16 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
- January 16 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d. 1996)
- January 19 - John H. Johnson, American publisher, (d. 2005)
- January 20 - Esquivel, Mexican musician (d. 2002)
- January 23 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1999)
- January 25 - Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster
- January 26 - Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
- January 26 - Philip José Farmer, American writer
- January 27 - Skitch Henderson, English-born musician and bandleader (d. 2005)
- January 29 - John Forsythe, American actor
- February 1 - Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish author
- February 3 - Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)
- February 6 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author
- February 8 - Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
- February 12 - Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- February 17 - William Bronk, American poet (d. 1999)
- February 22 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, American record-holder as the tallest man (d. 1940)
- February 25 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996)
- February 25 - Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- February 26 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)

March-April


- March 1 - Roger Delgado, British actor (d. 1973)
- March 1 - João Goulart, President of Brazil (d. 1976)
- March 3 - Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 3 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)
- March 5 - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- March 9 - George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi leader (d. 1967)
- March 9 - Mickey Spillane, American mystery writer
- March 11 - Jack Coe, American evangelist (d. 1956)
- March 12 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
- March 16 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- March 17 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
- March 18 - Al Benton, baseball player (d. 1968)
- March 18 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d. 2005)
- March 22 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (d. 1997)
- March 25 - Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d. 1995)
- March 29 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d. 1990)
- April 9 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
- April 16 - Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (d. 2002)
- April 20 - Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 22 - Mickey Vernon, baseball player
- April 26 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d. 2004)

May-August


- May 1 - Jack Paar, American television show host (d. 2004)
- May 9 - Mike Wallace, American journalist
- May 9 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
- May 11 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- May 12 - Julius Rosenberg, American-born Soviet spy (d. 1953)
- May 15 - Eddy Arnold, American singer
- May 16 -