April 15 - Abraham Lincoln dies

Events

• 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in northern France.
• 1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
• 1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
• 1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language published in London.
• 1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending Revolutionary War ratified.
• 1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy come across a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
• 1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth.
• 1865 - Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
• 1892 - The General Electric Company is formed through the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company.
• 1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic almost three hours earlier.
• 1920 - Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards while robbing a shoe store.
• 1923 - Insulin first became generally available for use by diabetics.
• 1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
• 1927 - Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Norma and Constance Talmadge become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
• 1940 - The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
• 1942 - George Cross awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI.
• 1943 - An Allied bomber attack misses the Minerva automobile factory and hits the Belgian town of Mortsel instead, leaving 936 dead civilians in its wake.
• 1945 - The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
• 1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
• 1955 - The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.
• 1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens.
• 1986 - The United States launch Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
• 1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human stampede occurs at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives.
• 1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
• 1994 - Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and setting up the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
• 1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
• 2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128.

Births

• 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist (d. 1519)
• 1489 - Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
• 1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
• 1580 - George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician and colonizer
• 1588 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
• 1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and antiquarian (d. 1722)
• 1642 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
• 1646 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
• 1651 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician
• 1684 - Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
• 1688 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
• 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
• 1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
• 1721 - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
• 1772 - �tienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
• 1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
• 1794 - Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
• 1800 - James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
• 1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1877)
• 1832 - Wilhelm Busch, German poet and artist (d. 1908)
• 1843 - Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
• 1858 - �mile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
• 1861 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
• 1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
• 1878 - Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
• 1879 - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
• 1883 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
• 1885 - Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general
• 1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
• 1889 - Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
• 1889 - A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
• 1894 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
• 1895 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (d. 1980)
• 1896 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• 1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
• 1902 - Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
• 1907 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1988)
• 1912 - Kim Il Sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
• 1916 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
• 1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1920 - Richard von Weiz�cker, President of Germany
• 1921 - Georgi Beregovoi, cosmonaut (d. 1995)
• 1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
• 1922 - Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
• 1924 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist
• 1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
• 1930 - Vigd�s Finnbogad�ttir, President of Iceland
• 1933 - Roy Clark, American musician
• 1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
• 1933 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author
• 1939 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
• 1940 - Jeffrey Archer, British author and Member of Parliament
• 1940 - Robert Walker Jr., American actor
• 1942 - Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
• 1942 - Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
• 1944 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
• 1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
• 1947 - Lois Chiles, American actress
• 1947 - Mike Chapman, songwriter (with Nicky Chinn) and producer (Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Blondie)
• 1948 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
• 1949 - Tonio K, American singer
• 1949 - Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer
• 1950 - Amy Wright, American actress
• 1951 - Heloise, American newspaper columnist
• 1954 - Seka, American actress
• 1955 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
• 1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
• 1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
• 1959 - Emma Thompson, English actress
• 1959 - Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
• 1960 - Tony Jones (snooker), English snooker player
• 1962 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
• 1963 - Bobby Pepper, American journalist
• 1965 - Linda Perry, American musician
• 1966 - Samantha Fox, English singer and model
• 1967 - Frankie Poullain, British bassist (The Darkness)
• 1967 - Dara Torres, American swimmer
• 1968 - Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
• 1968 - Stacey Williams, American model
• 1969 - Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
• 1970 - Flex Alexander, American actor
• 1972 - Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer
• 1974 - Danny Pino, American actor
• 1974 - Josh Todd, musician and singer (Buckcherry)
• 1975 - Paul Dana, American race car driver (Indy Racing League) (d. 2006)
• 1977 - Chandra Levy, American Congressional intern (d. 2001)
• 1980 - Ra�l L�pez, Spanish basketball player
• 1981 - Andr�s d'Alessandro, Argentine football player
• 1983 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian hockey player
• 1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Dutch footballer
• 1990 - Emma Watson, English actress
• 1992 - Amy Diamond, Swedish pop singer

Deaths

• 1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
• 1220 - Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne
• 1415 - Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek humanist
• 1446 - Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
• 1610 - Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)
• 1621 - John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony
• 1641 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
• 1659 - Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
• 1704 - Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician (b. 1628)
• 1719 - Fran�oise d'Aubign�, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
• 1754 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
• 1761 - Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1682)
• 1761 - William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (b. 1696)
• 1764 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1721)
• 1765 - Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
• 1788 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
• 1793 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary and geographer (b. 1718)
• 1804 - Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
• 1843 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
• 1854 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist, and scientific writer (b. 1773)
• 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
• 1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
• 1888 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
• 1888 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary (b. 1840)
• 1898 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
• 1912 - Victims of the RMS Titanic
  • Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (b. 1850)
  • John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864)
  • Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
• 1938 - C�sar Vallejo, Peruvian poet (b. 1892)
• 1942 - Robert Musil, German novelist (b. 1880)
• 1949 - Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
• 1962 - Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1881)
• 1964 - Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
• 1969 - Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (b. 1887)
• 1971 - Dan Reeves - Owner of the Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams (b. 1912)
• 1974 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b.1906)
• 1975 - Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1980 - Raymond Bailey, American actor (b. 1904)
• 1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1905)
• 1982 - Arthur Lowe, British actor (b. 1915)
• 1984 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
• 1986 - Jean Genet, French author (b. 1910)
• 1988 - Kenneth Williams, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
• 1989 - Hu Yaobang, leader of China (b. 1915)
• 1989 - The 96, victims of the Hillsborough disaster
• 1990 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
• 1993 - John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (b. 1908)
• 1993 - Leslie Charteris, Singapore-born author (b. 1907)
• 1994 - John Curry, English figure skater (b. 1949)
• 1998 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
• 2000 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (b. 1925)
• 2001 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
• 2002 - Damon Knight, author (b. 1922)
• 2002 - Byron "Whizzer" White, American football player and U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
• 2003 - Erin Fleming, Canadian actress (b. 1941)