On this day in history

April 1

27 births · 13 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Battle of Okinawa

81 years ago

Born this day

1815

Otto von Bismarck

Died aged 83

Oldest record

744th

Louis IV of Bavaria

birth anniversary

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Famous births27

1282 · 744 yrs

Louis IV of Bavaria

Louis IV (German: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian (Ludwig der Bayer, Latin: Ludovicus Bavarus), was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 65

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Photo: Unknown artist · Public domain

1578 · 448 yrs

William Harvey

William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology.

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ScienceDied aged 79

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1697 · 329 yrs

Antoine François Prévost

Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles (UK: PRAY-voh deg-ZEEL, US: pray-VOH -⁠, French:; 1 April 1697 – 25 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 66

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Photo: Jakob van der Schley · Public domain

1753 · 273 yrs

Joseph de Maistre

Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821), was a Savoyard lawyer, diplomat, and political philosopher. He is chiefly remembered as one of the intellectual forefathers of modern conservatism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 67

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Photo: Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein · Public domain

1755 · 271 yrs

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (French pronunciation:; 2 April 1755 – 2 February 1826) was a French lawyer and politician, who, as the author of Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), became celebrated for his culinary reminiscences and reflections on the craft and science of cookery and the art of eating.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LawDied aged 70

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Photo: Louis-Jean Allais / After Jean Baptist Ponce Lambert · Public domain

1776 · 250 yrs

Sophie Germain

Marie-Sophie Germain (French:; 1 April 1776 – 27 June 1831) was a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 55

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Photo: s:fr:Auteur:Sophie Germain · Public domain

1815 · 211 yrs

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as its first chancellor from 1871 to 1890.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 83

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Photo: Jacques Pilartz · Public domain

1865 · 161 yrs

Richard Adolf Zsigmondy

Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (Hungarian: Zsigmondy Richárd Adolf; 1 April 1865 – 23 September 1929) was an Austrian-born chemist. He was known for his research in colloids, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1925, as well as for co-inventing the slit-ultramicroscope, and different membrane filters.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 64

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Photo: Walter Gircke · Public domain

1866 · 160 yrs

Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 58

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Photo: Varischi & Artico · Public domain

1868 · 158 yrs

Edmond Rostand

Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (UK:, US:, French:; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 50

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Photo: Léopold-Émile Reutlinger · Public domain

1875 · 151 yrs

Edgar Wallace

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 56

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Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1908 · 118 yrs

Abraham Maslow

Abraham Harold Maslow ( MAZ-loh; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleWould be 118

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Photo: William Carter · Public domain

Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths13

1917 · 109 yrs

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet (original version of "The Ragtime Dance", 1899/1902), and two operas.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 49

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1922 · 104 yrs

Charles I of Austria

Charles I and IV (German: Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria, Hungarian: Károly Ferenc József Lajos Hubert György Ottó Mária; 17 August 1887 – 1 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria (as Charles I), King of Hungary (as Charles IV), and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916…

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RoyaltyWould be 139

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Photo: Wenzl Weis · Public domain

1939 · 87 yrs

Anton Makarenko

Anton Semyonovich Makarenko (Russian: Анто́н Семёнович Мака́ренко, Ukrainian: Антон Семенович Макаренко, romanized: Anton Semenovych Makarenko; 13 March 1888 – 1 April 1939), was a Soviet educator, social worker and writer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 138

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1947 · 79 yrs

George II of Greece

George II (Greek: Γεώργιος Β', romanized: Geórgios II; 19 July 1890 – 1 April 1947) was King of Greece from 27 September 1922 until 25 March 1924, and again from 25 November 1935 until his death on 1 April 1947.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 136

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Photo: United States Office of War Information, Overseas Picture Division, Washington Division. · Public domain

1968 · 58 yrs

Lev Landau

Lev Davidovich Landau (Russian: Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 118

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Photo: Nobel foundation · Public domain

1976 · 50 yrs

Max Ernst

Max Ernst (German: 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 135

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Photo: Unknown author · CC0

1984 · 42 yrs

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (né Gay; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 87

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Photo: Photograph by Jim Britt, whose other (copyrighted) photos of Gaye from the same session—many of them in full color—can b · Public domain

1991 · 35 yrs

Martha Graham

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer responsible for creating the Graham technique. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 132

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Photo: Los Angeles Daily News · CC BY 4.0

1994 · 32 yrs

Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau (French:; 14 April 1912 – 1 April 1994) was a French photographer. From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 114

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Photo: Bracha L. Ettinger · CC BY-SA 2.5

2002 · 24 yrs

Simo Häyhä

Simo Häyhä (17 December 1905 – 1 April 2002), often referred to by his nickname The White Death, was a Finnish military sniper during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in World War II. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle (a variant of the Mosin–Nagant) and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 120

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

2017 · 9 yrs

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (Russian: Евгений Александрович Евтушенко; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, publisher, actor, editor, university professor, and director of several films.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 94

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Photo: mos.ru · CC BY 4.0

2021 · 5 yrs

Isamu Akasaki

Isamu Akasaki (赤崎勇, Akasaki Isamu; January 30, 1929 – April 1, 2021) was a Japanese materials scientist specializing in the field of semiconductor technology. He is best known for co-inventing the bright gallium nitride (GaN) p–n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness GaN blue LED as well.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyWould be 97

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Photo: 大臣官房人事課 · CC BY 4.0

Showing 12 of 13

Events5

1945 · 81 yrs

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄戦, Hepburn: Okinawa-sen), codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by the United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2000 · 26 yrs

2000 United States Census

The 2000 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 census.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

2010 · 16 yrs

2010 United States Census

The 2010 United States census was the 23rd United States census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

2020 · 6 yrs

2020 United States Census

The 2020 United States census was the 24th decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

2026 · 0 yrs

MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak

In April 2026, an outbreak of hantavirus infection caused by the Andes virus was identified on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. There were ten confirmed cases and two suspected cases directly linked to the outbreak as of 22 May.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

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