On this day in history

April 4

28 births · 19 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

735

Siege of Acre

735 years ago

Born this day

1928

Maya Angelou

Would be 98

Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

Oldest record

1838th

Caracalla

birth anniversary

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Famous births28

AD 188 · 1838 yrs

Caracalla

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (Latin:), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then ruling alone after 211 AD.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 29

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1527 · 499 yrs

Abraham Ortelius

Abraham Ortelius ( or-TEE-lee-əs; also Ortels, Orthellius or Wortels; 4 or 14 April 1527 – 28 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ('Theatre of the World').

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 71

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1776 · 250 yrs

Johann Friedrich Herbart

Johann Friedrich Herbart (German:; 4 May 1776 – 14 August 1841) was a German philosopher, psychologist and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline. Herbart is now remembered amongst the post-Kantian philosophers mostly as making the greatest contrast to Hegel—in particular in relation to aesthetics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Konrad Geyer (1816-1893) · Public domain

1785 · 241 yrs

Bettina von Arnim

Bettina von Arnim (born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano; 4 April 1785 – 20 January 1859) was a German writer, composer, and novelist. Bettina (or Bettine) Brentano was a writer, publisher, composer, singer, visual artist, illustrator, patron of young talent, and a social activist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1818 · 208 yrs

Thomas Mayne Reid

Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish British novelist who fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave labour, and the lives of American Indians.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Greening, Publisher · Public domain

1819 · 207 yrs

Maria II of Portugal

Dona Maria II (Maria da Glória Joana Carlota Leopoldina da Cruz Francisca Xavier de Paula Isidora Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga de Habsburgo-Lorena e Bragança; 4 April 1819 – 15 November 1853) also known as "the Educator" (Portuguese: a Educadora) or as "the Good Mother" (a Boa Mãe), was Queen of Portugal from 1826…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 34

View profile Photo (modified): John Simpson · Public domain

1846 · 180 yrs

Comte de Lautréamont

Comte de Lautréamont (French:) was the nom de plume of Isidore Lucien Ducasse (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870), a French poet, born in Uruguay. His only works, Les Chants de Maldoror and Poésies, had a major influence on modern arts and literature, particularly on the Surrealists and the Situationists.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 24

View profile Photo (modified): Document found in 1977 by Jean-Jacques Lefrère in Bagnères-de-Bigorre (France). · Public domain

1858 · 168 yrs

Remy de Gourmont

Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Albert Harlingue · Public domain

1884 · 142 yrs

Isoroku Yamamoto

Isoroku Yamamoto (山本五十六, Yamamoto Isoroku; April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was an admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander of the Combined Fleet during World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 142

View profile Photo (modified): The Advance in Nippon 画報躍進之日本 (Gaho Yakushin no Nihon) · Public domain

1896 · 130 yrs

Tristan Tzara

Tristan Tzara (French:; Romanian:; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; 28 April 1896 – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 130

View profile Photo (modified): original author: unknown; cropped and retouched by: Rlevente · CC BY-SA 4.0

1913 · 113 yrs

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 113

View profile Photo (modified): Jean-Luc Ourlin · CC BY-SA 2.0

1914 · 112 yrs

Marguerite Duras

Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (French:, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (French:), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 112

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Showing 12 of 28

Famous deaths19

1284 · 742 yrs

Alfonso X of Castile and Leon

Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, Spanish: el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germany on 1 April.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 62

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1285 · 741 yrs

Martin IV

Pope Martin IV (Latin: Martinus IV; born Simon de Brion; c. 1210 – 28 March 1285), was the head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 until his death on 22 March 1285.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 65

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1292 · 734 yrs

Nicholas IV

Pope Nicholas IV (Latin: Nicolaus IV; born Girolamo Masci; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death, on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be elected pope.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Mazarine Master · Public domain

1617 · 409 yrs

John Napier

John Napier of Merchiston ( NAY-pee-ər; Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 67

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1774 · 252 yrs

Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. He produced literary works in a variety of genres and is considered one of the most versatile writers of the Georgian era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 45

View profile Photo (modified): After Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1807 · 219 yrs

Jérôme Lalande

Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (French:; 11 July 1732 – 4 April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. He is known for having estimated a precise value of the astronomical unit (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) using measurements of the transit of Venus in 1769.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Jean-Honoré Fragonard · Public domain

1841 · 185 yrs

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States from March to April 1841. He died 31 days into his term, making him the shortest serving president and the first president to die in office.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): James Lambdin · Public domain

1872 · 154 yrs

Stanisław Moniuszko

Stanisław Moniuszko (Polish:; 17 May 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 52

View profile Photo (modified): Tytus Maleszewski · Public domain

1919 · 107 yrs

William Crookes

Sir William Crookes (17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube, which was made in 1875.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 86

View profile Photo (modified): George Charles Beresford (1864-1938) · Public domain

1923 · 103 yrs

John Venn

John Venn, FRS, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in logic, set theory, probability, statistics, and computer science.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 88

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1929 · 97 yrs

Carl Benz

Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (German:; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical, modern automobile and the first car to be put into series production.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 84

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1932 · 94 yrs

Wilhelm Ostwald

Wilhelm Friedrich Ostwald (German:; 2 September 1853 – 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst and Svante Arrhenius.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 78

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel Foundation · Public domain

Showing 12 of 19

Events5

1139 · 887 yrs

Second Council of the Lateran

The Second Council of the Lateran was the tenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church. It was convened by Pope Innocent II in April 1139 and attended by close to a thousand clerics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1291 · 735 yrs

Siege of Acre

The siege of Acre (also called the fall of Acre) took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders' losing control of Acre to the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1960 · 66 yrs

32nd Academy Awards

The 32nd Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 4, 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre, to honor the films of 1959. William Wyler's Bible epic Ben-Hur won 11 Oscars, breaking the record of nine set the previous year by Gigi.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2017 · 9 yrs

Khan Shaykhun chemical attack

The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

2018 · 8 yrs

2018 Commonwealth Games

The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

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