On this day in history

April 8

27 births · 23 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

122

Entente Cordiale

122 years ago

Born this day

1938

Kofi Annan

Would be 88

Photo (modified): US Mission in Geneva · Public domain

Oldest record

1809th

Caracalla

death anniversary

View profile

Famous births27

AD 566 · 1460 yrs

Emperor Gaozu of Tang

Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Chinese: 唐高祖; pinyin: Táng Gāozǔ; Wade–Giles: T'ang Kao-tsu; 7 April 566 – 25 June 635), personal name Li Yuan, courtesy name Shude, Xianbei name Daye Yuan, was the founding emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 618 to 626 CE.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 69

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

1320 · 706 yrs

Peter I of Portugal

Peter I (Portuguese: Pedro Afonso;; 8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), known as Peter the Justicier (Pedro o Justiceiro), was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death in 1367.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 46

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

1336 · 690 yrs

Timur

Timur (1320s – 17/18 February 1405), also known as Tamerlane, was a Turco-Mongol conqueror, first ruler of the Timurid dynasty, and the founder of the Timurid Empire, which ruled over modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): 1405-1409 artist · Public domain

1605 · 421 yrs

Philip IV of Spain

Philip IV (Spanish: Felipe Domingo Victor de la Cruz de Austria y Austria, Portuguese: Filipe III; 8 April 1605 – 17 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: Rey Planeta), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 60

View profile Photo (modified): Diego Velázquez · Public domain

1692 · 334 yrs

Giuseppe Tartini

Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in Pirano in the Republic of Venice (now Piran, Slovenia). Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred pieces for the violin, the majority of them violin concertos.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 77

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

1818 · 208 yrs

Christian IX of Denmark

Christian IX (8 April 1818 – 29 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 87

View profile Photo (modified): The original uploader was Anathema at German Wikipedia . · Public domain

1859 · 167 yrs

Edmund Husserl

Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (Austrian German:; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian and German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic based on analyses of intentionality.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 79

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · Public domain

1875 · 151 yrs

Albert I of Belgium

Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Studio of Eugène Pirou · Public domain

1892 · 134 yrs

Mary Pickford

Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), baptised as Gladys Marie Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian American film actress and producer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): Rufus Porter Moody · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

John Richard Hicks

Sir John Richard Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 122

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Associated Press) · Public domain

1911 · 115 yrs

Melvin Calvin

Melvin Ellis Calvin (April 8, 1911 – January 8, 1997) was an American biochemist known for discovering the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham. He was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 115

View profile Photo (modified): "Photolab" · Public domain

1911 · 115 yrs

Emil Cioran

Emil Mihai Cioran (Romanian:; French:; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist, and essayist who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyWould be 115

View profile Photo (modified): Photographer of Keyston agency/Getty Images before Rivarol Premium. Photo taken in the last years of Cioran's life-in-Ro · Public domain

Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths23

AD 217 · 1809 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

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY 2.5

1143 · 883 yrs

John II Komnenos

John II Komnenos or Comnenus (Greek: Ἱωάννης Κομνηνός, romanized: Iōánnēs Komnēnós; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 55

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

1364 · 662 yrs

John II of France

John II (French: Jean II; 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good (French: Jean le Bon), was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 44

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

1492 · 534 yrs

Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (Italian:), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (Italian: Lorenzo il Magnifico; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 43

View profile Photo (modified): After Andrea del Verrocchio / After Orsino Benintendi · Public domain

1835 · 191 yrs

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named after him and his younger brother, Alexander von Humboldt, a naturalist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Lithographie von Friedrich Oldermann nach einem Gemälde von Franz Krüger ( https://www.sammlungen.hu-berlin.de/dokumente · Public domain

1848 · 178 yrs

Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer of the early Romantic era, best known for his over 70 operas.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 50

View profile Photo (modified): Rijksmuseum · CC0

1894 · 132 yrs

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (anglicised as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee; 26 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was a Bengali novelist, poet, essayist and journalist. Noted for his pro-British stance, he accepted the legitimacy of the British rule and supported English education.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 55

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

1931 · 95 yrs

Erik Axel Karlfeldt

Erik Axel Karlfeldt (20 July 1864 – 8 April 1931) was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söderblom, member of the Swedish Academy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Anders Zorn · Public domain

1936 · 90 yrs

Robert Bárány

Robert Bárány (Hungarian: Bárány Róbert, pronounced; 22 April 1876 – 8 April 1936) was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Emil Finn · Public domain

1945 · 81 yrs

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 120

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1950 · 76 yrs

Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav or Vatslav Fomich Nijinsky (12 March 1889/1890 – 8 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FashionWould be 137

View profile Photo (modified): unknwown · Public domain

1973 · 53 yrs

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor who spent most of his adult life in France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 145

View profile Photo (modified): Condor Films · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 23

Events5

1204 · 822 yrs

Siege of Constantinople

The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1904 · 122 yrs

Entente Cordiale

The Entente Cordiale (French pronunciation:; lit. 'Cordial Agreement') comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1965 · 61 yrs

Merger Treaty

The Merger Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Brussels, was a European treaty which unified the executive institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1967 · 59 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1967

The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the 12th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 8 April 1967 at the Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, Austria, and presented by Erica Vaal.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2024 · 2 yrs

Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024

A total solar eclipse, known as the Great North American Eclipse, occurred on April 8, 2024, and was visible across a band covering parts of North America, from Mexico to Canada and crossing the contiguous United States. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the Sun.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Science

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