April 6: Encyclopedia - April 6

April 6

April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (97th in leap years). There are 269 days remaining.

April 6 - Events

• 648 BC - Earliest solar eclipse recorded by the Ancient Greeks.
• 402 - Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia
• 1320 - The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
• 1327 - The poet Petrarch first saw his idealized love Laura in the church of Saint Claire in Avignon.
• 1652 - Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope, which will eventually develop into Cape Town.
• 1782 - Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Thailand, who was overthrown in a coup d'état.
• 1808 - John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.
• 1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette, New York.
• 1832 - Indian Wars: Black Hawk War begins - The Sauk warrior Black Hawk enters into war with the United States.
• 1841 - John Tyler is inaugurated as the 10th President of the United States.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh begins - In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Sayler's Creek - Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
• 1869 - Celluloid is patented.
• 1886 - Vancouver, British Columbia is incorporated as a city.
• 1895 - Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry.
• 1896 - In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games after 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
• 1893 - Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
• 1903 - The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) began, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the west.
• 1909 - Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole.
• 1911 - Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, Leader of the Malësori Albanians raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro for the first time after Gjergj Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
• 1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany (see Wilson's address to Congress).
• 1926 - Walter Varney Airlines makes first commercial flight from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada. Varney is the root company of United Airlines.
• 1930 - Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he started Salt Satyagraha.
• 1930 - Hostess Twinkies are invented.
• 1930 - Will Rogers starts broadcasting The Will Rogers Program on radio.
• 1931 - Little Orphan Annie debuts on the Blue Network of NBC.
• 1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
• 1941 - World War II: Operation Castigo begins - Germany invades Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.
• 1965 - Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in synchronous orbit, is launched.
• 1968 - In London, United Kingdom, Massiel wins the thirteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Spain singing "La, la, la."
• 1970 - Four California Highway Patrol officers die in one of the worst cop killings in the CHP's history; this is known as the Newhall Incident.
• 1972 - Vietnam War: Easter Offensive - The first day of clear weather in three days allows American forces to start sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
• 1973 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
• 1974 - The California Jam Rock concert begins.
• 1974 - In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the nineteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Waterloo."
• 1984 - Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard from country's northern region attack various government buildings in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
• 1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard takes the middleweight boxing title from Marvin Hagler.
• 1993 - Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7.
• 1994 - The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by extremists.
• 1998 - Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
• 1998 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 49.82 to close at 9,033.23 -- its first-ever close above 9,000.
• 2001 - Miller Park opens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 2004 - Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.

April 6 - Births

• 1483 - Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
• 1651 - André Dacier, French classical scholar (d. 1722)
• 1664 - Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (d. 1742)
• 1671 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
• 1725 - Pasquale Paoli, Corsican patriot and military leader (d. 1807)
• 1812 - Alexander Herzen, Russian writer (d. 1870)
• 1815 - Robert Volkmann, German composer (d. 1883)
• 1818 - Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet (d. 1870)
• 1820 - Nadar, French photographer (d. 1910)
• 1823 - Joseph Medill, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
• 1826 - Gustave Moreau, French painter (d. 1898)
• 1866 - Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (d. 1909)
• 1878 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
• 1884 - Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (d. 1950)
• 1890 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch designer of aircraft (d. 1939)
• 1892 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American industrialist (d. 1981)
• 1892 - Lowell Thomas, American travel writer (d. 1981)
• 1902 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (d. 1989)
• 1903 - Mickey Cochrane, baseball player (d. 1962)
• 1903 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (d. 1990)
• 1911 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)
• 1920 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1926 - Sergio Franchi, Italian-born singer and actor (d. 1990)
• 1926 - Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)
• 1926 - Ian Paisley, British politician
• 1927 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (d. 1996)
• 1928 - James D. Watson, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1929 - André Previn, German-born composer and conductor
• 1931 - Ivan Dixon, American actor and director
• 1933 - Roy Goode, British lawyer
• 1934 - Anton Geesink, Dutch judoka
• 1937 - Merle Haggard, American musician
• 1937 - Billy Dee Williams, American actor
• 1938 - Paul Daniels, English magician
• 1938 - Roy Thinnes, American actor
• 1941 - Phil Austin, American comedian
• 1941 - Zamfir, Romanian musician
• 1942 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
• 1944 - Felicity Palmer, English soprano
• 1947 - John Ratzenberger, American actor
• 1949 - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1951 - Bert Blyleven, Dutch Major League Baseball player
• 1952 - Udo Dirkschneider, German singer (Accept and U.D.O.)
• 1952 - Marilu Henner, American actress
• 1954 - Thom Bray, American actor
• 1955 - Michael Rooker, American actor
• 1965 - Frank Black, American singer and songwriter (Pixies)
• 1969 - Bison Dele, American basketball player (disappeared 2002)
• 1969 - Ari Meyers, Puerto Rican-born American actress
• 1970 - Olaf Kölzig, South African hockey player
• 1973 - Donnie Edwards, American football player
• 1973 - Rie Miyazawa, Japanese actress and singer
• 1975 - Zach Braff, American actor
• 1976 - Candace Cameron, American actress

April 6 - Deaths

• 1199 - King Richard I of England (killed in battle) (b. 1157)
• 1362 - James I, Count of La Marche, French soldier (b. 1319)
• 1490 - King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
• 1520 - Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
• 1528 - Albrecht Dürer, German artist (b. 1471)
• 1551 - Joachim Vadian, Swiss humanist (b. 1484)
• 1571 - John Hamilton, Scottish prelate and politician
• 1590 - Francis Walsingham, English spymaster
• 1605 - John Stow, English historian
• 1655 - David Blondel, French protestant clergyman (b. 1591)
• 1686 - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English royalist statesman (b. 1614)
• 1707 - Willem van de Velde, the younger, Dutch painter (b. 1633)
• 1755 - Richard Rawlinson, English minister and antiquarian (b. 1690)
• 1829 - Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1802)
• 1838 - José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman and geologist (b. 1763)
• 1862 - Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (b. 1803)
• 1883 - Benjamin Raymond, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
• 1906 - Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
• 1935 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (b. 1869)
• 1961 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)
• 1963 - Otto Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1897)
• 1970 - Sam Sheppard, American accused murderer (b. 1923)
• 1971 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (b. 1882)
• 1974 - Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
• 1986 - Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-Italian footballer
• 1992 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (b. 1920)
• 1994 - Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
• 1994 - Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (b. 1956)
• 1996 - Greer Garson, Irish actress (b. 1904)
• 1998 - Wendy O. Williams, American musician (Plasmatics) (b. 1949)
• 1998 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (b. 1942)
• 2000 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
• 2003 - David Bloom, American reporter (pulmonary embolism) (b. 1963)
• 2003 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (b. 1927)
• 2004 - Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
• 2005 - Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)

April 6 - Holidays and observances

• Feast day of St. Sixtus and Marcellinus of Carthage in the Roman Catholic Church.
• The start of the tax year in the United Kingdom (arising from the 11 day correction to March 25 at the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752).
• Tartan Day, a day set aside for the celebration of the Scottish influence on America.
• The date of organization of the Church of Christ (Mormonism), and the start of the Restoration Movement by Joseph Smith Junior, from which are various off shoots such as the Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, officially organized on April 6th 1830 CE.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "April 6", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki