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This Day in History: April 19

What Happened On Your Birthday

What Happend On Today In History

Famous Birthday On April 19

  • 1952 Alexis Argüello

    Nicaraguan boxer, politician

  • 1937 Joseph Estrada

    Filipino actor, producer, politician, 13th President of the Philippines

  • 1987 Maria Sharapova

    Russian tennis player

  • 1933 Jayne Mansfield

    American model, actress, singer

  • 1978 James Franco

    American actor, director, producer, screenwriter

Deaths On April 19

  • 1882 Charles Darwin

    English scientist, theorist

  • 2004 John Maynard Smith

    English biologist

  • 1824 Lord Byron

    English poet

  • 1967 Konrad Adenauer

    German politician, Chancellor of West Germany

  • 1914 Charles Sanders Peirce

    American philosopher, mathematician, scientist

More Events On April 19

1770: Captain James Cook sights Australia

In 1770, British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia. In his log book, he wrote, "what we have as yet seen of this land appears rather low, and not very hilly, the face of the Country green and Woody, but the Sea shore is all a white Sand."

1775: American Revolutionary War begins

The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and 13 colonies of British North America. The war resulted in U.S. independence.

1909: Joan of Arc receives beatification by the Roman Catholic Church

In 1909, Joan of Arc, a national heroine of France, was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church. She was canonized as a saint in 1920.

1919: Leslie Irvin makes the world's first free-fall parachute jump

In 1919, Leslie Irvin executed the world's first free-fall parachute jump to test a new kind of parachute, which was also the first featuring a ripcord. Unfortunately, the Hollywood stuntman broke a leg on landing.

1971: Soviet Union launches the world's first manned space station

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the world's first manned space station. It was 23 meters long and offered 100 cubic meters of pressurized space.

1987: The first installment of The Simpsons is aired

In 1987, the hugely popular animated sitcom, The Simpsons, debuted on the Tracey Ullman Show in the form of one-minute shorts.

1995: Oklahoma City bombing

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the Oklahoma City bombing, set a truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring 500. The motives for the attack, which also killed 19 babies and children, remain somewhat unclear.

2011: Fidel Castro resigns from his position as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba

In 2011, Fidel Castro resigned from his position as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba after 45 years of holding the title.

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