Almanac April 5 :: Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), English philosopher whose impact on humanity cannot be overstated. His magnum opus, Leviathan (1651) established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory

Events

• 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos is crowned Byzantine emperor at Constantinople, bringing the Komnenian dynasty to full power.
• 1242 – During a battle on the ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
• 1566 – Two-hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. The Inquisition is suspended and a delegation is sent to Spain to petition Philip II.
• 1609 – Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyushu, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Okinawa.
• 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
• 1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to Great Britain.
• 1722 – The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.
• 1792 – U.S. President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.
• 1804 – High Possil Meteorite: The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil.
• 1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement – led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín – win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
• 1874 – Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, is opened in Birkenhead.
• 1879 – Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
• 1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover a large cache of clay tablets with hieroglyphic writing in a script they call Linear B.
• 1904 – The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
• 1922 – The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated.
• 1923 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company begins production of balloon-tires.
• 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi ends a 241 mile march to Dandi in the Salt Satyagraha.
• 1932 – Alcohol prohibition in Finland ends. Alcohol sales begin in Alko liquor stores.
• 1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: 10,000 rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
• 1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.
• 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi.
• 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 1943 – World War II: American bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. The target is the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit.
• 1944 – World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.
• 1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory".
• 1946 – Soviet troops leave the island of Bornholm, Denmark after an 11 month occupation.
• 1949 – Fireside Theater debuts on television.
• 1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.
• 1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.
• 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
• 1956 – Fidel Castro declares himself at war with the President of Cuba.
• 1956 – In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
• 1957 – In India, Communists win the first elections in united Kerala and E.M.S. Namboodiripad is sworn in as the first chief minister.
• 1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities.
• 1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches insurrection against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
• 1976 – In the People's Republic of China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen incident.
• 1986 – Three people are killed in the bombing of the La Belle Discothèque in West Berlin, Germany.
• 1991 – An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard.
• 1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
• 1992 – The Siege of Sarajevo begins when Serb paramilitaries murder peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic on the Vrbanja Bridge.
• 1998 – In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about $3.8 billion USD, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
• 1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
• 2007 – Georgia establishes a Provisional Administrative Entity in the disputed region of South Ossetia.
• 2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
• 2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

Births

• 1288 – Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
• 1472 – Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
• 1523 – Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer (d. 1596)
• 1588 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)
• 1595 – John Wilson, English composer, lutenist and teacher (d. 1674)
• 1604 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675)
• 1622 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician (d. 1703)
• 1649 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (d. 1721)
• 1692 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
• 1719 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish statesman and soldier; father of Axel von Fersen the Younger (d. 1794)
• 1727 – Pasquale Anfossi, Italian opera composer (d. 1797)
• 1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French artist (d. 1806)
• 1752 – Sébastien Érard, French musical instruments maker (d. 1831)
• 1769 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet Royal Navy Vice-Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty (d. 1839)
• 1784 – Louis Spohr, German composer and violinist (d. 1859)
• 1816 – Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1890)
• 1827 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon and pioneer of antiseptic surgery (d. 1912)
• 1832 – Jules Ferry, French statesman (d. 1893)
• 1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet (d. 1909)
• 1840 – Ghazaros Aghayan, Armenian writer, educator, folklorist, historian, linguist and public figure (d. 1911)
• 1856 – Booker T. Washington, American educator (d. 1915)
• 1857 – Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria (d. 1893)
• 1863 – Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1950)
• 1869 – Sergei Chaplygin, Russian physicist and engineer (d. 1942)
• 1869 – Albert Roussel, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1871 – Mirko Seljan, Croatian explorer (d. 1912)
• 1872 – Samuel Cate Prescott, American food scientist and microbiologist (d. 1962)
• 1875 – Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (d. 1956)
• 1893 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973)
• 1899 – Alfred Blalock, American surgeon (d. 1964)
• 1900 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
• 1901 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1906 – Lord Buckley, American monologist (d. 1960)
• 1908 – Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1908 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
• 1908 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d. 1986)
• 1909 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer (d. 1996)
• 1912 – John Le Mesurier, British actor (d. 1983)
• 1912 – István Örkény, Hungarian author (d. 1979)
• 1916 – Gregory Peck, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Albert Henry Ottenweller, American bishop
• 1917 – Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)
• 1920 – Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1971 until 1973 (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Arthur Hailey, Anglo-Canadian author (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Rafique Zakaria, Indian author (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Tom Finney, English footballer
• 1922 – Harry Freedman, Canadian musician, composer and music educator (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Christopher Hewett, British actor (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Gale Storm, American singer and actress (My Little Margie) (d. 2009)
• 1923 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Nguy?n Van Thi?u, President of South Vietnam (d. 2001)
• 1926 – Roger Corman, American film director
• 1928 – Fernand Dansereau, Canadian film director and producer
• 1928 – Tony Williams, American singer (The Platters) (d. 1992)
• 1929 – Hugo Claus, Belgian writer (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Ivar Giaever, Norwegian physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1929 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (d. 2001)
• 1929 – Joe Meek, English record producer (d. 1967)
• 1932 – Billy Bland, American singer and songwriter
• 1933 – Larry Felser, American sports columnist
• 1933 – Barbara Holland, American writer (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1934 – Roman Herzog, German politician
• 1934 – Stanley Turrentine, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2000)
• 1935 – Peter Grant, British music manager (d. 1995)
• 1936 – John Kelly, Irish republican politician (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Colin Powell, U.S. Army General, 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and 65th Secretary of State
• 1937 – Allan R. Thieme, American inventor
• 1938 – Colin Bland, South African cricketer
• 1939 – Ronald White, American singer and songwriter (d. 1995)
• 1939 – Crispian St. Peters, English singer (d. 2010)
• 1940 – Gilles Proulx, French Canadian historian, and radio and television host
• 1941 – Michael Moriarty, American actor
• 1941 – Dave Swarbrick, English folk musician
• 1942 – Peter Greenaway, Welsh film director
• 1943 – Max Gail, American actor
• 1944 – Pedro Rossello, Puerto Rican politician
• 1945 – Tommy Smith, English footballer
• 1946 – Jane Asher, British actress
• 1946 – Björn Granath, Swedish actor
• 1947 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 14th President of the Philippines
• 1948 – Les Binks, British musician, former drummer for Judas Priest
• 1948 – Dave Holland, British musician (Judas Priest)
• 1949 – John Berg, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1949 – Judith Resnik, American astronaut (d. 1986)
• 1950 – Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer (ABBA)
• 1950 – Miki Manojlovic, Serbian actor
• 1951 – Dean Kamen, American inventor
• 1951 – Gloria Diaz, Filipina actress, Miss Universe 1969
• 1951 – Bernie Ward, former American radio personality and convicted sex offender
• 1952 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor
• 1954 – Stan Ridgway, American musician (Wall of Voodoo)
• 1954 – Peter Case, American musician (The Nerves)
• 1955 – Janice Long, English broadcaster
• 1955 – Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
• 1955 – Charlotte de Turckheim, French actress
• 1956 – Diamond Dallas Page, American professional wrestler
• 1956 – Anthony Horowitz, English Author
• 1958 – Johan Kriek, South African/American tennis player
• 1958 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan journalist (d. 2009)
• 1960 – Asteris Koutoulas, Greek/German event and music producer, filmmaker and author
• 1961 – Jim LeRoy, American airshow pilot (d. 2007)
• 1961 – Lisa Zane, American actress
• 1962 – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of FIDE, First President of the Republic of Kalmykia (one of the autonomous republics of the Russian Federation),
• 1962 – Lana Clarkson, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1962 – Gord Donnelly, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1964 – Steve Beaton, English darts player
• 1964 – Marius Lacatus, Romanian footballer
• 1964 – Princess Erika, French singer
• 1964 – Christopher "Kid" Reid, American rapper (Kid 'n Play)
• 1965 – Cris Carpenter, American baseball player
• 1966 – Mike McCready, American musician (Pearl Jam)
• 1967 – Gary Gait, Canadian lacrosse player
• 1967 – Anu Garg, Indian/American author and speaker
• 1968 – Paula Cole, American musician
• 1970 – Thea Gill, Canadian actress
• 1970 – Miho Hatori, Japanese singer and songwriter (Cibo Matto)
• 1971 – Dong Abay, Filipino musician and singer-songwriter
• 1972 – Krista Allen, American actress
• 1972 – Tom Coronel, Dutch racing driver
• 1972 – Pat Green, American singer and songwriter
• 1972 – Paul Okon, Australian footballer
• 1972 – Yasuhiro Takemoto, Japanese animator and director
• 1973 – Tony Banks, American football player
• 1973 – Élodie Bouchez, French actress
• 1973 – Pharrell, American music producer (The Neptunes)
• 1974 – Sahaj Ticotin, American musician/producer (Ra)
• 1974 – Uhm Tae Woong, South Korean actor
• 1975 – John Hartson, Welsh footballer
• 1975 – Shammond Williams, American basketball player
• 1976 – Kim Collins, Nevisian sprinter
• 1976 – Ryan Drese, American baseball player
• 1976 – Ross Gload, American baseball player
• 1976 – Simone Inzaghi, Italian footballer
• 1976 – Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer
• 1978 – Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer
• 1978 – Stephen Jackson, American basketball player
• 1979 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer
• 1980 – Matt Bonner, American basketball player
• 1980 – Lee Jae Won, South Korean actor, singer, and rapper
• 1981 – Jorge de la Rosa, Mexican baseball player
• 1981 – Michael A. Monsoor, American soldier (d. 2006)
• 1982 – Hayley Atwell, English actress
• 1982 – Lacey Duvalle, American pornographic actress
• 1982 – Thomas Hitzlsperger, German footballer
• 1982 – Kelly Pavlik, American boxer
• 1982 – Matt Pickens, American footballer
• 1982 – Alexandre Prémat, French racing driver
• 1983 – Jorge Andrés Martínez, Uruguayan footballer
• 1984 – Shin Min-a, South Korean model and actress
• 1987 – Max Grün, German footballer
• 1988 – Christopher Papamichalopoulos, Cypriot skier
• 1988 – Alex Valentini, Italian footballer
• 1990 – Sophia Papamichalopoulou, Cypriot skier
• 1990 – Haruma Miura, Japanese actor

Deaths

• 582 – Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. c. 512)
• 1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)
• 1419 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)
• 1605 – Adam Loftus, English Protestant archbishop in Ireland (b. c. 1513)
• 1617 – Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer (b. 1555)
• 1673 – François Caron, French explorer (b. 1600)
• 1676 – John Winthrop, the Younger, American politician (b. 1606)
• 1693 – Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer (b. 1627)
• 1695 – George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, English writer (b. 1633)
• 1697 – King Charles XI of Sweden (b. 1655)
• 1717 – Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
• 1735 – William Derham, English minister and writer (b. 1657)
• 1735 – Samuel Wesley, English poet (b. 1662)
• 1765 – Edward Young, English poet (b. 1683)
• 1794 – Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1759)
• 1794 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (b. 1760)
• 1834 – Richard Goodwin Keats, Royal Navy admiral (b. 1757)
• 1864 – Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist (b. 1797)
• 1900 – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
• 1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier (b. 1866)
• 1928 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (b. 1890)
• 1932 – Phar Lap, Australian Racehorse (b. 1926)
• 1941 – Sir Nigel Gresley, Steam locomotive engineer (b. 1876)
• 1943 – Aleš Hrdlicka, Czech anthropologist (b. 1869)
• 1945 – Karl Otto Koch, German SS-officer (b. 1897)
• 1945 – Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (b. 1903)
• 1946 – Vincent Youmans, American songwriter (b. 1898)
• 1952 – Charles Collett, GWR chief mechanical engineer (b. 1871)
• 1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880)
• 1967 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1891)
• 1969 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (b. 1903)
• 1969 – Shelby Storck, American television producer (b. 1917)
• 1970 – Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)
• 1972 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (b. 1901)
• 1972 – Isabel Jewell, American actress (b. 1907)
• 1973 – John Coleman, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
• 1974 – A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882)
• 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Howard Hughes, American aviator (b. 1905)
• 1976 – Wilder Penfield, Canadian surgeon (b. 1891)
• 1979 – Eugène Gabritschevsky, Russian biologist and artist (b. 1893)
• 1981 – Bob Hite, American singer (Canned Heat) (b. 1945)
• 1982 – Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Danny Rapp, American musician (Danny & the Juniors) (b. 1941)
• 1987 – Jan Lindblad, Swedish naturalist, writer, photographer (b. 1932)
• 1989 – María Cristina Gómez, Salvadoran Teacher (b. 1938)
• 1991 – John Tower, American politician (b. 1925)
• 1991 – Sonny Carter, American astronaut (b. 1947)
• 1992 – Sam Walton, American retailer (b. 1918)
• 1993 – Divya Bharti, Indian Bollywood actress (b. 1974)
• 1994 – Kurt Cobain, musician (Nirvana) (b. 1967)
• 1995 – Françoise Loranger, Canadian playwright and radio producer (b. 1913)
• 1997 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
• 1998 – Cozy Powell, British musician (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Paul David, French-Canadian cardiologist (b. 1919)
• 2000 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Brother Theodore, German comedian (b. 1906)
• 2002 – Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
• 2004 – Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Slawomir Rawicz, Polish soldier (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Saul Bellow, Canadian born writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Dale Messick, American comic strip artist (b. 1906)
• 2005 – Debralee Scott, American actress (b. 1953)
• 2005 – John Sichel, British film and television director (b. 1937)
• 2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer (b. 1941)
• 2007 – Mark St. John, American musician (Kiss) (b. 1956)
• 2007 – Darryl Stingley, American football player (b. 1951)
• 2007 – Maria Gripe, Swedish writer (b. 1923)
• 2007 – Leela Majumdar, Bengali writer (b. 1908)
• 2007 – Poornachandra Tejaswi, Kannada writer (b. 1938)
• 2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman (b. 1946)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Albert of Montecorvino
  • Ethelburga of Lyminge
  • Derfel Gadarn
  • Gerald of Sauve-Majeure
  • Juliana of Liège
  • Maria Crescentia Höss
  • Ruadán of Lorrha
  • Vincent Ferrer
  • April 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Cold Food Festival, held on April 4 if it is a Leap Year (China); and its related observances:
  • Hansik and Arbor Day (South Korea)