today.nukz.net: Almanac April 6

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Events

46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.
1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
1667 – An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) founded the Chakri dynasty.
1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.
1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration — anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba. (Rule by the Bourbons is delayed a few weeks, though allies held most key locales of France.)
1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York.
1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—later renamed Community of Christ—is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois
1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan's debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
1865 – American Civil War: The 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.
1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
1869 – Celluloid is patented.
1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the Western world.
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress).
1919 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a general strike.
1923 – The first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia is formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia.
1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
1929 – Huey P. Long Governor of Louisiana is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
1930 – Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." beginning the Salt Satyagraha.
1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
1945 – World War II: the Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
1962 – Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1965 – The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.
1968 – In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1970 – Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
1974 – ABBA win the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with Waterloo.
1982 – Estonian Communist Party bureau declares "fight against bourgeois TV" — meaning Finnish TV — a top priority of the propagandists of Estonian SSR
1984 – Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
2008 – 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 bodies were exhumed from several mass graves made by Los Zetas.

Births

1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
1613 – Stjepan Gradic, Croatian philosopher and scientist (d. 1683)
1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1649)
1651 – André Dacier, French classical scholar (d. 1722)
1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German composer, organist and harpsichordist (d. 1722)
1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (d. 1742)
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and librettist, and Freemason (d. 1759)
1708 – Georg Reutter II, Austrian composer (d. 1772)
1725 – Pasquale Paoli, Corsican patriot and military leader (d. 1807)
1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French writer (d. 1794)
1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and printmaker (d. 1853)
1773 – James Mill, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1836)
1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English naturalist (d. 1888)
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 photography pioneer (d. 1910)
1823 – Joseph Medill, journalist and mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter (d. 1898)
1841 – Karl Binding, German jurist (d. 1920)
1849 – John William Waterhouse, British painter (d. 1917)
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (d. 1932)
1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French occultist (d. 1897)
1864 – William Bate Hardy, British biochemist (d. 1934)
1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (d. 1931)
1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian playwright, novelist and poet (d. 1951)
1871 – Prince Alexander John of Wales (d. 1871)
1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
1884 – Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (d. 1950)
1886 – Athenagoras I, Greek religious leader, 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 1972)
1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, The Last Nizam of Hyderabad state (d. 1967)
1886 – Walter Edward Dandy, American neurosurgery pioneer (d. 1946)
1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, film maker, graphic artist and avant-gardist (d. 1976)
1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian (d. 1967)
1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch aviation engineering pioneer (d. 1939)
1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aviation industrialist (d. 1981)
1892 – Lowell Thomas, American travel writer (d. 1981)
1894 – Gertrude Baines, American supercentenarian (d. 2009)
1895 – Dudley Nichols, American screenwriter (d. 1960)
1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, the wife of Amedeo Modigliani (d. 1920)
1900 – Leo Robin, American songwriter (d. 1984)
1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian Catholic (d. 1925)
1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (d. 1989)
1902 – Julien Torma, French writer, playwright and poet (d. 1933)
1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player (d. 1962)
1903 – Harold Edgerton, American electrical engineer (d. 1990)
1904 – Kurt Kiesinger, German politician (d. 1988)
1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Quebec writer, preacher and broadcaster (d. 1994)
1909 – William M. Branham, American evangelist (d. 1965)
1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer (d. 1993)
1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish painter, set designer and theater director (d. 1990)
1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor d.1998
1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist (d. 1987)
1917 – Leonora Carrington, British-born surrealist painter
1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian president (d. 1982)
1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician (d. 1998)
1920 – Jack Cover, American inventor of the Taser gun (d. 2009)
1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, Nobel laureate
1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-born singer and actor (d. 1990)
1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)
1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish politician
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American musician (d. 1996)
1928 – James D. Watson, American geneticist, Nobel laureate
1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and radio and television writer (d. 2005)
1929 – Joi Lansing, American model and actress (d. 1972)
1929 – André Previn, German-born composer and conductor
1931 – Baba Ram Dass, American Hindu spiritual teacher
1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor and director (d. 2008)
1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor (d. 2004)
1933 – Roy Goode, British lawyer
1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American politician (d. 2007)
1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch judoka (d. 2010)
1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian visual artist (d. 2008)
1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian-born science fiction writer (d. 2007)
1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli visual artist
1937 – Merle Haggard, American musician
1937 – Peter Maivia, Samoan professional wrestler (d. 1982)
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor
1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician
1938 – Roy Thinnes, American actor
1939 – André Ouellet, French Canadian politician
1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican writer and diplomat
1940 – Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Mexican actor
1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian
1941 – Hans W. Geissendörfer, German filmmaker
1941 – Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, American drag racer
1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian musician
1942 – Barry Levinson, American film producer/director
1944 – Felicity Palmer, English soprano
1945 – Neal Boortz, American radio personality
1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor
1947 – Mike Worboys, British mathematician
1948 – Patrika Darbo, American actress
1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer and songwriter
1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel laureate
1950 – Cleo Odzer, American writer
1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-born baseball player
1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer
1952 – Marilu Henner, American actress
1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
1953 – Christopher Franke, German musician and composer
1955 – Rob Epstein, American filmmaker and journalist
1955 – Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian serial killer
1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian comedian
1955 – Blind Mississippi Morris, American delta blues musician
1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor
1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinean visual artist
1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and administrator
1957 – Jaroslava Maxova, Czech opera singer
1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian astronaut
1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
1960 – Batem, French comic book artist
1960 – Warren Haynes, American guitarist and song writer
1960 – John Pizzarelli, American jazz guitarist, song writer, singer and bandleader
1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish comedian and impressionist
1962 – Iris Häussler, German installation artist
1963 – Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador
1964 – Phil Gayle, English news presenter
1965 – Frank Black, American singer/songwriter (Pixies and Frank Black and the Catholics)
1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player
1965 – Lieve Slegers, Belgian athlete
1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean film director
1967 – Jonathan Firth, British actor
1967 – Mika Koivuniemi, Finnish ten-pin bowler
1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian racing driver
1968 – Vanessa Lann, American composer
1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player
1969 – Jack Canfora, American playwright
1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (disappeared 2002)
1969 – Ari Meyers, Puerto Rican/American actress
1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian racing driver
1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
1969 – Louie Spence, English dancer/choreographer and TV personality
1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist
1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African/German ice hockey player
1971 – Lou Merloni, American baseball player
1972 – Jason Hervey, American actor
1972 – Ami James, Israeli/American tattoo artist
1972 – Jo Van Daele, Belgian discus thrower
1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
1973 – Joe Machine, English artist, poet and writer
1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese actress/singer
1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
1973 – Gina Yashere, English comedian
1974 – Robert Kovac, Croatian footballer
1975 – Zach Braff, American actor
1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress
1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic musician (Sigur Rós)
1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese sports writer
1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player
1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player
1978 – Myleene Klass, British singer
1978 – Martin Mendez, Uruguayan bassist (Opeth)
1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Zambian/Welsh footballer
1981 – Kari Jobe, American singer-songwriter
1981 – Alex Suarez, American bassist (Cobra Starship)
1982 – Michael Guy Chislett, Australian guitarist (The Academy Is...)
1982 – Herculez Gomez, American soccer player
1982 – Ilan Hall, American chef
1982 – Bret Harrison, American actor
1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Diora Baird, American actress and model
1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
1983 – Jade Seah, Singaporean model, host and actress
1983 – Dash Shaw, American comic book writer and artist
1983 – Bobbi Starr, American pornographic actress
1983 – James Wade, English darts player
1984 – Max Bemis, American musician and songwriter
1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Italian footballer
1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American model
1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
1988 – Mike Bailey, English actor
1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese/English footballer
1988 – Jucilei da Silva, Brazilian footballer
1995 – Ryutaro Morimoto, Japanese actor and singer
1998 – Peyton Roi List, American actress

Deaths

885 – Saint Methodius (b. c. 815)
1147 – Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
1199 – King Richard I of England (b. 1157)
1199 – Pierre Basile, French soldier
1362 – James I, Count of La Marche, French soldier (b. 1319)
1490 – Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, King of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1443)
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)
1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Russian painter (b. 1757)
1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1802)
1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek humanist scholar (b. 1748)
1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman and geologist (b. 1763)
1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (b. 1803)
1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American politician (b. 1801)
1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
1933 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer (b. 1842)
1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (b. 1869)
1947 – Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (b. 1896)
1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet (b. 1905)
1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Israeli professor and scholar of Islamic art (b. 1895)
1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist, 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)
1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (b. 1882)
1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
1974 – Sir Hudson Fysh, Australian aviator and businessman (b. 1895)
1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect (b. 1893)
1984 – Ral Donner, chanteur américain (b. 1943)
1992 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (b. 1920)
1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan politician (b. 1937)
1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician (b. 1956)
1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek politician (b. 1912)
1996 – Greer Garson, Irish actress (b. 1904)
1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
1998 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer (Plasmatics) (b. 1949)
1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942)
1999 – Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (b. 1908)
2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician (b. 1903)
2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer (b. 1963)
2003 – David Bloom, American reporter (b. 1963)
2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (b. 1927)
2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
2004 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets) (b. 1937)
2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
2006 – Maggie Dixon, American college basketball coach (b. 1977)
2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (b. 1917)
2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor (b. 1926)
2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian film director (b. 1916)
2009 – J.M.S. Careless, Canadian historian (b. 1919)
2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player (b. 1982)
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, Native-American activist, chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1945)
2010 – Corin Redgrave, British actor and political activist (b. 1939)