April 7 - Definition and Overview

April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.

Events

• 529 - first draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
• 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
• 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu
• 1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII
• 1795 - France adopts the metre as the unit of length
• 1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain
• 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
• 1827 - John Walker (inventor), an English chemist, invents the friction match.
• 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II
• 1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
• 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• 1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
• 1908 - Herbert Henry Asquith takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
• 1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming.
• 1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City; image was of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
• 1927 - Ottawa Senators defeat the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup
• 1934 - The U.S. Congress passes the Jones-Connally Farm-Relief Act.
• 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
• 1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
• 1943 - First synthesis of LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, by Albert Hoffman
• 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
• 1946 - Syria's independence from Vichy France is officially recognised
• 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• 1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
• 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
• 1955 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
• 1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
• 1964 - IBM announces the System/360
• 1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
• 1968 - Formula One racer Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany.
• 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
• 1973 - In Luxembourg, Anne-Marie David wins the eighteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Tu te reconnaîtras" (You will recognize yourself).
• 1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light
• 1977 - Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox
• 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
• 1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
• 1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors die.
• 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
• 1993 - Attack submarine ex-Queenfish completes being recycled
• 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
• 1998 - Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
• 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
• 2000 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled
• 2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
• 2001 - An M-17 helicopter crashes into mountain in south of Hanoi, Vietnam killing 16.
• 2003 - US troops capture Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later
• 2003 - Fictitious birthday of Astro Boy is celebrated.

Births

• 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
• 1652 - Pope Clement XII, né Lorenzo Corsini (d. 1740)
• 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
• 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
• 1803 - James Curtiss, mayor of Chicago, IL (d. 1859)
• 1867 - Holger Pedersen, Dutch linguist (d. 1953)
• 1873 - John McGraw, baseball coach, manager, player, Hall of Famer (d. 1934)
• 1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, in Denmark, inventor of Lego
• 1893 - Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (d. 1969)
• 1897 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist (d. 1972)
• 1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
• 1908 - Percy Faith, composer, musician (d. 1976)
• 1915 - Billie Holiday, American jazz and Blues singer (d. 1959)
• 1915 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction writer (d. 1958)
• 1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player, Hall of Famer
• 1920 - Ravi Shankar, musician
• 1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Latin jazz musician (d. 2003)
• 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
• 1928 - James Garner, actor
• 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, producer, director (d. 1998)
• 1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor
• 1938 - Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter
• 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
• 1939 - Sir David Frost, broadcaster, television host
• 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
• 1946 - Colette Besson, French runner
• 1949 - John Oates, musician ("Hall and Oates")
• 1951 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
• 1954 - Jackie Chan, actor
• 1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football star
• 1956 - Christopher Darden, O.J. Simpson prosecuter
• 1964 - Russell Crowe, actor
• 1965 - Bill Bellamy, actor, comedian (Fled, Any Given Sunday, Fastlane)
• 1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player

Deaths

• 1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyo (b. 1576)
• 1614 - El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos), artist (b. 1541)
• 1739 - Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged (b. 1706)
• 1761 - Thomas Bayes mathematician (b. 1702)
• 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
• 1858 - Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer (b. 1781)
• 1871 - Alexander Lloyd, mayor of Chicago, IL (b. 1805)
• 1891 - P. T. Barnum, circus impresario (b. 1810)
• 1939 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
• 1947 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist (b. 1863)
• 1950 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor (b. 1884)
• 1955 - Theda Bara, silent film actress (b. 1885)
• 1961 - Marian Jordan, actress
• 1968 - Jim Clark, racing driver (b. 1936)
• 1981 - Norman Taurog, director
• 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
• 1997 - Witto Aloma, Major League Baseball player (b. 1923)
• 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, preeminent conservationist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
• 2001 - Beatrice Straight, Academy Award-winning actress (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Ferdinand Seibt, historian
• 2003 - Jutta Hipp, pianist
• 2003 - Cecile de Brunhoff, children's book author Babar

Holidays and observances

• Araw ng Kagitingan was moved this year from April 9 to April 7 to give the residents a long weekend and help tourism in the Philippines.

• World Health Day - April 7th of every year is designated as World Health Day and celebrated by the 191 member countries of the World Health Organization to emphasize significant issues in public health of worldwide concern. Observed annually since 1948.

April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 -- listing of all days