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.
1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII.
1795 - France adopts the metre as the basic measure 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.
1805 - First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).
1827 - John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match. He had invented it in the previous year.
1829 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
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.
1867 - Johnson C. Smith University was established this day.
1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1908 - H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party 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 petroleum reserves in Wyoming.
1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 - The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, the first law meant to discriminate specifically against Jews is passed by the National Socialist regime in Germany.
1933 - Prohibition was repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight (or 4% by volume), eight months before the ratification of XXI amendment.
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 Hofmann.
1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while en-route on a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go.
1945 - Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan.
1946 - Syria's independence from 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, Conservative Party, 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.
1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
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 killing 42 sailors.
1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction was reversed on appeal).
1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.
1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
2003 - U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.

Births

1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1613 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)
1652 - Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
1763 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer
1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
1803 - Flora Tristan, French feminist and socialist philosopher (d. 1844)
1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1848 - Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)
1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
1870 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)
1873 - John McGraw, baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
1886 - Ed Lafitte, baseball player (d. 1971)
1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)
1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (d. 1958)
1893 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)
1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
1915 - Billie Holiday, American singer (d. 1959)
1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1958)
1917 - R.G. Armstrong, American actor
1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player
1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer
1920 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban musician (d. 2003)
1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)
1928 - James Garner, American actor
1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)
1928 - James White, Northern Irish science fiction writer (d. 1999)
1929 - Bob Denard, French soldier
1930 - Andrew Sachs, British actor
1931 - Donald Barthelme, American author
1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor
1935 - Bobby Bare, American musician
1936 - Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist
1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician
1938 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter
1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
1939 - Sir David Frost, English broadcaster and television host
1944 - Julia Phillips, American film producer and writer (d. 2002)
1944 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
1945 - Joël Robuchon, French chef
1945 - Magnús Þór Jónsson (Megas), Icelandic vocalist, songwriter and writer
1945 - Werner Schroeter, German film director
1946 - Colette Besson, French runner
1949 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
1951 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
1954 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor
1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
1956 - Charles Carreon, American lawyer and author
1956 - Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecuter
1961 - Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1962 - Hugh O'Connor, American actor (d. 1995)
1962 - Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber
1964 - Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor
1965 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
1965 - Alison Lapper, British artist
1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
1969 - Ricky Watters, American football player
1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
1971 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor
1971 - Rob Steele, American author
1973 - Carole Montillet, French skier
1973 - Ève Salvail, Canadian model
1975 - Tiki Barber, American football player
1975 - Ronde Barber, American football player
1979 - Tony Malone, British designer and activist
1982 - Sonjay Dutt, Indian professional wrestler

Deaths

858 - Pope Benedict III
1307 - Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1271)
1498 - King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
1614 - El Greco, Greek-born artist (b. 1541)
1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma (b. 1576)
1651 - Lennart Torstenson, Swedish soldier and engineer (b. 1603)
1658 - Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
1661 - Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English soldier and politician (b. 1604)
1663 - Francis Cooke, Mayflower pilgrim (b. c. 1583)
1668 - William Davenant, English poet (b. 1606)
1719 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French saint (b. 1651)
1739 - Dick Turpin, English highwayman (hanged) (b. 1706)
1747 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshall (b. 1676)
1761 - Thomas Bayes, English mathematician (b. 1702)
1766 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
1767 - Franz Sparry, composer (b. 1715)
1782 - Taksin, King of Thailand (b. 1734)
1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1725)
1789 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (b. 1722)
1801 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
1823 - Jacques Charles, French chemist (b. 1746)
1833 - Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (b. 1775)
1836 - William Godwin, English political writer (b. 1756)
1850 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
1858 - Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, editor, and composer (b. 1781)
1871 - Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
1885 - Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
1891 - P. T. Barnum, American circus impresario (b. 1810)
1928 - Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (b. 1873)
1939 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
1943 - Jovan Ducic, Serbian poet
1943 - Alexandre Millerand, President of France (b. 1859)
1947 - Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer and industrialist (b. 1863)
1950 - Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (b. 1884)
1955 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
1968 - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
1981 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
1984 - Frank Church, U.S. Senator from Idaho (b. 1924)
1986 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1912)
1990 - Ronald Evans, astronaut (b. 1933)
1994 - Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic professional football player and politician (b. 1923)
1994 - Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
1994 - Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
1997 - Witto Aloma, baseball player (b. 1923)
1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
1997 - Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese movie producer (Godzilla) (b. 1910)
1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
2001 - David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
2001 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
2002 - John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
2003 - Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
2005 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

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.
Mozambique - Women's Day.

Liturgical feasts

The feast of Annunciation is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Catholic Church:

Saint Herman-Jozef (died 1241)
Saint John Baptist de La Salle (d.1719}

External links

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

Gourt Home::Gourt :: April 7

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Liturgical feasts

External links