397 Saint Ambrose, the renowned bishop of Milan, is traditionally believed to have died on April 4, 397 AD. He was one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century, known for his theological writings, defense of orthodox Christianity, and his role in shaping the doctrine and practices of the Western Church. His death on April 4th is widely commemorated in Christian calendars.
1147 The first Russian reference to Moscow is from April 4, 1147 when Prince Yuri Dolgoruki called upon the prince of Novgorod-Severski to "come to me, brother, to Moscow.” The city is named after the river (Моско́в, which means "the city next to the Moskva River"). By 1328 it had become the only collector of taxes for the Mongol-Tatar rulers. In 1480, Ivan III broke the Russians free from Tatar control. Moscow became the capital of the Russian empire.
1581 The Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth in September 1580 with Francis Drake and 59 remaining crew aboard, along with a rich cargo of spices and captured Spanish treasures. It was the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition and the first to be completed with the same man as captain throughout the entire journey. Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake aboard the Golden Hind at Deptford on April 4, 1581 for completing his circumnavigation of the world.
1617 Scottish nobleman and mathematician John Napier died on April 4, 1617. He is credited with the invention of logarithms, creating one of the earliest calculating machines, and popularizing the use of the decimal point. However, Napier considered his mathematical studies to be a mere hobby. A fervent Protestant, he regarded his book The Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John, an explanatory work on the Book of Revelation, to be his most important contribution to society.
1648 English sculptor and wood carver Grinling Gibbons was born on April 4, 1648. Widely regarded as the finest-ever woodcarver working in England, most of his work was in lime wood, especially decorative Baroque garlands made up of still-life elements at about life size, made to frame mirrors and decorate the walls of churches and palaces. His exquisite cascades of leaves, flowers and fruit adorn Hampton Park Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and countless other stately homes and churches.
1768 Former cavalry officer Philip Astley staged the first modern circus on April 4, 1768 with shows of acrobatic riding skills in an open field in the Waterloo area of London. This format was so successful that Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences, and later moved to fenced premises just south of Westminster Bridge, where he expanded the content of his show with acrobats, jugglers and dancing dogs.
1789 The Bounty was captained by Lieutenant William Bligh with the mission of collecting breadfruit from Tahiti as cheap food for slaves in the West Indies. The ship spent 10 months at sea sailing to Tahiti, where the crew spent a happy five months ashore and collected 1,015 breadfruit plants. The Bounty left Tahiti on April 4, 1789, on the way to Jamaica. On April 28, 1789, the crew mutinied not wanting to have to endure another long journey back to England.
1796 Georges Cuvier delivered his first paleontological lecture at École Centrale du Pantheon in Paris on April 4, 1796. His talk about living and fossil remains of elephants and related species, founded the science of Paleontology.
1802 Mental health activist Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in the town of Hampden, Maine and spent most of her childhood in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her alcoholic, itinerant worker father Joseph was frequently away from home, but he did foster Dorothea’s lifelong love of books and learning. Her mother suffered from debilitating bouts of depression, so as the oldest of three children, Dorothea ran her household and cared for her family members from a very young age.
1818 The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia passed the Flag Resolution on June 14, 1777, adopting the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States. On April 4, 1818, The United States Congress changed the flag of the United States to have one star for each state (then 20)., with a new star to be added when each new state was admitted. The number of red and white stripes was reduced to 13 so as to honor the original colonies.
1839 James Blyth, inventor of the wind turbine, was born on April 4, 1839 in Marykirk, Scotland. In July 1887 he built a cloth-sailed wind turbine in the garden of his holiday home in Marykirk and used the electricity it produced to charge accumulators; the stored electricity was used to power the lights in his cottage, which thus became the first house in the world to be powered by wind-generated electricity.
1841 President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inauguration speech on record, in bad, snowy weather, without wearing an overcoat or hat. He caught a serious case of pneumonia, but his busy social schedule made it hard to rest. Harrison's doctors tried cures of applying opium, castor oil, leeches, and Virginia snakeweed, but they only made the president worse. He died a month later on April 4, 1841. Harrison was the first President to die in office and with the shortest term served.
1841 John Tyler became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency without being elected to the office after the death of William Henry Harrison on April 4, 1841. A lot of people called him "the accidental president" or "His Accidency". Taking the oath of office, Tyler immediately moved into the White House and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually become codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
1850 Los Angeles was founded by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve and 44 Spanish settlers on September 4, 1781. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a city on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.
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| View of 17th-century Moscow (1922 drawing by Apollinary Vasnetsov) |
1581 The Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth in September 1580 with Francis Drake and 59 remaining crew aboard, along with a rich cargo of spices and captured Spanish treasures. It was the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition and the first to be completed with the same man as captain throughout the entire journey. Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake aboard the Golden Hind at Deptford on April 4, 1581 for completing his circumnavigation of the world.
1617 Scottish nobleman and mathematician John Napier died on April 4, 1617. He is credited with the invention of logarithms, creating one of the earliest calculating machines, and popularizing the use of the decimal point. However, Napier considered his mathematical studies to be a mere hobby. A fervent Protestant, he regarded his book The Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John, an explanatory work on the Book of Revelation, to be his most important contribution to society.
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| A set of Napier's calculating tables from around 1680 By Kim Traynor |
1648 English sculptor and wood carver Grinling Gibbons was born on April 4, 1648. Widely regarded as the finest-ever woodcarver working in England, most of his work was in lime wood, especially decorative Baroque garlands made up of still-life elements at about life size, made to frame mirrors and decorate the walls of churches and palaces. His exquisite cascades of leaves, flowers and fruit adorn Hampton Park Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and countless other stately homes and churches.
1768 Former cavalry officer Philip Astley staged the first modern circus on April 4, 1768 with shows of acrobatic riding skills in an open field in the Waterloo area of London. This format was so successful that Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences, and later moved to fenced premises just south of Westminster Bridge, where he expanded the content of his show with acrobats, jugglers and dancing dogs.
1789 The Bounty was captained by Lieutenant William Bligh with the mission of collecting breadfruit from Tahiti as cheap food for slaves in the West Indies. The ship spent 10 months at sea sailing to Tahiti, where the crew spent a happy five months ashore and collected 1,015 breadfruit plants. The Bounty left Tahiti on April 4, 1789, on the way to Jamaica. On April 28, 1789, the crew mutinied not wanting to have to endure another long journey back to England.
1796 Georges Cuvier delivered his first paleontological lecture at École Centrale du Pantheon in Paris on April 4, 1796. His talk about living and fossil remains of elephants and related species, founded the science of Paleontology.
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| Cuvier with a fish fossil Wikipedia |
1802 Mental health activist Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in the town of Hampden, Maine and spent most of her childhood in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her alcoholic, itinerant worker father Joseph was frequently away from home, but he did foster Dorothea’s lifelong love of books and learning. Her mother suffered from debilitating bouts of depression, so as the oldest of three children, Dorothea ran her household and cared for her family members from a very young age.
1818 The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia passed the Flag Resolution on June 14, 1777, adopting the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States. On April 4, 1818, The United States Congress changed the flag of the United States to have one star for each state (then 20)., with a new star to be added when each new state was admitted. The number of red and white stripes was reduced to 13 so as to honor the original colonies.
1821 Linus Yale Jr. was born on April 4, 1821. Inspired by the original 1840s pin-tumbler lock designed by his father, Linus Yale Sr, he invented and patented in 1851 a small cylinder lock with pin tumblers. It was operated by a smaller flat key with serrated edges as well as pins of varying lengths within the lock itself. This was the first modern pin-tumbler lock.
1841 President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inauguration speech on record, in bad, snowy weather, without wearing an overcoat or hat. He caught a serious case of pneumonia, but his busy social schedule made it hard to rest. Harrison's doctors tried cures of applying opium, castor oil, leeches, and Virginia snakeweed, but they only made the president worse. He died a month later on April 4, 1841. Harrison was the first President to die in office and with the shortest term served.
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| Death of Harrison, April 4, 1841 |
1841 John Tyler became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency without being elected to the office after the death of William Henry Harrison on April 4, 1841. A lot of people called him "the accidental president" or "His Accidency". Taking the oath of office, Tyler immediately moved into the White House and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually become codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
1850 Los Angeles was founded by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve and 44 Spanish settlers on September 4, 1781. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a city on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.
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| The Plaza and "Old Plaza Church" Los Angeles in 1869 |
1928 Maya Angelou, the acclaimed American author, poet, and civil rights activist, was born on April 4, 1928. She was a significant figure in literature and activism, best known for her autobiographical work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her contributions to the civil rights movement.
1941 On April 4, 1941, George S Patton was promoted to major general and made Commanding General (CG) of the 2nd Armored Division during World War II. During the war he was nicknamed ‘ Old Blood and Guts’ for his ruthless drive and leadership as Allied commander. Patton's emphasis on aggressive offensive action proved effective, but his hard-driving personality and success as a commander were at times overshadowed by controversial public statements.
1968 On April 4, 1968, 39-year-old civil rights campaigner Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, when leaving his room at Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee, to attend a dinner at the home of the Reverend Samuel (Billy) Kyles. On the night before he was assassinated, he had prophetically said in a speech at Memphis "I've been to the mountain top.... I've looked over and seen the Promised Land." He was alluding to Moses who just before his death had seen the Promised Land from a mountaintop.
1975 Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is a combination of the words "microcomputer" and "software," and the name was originally spelled as "Micro-soft." The company made $16,005 in revenue in its first year of operation.
1977 Kenton "Factor" Grua (1950 – 2002) was a Grand Canyon river guide. He was the first person in recorded history to hike through the Grand Canyon's entire length. Grua reached the end of the canyon, Grand Wash Cliffs, on April 4, 1977, exactly five weeks after he had begun. In 1983, Grua set the speed record for rowing through the canyon in 37 hours, which has yet to be broken.
2002 Civil war followed the granting of full independence to Angola on November 11, 1975. The war continued on and off until a peace treaty was signed by The Angolan government and UNITA rebels on April 4, 2002. Approximately 500,000 people lost their lives in the civil war.
2004 Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, which hosted the inaugural Gulf Air Grand Prix on April 4, 2004, the first in an Arab country. Since then, Bahrain has become a regular fixture on the Formula One calendar.
1968 On April 4, 1968, 39-year-old civil rights campaigner Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, when leaving his room at Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee, to attend a dinner at the home of the Reverend Samuel (Billy) Kyles. On the night before he was assassinated, he had prophetically said in a speech at Memphis "I've been to the mountain top.... I've looked over and seen the Promised Land." He was alluding to Moses who just before his death had seen the Promised Land from a mountaintop.
1975 Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is a combination of the words "microcomputer" and "software," and the name was originally spelled as "Micro-soft." The company made $16,005 in revenue in its first year of operation.
1977 Kenton "Factor" Grua (1950 – 2002) was a Grand Canyon river guide. He was the first person in recorded history to hike through the Grand Canyon's entire length. Grua reached the end of the canyon, Grand Wash Cliffs, on April 4, 1977, exactly five weeks after he had begun. In 1983, Grua set the speed record for rowing through the canyon in 37 hours, which has yet to be broken.
2002 Civil war followed the granting of full independence to Angola on November 11, 1975. The war continued on and off until a peace treaty was signed by The Angolan government and UNITA rebels on April 4, 2002. Approximately 500,000 people lost their lives in the civil war.
2004 Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, which hosted the inaugural Gulf Air Grand Prix on April 4, 2004, the first in an Arab country. Since then, Bahrain has become a regular fixture on the Formula One calendar.
2017 A Swiss couple Emil and Liliana Schmid have earned their place in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest driven journey in the same car. As of April 4, 2017 they had driven 741,065 km (460,476 miles) and traveled across 186 countries in the same Toyota Land Cruiser in a journey that started on October 18, 1984 and is still ongoing.
2019 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's divorce from MacKenzie Bezos was announced on April 4, 2019 after 25 years of marriage. At the time it was the most expensive divorce in legal history with MacKenzie Bezos getting $35 billion dollars. It was superseded by Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce finalized in 2021. While the exact amount isn't public, estimates place Melinda Gates' settlement at $76 billion.
2020 The most recent worldwide language to become extinct was Aka-Cari, a Great Andamanese language spoken by the Cari people, who originally living on the northernmost part of North Andaman Island and on Landfall Island in the Indian Ocean. The last speaker, a woman called Licho, died from chronic tuberculosis on April 4, 2020.
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