April 22

April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). There are 253 days remaining.

Events

• 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.
• 1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England after the death of his father.
• 1529 – Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.
• 1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
• 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
• 1889 – Oklahoma land rush: President Benjamin Harrison opens the Unassigned Lands in what is now central Oklahoma to white settlement.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
• 1913 – Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publications in Saint Petersburg.
• 1914 – Babe Ruth, age 19, pitches his first professional game for the minor league Baltimore Orioles.
• 1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
• 1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
• 1943 – Albert Hofmann writes his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD.
• 1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea.
• 1945 – World War II: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
• 1946 – The first installment of the popular Japanese comic strip, Sazae-san, is published in the Fukunichi Shimbun.
• 1954 – Red Scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.
• 1970 – First Earth Day celebrated.
• 1971 – John Kerry, dressed in combat fatigues, testifies on his views of the Vietnam War before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts antiwar protests in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
• 1975 – Barbara Walters signs a five-year $5 million contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), becoming the highest paid television newsperson.
• 1978 – The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
• 1993 – In Washington, DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated.
• 1993  – The web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released.
• 1996 – Cisco Systems acquires StrataCom for $4B
• 1997 – Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
• 1997  – A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14 rebels are slain.
• 2000 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida.
• 2004 – Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.

Births

• 1451 – Isabella of Castile (d. 1504)
• 1518 – Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henry IV of France (d. 1562)
• 1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain of England (d. 1604)
• 1610 – Pope Alexander VIII (d. 1691)
• 1707 – Henry Fielding, English author (d. 1754)
• 1724 – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (d. 1804)
• 1766 – Madame de Staël, French author (d. 1817)
• 1812 – Solomon Caesar Malan, orientalist (d. 1894)
• 1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
• 1870 (N.S.) – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, state leader, also Vladmir Ilyich Ulynanov (d. 1924)
• 1873 – Ellen Glasgow, American author (d. 1945)
• 1876 – Robert Bárány, Nobel Prize winner in medicine (d. 1936)
• 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
• 1891 – Harold Jeffreys, English astronomer (d. 1989)
• 1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian writer (d. 1977)
• 1904 – Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)
• 1906 – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne (d. 1946)
• 1907 – Ivan Efremov, Russian paleontologist, taphonomist, science fiction author (d. 1972)
• 1908 – Eddie Albert, American actor
• 1910 – Norman Steenrod, American mathematician (d. 1971)
• 1912 – Kathleen Ferrier, American contralto (d. 1953)
• 1914 – Jan de Hartog, Dutch writer (d. 2002)
• 1916 – Yehudi Menuhin, violinist (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Charles Mingus, musician (d. 1979)
• 1922 – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist (d. 1973)
• 1923 – Bettie Page, pin-up model
• 1923  – Aaron Spelling, television producer, writer
• 1926 – James Stirling, British architect (d. 1992)
• 1926 – Charlotte Rae, American actress
• 1936 – Glen Campbell, American musician
• 1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
• 1937 – Jack Nitzsche, American composer, arranger (d. 2000)
• 1939 – Jason Miller, American playwright (d. 2001)
• 1943 – Louise Glück, US poet
• 1944 – Steve Fossett, millionaire adventurer
• 1946 – John Waters, American film writer, director
• 1950 – Peter Frampton, musician
• 1952 or 1954 – Marilyn Chambers, erotic actress
• 1959 – Ryan Stiles, Canadian-American actor, comedian
• 1967 – Sheryl Lee, American actress
• 1974 – Shavo Odadjian, bassist for System of a Down
• 1975 – Greg Moore, race car driver (CART) (d. 1999)
• 1977 – Andruw Jones, baseball player

Deaths

• 296 – Pope Caius
• 536 – Pope Agapetus I
• 1833 – Richard Trevithick, English inventor (b. 1771)
• 1896 – Thomas Meik, civil engineer (b. 1812)
• 1908 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, British Prime Minister & politician (b. 1836)
• 1946 – Harlan F. Stone, US Chief Justice (b. 1872)
• 1951 – Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (b. 1870)
• 1968 – Stephen H. Sholes, American recording executive (b. 1911)
• 1978 – Will Geer, American actor, activist
• 1983 – Earl "Fatha" Hines, jazz musician (b. 1903)
• 1984 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (b. 1902)
• 1988 – Irene Rich, actress
• 1994 – Richard Nixon, President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 1995 – Maggie Kuhn, American activist
• 1996 – Erma Bombeck, humorist, writer (b. 1927)
• 2002 – Linda Lovelace, American erotic actress
• 2003 – Martha Griffiths, Congresswoman, women's rights proponent (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Michael Larrabee, US athlete (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Pat Tillman, US football player (b. 1976)
• 2005 – Philip Morrison, Professor (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

• Earth Day
• Brazil – Discovery Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 21 – April 23 – March 22 – May 22 – listing of all days