What happened on April 15? There are more than 328 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About April 15
April 15 is the 106th day of the year 2024. There are 260 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 16th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Lohrville, Iowa 51453 sunrise occured at 06:34 AM and sunset occured at 08:01 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aries. The modern birthstone for this month is Diamond while the mystical birthstone is Opal.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 289 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 21 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For April 15
- 1071Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
- 1450Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
- 1632Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.
- 1638Tokugawa shogunate forces put down the Shimabara Rebellion when they retake Hara Castle from the rebels.
- 1715Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
- 1738Premiere in London, England, Great Britain of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
- 1755Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
- 1783Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.
- 1802William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a “long belt” of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
- 1817Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.
- 1865Abraham Lincoln dies without regaining consciousness after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth.
- 1892The General Electric Company is formed.
- 1896Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
- 1900Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
- 1912The British passenger liner, the RMS Titanic, sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two and a half hours after hitting an iceberg. 1,517 people are killed.
- 1920Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
- 1921Black Friday: mine owners announce more wage and price cuts, leading to the threat of a strike all across England.
- 1923Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
- 1924Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
- 1927The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the most destructive river flood in U.S. history, begins.
- 1935Roerich Pact signed in Washington, D.C.
- 1936First day of the Arab revolt in Palestine.
- 1940The Allies begin their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which is occupied by Nazi Germany.
- 1941In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attack Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom killing one thousand people.
- 1942The George Cross is awarded to “to the island fortress of Malta – its people and defenders” by King George VI.
- 1943An Allied bomber attack misses the Minerva automobile factory and hits the Belgian town of Mortsel instead, killing 936 civilians.
- 1945The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
- 1947Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line.
- 1952The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress
- 1955McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois
- 1957White Rock, British Columbia officially separates from Surrey, British Columbia and is incorporated as a new city.
- 1958Walter O'Malley’s Los Angeles Dodgers host the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast of the United States.
- 1960At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
- 1969The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
- 1970During the Cambodian Civil War, massacres of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong River into South Vietnam.
- 1979A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) occurs on Montenegro coast.
- 1986The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
- 1989Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi Final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
- 1989Upon Hu Yaobang’s death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People’s Republic of China.
- 1992The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- 1994Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
- 2002An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
Who Were Born On April 15?
- 1452Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath (d. 1519)
- 1469Guru Nanak Dev, the first of the ten Sikh Gurus (d. 1539)
- 1489Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
- 1552Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
- 1588Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
- 1641Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician (d. 1722)
- 1642Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
- 1646King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
- 1646Pierre Poiret, French mystic (d. 1719)
- 1684Empress Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
- 1688Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
- 1707Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1710William Cullen, Scottish physician (d. 1790)
- 1721Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
- 1741Charles Willson Peale, American painter, soldier and naturalist (d. 1827)
- 1772Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
- 1793Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
- 1794Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
- 1800James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
- 1809Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician (d. 1877)
- 1828Jean Danjou, French Foreign Legion officer (d. 1863)
- 1832Wilhelm Busch, German poet (d. 1908)
- 1841Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian distillery founder (d. 1919)
- 1843Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
- 1856Jean Moréas, Greek poet (d. 1910)
- 1858Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
- 1861Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
- 1874George Harrison Shull, American plant geneticist (d. 1954)
- 1874Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
- 1875James J. Jeffries, American heavyweight boxer (d. 1953)
- 1878Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
- 1879Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer (d. 1980)
- 1883Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
- 1885Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1886Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
- 1888Maximilian Kronberger, German poet (d. 1904)
- 1889A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
- 1889Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
- 1892Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author and Holocaust survivor (d. 1983)
- 1892Theo Osterkamp, World War I and World War II German fighter pilot (d. 1975)
- 1894Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
- 1894Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
- 1895Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards player (d. 1980)
- 1896Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
- 1901Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
- 1902Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
- 1904Arshile Gorky, Armenian artist (d. 1948)
- 1907Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
- 1908Eden Ahbez, American songwriter (d. 1995)
- 1908Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1910Miguel Najdorf, Argentine chess grandmaster (d. 1997)
- 1912Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
- 1916Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
- 1917Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1917James Kee, American politician (d. 1989)
- 1919Alberto Breccia, Uruguay-born Argentine comics artist and writer (d. 1993)
- 1920Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany
- 1920Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist
- 1921Angelo DiGeorge, Italian-American pediatric endocrinologist (d. 2009)
- 1921Georgi Beregovoi, Russian cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- 1922Harold Washington, American politician (d. 1987)
- 1922Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
- 1923Robert DePugh, American anti-Communist activist (d. 2009)
- 1924Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor
- 1927Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
- 1930Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
- 1931Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish writer, poet and translator, recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature
- 1933David Hamilton, British photographer, film director and producer
- 1933Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1933Jim Towers, English footballer (d. 2010)
- 1933Roy Clark, American musician
- 1935Stavros Paravas, Greek actor
- 1936Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
- 1937Bob Luman, American country singer (d. 1978)
- 1938Hso Khan Pha, Burmese politician
- 1939Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
- 1939Marty Wilde, British singer
- 1940Jeffrey Archer, British author
- 1940Robert Lacroix, French Canadian professor of economics
- 1940Robert Walker Jr., American actor
- 1940Willie Davis, American baseball player
- 1940Woodie Fryman, American baseball player
- 1941Howard Berman, American politician
- 1942Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
- 1942Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
- 1942Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
- 1944Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
- 1944Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
- 1946Michael Tucci, American actor
- 1946Pete Rouse, American White House Chief of Staff to President Obama
- 1947Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish politician
- 1947Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American writer and television producer
- 1947Lois Chiles, American actress
- 1947Mike Chapman, British songwriter
- 1947Woolly Wolstenholme, British musician
- 1948Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
- 1949Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer
- 1949Craig Zadan, American film producer
- 1949Tonio K, American singer
- 1950Amy Wright, American actress
- 1950Josiane Balasko, French actress, director and screenwriter
- 1951Heloise, American newspaper columnist
- 1952Bengt Gingsjö, Swedish swimmer
- 1952Brian Muir, British sculptor and creator of Darth Vader
- 1952Glenn Shadix, American actor
- 1952Kym Gyngell, Australian comedian
- 1952Sam McMurray, American actor
- 1953Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Greek politician
- 1954Seka, American pornographic actress
- 1955Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- 1956Michael Cooper, American basketball player
- 1957Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
- 1958Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer
- 1958Dolores Gordon-Smith, British writer
- 1958Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1958Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player
- 1958Noni Ιoannidou, Greek fashion model and actress
- 1959Emma Thompson, English actress
- 1959Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
- 1959Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager
- 1959Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
- 1960HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne
- 1960Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist
- 1960Susanne Bier, Danish film director
- 1960Tony Jones, English snooker player
- 1962Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
- 1962Surjit Bindrakhia, Punjabi Bhangra singer
- 1962Tom Kane, American voice actor
- 1963Bobby Pepper, American journalist
- 1965Linda Perry, American musician
- 1966Samantha Fox, English singer
- 1967Dara Torres, American swimmer
- 1967Frankie Poullain, British musician (The Darkness)
- 1968Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
- 1968Stacey Williams, American model
- 1969Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
- 1969Jimmy Waite, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
- 1970Flex Alexander, American actor
- 1971Jason Sehorn, American football player
- 1971Kate Harbour, English voice actress
- 1971Katy Hill, British television presenter
- 1972Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
- 1972Lou Romano, American voice actor
- 1974Danny Pino, American actor
- 1974Douglas Spain, American actor
- 1974Keith Malley, American comedian and podcaster (Keith and The Girl)
- 1974Mike Quinn, American football player
- 1974Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player
- 1975Paul Dana, American race car driver (d. 2006)
- 1975Phil Labonte, American vocalist (All That Remains)
- 1976Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976Susan Ward, American actress
- 1977Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
- 1978Austin Aries, American wrestler
- 1978Milton Bradley, American baseball player
- 1978Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
- 1980Billy Yates, American football player
- 1980Fränk Schleck, Luxembourgish professional cyclist
- 1980James Foster, English cricketer
- 1980Natalie Casey, British actress
- 1980Raúl López, Spanish basketball player
- 1980Victor Núñez, Costa Rican footballer
- 1980Willie Mason, Australian rugby league player
- 1981Andrés D'Alessandro, Argentine football player
- 1981Seth Wulsin, American artist
- 1982Albert Riera, Spanish footballer
- 1982Anthony Green, American musician
- 1982Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
- 1982Seth Rogen, Canadian actor and writer
- 1983Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
- 1983Blu (rapper), American rapper and producer
- 1983Bronson La'Cassie, Australian professional golfer
- 1983Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
- 1983Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983Martin Pedersen, Danish professional cyclist
- 1983Matt Cardle, British singer/songwriter
- 1984Ben Kasica, guitarist (Skillet)
- 1984Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
- 1984Daniel Paille, Canadian hockey player
- 1985Aaron Laffey, American baseball player
- 1985Amy Reid, German pornographic actress
- 1985Chris Cates, American baseball player
- 1985John Danks, American baseball player
- 1986Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Ghanaian footballer
- 1986Tom Heaton, English footballer
- 1987Sapphire Elia, English actres
- 1988Eliza Doolittle, English singer
- 1988Thomas Albanese, Italian footballer
- 1990Emma Watson, English actress
- 1991Daiki Arioka, Japanese actor & singer
- 1992Amy Diamond, Swedish singer
- 1992Richard Sandrak, American bodybuilder
Who Died On April 15?
- 1053Godwin, Earl of Wessex (b. 1001)
- 1220Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne (b. 1157)
- 1415Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek humanist and grammarian (b. 1355)
- 1446Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
- 1610Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)
- 1621John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1576)
- 1632George Calvert, Proprietor of the Avalon (Maryland) Colony (b. 1580)
- 1641Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
- 1652Patriarch Joseph, head of the Russian Orthodox Church
- 1659Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
- 1704Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician (b. 1628)
- 1719Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
- 1754Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
- 1761Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1682)
- 1761William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (b. 1696)
- 1764Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (b. 1721)
- 1764Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer (b. 1679)
- 1765Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
- 1788Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- 1793Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary and geographer (b. 1718)
- 1804Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
- 1854Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist, and writer (b. 1773)
- 1861Sylvester Jordan, German politician and lawyer (b. 1792)
- 1865Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
- 1888Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
- 1889Father Damien, Flemish missionary (b. 1840)
- 1898Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: Edward Smith, captain of the RMS Titanic (b. 1850)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: Henry Tingle Wilde, Chief Officer (b. 1872)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: Jack Phillips, British wireless telegraphist. (b. 1887)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: James Paul Moody, Sixth Officer (b. 1887)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: John Jacob Astor IV, billionaire (b. 1864)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: Thomas Andrews, Irish-born businessman and shipbuilder (b. 1873)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: Wallace Hartley,English Violinist (b. 1878)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: William McMaster Murdoch, First Officer (b. 1873)
- 1912Victims of the RMS Titanic disaster: William T. Stead English author and journalist (b. 1849)
- 1917János Murkovics, Slovene writer and teacher in Hungary (b. 1839)
- 1927Gaston Leroux, French writer (b. 1868)
- 1938César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (b. 1892)
- 1942Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (b. 1880)
- 1943Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (b. 1882)
- 1944Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Soviet general (b. 1901)
- 1945Hermann Florstedt, Nazi leader (b. 1895)
- 1948Radola Gajda, Czech military commander and politician (b. 1892)
- 1949Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
- 1957Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
- 1962Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (b. 1911)
- 1962Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
- 1963Edward “Carji” Greeves, Australian rules footballer (b. 1903)
- 1967Totò, Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer, and songwriter (b. 1898)
- 1969Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (b. 1887)
- 1970Ripper Collins, American baseball player (b. 1904)
- 1971Dan Reeves, American football team owner (b. 1912)
- 1971Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
- 1974Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b. 1906)
- 1975Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1980Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)
- 1980Raymond Bailey, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1982Arthur Lowe, British actor (b. 1915)
- 1983Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author and Holocaust survivor (b. 1892)
- 1983John Engstead, American photographer (b. 1909)
- 1984Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer (b. 1925)
- 1984Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
- 1986Jean Genet, French author (b. 1910)
- 1988Kenneth Williams, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
- 1988Youri Egorov, Soviet classical pianist (b. 1954)
- 1989Hu Yaobang, Chinese politician (b. 1915)
- 1989Nesuhi Ertegün, American record executive (b. 1917)
- 1990Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
- 1992Otis Barton, American deep-sea diver (b. 1899)
- 1993John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (b. 1908)
- 1993Leslie Charteris, Singapore-born author (b. 1907)
- 1994John Curry, English figure skater (b. 1949)
- 1995Harry Shoulberg, American painter, serigrapher (b. 1903)
- 1998Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
- 1999Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and racing car designer (b. 1944)
- 2000Edward Gorey, American illustrator (b. 1925)
- 2001Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
- 2002Byron “Whizzer” White, American football player and United States Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
- 2002Damon Knight, American author (b. 1922)
- 2003Erin Fleming, Canadian actress (b. 1941)
- 2003Reg Bundy, British performer (b. 1941)
- 2004Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese manga artist (b. 1934)
- 2004Ray Condo, Canadian musician (b. 1950)
- 2005John Fred, American singer (b. 1941)
- 2007Brant Parker, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
- 2008Benoît Lamy, Belgian movie director (b. 1945)
- 2008Krister Stendahl, Swedish theologian and bishop (b. 1921)
- 2008Sean Costello, American blues musician (b. 1979)
- 2009Ed Blake, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- 2009László Tisza, Hungarian-born American physicist (b. 1907)
- 2009Sir Clement Freud, British writer, broadcaster, and MP (b. 1924)
- 2010Jack Herer, American author and cannabis activist (b. 1939)
- 2011Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian peace activist (b. 1975)
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