April 13

It’s National Peach Cobbler Day and Blame Someone Else Day and Scrabble Day

ON THIS DAY…
1625 The word “microscope” was coined as a suggested term in a letter written by Johannes Faber of Bamberg, Germany, to Federigo Cesi, Duke of Aquasparata
1742 George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” was first performed publicly, in Dublin, Ireland
1782 Washington, NC, was incorporated as the first town to be named for George Washington
1796 The first known elephant to arrive in the United States from Bengal, India
1808 William “Juda” Henry Lane perfected the tap dance
1829 The English Parliament granted freedom of religion to Catholics
1831 The first US patent for a stone crushing machine was issued to Benjamin F. Lodge and Ezekial T. Cox of Zanesville, OH
1861 After 34 hours of bombardment, the Union-held Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates
1869 The first US patent for an air brake was issued to George Westinghouse of Schnectady, NY as a “steam power brake”
1870 The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City
1902 James C. Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, WY
1933 The first flight over Mount Everest was completed by Lord Clydesdale
1940 Porky Pig’s Slap Happy Pappy opened in US theaters
1941 Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed
1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial
1944 William Wyler’s documentary The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, following the 25th and last bombing mission of the famous B17, is released in the US
1953 CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind control program MKULTRA
1954 Hank Aaron debuted with the Milwaukee Braves
1957 Sidney Lumet’s film 12 Angry Men is released in the US
1959 A Vatican edict prohibited Roman Catholics from voting for Communists
1960 The first navigational satellite was launched into Earth’s orbit
1961 The UN General Assembly condemned South Africa due to apartheid
1964 Sidney Poitier became the first black to win an Academy Award for best actor; it was for his role in the movie Lilies of the Field
1970 An oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing
1974 Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the USA’s first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1
1976 The US Federal Reserve introduced $2 bicentennial notes
1990 The Soviet Union accepted responsibility for the World War II murders of thousands of imprisoned Polish officers in the Katyn Forest; the Soviets had previously blamed the massacre on the Nazis
1997 Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament at the age of 21; he also set a record when he finished at 18 under par
1998 Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep, gave natural birth to a healthy baby lamb
1999 Jack Kervorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, MI to 10 to 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk; Youk’s assisted suicide was videotaped and shown on 60 Minutes in 1998
2002 Venezuela’s interim president, Pedro Carmona, resigned a day after taking office; thousands of protesters had supported over the ousting of president Hugo Chavez
2004 Yoda the mouse turns 4 and becomes the world’s oldest mouse which, at 1,462-days-old, compares to about 136 in human-years

BORN:
1570 Guy Fawkes, member of a group of Roman Catholic revolutionaries from England who planned to carry out the Gunpowder Plot
1743 Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, an extraordinarily learned man, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism
1771 Richard Trevithick, mechanical engineer and inventor who successfully harnessed high-pressure steam and constructed the world’s first steam railway locomotive
1772 Eli Terry, clockmaker who was an innovator in mass production
1852 Frank W. Woolworth, founder of F.W. Woolworth Company, an operator of discount stores that priced merchandise at five and ten cents; he pioneered the now-common practices of buying merchandise direct from manufacturers and fixing prices on items, rather than haggling
1866 Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker), notorious train and bank robber
1878 Pyotr Petrovich Lazarev, physicist and biophysicist known for his physicochemical theory of the movement of ions and the consequent theory of nerve excitation in living matter, which attempts to explain sensation, muscular contraction, and the functions of the central nervous system
1888 John Hays Hammond, Jr., inventor whose development of radio remote control served as the basis for modern missile guidance systems
1889 Herbert Osborne Yardley, cryptographer who organized and directed the US government’s first formal code-breaking efforts during and after World War I
1892 Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, physicist who is credited with the development of radar location of aircraft, in England which played a vital role in the defense of Britain against German air raids in 1940
1901 Jacques Lacan, psychoanalyst who gained an international reputation as an original interpreter of Sigmund Freud’s work
1905 Bruno Rossi, pioneer in the study of cosmic radiation; his experimental investigations of cosmic rays and their interactions with matter laid the foundation for high energy particle physics
1906 Samuel Beckett, writer, dramatist and poet; Nobel laureate (Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Film)
1909 Stanislaw M. Ulam, mathematician who played a major role in the development of the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos
1913 Robert Hingson, anesthesiologist and inventor known for three major inventions that continue to relieve pain and suffering worldwide today
1919 Howard Keel, actor (Show Boat, Calamity Jane, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Day of the Triffids, Dallas)
1923 Don Adams, Emmy Award-winning actor (Get Smart, Inspector Gadget, Back to the Beach)
1924 Stanley Donen, director (Singin’ in the Rain, Bedazzled, Charade, Arabesque, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)
1935 Lyle Waggoner, actor (The Carol Burnett Show, Wonder Woman)
1937 Edward Fox, actor (The Day of the Jackal, The Duellists, Force 10 from Navarone, The Bounty, Stage Beauty)
1939 Paul Sorvino, actor (The Day of the Dolphin, The Stuff, Dick Tracy, Goodfellas, The Rocketeer, Nixon, Romeo + Juliet)
1945 Tony Dow, actor (Leave it to Beaver)
1950 Ron Perlman, actor (Beauty and the Beast, Hellboy, Star Trek: Nemesis, Blade II, Alien: Resurrection)
1950 William Sadler, actor (Roswell, Die Hard 2, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Trespass, The Green Mile)
1951 Peter Davison, actor (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who, Campion, The Last Detective)
1963 Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer and political activist
1970 Rick Schroder, actor (The Champ, Silver Spoons, Lonesome Dove, Crimson Tide, NYPD Blue, 24)
1976 Jonathan Brandis, actor (The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter, It, Sidekicks, SeaQuest DSV)

DIED:
1605 Boris Godunov, de facto regent of Russia from 1584 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605, dies at 54
1925 Elwood Haynes, inventor who built one of the first successful gasoline-powered automobiles, dies at 67
1938 Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney), writer and one of Canada’s first conservationists, dies at 49
1984 Richard Hurndall, actor (Zeppelin, Doctor Who, Gawain and the Green Knight, Crossed Swords), dies at 73