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 unit 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 (inventor), an English chemist, invents the friction match.
• 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II
• 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.
• 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• 1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
• 1908 - Herbert Henry Asquith 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 oil reserves in Wyoming.
• 1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City; image was of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
• 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 Hoffman
• 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
• 1945 - Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan
• 1946 - Syria's independence from Vichy France is officially recognised
• 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• 1952 - The manga Astro Boy debuted in the monthly magazine Shōnen.
• 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 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.
• 1968 - Formula One racer Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany .
• 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
• 1977 - Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox
• 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 after a fire. 42 sailors die.
• 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
• 1993 - Attack submarine ex-Queenfish completes being recycled
• 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
• 1998 - Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
• 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
• 2000 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled
• 2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
• 2001 - An M-17 helicopter crashes into mountain in south of Hanoi, Vietnam killing 16.
• 2003 - US troops capture Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later

Births

• 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
• 1652 - Pope Clement XII, né Lorenzo Corsini (d. 1740)
• 1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist
• 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
• 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher and utopian socialist. (d. 1837)
• 1803 - James Curtiss, mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
• 1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, founder of Kellogg Company.
• 1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
• 1870 - Gustav Landauer, German Jewish anarchist and revolutionary
• 1873 - John McGraw, baseball coach, manager, player, Hall of Famer (d. 1934)
• 1882 - Armando Borghi , Italian anarchism propagandist (d. 1968
• 1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966
• 1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet (d. 1957)
• 1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, conservationist, writer (d. 1998)
• 1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, in Denmark, inventor of Lego
• 1893 - Allen Dulles, Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
• 1897 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist (d. 1972)
• 1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
• 1908 - Percy Faith, composer, musician (d. 1976)
• 1915 - Billie Holiday, American jazz and Blues singer (d. 1959)
• 1915 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction writer (d. 1958)
• 1917 - R.G. Armstrong , American actor
• 1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player, Hall of Famer
• 1919 – Jackie Rollin , French actress (d. 1998)
• 1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti , fencer, multiple Olympic champion between 1936 and 1960
• 1920 - Ravi Shankar, master of the Sitar was born in Bengal,India.
• 1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Latin jazz musician (d. 2003)
• 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel , Austrian writer
• 1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian musician (2003)
• 1928 - James Garner, actor
• 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, producer, director (d. 1998)
• 1929 - Bob Denard, French mercenary
• 1930 - Andrew Sachs, British actor
• 1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
• 1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor
• 1935 - Bobby Bare, American country musician
• 1935 - Hodding Carter , American political operative
• 1938 - Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter
• 1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician
• 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
• 1939 - Sir David Frost, broadcaster, television host
• 1941 – Daniel Toscan du Plantier , French film producer
• 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
• 1944 - Julia Phillips , American film producer, writer (d. 2002)
• 1945 – Joël Robuchon, celebrated French chef
• 1946 - Colette Besson, French runner
• 1947 - Michelle Torr , singer
• 1949 - John Oates, musician (Hall and Oates)
• 1951 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
• 1951 – Jean-Louis Borloo , French politician
• 1954 - Jackie Chan, actor
• 1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football star
• 1955 - Werner Stocker, actor
• 1956 - Christopher Darden, O.J. Simpson prosecuter
• 1961 – Pascal Olmeta , soccer goalkeeper
• 1962 – Alain Robert, solo urban climber
• 1962 - Hugh O'Connor , American actor (d. 1995)
• 1964 - Russell Crowe, actor
• 1965 - Bill Bellamy, actor, comedian
• 1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
• 1971 – Guillaume Depardieu , French actor, son of Gérard Depardieu.
• 1971 - Felipe de Jesus Cervantes Aguilar , Mexican writer, author of 4.7
• 1973 - Carole Montillet, Olympic downhill skiing champion
• 1975 - Heather Burns , American actress

Deaths

• 858 - Pope Benedict III
• 1498 - King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
• 1614 - El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos), artist (b. 1541)
• 1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyo (b. 1576)
• 1668 - William Davenant, English poet (b. 1606)
• 1719 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French teacher and educational reformer, canonized saint
• 1739 - Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged (b. 1706)
• 1761 - Thomas Bayes mathematician (b. 1702)
• 1766 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic
• 1767 - Franz Sparry, Baroque composer
• 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
• 1823 - Jacques Charles, French chemist (b. 1746)
• 1836 - William Godwin, English political writer (b. 1756)
• 1850 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
• 1858 - Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer (b. 1781)
• 1871 - Alexander Lloyd, mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
• 1891 - P. T. Barnum, circus impresario (b. 1810)
• 1939 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
• 1943 - Jovan Ducic, Serbian poet
• 1943 - Alexandre Millerand, president of France
• 1947 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist (b. 1863)
• 1950 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor (b. 1884)
• 1955 - Theda Bara, silent film actress (b. 1885)
• 1961 - Marian Jordan , actress
• 1968 - Jimmy Clark, racing driver (b. 1936)
• 1981 - Norman Taurog, director
• 1982 - Pio Turroni , Italian militant anarchist
• 1982 - Brenda Benet , American actress
• 1984 - Frank Church, U.S. Senator
• 1990 – Ronald Evans, NASA astrounaut (b. 1933)
• 1994 - Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
• 1994 - Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda
• 1997 - Witto Aloma, Major League Baseball player (b. 1923)
• 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
• 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, preeminent conservationist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
• 1998 - Yves Mourousi , French journalist
• 2001 - David Graf, American actor
• 2001 - Beatrice Straight, Academy Award-winning actress (b. 1914)
• 2002 - John Agar , American actor
• 2003 - Cecile de Brunhoff , children's book author Babar
• 2003 - Jutta Hipp , pianist
• 2003 - Ferdinand Seibt , historian
• 2004 - Enrico Ameri , Italian singer and journalist
• 2005 - Bob Kennedy, Major League Baseball player and manager (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Araw ng Kagitingan was moved this year from April 9 to April 7 to give the residents a long weekend and help tourism in the Philippines.
• 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 - Womens' Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

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