Today in History: 15 April
1493 – Christopher Columbus is received by the Spanish monarchs Isabella I and Ferdinand II in Barcelona upon his return from the New World. Columbus presents kidnapped Taínos indigenous people, plants, and items collected from the Caribbean
1689 – French King Louis XIV declares war on Spain
1755 – Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” is published in London
1861 – Federal army of 75,000 volunteers is mobilized by President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War
1865 – Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after he is shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington
1892 – General Electric Company formed by merger of Thomas Edison’s General Electric Company with Thomson-Houston Electric Company, arranged by J. P. Morgan and incorporated in NY
1912 – RMS Titanic sinks at 2:20 am off Newfoundland as the band plays on, with the loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 lives
1947 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers
2019 – Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof
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1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist, and visionary
1469 – Guru Nanak, Founder of the religion of Sikhism
1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (Euler’s Constant)
1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian actor and writer
1997 – Maisie Williams, English actress
Unrecoverable Error –
1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
1912 – John Jacob Astor IV, American business magnate, real estate developer, and soldier
1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher
The Funnies:
Quote of the Day
YouTube Clip of the Day
Comic of the Day
Mouseover: When you worry that you’re missing out on something by not making both choices simultaneously by quantum superposition, that’s called phomo.
Explain XKCD 3076: The Roads Both Taken - explain xkcd
Image Credit: XKCD
Inspirobot Sometimes Controversial Inspirational Quote of the Day:
In case you missed it, you can go take a look at yesterday’s historical Spark! by @steve6343 over here
