Today in History: birthdays, sports and more

1478 Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo de’Medici and kill Giuliano de’Medici in Florence

1920 Harlow Shapley and Heber D. Curtis hold “great debate” on the nature of nebulae, galaxies and size of the universe at US National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.

1945 Marshal Philippe Pétain, leader of France’s Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II, arrested for treason

1956 First modern container ship, the Ideal X, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas

1986 World’s worst nuclear disaster: 4th reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR explodes, 31 die, radioactive contamination reaches much of Western Europe

2005 Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.

Birthdays

570 Muhammed, founder of Islam, according to the Shi’a sect. Other sources suggest April 20. Observed according to the Islamic lunar calendar

1538 Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and poet (Trattato), born in Milan (d. 1592)

1567 Nicolas Formé, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1638)

1573 Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, born in Palazzo Pitti, Florence (d. 1642)

1603 Francesco Nigetti, Italian composer, born in Florence, Italy

1637 Philip Julius van Lichtenbergh, Governor of Suriname, born in Heusden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands (d. 1674)

1648 Pedro II, King of Portugal (1683-1706), born in Ribeira Palace, Lisbon (d. 1706)

1662 Marie Louise D’Orleans, Queen consort of Spain as the first wife of King Charles II of Spain, born in Palais-Royal, Paris, Kingdom of France (d. 1689)

1707 Johannes Burman, Dutch botanist, plant author and physician, born in Amsterdam

1710 Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and founder of Scottish School of Common Sense, born in Strachan, Scotland (d. 1796)

1970 Melania Trump [née Knauss], Slovenian-American model, wife of President Donald Trump and current First Lady of the United States, born in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia

Deaths

1865 Charles J Sax, Belgium musician and father of Adolphe Sax inventor of the saxophone, dies at 74

1865 John Wilkes Booth, American stage actor and assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, shot at 26 by Union soldier Boston Corbett

1970 Gypsy Rose Lee [Rose Hovick], American burlesque actress (Gypsy), dies of lung cancer at 56

1984 William “Count” Basie, American jazz musician and bandleader, dies at 79

1989 Lucille Ball, comedienne (I Love Lucy), dies of heart attack at 78

2013 George Jones, American country musician (Golden Rings, Oh Lonesome Me), dies from hypoxic respiratory failure at 81

Movies & Televison

1954 “Seven Samurai”, Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, is released

1993 NBC announces that Conan O’Brien replaces David Letterman

2018 Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault in Pennsylvania

Music

1965 Charles Ives’ 4th Symphony premieres at Carnegie Hall, New York, 11 years after the composer’s death

1965 A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.

Sports

1931 Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season

1941 A tradition begins, 1st organ is played at a baseball stadium (Chicago Cubs)

1989 Mike Tyson gets a speeding ticket for drag racing his Lamborghini in Albany, New Yor.k