1006 – Supernova observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus
1704 – Boston Newsletter publishes first newspaper advertisement
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1756 – France & Austria sign alliance
1757 – Austria & France divide Prussia
1776 – Adam Weishaupt founds secret society of Illuminati
1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1785 – Kamehameha, the King of Hawaiʻi defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
1841 – First emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri, for California
1851 – Great Exhibition opens in the Crystal Palace, London
1873 – Emperor Franz Jozef opens 5th World’s Exposition in Vienna
1883 – Amsterdam World’s Fair opens
1884 – Construction begins on Chicago’s first skyscraper of 10 stories
1886 – US general strike for 8-hour working day begins
1889 – Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form in Germany
1893 – World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago
1927 – The beginning of airline food. First British airliner to serve cooked meals is Imperial Airways
1931 – Empire State Building opens
1941 – “Citizen Kane”, directed and starring Orson Welles, premieres
1941 – General Mills introduces Cheerios
1943 – Food rationing begins in US
1950 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)
1951 – Mickey Mantle’s first Home Run
1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease which was documents by photographer W. Eugene Smith
1960 – Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk
1961 – Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba
1961 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)
1981 – Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3
1986 – Bill Elliott sets stock car speed record of 212.229 mph
1986 – Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap
On April 26, 1986, an explosion in Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the air over Ukraine, Belarus and huge portions of Europe. After the accident, the area around the plant was evacuated, and a 19-mile (31 km) exclusion zone was created around it.
2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, U.S. President George W. Bush declares that
“major combat operations in Iraq have ended” on board the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California. We know how that worked out.
2010 – Car bomb fails to go off in Times Square
2013 – A digital camera is created that can mimic insect compound eyes
Birthdays
1218 – Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
1738 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819) (d. 1819)
1825 – George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap)
1839 – Chardonnet, inventor (rayon)
1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, France, philosopher/paleontologist
1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
1923 – Joseph Heller, Brooklyn, (Catch-22)
1939 – Judy Collins, Seattle Washington, singer
1940 – Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
Deaths
1873 – David Livingstone, British physician/explorer (Africa), dies at 60
1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)
1965 – Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show), dies at 53
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com Wikipedia and other internet searches