TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, APRIL 15, the 105th day of 2021. There are 260 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1947, Jackie Robinson, baseball’s first Black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. (The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves 5-3.)
In 1452, artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born in or near the Tuscan town of Vinci.
In 1850, the city of San Francisco was incorporated.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died nine hours after having been shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington
In 1892, General Electric Co., formed by the merger of the Edison Electric Light Co. and other firms, was incorporated in Schenectady, New York.
In 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic foundered in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland more than 2½ hours before sinking after hitting an iceberg; 1,514 people died; more than 700 survived.
In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.
In 1989, 96 people died in a crush of soccer fans at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England.
In 1990, legendary film star Greta Garbo died in New York at age 84.
In 1998, Pol Pot, notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 72, evading prosecution for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians.
In 2009, whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged “tea parties” around the country to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts.
In 2013, two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy, and injuring more than 260. Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police; his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.
In 2019, fire swept across the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral as the soaring Paris landmark underwent renovations; the blaze collapsed the cathedral’s spire and spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers, but fire officials said the church’s structure had been saved.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Claudia Cardinale is 83. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 78. Actor Michael Tucci is 75. Actor Lois Chiles and writerproducer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason are 74. Columnist Heloise is 70. Actor Sam McMurray is 69. Actor-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 62. Bluegrass musician Jeff Parker is 60. Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal swimmer Dara Torres is 54. Rock musician Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) is 53. Actor Luke Evans is 42. Rock musician Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) is 41. Rock musician Zach Carothers (Portugal. The Man) is 40. Actor-writer Seth Rogen is 39. Actor Alice Braga and Americana singer-songwriter Margo Price are 38. Actor Samira Wiley is 34. Actor Emma Watson is 31. Actor Maisie Williams is 24.