Summary of the Day ✨ 19 April (19/04)
Space exploration reached new heights as the Ingenuity helicopter achieved the first powered flight on another planet, while on Earth, tragedy struck with Canada’s deadliest mass shooting claiming 22 lives in Nova Scotia. In other events, the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt ended with one suspect killed and another captured, Fidel Castro stepped down after decades leading Cuba, and a nightclub fire in Ecuador left 19 dead.
Historical Events 📜
- 2021: The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.
- 2020: A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country’s history.
- 2013: Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
- 2011: Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
- 2008: The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.
- 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
- 2001: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.
- 2000: Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.
- 1999: The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
- 1995: Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
- 1993: The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.
- 1989: A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
- 1987: The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with “Good Night”.
- 1985: Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
- 1984: Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
Famous Births 👶
- 2016: The Rizzler, American internet personality
- 2003: Jackson Merrill, American baseball player
- 2002: Loren Gray, American singer and internet personality
- 2001: Dalton Knecht, American basketball player
- 2001: PinkPantheress, British singer-songwriter and record producer
- 1999: Sebastian Kris, Australian-NewZealand rugby league player
- 1991: Kelly Olynyk, Canadian basketball player
- 1990: Jackie Bradley Jr., American baseball player
- 1990: Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer
- 1989: Simu Liu, Canadian actor
- 1987: Joe Hart, English footballer
- 1987: Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
- 1986: Candace Parker, American basketball player
- 1983: Joe Mauer, American baseball player
- 1982: Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Daniel Dennett, American philosopher and author (born 1942)
- 2023: Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor (born 1998)
- 2023: Ron Hamilton, American musician (born 1950)
- 2022: Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian (born 1903)
- 2021: Walter Mondale, American politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States (born 1928)
- 2021: Jim Steinman, American composer, lyricist (born 1947)
- 2020: Ian Whitcomb, English singer-songwriter (born 1941)
- 2017: Lu Chao-Hsuan, Taiwanese guitarist, performer and educator. (born 1929)
- 2016: Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (born 1918)
- 2015: Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (born 1919)
- 2015: Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (born 1924)
- 2013: François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)
- 2013: Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (born 1924)
- 2012: Levon Helm, American musician and actor (born 1940)
- 2011: Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (born 1946)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox) - Christian feast day:
Conrad of Ascoli - Christian feast day:
Emma of Lesum - Christian feast day:
Expeditus - Christian feast day:
George of Antioch - Christian feast day:
Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran) - Christian feast day:
Pope Leo IX - Christian feast day:
Ursmar - Christian feast day:
April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Bicycle Day, a psychedelic holiday