On This Day

April 1897 in History

Events in History

  • Apr 5 The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
  • Apr 22 NYC Jewish newspaper "Forward" begins publishing (still active)
  • Apr 24 1st reporter, William Price (Washington Star), assigned to White House
  • Apr 27 Grant's Tomb (famed of song & legend) dedicated

InventionScientific Discovery

Apr 30 English physicist and head of the Cavendish laboratory J. J. Thomson announces his discovery of the electron in a lecture to the Royal Institution

Physicist J. J. Thomson
Physicist
J. J. Thomson

Birthdays in History

  • Apr 1 Willem H van de Pol, Dutch theologist (Christian Dilemma)
  • Apr 7 Erich Loewenhardt, German flying ace of World War I, born in Province of Silesia, Poland (d. 1918)
  • Apr 11 Caspar Neher, Austrian-German set designer and librettist, born in Augsburg, Germany (d. 1962)
  • Apr 13 Werner Voss, German World War I flying ace, born in Krefeld, Germany (d. 1917)
  • Apr 14 Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger, British sociologist and criminologist, born in Cambridge, England (d. 1988)
  • Apr 16 John Bagot Glubb, British commandant and writer (A soldier with the Arabs), born in Preston, Lancashire, England (d. 1986)
  • Apr 17 Antonius Coolen, Dutch author (Village by the River), born in Wijlre, Netherlands (d. 1961)
  • Apr 17 Thornton Wilder, American playwright and writer (Bridge of San Luis Ray), born in Madison, Wisconsin (d. 1975)
  • Apr 18 Ardito Desio, Italian explorer and topographer, born in Palmanova, Friuli, Italy (d. 2001)
  • Apr 19 Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist, born in India (d. 1970)

Person of interestLester B. Pearson

Apr 23 Lester B. Pearson, 14th Canadian Prime Minister (1963-68) (Nobel Peace Prize 1957), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1972)

Prime Minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson
Prime Minister of Canada
Lester B. Pearson
  • Apr 23 Lucius du Bignon Clay, American WWII general and military governor of West Germany, born in Marietta, Georgia (d . 1978)
  • Apr 24 Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist (the relation of language to thinking and cognition), born in Winthrop, Massachusetts (d. 1941)
  • Apr 24 Manuel Ávila Camacho, 45th President of Mexico (1940-46), born in Teziutlán, Puebla, Mexico (d. 1955)
  • Apr 25 Mary [Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary], Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, born in York Cottage, Sandringham (d. 1965)
  • Apr 28 Ye Jianying, Chinese communist general and politician (Head of State of the People's Republic of China 1978-83), born in Jiaying, Guangdong, Qing Empire (d. 1986)
  • Apr 29 Bernard Verhoeven, Dutch poet (Pleidooi near een non), born in Arnhem, Netherlands (d. 1965)

Deaths in History

  • Apr 8 Heinrich von Stephan, UK politician, dies

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