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)

Person of interestThornton Wilder

Apr 17 Thornton Wilder, American playwright and writer (Bridge of San Luis Rey), born in Madison, Wisconsin (d. 1975)

Playwright and Writer Thornton Wilder
Playwright and Writer
Thornton Wilder
  • 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, German Director of the Post service who introduced the telephone to Germany, dies at 66


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