On This Day April 21

1994
First discovery of extra-solar planets: Penn State astronomer Alexander Wolszczan announces the confirmation of the discovery of a cluster of three planets orbiting a star in the constellation Virgo. They had been first observed in 1991.

1986
Live broadcast of Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's secret underground vault, only to find an empty bottle. This received the highest rating in syndicated TV history.

1980
Rosie Ruiz: She is the first woman to cross the finish line at the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, no one could remember having seen her during the race nor were there any photographs of her in the race. Later, members of the crowd said they saw her jump into the race near the finish line.

1962
First Revolving Restaurant in the U.S.: The Top of the Needle, in Seattle, Washington, opens.

1908
Dr. Frederick Cook claims he reached the North Pole on this date, almost a year before Peary.

1898
Spanish-American War: The U.S. North Atlantic Squadron is ordered to set sail from Key West, Florida to blockade the northern coast of Cuba.

1855
First train to cross the Mississippi by bridge: Travelling from Rock Island, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa.

1836
Battle of San Jacinto: Texas' independence is won when Gen. Sam Houston defeats the much larger Mexican army led by Santa Anna.

1649
Toleration Act passed by Maryland Legislature allowing the belief in Jesus Christ.

1951
Tony Danza, American actor. TV: Taxi (Tony Banta) and Who's the Boss? (Tony Micelli).

1947
Iggy Pop (James Newell Osterburg), American singer. Music: Real Wild Child (1986).

1935
Charles Grodin, American Emmy-winning actor. Film: Heaven Can Wait (1978). TV: The Young Marrieds (Matt Crane).

1926
Elizabeth II, Queen of England (1952-). Although born in April, she celebrates her birthday in June.

1915 d. 2001
Anthony Quinn (Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn), Irish-Mexican Oscar-winning actor. Film: Lust for Life (1956, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, even though he was only in the film for only eight minutes) and Zorba the Greek (1964).

1882 d. 1961
Percy Williams Bridgman, American Nobel prize-winning physicist. He was the first Harvard physicist to win the Nobel Prize for Physics (1946 for his work in high pressure). He was able to reach presssure of 400,000 atmospheres.

1870 d. 1941
Edwin Stanton Porter, Italian-born American film director. Film: The Life of an American Fireman (1903, the first American film to use intercutting), The Great Train Robbery (1903, the first motion picture with a plot), and The Eternal City (1915).

1849 d. 1922
Oskar Hertwig, German embryologist. He discovered that a single spermatozoon (sperm cell) could fertilize and egg (1875).

1843 d. 1905
Walther Flemming, German anatomist. He was the first to systematically observe and describe the behavior of chromosomes in the cell nucleus during normal cell division. He also coined the term mitosis (1882, the process of cell division).

1830 d. 1881
James Starley, British inventor, father of the bicycle industry. He also invented the open differential.

1816 d. 1855
Charlotte Brontë, English novelist. Writings: Jane Eyre (1847).

1782 d. 1852
Friedrich Froebel, German educator. He founded the first kindergarten (1837). Because of his radical teaching beliefs, in 1851 kindergartens were banned by the Prussian minister of education.

1775 d. 1870
Alexander Anderson, America's first wood engraver. He illustrated more than 100 volumes of English classics, including Bell's Anatomy and Webster's Spelling Book.

1977 b. 1893
Gummo Marx (Milton Marx), American comedian, one of the Marx Brothers. He left the team before they reached stardom.

1965 b. 1892
Sir Edward Victor Appleton, English Nobel-winning physicist, discovered the conductive "Appleton layer" in the ionosphere making long range radar and radio transmission possible.

1924 b. 1859
Eleonora Duse, Italian actress. She was the first woman featured on the cover of Time magazine (July 30, 1923). She is considered the greatest tragic actress of modern time.

1918 b. 1892
Red Baron (Baron Manfred Von Richthofen), German World War I ace. He shot down 80 enemy aircraft. He was killed in action by a Canadian pilot.

1910 b. 1835
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), American author, creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

1509 b. 1457
Henry VII, King of England (1485-1509). He ordered the beheading of bakers who underweighted their loaves of bread. They would throw in an extra loaf to be on the safe side, thus the term "baker's dozen."

April 21

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