On This Day April 24

1990
Hubble Telescope: NASA launches their $1.5 billion Earth-orbiting telescope into space. Although designed to view farther into space than any telescope on Earth, a flawed lens greatly reduced it capabilities.

1980
The Pennsylvania Lottery comes up 666. The balls had been weighted by the lottery host to increase the probability that fours and sixes would be selected. The film Lucky Numbers (2000), starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow, was loosely based on this event.

1980
Iranian Hostage Crisis: An attempt to rescue the hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran fails when a helicopter crashes into a transport plane killing eight Americans and wounding five others.

1967
First person to die during a space mission: The Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov dies when his spacecraft becomes entangled in its parachute and plummets to the Earth.

1913
Woolworth Building: What was at the time the world's tallest building, is opened. It was 792 feet high.

1886
Middle Eastern Oil: The first Middle Eastern oil is discovered. The first well to come in was on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea.

1800
Library of Congress is established. It was started with the library of Thomas Jefferson.

1771
Highest recorded tidal wave, 278 ft., off Ishigaki Island, Ryukyu Chain. (source: Guinness Book of World Records)

1767
First professionally performed play in America, The Prince of Parthia performed in Philadelphia.

1704
First regularly-published American newspaper: The Boston News Letter by John Campbell is founded. It was published until Feb. 22, 1776.

1184 B.C.
Trojan War: The Greeks enter Troy hidden inside a giant wooden horse (traditional date).

1982
Kelly Clarkson, American Grammy-winning pop singer, first American Idol winner (2002).

1947
Glenn Cornick, British musician, with Jethro Tull. Music: Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972).

1942
Barbara Streisand, American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress, singer. Film: Funny Girl (1968, Oscar), What's Up Doc? (1972), The Way We Were (1973), and A Star is Born (1976, Oscar).

1940
Sue Grafton, American author. Writings: A is for Alibi (1983), B is for Burglar (1985), C is for Corpse (1986), etc.

1936 d. 1990
Jill Ireland, British-born American actress. After being diagnosed with cancer she became a spokesman for victims of the disease. Film: Death Wish II (1981).

1934
Shirley MacLaine (Shirley Beaty), American Oscar and Emmy-winning actress. Film: Terms of Endearment (1983).

1914 d. 1977
William Castle (William Schloss), American film producer, director, known for the use of gimmicks to promote his horror films, such as hot-wiring theater seats and issuing "life insurance" to patrons.

1905 d. 1989
Robert Penn Warren, American author, first U.S. poet laureate, and the only person to win the Pulitzer for both fiction (All the King's Men, 1946) and poetry (Promises, 1958).

1905 d. 1963
Robert Porter Allen, American conservationist. He saved the whooping crane from extinction by discovering the last remaining flock near the Artic Circle (1955).

1815 d. 1882
Anthony Trollope, English novelist. He was one of the most successful and prolific English novelists of the Victorian era. Writings: Chronicles of Barsetshire. He is also responsible for introducing the familiar red pillar mailboxes in Britain (1853).

1766 d. 1846
Robert Bailey Thomas, American publisher, founder of The Farmer's Almanac (1792, later called The Old Farmer's Almanack), which he published until his death.

1743 d. 1823
Edmund Cartwright, English inventor. He revolutionized weaving with his invention of the power loom (1785).

1620 d. 1674
John Graunt, English statistician. He co-wrote the world's first book of statistics and is the founder of the science of demography (the statistical study of human populations).

1986 b. 1896
Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, American divorcee, for whom King Edward VIII in 1936 abdicated his throne to marry. Famous quote: “A woman can't be too rich or too thin.”

1974 b. 1897
Bud Abbott (William Alexander Abbott), American comedian, Costello's partner.

1967 b. 1927
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut. He became the first person to die during a space mission when his spacecraft became entangled in its parachute and plummetted to the Earth.

1964 b. 1895
Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist. He was the first person to refuse a Nobel Prize (1939). He was awarded the prize for his discovery of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs. He used the drug to save his own daughter's arm from amputation. He was forced to refuse the award due to pressure from the Nazi government during WWII. He was able to accept the award after the war.

1924 b. 1844
Granville Stanley Hall, American psychologist, founder of child psychology. He was the first president of the American Psychological Association, the first president of Clark University, and founder of the American Journal of Psychology (1887).

1900 b. 1836
Andrew Smith Hallidie, English-born American engineer, invented the first cable streetcar (1871, San Francisco).

1342 b. ????
Benedict XII, French-born religious leader, 197th Pope (1334-42).

April 24

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