12 History Lessons + 4 Births & 5 Deaths for April 27, 2025
Today’s History:
- 4977 BCE – According to calculations by Johannes Kepler, the universe is created.
- 1521 – Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed in the Philippines during the Battle of Mactan.
- 1805 – U.S. Marines capture Derna in present-day Libya during the First Barbary War, remembered in the “Marines’ Hymn.”
- 1865 – The steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River, killing more than 1,800 people.
- 1904 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first labor party in the world to form a national government, under Chris Watson.
- 1941 – German forces occupy Athens during World War II.
- 1950 – South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, segregating races under apartheid.
- 1961 – Sierra Leone gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse, changing user interaction forever.
- 1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the U.S. over his Nazi past.
- 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman elected Speaker of the British House of Commons.
- 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner, makes its first flight.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish pop singer (Morning Train, For Your Eyes Only) (66)
- 1969 – Cory Booker, U.S. Senator from New Jersey (56)
- 1971 – Chris Carpenter, MLB pitcher and World Series champion (54)
- 1988 – Lizzo, Grammy-winning singer and rapper (Truth Hurts, About Damn Time) (37)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe (about 41)
- 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, shot by Union soldiers (26)
- 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, pioneering American broadcast journalist (See It Now) (57)
- 2002 – Ruth Handler, creator of the Barbie doll and former president of Mattel (85)
- 2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter (Poetry Man) (60)
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