Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Today in History: April 30

  • 1006 Observers from Switzerland, Egypt, Iraq, China, Japan record supernova SN 1006, brighter than the "evening star", Venus.
  • 1777 German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss born; one of the handful of greatest mathematicians of all history; magnetic field strength measured in gauss.
  • 1789 George Washington takes the oath of office as first President.
  • 1897 English physicist Joseph John Thomson announces his discovery of the first sub-atomic particle, the electron; 1906 Nobel.
  • 1916 American mathematician Claude Shannon born; father of information theory.
  • 1945 Adolf Hitler suicides during the Battle for Berlin.
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