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On this day in history - April 14

What Happened On This Day – April 14

  • 2003 The Human Genome Project is completed

    The project dedicated to mapping the genes of the human genome was started in October 1990.

  • 1988 The Soviet Union agrees to withdraw from Afghanistan

    Soviet troops had invaded the country in 1979 to support the communist rulers. They were defeated primarily by the Mujahideen, who were groups of militant Islamists sponsored by the CIA.

  • 1986 The heaviest hailstones ever recorded hit Bangladesh

    The lumps of ice weighed about 1 kg (2.2 lb). At total of 92 people reportedly died as a result.

  • 1912 Doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic

    The subsequent sinking of the world's largest ocean liner of the time resulted in more than 1500 deaths. It was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history.

  • 1865 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot

    The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, wanted to revive the Confederate cause, mere days after their surrender to the Union Army, bringing the American Civil War to an end. Lincoln died the next day.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
April 14

  • 1977 Sarah Michelle Gellar

    American actress, producer

  • 1904 John Gielgud

    English actor, director, producer

  • 1892 V. Gordon Childe

    Australian archaeologist, philologist

  • 1891 B. R. Ambedkar

    Indian jurist, politician

  • 1629 Christiaan Huygens

    Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
April 14

  • 1964 Rachel Carson

    American biologist, author

  • 1950 Ramana Maharshi

    Indian philosopher

  • 1935 Amalie Emmy Noether

    German mathematician

  • 1925 John Singer Sargent

    American painter

  • 1759 George Frideric Handel

    German/English composer