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On this day in history - April 6

What Happened On This Day – April 6

  • 1994 The Rwandan genocide begins

    The assassination of Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Burundian President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, triggered a mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis with up to 1 million victims.

  • 1965 The first commercial communications satellite is launched

    Intelsat I, also known as Early Bird, facilitated the first live TV broadcast of a spacecraft splashdown when Gemini 6 landed in the Atlantic Ocean.

  • 1924 A team of aviators begins the first round-the-world flight in history

    Four aircraft left Seattle on a westbound route around the globe. 157 days later, two of them reached the same location.

  • 1909 Robert Peary allegedly becomes the first person to reach the North Pole

    Peary's claim has never been verified and is widely contested. The first undisputed journey to the North Pole was the 1948 Soviet Sever-2 expedition.

  • 1896 The first modern Olympic Games are opened in Athens

    241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the First Olympiad. The event took place over 1500 years after the last ancient Olympic Games, which originated in Olympia in south-western Greece.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
April 6

  • 1963 Rafael Correa

    Ecuadorian politician, 54th President of Ecuador

  • 1929 André Previn

    German/American pianist, composer, conductor

  • 1928 James Watson

    American biologist, geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1926 Sergio Franchi

    Italian/American singer, actor

  • 1926 Ian Paisley

    Irish minister, politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
April 6

  • 1992 Isaac Asimov

    American chemist, author

  • 1971 Igor Stravinsky

    Russian composer

  • 1528 Albrecht Dürer

    German painter, engraver, mathematician

  • 1520 Raphael

    Italian painter, architect

  • 1199 Richard I of England