Beethoven's Third Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna (1805), and China ends its lockdown in Wuhan (2020). Born on this day: Jackie Chan, Russell Crowe and Gerhard Schröder. Died: Henry Ford, El Greco and P.T. Barnum.
29 events, 77 births and 57 deaths on this date.
The Eroica, as it became known, was first heard at the Theater an der Wien. Its unusual length and scale startled audiences and pushed the symphony beyond the forms Haydn and Mozart had set.
Joseph Karl Stieler · Public domainAuthorities lifted the strict lockdown on Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus outbreak was first identified, after more than two months of travel restrictions. The move signalled that China believed its aggressive containment measures had brought the epidemic under control.
Spain agreed to hand back its protectorate in northern Morocco, a zone it had governed since 1912. The deal came weeks after France recognised Moroccan independence.
Peru's former president received a 25-year jail term after a court found him responsible for killings and kidnappings carried out by state security forces. The verdict concerned abuses committed under his government.
A short memo titled Host Software, written by Steve Crocker, circulated among ARPANET researchers and set the informal habit of publishing Requests for Comments. Its appearance is now treated as a symbolic starting point for the Internet's open technical culture.
Sailing for Spain, Magellan had already crossed the Pacific, the first European to make the voyage. The stop at Cebu drew him deeper into the Philippines, and he was killed in battle later that month.
Unknown artist Unknown artist · Public domain
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Hong Kong martial artist famous for performing his own dangerous, comic stunts on screen. He broke into Hollywood with Rush Hour and remains one of the best-known action stars alive.
Segolene Liger · CC BY-SA 4.0
New Zealand-born actor best known for playing the gladiator Maximus in Gladiator, which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in A Beautiful Mind and co-owns the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team.
Quejaytee · CC BY 4.0
Gerhard Schröder is a German former lawyer and politician who served as Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. He is best remembered for the Agenda 2010 labour reforms and for his later work for Russian state-owned energy firms.
Пресс-служба Президента Республики Казахстан · CC BY 4.0
Ford made cars affordable for ordinary American families through his Model T and the mass-production methods behind it. He died on this day in 1947, after building one of the largest industrial fortunes of his age.
Fred Hartsook · Public domain
El Greco was a Cretan-born painter who spent his career in Toledo, Spain, producing dramatic, elongated works such as Opening of the Fifth Seal. His expressive style puzzled his contemporaries, but later artists, including the Expressionists and Cubists, came to see him as a forerunner.
El Greco · Public domain
Barnum was a showman who staged famous hoaxes and human curiosities at his New York museum, and later co-founded the circus bearing his name. He also served in the Connecticut legislature and spoke out for the Thirteenth Amendment.
Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) · Public domain
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