Columbus reaches the Canary Islands on his westward voyage (1492), and France declares war on Austria-Hungary (1914). Born on this day: François Hollande, Erwin Schrödinger and Jacinto Benavente y Martínez. Died: Thomas Mann, William Blake and Henry Fonda.
31 events, 75 births and 76 deaths on this date.
Columbus put in at the Canaries, the last stop before he struck out across the Atlantic. Those islands were a Spanish foothold, and the crossing that followed opened the Americas to European exploration and colonisation.
Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio · Public domainChristopher ColumbusHear the story in ChunksFrance joined the United Kingdom and its empire in declaring war on Austria-Hungary, widening the conflict that had begun with Germany's clash with France and Russia. The move drew France deeper into the First World War, which by now had engulfed much of Europe.
The International Olympic Committee barred South Africa from the Tokyo Games because of its system of racial segregation. The ban kept the country out of Olympic competition for decades and made sport a central front in the campaign against apartheid.
The remark had caused outrage, especially in the United States, where Beatles records were burned and banned. Lennon's apology, given in Chicago, tried to calm the storm.
Jack Mitchell · CC BY-SA 3.0
He is known for the Schrödinger equation, which describes how a quantum system's wave function changes over time. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Paul Dirac for advances in atomic theory.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Overnight, East German authorities began erecting a concrete barrier around West Berlin to stop citizens slipping across to the West. Within weeks it grew into a fortified border of walls, watchtowers and a cleared strip of land known as the death strip.
Edward Valachovic https://www.flickr.com/people/fauxaddress/ · CC BY-SA 2.0
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Hollande led France from 2012 to 2017, a term that included legalising same-sex marriage and pulling French troops out of Afghanistan. Before that he spent years as Socialist Party leader and as a local politician in Corrèze.
Web Summit · CC BY 2.0
Austrian theoretical physicist who devised the Schrödinger equation, a way of calculating how a quantum system's wave function changes over time. He shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics and is also remembered for the thought experiment about a cat.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Spanish playwright who wrote for the stage and also worked as a journalist, winning the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel committee credited him with continuing the great traditions of Spanish theatre, and he is remembered as one of its leading names.
Public domain
German novelist whose works, including Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain and Death in Venice, probed the psychology of artists and intellectuals. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929 and died in Switzerland, where he had settled after fleeing the Nazis.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
William Blake was an English poet and painter who died in 1827, largely unrecognised in his lifetime. He is now seen as a central figure of Romantic poetry and art, known for works like Songs of Innocence and of Experience and his visionary illustrations.
Thomas Phillips · Public domain
Henry Fonda was an American actor whose everyman roles, from The Grapes of Wrath to 12 Angry Men, made him one of Hollywood's most trusted screen presences. He died in 1982, shortly after winning a best actor Oscar for On Golden Pond.
Studio publicity still · Public domain
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