RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast (1911), and Asteroid 1998 QE2 and moon make closest Earth approach (2013). Born on this day: Clint Eastwood, Walt Whitman and Pius XI. Died: Joseph Haydn, Évariste Galois and Tintoretto.
29 events, 77 births and 57 deaths on this date.
Built by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line, the liner was the largest ship afloat when she entered service. She later sank on her maiden voyage after striking an iceberg, with roughly 1,500 lives lost.
Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart · Public domainAsteroid 1998 QE2, a rocky body with a moon of its own, swung closer to Earth than it will again for roughly two centuries. Most asteroids orbit in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, so a close pass like this is unusual.
Genghis Khan's army seized Zhongdu, the northern city now called Beijing, from the Jin rulers of China. Losing their capital was a serious blow to the Jin and a turning point in the Mongol campaign against China.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in 9.72 seconds, a time that counted because the wind was within the legal limit. Bolt later carried that form into the Beijing Olympics, where he set world records in both the 100 and 200 metres.
Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil · CC BY 3.0 br
The withdrawal ended a failed attempt by the Mongol Empire to conquer Singhasari, the Javanese kingdom ruled by King Kertanegara. The campaign, launched against King Kertanegara, ended with the invaders leaving Java empty-handed.
Forces loyal to Raden Wijaya defeated the Mongol invaders on Java, a victory now regarded as the founding moment of Surabaya. The city's origins are traced to this day in 1293.
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Clint Eastwood is an American actor and director best known for the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns and for playing Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films. He later won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Unforgiven.
Raffi Asdourian · CC BY 2.0
Whitman was an American poet and journalist whose self-published Leaves of Grass, first issued in 1855, reshaped how poetry sounded in America. Its loose, sprawling lines and frank celebration of ordinary people drew both admirers and outrage from critics of the day.
George Collins Cox / Adam Cuerden · Public domain
Pius XI led the Catholic Church from 1922 until his death in 1939, and became the first sovereign of Vatican City. He settled the long dispute with Italy through the Lateran Treaty and spoke out against Hitler and Mussolini.
Nicola Perscheid · Public domain
Austrian composer of the Classical period, often called the Father of the Symphony for shaping its form. He spent much of his career as music director for the Esterházy family and was Europe's most celebrated composer by the time he died in Vienna.
Thomas Hardy · Public domain
Galois was a French mathematician who, while still a teenager, found the condition for when a polynomial can be solved by radicals. His ideas became the foundations of Galois theory and group theory, though he died in a duel at twenty.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Tintoretto was a Venetian painter whose speed and bold brushwork earned him the nickname il Furioso, or 'the Furious'. His canvases are known for muscular figures, dramatic gestures and daring perspective in the Mannerist style.
Jacopo Tintoretto · Public domain
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