 ^
Births which occurred on a 01 April:
2003 Cloned banteng male [04 Apr 2003 photo >],
weighing about the normal 20 kg, by cesarean section from a surrogate mother
cow at a farm in Sioux Center, Iowa. In 1977 the San Diego Zoo's Center
for Reproduction of Endangered Species began its Frozen
Zoo program: preserving tissue samples from hundreds of endangered animals
in small plastic vials, which are kept superfrozen in liquid nitrogen. It
sent frozen skin cells from a male banteng who died childless in 1980 to
researchers at the cloning company Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester,
Massachusetts, which inserted genetic material from the banteng skin cells
into 30 cow eggs that had their genetic material removed. Trans Ova Genetics
of Hull, Iowa, then implanted the cloned eggs into cows in Sioux Center,
Iowa. Of the 16 resulting pregnancies, 14 miscarried and this is the first
to result in a birth. The other birth would take place on 03 April 2003,
a male weighing 40 kg, whom the scientists would kill on 08 April, as being
too overweight to have a good chance of survival. The banteng (Bos javanicus
javanicus) is an endangered wild bovine species from the forests of Southeast
Asia, mostly in Java, and is closely related to the domesticated cow
1976 Apple Computer is founded by Stephen Wozniak and Steven
Paul Jobs [24 Feb 1955~].
1970 The
Gremlin, first US subcompact car. ^top^
AMC, the company that first introduced
the compact car in the 1950s, introduces the Gremlin, the US's first subcompact
car. AMC was the only major independent car company to survive into the
1970s. AMC's success relied heavily on the vision of the company's first
president, George Romney, who strongly believed that to compete with the
Big Three automakers his company must offer smaller, more fuel-efficient
alternatives to their cars. The AMC Rambler, a compact car, accounted for
nearly all of AMC's profits through the 1950s, the era during which the
company enjoyed its most substantial success. AMC's fortune faded rapidly
after Romney left the company in 1962, and by the end of the '60s, the company's
output had dropped to a dismal 250'000 sales per year. The release of the
Gremlin in 1970 marked the company's return to Romney's vision. Designed
to compete with the imported Volkswagens and Japanese sub-compacts, the
Gremlin was essentially the AMC Hornet with its back end cut off. AMC President
Roy Chapin attempted to re-create the vigorous personal campaign that Romney
had used successfully to market the Rambler in the '50s. He appeared before
the US public in advertisements to extol the virtues of the "first sub-compact"
car. Unfortunately for AMC, the Gremlin was out on the market for only a
short time before the Big Three released their own sub-compact models. The
Gremlin, created to save AMC, floundered.
1947 Connes,
mathematician.
1943 Oklahoma!, comedia musical que renovará
este género, se estrena.
1935
First metal radio tube ^top^
General Electric announces that
it has developed a method for making metal radio tubes. The metal
tubes were smaller and sturdier than the previously used glass tubes.
They were also more effective at conducting and radiating heat, which
improved short-wave reception. |
1933 Dan Flavin, US Minimalist
Installation artist who died in 1996. — LINKS
1929 Yo-yo
is introduced by Louie Marx.
1929 Milan Kundera, escritor francés de origen checo.
1927 First automatic record changer introduced, by His
Master's Voice.
1922 William Manchester, author.
1920 Toshiro Mifune Tsing-tao China, writer/actor (Shogun)
1919 Joseph Edward Murray, médico estadounidense,
premio Nobel 1990.
1918
The British Royal Air Force.
^top^
The
British Royal Air Force (RAF) is formed by joining the Royal Flying
Corps (RFC) with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The RAF took
its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military
service with its own ministry. In April 1911, eight years after Americans
Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first flight of a self-propelled,
heavier-than-air aircraft, an air battalion of the British army's
Royal Engineers was formed at Larkhill in Wiltshire. The battalion
consisted of aircraft, airship, balloon, and man-carrying kite companies.
In December 1911, the British navy formed the Royal Naval Flying School
at Eastchurch, Kent. In May 1912, both were absorbed into the newly
created Royal Flying Corps, which established a new flying school
at Upavon, Wiltshire, and formed new airplane squadrons. In July 1914,
the specialized requirements of the navy led to the creation of RNAS.
One month later, on August 4, Britain declared war on Germany and
entered World War I. At the time, the RFC had 84 aircraft, and the
RNAS had 71 aircraft and seven airships. Later that month, four RFC
squadrons were deployed to France to support the British Expeditionary
Force. During the next two years, Germany took the lead in air strategy
with technologies like the manual machine gun, and England suffered
bombing raids and frustration in the skies against German flying aces
such as Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron." Repeated German air
raids led British military planners to push for the creation of a
separate air ministry, which would carry out strategic bombing against
Germany.
On 01 April 1918, the
RAF is formed along with a female branch of the service, the Women's
Royal Air Force. That day, Bristol F.2B fighters of the 22nd Squadron
carried out the first official missions of the RAF. By the war's end,
on 11 November 1918, the RAF had gained air superiority along
the western front. The strength of the RAF in November 1918 was nearly
300'000 officers and airmen, and more than 22'000 aircraft. At the
outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, the operational strength
of the RAF in Europe had diminished to about 2000 aircraft. In June
1940, the Western democracies of continental Europe fell to Germany
one by one, leaving Britain alone in its resistance to Nazi Germany.
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler planned an invasion of Britain and in July
1940 ordered his powerful air force — the Luftwaffe — to
destroy British ports along the coast in preparation. The outnumbered
RAF fliers put up a fierce resistance in the opening weeks of the
Battle of Britain, leading the Luftwaffe commanders to place destruction
of the British air fleet at the forefront of the German offensive.
If the Germans succeeded in wiping out the RAF, they could begin their
invasion as scheduled in the fall. During the next three months, however,
the RAF successfully resisted the massive German air invasion, relying
on radar technology, more maneuverable aircraft, and exceptional bravery.
For every British plane shot down, two Luftwaffe warplanes were destroyed.
In October, Hitler delayed the German invasion indefinitely, and in
May 1941 the Battle of Britain came to an end. British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill said of the RAF pilots, "Never in the field of human
conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." By the war's end
in 1945, the strength of the RAF was nearly one million personnel.
Later, this number was reduced and stabilized at about 150'000 men
and women. |
1916
Selznick Pictures movie studio.
^top^
Movie mogul Lewis Selznick founds his own movie studio. Selznick's
company served as a launching pad for his two sons, Myron and David,
who became important players in the Hollywood filmmaking industry.
One of 18 children born to a poor family in Kiev, Russia, Lewis Selznick
was sent to England as a boy, where he worked in a factory until he
earned enough money to sail for America. After arriving in Pittsburgh,
he opened a jewelry shop that grew into a chain of successful stores
by the time he was 24. In 1912, when he was in his early 40s, Selznick
began investing in motion pictures and took positions first at Universal
Pictures, then the World Film Corporation. In 1916, he formed Lewis
Selznick Pictures, and the company flourished for several years. Selznick's
oldest son, Myron, born in 1898, dropped out of Columbia University
after a few months to work at the studio. Myron became the industry's
youngest producer and was chief of production by age 21. By age 25,
he was president of Selznick Pictures. However, when the company went
bankrupt in 1923, Myron was out of a job. He produced several independent
films without much success. In 1928, he became a talent agent, a career
path that eventually made him one of the most powerful personalities
in Hollywood — 20th Century Fox banned him from the lot in 1938,
claiming he was undermining the film industry by inflating actors'
salaries. Lewis Selznick's younger son, David, also joined his father's
company and worked in a number of positions. After Selznick Pictures
went bankrupt, his father landed David a job with a former partner
and sometime rival, Louis B. Mayer, at MGM. David eventually married
the boss's daughter, Irene, and left to work at Paramount and RKO
before founding Selznick International in 1936. He produced Gone with
the Wind in 1939, using 15 screenwriters to adapt Margaret Mitchell's
novel. The film became one of the biggest box office hits in history.
In 1940, David O. Selznick brought Alfred Hitchcock from England to
direct Rebecca, Hitchcock's first US film. |
1904 Juan Gil-Albert, escritor español.
1901
Jay Vivian “Whittaker” Chambers, US journalist; Communist
from 1923 to 1938. On 03 August 1948, during the MacCarthyist Red Scare,
Chambers accused Alger Hiss (11 Nov 1904 – 15 Nov 1996) of
having been a Communist spy. Chambers later gave as evidence microfilms
of government documents hidden in a pumpkin on his farm. It ended up with
Hiss serving 44 months in prison for perjury, though he has always asserted
his innocence.
It is not known whether it was Hiss or Chambers that was lying, though
General Dimitri Volkogonov, head of the Russian military intelligence archives,
declared in 1992 that he found no documents indicating that Hiss had been
a spy. Chambers published his autobiography, Witness, in 1952.
He died of a heart attack on 09 July 1961.
1895 Aitken,
mathematician.
1889 Manuel de Góngora y Ayustante,
poeta, dramaturgo y periodista español.
1889 First dishwashing
machine marketed (Chicago)
1875 Richard
Horatio Edgar Wallace, British novelist, playwright, and journalist
who produced popular detective and suspense stories and was in his time
"the king" of the modern thriller. He wrote 175 books, 24 plays, and countless
articles and review sketches. He died on 10 February 1932.
1873 Sergei Rachmaninoff, Novgorod Province, Russia, (Prelude in
C# Minor). He died on 28 March 1943.
 1868
Edmond Rostand, in Marseille.
^top^
French
dramatist of the period just before World War I whose plays provide
a final, very belated example of Romantic drama in France.
Rostand
died on 02 December 1918, in Paris. Rostand's name is indissolubly
linked with that of his most popular and enduring play, Cyrano
de Bergerac. First performed in Paris in 1897, with the famous
actor Constant Coquelin playing the lead, Cyrano made a great impression
in France and all over Europe and the United States. The plot revolves
around the emotional problems of Cyrano, who, despite his many gifts,
feels that no woman can ever love him because he has an enormous nose.
There is a purely nominal connection
between the Cyrano of the play and Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (17th
century satirist and dramatist whose works combining political satire
and science-fantasy inspired a number of later writers of romantic
but unhistorical legends).
But
Rostand's stirring and colorful historical play, with its dazzling
versification, skillful blend of comedy and pathos, and fast-moving
plot, provided welcome relief from the grim dramas of the naturalists
and Symbolists. Rostand wrote a good deal for the theatre, but the
only other play of his that is still much remembered is L'Aiglon
(1900). This highly emotional patriotic tragedy in six acts centres
on the Duke of Reichstadt, who never ruled but died of tuberculosis
as a virtual prisoner in Austria. Rostand always took pains to write
fine parts for his stars, and L'Aiglon afforded Sarah Bernhardt
one of her greatest triumphs. Rostand also wrote the barnyard fable
Chantecler (1910). Edmond Rostand died on 2 December 1918,
a victim of the widespread influenza epidemic. His son , Jean Rostand
(1894–1977), was a noted biologist, moralist, and writer.
Edmond
Rostand was born in Marseille into a wealthy and cultured Provençal
family. His father was an economist and a poet, a member of the Marseille
Academy and the Institute de France. Rostand studied literature, history,
and philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris. In the 1880s he
published poems and essays in the literary review Mireille. Rostand
abandoned his law studies in 1890 when his first book of poems, LES
MUSARDISES, appeared. His first play, LE GANT ROUGE, was produced
in 1888. In 1890 he married the poet Rosemonde Gérard, a granddaughter
of one of Napoleon's marshals. Their two sons, Jean and Maurice, also
became writers. Maurice Rostand (1891-1968) published poems, plays
(Le procès d'Oscar Wilde, 1935), and novels. His memoirs, Confession
d'un demi-siècle, appeared in 1948. "It is at night that faith in
light is admirable." (from Chantecler, 1907) Rostand's first successful
play was LES ROMANESQUES (1894). It was produced at the Comédie Française
and was based on Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Three years
later produced Cyrano de Bergerac became his most popular and enduring
work. L'AIGLON (1900), a tragedy based on the life of Napoleon's son,
also became popular. During its first run in 1900, the famous actress
Sarah Bernhardt played the title role. Bernhardt also acted in LA
SAMARITAINE (1897) and LA PRINCESSE LOINTAINE (1895), a story about
an unattainable princess and a troubadour hero, who dies in her arms.
"The dream, alone, is of interest. What is life, without a dream."
In 1901 Rostand was elected to the Académie Française at the age of
thirty-three. Suffering from poor health, he retired to his family's
country estate at Cambon, in the Basque county. He continued to write
plays and poetry, but his subsequent works did not gain the popularity
of Cyrano de Bergerac. In 1910 appeared CHANTECLER, a story about
a barnyard rooster who believes that his song makes the sun rise.
Rostand died of pneumonia in Paris on December 2, 1918. His last dramatic
poem was about Don Juan. It was performed posthumously but failed
totally. Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) - A poetic, romantic drama set
in the reign of Louis XIII. The central character, Cyrano, is a famous
swordsman, and an aspiring poet-lover. Because of his grotesquely
large nose "that marches on / before me by a quarter of an hour,"
he is convinced that he is too ugly to deserve his adored Roxane.
Cyrano helps his inarticulate rival, Christian, win her heart by allowing
him to present Cyrano's love poems, speeches, and letters as his own
work. Soon the romance starts, Christian whispers his own love from
the shadows in glorious words that Roxane believes are his. But Christian
realizes that it was not his own good looks but Cyrano's letters that
won Roxanne. Before his death on the battlefield, Christian asks Cyrano
to confess their plot to Roxanne. Cyrano keeps their secret for fisteen
years. As he is dying years later, he visits Roxanne and reveals her
the truth. - The play opened at the Porte Saint-Martin Theater in
December 1897. Cyrano's gallantry was seen as the reincarnation of
the true Gallic spirit and Rostand became a national hero.
Works of Rostand:
LE GANT ROUGE, 1888 - The Red Glove LES MUSARDISES, 1890 - The Idlers
LES ROMANESQUES, 1894 - The Romantics/The Fantasticks LA PRINCESSE
LOINTAINE, 1895 - The Faraway Princess LA SAMARITAINE, 1897 - The
Woman of Samaria CYRANO DE BERGERAC, 1897- translated among others
by the American poet Brian Hooker; the work is generally considered
to be one of the finest English verse translations ever written -
several film adaptations: 1950, dir. by Michael Gordon; 1987 under
the title Roxanne, dir. by Fred Schepi, written by Steve Martin; 1990,
dir. by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, starring Gerard Depardieu, English translation
by Anthony Burgess - opera composed by Eino Tamberg, libretto by Jaan
Kross - L'AIGLON, 1900 - transl. CHANTECLER, 1910 ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES,
7 vols., 1910-11 LA DERNIÈRE NUIT DE DON JUAN, 1921 - The Last Night
of Don Juan LE CANTIQUE DE L'AILE, 1922 LE VOL DE LA MARSEILLAISE,
1922 THÉÂTRE, 1921-29 |
1865 Richard Zsigmondy Germany, chemist
(Nobel-1925)
1856 Charles Maurin, French painter who died on 22
July 1914. — MORE
ON MAURIN AT ART “4” APRIL
with links to images.
1852 Edwin Austin Abbey, US English Golden
Age muralist and illustrator who died on 01 August 1911. —
MORE
ON ABBEY AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1837 Jorge Isaacs,
Colombian poet and novelist who died on 17 April 1895.
1831 Albert Anker, Swiss painter, specialized in
Children,
who died on 16 July 1910. — MORE
ON ANKER AT ART “4” APRIL
with links to images.
1821 Geskel Saloman (or Salomon), Swedish artist
who died on 02 July 1902. — more
with links to images (of Judgment paintings by other artists)
 1815
Otto von Bismarck, Germany, chancellor (1866-90)
^top^
Bismarck was called “the Iron Chancellor” and “Architect
of the German Empire”. He is credited with the 1871 unification
of Germany. He warned against taking the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine
from France after the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, prophetically
saying "A generation that has taken a beating is always followed
by a generation that deals one." [which could also apply, to
the reparations imposed on Germany after its defeat in WW I
and the subsequent 3rd Reich of Hitler, or to the Jews of the
Holocaust and those of Ariel Sharon]. He warned against the
violation of Belgian neutrality as dictated by the Schlieffen
Plan. He had difficulty winning approval of alliance with Austria-Hungary.
Wilhelm I was worried it would offend Russia. Bismarch was dismissed
as Chancellor by Wilhelm II in March 1890. His legacy of alliances
proved difficult for his successors to manage. Bismarck died
on 30 July 1898.
— Otto Von Bismarck war an
01 April 1815 am Schvnhauesen gebvren. Er ist den Vater von
Deutches Kaiserreich. Von 1862 bis 1873 er war den Premierminister
von Preussen, und war den erst Chancellor von Deutschland 1871
bis 1890. Er war tot an 30 Juli 1898. Er studierte Rechtswissenschaft
am Universitdten Gvttingen und Berlin. Danach war er ein Rechner
am Aachen. Er bekamm Ruhm in 1859, wenn er nach Russland ging,
zu arbeiten wie ein Botschafter. Im März, 1862 kamm er
zurück, um Botschafter zu Frankreich zu sein. Nur sechs
Monate später, kamm er zu Deutschland zurück, zu Premierminister
sein. Er wollte alle Deuschland zusammen bringen. Und in ein
kurz Zeit, hatte er vollenden diese Arbeit. Weil er Deutschland
so streng machte, hatte Deutschland zwei Kriege gewinnen; erst
zwischen Deutschland und Östereich in 1866, und auch mit
Frankreich in 1870. Viel andere kleine Deutschreiche hatten
diese Kriege sehen, und wollen mit Deutschland verbinden. Bavaria,
Württemburg, Baden, Hesse und andere hatten vereinigten
unter Otto von Bismark, und sie machten ein gross Bündniss.
Von dies Bündniss hatte den erst Deutschreich machen mit
einem Sprach im Versailles in 1871. Der erst Kaiser war Willhelm
I. Kaiser Wilhelm machte Otto von Bismark den erst Chancellor.
Es war ein Beruf mit viel Prestige, weil er arbeitet nur f|r
den Kaiser, nicht für die Parlimente. Parlimente machte
Gesetz, aber Otto von Bismark sagte zu die Parlimente welche
Gesetz zu machen. Er wählte auch die Minister für
ganze Deutschland. Seine wichstige Ausführungen war ein
Zentral-Bank, Zentral-Geld, und er hatte alle die Gesetz von
die 17 Teile von Deutschland zusammenbringen. Er machte auch
das erst System vor Sozialversicherung in alle Europa. Er war
auch sehr intelligent Aussenminister. Nach die zwei Kriege,
Deutschland hatte Friede für viele Jähre. Aber später,
Leute hatte er nicht so viel gern. In 1890, zwei Jähre
nach Wilhelm II Kaiser war, hatte er raus von Politik ging.
In seine letzte Jähre, shreibte er sein Geschischte.
— "I am bored. The great things are done. The German Reich
is made." Bismarck after the German unification of 1871
— "Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans," Bismarck's
prediction on what would provoke the next war
— An 1887 US political cartoon depicts Chancellor Bismarck
balancing the figures of war and peace on a teeter-totter made
up of a powder keg and a board named "European politics". At
the same time, he is juggling the great powers of Europe. An
artillery piece lies in the foreground. |
1790 Louis-Charles-Auguste Couder, French painter
who died in 1873. — more
with links to two images.
1783 Kulik,
mathematician.
1778 The dollar is created
by Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman.
1776
Sophie
Germain, mathematician.
1766 François-Xavier Fabre, French painter specialized
in Portraits,
who died on 16 March 1837. — a bit more
with links to images
1755 Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
French lawyer and politician, famous as author of Physiologie
du Goût, ou Méditation de gastronomie transcendante,
ouvrage théorique, historique et à l'ordre du jour.
(8 vols., 1825)..
1753 Joseph
de Maistre, filósofo católico italiano.
1746
Jean-Etienne Portalis, French lawyer who helped draft Napoleonic
Code. He died on 25 August 1807.
1743 Karl-Sébastien
von Bemmel, German artist who died on 27 November 1796.
 1697
Abbé Antoine-François Prévost d'Exiles,
French novelist/journalist (Manon Lescaut) ^top^
Prévost was born in Hesdin, France and
died on 25 November 1763, in Chantilly. He was a prolific French
novelist whose fame rests entirely on one work — Histoire
du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Originally published
as the final installment of a seven-volume novel, Mémoires et
aventures d'un homme de qualité qui s'est retiré du monde (1728–31),
Prévost's Manon Lescaut is the basis of the operas Manon, by Jules
Massenet, and Manon Lescaut, by Giacomo Puccini. A classic example
of the 18th-century novel of feeling, Manon Lescaut tells the story
of a young man of good family who ruins his life for a courtesan.
From an early age, Prévost displayed
many of the weaknesses characteristic of the hero of his most famous
work. Two enlistments in the army alternated with two entries into
the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, from which he was dismissed
in 1721. In that year he took vows as a Benedictine monk and in 1726
was ordained a priest.
In 1728 he fled to England. One of
his numerous love affairs caused him to lose his job there as a tutor
and to go to Holland in 1730. In 1735 Prévost returned to England
to escape his Dutch creditors and was briefly imprisoned in London
for forgery. After secretly returning to France, he was reconciled
with the Roman Catholic church (although he may have been a Protestant
during his exile).
[Abbé Prévost, detail of a drawing by Georg Friedrich Schmidt,
1745 >]
 PREVOST
ONLINE:
Histoire
du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, tirée des Mémoires d'un
Homme de qualité, tome VII (1728)
Manon
Lescaut (PDF) —
Le
monde moral, ou Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du coeur humain
—
(In English translation) Manon
Lescaut — Manon
Lescaut —
1686 Jan-Frans van
Bredael I, Flemish artist who died on 19 February 1750.
1663 Alexander van Bredael (or Bredel, Breda), Flemish
artist who died on 14 July 1720.
1640 Mohr,
mathematician.
1618 Jan Philips Righolz Conwemberg van Thielen,
Flemish painter who died in 1667. — more
with link to an image.
1578 William Harvey, English physician
who developed the theory of blood circulation. He died on 03 June
1657.
0742
Charlemagne (date présumée).
^top^
Dix ans à peine après la victoire de
Poitiers (sur les Arabes) le vainqueur, Charles Martel, obtient un
petit fils en la personne d’un des hommes les plus connus de son temps
en Europe Occidentale, sinon dans tout le monde. Carolus Magnus, plus
connu sous le nom de Charlemagne, futur roi des Francs et couronné
Empereur en 800, naît en terre liégeoise (à Jupille, près de Liège,
affirment beaucoup d’historiens, sans jamais le prouver). C’est la
fille de Caribert de Laon, Berthe (dite au Grand Pied ?) qui enfanta
Charlemagne des œuvres de son époux légitime Pépin III, dit le Bref,
roi des Francs et fondateur de la dynastie Carolingienne.
[< Dürer's conception of Charlemagne]
Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 747-814)
would be king of the Franks and Christian Emperor of the West. After
the death of his father Pepin the Short and his younger brother Carloman
he inherited the Frankish kingdom. He spent the following years conquering
and Christianizing the neighboring kingdoms the Saxons and the Lombards.
In 788 Charlemagne deposed the ruler of Bohemia and absorbed it into
his empire. Father to the east he subdued the Avars (Turko-Finnish
nomads) in the middle Danube basin. In 800 he entered into Italy to
support Pope Leo III against the rebellious Romans and on Christmas
Day, 800, in St. Peter's Church, was crowned by the pope Emperor of
the Romans as 'Carolus Augustus'. Charlemagne zealously promoted education,
architecture, bookmaking and the arts, created stable administrations
and good laws, and encouraged agriculture, industry and commerce.
His reign was a noble attempt to consolidate order and Christian culture
among the nations in the western part of the former Roman Empire.
There are no portraits of Charlemagne, done in his time, that is why
Dürer invented his portrait. This interpretation of Charlemagne’s
appearance influenced depictions of the Emperor until well into the
19th century. |
|
2001
Sensational texts by Jane Austen are discovered !!!
^top^ 
