April 2

Events
Up to 1900
999 - Pope Sylvester II is elected.
1285 - Pope Martin IV is elected.
1453 - The Ottoman Empire's Sultan Mehmed II begins the Siege of Constantinople.
1513 - Florida is sighted by a European for the first time.
1744 - The first official golf tournament is held in Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland.
1783 - The Duke of Portland replaces the Earl of Shelburne as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1800 - Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony.
1801 - British forces under Horatio Nelson defeat Denmark in the naval Battle of Copenhagen.
1814 - The French senate declares Napoleon Bonaparte removed from power.
1845 - Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau and Jean Bernard Leon Foucault take the first photograph of the Sun.
1851 - Mongkut (Rama IV) is crowned King of Siam.
1865 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis and his cabinet flee Richmond, Virginia.
1865 - American Civil War: The Siege of Petersburg is broken, as Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia.
1885 - Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, killing 9 people.
1900 - The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
1901 2000
1902 - The Electric Theater, the first full-time movie theater in the US, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1911 - Australia's first census is held.
1912 - The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
1917 - Woodrow Wilson asks US Congress for war with Germany.
1921 - The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government covering present-day Iran, is created.
1930 - Haile Selassie becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.
1932 - Charles Lindbergh paid a $50,000 ransom for the return of his kidnapped son.
1943 - Off Bermuda, the British ship Melbourne Star is torpedoed by the German U-boat U 129. It explodes and sinks within two minutes, killing 114 people.
1945 - The Soviet Union and Brazil establish diplomatic relations.
1962 - In road use, the first official Panda crossing is opened outside Waterloo station in London.
1972 - Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled as a Communist during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
1974 - The Westfalenstadion stadium in Dortmund is opened. It is currently the home of the Borussia Dortmund football team, and hosts international matches.
1975 - Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese forces.
1975 - The CN Tower in Toronto is completed.
1978 - The television show Dallas is shown for the first time.
1982 - The Falklands War begins, as Argentine forces invade.
1984 - Rakesh Sharma becomes the first Indian in space on board the Soyuz T-11.
1989 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, for talks with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1991 - The eruption of the Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines begins.
1991 - Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province, in British Columbia.
1992 - Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering.
1998 - Former French minister Maurice Papon is found guilty of war crimes over the deportation of more than 1,700 Jews during World War II.
From 2001
2004 - Spanish police prevent an attempt by Islamist terrorists to blow up a high speed train near Madrid.
2005 - Pope John Paul II dies at the age of 84 years, after more than 26 years as Pope.
2006 - 60 tornadoes break out in the United States. Tennessee is the worst affected with 29 people killed.
2007 - A magnitude 8.1 earthquake hits the Solomon Islands, with resulting tsunamis destroying villages, killing 52 people, and making 5,000 homeless.
2011 - India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time.
2012 - President of Hungary Pal Schmitt resigns after losing his doctorate in a Plagiarism scandal.
2013 - Major flooding affects Buenos Aires and La Plata in Argentina, killing 62 people.
2015 - A trawler sinks in the Sea of Okhotsk, west of Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, killing at least 50 sailors on board.
2015 - Al-Shabaab militants attack a university in Garissa, Kenya, killing 147 people.
2019 - Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns as President of Algeria with immediate effect, ending his almost-20-year Presidency, after several weeks of protests.
2019 - Lori Lightfoot is elected Mayor of Chicago, making her the first African American Lesbian woman chosen to govern a major city in the United States.
Births
Up to 1900
742 - Charlemagne (d. 814)
1527 - Abraham Ortelius, Flemish mapmaker (d. 1598)
1545 - Elisabeth of Valois, French princess and Queen of Spain (d. 1568)
1565 - Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
1614 - Jahanara Begum Sahib, Imperial princess and daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (d. 1681)
1618 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
1647 - Maria Sibylla Merian, German botanist (d. 1717)
1653 - Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
1719 - Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
1725 - Giacomo Casanova, Italian writer (d. 1798)
1745 - Richard Bassett, Governor of Delaware (d. 1815)
1788 - Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (d. 1862)
1788 - Wilhelmine Reichard, first female German balloonist (d. 1848)
1791 - David Henshaw, 14th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1852)
1792 - Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician (d. 1840)
1798 - Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet (d. 1874)
1805 - Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer and poet (d. 1875)
1814 - Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
1826 - George II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 1914)
1827 - William Holman Hunt, English painter (d. 1910)
1838 - Leon Gambetta, French statesman (d. 1882)
1840 - Emile Zola, French writer (d. 1902)
1841 - Clement Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
1852 - Frederick B. Fancher, Governor of North Dakota (d. 1944)
1862 - Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher, diplomat and educator (d. 1947)
1863 - William Adamson, Scottish trade union leader and politician (d. 1936)
1867 - Eugen Sandow, German bodybuilder and circus performer (d. 1925)
1869 - Hughie Jennings, American baseball player (d. 1928)
1875 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (d. 1940)
1891 - Max Ernst, German painter (d. 1976)
1891 - Jack Buchanan, Scottish actor, singer, director and producer (d. 1957)
1898 - Harindranath Chatoopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
1899 - Heinrich Rau, German politician (d. 1961)
1900 - Robert Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
1901 1950
1906 - Dan K. Moore, Governor of North Carolina (d. 1986)
1907 - Luke Appling, American baseball player (d. 1991)
1912 - Herbert Mills, American singer (d. 1989)
1914 - Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
1916 - Oleg Lundstrem, Russian jazz composer and conductor (d. 2005)
1917 - Dabbs Greer, American actor (d. 2007)
1919 - Delfo Cabrera, Argentine long-distance runner (d. 1981)
1920 - Jack Webb, American actor, director and producer (d. 1982)
1922 - John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician (d. 2015)
1923 - Gloria Henry, American actress
1923 - G. Spencer-Brown, English polymath (d. 2016)
1925 - George MacDonald Fraser, British writer (d. 2008)
1925 - Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television presenter (d. 1987)
1926 - Jack Brabham, Australian racing driver (d. 2014)
1927 - Carmen Basilio, American boxer (d. 2012)
1927 - Ferenc Puskas, Hungarian footballer (d. 2006)
1927 - Rembert Weakland, former Archbishop of Milwaukee
1927 - Howard H. Callaway, American politician (d. 2014)
1927 - Ken Sansom, American actor (d. 2012)
1927 - Billy Pierce, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1927 - Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
1928 - Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
1928 - Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Senegalese writer
1928 - Serge Gainsbourg, French singer, songwriter, actor and director (d. 1991)
1929 - Hans Koschnick, German politician (d. 2016)
1932 - Edward Egan, American Roman Catholic cardinal and former Archbishop of New York City (d. 2015)
1933 - Gyorgy Konrad, Hungarian writer (d. 2019)
1934 - Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
1934 - Carl Kasell, American radio journalist and quiz show judge (d. 2018)
1936 - Shaul Ladany, Israeli Olympic race walker
1936 - Cynthia Lynn, American actress (d. 2014)
1938 - John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of the Salvation Army
1938 - Booker Little, American trumpeter and composer (d. 1961)
1939 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
1939 - Lise Thibault, Quebec politician
1940 - Penelope Keith, British actress
1940 - Donald Jackson, Canadian figure skater
1940 - Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (d. 1981)
1941 - Dr. Demento, American radio presenter
1942 - Leon Russell, American pianist and conductor (d. 2016)
1942 - Roshan Seth, Indian-English actor
1943 - Tom Polanic, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2019)
1944 - Francisco Massiani, Venezuelan writer and painter (d. 2019)
1945 - Don Sutton, American baseball player
1945 - Linda Hunt, American actress
1946 - Sue Townsend, English novelist (d. 2014)
1946 - Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist (d. 1997)
1947 - Emmylou Harris, American singer
1947 - Camille Paglia, American author
1947 - Tua Forsstrom, Finnish writer
1947 - Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer
1948 - Bob Lienhard, American basketball player (d. 2018)
1949 - Paul Gambaccini, American-British radio and television presenter
1951 1975
1952 - Leon Wilkeson, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 2001)
1953 - Krzysztof Krauze, Polish movie director, cinematographer and actor (d. 2014)
1954 - Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
1954 - Donald Petrie, American director
1957 - Barbara Jordan, American tennis player
1959 - David Frankel, American director, screenwriter and producer
1959 - Badou Ezzaki, Moroccan footballer and coach
1959 - Juha Kankkunen, Finnish rally driver
1960 - Linford Christie, British athlete
1961 - Christopher Meloni, American actor
1961 - Keren Woodward, British singer (Bananarama)
1962 - Pierre Carles, French director and producer
1962 - Clark Gregg, American actor, director and screenwriter
1963 - Shane Barbi and Sia Barbi, American models, writers and animal rights activists
1963 - Mike Gascoyne, British engineer
1965 - Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (d. 2012)
1965 - David Gamkrelidze, Georgian politician
1966 - Teddy Sheringham, English footballer
1967 - Greg Camp, American musician
1967 - Renee Estevez, American actress
1969 - Ajay Devgan, Indian actor, director and producer
1971 - Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player
1971 - Edmundo, Brazilian footballer
1971 - Zeebra, Japanese rapper
1973 - Tine Wittler, German actress and writer
1975 - Adam Rodriguez, American actor
From 1976
1977 - Michael Fassbender, German-Irish actor
1977 - Annett Louisan, German singer
1977 - Aiden Turner, British actor
1977 - Nicki Pedersen, Danish speedway rider
1978 - Grisella Siciliani, Argentine actress and singer
1979 - Lindy Booth, Canadian actress
1979 - Jesse Carmichael, American musician (Maroon 5)
1980 - Carlos Salcido, Mexican footballer
1980 - Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist
1981 - Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
1981 - Kapil Sharma, Indian comedian
1981 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress, singer and filmmaker
1982 - Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
1982 - David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player
1982 - Jack Evans, American professional wrestler
1983 - Felix Borja, Ecuadorean footballer
1983 - Arthur Boka, Ivory Coast footballer
1983 - Laura Carmine Puerto, Puerto Rican-Mexican actress
1983 - Paul Capdeville, Chilean tennis player
1984 - Meryl Cassie, South African-New Zealand actress
1985 - Gordon Aikman, Scottish ALS campaigner (d. 2017)
1985 - Thom Evans, Scottish rugby player
1985 - Stephane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
1986 - Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
1986 - Lee DeWyze, American singer
1986 - Drew Van Acker, American actor
1986 - R3hab, Dutch DJ and record producer
1987 - Molly Smitten-Downes, English singer
1987 - Dalma Maradona, Argentine actress
1988 - Francesca Catalano, American actress
1990 - Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
1990 - Miralem Pjanic, footballer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
1993 - Aaron Kelly, American singer
1993 - Bruno Zuculini, Argentine footballer
Deaths
Up to 1900
1118 - Baldwin I of Jerusalem (b. 1058)
1305 - Joan I of Navarre (b. 1273)
1506 - Prince Arthur Tudor of England (b. 1486)
1507 - Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint (b. 1416)
1640 - Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish writer and poet (b. 1595)
1657 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
1709 - Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian painter (b. 1639)
1720 - Joseph Dudley, English Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1647)
1742 - James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
1791 - Henri Gabriel Riqueti, French statesman (b. 1749)
1803 - Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish politician and judge (b. 1721)
1817 - Johann Heinrich Jung, German writer (b. 1740)
1827 - Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and naturalist (b. 1776)
1872 - Samuel F. B. Morse, American inventor (b. 1791)
1894 - Achille Vianelli, Italian painter (b. 1803)
1901 2000
1914 - Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse, German writer (b. 1830)
1922 - Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist (b. 1884)
1928 - Theodore William Richards, American chemist (b. 1868)
1930 - Empress Zauditu of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
1933 - Ranjitsinhji, Indian cricketer (b. 1872)
1948 - Sabahattin Ali, Turkish novelist, writer, poet and journalist (b. 1907)
1951 - Simon Barere, Russian pianist (b. 1896)
1958 - Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (b. 1892)
1972 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
1972 - Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese martial arts grandmaster (b. 1887)
1974 - Georges Pompidou, President of France (b. 1911)
1987 - Buddy Rich, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1917)
1992 - Juan Gomez Gonzalez, Spanish footballer (b. 1954)
1994 - Betty Furness, American actress (b. 1916)
1995 - Hannes Alfven, Swedish physicist (b. 1908)
1998 - Rob Pilatus, American model, dancer and singer (b. 1965)
From 2001
2001 - Jennifer Syme, American actress (b. 1972)
2005 - Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
2006 - Nina von Stauffenberg, widow of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (b. 1914)
2007 - Paul Reed, American actor (b. 1909)
2012 - Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican artist and sculptor (b. 1915)
2013 - Jesus Franco, Spanish movie director, writer, cinematographer and actor (b. 1930)
2013 - Jane Henson, American puppeteer and voice actress (b. 1934)
2013 - Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (b. 1926)
2013 - Maria Redaelli, Italian supercentenarian (b. 1899)
2014 - Urs Widmer, Swiss writer (b. 1938)
2014 - Carl Epting Mundy, Jr., American military officer (b. 1935)
2014 - Richard Brick, American movie producer (b. 1945)
2014 - Glyn Jones, South African actor, writer and director (b. 1931)
2014 - Lucy Hood, American television executive (b. 1958)
2014 - Consuelo Moure, Colombian actress (b. 1947)
2014 - Joseph Willaert, Belgian painter (b. 1936)
2015 - Luis Delgado Aparicio, Peruvian politician (b. 1940)
2015 - Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese movie director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
2015 - Rudolph R. Perz, American advertising executive (b. 1925)
2015 - Olga Sawicka, Polish dancer and choreographer (b. 1932)
2015 - Robert H. Schuller, American televangelist (b. 1926)
2015 - Steve Stevaert, Belgian politician (b. 1954)
2015 - Doug Sax, American audio engineer (b. 1936)
2015 - Abdelhadi Tazi, Moroccan scholar and diplomat (b. 1921)
2016 - Gato Barbieri, Argentine musician and bandleader (b. 1932)
2016 - Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist (b. 1929)
2016 - Boris Hybner, Czech actor and mime artist (b. 1941)
2016 - Amber Rayne, American pornographic actress (b. 1984)
2017 - Kenneth J. Donnelly, American politician (b. 1950)
2017 - Leonard Litwin, American real estate developer (b. 1914)
2018 - Susan Anspach, American actress (b. 1942)
2018 - Morris Halle, Latvian-American linguist (b. 1923)
2018 - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African activist (b. 1936)
2019 - Jamshid Mashayekhi, Iranian actor (b. 1934)
2019 - J. Mahendran, Indian film director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1939)
2019 - Don Williamson, American businessman and politician (b. 1934)
Observances
International Children's Book Day - Birthday of Hans Christian Andersen
Thai Heritage Conservation Day
World Autism Awareness Day
Malvinas Day (Argentina)
April 02