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 – Léon Gambetta, French statesman (d. 1882)
 1840 – Émile 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 – György Konrád, 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 Forsström, 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 – Renée 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 – Stéphane 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 Alfvén, 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