📜 This Day in History

April 15

• 769The final session of the Lateran Council, convened to rectify abuses in the papal electoral process that had led to the elevation of the antipopes Constantine II and Philip, was held in Rome.
• 1755A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was first published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in the history of English.
• 1927Torrential rains caused the Mississippi River to break out of its levee system in at least 145 places, resulting in the worst flooding in the history of the United States.
• 1952The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered, strategic bomber operated by the U.S. Air Force for most of the aircraft's history, made its first flight.
• 1989The death of former Chinese General Secretary Hu Yaobang triggered a series of events that led to the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.
• 2021A mass shooting at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killed nine and injured seven.

Born on this day

• 1452Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (died 1519)
• 1707Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1783)
• 1894Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (died 1971)
• 1912Kim Il Sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 1994)