TODAY: Violence has been the trend for this day in history, it seems.
On April 24 in 1184 BC, the Greeks used the Trojan Horse to enter Troy. Meanwhile, in 1877 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Again in 1898, war was declared when Spain rejected the US ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
Meanwhile, the appearance of Hailey’s Comet in 1066 convinced an English monk that the country was about to be destroyed. Fortunately, his prediction failed to come to pass.
In 1878, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy, giving even natural disasters a foothold in the turbulent history of April 24.
On a happier note, today is the day the Woolworth Building opened in New York City in 1913. The building was the world’s tallest at the time.
In 1929, the first non-stop flight from England to India left the ground and safely made it to its destination.
On a sports note, in 1965 NY Mets manager Casey Stengel recorded his 3,000th win. Also noteworthy in sports today, the Atlanta Braves set a National League record in 1966 with an 18-straight home game win streak.
Today is also National I Love You Day, according to the Urban Dictionary. It encourages you both to tell someone you love them and to prank people by saying the phrase to random strangers.
AHEAD: April 25th is National DNA Day, named as such to celebrate the publication of papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. The research was published by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues who collaborated on the papers published on the topic. The specific focus of Watson and Crick’s research revolved around the double-helix structure of DNA.
Also, April 25 is the day in 1990 that the shuttle Discovery placed the Hubble space telescope into orbit. The launch and deployment of the Hubble space telescope has been noted as the most significant advancement in astronomy since Galileo’s telescope.
Since its deployment, five servicing missions have been launched and were successful in maintaining the telescope, which has changed the way we see the universe and recognize our place in it.
