The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed into orbit from Space Shuttle Discovery
MajorNASA's most famous telescope began its journey to revolutionize our understanding of the universe. Ironically, scientists soon discovered a major flaw...
April 25 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
1990
1983
Soviet schoolgirl Samantha Smith became America's youngest ambassador after writing to USSR leader Yuri Andropov
The 10-year-old wrote a letter asking about nuclear war, and Andropov invited her to visit the Soviet Union. She became a media sensation and symbol o...
1982
Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, returning it to Egypt as part of their historic peace treaty
This was the final phase of the 1979 Camp David Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Israel disma...
1976
The first game of the rival basketball league ABA-NBA merger was approved, ending years of competition
Four ABA teams joined the NBA: the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs. The ABA left lasting impacts including the th...
1953
Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick published their discovery of DNA's double helix structure in Nature magazine
MajorTheir paper, barely a page long, revolutionized biology and medicine forever. The iconic discovery was partly based on Rosalind Franklin's X-ray cryst...
1945
American and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River in Germany, splitting Nazi Germany in two
MajorThis historic encounter near Torgau effectively cut Germany in half and signaled the imminent end of World War II in Europe. Soldiers from both sides...
1940
Al Pacino was born in New York City
The future star of The Godfather and Scarface grew up in the Bronx and dropped out of school at 17 to pursue acting. He worked as a janitor, messenger...
1901
New York became the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates
The law required vehicle owners to create their own plates with their initials at least three inches high. This DIY approach led to wildly inconsisten...
1874
A swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts blocked out the sun over Nebraska in the largest insect swarm ever recorded
The swarm was estimated at 12.5 trillion locusts covering 198,000 square miles. Witnesses said the insects were so thick they blocked out the sun for...
1859
Construction began on the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea
MajorFrench diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps led the groundbreaking ceremony in Port Said, Egypt. The massive engineering project took 10 years and involved t...
1792
The guillotine was first used as the official method of execution in France
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier, a highwayman, became the first person executed by this new 'humane' device. Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin had championed it a...
1719
Daniel Defoe's novel 'Robinson Crusoe' was published in London
The book became an instant bestseller and is considered one of the first English novels. It was so popular that Defoe published a sequel just four mon...
1644
The last emperor of China's Ming Dynasty hanged himself from a tree as rebels stormed Beijing
Emperor Chongzhen wrote a final message in his own blood before taking his life on what is now called Coal Hill. He ordered his wife and daughter to c...
1507
A German cartographer first used the name 'America' on a world map
Martin Waldseemüller published a map labeling the New World as 'America' after explorer Amerigo Vespucci, not Christopher Columbus. Only one copy of t...