RECENT PHOBIA—Despite all the movies, crossed fingers and anxiety over bad things happening on Friday, the 13th, few world-wide historical references are found recording this day as being more unlucky than any other day this side of the cave. The phobia is 20th century blather, but it makes for good B-movie box office.
Our friends at Wikipedia have cataloged births and events etc. happening on April 13. The following are just a few dates. Most alarming recently being Apollo 13 came unglued on that day. And, the most recent (Jan. 13, 2012) Friday, the 13th saw the Italian Cruise ship Costa Concordia hit the rocks.
Astronomers have figured out that on April 13, 2029 and possibly April 13, 2036, asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with Earth, closer than the orbits of communication satellites. NASA/JPL points out No. 99942’s diameter is approximately 885 ft (about 5 city blocks wide).
As of October 7, 2009, the probability of an April 13, 2036 impact is considered to be 1 in 250,000. NASA adds there are more than seven asteroids more dangerous objects not recently observed, there are seven asteroids with a higher probability of Earth impact than No. 99942. But we should take comfort that no impacts are foreseen on April 13 during the lifetime of this blog.
NOTABLE FRI. 13TH EVENTS
• 1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
• 1256 – The Grand Union of the Augustinian order formed when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
• 1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. (Edict repealed in 1685.)
• 1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojiro at Funajima island.
• 1613 – Samuel Argall captures Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia to ransom her for some English prisoners held by her father. She is brought to Henricus as hostage.
• 1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are surprised in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
• 1796 – The first elephant ever seen in the United States arrives from India.
• 1829 – The British Parliament grants freedom of religion to Roman Catholics.
• 1849 – Hungary becomes a republic.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces.
• 1868 – The Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala.
• 1870 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art founded.
• 1902 – James C. Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
• 1909 – The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the deposal of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
• 1919 – The Establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
• 1919 – Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, for speaking out against the draft during World War I.
• 1941 – Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
• 1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.
• 1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program MKULTRA.
• 1958 – During the Cold War, American Van Cliburn wins the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
• 1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.
• 1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
• 1970 – An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon.
• 1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
• 1974 – Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States' first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1.
• 1975 – Bus massacre in Lebanon: Attack by the Phalangist resistance kill 26 militia members of the P.F.L. of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
• 1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduced the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
• 1984 – India moves into Siachen Glacier thus annexing more territory from the Line of Control.
• 1987 – Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999.
• 1992 – The Great Chicago Flood.
• 1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
BIRTHS
• 1519 – Catherine de' Medici, wife of Henry II of France (d. 1589)
• 1570 – Guy Fawkes, English Catholic conspirator (d. 1606)
• 1743 – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
• 1852 – F.W. Woolworth, American businessman (d. 1919)
• 1866 – Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (d. 1908)
• 1899 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and Scrabble inventor (d. 1993)
• 1902 – Philippe de Rothschild, French race car driver and wine grower (d. 1988)
• 1906 – Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Harold Stassen, American Presidential candidate (d. 2001)
• 1909 – Eudora Welty, American writer (d. 2001)
• 1919 – Howard Keel, American actor, singer, and president of the Screen Actors Guild (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American atheist activist (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Don Adams, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
• 1924 – Stanley Donen, American film director
• 1926 – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough
• 1931 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver
• 1931 – Jon Stone, co-creator of Sesame Street (d. 1997)
• 1935 – Lyle Waggoner, American actor
• 1937 – Edward Fox, English actor
• 1937 – Lanford Wilson, American playwright (d. 2011)
• 1939 – Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel laureate
• 1939 – Paul Sorvino, American actor
• 1941 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, Nobel laureate
• 1942 – Ataol Behramoglu Turkish poet and writer
• 1942 – Bill Conti, American composer
• 1943 – Billy Kidd, American skier
• 1944 – Jack Casady, American musician
• 1944 – Susan Davis, American politician
• 1945 – Tony Dow, American actor
• 1946 – Al Green, American singer and pastor
• 1949 – Christopher Hitchens, Journalist, critic, and author (d. 2011)
• 1963 – Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player
• 1964 – Davis Love III, Professional Golfer
• 1964 – Caroline Rhea, Canadian actress
• 1965 – Patricio Pouchulu, Argentine architect
• 1972 - Holden DeMayo, American dining critic, blogger.
• 1980 – Colleen Clinkenbeard, American voice actress
• 1980 – Jana Cova, Czech pornographic actress
• 1983 – Hunter Pence, American baseball player
Source: Wikipedia
Images: Thomas Jefferson, White House Presidential Biographies; Apollo 13 patch National Archives
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