April 15-Titanic sunk
1912: The British luxury passenger liner Titanic sank in the early hours of this day en route to New York City from Southampton, Hampshire, England, during its maiden voyage. About 1,500 lives were lost at a point about 640 km (400 miles) south of Newfoundland. The great ship, at that time the largest and most luxurious afloat, had a double-bottomed hull that was divided into 16 watertight compartments. Because four of these could be flooded without endangering the liner's buoyancy, it was considered unsinkable.
1959: Seriously ill with cancer, John Foster Dulles resigned as U.S. secretary of state.
1947: Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's racial barrier, played in his first major league game for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
1926: Robertson Aircraft, one of the companies that later developed into American Airlines, flew its first mail route, between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri; the pilot on the first flight was Charles A. Lindbergh.
1920: Two men were murdered in South Braintree, Massachusetts, leading to the Sacco-Vanzetti case and the still-controversial conviction of the two Italian immigrants.
1850: San Francisco was incorporated as a city in California.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci, born this day in 1452, was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa (1503–06) are widely influential paintings.
"The most praiseworthy form of painting is the one that most resembles what it imitates."
Leonardo da Vinci
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