History for April 27

History for April 27 - On-This-Day.com
Edward Gibbon 1737 - Historian, author, Samuel F.B. (Finley Breese) Morse 1791 - Inventor (electromagnetic telegraph), Ulysses S. Grant 1822 - 18th U.S. President, Lt. General in command of all Union armies during the U.S. Civil War, nickname: Hero of Appomattox


Wallace Hume 1896 - Chemist, inventor, credited with invention of nylon, Walter Lantz 1900 - Animator, creator of Woody Woodpecker, Coretta Scott King 1927 - Wife of Dr. Martin Luther King


1521 - Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.


1805 - A force led by U.S. Marines captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.


1861 - West Virginia seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union during the American Civil War.


1965 - "Pampers" were patented by R.C. Duncan.


1967 - In Montreal, Prime Minister Lester Pearson lighted a flame to open Expo 67.


1978 - Pro-Soviet Marxists seized control of Afghanistan.


1989 - Student protestors took over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.


2005 - The A380, the world's largest jetliner, completed its maiden flight. The passenger capability was 840.