What Happened On This Day – April 14
2003 The Human Genome Project is completed
The project dedicated to mapping the genes of the human genome was started in October 1990.
1988 The Soviet Union agrees to withdraw from Afghanistan
Soviet troops had invaded the country in 1979 to support the communist rulers. They were defeated primarily by the Mujahideen, who were groups of militant Islamists sponsored by the CIA.
1986 The heaviest hailstones ever recorded hit Bangladesh
The lumps of ice weighed about 1 kg (2.2 lb). At total of 92 people reportedly died as a result.
1912 Doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic
The subsequent sinking of the world's largest ocean liner of the time resulted in more than 1500 deaths. It was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history.
1865 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot
The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, wanted to revive the Confederate cause, mere days after their surrender to the Union Army, bringing the American Civil War to an end. Lincoln died the next day.
Births On This Day – April 14
1977 Sarah Michelle Gellar
American actress, producer
1904 John Gielgud
English actor, director, producer
1892 V. Gordon Childe
Australian archaeologist, philologist
1891 B. R. Ambedkar
Indian jurist, politician
1629 Christiaan Huygens
Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist
Deaths On This Day – April 14
1964 Rachel Carson
American biologist, author
1950 Ramana Maharshi
Indian philosopher
1935 Amalie Emmy Noether
German mathematician
1925 John Singer Sargent
American painter
1759 George Frideric Handel
German/English composer