What happened on April 1 ?

1220 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)

1543 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (d. 1626)

1578 - William Harvey, English physician (d. 1657)

1610 - Charles de Saint-ÿvremond, French soldier (d. 1703)

1640 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)

1647 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet (d. 1680)

1765 - Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver (d. 1810)

1776 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)

1815 - Otto von Bismarck, German politician (d. 1898)

1815 - Edward Clark, Governor of Texas (d. 1880)

1834 - Big Jim Fisk, American entrepreneur (d. 1872)

1854 - Bill Traylor, American artist (d. 1949)

1856 - Acacio Gabriel Viegas, Indian physician (d. 1933)

1865 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)

1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)

1868 - Edmond Rostand, French dramatist (d. 1918)

1873 (N.S.) - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)

1875 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)

1883 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (d. 1930)

1885 - Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)

1895 - Alberta Hunter, American singer (d. 1984)

1897 - Nita Naldi, American actress (d. 1961)

1898 - William James Sidis, eccentric genius and child prodigy (d. 1944)

1899 - Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (d. 1968)

1900 - Robert McDowell, Mayor of Maryborough, Queensland (d. 1988)

1901 - Whittaker Chambers, American writer, editor, and defector (d. 1961)

1906 - Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer and airplane designer (d. 1989)

1908 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)

1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrian actor (d. 2004)

1919 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1920 - Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)

1922 - William Manchester, American writer (d. 2004)

1924 - Brendan Byrne, Governor of New Jersey

1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor

1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American author

1928 - George Grizzard, American actor

1929 - Milan Kundera, Czech writer

1929 - Jane Powell, American dancer, actress, and singer

1929 - Bo Schembechler, American football coach

1929 - Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator

1930 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress

1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, German writer

1932 - Gordon Jump, American television actor (d. 2003)

1932 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress

1933 - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1934 - Don Hastings, American television actor

1934 - Rod Kanehl, baseball player (d. 2004)

1935 - Larry McDonald, American politician (d. 1983)

1938 - Ali MacGraw, American actress

1938 - John Quade, American actor

1939 - Phil Niekro, American baseball pitcher

1940 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

1942 - Samuel R. Delany, American author

1942 - Annie Nightingale, British disc jockey

1944 - Rusty Staub, Major League Baseball player

1946 - Ronnie Lane, British musician (The Small Faces and The Faces) (d. 1997)

1947 - Alain Connes, French mathematician

1947 - Norm Van Lier, former NBA basketball player

1948 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician

1949 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman

1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer

1949 - Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer

1950 - Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

1952 - Annette O'Toole, American actress

1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer and director

1964 - Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager

1964 - Scott Stevens, Canadian ice hockey player

1965 - Mark Jackson, American basketball player

1965 - Robert Steadman, English composer

1970 - Sung Hi Lee, Korean-born model

1971 - Method Man, American musician

1972 - Allen and Albert Hughes, American film directors

1972 - Jesse Tobias, American Musician

1973 - Christian Finnegan, American comedian

1973 - Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer

1974 - Richard Christy, American drummer and sidekick of Howard Stern

1975 - George Bastl, Swiss tennis player

1976 - Clarence Seedorf, Surinamese-Dutch footballer player

1980 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler

1980 - Y?ko Takeuchi, Japanese actress

1981 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)

1982 - Sam Huntington, American actor

1983 - ÿlafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer

1983 - Sean Taylor, American football player

1984 - Olga Rei, Russian TV personality