April 8: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race for US president.

Researchers discovered that as many as 600 million birds die in the US every year after flying into skyscrapers.

The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher died at 87 years old.

Thatcher was Britain's first prime minister, and over 2,000 guests attended her funeral on April 17.

Construction of the Bahrain World Trade Center was officially completed.

The Bahrain WTC was the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design, which provide approximately 11-15% of the tower's total power consumption.

NASA’s Discovery space shuttle launched on mission STS-56.

The primary payload of STS-56 was the ATLAS-2 laboratory, which collected data on the Sun's effect on Earth's ozone layer during the space shuttle's flight. The astronauts experimented during the mission with amateur radio equipment. They were able to successfully make radio contact with a few schools in the US, as well as the Soviet Mir space station.

Clint Eastwood was elected as Mayor of Carmel, California.

Racer Bob Burman died after crashing his race car in Corona, California.

Burman's riding mechanic, a policeman, and three spectators were killed in the accident.

The first person in the world to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s died.

Auguste Deter was born on May 16, 1950, in Cassell, Germany, and lived a relatively normal and happy life until her late forties. Over a short few years, Auguste's mental condition rapidly deteriorated. At first, she showed symptoms similar to dementia, but by her 50th birthday, Auguste started to lose control of herself completely. She was admitted later that year to a mental institution, where she spent the rest of her life.

New York City started selling milk in glass bottles, a first for the USA.

It was done in a move to make the sale and consumption of milk safer and more sanitary.

German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss became the first person to prove quadratic reciprocity law.

The law of quadratic reciprocity is a theory from modular arithmetic giving conditions for solving quadratic equations modulo prime numbers.

The first idea of a fire escape was patented.

The escape consisted of a wicker basket attached to a pulley and chain.

One of the world’s most important medieval castles, Krak des Chevaliers, was conquered by Sultan Baibars.

The iconic historical Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England, was dedicated to Bishop Walkelin.

Roman Emperor Caracalla was stabbed to death by a guard while urinating.