Day in History Archive April 8

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Note: These historical tidbits have been collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet. As detailed in this article, there is a lot of wrong information that is repeated hundreds of times because most websites do not validate with authoritative sources. On RF Cafe, events with hyperlinks have been verified. All will eventually be either verified or removed.
Please submit significant historical events and dates for inclusion in these lists. I will be glad to include your name and birthday. Please do not submit your death date ;-)
 

April 8

1779: Johann Schweigger, the physicist who invented the galvanometer, was born. 1861: Elisha Otis, inventor of the automatic safety brake for elevators, died. 1886: Carl Gassner was issued a German patent for the first "dry" cell, which used zinc as its primary ingredient. 1899: Martha Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair (a dubious claim for sure). 1952: Harry S. Truman signed an executive order seizing U.S. steel mills to prevent strike of union steel workers (later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court). 1973: Artist Pablo Picasso died of a heart attack. 1974: Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record. 1997: Microsoft released Internet Explorer 4.0.