Ancient history
According to Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, on April 21, 753 B.C., twins Romulus and Remus founded Rome. The myth states that it was the site where they were raised by a wolf, which is also perhaps where the colloquialism stemmed from, because Romulus betrayed and killed Remus, became the ruler, and Rome was named for him. Rome is also credited with the ideas of the aqueduct and roads and was the focal point of one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, “Julius Caesar.”
Famous birthdays
April 23, 1564 is William Shakespeare’s birthday, at least according to tradition. No other playwright has had such a profound effect on society, with his 38 plays still gracing the stage, and the million words he wrote in 20 years reproduced in countless tomes.
World wars
On April 20, 1945, while Hitler was celebrating his 56th birthday, the Allies launched Operation Corncob to destroy bridges and cut off German resupply and retreat in Italy. Meanwhile, the Gestapo ran unchecked and executed 40 people, nine of whom were under the age of 12. Thankfully, it was Hitler’s last birthday.

Astronomy
On April 24, 1990, the famous Hubble telescope was launched, but the pictures were blurry. The Hubble’s mirror had been made flatter than it should have by one-fiftieth the width of a human hair. NASA repaired it in orbit in 1993, a landmark in space flight. Since its repair, Hubble has sent us images of deep space and has shown us the first stars that began to shine — 13.7 billion years ago.
Holidays
The U.S.’s 40th Earth Day on April 22, a tradition that began in the U.S. in 1970 to raise awareness about environmental issues and provide unity to the grassroots environmental movement of the time. It apparently worked, because later that year the Environmental Protection Agency was established.
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