The World Trade Organization is founded
The WTO coordinates and strives to liberalize international trade. It has been criticized for ignoring and escalating the negative social and environmental side-effects of globalization.
The United States launches retaliatory air strikes against Libya
Around 40 Libyans died in Operation El Dorado Canyon, including an infant girl. The attack was the United States’ response to the bombing of a Berlin discotheque on April 5, in which 3 people had died.
The German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen is liberated
British and Canadian troops found about 53,000 prisoners inside the camp. Tens of thousands died before and after the liberation.
The Eastman Kodak Company launches Kodachrome
The photographic film was one of the most popular media used by professional and hobby photographers around the world. The product was discontinued in 2009 because of the advent of digital photography.
- 1894 Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union - 1858 Émile Durkheim
French sociologist - 1843 Henry James
American/English author - 1832 Wilhelm Busch
German poet, painter, illustrator - 1452 Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter, sculptor, architect
- 1998 Pol Pot
Cambodian politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia - 1990 Greta Garbo
Swedish actress - 1980 Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher, writer - 1889 Father Damien
Flemish missionary, priest - 1865 Abraham Lincoln
American lawyer, politician, 16th President of the United States
