On This Day for April 30 - George Washington inaugurated, Édouard Manet is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. April 30 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Édouard Manet READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1789 George Washington inaugurated READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2013: Willem-Alexander became king of the Netherlands after his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated; she had ascended the throne 33 years earlier. [ Take our quiz about kings and emperors.] 1989: Italian director Sergio Leone—who popularized the "spaghetti western" with his hugely successful Dollar trilogy, which included the masterpiece The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)—died in Rome. [ Test your knowledge of cinema.] 1933: American country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson was born. [Test your knowledge of musical forms and styles.] 1897: English physicist J.J. Thomson announced that he had discovered the electron, which helped revolutionize the knowledge of atomic structure; he later was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. [Test your knowledge of physics.] 1975: The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) fell to North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. [Discover the key events of the Vietnam War.] 1945: German dictator Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin. [How much do you know about Adolf Hitler?] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1959 Stephen Harper prime minister of Canada 1961 Isiah Thomas American basketball player 1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss German mathematician 1956 Lars von Trier Danish filmmaker 1946 Carl XVI Gustaf king of Sweden 1662 Mary II queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2021 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help