1865: US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; he dies a day later

1912: RMS Titanic, the world’s largest ocean liner, hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland, sinks in the early hours of 15 April

1914: Dr. Harry Plotz isolates the bacteria that causes Typhus Fever (Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City)

1935: Black Sunday: Severe dust storm ravages the US Midwest, led to the region being named “the Dust Bowl”

1981: 1st Space Shuttle, Columbia 1, returns to Earth

2003: The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%