April 12

Galileo’s trial before the Inquisition began on the 12th in 1633. It didn’t go particularly well for him in spite of his strong defense of “If the theory doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

April 11

I can’t recall, have I mentioned that tornadoes are very popular this month? Did I qualify their popularity with the adjective ‘extraordinarily’? If not, I must at this point add extraordinarily when ever I mention tornadoes in April. So, right now, just take a number 2 pencil and insert extraordinarily in the appropriate place in the introduction and in the entry for the 9th. Go ahead. Do it right now. Don’t worry, I will wait here until you have finished. I ask you to do this because on the 11th in 1965 78 tornadoes hit the Midwest from Clinton County, Iowa to Cuyahoga, Ohio and from Kent County, Michigan to Montgomery County, Indiana. Some wonk classified them as 38 significant, 19 violent and 21 killers. I think there were so many that were killers because they felt snubbed by not being considered both significant and violent. As has been said, it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. The charming nickname for the meteorological event is the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak of 1965.

April 10

Photography as a means of preserving images for future generations was born in the 19th Century. This new tool in the historian’s toolbox captured President Abraham Lincoln’s image so that today we are all familiar with his rather stern look of melancholy and undeniable sadness. The last photograph taken of Lincoln while he was still alive was taken on the 10th of April, 1865. Lincoln was assassinated on the 15th.

April 9

On the 9th in 1947, the Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornado system swept through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas ultimately reaching a kill score of well over 500 people, exclusive of an undetermined number of weather forecasters careers. I was unable to find existing records of the number of farm animals involved.