What Happened This Day In History... April 16

69		Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
556		Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1065		The Norman Robert Guiscard takes Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.
1705		Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton.
1746		Prince Charles is defeated at the battle of Culloden, the last pitched battle fought in Britain.
1818		The U.S. Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.
1854		San Salvador is destroyed by an earthquake.
1862		Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves a conscription act for white males between 18 and 35.
1862		Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia.
1917		Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution.
1922		Annie Oakley shoots 100 clay targets in a row, setting a woman's record.
1942		The Island of Malta is awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack. It was the first such award given to any part of the British Commonwealth.
1944		The destroyer USS Laffey survives horrific damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.
1945		American troops enter Nuremberg, Germany.
1947		A lens which provides zoom effects is demonstrated in New York City.
1968		The Pentagon announces the "Vietnamization" of the war.
1972		Two giants pandas arrive in the U.S. from China.
1977		The ban on women attending West Point is lifted.
Born on April 16
1660		Hans Sloane, physician, naturalist, founder of the British Museum.
1728		Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist.
1786		Sir John Franklin, arctic explorer.
1800		George Charles Bingham, British soldier, commanded the Light Brigade during the famous charge.
1844		Anatole France, French writer.
1850		Thomas Sidney Gilchrist, British metallurgist and inventor.
1864		Flora Batson, African-American soprano-baritone singer.
1867		Wilbur Wright, designer, builder and flyer of the first airplane.
1871		John Millington Synge, dramatist and poet (Playboy of the Western World).
1889		Charlie Chaplin, film actor and director.
1919		Merce Cuningham, American dancer and choreographer.
1922		Kingsley Amis, British author (Lucky Jim).
1924		Henry Mancini, composer and conductor ("Moon River").
1947		Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), professional basketball player.