Today in History: German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope and took the name of Benedict XVI

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on April 19:

1906 – The French chemist and physicist Pierre Curie was run over and killed in Paris. Together with his wife Marie, he worked on magnetism and radioactivity.

1956 – Prince Rainier of Monaco married the American film actress Grace Kelly.

1967 – Konrad Adenauer, West German chancellor from 1949 to 1963 and architect of its recovery from Nazi domination and world war, died.

1993 – FBI siege on Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas ends with massive fire.

1995 – A huge car bomb tore apart the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

2004 – The Hague war crimes tribunal reduced Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic’s conviction for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre from genocide to aiding and abetting genocide and cut his jail sentence to 35 years from 46.

2004 – Author and sports commentator Norris McWhirter, who founded Guinness World Records with his twin brother Ross, died aged 78.

2005 – The conservative German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope and took the name of Benedict XVI.

2006 – American Scott Crossfield, a pioneer test pilot who was the first to fly at twice the speed of sound, died when his single-engine plane crashed. He was 84.

2013 – Police kill Tamerlan Tsarneav, suspect in Boston Marathon bombing, and conduct searches for his brother.

2017 – Student killed at opposition demonstration in Caracas.

(Reuters)