Today is the 103rd day of 2015 and the 25th day of spring.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.
In 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a five-year non-aggression pact.
In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in "Lilies of the Field."
In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, crippling the spacecraft, which was on its way to the moon.
In 2005, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings between 1996 and 1998, including a blast at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president; Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), playwright; Eudora Welty (1909-2001), author; Howard Keel (1919-2004), actor/singer; Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), poet/playwright; Paul Sorvino (1939- ), actor; Al Green (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), journalist/author; Ron Perlman (1950- ), actor; Max Weinberg (1951- ), drummer/TV personality; Garry Kasparov (1963- ), chess player; Nellie McKay (1982- ), singer-songwriter/actress.
TODAY'S FACT: The first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actress was Halle Berry, for the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, at age 21.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh." -- Samuel Beckett, "Waiting for Godot"
TODAY'S NUMBER: 24 -- days George Frideric Handel worked to complete the music for "Messiah." The oratorio was performed for the first time in Dublin on this day in 1742.
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (April 11) and new moon (April 18).