Today is the 103rd day of 2016 and the 24th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, in the first engagement of the Civil War.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

In 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician/statesman; Lily Pons (1898-1976), opera singer/actress; Beverly Cleary (1916- ), author; Herbie Hancock (1940- ), musician; Ed O'Neill (1946- ), actor; Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author; David Letterman (1947- ), TV personality; Scott Turow (1949- ), author; Jon Krakauer (1954- ), author; Andy Garcia (1956- ), actor; Vince Gill (1957- ), singer-songwriter; Claire Danes (1979- ), actress; Saoirse Ronan (1994- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: At the time of his death, seven of the nine Supreme Court justices had been appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, the New York Giants selected University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor in the first round of the NFL draft.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language." -- Beverly Cleary, "The Mouse and the Motorcycle"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 108 -- length (in minutes) of the first orbital human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 3KA spacecraft on this day in 1961.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (April 7) and first quarter moon (April 13).

Today is the 102nd day of 2016 and the 23rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp.

In 1951, President Harry Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.

In 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was overthrown.

In 2006, Iran announced that it had successfully enriched uranium.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Dean Acheson (1893-1971), diplomat/statesman; Dale Messick (1906-2005), comic strip artist; Oleg Cassini (1913-2006), fashion designer; Joel Grey (1932- ), actor; Louise Lasser (1939- ), actress; Thomas Harris (1940- ), author/screenwriter; Jason Varitek (1972- ), baseball player; Jennifer Esposito (1973- ), actress; Mark Teixeira (1980- ), baseball player; Joss Stone (1987- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: The population of Uganda is the second-youngest in the world, with a median age of 15.5 years old. Only Niger's population, with a median age of 15.1, is younger.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the first NHL goaltender to score a goal in the playoffs, leading the Flyers to an 8-5 victory over the Washington Capitals.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Problem-solving is hunting; it is savage pleasure and we are born to it." -- Thomas Harris, "The Silence of the Lambs"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- Nobel Prize recipients among the prisoners freed from Buchenwald concentration camp on this day in 1945. Union leader Leon Jouhaux was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951, author Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and author Imre Kertesz received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2002.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (April 7) and first quarter moon (April 13).

Today is the 101st day of 2016 and the 22nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded in New York City.

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was published in New York City.

In 1938, Nazi Germany officially annexed Austria.

In 1972, famed comic actor and director Charlie Chaplin received an honorary Oscar at the 44th Annual Academy Awards, after a 12-minute standing ovation.

In 2003, Congress approved the Amber Alert system, which alerts the public to child abductions.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Hazlitt (1778-1830), writer; William Booth (1829-1912), Salvation Army founder; Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), publisher; Harry Morgan (1915-2011), actor; Max von Sydow (1929- ), actor; Omar Sharif (1932-2015), actor; John Madden (1936- ), football coach/broadcaster; Steven Seagal (1952- ), actor; Babyface (1959- ), singer-songwriter/producer; Michael Pitt (1981- ), actor; Mandy Moore (1984- ), actress/singer-songwriter; Haley Joel Osment (1988- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: According to 2014 estimates from the CIA, residents of the 0.77-square-mile principality of Monaco enjoy the longest life expectancy in the world, at an average of 89.6 years.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers announced the purchase of Jackie Robinson's contract from the Montreal Royals, a minor-league club.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance." -- William Hazlitt

TODAY'S NUMBER: 69.9 million -- dogs owned as pets in the United States in 2012.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (April 7) and first quarter moon (April 13).