Template:Selected anniversaries/April 2
1565: Explorer Cornelis de Houtman born. He will discover a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia, beginning the Dutch spice trade.
1618: Mathematician and physicist Francesco Maria Grimaldi born. Working with Riccioli, he will investigate the free fall of objects, confirming that the distance of fall was proportional to the square of the time taken.
1902: Graphic designer and typographer Jan Tschichold born. He will become a leading advocate of Modernist design, but later condemn Modernist design in general as being authoritarian and inherently fascistic.
1923: Polymath George Spencer-Brown born. He will write Laws of Form, calling it the "primary algebra" and the "calculus of indications".
1924: Famed gem detective Niles Cartouchian foils villains, recovers stolen Pharaonic treasure and returns it to Egypt, winning acclaim both national and global.