April 14 is the birthday of the great Andalusian philosopher and physician AVERROES (Ibn Rushd) (1126-1198).

“Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.”

Averroes "wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, mathematics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, and linguistics. The author of more than 100 books and treatises, his philosophical works include numerous commentaries on Aristotle, for which he was known in the Western world as The Commentator and Father of Rationalism." (Wikipedia)

April 14 is the birthday of Dutch mathematician and astronomer CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS (1629-1695).

"it's not improbable that the rest of the planets have their Dress and Furniture, nay and their Inhabitants too as well as this Earth of ours."

He was the first to describe the nature of Saturn's rings and also wrote some of the earliest science fiction. Kansas City's world-class science library, Linda Hall, has a first edition of his "The Celestial Worlds Discovered."

April 14 is the birthday of French photographer ROBERT DOISNEAU. (1912-1994).

"The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street."

Doisneau "was a French photographer. From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris. He was a champion of humanist photography and, with Henri Cartier-Bresson, a pioneer of photojournalism.

Doisneau is known for his 1950 image Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (The Kiss by the City Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing on a busy Parisian street.

He was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984 by then French president, François Mitterrand." (Wikipedia)

To see examples of Doisneau’s photography, CLICK HERE.

On April 14, 1894, the first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City, United States. It used ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films. Located in the Flatiron district at the corner of Broadway and W. 27th Street. Opened on April 14, 1894 by the Holland Brothers. It was considered the first commercial motion picture house. It had 10 Kinetoscope machines, each showing a different film for 25 cents. Long since demolished, the Broadway Plaza Hotel now stands at this address.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On April 14, 1939, THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck was published.

“Why, Tom - us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people - we go on."

The Grapes of Wrath is set "during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, agricultural industry changes, and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California along with thousands of other 'Okies' seeking jobs, land, dignity, and a future." (Wikipedia)