23 April, 1988 – Kanellos flies across the Aegean Sea in a human-powered aircraft

The Greek Olympic cyclist flew a record-breaking 115 km from Crete to Santorini in the MIT Daedalus aircraft, which was named after the mythological inventor of aviation.

24 April, 1990 – The Hubble space telescope launched into Earth’s orbit

Unhindered by the impurities and distortions of Earth's atmosphere, the 2.4 metre aperture telescope has delivered some of the most spectacular images of the far reaches of the Universe.

25 April, 1953 – The double helix structure of DNA described for the first time

Francis Crick and James D Watson published their ground-breaking findings about the molecule containing genetic information was in the nature that day.

26 April, 1925 – Franz Kafka publishes his landmark novel The Trial

The text, which was initially published as Der Process, is a nightmarish account of a man being arrested and prosecuted by a faceless authority for an unknown crime.

27 April, 1961 – Sierra Leone becomes an independent republic

The West African country's first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, ended over 150 years of the British colonial rule.

28 April, 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl begins his legendary journey on Kon-Tiki

The Norwegian explorer and his crew set out on the 101-day journey on the self-built raft to prove that South Americans could have reached and settled Polynesia in the pre-Columbian times.

29 April, 1968 – The musical Hair goes to Broadway

As a portrait of the 1960s hippie counterculture and revolution, it was highly controversial at the time. Some of the musical's songs became anthems of the peace movement during the Vietnam War.