Timeline April 1993

Events in April 1993 9

• 1897 – 1993 Marian Anderson (1897-1993) Died 8 April 1993, aged 96 Marian Anderson was an American contralto whose 1939 open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial, arranged after she was barred from a segregated concert hall, became a landmark moment in the civil rights movement. She later became the first African American to perform as a member of the Metropolitan Opera. She died in Portland, Oregon.
• 1927 – 1993 Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) Died 23 April 1993, aged 66 Cesar Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers union and became the leading figure in the American labor movement for migrant farm workers. He organized boycotts and strikes, including the influential Delano grape strike, to demand better wages and conditions. He died in his sleep in San Luis, Arizona.
• 1942 – 1993 Chris Hani (1942-1993) Died 10 April 1993, aged 50 Chris Hani was general secretary of the South African Communist Party and a senior leader of the African National Congress's armed wing. He was assassinated outside his home near Johannesburg by a right-wing extremist opposed to the end of apartheid. His killing nearly derailed South Africa's negotiated transition and prompted Nelson Mandela to appeal for calm on national television.
• 1993 Waco siege 51-day standoff between the FBI and Branch Davidians in Texas Following a botched ATF raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, federal agents laid siege to the property for 51 days. The standoff ended on April 19 when a fire broke out during an FBI assault, killing David Koresh and around 75 followers, including many children. The event became a flashpoint in American debates over federal law enforcement.
• 1993 Lou Gerstner becomes CEO — IBM is not broken up Lou Gerstner, a former McKinsey consultant and RJR Nabisco CEO with no technology background, is appointed IBM CEO in April 1993. His first and most important decision: he refuses to break IBM up, despite pressure from shareholders and analysts. 'The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision,' he famously says — what it needs is execution. Gerstner cuts 35,000 jobs, reduces costs by $8 billion and pivots IBM toward services. His tenure is the greatest corporate turnaround in American business history.
• 1993 NCSA Mosaic web browser released Graphical browser helps popularize the World Wide Web The National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, one of the first web browsers to display images inline with text in an easy-to-use graphical interface. Mosaic made the World Wide Web accessible to a broad, non-technical audience for the first time. Its lead developers went on to found Netscape Communications the following year.
• 1993 Chris Hani assassinated Killing of a top ANC leader nearly derails South Africa's peace process Chris Hani, general secretary of the South African Communist Party and a senior leader of the African National Congress's armed wing, was shot dead outside his home near Johannesburg by a right-wing extremist opposed to the end of apartheid. The assassination sparked nationwide unrest and threatened to derail the negotiated transition from apartheid. Nelson Mandela appealed for calm in a nationally televised address, helping avert wider bloodshed.
• 1993 1993 World Snooker Championship Hendry Title 3 Winner: Stephen Hendry; Runner-up: Jimmy White. Score: 18–5.
• 1993 Nvidia founded in a Denny's diner Jensen Huang (30), Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem found Nvidia at a Denny's restaurant in East San Jose on 17 April 1993. Huang, a former AMD and LSI Logic engineer, articulates their mission: to build a chip that accelerates graphics for personal computers. They incorporate with $40,000 in seed funding from friends and family, followed by $20 million from Sequoia Capital and others. The San Jose Denny's later installs a plaque commemorating the founding meeting.