Friday, March 29, 2024

March 29

Birthdays:

 

1980 ~ Chris D’Elia (né Christopher William D’Elia), American comedian and actor.  He was born in Montclair, New Jersey

 

1971 ~ Robert Gibbs (né Robert Lane Gibbs), White House Press Secretary.  He served under President Barack Obama from January 2009 until February 2011.  He was born in Auburn, Alabama.

 

1969 ~ Shinichi Mochizuki, Japanese mathematician specializing in number theory.  He was born in Tokyo, Japan.

 

1968 ~ Lucy Lawless (née Lucille Frances Ryan), New Zealand actress.  She is best known for her role as Xena: Warrior Princess.  She was born in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand.

 

1964 ~ Elle Macpherson (née Eleanor Nancy Gow), Australian supermodel.  She was born in Killara, Australia.

 

1961 ~ Ari Emanuel (né Ariel Zev Emanuel), American talent agent and brother of Rahm Emanuel.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1961 ~ Amy Sedaris (née Amy Louise Sedaris), American actress, voice actress comedian and writer.  She was born in Endicott, New York.

 

1960 ~ Jo Nesbø, Norwegian author of crime fiction.  He was born in Oslo, Norway.

 

1957 ~ Christopher Lambert (né Christopher Guy Denis Lambert), American-born French actor.  He was born in Great Neck, New York.

 

1954 ~ Karen Ann Quinlan (d. June 11, 1985), American right-to-die cause célèbre.  At age 21, she went into a coma after a drug overdose.  For the next decade, she lived in a comatose state while the courts argued over the right to remove the artificial means keeping her alive.  She was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  She died at age 31 in Morris Plains, New Jersey.

 

1951 ~ Susan Gale, Canadian author

 

1949 ~ Dave Greenfield (né David Paul Greenfield; d. May 3, 2020), British keyboardist and singer-songwriter.  He was a member of the influential British punk band The Stranglers.  He wrote the music to the band’s biggest hit, Golden Brown.  He was born in Brighton, England.  He died at age 71 of Covid-19.

 

1948 ~ Bud Cort (né Walter Edward Cox), American actor best known for his role as Harold in the 1971 movie, Harold and Maude.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York.

 

1948 ~ Linda Sunshine, American author.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1945 ~ Walt Frazier (né Walter Frazier, Jr.), American professional basketball player and sportscaster.  He was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

1943 ~ Vangelis (né Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou; d. May 17, 2022), Greek musician and bold composer who scored Chariots of Fire.  He composed film scores for more that a dozen movies, but it was Chariots of Fire that brought him global fame.  He was born in Agria, Greece.  He died at age 79 in Paris, France.

 

1943 ~ Eric Idle, English actor and member of Monty Python.  He was born in South Shields, England.

 

1943 ~ Sir John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from November 1990 until May 1997.  He served during the reign of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom.  He was born in Sutton, England.

 

1941 ~ James Stewart (né James Drewry Stewart; d. Dec. 3, 2014), Canadian mathematician.  He is best known for his series of calculus textbooks.  He died of multiple myeloma at age 73 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

1941 ~ Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1940 ~ Charles E.M. Pearce (né Charles Edward Miller Pearce; d. June 8, 2012), Australian mathematician.  He was born in Wellington, New Zealand.  He died in a car accident at age 72 in Fox Glacier on the New Zealand South Island.

 

1936 ~ John A. Durkin (né John Anthony Durkin; d. Oct. 16, 2012), United States Senator from New Hampshire.  He served in the Senate from September 1975 through December 1980.  He was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts.  He died at age 76 in Franklin, New Hampshire.

 

1936 ~ Judith Guest, American author.  She is best known for her novel Ordinary People.  She was born in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1927 ~ Sir John Vane (né John Robert Vine; d. Nov. 19, 2004), English pharmacologist and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in deciphering how aspirin works.  He died at age 77 from complications from having fractured his hip and leg 6 months earlier.

 

1927 ~ Martin Fleischmann (d. Aug. 3, 2012), Czech-born chemist who promised an energy miracle.  He is best known for his work with electrochemistry.  He caused a media sensation when a premature announcement of his cold fusion research could result in a nuclear reaction.  His family was Jewish and ultimately ended up in Great Britain.  He died at age 85.

 

1927 ~ John McLaughlin (né John Joseph McLaughlin; d. Aug. 16, 2016), American priest turned pundit who reshaped political television.  He entered the Jesuit order and was ordained as a priest in 1959.  While still in the priesthood, he became a speech writer for President Nixon.  He left the priesthood in 1974 and ultimately became a television journalist and host of The McLaughlin Group on public television.  He was born in Providence, Rhode Island.  He died at age 89 in Washington, D.C.

 

1920 ~ Alene B. Duerk (née Alene Bertha Duerk; d. July 21, 2018), American naval officer.  In 1972, she became the first female admiral in the United States Navy.  She was born in Defiance, Ohio.  She died at age 98 in Lake Mary, Florida.

 

1918 ~ Pearl Bailey (née Pearl Mae Bailey; d. Aug. 17, 1990), African-American singer and actress.  She was born in Newport News, Virginia.  She died of heart disease at age 72 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1918 ~ Lê Văn Thiêm (d. June 3, 1991), Vietnamese mathematician.  He died at age 73 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

 

1918 ~ Sam Walton (né Samuel Moore Walton; d. Apr. 5, 1992), American retailer and founder of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.  He was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.  He died of multiple myeloma about a week after his 74th birthday in Little Rock, Arkansas.

 

1916 ~ Gene McCarthy (né Eugene Joseph McCarthy; d. Dec. 10, 2005), American United States Senator from Minnesota.  He served in the Senate from January 1959 until January 1971.  In 1968, he was the Democratic candidate for President.  He was born in Watkins, Minnesota.  He died at age 89 in Washington, D.C.

 

1896 ~ Wilhelm Ackermann (né Wilhelm Friedrich Ackermann; d. Dec. 24, 1962), German mathematician.  He is best known for his work in mathematical logic.  He died at age 66.

 

1874 ~ Lou Henry Hoover (née Lou Henry; d. Jan. 7, 1944), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Herbert Hoover.  She served as First Lady from March 1929 until March 1933.  She was born in Waterloo, Iowa.  She died of a heart attack at age 69 in New York, New York.

 

1873 ~ Tullio Levi-Civita (d. Dec. 29, 1941), Italian mathematician.  He is best known for his work on absolute differential calculus.  He was born in Padua, Italy.  He died at age 68 in Rome, Italy.

 

1867 ~ Cy Young (né Denton True Young; d. Nov. 4, 1955), professional baseball pitcher.  He was born in Gilmore, Ohio.  He died at age 88 in Newcomerstown, Ohio.

 

1859 ~ Oscar Mayer (né Oscar Ferdinand Mayer; d. Mar. 11, 1955 Bavarian-born American entrepreneur and founder of the Oscar Mayer, Co., which is known for its hotdogs and cold cuts.  He died 18 days before his 96th birthday in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1825 ~ Francesco Faà di Bruno (d. Mar. 27, 1888), Italian priest and mathematician.  He was born in Alessandria, Italy.  He died 2 days before his 63rd birthday in Turin, Italy.

 

1819 ~ Isaac Mayer Wise (d. Mar. 26, 1900), Bohemian-born American rabbi and founder of the Reform Movement in the United States.  He died 3 days before his 81st birthday in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

1816 ~ 10th Dalai Lama (né Tsultrum Gyatso; d. Sept. 30, 1837).  He died at age 21.

 

1806 ~ James Curtiss (d. Nov. 2, 1859), 11th and 13th Mayor of Chicago.  He served his first term from 1847 to 1848, and his second term from 1850 to 1851.  He was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut.  He died at age 53 after a long illness in Joliet, Illinois.

 

1799 ~ Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (né Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley; d. Oct. 23, 1869), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister in three separate terms, first from February 1852 until December 1852; then from February 1858 until June 1859; and finally from June 1866 until 1868.  All of his terms as prime minister were during the reign of Victoria, Queen of  the United Kingdom.  He died at age 70.

 

1790 ~ John Tyler (d. Jan. 18, 1862), 10th President of the United States.  John Tyler was also the 10th Vice President, although he served in that Office for only a month.  He became the first Vice President to become President following the death of an incumbent president.  President William Henry Harrison had died within a month of taking office.  Following his presidency, Tyler went on to serve in the Confederate Congress.  He was born on Greenway Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.  Tyler died at age 71 in Richmond, Virginia.

 

1123 ~ Shi Zong (d. Jan. 20, 1189), 5th Chinese emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty.  He ruled from October 1161 until his death in October 1189.  He died at age 65.

 

Events that Changed the World:


2024 ~ Good Friday observed in Western Christian countries.

 

2017 ~ The United Kingdom invoked Article 50 of the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union, thus beginning the formal Brexit process.

 

2010 ~ Two female Islamic terrorists and suicide bombers struck in the Moscow Metro system.  Forty people were killed in the attack.

 

2004 ~ Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

 

2004 ~ Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined NATO as full members.

 

1974 ~ Local farmers in Xi’an, Shaanxi province in China discovered the Terracotta Army that had been buried with Qin Shi Huang (259 ~ 210 BCE), China’s first Emperor of Qin in the third century BCE.

 

1973~ The last United States troops left Vietnam.  The Vietnam peace agreement had been signed 2 months earlier.

 

1971 ~ Lieutenant William Calley (b. 1943) was convicted of premeditated murder for the My Lai, Vietnam massacre and was sentenced to life in prison.  His sentence was ultimately reduced to 20 years.  It was later commuted to 10 years, then to 3 years of house arrest by President Nixon (1913 ~ 1994).

 

1962 ~ Arturo Frondizi (1908 ~ 1995), the President of Argentina, was overthrown in a military coup.

 

1961 ~ The 23rd Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, granting residents of Washington, D.C., the right to vote in the Presidential elections for the first time.

 

1951 ~ Julius (1918 ~ 1953) and Ethel (1915 ~ 1953) Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.  They would later both be executed in June 1953.

 

1929 ~ President Herbert Hoover (1874 ~ 1964) had a telephone installed in the Oval Office.

 

1886 ~ Dr. John Pemberton (1831 ~ 1888) brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

1871 ~ The Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901).

 

1865 ~ Appomattox, the final campaign of the American Civil War, began.

 

1849 ~ The United Kingdom annexed the Punjab.

 

1847 ~ During the Mexican-American War, United States forces, led by General Winfield Scott (1786 ~ 1866) took Veracruz after a siege.

 

1809 ~ Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden (1778 ~ 1837) abdicated after a coup d’état.  At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland’s four Estates pledged allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, thereby beginning the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.

 

1638 ~ The first European settlement in what is now Delaware, was established by Swedish colonist and named New Sweden.

 

1500 ~ Cesare Borgia (1475 ~ 1507) was given the title Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father, Rodrigo Borgia, after he returned from his conquests in the Romagna.

 

1461 ~ Edward of York (1442 ~ 1483) defeated Margaret, Queen of England (1430 ~ 1482) at the Battle of Towton, during the War of the Roses, to become King Edward IV of England.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Tadashi Tsufura (b. Sept. 17, 1930), Japanese-American who, as a child, was forcibly removed from his California home and detained with his family in an Arizona internment camp.  He later became a beloved educator and principal in New York City.  he was born in Los Angeles, California.  He died of Covid-19 at age 89 in New York, New York.  His wife, Mabel Murakami Tusfura died 5 days earlier of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Philip W. Anderson (né Philip Warren Anderson; b. Dec. 13, 1923), American theoretical physicist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He died at age 96 in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

2018 ~ Anita Shreve (née Anita Hale Shreve, b. Oct. 7, 1946), American novelist.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died of cancer in Newfields, New Hampshire at age 71.

 

2018 ~ Rusty Staub (né Daniel Joseph Staub; b. Apr. 1, 1944), American towering slugger who became “Le Grand Orange” due to his red hair.  He was a professional baseball player and played for several teams, including the Montreal Expos.  He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He died in West Palm Beach, Florida 3 days before his 74th birthday.

 

2017 ~ Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (b. June 25, 1928), Russian physicist and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Moscow, Russia.  He died at age 88 in Palo Alto, California.

 

2016 ~ Patty Duke (née Anna Marie Duke; b. Dec. 14, 1946), American actress and Oscar winner who battled mental illness.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.  She died at age 69 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

 

2014 ~ Ruth A.M. Schmidt (née Ruth Anna Marie Schmidt; b. Apr. 22, 1916), American geologist and paleontologist. She was born in Brooklyn, New York.  She died 24 days before her 98th birthday in Anchorage, Alaska.

 

2005 ~ Johnnie L. Cochran (né Johnny Lee Cochran, Jr.; b. Oct. 2, 1937), African-American attorney.  He is best known for his defense of O.J. Simpson during his murder trial.  He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He died of a brain tumor at age 67 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1991 ~ Lee Atwater (né Harvey LeRoy Atwater, b. Feb. 27, 1951), American politician and political consultant.  He served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George WH Bush.  He was born in Atlanta, Georgia.  He died in Washington, D.C., about a month after his 40th birthday of an aggressive form of brain tumor.

 

1985 ~ Jeanne-Paule Deckers (b. Oct. 17, 1933), Belgian singer and nun, known as The Singing Nun.  She left the convent and moved in with Annie Pécher (1944 ~ 1985), her companion of 10 years.  On this date in 1985, she and Pécher died by suicide.  She was 51 years old.

 

1985 ~ Luther Terry (Luther Leonidas Terry; b. Sept. 15, 1911), 9th Surgeon General of the United States.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.  He is best known for his warnings against the dangers of tobacco usage.  He was born in Red Level, Alabama.  He died of heart failure at 73 years old in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1944 ~ Grace Chisholm Young (née Grace Chisholm; b. Mar. 15, 1944), English mathematician.  She studied at Göttingen University in Germany and became the first woman to receive a doctorate in any field in Germany.  She died 14 days after her 76th birthday.

 

1912 ~ Sir Robert Falcon Scott (b. June 6, 1868), English explorer and leader of the Scott expedition to the South Pole.  After reaching the South Pole, he and several other members of his expedition died of exhaustion and cold on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica.  He was 43 years old.

 

1903 ~ Gustavus Swift, Sr. (né Gustavus Franklin Swift; b. June 24, 1839), American businessman and founder of the Swift meat-packing company.  He was born in Sagamore, Massachusetts.  He died at age 63 in Lake Forest, Illinois.

 

1891 ~ Georges-Pierre Seurat (b. Dec. 2, 1859), French post-impressionist painter.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died at age 31.

 

1848 ~ John Jacob Astor (né Johann Jakob Astor; b. July 17, 1763), German-born American businessman.  He amassed his fortune in a fur trade monopoly and smuggling opium into China.  At the time of his death, he was the wealthiest man in America.  He died at age 84 in New York, New York.

 

1832 ~ Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (b. Nov. 1, 1773), Queen consort of Sardinia.  In 1789, she married Victor Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia (1759 ~ 1824).  She was of the House of Austria-Este.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Estes and Maria Beatrice d’Este, Duchess of Massa.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 58.

 

1794 ~ Marquis de Condorcet (né Marie Jean Antoine Nicholas de Caritat; b. Sept. 17, 1743), French mathematician, political scientist, and philosopher.  He was also a social advocate and was a strong supporter of women’s rights.  He was arrested and imprisoned during the French revolution.  He died at age 50 in prison by what may have been poisoning.

 

1792 ~ Gustav III, King of Sweden (b. Jan. 24, 1846).  He ruled Sweden from February 1771 until his assassination in March 1792.  He had been shot in the back 13 days earlier at a masquerade ball at Stockholm’s Royal Opera.  He was married to Sophia Magdalena of Denmark (1746 ~ 1813).  They married in 1766.  He was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp.  He was the son of Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden and Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.  He was succeeded by his son, Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden.  He was Lutheran.  He was killed at age 46.

 

1788 ~ Charles Wesley (b. Dec. 18, 1707), English pastor and leader of the Methodist church.  He is mostly known for writing over 6,000 hymns.  He died at age 80.

 

1058 ~ Pope Stephen IX (né Frederick of Lorraine; b. 1020).  He was Pope from August 1057 until his death 7 months later.  He was a member of the Ardenne-Verdun family, who ruled the Duchy of Lorraine.  He started his ecclesiastical career as a cannon in Liège.  He is believed to have been poisoned.  The date of his birth is unknown.  He was born in Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire.  He died in Florence, Holy Roman Empire.

 

57 CE ~ Guangwu of Han (b. Jan. 13, 5 BCE), Chinese emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.  He ruled from August 25 until his death in March 57.  He is believed to have died at age 62.

 

87 BCE ~ Emperor Wu of Han (b. 156 BCE), 7th Chinese Emperor of the Han Dynasty.  He ruled from March 141 ~ Mar 87 BCE.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He is believed to have been 69 at the time of his death.


Thursday, March 28, 2024

March 28

Birthdays:

 

1986 ~ Lady Gaga, (née Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), American singer and musician.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1981 ~ Julia Stiles (née Julia O’Hara Stiles), American actress.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1977 ~ Lauren Weisberger, American novelist.  She is best known for her novel The Devil Wears Prada.  She was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

 

1973 ~ Bonnie McFarlane, Canadian comedian.  She was born in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada.

 

1970 ~ Vince Vaughn (né Vince Anthony Vaughn), American actor.  He was born in Minneapolis, Missouri.

 

1968 ~ Max Perlich, American actor.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

1955 ~ Reba McEntire (née Reba Nell McEntire), American singer-songwriter.  She was born in McAlester, Oklahoma.

 

1948 ~ Dianne Wiest (née Dianne Evelyn Wiest), American actress.  She was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

1946 ~ Henry Paulson (né Henry Merritt Paulson, Jr.), American economist and 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President George W. Bush from July 2006 until January 2009.  He was born in Palm Beach, Florida.

 

1946 ~ Alejandro Toledo, 48th President of Peru.  He served as President from July 2001 until July 2006.

 

1944 ~ Ken Howard (né Kenneth Joseph Howard, Jr.; b. Mar. 23, 2016), American actor.  He was born in El Cento, California.  He died of cancer 5 days before his 72nd birthday in Valencia, California.

 

1942 ~ Jerry Sloan (né Gerald Eugene Sloan; d. May 22, 2020), American professional basketball player.  He was known as the gritty guard who became a coaching legend.  He was the head coach for the Utah Jazz for 23 years.  He was born in McLeansboro, Illinois.  He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease at age 78 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

1942 ~ Daniel Dennett (né Daniel Clement Dannett, III), American philosopher, cognitive scientist, and writer.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1940 ~ Russell Banks (né Russell Earl Banks; d. Jan. 7, 2023), American writer.  He was born in Newton, Massachusetts.  He died at age 82 in Sarasota Springs, New York.

 

1936 ~ Mario Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa, Peruvian author, and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Arequipa, Peru.

 

1930 ~ Jerome Isaac Friedman, American physicist, and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing an internal structure for protons, later known as quarks.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1928 ~ Alexander Grothendieck (d. Nov. 13, 2014), German-born French mathematician.  He was a leader in algebraic geometry.  He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966.  He died at age 86.

 

1928 ~ Zbrigniew Brzezinski (né Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski; d. May 26, 2017), Polish-born American political scientist and cold warrior who guided Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy.  He was the 10th United States National Security Advisor and served under President Jimmy Carter from January 1977 until January 1981.  His daughter, Mike Brzezinski, is a co-anchor on the MSNBC news show, Morning Joe.  He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He died at age 89 in Falls Church, Virginia.

 

1926 ~ Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba (d. Nov. 20, 2014).  She was born in Madrid, Spain.  She died at age 88 in Seville, Spain.

 

1921 ~ Jerzy Bielecki (d. Oct. 20, 2011), Polish Catholic social worker who was sent to Auschwitz on suspicion of being a resistance fighter.  While in the concentration camp, he met and fell in love with Cyla Cybulaska, a Polish Jew.  The two escaped from Auschwitz but were separated for 39 years.  He was 90 years old at the time of his death.

 

1914 ~ Edmund Muskie (né Edmund Sixtus Muskie; d. Mar. 26, 1914), American politician and long-term senator from Maine.  He also served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from May 1980 until January 1981.  He was born in Rumford, Maine.  He died 2 days before his 82nd birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

1910 ~ Princess Ingrid of Sweden (d. Nov. 7, 2000), Queen consort of Demark and wife of Frederick IX, King of Denmark (1988 ~ 1972).  They married in 1935.  She was of the House of Bernadotte.  She was the daughter of Gustaf CVI Adolf, King of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught.  She died at age 90.

 

1909 ~ Nelson Algren (né Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; d. May 9, 1981), American writer.  He is best known for his book, The Man with the Golden Arm.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died at age 72 in Long Island, New York.

 

1907 ~ Swifty Lazar (né Samuel Lazar, also known as Irving Paul Lazar; d. Dec. 30, 1993), American talent agent.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died at age 86 from complications of diabetes.

 

1905 ~ Marlin Perkins (né Richard Marlin Perkins; d. June 14, 1986), American zoologist and television host of Wild Kingdom.  He was born in Carthage, Missouri.  He died of cancer in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was 81 years old at the time of his death.

 

1901 ~ Princess Märtha of Sweden (d. Apr. 5, 1954), member of the Swedish royal family and wife of Prince Olav of Norway (1903 ~ 1991).  They married in 1929 and she became the Crown Princess of Norway.  They were the parents of Harald V, King of Norway.  Her husband later became Olav V, King of Norway, however Märtha died before he ascended to the throne, thus was never the queen consort.  She was of the House of Bernadotte.  She was the daughter of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark.  She died of cancer 8 days after her 53rd birthday.

 

1899 ~ Gussie Anheuser Busch (né August Anheuser Busch; d. Sept. 29, 1989), American brewer and grandson of the founder of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company.  He was born and died in St. Louis, Missouri.  He died at age 90.

 

1895 ~ Christian Herter (né Christian Archibald Herter; d. Dec. 30, 1966), 53rd United States Secretary of State.  He served under President Dwight David Eisenhower from April 1959 until January 1961.  He also was the 1st United States Trade Representative under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from December 1962 through December 1966.  He had earlier served as the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from January 1953 to January 1957.  He was born in Paris, France.  He died in Washington, D.C.  He was 71 years old at the time of his death.

 

1892 ~ Corneille Heymans (né Corneille Jean François Heymans; d. July 18, 1968), Belgian physiologist and recipient of the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for showing how blood pressure and the oxygen content of blood are transmitted to the brain.  He died of a stroke at age 76.

 

1868 ~ Maxim Gorky (né Alexei Maximovich Peshkov; d. June 18, 1936), Russian author.  His birthday is sometimes shown in accordance with the Julian calendar, which would be March 16.  He died at age 68 years old in Moscow, Russia.

 

1862 ~ Aristide Briand (d. Mar. 7, 1932), French politician and recipient of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.  He also served several non-consecutives terms as the Prime Minister of France.  He died 21 days before his 70th birthday in Paris, France.

 

1847 ~ Gyula Farkas (d. Dec. 27, 1930), Hungarian mathematician.  He died at age 83.

 

1836 ~ Frederick Pabst (né Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Pabst; d. Jan. 1, 1904), German-born American brewer and founder of the Pabst Brewing Company.  He was 67 years old in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

1727 ~ Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (d. Dec. 30, 1777).  He served as the Elector of Bavaria from 1745 until his death in 1777.  He was married to Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony (1728 ~ 1797) in 1747.  He was of the House of Wittelsbach.  He was the son of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Amalia, Archduchess of Austria.  He was Catholic.  He died of smallpox at age 50.

 

1708 ~ Hannah Glasse (née Hannah Allgood; d. Sept. 1, 1770), English cookbook writer.  She is best known for her book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.  She was born and died in London, England.  She died at age 62.

 

1652 ~ Samuel Sewall (d. Jan. 1, 1730), British-American judge best known for presiding over the Salem witch trials.  He later apologized for his actions in those trials.  He was born in Britain.  He died at age 77 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1613 ~ Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (d. Jan. 27, 1688), Chinese Grand Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty.  She was the 4th wife of Hong Taiji, 1st Emperor of the Qing dynasty.  She died at age 74.

 

1554 ~ Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of Russia (d. Nov. 19, 1581), member of the Russian royal family.  He married three times.  His first wife was Eudoxia Saburova (d. 1620).  They were divorced when she did not immediately produce heirs. His second wife was Praskovia Solova (d. 1621).  They were also divorced when she did not bear children.  His third wife was Yelena Sheremeteva (1553 ~ 1587).  He was of the Rurik Dynasty.  He was the son of Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia, known as Ivan the Terrible, and Anastasia Romanovna.  He was Eastern Orthodox.  He was murdered by his father in a fit of rage at age 27.

 

1515 ~ St. Teresa of Ávila (née Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; d. Oct. 4, 1582), Spanish nun, mystic and saint.  She died at age 67.

 

1472 ~ Fra Bartolomeo (né Baccio della Porta; d. Oct. 31, 1517), Italian Renaissance artist and painter and Dominican friar.  He died at age 45 in Florence, Italy.

 

931 ~ Liu Chengyou (d. Jan. 2, 951), Chinese Emperor of the Later Han dynasty.  He was the second and last emperor of the short-lived Later Han dynasty.  He reigned from March 948 until his death 3 years later.  He was killed at age 19.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2022 ~ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (b. 1978) signed legislation banning classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.  The law, which has been named the “Don’t Say Gay” bill went into effect on July 1, 2022.

 

2021 ~ Palm Sunday.

 

2005 ~ An 8.7 magnitude earthquake, known as the 2005 Sumatra earthquake, hit Indonesia.

 

1990 ~ Jesse Owens (1913 ~ 1980) was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

 

1979 ~ The Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, failed causing a major meltdown, creating the United States’ worst commercial nuclear accident.

 

1970 ~ The 7.2 magnitude Gediz earthquake in western Turkey killed over 1000 people and injured over 1200 individuals.

 

1965 ~ A 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Chile caused several dam failures, which caused at least the deaths of 500 people.

 

1959 ~ The State Council of the People’s Republic of China dissolved the Government of Tibet.

 

1933 ~ The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airline to be lost to sabotage or terrorism.  It is believed that a passenger set a fire aboard during flight causing the crash.  All 15 passengers and flight crew were killed.

 

1930 ~ The names of the cities of Constantinople and Angora in Turkey were changed to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.

 

1920 ~ A tornado outbreak, which occurred on Palm Sunday, affected the Great Lakes area and the southern States.

 

1865 ~ The first hospital ambulance service in the United States began operating in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

1854 ~ France and Britain declared war on Russia during the Crimean War.

 

1814 ~ During the War of 1812, in the Battle of Valparaíso off the coast of Chile, two American naval vessels were captured by two British naval vessels.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2017 ~ Lou Duva (né Louis Duva, b. May 28, 1922), American scrappy boxing manager who trained champs.  He managed such boxing champions as Evander Holyfield and Darren van Horn over a 7-decade career.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 94 in Paterson, New Jersey.

 

2014 ~ Jeremiah Denton, Jr. (né Jeremiah Andrew Denton, Jr.; b. July 15, 1924), the American Admiral POW who defied his captors.  He later became a United States Senator from Alabama from 1981 to 1987.  He was born in Mobile, Alabama.  He died at age 89 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

 

2014 ~ Lorenzo Semple (né Lorenzo Elliot Semple; b. Mar. 27, 1923), American screen writer who made Batman funny on the television series.  He was known professionally as Lorenzo Semple, Jr.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York.  He died in Los Angeles, California one day after his 91st birthday.

 

2013 ~ Elwin Wilson (b. Sept. 17, 1936), American Klansman who apologized to his victims.  In the early 1960s, he participated in beatings of individuals, including Freedom Rider John Lewis.  His actions later haunted him and nearly 50 years later, he made a formal, public apology.  He died at age 76.

 

2012 ~ Earl Scruggs (né Earl Eugene Scruggs; b. Jan. 6, 1924), American virtuoso who popularized the banjo.  He was known for bluegrass music.  He died at age 88 in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

2009 ~ Maurice Jarre (né Maurice-Alexis Jarre, b. Sept. 13, 1924), French composer.  Many of his compositions were in movies.  He was born in Lyon, France.  He died in Los Angeles, California.  He was 84 years old.

 

2006 ~ Caspar Weinberger (né Caspar Willard Weinberger, b. Aug. 18, 1917), American politician and 15th United States Secretary of Defense.  He served as Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 1981 until November 1987.  He had previously served as the 10th United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died of pneumonia at age 88 in Bangor, Maine.

 

2004 ~ Sir Peter Ustinov (né Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov; b. Apr. 16, 1921), British actor.  He was born in London, England.  He died 19 days before his 83rd birthday in Genolier, Switzerland.

 

2000 ~ Anthony Powell (né Anthony Dymoke Powell; b Dec. 21, 1905), British novelist.  He was born in London, England.  He died at age 94.

 

1994 ~ Eugène Ionesco (b. Nov. 26, 1909), Romanian-French playwright.  He was born in Slatina, Romania.  He died at age 84 in Paris, France.

 

1987 ~ Maria von Trapp (b. Jan. 26, 1905), Austrian-born singer and subject of the movie, The Sound of Music.  She was the stepmother and matriarch of the Von Trapp Family.  She died at 82 in Morrisville, Vermont.

 

1985 ~ Marc Chagall (né Moishe Shagal; b. July 6, 1887), Russian-born painter.  He is best known as one of the world’s preeminent Jewish artists and is best known for creating the Jerusalem windows at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.  His father was a fish merchant, so he often incorporated fish into his work to honor his father.  He died at age 97.

 

1884 ~ Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (né Leopold George Duncan Albert; b. Apr. 7, 1854), member of the British Royal Family.  In 1882, he married Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1861 ~ 1922).  They had two children.  He was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  He was the eight child and youngest son of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert.  He had haemophilia and 10 days before his 31st birthday.

 

1982 ~ William Giauque (né William Francis Giauque; b. May 12, 1895), Canadian-born American chemist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  He died at age 86 in Berkeley, California.

 

1979 ~ Emmett Kelly (né Emmett Leo Kelly; b. Dec. 9, 1898), American clown.  He was born in Sedan, Kansas.  He died of myocardial infarction at age 80 in Sarasota, Florida.

 

1969 ~ Dwight David Eisenhower (b. Oct. 14, 1890), American General and 34th President of the United States.  He served as President from January 1953 until January 1961.  He had previously served as the 1st Supreme Allied Commander of Europe from April 1951 until May 1952.  He was also the 16th Chief of Staff of the Army under President Harry S Truman, from November 1945 until February 1948.  He was born in Denison, Texas.  He died of heart failure at age 78 in Washington, D.C.

 

1969 ~ Aryeh Levin (b. Mar. 22, 1885), Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi.  He died 6 days after his 84th birthday in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

1965 ~ Mary, Princess Royal (née Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary; b. Apr. 25, 1897), member of the British royal family.  In 1922 she married Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1882 ~ 1947) and became known as the Countess of Harewood.  They had 2 sons.  She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1917 when the family became known as Windsor.  She was the 3rd child and only daughter of George V, King of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck.  She died of a heart attack about a month before her 68th birthday.

 

1957 ~ Christopher Morley (né Christopher Darlington Morley; b. May 5, 1890), American journalist.  He was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 66 Roslyn Heights, New York.

 

1953 ~ Jim Thorpe (né James Francis Thorpe; b. May 28, 1887), Native American athlete and Olympian Gold Medalist.  He won gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, however, after it was learned that he had briefly played professional football, he was stripped of his medals.  In 1983, the medals restored his Olympic medals.  The exact date in May of his birth is unknown and is sometimes recorded as May 22.  He died at age 65 in Lomita, California.

 

1943 ~ Sergei Rachmaninoff (b. Apr. 1, 1873), Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.  He died 4 days before his 70thbirthday in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1941 ~ Virginia Woolf (née Adeline Virginia Stephen; b. Jan. 25, 1882), English writer.  She was born in London, England.  She died by suicide by drowning at age 59 in Lewes, England.

 

1929 ~ Katharine Lee Bates (b. Aug. 12, 1859), American songwriter.  She composed America the Beautiful in 1893 while admiring the view from the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado.  She was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts and died in Wellesley, Massachusetts at age 69.

 

1910 ~ David Josiah Brewer (b. June 20, 1837), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Benjamin Harrison.  He served on the Court from December 1889 until his death on this date 21 years later.  He replaced Stanley Matthews on the Court.  He was succeeded by Charles Hughes.  He was born in Izmir, Turkey where his parents were Congregationalist missionaries.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 72.

 

1896 ~ Elizabeth Charles (née Elizabeth Rundle; b. Jan. 2, 1828), British novelist.  She died at age 68.

 

1893 ~ Edmund Kirby Smith (b. May 16, 1824), Confederate General during the American Civil War.  From 1965 until 2022, a dormitory at Louisiana State University was named in his honor.  The dorm was demolished in 2022.  He was born in St. Augustine, Florida.  He died of pneumonia at age 68 in Sewanee, Tennessee.

 

1881 ~ Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (b. Mar. 21, 1839), Russian composer.  He is best known for his opera Boris Godunov.  He died 7 days after his 42nd birthday.

 

1874 ~ Peter Andreas Hansen (b. Dec. 8, 1795), Danish astronomer and mathematician.  He died at age 78.

 

1850 ~ Gerard Brandon (né Gerard Chittocque Brandon, b. Sept. 15, 1788), Governor of Mississippi.  He served two terms as Governor.  He was born in Natchez, Mississippi.  He died at age 61 in Fort Adams, Mississippi.

 

1835 ~ Auguste de Beahuarnais, Duke of Luechtenberg (b. Dec. 9, 1810), Prince consort of Portugal and first husband of Maria II, Queen of Portugal.  They married in January 1835, but he died 2 months later.  He was of the House of Beauharnais.  He was the son of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta of Bavaria.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 24.

 

1828 ~ Dr. William Thornton (b. May 20, 1759), American physician and architect.  He is best known for designing the United States Capitol.  He was born in the British Virgin Islands.  He died at age 68 in Washington, D.C.

 

1757 ~ Robert-François Damiens (b. Jan. 9, 1715), French domestic servant who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV of France.  He is known for being the last person in France to be executed by drawing and quartering.  He was 42 at the time of his execution.

 

1655 ~ Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg (b. Nov. 11, 1599), Queen consort of Sweden and wife of Gustavus Alolphus, King of Sweden (1594 ~ 1632).  They married in 1620.  They were the parents of Christina, Queen of Sweden.  She was of the House of Hohenzollern.  She was the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Anna, Duchess of Prussia.  She died at age 55.

 

1584 ~ Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (b. Aug. 25, 1530).  He was the first Tsar of All Russia.  He ruled from January 1547 until his death 27 years later in 1584.  He was known as Ivan the Terrible.  He was married between 6 and 8 times, although only 4 of his marriages were recognized by the Church.  His first confirmed marriage was to Anastasia Romanovna (1530 ~ 1560).  After her death, he married Maria Temryukovna (1544 ~ 1569).  His 3rd confirmed marriage was to Marfa Sobakina (1552 ~ 1571).  After her sudden death, he married his 4th wife, and the last one recognized by the Church, Anna Koltovskaya (1552 ~ 1626).  After 2 years of marriage, he tired of her and had her sent to a monastery.  In 1575, he married his 5th wife, Anna Vasilchikova.  She, too, was sent to a monastery.  In 1580, he married Maria Nagaya (1553 ~ 1600s).  His unconfirmed wives include Vasilisa Meletyeva and Maria Dolgorukaya.  He is also known for murdering his eldest son in a fit of rage.  He was of the Rurik Dynasty.  He was the son of Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow and Elena Glinskaya.  He died at age 53 from a stroke while playing chess.

 

1285 ~ Pope Martin IV (né Simon de Brion; b. 1220).  He was Pope from February 1281 until his death on this date 4 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1241 ~ Valdemar II of Denmark (b. June 28, 1170).  He was known as Valdemar the Conqueror.  He ruled Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Dagmar of Bohemia (1186 ~ 1212).  His second wife was Berengária of Portugal (1198 ~ d. Mar. 27, 1221).  They were the parents of Eric IV, King of Denmark.  He was of the House of Estridsen.  He was the son of Valdemar I, King of Denmark and Sophis of Minsk.  The exact date of his birth is unknown but is believed to have been in June 1170.  He died at age 70.


Wednesday, March 27, 2024

March 27

Birthdays:

 

1963 ~ Quentin Tarantino (né Quentin Jerome Tarantino), American film director.  He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

1952 ~ Maria Schneider (née Maria-Hélène Schneider; d. Feb. 3, 2011), French actress best known for her role in The Last Tango in Paris.  She was the vulnerable actress who tangoed with Marlon Brando.  She was born and died in Paris, France.  She died of breast cancer at age 58.

 

1944 ~ Jesse Brown (d. Aug. 15, 2002), 2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  He served under Bill Clinton from January 1993 until July 1997.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 58 in Warrenton, Virginia.

 

1942 ~ Sir John Sulston (né John Edward Sulston; d. Mar. 6, 2018), British chemist and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died of stomach cancer 21 days before his 76th birthday.

 

1942 ~ Michael York (né Michael Hugh Johnson), English actor.  He is best known for his role of Tybalt in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet.  He was born in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England.

 

1940 ~ Austin Pendleton (né Austin Campbell Pendleton), American actor and playwright.  He was born in Warren, Ohio.

 

1934 ~ Arthur Mitchell (d. Sept. 19, 2018), American ballet dancer who broke ballet’s color barrier.  He was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 84 in Manhattan, New York.

 

1931 ~ David Janssen (né David Harold Meyer; d. Feb. 13, 1980), American actor best known for his role as Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.  He was born in Naponee, Nebraska.  He died of a heart attack at age 48 in Malibu, California.

 

1927 ~ Anthony Lewis (né Joseph Anthony Lewis; d. Mar. 25, 2013), American journalist and author of Gideon’s Trumpet.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.  He died of a heart attack 2 days before his 86th birthday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1926 ~ Frank O’Hara (né Francis Russell O’Hara; d. July 25, 1966), American author.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died in Mastic Beach, New York at age 40 from injuries sustained after having been hit by a motor vehicle.

 

1926 ~ Harry Connick, Sr. (né Joseph Harry Fowler Connick; d. Jan. 24, 2024), American District Attorney who left a trail of wrongful convictions.  He was the District Attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1974 until 2003.  Late in his career as District Attorney, numerous convictions won by his office were overturned when it was revealed that his prosecutors often withheld exonerating evidence.  He was born in Mobile, Alabama.  He was the father of musician Harry Connick, Jr.  He died at age 97 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

1924 ~ Sarah Vaughan (née Sarah Lois Vaughan; d. Apr. 3, 1990), African-American jazz singer.  She was born in Newark, New Jersey.  She died of lung cancer a week after her 66th birthday in Hidden Hills, California.

 

1924 ~ Margaret K. Butler (d. Mar. 8, 2013), American mathematician and computer programmer.  She was the first female fellow at the American Nuclear society and director of the National Energy Software Center at Argonne, where she worked from 1972 until 1991.  She was born in Evansville, Indiana.  She died 19 days before her 89th birthday in La Grange Park, Illinois.

 

1923 ~ Louis Simpson (né Louis Aston Marantz Simpson; d. Sept. 14, 2012), American poet.  He was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  He died at age 89 in Stony Brook, New York.

 

1923 ~ Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (né Lorenzo Elliot Semple, III; d. Mar. 28, 2014), American screen writer who made Batman funny on the television series.  He was known professionally as Lorenzo Semple, Jr.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York.  He died in Los Angeles, California one day after his 91st birthday.

 

1923 ~ Jack O’Neill (d. June 2, 2017), American surfer who invented the modern wetsuit.  He was born in Denver, Colorado.  He died at age 94 in Santa Cruz, California.

 

1921 ~ Phil Chess (né Fiszel Czyż; d. Oct. 18, 2016), Czech-born record producer and co-founder of Chess Records who spread the blues.  He died at age 95 in Tucson, Arizona.

 

1917 ~ Cyrus Vance (né Cyrus Roberts Vance; d. Jan. 12, 2002), 57th United States Secretary of State.  He served during the Carter administration from January 1977 until April 1980.  He had previously served as the 7th United States Secretary of the Army from July 1962 until January 1964 under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.  He was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.  He died of pneumonia at age 84 in New York, New York.

 

1914 ~ Budd Schulberg (né Seymour Wilson Schulberg, d. Aug. 5, 2009), American author and screenwriter.  He was the Oscar-winning writer of On the Waterfront.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 95 in Quiogue, New York.

 

1912 ~ James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (né Leonard James Callaghan; d. Mar. 26, 2005), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died 1 day before his 93rd birthday.

 

1908 ~ Sol Leschinsky (né Solomon Aaron Leschinsky; d. Jan. 26, 1985), Canadian-born mathematician and inventor.  He died in Los Angeles, California at age 76.

 

1905 ~ László Kalmár (d. Aug. 2, 1976), Hungarian mathematician.  He is considered the founder of mathematical logic and theoretical computer science.  He died at age 71.

 

1905 ~ Elsie MacGill (née Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill, d. Nov. 4, 1980), Canadian engineer.  She was known as the Queen of the Hurricanes and was the first female aircraft designer.  She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 75.

 

1901 ~ Eisaku Satō (d. June 3, 1975), Prime Minister of Japan.  He served three terms between November 1964 and July 1972.  He was the recipient of the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize for representing the Japanese’s desire for peace and signing the nuclear arms Non-Proliferation treating in 1970.  He died of a stroke at age 74 in Tokyo, Japan.

 

1899 ~ Gloria Swanson (née Gloria May Josephine Swanson; d. Apr. 4, 1983), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.  She died about a week after her 84thbirthday in New York, New York.

 

1897 ~ Douglas Hartree (né Douglas Rayner Hartree; d. Feb. 12, 1958), English mathematician and physicist.  He was born and died in Cambridge, England.  He died of heart failure at age 60.

 

1893 ~ Karl Mannheim (né Károly Manheim; b. Jan. 9, 1947), Hungarian sociologist.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary.  He died of a heart condition at age 53 in London, England.

 

1886 ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (né Maria Ludwig Muhuta Michael William Mies; d. Aug. 17, 1969), German-born architect.  His philosophy towards buildings was “Less is More.”  He was born in Aachen, German Empire.  He died at age 83 in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1880 ~ Ruth Hanna McCormick (née Ruth Hanna; d. Dec. 31, 1944), American politician from Illinois and supporter of woman’s rights.  She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.  She developed pancreatitis as a result of a fall from a horse.  She was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  She died at age 64 in Chicago.

 

1879 ~ Edward Steichen (né Éduard Jean Steichen; d. Mar. 25, 1973), American painter and photographer.  He was born in Luxembourg, but his family moved to the United States when he was a child.  He died 2 days before his 94th birthday in West Redding, Connecticut.

 

1876 ~ Gerhard Kowalewski (d. Feb. 21, 1950), German mathematician and member of the Nazi party.  He is best known for the introduction of the matrices notation.  He is also known as being a strong advocate for female mathematicians.  He died at age 73.

 

1871 ~ Heinrich Mann (né Luiz Heinrich Mann; d. Mar. 11, 1950), German writer.  His writing often had strong social themes, and his criticism of the growing of fascism in German led him to ultimately flee Germany after the rise of Nazism.  He was the older brother of writer Thomas Mann.  He was born in Lübeck, Germany.  He died in Santa Monica, California less than 3 weeks before his 79th birthday.

 

1867 ~ Karl Zsigmondy (d. Oct. 14, 1925), Austrian-Hungarian mathematician.  He was born and died in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 58.

 

1868 ~ Patty Hill (née Patty Smith Hill; d. May 25, 1946), American educator and kindergarten teacher.  She is best known for writing Happy Birthday to You.  She was born in Anchorage, Kentucky.  She died at age 78 in New York, New York.

 

1863 ~ Sir Henry Royce, 1st Baronet (né Frederick Henry Royce; d. Apr. 22, 1933), English automobile pioneer who, along with Charles Rolls (1877 ~ 1910) founded Rolls-Royce Limited.  He died 26 days after his 70th birthday.

 

1857 ~ Karl Pearson (né Carl Pearson; d. Apr. 27, 1936), English statistician and mathematician.  He was also a proponent of social Darwinism, eugenics, and scientific racism.  His name was changed from Carl to Karl by accident when he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg.  He died a month after his 79th birthday.

 

1847 ~ Otto Wallach (d. Feb. 26, 1931), German chemist and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds.  He died a month before his 84th birthday.

 

1845 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (né Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen; d. Feb. 10, 1923), German physicist and recipient of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the X-ray.  He died at age 77 in Munich, Bavaria, Weimar Republic.

 

1824 ~ Virginia Minor (née Virginia Louisa Minor; d. Aug. 14, 1894), American woman’s rights activist.  She is best remembered for being the plaintiff in the case of United States Supreme Court case of Minor v. Happersett, in which she argued, unsuccessfully, that the 14th Amendment gave women the right to vote.  Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote the decision for the Court.  She was born in Caroline County, Virginia.  She died at age 70 in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

1814 ~ Charles Mackay (d. Dec. 24, 1889), Scottish poet and author.  He was born in Perth, Scotland.  He died at age 85 in London, England.

 

1813 ~ Nathaniel Currier (d. Nov. 20, 1888), American illustrator, who worked with James Ives to create lithographs of current events and life in the mid-1800s America.  Together James Ives and Nathaniel Currier co-founded Currier and Ives.  Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.  He died at age 75 in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

 

1801 ~ Alexander Barrow (d. Dec. 29, 1846), American lawyer and United States Senator from Louisiana.  He served in the Senate from March 1841 through December 1846.  He lived in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana where he initially practiced law.  He abandoned his legal practice to become a planter before entering politics.  He was also a slave owner.  He was born in Nashville, Tennessee.  He died at age 45 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1785 ~ Louis XVII, King of France (d. June 8, 1795).  He was the claimant to the French throne, although he was never actually crowned.  He was of the House of Bourbon.  He was the youngest son of Louis XVI, King of France and Marie Antoinette.  After his father was executed, he became “king” in the eyes of the royalists.  He was imprisoned by the Republic.  He died in prison at age 10 of an illness.

 

1724 ~ Jane Colden (d. Mar. 10, 1766), American botanist.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died in childbirth less than 3 weeks before her 42nd birthday.  She was the first known female biologist in the United States.  Although she was not acknowledged in published papers, she regularly corresponded with leading botanists and her work contributed to considerable identification of American plants.

 

1522 ~ Rachel Akerman (d. 1544), Austrian-Jewish poet.  She is the earliest known Jewish woman known to have written poetry in German.

 

1323 ~ Anne of Bohemia (d. Sept. 3, 1338), Duchess consort of Austria and second wife of Otto, Duke of Bavaria (1301 ~ 1339).  They married in 1335 when she was 7 years old.  There were no children of this marriage.  She was of the House of Luxembourg.  She was the daughter of John, King of Bohemia (also known as John the Blind) and Elizabeth of Bohemia.  She died at age 15.

 

1306 ~ Philip III, King of Navarre (d. Sept. 16, 1343).  He was king of Navarre by virtue of his marriage to Joan II, Queen of Navarre (1312 ~ 1349).  He was known as Philip the Wise.  He was of the House of Évreux.  He was the son of Louis, Count of Évreux and Margaret of Artois.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 37.

 

972 ~ Robert II, King of France (d. July 20, 1031).  He ruled from December 987 until his death in July 1031.  He was known as Robert the Pius.  He was married three times.  He first wife was Rozala of Italy (950s ~ 1003).  Robert was her second husband.  It was not a happy marriage and was dissolved in 996 because she was too old to bear children.  After his first marriage was annulled, he married Bertha of Burgundy (964 ~ 1010).  They married in 1996.  His second marriage was annulled in 1001 on grounds of consanguinity.  He then married Constance of Arles (986 ~ 1032), and they remained married until his death.  They were the parents of Henry I, King of France.  He was of the House of Capet.  He was the son of Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine.  He died at age 59.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2023 ~ Three children and three adults were killed after a mass shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.  The shooter was a 28-year-old woman who was armed with at least two assault-style weapons.  The shooter was killed in a gunfight with police.  This was the 129th mass shooting so far in the United States since the beginning of the year.

 

2021 ~ Passover began at sunset.

 

2020 ~ North Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO.

 

2016 ~ Easter Sunday.

 

2013 ~ A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Taiwan.

 

2002 ~ A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 29 people participating in a Passover Seder in Netanya, Israel.

 

2000 ~ A Phillips Petroleum plant exploded in Pasadena, Texas, killing 1 person and injuring over 70 others.

 

1998 ~ The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra for treatment of male impotence.

 

1980 ~ A Norwegian oil platform collapsed in the North Sea.  Of the 212 crew on the platform, 123 were killed.

 

1977 ~ Two airplanes collided on the runway in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 passengers aboard both planes.  Sixty-one passengers aboard the Pan-Am flight plane survived; all passengers in the KLM flight were killed.

 

1975 ~ Construction on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began.

 

1964 ~ Alaska was hit by a massive earthquake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale.  Over the next three days, there were 52 separate aftershocks, 11 of which registered over 6.0 on the Richter scale.  Over 125 people were killed and there was massive damage to the city of Anchorage, Alaska.  The earthquake was so strong that its effects were felt in such far-flung locations as England, Libya, and Israel.  The earthquake occurred on Good Friday so is sometimes referred to as the Good Friday earthquake.

 

1958 ~ Nikita Khrushchev (1894 ~ 1971) became the Premier of the Soviet Union.

 

1942 ~ Nazi Germany and Vichy France began deporting over 65,000 Jews from the Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.

 

1939 ~ The University of Oregon defeated Ohio State University in the first “March Madness” basketball tournament.  The final score of the game was Oregon 46 to Ohio’s 33.

 

1915 ~ Mary “Typhoid Mary” Mallon (Sept. 23, 1869 ~ Nov. 11, 1938), the healthy carrier of Typhoid, was put into quarantine where she lived for the rest of her life.

 

1912 ~ First Lady Helen Taft (1861 ~ 1943) and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, the wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first cherry trees in Washington, D.C.

 

1905 ~ Fingerprint evidence was used in England to solve a brutal murder.

 

1890 ~ A tornado hit Louisville, Kentucky.  Over 100 people were killed and another 200 were injured.

 

1886 ~ Geronimo (1829 ~ 1909), the Apache warrior, surrendered to the United States Army, ending the main phase of the Apache wars.

 

1794 ~ The United States government established a permanent Navy.

 

1782 ~ Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730 ~ 1782), started his first term as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died 14 weeks after beginning his second term as Prime Minister.  He served during the reign of King George III.

 

1775 ~ Thomas Jefferson (1743 ~ 1826) was elected to the Continental Congress.

 

1638 ~ The first of four Calabrian earthquakes struck in southern Italy.  The first three quakes occurred over a 2-day period.  The fourth occurred 3 months later, on June 9.  Somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed in the quakes.

 

1625 ~ Charles I (1600 ~ 1649) became King of England, Scotland and Ireland.  He also claimed the title King of France as well.

 

1513 ~ Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León (1474 ~ 1521) is believed to have reached what is now known as The Bahamas on his first voyage to the New World.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Michael McKinnell (né Noel Michael McKinnell; b. Dec. 25, 1935), British-born American architect.  He co-designed Boston City Hall, which helped spur the City’s urban revival in the late 1960s.  He was born in Salford, England.  He died of Covid-19 at age 84 in Beverly, Massachusetts.

 

2016 ~ Mother Angelica (née Rita Antoinette Rizzo; b. Apr. 20, 2913), American Poor Clare nun and television personality.  She was the founder of the cable broadcasting empire, the Eternal Word Television Network.  She was born in Canton, Ohio.  She died in Hanceville, Alabama about a month before her 93rd birthday.

 

2014 ~ James R. Schlesinger (né James Rodney Schlesinger; b. Feb. 15, 1929), American headstrong aide who served three presidents.  He served as the 1st United States Secretary of Energy under President Jimmy Carter from August 1977 until August 1979.  He served as the 12th United States Secretary of Defense from July 1973 until November 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.  He also served as the 9th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 85 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

2013 ~ Yvonne Brill (née Yvonne Madelaine Claeys; b. Dec. 30, 1924), Canadian-born woman who blazed a trail in rocketry.  She was a propulsion engineer best known for her development of rocket and jet propulsion technologies.  She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  She died at age 88 in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

2012 ~ Adrienne Rich (née Adrienne Cecile Rich; b. May 16, 1929), American poet who gave a strong voice to feminism.  She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  She died at age 82 in Santa Cruz, California.

 

2009 ~ Irving R. Levine (né Irving Raskin Levine; b. Aug. 26, 1922), American journalist.  He was a longtime correspondent for NBC News.  He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 86 of complications from prostate cancer.

 

2007 ~ Paul Lauterbur (né Paul Christian Lauterbur; d. May 6, 1929), American chemist and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work that made MRIs possible.  He was born in Sidney, Ohio.  He died at age 77 of kidney disease in Urbana, Illinois.

 

2007 ~ Charlotte Winters (née Charlotte Louise Berry; b. Nov. 10, 1897), American veteran, and last surviving female veteran, of World War I.  She joined the Navy in 1917.  She was born in Washington, D.C.  She died at age 109 in Boonsboro, Maryland.

 

2003 ~ Paul Zindel, Jr. (b. May 15, 1936), American writer and playwright.  He is best known for his novel, The Pigman.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 66 of lung cancer.

 

2002 ~ Dudley Moore (né Dudley Stuart John Moore; b. April 19, 1935), British actor.  He was born in London, England.  He died 23 days before his 67th birthday in Plainfield, New Jersey.

 

2002 ~ Milton Berle (né Mendel Berlinger; b. July 12, 1908), American actor and comedian.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 93 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2002 ~ Billy Wilder (né Samuel Wilder; b. June 22, 1906), Hungarian-born American film director.  He died at age 95 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1998 ~ Ferdinand Porsche (Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, b. Sept. 19, 1909), Austrian automobile designer.  He died at age 88.

 

1997 ~ Lane Dwinell (né Seymour Lane Dwindel; b. Nov. 14, 1906), 69th Governor of New Hampshire.  He served as Governor from January 1955 through December 1959.  He was born in Newport, Vermont and died in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He died at age 90.

 

1983 ~ Elsie Eaves (b. May 5, 1898), American engineer.  She was the first woman to become a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  She was born in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  She died at age 84 in Roslyn, New York.

 

1972 ~ M.C. Escher (né Maurits Cornelis Escher; b. June 17, 1898), Dutch illusionist artist.  He is best known for his impossible perspectives and visual brain teasers.  He was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.  He died at age 73.

 

1968 ~ Yuri Gagarin (b. Mar. 9, 1934), Soviet cosmonaut and first human in space.  He was later killed in a test flight, just 13 days after his 34th birthday.

 

1967 ~ Jaroslav Heyrovský (b. Dec. 20, 1890), Czech chemist and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born and died in Prague, Czechoslovakia.  He died at age 76.

 

1962 ~ Augusta Savage (née Augusta Christine Fells; b. Feb. 29, 1892), African-American sculptor.  She was an important figure associated with the Harlem Renaissance.  She was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida.  She died about a month after her 27th birthday.

 

1952 ~ Kiichiro Toyoda (b. June 11, 1894), Japanese businessman and founder of Toyota.  He died at age 57 from injuries sustained in a fall.

 

1934 ~ Charlotte Barnum (née Charlotte Cynthia Barnum; b. May 17, 1860), American mathematician and social activist.  She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University.  She was born in Philipstown, Massachusetts.  She died at age 73 in Middletown, Connecticut.

 

1931 ~ Arnold Bennett (né Enoch Arnold Bennett; b. May 27, 1867), English novelist.  He died of typhoid fever at age 63 in London, England.

 

1925 ~ Carl Neumann (né Karl Gottfried Neumann; b. May 7, 1832), German mathematician.  He died at age 92.

 

1923 ~ Sir James Dewar (b. Sept. 20, 1842), Scottish chemist and physicist.  He is best known for creating the Dewar’s Flask.  He died at age 80 in London, England.

 

1918 ~ Henry Adams (né Henry Brooks Adams; b. Feb. 16, 1838), American historian and novelist.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 80 in Washington, D.C.

 

1910 ~ Alexander Agassiz (né Alexander Emanuel Rodolphe Agassiz; b. Dec. 17, 1835), Swiss-born ichthyologist, zoologist and engineer.  He died at age 74 aboard the RMS Adriatic while en route to New York from England.

 

1900 ~ Joseph Campbell (né Joseph Albert Campbell; b. May 15, 1817), founder of the Campbell’s Soup Company.  He was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  He died at age 82 in Riverton, New Jersey.

 

1888 ~ Francesco Faà di Bruno (b. Mar. 29, 1825), Italian priest and mathematician.  He died 2 days before his 63rdbirthday.

 

1879 ~ Prince Waldemar of Prussia (b. Feb. 10, 1868), German prince.  He was of the House of Hohenzollern.  He was the sixth child of Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal.  He was the grandson of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom.  He died of diphtheria at age 11.

 

1875 ~ Juan Crisóstomo Torrico (b. Jan. 21, 1808), Peruvian soldier and briefly the President of Peru in 1842.  He died at age 67.

 

1869 ~ James Harper (b. Apr. 13, 1795), 65th Mayor of New York City.  He served as Mayor for 1 year from 1844 to 1845.  He was born in Queens, New York.  He died 17 days before his 74th birthday in New York, New York.

 

1714 ~ Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (b. Apr. 27, 1650), Queen consort of Denmark and wife of Christian V, King of Denmark (1646 ~ 1699).  They married in 1667.  They had 8 children, one of whom became Frederick IV, King of Denmark.  She was of the House of Hesse-Kassel.  She was the daughter of William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg.  She died of smallpox a month before her 64th birthday.  She was Calvinist.  The city of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands is named in her honor.

 

1697 ~ Simon Bradstreet (b. Mar. 18, 1603), Early American politician and 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on March 18, 1603.  He was born in Lincolnshire, England.  He presumably died 9 days after his 93rd birthday in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay.

 

1625 ~ James I, King of England and Ireland, James VI, King of Scotland (b. June 19, 1566).  He ruled England from March 1603 until his death in 1625.  He also ruled Scotland from July 1567 until his death in 1625.  He was married to Anne of Denmark (1574 ~ 1619).  They married in 1589.  They were the parents of Charles I, King of England.  He was of the House of Stuart.  He was the son of Mary, Queen of the Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.  He died at age 58.

 

1624 ~ Ulrik, Prince of Denmark (b. Dec. 30, 1578), member of the Danish royal family and Prince-Bishop of Schwerin.  He never married.  He was of the House of Oldenburg.  He was the son of Frederick II, King of Denmark and Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.  He was Lutheran.  He died at age 45.

 

1615 ~ Margaret of Valois (b. May 14, 1553), Queen consort of France and first wife of Henry IV, King of France (1553 ~ 1610).  They married in 1572.  There were no children of the marriage; thus, marriage was annulled after 27 years. Interestingly, Henry IV would be assassinated on May 14, 1610, her 65th birthday.  She was of the House of Valois.  She was the daughter of Henry II, King of France and Catherine de’Medici.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 61.

 

1482 ~ Mary of Burgundy (b. Feb. 13, 1457), Duchess of Brabant, Limburg, Lothier, Luxemburg and Guelders.  She was the duchess in her own right.  She was the first wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459 ~ 1519), however she had died before he assumed that role, thus was never the Holy Roman Empress consort.  They married in 1477.  She was of the House of Valois-Burgundy.  She was the daughter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Isabella of Bourbon.  She was Roman Catholic.  She was killed at age 25 from a fall from her horse during a falcon hunt.

 

1462 ~ Vasily II, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. Mar. 10, 1415).  He was known as Vasily II the Blind.  He ruled over Moscow from February 1425 until his death in 1462.  He was married to Maria Yaroslavna (1418 ~ 1484).  He was of the House of Rurik.  He was the son of Vasily I, Grand Prince of Moscow and Sophia of Lithuania.  He was born and died in Moscow.  He died 17 days after his 47th birthday.

 

1381 ~ Juana Manuel (b. 1339), Queen consort of Castile and León.  She was the wife of Henry II, King of Castile and León (1334 ~ 1379).  They married in 1350.  They were the parents of John I, King of Castile.  She was of the Castilian House of Ivrea.  She was the daughter of Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena and Blanca Núñez de Lara.  She was Roman Catholic.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 41 or 42 at the time of her death.

 

1378 ~ Pope Gregory XI (né Pierre Roger de Beaufort; b. 1336).  He was the seventh and last Avignon Pope.  He was Pope from December 1370 until his death on his date.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

 

1390 ~ Hedwig of Sagan, Queen consort of Poland and fourth wife of Casimir III, King of Poland.  Casimir may have still been married to his second and third wives when they married.  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married Rupert I, Duke of Legnica (1347 ~ 1409).  She was the daughter of Henry V of Iron and Anna of Mazovia.  The date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 30 or 40 at the time of her death.

 

1221 ~ Princess Berengaria of Portugal (b. 1198), Queen consort of Denmark.  She was the second wife of Valdemar II, King of Denmark.  They were the parents of Eric IV, King of Denmark.  She was of the Portuguese House of Burgundy.  She was the daughter of Sancho I, King of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon.  She was Roman Catholic.  The exact date of her birth is not known.  She is believed to have been about age 22 or 23 at the time of her death of complications of childbirth.