Birthdays:
1954 ~ Angela Merkel, 8th
Chancellor of Germany.
1950 ~ Phoebe Snow (d. 2011), American
singer and songwriter.
1947 ~
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, second wife of Prince Charles.
1935 ~ Donald Sutherland, Canadian
actor.
1929 ~ Sergei K. Godunov, Russian
mathematician.
1920 ~ Gordon Gould (d. 2005),
American physicist and inventor of the Laser.
1917 ~ Phyllis
Diller (d. 2012), American comedian who paved the way for female stand-up.
1913 ~ Bertrand Goldberg (d. 1997),
American architect and designer of the Marina City buildings in Chicago.
1912 ~ Art
Linkletter (d. 2010), Canadian television personality.
1899 ~ James Cagney (d. 1986),
American actor.
1898 ~
Berenice Abbott (d. 1991), American photographer.
1889 ~ Earle
Stanley Gardner (d. 1970), American lawyer and creator of Perry Mason.
1888 ~ Shmuel
Yosef Agnon (d. 1970), Israeli writer and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in
Literature.
1763 ~ John
Jacob Astor (b. 1848), American businessman and financier.
1744 ~
Elbridge Gerry (d. 1814), 5th Vice President of the United States. He served under James Madison, but died 18
months into his term. He is best known
for the term “gerrymandering”, a process by which electoral districts are drawn
with the intent to assist a particular candidate or party.
1698 ~ Pierre Louis Maupertuis (d.
1759). French mathematician.
Events
that Changed the World:
2014 ~ Malaysian Flight 17 was shot down over the Ukraine, killing all 298
people aboard.
1996 ~ TWA Flight 800 on its way to Paris, France, exploded shortly after
take-off, off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 people
aboard.
1955 ~
Disneyland was opened in Anaheim, California.
1945 ~ Winston Churchill, Harry Truman
and Joseph Stalin met in Potsdam, Germany to decide the future of a defeated
Germany following the close of World War II.
1938 ~ Douglas Corrigan (1907 ~ 1995),
an American aviator from Texas, took off from Brooklyn, New York, ostensibly to
fly back to Long Beach, California, but instead ended up in Dublin,
Ireland. From hence forth, he was known
as “Wrong Way” Corrigan.
1936 ~ The
Spanish Civil War began.
1918 ~ The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued survivors from the RMS Titanic, sank off the coast of
Ireland.
1917 ~ King
George V of the United Kingdom issued a Proclamation stating that the male line
descendants of the British Royal family will use Windsor at their surname.
1867 ~ The
Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston, making it the
first dental school in the United States.
1821 ~ Spain
officially turned over the Florida territory to the United States.
1762 ~
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, became the Czar of Russia upon
the murder of her husband, Peter III of Russia.
1429 ~ Charles VII was crowned King of
France.
Good-byes:
2014 ~ Henry
Hartsfield (b. 1933), American shuttle pilot who kept cool under pressure.
2014 ~ Elaine
Stritch (b. 1925), The American Broadway actress who brought sass to the stage.
2009 ~ Walter
Cronkite (b. 1916), American broadcast avuncular journalist who was America’s
favorite anchorman.
2008 ~ Chuck Stobbs (b.
1929), American baseball pitcher who gave up baseball’s longest home run. On April 17, 1953, he pitched to Mickey
Mantle, who blasted a 565-foot hit that is regarded as the longest home run
ever.
2006 ~ Mickey Spillane (b. 1918), American author of detective
stories.
2005 ~ Edward Heath (b. 1916), Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom.
2005 ~ Geraldine Fitzgerald (b. 1913),
Irish-American actress.
2001 ~
Katharine Graham (b. 1917), American newspaper publisher.
1980 ~ Boris Delaunay (b. 1890), Russian
mathematician.
1967 ~ John
Coltrane (b. 1926), American musician.
1961 ~ Ty Cobb
(b. 1886), baseball pitcher.
1959 ~ Billie
Holiday (b. 1915), American singer.
1944 ~ William James Sidis (b. 1898),
American mathematician.
1918 ~ The
Czar Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868) and his entire family, including
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (née Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, b. 1872), Grand
Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (b. 1895), Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna (b. 1897),
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (b. 1899), Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
(b. 1901), and Tsarevich Alexei Nilklaevich (b. 1904) were murdered by the
Bolsheviks.
1912 ~ Henri
Poincaré (b. 1854), French mathematician.
1903 ~ James Abbott McNeill whistler
(b. 1834), American painter, best known for his painting officially entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, but
more commonly known as Whistler’s Mother. He died 7 days after his 69th
birthday.
1887 ~
Dorothea Dix (b. 1802), American social activist.
1845 ~ Charles Grey, 2nd
Earl Grey (b. 1764), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1793 ~
Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d’Armont (b. 1768), assassin of Jean-Paul Marat. She was executed by guillotine 4 days after
killing Marat.
1790 ~ Adam
Smith (b. 1723), Scottish economist and philosopher.
1762 ~ Peter
III of Russia (b. 1728), husband of Catherine the Great.
924 ~ King Edward the Elder of
England (b. 877).
