September 25

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress and wife of Michael Douglas, whose birthday is also on this date.

1968 ~ Will Smith, American actor.

1952 ~ Christopher Reeve (d. 2004), American actor best known for his role as Superman in the movie of the same name.  He was paralyzed following an equine accident in 1995.  He died about 3 weeks after his 52^nd birthday.

1951 ~ Mark Hamill, Actor who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movie.

1949 ~ Petro Almodóvar, Spanish movie director.

1947 ~ Cheryl Tiegs, American model.

1944 ~ Michael Douglas, American actor who share his birthday with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones (b. 1969).

1943 ~ Robert Gates, 22^nd United States Secretary of Defense.  He served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

1936 ~ Juliet Prowse (d. 1996), South African dancer.  She died of pancreatic cancer less than 2 weeks before her 60^th birthday.

1931 ~ Bryan John Birch, English mathematician.

1930 ~ Shel Silverstein (né Sheldon Allen Silverstein, d. 1999), American humorist and writer.  He died at age 68.

1929 ~ Barbara Walters, American television journalist.

1927 ~ Colin Davis (d. 2013), Longtime British conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.  He died at age 85.

1915 ~ Ethel Rosenberg (d. 1953), American who was executed along with her husband, Julius, for allegedly spying for the Soviet Union.  She was 37 years old at the time of her execution.

1911 ~ Earl Cooley (d. 2009), the American firefighter who pioneered smoke jumping.  He died at age 98.

1903 ~ Mark Rothko (né Markus Yakovlevich Rotkovich, d. 1970), Latvian-born American painter.  He died at age 66.

1897 ~ William Faulkner (d. 1962), Southern American novelist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature.  He died at age 64.

1893 ~ Harald Cramér (d. 1985), Swedish mathematician.  He died 10 days after his 92^nd birthday.

1866 ~ Thomas Hunt Morgan (d. 1945), American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist.  He was the 1933 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the role chromosomes played in heredity.  He died at age 79.

1764 ~ Fletcher Christian (d. 1793), English mutineer on the HMS Bounty.  He led the mutiny on the HMS Bounty against Captain Bligh.  He died 5 days before his 29^th birthday.

1694 ~ Henry Pelham (d. 1754), Prime Minister of the Great Britain.  He served as Prime Minister from August 1743 until his death at age 59 in March 1754.  He served during the reign of King George II.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Rosh HaShanah.

2003 ~ An 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan.

1981 ~ Sandra Day O’Connor (b. 1930) became the 102^nd person sworn in as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the first woman to hold this office.  She had been approved by the Legislature a few days earlier.

1977 ~ The first Chicago Marathon was held.  Approximately 4,200 runners participated.

1974 ~ The first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery was performed on baseball player Tommy John.  This surgery is now referred to as Tommy John surgery.

1957 ~ The United States Army stood guard as nine African-American students began classes during ordered integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1942 ~ The Swiss Police Instruction of September 25, 1942 went into effect, which denied Jewish refugees entry into Switzerland during World War II.

1911 ~ Ground was broken for the construction of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

1890 ~ The U.S. Congress established Sequoia National Park in California.

1789 ~ The United States Congress passed the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.

1775 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen (1738 ~ 1789) surrendered to British forces after attempting to capture Montreal during the Battle of Longue-Pointe.

1513 ~ Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475 ~ 1519) reached what would become known as the Pacific Ocean, thereby becoming the first recorded European to have discovered this Ocean coming from the East.

1237 ~ England and Scotland signed the Treaty of York, thereby establishing the location of their common border.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Andy Williams (né Howard Andrew Williams, b. 1927), American singer and entertainer, who is considered the last of the great easy-listening crooners.  He died at age 84.

2011 ~ Wangari Maathai (b. 1940), Kenyan environmentalist who fought for Africa’s forests.  She was recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.  She was the first African woman to win this prize for her work in sustainable development.  She died at age 71.

2005 ~ Don Adams (b. 1923), American actor, best known for his role as Maxwell Smart on the TV sit-com, Get Smart.  He died at age 82.

2003 ~ George Plimpton (b. 1927), American writer and actor.  He died at age 76.

2003 ~ Franco Modigliani (b. 1918), Italian economist and 1985 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.  He died at ag e85.

1999 ~ Marion Zimmer Bradley (d. 1930), American writer.  She died at age 69.

1995 ~ Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany (b. 1891) African-American dentist and author.  She and her older sister, Sarah Delany wrote the book, Having Our Say: The First 100 Years.  The book was published when both sisters were over 100 years old.  Sarah Delany died at age 109 and Bessie died at age less than 3 weeks after her 104^th birthday.

1986 ~ Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov (b. 1896), Russian chemist and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 90.

1971 ~ Hugo Black (b. 1886), Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from August 1837 until his death at age 85 on this date 34 years later.

1970 ~ Erich Marie Remarque (b. 1898), German author, best known for his World War I novel, All Quiet on the Western Front.  He died at age 72.

1960 ~ Emily Post (b. 1873), American etiquette expert.  She died at age 87.

1849 ~ Johann Strauss, I (b. 1804), Austrian composer.  He died at age 45.

1777 ~ Johann Heinrich Lambert (b. 1728), Swiss mathematician.  He died a month after his 49^th birthday.

1534 ~ Pope Clement VII (né Giulio di Giuliano de’Medici, b. 1478).  He was Pope from 1523 until his death at age 56 12 years later.