December 31

Birthdays:

1995 ~ Gabby Douglas (née Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas), American gymnast.

1959 ~ Val Kilmer, American actor.

1958 ~ Bebe Neuwirth, American actress best known for her role as Lilith on Cheers.

1952 ~ Vaughn Jones, New Zealander mathematician.

1948 ~ Donna Summer (née LaDonna Adrian Gaines, d. 2012), American singer and Disco Queen.  She was the reluctant diva of disco.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died at age 63.

1945 ~ Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-born fashion designer.

1943 ~ Ben Kingsley, English actor.

1941 ~ Sarah Miles, English actress.

1937 ~ Avram Hershko, Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1937 ~ Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor.

1930 ~ Odetta Holmes (d. 2008), American singer who gave voice to Black America.  She died 29 days before her 78^th birthday.

1919 ~ Artur Fischer (d. 2016), German prolific inventor who created a DYI essential.  He had more patents than Thomas Edison.  He died a month after his 96^th birthday.

1908 ~ Simon Wiesenthal (d. 2005), Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.  He died at age 96.

1905 ~ Helen Dodson Prince (d. 2002), American astronomer.  She died at age 96.

1880 ~ George C. Marshall, Jr. (d. 1959), 50^th Secretary of State and author of the Marshall Plan.  He was the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for being the architect of the Marshall Plan.  He was Secretary of State under President Harry S Truman from January 1947 until January 1949.  He subsequently served as the 3^rd United States Secretary of Defense, also during the Truman administration.  He died at age 78.

1878 ~ Elizabeth Arden (née Florence Nightingale Graham, d. 1966), Canadian businesswomen and founder of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., the cosmetics company.  She died at age 87.

1869 ~ Henri Matisse (d. 1954), French painter.  He died at age 84.

1860 ~ Joseph S. Cullinan (d. 1937), American businessman and co-founder of Texaco.  He died at age 77.

1838 ~ Émile Loubet (d. 1929), President of France.  He served as President from February 1899 until February 1906.  He died 11 days before his 91^st birthday.

1815 ~ George Meade (d. 1872), Union General during the American Civil War.  He is best remembered for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.  He died at age 56.

1794 ~ Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (d. 1852), 2^nd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Millard Fillmore for 11 days in August 1850.  After accepting the position, he immediately regretted his decision and resigned.  He died 2 years later at age 52.

1720 ~ Charles Edward Stuart (d. 1788), pretender to the British Throne.  He died a month after his 67^th birthday.

1714 ~ Arima Yoriyuki (d. 1783), Japanese mathematician.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.

1514 ~ Andreas Vesalias (d. 1564), Flemish anatomist and physician who published a book entitled On the Structure of the Human Body, which was the first manual of human anatomy with clear and detailed illustrations.  He died at age 49.

1491 ~ Jacques Cartier (d. 1557), French explorer.  He died at age 65.

1378 ~ Pope Callixtus III (né Alfons de Borja, d. 1458).  He was Pope from April 1455 until his death in 1458.  He died at age 79.

Events that Changed the World:

2010 ~ At least 36 tornadoes struck in the Midwest and Southern United States causing massive damage, especially in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma.  At least 9 people were killed in the storms.

2009 ~ Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occurred.

2004 ~ Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world at the time, opened.  It stands at a height of 1,670 feet.

1999 ~ Boris Yeltsin (1931 ~ 2007), the first president of Russia resigned.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) became acting President.

1999 ~ The United States relinquished its control over the Panama Canal Zone to the country of Panama.

1994 ~ The Russian army began a New Year’s storm of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, thereby beginning the first Chechen War.

1992 ~ Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, creating two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  This was termed as the Velvet Divorce.

1991 ~ The Soviet Union officially dissolved and all official institutions of the Soviet Union ceased operation.

1983 ~ The AT&T Bell Telephone System was deregulated.

1967 ~ The Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, was founded.

1960 ~ The United Kingdom ceased to use the farthing coin as legal tender.

1951 ~ The Marshall Plan sunsetted.  It had distributed over $13.3 billion in foreign aid to help rebuild Europe following World War II.

1946 ~ US President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) officially proclaimed the end of World War II.

1909 ~ The Manhattan Bridge opened.

1907 ~ The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square New York City.  At the time, the square was known as Longacre Square.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison (1847 ~ 1831) demonstrated his electric light to the public for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1878 ~ Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929) filed a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine.  The patent was granted in 1879.

1862 ~ Abraham Lincoln signed an act that admitted West Virginia into the Union, thereby dividing Virginia into two.  West Virginia formally entered the Union on June 20, 1863.

1857 ~ Queen Victoria selected Ottawa, Ontario to be the capital of Canada.

1831 ~ Gramercy Park in New York City was given to the City.

1796 ~ The city of Baltimore, Maryland was incorporated.

1759 ~ Arthur Guinness (1725 ~ 1803) signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per year and began brewing his famous Guinness stout and ale.

1695 ~ A window tax was imposed in England.  Many households chose to brick up their windows in order to avoid the tax.

1600 ~ Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain granted a charter to the British East India Company in an effort to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Natalie Cole (b. 1950), American singer who carried on her father’s legacy.  She was the daughter of Nat King Cole.  She died of congested heart failure at age 65.

2015 ~ Wayne Rogers (b. 1933), American actor best known for his role as Trapper John from M*A*S*H.  He died of pneumonia at age 82.

2014 ~ Edward Herrmann (b. 1943), American actor.  He died of brain cancer at age 71.

2008 ~ Donald E. Westlake (b. 1933), American prolific writer who was a master of mysteries.  He died at age 75.

2004 ~ Gérard Debreu (b. 1921), French economist and mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He died at age 83.

2000 ~ Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane (b. 1966), American-Israeli rabbi and scholar.  He was the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane.  He and his wife were shot and killed in a settlement near Ofra in Israel.  He was 34 years old.

2000 ~ José Greco (né Costanzo Greco Bucci, b. 1918), Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer.  He died 8 days after his 82^nd birthday.

2000 ~ Alan Cranston (b. 1914), American journalist and politician from California.  He died at age 86.

1999 ~ Elliot Lee Richardson (b. 1920), 69^th US Attorney General.  He served under President Richard Nixon.  He also served as the 9^th Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the 11^th Secretary of Defense and the 25^th Secretary of State in the Nixon administration.  He served under President Gerald Ford as the 24^th Secretary of Commerce.  He died at age 77.

1972 ~ Roberto Clemente (b. 1934), Puerto Rican baseball player.  He was killed in a plane crash at age 38.  He was on a mission delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

1894 ~ Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (b. 1856), Dutch mathematician.  He died 2 days after his 38^th birthday.

1888 ~ Samson Raphael Hirsch (b. 1808), German rabbi.  He died at age 80.

1877 ~ Gustave Courbet (né Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet, b. 1819), French painter.  He died at age 58.

1691 ~ Robert William Boyle (b. 1627), Irish chemist and physicist.  He is considered to be the father of modern chemistry.  He died 25 days before his 65^th birthday.

1610 ~ Ludolph van Ceulen (b. 1540), German-Dutch mathematician.  He died 29 days before his 71^st birthday.

1583 ~ Thomas Erastus (b. 1524), Swiss theologian.  He died at age 59.

1384 ~ John Wycliffe (b. ~ 1320), English theologian and translator of the Bible into common English.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

335 ~ Pope Sylvester I.  He was Pope from January 314 until his death on this date 21 years later.