April 14

Birthdays:

1996 ~ Abigail Breslin, American actress, best known for her role in Little Miss Sunshine.

1977 ~ Chandra Levy (d. May 1, 2001), American murder victim.  The exact date of her death is unknown, but she went missing on May 1, 2001.  She disappeared 2 weeks after her 24^th birthday.

1973 ~ Adrien Brody, American actor.

1968 ~ Anthony Michael Hall, American actor best known for his role in The Breakfast Club.

1961 ~ Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor.

1940 ~ Julie Christie, British actress.

1932 ~ Loretta Lynn, American country singer.

1927 ~ Alan MacDiarmid (d. Feb. 7, 2007), New Zealand chemist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

1921 ~ Thomas Schelling (d. Dec. 13, 2016), American economist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 95.

1912 ~ Béla Király (d. July 4, 2009), the Hungarian general who lead the 1956 revolt.  He died at age 97.

1907 ~ François Duvalier (d. Apr. 21, 1971) Haitian President known as Papa Doc.  His rule was dictatorial.  He died a week after his 64^th birthday.

1906 ~ King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. Mar. 25, 1975).  He was shot and killed by a nephew.  He died less than a month before his 69^th birthday.

1904 ~ Sir John Gielgud (né Arthur John Gielgud, d. May 21, 2000), English actor.  He died at age 96.

1866 ~ Anne Sullivan (née Johanna Mansfield Sullivan, d. Oct. 20, 1936), American teacher, instructor and companion to Helen Keller.  She died at age 70.

1738 ~ William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3^rd Duke of Portland (d. Oct. 30, 1809), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of King George III, from March 1807 until October 1809, and he was the Prime Minister of Great Britain from April 1783 until December 1783.  He died at age 71.

1820 ~ Levi Lincoln, Sr. (b. May 15, 1749), 4^th United States Attorney General.  He served under President Thomas Jefferson from March 1801 until March 1805.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died in Worcester, Massachusetts a month before his 71^st birthday.

1629 ~ Christiaan Huygens (d. July 8, 1695), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 66.

1572 ~ Adam Tanner (d. May 25, 1632), Austrian mathematician.  He died at age 60.

1126 ~ Averroes (d. Dec. 10, 1198), Spanish physician, mathematician and philosopher.  He died at age 72.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Good Friday.

2014 ~ Passover began at sundown.

2014 ~ Over 270 young women students were declared missing after a mass abduction by the extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria.

2010 ~ Ash from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull disrupted air traffic across Europe.  Air travel was interrupted through April 20.

2010 ~ A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Yushi, Qinghai, China killing over 2,700 people.

2003 ~ The Human Genome Project was completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

1939 ~ John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was first published.

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m.  The ship sank the in the early hours following morning (April 15) with the loss of over 1,500 lives.

1865 ~ Abraham Lincoln (b. 1809), the 16^th President of the United States was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theater.  He died the following day.

1865 ~ In his last official act as President, Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service.

1846 ~ The Donner Party of pioneers left Springfield, Illinois for California for what would eventually end in tragedy and cannibalism.

1828 ~ Noah Webster (1758 ~ 1843) copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary.

70 ~ The traditional date associated with the Siege of Jerusalem, which began when Titus, son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, surrounded the city.

Good-byes:

2015 ~ Percy Sledge (b. Nov. 25, 1940), American balladeer who recorded the defining love song, When a Man Loves a Woman.  Although born in Alabama, he lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for over 40 years.  He died at age 74.

2013 ~ Charlie Wilson (b. Jan. 18, 1943), American politician.  He died at age 70.

2013 ~ Armando Villanueva (b. Nov. 25, 1915), Prime Minister of Peru.  He was Prime Minister from May 1988 until May 1989.  He died at age 97.

2013 ~ Sir Colin Davis (b. Sept. 25, 1927), Longtime British conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.  He died at age 85.

2010 ~ Alice Miller (née Alicija Englard, b. Jan. 12, 1923), the Swiss psychologist who explored childhood trauma.  She died at age 87.

2008 ~ Werner Groebili (b. Apr. 21, 1915), Swiss skater who was half of the skating team, Frick and Frack.  He died 7 days before his 93^rd birthday.

2007 ~ Don Ho (b. Aug. 13, 1930), American singer and musician.  He died at age 76.

1995 ~ Burl Ives (b. June 14, 1909), American actor, writer and singer.  He died of cancer at age 85.

1986 ~ Simone de Beauvoir (b. Jan. 9, 1908), French feminist and lover of Jean Paul Sartre.  She is best known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex.  She died at age 78.

1964 ~ Rachel Carson (b. May 27, 1907), American biologist and environmentalist.  She is best known for her book, The Silent Spring, which led to the banning of certain pesticides.  The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, which was named in her honor, is located in southern Maine.  She died of breast cancer at age 56

1964 ~ Tatyana Afanasyeva (b. Nov. 19, 1876), Russian-born Dutch mathematician.  She died at age 87.

1935 ~ Amalie Emmy Noether (b. Mar. 23, 1882), German mathematician.  She was one of the leading mathematicians of her time.  Because she was Jewish, when Hitler came into power, she lost her university position.  She fled to the United States where she took a university position at Bryn Mawr.  She developed theories in ring theory.  She died of uterine cancer 3 weeks after her 53^rd birthday.

1925 ~ John Singer Sargent (b. Jan. 12, 1856), American artist and painter.  He died at age 69.

1759 ~ George Frederic Handel (b. Mar. 5, 1685), German composer.  [Note: the date of his birth is sometimes shown as Feb. 23, because of the calendar in use at the time of his birth.]  He died at age 74.

911 ~ Pope Sergius III.  He was Pope from January 904 until his death 7 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.