July 28

Birthdays:

1954 ~ Hugo Rafael Frías Chávez (d. Mar. 5, 2013), President of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.  He died of cancer at age 58.

1954 ~ Gerd Faltings, German mathematician.

1948 ~ Georgia Engel, American actress.

1947 ~ Sally Struthers, American actress best known for her role as Gloria on All in the Family.

1945 ~ Jim Davis, American cartoonist and creator of the Garfield comic.

1938 ~ Robert Hughes (d. Aug. 6, 2012), Australian critic and writer and pugnacious popularize of fine art.  He died a week after his 74^th birthday.

1938 ~ Alberto Fujimori, 90^th President of Peru.  He was President from July 1990 until November 2000.  In 2009, he was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

1937 ~ John A. Walker, Jr. (d. Aug. 28, 2014), American Navy officer who lead a family spy ring.  He was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union from 1968 until 1985.  He died in prison a month after his 77^th birthday.

1932 ~ Norma Holloway Johnson (née Normalie Loyce Johnson, d. Sept. 18, 2011), African-American judge who oversaw the Monica Lewinsky probe.  She was from Lake Charles, Louisiana.  She died at age 79.

1929 ~ Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (d. May 19, 1994), 37^th First Lady and wife of President John F. Kennedy.  She died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 64.

1929 ~ Shirley Ann Grau, American novelist.  She was born in New Orleans.

1925 ~ Baruch Samuel Blumberg (d. Apr. 5, 2011), American physician and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the study of kuru.  He died at age 85.

1916 ~ David Brown (d. Feb. 1, 2010), American movie producer who made Jaws and The Sting.  He was married to Helen Gurley Brown, the editor of Cosmopolitan.  He died of renal failure at age 93.

1915 ~ Charles Townes (d. Jan. 27, 2015), American physicist and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was 99 years old at the time of his death.

1909 ~ Malcolm Lowry (né Clarence Malcolm Lowry, d. June 26, 1957), British novelist.  He is best known for his novel Under the Volcano.  He died about a month before his 48^th birthday.

1907 ~ Earl Tupper (d. Oct. 5, 1983), American inventor of Tupperware.  He was born in Berlin, New Hampshire.  He died at age 76.

1901 ~ Rudy Vallée (né Hubert Prior Vallée, d. July 3, 1986), American singer.  He was born in Vermont.  He is known for his rendition of The Maine Stein Song, the theme song of the University of Maine.  He died 25 days before his 85^th birthday.

1887 ~ Marcel Duchamp (d. Oct. 2, 1968), French painter and artist.  He died at age 81.

1866 ~ Beatrix Potter (née Helen Beatrix Potter, d. Dec. 22, 1943), English author and creator of the Peter Rabbit stories.  She died at age 77.

1635 ~ Robert Hooke (d. Mar. 3, 1703), English scientist.  He is best known for his investigations with the microscope.  He died at age 67.

Events that Changed the World:

2002 ~ Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Pdnnsylvania were rescued.  They had been trapped for over 75 hours.

1996 ~ The remains of a prehistoric man, now known as the Kennewick Man, were discovered near Kennewick, Washington State.

1984 ~ The 1984 Summer Olympics opened in Los Angeles, California.

1976 ~ A massive earthquake struck Tangshan in China.  Approximately 250,000 people were believed to have been killed in the disaster, with another 150,000 individuals injured.

1945 ~ A US Army B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building.  Fourteen people were killed and 26 were injured.

1914 ~ Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after Serbia rejected the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

1896 ~ The city of Miami, Florida was incorporated.

1868 ~ The 14^th Amendment to the United States was certified.  The principles of the 14^th Amendment (1) defines citizenship regardless of race; (2) provides that no state shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens; (3) provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; and (4) no person could be denied equal protection of the laws.

1866 ~ Lavinia “Vinnie” Ream (1847 ~ 1914) became the first and youngest woman artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue.  She was 18 years old when she was commissioned to sculpt the statue of Abraham Lincoln, which is in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building.

1821 ~ José de San Martín (1778 ~ 1850) declared Peru to be independent from Spanish rule and became the Protector of Peru.

1540 ~ King Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547) of England married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard (1523 ~ 1542) after he had Thomas Cromwell (1485 ~ 1540) executed for treason.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Theodore Van Kirk (b. Feb. 27, 1921), American navigator who guided the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the H-bomb on Hiroshima.  He died at age 93.

2013 ~ Eileen Brennan (née Verla Eileen Brennan, b. Sept. 3, 1932), American actress.  She died of cancer at age 80.

2013 ~ William Scranton (b. July 19, 1917), 13^th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He served in that office from March 1976 until January 1977 during the Gerald Ford administration.  He died 9 days after his 96^th birthday.

2009 ~ The Reverend Ike (b. né Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, II, b. June 1, 1935), American minister who preached the gospel of wealth.  He died at age 74.

2004 ~ Francis Crick (b. June 8, 1916), English molecular biologist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He, along with James Watson, discovered the molecular structure of DNA.  They failed, however, to give due credit to Roselyn Franklin, who also provided valuable insight into the DNA structure.  He died at age 88.

2002 ~ Archer John Porter Martin (b. Mar. 1, 1910), British chemist and recipient of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 92.

1999 ~ Trygve Haavelmo (b. Dec. 13, 1911), Norwegian economist and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 87.

1968 ~ Otto Hahn (b. Mar. 8, 1879), German chemist and recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He opposed the actions of the Nazis.  He died at age 89.

1957 ~ Isaac Heinemann (b. June 5, 1876), German-Israeli rabbinical scholar and educator.  He died at age 81.

1939 ~ William James Mayo (b. June 29, 1861), American physician and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  He died a month after his 78^th birthday.

1930 ~ Allvar Gullstrand (b. June 5, 1862), Swedish ophthalmologist and recipient of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 68.

1836 ~ Nathan Mayer Rothschild (b. Sept. 16, 1777), German banker and financier.  He died at age 58.

1818 ~ Gaspart Monge (b. May 9, 1746), French mathematician.  He died at age 72.

1794 ~ Maximilien de Robespierre (b. May 6, 1758), French revolutionary leader who was executed by guillotine in Paris during the French Revolution.  He was 36 years old.

1750 ~ Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Mar. 31, 1685), German composer.  He died at age 65.

1741 ~ Antonia Vivaldi (b. Mar. 4, 1678), Italian composer.  He died at age 63.

1655 ~ Cyrano de Bergerac (b. Mar. 6, 1619), French soldier and poet.  He died at age 36.

1540 ~ Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (b. 1485), English attorney and politician.  He was beheaded by order of King Henry VII on charges of treason on the same day that Henry VIII married Catherine Howard.  He was condemned to death without a trial.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 54 or 55 at the time of his death.

1057 ~ Pope Victor II (né Gebhard, Count of Calw, Tollenstein, and Hirschberg, b. 1018).  He was Pope from April 1055 until his death 2 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.