July 5

Birthdays:

1972 ~ Gary Shteyngart, American novelist.

1965 ~ Kathryn Erbe, American actress.

1960 ~ Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1953 ~ Caryn Navy, American mathematician.

1950 ~ Huey Lewis, American singer-songwriter.

1946 ~ Gerardus ‘t Hooft, Dutch physicist and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1936 ~ James Mirrlees, Scottish economist and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1936 ~ Shirley Knight, American actress.

1932 ~ Gyula Horn (d. June 19, 2013), 37^th Prime Minister of Hungary.  He died 16 days before his 81^st birthday.

1911 ~ Georges Pompidou (d. Apr. 2, 1974), French politician and 19^th President of France.  He died at age 62.

1902 ~ Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (d. Feb. 27, 1985), American diplomat and 1960 Vice Presidential nominee as Richard Nixon’s running mate.  He was a United States Senator from Massachusetts from January 1947 until January 1953.  He served as the 3^rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He died in Beverly, Massachusetts at age 82.

1891 ~ John Howard Northrop (d. May 27, 1987), American chemist and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He committed suicide at age 95.

1888 ~ Herbert Spencer Gasser (d. May 11, 1963), American physiologist and recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 74.

1879 ~ Dwight F. Davis (d. Nov. 28, 1945), 49^th Secretary of War.  He served under President Calvin Coolidge from October 1925 until March 1929.  He was also an American tennis player and is remembered today for founding the Davis Cup.  He died at age 66.

1860 ~ Robert Bacon (d. May 29, 1919), 39^th Secretary of State.  He served under President Theodore Roosevelt for 38 days, from January 1909 until March 1909.  He was from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  He died at age 58 of blood poisoning following surgery.

1853 ~ Cecil Rhodes (d. Mar. 26, 1902), English-born South African explorer and businessman.  He was the founder of the DeBeers diamond mining company.  He died of heart failure at age 48.

1841 ~ William Collins Whitney (d. Feb. 2, 1904), 31^st Secretary of the Navy.  He served under President Grover Cleveland from March 1885 until March 1889.  He was born in Conway, Massachusetts.  He died at age 62.

1820 ~ William John Macquorn Rankine (d. Dec. 24, 1872), Scottish mathematician and engineer.  He died at age 52.

1810 ~ P.T. Barnum (né Phineas Taylor Barnum, d. Apr. 7, 1891), American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer.  He was a co-founder of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.  He died at age 80.

1801 ~ David Farragut (d. Aug. 14, 1870), American naval commander.  He was a flag officer in the United States navy during the American Civil War.  He died in what is now Kittery, Maine at age 69.

1717 ~ Peter III of Portugal (d. May 25, 1786).  He died at age 68.

1554 ~ Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France (d. Jan. 22, 1592).  She was the wife of King Charles IX of France.  She died at age 37.

1547 ~ Garzia de’Medici (d. Dec. 6, 1562), Tuscan prince.  He died of malaria at age 15.

1466 ~ Giovanni Sforza (d. July 27, 1510), Italian lord and ruler.  He died 22 days after his 44^th birthday.

1321 ~ Joan of The Tower (d. Sept. 7, 1362), Scottish wife of King David II of Scotland.  She was known as Joan of the Tower because she was born in the Tower of London.  She died at age 41.  She was most likely a victim of the Black Death.

Events that Changed the World:

1999 ~ United States President Bill Clinton (b. 1946) imposed trade and economic sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

1996 ~ Dolly (d. 2003) the sheep became the first cloned mammal.

1989 ~ Oliver North (b. 1943) was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term, two-years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours of community service for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair.  His convictions were later overturned.

1975 ~ Arthur Ashe (1943 ~ 1993) won the Wimbledon singles title.  He was the first African-American to do so.

1971 ~ The 26^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was formally certified by President Richard M. Nixon (1913 ~ 1994), lowering the voting age to 18 year olds.

1962 ~ Algeria gained its independent from France.

1950 ~ The Israeli Knesset passed the Law of Return, which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

1947 ~ Larry Doby (1923 ~ 2003) became the first African-American baseball player in the American League.  Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in the National League when he signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers nearly 3 months earlier.

1946 ~ The bikini made its debut at an outdoor fashion show in Paris, France.

1937 ~ Spam was first placed on the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.

1935 ~ The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945).

1865 ~ The Salvation Army was founded in the East End of London, England.

1811 ~ Venezuela declared its independence from Spain.

1687 ~ Isaac Newton (1642 ~ 1726) published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Burt Shavitz (né Ingram Berg Shavitz, b. May 15, 1935), American bee keeper and bearded hippie who co-founded Burt’s Bees personal care products.  He died at age 80 in Bangor, Maine.

2015 ~ Yoichiro Nambu (b. Jan. 18, 1921), Japanese-born American physicist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 94.

2006 ~ Kenneth Lay (b. Apr. 15, 1942), American businessman who was known for his role in the corruption scandal that led to the downfall of the Enron Corporation.  He was found guilty of securities fraud, but died before the matter reached the appellate level.  He died of a heart attack at age 64.

2005 ~ James Stockdale (b. Dec. 23, 1923), American admiral and Vice Presidential running mate of Ross Perot in the 1982 campaign.  He was a prisoner of war for over 7 years during the Vietnam War.  He died at age 81.

2002 ~ Ted Williams (né Theodore Samuel Williams, b. Aug. 30, 1918), American baseball player who spent his entire 21-year major league baseball career with the Boston Red Sox.  He died of cardiac arrest at age 83.

1995 ~ Foster Furcolo (né John Foster Furcolo, b. July 29, 1911), 60^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as governor from January 3, 1957 through January 5, 1961.  He died 3 weeks before his 84^th birthday.

1969 ~ Walter Gropius (b. May 18, 1883), German architect and founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture.  He died at age 86 in Boston, Massachusetts.

1966 ~ George de Hevesy (b. Aug. 1, 1885), Hungarian chemist and recipient of the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 26 days before his 81^st birthday.

1927 ~ Albrecht Kossel (b. Sept. 16, 1853), German physician and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 73.

1833 ~ Nicéphore Niépce (b. Mar. 7, 1765), French inventor who is credited with creating the first known photograph.  He died at age 68.