September 4

Birthdays:

1982 ~ Whitney Cummings, American comic and actress.

1962 ~ Shinya Yamanaka, Japanese physician and recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with adult stem cells.  He determined that mature cells can be converted to stem cells.

1957 ~ Khandi Alexander, American actress best known for her role as the coroner on CSI: Miami.

1951 ~ Judith Ivey, American actress.

1934 ~ Sir Clive Granger (d. May 27, 2009), English economist and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 74.

1932 ~ Bevo Francis (né Clarence Francis, d. June 3, 2015), American basketball player who broke college records with his high-scoring.  He was 82 years old.

1931 ~ Mitzi Gaynor (née Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber), American actress, singer and dancer.

1929 ~ Thomas Eagleton (d. Mar. 4, 2007), American politician and briefly the vice presidential nominee with George McGovern in the 1972 election.  He died at age 77.

1928 ~ Dick York (d. Feb. 20, 1992), American actor.  He is best known as being cast as the first Darren on Bewitched.  He died of emphysema at age 63.

1927 ~ John McCarthy (d. Oct. 24, 2011), American mathematician and father of artificial intelligence.  He died at age 84.

1924 ~ Joan Aiken (d. Jan. 4, 2004), English author.  She died at age 79.

1920 ~ Craig Claiborne (d. Jan. 22, 2000), American journalist, restaurant critic and cookbook author.  He was born in Mississippi.  He died at age 79.

1918 ~ Paul Harvey (né Paul Harvey Aurandt, d. Feb. 28, 2009), American radio broadcaster.  He died at age 90.

1913 ~ Stanford Moore (d. Aug. 23, 1982), American biochemist and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died less than 2 weeks before his 69^th birthday.

1913 ~ Kenzō Tange (d. Mar. 22, 2005), Japanese architect.  He was 91 years old.

1908 ~ Richard Wright (d. Nov. 28, 1960), African-American author who wrote about race relations.  He is best known for his book, Native Son.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

1906 ~ Max Delbrück (d. Mar. 9, 1981), German biologist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with bacteriophages.  He died at age 74.

1905 ~ Mary Renault (née Eileen Mary Challans, d. Dec. 13, 1983), English novelist of historical fiction.  She died at age 78.

1901 ~ Sir William Lyons (d. Feb. 8, 1985), English industrialist and businessman.  He was a co-founder of Jaguar cars.  He died at age 83.

1846 ~ Daniel Burnham (d. June, 1, 1912), American architect.  He designed such iconic buildings as the Flat Iron Building in New York City.  He died at age 65.

1840 ~ William, Prince of Orange (d. June 11, 1879).  He died at age 38.

1809 ~ Manuel Montt (d. Sept. 21, 1880), 6^th President of Chile.  He served as President from September 1851 through September 1861.  He died 17 days weeks after his 71^st birthday.

1803 ~ Sarah Childress Polk (d. Aug. 14, 1891), First Lady of the United States and wife of President James Polk.  She died 21 days before her 88^th birthday.

1745 ~ Shneur Zalman (d. Dec. 15, 1812), Russian rabbi and founder of the Chabad movement.  He died at age 67.

1563 ~ Wanil Emperor (d. Aug. 18, 1620), 13^th Emperor of the Ming dynasty.  He died 17 days before his 57^th birthday.

1557 ~ Sophie of Meckleburg-Güstrow (d. Oct. 14, 1631), Queen consort of Denmark and Norway.  She was the wife of King Frederick II of Denmark.  She died at age 74.

1383 ~ Antipope Felix V (d. Jan. 7, 1451).  He died at age 67.

1241 ~ Alexander III of Scotland (d. Mar. 19, 1286), King of the Scots.  He became King in July 1249 at age 9 following the death of his father.  He remained King until his death on this date at age 44.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Labor Day in the United States.

2013 ~ Erev Rosh HaShanah.

2012 ~ The Democratic National Convention began in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It ran through September 6.  The delegates chose Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the 2012 candidates.

2010 ~ The Canterbury earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand at a magnitude of 7.1, causing widespread damage.

1998 ~ Google was founded by two Standard University students, Larry Page (b. 1973) and Sergey Brin (b. 1973).

1972 ~ Mark Spitz (b. 1950) became the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.

1970 ~ Salvador Allende (1908 ~ 1973) was elected President of Chile.  He was ousted in a military coup on September 11, 1973 and the official governmental version of his death was suicide.

1957 ~ The Edsel was introduced by the Ford Motor Company.  It was not successful.

1957 ~ Orval Faubus (1910 ~ 1994), governor of Arkansas, called the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School in Little Rock.

1948 ~ Queen Wilhelmina (1880 ~ 1962) of the Netherlands abdicated the throne for health reasons.  Juliana (1909 ~ 2004) became Queen of the Netherlands until she abdicated in favor of her son in 1980.

1888 ~ George Eastman (1854 ~ 1932) registered the trademark Kodak and received a patent for his camera that used roll film.

1882 ~ The Age of Electricity began when Thomas Edison (1847 ~ 1831) turned on the first commercial electrical power plant, which covered one square mile of lower Manhattan.

1781 ~ The city of Los Angeles, California was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula, or the Village of Our lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola.

626 ~ Li Shimin (598 ~ 649), known as the Emperor Taizong of Tang, became the Emperor over the Tang dynasty.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Joan Rivers, (né Joan Alexandra Molinksy, b. June 8, 1933) American comedian.  She died at age 81 following complications following surgery for a minor throat procedure.

2012 ~ Abraham Avigdorov (b. July 2, 1929), Israeli soldier.  He died at age 83.

2009 ~ Keith Waterhouse (b. Feb. 6, 1929), British comic author who wrote Billy Liar.  He died at age 80.

2006 ~ Steve Irwin (b. Feb. 22, 1962), Australian naturalist and television personality.  He was nicknamed The Crocodile Hunter.  He died at age 44 after being stung by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary.

1995 ~William Kunstler (b. July 7, 1919), American lawyer and political activist.  He died of heart failure at age 76.

1990 ~ Irene Dunne (née Irene Marie Dunn, b. Dec. 20, 1898), American actress.  She died at age 91.

1986 ~ Hank Greenberg (né Hyman Benjamin Greenberg, b. Jan. 1, 1911), Jewish-American baseball player who became known and respected for refusing to play baseball on Yom Kippur, even thought is team, the Detroit Tigers, were in the 1834 pennant race.  He died at age 75.

1965 ~ Albert Schweitzer (b. Jan. 14, 1875), Alsatian physician and missionary.  He was also the recipient of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 90.

1913 ~ Henry Billings Brown (b. Mar. 2, 1836), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Benjamin Harrison.  He served on the Court from December 1890 through May 1906.  He died at age 77.

1907 ~ Edvard Grieg (b. June 15, 1843), Norwegian composer.  He died of heart failure at age 64.

1199 ~ Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (b. Oct. 1165).  She was the 7^th child of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.  The exact date of her birth is unknown.  She died of childbirth at age 33.

422 ~ Pope Boniface I.  He was Pope from December 418 until his death 4 years later.