October 31

Halloween

Birthdays:

1963 ~ Dermot Mulroney, American actor.

1963 ~ Rob Schneider, American comedian and actor.

1951 ~ Nick Saban, American college football coach who coached for Louisiana State University, before moving on to the University of Alabama.

1950 ~ John Candy (d. Mar. 4, 1994), Canadian actor and comedian.  He died of a heart attack at age 43.

1950 ~ Jane Pauley, American journalist and news anchor.

1946 ~ Stephen Rea, Irish actor.

1943 ~ Brian Piccolo (d. June 16, 1970), American football player.  He died of cancer at age 26.  His life story was depicted in the movie, Brian’s Song.

1942 ~ David Ogden Stiers, American actor.

1939 ~ Ron Riflin (né Saul M. Rifkin), American actor.

1936 ~ Michael Landon (né Eugene Maurice Orowitz, d. July 1, 1991), American actor.  He died at age 54 of pancreatic cancer.

1935 ~ Dale Brown, American basketball coach who coached the LSU Tigers for 25 years.

1935 ~ Ronald Graham, American mathematician.

1931 ~ Dan Rather, American journalist and news anchor.

1930 ~ Michael Collins, American astronaut.  He was on Apollo 11.

1925 ~ Sir John Pople (d. Mar. 15, 2004), English chemist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 78.

1925 ~ Robin Moore (né Robert Lowell Moore, d. Feb. 21, 2008), American popular author who wrote The French Connection.  He also wrote The Green Berets.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 82.

1922 ~ Barbara Bel Geddes (d. Aug. 8, 2005), American actress best known for her role as Miss Ellie on the television series, Dallas.  She died of lung cancer at age 82 in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

1922 ~ Norodom Sihanouk (d. Oct 15, 2012), Cambodian king and 1^st Prime Minister of Cambodia who reigned over independence and bloodshed.  He died 2 weeks before his 90^th birthday.

1920 ~ Helmut Newton (né Helmut Neustädter, d. Jan. 23, 2004), German photographer.  He was killed in a car accident at age 83.

1920 ~ Dick Francis (né Richard Stanley Francis, d. Feb. 14, 2010), British jockey who was a best-selling novelist.  He died at age 89.

1919 ~ Father Magnus Wenninger (d. Feb. 17, 2017), American mathematician and Catholic priest.  He died at age 97.

1912 ~ Dale Evans (née Lucille Wood Smith, d. Feb. 7, 2001), American singer-songwriter and actress.  She was the third wife of Roy Rogers.  She died of congestive heart failure at age 88.

1912 ~ Oscar Dystel (d. May 28, 2014), American publisher who saved the paperback.  He died at age 101.

1902 ~ Abraham Wald (d. Dec. 13, 1950), Hungarian mathematician.  He was killed in a plane crash at age 48.

1896 ~ Ethel Waters (d. Sept. 1, 1977), American actress and singer.  She was 80 years old.

1893 ~ Kurt Reidemeister (b. July 8, 1971), German mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1887 ~ Chiang Kai-shek (b. Apr. 5, 1887), 1^st President of the Republic of China.  He died at age 87.

1860 ~ Juliette Gordon Low (d. Jan. 17, 1927), American founder of the Girl Scouts.  She died of breast cancer at age 66.

1848 ~ Boston Custer (d. June 25, 1876), youngest brother of George Armstrong Custer (b. Dec. 5, 1839) and Thomas Ward Custer (b. Mar. 15, 1845).  All were killed in the Battle of Little Big Horn.  Boston was 27 years old; George Custer was 36 years old, and Thomas was 31.

1835 ~ Adolf von Baeyer (d. Aug. 20, 1917), German chemist and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 81.

1827 ~ Richard Morris Hunt (d. July 31, 1897), American architect and designer of the New York Tribune Building.  He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont.  He died at age 67.

1815 ~ Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstraβ (d. Feb. 19, 1897), German mathematician.  He died at age 81.

1795 ~ John Keats (d. Feb. 23, 1821), English poet.  He died of tuberculosis at age 25.

1711 ~ Laura Bassi (d. Feb. 20, 1778), Italian physician and scholar.  She is believed to have been the first female university professor in Europe.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born sometime between October 20 and 31 in 1711.  She died at age 66.

1705 ~ Pope Clement XIV (né Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, d. Sept. 22, 1774).  He was Pope from May 19, 1769 until his death on this date 5 years later.  He was 68 at the time of his death.

1632 ~ Jan Vermeer (d. Dec. 15, 1675), Dutch/Flemish painter.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on this date.   The date of his death is unknown, but he was buried on December 15, 1675.  He died at age 43.

1607 ~ Pierre de Fermat (d. Jan. 12, 1665), French mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is generally attributed to have been 1601 it may have been as late as 1607.  Also, he may have been born as late as December 7, 1607.  He was, thus, either 57 or 63 at the time of his death.  He did pioneering work in analytic geometry.

1424 ~ King Władysław III of Poland (d. Nov. 10, 1444).  He was killed in the Battle of Varna just 10 days after his 20^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2015 ~ A Russian plane traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia was bombed and crashed in the Sinai.  All 224 passengers and crew perish.  The crash was the result of a terrorist attack.

2011 ~ The global population of humans reached the 7 Billion mark.  The United Nations designated this as Seven Billion Day.

2002 ~ Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow (b. 1961) was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston, Texas on 78 counts of money laundering, conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of justice in the collapse of Enron.  Fastow served a 6-year prison term for his actions.

1999 ~ EgyptAir flight 990, traveling from New York to Cairo, crashed off the coast of Massachusetts.  All 217 passengers and crew aboard were killed.  The cause of the crash is in dispute.  Two investigations came up with different conclusions: The crash was either due to the deliberate action of the relief first officer or was caused by mechanical failure.

1956 ~ During the Suez Crisis, the United Kingdom and France began bombing Egypt in an attempt for force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

1941 ~ The sculpture at Mount Rushmore was completed 14 years after work had begun.

1922 ~ Benito Mussolini (1883 ~ 1945) was made Prime Minister of Italy.

1913 ~ The Lincoln Highway was dedicated.  This was the first automobile road across the United States.

1864 ~ Nevada became the 36^th State of the Union.

1861 ~ Union General Winfield Scott (1786 ~ 1866) resigned as Commander of the United States Army, citing failing health.

1517 ~ The traditional date that Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, hence marking the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ John H. Reed (b. Jan. 5, 1921), 67^th Governor of Maine.  He served as Governor from December 1959 until January 1967.  Before turning to politics, he was a potato farmer in Aroostook County.  He died at age 91.

2012 ~ John Fitch (b. Aug. 4, 1917), American racing legend who loved speed and safety.  He invented the safety barriers found on interstate exit ramps.  He died at age 95.

2010 ~ Ted Sorensen (né Theodore Sorensen, b. May 8, 1928), 8^th White House Counsel.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from January 1961 until February 1964.  He died at age 82.

2009 ~ Qian Xuesen (b. Dec. 11, 1911), Chinese scientist who put China in space.  He died at age 97.

2008 ~ Studs Terkel (né Louis Terkel, b. May 16, 1912), American writer and oral historian who tapped into the heart of America.  He died at age 96.

2006 ~ P.W. Botha (né Pieter Willem Botha, b. Jan. 12, 1916), South African politician.  He died of a heart attack at age 90.

1993 ~ River Phoenix (né River Jude Bottom, b. Aug. 23. 1970), American actor.  He died at age 23 of a drug overdose.

1993 ~ Frederico Fellini (b. Jan. 20, 1920), Italian movie director.  He died of a stroke at age 73.

1991 ~ Joseph Papp (b. June 22, 1921), American stage director and producer.  He died of prostate cancer at age 70.

1988 ~ John Houseman (né Jacques Haussmann, b. Sept. 22, 1902), Rumanian-born actor.  He died of spinal cancer at age 86.

1986 ~ Robert Sanderson Mulliken (b. June 7, 1896), American chemist and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 90.

1984 ~ Indira Gandhi (b. Nov. 19, 1917), Prime Minister of India and first woman to hold that Office.  She served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination on October 21, 1984.  She was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.  Her assassination caused riots throughout India in which nearly 10,000 Sikhs were killed.  She was killed 19 days before her 67^th birthday.

1926 ~ Harry Houdini (né Erik Weiss, b. Mar. 24, 1874), Hungarian-born American magician.  He died of gangrene following a rupture of his appendix after he had been punched in the gut two weeks earlier.  He died at age 52.

1879 ~ Joseph Hooker (b. Nov. 13, 1814), American general.  He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.  He was born in Hadley, Massachusetts.  He died 2 weeks before his 65^th birthday.

1834 ~ Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (b. June 24, 1771), French businessman who founded a gunpowder company in 1802.  His company was the forerunner of today’s DuPont chemical company.  He died at age 63.

1723 ~ Cosimo III de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. Aug. 14, 1642).  He died at age 81.

1214 ~ Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (b. Oct. 13, 1163).  She was the daughter of King Henry II of England.  She died 13 days after her 53^rd birthday.

October 30

Birthdays:

1961 ~ Larry Wilmore, American comedian and television host.

1951 ~ Harry Hamlin, American actor.

1946 ~ William Thurston (d. Aug. 21, 2012), American mathematician.  He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982.  He died at age 65 of cancer.

1946 ~ Andrea Mitchell, American journalist.

1945 ~ Henry Winkler, American actor, best known for his role as The Fonz on Happy Days.

1941 ~ Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1939 ~ Leland H. Hartwell, American biologist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1939 ~ Grace Slick, American singer in the bands Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.

1932 ~ Louis Malle (d. Nov. 23, 1995), French film director.  His third wife was Candice Bergen.  He died of lymphoma 24 days after his 63^rd birthday.

1928 ~ Daniel Nathans (d. Nov. 16, 1999), American microbiologist and recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of restriction enzymes.  He died less 17 days after his 71^st birthday.

1906 ~ Andrey Nikolayevich Tikhonov (d. Oct. 7, 1993), Russian mathematician.  He died 23 days before his 87^th birthday.

1900 ~ Ragnar Granit (d. Mar. 12, 1991), Finnish neuroscientist and recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 90.

1896 ~ Harry Randall Truman (d. May 18, 1980), American soldier.  He was best known for being a resident of Washington State.  He lived on Mount St. Helens and refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders when the volcano began to erupt in 1980.  He was killed as a result of the eruptions.  He was 83 at the time of his death.

1896 ~ Ruth Gordon (d. Aug. 28, 1985), American actress, best known for her role as Maude in the cult film Harold and Maude.  She was from Massachusetts.  She died at age 88.

1895 ~ Gerhard Domagk (d. Apr. 24, 1964), German bacteriologist and recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in antibiotics.  The Nazis forced him to refuse to accept the Nobel Prize.  In 1947, he was finally able to accept the medal, however, he due to the lapse in time, he was unable to receive the monetary award.  He died of a heart attach at age 68.

1895 ~ Dickinson W. Richards (d. Feb. 23, 1973), American physician and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of the cardiac catheterization.  He died at age 77.

1893 ~ Charles Atlas (né Angelo Siciliano, d. Dec. 24, 1972), Italian-born bodybuilder.  He died at age 80.

1885 ~ Ezra Pound (d. Nov. 1, 1972), American poet.  He died 2 days after his 87^th birthday.

1882 ~ William Halsey, Jr. (d. Aug. 16, 1959), American Navy Admiral.  He died at age 76.

1873 ~ Francisco I. Madero (d. Feb. 22, 1913), President of Mexico.  He was President from November 1911 until a coup in February 1913.  He was killed in a military coup at age 39.

1857 ~ Georges Gilles de la Tourette (d. May 26, 1904), French neurologist after whom Tourette’s syndrome is named.  He died at age 46.

1748 ~ Martha Skelton Jefferson (d. Sept. 6, 1782), wife of Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson was her second husband as her first husband had died young.  She died at age 33 shortly after having given birth to her 7^th child.  She is believed to have died due to complications of diabetes combined with childbirth.  Because she died nearl 19 years before Jefferson became President, she was never the American First Lady.

1735 ~ John Adams (d. July 4, 1826), 2^nd President of the United States.  He was President from March 1797 until March 1801.  Prior to that he had served as the 1^st Vice President of the United States under George Washington, from April 1789 until March 1797.  He died at age 90 in Quincy, Massachusetts.

1632 ~ Sir Christopher Wren (d. Mar. 8, 1723), English architect and mathematician.  Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, he re-designed many of the city’s churches.  He is best known as being the lead architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  He died at age 90.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Sweden became the first member of the European Union to officially recognize the Palestine.

1983 ~ Argentina held the first democratic elections after being under military rule for the previous seven years.

1974 ~ The boxing match between Muhammad Ali (1942 ~ 2016) and George Foreman (b. 1949) dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle took place in Zaire.  Ali won the match.

1973 ~ The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey was completed.  The bridge connects Europe with Asia over the Bosphorus.

1960 ~ Dr. Michael Woodruff (1911 ~ 2001) performed the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom.

1945 ~ Jackie Robinson (1919 ~ 1972) signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, thereby becoming the first African-American to play baseball in the major leagues.

1944 ~ Anne Frank (1929 ~ 1945) and her sister, Margot (1925 ~ 1945), were deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

1941 ~ Over 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi in the western Ukraine were sent to the Bełżec extermination camp.

1938 ~ Orson Wells (1915 ~ 1985) broadcast The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells, which cause a stir with radio audiences who were not aware that this was a radio play and not real news.

1905 ~ Tsar Nicholas II (1868 ~ 1918) of Russia granted Russia’s first constitution, thereby creating a legislative assembly.

1864 ~ Helena, Montana was founded after prospectors found gold at the “Last Chance Gulch.”

1485 ~ Henry VII (1457 ~ 1509) was crowned King of England.

1470 ~ Henry VI of England returned to the English throne after the Earl of Warwick defeated the Yorkists in battle.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Thomas Menino (b. Dec. 27, 1942), 53^rd Mayor of Boston.  He died at age 71.

2009 ~ Michelle Triola Marvin (b. Nov. 13, 1933), American actress who made the case for “palimony.”  She lived with actor Lee Marvin for years and when they split up, she sued for financial support.  She died of lung cancer 2 weeks before her 77^th birthday.

2009 ~ Claude Levi-Strauss (b. Nov. 28, 1908), French anthropologist and scholar who changed the study of humanity.  He died 29 days before his 101^st birthday.

2007 ~ Robert Goulet (b. Nov. 26, 1933), American actor and singer.  He died 27 days before his 74^th birthday.

2000 ~ Steve Allen (b. Dec. 26, 1921), American actor and television personality.  He died at age 78.

1997 ~ Sydney Newman (b. Apr. 1, 1917), Canadian screenwriter and co-creator of Doctor Who.  He died at age 80.

1975 ~ Gustav Ludwig Hertz (b. July 22, 1887), German physicist and recipient of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 88.

1968 ~ Conrad Richter (b. Oct. 13, 1890), American writer and short-story author.  He died of a heart attack 16 days after his 78^th birthday.

1968 ~ Rose Wilder Lane (b. Dec. 5, 1886), American journalist and author.  She was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She died at age 81.

1965 ~ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. (b. Feb. 27, 1888), American historian and author.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 77.

1930 ~ Mary Harrison McKee (b. Apr. 3, 1858), American daughter of President Benjamin Harrison.  She served as First Lady during her father’s presidency after her mother, Caroline died.  She died at age 72.

1923 ~ Andrew Bonar Law (b. Sept. 16, 1858), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from October 1922 through May 1923.  He died at age 65.

1912 ~ James S. Sherman (b. Oct. 24, 1855), 27^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President William Taft.  He died in office and was succeeded by Thomas Marshall (1854 ~ 1925).  He died 6 days after his 57^th birthday.

1910 ~ Jean-HenryDunant (b. May 8, 1828), Swiss businessman and social activist.  He was a co-founder of the Red Cross.  He was also the recipient of the 1901 Nobel Peace Prize, the first such prize awarded.  He died at age 82.

1893 ~ Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (b. Mar. 12, 1821), 3^rd Prime Minister of Canada.  He served from 1891 to 1892.  He died at age 72.

1867 ~ John Albion Andrew (b. May 31, 1818), 25^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1861 until January 1866.  He died at age 49.

1832 ~ Edmund Cartwright (b. Apr. 24, 1743), English clergyman and inventor of the power loom.  He died at age 80.

1809 ~ William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3^rd Duke of Portland (b. Apr. 14, 1738), 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.

1626 ~ Willebrord Snell (b. June 13, 1580), Dutch astronomer and mathematician.  He died at age 46.

1611 ~ King Charles IX of Sweden (b. Oct. 4, 1550).  He was King from March 1604 until his death in October 1611.  He died 26 days after his 61^st birthday.