December 26

December 26 is celebrated as Boxing Day in many countries in the United Kingdom.  The tradition of Boxing Day includes giving gifts to charity.

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Jared Leto, American actor.

1964 ~ Elizabeth Kostova, American author.

1960 ~ Keith Martin Ball, American mathematician.

1956 ~ David Sedaris, American comedian and author.

1949 ~ José Ramos-Horta, 2^nd President of East Timor and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace prize.

1947 ~ Carlton Fisk, American baseball player who had a long career with the Boston Red Sox.

1942 ~ Gray Davis (né Joseph Graham Davis), 37^th Governor of California.

1940 ~ Edward Prescott, American economist and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1937 ~ John Horton Conway, English mathematician.

1927 ~ Alan King (né Irwin Alan Kniberg, d. May 9, 2004), American comedian and actor.  He died at age 76.

1921 ~ Steve Allen (né Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen, d. Oct. 30, 2000), American actor and television personality.  He died at age 78.

1917 ~ Rose Mary Woods (d. Jan. 22, 2005), secretary to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal.  She is best known for erasing 18 minutes of the Watergate tapes.  She died at age 87.

1905 ~ William Loeb, III (d. Sept. 14, 1981), American newspaper publisher of the ultraconservative Manchester Union Leader of Manchester, NH.  He published his editorial views on the front page of the newspaper.  He died at age 75.

1893 ~Mao Zedong (d. Sept. 9, 1976), Chinese communist leader and 1^st President of the People’s Republic of China.  His name is also sometimes transliterated as Mao Tse-Tung.  He died at age 82.

1891 ~ Henry Miller (d. June 7, 1980), American writer best known for his books Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.  He died at age 88.

1883 ~ Maurice Utrillo (né Maurice Valadon, d. Nov. 5, 1955), French artist.  He died at age 71.

1872 ~ Sir Ralph Norman Angel (d. Oct. 7, 1967), British politician and recipient of the 1933 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 94.

1859 ~ William Stephens (d. Apr. 25, 1944), 24^th Governor of California.  He was Governor from March 1917 until January 1923.  He died at age 84.

1837 ~ George Dewey (d. Jan. 16, 1917), American naval officer who became known as the hero of Manila during the Spanish-American War in 1898.  He was born in Montpelier, Vermont.  He died 3 weeks after his 79^th birthday.

1837 ~ Morgan Bulkeley (d. Nov. 6, 1922), 54^th Governor of Connecticut.  He died at age 84.

1791 ~ Charles Babbage (d. Oct. 18, 1871), English mathematician and inventor.  He is considered the Father of the Computer, as he is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer, leading the way for others to create more complex designs.  He died at age 79.

1780 ~ Mary Somerville (d. Nov. 28, 1872), Scottish mathematician and astronomer.  She died less than a month before her 92^nd birthday.

1194 ~ Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Dec. 13, 1250).  He died 13 days before his 56^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2009 ~ China opened the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

2004 ~ A 9.3 magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean created a tsunami killing over 230,000 people in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives.

1996 ~ The body of six-year-old child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in her family’s home on Colorado.  The crime has not been solved.

1994 ~ Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seized control of Air France Flight 8969.  The plane landed in Marseille and the French Gendarmerie assault team killed the hijackers.

1991 ~ The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union formally dissolved the Soviet Union.

1982 ~ Time magazine announced its “Man of the Year”, which was a non-human ~ the personal computer.

1941 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) signed a bill establishing the 4^th Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1933 ~ The FM radio was patented.

1925 ~ Turkey adopted the Gregorian calendar.

1919 ~ Babe Ruth (1895 ~ 1948) of the Boston Red Sox was sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee (1880 ~ 1929)

1898 ~ Marie (1867 ~ 1934) and Pierre Currie (1859 ~ 1906) announced that they had successfully isolated radium.

1870 ~ The Fréjus Rail Tunnel, connecting France and Italy, through the Alps was completed.  It was 12.8 kilometers long.

1846 ~ The Donner Party, trapped without food in the snow in the Sierra Nevadas, resorted to cannibalism.

1776 ~ The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.

Good-byes:

2014 ~ James B. Edwards (b. June 24, 1927), 3^rd United States Secretary of Energy.  He served from January 1981 until November 1982 under President Ronald Reagan.  He had previously served as the 110^th Governor of South Carolina from January 1975 until January 1979.  He died of complications of a stroke at age 87.

2013 ~ Marta Eggerth (b. Apr. 17, 1912), Hungarian-born actress and soprano who became the grande dame of operetta.  She died at age 101.

2006 ~ Martin David Kruskal (b. Sept. 28, 1925), American physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 81.

2006 ~ Gerald Ford (né Leslie Lynch King, Jr., b. July 14, 1913), 38^th President of the United States and only president who was never elected by the populous.  Prior to becoming President, he had served as the 40^th Vice President of the United States under President Richard Nixon, as he assumed that office following the resignation of Spiro Agnew.  He died at age 93.

2005 ~ Vincent Schiavelli (b. Nov. 11, 1948), American actor.  He died of lung cancer at age 57.

2002 ~ Herb Ritts (né Herbert Ritts, Jr., b. Aug. 13, 1952), American photographer.  He died of pneumonia at age 50.

2000 ~ Jason Robards (d. July 26, 1922), American actor.  He died of lung cancer at age 78.

1997 ~ Cahit Arf (b. Oct. 11, 1910), Turkish mathematician.  He died at age 87.

1985 ~ Dian Fossey (b. Jan. 16, 1932), American gorilla specialist.  She was murdered by poachers in Africa.  The exact date of her murder is not known, but it is believed to have been on December 26, 1985.   Her body was found on the morning of December 27.  She died 3 weeks before her 54^th birthday.

1979 ~ Helmut Hasse (b. Aug. 25, 1898), German mathematician.  He died at age 81.

1974 ~ Jack Benny (né Benjamin Kublesky, b. Feb. 14, 1894), American comedian.  He died at age 80.

1972 ~ Harry S. Truman (b. May 8, 1884), 33^rd President of the United States.  He was President from April 1945, following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, until January 1953.  He died at age 88.

1968 ~ Weegee (né Arthur Fellig, b. June 12, 1899), Ukrainian-born American photographer.  He died at age 69.

1956 ~ Preston Tucker (b. Sept. 21, 1903), American automobile designer.  He was the subject of the 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, starring Jeff Bridges.  Preston Tucker died at age 59 of lung cancer.

1931 ~ Melvil Dewey (b. Dec. 10, 1851), American librarian and creator of the Dewey Decimal System for cataloging library books.  He died of a stroke 16 days after his 80^th birthday.

1909 ~ Frederic Remington (b. Oct. 4, 1861), American artist.  He died at age 48 of complications following an emergency appendectomy.

865 ~ Zheng, Empress of the Tang Dynasty.  The date of her birth is not known.

418 ~ Pope Zosimus.  He was Pope from March 417 until his death on this date nearly 2 years later.  The date of his birth is not known.

268 ~ Pope Dionysius.  He was Pope from July 259 until his death on this date 9 years later.  The date of his birth is not known.