December 29

Birthdays:

1982 ~ Alison Brie, American actress.

1972 ~ Jude Law, English actor.

1959 ~ Patricia Clarkson, American actress from New Orleans, Louisiana.

1959 ~ Paula Poundstone, American comedian.

1954 ~ Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician.

1952 ~ Gelsey Kirkland, American ballerina and choreographer.

1947 ~ Ted Danson (né Edward Bridge Danson, III), American actor.

1938 ~ Jon Voight, American actor and father of Angelina Jolie.

1936 ~ Mary Tyler Moore (d. Jan. 25, 2017), American sit-com star who defined the modern career woman.  She died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to pneumonia.  She died 27 days after her 80^th birthday.

1923 ~ Samuel Holmes “Sam” Sheppard (d. Apr. 6, 1970), American neurosurgeon who, in 1954, was convicted of the brutal murder of his pregnant wife.  He was convicted and served nearly 10 years in prison.  His case was retried and he was acquitted in 1964.  The television series The Fugitive was loosely based on his story.  He died at age 46 from liver failure.

1923 ~ Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, French mathematician and physicist.

1917 ~ Thomas “Tom” Bradley (d. Sept. 29, 1998), American politician and 38^th Mayor of Los Angeles.  He served as Mayor from July 1973 until July 1993.  He died at age 80.

1910 ~ Ronald Coase (d. Sept. 2, 2013), British economist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He was the Nobel winner who reshaped economics.  He was 102 at the time of his death.

1876 ~ Pablo Casals (b. Oct. 22, 1973), Spanish cellist and conductor.  He died at age 96.

1859 ~ Venustiano Carranza (d. May 21, 1920), 37^th President of Mexico.  He was President from May 1917 until his assassination at age 60 in May 1920.

1856 ~ Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (d. Dec. 31, 1894), Dutch mathematician.  He died 2 days after his 38^th birthday.

1809 ~ William Ewart Gladstone (d. May 19, 1898), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was one of Britain’s most beloved and respected Prime Ministers.  He served several terms as Prime Minister.  He died at age 88.

1808 ~ Andrew Johnson (d. July 31, 1875), 17^th President of the United States.  He took Office following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  He was the first president to be impeached, which was the result of a bitter disagreement between him and Congress over how to treat the South following the Civil War.  He died at age 66.

1800 ~ Charles Goodyear (d. July 1, 1869), American chemist and manufacturing engineer.  He developed a method for vulcanized rubber.  He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  He died at age 59.

1766 ~ Charles Macintosh (d. July 25, 1843), Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof fabric, hence the reason raincoats are sometimes referred to as Macintoshes.  He died at age 76.

1721 ~ Madame de Pompadour (née Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, d. Apr. 15, 1764), mistress of King Louis XV of France.  She died at age 42.

1709 ~ Elizabeth of Russia (b. Jan. 5, 1762).  She was Empress of Russia from December 1741.  She died 1 week after her 52^nd birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2001 ~ A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru killed nearly 300 people.

1989 ~ Václav Havel (1936 ~ 2011), the Czech writer, philosopher and dissident, was elected as the first post-communist of the Czechoslovakia.  He served in that office from December 1989 until July 1992.

1975 ~ A bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring over 70 others.

1972 ~ An Eastern Air Line flight crashed on its approach to Miami International Airport killing 101 passengers and crew.

1940 ~Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London during World War II.  Over 200 civilians were killed in the bombing and subsequent fires.

1916 ~ James Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, was first published as a book.  It had previously been serialized in a magazine.

1911 ~ Mongolia gained its independence from the Qing dynasty.

1911 ~ Sun Yat-sen (1866 ~ 1925) became the provisional President of the Republic of China.  He formally took office on January 1, 1912.

1890 ~ 400 Sioux and Lakota Native Americans were massacred by U.S. Army troops at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

1851 ~ The first YMCA opened in Boston, Massachusetts.

1845 ~ Texas became the 28^th State of the Union.

1835 ~ The Treaty of New Echota was signed, ceding all lands belonging of Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

1813 ~ British soldiers burned Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.

1778 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell (1739 ~ 1791), captured Savannah, Georgia.

1170 ~ Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (1119 ~ 1170) was assassinated inside the Canterbury Cathedral by supporters of King Henry II.

875 ~ Charles the Bald (823 ~ 877), King of the Franks was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor Charles II.

Good-Byes:

2009 ~ David Levine (b. Dec. 20, 1926), American caricaturist who skewered his subjects.  He died 9 days after his 83^rd birthday.

2004 ~ Julius Axelrod (b. May 30, 1912), American biochemist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 92.

1986 ~ Harold Macmillan, 1^st Earl of Stockton (né Maurice Harold Macmillan, b. Feb. 10, 1894), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from January 1957 until October 1963.  He died at age 92.

1971 ~ John Marshall Harlan, II (b. May 20, 1899), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Dwight David Eisenhower.  He served on the Court from March 1955 until September 1971.  He died at age 72, just 3 months after retiring from the Court.

1941 ~ Tullio Levi-Civita (b. Mar. 29, 1873), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 68.

1926 ~ Rainer Marie Rilke (né René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Marie Rilke, b. Dec. 4, 1875), Austrian author.  He died 25 days after his 51^st birthday.

1924 ~ Carl Spitteler (b. Apr. 24, 1924), Swiss poet and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 79.

1894 ~ Christina Rossetti (b. Dec. 5, 1830), English poet.  She died 24 days after her 64^th birthday.

1891 ~ Leopold Kronecker (b. Dec. 7, 1823), Polish-German mathematician.  He died 22 days after his 68^th birthday.

1846 ~ Alexander Barrow (b. Mar. 27, 1801), American lawyer and US Senator from Louisiana.  He died at age 45.

1825 ~ Jacques-Louis David (b. Aug. 30, 1748), French painter.  He died at age 77.

1737 ~ Joseph Saurin (b. Sept. 1, 1659), French mathematician.  He died at age 78.

1731 ~ Brook Taylor (b. Aug. 18, 1685), English mathematician.  He died at age 46.

1720 ~ Maria Margareth Kirch (b. Feb. 25, 1670), German astronomer.  She was one of the first famous astronomers of her time due to her writings on the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus and Jupiter.  She died at age 50.

1543 ~ Maria Salviati (d. July 17, 1499), Italian noblewoman.  She died at age 44.

1208 ~ Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (b. Aug. 31, 1168), Chinese Emperor.  He was emperor from January 1189 until his death in December 1208.  He died at age 40.

1170 ~ Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury (b. Dec. 21, 1119), Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian martyr.  Although Becket was appointed archbishop by King Henry II in 1162, conflicts erupted between the two and the King’s nights murdered Becket in the Canterbury Cathedral.  He is now an English saint.  The exact date of his birth is not known, December 21 is generally considered to be his birthday.  He was about 51 at the time of his death.