January 22

Birthdays:

1953 ~ Jim Jarmusch, American film director.

1940 ~ Sir John Vincent Hurt (d. Jan. 25, 2017), British actor who made outsiders his specialty.  He died of pancreatic cancer 3 days after his 77^th birthday.

1937 ~ Joseph Wambaugh, American police officer and author of detective novels.

1936 ~ Alan Ja. Heeger, American chemist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1934 ~ Bill Bixby (d. Nov. 21, 1993), American actor.  He died of prostate cancer at age 59.

1931 ~ Sam Cooke (né Samuel Dale Cook, d. Dec. 11, 1964), American singer and musician.  He was murdered at age 33.

1909 ~ U Thant (d. Nov. 25, 1974), Burmese diplomat and 3^rd United Nations Secretary-General.  He died of lung cancer at age 65.

1908 ~ Lev Davidovich Landau (d. Apr. 1, 1968), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 60.

1907 ~ Douglas Corrigan (d. Dec. 9, 1995), American pilot and engineer.  He earned the nickname Wrong Way Corrigan following a flight he was to pilot from New York to California, but instead he ended up in Ireland.  He died at age 88.

1904 ~ George Balanchine (d. Apr. 30, 1983), Russian dancer and choreographer.  He died at age 79.

1898 ~ Sergei Malkailovich Eisenstein (d. Feb. 11, 1948), Soviet film director and film theorist.  He is best known for his 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.  He died of a heart attack 20 days after his 50^th birthday.

1890 ~ Frederick Moore Vinson (d. Sept. 8, 1953), 13^th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Harry Truman.  He served on the Court from June 1946 until his death 8 years later.  He had previously served as the 53^rd United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Truman administration.  He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 63.

1880 ~ Frigyes Riesz (d. Feb. 28, 1956), Hungarian mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1875 ~ D.W. Griffith (né David Llewelyn Wark Griffith, d. July 23, 1948), American film director, best known for his 1915 epic film, The Birth of a Nation.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 73.

1849 ~ August Strindberg (né Johan August Strindberg, d. May 14, 1912), Swedish playwright best known for his play, Miss Julie.  He died at age 63.

1788 ~ George Gordon Byron, 6^th Baron Byron (d. Apr. 19, 1824), English-Scottish poet.  He was known as Lord Byron.  He died at age 36.

1740 ~ Noah Phelps (d. Nov. 4, 1809), American spy during the American Revolutionary War.  He died at age 69.

1654 ~ Captain William Kidd (d. May 23, 1701), Scottish pirate.  He was convicted of piracy and murder and was hanged in London.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is often ascribed to January 22, 1654.  He was 47 at the time of his death.

1592 ~ Pierre Gassendi (d. Oct. 24, 1655), French philosopher and mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1573 ~ John Donne (d. Mar. 31, 1631), English writer and cleric in the Church of England.  He died at age 58.

1561 ~ Sir Francis Bacon, 1^st Viscount St. Alban (d. Apr. 9, 1626), English statesman.  He died at age 65.

1552 ~ Sir Walter Raleigh (d. Oct. 29, 1618), English explorer and adventurer.  Although he had been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, he fell out of favor.  He was executed by beheading on October 29, 1618 for allegedly conspiring against King James I of England.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born on January 22, 1552, thus making him 65 at the time of his death.

1440 ~ Tsar Ivan III of Russia (d. Oct. 27, 1505).  He was known as Ivan the Great.  He died at age 65.

Events that Changed the World:

2006 ~ Evo Morales (b. 1959) was inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the first indigenous president of his country.

2002 ~ Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest retailer in the United States to do so.

1991 ~ During the Gulf War, three SCUD missiles hit Ramat Gan in Israel killing 3 people and injuring 96 others.

1984 ~ The Apple Macintosh was introduced during the Super Bowl XVIII, with its famous 1984 television commercial.  The Macintosh was the first personal computer to popularize the mouse.

1973 ~ The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in all 50 states.

1968 ~ Apollo 5 carried the first Lunar module into space.

1957 ~ Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.

1946 ~ The predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Group, was founded.

1915 ~ A train plunged off the tracks into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing over 600 people.

1906 ~ The SS Valencia ran aground on the rocks near Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  Over 130 people were killed in the incident.

1905 ~ The beginning of the 1905 Russian Revolution began with Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg.

1901 ~ Edward VII (1841 ~ 1910) was proclaimed King of England following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901).

1890 ~ The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1506 ~ The first contingent of Swiss Guards arrived to defend the Vatican.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Peggy Charren (b. Mar. 9, 1928), American activist who campaigned for quality children’s television.  She was the founder of Action for Children’s Television.  She died at age 86.

2012 ~ Joseph Vincent Paterno (b. Dec. 21, 1926), legendary football coach at Pennsylvania State University.  He was forced to resign from his coaching position in November 2011 following the arrest of his long-time assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges.  Paterno allowed his staff to ignore sexual abuse towards young boys by Sandusky, thus his resignation was due to his inaction after learning Sandusky had been abusing young boys.  He died a month after his 85^th birthday.

2010 ~ Jean Merilyn Simmons (b. Jan. 31, 1929), English actress who brought quiet strength to her roles.  She died 9 days before her 81^st birthday.

2008 ~ Heath Andrew Ledger (b. Apr. 4, 1979), Australian actor.  He died of a drug overdose at age 28.

2005 ~ Rose Mary Woods (b. Dec. 26, 1917), 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.

2002 ~ Stanley Marcus (né Harold Stanley Marcus, b. Apr. 20, 1905), American businessman and co-founder of the Neiman Marcus department store.  He died at age 96.

2000 ~ Craig Claiborne (b. Sept. 4, 1920), American journalist, restaurant critic and cookbook author.  He was born in Mississippi.  He died at age 79.

1995 ~ Rose Kennedy (b. July 22, 1890), Kennedy family matriarch and wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.  She died at age 104.

1994 ~ Telly Savalas (né Aristotelis Savalas, b. Jan. 21, 1922), Greek American actor, best known for his role as Kojak on the television show of the same name.  He died 1 day after his 72^nd birthday.

1982 ~ Eduardo F. Montalva (b. Jan. 16, 1911), President of Chile.  He served as President from November 1964 until November 1970.  He died 6 days after his 71^st birthday.

1980 ~ Yitzhak Baer (d. Dec. 20, 1888), German-Israeli historian.  He died a month after his 91^st birthday.

1973 ~ Lyndon Baines Johnson (b. Aug. 27, 1908), 36^th President of the United States.  He began his Presidency after the assassination of President Kennedy.  He served from November 1963 until January 1969.  He served as the 37^th Vice President from January 1961 until November 22, 1963.  He died of a heart attack at age 64.

1968 ~ Duke Kahanamoku (b. Aug. 24, 1890), American competition swimmer and surfer.  He is credited with being the father of surfing.  He was known as the Big Kahuna.  He died at age 77.

1922 ~ Pope Benedict XV (né Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, b. Nov. 21, 1854).  He was Pope from September 1914 until his death 8 years later.  He died at age 67.

1922 ~ Camille Jordan (b. Jan. 5, 1838), French mathematician.  He died less than 3 weeks after his 84^th birthday.

1922 ~ Fredrik Bajer (b. Apr. 21, 1838), Danish politician and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 84.

1909 ~ Emil Erlenmeyer (b. June 28, 1825), German chemist best known for designing the Erlenmeyer flask.  He died at age 83.

1901 ~ Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. May 24, 1819).  She reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom beginning when she was 18 years old in June 1835 until her death 66 years later.  She died at age 81.

1900 ~ David E. Hughes (b. May 16, 1831), English scientist and musician.  He was the co-inventor of the microphone.  He died at age 68.

1892 ~ Joseph Philo Bradley (b. Mar. 14, 1813), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Ulysses S. Grant.  He served on the Court from March 1870 until his death 22 years later.  He died at age 78.

1779 ~ Jeremiah Dixon (b. July 27, 1733), English surveyor.  He is best known for his work with Charles Mason (1728 ~ 1786) in determining what was later called the Mason-Dixon Line, after both surveyors.  Dixon died at age 45.

1666 ~ Shah Jahan (b. Jan. 5, 1592), Mughal emperor.  He is best known for having the Taj Mahal, built as a burial tomb for his wife.  He died 17 days after his 74^th birthday.

1592 ~ Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France (b. July 5, 1554).  She was the wife of King Charles IX of France.  She died at age 37.

935 ~ Ma, empress of the Southern Han dynasty.  She reigned during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

906 ~ He, empress of the Tang Dynasty.  The date of her birth is not known.

239 ~ Cao Rui (b. 205), Chinese emperor who reigned during the Three Kingdoms period.  The exact date of his birth is not known.