February 18

Birthdays:

1968 ~ Molly Kathleen Ringwald, American actress.

1957 ~ Vanna White (née Vanna Marie Rosich), American game show presenter on The Wheel of Fortune.

1954 ~ John Joseph Travolta, American actor.

1952 ~ Martin J. Taylor, British mathematician.

1950 ~ John Hughes (d. Aug. 6, 2009), American filmmaker who gently captured teenage angst.  He is best known for such teen films as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.  He died of a heart attack at age 59.

1950 ~ Cybill Lynne Shepherd, American actress.

1941 ~ Irma Thomas, American singer from Louisiana.

1936 ~ Paul James Hempell (d. July 11, 2009), the American writer who chronicled the blue-collar South.  He died of throat cancer at age 73.

1936 ~ Jean Marie Auel, American author best known for her novel, The Clan of the Cave Bear.

1933 ~ Yoko Ono, Japanese-born American singer and performance artist.  She was the wife of Beatle John Lennon.

1932 ~ Miloš Forman (né Jan Tomáš Forman), Czech film director.

1931 ~ Johnny Hart (né John Lewis Hart, d. Apr. 7, 2007), American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip B.C. and co-creating The Wizard of Id.  He was also a fundamentalist Christian.  He died at age 76.

1931 ~ Charles Higham (d. Apr. 21, 2012), British celebrity biographer.  He died at age 81.

1931 ~ Toni Morrison (née Chloe Ardelia Wofford), American writer and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1929 ~ Len Deighton (né Leonard Cyril Deighton), British historian and author.

1927 ~ John William Warner, 61^st Secretary of the Navy from May 1972 until April 1974 during the Richard Nixon administration.  He was also married to Elizabeth Taylor from 1976 until 1982.

1925 ~ Jack Gilbert (d. Nov. 13, 2012), American poet who never much cared for fame.  He died at age 87.

1925 ~ George Harris Kennedy, Jr. (d. Feb. 28, 2016), American actor best known for his role in Cool Hand Luke.  He died of heart disease 10 days after his 91^st birthday.

1924 ~ Creighton Hale (d. Oct. 8, 2017), American physiologist who made Little League safer.  He designed the plastic, padded helmet with flaps to protect the temple and cheekbones.  He died at age 93.

1922 ~ Helen Gurley Brown (d. Aug. 13, 2012), American editor who created the Cosmo Girl.  She was the editor-in-chief for Cosmopolitan for 32 years.  She died at age 90.

1920 ~ Eddie Slovik (né Edward Donal Slovik, d. Jan. 31, 1945), American Army private who was executed for desertion.  He was the first such execution of an American soldier since the American Civil War.  He was executed 18 days before his 25^th birthday.

1920 ~ Bill Cullen (né William Lawrence Francis Cullen, d. July 7, 1990), American game show host.  He died of lung cancer at age 70.

1919 ~ Jack Palance (né Volodymyr Oalahniuk, d. Nov. 10, 2006), American actor.  He was born in Pennsylvania, the son of Ukrainian immigrants.  He died at age 87.

1909 ~ Wallace Earle Stegner (d. Apr. 13, 1993), American writer and historian.  He died at age 84.

1906 ~ Hans Asperger (né Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger, d. Oct. 21, 1980), Austrian physician and psychologist.  He is best known for his studies on mental disorders, especially in children.  He died at age 74.

1898 ~ Enzo Ferrari (d. Aug. 14, 1988), Italian car maker and founder of the Ferrari company.  He died at age 90.

1892 ~ Wendell Willkie (né Lewis Wendell Willkie, d. Oct. 8, 1944), American politician and 1940 Republican nominee for President.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

1883 ~ Nikos Kazantzakis (d. Oct. 26, 1957), Greek author best known for his novels, Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ.  He died at age 74.

1848 ~ Louis Comfort Tiffany (d. Jan. 17, 1933), American artist and glass designer.  He died about a month before his 85^th birthday.

1838 ~ Ernst Mach (né Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach, d. Feb. 19, 1916), Austrian physicist.  He is best known for his contributions to the study of shock waves.  He died 1 day after his 78^th birthday.

1745 ~ Alessandro Volta (d. Mar. 5, 1827), Italian physicist and pioneer in electricity.  He is credited with inventing the battery.  He is also credited with being the discoverer of methane.  He died about 2 weeks after his 82^nd birthday.

1516 ~ Queen Mary I of England (d. Nov. 17, 1558), first reigning queen of England.  She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, as well as being the half-sister of Queen Elizabeth I.  She was known as “Bloody Mary” because of the persecutions of Protestants during her reign.  She died at age of 42 during an influenza epidemic, however, she was in ill health prior to the epidemic.  When she died, her half-sister, Elizabeth I, ascended to the throne.

259 BCE ~ Qin Shi Huang (d. Sept. 10, 201 BCE), Chinese Emperor and founder of the Qin Dynasty.  He was the first emperor of a unified China.  He died at age 49.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ President’s Day was celebrated in the United States.

2001 ~ FBI agent Robert Hanssen (b. 1944) was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union.  He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

1979 ~ Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first time in recorded history.  It also snowed in the Sahara Desert on January 7, 2018.

1978 ~ The first Ironman Triathlon competition took place on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

1970 ~ The Chicago Seven (Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines and Lee Weiner) were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

1954 ~ The first Church of Scientology was established in Los Angeles, California.

1939 ~ The San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition opened.

1930 ~ The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh (1906 ~ 1997) while he was studying photographs that had been taken in January 1930, although years later, Pluto was demoted from its planet status.

1885 ~Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published.

1865 ~ During the American Civil War, Major General William Sherman (1820 ~ 1891) set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia, South Carolina

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) was inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

1791 ~ Congress passed a law admitting Vermont statehood, which would become effective on March 4, 1791.  Vermont, however, had existed for the previous 14 years as a de facto independent state.

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ Norma McCorvey (b. Sept. 22, 1947), American abortion rights activist and plaintiff in the Supreme Court Decision of Roe v. Wade.  She was born in Simmesport, Louisiana.  She died of heart failure at age 69.

2014 ~ Maria Agatha Franziska Gobertina von Trapp (b. Sept. 28, 1914), the Austrian singer whose life inspired The Sound of Music.  She was the daughter of Captain von Trapp.  She died at age 99.

2013 ~ Kevin Ayers (b. Aug. 16, 1944), British psychedelic guitarist who shunned stardom.  He died at age 68.

2013 ~ Martin Edward Zweig (b. July 2, 1942), American stock advisor who forecast the Black Monday crash.  He died at age 70.

2013 ~ Jerry Buss (né Gerald Hatten Buss, b. Jan. 27, 1933), American businessman and basketball owner who made the Los Angeles Lakers into winners.  He died of kidney failure 22 days after his 80^th birthday.

2003 ~ Isser Harel (b. 1912), 2^nd Director of Mossad.

2001 ~ Dale Earnhardt (né Ralph Dale Earnhardt, b. Apr. 29, 1951), Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.  He was killed at age 49 in a racing accident during the Daytona 500.

1998 ~ Harry Caray (né Harry Christopher Carabina, b. Mar. 1, 1914), American sportscaster.  He is best known for being the voice of the Chicago Cubs.  He died 2 weeks before his 84^th birthday.

1981 ~ John K. Northrop (b. Nov. 10, 1895), American airplane manufacturer and founder of the Northrop Corporation.  He died at age 85.

1967 ~ J. Robert Oppenheimer (né Julius Robert Oppenheimer, b. Apr. 22, 1904), American physicist.  He is known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb.  He died of throat cancer at age 62.

1964 ~ Joseph-Armand Bombardier (b. Apr. 16, 1907), Canadian inventor of the snowmobile.  He died at age 56.

1933 ~ James John Corbett (b. Sept. 1, 1866), American boxer.  He was known as Gentleman Jim.  He died at age 66.

1915 ~ Frank James (né Alexander Franklin James, b. Jan. 10, 1843), American wild west outlaw.  He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.  He died at age 72.

1910 ~ Lucy Stanton (b. Oct. 16, 1831), African-American abolitionist and activist for woman’s rights.  She died at age 78.

1906 ~ John Batterson Stetson (b. May 5, 1830), American hat manufacturer and inventor of the cowboy hat known as the Stetson Hat.  He died at age 75.

1902 ~ Charles Lewis Tiffany (b. Feb. 15, 1812), American jeweler and designer.  He founded Tiffany & Co.  He was the father of Louis Comfort Tiffany who was born on February 18, 1848, 54 years earlier.  Charles Lewis Tiffany died 3 days after his 90^th birthday.

1899 ~ Sophus Lie (né Marius Sophus Lie, b. Dec. 17, 1842), Norwegian mathematician.  He died of pernicious anemia at age 56.

1862 ~ Pierre Brentonneau (b. Apr. 3, 1778), French physician who performed the first successful tracheotomy.  He died at age 83.

1851 ~ Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi (b. Dec. 10, 1804), German mathematician.  He died at age 46.

1834 ~ William Wirt (b. Nov. 8, 1772), 9^th United States Attorney General.  He served under Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams from November 1817 until March 1829.  He is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney into one of great influence.  He died at age 61.

1743 ~ Anna Marie Luisa de’Medici (b. Aug. 11, 1667), the last of the Medicis.  She died at age 74.

1679 ~ Anne Conway (b. Dec. 14, 1631), English philosopher and author.  She died at age 47.

1654 ~ Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (b. May 31, 1594), French writer.  He died at age 59.

1564 ~ Michelangelo Buonarroti (né Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, b. Mar. 6, 1475), Italian painter and sculptor.  He died about 2 weeks before his 89^th birthday.

1546 ~ Martin Luther (b. Nov. 10, 1483), German monk and leader of the Protestant Reformation.  He died at age 62.

1478 ~ George Plantagenet, 1^st Duke of Clarence (b. Oct. 21, 1449), brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England.  He was convicted of treason against Edward IV and was executed in the Tower of London.  He was 28 years old at the time of his execution.

1455 ~ Fra Angelico (né Guido di Pietro, b. 1395), Italian artist and muralist.  The exact date of his birth is not know, but he is believed to have been about 59 at the time of his death.

1294 ~ Kublai Kahn (b. Sept. 23, 1215).  Mongol Emperor.  He died at age 78.

999 ~ Pope Gregory V (né Bruno of Carinthia, b. 972).  He was Pope from May 966 until his death on February 18, 999.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

901 ~ Thābit ibn Qurra (b. 826), Iraqi physician and mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known.