March 15

The Ides of March

Birthdays:

1975 ~ Eva Longoria (née Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón), American actress.

1935 ~ Judd Hirsch (né Judd Seymore Hirsch), American actor.

1935 ~ Jimmy Swaggart (né Jimmy Lee Swaggart), disgraced American televangelist.  He was born in Ferriday, Louisiana.

1933 ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg (née Joan Ruth Bader), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  She was appointed to the High Court by President Bill Clinton.  She began her tenure on the Court in August 1993.

1930 ~ Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1930 ~ Martin Karplus, Austrian-born theoretical chemist and recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel, for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

1927 ~ Ian Cedric Audley Player (d. Nov. 30, 2014), South African game warden who saved the white rhinoceros.  He died at age 87.

1920 ~ E. Donnall Thomas (né Edward Donnall Thomas, d. Oct. 20, 2012), American physician and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He worked closely with his wife, Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas (1922 ~ 2015), on bone marrow transplants.  He died at age 92.

1890 ~ Boris Delaunay (d. July 17, 1980), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 90.

1887 ~ Marjorie Merriweather Post (d. Sept. 12, 1973), American socialite and owner of General Foods, Inc.  She built the mansion, Mar-a-Lago, which was subsequently purchased by Donald Trump.  She died following a long illness at age 86.

1877 ~ Rezā Shāh Pahlavi (d. July 26, 1944), Shah of Iran.  He was Shah from December 1925 until September 1941.  He died at age 66.

1874 ~ Harold LeClair Ickes (d. Feb. 3, 1952), 32^nd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.  He served in that Office from March 1933 until Feb. 1946.  He died at age 77.

1868 ~ Grace Chisholm Young (d. Mar. 29, 1944), English mathematician.  She studied at Göttingen University in Germany and became the first woman to receive a doctorate in any field in Germany.  She died 14 days after her 76^th birthday.

1866 ~ Johan Vaaler (d. Mar. 14, 1919), Norwegian inventor and patent clerk.  He is often identified as the individual who invented the Paper clip.  He died 1 day before his 53^rd birthday.

1857 ~ Christian Michelsen (d. June 29, 1925), 1^st Prime Minister of Norway.  He served as Prime Minister from March 1905 until October 1907.  He died at age 68.

1854 ~ Emil Adolf von Behring (d. Mar. 31, 1917), German physician and recipient of the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded in 1901.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the diphtheria antitoxin.  He died 16 days after his 63^rd birthday.

1845 ~ Colonel Thomas Ward Custer, (d. June 25, 1876), brother of George Armstrong Custer.  He was killed in the Battle of Little Big Horn.  He died along with his brothers, George Armstrong Custer (b. Dec. 5, 1839), and General Boston Custer (b. 1848).  He was 31 years old.  His brother George was 36, and Boston was 27.

1830 ~ Paul von Heyse (né Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse, d. Apr. 2, 1914), German writer and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 18 days before his 85^th birthday.

1790 ~ Ludwig Immanuel Magnus (d. Sept. 25, 1861), German mathematician.  He died at age 71.

1779 ~ William Lamb, 2^nd Viscount Melbourne (d. Nov. 24, 1848), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served two terms as Prime Minister, the first term was during the reign of King William IV, and the second during the term of Queen Victoria.  He is also known as being the cockholded husband in one of Britain’s most scandalous affairs when his wife, Lady Caroline Ponsonby, had a very public affair with the poet Lord Byron.  He died at age 69.

1767 ~ Andrew Jackson (d. June 8, 1845), 7^th President of the United States.  He was President from March 4, 1829 until March 1837.  He died at age 78.

1638 ~ Shunzhi Emperor (d. Feb. 5, 1661), 3^rd Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He died at age 22.

270 ~ Saint Nicholas (d. Dec. 6, 343).  Greek/Turkish bishop and saint.  He died at age 73.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ The Syrian Civil War began.

1990 ~ Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1930) was elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.

1986 ~ The Hotel New World in Singapore collapsed, killing 33 people.

1985 ~ The Brazilian authoritarian military dictatorship, which ruled the country since March 31, 1964, ended.

1956 ~ My Fair Lady premiered on Broadway.

1939 ~ The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919 ~ 1980) married Princess Fawzia (1921 ~ 2013) of Egypt.  They divorced in 1948.

1922 ~ Fuad I (1868 ~ 1936) became King of Egypt after the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1917 ~ Tsar Nicholas II (1868 ~ 1918) of Russia was forced to abdicate the Russian throne.  His brother, the Grand Duke Michael, was named successor to the throne, but was murdered during the Russian Revolution before he could take that office.

1916 ~ President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) sent American troops, led by John Pershing, to Mexico to pursue Pancho Villa (1878 ~ 1923).

1906 ~ The Rolls-Royce Limited was incorporated.

1864 ~ During the American Civil War’s Red River Campaign, the Union Navy fleet arrived in Alexandria, Louisiana.

1820 ~ Maine became the 23^rd State of the Union.

1781 ~ At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the American Revolutionary War, near what is now Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeated an American force of about 4,400.

1545 ~ The fifth meeting of the Council of Trent, and the last before the Protestant Reformation.

1493 ~ Christopher Columbus (1451 ~ 1506) returned to Spain after his first trip to the New World.

44 BCE ~ The date traditionally associated with the death of Julius Caesar, who was stabbed by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ David Norris Brenner (b. Feb. 4, 1936), American comedian who ruled The Tonight Show.  He died of cancer at age 78.

2014 ~ Bo Callaway (né Howard Hollis Callaway, Sr., b. Apr. 2, 1927), American soldier and 11^th United States Secretary of the Army.  He served under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford from May 1973 until July 1975.  He died 13 days before his 87^th birthday.

2013 ~ Booth Gardner (b. Aug. 21, 1936), American Governor of Washington State who battled for death with dignity.  He was an advocate for suicide-assisted death for patients with terminal diseases.  He died of Parkinson’s disease at age 76.

2009 ~ Ron Silver (né Ronald Arthur Silver, b. July 2, 1946), American veteran actor who was a maverick political activist.  He died of esophageal cancer at age 62.

2007 ~ Bowie Kent Kuhn (b. Oct. 28, 1929), American lawyer and businessman.  He served as the 5^th Commissioner of Major League Baseball.  He was the Baseball Commissioner from February 1969 until September 1984.  He died of complications of pneumonia at age 80.

2004 ~ Sir John Pople (b. Oct. 10, 1925), English chemist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 78.

2004 ~ Sir John Anthony Pople (b. Oct. 31, 1925), English chemist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 78.

1998 ~ Benjamin McLane Spock (b. May 2, 1903), American pediatrician and writer.  He died at age 94.

1983 ~ Dame Rebecca West (née Dame Cicely Isabel Fairfield, b. Dec. 21, 1892), English writer.  She died at age 90.

1975 ~ Aristotle Socrates Onassis (b. Jan. 15, 1906), Greek shipping magnate and second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy.  He also had a long-term affair with opera singer Maria Callas.  He died at age 69.

1966 ~ Abe Saperstein (né Abraham Michael Saperstein, b. July 4, 1902), American basketball player and coach.  He was the owner and coach of the franchise that became the Harlem Globetrotters.  He died of a heart attack at age 63.

1962 ~ Arthur Holly Compton (d. Sept. 10, 1892), American physicist and recipient of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 69.

1933 ~ Gustavo Jiménez (b. Apr. 5, 1886), Peruvian colonel and President of Peru for 6 days from March 5 through March 11, 1931.  He died 3 weeks before his 47^th birthday.

1897 ~ James Joseph Sylvester (b. Sept. 3, 1814), British mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1657 ~ David ben Joseph Pardo (b. 1591), Dutch rabbi.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

752 ~ Pope Zachary (b. 679).  He was Pope from December 741 until his death on this date 11 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.

44 B.C.E. ~ Julius Caesar (b. July 13, 100 BCE), Roman general and statesmans.  This the traditional date ascribed to his birth.  He was said to have been assassinated by Brutus.  He is believed to have been 55 at the time of his death.