July 20

Birthdays:

1980~ Gisele Bündchen (née Gisele Caroline Bündchen), Brazilian model.  She married football player Tom Brady.

1973~ Omar Epps (né Omar Hashim Epps), American actor and rapper.

1871~ Sandra Oh (née Sandra Miji Oh), Canadian actress.

1967~ Reed Diamond (néReed Edward Diamond), American actor.

1964~ Chris Cornell (né Christopher John Boyle, d. May 18, 2017), American Soulgarden frontman who pioneered the grunge sound.  He committed suicide at age 52.

1953~ Thomas Friedman (né Thomas Loren Friedman), American journalist and author.

1947~ Gerd Binnig, German physicist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the scanning tunneling microscope.

1947~ Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician and guitarist.

1945~ Kim Carnes, American musician.

1939~ Judy Chicago (née Judith Sylvia Cohen), American artist.

1938~ Natalie Wood (née Natasha Nikoleavna Zakkharenko, d. Nov. 29, 1981), American actress.  She died in a mysterious boating accident.  Ostensibly she drowned at age 43, however, in 2012, an investigation into her death was reopened.

1933~ Cormac McCarthy (né Charles McCarthy), American author. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island.

1932~ Nam June Paik (d. Jan. 29, 2006), South Korean artist.  He died at age 73.

1930~ Chuck Daly (né Charles Jerome Daly, d. May 9, 2009), NBA baseball coach for the Detroit Pistons and coach of the 1992 United States Olympic “Dream Team.” He died of pancreatic cancer at age 78.

1929~ Mike Ilitch, Sr. (né Michael Ilitch, d. Feb. 10, 2017), American entrepreneur who founded the Little Caesars pizza chain and relentlessly promoted Detroit.  He died at age 87.

1924~ Thomas Berger (né Thomas Lewis Berger, d. July 13, 2014), American author, best known for his novel, Little Big Man.  He died 7 days before his 90^th birthday.

1922~ Alan Boyd (né Alan Stephenson Boyd), 1^st United States Secretary of Transportation.  He served in this position, which was created under the Lyndon Johnson administration, from January 1967 until January 1969.

1920~ Elliot Richardson (né Elliot Lee Richardson, d. Dec. 31, 1999), 69^th United States Attorney General.  He served under President Richard Nixon.  He also served as the 9^th United States Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the 11^th United States Secretary of Defense and the 25^th United States Secretary of State in the Nixon administration.  He served under President Gerald Ford as the 24^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He was born and died in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 79.

1919~ Sir Edmund Hillary (né Edmund Percival Hillary, d. Jan. 11, 2008), New Zealand mountaineer and explorer.  He led the first expedition known to have reached the top of Mt. Everest.  He died at age 88.

1897~ Tadeus Reichstein (d. Aug. 1, 1996), Polish chemist and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 2 weeks after his 99^th birthday.

1895~ László Moholy-Nagy (d. Nov. 24, 1946), Hungarian painter, sculptor and photographer. He died of leukemia at age 51.

1882~ Olga Hahn-Neurath (d. July 20, 1937), Austrian mathematician.  She died on her 55^th birthday.

1876~ Otto Blumenthal (néLudwig Otto Blumenthal, d. Nov. 12, 1944), German mathematician.  He died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp at age 68.

1868~ Miron Cristea (d. Mar. 6, 1939), Romanian cleric and Prime Minister of Romania. He served as Prime Minister from February 1938 until his death at age 70 a year later.

1864~ Erik Alex Karlfeldt (d. Apr. 8, 1931), Swedish poet and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize posthumously.  He was the first of a very small group of individuals to be awarded a Nobel Prize after his death. He died at age 66.

1849~ Robert Anderson Van Wyck (d. Nov. 14, 1918), Mayor of New York City.  He was the first Mayor of New York after the consolidation of the 5 boroughs into the City of Greater New York in 1898.  He was Mayor from January 1898 through December 1901.  He died at age 69.

1847~ Max Liebermann (d. Feb. 8, 1935), German painter.  He died at age 87.

1822~ Gregor Mendel (né Gregor Johann Mendel, d. Jan. 6, 1884), Austrian botanist and monk who theorized on the basic laws of genetics and heredity.  He was born in a region that is now part of the Czech Republic.  He died at age 61.

1519~ Pope Innocent IX (né Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti, d. Dec. 30, 1591).  He was Pope from October 1591 until his death 2 months later.  He died at age 72.

1304~ Petrarch (né Francesco Petrarca, d. July 19, 1734), Italian scholar and poet. He died 1 day before his 70^th birthday.

356 BCE~ Alexander the Great (d. June 10, 323 BCE), the traditional date ascribed to his birth.  He died at age 32.

Events that Changed the World:

2015~ The United States and Cuba resumed full diplomatic relations for the first time in over 50 years.

2012~ During a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman opened fire in a movie theater killing 12 people and injuring over 70 others.  The shooter was ultimately captured and sentenced to life in prison.

2005~ Canada legalized same-sex marriages.

1997~ The fully restored USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) celebrated its 200^thbirthday.  It was set sail for the first time in over 115 years.

1992~ Václav Havel (1936 ~ 2011) resigned as president of Czechoslovakia.

1989~ Burma’s ruling junta put opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (b. 1945) under house arrest.  She remained under house arrest until November 2010.  In 1991, she was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1976~ Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars.

1969~ Apollo 11 made the first human-crewed landing on the Moon and astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930 ~ 2012) and Buzz Aldrin (né Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., b. 1930) became the first humans to walk on the moon’s surface.  Their moonwalk occurred several hours after the modular landed, thus was actually on July 21.

1968~ The first Special Olympics was held at Soldier’s Field in Chicago.

1960~ Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916 ~ 2000), was elected as the Prime Minister of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka).  By her election, she became the first modern-world female head of state.

1951~ Jordan’s King Abdullah I was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian while attending Friday services.

1949~ Israel and Syria signed a truce ending their 19-month war.

1940~ California opened its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which connected Los Angeles with Pasadena.

1903~ The Ford Motor Company shipped its first car.

70~ The traditional date in which Titus, son of the Roman emperor, Vaspasian, stormed the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount during the Siege of Jerusalem.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Chester Charles Bennington (b. Mar. 20, 1976), American rock singer who struggled with is demons.  He was the frontman for the band Linkin Park.  He committed suicide at age 41.

2017~ Kenneth Jay Lane (b. Apr. 22, 1932), American jewelry designer who specialized in fabulous fakes.  He died at age 85.

2015~ Theodore Bikel (né Theodore Meir Bikel, b. May 2, 1924), Austrian singer and actor.  He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on May 2.  He died at age 91.

2015~ Louis Lenart (né Layos Lenovitz, b. Apr. 24, 1921), Hungarian-born American fighter pilot who saved Tel Aviv during the 1948 war.  He died in Israel at age 94.

2013~ John Casablancas (b. Dec. 12, 1942), modeling agent who ushered in the era of the supermodel.  He was 70 years old.

2013~ Helen Thomas (née Helen Amelia Thomas, b. Aug. 4, 1920), American feisty journalist who broke barriers at the White House.  She was a White House correspondent for many years.  Her career took a downspin after she made anti-Semitic remarks when she was 89 years old.  She died only 2 weeks before her 93^rd birthday.

2011~ Lucian Freud (né Lucian Michael Freud, b. Dec. 8, 1922), German-English artist and grandson of Sigmund Freud.  He was the painter who put the brutal truth into the modern portrait.  He died at age 88.

2007~ Tammy Faye Bakker Messner (née Tammy Faye LaValley, b. Mar. 7, 1942), American televangelist.  He had been married to Jim Bakker before his sex scandal.  She died of colon cancer at age 65.

2007~ Kai Seigbahn (b. Apr. 20, 1918), Swedish physicist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 89.

1993~ Vince Foster (né Vincent Walker Foster, Jr., b. Jan. 15, 1945), Deputy White House Counsel in the Bill Clinton Administration.  He died at age 48 under some mysterious circumstances, but ultimately his death was ruled a suicide.

1985~ Bruno de Finetti (b. June 13, 1906), Austrian-Italian mathematician. He died at age 79.

1984~ Jim Fixx (né James Fuller Fixx, b. Apr. 23, 1932), American runner and fitness author.  He died of a heart attack while jogging.  He was 52 years old.

1973~ Bruce Lee (b. Nov. 27, 1940), American actor and martial arts performer.  He died of a cerebral edema at age 32.

1951~ King Abdullah I of Jordon (b. Feb. 1882), was assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.  He was the ruler of Jordan from May 1946 until his assassination at age 69 on this date 5 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1937~ Olga Hahn-Neurath (b. July 20, 1882), Austrian mathematician.  She died on her 55^th birthday.

1937~ Guglielmo Marconi, 1^st Marquis of Marconi (néGuglielo Giovanni Maria Marconi, b. Apr. 25, 1874), Italian physicist and inventor of the wireless telegraph and radio.  He was the recipient of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 63.

1927~ Ferdinand I of Romania (b. Aug. 24, 1865).  He was King of Romania from October 1914 until his death on this date 13 years later.  He died in Sinaia, Romania about a month before his 62^nd birthday.

1923~ Pancho Villa (né José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, b. June 5, 1878), Mexican revolutionary.  He was assassinated at age 45.

1922~ Andrey Markov (b. June 14, 1856), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 66.

1911~ Hermann Schubert (né Hermann Cäsar Hannibal Schubert, b. May 22, 1848), German mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1903~ Pope Leo XIII (né Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, b. Mar. 2, 1810).  He was Pope from February 1878 until his death in July 1903.  He died at age 93.

1888~ Paul Langerhans (b. July 25, 1847), German pathologist.  He studied the pancreas.   The Isle of Landerhans in the pancreas is named after him.  He died of renal failure 5 days before his 41^st birthday.

1866~ Bernhard Riemann (né Georg Friedrich Bernhard Rienmann, b. Sept. 17, 1826), German mathematician.  He died at age 39 of tuberculosis.

1031~ King Robert II of France (b. Mar. 27, 972).  He was known as Robert the Pius.  He died at age 59.

985~ Antipope Boniface VII (né Franco Ferrucci, b. 930).  The date of his birth is unknown.