August 16

Birthdays:

1962~ Steve Carell (né Steven John Carell), American actor and comedian.  He was born in Concord, Massachusetts.

1958~ Madonna (née Madonna Louise Ciccone), American singer-songwriter.

1953~ James Cameron (né James Francis Cameron), Canadian film director and producer. He is best known for his 1997 movie The Titanic.

1946~ Lesley Ann Warren, American actress best known for her role as Cinderella in the movie of the same name.

1944~ Kevin Ayers (d. Feb. 18, 2013), British psychedelic guitarist who shunned stardom.  He died at age 68.

1930~ Robert Culp (né Robert Martin Culp, d. Mar. 24, 2010), American actor. He died of a heart condition at age 79.

1930~ Frank Gifford (né Francis Newton Gifford, d. Aug. 9, 2015), American football hero who became a broadcast icon.  He died 1 week before his 85^thbirthday.

1928~ Eydie Gormé (née Edith Garmezano, d. Aug. 10, 2013), American singer who often performed with her husband, Steve Lawrence.  She died 6 days before her 85^th birthday.

1924~ Fess Parker (né Fess Elisha Parker, Jr., d. Mar. 18, 2010), American actor, best known for his role as Daniel Boone in the TV series of the same name. He died at age 85.

1913~ Menachem Begin (b. Mar. 9, 1992), 6^th Israeli Prime Minister and recipient of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.  He served as Prime Minister from June 1977 until October 1983.  He died of a heart attack at age 78.

1904~ Wendell Meredith Stanley (d. June 15, 1971), American biochemist and virologist. He was the recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 66.

1902~ Georgette Heyer (d. July 4, 1974), English writer of gothic novels and historical romance novels.  She died of lung cancer at age 71.

1900~ Ida Browne (d. Oct. 21, 1976), Australian geologist and paleontologist. She died at age 76.

1896~ Tina Modotti (née Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini, d. Jan. 5, 1942), Italian photographer and model.  She was also a revolutionary political activist.  She died of heart failure in Mexico City at age 45.

1894~ George Meany (né William George Meany, d. Jan. 10, 1980), American labor union leader.  He died at age 85.

1892~ Otto Messmer (né Otto James Messmer, d. Oct. 28, 1983), American cartoonist and co-creator of Felix the Cat.  He was born and died in New Jersey.  He died at age 91.

1888~ T.E. Lawrence (né Thomas Edward Lawrence, d. May 19, 1935), British army officer and writer.  He was known as Lawrence of Arabia.  He died at age 46 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

1845~ Gabriel Lippmann (né Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann, d. July 13, 1921), French physicist who was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in color photography.  He died less than a month after his 75^th birthday.

1842~ Jakob Rosanes (d. Jan. 6, 1922), Austrian mathematician and chess master. He was born in Bordy, which is now a part of the Ukraine.  He died at age 79.

1821~ Arthur Cayley (d. Jan. 26, 1895), British mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1378~ Hongxi (d. May 29, 1425), 4^th Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He died at age 46.

Events that Changed the World:

1960~ Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom.

1954~ Sports Illustrated was published for the first time by Time, Inc.

1916~ Canada and the United States signed the Migratory Bird Treaty.

1906~ An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck Valparaíso, Chile, killing over 3800 people.

1896~ Gold was discovered in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, beginning the Klondike Gold Rush.

1812~ During the War of 1812, American General William Hull (1753 ~ 1825) surrendered Fort Detroit to the British Army without a fight.

1780~ The British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.

1777~ During the Battle of Bennington, the Americans, led by General John Stark (1728 ~ 1822), routed out the British.  August 16 is still commemorated as Bennington Battle Day in Vermont.

Good-Byes:

2016~ John McLaughlin (né John Joseph McLaughlin, b. Mar. 29, 1927), American journalist and host of The McLaughlin Groupon public television. He died at age 89.

2013~ David Rees (b. May 29, 1918), Welsh mathematician.  He died at age 95.

2011~ Creed Black (né Creed Carter Black, b. July 15, 1925), American newsman who made a mantra of fearless reporting.  He died of complications from a stroke a month after his 86^thbirthday.

2010~ Bobby Thomson (né Robert Brown Thomson, b. Oct. 25, 1923), Scottish-born baseball player who hit “the shot heard ‘round the world.”  He hit a three-run homer run for the New York Giants during the 1951 season, which gave the Giants a win over the Brooklyn Dodger and the pennant.  He died at age 86.

2003~ Idi Amin (b. 1928), Ugandan dictator.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.  He is believed to have been between 75 and 80 at the time of his death.

1989~ Amanda Blake (née Beverly Louise Neill, b. Feb. 20, 1929), American actress best known for her role as Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke.  She died at age 60 of cancer.

1977~ Elvis Presley (né Elvis Aaron Presley, b. Jan. 8, 1935), American singer. He died at age 42.

1973~ Selman Waksman (né Selman Abraham Waksman, b. July 22, 1888), Ukrainian-born American biochemist and microbiologist.  He was the recipient of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of streptomycin.  He died 25 days after his 85^th birthday.

1959~ William Halsey, Jr. (né William Frederick Halsey, Jr., b. Oct. 30, 1882), American Navy Admiral.  He died at age 76.

1957~ Irving Langmuir (b. Jan. 31, 1881), American chemist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in surface chemistry.  He died in Woods Hole, Massachusetts at age 76.

1956~ Bela Lugosi (né Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó, b. Oct. 20, 1882), Hungarian actor, best known for his roles in early horror films and as portraying Count Dracula on both Broadway and in the film version.  He died at age 73.

1949~ Margaret Mitchell (née Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell, b. Nov. 8, 1900), American novelist who wrote Gone with the Wind.  She died at age 48 after having been struck by a speeding car as she crossed a street in Atlanta, Georgia.

1948~ Babe Ruth (né George Herman Ruth, Jr., b. Feb. 6, 1895), American baseball player.  He played for the Boston Red Sox before being traded to the New York Yankees.  He died of cancer at age 53.

1938~ Robert Johnson (né Robert Leroy Johnson, b. May 8, 1911), American singer-songwriter and guitarist.  He died at age 27 of unknown causes.

1921~ Peter I of Serbia (b. June 29, 1844), 1^st King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  He was King from December 1918 until his death at age 77 in 1921.

1910~ Pedro Montt (d. June, 29, 1849), President of Chile.  He served as President from September 1906 until his death at age 61 of a stroke in August 1910.

1899~ Robert Bunsen (né Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen, b. Mar. 30, 1811), German chemist and inventor.  He developed the Bunsen burner.  He died at age 88.

1888~ John Pemberton (né John Stith Pemberton, b. July 8, 1831), American pharmacist and inventor of Coca-Cola.  He died at age 57 of stomach cancer.

1836~ Marc-Antoine Parseval (b. Apr. 27, 1755), French mathematician.  He died at age 81.

1705~ Jacob Bernoulli (b. Jan. 6, 1654), Swiss mathematician.  Under the Julian calendar, his birthday is cited as being on December 27, 1654.  Under the Gregorian calendar, his birthdate is considered to be January 6, 1655.  He was 50 at the time of his death.

1419~ Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (b. Feb. 26, 1361).  He died at age 58.