August 6

Birthdays:

1990~ JonBenét Ramsey (d. Dec. 26, 1996), American child beauty queen and murder victim.  She was 6 years old.

1973~ Vera Farmiga (née Vera Ann Farmiga), American actress.

1972~ Geri Halliwell (née Geraldine Estelle Halliwell), British singer and member of The Spice Girls.  She was known as Ginger Spice.

1970~ M. Night Shyamalan (né Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan), Indian-American film director.

1957~ Jim McGreevy (né James Edward McGreevy), 52^nd Governor of New Jersey.  He was Governor from January 2002 until November 2004. He resigned following a sex scandal.

1938~ Paul Bartel (d. May 13, 2000), American actor best known for his movie, Eating Raoul.  He died of a heart attack at age 61.

1931~~ Chalmers Johnson (né Chalmers Ashby Johnson, d. Nov. 20, 2010), American scholar who decried an empire.  He died at age 79.

1928~ Andy Warhol (né Andrew Warhola, d. Feb. 22, 1987), American pop artist.  He died at age 58 following complications of gall bladder surgery.

1922~ Sir Freddie Laker (né Frederick Alfred Laker, d. Feb. 9, 2006), English businessman and founder of Laker Airways.  He died at age 83.

1920~ Selma Diamond (d. May 13, 1985), Canadian-American actress best known for her role as Selma Hacker on the Television sit-com, Night Court.  She died of lung cancer at age 64.

1917~ Robert Mitchum (né Robert Charles Durman Mitchum, d. July 1, 1997), American actor.  He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  He died at age 79 of lung cancer and emphysema.

1911~ Lucille Ball (née Lucille Désirée Ball, d. Apr. 26, 1898), American actress and comedian.  She died at age 77.

1902~ Dutch Schultz (né Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, d. Oct. 24, 1935), Jewish-American gangster and crime figure.  He was shot at age 33.

1900~ Cecil Howard Green (d. Apr. 11, 2003), British-born American businessman and founder of Texas Instruments.  He died at age 102.

1883~ Scott Nearing (d. Aug. 24, 1983), American writer and educator who lived in Maine.  He was an advocate for simple living.  He died 18 days after his 100^thbirthday.

1881~ Sir Alexander Fleming (d. Mar. 11, 1955), Scottish biologist and pharmacologist known for his discovery of penicillin, for which he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine.  He died of a heart attack at age 73.

1881~ Louella Parsons (née Louella Rose Oettinger, d. Dec. 9, 1972), American screenwriter and gossip columnist.  She died at age 91.

1877~ Wallace White, Jr. (né Wallace Humphry White, Jr., d. Mar. 31, 1952), United States Senator from the State of Maine.  He died at age 74.

1861~ Edith Roosevelt (née Edith Kermit Carow, d. Sept. 30, 1948), First Lady of the United States and second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt.  She died at age 87.

1809~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1^st Baron Tennyson (né Alfred Tennyson, d. Oct. 6, 1892), British poet.  He died at age 83.

1697~ Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Jan. 20, 1745).  He died at age 47.

1667~ Johann Bernoulli (d. Jan. 1, 1748), Swiss mathematician.  He is best known for his contributions to infinitesimal calculus.  He was also the teacher of mathematician Leonhard Euler.  He died at age 80.

Events that Changed the World:

2012~ NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars.

1996~ The Ramonesplayed their farewell concert in Los Angeles, California.

1965~ President Lyndon Johnson (1908 ~ 1973) signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

1962~ Jamaica gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1945~ The United States B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan.  Approximately 70,000 people were instantly killed.  Tens of thousands of other individuals died from burns and radiation poisoning.

1942~ Queen Wilhelmina (1880 ~ 1962) of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

1930~ New York City Judge Joseph Crater (b. 1889 ~ disappeared 1930) got into a taxi in New York City and was never seen again.  His disappearance remains a mystery.  He was declared dead in 1939.

1926~ Gertrude Ederle (1906-2003) became the first woman to swim the English Channel.

1914~ During World War I, Serbia declared war on Germany.

1890~ In Auburn Prison in New York state, the electric chair was used for the first time to execute convicted murderer William Kemmler (1860 ~ 1890).

1862~ During the American Civil War, the Confederate ship, CSS Arkansas, was scuttled on the Mississippi River after catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1825~ Bolivia gained its independence from Spain.

1819~ Norwich University was founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.

1806~ The Holy Roman Empire came to an end after France defeated the Hapsburgs and Francis II (1768 ~ 1835), the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated.

1538~ The city of Bogotá, Columbia was founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (d. 1579).

135~ Roman armies entered Betar in Israel, brutally slaughtering thousands of Jews, effectively ending the bar Kokhba revolt.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Betty Cuthbert (née Elizabeth Alyse Cuthbert, b. Apr. 20, 1938), Australian sprinter who won it all.  She competed in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics in Melbourne and Tokyo, respectively, where she won gold medals.  She died at age 79. 

2016~ Pete Fountain (né Pierre Dewey LaFountaine, Jr., b. July 3, 1930), American jazz clarinet player.  He played traditional Dixieland and Creole music.  He was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He died about a month after his 86^thbirthday.

2013~ Ze’ev Ben-Haim (né Ze’ev Wolf Goldman, b. Dec. 28, 1907), Russian-born Israeli linguist.  He was a strong advocate for modernizing the Hebrew language.  He died at age 105.

2012~ Marvin Hamlisch (né Marvin Frederick Hamlisch, b. June 2, 1944), American composer, conductor and pianist who rewrote Hollywood’s songbook.  He died of respiratory failure at age 68.

2012~ Robert Hughes (né Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, b. July 28, 1938), Australian critic and writer and pugnacious popularize of fine art.  He died following a long illness a week after his 74^th birthday.

2009~ John Hughes (né John Wilden Hughes, Jr., b. Feb. 18, 1950), 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.

2009~ Antonia Ferrín Moreiras (b. May 13, 1914), Spanish mathematician and astronomer.  She died at age 95.

2007~ Atle Selberg (b. June 14, 1917), Norwegian mathematician.  He was 1950 recipient of the Fields Medal.  He died at age 90.

1998~ André Weil (b. May 6, 1906), French mathematician.  He is best known for his work in number theory and algebraic geometry.  His sister was the philosopher Simone Weil.  He died at age 92.

1991~ Harry Reasoner (né Harry Truman Reasoner, b. Apr. 17, 1923), American journalist and co-founder of 60 Minutes.  He died of a blood clot to the brain after a fall.  He was 68 years old.

1979~ Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen (b. Apr. 6, 1911), German biochemist and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the regulation of cholesterol.  He died at age 68 following surgery for an aneurism.

1978~ Pope Paul VI (né Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, b. Sept. 26, 1897).  He was Pope for 15 years, from June 21, 1963 until his death at age 80.

1973~ Fulgencio Batista (b. Jan. 16, 1901), Cuban military leader and President of Cuba until his ouster.  He died of a heart attack at age 72.

1925~ Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (b. Jan 12. 1853), Italian mathematician.  He is best known for inventing tensor calculus. He died at age 72.

1914~ Ellen Wilson (née Ellen Louise Axson, b. May 15, 1860), First Lady of the United States and 1^st wife of President Woodrow Wilson.  She died at age 54 of Bright’s disease during her husband’s Presidency.

1746~ Christian VI of Denmark and Norway (b. Nov. 30, 1699).  He died at age 46.

1660~ Diego Valázquez (b. June 6, 1599), Spanish painter.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on June 6, 1599.  He died at age 61.

1637~ Benjamin Jonson (b. June 11, 1572), English playwright.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but June 11 is generally ascribed to his birth date.  He died at age 65.

1623~ Anne Hathaway (b. June 8, 1555), wife of William Shakespeare.  The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she is believed to have been born on June 8, 1555, making her 67 at the time of her death.

1458~ Pope Callixtus III (né Alfons de Borja, b. Dec. 31, 1378).  He was Pope from April 8, 1455 until his death on this date in 1458.  He was responsible for the retrial of Joan of Arc that saw her vindicated.  He was the uncle to Pope Alexander VI.  He died at age 79.

1272~ King Stephen V of Hungary (b. 1239).  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 32 or 33 at the time of his death.

1221~ Saint Dominic (b. Aug. 6, 1170), Castilian priest and founder of the Dominicans. He died 2 days before his 51^st birthday.

523~ Pope Hormisdas (b. 450).  He was pope from July 20, 514 until his death on this date three years later.  The date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 73 at the time of his death.

258~ Pope Sixtus II.  He was Pope from August 31, 257 until his death on this date when he was martyred during the persecution by Emperor Valerian.  The date of his birth is unknown.