Thursday, February 13, 2020

February 13

Birthdays:

1979 ~ Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian terrorist and murderer.  In July 2011, he committed mass murder.  He has been sentenced to life in prison.  He was born in Oslo, Norway.

1948 ~ Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (d. Oct. 14, 2011), Cuban opposition leader who flummoxed the Castro regime.  She died of cardiac arrest at age 63.

1947 ~ Stephen Hadley (né Stephen John Hadley), 21st National Security Advisor.  He served under President George W. Bush from January 2005 until January 2009.  He was born in Toledo, Ohio.

1945 ~ Sir Simon Schama (né Simon Michael Schama), British historian.  He was born in London, England.

1944 ~ Stockard Channing (née Susan Antoina Williams Stockard), American actress.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.

1944 ~ Jerry Springer (né Gerald Norman Springer), English-born American television host.  He also served as the 56th Mayor of Cincinnati from January 1977 until January 1978.  He was born in London, England.

1943 ~ Elaine Pagels (née Elaine Hiesey), American theologian and religious historian.  She was born in Palo Alto, California.

1942 ~ Peter Tork (né Peter Halsten Thorkelson; d. Feb. 21, 2019), American singer-songwriter and member of The Monkees.  He died 8 days after his 77th birthday.

1940 ~ Theodore Forstmann (né Theodore Joseph Forstmann; d. Nov. 20, 2011), American pioneer of private equity.  He died at age 71.

1934 ~ George Segal (né George Segal, Jr.), American actor.  He was born in Great Neck, New York.

1933 ~ Kim Novak (née Marilyn Pauline Novak), American actress.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

1923 ~ Michael Bilandic (né Michael Anthony Bilandic; d. Jan. 15, 2002), Mayor of Chicago.  He served as mayor from December 1976 until April 1979.  He died a month before his 79th birthday.

1923 ~ Chuck Yeager (né Charles Elwood Yeager), American fighter plane test pilot who was the first person to break the sound barrier.  He was born in Myra, West Virginia.

1919 ~ Tennessee Ernie Ford (né Ernest Jennings Ford; d. Oct. 17, 1991), American singer and actor.  He died at age 72.

1919 ~ Eddie Robinson (né Eddie Gay Robinson, Sr.; d. Apr. 3, 2007), American football coach and Louisiana native.  He died at age 88.

1916 ~ Dorothy Bliss (née Dorothy Elizabeth Bliss; d. Dec. 26, 1987), American invertebrate zoologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History.  She was a pioneer in the study of hormonal control in crustaceans. She was born in Cranston, Rhode Island and died of cancer at age 71 in Providence, Rhode Island.

1911 ~ Jean Muir (née Jean Muir Fullarton; d. July 23, 1996), American stage actress.  She died at age 85.

1910 ~ William Shockley (né William Bradford Shockley, Jr.; d. Aug. 12, 1989), American physicist and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with transistors.  He died at age 79.

1892 ~ Robert H. Jackson (né Robert Houghwout Jackson; d. Oct. 9, 1954), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from July 1941 until his death in October 1954.  He replaced Harlan F. Stone on the Court and was succeeded by John Marshall Harlan II.  Prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court, he had served as the 57th United States Attorney General under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He previously served as the 24th United States Solicitor General.  He also served as the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.  He died of a heart attack at age 62.

1891 ~ Grant Wood (né Grant DeVolson Wood; d. Feb. 12, 1942), American painter best known for his iconic American Gothic.  He died of pancreatic cancer 1 day before his 51st birthday.

1888 ~ Georgios Papandreou (d. Nov. 1, 1968), Prime Minister of Greece.  He served several terms as Prime Minister.  He died at age 80.

1885 ~ Bess Truman (née Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman; d. Oct. 18, 1982), First Lady and wife of President Harry S Truman.  She served as First Lady from April 1945 until January 1953.  She was known to be very anti-Semitic.  She died at age 97.

1881 ~ Eleanor Farjeon (d. June 5, 1965), British author, poet and playwright.  She wrote a lot of children’s literature.  She died at age 84.

1855 ~ Paul Deschanel (né Paul Eugène Louis Deschanel; d. Apr. 28, 1922), President of France from February 1920 until September 1920.  He died at age 67.

1849 ~ Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (d. Jan. 24, 1985), British statesman.  He was the father of Winston Churchill.  Interestingly, Winston died exactly 70 years after the death of his father.  Lord Randolph died 20 days after his 45th birthday.

1834 ~ Heinrich Caro (d. Sept. 10, 1910), Polish-German chemist.  He died at age 76.

1831 ~ John Rawlins (né John Aaron Rawlins; d. Sept. 6, 1869), 29th Secretary of War.  He served under President Ulysses S. Grant from March 1869 until his death 6 months later.  He died of tuberculosis at age 38.

1818 ~ Sarah Van Buren (née Sarah Angelica Singleton; d. Dec. 29, 1877), daughter-in-law of President Martin Van Buren.  She was married to Abraham Van Buren.  She served as First Lady during Martin Van Buren’s Presidency.  She died at age 59.

1805 ~ Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (d. May 5, 1859), German mathematician.  He is best known for his contribution to number theory.  He died at age 54.

1599 ~ Pope Alexander VII (né Fabio Chigi; d. May 22, 1667).  He was Pope from April 1655 until his death 12 years later.  He died at age 68.

1523 ~ Valentin Naboth (d. Mar. 3, 1593), German mathematician.  He died less than a month after his 70thbirthday.

1469 ~ Elia Levita (d. Jan. 28, 1549), Renaissance Hebrew grammarian.  He died 18 days after his 80th birthday.

1457 ~ Mary of Burgundy (d. Mar. 27, 1482), Duchess of Brabant, Limburg, Lothier, Luxemburg and Guelders.  She was the first wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, however she had died before he assumed that role.  She was killed at age 25 from a fall from her horse during a falcon hunt.

Events that Changed the World:

2018 ~ Mardi Gras.

2017 ~ Kim Jong-nam (1971 ~ 2017), oldest half-brother of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, was assassinated at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, presumably at the orders of Kim Jong-un.

2001 ~ A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit El Salvador, killing at nearly 950 people.  On January 9, 2018, the Trump administration announced that those from El Salvador who came to the United States as a result of the earthquake must return to their home country.

1981 ~ A series of sewer explosions destroyed more than 2 miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

1955 ~ Israel acquired 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

1945 ~ The Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.  Bombing of the city would begin the following day.

1935 ~ A New Jersey jury found Bruno Hauptmann (1899 ~ 1936) guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles and Anna Lindbergh’s baby.  He was executed via the electric chair on April 3, 1936.

1931 ~ New Delhi was declared the capital of India.

1914 ~ In New York City, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1698 ~ William (1650 ~ 1702) and Mary (1662 ~ 1694) were proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1668 ~ Spain recognized Portugal as an independent nation with the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.

1633 ~ Galileo Galilei (1564 ~ 1642) arrived in Rome for his heresy trial before the Inquisition.

1575 ~ King Henry III (1551 ~ 1589) of France was crown king and married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont (1553 ~ 1601) two days later.

1572 ~ Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533 ~ 1603) issued a proclamation that revoked all commissions on the account of the frauds that they had fostered.

Good-Byes:

2018 ~ Prince Henrik of Denmark (né Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat, b. June 11, 1934), French-born Prince Consort of Denmark.  He was the husband of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.  He died at age 83.

2016 ~ Sir Christopher Zeeman (né Erik Christopher Zeeman; b. Feb. 4, 1925), British mathematician.  He died 9 days after his 91st birthday.

2014 ~ Ralph Waite (b. June 22, 1928), American actor who was father to America with his role as the father on The Waltons.  He died at age 85.

2010 ~ Lucille Clifton (née Thelma Lucille Sayles; b. June 27, 1936), African-American poet and writer.  She died at age 73.

2003 ~ Walt Rostow (né Walt Whitman Rostow; b. Oct. 7, 1916), 7th United States National Security Advisor.  He served under President Lyndon B. Johnson from April 1966 until January 1969.  He died at age 86.

1997 ~ Mark Krasnosel’skii (b. Apr. 27, 1920), Ukrainian mathematician.  He is best known for his work on nonlinear functional analysis.  He died at age 76.

1996 ~ Martin Balsam (né Martin Henry Balsam; b. Nov. 4, 1919), American actor.  He died of a stroke at age 76.

1992 ~ Nikolay Bogolyubov (b. Aug. 21, 1909), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1980 ~ David Janssen (né David Harold Meyer; b. Mar. 27, 1931), American actor best known for his role as Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.  He died of a heart attack at age 48.

1976 ~ Lily Pons (né Alice Joséphine Pons; b. Apr. 12, 1898), French-born American soprano.  She died of pancreatic cancer at age 77.

1967 ~ Yoshisuke Aikawa (b. Nov. 6, 1880), Japanese entrepreneur and founder of the Nissan Motor Company.  He died at age 86.

1958 ~ Dame Christabel Pankhurst (née Christabel Harriette Pankhurst; b. Sept. 22, 1880), British leader of the women’s suffrage movement.  She died at age 77.

1958 ~ Georges Rouault (né Georges Henri Rouault; b. May 27, 1871), French painter.  He died at age 85.

1956 ~ Jan Łukasiewicz (b. Dec. 21, 1878), Polish mathematician.  He is best known for his work in logistics, including mathematical logic.  He died at age 77.

1952 ~ Josephine Tey (née Elizabeth MacKintosh; b. July 25, 1896), Scottish author of mystery novels.  She died of liver cancer at age 55.

1951 ~ Lloyd C. Douglas (né Lloyd Cassel Douglas; b. Aug. 27, 1877), American minister and author best known for his novel, The Robe.  He died at age 73.

1945 ~ Henrietta Szold (b. Dec. 21, 1860), American activist and founder of Hadassah.  She died at age 84.

1891 ~ Alexander Stuart (né Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart; b. Apr. 2, 1807), 3rd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce from September 1850 until March 1853.  He died at age 83.

1883 ~ Richard Wagner (né Wilhelm Richard Wagner, b. May 22, 1883), German composer best known for his series of operas, The Ring Cycle.  He died of a heart attack at age 69.

1818 ~ George Clark (né George Rogers Clark; b. Nov. 19, 1752), American general, surveyor and frontiersman.  He was the older brother of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.  George Clark died of a stroke at age 65.

1787 ~ Ruđer Josip Bošković (b. May 18, 1711), Croatian physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 75.

1728 ~ Cotton Mather (b. Feb. 12, 1663), New England clergyman.  He died 1 day after his 65th birthday.

1662 ~ Elizabeth Stuart (b. Aug. 19, 1596), Queen of Bohemia.  She was the wife of Frederick V of Palatine.  She was the daughter of James VI and I of King of Scotland, England and Ireland, and Anne of Denmark.  She died at age 65.

1660 ~ King Charles X Gustav of Sweden (b. Nov. 8, 1622).  He reigned from June 1654 until his death in February 1660.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 37.

1603 ~ François Vièta (b. 1540), French mathematician and lawyer.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1571 ~ Benvenuto Cellini (b. Nov. 3, 1500), Italian goldsmith, painter and sculptor.  He died at age 70.

1543 ~ Johann Maier von Eck (d. Nov. 13, 1486), German theologian.  He died at age 56.

1542 ~ Catherine Howard (b. 1521), Queen consort of England and fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England.  She was executed on charges of adultery.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 18 or 19 at the time of her execution.

1542 ~ Jane Boleyn (née Jane Parker; b. 1505), Viscountess Rochford.  She was the wife of George, Boleyn and sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to Catherine Howard.  She was executed along with Catherine Howard.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

1141 ~ Béla II, King of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1109).  He was known as Béla the Blind because his uncle, King Coloman of Hungary, had him blinded to prevent an uprising.  He ruled for 10 years, from 1131 until his death in February 1141.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 31 or 32 at the time of his death.

1130 ~ Pope Honorius II (né Lamberto Scannabecchi; b. Feb. 9, 1060), Pope from December 1124 until his death on this date in 1130.  He died 4 days after his 70th birthday.

936 ~ Xiao Wen, Chinese empress of the Liao Dynasty.  She was the wife of Emperor Taisong.  The date of her birth is not known.

106 ~ Emperor He of Han (b. 79), Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.  The date of his birth is not known.

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