Sunday, May 17, 2020

May 17

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Máxima (née Mámina Zorreguieta Cerruti), Queen consort of the Netherlands and wife of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.  They married in 2002.

1965 ~ Trent Reznor (né Michael Trent Reznor), American musician and frontman for Nine Inch Nails.

1962 ~ Craig Ferguson, Scottish-American comedian and talk show host.

1961 ~ Enya (née Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin), Irish singer and musician.

1956 ~ Sugar Ray Leonard (né Ray Charles Leonard), African American boxer.

1955 ~ Bill Paxton (né William Paxton; d. Feb. 25, 2017), American actor.  He died of a stroke following complications from surgery.  He was 61 years old.

1944 ~ Jesse Winchester (né James Rideout Winchester, Jr., d. Apr. 11, 2014), American-Canadian singer-songwriter who made music in exile.  He was born in Bossier City, Louisiana.  He was an anti-Vietnam War protester and fled to Canada after receiving his draft notice.  He died of bladder cancer about a month before his 70th birthday.

1937 ~ Hazel R. O’Leary (née Hazel Reid), 7th Secretary of Energy.  She served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until January 1997.  She was the first woman and first African-American to serve in this position.

1936 ~ Dennis Hopper (né Dennis Lee Hopper; d. May 29, 2010), American actor.  He died of prostate cancer just 12 days after his 74th birthday.

1935 ~ Dennis Potter (né Dennis Christopher George Potter; d. June 7, 1994), British television writer and journalist.  He died of pancreatic cancer 21 days after his 59th birthday.

1934 ~ Earl Morrall (né Earl Edwin Morrall; d. Apr. 25, 2014), American backup football player who played a starring role.  He died 22 days before his 80th birthday.

1912 ~ Archibald Cox, Jr. (d. May 29, 2004), American lawyer and politician best known for his role as the first special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal.  He served as the 31st United States Solicitor General.  He died 12 days after his 92nd birthday.

1912 ~ Mary Beatrice Davidson (d. Jan. 13, 2006), African-American inventor.  She held 5 patents, but she is best known for her invention of the sanitary belt.  Her invention was rejected by a manufacturing company, however, once it discovered that she was an African-American.  She died at age 93.

1911 ~ Maureen O’Sullivan (née Maureen Paula O’Sullivan; d. June 23, 1998), Irish-American actress.  She died at age 87.

1897 ~ Odd Hassel (d. May 11, 1891), Norwegian physical chemist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 6 days before his 84th birthday.

1886 ~ Alfonso XIII, King of Spain (d. Feb. 28, 1941).  He reigned from his birth until he was ousted on April 14, 1931.  He died in Rome at age 54.

1868 ~ Horace Elgin Dodge, Sr. (d. Dec. 10, 1920), American automobile manufacturer and co-founder, along with his brother John (1864 ~ 1920), of the Dodge car company.  He died of complications of pneumonia from the Spanish Flu and liver disease at age 52.

1866 ~ Érik Satie (né Éric Alfred Leslie Satie; d. July 1, 1925), French pianist and composer.  He died at age 59.

1860 ~ Charlotte Barnum (née Charlotte Cynthia Barnum; d. Mar. 27, 1934), American mathematician and social activist.  She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University.  She was born in Massachusetts.  She died at age 73.

1818 ~ Ezra Otis Kendall (d. Jan. 5, 1899), American mathematician and professor.  He was born in Wilmington, Massachusetts.  He died at age 80.

1749 ~ Edward Jenner (d. Jan. 26, 1823), British physician and pioneer of smallpox vaccinations.  He died at age 73.

1743 ~ Seth Warner (d. Dec. 26, 1784), American captain in the Green Mountain Boys.  He is best known for his role in the capture of Fort Crown Point in the siege of Quebec.  He was born and died in Roxbury, Connecticut.  He died at age 41.

1682 ~ Bartholomew Roberts (né John Roberts; d. Feb. 10, 1722), Welsh pirate.  He raided ships off the Americas and West Africa.  He is said to have raided over 400 ships.  He was known as Black Bart.  He was killed at age 39 while in the trying to raid the HMS Swallow.

Events that Changed the World:

2018 ~ Gina Haspel (b. 1956), was confirmed by the United States Senate to become the 7th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  She was the first woman to hold this position.  She formally became the Director on May 21, 2018.

2011 ~Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926) made her first visit to the Republic of Ireland.  Her visit was the first by a British monarch to Ireland since her grandfather visited the country in 1906.

2004 ~ Massachusetts became the first State to legalize same-sex marriages.

1990 ~ The General Assembly of the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric diseases.

1983 ~ Lebanon, Israel and the United States signed an agreement on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

1983 ~ The United States Department of Energy declassified documents showing the largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in response to a Freedom of Information request by the Appalachian Observer.

1973 ~ The televised United State Senate hearings began in the Watergate scandal.

1954 ~ The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which held that separating public schools according to race was unconstitutional.  Chief Justice Earl Warren authored the opinion.  Sixty years later, many schools, especially in the South, were still under Federal Court desegregation supervision.

1875 ~ The first Kentucky Derby race occurred, which was won by a horse named Aristides.

1805 ~ Muhammad Ali (1769 ~ 1849) became the Wāli, or administrative governor, of Egypt.

1792 ~ The New York Stock Exchange was formed.

1673 ~ Louis Joliet (1645 ~ 1700) and Jacques Marquette (1637 ~ 1675) began their exploration of the Mississippi River.

1590 ~ Anne of Denmark (1574 ~ 1619) was crowned Queen of Scotland.

1536 ~ King Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547) received an annulment from his marriage to Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536).  On the same day, King Henry VIII had Anne’s brother, George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford (1503 ~ 1536) and four other men executed for treason.

Good-Byes:

2019 ~ Herman Wouk (b. May 27, 1915), American conservative author who wrote historical epics.  He is best known for such novels as The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War.  He died 10 days before his 104th birthday.

2014 ~ Gerald Edelman (né Gerald Maurice Edelman; b. July 1, 1929), American biologist and immunologist.  He was the recipient of the 1972 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 84.

2013 ~ Jorge Rafael Videla (b. Aug. 2, 1925), 43rd President of Argentina and head of Argentina’s military junta from 1976 to 1981.  After the return of the democratic government, he was prosecuted for human rights violations and crimes against humanity.  He died at age 87.

2012 ~ Donna Summer (née LaDonna Adrian Gaines; b. Dec. 31, 1948), American singer known as the Queen of Disco.  She was the reluctant diva of disco.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died of lung cancer at age 63.

2011 ~ Harmon Killebrew (né Harmon Clayton Killebrew, Jr.; b. June 29, 1936), American baseball player.  He was the gentle slugger who was beloved by his team.  He died at age 74.

2009 ~ Mario Benedetti (b. Sept. 14, 1920), Uruguayan writer and political activist.  He died at age 88.

2005 ~ Frank Gorshin (né Frank John Gorshin, Jr.; b. Apr. 5, 1933), American comedian best known for his role as The Riddler on Batman.  He died at age 72 of lung cancer.

2004 ~ Tony Randall (né Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; b. Feb. 26, 1920), American actor.  He was married twice.  His first wife, Florence Gibbs, died in 1992.  At age 75, he remarried Heather Harlan, who was 25 years old.  They had two children.  He died at age 84.

2003 ~ Irene Gut Opdyke (née Irene Gut; b. May 5, 1922), Polish nurse who aided in saving Jews from the Nazis during World War II.  She was honored as the Righteous Among Nations by Yad Vashem.  She died 2 weeks after her 81st birthday.

2001 ~ Jacques-Louis Lions (b. May 3, 1928), French mathematician.  He died 2 weeks after his 73rd birthday.

1992 ~ Lawrence Welk (b. Mar. 11, 1903), American musician and bandleader.  He was the host of The Lawrence Welk Show.  He died of pneumonia at age 89.

1987 ~ Gunnar Myrdal (né Karl Gunnar Myrdal; b. Dec. 6, 1898), Swedish economist and recipient of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He died at age 88.

1955 ~ Owen Roberts (né Owen Josephus Roberts; b. May 2, 1875), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Herbert Hoover.  He replaced Edward Stanford on the Court.  He was succeeded by Harold Burton.  He served on the Court from May 1930 until July 1945.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died in West Vincent, Pennsylvania 15 days after his 80th birthday.

1934 ~ Cass Gilbert (b. Nov. 24, 1859), American architect and designer of the United States Supreme Court Building.  He died at age 74.

1922 ~ Dorothy Levitt (née Elizabeth Levi, b. Jan. 5, 1882), British journalist and first woman race car driver.  She taught the women in the royal family how to drive.  She died at age 40.

1911 ~ Frederick August Otto Schwarz (b. Oct. 18, 1836), German-born American businessman and founder of the FAO Schwarz toy store.  He died at age 74.

1886 ~ John Deere (b. Feb. 7, 1804), American blacksmith and manufacturer of farm machinery.  He was born in Rutland, Vermont.  He was the founder of the John Deere & Company.  He died at age 82.

1874 ~ John C. Breckinridge (né John Cabell Breckinridge; b. Jan. 16, 1821), 14th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President James Buchanan from March 1857 until March 1861.  He was from the State of Kentucky.  He went on to become a general in the Confederate Army.  He was then appointed to serve as the Confederate States Secretary of War.  He died at age 54 following complications of surgery.

1838 ~ Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (b. Feb. 2, 1754), French statesman and advisor to Napoleon.  He was also the 1st Prime Minister of France.  He served in this Office from July 1815 until September 1815.  He died at age 84.

1829 ~ John Jay (b. Dec. 23, 1745), American statesman and 1st Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President George Washington.  He served on the Court from September 1789 until June 1795.  He was succeeded by John Rutledge.  He had previously served as the Acting Secretary of State in the Washington administration, from September 1789 until March 1790.  He died at age 83.

1765 ~ Alexis Clairaut (né Alexis Claude Clairaut; b. May 13, 1713), French mathematician and astronomer.  He died 4 days after his 52nd birthday.

1727 ~ Catherine I of Russia (b. Apr. 15, 1684).  She was the second wife of Peter the Great.  She died of tuberculosis just over a month after her 43rd birthday.

1510 ~ Sandro Botticelli (né Alessandro di Mariano de Vanni Filipepi; b. May 20, 1445), Italian painter.  The actual date of his birth is unknown, although some believe it was May 20, 1446.  He is believed to have been about 65 at the time of his death.

528 ~ Yuan Zhao (b. 526), Chinese Emperpr of the Xianbei dynasty of Northern Wei.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

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