Thursday, August 13, 2020

August 13

Birthdays:

1982 ~ Sarah Huckabee Sanders (née Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee), White House Press Secretary during the Donald Trump administration.  She held that Office from July 26, 2017 through July 1, 2019.  She is the daughter of Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.  She was born in Hope, Arkansas.

1963 ~ Valerie Plame (née Valerie Elsie Plame), American CIA agent whose identity was leaked in 2003.  She was born in Anchorage, Alaska.

1962 ~ John Slattery (né John M. Slattery, Jr.), American actor.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1960 ~ George Packer, American journalist and playwright.  He was born in Santa Clara, California.

1952 ~ Herb Ritts (né Herbert Ritts, Jr.; d. Dec. 26, 2002), American photographer.  He died of pneumonia at age 50.

1952 ~ Tom Davis (né Thomas James Davis; d. July 19, 2012), American comedian.  He had partnered with Al Franken and wrote many comedy skits during the early years of Saturday Night Live.  He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  He died in Hudson, New York of throat cancer at less than a month before his 60th birthday.

1949 ~ Philippe Petit, French tightrope walker.  He performed a high-wire act between the Twin Towers in New York City in 1974.  He was born in Nemours, France.

1933 ~ Joycelyn Elders (née Minnie Lee Jones), 15th Surgeon General of the United States.  She served under President Bill Clinton from September 1993 through December 1994.  She was born in Schaal, Arkansas

1930 ~ Don Ho (né Donald Tai Loy Ho; d. Apr. 14, 2007), Hawaiian singer and musician.  He died of heart disease at age 76.

1930 ~ Bernard Manning (né Bernard John Manning; d. June 18, 2007), British comedian.  He died at age 76.

1929 ~ Pat Harrington, Jr. (né Daniel Patrick Harrington, Jr.; d. Jan. 6, 2016), American actor best known for his role as Schneider on the television sit-com One Day at a Time.  He died at age 86.

1926 ~ Fidel Castro (d. Nov. 25, 2016), Cuban revolutionary and President of Cuba.  He died at age 90.

1919 ~ Sir George Shearing, OBE (né George Albert Shearing; d. Feb. 14, 2011), British pianist with a signature sound.  He was born blind to working-class parents in London and became one of the best known jazz pianists of his time.  He died at age 91.

1918 ~ Frederick Sanger (d. Nov. 19, 2013), British biochemist and recipient of the two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry.  He has the 1958 and the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was a pioneer in genomics.  He died at age 95.

1914 ~ Grace Bates (née Grace Elizabeth Bates; d. Nov. 19, 1996).  American mathematician.  She was one of a few women to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in the 1940s.  She died at age 82.

1912 ~ Salvador Luria (né Salvador Edward Luria; d. Feb. 6, 1991), Italian-born American microbiologist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his work with bacterial viruses.  He died at age 78 in Lexington, Massachusetts.

1912 ~ Ben Hogan (né William Ben Hogan; d. July 25, 1997), American professional golfer.  He is considered one of the greatest golfers in the sport.  He died in Fort Worth, Texas 19 days before his 85th birthday.

1911 ~ William Bernbach (d. Oct. 2, 1982), American creative advertising director.  He died at age 71.

1902 ~ Felix Wankel (né Felix Heinrich Wankel; d. Oct. 9, 1988), German engineer and inventor of the Wankel engine.  He died at age 86.

1899 ~ Sir Alfred Hitchcock (né Alfred Joseph Hitchcock; d. Apr. 29, 1980), English film director.  He died at age 80.

1895 ~ Bert Lahr (né Irving Lahrheim; d. Dec. 4, 1967), American actor best know for his role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.  He died at age 72.

1872 ~ Richard Willstätter (né Richard Martin Willstätter; d. Aug. 3, 1942), German chemist and recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 10 days before his 70th birthday.

1866 ~ Giovanni Agnelli (d. Dec. 16, 1945), Italian businessman and founder of Fiat S.p.A.  He died at age 79.

1860 ~ Annie Oakley (née Phoebe Ann Mosey; d. Nov. 3, 1926), American Wild West sharp shooter.  She was married to Frank Butler.  She died of pernicious anemia at age 66.

1851 ~ Felix Adler (d. Apr. 24, 1933), German-born American educator and social reformer.  He died at age 81.

1819 ~ Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet (né George Gabriel Stokes; d. Feb. 1, 1903), Irish mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 83.

1818 ~ Lucy Stone (d. Oct. 18, 1893), American suffragette.  She helped organize the women’s right movement in the United States.  When she married Henry Blackwell, she kept her name, stating, “My name is the symbol of my identity.”  She was from Massachusetts.  She died at age 75.

1814 ~ Anders Jonas Ångström (d. June 21, 1874), Swedish physicist.  He was a pioneer in the field of spectroscopy.  The unit of the measurement of wavelengths, the Ångström, is named in his honor.  He died at age 59.

1625 ~ Rasmus Bartholin (d. Nov. 4, 1698), Danish mathematician.  He died at age 73.

Events that Changed the World:

2004 ~ Hurricane Charley hit Punta Gorda, Florida as a Category 4 storm and caused considerable damage.  The hurricane had formed on August 9 and dissipated on August 15.

1969 ~ The Apollo 11 astronauts were released from their three-week quarantine to participate in a ticker tape parade in New York City to celebrate the moon walk.

1961 ~ East Germany closed the boarder between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin and began building the Berlin Wall.

1918 ~ Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) was established as a public company.

1918 ~ Opha Mae Johnson (1879 ~ 1955) became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.

1876 ~ The premiere of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle was performed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, the opera house in Bayreuth, Germany.  Beginning in 2013, many opera companies throughout the United States began performances of the Ring Cycle to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth.

1868 ~ A massive earthquake struck Arica, Peru, causing nearly 25,000 casualties.  The subsequent tsunami was felt as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.

1792 ~ King Louis XVI (1754 ~ 1793) of France was formally arrested and declared an enemy of the people.

1779 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, the Royal Navy defeated the Penobscot Expedition, resulting in the most significant loss of United States Naval forces until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942.

1624 ~ Cardinal Richelieu (1585 ~ 1642) was appointed as prime minister by King Louis XIII (1601 ~ 1643) of France.

1521 ~ Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) was captured by conquistador Hernán Cortéz (1485 ~ 1547) from the Aztecs.

1099 ~ Pope Paschal II (né Ranierus; 1055 ~ 1118) became the 160th Pope.

523 ~ John I (470 ~ 526) became 53rd Pope following the death of Pope Hormisdas (d. 523).

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Helen Gurley Brown (née Helen Marie Gurley; b. Feb. 18, 1922), American editor who created the Cosmo Girl.  She was the editor-in-chief for Cosmopolitan for 32 years.  She died at age 90.

2012 ~ Johnny Pesky (né John Michael Paveskovich; b. Feb. 27, 1919), American baseball player, manager and coach who spent much of his career with the Boston Red Sox.  He was known as Mr. Red Sox.  He died at age 93.

2010 ~ Edwin Newman (né Edwin Harold Newman; b. Jan. 25, 1919), American journalist.  He died at age 91.

2008 ~ Henri Cartan (né Henri Paul Cartan; b. July 8, 1904), French mathematician.  He made significant contributions to the field of algebraic topology.  He died at age 104.

2007 ~ Brook Astor (née Roberta Brooke Russell; b. Mar. 30, 1902), American socialite and philanthropist.  She was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Her third husband was William Vincent Astor.  She died at age 105.

2004 ~ Julia Child (née Julie Carolyn McWilliams, b. Aug. 15, 1912), American chef and television personality.  She died 2 days before her 92nd birthday.

1995 ~ Mickey Mantle (né Mickey Charles Mantle; b. Oct. 20, 1931), American baseball player.  He died at age 63 in Dallas, Texas.

1986 ~ Way Bandy (né Ronald Duane Wright; b. Aug. 9, 1941), American make-up artist.  He was born in Birmingham, Alabama.  He died in New York, New York 4 days after his 45th birthday.

1985 ~ J. Willard Marriott, Sr. (né John Willard Marriott, b. Sept. 17, 1900), American hotelier.  He founded the Marriott Corporation.  He was born in Marriott-Slaterville, Utah.  He died about a month before his 85th birthday in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

1971 ~ W.O. Bentley (né Walter Owen Bentley; b. Sept. 16, 1888), British race car driver and engineer.  He founded the Bentley Motor Limited.  He died about a month before his 83rd birthday.

1946 ~ H.G. Wells (né Herbert George Wells; b. Sept. 21, 1866), English science fiction writer.  He is best known for his novels such as The Time MachineThe War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau.  He died at age 79.

1917 ~ Eduard Buchner (b. May 20, 1860), German chemist and recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in fermentation.  He died at age 57 of wounds suffered while in combat during World War I.

1910 ~ Florence Nightingale (b. May 12, 1820), British nurse.  She is the founder of modern nursing.  She was instrumental in the health of British soldiers during the Crimean War.  She died at age 90.

1865 ~ Ignaz Semmelweis (né Semmelweiss Ignáz Fülöp, b. July 1, 1818), Hungarian obstetrical doctor.  He was an early pioneer in the use of antiseptic procedures.  He is often referred to as the “Savior of Mothers.” He died at age 47 of blood poisoning.

1863 ~ Eugène Delacroix (né Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix; b. Apr. 26, 1798), French painter.  He died at age 65.

1826 ~ René Laennec (né Réne Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec; b. Feb. 17, 1781), French physician and inventor of the stethoscope.  He died at age 45.

1744 ~ John Cruger (b. 1678), 39th Mayor of New York City.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 65 or 66 at the time of his death.

1382 ~ Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Castile (b. Feb. 20, 1358), Queen consort of Castile and wife of John I of Castile.  She was of the House of Barcelona.  She died in childbirth at age 24.

604 ~ Emperor Wen of Sui (b. July 21, 541), 1st Chinese Emperor of the Sui Dynasty.  He died just over 3 weeks after his 63rd birthday.

No comments:

Post a Comment