Sunday, August 9, 2020

August 9

Birthdays:

1985 ~ Anna Kendrick (née Anna Cooke Kendrick), American actress.  She was born in Portland, Maine.

1968 ~ Gillian Anderson (née Gillian Leigh Anderson), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on television drama, The X-Files.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

1968 ~ Eric Bana (né Eric Banadinović), Australian actor.  He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

1963 ~ Whitney Houston (née Whitney Elizabeth Houston; d. Feb. 11, 2012), American pop goddess who fell from grace.  She died of drowning due to a drug overdose.  She was 48 years old.

1959 ~ Michael Kors (né Karl Anderson, Jr.), American fashion designer.  He was born in Long Island, New York.

1957 ~ Melanie Griffith (née Melanie Richards Griffith), American actress.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.

1953 ~ Jean Tirole, French economist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science.  He was born in Troyes, France.

1944 ~ Patricia McKissack (née Patricia L’Ann Carwell; d. Apr. 7, 2017), African-American children’s author who championed black heroes.  She was born in Smyrna, Tennessee.  She died at age 72 in Bridgeton, Missouri.

1944 ~ Sam Elliot (né Samuel Pack Elliot), American actor.  He was born in Sacramento, California

1943 ~ Ken Norton, Sr. (né Kenneth Howard Norton; d. Sept. 18, 2013), heavyweight boxer who broke Muhammad Ali’s jaw in a 12-round victory in 1973.  He beat and then befriended Ali.  He died at age 70.

1941 ~ Way Bandy (né Ronald Duane Wright; d. Aug. 13, 1986), American make-up artist.  He was born in Birmingham, Alabama.  He died in New York, New York 4 days after his 45th birthday.

1940 ~ Linda Keen (née Linda Jo Goldway), American mathematician.  She was born in New York, New York.

1928 ~ Bob Cousy (né Robert Joseph Cousy), American professional basketball player.  He had a long career with the Boston Celtics.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.

1922 ~ Conchita Cintrón (d. Feb. 17, 2009), Chilean female bullfighter known as the “Blond Goddess.”  She was born in Antofagasta, Chile.  She died at age 86 in Lisbon, Portugal.

1915 ~ Mareta N. West (née Mareta Nelle West; d. Nov. 2, 1998), American astronomer and geologist.  She was the first female astrogeologist.  She died at age 83.

1911 ~ William Fowler (né William Alfred Fowler; d. Mar. 14, 1995), American physicist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 83.

1910 ~ Bunny Mellon (née Rachel Lowe Lambert; d. Mar. 17, 2014), the American heiress who redesigned the Rose Garden.  She was born in Princeton, New Jersey.  She died at age 103 in Upperville, Virginia.

1908 ~ Mary G. Ross (née Mary Golda Ross; d. Apr. 29, 2008), Native American engineer.  She was one of the original 40 members of Skunk Works, the name of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, which was responsible for designing military aircraft.  She was born in Park Hill, Oklahoma.  She died at age 99 in Los Altos, California.

1899 ~ Pamela Lyndon Travers (née Helen Lyndon Goff; d. Apr. 23, 1996), Australian author, best known for her children’s novel, Mary Poppins.  She took the penname Pamela L. Travers; but went by P.L. Travers.  She was the subject of the 2013 movie Saving Mr. Banks.  She died at age 96.

1878 ~ Eileen Gray (née Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; d. Oct. 31, 1976), Irish architect and furniture designer.  She died at age 98.

1861 ~ Dorothea Klumpke Roberts (née Dorothea Klumpke; d. Oct. 5, 1942), American astronomer.  She died at age 81.

1776 ~ Amedeo Avogadro (né Amedeo Carlo Avogadro; d. July 9, 1856), Italian chemist.  He is best known for his contribution to molecular theory, now known as Avogadro’s law.  He died a month before his 80th birthday.

1757 ~ Elizabeth Hamilton (née Elizabeth Schuyler; d. Nov. 9, 1854), American wife of Alexander Hamilton.  She died at age 97.

1726 ~ Francesco Cetti (d. Nov. 20, 1778), Italian priest, zoologist and mathematician.  He died at age 52.

1669 ~ Eudoxia Lopukhina (d. Sept. 7, 1731), Russian wife of Tsar Peter the Great.  She died a month after her 62ndbirthday.

1537 ~ Francesco Barozzi (d. Nov. 23, 1604), Italian mathematician and astronomer.  The lunar crater Barocius is named in his honor.  He died at age 67.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Michael Brown, a young African-American, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri by a police officer.  His killing initiated protests and riots throughout the United States.

1974 ~ Gerald Ford (1913 ~ 2006) took over the Office of President, the only United States President to take office without having been elected, after Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) became the first United States President to resign from that Office.

1969 ~ Charles Manson (1934 ~ 2017) and his followers murdered actress Sharon Tate (1943 ~ 1969), coffee heiress Abigail Folger (Aug. 11, 1943 ~ 1969), actor Wojciech Frykowski (1936 ~ 1969), Jay Sebring (1933 ~ 1969) and Steven Parent (1951 ~ 1969).

1945 ~ The United States dropped another atomic bomb three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.  The second bomb, dubbed Fat Man, was exploded over Nagasaki.  35,000 people were immediately killed.

1944 ~ The United States Forest Service released posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.

1936 ~ Jesse Owens (1913 ~ 1980) won his fourth gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games.  He was the first American to win four medals in one Olympiad.

1930 ~ The cartoon character Betty Boop made her debut in Dizzy Dishes.

1902 ~ Edward VII (1841 ~ 1910) and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark (1844 ~ 1925), were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1892 ~ Thomas Edison (1847 ~ 1931) received a patent for a two-way telegraph.

1854 ~ Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden, was published.

1173 ~ Construction of the campanile of the cathedral of Pisa was begun.  It would ultimately take over 200 years to complete and is now affectionately known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

70 ~ Traditional date when Roman General Titus began the siege of Jerusalem following the Jewish revolts against the Romans.  The date of the complete destruction of the second Temple corresponded with the 9th of Av on the Hebrew calendar.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Frank Gifford (né Francis Newton Gifford, b. Aug. 16, 1930), American football hero who became a broadcast icon.  He died 1 week before his 85th birthday.

2010 ~ Ted Stevens, Sr. (né Theodore Fulton Stevens; b. Nov. 18, 1923), American politician from Alaska, who was killed in a small plane crash.  He was 86 years old.  Sean O’Keefe was also a passenger in the plane, but he survived.

2008 ~ Bernie Mac (né Bernard Jeffrey McCullough; b. Oct. 5, 1957), American straight-talking comedian who specialized in crankiness.  He died of complications of pneumonia at age 50.

2006 ~ James Van Allen (né James Alfred Van Allen; b. Sept. 7, 1914), American physicist.  The Van Allen radiation belts are named in his honor.  He died a month before his 92nd birthday.

2005 ~ Judith Rossner (née Judith Louise Perelman, b. Mar. 31, 1935), American author, best known for her 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar.  She died of leukemia and complications from diabetes at age 70.

2003 ~ Gregory Hines (né Gregory Oliver Hines; b. Feb. 14, 1946), American actor and dancer.  He died of liver cancer at age 57.

2000 ~ John Harsanyi (né Harsányi János Károly; b. May 29, 1920), Hungarian –born American economist and recipient of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 80.

1996 ~ Sir Frank Whittle (d. June 1, 1907), British inventor and pioneer in the development of the turbojet engine.  He died at age 89.

1995 ~ Jerry Garcia (né Jerome John Garcia; b. Aug. 1, 1942), American musician and front man for the band The Grateful Dead.  He died of a heart attack 8 days after his 53rd birthday.

1994 ~ Helena Rasiowa (b. June 20, 1917), Polish mathematician.  She was born in Vienna, Austria.  She died at age 77 in Warsaw, Poland.

1980 ~ Jacqueline Cochran (née Bessie Lee Pittman; b. May 11, 1906), American aviator and test pilot.  In 1953, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier.  She was born in Pensacola, Florida.  She died at age 74.

1969 ~ Sharon Tate (née Sharon Marie Tate; b. Jan. 24, 1943), American actress murdered by Charles Manson and his gang.  Killed along with her were Abigail Folger (b. 1943) the coffee heiress, Wojciech Frykowski (b. 1936), a Polish writer, Jay Sebring (b. 1933), and Steven Parent (b. Feb. 12, 1951).  At the time of her death, she was married to Roman Polanski.  She was pregnant when she was murdered at age 26.

1969 ~ Abigail Folger (née Abigail Anne Folger, d. Aug. 11, 1943), American heiress to the Folger coffee fortune and murder victim of Charles Manson.  She was killed just two days before her 26th birthday.

1969 ~ Jay Sebring (b. Oct. 10, 1933), American hair stylist and former boyfriend of Sharon Tate.  He was murdered by members of the Manson Family.  He was 35 years old at the time of his death.

1969 ~ C.F. Powell (né Cecil Frank Powell, b. Dec. 5, 1903), English physicist and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 65.

1962 ~ Hermann Hesse (né Hermann Karl Hesse; b. July 2, 1877), German-born writer and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature.  His is best known for his novels Steppenwolf and Siddhartha.  He died about a month after his 85th birthday.

1948 ~ Hugo Boss (né Hugo Ferdinand Boss; b. July 8, 1885), German fashion designer and founder of Hugo Boss.  He had joined the Nazi Party two years before Hitler came into power.  He died of a tooth abscess a month after his 63rd birthday.

1943 ~ Chaim Soutine (b. Jan. 13, 1894), Belarusian painter.  He died of a perforated ulcer at age 50.

1942 ~ Edith Stein (b. Oct. 12, 1891), was a Carmelite Catholic nun.  She was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism.  During World War II, she was seized by the Nazis and was executed at Auschwitz.  She was murdered at age 50.  Pope John Paul II canonized her as a saint in 1998.

1936 ~ Lincoln Steffens (né Lincoln Joseph Steffens; b. Apr. 6, 1866), American journalist.  He is best known for investigating corruption in municipalities and his support for the Soviet Union.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died of a heart attack at age 70 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

1932 ~ John Charles Fields (b. May 14, 1863), Canadian mathematician and founder of the Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics.  The Fields Medal was first awarded in 1936 for outstanding achievement in mathematics.  Since 1950, it has been awarded every 4 years to a mathematician under the age of 40.  John Fields died at age 69.

1929 ~ Pierre Fatou (né Pierre Joseph Louis Fatou; b. Feb. 28, 1878), French mathematician.  He died at age 51.

1611 ~ John Blagrave (b. 1560s), English mathematician and astronomer.  He is best known for designing astronomical instruments.  The date of his birth is not known.

1516 ~ Hieronymus Bosch (né Jheronimus van Aken; b. 1450), Dutch painter.  He is best known for his triptych entitled The Garden of Earthly Delights.  The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown.  He was buried on August 9, 1516.

1048 ~ Pope Damasus II (né Poppo de’Curagnoni).  He was pope for only 23 days, from July 17, 1048 until his death.  The date of his birth is unknown.

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