Friday, January 29, 2021

January 29

Birthdays:

 

1975 ~ Sara Gilbert (née Sara Rebecca Abeles), American actress and talk show host.  She was born in Santa Monica, California.

 

1970 ~ Heather Graham (née Heather Joan Graham), American actress.  She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

1970 ~ Paul Ryan (né Paul David Ryan, Jr.), American politician and United States Representative from the State of Wisconsin.  He served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He served in that Office from October 2015 until January 2019, when he was succeeded by Nancy Pelosi.  He was also the 2012 vice presidential nominee of the Republican party, along with Mitt Romney.  He was born in Janesville, Wisconsin.

 

1954 ~ Oprah Winfrey (née Oprah Gail Winfrey), American talk show hostess.  She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

 

1950 ~ Ann Jillian (née Ann Jura Nauseda), American actress.  She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1949 ~ Tommy Ramone (né Erdélyi Tamás; d. July 11, 2014), Hungarian-American drummer who defied punk rock.  He was the last surviving original member of the Ramones.  He died of cancer at age 65.

 

1947 ~ Linda Buck (née Linda Brown Buck), American biologist and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work in olfactory receptors.  She was born in Seattle, Washington.

 

1941 ~ Andrzej Trybulec (d. Sept. 11, 2013), Polish mathematician.  He was 72 years old.

 

1940 ~ Katharine Ross (née Katharine Juliet Ross), American actress best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in The Graduate.  She was born in Hollywood, California.

 

1939 ~ Germaine Greer, Australian writer and feminist.  She was born in Melbourne, Australia.

 

1933 ~ Paul Sally (né Paul Joseph Sally, Jr.; d. Dec. 30, 2013), American mathematician.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of heart failure a month before his 81st birthday in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1929 ~ Joseph Kruskal (né Joseph Bernard Kruskal, Jr.; d. Sept. 19, 2010), American mathematician.  He died at age 82.

 

1927 ~ Edward Abbey (né Edward Paul Abbey; d. Mar. 14, 1989), American author and environmental activist.  He was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 62 of complications following surgery in Tucson, Arizona.

 

1926 ~ Abdus Salam (d. Nov. 21, 1996), Pakistani physicist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 70.

 

1921 ~ Geraldine Pittman Woods (née Geraldine Pittman; d. Dec. 27, 1999), African-American embryologist.  She died a month before her 79th birthday.

 

1918 ~ John Forsythe (né Jacob Lincoln Freund; d. Apr. 1, 2010), American actor.  He is best remembered for his role as the conniving patriarch Blake Carrington on the television drama Dynasty.  He died at age 92.

 

1901 ~ Lillian Dickson (née Lillian Ruth LeVesconte; d. Jan. 14, 1983), American independent missionary and author.  She was born in Prior Lake, Minnesota.  She died in Taipei, Taiwan 15 days before her 82nd birthday.

 

1888 ~ Sydney Chapman (d. June 16, 1970), English mathematician and geophysicist.  He died at age 82.

 

1881 ~ Alice Evans (née Alice Catherine Evans; d. Sept. 5, 1975), American pioneering microbiologist.  She demonstrated that Bacillus abortus in cattle caused Brucellosis in cattle and humans.  She died at age 94.

 

1880 ~ W.C. Fields (né William Claude Dunkenfield; d. Dec. 25, 1946), American comedian, actor and writer, best known for his comic persona as a misanthropic egotist.  He was born in Darby, Pennsylvania.  He died in Pasadena, California just over a month before his 67th birthday.

 

1874 ~ John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (né John Davison Rockefeller, Jr.; d. May 11, 1960), American entrepreneur and philanthropist.  He was the son and namesake of the founder of Standard Oil.  He died at age 86.

 

1866 ~ Romain Rolland (d. Dec. 30, 1944), French author and recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died a month before his 79th birthday.

 

1860 ~ Anton Chekhov (né Anton Paviovich Chekhov; d. July 15, 1904), Russian playwright.  He was born in Taganrog, Russia.  He died at age 44 of tuberculosis in Badenweiler, Germany.

 

1846 ~ Karol Olszewski (né Karol Stanisław Olszewski; d. Mar. 24, 1915), Polish chemist, physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 69.

 

1843 ~ William McKinley, Jr. (d. Sept. 14, 1901), 25th President of the United States.  He died from injuries suffered in the assassination attempt on September 6, 1901.  He was just two months into his second term as President when he died.  Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him as President.  McKinley was 58 years old at the time of his death.

 

1817 ~ William Ferrel (d. Sept. 18, 1891), American mathematician and meteorologist.  He died at age 74.

 

1810 ~ Mary Whitwell Hale (d. Nov. 17, 1862), American school teacher and hymnwriter.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Keene, New Hampshire.  She died at age 52.

 

1810 ~ Ernst Kummer (né Ernst Eduard Kummer; d. May 14, 1893), German mathematician.  He died at age 83.

 

1761 ~ Albert Gallatin (né Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin; d. Aug. 12, 1849), Swiss-born 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison from May 1801 until February 1814.  He died at age 88.

 

1754 ~ Moses Cleaveland (d. Nov. 16, 1806), American general and politician who founded Cleveland, Ohio.  He died at age 52.

 

1749 ~ King Christian VII of Denmark (d. Mar. 13, 1808).  He reigned as King of Denmark and Norway from January 14, 1766 until his death in March 1808.  He was married to Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain in 1766.  They were divorced in 1772.  He died of a stroke at age 59.

 

1499 ~ Katharina von Bora (d. Dec. 20, 1552), former nun and wife of Martin Luther.  She died at age 53.

 

919 ~ Shi Zong (d. Oct. 7, 951), Chinese Emperor of the Liao dynasty.  He ruled from May 947 until his death in October 951.  He died at age 32.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2009 ~ Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (b. 1956) was convicted on corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to fill the United States Senate seat left vacant upon Barack Obama’s presidential win.  He was sentenced to federal prison.  In February 2020, President Donald Trump (b. 1946) commuted his sentence.

 

2002 ~ President George W. Bush (b. 1946) gave his State of the Union Address in which he called Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an Axis of Evil.

 

1980 ~ The Rubik’s Cube was first introduced to the public at a toy fair in London.

 

1944 ~ The Koniuchy massacre in Poland killed approximately 38 people during World War II.

 

1936 ~ The first inductees into the Baseball of Fame were announced.  Those inducted in the first year included Ty Cobb (Detroit Tigers), Walter Johnson (Washington Senators), Christy Mathewson (New York Giants), Babe Ruth (New York Yankees), and Honus Wagner (Pittsburgh Pirates).

 

1916 ~ German zeppelins bombed Paris during World War I.

 

1907 ~ Charles Curtis (1860 ~ 1936) of Kansas became the first Native American elected to the United States Senate.  He later became the 31st Vice President and the first Native American to hold that Office.

 

1901 ~ The American League baseball team was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The initial teams comprising the American League were the: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago White Stockings, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Athletics, and the Washington Senators.

 

1891 ~ Liliuokalani (1838 ~ 1917) became Queen of Hawaii.  She was the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands.

 

1886 ~ Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929) patented the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, the Motorwagon.

 

1861 ~ Kansas became the 34th State of the Union.

 

1856 ~ Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901) instituted the Victoria Cross to recognize acts of valor by military personnel during the Crimean War.

 

1845 ~ Edgar Allen Poe’s (1809 ~ 1849) first publication, The Raven, appeared in the New York Evening Mirror.

 

1834 ~ President Andrew Jackson (1767 ~ 1845) ordered federal troops to suppress a labor dispute.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2015 ~ Colleen McCullough (née Colleen Margaretta McCullough; b. June 1, 1937), Australian neuroscientist and novelist.  She was a prolific author best known for her novel The Thorn Birds.  She died of renal failure at age 77.

 

2015 ~ Rod McKuen (né Rodney Marvin McKuen; b. Apr. 29, 1933), American populist poet and songwriter who was loathed by critics.  He died of complications of pneumonia at age 81.

 

2015 ~ Alexander Vraciu (b. Nov. 2, 1918), American flying ace in the United States Navy who dominated the Pacific during World War II.  He died at age 96.

 

2012 ~ Camilla Williams (née Camilla Ella Williams; b. Oct. 18, 1919), African-American opera star.  She died at age 92.

 

2009 ~ John Martyn (né Iain David McGeachy; b. Sept. 11, 1948), hard-living British musician who defied genres.  He died at age 60.

 

2008 ~ Margaret Truman (née Mary Margaret Truman; b. Feb. 17, 1924), American writer and daughter of President Harry S Truman.  She died 19 days before her 84th birthday.

 

2006 ~ Nam June Paik (b. July 20, 1932), South Korean artist.  He died at age 73.

 

2005 ~ Ephraim Kishon (né Ferenc Hoffmann; b. Aug. 23, 1924), Hungarian-born Israeli writer.  He died at age 80.

 

2004 ~ M.M. Kaye (née Mary Margaret Kaye; b. Aug. 21, 1908), British writer, best known for her book The Far Pavilions.  She died at age 95.

 

1998 ~ Joseph Alioto (né Joseph Lawrence Alioto; b. Feb. 12, 1916), 36th Mayor of San Francisco.  He was mayor from January 1968 until January 1976.  He was born and died in San Francisco, California.  He died of prostate cancer 14 days before his 82nd birthday.

 

1980 ~ Jimmy Durante (né James Francis Durante; b. Feb. 10, 1893), American actor and comedian.  He died 11 days before his 87th birthday.

 

1977 ~ Freddie Prinze (né Frederick Karl Pruetzel; b. June 22, 1954), American actor and comedian.  He died by suicide at age 22.

 

1969 ~ Allen Dulles (né Allan Welsh Dulles; b. Apr. 7, 1893), 5th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  He served under President Dwight David Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy from February 1953 until November 1961.  He resigned following the Bay of Pigs incident.  He died of influenza at age 75.

 

1964 ~ Alan Ladd (né Alan Walbridge Ladd; b. Sept. 3, 1913), American actor.  He died of a cerebral edema caused by an accidental overdose.  He was 50 years old.

 

1963 ~ Robert Frost (né Robert Lee Frost; b. Mar. 26, 1874), American poet.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 88.

 

1956 ~ H.L. Mencken (né Henry Louis Mencken; b. Sept. 12, 1880), American journalist.  He died at age 75.

 

1946 ~ Harry Hopkins (né Harry Lloyd Hopkins; b. Aug. 17, 1890), 8th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration from December 1938 until September 1940.  He died of stomach cancer at age 55.

 

1934 ~ Fritz Haber (b. Dec. 9, 1868), German chemist and recipient of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He is considered the Father of Chemical Warfare.  He died at age 65.

 

1933 ~ Sara Teasdale (née Sara Trevor Teasdale; b. Aug. 8, 1884), American poet.  She died by suicide at age 48.

 

1906 ~ King Christian IX of Denmark (b. Apr. 8, 1818).  He ruled from November 15, 1863 until his death in 1906.  He was married to Louise of Hesse-Kassel.  He died at age 87.

 

1888 ~ Edward Lear (b. May 12, 1812), English artist and poet, who is most famous for his limericks.  He died of heart disease at age 75.

 

1860 ~ Henry Gilpin (né Henry Dilworth Gilpin; b. Apr. 14, 1801), 14th United States Attorney General.  He served under President Martin Van Buren from January 1840 until March 1841.  He was born in Lancaster, England.  He died at age 58 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1829 ~ Timothy Pickering (b. July 17, 1745), 3rd United States Secretary of State.  He served under Presidents George Washington and John Adams from August 1795 until May 1800.  He had previously served as the 2nd United States Secretary of War in the Washington Administration from January 1795 until January 1796.  He also served as the 2nd United States Postmaster General from August 1791 until January 1795.  Following his tenure in the executive branch of government, he became a United States Senator from Massachusetts from March 1813 to March 1817.  He was born and died in Salem, Massachusetts.  He died at age 83.

 

1820 ~ King George III of the Great Britain and Ireland (né George William Frederick, b. June 4, 1738).  He ruled from October 25, 1769 until his death 60 years later.  He married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761.  He was of the House of Hanover.  He died at age 81.

 

1715 ~ Bernard Lamy (b. June 15, 1640), French mathematician.  He was born in Le Mans, France.  He died at age 74 in Rouen, France.

 

1119 ~ Pope Gelasius II (né Giovanni Caetani; b. 1060).  He was Pope from 1118 until his death on this date in 1119.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

 

757 ~ An Lushan (b. 703), 1st Chinese Emperor and founder of the Yan Dynasty.  He was assassinated by his son at about age 54.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

  

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