Birthdays:
1973 ~ Sasha Roiz, Israeli-born Canadian actor. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1959 ~ Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor. He was born in Hirokami, Niigata, Japan.
1958 ~ Sir Andre Geim (né Andre Konstantin Geim), Russian-English physicist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was born in Sochi, Russia.
1957 ~ Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was born in Heidelberg, Germany.
1956 ~ Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; d. Dec. 27, 2016), American Star Wars princess who chronicled Hollywood’s excesses. She was born in Burbank, California. She died of a massive heart attack at age 60 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, died of a broken heart the following day.
1950 ~ Ronald McNair (né Ronald Erwin McNair; d. Jan. 28, 1986), African-American astronaut. He was killed in the Challenger explosion. He was born in Lake City, South Carolina. He died at age 35 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1949 ~ Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. He served 2 terms as Prime Minister, first from June 1996 until July 1999, and then again from March 2009 until June 2021. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1944 ~ Mandy Rice-Davies (née Marilyn Rice-Davies, d. Dec. 18, 2014), British model and showgirl best known for her association with Christina Keeler and her role in the 1960s Profumo scandal. She died of cancer at age 70 in London, England.
1942 ~ Christopher A. Sims (né Christopher Albert Sims), American economist and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was born in Washington, D.C.
1940 ~ Manfred Mann (né Manfred Sepse Lubowitz), South African musician. He was the founder of the band of the same name. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
1933 ~ Brock Yates (né Brock Wendel Yates; d. Oct. 5, 2016), American speed-loving writer who created Cannonball Run. He was born in Lockport, New York. He died in Batavia, New York 16 days before his 83rd birthday.
1929 ~ Ursula K. LeGuin (née Ursula Kroeber; d. Jan. 22, 2018), American science-fiction novelist who conjured fantastic worlds. She was born in Berkeley California. She died at age 88 in Portland, Oregon.
1928 ~ Whitey Ford (né Edward Charles Ford; d. Oct. 8, 2020), American Major League baseball player who stayed with the New York Yankees during his entire 16-year career as a ballplayer. He was the crafty Yankee pitcher who won six World Series. He later became a coach. He was born in Queens, New York. He died 13 days before his 92nd birthday in Lake Success, New York.
1927 ~ Nadia Nerina (d. Oct. 6, 2008), South African-born ballerina who combined acrobatics with beauty. She died 15 days before her 81st birthday.
1927 ~ Fran Landesman (née Frances Deitsch, d. July 23, 2011), American lyricist and poet of the Beat Generation. She was born in New York, New York. She died at age 83 in London, England.
1926 ~ Leo Kirch (d. July 14, 2011), German who build and lost a media empire. He founded the Kirch group. He died at age 84.
1925 ~ Celia Cruz (née Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso; d. July 16, 2003), Cuban salsa singer. She was born in Havana, Cuba. She died at age 77 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
1921 ~ Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld (d. Mar. 30, 2015), Dutch astronomer. She was born in Berlin, Weimar Republic. She died at age 93 in Oegstgeest, Netherlands.
1921 ~ Jane B. Hart (né Jane Briggs; d. June 5, 2015), American senator’s wife who spoke her mind. Her husband was the Democratic Senator Phil Hart, from Michigan. She was a strong advocate for women’s rights as well as being active against the war in Viet Nam. She was also a would-be astronaut when she took part in a privately financed project to test women for fitness to enter NASA’s astronaut program and submitting to the same physical and psychological tests as were administered to the Mercury 7 astronauts. She was born in Detroit, Michigan. She died in West Hartford, Connecticut. She was 93 years old.
1917 ~ Dizzy Gillespie (né John Birks Gillespie; d. Jan. 6, 1993), American trumpeter and bandleader. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He died at age 75 in Englewood, New Jersey.
1914 ~ Martin Gardner (d. May 22, 2010), American author, mathematician and puzzlemeister. For 25 years he authored a column in Scientific American. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He died at age 95 in Norman, Oklahoma.
1906 ~ Lillian Asplund (née Lillian Gertrud Asplund; d. May 6, 2006), last American survivor of the Titanic. She was also the last survivor with any memory of the disaster. She was 5 years old when the Titanic sank. She and her mother were rescued, but her father perished in the disaster. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and died in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She was 99 at the time of her death.
1877 ~ Oswald Avery, Jr. (né Oswald Theodore Avery, Jr.; d. Feb. 20, 1955), Canadian physician and microbiologist. He was one of the first molecular biologist and was a pioneer in the field of immunology. A crater on the moon is named in his honor. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He died at age 77 in Nashville, Tennessee.
1833 ~ Alfred Nobel (né Alfred Bernhard Nobel; d. Dec. 10, 1896), Swedish chemist and industrialist, noted for inventing dynamite. His will established a fund, largely based on profits from his dynamite, to be used to award outstanding individuals in various fields. The first Nobel prizes were awarded in 1901, the 5th anniversary after his death. Interestingly, there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He died in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy. He was 63 years old at the time of his death.
1823 ~ Enrico Betti (d. Aug. 11, 1892), Italian mathematician. He is best known for his work in topology. He died at age 68
1772 ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (d. July 25, 1834), English poet. He is best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He died at age 61.
1687 ~ Nicolaus I Bernoulli (d. Nov. 29, 1759), Swiss mathematician. He died at age 72.
1449 ~ George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (d. Feb. 18, 1478), brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England. He was convicted of treason against Edward IV and was executed in the Tower of London. His father, Richard Plantagenet was the 3rd Duke of York. His mother, Cecily Nevelle, was the Duchess of York. He was of the House of Plantagenet and York. He was 28 years old at the time of his execution.
1328 ~ Hongwu (d. June 24, 1398), Chinese founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He died at age 69.
Events that Changed the World:
2013 ~ Smog closed schools, roadways and the airport in Harbin, China.
1986 ~ Pro-Iran kidnappers abducted American writer Edward Tracy. He was finally released in August 1991. Tracy was a convert to Islam. He was born in Rutland, Vermont.
1959 ~ President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) signed an executive order authorizing Wernher von Braun (1912 ~ 1977) and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
1959 ~ The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 ~ 1959), opened to the public.
1945 ~ French women were allowed to vote for the first time.
1940 ~ Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was first published.
1921 ~ The silent film, The Sheik, staring Rudolph Valentino (1895 ~ 1926), premiered.
1921 ~ President Warren G. Harding (1865 ~ 1923) delivered the first speech by a sitting United State President against lynching in the South.
1892 ~ The opening ceremonies for the World’s Columbian Exposition took place in Chicago, Illinois. Because construction was behind schedule, however, the official opening of the exposition did not happen until May 1893.
1854 ~ Florence Nightingale (1820 ~ 1910) and a staff of 38 nurses went to aid soldiers injured in the Crimean War.
1824 ~ Joseph Aspdin (1778 ~ 1855) patented Portland cement.
1797 ~ The U.S.S. Constitution, better known as Old Ironsides, was officially launched. The ship is still docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts.
1774 ~ The flag of Taunton, Massachusetts is the first known flag to include the word Liberty on it.
1520 ~ Ferdinand Magellan (1480 ~ 1521) became the first European to have discovered that body of water that now bears his name: The Strait of Magellan.
1512 ~ Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) joined the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg.
1422 ~ Charles VII (1403 ~ 1461) became king of France in succession to his father Charles VI, King of France, however, he would not be officially crowned King until July 1429.
1209 ~ Pope Innocent III (1160 ~ 1216) crowned Otto IV (1175 ~ 1218) as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1097 ~ During the First Crusade, the Siege of Antioch began with Godfrey of Bouillon (1060 ~ 1100), Behemund of Taranto (1054 ~ 1111) and Raymond IV of Toulouse (1041 ~ 1105) leading the charge.
Good-Byes:
2020 ~ Viola Smith (née Viola Schmitz; b. Nov. 29, 1912), American trailblazing swing drummer who broke musical boundaries. She was one of the first female professional drummers. She was born in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin. She died in Costa Mesa, California a month before her 108th birthday.
2018 ~ Earl Bakken (né Earl Elmer Bakken; b. Jan. 10, 1924), American engineer and medical pioneer who kept hearts ticking. He developed the first external, battery-operated transistorized wearable artificial pacemaker. He died at age 94.
2018 ~ Joachim Rønneberg (né Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg; b. Aug. 30, 1919), Norwegian who thwarted the Nazi atomic bomb. He was best known for his resistance work during World War II, most notably commanding Operation Gunnerside. He died at age 99.
2015 ~ Marty Ingels (né Martin Ingerman; b. Mar. 9, 1936), American wild comic who wed a Hollywood star, Shirley Jones. He died of a stroke at age 79.
2014 ~ Ben C. Bradlee (né Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee; b. Aug. 26, 1921), American journalist newspaper editor who brought down a president. He was the editor of the Washington Post during the presidency of Richard Nixon when the Watergate scandal broke. He died at age 93.
2012 ~ George McGovern (né George Stanley McGovern; b. July 19, 1922), American politician and anti-war “prairie populist” who ran against Richard Nixon for president in 1972. He had served as a United States Senator from South Dakota. He was born in Avon, South Dakota. He died at age 90 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
2009 ~ Jack Nelson (né John Howard Nelson; b. Oct. 11, 1929), American journalist who infuriated J. Edgar Hoover. He is best known for his coverage of the Watergate Scandal. He was born in Talladega, Alabama. He died of pancreatic cancer 10 days after his 80th birthday in Bethesda, Maryland.
2003 ~ Louise Day Hicks (née Anna Louise Day; b. Oct. 16, 1916), American politician. She served in the United States House of Representatives for the State of Massachusetts. She was born and died in Boston, Massachusetts. She died 5 days after her 87th birthday.
1992 ~ Jim Garrison (né Earling Carothers Garrison; b. Nov. 20, 1921), District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 ~ 1973. He is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John Kennedy. He died in New Orleans a month before his 71st birthday.
1990 ~ Tom Carvel (né Athanasios Thomas Karvelas; b. July 14, 1906), American businessman and founder of the Carvel brand of Ice Cream. He was born in Athens, Greece. He died at age 84 in Pine Plains, New York.
1985 ~ Dan White (né Daniel James White; b. Sept. 2, 1946), American politician. He assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (1929 ~ 1978) and Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930 ~ 1978). He was convicted of the murders and served time in prison. Less than two years after his release from prison, he committed suicide at age 39.
1984 ~ François Truffaut (né François Roland Truffaut; b. Feb. 6, 1932), French film director. He died of a brain tumor at age 52.
1980 ~ Hans Asperger (né Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger; b. Feb. 18, 1906), Austrian physician and psychologist. He is best known for his studies on mental disorders, especially in children. He died at age 74.
1979 ~ Beatrice Hicks (née Beatrice Alice Hicks; b. Jan. 2, 1919), American engineer. She was the first woman hired by General Electric. She was the co-founder of the Society of Women Engineers. She was born in Orange, New Jersey. She died at age 60 in Princeton, New Jersey.
1976 ~ Ida Browne (née Ida Alison Browne; b. Aug. 16, 1900), Australian geologist and paleontologist. She was born in Paddington, Australia. She died at age 76 in Edgecliff, Australia.
1970 ~ John T. Scopes (né John Thomas Scopes; b. Aug. 3, 1900), American educator and defendant in the Scopes trial for attempting to teach evolution in the Tennessee schools. He was found guilty and fined $100. He was born in Paducah, Kentucky. He died in Shreveport, Louisiana at age 70.
1969 ~ Jack Kerouac (né Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac; b. Mar. 12, 1922), American writer. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He is best known for his book, On the Road. He died of abdominal hemorrhages at age 47.
1969 ~ Wacław Sierpiński (b. Mar. 14, 1882), Polish mathematician. He died at age 87.
1931 ~ Arthur Schnitzler (b. May 15, 1862), Austrian author and dramatist. He was born and died in Vienna, Austria at age 69.
1904 ~ Isabelle Eberhardt (née Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt; b. Feb. 17, 1877), Swiss explorer and author. She was interested in North Africa. After moving to Algeria, she dressed as a man and converted to Islam. She was killed in a flash flood at age 27.
1881 ~ Eduard Heine (né Heinrich Eduard Heine; b. Mar. 16, 1821), German mathematician. He died at age 60.
1872 ~ Jacques Babinet (b. Mar. 5, 1794), French physicist and mathematician. He is best known for his contributions to optics. He died at age 78.
1841 ~ John Forsyth, Sr. (b. Oct. 22, 1780), 13th United States Secretary of State. He served under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren from July 1834 until March 1841. He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He died in Washington, D.C., 1 day before his 61st birthday.
1805 ~ Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (b. Sept. 29, 1758), British admiral. He defeated the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in Britain’s greatest naval victory in 1805. He died in battle at less than a month after his 47th birthday.
1775 ~ Peyton Randolph (b. Sept. 10, 1721), Early American and 1st President of the Continental Congress. He served from September 1774 until October 1774. He served a second term, and 3rd President, from May 10, 1775 until May 24, 1775. He died at age 54.
1556 ~ Pietro Aretino (b. Apr. 20, 1492), Italian author, satirist and playwright. He died at age 64.
1505 ~ Paul Scriptoris (b. 1460), German mathematician. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 45 at the time of his death.
1422 ~ King Charles VI of France (b. Dec. 3, 1368). He was known as Charles the Beloved. He reigned from September 1380 ~ until his death 42 years later. During his reign, he suffered numerous bouts of mental illness. He was married to Isabeau of Bavaria (1370 ~ 1435). He died at age 53.
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