Birthdays:
1974 ~ Norah O’Donnell (née Norah Morahan O’Donnell), American journalist and news anchor. She was born in Washington, D.C.
1967 ~ Naim Süleymanoğlu (b. Nov. 18, 2017), Bulgarian-born Turkish weightlifting defector who became an Olympic icon. While on a World Cup Final in Australia in 1988, he defected and found his way to Turkey. He was born in Ptichar, Bulgaria. He died in Istanbul, Turkey following complications of surgery. He was 50 years old.
1964 ~ Mariska Hargitay (née Mariksa Magdolna Hargitay), American actress. She is best known for her role as Lieutenant Olivia Benson on the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was born in Santa Monica, California.
1957 ~ Princess Caroline of Monaco. Upon her marriage in 1999 to her third husband, Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, she became officially known as the Princess of Hanover. She is of the House of Grimaldi. She is the daughter of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and American actress, Grace Kelly. She was born in Monaco.
1953 ~ Antonio Vallaraigosa, American politician and 41st Mayor of Los Angeles. He served as Mayor from July 2005 until July 2013. He was born in Los Angeles, California.
1951 ~ Sully Sullenberger (né Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III), American pilot and captain of US Airways Flight 1549 that landed in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. His actions when the plane went down saved the lives of all passengers. He was the subject of the 2016 film Sully. He was born in Denison, Texas.
1950 ~ Danny Federici (né Daniel Paul Federici; d. Apr. 17, 2008), American musician and founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He was born in Flemington, New Jersey. He died of melanoma at age 58 in New York, New York.
1946 ~ Boris Berezovsky (d. Mar. 23, 2013), Russian mathematician and business oligarch. He was born in Moscow, Soviet Union. He died at age 67, probably of a suicide.
1944 ~ Rutger Hauer (né Rutger Oelsen Hauer; d. July 19, 2019), Dutch gentle actor who excelled in bad-guy roles. He is best known for his role as the self-away android in the movie Blade Runner. He died following a short illness at age 75.
1935 ~ Bob Moses (né Robert Parris Moses; d. July 25, 2021), African-American civil rights leader who turned to math education. He faced brutal violence as he registered thousands of Black voters in 1960s Mississippi. He later advocated math literacy as a road to a more equal society. In 1982, he received a McArthur Fellowship and began the Algebra Project. He was born in Harlem, New York. He died in Hollywood, Florida at age 86.
1930 ~ William R. Pogue (né William Reid Pogue; d. Mar. 3, 2014), American astronaut who staged a strike in space. In November 1973, he and two other astronauts docked on Skylab, where they lived for 84 days. They were required to work all the time and so staged a strike. Ground control eased up their workload. He was born in Okemah, Oklahoma. He died at age 84 in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
1930 ~ Sir Derek Walcott (né Derek Alton Walcott; d. Mar. 17, 2017), West Indies writer and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at age 87.
1929 ~ John Polanyi (né John Charles Polanyi), German-born Canadian chemist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in chemical kinetics. He was born in Berlin, Germany. His family moved to Britain in 1933 to escape Nazi persecution.
1928 ~ Jeanne Moreau (d. July 31, 2017), French actress. She was born and died in Paris, France. She died at age 89.
1924 ~ Frank Lautenberg (né Frank Raleigh Lautenberg; d. June 3, 2013), American politician and United States Senator from New Jersey who retired only to return again. He served New Jersey as senator for nearly 30 years. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He died in office at age 89 in New York, New York.
1923 ~ Horace Ashenfelter, III (d. Jan. 6, 2018), American FBI agent who beat the Soviets to win Olympic Gold in the 3,000 steeplechase at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He was born in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He died 17 days before his 95th birthday in West Orange, New Jersey.
1922 ~ Tuviah Friedman (d. Jan. 13, 2011), Polish-born Israeli Nazi hunter who sought revenge. He had been imprisoned in a concentration camp from which he escaped in 1944. He was born in Radom, Poland. He died 10 days before his 89thbirthday in Haifa, Israel.
1921 ~ Chester Nez (d. June 4, 2014), the Navajo warrior who baffled the Japanese. He was the last of the original World War II Navajo code-talkers. He served in the United States Marine Corps. He was born in Chi Chi Tah, New Mexico. He died of kidney failure at age 93 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1921 ~ Justus Rosenberg (d. Oct. 30, 2021), Polish-American language and literature professor who helped artist escape the Nazis. In his late 90s, he wrote and published his book, The Art of Resistance, in which he described being in the French Resistance during World War II. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). He died at age 100.
1920 ~ Walter Frederick Morrison (d. Feb. 9, 2010), American Space Age toymaker and inventor who created the Frisbee. He sold the rights to the Frisbee on his 37th birthday. He was born in Richfield Utah. He died 17 days after his 90th birthday in Monroe, Utah.
1919 ~ Ernie Kovacs (né Ernest Edward Kovacs; d. Jan. 13, 1962), American actor and comedian. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was killed in a car accident 10 days before his 43rd birthday in Los Angeles, California.
1919 ~ Frances Bay (née Frances Evelyn Goffman; d. Sept. 15, 2011), Canadian-born character actress. She was born in Mannville, Alberta, Canada. She died at age 92 in Tarzana, California.
1918 ~ Gertrude Elion (née Gertrude Belle Elion; d. Feb. 21, 1999), American biochemist, pharmacologist and recipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She was born in New York, New York. She died a month after her 81st birthday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
1918 ~ Florence Rush (d. Dec. 9, 2000), American social worker. She was born in Manhattan, New York. She died at age 90.
1915 ~ Potter Stewart (d. Dec. 7, 1985), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Dwight Eisenhower. He served on the Court from October 1958 until his retirement in July 1981. He is best known for his concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, which pertained to obscenity, in which he wrote “I know [ponography] when I see it.” He replaced Harold Burton on the Court. He was succeeded by Sandra Day O’Connor. He was born in Jackson, Michigan. He died following a stroke in Hanover, New Hampshire at age 70.
1915 ~ Sir Arthur Lewis (né William Arthur Lewis; d. June 15, 1991), San Lucian economist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He died at age 76.
1907 ~ Hideki Yukawa (d. Sept. 8, 1981), Japanese physicist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics for his prediction of the pi meson. He was born in Tokyo, Japan. He died at age 74 in Kyoto, Japan.
1889 ~ Claribel Kendall (d. Apr. 17, 1965), American mathematician and professor of mathematics. She was born in Denver, Colorado. She died at age 76.
1888 ~ Lead Belly (né Huddie William Ledbetter; d. Dec. 6, 1949), African-American folk and blues musician. He was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana. He died at age 61 in New York, New York.
1876 ~ Otto Diels (né Otto Paul Hermann Diels; d. Mar. 7, 1954), German chemist and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died at age 78.
1862 ~ David Hilbert (d. Feb. 14, 1943), German mathematician. He died 22 days after his 81st birthday.
1846 ~ Nikolay Umov (d. Jan. 15, 1915), Russian physicist and mathematician. He died 8 days before his 69th birthday in Moscow, Russian Empire.
1832 ~ Édouard Manet (d. Apr. 30, 1883), French painter. He died of gangrene following an operation to amputate his foot. He was born and died in Paris, France. He died at age 51 shortly after having his left foot amputated.
1786 ~ Auguste de Montferrand (d. July 10, 1858), French-born Russian architect. He designed St. Isaac’s Cathedral and Alexander Column in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was born in Chaillot, France. He died at age 72 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire.
1783 ~ Stendhal (né Marie-Henri Beyle; d. Mar. 23, 1842), French writer, best known for his novel Le Rouge et le Noir. He was 59 years old at the time of his death.
1765 ~ Thomas Todd (d. Feb. 7, 1826), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Thomas Jefferson. This seat was established during the Jefferson administration. He served on the Court from March 1807 until his death in February 1826. He was succeeded by Robert Trimbel. He was also a slave owner. He was born in Virginia when it was under British rule. He died in Frankfort, Kentucky 15 days after his 61stbirthday.
1737 ~ John Hancock (d. Oct. 8, 1793), early American statesman, patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the Governor of Massachusetts from October 1780 until January 29, 1785 and in a second term from May 1787 until his death in October 1793. He was born in Braintree, Province of Massachusetts Bay. He died at age 56 in Boston, Massachusetts. [Note: Under the Julian calendar his birthday is noted as January 12.].
1719 ~ John Landen (d. Jan. 15, 1790), English mathematician. He died 8 days before his 71st birthday.
1688 ~ Ulrika Eleonora (d. Nov. 24, 1741), Queen of Sweden. She served as queen in her own right. She was Queen from December 1718 until her abdication in February 1720 in favor of her husband, Frederick I, when she became Queen consort of Sweden. She was of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. She was the daughter of Charles XI, King of Sweden and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark. She died of smallpox at age 53.
Events that Changed the World:
2018 ~ A strong 6 magnitude earthquake struck in Java.
2018 ~ A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the Gulf of Alaska. It was one of the strongest earthquakes to strike the United States. There were no reports of significant damage or any fatalities.
2002 ~ Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (1963 ~ 2002) was kidnapped by radical Islamists. He would be beheaded 7 days later.
2001 ~ Five people attempted to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
1997 ~ Madeleine Albright (b. 1937) became the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State. She served under President Bill Clinton (b. 1946).
1986 ~ Little Richard (1932 ~ 2020), Chuck Berry (1926 ~ 2017), James Brown (1933 ~ 2006), Ray Charles (1930 ~ 2004), Sam Cooke (1931 ~ 1964), Fats Domino (1928 ~ 2017), the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly (1936 ~ 1959), Jerry Lee Lewis (b. 1935) and Elvis Presley (1935 ~ 1977) were inducted into the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1973 ~ United States President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) announced that a peace accord had been reached with regard to the war in Vietnam.
1968 ~ The North Korean government seized the USS Pueblo, alleging the ship had been on a spying mission in Korean territorial waters.
1964 ~ The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The Amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes in national elections.
1957 ~ American inventor Walter F. Morrison (1920 ~ 2010) sold the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company. Wham-O renamed the toy the Frisbee.
1950 ~ The Israeli Knesset passed a resolution stating that the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Many countries, including the United States, do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In 2017, President Donald Trump (b. 1946) announced that the United States would be moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
1943 ~ Duke Ellington (1899 ~ 1974) played at Carnegie Hall for the first time.
1941 ~Charles Lindbergh (1902 ~ 1974) testified before the United States Congress, recommending that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) and Nazi Germany.
1870 ~ United States cavalrymen killed 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, during the Marais Massacre in Montana.
1855 ~ The first bridge over the Mississippi River opened in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota. The bridge is known as the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
1849 ~ Elizabeth Blackwell (1821 ~ 1910), became the first female doctor in the United States. She earned her medical degree at the Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York.
1789 ~ Georgetown College, the first Catholic University in the United States, was founded in what is now a part of Washington, D.C.
1719 ~ The Principality of Liechtenstein was created within the Holy Roman Empire.
1571 ~ The Royal Exchange opened in London.
1556 ~ A deadly earthquake in the Shaanxi Province of China is estimated to have killed over 830,000 people.
1368 ~ Zhu Yuanzhang (1328 ~ 1398) ascended to the throne of China to become the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. This dynasty would last for over 300 years.
Good-Byes:
2021 ~ Paul J. Crutzen (né Paul Jozef Crutzen; b. Dec. 3, 1933), Dutch chemist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is best known for his work in climate change research. He was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He died at age 87 in Mainz, Germany.
2021 ~ Larry King (né Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; b. Nov. 19, 1933), American television personality and suspendered CNN talk show host who interviewed the famous and infamous, including seven United States presidents, athletes, entertainers, sex therapists, and psychics. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He died at age 87 of complications of Covid-19 in Los Angeles, California.
2021 ~ Hal Holbrook (né Harold Rowe Holbrook, Jr.; b. Feb. 17, 1925), American actor, best known for his portrayals of Mark Twain. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He died in Beverly Hills, California just 25 days before his 96th birthday.
2020 ~ Jim Lehrer (né James Charles Lehrer; b. May 19, 1934), American journalist. He was the news anchor for the PBS NewsHour. He was straight-forward and shunned showmanship. He was born in Wichita, Kansas. He died at age 85 in Washington, D.C.
2018 ~ Nicanor Parra (né Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval; b. Sept. 5, 1914), Chilean physicist and mathematician. He died at age 103.
2015 ~ Ernie Banks (né Ernest Banks; b. Jan. 31, 1931), African-American baseball player. He was the optimistic shortstop who played for the Chicago Cubs and was known as “Mr. Cub.” He was born in Dallas, Texas. He died 8 days before his 84th birthday in Chicago, Illinois.
2011 ~ Poppa Neutrino (né William David Pearlman; b. Oct. 15, 1933), American free spirit who rafted across the Atlantic Ocean. He was born in Fresno, California. He died of heart failure in New Orleans, Louisiana at age 77.
2011 ~ Jack LaLanne (né François Henri LaLanne; b. Sept. 26, 1914), American fitness and nutritional expert. He was an affable salesman who made fitness popular. He was born in San Francisco, California. He died at age 96 in Morro Bay, California.
2007 ~ E. Howard Hunt (né Everette Howard Hunt, Jr., b. Oct. 9, 1918), American CIA officer. He, along with G. Gordon Liddy, engineered the Watergate break-in during the Nixon administration. He was convicted of burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping, for which he spent 33 months in prison. He was born in Hamburg, New York. He died at age 88 in Miami, Florida.
2005 ~ Johnny Carson (né John William Carson; b. Oct. 23, 1925), American television host of The Late Show. He was the comedian who was the “king of late night” television. He was born in Corning, Iowa. He died at age 79 in Los Angeles, California.
2004 ~ Bob Keeshan (né Robert James Keeshan; b. June 27, 1927), American actor who played Captain Kangaroo on TV. He was born in Lynbrook, New York. He died in Windsor, Vermont at age 76.
2004 ~ Helmut Newton (né Helmut Neustädter; b. Oct. 31, 1920), German photographer. He was born in Berlin, Germany. He was killed in a car accident at age 83 in West Hollywood, California.
1993 ~ Thomas Dorsey (né Thomas Andrew Dorsey; b. July 1, 1899), African-American composer and pianist. He was born in Villa Rica, Georgia. He died at age 93 in Chicago, Illinois.
1989 ~ Salvador Dalí (b. May 11, 1904), Spanish surrealist painter. He died at age 84.
1977 ~ Toots Shor (né Bernard Shor; b. May 6, 1903), American businessman who founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant in Manhattan. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 73.
1976 ~ Paul Robeson (né Paul Leroy Robeson; b. Apr. 9, 1898), African-American actor, singer and civil rights activist. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He died at age 77 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1944 ~ Edvard Munch (b. Dec. 12, 1863), Norwegian painter, best known for his painting, The Scream. He died at age 80 in Oslo, Norway.
1931 ~ Anna Pavlova (b. Feb. 12, 1881), Russian prima ballerina. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. She died of pleurisy 3 weeks before her 50th birthday in Paris, France.
1923 ~ Max Nordau (né Simon Maximilian Südfeld; b. July 29, 1849), Hungarian physician and co-founder, along with Theodor Herzl, of the World Zionist Organization. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. He died at age 73 in Paris, France.
1893 ~ Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, II (b. Sept. 17, 1825), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Grover Cleveland. He served in that Office from January 1888 until his death in January 1893. He replaced Justice William Woods on the High Court. He was succeeded by Howell Jackson. He had previously served as the 16th United States Secretary of the Interior also during the Grover Cleveland administration. Before the American Civil War, he was a slave owner. He was born in Eatonton, Georgia. He died in Vineville (Macon), Georgia at age 67.
1820 ~ Prince Edward (né Edward Augustus; b. Nov. 2, 1767), Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was married to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He was of the House of Hanover. He was the son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was the father of Queen Victoria. He died of pneumonia at age 52.
1806 ~ William Pitt the Younger (b. May 28, 1759), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He served as Prime Minister during the reign of George III, King of the United Kingdom. He died at age 46.
1803 ~ Arthur Guinness (b. Sept. 24, 1725), Irish founder of the Guinness brewery. He died at age 77.
1800 ~ Edward Rutledge (b. Nov. 23, 1749), American lawyer and statesman, and the South Carolina signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the Governor of South Carolina from December 1798 until his death in January 1800. He was born and died in Charleston, South Carolina. He was 50 years old at the time of his death.
1785 ~ Matthew Stewart (b. Jan. 15, 1717) Scottish mathematician and cleric. He died 8 days after his 68th birthday.
1622 ~ William Baffin (b. 1584), British navigator and explorer. Baffin Bay in Canada is named in his honor. The exact date of his birth is not known.
1570 ~ James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (b. 1531) regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland. He was of the House of Stewart. He was the son of James V, King of Scotland and Lady Margaret Ersking. The exact date of his birth is not known. He was assassinated and is the first recorded victim of an assassination by a firearm. He is believed to have been about 38 or 39 at the time of his death.
1567 ~ Jiajing (b. Sept. 16, 1507), 12th Chinese Emperor of the Ming dynasty. He ruled from May 1521 until his death in January 1567. He died at age 59.
1516 ~ Ferdinand V, King of Castile, and Ferdinand II, King of Aragon (b. Mar. 10, 1452). He was the Spanish king who supported the travels of Christopher Columbus. He was also the architect behind the Spanish Inquisition. He was known as Ferdinand the Catholic. He was married twice. His first wife was Isabella I, Queen of Castile. After she died, he married Germaine of Foix. He was of the House of Trastámara. He was the son of John II, King of Aragon and Juana Enríquez. He died at age 63.
1002 ~ Otto III (b. 980), Holy Roman Emperor. He ruled from May 996 until his death 6 years later. He was of the House of Ottonian. He was the son of Otto, II, Holy Roman Emperor and Theophanu. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 21 at the time of his death.
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