Birthdays:
2012 ~ J.J. Boatman (né Jason Jaydon Boatman; d. Jan. 26, 2021), American elementary school student who suffered heart failure only 24 hours after developing Covid-19. He died in Fort Worth, Texas at age 9.
1982 ~ Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (née Catherine Elizabeth Middleton), wife of Prince William of England. She is a member of the House of Windsor by marriage. She is the daughter of Michael Middleton and Carole Goldsmith.
1959 ~ Rigoberta Menchú, indigenous Guatemalan and political activist for indigenous rights. She was the recipient of the1993 Nobel Peace Prize. She was born in Laj Chimel, Guatemala.
1955 ~ J.K. Simmons (né Jonathan Kimble Simmons), American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. Emil Skoda on the television drama Law & Order. He was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
1954 ~ Philippa Gregory, English author. She is the author of many historical novels about British royalty. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
1951 ~ M.L. Carr (né Michael Leon Carr), African-American professional basketball player with a long-term career with the Boston Celtics. He was born in Wallace, North Carolina.
1951 ~ Crystal Gayle (née Brenda Gail Webb), American musician. Her sister is Loretta Lynn. She was born in Paintsville, Kentucky.
1941 ~ Joan Baez (née Joan Chandos Baez), American folk singer and political activist. She was born in Staten Island, New York.
1940 ~ Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss politician and President of the Swiss Confederation. She served as President from January 1999 through December 1999. She was the first female president of Switzerland. She was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
1939 ~ Susannah York (née Susannah Yolande Fletcher; d. Jan. 15, 2011), English actress, known as the “English Rose”, who hungered for edgy roles. She was born and died in London, England. She died of multiple myeloma 6 days after her 72nd birthday.
1938 ~ C.P. Ramanujam (né Chakravarthi Padmanabhan Ramanujam; d. Oct. 27, 1974), Indian mathematician. He died by suicide at age 36.
1938 ~ Gary Starkweather (né Gary Keith Starkweather; d. Dec. 26, 2019), American freethinking engineer who invented the laser printer and color management. He was born in Lansing, Michigan. He died in Orlando, Florida 14 days before his 82nd birthday.
1937 ~ Joseph Epstein, American essayist and short-story writer. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1936 ~ Anne Rivers Siddons (née Sybil Anne Rivers; d. Sept. 11, 2019), American novelist. Many of her novels took place in the American South. She was born in Fairburn, Georgia. She died at age 83 in Charleston, South Carolina.
1935 ~ Bob Denver (né Robert Osbourne Denver; d. Sept. 2, 2005), American actor, best known for his role as Gilligan on the television sit-com Gilligan’s Island. He was born in New Rochelle, New York. He died of throat cancer at age 70 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1934 ~ Bart Starr (né Bryan Bartlett Starr; d. May 26, 2019), American professional football quarterback who led Green Bay’s dynasty. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama. He died at age 85 in Birmingham, Alabama.
1933 ~ Wilbur Smith (né Wilbur Addison Smith; d. Nov. 13, 2021), South African novelist who wrote best-selling tales of African adventure. He was born in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). He died at age 88 in Cape Town, South Africa.
1928 ~ Judith Krantz (née Judith Bluma-Gittel Tarcher; d. June 22, 2019), American author of romantic fiction. Her novels mixed sex and shopping. She was born in New York, New York. She died at age 91 in Los Angeles, California.
1922 ~ Har Gobind Khorana (d. Nov. 9, 2011), Indian-born American biochemist and recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acid. He died at age 89 in Concord, Massachusetts.
1921 ~ John Sperling (né John Glen Sperling; d. Aug. 22, 2014), American history professor who transformed higher education when he founded the University of Phoenix in 1973, the for-profit institute of higher education. He was born in Missouri. He died at age 93 in San Francisco, California.
1916 ~ Peter Twinn (né Peter Frank George Twinn; d. Oct. 29, 2004), English mathematician. He died at age 88.
1913 ~ Richard M. Nixon (né Richard Milhous Nixon; d. Apr. 22, 1994), 37th President of the United States. Prior to becoming president, he had served as the 36th Vice President. He served as Vice President under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He had also served as a United States Senator from California from December 1950 through January 1953. He was the only President to leave office when facing impeachment for his actions in the Watergate scandal. He was born in Yorba Linda, California. He died at age 81 in New York, New York.
1908 ~ Simone de Beauvoir (née Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir; d. Apr. 14, 1986), French feminist and lover of Jean Paul Sartre. She is best known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex. She was born and died in Paris, France. She died of pneumonia at age 78.
1901 ~ Chic Young (né Murat Bernard Young; d. Mar. 14, 1973), American cartoonist. He created the comic strip Blondie in September 1930. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He died of a pulmonary embolism at age 72 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
1892 ~ Eva Bowring (née Eva Kelley; d. Jan. 8, 1985), American lawyer and United States Senator from Nebraska from April 1954 until November 1954. She died 1 day before her 93rd birthday.
1890 ~ Karel Čapek (d. Dec. 25, 1938), Czech author best known for coining the term Robot. He died of pneumonia 15 days before his 49th birthday in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
1875 ~ Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (née Gertrude Vanderbilt; d. Apr. 18, 1942), American socialite and patron of the arts. She was the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was born and died in Manhattan, New York. She died at age 67.
1873 ~ Chaim Nahman Bialik (d. July 4, 1934), Ukrainian-born poet. He is known as the Israeli National Poet. He died following complications from surgery at age 61 in Vienna, Austria.
1870 ~ Joseph Strauss (né Joseph Baermann Strauss, d. May 16, 1938), American structural engineer and co-designer of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He died at age 68 in Los Angeles, California.
1864 ~ Vladimir Skeklov (d. May 30, 1926), Russian mathematician and physicist. He died at age 62.
1859 ~ Carrie Chapman Catt (née Carrie Clinton Lane; d. Mar. 9, 1947), American women’s suffrage leader and founder of the League of Women Voters. She was a strong advocate for the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. She was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She died of a heart attack at age 88 in New Rochelle, New York.
1858 ~ Elizabeth Britton (née Elizabeth Gertrude Knight; d. Feb. 25, 1934), American botanist. She and her husband were instrumental in creating the New York Botanical Garden. She was born and died in New York, New York. She died at age 76.
1854 ~ Lady Randolph Churchill, Jeanette Jerome (née Jennie Jerome; d. June 29, 1921), American socialite and mother of Winston Churchill. When she married her first husband, Lord Randolph Churchill, she became Lady Randolph Churchill. She died of a hemorrhage following the amputation of her left leg. Her leg required the amputation as a result an injury from a fall in which she broke her ankle. She was born in Brooklyn, New York. She died at age 67 in London, England.
1816 ~ John Usher (né John Palmer Usher; b. Apr. 13, 1889), 7th United States Secretary of the Interior. He served under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from Jan. 1, 1863 until May 15, 1865. He was born in Brookfield, New York. He died of cancer at age 73 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1773 ~ Cassandra Austen (née Cassandra Elizabeth Austen; d. Mar. 22, 1845), English watercolorist and older sister of writer Jane Austen. She died of a stroke at age 72.
1745 ~ Caleb Strong (d. Nov. 7, 1819), Governor of Massachusetts. He served as Governor for two terms, first from May 1800 until May 1807, and then from March 1812 through May 1816. Before he was Governor, he served as a United States Senator for the State of Massachusetts. He was born and died in Northampton, Massachusetts. He died at age 74.
1715 ~ Robert-François Damiens (d. Mar. 28, 1757), French domestic servant who attempted to assassinate Louis XV, King of France. He is known for being the last person in France to be executed by drawing and quartering. He was 42 at the time of his execution.
1554 ~ Pope Gregory XV (né Alessandro Ludovisi; d. July 8, 1623). He was Pope from February 1621 until his death 2 years later. He died at age 69.
1500 ~ Diane de Poitiers (d. Apr. 25, 1566), French noblewoman and mistress of Henry II, King of France. At age 15, she was married to the grandson of Charles VII, King of France. Her husband was 39 years older. They had 2 daughters. After his death, she became the chief mistress of Henry II, where she was able to wield considerable influence. She died at age 66, possible from injuries suffered from a fall from a horse 2 years earlier.
727 ~ Emperor Daizong of Tang (d. June 10, 799), Chinese emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He reigned from May 762 until his death in June 799. He died at age 52.
Events that Changed the World:
2007 ~ The iPhone was first unveiled by Apple.
2005 ~ Mahmoud Abbas (b. 1935) was elected as the president of the Palestine National Authority.
2001 ~ Apple launched iTunes, which would change the way people listen to music.
1960 ~ Construction began on the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Construction was completed in July 1970.
1947 ~ Elizabeth Short (1924 ~ 1947), known as the Black Dahlia, was last seen alive. She was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized, still unsolved, murder. Her body would be discovered 6 days later, on January 15, 1947.
1945 ~ The United States invaded Luzon in the Philippines during World War II.
1916 ~ The Battle of Gallipoli in World War I ended with an Ottoman Empire victory and the last Allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula.
1909 ~ Ernest Shackleton (1874 ~ 1922) led his expedition to across the Antarctic and planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole. This was as close as anyone had gotten to the South Pole at the time.
1905 ~ Russian workers staged a march on the Winter Palace that ended in a massacre by Czarist troops, known as Bloody Sunday. This event marked the beginning of the Revolution of 1905. (This date is in accordance with the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia at the time).
1894 ~ The New England Telephone & Telegraph installed the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1861 ~ Mississippi became the second state, after South Carolina, to secede from the Union before the beginning of the American Civil War.
1839 ~ The Daguerreotype photo was process announced at the French Academy of Science.
1816 ~ Sir Humphry Davy (1778 ~ 1829) tested his safety lamp to be used coal miners.
1799 ~ British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (1759 ~ 1806) introduced an income tax to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
1788 ~ Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1776 ~ Thomas Paine (1737 ~ 1809) published Common Sense.
1768 ~ The first modern circus was held in London, England when equestrian and former cavalry sergeant major, Philip Astley (1742 ~ 1814), discovered that if he galloped in a close circle, centrifugal force allowed him to perform feats on horseback. He is considered to be the Father of the First Modern Circus.
1431 ~ The trial of Joan of Arc (1412 ~ 1431) began.
1349 ~ The residents of Basel, Switzerland, believing that the Jews of the city were the cause of the Black Death, ordered all Jews in the city to be captured and killed.
681 ~ Visigoth King Erwig (642 ~ 687) issued 28 laws condemning Jews by declaring they were a plague on his kingdom. He demanded the Jews either convert to Christianity or be exiled from his kingdom. His laws also imposed strict restriction on Jewish commercial activities.
Good-Byes:
2021 ~ Fabrizio Soccorsi (b. Feb. 2, 1942), Italian physician who was Pope Francis’ hand-picked doctor. He was the former head of the hepatology department in Rome’s San Camillo-Forlanini hospital. He died at age 78 of complications of Covid-19.
2018 ~ Terence Marsh (b. Nov. 14, 1931), British production designer who made movies look real. He was born in London, England. He died at age 86 in Los Angeles, California.
2016 ~ Richard G. Hendrickson (né Richard Granger Hendrickson; b. Sept. 2. 1912), American stalwart volunteer who recorded the weather for 85 years. He was the longest serving volunteer with the National Weather Service to observe weather conditions. He recorded conditions such as temperatures, wind speed, rainfall, snow and other data from a small weather station in Long Island, New York. He was born in Bridgehampton, New York. He died at age 103.
2015 ~ Bud Paxson (né Lowell White Paxson; b. Apr. 17, 1935), American entrepreneur who put shopping on TV. He was the co-creator of The Home Shopping Network. He died at age 79 in Kalispell, Montana.
2015 ~ Dottie Thomas (née Dorothy Martin; b. Sept. 18, 1922), American dutiful wife who advanced medicine. She was a hematology researcher in her own right. She worked closely with her husband, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas (1920 ~ 2012), on bone marrow transplants. Her husband was the recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this research. She was born in San Antonio, Texas. She died at age 92 in Seattle, Washington.
2014 ~ Marc Yor (b. July 24, 1949), French mathematician. He died at age 64 in Paris, France.
2014 ~ Franklin McCain (né Franklin Eugene McCain; b. Jan. 3, 1941), African-American civil rights activist and man who lead the Greensboro Four at the Woolworth lunch counter in 1960 when he was a student at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He was born in Union County, North Carolina and died in Greensboro, North Carolina. He died 6 days after his 73rd birthday of respiratory complications.
2014 ~ Dale T. Mortensen (né Dale Thomas Mortensen; b. Feb. 2, 1939), American economist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. He was born in Enterprise, Oregon. He died less than a month before his 75th birthday in Wilmette, Illinois.
2014 ~ Amiri Baraka (né Everett LeRoi Jones, b. Oct. 7, 1934), African-American poet who preached revolution. He was born and died in Newark, New Jersey. He died at age 79.
2013 ~ James Buchanan (né James McGill Buchanan, Jr.; b. Oct. 3, 1919), American economist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He died at age 93 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
2011 ~ Debbie Friedman (née Deborah Lynn Friedman; b. Feb. 23, 1951), American songwriter of Jewish religious music and songs. She was born in Utica, New York. She died of pneumonia at age 59 in Mission Viejo, California.
1998 ~ Kenichi Fukui (b. Oct. 4, 1918), Japanese chemist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigations into the mechanisms of chemical reactions. He died at age 79.
1995 ~ Peter Cook (né Peter Edward Cook; b. Nov. 17, 1937), British comedian and actor. He died of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage at age 57.
1975 ~ Pyotr Novikov (b. Aug. 15, 1901), Soviet mathematician. He died at age 73.
1961 ~ Emily Greene Balch (b. Jan. 8, 1867), American economist, writer, and pacifist. She was the recipient of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize. She was a central leader of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, for which she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts 1 day after her 94th birthday.
1949 ~ Tom Longboat (né Thomas Charles Longboat aka Cogwagee; b. June 4, 1887), an Onodaga long distance runner from the Six Nations of the Grand River in Canada. He died of pneumonia at age 61.
1947 ~ Karl Mannheim (né Károly Manheim; b. Mar. 27, 1893), Hungarian sociologist. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. He died at age 53 in London, England.
1946 ~ Countee Cullen (né Countee LeRoy Porter; b. May 30, 1903), African-American poet and author. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He died at age 42.
1938 ~ Johnny Gruelle (né John Barton Gruelle; b. Dec. 24, 1880), American cartoonist, children’s author and creator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. He was born in Arcola, Illinois. He died 15 days after his 57th birthday of a heart attack in Miami Springs, Florida.
1933 ~ Kate Gleason (née Catherine Anselm Gleason; b. Nov. 25, 1865); American engineer and philanthropist. She was one of the first women to be admitted to the engineering program at Cornell. She was born and died in Rochester, New York. She died of pneumonia at age 67.
1923 ~ Katherine Mansfield (née Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp, b. Oct. 14, 1888), New Zealand author. She was born in Wellington, New Zealand. She died of extrapulmonary tuberculosis at age 34 in Fontanebleau, Île-de-France, France.
1895 ~ Aaron Dennison (né Aaron Lufkin Dennison; b. Mar. 6, 1812), American businessman and co-founder of the Waltham Watch Company, which was located in Waltham, Massachusetts. He was born in Freeport, Maine. He died at age 82 in West Bromwich, England.
1878 ~ Victorio Emanuele II, King of Italy (b. Mar. 14, 1820), first king of a united Italy since the 6th century. He reigned Italy from March 1861 until his death 17 years later. He was of the House of Savoy. He was the son of Charles Albert, King of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria. He died in Rome, Italy at age 57.
1876 ~ Samuel Howe (né Samuel Gridley Howe; b. Nov. 10, 1801), American physician, abolitionist and activist for the blind. He was married to Julia Ward Howe, who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Howe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He died at age 74.
1873 ~ Napoleon III (né Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, b. Apr. 20, 1808), 1st President of the French Republic. He was born in Paris, France. He died in exile in England at age 64.
1858 ~ Anson Jones (b. Jan. 20, 1798), the 4th and last President of the Republic of Texas. He was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He died by suicide in Houston, Texas just 11 days before his 60th birthday.
1848 ~ Caroline Herschel (née Caroline Lucretia Herschel; b. Mar. 16, 1750), German-born astronomer. She was the sister of astronomer William Herschel. She is best known for the discovery of several comets. The periodic comet, 35P/Herschel-Rigollet is named in her honor. She was born and died in Hanover, Germany. She died at age 97.
1833 ~ Adrien-Marie Legendre (b. Sept. 18, 1752), French mathematician. Legendre polynomials and Legendre transformations are named in his honor. He was born and died in Paris, France. He died at age 80.
1819 ~ Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (b. May 10, 1788), Queen consort of Württemberg and wife of William I, King of Württemberg. He was her second husband. She had previously been married to George, Duke of Oldenburg. She was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov. She was the daughter of Paul I, Tsar of Russia and Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. She died at age 30 from complications of pneumonia.
1799 ~ Maria Gaetana Agnesi (b. May 16, 1718), Italian mathematician. She was the first woman to write a mathematical handbook. She is credited with writing the first book that discussed both differential and integral calculus. She was born and died in Milan, Italy. She died at age 80.
1653 ~ John Haynes (b. May 1, 1594), 1st Governor of Colonial Connecticut from 1639 until 1636. He also served as the 5th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1635 to 1636. He was born in Essex, England. He died at age 59 in Hartford, Connecticut.
1514 ~ Anne, Duchess of Brittany (b. Jan. 25, 1477), Queen consort of France and wife of Charles VIII, King of France and Louis XII, King of France. Her first marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor was annulled. She then married Charles VIII, King of France. Following his death, she married his successor, Louis XII, King of France. She was of the House of Dreux-Montfort. She was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. She died at age 36. She is believed to have been born on January 25, 1477, so died just 16 days before her 37th birthday.
1150 ~ Emperor Xizong of Jin (b. Feb. 28, 1150), Chinese emperor of the Jin Dynasty. He ruled from February 1135 until his assassination at age 30.
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