Friday, February 4, 2022

February 4

Birthdays:

 

1992 ~ Adeline Marie Fagan (d. Sept. 19, 2020), American medical doctor.  She was a second-year ob-gyn resident in Houston, Texas.  She was doing a rotation treating Covid-19 patients when she caught the disease.  She continued working despite a medical history of asthma.  She was born in La Fayette, New York.  She died of Covid-19 at age 28 in Houston, Texas.

 

1973 ~ Oscar de la Hoya, Mexican-American boxer.  He was born in Montebello, California.

 

1972 ~ Dara Ó Brien, Irish comedian.  He was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.

 

1948 ~ Alice Cooper (né Vincent Damon Furnier), American musician.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1947 ~ Dennis C. Blair (né Dennis Cutler Blair), United States Navy Admiral and 3rd Director of National Intelligence.  He served as Director of National Intelligence during the presidency of Barack Obama, from January 2009 until May 2010.  He was born in Kittery, Maine.

 

1947 ~ Dan Quayle (né James Danforth Quayle), 44th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President George H. W. Bush from Jan. 1989 to Jan. 1993.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from the State of Indiana.  He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

 

1940 ~ George Romero (né George Andrew Romero; d. July 16, 2017), American cult film director who made zombies mainstream.  He is best known for his 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of lung cancer at age 77 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

1936 ~ David Brenner (né David Norris Brenner; d. Mar. 15, 2014), the American comedian who ruled The Tonight Show.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died of cancer at age 78 in Manhattan, New York.

 

1931 ~ Isabel Martínez de Perón (née María Estela Martínez Cartas), President of Argentina.  She served as President from July 1974 until March 1976.  She was the 3rd wife of Juan Perón.  She was born in La Rioja, Argentina.

 

1926 ~ Nancy Bush Ellis (née Nancy Walker Bush; d. Jan. 10, 2021), American sister of President George Herbert Walker Bush and aunt of President George W. Bush.  Although she was a longtime Democrat, she campaigned tirelessly to get both Republicans to the White House.  She was born in Milton, Massachusetts.  She died at age 94 in Concord, Massachusetts of complications of Covid-19.

 

1925 ~ Stanley Karnow (né Stanley Abram Karnow; d. Jan. 27, 2013), American reporter who mastered the story of Vietnam.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died 8 days before his 88th birthday in Potomac, Maryland.

 

1925 ~ Sir Christopher Zeeman (né Erik Christopher Zeeman; d. Feb. 13, 2016), British mathematician.  He was born in Japan.  He died 9 days after his 91st birthday in Woodstock, England.

 

1922 ~ Joan Wiffen (née Joan Pederson; d. June 30, 2009), New Zealand amateur paleontologist.  She discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand.  She died at age 87.

 

1921 ~ Betty Friedan (née Betty Naomi Goldstein; d. Feb. 4, 2006), American feminist and author.  She was born in Peoria, Illinois.  She died on her 85th birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

1921 ~ Lofti Zadeh (d. Sept. 6, 2017), Iranian mathematician and computer scientist.  He was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Soviet Union.  He died at age 96 in Berkeley, California.

 

1913 ~ Rosa Parks (née Rosa Louise McCauley; d. Oct. 24, 2005), American civil rights activist.  She is best known for not giving up her seat on a bus during the days of segregation.  She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama.  She died at age 92 in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1906 ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (d. Apr. 9, 1945), German Christian theologian.  He was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship and the persecution of the Jews.  He was arrested in April 1943 and sent to Fossenbürg concentration camp, where he was executed at age 39.

 

1906 ~ Clyde Tombaugh (né Clyde William Tombaugh; d. Jan. 17, 1997), American astronomer who first cited the dwarf planet, Pluto.  He was born in Streator, Illinois.  He died 18 days before his 91st birthday in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

 

1902 ~ Charles Lindbergh (né Charles Augustus Lindbergh; d. Aug. 26, 1974), American aviator and pioneer in early aviation.  In 1927, he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  After his death, it was revealed that he led a double life.  He had secret relationships with several women and fathered several children while still married to Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan and died in Kipahulu, Maui, Hawaii.  He died at age 72.

 

1899 ~ Virginia M. Alexander (d. July 24, 1949), American physician and public health researcher.  She was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She died of lupus at age 50.

 

1883 ~ Reinhold Rudenberg (d. Dec. 25, 1961), German inventor and pioneer of electron microscopy.  He died at age 78.

 

1881 ~ Fernand Léger (né Joseph Fernand Henri Léger; d. Aug. 17, 1955), French painter.  He died at age 74.

 

1831 ~ Oliver Ames (d. Oct. 22, 1895), 35th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as governor from January 1887 to January 1890.  He was born and died in Easton, Massachusetts.  He died at age 64.

 

1494 ~ François Rabelais (d. Apr. 9, 1553), French Renaissance writer, physician, monk and Greek scholar.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was born sometime between 1483 and 1494.  He died in Paris, France.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2020 ~ The Covid-19 pandemic caused all casinos in Macau to be closed.

 

2018 ~ The New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles played in Super Bowl LII, which was played in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The Eagles beat the Patriots in a score of 41 to 33.

 

2004 ~ Mark Zuckerberg (b. 1984) created Facebook, a social networking site on the internet.

 

1998 ~ An estimated 2,500 to 4,000 people were killed in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit northeast Afghanistan.

 

1992 ~ Hugo Chávez (1954 ~ 2013) lead a coup d’état against Venezuelan President Carlos André Pérez (1922 ~ 2010).

 

1980 ~ The Ayatollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) appointed Abolhassan Banisadr (1933 ~ 2021) as the 1st President of Iran.  He would take office on the following day.  He served until he was impeached in June 1981.

 

1976 ~ An earthquake in Guatemala and Honduras killed more than 22,000 people.

 

1975 ~ A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in Haicheng, Liaoning, China, located in the north east of the country.  Over 2,000 people were killed in the disaster.

 

1974 ~ Heiress Patty Hearst (b. 1954) was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

 

1969 ~ Yasser Arafat (1929 ~ 2004) became Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.  He had been appointed to the PLO the previous day.

 

1948 ~ Ceylon gained its independence from the British Commonwealth.  In 1972, country was later renamed Sri Lanka.

 

1945 ~ Winston Churchill (1874 ~ 1965), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1982 ~ 1945), and Joseph Stalin (1878 ~ 1953) met at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Germany and the reorganization of Europe post-World War II.

 

1941 ~ The United Service Organization (USO) was formed to entertain American troops.

 

1936 ~ Radium became the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

 

1899 ~ The Philippine-American War began with the Battle of Manila.

 

1861 ~ Delegates from the six Southern states that seceded from the Union, met in Montgomery, Alabama and formed the Confederate States of America.  The initial six states were: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana.

 

1859 ~ The Codex Sinaiticus was rediscovered in Egypt.  Most of the manuscripts are now housed in British Library in London, although some are still at Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Mt. Sinai.

 

1846 ~ The first Mormon pioneers began their trek from Nauvoo, Illinois toward the Utah Territory.

 

1826 ~ The Last of the Mohegans, by James Fenimore Cooper (1789 ~ 1851) was first published.

 

1801 ~ John Marshall (1755 ~ 1835) was sworn in as the 4th Chief Justice of the United States.  He served in that Office until his death on July 6, 1835 at age 79.

 

1797 ~ The Riobamba earthquake hit Ecuador.  Over 40,000 people were killed.

 

1794 ~ The French government abolished slavery throughout all its territories in the French Republic.

 

1789 ~ George Washington (1732 ~ 1799) was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the Electoral College.

 

1169 ~ A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily.  Tens of thousands of people lost their lives.

 

960 ~ Zhao Kuangyi (927 ~ 976) was crown as Emperor Taizu of Song, thereby marking the start of the Chinese Song dynasty, which lasted over 300 years.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2018 ~ John Mahoney (né Charles John Mahoney; b. June 20, 1940), British-born American actor best known for his role as Martin Crain in the television sit-com Frasier.  He found fame late in life.  He was born in Blackpool, England.  He died of throat cancer at age 77 in Chicago, Illinois.

 

2016 ~ Maurice White (b. Dec. 19, 1941), African-American musician and vibrant frontman and founder of the 1970s megagroup Earth, Wind and Fire.  He was born in Memphis, Tennessee.  He died of Parkinson’s disease at age 74 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2016 ~ Edgar Mitchell (né Edgar Dean Mitchell; b. Sept. 17, 1930), American astronaut who had an epiphany in space.  While looking out of his spacecraft and seeing the Earth and the stars, he was overwhelmed with a sense of “connectedness” and became obsessed with esoteric scientific phenomena and extraterrestrial life.  He was born in Hereford, Texas.  He died at age 85 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

 

2013 ~ Donald Byrd (né Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd, II; b. Dec. 9, 1932), African-American jazz trumpeter who moved from hard bop to funk.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died at age 80 in Dover, Delaware.

 

2013 ~ Essie Mae Washington-Williams (b. Oct. 12, 1925), African-American daughter of a famed segregationist.  She was the daughter of Senator Strom Thurmond and Carrie Butler, his family’s maid.  She was born in Edgefield, South Carolina.  She died at age 87 in Columbia, South Carolina.

 

2012 ~ Florence Green (née Florence Beatrice Patterson; b. Feb. 19, 1901), British soldier who served in the Woman’s Royal Air Force during World War I.  She also has the distinction of being the last survivor of World War I from any country.  She died 15 days before her 111th birthday.

 

2010 ~ Bill Dudley (né William McGarvey Dudley; b. Dec. 24, 1921), American professional football halfback who was known as “Bullet Bill.”  He was born in Bluefield, Virginia.  He died at age 88 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

 

2006 ~ Betty Friedan (née Betty Naomi Goldstein; d. Feb. 4, 1921), American feminist and author.  She was born in Peoria, Illinois.  She died on her 85th birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

2005 ~ Ossie Davis (né Raiford Chatman Davis; b. Dec. 18, 1917), African-American stage and film actor for fought for racial justice.  He was married to Ruby Dee.  He was born in Cogdell, Georgia.  He died at age 87 in Miami Beach, Florida.

 

2002 ~ Helen Dodson Prince (née Helen Dodson; b. Dec. 31, 1905), American astronomer.  She is best known for her pioneering work in solar flares.  She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  She died at age 96 in Arlington, Virginia.

 

2000 ~ Carl Albert (né Carl Bert Albert; b. May 10, 1908), Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He was a politician from Oklahoma and served as Speaker of the House from January 1971 until January 1977.  He was born and died in McAlester, Oklahoma.  He died at age 91.

 

1997 ~ Margaret Halsey (b. Feb. 13, 1910), American writer.  She was born in Yonkers, New York.  She died 9 days before her 87th birthday in White Plains, New York.

 

1995 ~ Patricia Highsmith (née Mary Patricia Plangman; b. Jan. 19, 1921), American author.  She is best known for writing psychological thrillers, such as Strangers on a Train.  Her novel The Price of Salt was adapted in to the 2015 movie Carol.  She was also an avowed antisemite.  She was born in Fort Worth, Texas.  She died of lung cancer 3 weeks after her 74th birthday in Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland.

 

1987 ~ Liberace (né Władziu Valentino Liberace; b. May 16, 1919), American pianist and entertainer.  He was born in West Allis, Wisconsin.  He died at age 67 in Palm Springs, California.

 

1983 ~ Karen Carpenter (née Karen Anne Carpenter; b. Mar. 2, 1950), American singer and drummer.  She was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  She died of anorexia about a month before her 33rd birthday in Downey, California.

 

1974 ~ Satyendra Nath Bose (b. Jan. 1, 1894), Indian mathematician and theoretical physicist.  He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics.  He was born and died in Calcutta, India.  He died about a month after his 80th birthday.

 

1970 ~ Louise Bogan (b. Aug. 11, 1897), American poet.  In 1945, she became was the 4th Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress and was the first woman to hold this title.  She was born in Livermore Falls, Maine.  She died in New York City at age 72.

 

1941 ~ David Emmanuel (b. Jan. 31, 1854), Romanian mathematician.  He was born and died in Bucharest, Romania.  He died 4 days after his 87th birthday.

 

1928 ~ Hendrik Lorentz (né Hendrick Antoon Lorentz; b. July 18, 1853), Dutch physicist and recipient of the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 74.

 

1774 ~ Charles Marie de la Condamine (b. Jan. 28, 1701), French mathematician and geographer.  He spent several years in present-day Ecuador measuring the length of a degree latitude at the equator.  He died 7 days after his 73rd birthday.

 

1505 ~ Joan of Valois (b. Apr. 23, 1464), Queen consort of France and first wife of King Louis VII.  They were married in 1476, but the marriage was annulled in December 1498.  Following the annulment, she founded the monastic Order of the Sisters of the Annunciation of Mary.  In the 1950s, she was made a saint.  She was of the House of Valois.  She was the daughter of Louis XI, King of France and Charlotte of Savoy.  She died at age 40.

 

708 ~ Pope Sisinnius (b. 650).  He was Pope for only 20 days, from January 15, 708 until his death on this date.  The exact date of his birth is not known.


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