Friday, August 26, 2022

August 26

Birthdays:

 

1980 ~ Macaulay Culkin (né Macaulay Carson Cuklin), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Kevin McCallister in the 1990 film, Home Alone.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1980 ~ Chris Pine (né Christopher Whitelaw Pine), American actor.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.

 

1970 ~ Melissa McCarthy (née Melissa Ann McCarthy), American actress and comedian.  She was born in Plainfield, Illinois.

 

1963 ~ Stephen J. Dubner (né Stephen Joseph Dubner), American journalist and author.  He is the co-author, along with Steven Levitt, of Freakonomics.  He was born in Duanesburg, New York.

 

1960 ~ Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist, and composer.  He was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

 

1949 ~ Leon Redbone (né Dickran Gobalian; d. May 30, 2019), Cyprian-born American musician.  He was born in Nicosia, Cyprus.  He died of complications of dementia at age 69 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

 

1945 ~ Tom Ridge (né Thomas Joseph Ridge), American politician and 1st United States Secretary of Homeland Security.  He served in that capacity from January 2003 to February 2005 in the George W. Bush administration.  From January 1995 until October 2001, he served as the Governor of Pennsylvania.  He was born in Munhall, Pennsylvania.

 

1941 ~ Barbara Ehrenreich (né Barbara Alexander), American writer and social activist.  She was born in Butte, Montana.

 

1935 ~ Geraldine Ferraro (née Geraldine Anne Ferraro; d. Mar. 26, 2011), American Congresswoman and Vice-Presidential nominee in the 1984 presidential campaign. Walter Mondale selected her to be his running mate.  She was born in Newburgh, New York.  She died of multiple myeloma at age 75 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1923 ~ Wolfgang Sawallisch (d. Feb. 22, 2013), old-school German conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He was born in Munich, Germany.  He died at age 89 in Grassau, Bavaria, German.

 

1922 ~ Irving R. Levine (né Irving Raskin Levine; d. Mar. 27, 2009), American journalist.  He was a longtime correspondent for NBC News.  He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 86 of complications from prostate cancer.

 

1921 ~ Shimshone Amitsur (d. Sept. 5, 1994), Israeli mathematician.  He was born and died in Jerusalem, Israel.  He died two weeks after his 73rd birthday.

 

1921 ~ Ben C. Bradlee (né Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee; d. Oct. 21, 2014), 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 was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 93 in Washington, D.C.

 

1918 ~ Katherine Johnson (née Creola Katherine Coleman; d. Feb. 24, 2020), African-American mathematician and physicist.  She was one of the “hidden figures” who put astronauts in space.  She was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (predecessor of NASA) as a mathematician.  She was one of the African-American woman mathematicians whose pioneering work for NASA depicted in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures.  She was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  She died at age 101 in Newport News, Virginia.

 

1910 ~ Mother Teresa (née Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; d. Sept. 5, 1997), Albanian-born missionary and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.  She died less than 2 weeks after her 87th birthday in Calcutta, West Bengal, India.  On September 4, 2016, she became a Saint in the Catholic Church.

 

1909 ~ Jim Davis (né Marlin Davis; d. Apr. 26, 1981), American actor best known for his role as the patriarch, Jock Ewing, on the television drama, Dallas.  He was born in Edgerton, Missouri.  He died of multiple myeloma at age 71 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1906 ~ Albert Sabin (né Albert Saperstein; d. Mar. 3, 1993), Polish-born American medical researcher, best known for his role in developing the oral polio vaccine.  He was born in Białystok, Russian Empire (currently Poland).  He died of heart failure at age 86 in Washington, D.C.

 

1898 ~ Peggy Guggenheim (née Marguerite Guggenheim; d. Dec. 23, 1979), American art collector.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died at age 81 in Camposampiero, Italy.

 

1882 ~ James Franck (d. May 21, 1964), German physicist and recipient of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Hamburg, German Empire.  He died at age 81.

 

1873 ~ Lee de Forest (d. June 30, 1961), American inventor, best known for the invention Audion, a form of vacuum tube that amplifies weak electrical signals.  He was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  He died at age 87 in Hollywood, California.

 

1820 ~ James Harlan (d. Oct. 5, 1899), 8th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Andrew Johnson from May 1865 until August 1866.  He later served as a United States Senator from Iowa.  He was born in Clark County, Illinois.  He died at age 79 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

 

1819 ~ Albert, Prince Consort (né Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; d. Dec. 14, 1861), husband of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom.  He was of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld until 1826, when the family became known as the House of Saxe-Coburg-and Gotha.  He was the son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.  He died at age 42, possibly of typhoid fever or stomach cancer.

 

1792 ~ Manuel Oribe (d. Nov. 12, 1857), Constitutional President of Uruguay.  He was in Office from March 1835 until October 1838.  He died at age 65.

 

1743 ~ Antoine Lavoisier (d. May 8, 1794), French chemist known as the Father of Modern Chemistry.  He was branded as a traitor by the revolutionists during the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution for being a tax collector.  He was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He was 50 years old at the time of his execution.

 

1740 ~ Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (d. June 26, 1810), French inventor and co-inventor along with his brother, Jacques-Étienne (1845 ~ 1799), of the hot air balloon.  He died at age 69; his brother died at age 54.

 

1728 ~ Johann Heinrich Lambert (d. Sept. 25, 1777), Swiss mathematician.  He died a month after his 49th birthday in Berlin, Prussia.

 

1676 ~ Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (d. Mar. 18, 1745), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He is considered to effectively be the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from April 1721 until February 1742, was during the reigns of King George I and George II.  He died at age 68 in London, England.

 

1596 ~ Frederick I, King of Bohemia (d. Nov. 29, 1632).  He ruled as king of Bohemia from August 1619 until November 1620 when he was forced to abdicate.  Because of his brief reign, he was known as the Winter King.  In 1613, he married Princess Elizabeth Stuart.  He was of the House of Palatine Simmern.  He was the son of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and Princess Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau.  He was Calvinist.  He died at age 36.

 

1467 ~ Ferdinand II, King of Naples (d. Sept. 7, 1496).  He ruled Naples from January 1495 until his death in September 1496.  He was married to his aunt, Joanna of Naples.  He was 29 and she was 17 at the time of their marriage.  He was of the House of Trastámara.  He was the son of Alfonso II, King of Naples and Ippolita Maria Sforza.  He was Roman Catholic.  He had been ill with malaria and died soon after his wedding and less than 2 weeks after his 29th birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2018 ~ Three people were killed and eleven others were wounded during a mass shooting at a Madden NFL ’19 video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida.  The shooter had participated in the tournament but lost.  He later committed suicide.

 

2015 ~ Two television journalists, Alison Parker (1991 ~ 2005) and Adam Ward (1988 ~ 2015), were shot and killed while conducting a live human-interest television interview in Virginia.  The gunman was a disgruntled former employee of the television station.  He subsequently committed suicide following a police car chase.

 

1978 ~ Pope John Paul I (1912 ~ 1978) was elected Pope.  He would die 33 days later.

 

1970 ~ Betty Friedan (1921 ~ 2006) led a nation-wide Women’s Strike for Equality.

 

1942 ~ In Chortkiav in western Ukraine, the German police began driving the Jews out of their homes, packed them into rail cars and deported them to the Bełżec concentration camp.  Over 500 children, elderly and sick Jews were murdered before being deported.

 

1939 ~ The first televised major league baseball game was broadcast.  The Cincinnati Reds played the Brooklyn Dodgers in Brooklyn.  Because television was still in its infancy, few people actually watched the game.

 

1920 ~ The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution became effective.  The Amendment gives women the right to vote.

 

1883 ~ The volcano Krakatoa began its final stage of eruption.  The eruption had begun the day before.

 

1791 ~ John Fitch (1743 ~ 1798) was granted a United States patent for the steamboat.

 

1498 ~ Michelangelo (1475 ~ 1564) was commissioned to carve the Pietà.

 

1346 ~ At the Battle of Crécy during Hundred Years’ War, the military supremacy of the English longbow prevailed over the French army’s weapons of armored knights carrying crossbows.

 

55 BCE ~ The traditional date when Roman forces were said to have invaded Great Britain under the leadership of Julius Caesar.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2018 ~ Neil Simon (né Marvin Neil Simon; b. July 4, 1927), American playwright who became Broadway’s king of comedy.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.  He died at age 91 in Manhattan, New York.

 

2017 ~ Tobe Hooper (né Willard Tobe Hooper; b. Jan. 25, 1943), American film director who combined horror and chain saws.  He is best known for directing 1974 film, The Chain Saw Massacre.  He was born in Austin, Texas.  He died at age 74 in Sherman Oaks, California.

 

2009 ~ Dominick Dunne (né Dominick John Dunne; b. Oct. 29, 1925), American elegant writer who chronicled the famous and infamous.  He was born in Hartford, Connecticut.  He died of cancer at age 83 in New York, New York.

 

2007 ~ Edward Brandt, Jr. (né Edward Newman Brandt, Jr., b. July 3, 1933), American physician and mathematician.  He served as Acting Surgeon General of the United States in 1981.  He was born and died in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  He died of lung cancer at age 74.

 

2007 ~ Judah Nadich (b. May 13, 1912), American rabbi in the Conservative movement.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died at age 95 in New York, New York.

 

2004 ~ Laura Branigan (née Laura Ann Branigan; b. July 3, 1957), American singer.  She was born in Mount Kisco, New York.  She died of a brain aneurysm at age 47 in East Quogue, New York.

 

1998 ~ Frederick Reines (b. Mar. 16, 1918), American physicist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in neutrino experimentation.  He was born in Paterson, New Jersey.  He died following a long illness at age 80 in Orange, California.

 

1992 ~ Daniel E. Gorenstein (b. Jan. 1, 1923), American mathematician.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 69 in Chilmark, Massachusetts.

 

1989 ~ Irving Stone (né Irving Tennenbaum; b. July 14, 1903), American writer.  He is best known for his biographical novels such as The Agony and the Ecstasy about the life of Michelangelo.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died at age 86 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1987 ~ Georg Wittig (b. June 16, 1897), German chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the synthesis of alkenes.  He was born in Berlin, Germany.  He died at age 90 in Heidelberg, West Germany.

 

1986 ~ Ted Knight (né Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konokpka; b. Dec. 7, 1925), America actor.  He was born in Terryville, Connecticut.  He died of colon cancer at age 62 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1981 ~ Roger Baldwin (né Roger Nash Baldwin; b. Jan. 21, 1884), American civil rights activist and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.  He was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  He died at age 97 in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

 

1977 ~ H.A. Rey (né Hans Augusto Reyersbach; b. Sept. 16, 1898), German-born American children’s author and illustrator.  He, along with his wife Margret Rey (1906 ~ 1996), created Curious George.  Although born in Hamburg, Germany, he fled with his family when the Nazis came to power.  He died 3 weeks before his 79th birthday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1974 ~ Charles Lindbergh (né Charles Augustus Lindbergh, b. Feb. 4, 1902), 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.

 

1950 ~ Ransom E. Olds (né Ransom Eli Olds; b. June 3, 1864), American automobile pioneer.  He was born in Geneva, Ohio.  He died at age 86 in Lansing, Michigan.

 

1937 ~ Andrew Mellon (né Andrew William Mellon; b. Mar. 24, 1855), American banker, industrialist, and financier.  He was the 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury and served under Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.  He was in that Office from March 1921 until February 1932.  He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 82 in Southampton, New York.

 

1930 ~ Lon Chaney (né Leonidas Frank Chaney, Sr.; b. Apr. 1, 1883), American actor of silent films and the father of Lon Chaney, Jr.  He was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He died of a throat hemorrhage, complicated by lung cancer, at age 47 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1923 ~ Hertha Ayrton (née Phoebe Sarah Marks; b. Apr. 28, 1854), British engineer and mathematician.  She died of blood poisoning following a bug bite.  She was 69 years old.

 

1921 ~ Sándor Wekerle (b. Nov. 14, 1848), Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary.  He served as Prime Minister for 3 non-consecutive terms.  He died at age 72 in Budapest, Hungary.

 

1910 ~ William James (b. Jan. 11, 1842), American philosopher and psychologist.  He has been called the Father of American Psychology.  He was the brother of novelist Henry James.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of heart failure at age 68 in Chocorua, New Hampshire.

 

1887 ~ Silas Bent, III (b. Oct. 10, 1820), American naval officer.  He is best known for his contributions to the study of oceanography.  He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  He died at age 66 in Shelter Island, New York.

 

1871 ~ Charles Scribner I (b. Feb. 21, 1821), American publisher and founder of Charles Scribner’s and Sons.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of typhoid at age 50 while traveling in Lucerne, Switzerland.

 

1850 ~ Louis Philippe, King I of France (b. Oct. 6, 1773).  He was King of France from August 1830 until February 1848.  He broke with the French Republic over its decision to execute Louis XVI, King of France.  He took the throne after the Bourbon Restoration.  He was forced to abdicate in 1848 and lived in exile in England until his death.  He died at age 76.

 

1723 ~ Anton van Leeuwenhoek (né Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek; b. Oct. 24, 1632), Dutch microbiologist known as the Father of the Modern Microscope.  He essentially founded the science of microbiology.  He is best known for his work on the improvement of the microscope.  He first recorded seeing live cells under the microscope, which paved the way for the study of microbiology.  He was born and died in Delft, Dutch Republic.  He died at age 90.

 

1713 ~ Denis Papin (b. Aug 22, 1647), French physicist, mathematician, and inventor.  He developed a process for pressure cooking.  He was born in Blois, France.  He died 4 days after his 66th birthday in London, England.

 

1666 ~ Frans Hals (b. 1580), Dutch painter.  He was known as Franz Hals the Elder, as his five sons, including Frans Hals, Junior, were also artists and painters.  He was born in Antwerp, Flanders, Spanish Netherlands.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 83 or 84 at the time of his death.  He died in Haarlem, Dutch Republic.

 

1551 ~ Margaret Leijonhufvud (b. Jan. 1, 1516), Queen consort and second wife of Gustav I, King of Sweden.  They married in 1536.  She was not of royal blood but was of a noble family.  She was the daughter of Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufud and Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa.  She died of pneumonia at age 35.

 

1349 ~ Thomas Bradwardine (b. 1300), English archbishop and mathematician.  He is often called Doctor Profundus due to his vast knowledge.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 49 at the time of his death.

 

1296 ~ John, King of Bohemia (d. Aug. 26, 1346).  He ruled Bohemia from 1310 until his death 36 years later.  He was known as John of Luxembourg and John the Blind.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Elizabeth of Bohemia.  They married in 1310.  After her death, he married Beatrice of Bourbon.  They married in 1334.  He was of the House of Luxembourg.  He was the son of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Margaret of Brabant.  He died 16 days before his 51st birthday while fighting in the Battle of Crécy, even though he had been blind for the past 10 years.

 

1278 ~ Ottokar II, King of Bohemia (b. 1233).  He ruled Bohemia from December 1253 until his death 25 years later.  He was married twice.  In 1252, he married his first wife, Margaret of Austria.  She was 26 years older than him.  There were no children of the marriages, which ended in an annulment.  His second wife was Kunigunda of Slavonia, whom he married in 1261.  He was of the Přemyslid Dynasty.  He was the son of Wenceslaus I, King of Bohemia and Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He is believed to have been about 44 or 45 at the time of his death.


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