December 31

Birthdays:

1995 ~ Gabby Douglas (née Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas), American gymnast.

1959 ~ Val Kilmer, American actor.

1958 ~ Bebe Neuwirth, American actress best known for her role as Lilith on Cheers.

1952 ~ Vaughn Jones, New Zealander mathematician.

1948 ~ Donna Summer (née LaDonna Adrian Gaines, d. 2012), American singer and Disco Queen.  She was the reluctant diva of disco.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died at age 63.

1945 ~ Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-born fashion designer.

1943 ~ Ben Kingsley, English actor.

1941 ~ Sarah Miles, English actress.

1937 ~ Avram Hershko, Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1937 ~ Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor.

1930 ~ Odetta Holmes (d. 2008), American singer who gave voice to Black America.  She died 29 days before her 78^th birthday.

1919 ~ Artur Fischer (d. 2016), German prolific inventor who created a DYI essential.  He had more patents than Thomas Edison.  He died a month after his 96^th birthday.

1908 ~ Simon Wiesenthal (d. 2005), Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.  He died at age 96.

1905 ~ Helen Dodson Prince (d. 2002), American astronomer.  She died at age 96.

1880 ~ George C. Marshall, Jr. (d. 1959), 50^th Secretary of State and author of the Marshall Plan.  He was the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for being the architect of the Marshall Plan.  He was Secretary of State under President Harry S Truman from January 1947 until January 1949.  He subsequently served as the 3^rd United States Secretary of Defense, also during the Truman administration.  He died at age 78.

1878 ~ Elizabeth Arden (née Florence Nightingale Graham, d. 1966), Canadian businesswomen and founder of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., the cosmetics company.  She died at age 87.

1869 ~ Henri Matisse (d. 1954), French painter.  He died at age 84.

1860 ~ Joseph S. Cullinan (d. 1937), American businessman and co-founder of Texaco.  He died at age 77.

1838 ~ Émile Loubet (d. 1929), President of France.  He served as President from February 1899 until February 1906.  He died 11 days before his 91^st birthday.

1815 ~ George Meade (d. 1872), Union General during the American Civil War.  He is best remembered for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.  He died at age 56.

1794 ~ Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (d. 1852), 2^nd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Millard Fillmore for 11 days in August 1850.  After accepting the position, he immediately regretted his decision and resigned.  He died 2 years later at age 52.

1720 ~ Charles Edward Stuart (d. 1788), pretender to the British Throne.  He died a month after his 67^th birthday.

1714 ~ Arima Yoriyuki (d. 1783), Japanese mathematician.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.

1514 ~ Andreas Vesalias (d. 1564), Flemish anatomist and physician who published a book entitled On the Structure of the Human Body, which was the first manual of human anatomy with clear and detailed illustrations.  He died at age 49.

1491 ~ Jacques Cartier (d. 1557), French explorer.  He died at age 65.

1378 ~ Pope Callixtus III (né Alfons de Borja, d. 1458).  He was Pope from April 1455 until his death in 1458.  He died at age 79.

Events that Changed the World:

2010 ~ At least 36 tornadoes struck in the Midwest and Southern United States causing massive damage, especially in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma.  At least 9 people were killed in the storms.

2009 ~ Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occurred.

2004 ~ Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world at the time, opened.  It stands at a height of 1,670 feet.

1999 ~ Boris Yeltsin (1931 ~ 2007), the first president of Russia resigned.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) became acting President.

1999 ~ The United States relinquished its control over the Panama Canal Zone to the country of Panama.

1994 ~ The Russian army began a New Year’s storm of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, thereby beginning the first Chechen War.

1992 ~ Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, creating two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  This was termed as the Velvet Divorce.

1991 ~ The Soviet Union officially dissolved and all official institutions of the Soviet Union ceased operation.

1983 ~ The AT&T Bell Telephone System was deregulated.

1967 ~ The Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, was founded.

1960 ~ The United Kingdom ceased to use the farthing coin as legal tender.

1951 ~ The Marshall Plan sunsetted.  It had distributed over $13.3 billion in foreign aid to help rebuild Europe following World War II.

1946 ~ US President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) officially proclaimed the end of World War II.

1909 ~ The Manhattan Bridge opened.

1907 ~ The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square New York City.  At the time, the square was known as Longacre Square.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison (1847 ~ 1831) demonstrated his electric light to the public for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1878 ~ Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929) filed a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine.  The patent was granted in 1879.

1862 ~ Abraham Lincoln signed an act that admitted West Virginia into the Union, thereby dividing Virginia into two.  West Virginia formally entered the Union on June 20, 1863.

1857 ~ Queen Victoria selected Ottawa, Ontario to be the capital of Canada.

1831 ~ Gramercy Park in New York City was given to the City.

1796 ~ The city of Baltimore, Maryland was incorporated.

1759 ~ Arthur Guinness (1725 ~ 1803) signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per year and began brewing his famous Guinness stout and ale.

1695 ~ A window tax was imposed in England.  Many households chose to brick up their windows in order to avoid the tax.

1600 ~ Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain granted a charter to the British East India Company in an effort to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Natalie Cole (b. 1950), American singer who carried on her father’s legacy.  She was the daughter of Nat King Cole.  She died of congested heart failure at age 65.

2015 ~ Wayne Rogers (b. 1933), American actor best known for his role as Trapper John from M*A*S*H.  He died of pneumonia at age 82.

2014 ~ Edward Herrmann (b. 1943), American actor.  He died of brain cancer at age 71.

2008 ~ Donald E. Westlake (b. 1933), American prolific writer who was a master of mysteries.  He died at age 75.

2004 ~ Gérard Debreu (b. 1921), French economist and mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He died at age 83.

2000 ~ Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane (b. 1966), American-Israeli rabbi and scholar.  He was the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane.  He and his wife were shot and killed in a settlement near Ofra in Israel.  He was 34 years old.

2000 ~ José Greco (né Costanzo Greco Bucci, b. 1918), Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer.  He died 8 days after his 82^nd birthday.

2000 ~ Alan Cranston (b. 1914), American journalist and politician from California.  He died at age 86.

1999 ~ Elliot Lee Richardson (b. 1920), 69^th US Attorney General.  He served under President Richard Nixon.  He also served as the 9^th Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the 11^th Secretary of Defense and the 25^th Secretary of State in the Nixon administration.  He served under President Gerald Ford as the 24^th Secretary of Commerce.  He died at age 77.

1972 ~ Roberto Clemente (b. 1934), Puerto Rican baseball player.  He was killed in a plane crash at age 38.  He was on a mission delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

1894 ~ Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (b. 1856), Dutch mathematician.  He died 2 days after his 38^th birthday.

1888 ~ Samson Raphael Hirsch (b. 1808), German rabbi.  He died at age 80.

1877 ~ Gustave Courbet (né Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet, b. 1819), French painter.  He died at age 58.

1691 ~ Robert William Boyle (b. 1627), Irish chemist and physicist.  He is considered to be the father of modern chemistry.  He died 25 days before his 65^th birthday.

1610 ~ Ludolph van Ceulen (b. 1540), German-Dutch mathematician.  He died 29 days before his 71^st birthday.

1583 ~ Thomas Erastus (b. 1524), Swiss theologian.  He died at age 59.

1384 ~ John Wycliffe (b. ~ 1320), English theologian and translator of the Bible into common English.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

335 ~ Pope Sylvester I.  He was Pope from January 314 until his death on this date 21 years later. 

December 24

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer.

1962 ~ Kate Spade, American fashion designer.

1957 ~ Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan.

1955 ~ Scott Fischer (d. 1996), American mountaineer and guide.  He was best known for his ascents of the world’s highest mountains.  In 1996, he was leading a group of hikers up Mt. Everest when a sudden blizzard arose.  He did not survive the storm.  He was the subject of the book, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest.  He was 40 at the time of his death.

1930 ~ Robert Joffrey (d. 1988), American dancer and choreographer.  He was the founder of the Joffrey Ballet.  He died at age 57.

1927 ~ Mary Higgins Clark, American mystery writer.

1925 ~ Yafa Yakoni (d. 2012), Israeli singer.  She died 8 days after her 86^th birthday.

1922 ~ Ava Gardner (d. 1990), American actress.  She died a month after her 67^th birthday.

1921 ~ William McGarvey “Bill” Dudley (d. 2010), American NFL halfback who was known as “Bullet Bill.”  He died at age 88.

1910 ~ Max Mideinger (d. 1980), Swiss typeface designer best known for creating the Helvetica typeface in 1957.  He died at age 69.

1907 ~ I.F. Stone (né Isador Feinstein, d. 1989), American journalist and writer.  He died at age 81 in Boston, Massachusetts.

1905 ~ Howard Hughes (d. 1976), American film producer, inventor and recluse.  He died at age 70.

1881 ~ Juan Ramón Jiménez (d. 1958), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 76.

1880 ~ Johnny Gruelle (d. 1938), American cartoonist, children’s author and creator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.  He died 15 days after his 57^th birthday of a heart attack.

1879 ~ Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (d. 1952), Queen Consort to King Christian X.  She died 4 days after her 73^rd birthday.

1869 ~ Emanuel Lasker (d. 1941), German mathematician.  He died of a kidney infection at age 72.

1818 ~ James Joule (d. 1889), British physicist.  He is best known for studying law of conservation of energy and the first law of thermodynamics.  He died at age 70.

1809 ~ Kit Carson (né Christopher Houston Carson, d. 1868), American frontiersman.  He died at age 58.

1166 ~ King John of England (d. 1216).  He was also known as John Lackland.  He was the youngest of five sons to King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and did not expect to become ruler.  He is most associated with the sealing of the Magna Carta.  He died at age 49.

Events that Changed the World:

2016 ~ The first night of Chanakkah.

1973 ~ The residents of Washington, D.C., were finally granted the legal authority to elect their own local government, following the passage of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

1968 ~ Apollo 8 became the first manned crew to orbit the Moon.

1955 ~ The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) began the annual tradition of tracking Santa Clause.

1951 ~ Libya gained its independence from Italy.  In 1969, Colonel Mu’ammar Muhammad al-Qadhafi led a revolution and became the head of the Libyan government until he was ousted and killed in 2011.

1943 ~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) became the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II.

1914 ~ The World War I Christmas truce began.  It was a series of unofficial ceasefires that occurred along the Western Front.  British and German soldiers began to exchange Christmas greetings on occasionally entered into the “no-man’s land” to mingle, to exchange food and tokes and sing Christmas songs.

1906 ~ Reginald Fessenden (1866 ~ 1932), a radio pioneer, transmitted the first radio broadcast.  It consisted of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

1871 ~ Verdi’s opera, Aida, was first performed in Cairo, Egypt.

1865 ~ The Ku Klux Klan was formed.

1851 ~ The United States Library of Congress burned.

1818 ~ The first performance of Silent Night was held at St. Nikolaus Church in Oberndorf, Austria.

1814 ~ The Treaty of Ghent was signed by the United States and the United Kingdom, thereby ending the War of 1812.

1777 ~ Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook (1728 ~ 1779).

1294 ~ Pope Boniface VIII (1230 ~ 1303) was elected Pope, replacing Pope Celestine V (1215 ~ 1296), who had resigned after serving only a few months.

Good-byes:

2012 ~ Charles Durning (b. 1923), American actor.  He died at age 89.

2012 ~ Jack Klugman (né Jacob Joachim Klugman, b. 1922), American actor.  He died at age 90 of prostate cancer.

2008 ~ Harold Pinter (b. 1930), British playwright and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 78.

2008 ~ Samuel Huntington (b. 1927), American scholar who predicted a class of cultures.  He was best known for arguing that religion and culture, particularly Christianity and Islam, would fuel the conflicts of the 21^st century.  He died at age 81.

1999 ~ William Jay “Bill” Bowerman (b. 1911), American sports coach and businessman.  He was a co-founder of Nike, Inc.  He died at age 88.

1993 ~ Norman Vincent Peale (b. 1898), American minister and writer who promoted “positive thinking.”  He died at age 95.

1984 ~ Peter Lawford (né Peter Sydner Ernest Aylen, b. 1923), British actor and former in-law to the Kennedy clan upon his marriage to Patricia Kennedy.  He died at age 61of cardiac arrest.

1967 ~ Burt Baskin (b. 1913), American entrepreneur and founder of the Baskin and Robbins ice cream franchise.  He died of a heart attack 7 days after his 54^th birthday.

1962 ~ Wilhelm Ackermann (b. 1896), German mathematician.  He died at age 62.

1914 ~ John Muir (b. 1838), Scottish-American naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club.  He died at age 76.

1873 ~ Johns Hopkins (b. 1795), American philanthropist and businessman.  The Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore is named after him.  He died at age 78.

1869 ~ Edwin Stanton (b. 1814), 25^th US Attorney General.  He served in this position under President James Buchanan.  He also served as the 27^th Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.  He died 5 days after his 55^th birthday.

1863 ~ William Makepeace Thackeray (b. 1811), British writer best known for his novel Vanity Fair.  He died at age 52.

1660 ~ Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631).  She died of smallpox at age 29.

1524 ~ Vasco da Gama (b. 1469), Portuguese explorer.