September 12

Birthdays:

1982 ~ Isabelle Caro (d. 2011), French fashion model who warned that women can be too thin.  She died of anorexia.

1981 ~ Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress.

1967 ~ Louis C.K. (né Louis Szekely), American comedian and actor.

1966 ~ Ben Folds, American musician.

1944 ~ Barry White (b. 2003), American singer and songwriter.  He died at age 58.

1944 ~  Frederick Fay (d. 2011), American quadriplegic who fought for the disabled.  He became a quadriplegic at age 16 from a freak accident.  He spent the rest of his life advocating for disabled Americans.  He died at age 66.

1943 ~ Maria Muldaur, American singer.

1943 ~ Michael Ondaatje, Sri Lankan-born Canadian author, best known for his novel, The English Patient.

1931 ~ George Jones (d. 2013), country singer of hits such as He Stopped Loving Her Today.  He died at age 81.

1928 ~ Muriel Siebert (d. 2013), financier who became the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.  She died at age 84, just 3 weeks before her 85^th birthday.

1925 ~ Dickie Moore (né John Richard Moore, Jr., d. 2015), American child superstar who survived the Hollywood limelight.  He was one of the last surviving actors to have appeared in silent films.  He died 5 days before his 90^th birthday.

1913 ~ Jesse Owens (d. 1980), American sprinter.  He died at age 66.

1913 ~ Eiji Toyoda (d. 2013), Japanese industrialist and founder of the Toyota Motor Company.  He died 5 days following his 100^th birthday.

1901 ~ Shmuel Horowitz (d. 1999), Russian-Israeli agronomist.

1900 ~ Haskell Curry (d. 1982), American mathematician.  He died 11 days before his 82^nd birthday.

1897 ~ Irène Joliot-Curie (d. 1956), daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie and recipient of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics.  She died at age 58 of leukemia.

1892 ~ Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. (d. 1984), American publisher and founder of the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. publishing house.  He died a month before his 92^nd birthday.

1888 ~ Maurice Chevalier (d. 1972), French actor.  He died at age 83.

1880 ~ H.L. Mencken (né Henry Louis Mencken, d. 1956), American journalist.  He died at age 75.

1852 ~ H.H. Asquith, 1^st Earle of Oxford and Asquith (né Herbert Henry Asquith, d. 1928), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from April 1908 through December 1916, during the reigns of King Edward VII and King George V.  He died at age 75.

1818 ~ Richard J. Gatling (d. 1903), American inventor who invented the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.  He died at age 84.

1494 ~ King Francis I of France (d. 1547).  He died at age 52.

1492 ~ Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino (d. 1519).  He died at age 26.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ South African runner Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

2011 ~ The 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City opened to the public.

1992 ~ The leader of the Shining Path was captured by Peruvian special forces.  The leadership of this terrorist organization soon crumbled.

1988 ~ Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica.

1980 ~ Military coup took place in Turkey.

1979 ~ An 8.1 earthquake struck Indonesia.

1974 ~ Emperor Haile Selassie I (1892 ~ 1975) of Ethiopia was overthrown by a military coup.  He had ruled for 58 years.

1970 ~ Palestinian terrorist blew up three hijacked planes in Amman, Jordan.  The passenger hostages were held in various undisclosed locations in Jordan.

1964 ~ Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah was designated as a National Park.

1959 ~ Bonanza premiered on television.  It was the first regularly scheduled TV program that was presented in color.

1953 ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963) and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929 ~ 1994) were married.

1940 ~ The pre-historic cave paintings in Lascaux, France were discovered.

1857 ~ The SS Central America sank just 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  The ship had been carrying about 15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush.  Four hundred twenty-six passengers and crew drown when the ship sank.

1846 ~ Poets Elizabeth Barrett (1806 ~ 1861) and Robert Browning (1812 ~ 1889) eloped.

490 BCE ~ This is the date generally ascribed for the Battle of Marathon, when the Athenians defeated the first Persian invasion force of Greece.

Good-byes:

2013 ~ Ray Dolby (1933), American sound engineer and innovator.  He died at age 80.

2010 ~ Claude Chabrol (b. 1930), French film director who mocked France’s bourgeoisie.  His 1958 film, Le Beau Serge, inaugurated the New Wave of French cinema.  He died at age 80.

2009 ~ Norman Borlaug (b. 1914), American agronomist and humanitarian.  He was the recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 95.

2008 ~ David Foster Wallace (b. 1962), American author.  He committed suicide at age 46.

2005 ~ Serge Lang (b. 1927), French-born mathematician.  At the time of his death, he was a professor emeritus at Yale University.  He died at age 78.

2003 ~ Johnny Cash (b. 1932), American singer.  He died at age 71.

1993 ~ Raymond Burr (b. 1917), Canadian actor best known for his portrayals of Perry Mason and Ironsides.  He died at age 76.

1992 ~ Anthony Perkins (b. 1932), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Norman Bates in the movie Psycho.  He died at age 60.

1981 ~ Eugenio Montale (b. 1896), Italian poet and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died a month before his 85^th birthday.

1977 ~ Robert Lowell (b. 1917), American poet.  He died of a heart attack at age 60.

1927 ~ Sarah Frances Whiting (b. 1847), American physicist and astronomer.  She died about 3 weeks after her 80^th birthday.

1869 ~ Peter Mark Roget (b. 1779). British physician and lexicographer.  He died at age 90.

1695 ~ Jacob Abendana (b. 1630), Spanish-born English rabbi and scholar.

1612 ~ Vasili IV of Russia (b. 1552).  He was Tsar from May 1606 until July 1610.  He died at age 59.

1362 ~ Pope Innocent VI (né Étienne Aubert, b. 1295).  He was Pope from December 1352 until September 1362.