September 18

Birthdays:

1961 ~ James Gandolfini (d. 2013), American actor most famous for his role as Tony Soprano on the cable TV series, The Sopranos.  He died of a heart attack at age 51.

1954 ~ Dennis Johnson (d. 2007), American basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

1951 ~ Dee Dee Ramone (né Douglas Glenn Colvin, d. 2002), American musician and member of the Ramones.  He died of a drug overdose at age 50.

1951 ~ Ben Carson, American neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican Presidential candidate.

1945 ~ P.F. Sloan (né Philip Gary Schlein, d. 2015), American troubled pop rock singer who wrote a ‘60s protest anthem, the Eve of Destruction.  He was 70 years old.

1939 ~ Jan Camiel Willems (d. 2013), Belgian mathematician.  He died about 3 weeks before his 74^th birthday.

1939 ~ Fred Willard, American actor.

1924 ~ J.D. Tippit (d. 1963), American police officer who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.  He was 39 years old.

1923 ~ Queen Anne of Romania (d. 2016).  She died at age 92.

1922 ~ Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas (d. 2015), American dutiful wife who advanced medicine.  She worked closely with her husband, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, on bone marrow transplants.  Her husband was the recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this research.  She died at age 92.

1920 ~ Jack Warden (d. 2006), American actor.  He died at age 85.

1910 ~ Josef Tal (d. 2008), Israeli composer.  He died 3 weeks before his 98^th birthday.

1907 ~ Edwin McMillan (d. 1991), American physicist and recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died less than 2 weeks before his 84^th birthday.

1905 ~ Greta Garbo (d. 1990), Swedish actress.  She died at age 84.

1905 ~ Agnes de Mille (d. 1993), American choreographer.  She died at age 88.

1859 ~ John L. Bates (d. 1946), American politician and 41^st Governor of Massachusetts.  He was Governor from January 1903 until January 1905.  He died at age 86.

1857 ~ John Hessin Clarke (d. 1945), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Woodrow Wilson.  He served on the Court from July 1916 until September 1922.  He died 23 years later at age 87.

1819 ~ Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (d. 1868), French physicist, best known for the invention of the Foucault pendulum.  He died at age 48.

1786 ~ Christian VIII of Denmark (d. 1848).  He was king from December 1839 until his death 8 years later.  He was 61 at the time of his death.

1779 ~ Joseph Story (d. 1845), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President James Madison.  He served on the Court from February 1812 until his death 33 years later at age 65.

1765 ~ Pope Gregory XVI (né Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, d. 1846).  He was Pope from February 1831 until his death 15 years later at age 80.

1752 ~ Adrien-Marie Legendre (d. 1833), French mathematician.  He died at age 80.

1709 ~ Samuel Johnson (d. 1784), British biographer and lexicographer.  He died at age 75.

1434 ~ Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (d.  1467).  She died 15 days before her 33^rd birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Scotland voted against its independence from the United Kingdom.

2009 ~ After a 72 year run, the soap opera, The Guiding Light, ended is final broadcast.

2001 ~ The first mailing of the 2001 anthrax attack letters was mailed from Trenton, New Jersey.

1975 ~ Patty Hearst (b. 1954) was arrested after being on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for over a year for her role in a bank robbery following her kidnapping.

1974 ~ Hurricane Fifi struck Honduras killing over 5,000 people.

1948 ~ Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995) of Maine, became the first woman elected to the United States Senate entirely on her own, without having first completed another senator’s term.  Senator Smith was a long-term senator from the State of Maine.

1947 ~ The National Security Act established both the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

1947 ~ The United States Air Force became in independent branch of the United States Armed Forces.

1943 ~ Adolf Hitler ordered the deportation of the Danish Jews during World War II.

1943 ~ During Holocaust, the Jews of Minsk were massacred at the German extermination camp of Sobibór.

1934 ~ The USSR was admitted to the League of Nations.

1927 ~ The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) began broadcasting.

1922 ~ Hungary was admitted to the League of Nations.

1919 ~ The Netherlands gave women the right to vote.

1906 ~ A typhoon and tsunami struck in Hong Kong, killing about 10,000 people.

1889 ~ Hull House opened in Chicago.  It was America’s most influential settlement house.

1885 ~ Riots broke out in Montreal, Canada in protest of the government’s mandatory smallpox vaccinations.

1851 ~ The forerunner of the New York Times began publication.

1837 ~ Tiffany and Company was founded by Charles Tiffany (1812 ~ 1902) and Teddy Young.

1809 ~ The Royal Opera House opened in London.

1793 ~ George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building.

1679 ~ New Hampshire became a county of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1180 ~ Philip Augustus (1165 ~ 1223) became king of France.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Ken Norton (b. 1943), heavyweight boxer who broke Muhammad Ali’s jaw in a 12-round victory in 1973.  He died at age 70.

2012 ~ Steve Sabol (b. 1942), the filmmaker who exalted football.  He was the president and one of the founders of NFL Films.  He died about 2 weeks before his 70^th birthday.

2011 ~ Norma Holloway Johnson (née Normalie Loyce Johnson, b. 1932), African-American judge who oversaw the Monica Lewinsky probe.  She was from Lake Charles, Louisiana.  She died at age 79.

2006 ~ Edward J. King (b. 1925), American politician and 66^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He was governor from January 1979 until January 1983.  He died at age 81.

1980 ~ Katherine Anne Porter (b. 1890), American novelist.  She died at age 90.

1977 ~ Paul Pernays (d. 1888), Swiss mathematician.  He died a month before his 89^th birthday.

1970 ~ Jimi Hendrix (b. 1942), American musician.  He died at age 27.

1967 ~ John Cockcroft (d. 1897), British physicist and recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 70.

1961 ~ Dag Hammarskjöld (b. 1905), 2^nd Secretary-General of the United Nations.  He was killed in a plane crash on a mission to negotiate peace in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  He was 56 years old at the time of his death.  He was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961.

1891 ~ William Ferrel (b. 1817), American mathematician.  He died at age 74.

1872 ~ King Charles XV of Sweden (b. 1826).  He was king from July 1859 until his death 13 years later at age 46.

1783 ~ Leonhard Euler (b. 1707), Swiss mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1180 ~ King Louis VII of France (b. 1120).  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 59 or 60 at the time of his death.