June 16

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Tupac Shakur (né Lesane Parish Crooks, d. Sept. 13, 1996), American rapper and actor.  He was killed in a drive-by shooting at age 25.

1946 ~ Mary Jodi Rell, 87^th Governor of Connecticut.  She served as Governor from July 2004 until January 2011.

1943 ~ Joan Van Ark, American actress.

1938 ~ Joyce Carol Oats, American author.

1937 ~ Erich Segal (d. Jan. 17, 2010), American author, best known for his novel, Love Story.  He was 72 years old.

1937 ~ Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 48^th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.  He was also the Czar of Bulgaria from August 1943 until September 1946.

1935 ~ Jim Dine, American painter.

1934 ~ Jane Henson (d. Apr. 2, 2013), American puppeteer and wife of puppeteer Jim Hanson, creator of The Muppets.  She died at age 78.

1934 ~ William Forsyth Sharpe, American economist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1917 ~ Katherine Graham (d. July 17, 2001), American publisher.  She died a month after her 84^th birthday.

1917 ~ Irving Penn (d. Oct. 7, 2009), American fashion photographer who created art.  He died at age 92.

1916 ~ Hank Luisetti (d. Dec. 17, 2002), American athlete who revolutionized basketball with his one-handed jump shots.  He died at age 86.

1915 ~ John Tukey (d. July 26, 2000), American mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1910 ~ Juan Velasco Alvarado (d. Dec. 24, 1977), Peruvian general and President of Peru.  He ruled Peru as the President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru from October 1968 through August 30, 1975.  He died at age 67.

1902 ~ Barbara McClintock (d. Sept. 2, 1992), American geneticist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  She died at age 90.

1897 ~ Georg Wittig (d. Aug. 26, 1987), German chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 90.

1890 ~ Stan Laurel (né Arthur Stanley Jefferson, d. Feb. 23, 1965), British actor and comedian, who, along with Oliver Hardy formed a comedy team most famous for their “Who’s on First?” routine.  He died of a heart attack at age 74.

1888 ~ Alexander Friedmann (d. Dec. 12, 1925), Russian mathematician and physicist.  The moon crater Fridman is named in his honor.  He died of typhoid fever at age 37.

1888 ~ Peter Stoner (d. Mar. 21, 1980), American mathematician.  He died at age 91.

1858 ~ King Gustaf V of Sweden (d. Oct. 29, 1950).  He died at age 92.  He was King of Sweden from December 1907 until his death in October 1950.

1829 ~ Geronimo, (d. Feb. 17, 1909), Apache leader.  He died at age 79.

1806 ~ Edward Davy (d. Jan. 26, 1885), English physician and inventor.   He died at age 78.

1801 ~ Julius Plücker (d. May 22, 1868), German mathematician and physicist.  He died 24 days before his 67^th birthday.

1738 ~ Mary Katherine Goddard (d. Aug. 12, 1816), American publisher and postmaster of Baltimore.  She was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence with the names of all the signatories.  She died at age 78.

1723 ~ Adam Smith (d. July 17, 1790), Scottish philosopher and economist.  He is best known for his book The Wealth of Nations.  He died a month after his 67^th birthday.

1713 ~ Meshech Weare (d. Jan. 14, 1786), American farmer and politician.  He was the first governor of New Hampshire.  He served in office from June 1776 until June 1785.  He died at age 72.  The town of Weare, New Hampshire was named in his honor.

1640 ~ Jacques Ozanam (d. Apr. 3, 1717), French mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1591 ~ Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (d. Oct. 16, 1655), Greek-Italian physician, rabbi and mathematician.  He died at age 64.

Events that Changed the World:

2010 ~ Bhutan became the world’s first country to institute a total ban on tobacco products.

1989 ~ Imre Nagy (1898 ~ 1958), the former Hungarian Prime Minister, was reburied in Budapest on the 33^rdanniversary of his execution following the Hungarian Uprising.

1981 ~ President Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004) awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Canadian Ken Taylor (1934 ~ 2015), Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis.  He was the first foreign citizen to be awarded this honor.  The events surrounding the Iran hostage crisis was depicted in the film Argo.

1963 ~ Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (b. 1937) became the first woman in space.  It would be twenty years before the United States sent its first woman astronaut in space.  In 1983, Sally Ride (1951 ~ 2012) became the first American woman astronaut in space.

1961 ~ Rudolf Nureyev (1938 - 1993) defected from the Soviet Union.  He was granted asylum in France.

1940 ~ Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain (1856 ~ 1951) became the Chief of State of Vichy France.

1933 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt opened his New Deal Recovery Program.

1911 ~ IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.

1904 ~ James Joyce (1882 ~ 1941) began a relationship with Nora Barnacle (1884 ~ 1951) and subsequently used this date for the events in his novel Ulysses.  This date, therefore, has become known as Bloomsday.

1903 ~ The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1858 ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) delivered his House Divided speech.

1846 ~ The Papal conclave of 1846 elected Pope Pius IX (1792 ~ 1878), who reigned as Pope for 32 years, from June 16, 1846 until his death on February 7, 1878, the longest in the history of the papacy.

1755 ~ During the French and Indian War, the French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

1586 ~ Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 ~ 1587) recognized Philip II of Spain (1527 ~ 1598) as her heir and successor.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Tony Gwynn (né Anthony Keith Gwynn, Sr., b. May 9, 1960), the American baseball player known as the happy hitter who made pitchers weep.  He played 20 seasons for the San Diego Padres.  He died of cancer at age 54.

1977 ~ Wernher von Braum (b. Mar. 23, 1912), German-born physicist, rocket-scientist and engineer.  He was credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany.  He was a former member of the Nazi party and decorated Nazi war hero before being brought to the United States where he was allowed to work on nuclear rockets and was involved in the development of rockets that led to the first United States satellites.  He died at age 65.

1970 ~ Brian Piccolo (b. Oct. 31, 1943), American football player.  He died of cancer at age 26.  His life story was depicted in the movie, Brian’s Song.

1970 ~ Sydney Chapman (b. Jan. 29, 1888), British mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1959 ~ George Reeves, (b. Jan. 5, 1914), American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television show.  He died at age 45 under mysterious circumstances that may have been a suicide.

1958 ~ Imre Nagy (b. June 7, 1895), Prime Minister of Hungary.  He was executed for treason as a result of his participation in the 1956 Hungarian uprising.  He was killed 9 days after his 62^nd birthday.

1930 ~ Ezra Fitch (b. Sept. 27, 1865), American businessman and co-founder of Abercrombie and Fitch.  He died at age 64.

1902 ~ Ernest Schröder (b. Nov. 25, 1841), German mathematician.  He died at age 60.