September 8

Birthdays:

1950 ~ Zachary Richard, Cajun and Zydeco musician from Louisiana.

1947 ~ Ann Beattie, American author.

1946 ~ Aziz Sancar, Turkish-born American biochemist and recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1941 ~ Bernie Sanders (né Bernard Sanders), United States Senator from Vermont and 2016 Presidential hopeful.

1932 ~ Patsy Cline (née Virginia Patterson Hensley, d. Mar. 5, 1963), American singer.  She was killed in a private plane crash.  She was 30 years old.

1925 ~ Peter Sellers (né Richard Henry Sellers, d. July 24, 1980), British comedian and actor.  He is best known for his role as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.  He died of a heart attack at age 54.

1924 ~ Grace Metalious (d. Feb. 25, 1964), American novelist best known for her novel, Payton Place.  She was born in Manchester, New Hampshire.  She died at age 39 in Boston, Massachusetts.

1922 ~ Sid Caesar (né Isaac Sidney Caesar, d. Feb. 12, 2014), American comic actor who ruled 1950s television.  He died at age 91.

1922 ~ Lyndon LaRouche, American politician and activist.  He was born in Rochester, New Hampshire.

1918 ~ Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton (d. Mar. 16, 1998), British chemist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

1901 ~ Hendrick Verwoerd (d. Sept. 6, 1966), 7^th Prime Minister of South Africa.  He was best known for creating and implementing Apartheid in his country.  He was stabbed to death 2 days before his 65^th birthday during a parliamentary meeting.

1900 ~ Claude Pepper (d. May 30, 1989), American politician and United States Senator from Florida.  He died at age 88.

1841 ~ Antonín Dvořák (d. May 1, 1904), Czech composer.  He died at age 61.

1830 ~ Frédéric Mistral (d. Mar. 25, 1914), French poet and recipient of the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 83.

1828 ~ Joshua Chamberlain (né Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, d. Feb. 24, 1914), 32^nd Governor of Maine.  He served as Governor from January 1867 until January 1871.  Following his term as Governor, he served as the 6^th President of Bowdoin College.  He died at age 85 in Portland, Maine.

1588 ~ Marin Mersenne (d. Sept. 1, 1648), French mathematician.  He died a week before his 60^th birthday.

1157 ~ King Richard I of England (d. Apr. 6, 1199).  He was known as Richard the Lionheart.  He was a central commander during the Third Crusade.  He died from an infection after an arrow had been removed from his shoulder.  He died at age 41.

685 ~ Emperpr Xuanzong of Tang (d. May 3, 762), 7^th Emperor of the Tang dynasty.  He died at age 76.

Events that Changed the World:

1988 ~ Yellowstone National Park was closed for the first time since it opened due to forest fires.

1974 ~ President Gerald Ford (1913 ~ 2006) formally pardoned former President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) of any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office as a result of the Watergate Scandal.

1971 ~ The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., was inaugurated with the premier of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.

1966 ~ Star Trek premiered on television.

1960 ~ President Dwight David Eisenhower formally dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

1954 ~ The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was established.

1951 ~ Forty-eight nations signed the peace Treaty of San Francisco with Japan, formally recognizing the end of the Pacific War.

1946 ~ A vote in Bulgaria favored the abolishing of the monarchy.

1935 ~ Louisiana US Senator Huey Long (1893 ~ 1935) was shot in the Louisiana State Capitol building.  He would die two days later from his wounds.

1930 ~ The 3M company began marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1926 ~ Germany was admitted to the League of Nations.

1900 ~ The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 hit Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 people.

1892 ~ The Pledge of Allegiance was first published in the children’s magazine, The Youth’s Companion, as part of the National Public School Celebration of Columbus Day.

1883 ~ The Northern Pacific Railway was completed in a ceremony in Gold Creek, Montana.  Former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final spike of the rail road at the event.

1863 ~ During the Second Battle of Sabine Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small group of Confederate forces stopped a union invasion of Texas.

1831 ~ William IV (1765 ~ 1837) and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1792 ~ 1849) were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1761 ~ King George III (1738 ~ 1820) of the United Kingdom married the Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744 ~ 1818).

1565 ~ St Augustine, Florida was founded by Pedro Menéndez de Avilé (1519 ~ 1574).

1504 ~ Michelangelo’s David was unveiled in Florence.

1331 ~ Stephen Uroš IV Dušan (1303 ~ 1355) declared himself king of Serbia.

1264 ~ The Statute of Kalisz, promulgated by the Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland (1224 ~ 1279), guaranteed the safety and personal liberties of the Jews living under his jurisdiction.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Mervyn Lee Adelson (b. Oct. 23, 1929), American mogul involved in real estate and television who produced Dallas, but then lost his fortune.  He died of cancer at age 85.

2014 ~ Marvin Barnes (b. July 27, 1952), American basketball star who struggled off-court.  He died at age 62.

2012 ~ William Moggridge (b. June 25, 1943), British-born visionary who designed the first laptop computer.  He died of cancer at age 69.

2012 ~ Thomas Szasz (b. Apr. 15, 1920), Hungarian-born psychiatrist who attacked his profession.  He died at age 92.

2010 ~ John Kluge (b. Sept. 21, 1914), German-born immigrant to the United States who built a media empire.  He died 2 weeks before his 96^th birthday.

2009 ~ Aage Bohr (b. June 19, 1922), Danish physicist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was also the son of Nobel Laureate, Niels Bohr.  He died at age 87.

2003 ~ Leni Riefenstahl (née Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl, b. Aug. 22, 1902), German actress and movie director.  She is best known for her propaganda films during the Nazi regime.  She died of cancer within three weeks following her 101^st birthday.

1985 ~ John Franklin Enders (b. Feb. 10, 1897), American biomedical scientist and recipient of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He is known as the Father of Modern Vaccines.  He died at age 88.

1981 ~ Hideki Yukawa (b. Jan. 23, 1907), Japanese physicist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 71.

1980 ~ Willard Libby (b. Dec. 17, 1908), American chemist and recipient of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in carbon dating.  He died at age 71.

1977 ~ Zero Mostel (né Samuel Joel Mostel, b. Feb. 28, 1815), American actor.  He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye in the stage version of Fiddler on the Roof.  He died of an aortic aneurysm at age 62.

1970 ~ Percy Spencer (b. July 19, 1894), American physicist and inventor.  He invented the microwave oven.  He was born in Howland, Maine and died in Newton, Massachusetts.  He died at age 76.

1965 ~ Hermann Staudinger (b. Mar. 23, 1881), German chemist and recipient of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing the existence of macromolecules, which are known as polymers.  He was 84 years old.

1949 ~ Richard Strauss (b. June 11, 1864), German composer.  He died at age 85.

1935 ~ Carl Weiss (b. Dec. 6, 1906), American physician and alleged assassin of Louisiana Senator Huey Long.  Weiss was killed by Long’s body guards after he allegedly shot Long in the State Capitol building.  Huey Long died two days after being shot.  He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He was 28 years old at the time of his death.

1933 ~ Faisal I of Iraq (b. May 20, 1883).  He died at age 48.

1895 ~ Adam Opel (b. May 9, 1837), German engineer and founder of the German car company bearing his name.  He died at age 58.

1882  ~ Joseph Liouville (b. Mar. 24, 1809), French mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1869 ~ William P. Fessenden (b. Oct. 16, 1806), 26^th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President Abraham Lincoln.  He served as Treasurer from July 1864 until March 1865.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from Maine.  He was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire and died at age 62 in Portland, Maine.

1853 ~ Frédéric Ozanam (b. Apr. 23, 1813), French scholar and co-founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.  He died at age 40.

1784 ~Ann Lee (b. Feb. 29, 1736), American religious leader and founder of the Shakers.  She died at age 48.

1761 ~ Bernard Forest de Bélidor (b. 1698), French mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1682 ~ Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (b. May 23, 1606), Spanish mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1644 ~ Sir John Coke (b. Mar. 5, 1563), English politician.  He died at age 81.

1637 ~ Robert Fludd (b. Jan. 17, 1574), British mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1100 ~ Antipope Clement III (b. 1029).  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

780 ~ Leo IV the Khazar (b. Jan. 25, 750), Byzantine emperor.  He died at age 30.

701 ~ Pope Sergius I (b. 650).  He was Pope from December 15, 687 until his death 14 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.  He was 51 at the time of his death.