October 19

Birthdays:

1970 ~ Chris Kattan, American actor.

1969 ~ Trey Parker, American animator and co-creator of South Park.

1962 ~ Tracy Chevalier, American author.

1959 ~ Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem.

1951 ~ Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek mathematician.

1945 ~ Divine (né Harris Glenn Milstead, d. Mar. 7, 1988), American actor, singer and drag queen.  He appeared in many films directed by John Waters.  He died at age 42.

1945 ~ Angus Deaton, Scottish economist.  He was the recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.

1945 ~ John Lithgow, American actor.

1937 ~ Peter Max, German-American illustrator and graphic artist.  His work was very popular in the 1960s.

1931 ~ John le Carré (né David John Moore Cornwell), English intelligence officer and author of espionage novels.

1926 ~ Marjorie Tallchief, Native American ballerina.

1923 ~ Ruth Carter Stevenson (d. Jan. 6, 2013), American founder of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.  She died at age 89.

1922 ~ Jack Anderson (d. Dec. 17, 2005), American journalist.  He died at age 83.

1916 ~ Jean Dausset (d. June 6, 2009), French immunologist and recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 92.

1910 ~ Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (d. Aug. 21, 1995), Indian-born astrophysicist and mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 84.

1899 ~ Miguel Ángel Asturias (d. June 9, 1974), Guatemalan writer and recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 74.

1885 ~ Charles Merrill (d. Oct 6, 1956), American banker and co-founder of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.  He died 2 weeks before his 71^st birthday.

1882 ~ Umberto Boccioni (d. Aug. 17, 1916), Italian sculptor and painter.  He died at age 33 after being thrown from a horse during military training.

1868 ~ Bertha Knight Landes (d. Nov. 29, 1943), Mayor of Seattle from 1926-1928.  She was the first female mayor of a major US city.  She died at age 75.

1862 ~ Auguste Lumière (d. Apr. 10, 1954), French movie director.  He, along with his brother, Louis Jean Lumière (1864 ~ 1948), were considered to be the first filmmakesrs in history.  They patented the cinematograph.  Louis Jean died at age 83; Auguste was 91 at the time of his death.

1850 ~ Annie Smith Peck (d. July 18, 1935), American mountaineer.  She wrote several books encouraging Americans to travel and explore.  She was born in Providence, Rhode Island.  She died at age 84.

Events that Changed the World:

2005 ~ Hurricane Wilma became the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.

2005 ~ Saddam Hussein’s trial for crimes against humanity began.

1960 ~ The United States government imposed a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.

1943 ~ Streptomycin was isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.  This antibiotic was the first known remedy for tuberculosis.

1927 ~ Pan American Airways began operations.  It was the largest international air carrier in the United States until its collapse in 1991.  It ceased its operations on December 4, 1991.

1917 ~ Love Field in Dallas, Texas opened as a training site for the army.  It opened as a public airport in 1927.

1900 ~ Max Planck (1858 ~ 1947) discovered the law of black body emission, now known as Planck’s Law.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison first demonstrated his electric light when they were able to successfully test the right filament to produce the first practical incandescent light bulb.

1864 ~ During the American Civil War, Confederate troops launched a raid on St. Albans, Vermont, coming onto the town from Canada.

1789 ~ John Jay (1745 ~ 1829) was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He served as Chief Justice until June 1795.

1781 ~ At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis (1738 ~ 1805) formally surrendered to General George Washington (1732 ~ 1799) at the end of the American Revolutionary War.

1512 ~ Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) received his doctorate of theology.

1469 ~ Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452 ~ 1516) married Isabella I of Castile (1451 ~ 1504).  The marriage opened the door to the unification of Spain by uniting Aragon and Castile.

1386 ~ The first lectures were held at the Universität Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest university.

Good-Byes:

2010 ~ Thomas “Tom” Bosley (b. Oct 1, 1927), American actor.  He is best known for portraying Howard Cunningham on Happy Days.  He died 18 days after his 83^rd birthday.

2008 ~ Richard Blackwell (b. Aug. 29, 1922), American fashion designer known as Mr. Blackwell, who skewered the worst-dressed celebrities.  He died at age 86.

2007 ~ Winifred Alice Asprey (b. Apr. 8, 1917), American mathematician and computer scientist.  She was one of a very small group of women to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in the 1940s.  She died at age 90.

1994 ~ Martha Raye (b. Aug. 27, 1916), American actress and singer.  She died at age 78.

1972 ~ Marie-Louise Dubriel-Jacotin (b. July 7, 1905), French mathematician.  She was only the second woman to earn a doctorate in France in pure mathematics.  She died at age 67.

1970 ~ Lázaro Cárdenas (b. May 21, 1895), President of Mexico.  He served as President from December 1934 until November 1940.  He died at age 75.

1955 ~ Carlos Dávila (b. Sept. 15, 1887), Chilean journalist and President of Chile.  He died at age 68.

1950 ~Edna St. Vincent Millay (b. Feb. 22, 1892), American poet.  She was born in Rockland, Maine.  She died at 58 after suffering injuries from falling down a flight of stairs.

1945 ~ N.C. Wyeth (né Newell Convers Wyeth, b. Oct. 22, 1882), American artist and illustrator.  He died 3 days before his 63^rd birthday.

1944 ~ Dénes Kőnig (b. Sept. 21, 1884), Hungarian mathematician.  He wrote the first textbook on graph theory.  He died less than a month after his 60^th birthday.

1943 ~ Camille Claudel (b. Dec. 8, 1877), French sculptor and illustrator.  She died at age 78.

1937 ~ Ernest Rutherford, 1^st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (b. Aug. 30, 1871), British physicist and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He is known as the Father of Nuclear Physics.  He died at age 66.

1932 ~ Lindley Miller Garrison (b. Nov. 28, 1864), 46^th Secretary of War.  He served under President Woodrow Wilson from March 1913 until February 1916.  He died at age 67.

1923 ~ Eleanor Norcross (née Ella Augusta Norcross, b. June 19, 1854), American painter.  She was born and died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.  She died at age 69.

1897 ~ George Pullman (b. Mar. 3, 1831), American businessman and inventor.  He founded the Pullman Company, which built railroad sleeping cars.  He died at age 66.

1856 ~ William Sprague, III (b. Nov. 3, 1799), Governor of Rhode Island.  He served as Governor from May 1838 until May 1839.  He died 2 weeks before his 57^th birthday.

1745 ~ Jonathan Swift (b. Nov. 30, 1667), English author and satirist, best known for his novel, Gulliver’s Travels.  He died at age 77.

1216 ~ King John of England (b. Dec. 24, 1166).  He was also known as John Lackland.  He was the youngest of five sons of King Henry II and was never expected to become king, however, his brothers all died, so he ascended to the throne.  He is best known for his association with the Magna Carta.  He was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Henry, who would become King Henry III.  King John died at age 49.