October 21

Birthdays:

1973 ~ Sasha Roiz, Israeli-born Canadian actor.

1959 ~ Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor.

1958 ~ Sir Andre Konstantin Geim, Russian-English physicist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1957 ~ Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1956 ~ Carrie Fisher (d. Dec. 27, 2016), American Star Wars princess who chronicled Hollywood’s excesses.  She died of a massive heart attack at age 60.  Her mother died of a broken heart the following day.

1950 ~ Ronald McNair (d. Jan. 28, 1986), American astronaut.  He was killed in the Challenger explosion.  He died at age 35.

1949 ~ Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.

1944 ~ Mandy Rice-Davies (née Marilyn Rice-Davies, d. Dec. 18, 2014), British model and showgirl best known for her role in the 1960s Profumo scandal.  She died at age 70.

1942 ~ Christopher A. Sims, American economist and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1933 ~ Brock Yates (d. Oct. 5, 2016), American speed-loving writer who created Cannonball Run.  He died 16 days before his 83^rd birthday.

1929 ~ Ursula K. LeGuin, American science-fiction writer.

1928 ~ Whitey Ford (né Edward Charles Ford), American Major League baseball player who stayed with the New York Yankees during his entire 16 year career as a ballplayer.  He later became a coach.

1927 ~ Nadia Nerina (d. Oct. 6, 2008), South African-born ballerina who combined acrobatics with beauty.  She died 15 days before her 81^st birthday.

1927 ~ Fran Landesman (né Frances Deitsch, d. July 23, 2011), American lyricist and poet of the Beat Generation.  She died at age 83.

1926 ~ Leo Kirch (d. July 14, 2011), German who build and lost a media empire.  He died at age 84.

1925 ~ Celia Cruz (d. July 16, 2003), Cuban salsa singer.  She died at age 77.

1921 ~ Jane B. Hart (d. June 5, 2015), American senator’s wife who spoke her mind.  Her husband was the Democratic Senator Phil Hart, from Michigan.  She was a strong advocate for women’s rights as well as being active against the war in Viet Nam.  She was also a would-be astronaut when she took part in a privately financed project to test women for fitness to enter NASA’s astronaut program and submitting to the same physical and psychological tests as were administered to the Mercury 7 astronauts.  She was 93 years old.

1917 ~ Dizzy Gillespie (né John Birks Gillespie, d. Jan. 6, 1993), American trumpeter and bandleader.  He died at age 75.

1914 ~ Martin Gardner (d. May 22, 2010), American author, mathematician and puzzlemeister.  He 25 years he authored a column in Scientific American.  He died at age 95.

1833 ~ Alfred Bernhard Nobel (d. Dec. 10, 1896), Swedish chemist and industrialist, noted for inventing dynamite.  His will established a fund, largely based on profits from his dynamite, to be used to award outstanding individuals in various fields.  The first Nobel prizes were awarded in 1901.  Interestingly, there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics.  He was 63 years old at the time of his death.

1823 ~ Enrico Betti (d. Aug. 11, 1892), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 68.

1772 ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (d. July 25, 1834), English poet.  He is best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  He died at age 61.

1687 ~ Nicolaus I Bernoulli (d. Nov. 29, 1759), Swiss mathematician.  He died at age 72.

1449 ~ George Plantagenet, 1^st Duke of Clarence (d. Feb. 18, 1478).  He died at age 28 in the Tower of London.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ Smog closed schools, roadways and the airport in Harbin, China.

1959 ~ President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) signed an executive order authorizing Wernher von Braun (1912 ~ 1977) and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

1959 ~ The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 ~ 1959), opened to the public.

1945 ~ French women were allowed to vote for the first time.

1940 ~ Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was first published.

1921 ~ The silent film, The Sheik, staring Rudolph Valentino (1895 ~ 1926), premiered.

1921 ~ President Warren G. Harding (1865 ~ 1923) delivered the first speech by a sitting United State President against lynching in the South.

1902 ~ The five-month strike by the United Mine Workers ended.  The strike had begun in May.

1854 ~ Florence Nightingale (1820 ~ 1910) and a staff of 38 nurses went to aid soldiers injured in the Crimean War.

1824 ~ Joseph Aspdin (1778 ~ 1855) patented Portland cement.

1797 ~ The U.S.S. Constitution, better known as Old Ironsides, was officially launched.  The ship is still docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts.

1520 ~ Ferdinand Magellan (1480 ~ 1521) became the first European to have discovered that body of water that now bears his name ~ The Strait of Magellan.

1512 ~ Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) joined the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg.

1422 ~ Charles VII (1403 ~ 1461) became king of France in succession to his father King Charles VI, however he would not be officially crowned King until 1429.

1209 ~ Pope Innocent III (1160 ~ 1216) crowned Otto IV (1175 ~ 1218) as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1097 ~ During the First Crusade, the Siege of Antioch began with Godfrey of Bouillon (1060 ~ 1100), Behemund of Taranto (1054 ~ 1111) and Raymond IV of Toulouse (1041 ~ 1105) leading the charge.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Marty Ingels (né Martin Ingerman, b. Mar. 9, 1936), American wild comic who wed a Hollywood star, Shirley Jones.  He died of a stroke at age 79.

2014 ~ Joan Quigley (b. Apr. 10, 1927), American astrologer who guided First Lady Nancy Reagan.  She died at age 87.

2014 ~ Benjamin C. Bradlee (b. Aug. 26, 1921), American journalist newspaper editor who brought down a president.  He was the editor of the Washington Post during the presidency of Richard Nixon when the Watergate scandal broke.  He died at age 93.

2012 ~ George McGovern (b. July 19, 1922), American politician and anti-war “prairie populist” who ran against Richard Nixon for president in 1972.  He died at age 90.

2009 ~ John Howard “Jack” Nelson (b. Oct. 11, 1929), American journalist who infuriated J. Edgar Hoover.  He is best known for his coverage of the Watergate Scandal.  He died 10 days after his 80^th birthday.

2003 ~ Louise Day Hicks (née Anna Louise Day Hicks, b. Oct. 16, 1916), American politician.  She served in the United States House of Representatives.  She died 5 days after her 87^th birthday.

1992 ~ Jim Garrison (né Earling Carothers Garrison, b. Nov. 20, 1921), District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 ~ 1973.  He is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John Kennedy.  He died in New Orleans a month before his 71^st birthday.

1990 ~ Tom Carvel (né Athanasios Karvelas, b. July 14, 1906), American businessman and founder of the Carvel brand of Ice Cream.  He died at age 84.

1985 ~ Dan White (né Daniel James White, b. Sept. 2, 1946), American politician.  He assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (1929 ~ 1978) and Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930 ~ 1978).  He was convicted of the murders and served time in prison.  Less than two years after his release from prison, he committed suicide at age 39.

1984 ~ François Truffaut (b. Feb. 6, 1932), French film director.  He died of a brain tumor at age 52.

1980 ~ Hans Asperger (b. Feb. 18, 1906), Austrian physician and psychologist.  He died at age 74.

1970 ~ John T. Scopes (b. Aug. 3, 1900), American educator and defendant in the Scopes trial for attempting to teach evolution in the Tennessee schools.  He was found guilty and fined $100.  He died in Shreveport, Louisiana at age 70.

1969 ~ Jack Kerouac (né Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, b. Mar. 12, 1922), American writer.  He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.  He is best known for his book, On the Road.  He died at age 47.

1969 ~ Wacław Sierpiński (b. Mar. 14, 1882), Polish mathematician.  He died at age 87.

1881 ~ Eduard Heine (b. Mar. 16, 1821), German mathematician.  He died at age 60.

1872 ~ Jacques Babinet (b. Mar. 5, 1794), French physicist and mathematician.  He is best known for his contributions to optics.  He died at age 78.

1805 ~ Horatio Nelson, 1^st Viscount Nelson (b. Sept. 29, 1758), British admiral.  He defeated the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in Britain’s greatest naval victory in 1805.  He died in battle at less than a month after his 47^th birthday.

1775 ~ Peyton Randolph (b. Sept. 10, 1721), 1^st President of the Continental Congress.  He died at age 54.

1505 ~ Paul Scriptoris (b. 1460), German mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 45 at the time of his death.

1422 ~ King Charles VI of France (b. Dec. 3, 1368).  He was known as Charles the Beloved.  He died at age 53.