November 1

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Toni Collette, Australian actress.

1960 ~ Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc., following the death of Steve Jobs.

1957 ~ Lyle Lovett, American musician.

1950 ~ Robert Laughlin, American physicist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1944 ~ Kinky Friedman (né Richard Samset Friedman), Texan singer-songwriter, humorist and author.

1942 ~ Marcia Wallace (d. Oct. 25, 2013), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Carol Kester on The Bob Newhart Show and as the voice of Edna Krabappel on The Simpsons.  She died of breast cancer 6 days before her 71^st birthday.

1920 ~ James J. Kilpatrick (d. Aug. 15, 2010), American journalist and author.  He died at age 89.

1919 ~ Sir Hermann Bondi (d. Sept. 10, 2005), Austrian mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1918 ~ Frédérick Leobyer (d. May 25, 2017), French obstetrician who changed childbirth.  He advocated the practices of immersing a newborn in a warm tub of water to ease the transition from the womb.  He died at age 98.

1912 ~ Gunther Plaut (né Wolf Gunther Plaut, d. Feb. 8, 2012), German-born Canadian rabbi and writer.  He died at age 99.

1889 ~ Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker (d. Oct. 8, 1982), British-born Canadian diplomat and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died about 3 weeks before his 93^rd birthday.

1880 ~ Sholem Asch (d. July 10, 1957), Polish-born American Yiddish writer.  He died at age 76.

1878 ~ Carlos Saavedra Lamas (d. May 5, 1959), Argentine politician and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died of a brain hemorrhage at age 80.

1871 ~ Stephen Crane (d. June 5, 1900), American author best known for his Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage.  He died of tuberculosis at age 28.

1849 ~ William Merit Chase (d. Oct. 25, 1916), American painter.  He died a week before his 67^th birthday.

1838 ~ 11^th Dalai Lama (né Khedrup Gyasto, d. Jan. 31, 1856).  He died at age 17.

1815 ~ Crawford W. Long (d. June 16, 1878), American physician who first used ether as an anesthetic in surgery.  He died at age 62.

1782 ~ F. J. Robinson, 1^st Earl of Ripon, 1^st Viscount Goderich (né Frederick John Robinson, d. Jan. 28, 1859), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from August 1827 until January 1928, which was during the reign of King George IV.  He died at age 76.

1778 ~ Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. Feb. 7, 1837).  He was King from March 1792 until his abdication in March 1809.  He died at age 58.

1762 ~ Spencer Perceval (d. May 11, 1812), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister during the reign of King George III.  He was the first, and to date, the only, Prime Minister to have been assassinated while in office.  He was killed by a disgruntled citizen.  He was 49 years old at the time of his death.

1585 ~ Jan Brożek (d. Nov. 21, 1652), Polish mathematician, physician and astronomer.  He died 3 weeks after his 67^th birthday.

846 ~ Louis the Stammerer (d. Apr. 10, 879), Frankish King.  He died at age 32.

Events that Changed the World:

1981 ~ Antigua and Barbuda gained their independence from the United Kingdom.

1973 ~ Leon Jaworski (1905 ~ 1982) was appointed as the Watergate Special Prosecutor.

1968 ~ The Motion Picture Association of America began its film rating system.  The first rating were G, M, R and X.

1966 ~ The New Orleans Saints football team was founded.

1955 ~ United Airlines Flight 629 was bombed, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members.  The bombing was determined to be the act of Jack Gilbert Graham (1932 ~ 1957), who bombed the plane to kill his mother for an insurance payout.

1952 ~ The United States successfully detonated the first large hydrogen bomb in what was known as Operation Ivy.  The detonation took place in the Marshall Islands and had a yield of 10 megatons.

1950 ~ An assassination attempt was made on President Harry S. Truman (1884 ~ 1972).  Griselio Torresola (1925 ~ 1950) and Oscar Collazo (1914 ~ 1994), both Puerto Rican nationalists, attempted to kill the President.  Torresola was killed in an exchange of gunfire during the assassination attempt.  Collazo was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but in 1979, President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence to time served.

1941 ~ American photographer Ansel Adams (1902 ~ 1984) took his iconic photograph of the moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico.

1915 ~ Parris Island, South Carolina was officially designated as a US Marine Corps Recruit center.

1897 ~ The first Library of Congress building opened to the public.  Previously, the Library had been housed in the U.S. Capitol.

1896 ~ The National Geographic first published a photograph showing a woman’s bare breasts.

1894 ~ Nicholas II (1868 ~ 1918) became the Tsar of Russia following the death of his father, Alexander III (1845 ~ 1894).  He was to be the last Tsar of Russia, with the monarchy ending with the Russian Revolution in 1918.

1879 ~ Zachariah Chandler (b. Dec. 10, 1813), 12^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Ulysses S. Grant from October 1875 until March 1877.  He was born in Bedford, New Hampshire.  He died at age 65.

1870 ~ The National Weather Service made its first official meteorological forecast.

1861 ~ President Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) appointed George B. McClellan (1826 ~ 1885) as the commander of the Union Army.  He replaced General Winfield Scott (1786 ~ 1866), who had resigned earlier, citing health issues.

1848 ~ The Boston Female Medical School, which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine, opened, becoming the first medical school for women.

1800 ~ President John Adams (1735 ~ 1826) became the first United States President to live in the White House, which was called the Executive Mansion at the time.

1765 ~ The British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act on the American colonies in order to pay for British military operations in North America.

1755 ~ Lisbon, Portugal was destroyed by a massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami.  An estimated 60-90 thousand people were killed.

1520 ~ Ferdinand Magellan (1480 ~ 1521) discovered and navigated through the Strait of Magellan, the passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the tip of South America.  He is the first known European to have crossed through this strait.

1512 ~ The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which was painted by Michelangelo (1475 ~ 1564), was exhibited for the first time to the public.

1179 ~ Philip II (1165 ~ 1223) was crowned King of France.

1141 ~ Empress Matilda’s reign as the Lady of the English ended when Stephen of Blois (1092 ~ 1154) regained the title of King of England.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Fred Thompson (né Freddie Dalton Thompson, b. Aug. 19, 1942), American actor best known for his role as the District Attorney on Law and Order.  He later became a United States Senator from Tennessee.  He died at age 73.

2009 ~ Robert Rines (b. Aug. 30, 1922), lawyer and inventor who is best known as the man who hunted “Nessie” the Loch Ness monster.  He was also an accomplished violinist and composer.  He died at age 87.

2008 ~ Yma Sumac (née Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo, b. Sept. 13, 1922), Peruvian chanteuse who trilled like a bird.  September 13 the accepted date of her birth, however, there is some controversy and some records note her birthday as being September 10, 1923.  She was about 86 at the time of her death.

2007 ~ Paul Tibbets (b. Feb. 23, 1915), American general in the United States Air Force best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima during World War II.  He died at age 92.

2006 ~ William Styron (b. June 11, 1925), American novelist best known for his books, Sophie’s Choice and The Confessions of Nat Turner.  He died at age 81.

1993 ~ Severo Ochao (b. Sept. 24, 1905), Spanish-American physician and chemist.  He was the recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 88.

1985 ~ Phil Silvers (né Philip Silversmith, b. May 11, 1911), American actor and comedian.  He died at age 74.

1982 ~ King Vidor (b. Feb. 8, 1894), American film director.  He died at age 88.

1979 ~ Mamie Doud Eisenhower (b. Nov. 14, 1896), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Dwight David Eisenhower.  She died 13 days before her 83^rd birthday.

1972 ~ Ezra Pound (b. Oct. 30, 1885), American poet.  He died 2 days after his 87^th birthday.

1955 ~ Dale Carnegie (b. Nov. 24, 1888), American author and educator.  He died 23 days before his 67^th birthday.

1903 ~ Theodor Mommsen (né Christian Matthhias Theodor Mommsen, b. Nov. 30, 1817), German writer and recipient of the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 29 days before his 86^th birthday.

1894 ~ Tsar Alexander III of Russia (b. Mar. 10, 1845).  He died at age 49 of kidney disease.

1879 ~ Zachariah Chandler (b. Dec. 13, 1813), 12^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Ulysses S. Grant.  He served in this Office from October 1875 until March 1877.  He was born in Bedford, New Hampshire.  He was one of the founders of the Republican Party.  He died at age 65.

1860 ~ Alexandra Feodorovna (née Princess Charlotte of Prussia, b. July 13, 1798), German-Russian wife of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.  She died at age 62.

1678 ~ William Coddington (b. 1601), American politician.  He was the first Governor of Rhode Island.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been 77 at the time of his death.