November 16

Birthdays:

1950 ~ David Leisure, American actor best known for his role as pitchman Joe Isuzu.

1930 ~ Chinua Achebe (d. Mar. 21, 2013), Nigerian author.  He is best well-known for his novel, Things Fall Apart.  He died at age 82.

1924 ~ Louis Leithold (d. Apr. 29, 2005), American mathematician.  He died at age 80.

1922 ~ José Saramago (d. June 18, 2010), Portuguese novelist and journalist.  He was the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was 87 years old.

1907 ~ Burgess Meredith (né Oliver Burgess Meredith, d. Sept. 9, 1997), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky movies.  He died at age 89.

1889 ~ George S. Kaufman (d. June. 2, 1961), American playwright.  He died at age 71.

1836 ~ King Kalākaua of Hawaii (d. Jan. 20, 1891).  He died at age 54.

1753 ~ James McHenry (d. May 3, 1816), 3^rd United States Secretary of War.  He served under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.  He served as the Secretary of War from January 1796 through May 1800.  Ft. McHenry of Civil War fame was named in his honor.  He died at age 62.

1717 ~ Jean le Rond d’Alembert (d. Oct. 29, 1783), French mathematician.  He died 18 days before his 66^th birthday.

42 BCE ~ Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar (d. Mar. 16, 37 CE), Roman Emperor.  He is believed to have been 77 at the time of his death.

Events that Changed the World:

1988 ~ In an open election, the people of Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto (1953 ~ 2007) to be Prime Minister.  Bhutto served two terms, the first from December 1988 through August 1990 and the second from October 1993 through December 1996.

1973 ~ President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, thereby authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

1973 ~ NASA launched Skylab 4 with a crew of 3 astronauts for an 84-day mission.

1945 ~ During the Cold War, the United States Army secretly admitted 88 German scientists and engineers to help develop rocket technology in what was called Operation Paperclip.

1945 ~ The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded.

1940 ~ George Metesky (1903 ~ 1994), known as the Mad Bomber of New York City, placed his first bomb in the Manhattan Office building used by Consolidated Edison.  He terrorized New York City for the next 16 years, planting at least 33 bombs, 22 of which exploded.  Over 15 people were killed from his bombings.

1940 ~ The British Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg, Germany in retaliation of the Nazi bombing of Coventry, England a few days earlier.

1940 ~ The Nazis closed off the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.

1938 ~ Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann (1906 ~ 2008), first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD.

1920 ~ Qantas, the national airline of Australia, was founded.  Its name comes from its initial name of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd.

1914 ~ The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opened.

1907 ~ Oklahoma became the 46^th State of the Union.

1904 ~ Sir John Ambrose Fleming, (1849 ~ 1945) a British engineer, received a patent of the vacuum tube.

1885 ~ David Livingstone came across Victoria Falls in what is now Zambia/Zimbabwe.  He is the first recorded European to visit the Falls.

1849 ~ Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 ~ 1881) was sentenced to death for his anti-government activities that were linked to a radical intellectual group.  His sentence was later commuted to hard labor.

1532 ~ Francisco Pizarro and his men captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca.

1491 ~ An auto-da-fé, which was held outside of Ávila, Spain, ended with the public execution of several Jews and converse suspects.

1272 ~ Prince Edward (1239 ~ 1307) reign as King Edward I of England began following the death of Henry III of England (1207 ~ 1272), however, because he was traveling during the Ninth Crusade, he did not actually assume the throne for two years, when he finally returned to England.

534 ~ The final revision of the Codex Justinianus is believed to have been published.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Michael Gross (b. Oct. 3, 1945), American designer and graphic artist who created the Ghostbusters logo.  He died at age 70.

2013 ~ Oscar Lanford (b. Jan. 6, 1940), American mathematician.  He died at age 73.

2011 ~ René Morel (b. Mar. 11, 1932), American master restorer of rare violins.  He died at age 79.

2010 ~ Ronni Chasen (b. Oct. 17, 1946), American movie publicist who was mysteriously murdered.  Police ultimately concluded she was murdered during a random robbery.  She died a month before her 65^th birthday.

2009 ~ Edward Woodward (b. June 1, 1930), the suave English actor who was television’s The Equalizer.  He died at age 79.

2009 ~ Jan Leighton (né Milton Lichtman, b. Dec. 27, 1921), American actor who turned historical figures into pitchman.  He died at age 87.

2006 ~ Milton Friedman (b. July 31, 1912), American economist and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 94.

2005 ~ Henry Taube (b. Nov. 30, 1915), Canadian-born American chemist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 14 days before his 90^th birthday.

2005 ~ Ralph Edwards (b. June 13, 1913), American radio and television host.  He died at age 92.

1999 ~ Daniel Nathans (b. Oct. 30, 1928), American microbiologist and recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of restriction enzymes.  He died less 17 days after his 71^st birthday.

1982 ~ Pavel Alexandrov (b. May 7, 1896), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 86.

1971 ~ Edie Sedgwick (née Edith Minturn Sedgwick, b. Apr. 20, 1940), American socialite and heiress.  She died of a drug overdose at age 28.

1961 ~ Sam Rayburn (b. Jan. 6, 1882), American politician form Texas.  He was the 48^th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He died at age 79.

1960 ~ Clark Gable (né William Clark Gable, b. Feb. 1, 1901), American actor best known for his role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.  He died at age 59 of coronary thrombosis.

1950 ~ Bob Smith (né Robert Holbrook Smith, b. Aug. 8, 1879), American physician and co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.  He was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.  He died at age 71.

1939 ~ Pierce Butler (b. Mar. 17, 1866), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Warren Harding.  He served on the Court from December 1922 until his death at age 73 in November 1939.

1806 ~ Moses Cleaveland (b. Jan. 29, 1754), American general and politician who founded Cleveland, Ohio.  He died at age 52.

1272 ~ King Henry III of England (b. Oct. 1, 1207).  He reigned as King of England from October 1216 until his death in November 1272.  He died at age 65.

1093 ~ Saint Margaret of Scotland (b. 1045), Hungarian-born Queen of King Malcolm III of Scotland.  The exact date of her birth is not known.