November 27

Birthdays:

1963 ~ Fisher Stevens, American actor.

1957 ~ Caroline Kennedy, American journalist and attorney.  She is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy.

1955 ~ Bill Nye, American engineer and broadcaster, known as Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

1951 ~ Kathryn Bigelow, American movie director.

1943 ~ Jil Sander, German fashion designer.

1942 ~ Jimi Hendrix (d. Sept. 18, 1970), American musician and guitarist.  He died of an accidental drug overdose at age 27.

1940 ~ Bruce Lee (d. July 20, 1973), American actor and martial arts performer.  He died of a cerebral edema at age 32.

1927 ~ William E. Simon (d. June 3, 2000), 63^rd United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served during the Nixon and Ford administrations from May 1974 until January 1977.  He died at age 72.

1923 ~ J. Ernest Wilkins (né Jesse Ernest Wilking, Jr., d. May 1, 2011), American nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician.  He entered the University of Chicago at age 13, becoming the youngest student ever to attend that school.  He died at age 87.

1921 ~ Dora Jean Dougherty Srother McKeown (d. Nov. 19, 2013), American military pilot.  She was well known as a Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and B-29 Suprefortress demonstration pilot.  She died 8 days before her 92^nd birthday.

1917 ~ Buffalo Bob Smith (né Robert Emil Schmidt, d. July 30, 1998), American actor and television host best known for hosting The Howdy Doody Show.  He died of cancer at age 80.

1909 ~ James Agee (d. May 16, 1955), American playwright.  He died of a heart attack at age 45.

1909 ~ Anatoly Maltsev (d. June 7, 1967), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 57.

1903 ~ Lars Onsager (d. Oct. 5, 1976), Norwegian chemist and recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  He died at age 72.

1874 ~ Chaim Weizmann (d. Nov. 9, 1952), 1^st President of the State of Israel.  He served as President from February 1949 until his death 3 years later.  He died in Office just 18 days before his 78^th birthday.

1870 ~ Juho Kusti Paasikivi (d. Dec. 14, 1956), 7^th President of Finland.  He died 18 days after his 86^th birthday.

1857 ~ Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (d. Mar. 4, 1952), English scientist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 94.

1746 ~ Increase Sumner (d. June 7, 1799), 5^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served in that office from 1797 until his death in office in June 1799.  He died at age 52 of a heart attack.

1746 ~ Robert Livingston (d. Feb. 26, 1813), American politician and assisted in the negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase from France.  He was the 1^st US Secretary for Foreign Affairs.  He served in this position during the George Washington administration from October 1781 until June 1783.  He died at age 66.

1701 ~ Anders Celsius (d. Apr. 25, 1744), Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician.  He is best known for the Celsius thermometer, which bears his name.  He died of tuberculosis at age 42.

1635 ~ Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (d. Apr. 15, 1719), second wife of King Louis XIV of France.  She died at age 83.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

2008 ~ Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

2005 ~ The first partial human face transplant was performed in Amiens, France.

2003 ~ Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1978 ~ San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (1929 ~ 1978) and city supervisor Harvey Milk (1930 ~ 1978), who was openly gay, were assassinated by former city supervisor Dan White (1946 ~ 1985).

1973 ~ The United States Senate voted to confirm Gerald Ford (1913 ~ 2006) as Vice President of the United States following the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew (1918 ~ 1996).  He was confirmed by the House of Representatives on December 6, 1973.

1924 ~ The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York City.

1910 ~ New York City’s Pennsylvania Station opened.

1901 ~ The United States Army War College was established.

1895 ~ Alfred Nobel (1833 ~ 1896) signed his last will and testament, in which he set aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death.  He did this after reading a premature obituary that condemned him for profiting from the sale of arms and dynamite.

1095 ~ Pope Urban II (1042 ~ 1099) declared the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ P. D. James (née Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, b. Aug. 3, 1920), English crime writer who made murder into literature.  She died at age 94.

2011 ~ Ken Russell (né Henry Kenneth Albert Russell, b. July 3, 1927), British movie director who loved to shock.  His first commercial success was his 1969 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love.  He died at age 84.

2009 ~ Mike Penner (b. Oct. 10, 1957), American male sportswriter who hoped to be a woman.  He committed suicide at age 52.

2007 ~ Robert Cade (né James Robert Cade, b. Sept. 26, 1927), American doctor and inventor of Gatorade.  He died at age 80.

1978 ~ Harvey Milk (b. May 22, 1930), American politician and gay rights activist.  He was assassinated in San Francisco.  He was 48 at the time of his death.

1978 ~ George Moscone (b. Nov. 24, 1929), 37^th Mayor of San Francisco.  He served as Mayor from January 1976 until his assassination nearly 3 years later.  He was assassinated along with Harvey Milk. He died three days after his 49^th birthday.

1955 ~ Arthur Honegger (né Oacar-Arthur Honegger, b. Mar. 10, 1892), Swiss-French composer.  He died at age 73.

1953 ~ Eugene O’Neill (b. Oct. 16, 1888), American playwright and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 65.

1940 ~ Nicolae Iorga (b. Jan. 17, 1871), 34^th Prime Minister of Romania.  He served in that Office from April 1931 until June 1932.  He died at age 69.

1934 ~ Lester Joseph Gillis (aka Baby Face Nelson, b. Dec. 6, 1908), American gangster.  He was killed 9 days before his 26^th birthday in a shoot-out with the FBI during a bank robbery.

1931 ~ Michael Hoke Smith (b. Sept. 2, 1855), 19^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Grover Cleveland from March 1893 until September 1896.  He died at age 76.

1901 ~ Clement Studebaker (b. Mar. 12, 1831), American businessman and co-founder of the Studebaker automotive company.  He died at age 70.

1895 ~ Alexandre Dumas, the Younger (b. July 27, 1824), French author.  He was the illegitimate son of the more well-known author Alexandre Dumas, the Elder.  He is best known for Camille.  He died at age 71.

1868 ~ Black Kettle (1803), Cheyenne Indian chief who tried to live in peace with his white neighbors.  He was killed in a raid lead by Lieutenant George Custer.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 65 at the time of his death.

1852 ~ Ada Lovelace, Countess of Lovelace (née Augusta Ada King-Noel, b. Dec. 10, 1815), British mathematician and computer scientist.  She died of uterine cancer 13 days before her 37^th birthday.

1811 ~ Andrew Meikle (b. May 5, 1719), Scottish engineer and designer of the threshing machine.  He died at age 91.

1754 ~ Abraham de Moivre (b. May 26, 1667), French mathematician.  He died at age 87.

1252 ~ Blanche of Castile (b. Mar. 4, 1188), Wife of King Louis VIII of France.  She died at age 64.

511 ~ Clovis I, King of France (b. 466).  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He is believed to have been about 44 years old at the time of his death.

8 BCE ~ Horace (b. Dec. 8, 65 BCE), the traditional date ascribed to the death of this Roman poet.  He is believed to have died 11 days before his 57^th birthday.