November 29

Birthdays:

1964 ~ Don Cheadle, American actor.

1959 ~ Rahm Emanuel, American politician.  He was the 23^rd White House Chief of Staff.  He served under President Barack Obama.  He then became the Mayor of Chicago in May 2011.

1957 ~ Janet Napolitano, 3^rd Secretary of Homeland Security.  She served under President Obama from January 2009 until September 2013.

1954 ~ Joel Coen, American film director.

1949 ~ Garry Shandling (d. Mar. 24, 2016), American comedian and actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 66.

1947 ~ Petra Kelly (d. Oct. 1, 1992), German political activist.  She was killed in a murder-suicide by her partner.  She was 44 years old.

1946 ~ Suzy Chaffee (née Suzanne Chaffee), American Olympic alpine ski racer.  She competed in the 1968 winter Olympics.  She was known as Suzy Chapstick.  She was born in Rutland, Vermont.

1942 ~ Stanley Ann Dunham (d. Nov. 7, 1995), American anthropologist and mother of United States President Barack Obama.  She died of cancer 22 days before her 53^rd birthday.

1940 ~ Michael G. Crandall, American mathematician.  He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1932 ~ Jacques Chirac, French politician and 22^nd president of France.

1928 ~ Paul Simon (d. Dec. 9, 2003), American politician and United States Senator from Illinois.  He died 10 days after his 75^th birthday.

1928 ~ Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox (d. Feb. 22, 2016), American Miss America who defied convention.  She became the 1951 Miss America.  She was born in Mobile, Alabama.  Following her year as Miss America, she became a social activist.  She died of lung cancer at age 87.

1920 ~ Joseph Shivers, Jr. (d. Sept. 1, 2014), American chemist and developer of spandex.  He died at age 93.

1919 ~ Sir Frank Kermode (d. Aug. 17, 2010), British literary critic considered a giant in his field.  He died at age 90.

1918 ~ Madeleine L’Engle (d. Sept. 6, 2007), American author, best known for her children’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time.  She was 88 years old.

1915 ~ Eugene Polley (d. May 20, 2012), American engineer who invented the TV remote control.  He died at age 96.

1912 ~ Sir John Templeton (d. July 8, 2008), the American-born investor who helped fund the search for God.  In 1968, he took British citizenship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987.  He died at age 95.

1908 ~ Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (d. Apr. 4, 1972), American politician and civil rights leader.  He died at age 63.

1898 ~ C.S. Lewis (né Clive Staples Lewis, d. Nov. 22, 1963), Irish author best known for his novels The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia.  He died 7 days before his 65^th birthday.

1895 ~ Busby Berkeley (né Berkeley William Enos, d. Mar. 14, 1976), American film director and choreographer.  He died at age 80.

1876 ~ Nellie Tayloe Ross (d. Dec. 19, 1977), American politician and 14^th Governor of Wyoming.  She was the first woman to be elected to a State office.  She served as Governor from January 1925 until January 1927.  She later served as the 28^th Director of the United States Mint from May 1933 until April 1953.  She died 3 weeks after her 101^st birthday.

1874 ~ Egas Moniz (né António Caetano de Aubre Freire Egas Moniz, d. Dec. 13, 1955), Portuguese neurologist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 14 days after his 81^st birthday.

1873 ~ Suzan Rose Benedict (d. Apr. 8, 1942), American mathematician.  She was the first woman awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan.  She died of a heart attack at age 68 in Northampton, Massachusetts.

1849 ~ Sir John Ambrose Fleming (d. Apr. 18, 1945), British physicist and inventor of the vacuum tube.  He died at age 95.

1835 ~ Empress Dowager Cixi (d. Nov. 15, 1908), Chinese ruler.  She effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing Dynasty from 1861 until her death in 1908.  She died 14 days before her 73^rd birthday.

1832 ~ Louisa May Alcott (d. Mar. 6, 1888), American novelist.  She is best known for her novels Little Women and Little Men.  She was born on her father’s 33^rd birthday.  She died of a stroke at age 55.

1816 ~ Morrison Waite (d. Mar. 23, 1888), 7^th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Ulysses S. Grant.  He served in office from March 1874 until his death on this date 14 years later.  He died at age 71.

1803 ~ Christian Doppler (d. Mar. 17, 1853), Austrian physicist and mathematician.  He is best known for his principle known as the Doppler effect, that the observed frequency of a wave depends upon the relative speed of the source and the observer.  He died at age 49 of pulmonary disease.

1799 ~ Amos Bronson Alcott (d. Mar. 4, 1888), American philosopher and educator.  He was the father of author Louisa May Alcott, who was born in his 33^rd birthday.  He died at age 88 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Events that Changed the World:

2007 ~ A 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Martinique affecting many of the Caribbean islands.

1972 ~ Atari released the video game, Pong.

1967 ~ United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1916 ~ 2009) announced his resignation following his recommendation to President Lyndon Johnson to freeze troop levels and stop bombing in North Vietnam.

1963 ~ President Lyndon Johnson (1908 ~ 1973) formed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963).

1947 ~ The United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine.

1929 ~ Admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888 ~ 1957) and his three-member crew became the first persons to fly over the South Pole.

1830 ~ The November Uprising, an armed rebellion against Russia’s rule in Poland began.

1783 ~ What is believed to be a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit New Jersey.

1777 ~ San Jose, California was founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (1745 ~ 1785).  It was the first civilian settlement in the area that would later become the state of California.

1729 ~ The Natchez Indians, who had been in conflict with the French settlers, massacred over 200 of the French settlers and kidnapped the women and children at Fort Rosalie, near present day Natchez, Mississippi.

800 ~ Charlemagne arrived in Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III.

Good-Byes:

2009 ~ Harry Hurt (b. Dec. 13, 1927), American engineer who made motorcycles safer.  He died 2 weeks before his 82^nd birthday.

2008 ~ Jørn Utzon (b. Apr. 9, 1918), Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House in Australia.  He died at age 90.

2005 ~ Wendie Jo Sperber (b. Sept. 15, 1958), American actress.  She died of breast cancer at age 47.

2001 ~ George Harrison (b. Feb. 25, 1943), English musician and member of the Beatles.  He died of cancer at age 58.

2001 ~ John Knowles (b. Sept. 16, 1926), American author.  He is best known for his novel A Separate Peace.  He died at age 75.

1999 ~ Gene Rayburn (né Eugene Jelyevich, b. Dec. 22, 1917), American game show host.  He died in Gloucester, Massachusetts 23 days before his 82^nd birthday.

1992 ~ Jean Dieudonné (b. July 1, 1906) French mathematician.  He died at age 86.

1991 ~ Frank Yerby (b. Sept. 5, 1916), African-American novelist.  He died at age 75.

1986 ~ Cary Grant (né Archibald Alexander Leach, b. Jan. 18, 1904), British-born American actor.  He died at age 82.

1984 ~ Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest (b. Oct. 28, 1905), Dutch mathematician.  She about a month after her 79^th birthday.

1981 ~ Natalie Wood (b. July 20, 1938), American actress.  She died in a mysterious boating accident.  Ostensibly she drowned at age 43, however, in 2012, an investigation into her death was reopened.

1980 ~ Dorothy Day (b. Nov. 8, 1897), American journalist and activist.  She died 21 days after her 83^rd birthday.

1958 ~ Roy Owen West (b. Oct. 27, 1868), 30^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Calvin Coolidge from July 1928 until March 1929.  He died a month after his 90^th birthday.

1953 ~ Ernest William Barnes (b. Apr. 1, 1874), English mathematician.  He was also a member of the clergy.  He died at age 79.

1943 ~ Bertha Knight Landes (b. Oct. 19, 1868), Mayor of Seattle from 1926-1928.  She was the first female mayor of a major US city.  She died at age 75.

1924 ~ Giacomo Puccini (b. Dec. 22, 1858), Italian composer best known for his opera Madame Butterfly.  He died 23 days of complications from throat cancer less than a month before his 66^th birthday.

1780 ~ Maria Theresa (b. May 13, 1717), Austrian wife of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.  She was the Holy Roman empresses in her own right.  She died at age 63.

1759 ~ Nicolaus I Bernoulli (b. Oct. 21, 1687), Swiss mathematician.  He died at age 72.

1694 ~ Marcello Malpighi (b. Mar. 10, 1628), Italian astronomer, physician and botanist.  He died at age 66.

1590 ~ Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin (b. Sept. 22, 1547), German mathematician.  He died at age 43.

1543 ~ Hans Holbein the Younger (b. 1497), German artist.  He was the son of artist Hans Holbein the Elder.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born 1497.  The exact date of his death is also unknown, but he is believed to have died sometime in October or November 1543.

1530 ~ Thomas Wolsey (b. March 1470), British religious figure.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He died at age 57.

1378 ~ Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. May 14, 1316).  He was born and died in Prague.  He died at age 62.

1314 ~ King Philip IV of France (b. 1268).  He died at age 46.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born between April and June in 1268.

1268 ~ Pope Clement IV (né Gui Foucois, b. Nov. 23, 1190).  He was Pope from February 1265 until his death 2 years later.  He died 6 days after his 78^th birthday.

561 ~ Chlothar I (b. 497), Frankish king.  The exact date of his birth is not known.