December 1

Birthdays:

1976 ~ Matthew Shepard (d. Oct. 12, 1998), American murder victim.  He was murdered because he was gay.  He was 21 years old at the time of his death.

1970 ~ Sarah Silverman, American comedian.

1958 ~ Charlene Tilton, American actress.  She is best known for her role as Lucy Ewing on the television drama Dallas.

1951 ~ Treat Williams (né Richard Treat Williams), American actor.

1949 ~ Pablo Escobar (d. Dec. 2, 1993), Columbian drug lord.  He was killed in a shootout one day after his 44^th birthday.

1949 ~ Sabastián Piñera, President of Chile from March 2010 to March 2014.

1945 ~ Bette Midler, American singer.

1940 ~ Richard Pryor (d. Dec. 10, 2005), American actor and comedian.  He died 9 days after his 65^th birthday.

1935 ~ Woody Allen (né Allan Steward Konigsberg), American film director.

1933 ~ Lou Rawls (d. Jan. 6, 2006), American singer.  He died about a month after his 72^nd birthday.

1925 ~ Martin Rodbell (d. Dec. 7, 1998), American biochemist and endocrinologist.  He was the recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 6 days after his 73^rd birthday.

1923 ~ Stansfield Turner, 12^th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  He served in that capacity during the Carter Administration.

1913 ~ Mary Martin (d. Nov. 3, 1990), American actress best known for her role as Peter Pan in the play by the same name.  She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman (1931 ~ 2012).  She died a month before her 77^th birthday.

1912 ~ Minoru Yamasaki (d. Feb. 6, 1986), American architect.  He designed the World Trade Center.  He died at age 73.

1901 ~ Ilona Fehér (d. Jan. 1988), Hungarian-Jewish violinist.  She died at age 87.

1886 ~ Rex Stout (d. Oct. 27, 1975), American detective-story writer.  He created fictional detective Nero Wolf.  He died in Danbury, Connecticut at age 88.

1847 ~ Julia A. Moore (d. June 5, 1920), American poet.  She died at age 72.

1844 ~ Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (d. Nov. 20, 1925) and wife of King Edward VII.  She was of the royal family of Denmark.  She died 11 days before her 81^st birthday.

1792 ~ Nikolai Lobachevsky (d. Feb. 24, 1856), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1761 ~ Marie Tussaud (née Anna Marie Grosholtz, d. Apr. 16, 1850), French-born founder of the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London, England.  She died at age 88.

1083 ~ Anna Komnen (d. 1153), Greek Princess, physician and scholar.  The exact date of her death is not known, but she is believed to have been about 70 at the time of her death.

1081 ~ King Louis VI of France (d. Aug. 1, 1137).  He died at age 55.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ China launched its Jade Rabbit, its first lunar rover, as part of its lunar exploration mission.  The rover landed on December 14, 2013.  According to Chinese folklore, a rabbit lives on the moon, hence the name, Jade Rabbit.

2001 ~ Trans World Airlines (TWA) ended its operations after 76 years.  The company was purchased by American Airlines.

1988 ~ Benazir Bhutto was appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.

1987 ~ The World Health Organization declared the first World AIDS day.

1981 ~ The AIDS virus was officially recognized.

1974 ~ TWA Flight 514 crashed near Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 passengers aboard.  On the same day, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 crashed near John F. Kennedy International Airport.  This was a charter flight and at the time of the crash there were only three crew members aboard.  All were killed.

1969 ~ The United States instituted the first draft lottery since World War II in an effort to recruit soldiers for the Vietnam War.

1959 ~ Twelve countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, signed a treaty setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve

1955 ~ Rosa Parks (1913 ~ 2005) refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and was arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws.  This incident lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1952 ~ The New York Daily News reported that Christine Jorgensen (né George William Jorgensen, Jr., 1926 ~ 1989), had successful sexual reassignment surgery, followed by hormone therapy.

1919 ~ Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (1879 ~ 1964) became the first woman Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.  She was an American-born socialite whose second marriage to Waldof Astor led her into politics.

1918 ~ The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was proclaimed.  It later became known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1918 ~ The Kingdom of Iceland became a sovereign state while still remaining a part of Denmark.

1913 ~ The Ford Motor Company first introduced the assembly line for manufacturing.

1913 ~ The Buenos Aires Subway began operating.  It was the first underground subway system in the Southern hemisphere.

1885 ~ Dr. Pepper was first sold at a drug store in Waco, Texas.

1865 ~ Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.

1862 ~ In his State of the Union Address, President Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) reaffirmed the necessity of ending slavery.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Martin Sharp (né Martin Ritchie Sharp, b. Jan. 21, 1942), Australian graphic artist who set a psychedelic tone for the 1960s.  He died at age 71.

2008 ~ Paul Benedict (b. Sept. 17, 1938), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Mr. Bentley on The Jeffersons.  He died at age 70.

2004 ~ Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b. June 29, 1911).  He was the husband of Queen Juliana.  He died at age 93.

1997 ~ Endicott Peabody (b. Feb. 15, 1920), 62^nd Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1963 until January 1965.  He died in Hollis, New Hampshire at age 77.

1991 ~ George Stigler (b. Jan. 17, 1911), American economist and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 80.

1989 ~ Alvin Ailey (b. Jan. 5, 1931), African-American dancer and choreographer.  He died at age 58.

1987 ~ James Baldwin (b. Aug. 2, 1924), African-American writer best known for his first novel, To Tell It on the Mountain.  He died at age 63.

1973 ~ David Ben-Gurion (né David Grün, b. Oct. 16, 1886), 1^st and 3^rd Prime Minister of Israel.  He first served from May 1948 until January 1954.  His second term ran from November 1955 through June 1963.  He died at age 87.

1947 ~ G.H. Hardy (né Godfrey Harold Hardy, b. Feb. 7, 1877), English mathematician.  He died at age 70.

1866 ~ Sir George Everest (b. July 4, 1790), Welsh surveyor and geographer.  He served as the Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843.  Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains was named in his honor.  He died at age 76.

1825 ~ Tsar Alexander I of Russia (b. Dec. 23, 1777).  He was Tsar from March 1801 until his death 24 years later.  He died of typhus 22 days before his 48^th birthday.

1750 ~ Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (b. Sept. 27, 1671), German mathematician.  The crater Dopplemayr on the moon is named in his honor.  He died at age 79.

1729 ~ Giacomo F. Maraldi (b. Aug. 21, 1665), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1521 ~ Pope Leo X (né Giovanni di Lorenzo de’Medici, b. Dec. 11, 1475).  He was Pope from March 1513 until his death 8 years later.  He died 10 days before his 56^th birthday.

1455 ~ Lorenzo Ghiberti (b. 1378), Italian sculptor.  He is best known for being the creator of the bronze doors of the Baptistery of the Cathedral in Florence  The date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 76 or 77 at the time of his death.

1241 ~ Isabella of England (b. 1214).  She was the wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.  The date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 26 or 27 when she died in childbirth.

1135 ~ King Henry I of England (b. 1068).  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 66 or 67 at the time of his death.