December 12

Birthdays:

1952 ~ Cathy Rigby (née Cathleen Roxanne Rigby), American gymnast.

1949 ~ Bill Nighy (né William Francis Nighy), British actor.

1942 ~ John Casablancas (d. July 20, 2013), modeling agent who ushered in the era of the supermodel.  He was 70 years old.

1940 ~ Dionne Warwick, American singer.

1934 ~ Miguel de la Madrid (d. Apr. 1, 2012), 52^nd President of Mexico.  He served as president from December 1982 until November 30, 1988.  He died at age 77.

1932 ~ Robert Lee “Bob” Pettit, American basketball player from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He played basketball for Louisiana State University before playing for the NBA.  In 1956, he became the first basketball player to be awarded the Most Valuable Player Award.

1927 ~ Robert Noyce (d. June 3, 1990), American inventor of the microchip.  He was also the co-founder of the Intel Corporation.  He died at age 62 of a heart attack.

1924 ~ Ed Koch (né Edward Irving Koch, d. Feb. 1, 2013), 105^th Mayor of New York City.  He served as Mayor from January 1978 through December 1989.  He died at age 88.

1923 ~ Robert “Bob” Barker, American game show host.

1915 ~ Frank Sinatra (né Francis Albert Sinatra, d. May 14, 1998), American singer and actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 82.

1893 ~ Edward G. Robinson (né Emanuel Goldenberg, d. Jan. 26, 1973), American actor.  He was born in Bucharest, Romania.  He died at age 79.

1881 ~ Harry Warner (né Hirsch Moses Wonsal, d. July 25, 1958), Polish-born American movie studio executive.  He, along with his brother, Albert (né Abraham Wonsal, 1884 ~ 1967), Sam (né Samuel Wansal, 1887 ~ 1927) and Jack (né Jacob Wonsal, 1892 ~ 1978), founded Warner Brothers.  Harry Warner was 76 years old at the time of his death.

1866 ~ Alfred Werner (d. Nov. 15, 1919), German chemist and recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 27 days before his 53^rd birthday.

1863 ~ Edvard Munch (d. Jan. 23, 1944), Norwegian painter, best known for his painting, The Scream.  He died at age 80.

1862 ~ J. Bruce Ismay (né Joseph Bruce Ismay, d. Oct. 17, 1937), English businessman who was the managing director of the White Star Line, which owned the RMS Titanic.  He is best known as being a survivor of the Titanic, for which he received much criticism.  He died of a stroke at age 74.

1821 ~ Gustave Flaubert (d. May 8, 1880), French novelist, best known for Madame Bovary.  He died at age 58.

1805 ~ Henry Wells (d. Dec. 10, 1878), American businessman and co-founder of Wells Fargo and American Express.  He was from Thetford, Vermont.  He died two days before his 73^rd birthday.

1791 ~ Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria (d. Dec. 17, 1847), second wife of Napoleon.  She died 5 days after her 56^th birthday.

1786 ~ William L. Marcy (d. July 4, 1857), 21^st Secretary of State.  He served under President Franklin Pierce from March 1853 until March 1857.  He served as the 20^th United States Secretary of War in the James Polk administration from March 1845 until March 1849.  He was also the 11^th Governor of New York State.  He died at age 70.

1574 ~ Anne of Denmark (d. Mar. 2, 1619).  She was the Queen consort of Scotland, England and Ireland as the wife of King James VI.  She died at age 44.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Chanukah began at sunset.

2000 ~ The United States Supreme Court decided that George W. Bush beat Al Gore in the presidential election in the case of Bush v. Gore.

1991 ~ The Russian Federation became independent from the USSR.

1985 ~ Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashed after takeoff in Newfoundland, killing all 256 crew and passengers aboard, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101^st Airborne Division.

1979 ~ An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck in Columbia and Ecuador killing between 300 and 600 people.  The earthquake also caused a large tsunami.

1964 ~ Jomo Kenyatta (1891 ~ 1978) became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.

1963 ~ Kenya became independent from the United Kingdom.

1950 ~ Paula Ackerman (1893 ~ 1989) became the first woman appointed to function as a rabbi in the United States.  She led the congregation at Temple Beth Israel in Meridian, Mississippi, following the sudden death of her husband two weeks earlier.

1941 ~ Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) announced the extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.

1936 ~ In the Xi’an Incident, Chiang Kai-shek (1887 ~ 1975), the leader of the China Nationalist government, was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang (1901 ~ 2001).

1925 ~ Reza Khan (1878 ~ 1944) was crown as the new Shah of Iran, thereby beginning the Pahlavi dynasty.

1917 ~ Monsignor Edward Flanagan (1886 ~ 1948) founded Boys Town in Nebraska as a farm village to assist delinquent boys.

1911 ~ King George V (1865 ~ 1936) of the United Kingdom and Mary of Tech (1867 ~ 1953) were enthroned as the Emperor and Empress of India.

1911 ~ Delhi became the capital of India, replacing Calcutta.

1901 ~ The first transatlantic wireless transmission, sent in Morse Code, was sent from Cornwall, England to Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

1862 ~ During the American Civil War, the USS Cairo sank on the Yazoo River in Mississippi, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electronically detonated mine.

1787 ~ Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1098 ~ During the First Crusade, the Crusaders breached the walls of Ma’arrat al-Numan, in what is now modern day Syria, and massacred its 20,000 inhabitants.  Then, finding insufficient food, the Crusaders began to eat the bodies.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Shirley Hazzard (b. Jan. 30, 1931), Australian writer best known for her book The Transit of Venus.  She died at age 85.

2014 ~ Ivor Grattan-Guinness (b. June 23, 1941), British mathematician.  He died at age 73.

2008 ~ Daniel C. Gajduske (b. Sept. 9, 1923), American physician and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with kuru.  He died at age 85.

2007 ~ Ike Turner (né Izear Luster Turner, Jr., b. Nov. 5, 1931), American singer and songwriter.  He was the former husband of singer Tina Turner.  He died at age 76.

2006 ~ Peter Boyle (b. Oct. 18, 1935), American actor.  He died at age 71.

2002 ~ Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (b. Feb. 29, 1908), American author and historian best known for his book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.  He was born in Alberta, Louisiana.  He died at age 94.

1999 ~ Joseph Heller (b. May 1, 1923), American novelist, best known for his novel, Catch-22.  He died at age 76.

1998 ~ Morris “Mo” Udall (b. June 15, 1922), American politician and United States Representative from Arizona.  He died at age 76.

1997 ~ Evgenii Landis (b. Oct. 6, 1921), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1996 ~ Vance Parkard (b. May 22, 1914), American journalist, author and social critic.  He died at age 82.

1993 ~ Józef Antall (b. Apr. 8, 1932), 35^th Prime Minister of Hungary.  He died at age 61.

1889 ~ Viktor Bunyakovsky (b. Dec. 16, 1804), Russian mathematician.  He died 4 days before his 86^th birthday.

1987 ~ Clifton Chenier (b. June 25, 1925), American singer and songwriter from Opelousas, Louisiana.  He died at age 62 in Lafayette, Louisiana.

1985 ~ Anne Baxter (b. May 7, 1923), American actress.  She died of a brain aneurysm at age 62.

1977 ~ Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (b. Apr. 1, 1885), wife of Winston Churchill.  She died at age 92.

1971 ~ Yechezkel Kutscher (b. June 1, 1909), Israeli philologist and Hebrew linguist.  He died at age 63.

1971 ~ David Sarnoff (b. Feb. 27, 1891), Russian-born American radio and television pioneer and general manager of RCA.  He also founded NBC.  He died at age 80.

1968 ~ Tallulah Bankhead (b. Jan. 31, 1902), American actress.  She died at age 66 of pneumonia.

1958 ~ Milutin Milanković (b. May 28, 1879), Serbian mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 79.

1939 ~ Douglas Fairbanks (né Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman, b. May 23, 1883), American actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 56.

1921 ~ Henrietta Swan Leavitt (b. July 4, 1868), American astronomer.  She died of cancer at age 53.

1889 ~ Robert Browning (b. May 7, 1812), English poet.  He died at age 77.

1889 ~ Victor Bunyakovsky (b. Dec. 16, 1804), Russian mathematician.  He died 4 days before his 86^th birthday.

1858 ~ Jacques Viger (b. May 7, 1787), 1^st Mayor of Montreal, Quebec.  He was Mayor from 1833 until 1836.  He died at age 71.

1851 ~ Joel Roberts Poinsett (b. Mar. 2, 1779), 15^th Secretary of War.  He served under President Martin Van Buren from March 1837 until March 1841.  He died at age 72.

1843 ~ King William I of the Netherlands (b. Aug. 24, 1772).  He died at age 71.

1685 ~ John Pell (b. Mar. 1, 1611), English mathematician.  He died at age 74.

1204 ~ Maimonides (né Moshe ben Maimon, also known as the Rambam, which stands for Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, b. Mar. 30, 1135), preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher, rabbi and Torah scholar.  Although he was born in Córdoba, Spain, he traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean.  He died in Egypt at age 69.

894 ~ Guy III.  King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor.  He was killed while fighting for the Italian peninsula.  The date of his birth is not known.

884 ~ Carloman II, King of the West Franks (b. 866).  He died in a hunting accident.  The date of his birth is not known.