December 15

Birthdays:

1949 ~ Don Johnson, American actor.

1943 ~ Kathleen Blanco, American politician and 54^th Governor of Louisiana.  She was the first female Governor of Louisiana.  She served from January 2004 through January 2008, during which Hurricane Katrina swept through the State.

1933 ~ Tim Conway, American actor and comedian.

1929 ~ Yuri Vasilyevich Prokhorov (d. July 16, 2013), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 83.

1924 ~ Frank W.J. Olver (b. Apr. 23, 2013), English mathematician.  He died at age 88.

1923 ~ Uziel Gal (d. Sept. 7, 2002), Israeli firearms designed and namesake of the Uzi submachine gun.  He died at age 78.

1919 ~ Max Yasgur (d. Feb. 9, 1973), American farmer and owner of the Woodstock festival site.  He died of a heart attack at age 53.

1916 ~ Maurice Wilkins (né Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, d. Oct. 5, 2004), New Zealand-born physicist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 87.

1912 ~ Ray Eames (née Bernice Alexandra Kaiser, d. Aug. 21, 1988), American designer, artist and architect.  She and her husband, Charles (1907 ~ 1978) made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture design.  She died exactly 10 years to the day after her husband’s death.  She was 75 years old at the time of her death.

1902 ~ Robert F. Bradford (d. Mar. 18, 1983), 57^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1947 until January 1949.  He died at age 80.

1896 ~ Betty Smith (née Elizabeth Lillian Wehner, d. Jan. 17, 1972), American author best known for her novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  She died of pneumonia about a month after her 75^th birthday.

1892 ~ J. Paul Getty (né Jean Paul Getty, d. June 6, 1976), American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company.  His name-sake grandson, who had been kidnapped 5 months earlier, was found alive on Getty’s 81^st birthday.  He died at age 83.

1888 ~ Maxwell Anderson (né James Maxwell Anderson, d. Feb. 28, 1959), American playwright.  He died at age 70.

1861 ~ Charles Duryea (d. Sept. 28, 1938), American automobile pioneer.  He died at age 76.

1861 ~ Pehr Evind Svinhufvud (d. Feb. 29, 1944), 3^rd President of Finland.  He served as President from March 1931 until March 1937.  He died at age 82.

1860 ~ Niels Ryberg Finsen (d. Sept. 24, 1904), Danish physician and recipient of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 43.

1859 ~ L.L. Zamenhof (né Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, d. Apr. 14, 1917), Polish Jewish physician, linguist and creator of Esperanto.  He died at age 57.

1852 ~ Henri Becquerel (d. Aug. 25, 1908), French physicist and recipient of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 55.

1832 ~ Gustave Eiffel (né Alexandre Gustave Bönickhausen, d. Dec. 27, 1923), French engineer and architect and designer of the Eiffel Tower.  He died 12 days after his 91^st birthday.

37 ~ Nero (d. June 9, 68), Roman Emperor.  This is the traditional date ascribed to Nero’s birth.  He is said to have died at age 30.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ The United States formally lowered the US Flag over Iraq, thereby ending its participation in the Iraqi war and American armed forces withdrew from Iraq after 9 years.

2001 ~ The Leaning Tower of Pisa opened after 11 years and a $27M restoration.  The Tower retained its lean.

1981 ~ A suicide car bombing in Beirut, Lebanon destroyed the Iraqi embassy, killing over 60 people.  This attack marked the first modern suicide bombing.

1978 ~ President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) announced that the United States would recognize the People’s Republic of China and severe diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

1976 ~ The Liberian-flagged oil tanker MV Argo Merchant ran aground near Nantucket, Massachusetts, causing a massive oil spill.  The tanker had been involved in several other shipping incidents before this event.

1973 ~ John Paul Getty, III (1956 ~ 2011), the grandson of billionaire J. Paul Getty (1892 ~ 1976), was found alive in Naples, Italy.  He had been kidnapped by on July 10, 1973.

1961 ~ Adolph Eichmann (1906 ~ 1962) was sentenced to death after being found guilty on 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and being a member of an outlawed organization.  The trial was held in Jerusalem.

1941 ~ German troops murdered over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar in the Ukraine.

1939 ~ Gone with the Wind made its world premiere at the Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

1933 ~ The 21^st Amendment to the US Constitution officially became effective, repealing prohibition, which was law under the 18^th Amendment.

1914 ~ During World War I, the Serbian Army recaptured Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

1905 ~ The Pushkin House was established in St. Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.

1791 ~ The first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution, better known as the Bill of Rights, became law after they were ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Joan Fontaine (né Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, b. Oct. 22, 1917), English American actress who stayed clear of her sister, Olivia de Havilland.  She died at age 96.

2011 ~ Christopher Hitchens (b. Apr. 13, 1949) British journalist and atheist.  He died of cancer at age 62.

2010 ~ Blake Edwards (né William Blake Crump, b. July 26, 1922), American movie director and husband of Julie Andrews.  He is known for the Pink Panther movies.  He died of pneumonia at age 88.

2009 ~ Oral Roberts (né Granville Oral Roberts, b. Jan. 24, 1918), American televangelist.  He died of pneumonia at age 91.

2005 ~ William Proxmire (né Edward William Proxmire, b. Nov. 11, 1915), American politician.  He was a senator from Wisconsin from August 1957 until January 1989.  He died about a month after his 90^th birthday.

1984 ~ Jan Peerce (né Joshua Pincus Perlemuth, b. June 3, 1904), American tenor.  He died at age 80.

1971 ~ Paul Lévy (b. Sept. 15, 1886), French mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1966 ~ Walt Disney (né Walter Elias Disney, b. Dec. 5, 1901), American movie producer and pioneer in movie animation.  He changed the way the world viewed movies.  He died 10 days after his 65^th birthday.

1962 ~ Charles Laughton (b. July 1, 1899), English actor.  He died at age 63.

1958 ~ Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (b. Apr. 25, 1900), Austrian physicist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 58.

1944 ~ Glenn Miller (né Alton Glenn Miller, b. Mar. 1, 1904), American bandleader, who died in a mysterious plane crash.  He was in a plane flying over the English Channel when his plane went missing.  He died at age 40.

1943 ~ Fats Waller (né Thomas Wright Waller, b. May 21, 1904), American jazz pianist and singer.  He died of pneumonia at age 39.

1890 ~ Sitting Bull (b. 1831), American Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux tribal chief.  He was killed by federal police officers who were called to arrest him after he organized the Ghost Dance, a Native American religious rite.  The US government feared he was organizing a protest against the government.  Both he and his son were killed in the altercation.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 58 or 59 at the time of his death.

1878 ~ Alfred Bird (b. 1811), English chemist and food manufacturer.  He is credited with inventing baking powder.  The exact date if his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been 67 at the time of his death.

1872 ~ Mary Anne Evans Disraeli, 1^st Viscountess Beaconsfield (b. Nov. 11, 1792), Welsh wife of Benjamin Disraeli.  She died about month after her 80^th birthday.

1855 ~ Jacques Charles François Sturm (b. Sept. 29, 1803), French mathematician.  He died at age 52.

1819 ~ Daniel Rutherford (b. Nov. 3, 1749), Scottish physician and chemist.  He is best known for isolating nitrogen.  He died at age 70.

1812 ~ Shneur Zalman (b. Sept. 4, 1745), Lithuanian rabbi and founder of the Chabad movement.  He died at age 67.

1796 ~ Anthony Wayne (b. Jan. 1, 1745), American Revolutionary War general known as Mad Wayne Anthony.  He died 17 days before his 52^nd birthday of complications of gout.

1675 ~ Jan Vermeer (b. Oct. 31, 1632), Dutch/Flemish painter.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on this date.   The date of his death is unknown, but he was buried on December 15, 1675.  He died at age 43.

933 ~ Li Siyaun (b. Oct. 10, 867), Chinese Emperor of the Later Tang dynasty.  He died at age 66.