December 16

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Adam Riess, American astrophysicist and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1963 ~ Benjamin Bratt, American actor.

1955 ~ Carol Browner, 8^th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.  She served under President Bill Clinton from January 2009 until March 2011.

1943 ~ Steven Bochco, American television producer.

1941 ~ Lesley Stahl, American journalist.

1938 ~ Frank Deford (né Benjamin Franklin Deford, III, d. May 28, 2017), American sports journalist and radio commentator.  He died at age 78.

1938 ~ Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress.

1936 ~ Morris Dees, American activist and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

1928 ~ Philip K. Dick (d. Mar. 2, 1982), American author.  He died of a stroke at age 53.

1917 ~ Sir Arthur C. Clarke (d. Mar. 19, 2008), British science fiction writer.  He is best known for being a co-writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  He died at age 90.

1905 ~ Piet Hein (d. Apr. 17, 1996), Danish mathematician.  He died at age 90.

1901 ~ Margaret Mead (d. Nov. 15, 1978), American anthropologist.  She died a month before her 77^th birthday.

1900 ~ Sir V.S. Pritchett (né Victor Sawson Prichett, d. Mar. 20, 1997), British writer and critic.  He died of a stroke at age 96.

1899 ~ Sir Noël Coward (d. Mar. 26, 1973), English composer and playwright.  He died at age 73.

1866 ~ Wassily Kandinsky (d. Dec. 13, 1944), Russian-born French painter and artist who is credited as being the Father of Abstract Painting.  He died three days before his 78^th birthday.

1863 ~ George Santayana (né Jorge Agustín Nicholás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, d. Sept. 26, 1863), Spanish-American author and philosopher.  He died at age 88.

1804 ~ Viktor Bunyakovsky (d. Dec. 12, 1889), Russian mathematician.  He died 4 days before his 86^th birthday.

1790 ~ King Leopold I of Belgium (d. Dec. 10, 1865).  He died 6 days before his 75^th birthday.

1775 ~ Jane Austen (d. July 18, 1817), English novelist.  She died at age 41.

1770 ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (d. Mar. 26, 1827), German composer.  His actual date of birth is unknown, however he was baptized on December 17, 1770.  In his later years he became deaf, yet continued to compose music.  His famous Ninth Symphony was written when he was completely deaf.  He died at age 56.

1717 ~ Elizabeth Carter (d. Feb. 19, 1806), English poet.  She died at age 88.

1534 ~ Hans Bol (d. Nov. 20, 1593), Flemish artist.  He died 26 days before his 48^th birthday.

1485 ~ Catherine of Aragon (d. Jan. 7, 1536), first wife of Henry VIII of England.  Henry’s attempt to have their marriage annulled ultimately led to England’s split from the Catholic Church.  Henry defied the Pope and declared supremacy over religious matters, thereby allowing him to terminate his marriage to Catherine.  She died 3 weeks after her 50^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Chanukah began at sundown.

2012 ~ A brutal gang rape of a young medical student on a bus in Delhi, India resulted in world-wide outrage.  The young woman subsequently died within two weeks after the attack from massive injuries.

2003 ~ President George W. Bush signed the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into law.  The law established the first national standards for sending commercial e-mail and granted the Federal Trade Commission the authority to enforce its provisions.

1991 ~ Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1971 ~ The 8 minute version of Don McLean’s American Pie was first released.

1968 ~ During the Second Vatican Council, the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain was officially revoked.

1960 ~ A midair collision between a United Airline plane and a TWA plane near New York’s Idlewild Airport killed over 130 people.  The crash occurred during a blinding snowstorm.

1944 ~ The Battle of the Bulge began with a surprise offense of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.

1942 ~ Nazi officer Heinrich Himmler (1900 ~ 1945) ordered gypsies and Roma sent to Auschwitz.

1937 ~ Convicted bank robbers Theodore Cole (1913 ~ 1937) and Ralph Roe (1906 ~ 1937) attempted an escape from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island.  Both are presumed to have died in the attempt, although their bodies were never recovered.

1920 ~ An 8.5 earthquake, known as the Haiyuan earthquake in Gansu province in China struck killing over 200,000 people.

1913 ~ Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone.  He earned $150 per week.

1912 ~ The first US postage stamp bearing a picture of an airplane was issued.  The stamp was for parcel post and cost 20 cents.

1811 ~ The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes hit the area near New Madrid, Missouri.

1773 ~ The Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped crates of British tea into Boston Harbor as a protest against the Tea Act, in what became known at the Boston Tea Party.

1707 ~ The volcanic Mount Fuji in Japan erupted.  It has not erupted since this date.

1689 ~ The English Parliament adopted the Bill of Rights after the Glorious Revolution

1653 ~ Oliver Cromwell (1599 ~ 1658) became the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1631 ~ Mt. Vesuvius in Italy erupted, destroying 6 villages and killing over 4,000 people.

1575 ~ Valdivia, Chile was struck by a massive earthquake.

1497 ~ Vasco de Gama (d. 1524) rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

1431 ~ Henry VI of England (1421 ~ 1471) was crowned King of France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Good-byes:

2014 ~ Timothy Cochran (b. Apr. 7, 1955), American mathematician.  He died suddenly at age 59.

2009 ~ Roy E. Disney (b. Jan. 10, 1930), American businessman and nephew of Walt and Lillian Disney.  He died less than a month before his 80^th birthday.

2005 ~ John Spencer (né John Speshock, Jr., b. Dec. 20, 1946), American actor.  He died of a heart attack 4 days before his 59^th birthday.

1997 ~ Lillian Disney (b. Feb. 15, 1899), wife of Walt Disney.  She died at age 98.

1980 ~ Colonel Harland David Sanders (b. Sept. 9, 1890), American businessman, fast-food entrepreneur, and founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, later renamed KFC.  He died at age 90.

1965 ~ W. Somerset Maugham (né William Somerset Maugham, b. Jan. 25, 1874), English writer.  He died at age 91.

1951 ~ Dorothy Dix (né Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, b. Nov. 18, 1861), American journalist.  She died a month after her 90^th birthday.

1945 ~ Giovanni Agnelli (b. Aug. 13, 1866), Italian businessman and founder of Fiat S.p.A.  He died at age 79.

1928 ~ Elinor Wylie (b. Sept. 7, 1885), American author and poet.  She died of a stroke at age 43.

1922 ~ Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (b. Jan. 7, 1958), a Jewish lexicographer who was the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern era.  He died 3 weeks before his 65^th birthday.

1921 ~ Camille Saint-Saëns (né Charles-Camille Saint- Saëns, b. Oct. 9, 1835), French composer.  He died of a heart attack at age 86.

1863 ~ John Buford (b. Mar. 4, 1826), American Union general who served the United States in the American Civil War.  He died of illness at age 37.

1859 ~ Wilhelm Grimm (b. Feb. 24, 1786), German writer and folklorist who, along with his brother, Jacob (1785 ~ 1863), collected folk and fairy tales.  He died at age 73.

1783 ~ Arima Yoriyuki (b. Dec. 31, 1714), Japanese mathematician.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.

1474 ~ Ali Quishji (né Ali al-Din Ali ibn Muhammed, b. 1403), Uzbek astronomer and mathematician.  The date of his birth is not known.

1263 ~ King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204).  He died at age 59.  The date of his death is not known.

882 ~ Pope John VIII.  He was Pope from December 872 until his death on December 16, 882.  The date of his birth is not known

705 ~ Wu Zetian (b. 624), Empress of the Zhou Dynasty in China.  The date of her birth is not known.

604 ~ Houzhu (b. Dec. 9, 553), last Chinese emperor of the Chen dynasty.  He died 6 days after his 51^st birthday.