December 20

Birthdays:

1954 ~ Fokko du Cloux (d. Nov. 10, 2006), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 51 from ALS.

1950 ~ Geoffrey Grimmett, British mathematician.

1946 ~ John Spencer (né John Speshock, Jr., d. Dec. 16, 2005), American actor.  He died of a heart attack 4 days before his 59^th birthday.

1946 ~ Uri Geller, Israeli mentalist and magician.

1946 ~ Dick Wolf, American television series creator.  He created such shows as the Law and Order franchise.

1931 ~ Yossef Gutfreund (d. Sept. 6, 1972), Israeli wrestling judge.  He was murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  He died at age 40.

1926 ~ David Levine (d. Dec. 29, 2009), American caricaturist who skewered his subjects.  He died 9 days after his 83^rd birthday.

1911 ~ Hortense Calisher (d. Jan. 13, 2009), American author best known for her book, Sunday Jews.  She was the second woman president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  She died 24 days after her 97^th birthday.

1901 ~ Robert J. Van de Graaff (d. Jan. 16, 1967), American physicist and inventor of the Van de Graaff generator.  He died 27 days after his 65^th birthday.

1898 ~ Irene Dunne (née Irene Marie Dunn, d. Sept. 4, 1990), American actress.  She died at age 91.

1894 ~ Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (d. May 15, 1978), Prime Minister of Australia.  He served for 2 for two terms from 1939 to 1941 and 1949 to 1966.  He died at age 83.

1890 ~ Jaroslav Heyrovský (d. Mar. 27, 1967), Czech chemist and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 76.

1888 ~ Yitzhak Baer (d. Jan. 22, 1980), German-Israeli historian.  He died a month after his 91^st birthday.

1881 ~ Branch Rickey (né Wesley Branch Rickey, d. Dec. 9, 1965), American baseball executive.  He died 11 days before his 84^th birthday.

1868 ~ Harvey Firestone (d. Feb. 7, 1938), American automobile pioneer and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.  He died at age 69.

1841 ~ Ferdinand Buisson (d. Feb. 16, 1932), French pacifist and recipient of the 1927 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 90.

1833 ~ Dr. Samuel Mudd (d. Jan. 10, 1883), American physician, who was convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  He died of pneumonia 21 days after his 49^th birthday.

1813 ~ Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (d. Sept. 1, 1894), 14^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur from March 1881 until April 1882.  He died at age 80.

1537 ~ King John III of Sweden (d. Nov. 17, 1592).  He died at age 54.

1494 ~ Oronce Finé (b. Aug. 8, 1555), French mathematician.  He died at age 60.

Events that Changed the World:

2007 ~ Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926) became the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901), who lived to be 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

1999 ~ Portugal turned over governance of Macau to China.

1995 ~ NATO began peacekeeping in Bosnia.

1989 ~ The United States sent troops into Panama to overthrow the government of Manuel Noriega (1934 ~ 2017).  It also marked the first combat usage of the Stealth aircraft.

1971 ~ Doctors Without Borders, an international aid organization, was founded in Paris, France.

1957 ~ The Boeing 707 made its maiden flight, becoming the first jet-powered aircraft.

1951 ~ The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho became the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity.  The electricity generated was enough to power four light bulbs.

1946 ~ It’s a Wonderful Life was first shown in New York City.

1915 ~ The last Australian troops were evacuated from Gallipoli during World War I.

1860 ~ South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union prior to the American Civil War.

1803 ~ The Louisiana Purchase was completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1606 ~ The Virginia Company loaded three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia.  This was to be the first permanent English settlement in the “New World.”

1192 ~ King Richard I of England (1157 ~ 1199) was captured and imprisoned by Leopold V, Duke of Austria (1157 ~ 1194) on his way home from the Third Crusade.  King Richard was returning to England after signing a treaty with Saladin (1137 ~ 1193) ending the Third Crusade.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Robert Clayton “Bob” Lanier (b. Mar. 10, 1925), American politician and 58^th Mayor of Houston, Texas.  He was Mayor from January 1992 until January 1998.  He died at age 89.

2005 ~ Raoul Bott (b. Sept. 24, 1923), Hungarian-born American mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1998 ~ Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (b. Feb. 5, 1914), British biophysicist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 84.

1996 ~ Carl Sagan (b. Nov. 9, 1934), American astronomer and writer.  He died at of cancer age 62.

1994 ~ Dean Rusk (b. Feb. 9, 1909), 54^th Secretary of State.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from January 1961 until January 1969.  He died at age 85.

1988 ~ Max Robinson (né Maxie Cleveland Robinson, Jr., b. May 1, 1939), African-American journalist.  He died at age 49.

1982 ~ Arthur Rubinstein (b. Jan. 28, 1887), Polish-born American pianist.  He died at age 95.

1976 ~ Richard Daley (b. May 15, 1902), 48^th Mayor of Chicago and undisputed and Democratic boss of the city of Chicago.  He died of a heart attack at age 74.

1973 ~ Bobby Darin (né Walden Robert Cassotto, b. May 14, 1936), American singer-songwriter.  He died following heart surgery at age 37.

1971 ~ Roy O. Disney (b. June 24, 1893), American businessman.  Together with his brother, Walt Disney, they created the Walt Disney Company.  He died of a brain seizure at age 78.

1968 ~ John Steinbeck (b. Feb. 27, 1902), American novelist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died of heart disease at age 66.

1968 ~ Max Brod (b. May 27, 1884), Czech writer, composer and journalist.  He was a friend of Franz Kafka and is largely responsible for preserving much of Kafka’s writings.  He died at age 84.

1962 ~ Emil Artin (b. Mar. 3, 1898), German mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1961 ~ Moss Hart (b. Oct. 24, 1904), American playwright.  He died of a heart attack at age 57.

1954 ~ James Hilton (b. Sept. 9, 1900), English novelist best known for his novels, Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.  He died of liver cancer at age 54.

1929 ~ Émile Loubet (b. Dec. 30, 1838), President of France.  He served as President from February 1899 until February 1906.  He died 10 days before his 91^st birthday.

1921 ~ Julius Richard Petri (b. May 31, 1852), German microbiologist and inventor of the Petri dish.  He died at age 69.

1812 ~ Sacagawea (b. May 1788), Native American guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition across the American Northwest.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

1722 ~ Kangxi Emperor of China (b. May 4, 1654), Fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty.  He was born in Beijing.  He died at age 68.

1552 ~ Katharina von Bora (b. Jan. 29, 1499), former nun and wife of Martin Luther.  She died at age 53.

217 ~ Pope Zephyrinus.  He was Pope from 199 until his death on this date 18 years later.  The date of his birth is not known.