December 28

Birthdays:

1955 ~ Liu Xiaobo, Chinese activist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

1954 ~ Denzel Washington, American actor.

1950 ~ Clifford Cocks, British mathematician.

1946 ~ Edgar Winter, American musician.

1944 ~ Kary Mullis, American chemist and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1934 ~ Dame Maggie Smith (née Margaret Natalie Smith), English actress.

1922 ~ Stan Lee (né Stanley Martin Lieber), American publisher and comic book writer.  He was the president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

1913 ~ Lou Jacobi (né Louis Harold Jacobovitch, d. Oct. 23, 2009), Canadian-born actor who wore his heart on his face.  He died at age 95.

1907 ~ Ze’ev Ben-Haim (d. Aug. 6 2013), Russian-born Israeli linguist.  He was a strong advocate for modernizing the Hebrew language.  He died at age 105.

1903 ~ John von Neumann (d. Feb. 8, 1957), Hungarian-born American mathematician.  He died of cancer at age 53.

1902 ~ Mortimer Jerome Adler (d. June 28, 2001), American philosopher and author.  He died at age 98.

1882 ~ Sir Arthur Eddington (d. Nov. 22, 1944), British physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 61.

1856 ~ Woodrow Wilson (né Thomas Woodrow Wilson, d. Feb. 3, 1924), 28^th President of the United States and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was President from March 1913 until March 1921.  He died at age 67.

1798 ~ Thomas Henderson (d. Nov. 23, 1844), Scottish mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 45.

1789 ~ Thomas Ewing (d. Oct. 26, 1871), 1^st United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore from March 1849 until July 1950.  He had previously served as the 14^th United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 1841 until September 1841 during the administrations of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.  He died at age 81.

1763 ~ John Molson (d. Jan. 11, 1836), English-born Canadian brewer and founder of the Molson Brewing Company.  He died 14 days after his 72^nd birthday.

1722 ~ Eliza Lucas (d. 1793), English-American agriculturalist.  She was born in the British West Indies before moving to what is now South Carolina.  It was in South Carolina where she developed indigo as an important cash crop.  She died of cancer at age 61.  The exact date of her death is not known.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Karimata Strait on a flight from Surabaya to Singapore.  Debris and bodies of some of the 162 passengers and crew were recovered several days later.

2014 ~ Formal cessation of the War in Afghanistan.

2010 ~ Protests associated with the Arab Spring began in Algeria against the government.

2000 ~ The department store, Montgomery Ward, announced that it was going out of business.  The company had been operating for 128 years.

1989 ~ A 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck New South Wales, Australia and killed 13 people.

1973 ~ The US Congress passed the Endangered Species Act.

1912 ~ The first city-owned streetcars began operation in San Francisco, California.

1908 ~ A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Sicily killing over 75,000 people.

1902 ~ In the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden, The Syracuse Athletic Club defeated the New York Philadelphians.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (1845 ~ 1923) published his paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which would later be known as X-rays.

1867 ~ The United States claimed Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside the Continental limits.

1846 ~ Iowa became the 29^th State of the Union.

1832 ~ John C. Calhoun (1782 ~ 1850) became the first Vice President of the United States to resign.  He has served under Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.  He resigned during his tenure in the Jackson administration over a controversy involving Peggy Eaton, wife of Secretary of War, John Eaton.

1612 ~ Galileo Galilei first reported that he had observed what he erroneously described as a fixed star, but was later determined to be the planet Neptune.

1065 ~ Westminster Abbey was consecrated.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Debbie Reynolds (née Mary Frances Reynolds, b. Apr. 1, 1932), American bubbly actress and singer who danced to fame in Singin’ in the Rain.  She died of a broken heart one day after her daughter, Carrie Fischer.  She was 84 years old.

2010 ~ William “Billy” Taylor (b. July 24, 1921), African-American pianist who proclaimed the jazz gospel.  He died at age 89.

2010 ~ Agathe von Trapp (b. Mar. 12, 1913), eldest daughter of the von Trapp family.  She was portrayed as Lisel in the movie, The Sound of Music.  She died at age 97.

2004 ~ Jerry Orbach (né Jerome Bernard Orbach, b. Oct. 20, 1935), American actor.  He died of prostate cancer at age 69.

2004 ~ Susan Sontag (b. Jan. 16, 1933), American author.  She died 19 days before her 72^nd birthday.

2001 ~ William X. Kienzle (b. Sept. 11, 1928), American priest and author of crime novels.  He left the priesthood in 1974.  He died at age 73.

1999 ~ Clayton Moore (b. Sept. 14, 1914), American actor best known for playing the role of the Lone Ranger on the television series of the same name.  He died at age 85.

1986 ~ John D. MacDonald (b. July 24, 1916), American author of thrillers and detective stories.  He died at age 70.

1984 ~ Sam Peckinpah (né David Samuel Peckinpah, b. Feb. 21, 1925), American movie director.  He died at age 59 of heart failure.

1967 ~ Katharine Dexter McCormick (b. Aug. 27, 1875), American biologist and philanthropist.  She was an advocate for women’s reproductive rights.  She funded much of the research for the development of the birth control pill.  She died at age 92.

1961 ~ Edith Bolling Wilson (b. Oct. 15, 1872), First Lady of the United States and second wife of President Woodrow Wilson.  They married while Wilson was President.  She was First Lady from December 1915 until March 1921.  She died on what would have been her husband’s 105^th birthday.  She was 89 at the time of her death.

1952 ~ Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (b. Dec. 24, 1879), Queen Consort to King Christian X.  She died 4 days after her 73^rd birthday.

1945 ~ Theodore Dreiser (né Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser, b. Aug. 27, 1871), American author best known for his novels Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy.  He died at age 74 of heart failure.

1937 ~ Maurice Ravel (né Joseph Maurice Ravel, b. Mar. 7, 1875), French composer.  He is best known writing Boléro.  He died at age 62.

1872 ~ James Van Ness (b. 1808), 7^th Mayor of San Francisco.  He served as Mayor from July 1855 until July 1856.  He was born in Burlington, Vermont.  Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco was named in his honor.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 64 at the time of his death.

1734 ~ Rob Roy MacGregor (b. Mar. 7, 1671), Scottish outlaw who became a folk hero.  He died at age 63.

1694 ~ Queen Mary II of England (b. Apr. 30, 1662).  She died of smallpox at age 32.

1663 ~ Francesco Maria Grimaldi (b. Apr. 2, 1618), Italian mathematician, physicist and priest.  The Grimaldi crater on the moon is named in his honor.  He died at age 45.

1446 ~ Antipope Clement VIII (né Gil Sánchez Muñoz y Carbón, b. 1369).  He was one of the popes of the Avignon line.  The exact date of his birth is not known.