December 5

Birthdays:

1985 ~ Frankie Muniz (né Francisco Muniz, IV), American actor and race car driver.  He is best known for his role as Malcolm in the television sit-com, Malcolm in the Middle.

1968 ~ Margaret Cho, American comedian.

1945 ~ Moshe Katsav (né Musa Qasab), 8^th President of Israel.  He was President from 2000 to 2007.  He was born in Iran and moved to Israel when his family emigrated in 1951.

1938 ~ J.J. Cale (né John Weldon Cale, d. July 26, 2013), rock musician who wrote Cocaine.  He died at age 74.

1936 ~ James Lee Burke, American writer of detective stories, many of which are set in the Louisiana-Texas Gulf coast.

1935 ~ Calvin Trillin, American journalist.

1934 ~ Joan Didion, American writer.

1932 ~ Sheldon Lee Glashow, American physicist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1932 ~ Little Richard (né Richard Penniman), American singer and pianist.

1917 ~ Stanley Rogers Resor (d. Apr. 17, 2012), 9^th Secretary of the Army.  He served under President Lyndon B. Johnson from July 1965 until June 1971.  He died at age 94.

1916 ~ Hilary Koprowski (d. Apr. 11, 2013), Polish-born virologist and immunologist.  He is credited with creating the Polio vaccine.  He died at age 96.

1905 ~ Otto Preminger (d. Apr. 23, 1986), Ukranian-born film director.  He died at age 80.

1903 ~ C.F. Powell (né Cecil Frank Powell, d. Aug. 9, 1969), English physicist and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 65.

1902 ~ Strom Thurmond (né James Strom Thurmond, d. June 26, 2003), United States senator from South Carolina.  He had also served as the 103^rd Governor of South Carolina.  He died at age 100.

1901 ~ Walt Disney (né Walter Elias Disney, d. Dec. 15, 1966), 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.

1901 ~ Werner Heisenberg (d. Feb. 1, 1976), German physicist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 74.

1897 ~ Gershom Scholem (d. Feb. 21, 1982), German-born Israeli philosopher and historian.  He died at age 84.

1896 ~ Carl Ferdinand Cori (d. Oct. 20, 1984), Czech-born biochemist and pharmacologist.  He was the co-recipient of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with his wife Gerty Cori (1896 ~ 1957) and Bernardo Houssay (1887 ~ 1971).  They had discovered how glycogen was broken down and resynthesized by the body as an energy source.  He died at age 87.

1895 ~ Elbert Frank Cox (d. Nov. 28, 1969), American mathematician.  He was the first black person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics.  He died 8 days before his 74^th birthday.

1894 ~ Philip Wrigley (d. Apr. 12, 1977), American chewing gum manufacturer and baseball executive.  He died at 82.

1890 ~ Fritz Lang (né Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, d. Aug. 2, 1976), Austrian film director, best known for his silent film, Metropolis and M.  He died at age 85.

1886 ~ Rose Wilder Lane (d. Oct. 30, 1968), American journalist and author.  She was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She died at age 81.

1879 ~ Clyde Vernon Cessna (d. Nov. 20, 1954), American aviation designer and founder of the Cessna Aircraft Corporation.  He died 15 days before his 75^th birthday.

1863 ~ Paul Painlevé (d. Oct. 29, 1933), French mathematician and politician.  He was the Prime Minister of France from April 1925 until November 1925.  He died at age 69.

1839 ~ George Armstrong Custer (d. June. 25, 1876), American Army general who lead the fateful charge at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  He died along with two of his brothers, Colonel Thomas Ward Custer (b. 1845) and General Boston Custer (b. 1848), who also died in the Battle of Little Big Horn.  George Custer was 36 years old.  His brother Thomas was 31 and Boston was 27.

1830 ~ Christina Rossetti (d. Dec. 29, 1894), English poet.  She died 24 days after her 64^th birthday.

1822 ~ Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (d. June 27, 1907), American educator and co-founder of Radcliffe College.  She also served as the first president of Radcliff College.  She was married to Louis Agassiz, the Swiss-born geologist and biologist.  She died at age 84.

1782 ~ Martin Van Buren (d. July 24, 1862), 8^th President of the United States.  He was President from March 1837 until March 1841.  He had previously served as the Vice President under President Andrew Jackson.  He served as 8^th Vice President from March 1833 until March 1837.  He died at age 79.

1443 ~ Pope Julius II (né Guiliano della Rovere, d. Feb. 21, 1513).  He was known as the Warrior Pope and ruled from November 1503 until his death 10 years later.  He died at age 69.

1377 ~ Jianwen Emperpr (d. July 13, 1402), 2^nd Emperor of the Ming Empire.  He died at age 24.

852 ~ Zhu Wen (d. July 18, 912), Chinese emperor at the end of the Tang dynasty.  He died at age 59.

Events that Changed the World:

2012 ~ A 5.6 earthquake struck in the South Khorasan Province in Iran.

1983 ~ The military junta in Argentina was dissolved.

1979 ~ Sonia Johnson (b. 1936) was formally excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints for her criticism of the church’s position on the Equal Rights Amendment.

1955 ~ The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO.

1945 ~ Flight 19 was lost in the Bermuda Triangle.  Flight 19 was the designation of 5 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers during a US Navy overwater navigation training flight.  All the airmen on the flight disappeared and their bodies never found.

1936 ~ The Soviet Union adopted a new constitution and the USSR was formally established.

1933 ~ Prohibition in the United States ended after Utah became the 36^th state to ratify the 21^st Amendment to the United States Constitution.  This amendment overturned the 18^th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcohol.

1932 ~ Albert Einstein (1879 ~ 1955) was granted an American visa.

1876 ~ A fire at the Brooklyn Theater in Brooklyn, New York killed over 275 people.

1865 ~ In the Chincha Island War, Peru allied with Chile against Spain.

1848 ~ In a speech before Congress, President James Polk (1795 ~ 1849) confirmed that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.  This was a precursor to the great California Gold Rush of ’49.

1847 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) was elected to the United States Senate.

1831 ~ Former President John Quincy Adams (1767 ~ 1848) took his seat in the House of Representatives.

1776 ~ The Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary.  It was the first American college fraternity.

1766 ~ James Christie (1730 ~ 1803) held his first auction in London, England.

1560 ~ Charles IX (1550 ~ 1574) became king of France.

1492 ~ Christopher Columbus (1451 ~ 1506) is said to have reached land in the New World when his ships landed on the island of Hispaniola, which is now present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

1484 ~ Pope Innocent VIII (1432 ~ 1492) issued a papal bull allowing Heinrich Kramer (1430 ~ 1505) and James Sprenger (d. 1495) as inquisitors to root out witchcraft in Germany.  This lead to one of the most oppressive witch hunts in European history.

771 ~ Charlemagne became the King of the Franks following the death of his brother, Carloman.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Nelson Mandela (b. July 18, 1918), 1^st President of South Africa and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 95.

2012 ~ Dave Brubeck (b. Dec. 6, 1920), American jazz musician.  He died 1 day before his 92^nd birthday.

2010 ~ Don Meredith (né Joseph Don Meredith, b. Apr. 10, 1938), American football quarterback who lit up the broadcast booth.  His nickname was “Dandy Don.”  He died at age 72 of a brain hemorrhage.

2008 ~ Nina Foch (née Nina Consuelo Maud Fock, b. Apr. 20, 1924), Dutch-American actress.  She died at age 84.

1973 ~ Sir Robert Watson-Watt (b. Apr. 13, 1892), Scottish inventor who is credited with creating the Radar.  He died at age 81.

1965 ~ Joseph Erlanger (b. Jan. 5, 1874), American physiologist and recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died a month before his 92^nd birthday.

1951 ~ Shoeless Joe Jackson (né Joseph Jefferson Jackson, b. July 16, 1887), American baseball player associated with the 1919 Black Sox scandal.  He was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.  He died at age 64.

1931 ~ Vachel Lindsay (né Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, b. Nov. 10, 1879), American poet.  He committed suicide 25 days after his 52^nd birthday.

1926 ~ Claude Monet (b. Nov. 14, 1840), French impressionist painter.  He died 3 weeks after his 86^th birthday.

1925 ~ Władysław Reymont (b. May 7, 1867), Polish writer and recipient of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 58.

1899 ~ Sir Henry Tate, 1^st Baronet (b. Mar. 11, 1819), English sugar magnate of Tate & Lyle, the multinational agribusiness.  He is also known for being the founder of the Tate Art Gallery in London, England.  He died at age 80.

1870 ~ Alexandre Dumas the Elder (b. July 24, 1802), French novelist and playwright.  He is best known for his novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.  He died at age 68.

1791 ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. Jan. 27, 1756), Austrian composer.  He died at age 35.

1784 ~ Phillis Wheatley (b. 1753), African-American slave and poet.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 31 at the time of her death.

1770 ~ James Stirling (b. May 1692), Scottish mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 78 at the time of his death.

1560 ~ King Francis II of France (b. Jan. 19, 1544).  He was King from July 1559 until his death 18n months later.  He died at age 16.

334 ~ Li Ban (b. 288), Chinese emperor of the Chang Han.  The date of his birth is not known.