December 9

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Raphaël Rouquier, French mathematician.

1967 ~ Joshua Bell, American violinist and conductor.

1963 ~ Masako (née Masako Owada), Crown Princess of Japan.

1953 ~ John Malkovich, American actor.

1950 ~ Joan Armatrading, St. Kitt-born English musician.

1845 ~ Michael Nouri, American actor.

1943 ~ Joanna Trollope, British author.

1942 ~ Joe McGinniss (d. Mar. 10, 2014), American author and journalist.  He died at age 71 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

1941 ~ Beau Bridges, American actor.

1937 ~ Beatrice Small (d. Feb. 24, 2015), American novelist who sexed up romantic fiction.  She died at age 77.

1934 ~ Dame Judi Dench, English actress.

1933 ~ Milt Campbell (né Milton Gray Campbell, b. Nov. 2, 2012), African-American superb athlete who won the 1952 Olympic decathlon.  He died about a month before his 79^th birthday.

1932 ~ Donald Byrd (né Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd, d. Feb. 4, 2013), African-American jazz trumpeter who moved from hard bop to funk.  He died at age 80.

1930 ~ Buck Henry (né Henry Zuckerman), American comedic actor.

1929 ~ John Cassavetes (d. Feb. 3, 1989), American actor and film director.  He died of liver disease at age 59.

1928 ~ Dick Van Patten (né Richard Vincent Van Patten, d. June 23, 2015), American actor.  He died at age 86.

1927 ~ Pierre Henry (d. July 5, 2017), French composer who pioneered electronic music.  He died at age 89.

1926 ~ Henry Way Kendall (d. Feb. 15, 1999), American physicist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 72.

1923 ~ Kate Swift (d. May 7, 2011), American feminist author who skewered sexist language.  She died at age 87.

1922 ~ Redd Foxx (né John Elroy Sanford, d. Oct. 11, 1991), African-American actor.  He died at age 68.

1919 ~ Roy DeCarava (d. Oct. 27, 2009), African-American photographer who chronicled black lives.  He died at age 89.

1919 ~ William Lipscomb (d. Apr. 14, 2011), American chemist and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 91.

1917 ~ James Rainwater (d. May 31, 1986), American physicist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was 68 years old.

1916 ~ Kirk Douglas, American actor.

1912 ~ Tip P’Neill (né Thomas Philip O’Neill, d. Jan. 5, 1994), American politician from Massachusetts and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died 27 days after his 81^st birthday.

1911 ~ Broderick Crawford (d. Apr. 26, 1986), American actor.  He died at age 74.

1909 ~ Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (d. May 7, 2000), American actor.  He died at age 90.

1906 ~ Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (d. Jan. 1, 1992), Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and computer scientist pioneer.  She was the computer scientist who designed COBOL.  In November 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  She died 23 days after her 85^th birthday.

1905 ~ Dalton Trumbo (né James Dalton Trumbo, d. Sept. 10, 1976), American screenwriter and novelist.  His life story was in the 2015 film, Trumbo, which starred Bryan Cranston.  He died at age 70.

1902 ~ Margaret Hamilton (d. May 16, 1985), American actress best known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.  She died of a heart attack at age 82.

1898 ~ Emmett Kelly (d. Mar. 28, 1979), American clown.  He died at age 80.

1886 ~ Clarence Birdseye (d. Oct. 7, 1956), American businessman who perfected the technique of freezing foods.  He later founded the Birds Eye Company.  He died at age 69.

1883 ~ Nikolai Luzin (d. Jan. 28, 1950), Russian mathematician. He died at age 66.

1870 ~ Dr. Ida Scudder (d. May 23, 1960), American missionary and physician in India.  She died at age 89.

1868 ~ Fritz Haber (d. Jan. 29, 1934), German chemist and recipient of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He is considered the Father of Chemical Warfare.  He died at age 65.

1848 ~ Joel Chandler Harris (d. July 3, 1908), American writer.  He is best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories.  He died at age 59.

1779 ~ Tabitha Babbitt (d. Dec. 10, 1853), American tool maker and inventor.  She was credited with inventing the circular saw.  She was a member of the Harvard Shaker Community.  Because she was a Shaker, she never patented any of her inventions.  The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she is believed to have been 73 or 74 at the time of her death.

1667 ~ William Whiston (d. Aug. 22, 1752), English mathematician and theologian.  He died at age 84.

1608 ~ John Milton (d. Nov. 8, 1674), English poet.  He is best known for his work Paradise Lost.  He died a month before his 66^th birthday.

1594 ~ King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. Nov. 6, 1632).  He was King of Sweden from October 1611 until his death 21 years later.  He was killed in the Battle of Lützen about a month before his 38^th birthday.

1571 ~ Metius (né Adriaan Adriaanszoon, d. Sept. 6, 1635), Dutch mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 63.

1508 ~ Gemma Frisius (d. May 25, 1555), Dutch physician, cartographer and mathematician.  He died at age 47.

Events that Changed the World:

2008 ~ Rod Blagojevich (b. 1956), the Governor of Illinois, was arrested for a number of crimes, including the attempt to sell the United States Senate seat that was vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.  He was later found guilty and sentenced to prison.  His arrest came 1 day before his 52^nd birthday.

2000 ~ The Supreme Court of the United States stayed the sixth Florida presidential recount in the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

1987 ~ The First Intifada began in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

1979 ~ The smallpox virus was officially certified as eradicated.

1965 ~ A Charlie Brown Christmas was first broadcast.  It was the first Peanuts special to be aired on television.

1962 ~ Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park was established.

1961 ~ Nazi Adolf Eichmann was found guilty on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and of being a member of an outlawed organization.

1958 ~ The John Birch Society was founded in the United States.

1953 ~ General Electric announced that all communist employees would be relieved from their employment during the Red Scare.

1950 ~ Harry Gold (1910 ~ 1972) was sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs (1911 ~ 1988) pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union.  Testimony in his trial was instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1918 ~ 1953 and 1915 ~ 1953, respectively).

1946 ~ The Doctors’ Trials portion of the Nuremberg Trials began in which doctors who were alleged to have been involved in experimentation with humans and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia, were prosecuted.

1935 ~ The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in football was first awarded.  This was later renamed the Heisman Trophy.  The recipient of the award was John Jacob “Jay” Berwanger (1914 ~ 2002), a student at the University of Chicago.

1917 ~ Field Marshal Edmund Allenby (1861 ~ 1936) captured Jerusalem during World War I.

1911 ~ A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee killed 84 miners.

1905 ~ France passed a law separating church and state.

1875 ~ The Massachusetts Rifle Association was founded.  It bills itself as America’s Oldest Active Gun Club.

1872 ~ P.B.S. Pinchback (né Pinckney Benton Stewart, 1837 ~ 1921), became the first African-American governor of a State in the United States, when he became governor of Louisiana.  He served for only 35 days, until January 13, 1873.

1793 ~ Noah Webster (1758 ~ 1843) began publishing the American Minerva, New York City’s first daily newspaper.

1775 ~ The Continental Army defeated the British in Battle of Great Bridge, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War.

1531 ~ The Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan Diego (1474 ~ 1548) in Mexico City.  Juan Deigo was the first Roman Catholic indigenous saint from the Americas.  He is said to have seen the Virgin Mary on four separate occasions in 1531.

730 ~ In the Battle of Marj Ardabil, the Khazars conquered the Umayyad army and killed al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah al-Hakami, its commander.

Good-Byes:

2010 ~ Dov Shilansky (b. Mar. 21, 1924), Israeli politician.  He died at age 86.

2003 ~ Paul Simon (b. Nov. 29, 1928), American politician and United States Senator from Illinois.  He died 10 days after his 75^th birthday.

1996 ~ Mary Leakey (b. Feb. 6, 1913), English archeologist and anthropologist.  She died at age 83.

1996 ~ Alain Poher (b. Apr. 17, 1909), President of France.  He died at age 87.

1991 ~ Berenice Abbott (née Bernice Abbott, b. July 17, 1898), American photographer.  She died at age 93 in Monson, Maine.

1982 ~ Leon Jaworski (b. Sept. 19, 1905), American attorney and Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal.  He died at age 77.

1979 ~ Fulton J. Sheen (né John Peter Sheen, b. May 8, 1895), American bishop in the Catholic Church and televangelist.  He died at age 84.

1972 ~ Louella Parsons (née Louella Rose Oettinger, b. Aug. 6, 1881), American screenwriter and gossip columnist.  She died at age 91.

1971 ~ Ralph Bunche (b. Aug. 7, 1904), African-American statesman, civil rights activist and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was the first African-American to be awarded the Peace Prize.  It was for his role in the mediation in Israel during the late 1040s.  He died at age 68.

1965 ~ Branch Rickey (né Wesley Branch Rickey, b. Dec. 20, 1884), American baseball executive.  He died 11 days before his 84^th birthday.

1964 ~ Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (b. Sept. 7, 1887), British poet and critic.  She died at age 77.

1937 ~ Nils Gustaf Dalén (b. Nov. 30, 1869), Swedish physicist and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died 9 days after his 68^th birthday.

1935 ~ Walter Liggett (b. Feb. 14, 1886), American newspaper editor who was murdered in a gangland shooting.  He was 49 years old.

1924 ~ Mahlon Pitney (b. Feb. 5, 1858), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President William Taft.  He served on the Court from March 1912 through December 1922.  He was born in Morristown, New Jersey.  He died at age 66, two years after his retirement from the Court.

1874 ~ Ezra Cornell (b. Jan. 11, 1807), American businessman and founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.  He died about a month before his 68^th birthday.

1814 ~ Joseph Bramah (b. Apr. 13, 1748), English inventor who invented the Hydraulic press.  He died at age 66.

1669 ~ Pope Clement IX (né Giulio Pospigliosi, b. Jan. 28, 1600).  He was Pope from June 1667 until his death on this date 2 years later.  He died at age 69.

1641 ~ Anthony van Dyck (b. Mar. 22, 1599), Flemish painter.  He died at age 42.

1565 ~ Pope Pius IV (né Giovanni Angelo Medici, b. Mar. 31, 1499).  He was Pope from 1559 until his death 6 years later.  He was 66 years old.

1437 ~ Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (b. Feb. 15, 1368).  He died at age 69.

1165 ~ King Malcolm IV of Scotland (b. Apr. 23, 1141).  He died at age 24.

1048 ~ Al-Biruni (b. Sept. 4, 973), Persian mathematician.  He died at age 75.