January 16

Birthdays:

1980 ~ Lin-Manuel Miranda, American playwright best known for his production of Hamilton.

1974 ~ Kate Moss, English fashion model.

1959 ~ Sade (née Helen Folasade Adu), Nigerian-born singer.

1950 ~ Debbie Allen (née Deborrah Kay Allen), American choreographer.

1933 ~ Susan Sontag (d. Dec. 28, 2004), American author.  She died 19 days before her 72^nd birthday.

1932 ~ Dian Fossey (d. Dec. 26, 1985), American gorilla specialist.  She was murdered by poachers in Africa.  The exact date of her murder is not known, but it is believed to have been on December 26, 1985.   Her body was found on the morning of December 27.  She died 3 weeks before her 54^th birthday.

1925 ~ J. Robinson Risner (né James Robinson Risner, d. Oct. 22, 2013), American ace pilot who led the Hanoi Hilton POWs during the Vietnam War.  He died at age 88.

1924 ~ Katy Jurado (née Maria Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado Garcia, d. July 5, 2002), Mexican actress.  She made 72 films during her career.  She died of kidney failure and pulmonary disease at age 78.

1921 ~ Francesco Scavullo (d. Jan. 6, 2004), American fashion photographer.  He died 10 days before his 83^rd birthday.

1920 ~ Walter Frederick Morrison (d. Feb. 9, 2010), American Space Age toymaker and inventor who created the Frisbee.  He sold the rights to the Frisbee on his 37^th birthday.  He died 24 days after his 90^th birthday.

1919 ~ Jerome Horwitz (d. Sept. 6, 2012), American scientist who unwittingly created a treatment for AIDS.  He died at age 93.

1911 ~ Eduardo F. Montalva (d. Jan. 22, 1982), President of Chile.  He served as President from November 1964 until November 1970.  He died 6 days after his 71^st birthday.

1910 ~ Dizzy Dean (né Jerome Hanna Dean, d. July 17, 1974), American baseball player.  He died at age 64 of a heart attack.

1908 ~ Ethel Merman (née Ethel Agnes Zimmerman, d. Feb. 15, 1984), American actress and singer.  She died of brain cancer a month after her 76^th birthday.

1907 ~ Paul Henry Nitze (d. Oct. 19, 2004), 10^th United States Secretary of the Navy.  He served under President Lyndon Johnson from November 1963 until June 1967.  He helped shape the Cold War defense policy.  He died at age 94.

1901 ~ Fulgencio Batista (d. Aug. 6, 1973), Cuban military leader and President of Cuba until his ouster.  He died at age 72.

1901 ~ Frank Zamboni (d. July 27, 1988), American inventor of the ice re-surfacer that smoothes the ice for hockey and skating rinks .  The ice resurfacer that clears the ice on skating rinks was named after him.  He died at age 87.

1885 ~ Michel Plancherel (d. Mar. 4, 1967), Swiss mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1853 ~ André Michelin (d. Apr. 4, 1931), French industrialist.  He co-founded, along with his brother, the Michelin Tire Company.  He published the first Michelin Guide, which was designed to promote his tire company.  He died at age 78.

1825 ~ George Pickett (d. July 30, 1875), General in the Confederate Army.  He died at age 50.

1821 ~ John C. Breckinridge (d. May 17, 1874), 14^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President James Buchanan from March 1857 until March 1861.  He was from the State of Kentucky.  He went on to become a general in the Confederate Army.  He was then appointed to serve as the Confederate States Secretary of War.  He died at age 54 following complications of surgery.

1728 ~ Niccolò Piccinni (d. May 7, 1800), Italian composer.  He died at age 72.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observed.

2006 ~ Ellen Sirleaf (b. 1938) became the first female elected head of state in Africa when she was sworn in as the President of Liberia.

2003 ~ The Space Shuttle Columbia took off on its final mission.  It disintegrated upon re-entry 16 days later, on February 1.

1979 ~ Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran (1919 ~ 1980) and his family fled from Iran and relocated in Egypt.

1969 ~ Czech student Jan Palach (1948 ~ 1969) committed self-immolation in Prague in protest against the Soviet’s crushing of the Prague Spring.  He would die of his burns three days later.

1964 ~ Hello, Dolly!, the musical starring Carol Channing (b. 1921), opened on Broadway.  It ran for over 2,800 performances.

1956 ~ President Gamal Nasser of Egypt announced his intention to reconquer Palestine.

1920 ~ The League of Nations held its first council meeting in Paris, France.

1919 ~ The 18^th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, which authorized Prohibition one year after its ratification.

1909 ~ Ernest Shackleton’s expedition located the magnetic South Pole.

1883 ~ The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which established the US Civil Service, was passed by Congress.

1581 ~ The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism.

1547 ~ Ivan IV (1530 ~ 1584), also known as Ivan the Terrible, became Tsar of Russia.

1412 ~ The Medici family was appointed the official banker of the Papacy.

1120 ~ The Council of Nablus was held, which established the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ Eugene Cernan (b. Mar. 14, 1934), American pilot and astronaut who became the last man to walk on the moon.  He died at age 82.

2014 ~ Hiroo Onoda (b. Mar. 19, 1922), Japanese soldier who refused to surrender in 1945 following World War II.  It was not until 1974 that his former commander personally issued orders relieving him from his duties.  He died at age 91.

2013 ~ André Cassagnes (b. Sept. 23, 1926), French toymaker and creator of the Etch-A-Sketch.  He died at age 86.

2013 ~ Abigail Van Buren (née Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips, b. July 4, 1918), American advice columnist known to readers as Dear Abby.  She counseled millions with her advice.  Her identical twin sister, Ann Landers (née Esther “Eppie” Pauline Friedman Lederer, b. July 4, 1918), was also an advice columnist.  Esther Friedman (Ann Landers) died on June 22, 2012, just 12 days before her 84^th birthday.  Pauline Esther Friedman (Dear Abby) died at age 94.

2010 ~ Glen Bell (b. Sept. 3, 1923), American businessman and founder of Taco Bell restaurants.  He died at age 86.

2009 ~ Andrew Wyeth (b. July 12, 1917), American artist who painted the American psyche.  He died at age 91.

1986 ~ Herbert W. Armstrong (b. July 31, 1892), American evangelist.  He was an early pioneer in radio and televanglism.  He died at age 93.

1974 ~ Frederick “Fred” Andrew Seaton (b. Dec. 11, 1909), 36^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  He served in this office from June 1956 until January 1961.  He died just over a month after his 64^th birthday.

1967 ~ Robert J. Van de Graaff (b. Dec. 20, 1901), American physicist and inventor of the Van de Graaff generator.  He died 27 days after his 65^th birthday.

1957 ~ Arturo Toscanini (b. Mar. 25, 1867), Italian composer.  He died at age 89.

1942 ~ Carole Lombard (née Jane Alice Peters, b. Oct. 6, 1908), American actress who was killed when the plane in which she was a passenger crashed.  She was married to Clark Gable.  She was 33 at the time of her death.

1935 ~ Ma Barker (née Kate Clark aka Arizona Donnie Clark, b. Oct. 8, 1873), mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang, including her son, Fred Barker (1901 ~ 1935), who was killed along with her in a shoot-out with the FBI.

1917 ~ George Dewey (b. Dec. 26, 1837), American naval officer who became known as the hero of Manila during the Spanish-American War in 1898.  He was born in Montpelier, Vermont.  He died 3 weeks after his 79^th birthday.

1906 ~ Marshall Field (b. Aug. 18, 1834), American merchant and founder of Marshall Field’s and Company, a famous department store in Chicago.  He died at age 71 from pneumonia.

1834 ~ Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette (b. May 6, 1769), French mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1817 ~ Alexander J. Dallas (b. June 21, 1759), 6^th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President James Madison.  He served in this Office from October 1814 through October 1816.  He died at age 57.

1794 ~ Edward Gibbon (b. May 8, 1737), English historian best known for his six-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  He died at age 56.

1598 ~ Feodor I of Russia (b. May 31, 1557).  He is believed to have been about 40 years old at the time of his death as the exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is often considered to have been May 31, 1557.

1387 ~ Elizabeth of Bosnia (b. 1339).  She was the Queen consort of Hungary and Croatia.  The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she is believed to have been about 47 at the time of her death.  She was murdered during an uprising.