Thursday, February 22, 2018

February 22

Birthdays:

1975 ~ Drew Barrymore, American actress.

1970 ~ Ravi Vakil, Canadian mathematician.

1962 ~ Steve Irwin (d. Sept. 4, 2006), Australian naturalist and television personality.  He was nicknamed The Crocodile Hunter.  He died at age 44 after being stung by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary.

1959 ~ Kyle MacLachlan, American actor best known for his role as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks.

1955 ~ David M. Axelrod, American political consultant.

1950 ~ Julius Winfield Erving, III, American basketball player.  He was known as Dr. J.

1950 ~ Julie Walters, British actress.

1944 ~ Robert Kardashian (d. Sept. 30, 2003), Armenian-American lawyer, best known for being on the defense team during the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial.  He died at age 59 of esophageal cancer.

1944 ~ Jonathan Demme (né Robert Jonathan Demme, d. Apr. 26, 2017), American director who made The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won an Academy War.  He died of complications from esophageal cancer and heart disease.  He was 73 years old.

1936 ~ J. Michael Bishop (né John Michael Bishop), American biologist and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize on Physiology or Medicine.

1934 ~ Sparky Anderson (né George Lee Anderson, d. Nov. 4, 2010), American baseball player and manager.  He died at age 76.

1932 ~ Edward M. Kennedy (d. Aug. 25, 2009), American liberal icon who was known as the “Lion of the Senate.”  He died of a brain tumor at age 77.

1930 ~ Marni Nixon (née Margaret Nixon McEathron, d. July 24, 2016), American actress and singer.  She is best known for being the voice that was dubbed in such movies as The King and I and My Fair Lady.  She died at age 86.

1925 ~ Edward Gorey (d. Apr. 15, 2000), American illustrator.  He was 75 years old.

1924 ~ Vincent Marotta, Sr., (d. Aug. 1, 2015), American businessman who revolutionized coffee-making.  He invented the Mr. Coffee.  He was 91 years old.

1918 ~ Robert Pershing Wadlow (d. July 15, 1940), the world’s tallest-ever recorded human.  He was 8 ft, 11 in. tall.  He died at age 22.

1918 ~ Don Pardo (né Dominick George Pardo, d. Aug. 18, 2014), American radio and television announcer who became one of televisions most recognizable voices.  His career spanned over 70 years.  He died at age 96.

1914 ~ Renato Dulbecco (d. Feb. 19, 2012), Italian virologist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 3 days before his 98th birthday.

1903 ~ Frank Plumpton Ramsey (d. Jan. 19, 1930), British mathematician.  He died of liver disease about a month before his 27th birthday.

1901 ~ Charles Evans Whittaker (d. Nov. 26, 1973), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Dwight Eisenhower.  He served on the Court from March 1957 until March 1962.  He died of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at age 73.

1900 ~ Luis Buñuel (d. July 29, 1983), Spanish film director.  He died at age 83.

1892 ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay (d. Oct. 19, 1950), American poet.  She was born in Rockland, Maine.  She died at 58 after suffering injuries from falling down a flight of stairs.

1889 ~ Lady Olave Baden-Powell (d. June 25, 1977), English founder of the Girl Guides, forerunner of the Girl Scouts.  She was the wife of Lord Robert Baden-Powell and was born on his 32nd birthday.  She died at age 88.

1888 ~ Owen Brewster (né Ralph Owen Brewster, d. Dec. 25, 1961), 54th Governor of Maine.  He served as governor from 1925 to 1929.  He died at age 73.

1881 ~ Joseph Buell Ely (d. June 13, 1956), Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1931 until January 1935.  He died at age 75.

1857 ~ Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (d. Jan. 1, 1894), German physicist.  He proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.  The unit of frequency (cycle per second), known as the Hertz, was named in his honor.  He died of an illness at age 36.

1857 ~ Lord Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (né Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, d. Jan. 8, 1941), British soldier, author and founder of the Boy Scouts.  He was married to Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, who was born on his 32nd birthday.  He died at age 83 in Kenya.

1849 ~ Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin (d. Feb. 27, 1915), Russian mathematician.  He died 5 days after his 66th birthday.

1824 ~ Pierre Jules César Janssen (d. Dec. 23, 1907), French mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 83.

1817 ~ Carl Wilhelm Borchardt (d. June 27, 1880), German mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1796 ~ Adolphe Quetelet (d. Feb. 17, 1874), Belgian mathematician and astronomer.  He died 5 days before his 78th birthday.

1778 ~ Rembrandt Peale (d. Oct. 3, 1860), American artist.  He died at age 82.

1732 ~ George Washington (d. Dec. 14, 1799), American general during the American Revolutionary War and 1st President of the United States.  He died at age 67.

1403 ~ King Charles VII of France (d. July 22, 1461).  He died at age 58.

1302 ~ Gegeen Khan (d. Sept. 4, 1323), Chinese Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty and 9th Khan of the Mongol Empire.  He died at age 21.

1040 ~ Rashi (né Shlomo Yitzchaki, d. July 13, 1105), medieval French rabbi Talmudic Scholar.  He was the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.  He is generally called Rashi because that is the Hebrew acronym of RAbbi Shlomo Itzhaki.  He died at age 65.

272 ~ Constantine the Great (d. May 22, 337), Roman emperor.  Tradition holds that he was born on February 27.  He is believed to have died at age 65.

Events that Changed the World:

2012 ~ A train crash in Buenos Aries, Argentina killed 51 people and injured 700 others.

2011 ~ A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand causing massive damage and killing 185 people.

2006 ~ At least six men were involved in Britain’s biggest robberies when approximately $92.5M was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

2005 ~ A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck in Iran, killing over 600 people and injuring nearly 1,500 others.

1997 ~ Scientist in Roslin, Scotland announced that they had successfully cloned a sheep, which they named Dolly.  Dolly had been born in July 1996 and died in February 2003.

1994 ~ Former CIA officer Aldrich Ames (b. 1941) was charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.  He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

1980 ~ The United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3 during the Olympic games in Lake Placid, New York.  The winning game was called the Miracle on Ice.

1974 ~ An assassination attempt was made on President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) by Samuel Byck (1930 ~ 1974).  He attempted to hijack an airplane to crash into the White House with the hopes of killing the President.  He was ultimately caught in a stand-off with police and committed suicide.

1959 ~ Lee Petty (1914 ~ 2000) won the first Daytona 500.  He was the father of racer Richard Petty (b. 1937).

1958 ~ Egypt and Syria joined to form the United Arab Republic.

1924 ~ President Calvin Coolidge (1872 ~ 1933) gave the first radio broadcast from the White House.  It is ironic since Coolidge had a reputation for not speaking more than he had to.

1879 ~ Frank Woolworth (1852 ~ 1919) opened his first Five and Dime Woolworth store in Utica, New York.

1862 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) was officially inaugurated for a six-year term as President of the Confederate States of America.  He had previously been inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861, nearly a year earlier.

1856 ~ The United States Republican Party opened its first national convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1855 ~ Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania.

1853 ~ Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri was founded as Eliot Seminary.

1847 ~ During the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War, 5,000 American troops defeated 15,000 Mexican soldiers.

1819 ~ The United States purchased Florida from Spain for $5M.

1632 ~ Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was first published.

1371 ~ Robert II (1316 ~ 1390) became King of Scotland, thereby beginning the Stuart dynasty.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox (b. Nov. 29, 1928), American Miss America who defied convention.  She became the 1951 Miss America.  She was born in Mobile, Alabama.  Following her year as Miss America, she became a social activist.  She died of lung cancer at age 87.

2013 ~ Wolfgang Sawallisch (b. Aug. 26, 1923), old-school German conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He died at age 89.

2007 ~ Dennis Johnson (b. Sept. 18, 1954), American basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

2002 ~ Chuck Jones (né Charles Martin Jones, b. Sept. 21, 1912), American animator best known for his work with Warner Brothers on such cartoons as Loony Toons.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 89.

1998 ~ Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (b. Apr. 9, 1910), 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.  He served during the Kennedy administration from January 1961 until July 1962.  He had previously served as the 80th Governor of Connecticut, from January 1955 until January 1961.  He died at age 87.

1987 ~ Andy Warhol (né Andrew Warhola, b. Aug. 6, 1928), American pop artist.  He died at age 58 following complications of gall bladder surgery.

1985 ~ Efrem Zimbalist (b. Apr. 21, 1889), Russian-American violinist, composer and conductor.  He died at age 95.

1978 ~ Phyllis McGinley (b. Mar. 21, 1905), American author and poet.  She wrote many children’s books.  She died a month before her 73rd birthday.

1976 ~ Florence Ballard (b. June 30, 1943), American singer and member of The Supremes.  She died of a heart attack at age 32.

1965 ~ Felix Frankfurter (b. Nov. 15, 1882), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from January 1939 until August 1962.  He died at age 82.

1945 ~ Sara Josephine Baker (b. Nov. 15, 1873), American physician best known for her role in promoting public health.  She died at age 71.

1922 ~ Albert Victor Bäcklund (b. Jan. 11, 1845), Swedish mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1913 ~ Francisco I. Madero (b. Oct. 30, 1873), President of Mexico.  He was President from November 1911 until a coup in February 1913.  He was killed in a military coup at age 39.

1901 ~ George Francis FitzGerald (b. Aug. 3, 1851), Irish mathematician.  He died following complications for a perforated ulcer at age 49.

1897 ~ Charles Blondin (b. Feb. 28, 1824), French acrobat and tightrope walker.  He is best known for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope.  He died of diabetes 6 days before his 73rd birthday.

1896 ~ George Dexter Robinson (né George Washington Robinson, b. Jan. 20, 1834), 34th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as governor from January 1884 until January 1887.  He died just over a month after his 62nd birthday,

1890 ~ John Jacob Astor, III (b. June 10, 1822), American businessman.  He died at age 67.

1888 ~ Anna Kingsford (b. Sept. 16, 1846), English physician.  She was one of the first British women to earn a medical degree.  She later became an advocate for animal rights.  She died at age 41 of pneumonia.

1875 ~ Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (b. July 16, 1796), French painter.  He died at age 78.

1827 ~ Charles Willson Peale (b. Apr. 15, 1741), American painter.  He died at age 85.

1797 ~ Baron Münchhausen (né Hieronymus Cark Friedrich von Münchhausen, b. 1720), German military officer who was given to tell wild, exaggerated stories.  Münchhausen syndrome was named after him.

1512 ~ Amerigo Vespucci (b. Mar. 9, 1454), Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer.  The continents of North and South America were named after him.  He died 15 days before his 58th birthday.

1371 ~ King David II of Scotland (b. Mar. 5, 1324).  He was King from June 1329 until his death 42 years later.  His first wife was Joan of England; his second wife was Margaret Drummond.  He died 11 days before his 47th birthday.

954 ~ Gui Wei (b. Sept. 10, 904), Chinese emperor during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  He died at age 49.

606 ~ Pope Sabinian.  He was Pope from September 604 until his death about 18 months later.  The date of his birth is not known.

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