February 23

Birthdays:

1994 ~ Dakota Fanning (née Hannah Dakota Fanning), American actress.

1983 ~ Aziz Ismail Ansari, American comedian.

1983 ~ Emily Olivia Leah Blunt, English actress.  She is married to actor John Krasinski.

1970 ~ Niecy Nash (née Carol Denise Ensley), American actress.

1965 ~ Michael Saul Dell, American businessman and founder of Dell computers.

1951 ~ Shigefumi Mori, Japanese mathematician.

1944 ~ Johnny Winter (né John Dawson Winter, III, d. July 16, 2014), American guitarist who rocked the Texas blues.  His brother is musician Edgar Winter.  He died at age 70.

1940 ~ Peter Henry Fonda, America actor and son of Henry Fonda.  He is best known for his roles in Easy Rider and Ulee’s Gold.

1924 ~ Allan McLeod Cormack (d. May 7, 1998), South African physicist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 74.

1923 ~ Rafael Addiego Bruno (d. Feb. 20, 2014), President of Uruguay.  He died 3 days before his 91^st birthday.

1920 ~ Russell Dunham (d. Apr. 6, 2009), American sergeant during World War II who won the Medal of Honor.  He died at age 89.

1920 ~ Louise Reiss (née Louise Marie Zibold, d. Jan. 1, 2011), American medical doctor who inspired an atomic test ban.  She died at age 90.

1915 ~ Paul Tibbets (d. Nov. 1, 2007), American general in the United States Air Force best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima during World War II.  He died at age 92.

1889 ~ János Garay (d. Mar. 5, 1945), Hungarian fencer.  He was a gold medalist in the 1928 Summer Olympics in fencing.  He was murdered in the Mauthausen-Guesen concentration camp during the Holocaust.  He was killed 10 days after his 56^th birthday.  He was one of over 437,000 Jews deported from Hungary after the 1944 occupation of Germany.

1889 ~ John Gilbert Winant (d. Nov. 3, 1947), 60^th Governor of New Hampshire.  He served two, non-consecutive terms in office.  He first served from January 1, 1925 through January 6. 1927.  His second term ran from January 1, 1931, through January 3, 1935.  He died at age 58 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

1874 ~ Konstantin Päts (d. Jan. 18, 1956), 1^st President of Estonia.  He served as president from April 1938 until July 1940.  He died at age 81.

1868 ~ W.E.B. Du Bois (né William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, d. Aug. 27, 1963), American historian, sociologist and political activist.  He died at age 95 in Ghana.

1850 ~ César Ritz (d. Oct. 24, 1918), Swiss hotelier and founder of the Ritz London Hotel and the Hôtel Ritz Paris.  He died at age 68.

1821 ~ Amos Tappan Akerman (d. Dec. 21, 1880), 31^st US Attorney General.  He served during Ulysses S. Grant administration from November 1870 until December 1871.  He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He died at age 59.

1744 ~ Mayer Amschel Rothschild (d. Sept. 19, 1812), German-born banker.  He died at age 68.

1680 ~ Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (d. Mar. 7, 1767), French colonizer and 2^nd colonial Governor of Louisiana.  He died 2 weeks after his 87^th birthday.

1648 ~ Arabella Churchill (d. May 30, 1730), English mistress of King James II of England.  She died at age 82.

1633 ~ Samuel Pepys (d. May 26, 1703), English naval administrator, civil servant and diarist.  He is best known for his diary, which provided a first-hand account of life in the 1700s.  He died at age 70.

1583~ Jean-Baptiste Morin (d. Nov. 6, 1656). French mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1443 ~ Matthias Corvinus (d. Apr. 6, 1490), Hungarian king.  He died at age 47, possibly of poisoning.

1417 ~ Pope Paul II (né Pietro Barbo, d. July 26, 1471).  He was Pope from August 1464 until his death 7 years later.  He was 54 years old.

Events that Changed the World:

2014 ~ The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia held its closing ceremony.

1998 ~ Osama bin Laden published a fatwa declaring a jihad against all Jews, Europeans and Americans.

1998 ~ Numerous tornadoes in central Florida destroyed over 2,500 structures and killed 42 people.

1980 ~ The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) of Iran decreed that Iran’s parliament would decide the fate of the American hostages who had been seized from the American embassy.

1954 ~ The first mass inoculations of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began.

1941 ~ Chemist Dr. Glenn Seaborg (1912 ~ 1999) first produced and isolated plutonium.

1927 ~ President Calvin Coolidge (1872 ~ 1933) signed a bill establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission), to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.

1917 ~ The beginning of the February Revolution in Russia began with demonstrations in St. Petersburg.

1903 ~ Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity.”

1898 ~ Émile Zola (1940 ~ 1902) was imprisoned in France after writing J’accuse, a letter that accused the French government of anti-Semitism and the wrongful imprisonment of Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859 ~ 1935).

1896 ~ The Tootsie Roll was invented.

1887 ~ The French Riviera was hit by a massive earthquake.  Approximately 2,000 people were killed.

1886 ~ Charles Martin Hall (1863 ~ 1914) and his sister Julia Brainerd Hall (1859 ~ 1926), invented an inexpensive method for producing man-made aluminum.  He would go on to be one of the co-founders of Alcoa.

1883 ~ Alabama became the first US state to enact anti-trust laws.

1870 ~ Mississippi was readmitted into the United States of America following the American Civil War.

1847 ~ At the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War, American troops under the leadership of General Zachary Taylor (1784 ~ 1850), defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794 ~ 1876).

1836 ~ The Battle of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.  The battle lasted for 13 days, until March 6, 1836.

1554 ~ Mapuche force were victorious over the Spanish at the Battle of Marihueña in Chile.

1455 ~ The traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type.

532 ~ Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (482 ~ 565) ordered the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople.  It became the Hagia Sophia, which still stands today.

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ Alan Samuel Colmes (d. Sept. 24, 1950), American radio host who became Fox News’ liberal voice.  He died of lymphoma at age 66.

2014 ~ Alice Herz-Sommer (b. Nov. 26, 1903), Czech-born pianist whose spirit survived the Holocaust.  She was interned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp.  She died at age 110.

2013 ~ Paul C.P. McIlhenny (b. Mar. 19, 1944), American businessman from Avery Island, Louisiana whose family owned the McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce company.  He died less than a month before his 69^th birthday.

1995 ~ James Herriot (né James Alfred Wight, b. Oct. 3, 1916), English veterinarian and writer.  He died at age 78.

1984 ~ Jessamyn West (née Mary Jessamyn West, b. July 18, 1902), American writer.  She died at age 81.

1973 ~ Dickinson Woodruff Richards, Jr.  (b. Oct. 30, 1895), American physician and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of the cardiac catheterization.  He died at age 77.

1965 ~ Stan Laurel (né Arthur Stanley Jefferson, b. June 16, 1890), British actor and comedian, who, along with Oliver Hardy formed a comedy team most famous for their “Who’s on First?” routine.  He died of a heart attack at age 74.

1948 ~ John Robert Gregg (b. June 17, 1867), Irish-born American educator, publisher and inventor of the Gregg shorthand system.  He died at age 80.

1945 ~ Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (b. Jan. 10, 1883), Russian author.  He died at age 62.

1944 ~ Oszkár Gerde (b. July 8, 1883), Hungarian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist in fencing in the 1908 and 1912 Olympic games.  He was murdered in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp during the Holocaust.  He was 61 years old at the time of his death.

1944 ~ Leo Hendrick Baekeland (b. 1863), Flemish-American chemist and inventor of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic.

1944 ~ Leo Hendrick Baekeland (né Leo Henricus Arthur Baekland, b. Nov. 14, 1863), Belgian-American chemist and inventor.  He was the inventor of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic.  He died at age 80.

1934 ~ Sir Edward Elgar, 1^st Baronet (b. June 2, 1857), English composer, best known for Pomp and Circumstance.  He died at age 76.

1931 ~ Dame Nellie Melba (née Helen Porter Mitchell, b. May 19, 1861), Australian soprano and actress.  She took the pseudonym “Melba” from her hometown of Melbourne, Australia.  She died at age 69.

1914 ~ Henry Moore Teller (b. May 23, 1830), 15^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Chester A. Arthur from April 1882 until March 1885.  He died at age 83.

1855 ~ Carl Friedrich Gauss (b. Apr. 30, 1777), German mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1848 ~ John Quincy Adams (b. July 11, 1767), 6^th President of the United States.  He was President from March 1825 until March 1829.  He had previously served as the 8^th United States Secretary of State during the James Monroe administration.  He died at age 80.

1821 ~ John Keats (b. Oct. 31, 1795), English poet.  He died of tuberculosis at age 25.

1792 ~ Sir Joshua Reynolds (b. July 16, 1723), English painter.  He died at age 68.

1603 ~ Francisus Vieta (b. Dec. 13, 1540), French mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 62 or 63 at the time of his death.

1464 ~ Emperor Yingzong of Ming (b. Nov. 29, 1427), 6^th Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He died at age 36.

1447 ~ Pope Eugene IV (né Gabriele Condulmer, b. 1383).  He was Pope from March 1431 until his death 16 years later.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 64 at the time of his death.

1270 ~ Isabel of France (b. Mar. 1225).  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been 45 at the time of her death.

1100 ~ Emperor Zhezong (b. Jan. 243, 1076), Chinese Emperor of the Song dynasty.  He died at age 24.