February 7

Birthdays:

1979 ~ Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni activist and journalist.  She was the recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

1978 ~ Ashton Kutcher, American actor.

1970 ~ Stanley Corvet Roberts, American basketball player who attended Louisiana State University.

1965 ~ Jason Gedrick, American actor.

1965 ~ Chris Rock (né Christopher Julius Rock, III), American actor and comedian.

1962 ~ Garth Brooks, American country music singer-songwriter.

1962 ~ Eddie Izzard, English comedian and actor.

1960 ~ James Spader, American actor.

1955 ~ Miguel José Ferrer (d. Jan. 19, 2017), American actor.  He died of throat cancer 19 days before his 62^nd birthday.

1946 ~ Peter William “Pete” Postlehwaite (d. Jan. 2, 2011), English character actor.  He died of prostate cancer at age 64.

1939 ~ William Devereux Zantzinger (d. Jan. 3, 2009), American farmer from Maryland who inspired a Bob Dylan classic civil rights song, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.  Zantzinger had killed a black barmaid with his cane.  He served 6 months for the murder.  He died at age 69.

1932 ~ Gay Talese, American author.

1920 ~ An Wang (d, Mar. 24, 1990), Chinese-American engineer and founder of Wang Laboratories.  He died of cancer at age 70.

1913 ~ Ramón Mercader (d. Oct. 18, 1978), Spanish assassin of Leon Trotsky in 1940.  He served 20 years for the murder.  He died at age 65.

1907 ~ Buster Crabbe (né Clarence Linden Crabbe, II, d. Apr. 23, 1983), American swimmer and actor.  He died at age 75.

1906 ~ Puyi (d. Oct. 17, 1967), 12^th and final Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He died of kidney cancer and heart diseases at age 61.

1905 ~ Ulf Svante von Euler (d. Mar. 9, 1982), Swedish physiologist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died about a month after his 78^th birthday.

1887 ~ Eubie Blake (né James Eubie Blake, d. Feb. 12, 1983), American musician and composer.  He died 5 days after his 96^th birthday.

1885 ~ Sinclair Lewis (né Harry Sinclair Lewis, d. Jan. 10, 1951), American writer.  In 1930, he was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died about a month before his 66^th birthday.

1877 ~ G.H. Hardy (né Godfrey Harold Hardy, d. Dec. 1, 1947), English mathematician best known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis.  He died at age 70.

1870 ~ Alfred Adler (d. May 28, 1937), Austrian psychologist.  He died at age 67.

1867 ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. Feb. 10, 1957), American author.  She is best known for her children’s books, such as The Little House on the Prairie, which depict life growing up in the American west.  She died 3 days after her 90^th birthday.

1812 ~ Charles Dickens (d. June 9, 1870), British novelist, best known for such novels as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.  He died of a stroke at age 58.

1804 ~ John Deere (d. May 17, 1886), American blacksmith and manufacturer of farm machinery.  He was born in Rutland, Vermont.  He was the founder of the John Deere & Company.  He died at age 82.

1693 ~ Empress Anna of Russia (d. Oct. 28, 1740).  She died at age 47.

1478 ~ Sir Thomas More (d. July 6, 1535), English statesman and theologian.  He was opposed to the Protestant Reformation.  He was executed by beheading for treason against King Henry VIII of England.  He was 57 years old.

1102 ~ Empress Matilda of England (d. Sept. 10, 1167).  She was also known as Empress Maude of the Holy Roman Empire.  She was the wife of King Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire.  She died at age 65.

Events that Changed the World:

2016 ~ Super Bowl 50 was played in San Francisco.  The Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in a score of 24-10.

2014 ~ The 2014 Winter Olympics opened in Sochi, Russia.

2013 ~ Mississippi officially certified the 13^th Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery.  The Amendment had been formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.

2010 ~ The New Orleans Saints won the championship in Super Bowl XIIV, beating the Indianapolis Colts in the game played in Miami, Florida.  The score was 31 to 17.

1999 ~ Crown Prince Abdullah (b. 1962) became King of Jordan following the death of his father King Hussein.

1995 ~ Ramzi Yousef (b. 1968), the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan,

1991 ~ Jean-Bertrand Aristide (b. 1953) was sworn in as Haiti’s first democratically-elected president.  His election came exactly 5 years to the day after the country’s President for Life, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1951 ~ 2014) fled his country.

1990 ~ The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agreed to give up its monopoly on power, thus effectuating the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

1974 ~ Grenada gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1964 ~ The Beatles made their first trip to the United States.  Their first performance was on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1064.

1962 ~ The United States banned all Cuban imports and exports.

1940 ~ The Disney animated movie Pinocchio made its film debut.

1904 ~ A massive fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroyed over 1,500 buildings in just over 2 days.

1898 ~ Writer Émile Zola (1840 ~ 1902) was brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse in the Dreyfus affair.  The letter was first published on January 13, 1898.

1812 ~ A strong series of earthquakes hit the New Madrid, Missouri region.

1795 ~ The 11^th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The Amendment deals with the individual state’s sovereign immunity.

1497 ~ Supporters of Girolamo Savonarola (1452 ~ 1498), a Dominican priest, gathered in Florence, Italy and publically burned thousands of objects, such as cosmetics, arts and books, and other items that Savonarola deemed as objects of sin.  This became known as the Bonfire of the Vanities.

1301 ~ Edward of Caernarvon (1284 ~ 1327), who later became Edward II of England, was named the first English Prince of Wales.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Dean Edwards Smith (b. Feb. 28, 1931), American legendary college basketball coach who put his players first.  He was the head men’s basketball coach for 36 years at the University of North Carolina.  He prompted desegregation in the sport at his school.  He died three weeks before his 84^thbirthday.

2009 ~ Jack Cover, Jr. (b. Apr. 6, 1920), American pilot and inventor of the Taser stun gun.  He died at age 88.

2007 ~ Alan MacDiarmid (b. Apr. 14, 1927), New Zealand chemist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

2001 ~ Dale Evans (née Lucille Wood Smith, b. Oct. 31, 1912), American singer-songwriter and actress.  She was the third wife of Roy Rogers.  She died of congestive heart failure at age 88.

2001 ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (b. June 22, 1906), American writer and wife of Charles Lindbergh.  She was 94 years old.

2000 ~ Doug Henning (b. May 3, 1947), Canadian magician.  He died of liver cancer at age 52.

1999 ~ King Hussein of Jordan (b. Nov. 14, 1935).  He was King of Jordon from August 1952 until his death in February 1999.  One of his wives was the American, Lisa Halaby, who became known as Queen Noor, upon her marriage to the King.  He died of cancer at age 63.

1979 ~ Josef Mengele (b. Mar. 16, 1911), Nazi war criminal.  He eluded capture and escaped to South America.  He suffered a stroke while swimming and drowned at age 67.

1938 ~ Harvey Firestone (b. Dec. 20, 1868), American automobile pioneer and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.  He died at age 69.

1937 ~ Elihu Root (b. Feb. 15, 1845), 38^th Secretary of State and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.  He served as Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt.  He also served as the 41^st Secretary of War under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.  He died 8 days before his 92^nd birthday.

1894 ~ Adolphe-Joseph Sax (b. Nov. 6, 1814), Belgian musician and inventor of the saxophone.  He died at age 79.

1878 ~ Pope Pius IX (né Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, b. May 13, 1792).  He was Pope from June 1846 until his death 32 years later.  He died at age 85.

1871 ~ Heinrich Engelhard Steinway (né Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, b. Feb. 15, 1797), manufacturer of the Steinway & Sons pianos.  He died 8 days before his 74^th birthday.

1837 ~ Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (b. Nov. 1, 1778).  He was King from March 1792 until his abdication in March 1809.  He died at age 58.

1826 ~ Thomas Todd (b. Jan. 23, 1765), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Thomas Jefferson.  He served on the Court from March 1807 until his death in February 1826.  He died 15 days before his 62^nd birthday.

1823 ~ Ann Radcliffe (b. July 9, 1764), English novelist.  She is considered one of the pioneers of the Gothic novel.  She died at age 58.

1799 ~ Qianlong (b. Sept. 25, 1711), 6^th Chinese Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He died at age 87.

1603 ~ Hermann Wilken (b. 1522), German mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

590 ~ Pope Pelaguis II (b. 520), Pope from November 579 until his death in February 590.  The date of his birth is not known, but his is believed to have been about 69 or 70 at the time of his death.

318 ~ Jin Mindi (b. 300), Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 17 or 18 at the time of his death.