March 14

Pi Day

Birthdays:

1997 ~ Simone Biles, American gymnast.

1958 ~ Albert II, Prince of Monaco.

1951 ~ Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

1948 ~ Billy Crystal (né William Edward Crystal), American actor and comedian.

1942 ~ Sandra Kay Yow (d. Jan. 24, 2009), American women’s basketball coach who championed her sport.  She died of breast cancer at age 66.

1934 ~ Eugene Cernan (d. Jan. 16, 2017), American pilot and astronaut who became the last man to walk on the moon.  He died at age 82.

1933 ~ Sir Michael Caine (né Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.), British actor.

1933 ~ Quincy Delight Jones, Jr., American singer-songwriter, trumpet player and producer.  He is the father of actress Rashida Jones.

1928 ~ Frank Borman (né Frank Frederick Borman, II), American astronaut.  He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the moon

1925 ~ William Clay Ford, Sr. (d. Mar. 9, 2014), the last surviving grandchild of Henry Ford.  William Clay Ford was the executive who kept the Fords in the Ford Motor Company.  He died five days before his 89^th birthday.

1923 ~ Diane Arbus (d. July 26, 1971), American photographer.  She committed suicide at age 48.

1920 ~ Hank Ketcham (d. June 1, 2001), American cartoonist and creator of Dennis the Menace.  He died at age 81.

1916 ~ Horton Foote (né Albert Horton Foote, Jr., d. Mar. 4, 2009), American award-winning playwright who was considered an American Chekhov.  He died 10 days before his 93^rd birthday.

1914 ~ Lee Petty (d. Apr. 5, 2000), American racecar driver and father of racer Richard Petty.  He died 3 weeks after his 86^th birthday of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

1912 ~ W. Graham Claytor, Jr. (né William Graham Claytor, Jr., d. May 14, 1994), 15^th US Secretary of the Navy.  He served during the administration of Jimmy Carter, from August 1979 until January 16, 1981.  He died at age 82.

1912 ~ Lester “Les” Brown (né Lester Raymond Brown, Sr., d. Jan. 4, 2001), American saxophonist and bandleader.  He died at age 88.

1912 ~ W. Willard Wirtz (né William Willard Wirtz, d. Apr. 24, 2010), 10^th Secretary of Labor.  He served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.  He died at age 98.

1899 ~ K.C. Irving (né Kenneth Colin Irving, d. Dec. 13, 1992), Canadian businessman and founder of Irving Oil.  He died at age 93.

1882 ~ Wacław Sierpiński (d. Oct. 21, 1969), Polish mathematician.  He died at age 87.

1879 ~ Albert Einstein (d. Apr. 18, 1955), German-born American physicist and recipient of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died just over a month after his 76^th birthday.

1868 ~ Emily Gowan Ferguson Murphy (d. Oct. 27, 1933), Canadian lawyer and activist.  She was the first female magistrate in Canada and the British Empire.  She died at age 65.

1863 ~ Casey Jones (né John Luther Jones, d. Apr. 30, 1900), American railroad engineer who died in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, when his train, the Cannonball Express, collided with a stalled freight train.  He gave his life to prevent a crash and to save the lives of his passengers.  He was the only fatality in the crash.  He was 37 years old at the time of his death.

1854 ~ Paul Ehrlich (d. Aug. 20, 1915), German physician and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He is known for developing the Gram Stain, which helps to identify bacteria.  He died at age 61.

1854 ~ Thomas Riley Marshall (d. June 1, 1925), 28^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President Woodrow Wilson from March 1913 until March 1921.  He died at age 71.

1833 ~ Lucy Hobbs Taylor (d. Oct. 3, 1910), the first female dentist in the United States.  She died at age 77.

1816 ~ William Marsh Rice (d. Sept. 23, 1900), American businessman and founder of Rice University in Houston, Texas.  He was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Texas to seek his fortune, which he made in land investments.  He died at age 84.

1813 ~ Joseph Philo Bradley (d. Jan. 22, 1892), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Ulysses S. Grant.  He served on the Court from March 1870 until his death 22 years later.  He died at age 78.

1807 ~ Josephine of Leuchtenberg (d. June 7, 1876), Queen of Sweden and Norway.  She was married to King Oscar I of Sweden.  She died at age 69.

1804 ~ Johann Strauss, Sr. (d. Sept. 25, 1849), Austrian composer.  He died at age 45.

1800 ~ James Bogardus (d. Apr. 13, 1874), American inventor and architect.  He was a pioneer in cast-iron architecture.  He died a month after his 74^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

1995 ~ Astronaut Norman Thagard (b. 1943) became the first American astronaut to ride into space aboard a Russian launched vehicle when he was aboard Soyuz TM-21.

1978 ~ In Operation Litani, the Israeli Defense Force invaded and occupied southern Lebanon.

1967 ~ The body of President John F. Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963) was moved to his permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.

1964 ~ A Dallas, Texas jury found Jack Ruby (1911 ~ 1976) guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 ~ 1963), the presumed assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

1942 ~ Penicillin was first used successfully to treat a medical patient.

1903 ~ President Theodore Roosevelt (1858 ~ 1919) establish the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.

1900 ~ The Gold Standard Act was ratified thereby placing United States currency on the gold standard.

1885 ~ The Mikado, an operetta by W.S. Gilbert (1836 ~ 1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842 ~ 1900), premiered in London, England.

1794 ~ Eli Whitney (1765 ~ 1925) patented the cotton gin.

1780 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, Spanish forces captured Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, which was the last British frontier post capable of causing harm to New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana.

1590 ~ Henry of Navarre (1553 ~ 1610) and the Huguenots defeated the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne (1554 ~ 1611) at the Battle of Ivry during the French Wars of Religion.

Good-Byes:

2018 ~ Stephen Hawking (b. Jan. 8, 1942), English theoretical physicist and author.  Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease as a young man.  His life story was depicted in the 2014 movie, The Theory of Everything.  He died at age 76.

2013 ~ Jim Barrett (né James L. Barrett, b. Nov. 8, 1926), California vintner who bested the French.  He was the owner of Chateau Montelena, which won the 1976 Chardonnay competition.  He died at age 86.

2010 ~ Peter Graves (né Peter Duesler Aurness, b. Mar. 18, 1926), American actor.  He died of a heart attack 4 days before his 84^th birthday.

2009 ~ Millard Kaufman (b. Mar. 12, 1917), American screenwriter and co-creator of Mr. Magoo.  He died 2 days after his 92^nd birthday.

1995 ~ William Alfred Fowler (b. Aug. 9, 1911), American physicist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 83.

1976 ~ Busby Berkeley (né Berkeley William Enos, b. Nov. 29, 1895), American film director and choreographer.  He died at age 80.

1975 ~ Susan Hayward (née Edythe Marrenner, b. June 30, 1917), American actress.  She died at age 57 of brain cancer.

1932 ~ George Eastman (b. July 12, 1854), American inventor and pioneer in the field of photography.  He founded the Eastman Kodak Company.  He died committed suicide at age 77.

1919 ~ Johan Vaaler (b. Mar. 15, 1866), Norwegian inventor and patent clerk.  He is often identified as the individual who invented the Paper clip.  He died 1 day before his 53^rd birthday.

1918 ~ Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (b. Apr. 19, 1832), First Lady of the United States and wife of President James A. Garfield.  She died at age 85.

1883 ~ Karl Marx (b. May 5, 1818), German philosopher and political theorist.  He is best known for his book Das Kapital.  He died at age 64.

1811 ~ Augustus FitzRoy, 3^rd Duke of Grafton (b. Sept. 28, 1734), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from October 1768 until January 1770 during the reign of King George III.  He died at age 75.

1571 ~ John Sigismund Zápolya (b. July 7, 1540), Hungarian king.  He died of an illness at age 30.

1457 ~ Zhu Qiyu (b. Sept. 21, 1428), 7^th Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He died at age 28.

313 ~ Emperor Huai of Jin (b. 284).  Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty.  He was executed by the ruler of the Xiongnu state of the Han Zhao.  The exact date of his birth is not known.