March 16

Birthdays:

1973 ~ Tim Kang (né Yila Timothy Kang), American actor best known for his role as Kimball Cho on The Mentalist.

1966 ~ David Liss, American author best known for his novel The Coffee Trader.

1953 ~ Isabelle Huppert, French actress.

1952 ~ Alice Hoffman, American author.

1952 ~ Scott Simon, American journalist for NPR.

1949 ~ Victor Joseph Garber, Canadian actor.

1941 ~ Chuck Woolery (né Charles Herbert Woolery), American game show host.

1936 ~ Raymond Vahan Damadian, American inventor of the MRI.

1927 ~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan (d. Mar. 26, 2003), American politician and United States Senator from New York State.  He was also the 12^th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He died 10 days after his 76^th birthday.

1926 ~ Jerry Lewis (né Jerome Levitch, d. Aug. 20, 2017), American madcap comic who delighted millions, but not critics.  He is also known for his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and held annual marathons for 44 years.  He died at age 91.

1925 ~ Luis E. Miramontes (d. Sept. 13, 2004), Mexican inventor and best known for being the co-inventor of the chemical used in birth-control pills.  He died at age 79.

1923 ~ Bruno Wilhelm Augenstein (d. July 6, 2005), German-born mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1918 ~ Frederick Reines (d. Aug. 26, 1998), American physicist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in neutrino experimentation.  He died following a long illness at age 80.

1916 ~ Tsutomu Yamaguchi (d. Jan. 4, 2010), Japanese survivor of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II.  He was an engineer.  He died of stomach cancer at age 93.

1915 ~ Kunihiko Kodaira (d. July 26, 1997), Japanese mathematician.  He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954.  He died at age 82.

1912 ~ Pat Nixon, (née Thelma Catherine Ryan, d. June 22, 1993), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Richard Nixon.  She died at age 81.

1911 ~ Josef Mengele (d. Feb. 7, 1979), Nazi war criminal.  He eluded capture and escaped to South America.  He suffered a stroke while swimming and drowned at age 67.

1856 ~ Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (d. June 1, 1879), the last dynastic Bonaparte.  He was the son of Napoléon III.  He was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War at age 23.

1846 ~ Rebecca Cole (d. Aug. 14, 1922), African-American doctor and social reformer.  She was the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States.  She died at age 76.

1846 ~ Gösta Mittag-Leffer (né Magnus Gustaf Mattig-Leffer, d. July 7, 1927), Swedish mathematician.  He was a strong advocate of women’s rights.  He was a member of the Nobel Prize Committee in 1903 and was instrumental in seeing that, in 1993, Marie Curie was awarded the prize in Physics as well has her husband, Pierre.  Mattig-Leffer died at age 81.

1839 ~ René François Armand Sully Prudhomme (d. Sept. 6, 1907), French writer and recipient of the first Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded in 1901.  He died at age 68.

1839 ~ John Butler Yeats (d. Feb. 3, 1922), Irish artist and father of the poet William Butler Yeats.  He died at age 82.

1821 ~ Eduard Heine (né Heinrich Eduard Heine, d. Oct. 21, 1881), German mathematician.  He died at age 60.

1799 ~ Anna Children Atkins (d. June 9, 1871), British botanist and photographer.  She is considered to be the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images.  She died at age 72.

1789 ~ Georg Simon Ohm (d. July 6, 1854), German physicist and mathematician.  He is best known for determining there is a direct proportionality between the potential difference applied across a conductor and the resultant electric current.  This is known as Ohm’s law.  He died at age 65.

1751 ~ James Madison, Jr. (d. June 28, 1836), 4^th President of the United States.  He was president from March 1809 until March 1817.  He had previously served as the 5^th United States Secretary of State, which he served during the Thomas Jefferson administration.  He died at age 85.

1750 ~ Caroline Lucretia Herschel (d. Jan. 9, 1848), German-born astronomer.  She was the sister of astronomer William Herschel.  She is best known for the discovery of several comets.  The periodic comet, 35P/Herschel-Rigollet is named in her honor.  She died at age 97.

1399 ~ Xuande (d. Jan. 31, 1435), 5^th Emperor of the Ming dynasty.  His personal name was Zhu Zhanji.  He ruled f rom June 1425 until his death in January 1435.  He died of an illness at age 35.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Mt. Etna in Italy began to erupt.

2014 ~ Crimea voted to secede from the Ukraine to join Russia.

2005 ~ Israel officially handed over control of Jericho to the Palestinians.

1995 ~ Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery.  The 13^th Amendment was officially ratified by the federal government in 1865.

1989 ~ A 4,4000-year-old mummy was discovered near the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

1988 ~ Oliver North (b. 1943) and John Poindexter (b. 1936) were indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

1985 ~ Journalist Terry Anderson (b. 1947) was taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon.  He was released over 6 years later, on December 4, 1991.

1984 ~ William F. Buckley (1928 ~ 1985), the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists.  He died or was killed about a year later while in the custody of Hezbollah.

1978 ~ Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro (1916 ~ 1978) was kidnapped by the left-wing Red Brigades.  He was killed 55 days later, on May 9, 1978.

1968 ~ The My Lai massacre, in which between 350-500 Vietnamese civilians were shot and killed by American troops, occurred.

1945 ~ The Battle of Iwo Jima ended.

1935 ~ Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) ordered Germany to rearm itself in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.  Conscription was reintroduced.

1926 ~ Robert Goddard (1882 ~ 1945) launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts.

1864 ~ During the Red River Campaign during the American Civil War, the Union arrived in Alexandria, Louisiana.

1815 ~ Prince Willem (1772 ~ 1843) proclaimed himself as the King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, becoming the first constitutional monarch of the country.

1802 ~ The Army Corps of Engineers was established.  Its function was to establish and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.

1792 ~ King Gustav III (1746 ~ 1792) of Sweden was shot by an assassin at a masked ball.  He would die two weeks later.

1521 ~ Ferdinand Magellan (1480 ~ 1521) reached the Philippines with his crew of 150.

1190 ~ Massacre of 150 Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York, England.  Many of the Jews committed suicide to avoid being tortured by the mob leading the pogrom.

37 ~ The traditional date in which Caligula is said to have become the Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius.

597 BCE ~ The traditional date ascribed to when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and named Zedekiah as King.

Good-byes:

2016 ~ Alexander Esenin-Volpin (b. May 12, 1924), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 91.

2003 ~ Major Ronald Ivor Ferguson (b. Oct. 10, 1931), British soldier and father of Sarah, Duchess of York.  He died of a heart attack at age 71.

1998 ~ Esther Bubley (b. Feb. 16, 1921), American photographer who specialized in photographs of everyday life in America.  She died of cancer a month after her 77^th birthday.

1998 ~ Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton (b. Sept. 8, 1918), British organic chemist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

1983 ~ Arthur Morton Godfrey (b. Aug. 31, 1903), American actor and television host.  He died at age 79.

1971 ~ Thomas Edmund Dewey (b. Mar. 24, 1902), American presidential candidate.  He ran against Harry S. Truman and papers erroneously concluded he had won the 1948 election.  He also served as the 47^th Governor of New York State from January 1943 through December 1954.  He died of a heart attack 8 days before his 69^th birthday.

1940 ~ Selma Lagerlöf (b. Nov. 20, 1858), Swedish writer and recipient of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She was the first female recipient of the Prize in Literature.  She died at age 81.

1935 ~ John James Rickard Macleod (b. Sept. 6, 1876), Scottish physician and physiologist.  He was the recipient of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize, along with Frederick Banting, for their discovery and isolation of insulin.  He died at age 58.

1925 ~ August Paul von Wassermann (b. Feb. 21, 1866), German microbiologist.  He developed the Wassermann Test that allowed for the early detection of syphilis.  He died 23 days after his 59^th birthday.

1914 ~ Charles Albert Gobat (b. May 21, 1843), Swiss politician and recipient of the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 70.

1903 ~ Roy Bean (né Phantly Roy Bean, Jr., b. 1825), Justice of the Peace in the Texas territory.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 77 or 78 at the time of his death.

1899 ~ Joseph Medill (b. Apr. 6, 1823), 26^th Mayor of Chicago.  He was Mayor from 1871 ~ 1873.  He was born in New Brunswick, Canada.  He died less than a month before his 75^th birthday.

1898 ~ Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (b. Aug. 21, 1872), English author and illustrator.  He died of tuberculosis at age 25.

1861 ~ Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (b. Aug. 17, 1786), German-born mother of England’s Queen Victoria.  She died at age 74.

1838 ~ Nathaniel Bowditch (b. Mar. 26, 1773), American mathematician.  He is best known for his contribution to ocean navigation.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts of stomach cancer 10 days before his 65^th birthday.

1679 ~ John Leverett (b. July 7, 1616), Early American soldier and 19^th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, however, he was baptized on July 7, 1616.  He is believed to have been 62 or 63 at the time of his death.

1485 ~ Anne Neville (b. June 11, 1456), Queen of Richard III of England.  She died of tuberculosis at age 28.

37 ~ Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar (b. Nov. 16, 42, BCE), Roman Emperor.  He is believed to have been 77 at the time of his death.