April 13

Birthdays:

1963~ Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player.

1951~ Max Weinberg, American drummer and member of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band.

1949~ Christopher Eric Hitchens (d. Dec. 15, 2011) British journalist and atheist.  He died of cancer at age 62.

1949~ Len Cook (néLeonard Warren Cook), New Zealand-born mathematician.

1941~ Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist and recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for describing the mechanism of cholesterol metabolism.

1940~ J.M.G. Le Clézio (né Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio), French novelist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1939~ Seamus Justin Heaney (d. Aug. 30, 2013), Irish writer and poet who wrote of mud, history and country. He was the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 74.

1939~ Paul Anthony Sorvino, American actor.  He is best known for his role as police sergeant on Law and Order.

1926~ Cosimo Vincent Matassa (d. Sept. 11, 2014), American studio owner from New Orleans who shaped rock ‘n’ roll.  He died in New Orleans at age 88.

1923~ Don Adams (néDonald James Yarmy, d. Sept. 25, 2005), American actor and comedian.  He is best known for his role as Agent Smart in the TV comedy, Get Smart.  He died of lymphoma at age 82.

1923~ Stanley K. Tanger (d. Oct. 23, 2010), American businessman and founder of the Tanger Factory Outlet Stores.  He died of pneumonia at age 87.

1920~ Roberto Calvi (d. June 17, 1982), Italian banker with close ties to the Vatican. His death at age 62 was ruled a murder.

1919~ Madalyn Murray O’Hair (d. Sept. 27, 1995), American atheist activist.  She was in August 1995 kidnapped and murdered.  She was 76 at the time of her kidnapping.  The exact date of her death is not known, but September 27, 1995 is often given as the date of her death.  Her body has never been found.

1917~ Bill Clements (néWilliam Perry Clements, Jr., d. May 29, 2011), 42^ndand 44^thGovernor of Texas.  He served his first time from January 1979 through January 1983, and his second term from January 1987 through January 1991. He died at age 94.

1914~ Manuel Sadosky (d. June 18, 2005), Argentine mathematician.  His family was originally from Russia, but fled to Argentina to escape the pogroms. He died at age 91.

1909~ Stanislaw Ulam (né Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, d. May 13, 1984), Ukrainian-born mathematician.  He emigrated to the United States.  He died of a heart attack a month after his 75^thbirthday.

1909~ Eudora Alice Welty (d. July 23, 2001), American southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi.  She died at age 92.

1906~ Samuel Barclay Beckett (d. Dec. 22, 1989), Irish playwright best known for his play, Waiting for Godot.  He was also the recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 83.

1899~ Alfred Mosher Butts (d. Apr. 4, 1993), American architect and inventor of the game of Scrabble.  He died 9 days before his 94^thbirthday.

1892~ Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt (d. Dec. 5, 1973), Scottish inventor who is credited with creating the Radar.  He died at age 81.

1890~ Frank Murphy (né William Francis Murphy, d. July 19, 1949), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served on the High Court from January 1940 until his death 9 years later.  He had previously served as the 56^thUnited States Attorney General in the Roosevelt administration, from January 1939 until January 1940.  He died at age 59 of coronary thrombosis.

1875~ Ray Lyman Wilbur (d. June 26, 1949), 31^stUnited States Secretary of Labor.  He served under President Herbert Hoover from March 1929 until March 1933.  He died of heart disease at age 74.

1873~ John William Davis (d. Mar. 24, 1955), 14^thUnited States Solicitor General.  He served in this Office from August 1913 until November 1918 during the Woodrow Wilson administration.  He died 20 days before his 82^ndbirthday.

1866~ Butch Cassidy (né Robert Leroy Parker, d. Nov. 7, 1908), American outlaw.  He was killed in a shoot out in Bolivia at age 42.

1852~ F.W. Woolworth (né Frank Winfield Woolworth, d. Apr. 8, 1919), American merchant and founder of the Five-and-Dime store chain, Woolworth’s. He was the first to use self-service display cases in a store.  He died 5 days before his 67^thbirthday.

1840~ Samuel Ullman (d. Mar. 21, 1924), American poet, businessman and humanitarian.  He died at age 84.

1828~ Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler (d. Dec. 30, 1906), British women’s rights activist and social reformer. She fought against human trafficking and prostitution.  She died at age 78.

1795~ James Harper (d. Mar. 27, 1869), 65^thMayor of New York City.  He served as Mayor for 1 year from 1844 to 1845.  He died 17 days before his 74^thbirthday

1748~ Joseph Bramah (d. Dec. 9, 1814), English inventor who invented the Hydraulic press.  He died of pneumonia at age 66.

1743~ Thomas Jefferson (d. July 4, 1826), 3^rdPresident of the United States.  He was President from March 1801 through March 1809.  He was also the 2^ndVice President of the United State, under President John Adams.  He also served as the 1^stUnited States Secretary of State in the George Washington administration.  He was born in Virginia.  He died at age 83.

1732~ Frederick North, 2^ndEarl of Guilford (d. Aug. 5, 1792), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from January 1770 until March 1782.  He served during the reign of King George III.  He is primarily remembers as the Prime Minister who lost America.  He died at age 60.

1570~ Guy Fawkes (d. Jan. 31, 1606), English Catholic conspirator.  He was the mastermind behind the Gunpowder Plot, which was a plot against Parliament and King James.  He was captured on November 5, 1605, hence that day is known as Guy Fawkes Day.  He was hanged two months later at age 35.

1519~ Catherine de’Medici (d. Jan. 5, 1589), Italian noblewoman and wife of Henry II of France.  She died at age 69.

Events that Changed the World:

2014~ Palm Sunday.

1997~ At age 21, Tiger Woods (b. 1975) became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.

1992~ The Great Chicago flood devastated much of central Chicago.

1976~ The United States Treasury Department reissued the two-dollar bill, bearing the likeness of Thomas Jefferson, in honor of the anniversary of his 233^rdbirth and as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations.

1964~ Sidney Poitier (b. 1927) became the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Award at the Oscars for his role in the 1963 movie, Lilies of the Field.

1948~ The Hadassah Medical Convoy Massacre occurred when 79 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students were ambushed by Arabs in Sheikh Jarra near Jerusalem.  Remains of their vehicles can still be seen on the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

1943~ The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200^thanniversary of Jefferson’s birth.

1919~ Eugene Debs (1885 ~ 1928) entered prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for speaking out against the draft during World War I.

1902~ James C. Penney (1875 ~ 1971) opened his first department store. It was in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

1873~ The Colfax Massacre occurred on Easter Sunday in Colfax, Louisiana. Over 150 members of an all-black militia who were defending the parish courthouse were killed by white supremacists. The marker commemorating this event states that “This event on April 13, 1873 marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South.”

1870~ The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.

1861~ Fort Sumter fell to Confederate forces at the beginning of the American Civil War.

1829~ The British Parliament passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which allowed Roman Catholics in the UK the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.

1796~ The first elephant was brought to the United States from India.  The elephant had been shipped from India on December 3, 1795.  The elephant, named Old Bet, arrived in Boston, Massachusetts.

1598~ Henry IV of France (1553 ~ 1610) issued the Edict of Nantes, which gave religious freedom to the Huguenots.  The Edict was repealed in 1685.  Henry IV was baptized a Catholic, but raised as a Protestant, hence his rationale to giving religious freedom to the Huguenots.

1111~ Henry V (1081 ~ 1125) was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.  He would reign until his death in May 1125.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Robert William Taylor (b. Feb. 10, 1932), American computer scientist and tech pioneer who kick-started the internet.  He died at age 85.

2016~ Nera D. White (b. Nov. 15, 1935), American farm girl who became a basketball sensation.  She died of complications from pneumonia at age 80.

2015~ Günter Wilhelm Grass (b. Oct. 16, 1927), German author and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He is best known for his first novel The Tin Drum, published in 1959.  His works examined the ugly side of Germany’s past.  In 2006, Grass acknowledged his past as a member of the Waffen SS during World War II.  He died at age 87.

2009~ Mark Steven Fidrych (b. Aug. 14, 1954), American baseball pitcher.  He was nicknamed “the Bird.”  He played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers.  He died at age 54 in a freak accident while working underneath his dump truck and his clothing became entangled with a spinning shaft, suffocating him.

2006~ Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (b. Feb. 1, 1918), Scottish author.  She is best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  She died at age 88.

1997~ David McCord (né David Thompson Watson McCord, b. Dec. 15, 1897), American poet.  He died at age 99.

1993~ Wallace Earle Stegner (b. Feb. 18, 1909), American writer and historian. He died at age 84.

1992~ Feza Gürsey (b. Apr. 7, 1921), Turkish mathematician.  He died 6 days after his 71^stbirthday.

1941~ Annie Jump Cannon (b. Dec. 11, 1863), American astronomer.  She was also an advocate for women’s rights.  She died at age 77.

1919~ Phoebe Hearst (née Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson, b. Dec. 3, 1842), American philanthropist.  She was the mother of William Randolph Hearst.  She died of the Spanish Flu at age 76.

1917~ Diamond Jim Brady (né James Buchanan Brady, b. Aug. 12, 1856), American businessman and financier.  He died of a heart attack at age 60.

1911~ John McLane (b. Feb. 27, 1852), 50^thGovernor of New Hampshire. He was Governor from January 1905 until January 1907.  He was a furniture maker from Milford, New Hampshire.  He died at age 59.

1890~ Samuel Jackson Randall (b. Oct. 10, 1828), Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He was a politician from Pennsylvania.  He died of colon cancer at age 61.

1889~ John Palmer Usher (b. Jan. 9, 1816), 7^thUnited States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from Jan. 1, 1863 until May 15, 1865.  He died of cancer at age 73.

1874~ James Bogardus (b. Mar. 14, 1800), American inventor and architect.  He was a pioneer in cast-iron architecture.  He died a month after his 74^thbirthday.

1605~ Boris Gudunov (b. 1551), Russian tsar.  The exact date of his birth is not know, but he is believed to have been about 54 at the time of his death.

1275~ Eleanor of England (b. 1215), British noble woman.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

862~ Donald I (b. 812), Scottish king.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.