April 24

Birthdays:

1952~ Jean-Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer

1948~ Paul Cellucci (né Argeo Paul Cellucci, d. June 8, 2013), 69^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He was Governor from April 2001 until March 2005.  He died of ALS at age 65.

1947~ Roger David Kornberg, American chemist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1942~ Richard Michael Daley, 54^thMayor of Chicago.

1942~ Barbra Streisand (née Barbara Joan Streisand), American singer.

1941~ Richard Holbrooke (né Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke, d. Dec. 13, 2010), 22^ndAmerican Ambassador to the United Nations.  He died at age 69 from complications of a torn aorta.

1940~ Sue Taylor Grafton (d. Dec. 28, 2017), American crime writer who went from A to Y.  In the early 1980s she began writing about Kinsey Milhone, a private investigator, in the book A is for Alibi.  She continued the series through the letter Y before of cancer at age 77.

1936~ Jill Ireland (d. May 18, 1990), British actress.  She died of breast cancer 24 days after her 54^thbirthday.

1934~ Shirley MacLaine (née Shirley MacLean Beaty), American actress.

1924~ Sir Clement Raphael Freud (d. Apr. 15, 2009), British bon vivant and broadcaster.  He was the grandson of Sigmund Freud and brother of Lucian Freud.  He died 9 days before his 85^thbirthday.

1921~ Louis Lenart (né Layos Lenovitz, d. July 20, 2015), Hungarian-born American fighter pilot who saved Tel Aviv during the 1948 war.  He died in Israel at age 94.

1919~ David Blackwell (d. July 8, 2010), American mathematician.  He died at age 91.

1914~ Justin E. Wilson (d. Sept. 5, 2001), American Cajun chef and humorist.  He was born in Roseland, Louisiana and died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He died in Baton Rouge at age 87.

1905~ Robert Penn Warren (d. Sept. 15, 1989), Southern American novelist, best known for All the King’s Men, which is a fictional account of Louisiana’s Huey P. Long.  He died at age 84 in Stratton, Vermont.

1904~ Willem de Kooning (d. Mar. 19, 1997), Dutch artist and painter.  He died less than a month before his 93^rdbirthday.

1899~ Oscar Zariski (d. July 4, 1986), Russian-born mathematician.  He died in Brookline, Massachusetts at age 87.

1897~ Manuel Ávila Camacho (d. Oct. 13, 1955), President of Mexico.  He served as President from December 1940 until November 1946.  He died at age 58.

1880~ Gideon Sundbäck (d. June 21, 1954), Swedish-American engineer and inventor of the zipper.  He died at age 74.

1862~ A.C. Benson (néArthur Christopher Benson, d. June 17, 1925), British essayist, poet and author.  He died at age 63.

1856~ Philippe Pétain (d. July 23, 1951), Prime Minister of France.  He was considered a Nazi collaborator.  After World War II, he was tried and convicted of treason.  He died at age 95.

1845~ Carl Spitteler (néCarl Friedrich George Spitteler, d. Dec. 29, 1924), Swiss poet and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 79.

1815~ Anthony Trollope (d. Dec. 6, 1882), English novelist.  He died at age 67.

1784~ Peter Vivian Daniel (d. May 31, 1860), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Martin Van Buren. He served on the Court from March 1841 until his death in May 19 years later.  He was 76 years old.

1743~ Edmund Cartwright (d. Oct. 30, 1823), English clergyman and inventor of the power loom.  He died at age 80.

1581~ Vincent de Paul (d. Sept. 27, 1660), French saint who dedicated his life to tending the poor.  Numerous Catholic charities still use his name.  He died at age 79.

1533~ William I of Orange (d. July 10, 1584).  He was also known as William the Silent.  He was instrumental in the creation of the country of the Netherlands.  He died at age 51.

Events that Changed the World:

2005~ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (b. 1927) was inaugurated as the 265^thPope of the Roman Catholic Church.  From hence forth, he was known as Pope Benedict XVI.  He resigned in February 2013.

1990~ NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope.

1957~ The Suez Canal, which had been closed during the Suez Canal Crisis, was reopened on orders of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).

1953~ Winston Churchill (1874 ~ 1965) was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926).

1933~ Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnessesses.

1923~ Sigmund Freud’s paper The Ego and the Id, which outlined his theories of the id, the ego and the super-ego, was published in Vienna.

1916~ The Irish Republican Brotherhood, led by Patrick Pearse (1789 ~ 1816), James Connolly (1868 ~ 1916) and Joseph Plunkett (1887 ~ 1916), began a rebellion in Ireland, known as the Easter Rising.

1915~ The beginning of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey began with the arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.

1913~ The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City opened.

1907~ Milton S. Hersey (1857 ~ 1945) founded Hersheypark for the use of his employees.

1885~ Annie Oakley (1860 ~ 1926) joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.

1800~ The American Library of Congress was established when President John Adams (1835 ~ 1826) signed legislation appropriated funds to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.”

1704~ The first regular newspaper, the Boston News-Letter, in the United States was published in Boston, Massachusetts.

1558~ Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 ~ 1587) married François (1544 ~ 1560), Dauphin of France.

1184 BCE~ The traditional date for the fall of Troy.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Nicholas Sand (b. May 10, 1941), American chemist who spread the gospel of LSD.  He was a strong advocate for using LSD throughout his life.  He died 16 days before his 76^thbirthday.

2017~ Robert Maynard Pirsig (b. Sept. 6, 1928), American author who philosophized about the open road.  He is best known for his first novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  He died at age 88 in South Berwick, Maine.

2010~ W. Willard Wirtz (né William Willard Wirtz, b. Mar. 14, 1912), 10^thSecretary of Labor.  He served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.  He died at age 98.

2008~ Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer, b. July 1, 1906), American cosmetics entrepreneur and founder of Estée Lauder Cosmetics Company.  She died at age 97.

2007~ Warren Avis (b. Aug. 4, 1915), American businessman and founder of Avis Rent-a-Car.  He died at age 91.

2005~ Ezer Weizman (b. June 15, 1924), 7^thPresident of Israel.  He served in that Office from May 1993 until July 2000.  He was born in Tel Aviv before the creation of the State of Israel. He died of respiratory failure at age 80.

1997~ Pat Paulsen (né Patrick Layton Paulsen, b. July 6, 1927), American comedian and sometimes politician.  He died of cancer at age 69.

1986~ Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (née Bessie Wallis Warfield, b. June 19, 1896), wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of England.  She died at age 89.

1974~ William Alexander “Bud” Abbot (b. Oct. 2, 1895), American comedian and half of the comedy team Abbot and Costello.  He died of cancer at age 76.

1964~ Gerhard Domagk (b. Oct. 30, 1895), German bacteriologist and recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in antibiotics.  The Nazis forced him to refuse to accept the Nobel Prize.  In 1947, he was finally able to accept the medal, however, he due to the lapse in time, he was unable to receive the monetary award.  He died of a heart attach at age 68.

1960~ Max von Laue (b. Oct. 9, 1879), German physicist and recipient of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.  He died at age 80.

1947~ Willa Sibert Cather (b. Dec. 7, 1873), American novelist.  She died at age 73.

1942~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (b. Nov. 30, 1874), Canadian author, best known for Anne of Green Gables.  She died at age 67.

1933~ Felix Adler (b. Aug. 13, 1851), German-born American educator and social reformer.  He died at age 81.

1779~ Eleazar Wheelock (b. Apr. 22, 1711), American minister and educator.  He was the founder of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He died 2 days after his 68^thbirthday.

1731~ Daniel Defoe (b. Sept. 13, 1660), English writer, best known for his novel, Robinson Crusoe.  He died at about age 71.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but is believed to have been September 13, 1660.

1656~ Thomas Fincke (b. Jan. 6, 1561), Danish mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 95.