April 8

Birthdays:

1968~ Patricia Arquette, American actress.

1963~ Julian Lennon (né John Charles Julian Lennon), English singer and songwriter.  He is the son of Beatle, John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia.

1955~ Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist.

1946~ Catfish Hunter (né James Augustus Hunter, d. Sept. 9, 1999), American baseball player. He died at age 53 from ALS.

1940~ John Joseph Havlicek, American basketball player.  He played for the Boston Celtics for 16 seasons.

1938~ Kofi Atta Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and 7^thSecretary-General of the United Nations. He served as Secretary-General from January 1997 through December 2006.

1938~ Mary Lee Wheat Gray, American mathematician and attorney.

1932~ József Antall (d. Dec. 12, 1993), Prime Minister of Hungary.  He was the first democratically elected Prime Minister after the fall of communism.  He served from May 1990 until his death in December 1993.  He died of cancer at age 61.

1928~ Leah Rabin (d. Nov. 12, 2000), wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  She died of lung cancer at age 72.

1919~ Ian Douglas Smith (d. Nov. 20, 2007), Zimbabwean politician and Prime Minister of Rhodesia.  He died at age 88.

1918~ Betty Ford (née Elizabeth Ann Bloomer, d. July 8, 2011), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Gerald Ford.  She elevated candor to a public virtue.  She died at age 93.

1917~ Winifred Alice Asprey (d. Oct. 19, 2007), American mathematician and computer scientist.  She was one of a very small group of women to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in the 1940s.  She died at age 90.

1914~ María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (d. Apr. 8, 2002), Mexican film actress and singer.  She was one of the most successful actresses during the 1940s and 1950s in Latin American cinema.  She died of cardiovascular disease on her 88^thbirthday.

1912~ Sonja Henie (d. Oct. 12, 1969), Norwegian figure skater.  She died from complications from leukemia while in flight from Oslo to Paris.  She was 57 years old.

1911~ Melvin Ellis Calvin (d. Jan. 8, 1997), American chemist and recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died at age 85.

1904~ Sir John Richard Hicks (d. May 20, 1989), English economist and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his contributions to general equilibrium theory.  He died at age 85.

1892~ Mary Pickford (née Gladys Marie Smith, d. May 29, 1979), Canadian silent film actress and co-founder of United Artists.  She died at age of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 87.

1859~ Edmund Husserl (d. Apr. 27, 1938), Austrian mathematician.  He died 19 days after his 79^thbirthday.

1842~ Elizabeth Bacon Custer (d. Apr. 4, 1933), American author and educator.  She was the wife and widow of General George Custer.  She died 4 days before her 91^stbirthday.

1832~ Howell Edmunds Jackson (d. Aug. 8, 1895), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Benjamin Harrison.  He served on the court from February 1893 until his death at age 63 two years later.

1818~ August Wilhelm von Hofmann (d. May 5, 1892), German organic chemist.  He died a month after his 74^thbirthday.

1818~ Christian IX of Denmark (d. Jan. 29, 1906).  He died at age 87.

1732~ David Rittenhouse (d. June 26, 1796), American astronomer and mathematician.  He was also the first director of the United States mint.  He died at age 64.  He died at age 64.

Events that Changed the World:

2012~ Easter Sunday.

2005~ The funeral of Pope John Paul II (1920 ~ 2005) was held two days after his death in the Vatican.  Over 4 million people attended.

1974~ Hank Aaron (b. 1934) broke Babe Ruth’s career major league home run record with his 715^thhome run.

1959~ Grace Hopper (1906 ~ 1992) lead a group of computer manufacturers, user and university staff met at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would become known as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)

1952~ President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) called for a seizure of all steel mills in the US in an effort to prevent a nationwide strike.

1935~ The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 became law.

1913~ The 17^thAmendment to the United States Constitution became law.  The Amendment required direct election of Senators.

1904~ Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed Times Square after The New York Timesnewspaper.

1864~ During the American Civil War, the Union forces were thwarted by the Confederate Army at Mansfield, Louisiana.

1820~ The Venus de Milo was discovered on the Aegean Island of Melos.

1730~ The Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, was dedicated.  The congregation was Sephardic and dates from 1654 when the first Jews settled in New Amsterdam.

1093~ Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England was dedicated.

Good-Byes:

2015~ Joel Solon Spira (b. Mar. 1, 1927), American inventor who made mood light possible with the creation of the dimmer light.  He died of a heart attack at age 88.

2013~ Annette Joanne Funicello (b. Oct. 22, 1942), American actress.  She was one of the original Mickey Mouseketters.  She died at age 70 of complications from multiple sclerosis.

2013~ Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (b. Oct. 13, 1925), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.  She was known as the Iron Lady who remade Britain.  She died at age 87.

2002~ María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (b. Apr. 8, 1914), Mexican film actress and singer.  She was one of the most successful actresses during the 1940s and 1950s in Latin American cinema.  She died of cardiovascular disease on her 88^thbirthday.

1996~ George Washington Jenkins, Jr. (b. Sept. 29, 1907), American businessman and founder of Publix Super Markets.  He died at age 88.

1993~ Marian Anderson (b. Feb. 27, 1897), African-American contralto.  She died at age 96 of congestive heart failure and complications of a stroke.

1992~ Daniel Bovet (b. Mar. 23, 1907), Swiss-born pharmacologist and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery that certain drugs can block the action of specific neurotransmitters.  He died 16 days after his 85^thbirthday.

1990~ Ryan White (b. Dec. 6, 1971), American AIDS activist.  He had hemophilia and contracted AIDS from his numerous blood transfusions.  He died at age 18.

1984~ Pyokr Kapitsa (b. July 8, 1894), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is best known for his work in low-temperatures physics.  He was born when Russia still used the Julian calendar, so his birth date is sometimes given as June 26.  He died at age 89.

1981~ Omar Nelson Bradley (b. Feb. 12, 1893), American Five-Star General.  He was the 1^stChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served in this position under Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.  He died at age 88.

1973~ Pablo Picasso (b. Oct. 25, 1881), Spanish artist and sculptor.  He died at age 91.

1950~ Vaslav Nijinsky (b. Mar. 12, 1890), Russian dancer and choreographer.  He died of kidney failure less than a month after his 61^stbirthday.

1942~ Suzan Rose Benedict (b. Nov. 29, 1873), American mathematician.  She was the first woman awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan. She had a long career at Smith University in Massachusetts.  She died of a heart attack at age 68 in Northampton, Massachusetts.

1936~ Róbert Bárány (b. Apr. 22, 1876), Austrian physician and recipient of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died 14 days before his 60^thbirthday.

1935~ Adolph Ochs (b. Mar. 12, 1858). American owner and publisher of The New York Times.  He died less than a month before his 78^thbirthday.

1934~ Franklin Clarence Mars (b. Sept. 24, 1883), American businessman and founder of Mars, Inc., the chocolate company.  He died of heart disease at age 51.

1931~ Erik Alex Karlfeldt (b. July 20, 1864), Swedish poet and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize posthumously.  He was the first person to be awarded a Nobel Prize after his death.  He died at age 66.

1919~ F.W. Woolworth (né Frank Winfield Woolworth, b. Apr. 13, 1852), 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.

1906~ Auguste Deter (b. May 16, 1850), German woman and the first recorded Alzheimer’s victim.  She died at age 55.

1861~ Elisha Graves Otis (b. Aug. 3, 1811), American industrialist, inventor of the modern elevator break. He was the founder of the Otis Elevator Company.  He was born in Vermont.  He died of diphtheria at age 49.

1492~ Lorenzo de’Medici (b. Jan. 1, 1449), Italian statesman and de factoruler of the Florentine Republic.  He died at age 43.

1461~ Georg von Peuerbach (b. May 30, 1423), German-Austrian mathematician and astronomer.  He died of what is believed to be leukemia at age 37.

1364~ King John II of France (b. Apr. 26, 1319).  He died 18 days before his 45^thbirthday.

944~ Wang Yanxi, Chinese emperor of Min, during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  The date of his birth is not known.