May 15

Birthdays:

1981~ Zara Phillips (née Zara Anne Elizabeth Philipps), daughter of Anne, Princess Royal and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.

1978~ David Krumholtz, American actor.

1953~ George Brett (né George Howard Brett), American baseball player and coach.

1951~ Frank Wilczek (né Frank Anthony Wilczek), American mathematician and physicist.  He was the recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1948~ Brian Eno, British musician.

1948~ Kathleen Sebelius, 21^st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.  She served under President Barack Obama during the ill-fated Affordable Health Care Act roll-out.  She served in that Office from April 2009 until June 2014.

1940~ Roger Ailes (d. May 18, 2017), American TV news guru who transformed American politics.  He was the founder and one-time CEO of Fox News.  In 2016, he resigned following allegations that he sexually harassed female employees.  He died 3 days after his 77^th birthday.

1937~ Madeleine Albright (née Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright), Czech-born American 64^thUnited States Secretary of State.  She was also the first female to hold that position.  She served under President William Clinton from January 1997 until January 2001

1936~ Paul Zindel, Jr. (d. Mar. 27, 2003), American writer best known for his novel, The Pigman.  He died at age 66 of lung cancer.

1935~ Burt Shavitz (né Ingram Berg Shavitz, d. July 5, 2015), American beekeeper and bearded hippie who co-founded Burt’s Bees personal care products.  He died at age 80 in Bangor, Maine.

1930~ Jasper Johns, American painter.

1926~ Gu Chaohao (d. June 24, 2012), Chinese mathematician.  He died at age 86.

1925~ Mary F. Lyon (née Mary Frances Lyon, d. Dec. 25, 2014), British geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation. She died at age 89.

1923~ Richard Avedon (d. Oct. 1, 2004), American fashion photographer.  He died at age 81.

1918~ Eddy Arnold (né Richard Edward Arnold, d. May 8, 2008), country-western musician.  He died 1 week before his 90^th birthday.

1917~ Harry Eisen (d. July 19, 2012), Polish-born Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States and purchased Norco to become the egg baron.  He died at age 95 on complications from lung disease.

1915~ Paul Samuelson (né Paul Anthony Samuelson, d. Dec. 13, 2009), American economist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He died in Belmont, Massachusetts at age 94.

1905~ Abraham Zapruder (d. Aug. 30, 1970), American businessman who filed the famous Zapruder film showing the assassination of President John Kennedy.  He died of stomach cancer at age 65.

1904~ Clifton Fadiman (néClifton Paul Fadiman, d. June 20, 1999), American author and television personality.  He died of pancreatic cancer just a month after his 95^th birthday.

1903~ Maria Reiche (d. June 8, 1998), German mathematician and archeologist.  She died of ovarian cancer 3 weeks after her 95^th birthday.

1902~ Richard J. Daley (né Richard Joseph Daley, d. Dec. 20, 1976), 48^th Mayor of Chicago and undisputed and Democratic boss of the city of Chicago.  He died of a heart attack at age 74.

1900~ Ida Rhodes (née Hadassah Itzkowitz, d. Feb. 1, 1986), Ukrainian-born American mathematician and pioneer in computer programming.  She died at age 85.

1891~ Makhail Bulgakov (d. Mar. 10. 1940), Russian author best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which was published posthumously.  He died of kidney disease at age 48.

1890~ Katherine Anne Porter (d. Sept. 18, 1980), American author.  She is best known for her novel, Ship of Fools.  She died at age 90.

1860~ Ellen Axson Wilson (d. Aug. 6, 1914), First Lady of the United States and 1^stwife of President Woodrow Wilson.  She died at age 54 of Bright’s disease during her husband’s Presidency.

1859~ Pierre Curie (d. Apr. 19, 1906), co-discoverer, along with his wife, Marie, of Radium.  He was killed in a traffic accident, when he walked out into a street in Paris and was hit by a buggy.  He and Marie Curie were the co-recipients of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was killed in a traffic accident less than a month before his 47^th birthday when he walked out into a street in Paris and was hit by a buggy.

1859~ Natalie of Serbia (d. May 8, 1941), Queen consort of Serbia.  She was the wife of Milan I of Serbia.  She died 7 days before her 82^nd birthday.

1856~ L. Frank Baum (né Lyman Frank Baum, d. May 6, 1919), American author, best known for The Wizard of Oz.  He died of a stroke 9 days before his 63^rdbirthday.

1845~ Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (also known as Élie Metchnikoff, d. July 15, 1916), Russian microbiologist and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine.  He is credited with discovering macrophages.  He died at age 71.

1817~ Joseph Albert Campbell (d. Mar. 27, 1900), founder of the Campbell’s Soup Company.  He died at age 82.

1810~ Jacob Thompson (d. Mar. 24, 1885), 5^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President James Buchanan from March 1857 until Jan. 1861.  He resigned is position as Secretary of the Interior to become the Inspector General of the Confederacy.  He died at age 74.

1749~ Levi Lincoln, Sr. (d. Apr. 14, 1820), 4^thUnited States Attorney General.  He served under President Thomas Jefferson from March 1801 until March 1805.  He also served as Acting Secretary of State under President Jefferson.  He subsequently went on to serve as Governor of Massachusetts from December 1808 until May 1809.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died in Worcester, Massachusetts a month before his 71^st birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2008~ California became the second United States state to legalize same-sex marriage after the California Supreme Court ruled a previous ban on such marriages to be unconstitutional.  In 2004, Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages.

2006~ The Cloud Gate, also known as The Bean, was formally dedicated at Chicago’s Millennium Park.

1974~ Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked and Israeli school in Ma’a lot.  115 people were taken hostage, including over 100 school children.  31 people were killed in the massacre, including 22 children.

1972~ Alabama Governor George Wallace (1919 ~ 1998) was shot while campaigning in Maryland for the Presidency.  He would paralyzed from his injuries and spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

1970~ President Richard Nixon appointed Anna Mae Hays (b. 1920) and Elizabeth Hoisington (1918 ~ 2007) as the first female United States Army Generals.

1970~ Two students were killed at Jackson State University in Mississippi by police during an anti-Vietnam war student protest.

1963~ NASA launched its final Project Mercury mission.  Gordon Cooper (1927 ~ 2004) was the astronaut aboard, becoming the first American to spend more than a day in space.

1948~ Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded Israel, thus beginning the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

1942~ The bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was signed into law.

1942~ Gasoline rationing took place in 17 States, mostly along the East Coast.

1940~ McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.  The initial restaurant was owned and run by two brothers ~ Richard and Maurice McDonald.

1928~ Mickey Mouse made his debut in the cartoon, Plane Crazy.

1911~ The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Standard Oil Company of New York v. United States, where it was held that Standard Oil was an unreasonable monopoly under the Sherman Anti-trust Act.

1905~ Las Vegas, Nevada was founded when 110 acres was auctioned off.  These areas would later become downtown Las Vegas.

1869~ Susan B. Anthony (1820 ~ 1906) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 ~ 1902) formed the National Woman Suffrage Association.

1862~ President Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) signed a bill creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture, the precursor to the US Department of Agriculture.

1755~ Laredo, Texas was founded.

1718~ James Puckle (1677 ~ 1724) patented the first working machine gun in England.

1567~ Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 ~ 1587), married her third husband, James Hepburn, 4^thEarle of Bothwell (1534 ~ 1578).

1536~ Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1531), Queen of England, was forced to stand trial on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She was ultimately found guilty and condemned to death.  She would be executed 4 days later on May 19, 1536.

Good-Byes:

2015~ Elisabeth Bing (née Elisabeth Dorothea Koenigsberger, b. July 8, 1914), German physical therapist and natural-birth campaigner who popularized Lamaze.  She was known as the Mother of Lamaze.  She was 100 years old.

2013~ Thomas M. Messer (né Thomas Maria Messer, b. Feb. 9, 1920), Czech-American museum director who tended the Guggenheim Foundation.  He died at age 93.

2012~ Carlos Fuentes (né Carlos Fuentes Macías, b. Nov. 11, 1928), Mexican author.  He died at age 83.

2010~ Moshe Greenberg (b. July 10, 1928), American-Israeli scholar.  He died at age 81.

2009~ Wayman Tisdale (né Wayman Lawrence Tisdale, b. June 9, 1964), American NBA basketball player who became a guitarist. He died of cancer three weeks before his 45^thbirthday.

2008~ Willis Lamb, Jr. (b. July 12, 1913), American physicist and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 94.

2007~ Jerry Falwell (né Jerry Lamon Falwell, b. Aug. 11, 1933), Evangelical preacher and conservative activist.  He was the cofounder of the Moral Majority. He died of sudden cardiac arrest at age 73.

2003~ June Carter Cash (née Valerie June Carter, b. June 23, 1929), American country singer and wife of Johnny Cash.  She died at age 73 of complications following heart-valve replacement surgery.

1991~ Andreas Floer (b. Aug. 23, 1956), German mathematician.  He committed suicide at age 34.

1986~ Theodore H. White (né Theodore Harold White, b. May 6, 1915), American historian and writer.  He died of a stroke one week after his 73^rd birthday.

1978~ Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (b. Dec. 20, 1894), Prime Minister of Australia. He served for 2 for two terms from 1939 to 1941 and 1949 to 1966.  He died of a heart attack at age 83.

1971~ Donald F. Duncan, Sr. (b. June 6, 1892), American toymaker and founder of the Duncan Toys Company.  He was killed in a car accident 22 days before his 79^th birthday.

1967~ Edward Hopper (b. July 22, 1882), American realist painter.  He died at age 84.

1948~ Father Edward J. Flanagan (né Edward Joseph Flanagan, b. July 13, 1886), American Catholic priest and founder of Boys Town.  He died of a heart attack at age 61.

1924~ Paul-Henri-Benjamin d’Estournelles de Constant (b. Nov. 22, 1852), French diplomat and recipient of the 1909 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was an advocate of international arbitration.  He died at age 71.

1886~ Emily Dickinson (née Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, b. Dec. 10, 1830), American poet.  She was born and died in Amherst, Massachusetts.  She died at age 55.

1852~ Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (b. Feb. 12, 1775), First Lady of the United States and wife of President John Quincy Adams.  She died at age 77.

1157~ Yuri Dolgorukiy (b. 1099), Russian prince and founder of Moscow. The date of his birth is unknown. He is believed to have been about 57 or 58 at the time of his death.

926~ Zhuang Zong (b. Dec. 2, 885), Chinese emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. He died at age 40.

884~ Pope Marinus I.  He was pope from December 882 until his death in May 884. The date of his birth is unknown.

392~ Valentinian II (b. 371), Roman Emperor.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.  He ruled over the Roman Empire from November 375 until his death 12 years later.