Birthdays:
1959~ John C. McGinley (néJohn Christopher McGinley), American actor.
1959~ Koichi Tanaka, Japanese chemist and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1943~ Béla Bollobás, Hungarian mathematician.
1941~ Martha Stewart (née Martha Helen Kostyra), American businesswoman.
1940~ Martin Sheen (né Ramón Antonio Geraldo Estévez), American actor.
1926~ Roger G. Kennedy (né Roger George Kennedy, d. Sept. 30, 2011), American polymath and preservationist with a broad view of America’s past. He served as the Director of the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History from 1979 to 1992 before heading the National Park Service in 1993. He was responsible for putting Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz on display. He died at age 85.
1926~ Tony Bennett (né Anthony Dominick Benedetto), American singer.
1924~ Leon Uris (né Leon Marcus Uris, d. June 21, 2003), American writer, best known for his novel, Exodus, which is about the creation of the State of Israel. He died at age 78.
1923~ Anne Klein (née Hannah Golofski, d. Mar. 19, 1974), American fashion designer. She died of breast cancer at age 50.
1921~ Matthew Perry (né Matthew James Perry, Jr., d. July 31, 2011), African-American Federal District Court Judge and attorney tirelessly who fought for civil rights. He died 3 days before his 90th birthday.
1920~ P. D. James (aka Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, d. Nov. 27, 2014), English crime writer who made murder into literature. She died at age 94.
1910~ Bunny Mellon (née Rachel Lowe Lambert Lloyd Mellon, d. Mar. 17, 2014), American heiress who designed the Rose Garden at the White House. She died at age 103.
1902~ Regina Jonas (d. 1944), the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi. She was murdered at age 42 Auschwitz during World War II. The exact date of her death is not known.
1901~ John Stannis (né John Cornelius Stannis, d. Apr. 23, 1995), American politician from Mississippi. The John C. Stannis Space Center is named in his honor. He died at age 93.
1900~ Ernie Pyle (né Ernest Taylor Pyle, d. Apr. 18, 1945), American journalist. He was killed reporting during World War II. He was 44 years old.
1900~ John T. Scopes (né John Thomas Scopes, d. Oct. 21, 1970), American educator and defendant in the Scopes trial for attempting to teach evolution in the Tennessee schools. He was found guilty and fined $100. He died in Shreveport, Louisiana at age 70.
1872~ King Haakon VII of Norway (né Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel, d. Sept. 21, 1957). He was King from November 1905 until his death at age 85 in September 1957.
1867~ Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (d. Dec. 14, 1947), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Prime Minister from June 1935 through May 1937 during the reigns of Kings George V, Edward VIII and George VI. He died at age 80.
1851~ George FitzGerald (né George Francis FitzGerald, d. Feb. 22, 1901), Irish mathematician. He died following complications for a perforated ulcer at age 49.
1824~ William Woods (né William Burnham Woods, d. May 14, 1887), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes. He served on the Court from December 1880 until his death 6 ½ years later. He died at age 62.
1811~ Elisha Otis (né Elisha Graves Otis, d. Apr. 8, 1861), 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.
1808~ Hamilton Fish (d. Sept. 7, 1893), 26th United States Secretary of State. He served under Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes. He served in that Office from March 1869 through March 1877. He had previously served as the Governor of New York, from January 1849 through December 1950. He died about a month after his 85th birthday.
1803~ Sir Joseph Paxton (d. June 8, 1865), English gardener and architect. He designed the Crystal Palace. He died at age 61.
1766~ Aaron Chorin (d. Aug. 24, 1844), Hungarian rabbi and author. He was a pioneer of religious reform. He died 21 days after his 78th birthday.
Events that Changed the World:
2014~ A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck in Yunnan, China killing over 600 people and injuring over 2,400 others.
2005~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (b. 1956) became the President of Iran. He was president for 8 years, until August 3, 2013.
2004~ The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopened for the first time since the September 11 attacks.
1960~ Niger gained its independence from France.
1949~ The National Basketball Association was founded in the United States.
1936~ Jesse Owens (1913 ~ 1980) won the 100 meter dash at the Berlin Olympics.
1921~ Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866 ~ 1944) confirmed the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
1914~ Germany and France declared war against each other during World War I. Romania declared its neutrality.
1900~ The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company was founded.
1859~ The American Dental Association was founded.
1852~ First Boat Race between Yale and Harvard was held, which was also the first American intercollegiate athletic event. Yale lost.
1778~ The La Scala, the opera house in Milan, Italy, was inaugurated.
1492~ Christopher Columbus (1451 ~ 1506) set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the “New World.”
Good-Byes:
2015~ Robert Conquest (né George Robert Acworth Conquest, b. July 15, 1917), British-American historian who documented Stalin’s Crimes. He is most well-known for his influential works on Soviet history, including The Great Terror: Stalin’s Purges of the 1930s. He died 19 days after his 98th birthday
2012~ Martin Fleischmann (b. Mar. 29, 1927), Czech-born chemist who promised an energy miracle. He is best known for his work with electrochemistry. He caused a media sensation when a premature announcement of his cold fusion research could result in a nuclear reaction. His family was Jewish and ultimately ended up in Great Britain. He died at age 85.
2008~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (b. Dec. 11, 1918), Russian novelist and Soviet dissident who chronicled the evils of communism. He was the recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at age 89.
2004~ Henri Cartier-Bresson (b. Aug. 22, 1908), French photographer. He died less than 3 weeks before his 96th birthday.
1993~ Eugene T. Maleska (né Eugene Thomas Maleska, b. Jan. 6, 1916), American crossword puzzle creator and editor. He died of throat cancer at age 77.
1979~ Bertil Gotthard Ohlim (b. Apr. 23, 1899), Swedish economist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He died at age 80.
1966~ Lenny Bruce (né Leonard Alfred Schneider, b. Oct. 13, 1925), American comedian. He died at age 40 of a drug overdose.
1964~ Flannery O’Connor (née Mary Flannery O’Connor, b. Mar. 25, 1925), American Southern author. She died of complications of lupus at age 39.
1954~ Colette (née Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette, b. Jan. 28, 1873), French writer, best known for her novel, Gigi. She died at age 81.
1942~ Richard Willstätter (né Richard Martin Willstätter, b. Aug. 13, 1872), German chemist and recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died 10 days before his 70th birthday.
1929~ Emile Berliner (b. May 20, 1851), German-born American inventor who is best known for inventing the phonograph. He died of a heart attack at age 78.
1924~ Joseph Conrad (né Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, b. Dec. 3, 1857), Polish-born British writer. He is best known for his novel Lord Jim, as well as stories of the sea. He died at age 66.
1917~ Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (b. Oct. 26, 1849), German mathematician. He died at age 67.
1881~ William Fargo (né William George Fargo, b. May 20, 1818), American businessman and co-founder of Wells Fargo and American Express. He also served as the 27th Mayor of Buffalo, New York from 1862 until 1866. He died at age 63 following a long illness.
1877~ William B. Ogden (né William Butler Ogden, b. June 15, 1805), 1st Mayor of Chicago. He was a railroad executive before becoming Mayor. He was Mayor from 1837 until 1838. He died at age 72.
1546~ Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (b. Apr. 12, 1484), Italian architect. He designed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He died at age 61.
1460~ King James II of Scotland (b. Oct. 16, 1430). He was King of Scots from February 1437 until his death at age 29 in August 1460.
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