Birthdays:
1981~ Elijah Wood (né Elijah Jordan Wood), American actor. He is best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Ring trilogy.
1980~ Michael Hastings (né Michael Mahon Hastings; d. June 18, 2013), journalist whose article on General Stanley McCrystal let to the Afghanistan Commander’s dismissal from the military. He died in a car crash at age 33.
1969~ Mo Rocca (né Maurice Alberto Rocca), American comedian and television journalist.
1955~ Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France from May 2007 until May 2012.
1947~ Jeanne Shaheen (née Cynthia Jeanne Bowers), 78th Governor of New Hampshire. She served as Governor from January 1997 until January 2003. In January 2009, she became a United States Senator.
1938~ Tomas Lindahl (né Tomas Robert Lindahl), Swedish-born British biologist specializing in cancer research. He was the recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research in the study of DNA repair.
1936~ Alan Alda (né Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo), American actor. He is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the television sit-com M*A*S*H.
1935~ David Lodge (né David John Lodge), English author and literary critic.
1922~ Robert Holley (né Robert William Holley; d. Feb. 11, 1993), American biochemist and recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died 14 days after his 71st birthday.
1912~ Jackson Pollock (né Paul Jackson Pollock, d. Aug. 11, 1956), American artist. He was killed in a car accident at age 44.
1911~ Johan van Hulst (né Johan Willem van Hulst, d. Mar. 22, 2018), Dutch teacher who saved hundreds of children during the Holocaust. He was the principal at a teachers college that was situated next to a nursery. He helped to develop an elaborate scheme to stop the children from being sent to concentration camps by the Nazis. He received the Yad Vashem distinction Righteous Among the Nations from Israel in 1973. He died at age 107.
1890~ Robert Stroud (né Robert Franklin Stroud; d. Nov. 21, 1963), American murderer and ornithologist. He was known as the Bird Man of Alcatraz, although he was not actually able to keep birds at that prison. He had, however, kept birds while at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth. He was in prison from age 18 until his death at age 73.
1887~ Arthur Rubinstein (d. Dec. 20, 1982), Polish-born American pianist. He died at age 95.
1873~ Colette (née Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette, d. Aug. 3, 1954), French writer, best known for her novel, Gigi. She died at age 81.
1865~ Kaarlo Ståhlberg (né Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, d. Sept. 22, 1952), 1st President of Finland. He served in this office from July 1919 until March 1925. He died at age 87.
1864~ Charles W. Nash (né Charles William Nash, d. June 6, 1948), American automobile entrepreneur and founder of the Nash Motors company. He died at age 84.
1841~ Sir Henry Morgan Stanley (né John Rowlands, d. May 10, 1904), Welsh-born explorer and journalist. He is best known for his search for the Scottish explorer and missionary, David Livingston. He died at age 63.
1818~ George Boutwell (né George Sewell Boutwell; d. Feb. 27, 1905), 28th Secretary of the Treasury. He served under President Ulysses S. Grant from March 1869 to March 1873. Prior to his service in the Federal Government, he had served as the 20th Governor of Massachusetts. He also served as a United States Senator from the State of Massachusetts from March 1873 until March 1877. He died a month after 87th birthday.
1784~ George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (d. Dec. 14, 1860), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Prime Minister from December 1852 until January 1855 during the reign of Queen Victoria. He died at age 76.
1768~ King Frederick VI of Denmark (d. Dec. 3, 1839), King of Denmark from Mar. 13, 1808 until Dec. 3, 1839 and King of Norway from Mar. 13, 1808 until May 17, 1814. He was married to Marie Hesse-Kassel. He was of the House of Oldenburg. He died at age 71.
1701~ Charles Marie de la Condamine (d. Feb. 4, 1774), French mathematician and geographer. He spent several years in present-day Ecuador measuring the length of a degree latitude at the equator. He died 7 days after his 73rd birthday.
1600~ Pope Clement IX (né Giulio Rospigliosi, d. Dec. 9, 1669). He was Pope from 1667 until his death at age 69 in December 1669.
1540~ Ludolph van Ceulen (d. Dec. 31, 1610), German-Dutch mathematician. He died 29 days before his 71st birthday.
1457~ King Henry VII of England (d. Apr. 21, 1509). He reigned from August 1485 until his death 24 years later. He was married to Elizabeth of York. He was of the House of Tudor. He died at age 52 and was succeeded by King Henry VIII.
1312~ Joan II (d. Oct. 6, 1349), Queen consort of Navarre and wife of Philip III, King of Navarre. Her father was King Louis X of France. She was of the House of Capet. She died at age 37.
598~ Tai Zong (d. July 10, 649), 2nd Chinese Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He ruled from September 626 until his death in July 649. He died at age 51.
Events that Changed the World:
2016~ The World Health Organization announced an outbreak of the Zika virus.
1986~ The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff, killing all seven crew members, including New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe (1948 ~ 1986).
1958~ The Lego company, a Danish company, patented the design of its Lego bricks.
1956~ Elvis Presley (1935 ~ 1977) made his first United States television appearance.
1935~ Iceland legalized therapeutic abortions, thereby becoming the first Western country to do so.
1934~ The first ski tows in the United States begin operating at Woodstock, Vermont. The tow was a rope tow. They had previously been used since 1908 in Germany.
1922~ Washington D.C., experiences its biggest recorded snowfall. The roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapsed due to heavy snow, killing many people.
1915~ The United States Coast Guard was created.
1909~ The United States withdraws its troops from Cuba. They had been a presence in Cuba since the Spanish-American War. The United States retained the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, however.
1902~ The Carnegie Institution of Washington was founded in Washington, D.C., with a $10M gift from Andrew Carnegie (1835 ~ 1919).
1896~ Walter Arnold of East Packham, Kent England became the first person to be convicted of speeding when he exceeded the speed limit of 2 miles per hour. He had been traveling at the high rate of 8 miles per hour.
1851~ Northwestern University became the first chartered university in Illinois.
1813~ Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice was first published.
1724~ The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great. In 1917, the name was changed to the Russian Academy of Sciences.
1624~ The first British colony was founded on the island of St. Kitts, in the Caribbean by Sir Thomas Warner (1580 ~ 1649).
1573~ The Articles of the Warsaw Confederation were signed guaranteeing freedom of religion in Poland.
1547~ Edward VI (1537 ~ 1553) became the first protestant King of England upon the death of his father Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547). He was 9 years old at the time. He ruled for only 6 years before he died at age 15.
1521~ The Diet of Worms began and lasted through May 25, 1521. This assembly discussed Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) and the effect of the Protestant Reformation.
Good-byes:
2018~ Gene Sharp (b. Jan. 21, 1918), American academic who helped inspire the Arab Spring. He was the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing non-violent action. He died in East Boston, Massachusetts 7 days after his 90th birthday.
2007~ Father Robert Drinan (né Robert Frederick Drinan; b. Nov. 15, 1920), American priest and politician from Massachusetts. He served in the United States House of Representatives for the State of Massachusetts from January 1971 until January 1981. He died at age 86.
2005~ Lucien Carr (b. Mar. 1, 1925), American newsman who was muse to the Beat generation. He was a key member of the original New York City circle of the Beat Generation. He died of bone cancer at age 79.
2004~ Lloyd Bucher (né Lloyd Mark Bucher; b. Sept. 1, 1927), United States Navy officer best remembers as the Captain of the USS Pueblo, which was capture by North Korea in January 1968. He died at age 76.
2002~ Astrid Lindgren (née Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson; b. Nov. 14, 1907), Swedish author best known for creating Pippi Longstocking. She died at age 94.
1996~ Joseph Brodsky (né Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky, b. May 24, 1940), Russian-born poet and recipient of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died of a heart attack at age 55.
1996~ Jerry Siegel (né Jerome Siegel; b. Oct. 17, 1914), American writer and illustrator. He, along with his friend Joseph Shuster, was the co-creator of Superman. He died at age 81.
1993~ Helen Sawyer Hogg (née Helen Battles Sawyer, b. Aug. 1, 1905), American-Canadian astronomer. She was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. She is known for her pioneering research into global clusters. She died in Ontario at age 87.
1988~ Klaus Fuchs (né Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs; b. Dec. 29, 1911), German theoretical physicist. In 1950, he was convicted of supplying information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. He spent 9 years in prison in Great Britain. After his prison term, he returned to East Germany and continued his career as a physicist. He died a month after his 76th birthday.
1986~ Astronauts on the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger:
- 1986~ Judith Resnik (née Judith Arlene Resnik; b. Apr. 5, 1949), American astronaut who was killed in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. She was 36 years old.
- 1986~ Christa McAuliffe (née Sharon Christa Corrigan; b. Sept. 2, 1948), American schoolteacher from Concord, New Hampshire, who was selected to join the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger crew. The shuttle exploded upon take-off and she was one of the seven crew members and the only civilian killed in the disaster. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was 37 years old.
- 1986~ Ellison Onizuka (né Ellison Shoji Onizuka; b. June 24, 1946), American astronaut who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challengerdisaster. He was 39 years old.
- 1986~ Michael Smith (né Michael John Smith; b. Apr. 30, 1945), American astronaut who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challengerdisaster. He was 40 years old.
- 1986~ Gregory Jarvis (né Gregory Bruce Jarvis; b. Aug. 24, 1944), American astronaut who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He was 41 years old.
- 1986~ Dick Scobee (né Francis Richard Scobee; b. May 19, 1939), American commander who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He was 46 years old.
1960~ Zora Neale Hurston (b. Jan. 7, 1891), African-American author. She was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. She died of heart disease 2 weeks after her 69th birthday.
1950~ Nikolai Luzin (b. Dec. 9, 1883), Russian mathematician. He died at age 66.
1939~ William Butler Yeats (b. June 13, 1865), Irish poet and playwright. He was the recipient of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at age 73.
1936~ Richard Loeb (né Richard Albert Loeb, b. June 11, 1905), American murderer. In 1924, he, along with his college friend, Nathan F. Leopold, Jr. (1904 ~ 1971), kidnapped and murdered a 14-year old boy simply because they thought they could get away with the “perfect crime.” They were quickly arrested and tried for the crime. Both were sentenced to life in prison. Leopold was paroled in 1958 and died of a heart attack at age 66. Loeb was killed in prison by a fellow inmate. He was 30 years old.
1936~ Oscar K. Allen, Sr. (né Oscar Kelly Allen, d. Aug. 8, 1882), 42nd Governor of Louisiana. He was Governor from May 1932 until his death. He is best known for signing into law the homestead exemption. He died in Baton Rouge at age 53 of a cerebral hemorrhage while in Office.
1859~ F. J. Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon, 1st Viscount Goderich (né Frederick John Robinson, b. Nov. 1, 1782), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He served as Prime Minister from August 1827 until January 1928, which was during the reign of King George IV. He died at age 76.
1621~ Pope Paul V (né Camillo Borghese, b. Sept. 17, 1550). He was Pope from May 1605 until his death 16 years later at age 70. He is best remembered as being the Pope who prosecuted Galileo.
1595~ Sir Francis Drake (b. 1540), English explorer. The exact date of his birth is not known. He is believed to have been 55 at the time of his death.
1549~ Elia Levita (b. Feb. 13, 1469), Renaissance Hebrew grammarian. He died 18 days after his 80th birthday.
1547~ King Henry VIII of England (b. June 28, 1491). He was the second Tutor monarch. He was King from April 1509 until his death at age 55 in January 1547.
1271~ Isabella of Aragon (b. 1247), Queen consort of France and wife of King Philip III. She died from injuries from a fall from a horse when she was six months pregnant with her fifth child. The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 22 or 23 at the time of her death.
814~ Charlemagne (b. Apr. 2, 742), King of the Franks. He is also sometimes referred to as Charles the Great. He died pleurisy at age 71.
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