February 1

Birthdays:

1987~ Heather Morris (née Heather Elizabeth Morris) American actress best known for her role in Glee.

1971~ Michael C. Hall (né Michael Carlyle Hall), American actor best known his role as Dexteron the TV show of the same name.

1969~ Andrew Breitbart (né Andrew James Breitbart; d. Mar. 1, 2012), American conservative journalist and publisher. He was a graduate of Tulane University.  He died a month after his 43^rd birthday of heart failure.

1968~ Lisa Marie Presley, American singer and daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley.

1965~ Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Countess of Polignac, youngest child of Princess Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, III of Monaco.

1947~ Jessica Savitch (née Jessica Beth Savitch; d. Oct. 23, 1983), American journalist.  She was killed in a car accident at age 36.

1938~ Sherman Hemsley (né Sherman Alexander Hemsley, d. July 24, 2012), American actor who gave heart to George Jefferson on the sit-com, The Jeffersons.  He died of cancer at age 74.

1937~ Don Everly (né Isaac Donald Everly), American musician and member of The Everly Brothers.

1937~ Garrett Morris (né Garrett Isaac Morris), American actor best known for his role in the ensemble of Saturday Night Live.  He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1936~ Azie Taylor Morton (né Azie Taylor; d. Dec. 7, 2003), 36^th Treasurer of the United States from September 1977 until Jan. 1981.  She served under President Jimmy Carter.  She was the first African American to serve in this position.  She died of a stroke at age 67.

1933~ Reynolds Price (né Edward Reynolds Price, d. Jan. 20, 2011), American novelist who knew the South best.  His first novel, A Long and Happy Life, won the William Faulkner Award.  He died 12 days before his 78^th birthday.

1931~ Boris Yeltsin (d. Apr. 23, 2007), 1^st President of Russia.  He was in that Office from July 1991 until December 1999.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 76.

1928~ Tom Lantos (né Tamás Péter Lantos; d. Feb. 11, 2008), Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who championed human rights.  He served in the United States House of Representatives, representing California, for over 25 years.  He died 10 days after his 80^th birthday.

1923~ Gena Turgel (née Gena Goldfinger, d. June 7, 2018), Polish Holocaust survivor who cared for Anne Frank.  She survived the Bergen-Belen concentration camp where she nursed the dying Anne Frank. She was liberated from the camp on April 15, 1945.  She spent the rest of her life working with Holocaust educational groups.  Her memoir is entitled Light a Candle.  She died at age 95.

1921~ Winton M. Blount (né Winton Malcolm Blount, Jr.; d. Oct. 24, 2002), 59^th United States Postmaster General.  He served during the Nixon administration from January 1969 until January 1972.  He died at age 81.

1918~ Dame Muriel Spark (né Muriel Sarah Camberg; d. Apr. 13, 2006), Scottish author.  She is best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  She died at age 88.

1905~ Emilio G. Segrè (né Emilio Gino Segrè; d. Apr. 22, 1989), Italian physicist and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the elements technetium and astatine, and the antiproton, which is a subatomic antiparticle.  He was also a group leader for the Manhattan Project.  He died of a heart attack at age 84.

1904~ S.J. Perelman (né Sidney Joseph Perelman, d. Oct. 17, 1979), American author and humorist.  He died at age 75.

1902~ Langston Hughes (né James Mercer Langston Hughes, d. May 22, 1967), American poet. He died at age 65 following complications of surgery.

1901~ Clark Gable (né William Clark Gable, d. Nov. 16, 1960), American actor best known for his role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.  He died at age 59 of coronary thrombosis.

1901~ Frank Buckles (né Wood Buckles; d. Feb. 27, 2011), the last surviving American veteran of World War I.  He died 26 days after his 110^th birthday.

1894~ John Ford (d. Aug. 31, 1973), American film director.  He died of stomach cancer at age 79.

1878~ Milan Hodža (d. June 27, 1944), Czech journalist and politician.  He served as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from November 1935 until September 1938.  He died in Clear Water, Florida at age 66.  His remains were returned to his native Slovakia.

1698~ Colin Maclaurin (d. June 14, 1746), Scottish mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born on February 1, 1698.  He died at age 48.

1561~ Henry Briggs (d. Jan. 26, 1630), British mathematician.  He is best known for his work in logarithms in base 10.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born on February 1, 1561.  Thus, he died 5 days before his 69^th birthday.

1552~ Sir Edward Coke (d. Sept. 3, 1634), English judge and politician.  He died at age 82.

1352~ Edmund Mortimer, 3^rd Earl of March (d. Dec. 27, 1381), English politician.  He married Philippa Plantagenet, which ultimately gave rise to the claim of the House of York, contested in the War of the Roses.  He died at age 29.

Events that Changed the World:

2015~ The New England Patriots beat the Seattle Sea Hawks in the Super Bowl.

2013~ The Shard in London opened to the public.  At 1,016 feet high, it is the tallest building in the United Kingdom.

2004~ Janet Jackson (b. 1966) experiences a “wardrobe malfunction” during the half-time show at the Super Bowl XXXVIII. Broadcasters were forced to adopt stronger adherence to the Federal Communication Commission’s censorship guidelines.

2003~ The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.  The disintegration occurred over East Texas and north Louisiana.

2002~ Daniel Pearl (1963 ~ 2002), American journalist with the Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped on January 23, 2002, and subsequently beheaded by his captors while on assignment in Pakistan.  He was murdered for being Jewish.  He was 38 years old.

1998~ Rear Admiral Lillian Fishburne (b. 1949) became the first female African-American to be promoted to rear admiral.

1992~ The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declared Warren Anderson (1921 ~ 2014), the former CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear at the trial in the Bhopal Union Carbide chemical spill disaster case.  The United States, however, declined to extradite him, citing a lack of evidence.

1979~ The Ayatollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) was welcomed back to Tehran, Iran after being in exile for almost 15 years.

1979~ Convicted bank robber and heiress, Patty Hearst (b. 1954), was released from prison and her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.

1978~ Film director Roman Polanski (b. 1933) skipped bail and fled to France after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

1968~ The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem (1931 ~ 1968) by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan was photographed and published by Eddie Adams (1933 ~ 2004).  This photograph increased American opposition to the war in Vietnam.

1964~ The Beatles, I Want to Hold Your Hand, became their first number one hit in the United States.

1960~ Four black students staged the first sit-in at the Greensboro, North Carolina lunch counter at the beginning of the Civil Right Movement.

1958~ Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic.  It remained so until 1961.

1946~ The Parliament of Hungary abolished the monarchy after 900 years.  The country proclaimed itself to be the Hungarian Republic.

1946~ Trygve Lie (1896 ~ 1968) of Norway was selected to become the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1942~ The Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, began broadcasting programs aimed at areas controlled by Axis powers.

1920~ The Royal Canadian Mounted Police began operating.

1918~ Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar.

1884~ The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.  This volume defined words from A to Ant.

1865~ President Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) signed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1861~ Texas seceded from the United States during the American Civil War.

1814~ The Mayon Volcano in the Philippines erupted, killing over 1200 people.

1790~ The United States Supreme Court convened for the first time, however, because three of the justices could not make it to the Court at the appointed time, the scheduled meeting took place on the following day.  The initial meeting of the Court was held at the Royal Exchange Building in New York City.

1327~ The teenaged Edward III (1312 ~ 1377) was crowned King of England.  The country, however, was effectively ruled by his mother, Queen Isabella (1295 ~ 1358) and her lover, Roger Mortimer (1287 ~ 1330).

Good-Byes:

2014~ Maximilian Schell (b. Dec. 8, 1930), Austrian actor who explored World War II’s legacy. He is best known for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg.  He died at age 83.

2013~ Ed Koch (né Edward Irving Koch; b. Dec. 12, 1924), American outspoken mayor who embodied New York City.  He was the 105^th Mayor of New York City.  He served three terms as Mayor from January 1978 through December 1989. He died at age 88.

2012~ Don Cornelius (né Donald Cortez Cornelius; b. Sept. 27, 1936), African-American disc jockey who put soul on the small screen.  He was the creator of Soul Train.  He committed suicide at age 75.

2012~ Wisława Szymborska (née Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska; b. July 2, 1923), Polish poet and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She died at age 88.

2012~ Angelo Dundee (né Angelo Mirena; b. Aug. 30, 1921), American boxing trainer in the coming of boxing’s best.  He died at age 90.

2010~ David Brown (b. July 28, 1916), American movie producer who made Jaws and The Sting.  He was married to Helen Gurley Brown, the editor of Cosmopolitan.  He died of renal failure at age 93.

2005~ John Vernon (né Adolphus Raymondus Vernon, b. Feb. 24, 1932), Canadian classically trained actor who found fame as Dean Wormer in the movie Animal House.  He died 23 days before his 73^rd birthday of complications following heart surgery.

2003~ Crew of the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia:

• 2003~ Kalpana Chawla (b. Mar. 17, 1962), Indian-born astronaut.  She was aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia and was killed when the shuttle exploded upon returning to earth.  She died at age 40.
• 2003~ William McCool (né William Cameron McCool, b. Sept. 23, 1961), American astronaut.  He was the commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia.  He died at age 41 when the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry to the Earth.
• 2003~ Laurel Clark (née Laurel Blair Salton; b. Mar. 10, 1961), American astronaut who was killed during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.  She died at age 41.
• 2003~ Michael P. Anderson (né Michael Phillip Anderson; b. Dec. 25, 1959), African-American astronaut who perished in the Columbia shuttle explosion.  He was 43 at the time of his death.
• 2003~ Rick Husband (né Rick Douglas Husband, b. July 12, 1957), American astronaut who was the Commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.  He was 45 years old.
• 2003~ David Brown (né David McDowell Brown; b. Apr. 16, 1956), American astronaut who was aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia.  He died at age 46.
• 2003~ Ilan Ramon (né Ilan Wolferman; b. June 20, 1954), Israeli combat pilot and astronaut, who was killed, along with 6 other crew members, when the Columbia crashed upon re-entry.  He was the first Israeli astronaut to go into space.  He was 48 years old.

2002~ Daniel Pearl (b. Oct. 10, 1963), American journalist with the Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped on January 23, 2002, and subsequently beheaded by his captors while on assignment in Pakistan. He was 38 years old.

1997~ Herb Caen (né Herbert Eugene Caen; b. Apr. 3, 1916), American journalist and gossip columnist.  He died at age 80.

1989~ Elaine de Kooning (née Elaine Marie Fried; b. Mar. 12, 1918), American artist.  She was also the wife of artist Willem de Kooning.  She died at age 68.

1988~ Heather O’Rourke (b. Dec. 27, 1975), American actress best known for her role in Poltergeist.  She died at age 12 of cardiac arrest caused by septic shock due to a misdiagnosed intestinal stenosis.

1986~ Alva Myrdal (b. Jan. 31, 1902), Swedish sociologist and politician and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the disarmament movement.  She died 1 day after her 84^th birthday.

1986~ Ida Rhodes (née Hadassah Itzkowitz; b. May 15, 1900), Ukrainian-born American mathematician and pioneer in computer programming.  She died at age 85.

1981~ Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. (b. Apr. 6, 1892), American aviation industrialist and founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company.  He died at age 88.

1976~ Werner Heisenberg (né Werner Karl Heinsenberg; b. Dec. 5, 1901), German physicist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was a pioneer in quantum mechanics.  He died of kidney cancer at age 74.

1976~ George Whipple (né George Hoyt Whipple; b. Aug. 28, 1878), American pathologist and recipient of the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in liver therapy.  He was born in Ashland, New Hampshire.  He died at age 97.

1970~ Alfréd Rényi (d. Mar. 20, 1921), Hungarian mathematician.  He died at age 48.

1966~ Buster Keaton (né Joseph Frank Keaton; b. Oct. 4, 1895), American silent screen comedic actor.  He died of lung cancer at age 70.

1966~ Hedda Hopper (née Elda Furry; b. May 2, 1885), American gossip columnist.  She died of pneumonia at age 80.

1958~ Clinton Davisson (né Clinton Joseph Davisson; b. Oct. 22, 1881), American physicist and recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 76.

1944~ Piet Mondriaan (né Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, b. Mar. 7, 1872), Dutch artist.  He died of pneumonia at age 71.

1908~ King Carlos I (b. Sept. 28, 1863), King of Portugal.  He was King of Portugal from October 19, 1889 until his assassination 19 years later.  He was of the House of Bragaza.  He was killed, along with his son, Luis Filipe, Prince Royal (1887 ~ 1908).  The King was 44 years old; his son 20 years old.

1903~ Sir George Stokes, 1^st Baronet (né George Gabriel Stokes; b. Aug. 13, 1819), Irish mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 83.

1893~ George Henry Sanderson (b. 1824), 22^nd Mayor of San Franciscio.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1851~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, b. Aug. 30, 1797), English author best known for her gothic novel, Frankenstein.  She died at age 53.

1691~ Pope Alexander VIII (né Pietro Vito Ottoboni, b. Apr. 22, 1610).  He was Pope from October 1689 until his death less than 2 years later. To date, he is the last Pope named Alexander.  He died at age 80.

1328~ King Charles IV of France (b. June 18, 1294). He was King from January 1322 until his death in February 1328.  He had three wives, but no sons.  He was the 15^th and last king in the direct line of the House of Capet.  He died at age 33.

772~ Pope Stephen III (né Stephanus, b. 720).  He was Pope from August 768 until his death.  Before becoming the Pope, he was a Benedictine monk.  The date of his birth is not known.

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