March 30

Birthdays:

1979~ Norah Jones (née Geetali Norah Jones Shankar), American singer-songwriter.

1949~ Ray Magliozzi (né Raymond Francis Magliozzi), American radio personality who, along with his older brother Tom Magliozzi (1937 ~ 2014), hosted NPR’s Car Talk.

1945~ Eric Clapton (né Eric Patrick Clapton), English rock musician and composer.  Clapton was the first musician to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times.

1937~ Warren Beatty (né Henry Warren Beatty), American actor.

1934~ Paul Crouch (né Paul Franklin Crouch; d. Nov. 30, 2013), American televangelist who asked believers to dig deep.  He founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network.  He died at age 79.

1930~ John Astin (né John Allen Astin), American actor.

1929~ Richard Dysart (né Richard Allen Dysart; d. Apr. 5, 2015), American actor best known for his role as Leland McKenzie on LA Law.  He died 6 days after his 86^th birthday.

1928~ Tom Sharpe (né Thomas Ridley Sharpe; d. June 6, 2013), British novelist who fused satire and smut.  He died at age 85.

1926~ Anthony Smith (né Anthony John Francis Smith; d. July 7, 2014), British adventurer who crossed land, sea and air.  In 2011, well into his 80s, he sailed from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas. He died at age 88.

1926~ Ingvar Kamprad (né Feodor Ingvar Kamprad; d. Jan. 27, 2018), Swedish entrepreneur and founder of IKEA who took Swedish style global.  He died at age 91.

1926~ Peter Marshall (né Ralph Pierre LaCook), American game show host.

1919~ McGeorge Bundy (d. Sept. 16, 1996), 6^th United States National Security Advisor.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from January 1961 until February 1966.  He was from Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of a heart attack at age 77.

1919~ Robin M. Williams (né Robert Martin Williams; d. Mar. 18, 2013), New Zealand mathematician.  He died 12 days before his 94^th birthday

1913~ Richard Helms (né Richard McGarrah Helms; d. Oct. 23, 2002), 8^thDirector of the Central Intelligence Agency.  He served under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon from June 1966 until February 1973.  He died at age 89.

1910~ Józef Marcinkiewicz (d. 1940), Polish mathematician.  He is believed to have died in the Katyn massacre near Smolensk during World War II.  The exact date of his death is unknown.

1902~ Brook Astor (née Roberta Brooke Russell; d. Aug. 13, 2007), American socialite and philanthropist.  She was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Her third husband was William Vincent Astor.  She died at age 105.

1895~ Carl Lutz (d. Feb. 12, 1975), Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during World War II.  He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews during the War. By issuing safe-conduct certificates that allowed Jews to emigrate to what is now Israel.  He is the Righteous Among the Nations.  He died at age 79.

1892~ Stefan Banach (d. Aug. 31, 1945), Polish mathematician.  He is considered to be the founder of modern functional analysis.  He died of lung cancer at age 53.

1880~ Seán O’Casey (né John Casey, d. Sept. 18, 1964), Irish playwright.  He died at age 84.

1874~ Nicolae Rădescu (d. May 16, 1953), Romanian general and Prime Minister of Romania.  He was the last pre-Communist Prime minister.  He served from December 1944 until March 1945.  He died at age 79.

1853~ Vincent van Gogh (né Vincent Willem van Gogh; d. July 29, 1890), Dutch painter.  He died by suicide at age 37.

1820~ Anna Sewell (d. Apr. 25, 1878), English novelist, who is best known for her novel, Black Beauty.  She died of tuberculosis just 26 days before her 59^th birthday.

1811~ Robert Bunsen (né Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen; d. Aug. 16, 1899), German chemist and inventor.  He developed the Bunsen burner.  He died at age 88.

1746~ Francisco Goya (d. Apr. 16, 1828), Spanish painter.  He died just over 2 weeks after his 82^nd birthday.

1606~ Vincentio Reinieri (d. Nov. 5, 1647), Italian mathematician.  The crater Reiner on the Moon is named in his honor.  He died at age 41.

1326~ Tsar Ivan II of Russia (d. Nov. 13, 1359).  He was known as Ivan the Fair.  He followed Tsar Simeon I and was succeeded by Tsar Dmitri I.  He was married first to Fedosia of Bryansk, then to Alexandra Velyaminova.  He died at age 33.

1135~ Maimonides (né Moshe ben Maimon, also known as the Rambam, which stands for Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, d. Dec. 12, 1204), preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher, rabbi and Torah scholar.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  It has been recorded as early as March 29 and as late as April 4, 1135. March 30 is the generally accepted date of his birth.  Although he was born in Córdoba, Spain, he traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean.  He died in Egypt at age 69.

892~ Emperor Shi Jingtang (d. July 28, 942) 1^st Chinese Emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty.  He reigned from November 936 until his death 6 years later.  He died at age 50.

Events that Changed the World:

1981~ President Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004) was shot in Washington, D.C., by John Hinckley, Jr. (b. 1955)

1965~ A car bomb exploded in front of the United States Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam.  Twenty-two people were killed and nearly 200 were wounded.

1964~ The game show Jeopardy! made its debut.  The original host was Art Fleming (1924 ~ 1995).

1910~ The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was founded by the Mississippi legislature.

1909~ The Queensboro Bridge opened, which linked Manhattan to Queens.

1870~ The 15^th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted the right to vote to men regardless of race, was adopted.

1870~ Texas was readmitted into the Union following Reconstruction.

1867~ The United States purchased the Alaska territory from Russia for $7.2 M, or about 2 cents/acre.  United States Secretary of State William Steward (1801 ~ 1872) was in favor of this purchase and Alaska was initially referred to as Steward’s folly.

1856~ The Treaty of Paris was signed, thereby ending the Crimean War.

1842~ Ether anesthesia was used for the first time in an operation to remove a tumor from the neck of a patient.  Dr. Crawford Long (1815 ~ 1878) performed the operation in Georgia.

1822~ The Florida Territory was formally organized as an unincorporated territory into the United States.

Good-byes:

2018~ Anna Chennault (née Chan Sheng Mai; b. June 23, 1923), Chinese-born power broker who schemed with Richard Nixon.  She was actually born in 1923, but her birthday is reported as being on June 12, 1925.  She married American General Claire Chennault in 1947.  He was 30 years her senior and died in 1958.  She was a prominent Republican member of the China Lobby.  In 1968, she sent word to South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu that if he boycotted the planned peace talks with North Vietnam, he would secure the full support of President Nixon.  She died at age 94.

2016~ Seymour Lazar (né Seymour Manuel Lazar; b. June 14, 1929), American celebrity lawyer who embraced the counterculture.  He died at age 88.

2015~ Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld (b. Oct. 21, 1921), Dutch astronomer.  She died at age 93.

2013~ Phil Ramone (né Philip Rabinowitz; b. Jan. 5, 1934), American music producer who made the stars shine.  He produced albums for Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Billy Joel and countless others.  He died following surgery for an aortic aneurism.  He was 79 years old.

2009~ Herman Franks (né Herman Louis Franks; b. Jan. 4, 1914), American baseball catcher and manager.  He died at 95.

2008~ Roland Fraïssé (b. Mar. 12, 1920), French mathematical logician.  He died 18 days after his 88^th birthday.

2005~ Mitch Hedberg (né Mitchell Lee Hedberg; b. Feb. 24, 1968), American stand-up comedian.  He died at age 37 of a drug overdose.

2004~ Alistair Cooke (né Alfred Cooke; b. Nov. 20, 1908), English-born journalist and longtime host of Masterpiece Theater.  He died at age 95.

2002~ Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (née Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon; b. Aug. 4, 1900), Scottish Queen Consort of King George VI, and mother of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.  She was known as the Queen Mother.  She died at age 101.

1986~ James Cagney (né James Francis Cagney, Jr.; b. July 17, 1899), American actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 86.

1981~ DeWitt Wallace (né William Roy DeWitt Wallace; b. Nov. 12, 1889), American publisher and co-founder along with his wife, Lila Wallace, of Reader’s Digest.  He died at age 91.

1966~ Maxfield Parrish (né Frederick Parrish, b. July 25, 1870), American artist.  He died in Plainfield, New Hampshire at age 95.

1965~ Philip Showalter Hench (d. Feb. 28, 1896), American physician and recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died of pneumonia about a month after his 69^th birthday.

1950~ Léon Blum (né André Léon Blum; b. Apr. 8, 1872), Jewish-French lawyer and Prime Minister of France.  He served in that office for three terms, first for a month from March to April 1938; second from June 1936 until July 1937; and then for a month from December 1946 until January 1047.  He was influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 1800s.  Post-World War II, he was a transitional leader in French politics. He died 10 days before his 78^th birthday.

1949~ Friedrich Bergius (né Friedrich Karl Rudolf Bergius; b. Oct. 11, 1884), German chemist and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of contributions to the invention and development of chemical high-pressure measures.  He died at age 64.

1911~ Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (née Ellen Henrietta Swallow; b. Dec. 3, 1842), American industrial and environmental chemist.  She was the first woman admitted to MIT.  After her graduation, she became MIT’s first female instructor.  She was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts.  She died at age 68 in Boston, Massachusetts.

1853~ Abigail Fillmore (née Abigail Powers; b. Mar. 13, 1798), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Millard Fillmore.  She died of pneumonia 18 days after her 55^th birthday.

1559~ Adam Ries (b. Jan. 17, 1492), German mathematician.  He died at age 66.

943~ Li Bian (b. Jan. 7, 889), 1^st Chinese Emperor of Southern Tang.  He was the founding emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Southern Tang.  He ruled from November 937 until his death 4 years later.  His second wife was Empress Song (d. 945).  He died at age 54.

365~ Ai of Jin (b. 341), Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty.  The exact date of his birth is not known.