Birthdays:
1953 ~ Jim Jarmusch (né James Robert Jarmusch), American film director. He was born in Akron, Ohio.
1940 ~ Sir John Hurt (né John Vincent Hurt; d. Jan. 25, 2017), British actor who made outsiders his specialty. He died of pancreatic cancer 3 days after his 77th birthday.
1937 ~ Joseph Wambaugh (né Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr.), American police officer and author of detective novels. He was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1936 ~ Alan J. Heeger (né Alan Jay Heeger), American physicist. He was the recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work in the development of conductive polymers. He was born in Sioux City, Iowa.
1934 ~ Bill Bixby (né Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby, III; d. Nov. 21, 1993), American actor. He is best known for his role as Tom Corbett on The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and as Dr. David Banner on The Incredible Hulk. He died of prostate cancer at age 59.
1934 ~ Graham Kerr, Scottish chef and author. He is best known for his cooking television show, which ran from 1969 to 1971, called The Galloping Gourmet. He was born in London, England.
1931 ~ Sam Cooke (né Samuel Dale Cook, d. Dec. 11, 1964), American singer and musician. He was murdered at age 33.
1928 ~ Birch Bayh (né Birch Evan Bayh, Jr.; d. Mar. 14, 2019), American farmer who became a Senate giant. He served as a United States Senator from Indiana from January 1963 until January 1981. He died at age 91.
1921 ~ Bill Loud (né William Carberry Loud; d. July 26, 2018), American father who headed An American Family. An American Family was considered the first television reality show. It aired on public television in 1973 and was about the daily life of an upper middle class family in California. He died at age 97.
1909 ~ U Thant (d. Nov. 25, 1974), Burmese diplomat and 3rd United Nations Secretary-General. He held that position from November 1961 until November 1966. He died of lung cancer at age 65.
1908 ~ Lev Landau (né Lev Davidovich Landau; d. Apr. 1, 1968), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics. He died at age 60 from complications of injuries sustained in a serious car accident that had occurred 6 year earlier.
1907 ~ Douglas Corrigan (d. Dec. 9, 1995), American pilot and engineer. He earned the nickname Wrong Way Corrigan following a flight he was to pilot from New York to California, but instead he ended up in Ireland. He died at age 88.
1904 ~ George Balanchine (d. Apr. 30, 1983), Russian-born dancer and choreographer. He died at age 79.
1898 ~ Sergei Eisenstein (né Sergei Malkailovich Eisenstein; d. Feb. 11, 1948), Soviet film director and film theorist. He is best known for his 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. He died of a heart attack 20 days after his 50th birthday.
1890 ~ Fred M. Vinson (né Frederick Moore Vinson; d. Sept. 8, 1953), 13th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Harry Truman. He replaced Harlan F. Stone as Chief Justice. Earl Warren succeeded him as the Chief Justice. He served on the Court from June 1946 until his death 8 years later. He had previously served as the 53rd United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Truman administration. He was born in Louisa, Kentucky. He died in Washington, D.C. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 63.
1880 ~ Frigyes Riesz (d. Feb. 28, 1956), Hungarian mathematician. He is best known for his contributions to functional analysis. He died at age 76.
1875 ~ D.W. Griffith (né David Llewelyn Wark Griffith; d. July 23, 1948), American film director, best known for his 1915 epic film, The Birth of a Nation. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 73.
1867 ~ Gisela Januszewska (d. Mar. 2, 1942), Austrian physician. She was born in what is now the Czech Republic. She was Jewish and was one of the few physicians to ensure that Bosnian Muslim women received proper medical care. During World War II, she was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp where she died at age 76.
1865 ~ Wilbur Scoville (né Wilbur Lincoln Scoville; d. Mar. 10, 1942), American pharmacist and chemist. He is best known for the development of the Scoville Organoleptic Test, which is the standardized scale for measuring the pungency and heat of various chili peppers. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He died at age 77.
1858 ~ Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield (né Martha Beatrice Potter; d. Apr. 30, 1943), British sociologist and economist. She was one of the founders of the London School of Economics. She coined the phrase collective bargaining. She died at age 85.
1852 ~ Joshua Alexander (né Joshua Willis Alexander; d. Feb. 27, 1936), 2nd United States Secretary of Commerce. He served in the Woodrow Wilson administration from December 1919 until March 1921. He had previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri from March 1907 until December 1919. He died about a month after his 84th birthday.
1849 ~ August Strindberg (né Johan August Strindberg; d. May 14, 1912), Swedish playwright best known for his play, Miss Julie. He died at age 63 following a long illness.
1788 ~ Lord Byron (né George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron; d. Apr. 19, 1824), English-Scottish poet. He died at age 36.
1740 ~ Noah Phelps (d. Nov. 4, 1809), American spy during the American Revolutionary War. He died at age 69.
1654 ~ Captain William Kidd (d. May 23, 1701), Scottish pirate. He was convicted of piracy and murder and was hanged in London. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is often ascribed to January 22, 1654. He was 47 at the time of his death.
1592 ~ Pierre Gassendi (d. Oct. 24, 1655), French philosopher, priest and mathematician. He died at age 63.
1572 ~ John Donne (d. Mar. 31, 1631), English writer and cleric in the Church of England. He died at age 59.
1561 ~ Sir Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St. Alban (d. Apr. 9, 1626), English statesman. He died of pneumonia at age 65.
1552 ~ Sir Walter Raleigh (d. Oct. 29, 1618), English explorer and adventurer. Although he had been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, he fell out of favor. He was executed by beheading on October 29, 1618 for allegedly conspiring against King James I of England. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born on January 22, 1552, thus making him 65 at the time of his death.
1440 ~ Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow (d. Oct. 27, 1505). He was known as Ivan the Great. He ruled as the Grand Prince of Moscow from April 1462 until his death in October 1505. He was married twice; first to Maria Borisovna (1442 ~ 1467), and then to Sophia Palaiologina (1440s ~ 1503). He died at age 65.
Events that Changed the World:
2006 ~ Evo Morales (b. 1959) was inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the first indigenous president of his country. He remained in power until November 2019, when after a dispute of the elections, he fled to Mexico and was granted political asylum.
2002 ~ Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest retailer in the United States to do so.
1991 ~ During the Gulf War, three SCUD missiles hit Ramat Gan in Israel killing 3 people and injuring 96 others.
1984 ~ The Apple Macintosh was introduced during the Super Bowl XVIII, with its famous 1984 television commercial. The Macintosh was the first personal computer to popularize the mouse.
1973 ~ The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in all 50 states.
1968 ~ Apollo 5 carried the first Lunar module into space.
1957 ~ Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.
1946 ~ The predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Group, was founded.
1924 ~ Ramsay MacDonald (1866 ~ 1937) became the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He served two terms as Prime Minister, both under the reign of King George V.
1915 ~ A train plunged off the tracks into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing over 600 people.
1906 ~ The SS Valencia ran aground on the rocks near Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Over 130 people were killed in the incident.
1905 ~ Russian workers staged a march on the Winter Palace that ended in a massacre by Czarist troops, known as Bloody Sunday. This event marked the beginning of the Revolution of 1905. (In accordance with the Julian calendar, this event occurred on January 9, 1905.)
1901 ~ Edward VII (1841 ~ 1910) was proclaimed King of England following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901).
1890 ~ The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1506 ~ The first contingent of Swiss Guards arrived to defend the Vatican.
871 ~ At the Battle of Basing, the West Saxons, led by King Æthelred I (847 ~ 871), were defeated by the Danelaw Vikings.
Good-Byes:
2018 ~ Ursula K. LeGuin (née Ursula Kroeber LeGuin; b. Oct. 21, 1929), American science-fiction novelist who conjured fantastic worlds. She died at age 88.
2015 ~ Peggy Charren (née Peggy Sundelle Walzer; b. Mar. 9, 1928), American activist who campaigned for quality children’s television. She was the founder of Action for Children’s Television. She died in Denham, Massachusetts at age 86.
2012 ~ Joe Paterno (né Joseph Vincent Paterno; b. Dec. 21, 1926), legendary football coach at Pennsylvania State University. He was forced to resign from his coaching position in November 2011 following the arrest of his long-time assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges. Paterno allowed his staff to ignore sexual abuse towards young boys by Sandusky, thus his resignation was due to his inaction after learning Sandusky had been abusing young boys. He died a month after his 85th birthday.
2010 ~ Jean Simmons (née Jean Merilyn Simmons; b. Jan. 31, 1929), English actress who brought quiet strength to her roles. She died 9 days before her 81st birthday.
2008 ~ Heath Ledger (né Heath Andrew Ledger; b. Apr. 4, 1979), Australian actor. He died of a drug overdose at age 28.
2005 ~ Rose Mary Woods (b. Dec. 26, 1917), American presidential secretary who protected President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. She is best known for erasing 18 minutes of the Watergate tapes. She died less than a month before her 88th birthday.
2004 ~ Ann Miller (née Johnnie Lucille Collier; b. Apr. 12, 1923), American actor and dancer. She was born in Houston, Texas. She died of lung cancer at age 80.
2002 ~ Stanley Marcus (né Harold Stanley Marcus; b. Apr. 20, 1905), American businessman and son of the co-founder of the Neiman Marcus department store. He died at age 96.
2001 ~ Anne Burns (b. Nov. 23, 1915), British aeronautical engineer and glider pilot. She was an expert on clean-air turbulence due to “wind-shear.” In 1977, her glider was hit by a bird and damaged. She bailed out with minor injuries, thus, at age 62, becoming the first woman since the 1930s to become a member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people to successfully use a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. She died at age 85.
2000 ~ Craig Claiborne (b. Sept. 4, 1920), American journalist, restaurant critic and cookbook author. He was born in Mississippi. He died at age 79.
1995 ~ Rose Kennedy (née Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald, b. July 22, 1890), Kennedy family matriarch and wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. She died at age 104.
1994 ~ Telly Savalas (né Aristotelis Savalas; b. Jan. 21, 1922), Greek American actor, best known for his role as Kojak on the television show of the same name. He died of cancer 1 day after his 72nd birthday.
1982 ~ Eduardo F. Montalva (né Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva; b. Jan. 16, 1911), President of Chile. He served as President from November 1964 until November 1970. He died 6 days after his 71st birthday.
1980 ~ Yitzhak Baer (d. Dec. 20, 1888), German-Israeli historian. He was an expert in medieval Spanish Jewish history. He died a month after his 91st birthday.
1973 ~ Lyndon B. Johnson (né Lyndon Baines Johnson; b. Aug. 27, 1908), 36th President of the United States. He began his Presidency after the assassination of President Kennedy. He served from November 1963 until January 1969. He served as the 37th Vice President from January 1961 until November 22, 1963. He died of a heart attack at age 64.
1968 ~ Duke Kahanamoku (b. Aug. 24, 1890), Native Hawaiian American competition swimmer and surfer. He is credited with being the father of surfing. He was known as the Big Kahuna. He died at age 77.
1933 ~ Elisabeth Marbury (b. June 19, 1856), American author and theatrical and literary agent. She was a pioneer in shaping business methods of the modern commercial theater. She died at age 76.
1925 ~ Fanny Workman (née Fanny Bullock; b. Jan. 8, 1854), American mountaineer, geographer and cartographer. She traveled around the world, including in the Himalayas, and wrote several travel books. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She died following a long illness just 2 weeks after her 66th birthday.
1922 ~ Pope Benedict XV (né Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa; b. Nov. 21, 1854). He was Pope from September 1914 until his death 8 years later. He died of pneumonia at age 67.
1922 ~ Camille Jordan (né Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan; b. Jan. 5, 1838), French mathematician. He died less than 3 weeks after his 84th birthday.
1922 ~ Fredrik Bajer (b. Apr. 21, 1837), Danish politician and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Peace Prize. He died at age 84.
1909 ~ Emil Erlenmeyer (né Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer; b. June 28, 1825), German chemist best known for designing the Erlenmeyer flask. He died at age 83.
1901 ~ Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (née Alexandrina Victoria; b. May 24, 1819). She reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom beginning when she was 18 years old in June 1835 until her death 66 years later. She was married to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She died at age 81.
1900 ~ David E. Hughes (né David Edward Hughes; b. May 16, 1831), English scientist and musician. He was the co-inventor of the microphone. He died at age 68.
1892 ~ Joseph P. Bradley (né Joseph Philo Bradley; b. Mar. 14, 1813), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Ulysses S. Grant. His seat was established with his nomination. He was succeeded by George Shiras. He served on the Court from March 1870 until his death 22 years later. He died at age 78.
1779 ~ Jeremiah Dixon (b. July 27, 1733), English surveyor. He is best known for his work with Charles Mason (1728 ~ 1786) in determining what was later called the Mason-Dixon Line, after both surveyors. Dixon died at age 45.
1707 ~ Richard Towneley (b. Oct. 10, 1629), British mathematician and astronomer. He died at age 77.
1666 ~ Shah Jahan (b. Jan. 5, 1592), Mughal emperor. He is best known for having the Taj Mahal, built as a burial tomb for his wife. He died 17 days after his 74th birthday.
1592 ~ Elisabeth of Austria (b. July 5, 1554), Queen consort of France and wife of King Charles IX of France. She was of the House of Habsburg. She died of pleurisy at age 37.
935 ~ Ma, empress of the Southern Han dynasty. She reigned during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The exact date of her birth is not known.
906 ~ He, empress of the Tang Dynasty. The date of her birth is not known.
239 ~ Cao Rui (b. 205), 2nd Chinese emperor of the State of Cao Wei. He reigned from June 226 until his death in January 239 during the Three Kingdoms period. The exact date of his birth is not known.
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