February 17

Birthdays:

1989 ~ Chord Overstreet (né Chord Paul Overstreet), American actor and singer, best known for his role as Sam in Glee.  He was born in Nashville, Tennessee.

1981 ~ Joseph Gordon-Levitt (né Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt), American actor.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.

1981 ~ Paris Hilton (née Paris Whitney Hilton), American socialite.  She was born in New York, New York.

1974 ~ Jerry O’Connell (né Jeremiah O’Connell), American actor and director.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.

1963 ~ Michael Jordan (né Michael Jeffrey Jordon), American basketball player.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

1962 ~ Lou Diamond Phillips (né Louis Diamond Upchurch), American actor.  He was born on the US Naval base in Subic Bay, Philippines.

1959 ~ Aryeh Deri, Israeli rabbi and politician.  He was born in Meknes, Morocco.

1955 ~ Mo Yan (né Guan Moye), Chinese author and recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Gaomi, Weifang, China.

1954 ~ Rene Russo (née Rene Marie Russo), American actress and model.  She was born in Burbank, California.

1945 ~ Les Brown (né Leslie Calvin Brown), African-American motivational speaker.  He was married to singer Gladys Knight.  He was born in Miami, Florida.

1942 ~ Huey P. Newton (né Huey Percy Newton, d. Aug. 22, 1989), American activist in the Civil Rights Movement.  He co-founded the Black Panther Party.  He was shot and killed at age 47 in a drug deal gone bad.

1934 ~ Barry Humphries (né John Barry Humphries), Austrian actor and comedian best known for his alter ego, Dame Edna Everage.  He was born in Kew, Australia.

1930 ~ Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh (née Barbara Ruth Grasemann; d. May 2, 2015), English writer of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.  She died at age 85.

1929 ~ Chaim Potok (né Herman Harold Potok; d. July 23, 2002), American-Jewish novelist and rabbi.  He died at age 73.

1925 ~ Hal Holbrook (né Harold Rowe Holbrook, Jr.), American actor, best known for his portrayals of Mark Twain.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

1924 ~ Margaret Truman (née Mary Margaret Truman; d. Jan. 29, 2008), American writer and daughter of President Harry S Truman.  She died 19 days before her 84^th birthday.

1918 ~ Jacqueline Ferrand (d. Apr. 26, 2014), French mathematician.  She died at age 95.

1917 ~ Albert Lehninger (né Albert Lester Lehninger; d. Mar. 4, 1986), American biochemist and author of numerous college textbooks.  He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  He died at about 3 weeks after his 69^thbirthday.

1916 ~ Geoffrey Fisken (né Geoffrey Bryson Fisken; d. June 12, 2011), New Zealander sheep farmer who became a flying ace during World War II.  He died at age 95.

1905 ~ Rózsa Péter (née Rózsa Politzer; d. Feb. 16, 1977), Hungarian mathematician.  She is known as the Mother of Recursion Theory.  She died 1 day before her 72^nd birthday.

1891 ~ Abraham Fraenkel (d. Oct. 15, 1965), German-born Israeli mathematician.  He died at age 74.

1888 ~ Otto Stern (d. Aug. 17, 1969), German-Jewish physicist and recipient of the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 81.

1881 ~ Mary Carson Breckinridge (d. May 16, 1965), American nurse-midwife and founder of the Frontier Nursing Service, which provided medical care to rural and under-populated areas.  She died at age 84.

1877 ~ Isabelle Eberhardt (née Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt; d. Oct. 21, 1904), Swiss explorer and author.  She was interested in North Africa.  After moving to Algeria, she dressed as a man and converted to Islam.  She was killed in a flash flood at age 27.

1877 ~ André Maginot (d. Jan. 7, 1832), French politician and sergeant.  He is best known for advocating the string of forts known as the Maginot line in France.  He did not live to see the Maginot Line completed.  The line of fortification proved to be very ineffective during World War II.  He died of typhoid fever at age 54.

1844 ~ Aaron Montgomery Ward (d. Dec. 7, 1913), American businessman and founder of the Montgomery Ward department store.  He died at age 69.

1796 ~ Giovanni Pacini (d. Dec. 6, 1867), Italian composer best known for his operas.  He died at age 71.

1781 ~ René Laennec (né Réne Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec; d. Aug. 13, 1826), French physician and inventor of the stethoscope.  He died at age 45.

1723 ~ Tobias Mayer (d. Feb. 20, 1762), German astronomer.  He is best known for his study of the Moon.  The lunar crater T Mayer is named in his honor.  He died just 3 days after his 39^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2020 ~ Presidents’ Day observed in the United States.

2015 ~ Mardi Gras.

2008 ~ Kosovo was declared independent from Serbia.

1996 ~ World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov (b. 1963) beat the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

1995 ~ The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ended on a cease-fire.  The war was fought over control of the disputed Cenepa area on the border between the two countries.

1968 ~ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1964 ~ The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Westberry v. Sanders, that congressional districts must be approximately equal in population.

1949 ~ Chaim Weizmann (1874 ~ 1952) began his term as the 1^st President of Israel.

1933 ~ Newsweek magazine began publication.

1933 ~ The Blaine Act, which ended Prohibition in the United States, was passed by the United States Congress.  The Act would become effective with the adoption of the 21^st Amendment to the United States Constitution in December 1933.

1904 ~ Giacomo Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly, premiered at La Scala in Milan, Italy.

1867 ~ The first ships began passage through the Suez Canal.

1864 ~ The Confederate H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Houstatonic, during the American Civil War.

1863 ~ A group of citizens of Geneva, Switzerland founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded.  In October 1863, the name was changed to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

1801 ~ An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson (1743 ~ 1826) and Aaron Burr (1756 ~ 1836) was resolved when Jefferson was elected President of the United States and Burr was elected Vice President by the House of Representatives.

1753 ~ Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar.  February 17 was followed by March 1.

1621 ~ Myles Standish (1584 ~ 1656) was appointed as the first commander of Plymouth colony.

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ Father Magnus Wenninger (né Magnus Joseph Wenninger; b. Oct. 31, 1919), American mathematician and Catholic priest.  He died at age 97.

2015 ~ Dean Edwards Smith (b. Feb. 28, 1931), American legendary college basketball coach who put his players first.  He was the head men’s basketball coach for 36 years at the University of North Carolina.  He promoted desegregation in the sport at his school.  He died three weeks before his 84^thbirthday.

2013 ~ Mindy McCready (née Malinda Gayle McCready; b. Nov. 30, 1975), American tortured country singer who fell from grace.  She died by suicide at age 37.

2012 ~ Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn (b. July 9, 1918), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 93.

2011 ~ Perry Moore (né William Perry Moore, IV; d. Nov. 4, 1971), American novelist who gave gay teens a hero.  He died of a drug overdose at age 39.

2009 ~ Conchita Cintrón (b. Aug. 9, 1922), Chilean female bullfighter known as the “Blond Goddess.”  She died at age 86.

2005 ~ Peter Foy (né Peter Stuart Foy; b. June 11, 1925), British theatrical innovator who made Peter Pan fly.  He was an innovator in stage flying effects.  He died at age 79.

1982 ~ Thelonious Monk (né Thelonious Sphere Monk; b. Oct. 10, 1917), American jazz pianist.  He died at age 64.

1982 ~ Lee Strasberg (né Israel Lee Strassberg; b. Nov. 17, 1901), American actor and director.  He died at age 80.

1970 ~ Shmuel Yosef Agnon (b. July 17, 1888), Ukrainian-born Israeli writer and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 81.

1966 ~ Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (né Alfred Prichard Sloan, Jr.; b. May 23, 1875), American businessman and long time CEO of General Motors.  He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  He died at age 90.

1934 ~ Albert I of Belgium (b. Apr. 8, 1875).  He was the King of the Belgians from December 1909 until his death 15 years later.  He died at age 58 in a mountaineering accident.

1909 ~ Geronimo, (b. June 16, 1829), Apache leader.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born in mid June 1829.  He died at age 79.

1890 ~ Christopher Sholes (né Christopher Latham Sholes; b. Feb. 14, 1819), American journalist and inventor of the QWERTY keyboard for the typewriter.  He died 3 days after his 71^st birthday.

1874 ~ Adolphe Quetelet (né Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet; b. Feb. 22, 1796), Belgian mathematician and astronomer.  He died 5 days before his 78^th birthday.

1856 ~ Heinrich Heine (né Christian Johann Heinrich Heine; b. Dec. 13, 1797), German poet.  He died at age 58 in Paris, France.

1848 ~ George Washington Campbell (b. Feb. 9, 1769), 5^th Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President James Madison for 9 months from February 1814 until October 1814.  He died 8 days after his 79^th birthday.

1673 ~ Molière (né Jean-Baptiste Poquelin; b. Jan. 15, 1622), French playwright.  He died of tuberculosis a month after his 51^st birthday.

1609 ~ Ferdinando I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. July 30, 1549).  He died at age 59.

1600 ~ Giordano Bruno (né Filippo Bruno; b. Jan. 1, 1548), Italian friar, mathematician and cosmological theorist.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is considered to have been on January 1.  He was burned at stake for heresy.  He was 52 at the time of his execution.

1371 ~ Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, Tsar of Bulgaria from 1331 until his death 40 years later.  The date of his birth is not known.