Saturday, February 22, 2020

February 22

Birthdays:

1975 ~ Drew Barrymore (née Drew Blythe Barrymore), American actress.  She was born in Culver City, California.

1972 ~ Ben Sasse (né Benjamin Eric Sasse), American politician and United States Senator from Nebraska.  He was born in Plainview, Nebraska.

1970 ~ Ravi Vakil, Canadian mathematician.  He is best known for his work in algebraic geometry.  He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1962 ~ Steve Irwin (né Stephen Robert Irwin; d. Sept. 4, 2006), Australian naturalist and television personality.  He was nicknamed The Crocodile Hunter.  He died at age 44 after being stung by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary.

1959 ~ Kyle MacLachlan (né Kyle Merritt MacLachlan), American actor best known for his role as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks.  He was born in Yakima, Washington.

1955 ~ David M. Axelrod, American political consultant.  He was born in New York, New York.

1950 ~ Julius Erving (né Julius Winfield Erving, III), American basketball player.  He was known as Dr. J.

1950 ~ Dame Julie Walters (née Julia Mary Walters), British actress.

1949 ~ Niki Lauda (né Andreas Nikolaus Luada; d. May 20, 2019), Austrian Formula One race car champ who got back on the track after a fiery crash.  In August 1976, while racing in the German Grand Prix, he crashed his car into a guard rail.  The car bust into flames and he suffered serious burns to his face and arms.  Six weeks later, while still in bandages, he raced again.  He died at age 70.

1944 ~ Robert Kardashian (né Robert George Kardashian; d. Sept. 30, 2003), Armenian-American lawyer, best known for being on the defense team during the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial.  He died at age 59 of esophageal cancer.

1944 ~ Jonathan Demme (né Robert Jonathan Demme; d. Apr. 26, 2017), American director who made The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won an Academy War.  He died of complications from esophageal cancer and heart disease.  He was 73 years old.

1942 ~ Christine Keeler (née Christine Margaret Keeler; d. Dec. 4, 2017), British model and topless showgirl.  She is best known for being in a sex scandal with British governmental official John Profomo and a Soviet diplomat during the Cold War.  She died of pulmonary disease at age 75.

1939 ~ Phyllis Theroux, American author and columnist.  She was born in San Francisco, California.

1936 ~ J. Michael Bishop (né John Michael Bishop), American immunologist and microbiologist.  He was the recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize on Physiology or Medicine for his work on retroviral oncogenes.  He was born in York, Pennsylvania.

1934 ~ Sparky Anderson (né George Lee Anderson, d. Nov. 4, 2010), American baseball player and manager.  He died at age 76.

1932 ~ Ted Kennedy (né Edward Moore Kennedy; d. Aug. 25, 2009), American liberal icon who was known as the “Lion of the Senate.”  He was the youngest son in the Kennedy clan.  He died of a brain tumor at age 77.

1930 ~ Marni Nixon (née Margaret Nixon McEathron; d. July 24, 2016), American actress and singer.  She is best known for being the voice that was dubbed in such movies as The King and I and My Fair Lady.  She died at age 86.

1930 ~ Walter Mischel (d. Sept. 12, 2018), Austrian psychologist who tested our willpower.  He specialized in personality theory and social psychology.  He died at age 88.

1925 ~ Edward Gorey (né Edward St. John Gorey; d. Apr. 15, 2000), American illustrator.  He is best known for his eerie Victorian images.  He died at age 75 Hyannis, Massachusetts.

1924 ~ Vincent Marotta, Sr., (né Vincent George Marotta; d. Aug. 1, 2015), American businessman who revolutionized coffee-making.  He invented the Mr. Coffee.  He was 91 years old.

1918 ~ Robert Wadlow (né Robert Pershing Wadlow; d. July 15, 1940), the world’s tallest-ever recorded human.  He was 8 ft., 11 in. tall.  He died at age 22.

1918 ~ Don Pardo (né Dominick George Pardo; d. Aug. 18, 2014), American radio and television announcer who became one of televisions most recognizable voices.  His career spanned over 70 years.  He was born in Westfield, Massachusetts.  He died at age 96.

1914 ~ Renato Dulbecco (d. Feb. 19, 2012), Italian virologist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses.  He was born in Catanzaro, Italy.  He died in La Jolla, California 3 days before his 98th birthday.

1907 ~ Robert Young (né Robert George Young; d. July 21, 1998), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Marcus Welby on the television show, Marcus Welby, M.D.  He died of respiratory failure at age 91.

1903 ~ Frank Ramsey (né Frank Plumpton Ramsey; d. Jan. 19, 1930), British mathematician.  He died of liver disease about a month before his 27th birthday.

1901 ~ Charles Evans Whittaker (d. Nov. 26, 1973), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Dwight Eisenhower.  He replaced Stanley Forman Reed on the Court.  He was replaced by Byron White.  He served on the Court from March 1957 until March 1962.  He died of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at age 73.

1900 ~ Luis Buñuel (d. July 29, 1983), Spanish film director.  He died at age 83.

1892 ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay (d. Oct. 19, 1950), American poet.  She was born in Rockland, Maine.  She died at 58 after suffering injuries from falling down a flight of stairs.

1889 ~ Lady Olave Baden-Powell (née Olave Soames; d. June 25, 1977), English founder of the Girl Guides, forerunner of the Girl Scouts.  She was the wife of Lord Robert Baden-Powell and was born on his 32nd birthday.  She died at age 88.

1888 ~ Owen Brewster (né Ralph Owen Brewster; d. Dec. 25, 1961), 54th Governor of Maine.  He served as governor from 1925 to 1929.  He died of cancer at age 73.

1885 ~ Pat Sullivan (né Patrick Peter Sullivan; d. Feb. 15, 1933), Australian animator and co-creator of the cartoon Felix the Cat.  He died 7 days before his 48th birthday.

1881 ~ Joseph B. Ely (né Joseph Buell Ely; d. June 13, 1956), Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1931 until January 1935.  He died at age 75.

1864 ~ Jules Renard (né Pierre-Jules Renard; d. May 22, 1910), French author.  He died of arteriosclerosis at age 46.

1857 ~ Heinrich Hertz (né Heinrich Rudolf Hertz; d. Jan. 1, 1894), German physicist.  He proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.  The unit of frequency (cycle per second), known as the Hertz, was named in his honor.  He died of an illness at age 36.

1857 ~ Lord Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (né Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell; d. Jan. 8, 1941), British soldier, author and founder of the Boy Scouts.  He was married to Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, who was born on his 32nd birthday.  He died at age 83 in Kenya.

1849 ~ Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin (d. Feb. 27, 1915), Russian mathematician.  He died 5 days after his 66thbirthday.

1824 ~ Pierre Janssen (né Pierre Jules César Janssen; d. Dec. 23, 1907), French mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 83.

1819 ~ James Russell Lowell (d. Aug. 12, 1891), American poet.  He was born and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He died at age 72.

1817 ~ Carl Wilhelm Borchardt (d. June 27, 1880), German mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1796 ~ Adolphe Quetelet (né Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet; d. Feb. 17, 1874), Belgian mathematician and astronomer.  He died 5 days before his 78th birthday.

1788 ~ Arthur Schopenhauer (d. Sept. 21, 1860), German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation.  He died of pulmonary failure at age 72.

1778 ~ Rembrandt Peale (d. Oct. 3, 1860), American artist best known for his portraits of early American patriots, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  He died at age 82.

1732 ~ George Washington (d. Dec. 14, 1799), American general during the American Revolutionary War and 1stPresident of the United States.  He died at age 67.

1530 ~ Moses Isserles (d. May 11, 1572), Polish rabbi and Talmudist.  He died at age 52.

1403 ~ King Charles VII of France (d. July 22, 1461).  He was known as Charles the Victorious.  He was King from October 1422 until his death 39 years later.  He died at age 58.

1302 ~ Gegeen Khan (d. Sept. 4, 1323), Chinese Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty and 9th Khan of the Mongol Empire.  He died at age 21.

1040 ~ Rashi (né Shlomo Yitzchaki; d. July 13, 1105), medieval French rabbi Talmudic Scholar.  He was the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.  He is generally called Rashi because that is the Hebrew acronym of RAbbi Shlomo Itzhaki.  He died at age 65.

Events that Changed the World:

2018 ~ An unidentified man threw a grenade at the United States embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro.  He was killed at the scene in what was called a suicide.  No other people were injured.

2012 ~ A train crash in Buenos Aries, Argentina killed 51 people and injured 700 others.

2011 ~ A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand causing massive damage and killing 185 people.

2006 ~ At least six men were involved in Britain’s biggest robbery when approximately $92.5M was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

2005 ~ A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck in Iran, killing over 600 people and injuring nearly 1,500 others.

1997 ~ Scientist in Roslin, Scotland announced that they had successfully cloned a sheep, which they named Dolly.  Dolly had been born in July 1996 and died in February 2003.

1994 ~ Former CIA officer Aldrich Ames (b. 1941) was charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.  He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

1980 ~ The United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3 during the Olympic games in Lake Placid, New York.  The winning game was called the Miracle on Ice.

1974 ~ An assassination attempt was made on President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) by Samuel Byck (1930 ~ 1974).  He attempted to hijack an airplane to crash into the White House with the hopes of killing the President.  He was ultimately caught in a stand-off with police and committed suicide.

1959 ~ Lee Petty (1914 ~ 2000) won the first Daytona 500.  He was the father of racer Richard Petty (b. 1937).

1958 ~ Egypt and Syria joined to form the United Arab Republic.

1924 ~ President Calvin Coolidge (1872 ~ 1933) gave the first radio broadcast from the White House.  It is ironic since Coolidge had a reputation for not speaking more than he had to.

1878 ~ Frank Woolworth (1852 ~ 1919) opened his first Five and Dime Woolworth store in Utica, New York.

1862 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) was officially inaugurated for a six-year term as President of the Confederate States of America.  He had previously been inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861, nearly a year earlier.

1856 ~ The United States Republican Party opened its first national convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1855 ~ Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania.

1853 ~ Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri was founded as Eliot Seminary.

1847 ~ During the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War, 5,000 American troops defeated 15,000 Mexican soldiers.

1819 ~ The United States purchased Florida from Spain for $5M.

1632 ~ Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was first published.

1371 ~ Robert II (1316 ~ 1390) became King of Scotland, thereby beginning the Stuart dynasty.

Good-Byes:

2018 ~ Richard E. Taylor (né Richard Edward Taylor; b. Nov. 2, 1929), American physicist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 88.

2018 ~ Nanette Fabray (née Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares; b. Oct. 27, 1920), American stage star who became Sid Caesar’s comic foil.  She died at age 97.

2016 ~ Yolande Fox (née Yolande Margaret Betbeze; b. Nov. 29, 1928), American Miss America who defied convention.  She became the 1951 Miss America.  She was born in Mobile, Alabama.  Following her year as Miss America, she became a social activist.  She died of lung cancer at age 87.

2013 ~ Wolfgang Sawallisch (b. Aug. 26, 1923), old-school German conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He died at age 89.

2012 ~ Marie Colvin (née Marie Catherine Colvin; b. Jan. 12, 1956), American war reporter determined to bear witness.  She was a foreign war correspondent who followed wars throughout the world, primarily in the Middle East.  She was killed covering the war in Syria at age 56.  Her story is depicted in the 2018 film A Private War.

2007 ~ Dennis Johnson (né Dennis Wayne Johnson; b. Sept. 18, 1954), American basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

2002 ~ Chuck Jones (né Charles Martin Jones; b. Sept. 21, 1912), American animator best known for his work with Warner Brothers on such cartoons as Loony Toons.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 89.

1998 ~ Abraham A. Ribicoff (né Abraham Alexander Ribicoff; b. Apr. 9, 1910), 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.  He served during the Kennedy administration from January 1961 until July 1962.  He had previously served as the 80th Governor of Connecticut, from January 1955 until January 1961.  He died at age 87.

1987 ~ Andy Warhol (né Andrew Warhola; b. Aug. 6, 1928), American pop artist.  He died at age 58 following complications of gall bladder surgery.

1985 ~ Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (b. Apr. 21, 1889), Russian-American violinist, composer and conductor.  He died in Reno, Nevada at age 95.

1978 ~ Phyllis McGinley (b. Mar. 21, 1905), American author and poet.  She wrote many children’s books.  She died a month before her 73rd birthday.

1976 ~ Florence Ballard (née Florence Glenda Ballard; b. June 30, 1943), American singer and member of The Supremes.  She died of a heart attack at age 32.

1973 ~ Elizabeth Bowen (née Elizabeth Dorothea Cole; b. June 7, 1899), Irish novelist.  She died at age 73.

1965 ~ Felix Frankfurter (b. Nov. 15, 1882), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt. He served on the Court from January 1939 until August 1962.  He replaced Benjamin Cardozo on the High Court.  He was succeeded by Arthur Goldberg.  In 1920, he helped to found the ACLU.  He was born in Vienna, Austria.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 82.

1945 ~ Sara Josephine Baker (b. Nov. 15, 1873), American physician best known for her role in promoting public health.  She is best known for tracking down Typhoid Mary.  She died at age 71.

1913 ~ Francisco I. Madero (né Francisco Ignacio Madero Gonzáles; b. Oct. 30, 1873), President of Mexico.  He was President from November 1911 until a coup in February 1913.  He was killed in a military coup at age 39.

1901 ~ George FitzGerald (né George Francis FitzGerald, b. Aug. 3, 1851), Irish mathematician and physicist.  He died following complications for a perforated ulcer at age 49.

1897 ~ Charles Blondin (né Jean François Gravelet; b. Feb. 28, 1824), French acrobat and tightrope walker.  He is best known for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope.  He died of diabetes 6 days before his 73rd birthday.

1896 ~ George Dexter Robinson (né George Washington Robinson; b. Jan. 20, 1834), 34th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as governor from January 1884 until January 1887.  He was an attorney and his most famous client was Lizzie Bordon, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892.  He died just over a month after his 62nd birthday.

1890 ~ John Jacob Astor, III (b. June 10, 1822), American businessman.  He died at age 67.

1888 ~ Anna Kingsford (née Anna Bonus; b. Sept. 16, 1846), English physician.  She was one of the first British women to earn a medical degree.  She later became an advocate for animal rights.  She died at age 41 of pneumonia.

1875 ~ Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (b. July 16, 1796), French painter.  He died at age 78.

1845 ~ Sydney Smith (b. June 3, 1771), British author and humorist.  He died at age 73.

1827 ~ Charles Willson Peale (b. Apr. 15, 1741), American painter.  He is best known for his portrait paintings of the leaders of the American Revolution.  He died at age 85.

1797 ~ Baron Münchhausen (né Hieronymus Cark Friedrich von Münchhausen; b. May 11, 1720), German military officer who was given to tell wild, exaggerated stories.  Münchhausen syndrome was named after him.

1512 ~ Amerigo Vespucci (b. Mar. 9, 1454), Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer.  The continents of North and South America were named after him.  He died 15 days before his 58th birthday.

1511 ~ Henry, Duke of Cornwall (b. Jan. 1, 1511), first-born child of Henry VIII of England.  His mother was Catherine of Aragon.  The young Henry died less than 2 months after his birth.

1371 ~ David II, King of Scotland (b. Mar. 5, 1324).  He was King from June 1329 until his death 42 years later.  His first wife was Joan of England; his second wife was Margaret Drummond.  He and his wives had no children.  He was the last male heir of the House of Bruce.  He died 11 days before his 47th birthday.

954 ~ Gui Wei (b. Sept. 10, 904), Chinese emperor during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  He had been a military officer who staged a coup and declared himself the first Chinese Emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty.  He died of an illness at age 49.

606 ~ Pope Sabinian.  He was Pope from September 604 until his death about 18 months later.  The date of his birth is not known.

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