Tuesday, June 16, 2020

June 16

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Tupac Shakur (né Lesane Parish Crooks; d. Sept. 13, 1996), American rapper and actor.  He was killed in a drive-by shooting at age 25.

1946 ~ Jodi Rell (née Mary Jodi Rell), 87th Governor of Connecticut.  She served as Governor from July 2004 until January 2011.  She was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

1943 ~ Joan Van Ark, American actress.  She is best known for her role as Valene Ewing on the television drama Knots Landing.  She was born in New York, New York.

1938 ~ Joyce Carol Oats, American author.  She was born in Lockport, New York.

1937 ~ Erich Segal (né Erich Wolf Segal; d. Jan. 17, 2010), American author, best known for his novel, Love Story.  He was a classical scholar.  He died of a heart attack at age 72.

1937 ~ Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.  He was also the Tsar of Bulgaria from August 1943 until September 1946.  He was born in Sofia, Bulgaria.

1935 ~ Jim Dine, American painter and pop artist.  He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1934 ~ Jane Henson (née Jane Ann Nebel; d. Apr. 2, 2013), American puppeteer and widow of puppeteer Jim Hanson, creator of The Muppets.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died of cancer at age 78 in Greenwich, Connecticut.

1934 ~ William F. Sharpe (né William Forsyth Sharpe), American economist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1920 ~ John Howard Griffin (d. Sept. 9, 1980), American journalist and author.  He is best known for his book, Black Like Me, in which he temporarily darkened his skin to explore segregation in the American South.  He was born in Dallas, Texas.  He died in Fort Worth, Texas of complications of diabetes at age 60.

1917 ~ Katherine Graham (née Katharine Meyer; d. July 17, 2001), American publisher.  She ran the Washington Post for over 20 years.  She died of a head injury a month after her 84th birthday.

1917 ~ Irving Penn (d. Oct. 7, 2009), American fashion photographer who created art.  He died at age 92.

1916 ~ Hank Luisetti (né Angelo Guiseppi Luisetti; d. Dec. 17, 2002), American athlete who revolutionized basketball with his one-handed jump shots.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died at age 86 in San Mateo, California.

1915 ~ John Tukey (né John Wilder Tukey; d. July 26, 2000), American mathematician.  He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  He died at age 85 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

1912 ~ Enoch Powell (né John Enoch Powell; d. Feb. 8, 1998), British politician, classical scholar and poet.  He died at age 85.

1910 ~ Juan Velasco Alvarado (d. Dec. 24, 1977), Peruvian general, dictator and President of Peru.  He ruled Peru as the President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru from October 1968 through August 30, 1975.  He died at age 67.

1902 ~ Barbara McClintock (née Eleanor McClintock, d. Sept. 2, 1992), American geneticist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  She was born in Hartford, Connecticut.  She died at age 90.

1897 ~ Georg Wittig (d. Aug. 26, 1987), German chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the synthesis of alkenes.  He died at age 90.

1890 ~ Stan Laurel (né Arthur Stanley Jefferson; d. Feb. 23, 1965), British actor and comedian, who, along with Oliver Hardy formed a comedy team most famous for their “Who’s on First?” routine.  He died of a heart attack at age 74.

1888 ~ Alexander Friedmann (d. Sept. 16, 1925), Russian mathematician and physicist.  The moon crater Fridman is named in his honor.  He died of typhoid fever at age 37.

1888 ~ Peter Stoner (d. Mar. 21, 1980), American mathematician.  He died at age 91.

1858 ~ King Gustaf V of Sweden (d. Oct. 29, 1950).  He died at age 92.  He was King of Sweden from December 1907 until his death in October 1950.

1850~ Max Delbrück (né Max Emil Julius Delbrück; d. May 4, 1919), German agricultural chemist.  He was the uncle of the Nobel physicist of the same name.  He died at age 68.

1829 ~ Geronimo, (d. Feb. 17, 1909), 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.

1806 ~ Edward Davy (d. Jan. 26, 1885), English physician and inventor.  He was a pioneer in the study of telegraphy.  He died at age 78.

1801 ~ Julius Plücker (d. May 22, 1868), German mathematician and physicist.  He died 24 days before his 67thbirthday.

1738 ~ Mary Katherine Goddard (d. Aug. 12, 1816), American publisher and postmaster of Baltimore.  She was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence with the names of all the signatories.  She died at age 78.

1723 ~ Adam Smith (d. July 17, 1790), Scottish philosopher and economist.  He is best known for his book The Wealth of Nations.  He died a month after his 67th birthday.

1713 ~ Meshech Weare (d. Jan. 14, 1786), American farmer and politician.  He was the first governor of New Hampshire.  He served in office from June 1776 until June 1785.  He died at age 72.  The town of Weare, New Hampshire was named in his honor.

1640 ~ Jacques Ozanam (d. Apr. 3, 1718), French mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1591 ~ Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (d. Oct. 16, 1655), Greek-Italian physician, rabbi, music theorist and mathematician.  He died at age 64.

Events that Changed the World:

2019 ~ Father’s Day in the United States.

2016 ~ Shanghai Disneyland Park, the first Disney Park in Mainland China, opened.

2013 ~ Father’s Day in the United States.

2010 ~ Bhutan became the world’s first country to institute a total ban on tobacco products.

1989 ~ Imre Nagy (1898 ~ 1958), the former Hungarian Prime Minister, was reburied in Budapest on the 33rd anniversary of his execution following the Hungarian Uprising.

1981 ~ President Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004) awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Canadian Ken Taylor (1934 ~ 2015), Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis.  He was the first foreign citizen to be awarded this honor.  The events surrounding the Iran hostage crisis was depicted in the film Argo.

1963 ~ Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (b. 1937) became the first woman in space.  It would be twenty years before the United States sent its first woman astronaut in space.  In 1983, Sally Ride (1951 ~ 2012) became the first American woman astronaut in space.

1961 ~ Rudolf Nureyev (1938 ~ 1993) defected from the Soviet Union.  He was granted asylum in France.

1940 ~ Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain (1856 ~ 1951) became the Chief of State of Vichy France.

1933 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) signed his New Deal Recovery Program.

1911 ~ IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.

1904 ~ James Joyce (1882 ~ 1941) began a relationship with Nora Barnacle (1884 ~ 1951) and subsequently used this date for the events in his novel Ulysses.  This date, therefore, has become known as Bloomsday.

1903 ~ The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1858 ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) delivered his House Divided speech.

1846 ~ The Papal conclave of 1846 elected Pope Pius IX (1792 ~ 1878), who reigned as Pope for 32 years, from June 16, 1846 until his death on February 7, 1878, the longest in the history of the papacy.

1755 ~ During the French and Indian War, the French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ John G. Avildsen (né John Guilbert Avildsen; b. Dec. 21, 1935), American film director who made underdogs into champions.  He directed such movies as Rocky and The Karate Kid.  He was born in Oak Park, Illinois.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 81 in Los Angeles, California.

2017 ~ Helmut Kohl (b. Apr. 3, 1930), German powerhouse chancellor who reunited Germany. He served as Chancellor of West Germany from October 1982 until October 1998.  He died at age 87.

2014 ~ Tony Gwynn, Sr. (né Anthony Keith Gwynn; b. May 9, 1960), the African-American baseball player known as the happy hitter who made pitchers weep.  He played 20 seasons for the San Diego Padres.  He died of cancer at age 54.

2014 ~ Mira Slovak (b. Oct. 25, 1929), Czech daredevil pilot who escaped the Iron Curtain.  He died of stomach cancer at age 84.

2013 ~ Bernard Sahlins (b. Aug. 20, 1922), American comic impresario who founded Second City.  He was born and died in Chicago, Illinois.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 90.

2012 ~ Nayef bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (b. 1934), Saudi crown prince who kept the Saudis in line.  He died in Geneva, Switzerland following a long illness.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1995 ~ Bettye Washington Green (b. Mar. 20, 1935), African-American chemist.  She worked at the Dow Chemical Company where she researched latex and polymers.  She earned her Ph.D at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.  She was born in Fort Worth, Texas.  She died at age 60 in Midland, Michigan.

1977 ~ Wernher von Braum (b. Mar. 23, 1912), German-born physicist, rocket-scientist and engineer.  He was credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany.  He was a former member of the Nazi party and decorated Nazi war hero before being brought to the United States where he was allowed to work on nuclear rockets and was involved in the development of rockets that led to the first United States satellites.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 65.

1970 ~ Brian Piccolo (né Louis Brian Piccolo; b. Oct. 31, 1943), American football player.  He died of cancer at age 26.  His life story was depicted in the movie, Brian’s Song.

1970 ~ Sydney Chapman (b. Jan. 29, 1888), British mathematician and geophysicist.  He died at age 82.

1959 ~ George Reeves, (né George Keefer Brewer; b. Jan. 5, 1914), American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television show of the same name.  He died under mysterious circumstances that have been described as both a suicide and murder.  He was 45 at the time of his death.

1958 ~ Imre Nagy (b. June 7, 1895), Prime Minister of Hungary.  He was executed for treason as a result of his participation in the 1956 Hungarian uprising.  He was killed 9 days after his 62nd birthday.

1930 ~ Ezra Fitch (né Ezra Hasbrouchk Fitch; b. Sept. 27, 1865), American businessman and co-founder of Abercrombie and Fitch.  He died at age 64.

1902 ~ Ernest Schröder (b. Nov. 25, 1841), German mathematician.  He is best known for his work on algebraic logic.  He died at age 60.

1881 ~ Marie Laveau (née Marie Catherine Laveau; b. Sept. 10, 1794), Louisiana Creole practitioner of VooDoo in New Orleans.  She died at age 86

1878 ~ Crawford W. Long (né Crawford Williamson Long; b. Nov. 1, 1815), American physician who first used ether as an anesthetic in surgery.  He was born in Danielsville, Georgia.  He died of a stroke at age 62 in Athens, Georgia.

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