August 15

Birthdays:

1990 ~ Jennifer Lawrence, (née Jennifer Shrader Lawrence) American actress.  She was born in Indian Hills, Kentucky.

1985 ~ Nipsey Hussle (né Ermias Joseph Asghedom; d. Mar. 31, 2019), American rising rap star who became a champion for South Los Angeles.  He was shot and killed outside his clothing store.  He was 33 years old.

1972 ~ Ben Affleck (né Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt), American actor.  He was born in Berkeley, California.

1964 ~ Melinda Gates (née Melinda Ann French), wife of Microsoft founder, Bill Gates.  She was born in Dallas, Texas.

1954 ~ Stieg Larsson (né Karl Stig-Erland Larsson; d. Nov. 9, 2004), Swedish writer, best known for his The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, series.  He died of a heart attack at age 50.

1950 ~ Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (née Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise).

1945 ~ Gene Upshaw (né Eugene Josiah Upshaw, Jr.; d. Aug. 20, 2008), American union leader who helped make the National Football League players rich.  He was known as Uptown Gene.  He was born in Robstown, Texas.  He died of pancreatic cancer 5 days after his 63^rd birthday in Lake Tahoe.

1938 ~ Stephen Breyer (né Stephen Gerald Breyer), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Bill Clinton.  He replaced harry Blackmun on the Court.  He assumed office in August 1994.  He was born in San Francisco, California.

1935 ~ Vernon Jordan (né Vernon Eulion Jordan, Jr.), African-American lawyer and civil rights activist.  He was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1931 ~ Richard F. Heck (né Richard Frederick Heck; d. Oct. 10, 2015), American chemist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.  He died at age 84.

1926 ~ John Silber (né John Robert Silber; d. Sept. 27, 2012), American academic.  He was the president of Boston University from 1996 to 2002.  He died at age 86.

1925 ~ Mike Connors (né Kreker Ohanian; d. Jan. 26, 2017), American actor best known for his role as Joe Mannix on the detective television show Mannix.  He died of leukemia at age 91.

1924 ~ Phyllis Schlafly (née Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; d. Sept. 5, 2016), American conservative political activist and anti-feminist.  She died 21 days after her 92^nd birthday.

1923 ~ Rose Marie (née Rose Marie Mazetta; d. Dec. 28, 2017), American Hollywood veteran who never retired.  She was the actress best known for her role as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show.  She died at age 94.

1912 ~ Dame Wendy Hiller (née Wendy Margaret Hiller; d. May 14, 2003), English actress.  She is best known for her role in the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.  She died at age 90.

1912 ~ Julia Child (née Julie Carolyn McWilliams; d. Aug. 13, 2004), American chef and television personality.  She died 2 days before her 92^nd birthday.

1904 ~ George Klein (né George Johann Klein; d. Nov. 4, 1992), Canadian engineer and inventor of the motorized wheelchair.  He died at age 88.

1901 ~ Pyotr Novikov (d. Jan. 9, 1975), Russian naval officer and mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1896 ~ Gerty Cori (née Gerty Theresa Radnitz; d. Oct. 26, 1957), Austrian-born American biochemist and first American woman to win a Nobel Prize.  She was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work in the discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen is broken down in the body.  She died of myelosclerosis at age 61.

1892 ~ Louis-Victor-Pierre-Raymond, 7^th duc de Broglie (d. Mar. 19, 1987), French physicist and recipient of the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to quantum theory.  He died at age 94.

1885 ~ Edna Ferber (d. Apr. 16, 1968), American author.  She is best known for her novels, Showboat and Giant. She died at age 82.

1879 ~ Ethel Barrymore (née Ethel Mae Blythe; d. June 18, 1959), American actress.  She died of cardiovascular disease at age 79.

1863 ~ Aleksey Krylov (d. Oct. 26, 1945), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1860 ~ Florence Harding (née Florence Mabel Kling; d. Nov. 21, 1924), First Lady and Wife of President Warren Harding.  She died of renal failure at age 64.

1859 ~ Charles Comiskey (né Charles Albert Comiskey; d. Oct. 26, 1931), American baseball player and founding owner of the Chicago White Sox.  He died at age 72.

1771 ~ Sir Walter Scott, 1^st Baronet (d. Sept. 21, 1832), Scottish writer.  He died at age 61.

1769 ~ Napoleon I (né Napoleon Bonaparte; d. May 5, 1821), French military leader and Emperor of France.  He died in exile on the island of St. Helena.  He was 51 years old.

1717 ~ Blind Jack (né John Metcalf; d. Apr. 26, 1810), the first professional road builder.  Despite being blind, he was able to build over 180 miles of turnpike roads in England.  He died at age 92.

1402 ~ Humphrey Stafford, 1^st Duke of Buckingham, 6^th Earl of Stafford (d. July 10, 1460), English commander in the Hundred Years’ War and the War of the Roses.  He died a month before his 58^th birthday.

1195 ~ Anthony of Padua (né Fernando Martins de Bulhões; d. June 13, 1231), Portuguese priest and saint.  He died in Padua, Italy at age 35.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ The Smithsonian announced the discovery of a new species of mammal, the Olinguito.  The Olinguito is in the raccoon family and lives in the Andes of Columbia and Ecuador.

2007 ~ An 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Peru, killing over 500 people and injuring over 1000 others.

2005 ~ Israel began its unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank.

1995 ~ Shannon Faulkner (b. 1976) became the first female cadet to enter The Citadel Military Academy.  She was harassed by the male cadets and ultimately resigned from the academy.  Her entry into the military academy, however, paved the way for other women to enroll.  Fifteen years later, over 200 females had graduated from the Citadel.

1969 ~ The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.

1965 ~ The Beatles played to a crowd of nearly 60,000 fans in Shea Stadium in New York City.

1948 ~ The Republic of Korea was established south of the 38^th parallel north.

1947 ~ India gained its independence from Great Britain.

1945 ~ Japan surrendered, thereby ending World War II.

1939 ~ The Wizard of Oz made its world premiere.

1914 ~ A servant of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 ~ 1959) set fire to Wright’s Wisconsin Taliesin home, killing several people, including Wright’s mistress.

1914 ~ The Panama Canal opened to traffic.  The American steamship, the SS Ancon, was the first official ship to cross through the canal.

1843 ~ Tivoli Gardens opened in Copenhagen, Denmark.  This is one of the oldest still operating amusement parks in the world.

1534 ~ Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491 ~ 1556) and six of his classmates took their initial vows.  This eventually led to the creation of the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, in September 1540.

1519 ~ Panama City, Panama was founded by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias de Dávila (1440 ~ 1531).

1483 ~ The Sistine Chapel opened with a celebratory Mass and consecrated by Pope Sixtus IV (1471 ~ 1484).

1248 ~ The foundation stone of the Cologne Cathedral was laid.  The construction would not be complete for another 632 years, until August 14, 1880.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Julian Bond (né Horace Julian Bond; b. Jan 14, 1940), African-American civil rights leader.  He was an urban crusader who fought for civil rights.  He died of vascular disease in Fort Walton Beach, Florida at age 75.

2013 ~ Jacques Vergès (b. Mar. 5, 1925), French attorney who defended the indefensible.  He defended such criminals and war criminals as Carlos the Jackal, Klaus Barbie and Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.  He died at age 88.

2010 ~ James J. Kilpatrick (né James Jackson Kilpatrick; b. Nov. 1, 1920), American journalist and author.  He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  He died at age 89 in Washington, D.C.

2004 ~ Sune Bergström (né Karl Sune Detlof Bergström; b. Jan. 10, 1916), Swedish biochemist and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 88.

2002 ~ Jesse Brown (b. Mar. 27, 1944), 2^nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  He served under Bill Clinton from January 1993 until July 1997.  He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 58.

1995 ~ John Cameron Swayze (b. Apr. 4, 1906), American journalist.  He died at age 89.

1982 ~ Ernie Bushmiller (né Ernest Paul Bushmiller, Jr.; b. Aug 23, 1905), American cartoonist and creator of Nancy.  He died 8 days before his 77^th birthday.

1982 ~ Hugo Theorell (né Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell; b. July 6, 1903), Swedish biochemist and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 79.

1967 ~ René Magritte (b. Nov. 21, 1898), Belgian painter.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 68.

1936 ~ Grazia Deledda (née Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda; b. Sept. 28, 1871), Italian writer and recipient of the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She died of breast cancer at age 64.

1935 ~ Wiley Post (né Wiley Hardeman Post; b. Nov. 22, 1898), American aviator.  He was the first pilot to fly around the world.  He was killed in a plane crash with Will Rogers when his plane developed engine problems during take-off in Barrow, Alaska.  He died at age 36.

1935 ~ Will Rogers (né William Penn Adair Rogers; b. Nov. 4, 1879), American humorist.  He, along with Wiley Post, was killed after the plane they were in developed engine problems during take-off in Barrow, Alaska.  He died at age 55.

1758 ~ Pierre Bouguer (b. Feb. 16, 1698), French mathematician.  He died at age 60.

1369 ~ Philippa of Hainault (b. June 24, 1314), Queen of Edward III of England.  She died at age 55.

1328 ~ Yesün Temür (b. Nov. 28, 1293), Chinese and Mongol emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.  He ruled from October 1323 until his death 5 years later.  He was the great-grandson of Kublai Khan.  He died at age 34.

1274 ~ Robert de Sorbon (b. Oct. 9, 1201), French theologian and founder of the College of Sorbonne.  He died at age 72.

1057 ~ King Macbeth of Scotland (b. 1005).  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1038 ~ King Stephen I (b. 975), first King of Hungary.  He forcibly ordered his country to convert to Christianity.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been 62 or 63 at the time of his death.

978 ~ Li Yu, Chinese ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty.  The date of his birth is not known.

873 ~ Yi Zong (b. Dec. 28, 833), Chinese emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He ruled from September 859 until his death 14 years later.  He died at age 39.