Thursday, September 24, 2020

September 24

Birthdays:

 

1962 ~ Nia Vardalos (née Antonia Eugenia Vardalos), Canadian-American actress and screenwriter.  She is best known for her 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

 

1950 ~ Alan Colmes (né Alan Samuel Colmes; d. Feb. 23, 2017), American radio host who became Fox News’ liberal voice.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of lymphoma at age 66 in New York, New York.

 

1948 ~ Phil Hartman (né Philip Edward Hartman; d. May 28, 1998), Canadian actor and comedian.  He was on the cast of Saturday Night Live for several seasons.  He was killed by his wife in a murder-suicide.  He was 49 years old.

 

1948 ~ Gordon Clapp, American actor from North Conway, New Hampshire.  He is best known for his role as Det. Greg Medavoy on the television drama Hill Street Blues.

 

1941 ~ Linda McCartney, Lady McCartney (née Linda Louise Eastman; d. Apr. 17, 1998), American designer and photographer and wife of Beatle, Paul McCartney.  She died of breast cancer at age 56.

 

1936 ~ Jim Henson (né James Maury Henson, d. May 16, 1990), American puppeteer and creator of the Muppets.  He died of toxic shock syndrome and pneumonia at age 53.

 

1931 ~ Anthony Newley (d. Apr. 14, 1999), British singer and actor.  He died of renal cancer at age 67.

 

1930 ~ John Young (né John Watts Young, d. Jan. 5, 2018), American astronaut who became NASA’s conscience.  He was an outspoken voice for astronaut safety following the tragic Launchpad fire in 1967 that killed three of his fellow astronauts.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 87.

 

1923 ~ Raoul Bott (d. Dec. 20, 2005), Hungarian-born American mathematician.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary.  He died at age 82 in San Diego, California.

 

1921 ~ Jim McKay (né James Kenneth McManus; d. June 7, 2008), American sportscaster.  He died at age 86.

 

1905 ~ Severo Ochao (d. Nov. 1, 1993), Spanish-American physician and chemist.  He was the recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 88.

 

1902 ~ Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (d. June 3, 1989), Iranian Shi’ite leader during the Iranian revolution.  He was the 1st Supreme Leader of Iran.  He died at age 86.

 

1898 ~ Howard Florey, Baron Florey (né Howard Walter Florey; d. Feb. 21, 1968), Australian pharmacologist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in the development of penicillin.  He died at age 69.

 

1898 ~ Charlotte Moore Sitterly (né Charlotte Emma Moore; d. Mar. 3, 1990), American astronomer.  She was born in Ercildoun, Pennsylvania.  She died of heart failure at age 91 in Washington, D.C.

 

1896 ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (né Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald; d. Dec. 21, 1940), American novelist, best known for his novel, The Great Gatsby.  He died of a heart attack at age 44.

 

1895 ~ André Frédéric Cournand (d. Feb. 19, 1988), French-born physician.  He, along with Werner Forssmann and Dickinson Richards, were the recipients of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research and development of cardiac catheterization.  He died at age 92.

 

1883 ~ Franklin Clarence Mars (d. Apr. 8, 1934), American businessman and founder of Mars, Inc., the chocolate company.  He died of heart disease at age 51.

 

1870 ~ Georges Claude (d. May 23, 1960), French engineer and inventor.  He invented Neon lighting.  He died at age 89.

 

1858 ~ Eugene Foss (né Eugene Noble Foss; d. Sept. 13, 1939), 45th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1911 until January 1914.  He died 11 days before his 81st birthday.

 

1801 ~ Mikhail Vasilyevich Orstrogradsky (d. Jan. 1, 1862), Ukrainian mathematician.  He died at age 60.

 

1755 ~ John Marshall (né John James Marshall; d. July 6, 1835), 4th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President John Adams.  He served in that office from January 1801 until his death in July 1835.  He replaced Oliver Ellsworth on the Court.  He was succeeded by Roger Taney.  He had previously served as the 4th United States Secretary of State, during the John Adams administration, a position he held from June 1800 until March 1801.  He died at age 79.

 

1725 ~ Arthur Guinness (d. Jan. 23, 1803), Irish founder of the Guinness brewery.  He was born in Kildare, Ireland.  He died at age 77 in Dublin, Ireland.

 

1717 ~ Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (d. Mar. 2, 1787), English politician and writer.  He died at age 79.

 

1625 ~ Johan de Witt (d. Aug. 20, 1672), Dutch mathematician.  He was also a politician and at age 46 he was lynched by an angry crowd.  He died about a month before his 47th birthday.

 

1501 ~ Gerolamo Cardano (d. Sept. 21, 1576), Italian mathematician.  He died 3 days before his 75th birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2019 ~ The United States House of Representatives began the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump (b. 1946).  He would ultimately be impeached, but the United States Senate refused to take further action.

 

2014 ~ Erev Rosh HaShanah.

 

2013 ~ A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck in southern Pakistan, killing over 300 people.

 

2005 ~ Hurricane Rita made landfall devastating western Louisiana and the Texas Gulf coast.  The storm formed on September 18 and dissipated on September 26, 2005.

 

1968 ~ CBS first began airing 60 Minutes.

 

1957 ~ Troops from the 101st Airborne Division were sent to Little Rock, Arkansas under orders of President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) in an effort to enforce desegregation.

 

1948 ~ The Honda Motor Company was founded.

 

1906 ~ President Theodore Roosevelt (1858 ~ 1919) dedicated Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first National Monument.

 

1890 ~ The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints officially renounced polygamy.

 

1789 ~ The Office of the United States Attorney General was established with the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

 

1780 ~ Benedict Arnold (1741 ~ 1801) fled to the British Army when the arrest of British Major John André (1750 ~ 1780) exposed Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point.

 

1664 ~ The Dutch Republic surrendered New Amsterdam to England.

 

787 ~ The Second Council of Nicaea met at the Hagia Sophia in what is present day Istanbul.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2016 ~ Buckwheat Zydeco (né Stanley Joseph Dural, Jr.; b. Nov. 14, 1947), African-American accordion player, born in Lafayette, Louisiana.  He died of lung cancer at age 68.

 

2014 ~ Deborah Cavendish (née Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford; b. Mar. 31, 1920), Duchess of Devonshire.  She was the British aristocrat and Mitford sister who restored a country estate.  She died at age 94.

 

2013 ~ Paul Dietzel (né Paul Franklin Dietzel, b. Sept. 5, 1924), American football player and coach who lived his final years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He was the head football coach at Louisiana State University from 1955 until 1961.  He died 3 weeks after his 89th birthday.

 

2009 ~ Susan Atkins (née Susan Denise Atkins; b. May 7, 1948), American convicted murderer who was a member of the “Manson” family who killed Sharon Tate.  She was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life.  She was born in San Gabriel, California.  She died of brain cancer at age 61 in prison in Chowchilla, California.

 

1991 ~ Dr. Seuss (né Thedor Seuss Geisel; b. Mar. 2, 1904), author of children’s books, such as The Cat in the Hat.  He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.  He died at age 87.

 

1982 ~ Dagobert D. Runes (né Dagobert David Runes; b. Jan. 6, 1902), Ukrainian-born philosopher.  He was born in Zastavna, Ukraine.  He died in New York City at age 80.

 

1975 ~ Earle Cabell (b. Oct. 27, 1906), Mayor of Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  He served as Mayor of Dallas from 1961 until February 1964.  He died of emphysema about a month before his 69thbirthday.

 

1945 ~ Hans Geiger (né Johannes Wilhelm Geiger; b. Sept. 30, 1945), German physicist best known as being the co-inventor of the Geiger Counter.  Unfortunately, the name of his co-inventor, Walther Muller, who was Geiger’s student, has been lost to history.  Geiger died 6 days before his 63rd birthday.

 

1939 ~ Carl Laemmle (né Karl Lämmle; b. Jan. 17, 1896). German-born American film producer and founder of Universal Studios.  He died of heart disease at age 72.

 

1938 ~ Lev Schnirelmann (b. Jan. 2, 1905), Russian mathematician.  His death at age 33 may have been a suicide.

 

1920 ~ Peter Carl Fabergé (b. May 30, 1846), Russian goldsmith and jeweler.  He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  He died at age 74 in Laursanne, Switzerland.

 

1904 ~ Niels Ryberg Finsen (b. Dec. 15, 1860), Danish physician and recipient of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 43.

 

1896 ~ Baron Louis Gerhard De Geer (b. July 18, 1818), 1st Prime Minister of Sweden.  He served as Prime Minister from March 1876 until April 1880.  He died at age 78.

 

1862 ~ Judith, Lady Montefiore (née Judith Barent Cohen; b. Feb. 20, 1784), British linguist, travel writer and philanthropist.  She wrote the first Jewish cookbook written English.  She was of an Ashkenazi family; she married Moses Montefiorte, a Sephardic Jew at a time when such mixed marriages were not generally approved by the Portuguese Synagogue.  She died at age 78.

 

1848 ~ Branwell Brontë (b. June 26, 1817), English painter and poet.  He was the brother of writers, Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë.  He died of tuberculosis at age 30.

 

1742 ~ Johann Matthias Hase (b. Jan. 14, 1684), German mathematician and astronomer.  The crater Hase on the Moon is named in his honor.    He died at age 58.

 

1650 ~ Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême (b. Apr. 28, 1573).  He was of the House of Valois-Angoulême.  He was the illegitimate son of Charles IX, King of France and his mistress, Marie Touchet.  He was married twice.  His first wife, whom he married in 1591, was Charlotte de Montmorency.  They had 3 children.  After her death, he married Françoise de Narbonne in 1644.  There were no children of his 2nd marriage. He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 77.

 

1143 ~ Pope Innocent II (né Gregorio Papareschi; date of birth unknown).  He was Pope from February 1130 until his death 14 and a half years later.

 

1054 ~ Hermann of Reichenau (b. July 18, 1013), German composer, astronomer and mathematician.  He died in a monastery at age 41.

 

768 ~ Pippin the Short (b. 714), Frankish king.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He died at age 54.

 

366 ~ Pope Liberius.  He was Pope from May 352 until his death on this date 14 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.

 

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