Birthdays:
1971 ~ Perry Moore (né William Perry Moore, IV; d. Feb. 11, 2011), American novelist who gave gay teens a hero. He was born in Richmond, Virginia. He died of a drug overdose at age 39 in Manhattan, New York.
1969 ~ Matthew McConaughey (né Matthew David McConaughey), American actor. He was born in Uvalde, Texas.
1953 ~ Carlos Gutierrez (né Carlos Miguel Gutiérrez), 35th United States Secretary of Commerce. He served under President George W. Bush from February 2005 until January 2009. He was born in Havana, Cuba.
1951 ~ Traian Băsescu, President of Romania. He served in office from December 2004 until December 2014. He was born in Murfatlar, Romania.
1950 ~ Markie Post (née Marjorie Armstrong Post), American actress. She is best known for her role as Christine Sullivan on the television sit-com Night Court. She was born in Palo Alto, California.
1946 ~ Robert Mapplethorpe (d. Mar. 9, 1989), American photographer and artist. He died of AIDS at age 42 in Boston, Massachusetts.
1946 ~ Laura Bush (né Laura Lane Welch), First Lady of the United States and wife of George W. Bush. She was born in Midland, Texas.
1937 ~ Loretta Swit (née Loretta Jane Swit), American actress best known for her role as Hot Lips in the movie M*A*S*H. She was born in Passaic, New Jersey.
1933 ~ Sir Charles K. Kao (né Charles Kuen Kao; d. Sept. 23, 2018), Chinese-American and British physicist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. He died at age 84.
1929 ~ Shakuntala Devi (d. Apr. 21, 2013), Indian mathematician. She died at age 83.
1928 ~ Shaike Ophir (né Yeshayahu Goldstein-Ophir; d. Aug. 17, 1987), Israeli actor, comedian and mime. He was born in Jerusalem, Israel. He died of lung cancer at age 58 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1925 ~ Doris Roberts (née Doris May Green, d. Apr. 17, 2016), American actress. She died at age 90.
1921 ~ Mary Sherman Morgan (née Mary Sherman, d. Aug. 4, 2004), American rocket fuel scientist. She is credited with inventing the liquid fuel Hydyne. She died at age 82.
1919 ~ Martin Balsam (né Martin Henry Balsam; d. Feb. 13, 1996), American actor. He died of a stroke at age 76.
1918 ~ Art Carney (né Arthur William Matthew Carney; d. Nov. 9, 2003), American actor. He died in Chester, Connecticut 5 days after his 85th birthday.
1916 ~ Ruth Handler (né Ruth Marianna Mosko; d. Apr. 27, 2002), American toymaker and creator of the Barbie doll. She was president of the Mattel toy company. She died of colon cancer at age 85.
1916 ~ Walter Cronkite, Jr., (né Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr.; d. July 17, 2009), American broadcast avuncular journalist who was America’s favorite anchorman. He was 92 years old.
1909 ~ Evelyn Bryan Johnson (née Evelyn Stone; d. May 10, 2012), American pilot and colonel in the Civil Air Patrol. She was a female pilot at a time when women were not pilots. She died at age 102.
1908 ~ Sir Joseph Rotblat (né Józef Rotblat, d. Aug. 31, 2005), Polish-English physicist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, but left for England before the Holocaust. He had been recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, but left on grounds of conscience. In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in nuclear disarmament. He died at age 96.
1897 ~ Dolly Stark (né Albert D. Stark; d. Aug. 24, 1968), American baseball player and umpire. He was the first Jewish umpire in major league baseball. He died of a heart attack at age 70.
1884 ~ Henry Ferguson (né Henry George Ferguson; d. Oct. 25, 1960), Irish engineer best known for his development of the modern agricultural tractor. He died 10 days before his 76th birthday.
1883 ~ Minnie D. Craig (née Minnie Davenport; d. July 2, 1966), American politician. In 1923, she was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives. Ten years later, she was elected to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. She was the first person to be elected as Speaker in any State of the Union. She was born in Phillips, Maine. She attended the Farmington State Normal School and became a school teacher. After she married, she and her husband moved to North Dakota. She died in Farmington, Maine at age 82.
1879 ~ Will Rogers (né William Penn Adair Rogers; d. Aug. 15, 1935), 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.
1862 ~ Eden Phillpotts (né Eden Henry Phillpotts; d. Dec. 29, 1960), English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India. He died at age 98 in Devon, England.
1853 ~ Anna Bayerová (d. Jan. 24, 1924), Czech physician. She was one of the first practicing physicians in her country. She died at age 70.
1816 ~ Stephen Field (né Stephen Johnson Field; d. Apr. 9, 1899), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Abraham Lincoln. He served on the Court from March 1863 until December 1897. This seat on the Court was established by the President. He was succeeded by Joseph McKenna on the Court. He had previously served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California from September 1859 to March 1863. He died at age 82.
1809 ~ Benjamin Robbins Curtis (d. Sept. 15, 1874), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Millard Fillmore. He served on the Court from September 1851 until September 1857. He was the first Supreme Court Justice to hold a law degree. He is best known for being one of the two dissenters in the Dred Scott decision. The acrimony over the Dred Scott decision ultimately lead to his resigning from the Court after serving for only 6 years. He had replaced Levi Woodbury on the Court and was succeeded by Nathan Clifford. He is also known for having acted as the chief counsel for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson during the 1st presidential impeachment trial. He was born in Watertown, Massachusetts and died in Newport, Rhode Island. He died at age 64.
1765 ~ Pierre-Simon Girard (d. Nov. 30, 1836), French mathematician. He is known for his work in fluid dynamics. He was born in Caen, France. He died 26 days after his 71st birthday in Paris, France.
1732 ~ Thomas Johnson (d. Oct. 26, 1819), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George Washington. He served on the Court from August 1792 until January 1793. He resigned after serving only 163 days, making his tenure the shortest in Supreme Court history. He replaced John Rutledge on the Court. He was succeeded by William Paterson. He had previously served as the 1st Governor of Maryland. He served as the 1st Governor of Maryland from March 1777 until November 1779. He was born in St. Leonard, Maryland and died in Frederick, Maryland. Although he suffered from ill health for much of his life, he died at age 86, just 9 days before his 87th birthday.
1631 ~ Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (d. Dec. 24, 1660). She died of smallpox at age 29.
Events that Changed the World:
2014 ~ Mid-term Election Day in the United States.
2008 ~ Barack Obama (b. 1961) became the first African-American elected to the Office of President of the United States.
1995 ~ Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1922 ~ 1995) was assassinated in Tel Aviv by an extremist Israeli.
1980 ~ Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004) was elected as the 40th President of the United States.
1979 ~ Shortly after President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) allowed the deposed Shah of Iran into the United States, Iranian revolutionaries and students stormed the United States embassy in Tehran. Ninety hostages were taken, of which 53 were Americans. The hostages would not be released until January 1981.
1970 ~ Salvador Allende (1908 ~ 1973) took office as the President of Chile. He would be ousted in a military coup three years later and would die under mysterious circumstances.
1966 ~ The Arno River flooded Florence, Italy leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of rare art masterpieces and rare books.
1960 ~ Dame Jane Goodall (b. 1934) observed chimpanzees creating tools, the first recorded observation of such activity in non-humans.
1956 ~ Soviet troops entered Hungary in an attempt to stop the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, which had begun on October 23. Thousands of Hungarians were killed and nearly a quarter million Hungarians fled the country.
1952 ~ Dwight David Eisenhower was elected as the 34th President of the United States.
1952 ~ The United States government established the National Security Agency.
1924 ~ Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876 ~ 1977) was elected the first female governor when she was elected to serve in that office in Wyoming. She served in this office, as the State’s Governor from January 1825 until January 1927.
1922 ~ Howard Carter (1874 ~ 1939), a British archeologist, found the entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
1875 ~ The Massachusetts Rifle Association was founded. It bills itself as America’s Oldest Active Gun Club.
1861 ~ The University of Washington opened in Seattle, Washington. It was initially known as the Territorial University.
1847 ~ Sir James Young Simpson (1811 ~ 1870), a British physician, discovered the anesthetic properties of chloroform for surgery.
1783 ~ Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, also known as the Linz Symphony, was performed for the first time.
1780 ~ José Gabriel Condorcanqui (1738 ~ 1781), also known as Túpac Amaru II, the leader of the Peruvian indigenous people, began his rebellion on Peru against Spain.
1677 ~ William, Prince of Orange (1650 ~ 1702) married the future Mary II of England (1662 ~ 1694). They would later reign together as William and Mary.
1429 ~ Joan of Arc (1412 ~ 1431) liberated Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.
Good-Byes:
2018 ~ Evelyn Y. Davis (b. Aug. 16, 1929), Dutch-born corporate gadfly who shamed CEOs. She was known as the Queen of the Corporate Jungle. She owned stock in more than 80 public companies and would travel to shareholder meetings to fight for lower executive pay and greater transparency and accountability. She died at age 89.
2014 ~ S. Donald Stookey (né Stanley Donald Stookey; b. May 23, 1915). American inventor and chemist who invented CorningWare, the supertough glass. He held over 60 patents, mostly relating to glass and ceramics. He died at age 99.
2011 ~ Andy Rooney (né Andrew Aitken Rooney; b. Jan. 14, 1919), American World War II reported turned beloved TV philosopher. He was a radio and television personality. He began his career as a World War II reporter before becoming a TV philosopher on his long-time segment on 60 Minutes. He died at age 92.
2011 ~ Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr. (b. Aug. 27, 1915), American physicist and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was born in Washington, D.C. He died at age 96 in Wayland, Massachusetts.
2010 ~ Sparky Anderson (né George Lee Anderson, b. Feb. 22, 1934), American baseball player and manager. He died at age 76.
2008 ~ Michael Crichton (né John Michael Crichton; b. Oct. 23, 1942), American physician and author of “technothrillers”. He died of lymphoma 12 days after his 66th birthday.
2006 ~ Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (née Ernestine Moller Gilbreth; b. Apr. 5, 1908), American author. She is best known as being one of 12 children of Lillian and Frank Gilbreth, whose life was chronicled in the 1948 memoir Cheaper by the Dozen. She died at age 98.
1995 ~ Yitzhak Rabin (b. Mar. 1, 1922), Prime Minister of Israel. He was also the recipient of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated by an extremist Orthodox Israeli in Tel Aviv. He was 73 years old at the time of his assassination.
1992 ~ George Klein (né George Johann Klein; b. Aug. 15, 1904), Canadian engineer and inventor of the motorized wheelchair. He died at age 88.
1986 ~ Kurt Hirsch (né Kurt August Hirsch; b. Jan. 12, 1906), German-born mathematician. He left Germany for England to escape Nazi persecution. He died at age 80.
1982 ~ Dominique Dunne (née Dominique Ellen Dunne; b. Nov. 23, 1959), American actress. She was born in Santa Monica, California. She was murdered in Los Angeles, California by her boyfriend in a domestic violence dispute 19 days before her 23rd birthday.
1980 ~ Elsie MacGill (née Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill; b. Mar. 27, 1905), Canadian engineer. She was known as the Queen of the Hurricanes and was the first female aircraft designer. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 75.
1959 ~ Friedrich Waismann (b. Mar. 21, 1896), Austrian mathematician. He died at age 63.
1957 ~ Shoghí Effendí (né Shoghí Effendí Rabbání, b. Mar. 1, 1897), Israeli religious leader of the Bahá’í Faith. He died of the Asian Flu at age 59.
1955 ~ Cy Young (né Denton True Young; b. Mar. 29, 1867), baseball pitcher. He died at age 88.
1923 ~ Samuel W. McCall (né Samuel Walker McCall; b. Feb. 28, 1851), 47th Governor of Massachusetts. He served as Governor from January 1916 until January 1919. He had previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He was born in East Providence Township, Pennsylvania. He died at age 72 in Winchester, Massachusetts.
1918 ~ Andrew Dickson White (b. Nov. 7, 1832), American educator and co-founder of Cornell University. He was the University’s first president. He was born in Homer, New York. He died 3 days before his 86th birthday in Ithaca, New York.
1869 ~ George Peabody (b. Feb. 18, 1795), American financier regarded as the Father of Modern Philanthropy. He was born in Danvers, Massachusetts into a poor family. He went into the dry-goods business, then into banking. He moved to London, England, then the financial capital where he helped to establish America’s international credit. He founded several philanthropic institutions. The town of Peabody, Massachusetts was named in his honor. He died in London at age 74. His body was returned to American and he is buried in Massachusetts.
1847 ~ Felix Mendelssohn (né Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, b. Feb. 3, 1809), German composer. He died following a series of strokes at age 38.
1809 ~ Noah Phelps (b. Jan. 22, 1740), American spy during the American Revolutionary War. He was born and died in Simsbury, Connecticut. He died at age 69.
1698 ~ Rasmus Bartholin (b. Aug. 13, 1625), Danish mathematician. He died at age 73.
1652 ~ Jean-Charles della Faille (b. Mar. 1, 1597), Flemish mathematician. He was also a Jesuit priest. He died at age 55.
1428 ~ Sophia of Bavaria (b. 1376), Queen of Bohemia. The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been 52 at the time of her death.
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