March 11

Birthdays:

 

1989 ~ Anton Yelchin (b. June 19, 2016), Russian-born actor.  He was killed in a freak accident when he was pinned to a wall by his Jeep Cherokee.  He was 27 years old.

 

1969 ~ Terrence Howard (né Terrance Dashon Howard), African-American actor.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1965 ~ Wallace Langham (né James Wallace Langham, III), American actor.  He was born in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

1954 ~ Gale Norton (née Gale Ann Norton), 48^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  She served under President George W. Bush from January 2001 until March 2006.  She was born in Wichita, Kansas.

 

1952 ~ Douglas Adams (né Douglas Noel Adams; d. May 11, 2001), English author best known for his book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  He died of a heart attack at age 49.

 

1936 ~ Antonin Scalia (né Antonin Gregory Scalia; d. Feb. 12, 2016), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Ronald Reagan.  He served on the Court from September 1986 until his death 30 years later.  He died in his sleep following a day of hunting in Texas.  He died a month before his 80^th birthday.

 

1934 ~ Sam Donaldson (né Samuel Andrew Donaldson, Jr.), American journalist and television anchor.  He was born in El Paso, Texas.

 

1932 ~ René A. Morel (d. Nov. 16, 2011), American master restorer of rare violins.  He died of cancer at age 79.

 

1931 ~ Rupert Murdoch (né Keith Rupert Murdoch), Australian-born newspaper magnate.  He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

 

1927 ~ Robert Mosbacher, Sr. (né Robert Adam Moshbacher; d. Jan. 24, 2010), 25^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served under President George H.W. Bush.  He held that position from January 1989 until January 1992.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 82.

 

1926 ~ Ralph Abernathy, Sr. (né Ralph David Abernathy; d. Apr. 17, 1990), African-American minister and civil rights activist.  He died at age 64.

 

1926 ~ Thomas Starzl (né Thomas Earl Starzl; d. Mar. 4, 2017), American surgeon and transplant pioneer who loathed surgery.  He was an expert on organ transplant was performed the first human liver transplants.  He is often referred to as the Father of Modern Transplantation.  He was born in Le Mars, Indiana.  He died 7 days before his 91^st birthday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

1925 ~ Margaret Oakley Dayoff (née Margaret Belle Oakley; d. Feb. 5, 1983), American biochemist and physical chemist.  She was a pioneer in bioinformation.  She died of a heart attack at age 57.

 

1921 ~ Frank Harary (d. Jan. 4, 2005), American mathematician.  He specialized in graph theory.  He died at age 83.

 

1920 ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen (d. Sept. 5, 2017), Dutch physicist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 97.

 

1916 ~ Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (né James Harold Wilson; d. May 24, 1995), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died of cancer at age 79.

 

1903 ~ Lawrence Welk (d. May 17, 1992), American musician and bandleader.  He was the host of The Lawrence Welk Show.  He died of pneumonia at age 89.

 

1900 ~ Hanna Bergas (d. January 1987), German school teacher who was fired from her job because she was Jewish.  She then found work in a private school, but when it became too dangerous in Germany, she emigrated to England, where she became active in the Kindertransport.  She contributed to the rescue of many Jewish children during World War II.  She died at age 86.

 

1899 ~ King Frederick IX of Denmark (d. Jan 14, 1972).  He was King of Denmark from April 1947 until his death 25 years later.  He died at age 72.

 

1899 ~ James Douglas, Jr. (né James Henderson Douglas, Jr.; d. Feb. 24, 1988), 5^th Secretary of the Air Force.  He served in this position under President Dwight David Eisenhower from May 1957 until December 1959.  He died 15 days before his 89^th birthday.

 

1898 ~ Dorothy Gish (née Dorothy Elizabeth Gish; d. June 4, 1968), American silent screen actress.  She died at age 70 of pneumonia.

 

1895 ~ Shemp Howard (né Samuel Horowitz; d. Nov. 22, 1955), American comedian best known for his role as one of the Three Stooges.  He died at age 60 of a heart attack.

 

1873 ~ David Horsley (d. Feb. 23, 1933), English-born American pioneer in the film industry and co-founder of Universal Studios.  He died 16 days before his 60^th birthday.

 

1870 ~ Louis Bachelier (né Louis Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Bachelier; d. Apr. 28, 1946), French mathematician.  He died at age 76.

 

1854 ~ Jane Meade Welch (d. Sept. 30, 1931), American journalist and historian.  She died at age 77.

 

1822 ~ Joseph Louis François Bertrand (d. Apr. 5, 1900), French mathematician.  He died less that a month before his 79^th birthday.

 

1819 ~ Sir Henry Tate, 1^st Baronet (d. Dec. 5, 1899), English sugar magnate of Tate & Lyle, the multinational agribusiness.  He is also known for being the founder of the Tate Art Gallery in London, England.  He died at age 80.

 

1812 ~ James Speed (d. June 25, 1887), 27^th United States Attorney General.  He served from December 1864 until July 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.  He was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky.  He died at age 75 in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

1811 ~ Urbain Le Verrier (né Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier; d. Sept. 23, 1877), French mathematician who is best known for his work with John Couch Adams and their discovery of Neptune.  They were credited with the planet’s discovery almost exactly 31 years to the day earlier!  He died at age 66.

 

1785 ~ John McLean (d. Apr. 4, 1861), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Andrew Jackson.  He served on the Court until his death 32 years later in April 1861.  He was one of two Justices who dissented in the Dred Scott case.  He replaced Robert Trimble on the High Court.  He had previously served as the 6^th United States Postmaster General under Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, from June 1823 until March 1829.  He was born in Morris County, New Jersey.  He died less that a month after his 76^th birthday.

 

1544 ~ Torquato Tasso (d. Apr. 25, 1595), Italian poet.  He died at age 51.

 

1279 ~ Mary of Woodstock (d. May 29, 1332), daughter of King Edward I of England.  She became a Benedictine nun.  She died at age 53.

 

378 ~ Pope Innocent I (d. Mar. 12, 417).  He was Pope from December 401 until his death.  He is known as Pope Saint Innocent I.  He is believed to have died 1 day after his 39^th birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2020 ~ The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 to be a pandemic.  Much of the United States and the world went into Stay-at-Home orders of varying strictness.

 

2016 ~ Heavy rain storms and flooding continued throughout the American South.

 

2011 ~ An 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, causing an enormous tsunami, killing thousands of people and setting off the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, which resulted in a nuclear meltdown of three of the plant’s six nuclear reactors.

 

2010 ~ While Sebastián Piñera (b. 1949) was being sworn in as President of Chile, the country was hit by three strong earthquakes.  He served until March 11, 2014.  In March 2018, he again was sworn in as President.

 

2006 ~ Michelle Bachelet (née Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria; b. 1951) was inaugurated as the first woman president of Chile.  She served as President until March 11, 2010.  She assumed the office of President again on March 11, 2014 and served until March 11, 2018.

 

2004 ~ Several bombs were exploded on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killing over 190 people.

 

1993 ~ Janet Reno (1938 ~ 2016) was confirmed by the United States Senate and was sworn in the next day to become the first female Attorney General of the United States.  She served in the Clinton administration from March 1993 through January 2001.

 

1990 ~ Lithuania became independent from the Soviet Union.

 

1990 ~ Patricio Aylwin (1918 ~ 2016) was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

 

1977 ~ The hostages held during the Hanafi Muslim Siege in Washington, D.C., were set free.  More than 130 hostages had been taken in the siege, which began on March 9, 1977.

 

1946 ~ Rudolf Höss (1901 ~ 1947), the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, was captured by British troops.  He was hanged on April 2, 1947 for war crimes.

 

1927 ~ The Roxy Theatre was opened in New York City by Samuel Roxy Rothafel (1882 ~ 1936).  The theater was demolished in 1960.

 

1918 ~ The first cases of the Spanish flu were reported, causing a devastating world-wide pandemic.  The initial outbreak was reported at Ft. Riley in Kansas.

 

1888 ~ The Great Blizzard of 1888 began along the eastern seaboard of the United States, which eventually killed over 400 people.

 

1867 ~ Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Don Carlos, was first performed.

 

1861 ~ The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the states that had ceded from the Union.

 

1851 ~ Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto, was first performed.

 

1824 ~ The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created as a subdivision of the United States Department of War.

 

1702 ~ England’s first daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, was published for the first time.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2019 ~ Hal Blaine (né Harold Simon Belsky; b. Feb. 5, 1929), American session drummer who defined the pop beat.  He was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts.  He died about a month after his 90^th birthday.

 

2012 ~ James B. Morehead (né James Bruce Morehead; b. Aug. 16, 1916), American World War II fighter ace who hunted big game.  He died at age 95.

 

2006 ~ Slobodan Milošević (b. Aug. 20, 1941), Serbian lawyer and President of the Federal Republic of Yugloslavia.  He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo.  His trial in the international court in The Hague began in February 2002, however, he died before the trial was concluded.  He died of a heart attack in prison at age 64.

 

2002 ~ James Tobin (b. Mar. 5, 1918), American economist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.  He died 6 days after his 84^th birthday in New Haven, Connecticut.

 

1971 ~ Philo Farnsworth (né Philo Taylor Farnsworth; b. Aug. 19, 1906), American inventor and television pioneer.  He died at age 64 of pneumonia.

 

1970 ~ Erle Stanley Gardner (b. July 17, 1889), American mystery writer.  He is best known as being the creator of Perry Mason.  He was born in Malden, Massachusetts.  He died at age 80.

 

1958 ~ Ole Kirk Christiansen (b. Apr. 7, 1891), Danish businessman, carpenter and toymaker.  He founded The Legos Group.  He died of a heart attack less that a month before his 67^th birthday.

 

1957 ~ Richard E. Byrd (né Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr.; b. Oct. 25, 1888), American admiral and polar explorer.  He died at age 68 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1955 ~ Sir Alexander Fleming (b. Aug. 6, 1881), Scottish biologist and pharmacologist known for his discovery of penicillin, for which he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine.  He died of a heart attack at age 73.

 

1955 ~ Oscar Mayer (né Oscar Ferdinand Mayer; b. Mar. 29, 1859), Bavarian-born American entrepreneur and founder of the Oscar Mayer, Co., which is known for its hotdogs and cold cuts.  He died 18 days before his 96^thbirthday.

 

1952 ~ Pierre Renoir (b. Mar. 21, 1885), French actor and movie director.  He was the son of the impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  He died 10 days before his 67^th birthday.

 

1950 ~ Heinrich Mann (né Luiz Heinrich Mann; d. Mar. 27, 1871), German writer.  His writing often had strong social themes, and his criticism of the growing of fascism in German led him to ultimately flee Germany after the rise of Nazism.  He was the older brother of writer Thomas Mann.  He was born in Lübeck, Germany.  He died in Santa Monica, California less than 3 weeks before his 79^th birthday.

 

1937 ~ Joseph S. Cullinan (né Joseph Stephen Cullinan; b. Dec. 31, 1860), American businessman and co-founder of Texaco.  He died at age 76.

 

1920 ~ Julio Garavito Armero (b. Jan. 5, 1865), Colombian mathematician, astronomer, and engineer.  He died at age 55.

 

1907 ~ Jean Casimir-Perier (né Jean Paul Casimir-Perier; b. Nov. 8, 1847), President of France during the 3^rdRepublic.  He was President for only 6 months, from June 1894 until January 1895.  He died at age 59.

 

1874 ~ Charles Sumner (b. Jan. 6, 1811), American politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts.  He was a leader in the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts.  He died of a heart attack at age 63.

 

1820 ~ Benjamin West (b. Oct. 10, 1738), English-American painter.  He died at age 81.

 

1198 ~ Marie of France (b. 1145), Countess consort of Champagne through her marriage to Henry I, Count of Champagne.  She was the daughter of King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

 

452 ~ Tai Wu Di (b. 408), Chinese emperor of Northern Wei.  He ruled from December 423 until his assassination in March 452.  The exact date of his birth is not known.