May 20

Birthdays:

 

1964 ~ Charles Spencer, 9^th Earl Spencer (né Charles Edward Maurice Spencer), brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

1959 ~ Israel Kamakawino’ole (d. June 26, 1997), Hawaiian singer-songwriter and ukulele player.  He was born and died in Honolulu, Hawaii.  He died at age 38.

 

1959 ~ Bronson Pinchot (né Bronson Alcott Pinchot), American actor.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.

 

1954 ~ David Paterson (né David Alexander Paterson), 55^th Governor of New York.  He became Governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned due to a sex scandal.  He served as Governor from March 2008 through December 2010.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1949 ~ Dave Thomas (né David William Thomas), Canadian actor and comedian.  He was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada.

 

1946 ~ Cher (née Cherilyn Sarkisian), American singer and actress.  She was born in El Centor, California.

 

1944 ~ Joe Cocker (né John Robert Joseph Cocker; d. Dec. 22, 2014), British singer-songwriter.  He died of lung cancer at age 70 in Crawford, Colorado.

 

1928 ~ Charles A. Reich (né Charles Alan Reich; d. June 15, 2019), American academic and hippy professor who promised The Greening of America, a book of the counterculture of the 1960s.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died 26 days after his 91^st birthday in San Francisco, California.

 

1923 ~ Betty Willis (née Betty Jane Whitehead; d. Apr. 19, 2015), American graphic designer who made Las Vegas “fabulous” with her iconic neon sign “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas.”  She was born and died in Overton, Nevada.  She died a month before her 92^nd birthday.

 

1921 ~ Hao Wang (d. May 13, 1995), Chinese-American logician and mathematician.  He died 7 days before his 74^th birthday.

 

1920 ~ Hephzibah Menuhin (d. Jan. 1, 1981), American concert pianist.  She was the sister of Yehudi Menuhin.  She was born in San Francisco, California.  She died at age 60 following a long illness in London, England.

 

1919 ~ George Goebel (né George Leslie Goebel; d. Feb. 24, 1991), American comedian.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 71 shortly after undergoing heart surgery in Los Angeles, California.

 

1918 ~ Edward B. Lewis (né Edward Butts Lewis; d. July 21, 2004), American geneticist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 86 in Pasadena, California.

 

1915 ~ Moshe Dayan (d. Oct. 16, 1981), Israeli general.  He died of a massive heart attack at age 66 in Tel Aviv.

 

1913 ~ William Hewlett (né William Reddington Hewlett; d. Jan. 12, 2001), American engineer and co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.  He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  He died at age 87 in Palo Alto, California.

 

1908 ~ Jimmy Stewart (né James Maitland Stewart; d. July 2, 1997), American actor.  He was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  He died of a pulmonary embolism at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1901 ~ Max Euwe (né Machgielis Euwe; b. Nov. 26, 1981), Dutch mathematician.  He was born and died in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  He died at age 80.

 

1899 ~ John Marshall Harlan, II (d. Dec. 29, 1971), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Dwight David Eisenhower.  He served on the Court from March 1955 until September 1971.  His grandfather, John Marshall Harlan, also served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1877 until 1911.  He replaced Robert Jackson on the Court.  He was succeeded by William Rehnquist.  John Harlan II died of spinal cancer at age 72, just 3 months after retiring from the Court.

 

1885 ~ Faisal I of Iraq (d. Sept. 8, 1933).  He died at age 48, which was officially recorded as a heart attack, but may have been due to poisoning.

 

1882 ~ Sigrid Undset (d. June 10, 1949), Norwegian author and recipient of the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She died 21 days after her 67^th birthday.

 

1860 ~ Eduard Buchner (d. Aug. 13, 1917), German chemist and recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in fermentation.  He died at age 57 of wounds suffered while in combat during World War I.

 

1851 ~ Emile Berliner (d. Aug. 3, 1929), German-born American inventor who is best known for inventing the phonograph.  He died of a heart attack at age 78.

 

1825 ~ Antoinette Brown Blackwell (née Antoinette Louisa Brown; d. Nov. 5, 1921), American theologian.  She was the first women ordained as a Protestant minister in the United States.  She was a minister in the Congregational Church.  She was also a woman’s right advocate.  She died at age 96.

 

1822 ~ Frédéric Passy (d. June 12, 1912), French economist and recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded in 1901.  He died 23 days after his 90^th birthday.

 

1818 ~ William Fargo (né William George Fargo; d. Aug. 3, 1881), American businessman and co-founder of Wells Fargo and American Express.  He also served as the 27^th Mayor of Buffalo, New York from 1862 until 1866.  He died at age 63.

 

1806 ~ John Stuart Mill (d. May 8, 1873), English philosopher.  He died 12 days before his 67^th birthday.

 

1799 ~ Honoré de Balzac (d. Aug. 18, 1850), French novelist.  He was born in Tours, France.  He died at age 51 in Paris, France.

 

1768 ~ Dolley Madison (née Dorothea Dandridge Payne, d. July 12, 1849), American First Lady and wife of President James Madison.  She had previously been married to John Todd.  He died of yellow fever at age 29.  She then married James Madison.  She died at age 81.

 

1759 ~ Dr. William Thornton (d. Mar. 28, 1828), American physician and architect.  He is best known for designing the United States Capitol.  He died at age 68.

 

1446 ~ Sandro Botticelli (né Alessandro di Mariano de Vanni Filipepi; d. May 17, 1510), Italian painter.  The actual date of his birth is unknown, although some believe it was May 20, 1446.  He is believed to have been about 64 at the time of his death.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2013 ~ An EF-5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, killing 24 people and injuring nearly 400 others.

 

2012 ~ A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck northern Italy killing at least 27 people and injuring many more.

 

1996 ~ The United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision in Romer v. Evans, against any law that would have prevented any city, town or county in Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.  Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy (b. 1936) authored the majority report.

 

1983 ~ French virologist Luc Montagnier (b. 1932) published his report on the discovery that the HIV virus was the cause of AIDS.  His paper appeared in Science.

 

1969 ~ The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ended.

 

1956 ~ The first United States airborne hydrogen bomb was dropped over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in a project called Operation Redwing.

 

1949 ~ The United States Armed Forces Security Agency was established.  In 1952, the agency would become revised into the National Security Agency.

 

1948 ~ Chiang Kai-shek (1887 ~ 1975) was elected as the first President of the Republic of China.

 

1940 ~ The first prisoners began arriving at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

 

1932 ~ Amelia Earhart (1897 ~ 1937) began the world’s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.  She flew from Newfoundland to Ireland.

 

1927 ~ Charles Lindbergh (1902 ~ 1974) began the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean   He landed in Paris on the following day, May 21.

 

1916 ~ The Saturday Evening Post published its first cover with a Norman Rockwell (1894 ~ 1978) painting.  At the time, Norman Rockwell was a young, unknown artist.  During his 50-year career with the magazine, he painted more than 300 covers for the weekly magazine.

 

1902 ~ Cuba gained its independence from the United States.

 

1899 ~ The first traffic ticket in the United States was issued to a taxi cab driver in New York City.  Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles an hour on Lexington Street.

 

1883 ~ Krakatoa began to erupt.  It would continue to erupt until the final explosion on August 26, 1883.  Approximately 36,000 people were killed by the eruption.

 

1873 ~ Levi Strauss (1829 ~ 1902) and Jacob Davis (1831 ~ 1908) patented their copper-riveted jeans.

 

1862 ~ Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.  This allowed any applicant who had never taken up arms against the United States Government to acquire land previously owned or claimed by the United States.

 

1609 ~ Shakespeare’s sonnets are believed to have first been published in London by Thomas Thorpe (1569 ~ 1635), an English book publisher.

 

526 ~ Antioch was struck by a devastating earthquake.  The earthquake probably occurred sometime between May 20 and May 29.

 

325 ~ The First Council of Nicaea, the first Ecumenical Council, of the Christian Church was held.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2019 ~ Niki Lauda (né Andreas Nikolaus Luada; b. Feb. 22, 1949), Austrian Formula One race car champ who got back on the track after a fiery crash.  In August 1976, while racing in the German Grand Prix, he crashed his car into a guard rail.  The car bust into flames and he suffered serious burns to his face and arms.  Six weeks later, while still in bandages, he raced again.  He died at age 70.

 

2018 ~ Billy Cannon (né William Abb Cannon; b. Aug. 2, 1937), 1959 winner of football’s Heisman trophy winner when he played at Louisiana State University.  He was later involved in a counterfeiting scheme and was sentenced to 5 years at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana.  He died in St. Francisville, Louisiana at age 80.

 

2014 ~ Prince Rupert Loewenstein (b. Aug. 24, 1933), Bavarian aristocrat and merchant banker who made the Rolling Stones rich.  He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease at age 80.

 

2013 ~ Ray Manzarek (né Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr.; b. Feb. 12, 1939), keyboardist who gave The Doors their signature sound.  He died of cancer at age 74.

 

2012 ~ Robin Gibb (né Robin Hugh Gibb; b. Dec. 22, 1949), Australian musician and the brother who launched the Bee Gees during the disco era.  His twin brother was Maurice Gibb (1949 ~ 2003).  Robin died of cancer at age 62.

 

2012 ~ Eugene Polley (b. Nov. 29, 1915), American engineer who invented the TV remote control.  He died at age 96.

 

2011 ~ Randy Savage (né Randy Mario Poffo; b. Nov. 15, 1952), American show-off who took wrestling mainstream.  He died of a heart attack while driving, which caused a car crash.  He was 58 at the time of his death.

 

2008 ~ Hamilton Jordan (né William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan; b. Sept. 21, 1944), 8^th White House Chief of Staff.  He was the political advisor who had President Jimmy Carter’s ear.  He died of cancer at age 63.

 

2005 ~ Paul Riocœur (né Jean Paul Gustave Riocœur, b. Feb. 27, 1913), French philosopher who taught in a POW camp during World War II.  He died at age 92.

 

2002 ~ Stephen Jay Gould (b. Sept. 10, 1941), American paleontologist.  He died of cancer at age 60.

 

2000 ~ Jean-Pierre Rampal (né Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal; b. Jan. 7, 1922), French flutist.  He died at age 78.

 

1989 ~ Gilda Radner (née Gilda Susan Radner; b. June 28, 1946), American comedian and actress.  She died of uterine cancer about a month before her 43^rd birthday.

 

1989 ~ Sir John Hicks (né John Richard Hicks; b. Apr. 8, 1904), English economist and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for his contributions to general equilibrium theory.  He died at age 85.

 

1956 ~ Sir Max Beerbohm (né Henry Maximilian Beerbohm; b. Aug. 24, 1872), English essayist and humorist.  He was born in London England.  He died in Rapallo, Italy at age 83.

 

1947 ~ Philipp Lenard (né Phillipp Eduard Anton von Lenard; b. June 7, 1862), German physicist and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on cathode rays.  He died 17 days before his 85^th birthday.

 

1940 ~ Verner von Heidenstam (né Carl Gustav Verner von Heidenstam; b. July 6, 1859), Swedish writer and recipient of the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 80.

 

1896 ~ Clara Schumann (née Clara Josephine Wieck; b. Sept. 13, 1819), German pianist and composer.  She was the wife of composer Robert Schumann.  They married in 1840.  She died at age 76.

 

1885 ~ Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (né Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen; b. Aug. 4, 1817), 25^th United States Secretary of State.  He served in that office from December 1881 until March 1885, during the administrations of President Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland.  He died at age 67.

 

1834 ~ Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (né Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette; b. Sept. 6, 1757), French soldier and statesman.  He fought for American independence and was a leader in the French Revolution, which followed the American Revolutionary War.  He played a pivotal role in the American Revolutionary War.  He is known in the United States as simply Lafayette.  He died at age 76.

 

1782 ~ William Emerson (b. May 14, 1701), English mathematician.  He died 6 days after his 81^st birthday.

 

1506 ~ Christopher Columbus (b. 1451), Italian explorer who set sail and discovered the Americas.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1503 ~ Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici (b. Aug. 4, 1463), Italian banker and politician.  He died at age 39.

 

1277 ~ Pope John XXI (né Pedro Julião, b. 1215).  He was Pope from September 1276 until his death in May 1277.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.