March 28

Birthdays:

 

1986 ~ Lady Gaga, (née Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), American singer and musician.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1981 ~ Julia Stiles (née Julia O’Hara Stiles), American actress.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1977 ~ Lauren Weisberger, American novelist.  She is best known for her novel The Devil Wears Prada.  She was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

 

1970 ~ Vince Vaughn (né Vince Anthony Vaughn), American actor.  He was born in Minneapolis, Missouri.

 

1968 ~ Max Perlich, American actor.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

1955 ~ Reba McEntire (née Reba Nell McEntire), American singer-songwriter.  She was born in McAlester, Oklahoma.

 

1948 ~ Dianne Wiest (née Dianne Evelyn Wiest), American actress.  She was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

1946 ~ Henry Paulson (né Henry Merritt Paulson, Jr.), American economist and 74^th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President George W. Bush from July 2006 until January 2009.  He was born in Palm Beach, Florida.

 

1946 ~ Alejandro Toledo, 48^th President of Peru.  He served as President from July 2001 until July 2006.

 

1944 ~ Ken Howard (né Kenneth Joseph Howard, Jr.; b. Mar. 23, 2016), American actor.  He was born in El Cento, California.  He died of cancer 5 days before his 72^nd birthday in Valencia, California.

 

1942 ~ Jerry Sloan (né Gerald Eugene Sloan; d. May 22, 2020), American professional basketball player.  He was known as the gritty guard who became a coaching legend.  He was the head coach for the Utah Jazz for 23 years.  He was born in McLeansboro, Illinois.  He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease at age 78 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

1942 ~ Daniel Dennett (né Daniel Clement Dannett, III), American philosopher, cognitive scientist and writer.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1936 ~ Mario Vargas Llosa, 1^st Marquis of Vargas Llosa, Peruvian author and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Arequipa, Peru.

 

1930 ~ Jerome Isaac Friedman, American physicist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing an internal structure for protons, later known as quarks.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1928 ~ Alexander Grothendieck (d. Nov. 13, 2014), German-born French mathematician.  He was a leader in algebraic geometry.  He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966.  He died at age 86.

 

1928 ~ Zbrigniew Brzezinski (né Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski; d. May 26, 2017), Polish-born American political scientist who served as the United States National Security Advisor under President Jimmy Carter from January 1977 until January 1981.  He was the 10^th United States National Security Advisor.  His daughter, Mike Brzezinski, is a co-anchor on the MSNBC news show, Morning Joe.  He died at age 89.

 

1926 ~ Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 18^th Duchess of Alba (d. Nov. 20, 2014).  She died at age 88.

 

1921 ~ Jerzy Bielecki (d. Oct. 20, 2011), Polish Catholic social worker who was sent to Auschwitz on suspicion of being a resistance fighter.  While in the concentration camp, he met and fell in love with Cyla Cybulaska, a Polish Jew.  The two escaped from Auschwitz, but were separated for 39 years.  He was 90 years old at the time of his death.

 

1914 ~ Edmund Muskie (né Edmund Sixtus Muskie; d. Mar. 26, 1914), American politician and long-term senator from Maine.  He also served as the 58^th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from May 1980 until January 1981.  He was born in Rumford, Maine.  He died 2 days before his 82^nd birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

1910 ~ Ingrid of Sweden (d. Nov. 7, 2000), Queen consort of Demark and wife of Frederick IX, King of Denmark.  She was of the House of Bernadotte.  She was the daughter of Gustaf CVI Adolf, King of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught.  She died at age 90.

 

1909 ~ Nelson Algren (né Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; d. May 9, 1981), American writer.  He is best known for his book, The Man with the Golden Arm.  He died at age 72.

 

1907 ~ Swifty Lazar (né Samuel Lazar, also known as Irving Paul Lazar; d. Dec. 30, 1993), American talent agent.  He died at age 86 from complications of diabetes.

 

1905 ~ Marlin Perkins (né Richard Marlin Perkins; d. June 14, 1986), American zoologist and television host of Wild Kingdom.  He died of cancer.  He was 81 years old at the time of his death.

 

1899 ~ Gussie Anheuser Busch (né August Anheuser Busch; d. Sept. 29, 1989), American brewer and grandson of the founder of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company.  He died at age 90.

 

1895 ~ Christian Herter (né Christian Archibald Herter; d. Dec. 30, 1966), 53^rd United States Secretary of State.  He served under President Dwight David Eisenhower from April 1959 until January 1961.  He also was the 1^st United States Trade Representative under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from December 1962 through December 1966.  He had earlier served as the 59^th Governor of Massachusetts from January 1953 to January 1957.  He was 71 years old at the time of his death.

 

1892 ~ Corneille Heymans (d. July 18, 1968), Belgian physiologist and recipient of the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for showing how blood pressure and the oxygen content of blood are transmitted to the brain.  He died of a stroke at age 76.

 

1868 ~ Maxim Gorky (né Alexei Maximovich Peshkov; d. June 18, 1936), Russian author.  His birthday is sometimes shown in accordance with the Julian calendar, which would be March 16.  He was 68 years old.

 

1862 ~ Aristide Briand (d. Mar. 7, 1932), French politician and recipient of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.  He also served several non-consecutives terms as the Prime Minister of France.  He died 21 days before his 70^th birthday in Paris, France.

 

1847 ~ Gyula Farkas (d. Dec. 27, 1930), Hungarian mathematician.  He died at age 83.

 

1836 ~ Frederick Pabst (né Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Pabst; d. Jan. 1, 1904), German-born American brewer and founder of the Pabst Brewing Company.  He was 67 years old.

 

1708 ~ Hannah Glasse (d. Sept. 1, 1770), English cookbook writer.  She is best known for her book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.  She died at age 62.

 

1652 ~ Samuel Sewall (d. Jan. 1, 1730), American judge best known for presiding over the Salem Witch trials.  He later apologized for his actions in those trials.  He died at age 77.

 

1613 ~ Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (d. Jan. 27, 1688), Chinese Grand Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty.  She was the 4^th wife of Hong Taiji, 1^st Emperor of the Qing dynasty.  She died at age 74.

 

1515 ~ St. Teresa of Ávila (d. Oct. 4, 1582), Spanish nun, mystic and saint.  She died at age 67.

 

1472 ~ Fra Bartolomeo (d. Oct. 31, 1517), Italian artist.  He died at age 45.

 

931 ~ Liu Chengyou (d. Jan. 2, 951), Chinese Emperor of the Later Han dynasty.  He was the second and last emperor of the short-lived Later Han dynasty.  He reigned from March 948 until his death 3 years later.  He was killed at age 19.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2021 ~ Palm Sunday.

 

2005 ~ An 8.7 magnitude earthquake, known as the 2005 Sumatra earthquake, hit Indonesia.

 

1990 ~ Jesse Owens (1913 ~ 1980) was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

 

1979 ~ The Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, failed causing a major meltdown, creating the United States’ worst commercial nuclear accident.

 

1970 ~ The 7.2 magnitude Gediz earthquake in western Turkey killed over 1000 people and injured over 1200 individuals.

 

1959 ~ The State Council of the People’s Republic of China dissolved the Government of Tibet.

 

1933 ~ The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpoool is believed to be the first airline to be lost to sabotage or terrorism.  It is believed that a passenger set a fire aboard during flight causing the crash.  All 15 passengers and flight crew were killed.

 

1930 ~ The names of the cities of Constantinople and Angora in Turkey were changed to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.

 

1920 ~ A tornado outbreak, which occurred on Palm Sunday, affected the Great Lakes area and the southern States.

 

1865 ~ The first hospital ambulance service in the United States began operating in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

1854 ~ France and Britain declared war on Russia during the Crimean War.

 

1814 ~ During the War of 1812, in the Battle of Valparaíso off the coast of Chile, two American naval vessels were captured by two British naval vessels.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2017 ~ Lou Duva (né Louis Duva, b. May 28, 1922), American scrappy boxing manager who trained champs.  He managed such boxing champions as Evander Holyfield and Darren van Horn over a 7-decade career.  He died at age 94.

 

2014 ~ Jeremiah Denton, Jr. (né Jeremiah Andrew Denton, Jr.; b. July 15, 1924), the American Admiral POW who defied his captors.  He later became a United States Senator from Alabama from 1981 to 1987.  He died at age 89.

 

2014 ~ Lorenzo Semple (né Lorenzo Elliot Semple; b. Mar. 27, 1923), American screen writer who made Batman funny on the television series.  He was known professionally as Lorenzo Semple, Jr.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York.  He died in Los Angeles, California one day after his 91^st birthday.

 

2013 ~ Elwin Wilson (b. Sept. 17, 1936), American Klansman who apologized to his victims.  In the early 1960s, he participated in beatings of individuals, including Freedom Rider John Lewis.  His actions later haunted him and nearly 50 years later, he made a formal, public apology.  He died at age 76.

 

2012 ~ Earl Scruggs (né Earl Eugene Scruggs; b. Jan. 6, 1924), American virtuoso who popularized the banjo.  He was known for bluegrass music.  He died at age 88.

 

2009 ~ Maurice Jarre (né Maurice-Alexis Jarre, b. Sept. 13, 1924), French composer.  Many of his compositions were in movies.  He was 84 years old.

 

2006 ~ Caspar Weinberger (né Caspar Willard Weinberger, b. Aug. 18, 1917), American politician and 15^th United States Secretary of Defense.  He served as Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 1981 until November 1987.  He had previously served as the 10^th United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.  He died of pneumonia at age 88 in Bangor, Maine.

 

2004 ~ Sir Peter Ustinov (né Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov; b. Apr. 16, 1921), British actor.  He died 19 days before his 83^rd birthday.

 

2000 ~ Anthony Powell (né Anthony Dymoke Powell; b Dec. 21, 1905), British novelist.  He died at age 94.

 

1994 ~ Eugène Ionesco (b. Nov. 26, 1909), Romanian-French playwright.  He was born in Slatina, Romania.  He died at age 84 in Paris, France.

 

1987 ~ Maria von Trapp (b. Jan. 26, 1905), Austrian-born singer and subject of the movie, The Sound of Music.  She was the stepmother and matriarch of the Von Trapp Family.  She died at 82.

 

1985 ~ Marc Chagall (né Moishe Shagal; b. July 7, 1887), Russian-born painter.  He is best known as one of the world’s preeminent Jewish artists and is best known for creating the Jerusalem windows at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.  His father was a fish merchant, so he often incorporated fish into his work to honor his father.  He died at age 97.

 

1982 ~ William Giauque (né William Francis Giauque; b. May 12, 1895), Canadian-born American chemist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 86.

 

1979 ~ Emmett Kelly (né Emmett Leo Kelly; b. Dec. 9, 1898), American clown.  He died of myocardial infarction at age 80.

 

1969 ~ Dwight David Eisenhower (b. Oct. 14, 1890), American General and 34^th President of the United States.  He served as President from January 1953 until January 1961.  He had previously served as the 1^st Supreme Allied Commander of Europe from April 1951 until May 1952.  He was also the 16^th Chief of Staff of the Army under President Harry S Truman, from November 1945 until February 1948.  He was born in Denison, Texas.  He died of heart failure at age 78 in Washington, D.C.

 

1969 ~ Aryeh Levin (b. Mar. 22, 1885), Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi.  He died 6 days after his 84^th birthday in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

1965 ~ Mary, Princess Royal (née Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary; b. Apr. 25, 1897).  She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1917 when the family became known as Windsor.  She was the 3^rd child and only daughter of George V, King of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck.  In 1922 she married Henry Lascelles, 6^th Earl of Harewood and became known as the Countess of Harewood.  They had 2 sons.  She died of a heart attack about a month before her 68^th birthday.

 

1957 ~ Christopher Morley (b. May 5, 1890), American journalist.  He died at age 66.

 

1953 ~ Jim Thorpe (né James Francis Thorpe; b. May 28, 1887), Native American athlete and Olympian Gold Medalist.  He won gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, however, after it was learned that he had briefly played professional football, he was stripped of his medals.  In 1983, the medals restored his Olympic medals.  The exact date in May of his birth is unknown and is sometimes recorded as May 22.  He died at age 65.

 

1943 ~ Sergei Rachmaninoff (b. Apr. 1, 1873), Russian composer, pianist and conductor.  He died 4 days before his 70^thbirthday.

 

1941 ~ Virginia Woolf (née Adeline Virginia Stephen; b. Jan. 25, 1882), English writer.  She was born in London, England.  She died by suicide by drowning at age 59 in Lewes, England.

 

1929 ~ Katharine Lee Bates (b. Aug. 12, 1859), American songwriter.  She composed America the Beautiful in 1893 while admiring the view from the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado.  She was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts and died in Wellesley, Massachusetts at age 69.

 

1910 ~ David Josiah Brewer (b. June 20, 1837), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Benjamin Harrison.  He served on the Court from December 1889 until his death on this date 21 years later.  He replaced Stanley Matthews on the Court.  He was succeeded by Charles Hughes.  He was born in Izmir, Turkey.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 72.

 

1896 ~ Elizabeth Charles (née Elizabeth Rundle; b. Jan. 2, 1828), British novelist.  She died at age 68.

 

1893 ~ Edmund Kirby Smith (b. May 16, 1824), Confederate General during the American Civil War.  A dormitory at Louisiana State University was named in his honor.  He died of pneumonia at age 68.

 

1881 ~ Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (b. Mar. 21, 1839), Russian composer.  He is best known for his opera Boris Godunov.  He died 7 days after his 42^nd birthday.

 

1874 ~ Peter Andreas Hansen (b. Dec. 8, 1795), Danish astronomer and mathematician.  He died at age 78.

 

1850 ~ Gerard Brandon (né Gerard Chittocque Brandon, b. Sept. 15, 1788), Governor of Mississippi.  He served two terms as Governor.  He died at age 61.

 

1828 ~ Dr. William Thornton (b. May 20, 1759), American physician and architect.  He is best known for designing the United States Capitol.  He died at age 68.

 

1757 ~ Robert-François Damiens (b. Jan. 9, 1715), French domestic servant who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV of France.  He is known for being the last person in France to be executed by drawing and quartering.  He was 42 at the time of his execution.

 

1655 ~ Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg (b. Nov. 11, 1599), Queen consort of Sweden and wife of Gustavus Alolphus, King of Sweden.  She was of the House of Hohenzollern.  She was the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Anna, Duchess of Prussia.  She died at age 55.

 

1584 ~ Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (b. Aug. 25, 1530).  He was known as Ivan the Terrible.  This is the traditional date of his birthday under the Gregorian calendar.  Under the Julian calendar, is birthdate is considered to be March18.  He was the first Tsar of All Russia and he ruled from January 1547 until his death 27 years later.  He died at age 53 from a stroke while playing chess.

 

1285 ~ Pope Martin IV (né Simon de Brion; b. 1220).  He was Pope from February 1281 until his death on this date 4 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1241 ~ Valdemar II of Denmark (b. May 9, 1170).  He was known as Vlademar the Conqueror.  The exact date of his birth is unknown; but is believed to have been in May 1170.  He died at age 70.

 

March 27

Birthdays:

 

1963 ~ Quentin Tarantino (né Quentin Jerome Tarantino), American film director.  He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

1952 ~ Maria Schneider (née Maria-Hélène Schneider; d. Feb. 3, 2011), French actress best known for her role in The Last Tango in Paris.  She was the vulnerable actress who tangoed with Marlon Brando.  She was born and died in Paris, France.  She died of breast cancer at age 58.

 

1944 ~ Jesse Brown (d. Aug. 15, 2002), 2^nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  He served under Bill Clinton from January 1993 until July 1997.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 58 in Warrenton, Virginia.

 

1942 ~ Sir John Sulston (né John Edward Sulston; d. Mar. 6, 2018), British chemist and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died of stomach cancer 21 days before his 76^th birthday.

 

1942 ~ Michael York (né Michael Hugh Johnson), English actor.  He is best known for his role of Tybalt in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet.  He was born in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England.

 

1940 ~ Austin Pendleton (né Austin Campbell Pendleton), American actor and playwright.  He was born in Warren, Ohio.

 

1934 ~ Arthur Mitchell (d. Sept. 19, 2018), American ballet dancer who broke ballet’s color barrier.  He was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 84 in Manhattan, New York.

 

1931 ~ David Janssen (né David Harold Meyer; d. Feb. 13, 1980), American actor best known for his role as Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.  He was born in Naponee, Nebraska.  He died of a heart attack at age 48 in Malibu, California.

 

1927 ~ Anthony Lewis (né Joseph Anthony Lewis; d. Mar. 25, 2013), American journalist and author of Gideon’s Trumpet.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.  He died of a heart attack 2 days before his 86^th birthday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1926 ~ Frank O’Hara (né Francis Russell O’Hara; d. July 25, 1966), American author.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died in Mastic Beach, New York at age 40 from injuries sustained after having been hit by a motor vehicle.

 

1924 ~ Sarah Vaughan (née Sarah Lois Vaughan; d. Apr. 3, 1990), African-American jazz singer.  She was born in Newark, New Jersey.  She died of lung cancer a week after her 66^th birthday in Hidden Hills, California.

 

1924 ~ Margaret K. Butler (d. Mar. 8, 2013), American mathematician and computer programmer.  She was the first female fellow at the American Nuclear society and director of the National Energy Software Center at Argonne, where she worked from 1972 until 1991.  She was born in Evansville, Indiana.  She died 19 days before her 89^th birthday in La Grange Park, Illinois.

 

1923 ~ Louis Simpson (né Louis Aston Marantz Simpson; d. Sept. 14, 2012), American poet.  He was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  He died at age 89 in Stony Brook, New York.

 

1923 ~ Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (né Lorenzo Elliot Semple, III; d. Mar. 28, 2014), American screen writer who made Batman funny on the television series.  He was known professionally as Lorenzo Semple, Jr.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York.  He died in Los Angeles, California one day after his 91^st birthday.

 

1923 ~ Jack O’Neill (d. June 2, 2017), American surfer who invented the modern wetsuit.  He was born in Denver, Colorado.  He died at age 94 in Santa Cruz, California.

 

1921 ~ Phil Chess (né Fiszel Czyż; d. Oct. 18, 2016), Czech-born record producer and co-founder of Chess Records.  He died at age 95 in Tucson, Arizona.

 

1917 ~ Cyrus Vance (né Cyrus Roberts Vance; d. Jan. 12, 2002), 57^th United States Secretary of State.  He served during the Carter administration from January 1977 until April 1980.  He had previously served as the 7^th United States Secretary of the Army from July 1962 until January 1964 under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.  He was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.  He died of pneumonia at age 84 in New York, New York.

 

1914 ~ Budd Schulberg (né Seymour Wilson Schulberg, d. Aug. 5, 2009), American author and screenwriter.  He was the Oscar-winning writer of On the Waterfront.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 95 in Quiogue, New York.

 

1912 ~ James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (né Leonard James Callaghan; d. Mar. 26, 2005), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died 1 day before his 93^rd birthday.

 

1908 ~ Sol Leschinsky (né Solomon Aaron Leschinsky; d. Jan. 26, 1985), Canadian-born mathematician and inventor.  He died in Los Angeles, California at age 76.

 

1905 ~ László Kalmár (d. Aug. 2, 1976), Hungarian mathematician.  He is considered the founder of mathematical logic and theoretical computer science.  He died at age 71.

 

1905 ~ Elsie MacGill (née Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill, d. Nov. 4, 1980), Canadian engineer.  She was known as the Queen of the Hurricanes and was the first female aircraft designer.  She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 75.

 

1901 ~ Eisaku Satō (d. June 3, 1975), Prime Minister of Japan.  He served three terms between November 1964 and July 1972.  He was the recipient of the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize for representing the Japanese’s desire for peace and signing the nuclear arms Non-Proliferation treating in 1970.  He died of a stroke at age 74 in Tokyo, Japan.

 

1899 ~ Gloria Swanson (née Gloria May Josephine Swanson; d. Apr. 4, 1983), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.  She died about a week after her 84^thbirthday in New York, New York.

 

1897 ~ Douglas Hartree (né Douglas Rayner Hartree; d. Feb. 12, 1958), English mathematician and physicist.  He was born and died in Cambridge, England.  He died of heart failure at age 60.

 

1893 ~ Karl Mannheim (né Károly Manheim; b. Jan. 9, 1947), Hungarian sociologist.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary.  He died of a heart condition at age 53 in London, England.

 

1886 ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (né Maria Ludwig Muhuta Michael William Mies; d. Aug. 17, 1969), German-borne architect.  His philosophy towards buildings was “Less is More.”  He was born in Aachen, German Empire.  He died at age 83 in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1880 ~ Ruth Hanna McCormick (née Ruth Hanna; d. Dec. 31, 1944), American politician from Illinois and supporter of woman’s rights.  She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.  She developed pancreatitis as a result of a fall from a horse.  She was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  She died at age 64 in Chicago.

 

1879 ~ Edward Steichen (né Éduard Jean Steichen; d. Mar. 25, 1973), American painter and photographer.  He was born in Luxembourg, but his family moved to the United States when he was a child.  He died 2 days before his 94^th birthday in West Redding, Connecticut.

 

1876 ~ Gerhard Kowalewski (d. Feb. 21, 1950), German mathematician and member of the Nazi party.  He is best known for the introduction of the matrices notation.  He is also known as being a strong advocate for female mathematicians.  He died at age 73.

 

1871 ~ Heinrich Mann (né Luiz Heinrich Mann; d. Mar. 11, 1950), 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.

 

1867 ~ Karl Zsigmondy (d. Oct. 14, 1925), Austrian-Hungarian mathematician.  He was born and died in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 58.

 

1868 ~ Patty Hill (née Patty Smith Hill; d. May 25, 1946), American educator and kindergarten teacher.  She is best known for writing Happy Birthday to You.  She was born in Anchorage, Kentucky.  She died at age 78 in New York, New York.

 

1863 ~ Sir Henry Royce, 1^st Baronet (né Frederick Henry Royce; d. Apr. 22, 1933), English automobile pioneer who, along with Charles Rolls (1877 ~ 1910) founded Rolls-Royce Limited.  He died 26 days after his 70^th birthday.

 

1857 ~ Karl Pearson (né Carl Pearson; d. Apr. 27, 1936), English statistician and mathematician.  He was also a proponent of social Darwinism, eugenics and scientific racism.  His name was changed from Carl to Karl by accident when he enrolled at the University of Heidleberg.  He died a month after his 79^th birthday.

 

1847 ~ Otto Wallach (d. Feb. 26, 1931), German chemist and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds.  He died a month before his 84^th birthday.

 

1845 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (né Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen; d. Feb. 10, 1923), German physicist and recipient of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the X-ray.  He died at age 77.

 

1824 ~ Virginia Minor (née Virginia Louisa Minor; d. Aug. 14, 1894), American woman’s rights activist.  She is best remembered for being the plaintiff in the case of United States Supreme Court case of Minor v. Happersett, in which she argued, unsuccessfully, that the 14^th Amendment gave women the right to vote.  Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote the decision for the Court.  She was born in Caroline County, Virginia.  She died at age 70 in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

1814 ~ Charles Mackay (d. Dec. 24, 1889), Scottish poet and author.  He was born in Perth, Scotland.  He died at age 85 in London, England.

 

1813 ~ Nathaniel Currier (d. Nov. 20, 1888), American illustrator, who worked with James Ives to create lithographs of current events and life in the mid-1800s America.  Together James Ives and Nathaniel Currier co-founded Currier and Ives.  Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.  He died at age 75 in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

 

1801 ~ Alexander Barrow (d. Dec. 29, 1846), American lawyer and United States Senator from Louisiana.  He served in the Senate from March 1841 through December 1846.  He was born in Nashville, Tennessee.  He died at age 45 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1785 ~ Louis XVII, King of France (d. June 8, 1795).  He was the claimant to the French throne, although he was never actually crowned.  He was of the House of Bourbon.  He was the youngest son of Louis XVI, King of France and Marie Antoinette.  After his father was executed, he became “king” in the eyes of the royalists.  He was imprisoned by the Republic.  He died in prison at age 10 of an illness.

 

1724 ~ Jane Colden (d. Mar. 10, 1766), American botanist.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died in childbirth less than 3 weeks before her 42^nd birthday.  She was the first known female biologist in the United States.  Although she was not acknowledged in published papers, she regularly corresponded with leading botanists and her work contributed to considerable identification of American plants.

 

1522 ~ Rachel Akerman (d. 1544), Austrian-Jewish poet.  She is the earliest known Jewish woman known to have written poetry in German.

 

972 ~ Robert II, King of France (d. July 20, 1031).  He ruled from December 987 until his death in July 1031.  He was known as Robert the Pius.  He was married three times.  He first wife was Rozala of Italy.  After the marriage was annulled, he married Bertha of Burgundy.  After that marriage was annulled, he married Constance of Arles, and they remained married until his death.  He was of the House of Capet.  He was the son of Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine.  He died at age 59.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2021 ~ Passover began at sunset.

 

2020 ~ North Macedonia became the 30^th member of NATO.

 

2016 ~ Easter Sunday.

 

2013 ~ A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Taiwan.

 

2002 ~ A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 29 people participating in a Passover Seder in Netanya, Israel.

 

2000 ~ A Phillips Petroleum plant exploded in Pasadena, Texas, killing 1 person and injuring over 70 others.

 

1998 ~ The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra for treatment of male impotence.

 

1980 ~ A Norwegian oil platform collapsed in the North Sea.  Of the 212 crew on the platform, 123 were killed.

 

1977 ~ Two airplanes collided on the runway in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 passengers aboard both planes.  Sixty-one passengers aboard the Pan-Am flight plane survived; all passengers in the KLM flight were killed.

 

1975 ~ Construction on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began.

 

1964 ~ Alaska was hit by a massive earthquake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale.  Over 125 people were killed and there was massive damage to the city of Anchorage, Alaska.  The earthquake occurred on Good Friday so is sometimes referred to as the Good Friday earthquake.

 

1958 ~ Nikita Khrushchev (1894 ~ 1971) became the Premier of the Soviet Union.

 

1942 ~ Nazi Germany and Vichy France began deporting over 65,000 Jews from the Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.

 

1939 ~ The University of Oregon defeated Ohio State University in the first “March Madness” basketball tournament.  The final score of the game was Oregon 46 to Ohio’s 33.

 

1915 ~ Mary “Typhoid Mary” Mallon (Sept. 23, 1869 ~ Nov. 11, 1938), the healthy carrier of Typhoid, was put into quarantine where she lived for the rest of her life.

 

1912 ~ First Lady Helen Taft (1861 ~ 1943) and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, the wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first cherry trees in Washington, D.C.

 

1905 ~ Fingerprint evidence was used in England to solve a brutal murder.

 

1890 ~ A tornado hit Louisville, Kentucky.  Over 100 people were killed and another 200 were injured.

 

1886 ~ Geronimo (1829 ~ 1909), the Apache warrior, surrendered to the United States Army, ending the main phase of the Apache wars.

 

1794 ~ The United States government established a permanent Navy.

 

1782 ~ Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2^nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730 ~ 1782), started his first term as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died 14 weeks after beginning his second term as Prime Minister.  He served during the reign of King George III.

 

1775 ~ Thomas Jefferson (1743 ~ 1826) was elected to the Continental Congress.

 

1625 ~ Charles I (1600 ~ 1649) became King of England, Scotland and Ireland.  He also claimed the title King of France as well.

 

1513 ~ Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León (1474 ~ 1521) is believed to have reached what is now known as The Bahamas on his first voyage to the New World.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Michael McKinnell (né Noel Michael McKinnell; b. Dec. 25, 1935), British-born American architect.  He co-designed Boston City Hall, which helped spur the City’s urban revival in the late 1960s.  He was born in Salford, England.  He died of Covid-19 at age 84 in Beverly, Massachusetts.

 

2016 ~ Mother Angelica (née Rita Antoinette Rizzo; b. Apr. 20, 2913), American Poor Clare nun and television personality.  She was the founder of the cable network Eternal Word Television Network.  She was born in Canton, Ohio.  She died in Hanceville, Alabama about a month before her 93^rd birthday.

 

2014 ~ James R. Schlesinger (né James Rodney Schlesinger; b. Feb. 15, 1929), American headstrong aide who served three presidents.  He served as the 1^st United States Secretary of Energy under President Jimmy Carter from August 1977 until August 1979.  He served as the 12^th United States Secretary of Defense from July 1973 until November 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.  He also served as the 9^th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 85 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

2013 ~ Yvonne Brill (née Yvonne Madelaine Claeys; b. Dec. 30, 1924), Canadian-born woman who blazed a trail in rocketry.  She was a propulsion engineer best known for her development of rocket and jet propulsion technologies.  She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  She died at age 88 in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

2012 ~ Adrienne Rich (née Adrienne Cecile Rich; b. May 16, 1929), American poet who gave a strong voice to feminism.  She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  She died at age 82 in Santa Cruz, California.

 

2009 ~ Irving R. Levine (né Irving Raskin Levine; b. Aug. 26, 1922), American journalist.  He was a longtime correspondent for NBC News.  He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 86 of complications from prostate cancer.

 

2007 ~ Paul Lauterbur (né Paul Christian Lauterbur; d. May 6, 1929), American chemist and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work that made MRIs possible.  He was born in Sidney, Ohio.  He died at age 77 of kidney disease in Urbana, Illinois.

 

2007 ~ Charlotte Winters (née Charlotte Louise Berry; b. Nov. 10, 1897), American veteran, and last surviving female veteran, of World War I.  She joined the Navy in 1917.  She was born in Washington, D.C.  She died at age 109 in Boonsboro, Maryland.

 

2003 ~ Paul Zindel, Jr. (b. May 15, 1936), American writer and playwright.  He is best known for his novel, The Pigman.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 66 of lung cancer.

 

2002 ~ Dudley Moore (né Dudley Stuart John Moore; b. April 19, 1935), British actor.  He was born in London, England.  He died 23 days before his 67^th birthday in Plainfield, New Jersey.

 

2002 ~ Milton Berle (né Mendel Berlinger; b. July 12, 1908), American actor and comedian.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 93 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2002 ~ Billy Wilder (né Samuel Wilder; b. June 22, 1906), Hungarian-born American film director.  He died at age 95 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1998 ~ Ferdinand Porsche (Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, b. Sept. 19, 1909), Austrian automobile designer.  He died at age 88.

 

1997 ~ Lane Dwinell (né Seymour Lane Dwindel; b. Nov. 14, 1906), 69^th Governor of New Hampshire.  He served as Governor from January 1955 through December 1959.  He was born in Newport, Vermont and died in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He died at age 90.

 

1983 ~ Elsie Eaves (b. May 5, 1898), American engineer.  She was the first woman to become a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  She was born in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  She died at age 84 in Roslyn, New York.

 

1972 ~ M.C. Escher (né Maurits Cornelis Escher; b. June 17, 1898), Dutch graphic artist.  He was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.  He died at age 73.

 

1968 ~ Yuri Gagarin (b. Mar. 9, 1934), Soviet cosmonaut and first human in space.  He was later killed in a test flight, just 13 days after his 34^th birthday.

 

1967 ~ Jaroslav Heyrovský (b. Dec. 20, 1890), Czech chemist and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born and died in Prague, Czechoslovakia.  He died at age 76.

 

1962 ~ Augusta Savage (née Augusta Christine Fells; b. Feb. 29, 1892), African-American sculptor.  She was an important figure associated with the Harlem Renaissance.  She was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida.  She died about a month after her 27^th birthday.

 

1952 ~ Kiichiro Toyoda (b. June 11, 1894), Japanese businessman and founder of Toyota.  He died at age 57 from injuries sustained in a fall.

 

1934 ~ Charlotte Barnum (née Charlotte Cynthia Barnum; b. May 17, 1860), American mathematician and social activist.  She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University.  She was born in Philipstown, Massachusetts.  She died at age 73 in Middletown, Connecticut.

 

1931 ~ Arnold Bennett (né Enoch Arnold Bennett; b. May 27, 1867), English novelist.  He died of typhoid fever at age 63 in London, England.

 

1925 ~ Carl Neumann (né Karl Gottfried Neumann; b. May 7, 1832), German mathematician.  He died at age 92.

 

1923 ~ Sir James Dewar (b. Sept. 20, 1842), Scottish chemist and physicist.  He is best known for creating the Dewar’s Flask.  He died at age 80 in London, England.

 

1918 ~ Henry Adams (né Henry Brooks Adams; b. Feb. 16, 1838), American historian and novelist.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 80 in Washington, D.C.

 

1910 ~ Alexander Agassiz (né Alexander Emanuel Rodolphe Agassiz; b. Dec. 17, 1835), Swiss-born ichthyologist, zoologist and engineer.  He died at age 74 aboard the RMS Adriatic while en route to New York from England.

 

1900 ~ Joseph Campbell (né Joseph Albert Campbell; b. May 15, 1817), founder of the Campbell’s Soup Company.  He was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  He died at age 82 in Riverton, New Jersey.

 

1888 ~ Francesco Faà di Bruno (b. Mar. 29, 1825), Italian priest and mathematician.  He died 2 days before his 63^rdbirthday.

 

1879 ~ Prince Waldemar of Prussia (b. Feb. 10, 1868), German prince.  He was of the House of Hohenzollern.  He was the sixth child of Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal.  He was the grandson of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom.  He died of diphtheria at age 11.

 

1875 ~ Juan Crisóstomo Torrico (b. Jan. 21, 1808), Peruvian soldier and briefly the President of Peru in 1842.  He died at age 67.

 

1869 ~ James Harper (b. Apr. 13, 1795), 65^th Mayor of New York City.  He served as Mayor for 1 year from 1844 to 1845.  He died 17 days before his 74^th birthday.

 

1714 ~ Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (b. Apr. 27, 1650), Queen consort of Denmark and wife of Christian V, King of Denmark.  They had 8 children.  She was of the House of Hesse-Kassel.  She was the daughter of William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg.  She died of smallpox a month before her 64^th birthday.  The city of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands is named in her honor.

 

1697 ~ Simon Bradstreet (b. Mar. 18, 1603), Early American politician and 20^th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on March 18, 1603.  He was born in Lincolnshire, England.  He presumably died 9 days after his 93^rd birthday in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay.

 

1625 ~ James I, King of England and Ireland, James VI, King of Scotland (b. June 19, 1566).  He ruled England from March 1603 until his death in 1625.  He also ruled Scotland from July 1567 until his death in 1625.  He was married to Anne of Denmark.  He was of the House of Stuart.  He was the son of Mary, Queen of the Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.  He died at age 58.

 

1624 ~ Ulrik, Prince of Denmark (b. Dec. 30, 1578), Danish prince.  He never married.  He was of the House of Oldenburg.  He was the son of Frederick II, King of Denmark and Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.  He died at age 45.

 

1615 ~ Margaret of Valois (b. May 14, 1553), Queen consort of France and first wife of Henry IV of France.  There were no children of the marriage; thus marriage was annulled after 27 years.  She was of the House of Valois.  She was the daughter of Henry II, King of France and Catherine de’Medici.  She died at age 61.

 

1482 ~ Mary of Burgundy (b. Feb. 13, 1457), Duchess of Brabant, Limburg, Lothier, Luxemburg and Guelders.  She was the first wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, however she had died before he assumed that role.  She was killed at age 25 from a fall from her horse during a falcon hunt.

 

1462 ~ Vasily II of Moscow (b. Mar. 10, 1415), He was known as Vasily II the Blind.  He ruled over Moscow from February 1425 until his death in 1462.  He was married to Maria Yaroslavna.  He was of the House of Rurik.  He was the son of Vasily I, Grand Prince of Moscow and Sophia of Lithuania.  He was born and died in Moscow.  He died 17 days after his 47^th birthday.

 

1378 ~ Pope Gregory XI (né Pierre Roger de Beaufort; b. 1336).  He was the seventh and last Avignon Pope.  He was Pope from December 1370 until his death on his date.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

March 26

Birthdays:

 

1985 ~ Keira Knightley (née Keira Christina Knightley), English actress.  She was born in London, England.

 

1973 ~ Larry Page (né Lawrence Edward Page), American computer scientist and co-founder of Google.  He was born in East Lansing, Michigan.

 

1960 ~ Jennifer Grey, American actress, best known for her role in Dirty Dancing.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.

 

1954 ~ Curtis Sliwa, American anti-crime activist and founder of the Guardian Angels.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1953 ~ Lincoln Chafee (né Lincoln Davenport Chafee), Governor of Rhode Island.  He served in that position from January 2011 until January 2015.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from Rhode Island from November 1999 until January 2007.  He was born in Providence, Rhode Island.

 

1953 ~ Elaine Chao (née Elaine Lan Chao), 18^th United States Secretary of Transportation during the Trump administration.  She assumed this Office in January 2017.  She resigned her position just days before the 2021 inauguration of President Biden.  She previously served under President George W. Bush as the 24^th United States Secretary of Labor from January 2001 until January 2009.  She is married to Mitch McConnell.  She was born in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

1951 ~ Carl Wieman (né Carl Edwin Wieman), American physicist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Corvallis, Oregon.

 

1950 ~ Teddy Pendergrass (né Theodore DeReese Pendergrass; d. Jan. 13, 2010), African-American Rhythm and Blues star who overcame a devastating accident.  At age 31, he was involved in a car accident that left him a paraplegic, but he resumed his singing and became a spokesperson for the disabled.  He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina.  He died at age 59 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

 

1950 ~ Martin Short (né Martin Hayter Short), Canadian comedian.  He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

 

1949 ~ Vicki Lawrence (née Victoria Ann Axelrad) American actress.  She is best known for the many characters she portrayed on The Carol Burnett Show.  She was born in Inglewood, California.

 

1948 ~ Steven Tyler (né Steven Victor Tallarico), American singer, songwriter and frontman of Aerosmith.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.

 

1944 ~ Diana Ross (née Diana Ernestine Earle Ross), American singer and lead singer of The Supremes.  She was born in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1943 ~ Bob Woodward (né Robert Upshur Woodward), American journalist, best known for working with Carl Bernstein and uncovering Watergate.  He was born in Geneva, Illinois.

 

1942 ~ Erica Jong (née Erica Mann), American actor best known for her novel, Fear of Flying.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.

 

1940 ~ James Caan (né James Edmund Caan), American actor.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.

 

1940 ~ Nancy Pelosi (née Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro), American politician and first woman Speaker of the House.  She was a Representative from California.  She served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives from January 2007 to January 2011.  She served a second term as Speaker of the House beginning in January 2019.  She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1938 ~ Sir Anthony Leggett (né Anthony James Leggett), British theoretical physicist and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work on superfluidity.  He was born in London, England.

 

1934 ~ Alan Arkin (né Alan Wolf Arkin), American actor.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1931 ~ Leonard Nimoy (né Leonard Simon Nimoy; d. Feb. 27, 2015), American actor best known for his role as Mr. Spock from the Star Trek Series.  Although he initially was not keen on the role of Mr. Spock, he learned to love the alien.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died about a month before his 84^th birthday in Bel Air, California.

 

1930 ~ Sandra Day O’Connor (née Sandra Day), first woman Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  She was nominated to the High Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.  She replaced Potter Stewart on the Court.  She served on the Court from September 1981 until January 2006 when she retired.  Samuel Alito replaced her on the Court.  She was born in El Paso, Texas.

 

1926 ~ Guido Stampacchia (d. Apr. 27, 1978), Italian mathematician.  He was born in Naples, Italy.  He died of a heart attack a month after his 52^nd birthday in Paris France.

 

1925 ~ Vesta Roy (née Vesta M. Coward; d. Feb. 8, 2002), Acting Governor of New Hampshire.  She served as Governor for only a few days, December 29, 1982 until January 6, 1983, after the sitting governor, Hugh Gallen, died in office.  She was the first woman to serve both as President of the New Hampshire Senate and Acting Governor of New Hampshire.  She was born in Dearborn, Michigan.  She died at age 76 in Kenmore, New York.

 

1923 ~ Bob Elliot (né Robert Brackett Elliot; d. Feb. 2, 2016), American comedian and actor.  He was half of the comedy duo of Bob and Ray.  His son is comedian Chris Elliot.  He was born in Winchester, Massachusetts.  He died of throat cancer at age 92 in Cundy Harbor, Maine.

 

1916 ~ Christian B. Anfinsen, Jr. (né Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr.; d. May 14, 1995), American chemist and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ribonuclease.  He was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 79 in Randallstown, Maryland.

 

1914 ~ Toru Kumon (d. July 25, 1995), Japanese mathematician.  He died of pneumonia at age 81.

 

1914 ~ General William Westmoreland (né William Childs Westmoreland; d. July 18, 2005), American general who oversaw all military commands during the Vietnam War from 1964 until 1968.  He served as the 25^th Chief of Staff of the United States Army from July 1963 through June 1972.  He was born in Saxon, South Carolina.  He died at age 91 in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

1913 ~ Paul Erdős (d. Sept. 20, 1996), Hungarian mathematician.  He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.  He died at age 83 in Warsaw Poland..

 

1911 ~ Tennessee Williams (né Thomas Lanier Williams, III; d. Feb. 25, 1983), American playwright, best known for A Streetcar Named Desire.  He was born in Columbus, Mississippi.  He died in New York, New York a month before his 72^nd birthday.

 

1911 ~ Sir Bernard Katz (d. Apr. 20, 2003), German-born biophysicist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on nerve physiology.  He fled to England in 1935 to escape the Nazi rule.  He was born in Leipzig, German Empire.  He died less than a month after his 92^nd birthday in London, England.

 

1905 ~ Viktor Frankl (né Viktor Emil Frankl; d. Sept. 2, 1997), Austrian neurologist and psychologist.  He survived several concentration camps during the Holocaust.  He was born and died in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 92.

 

1904 ~ Joseph Campbell (né Joseph John Campbell; d. Oct. 30, 1987), professor of comparative mythology and religion.  He was born in White Plains, New York.  He died at age 83 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

1881 ~ Guccio Gucci (né Guccio Giovanbattista Giacinto Dario Maria Gucci; d. Jan. 2, 1953), Italian fashion designer and founder of the House of Gucci.  He was born in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.  He died at age 71 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

 

1874 ~ Robert Frost (né Robert Lee Frost; d. Jan. 29, 1963), American poet.  He was born in San Francisco, California and died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 88.

 

1873 ~ Condé Nast (né Condé Montrose Nast; d. Sept. 19, 1942), American publisher and founder of the Condé Mast media company.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He was 69 years old.

 

1868 ~ King Faud I of Egypt (d. Apr. 28, 1936).  He was born and died in Cairo, Egypt.  He died about a month after his 68^th birthday.

 

1859 ~ Aldolf Hurwitz (d. Nov. 18, 1919), German mathematician.  He died at age 60.

 

1859 ~ A.E. Housman (né Alfred Edward Housman; d. Apr. 30, 1936), English poet.  He died at age 77 in Cambridge, England.

 

1850 ~ Edward Bellamy (d. May 22, 1898), American author, socialist and utopian visionary.  He is best known for his novel Looking Backwards.  He was born and died in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  He died at age 48 of tuberculosis.

 

1773 ~ Nathaniel Bowditch (d. Mar. 16, 1838), American mathematician.  He is best known for his contribution to ocean navigation.  He was born in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts of stomach cancer 10 days before his 65^th birthday.

 

1698 ~ Prokop Diviš (d. Dec. 21, 1765), Czech scientist and inventor of the lightning rod.  He died at age 67.

 

1687 ~ Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (d. June 28, 1757), Queen consort of Prussia and Electress consort of Brandenburg.  She was the wife of Frederick William I, King of Prussia.  She was of the House of Hanover.  She was the daughter of George I, King of Great Britain, and Sophia Dorothea of Celle.  She died at age 70.

 

1656 ~ Nicholas Hartsoeker (d. Dec. 10, 1725), Dutch mathematician and physicist.  He invented the screw-barrel simple microscope.  He died at age 69.

 

1633 ~ Mary Beale (née Mary Cradock; d. Oct. 8, 1699), British painter and artist.  She was one of the most successful professional female Baroque artists.  She is best known for her portraiture.  She died at age 66 in London, England.

 

1613 ~ Sir Henry Vane the Younger (d. June 14, 1662), English politician and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on March 26, 1613.  He was executed for treason in England at age 49.

 

1031 ~ Malcolm III, King of Scotland (d. Nov. 13, 1093).  He ruled Scotland from 1058 until his death in 1093.  He was married twice, first to Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, and then to St. Margaret of Scotland.  He was of the House of Dunkeld.  He was the son of Duncal I, King of the Scots and Suthen.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is generally considered to be March 26, 1031.  He died at age 62.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2000 ~ Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) was elected as president of Russia.

 

1979 ~ Anwar Sadat (1918 ~ 1981), Menachem Began (1913 ~ 1991) and Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

 

1971 ~ East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan to become the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

 

1953 ~ Jonas Salk (1914 ~ 1994) announced the development of the polio vaccine.

 

1942 ~ The first female prisoners began arriving at Auschwitz.

 

1934 ~ The United Kingdom began requiring driving tests.

 

1931 ~ Swissair, the national airline of Switzerland, was founded.

 

1920 ~ This Side of Paradise, F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s first novel was published.

 

1830 ~ The Book of Mormon was first published.

 

1812 ~ A political cartoon coined the term “gerrymander” to describe the oddly-shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelections.  The word Gerrymander is a portmanteau of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry (1774 ~ 1814) and the word Salamander because the redistricting that he proposed resembled a salamander.

 

1812 ~ An earthquake destroyed much of Caracas, Venezuela.

 

1027 ~ Conrad II (990 ~ 1039) was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2019 ~ Michel Bacos (b. May 23, 1924), French airline pilot who became a hero at Entebbe.  He was the captain of Air France Flight 139 when it was hijacked by a Palestinian terrorist group in June 1976.  He was born in Port Said, Egypt.  He died at age 94 in Nice, France.

 

2016 ~ Jim Harrison (né James Harrison; b. Dec. 11, 1937), American poet, novelist, and essayist.  He was born in Grayling, Michigan.  He died of a heart attack at age 78 in Patagonia, Arizona.

 

2015 ~ Tomas Tranströmer (né Tomas Gösta Tranströmer; b. Apr. 15, 1931), Swedish writer and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born and died in Stockholm, Sweden.  He died about 3 weeks before his 84^th birthday.

 

2015 ~ Friedrich L. Bauer (né Friedrich Ludwig Bauer; b. June 10, 1924), German mathematician.  He died at age 90.

 

2011 ~ Geraldine Ferraro (née Geraldine Anne Ferraro; b. Aug. 26, 1935), American Congresswoman and Vice-Presidential nominee in the 1984 presidential campaign.  Walter Mondale selected her to be his running mate.  She died of multiple myeloma at age 75 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

2005 ~ Georgeanna Jones (née Georgeanna Seegar; b. July 6, 1912), American reproductive endocrinologist who began an in vitro fertilization clinic with her husband, Howard Jones (1910 ~ 2015), after reaching retirement age.  Elizabeth Carr (b. Dec. 28, 1981), was first “test tube” baby born in the United States, was born as a result of their research.  Georgeanna Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  She died at age 92 in Portsmouth, Virginia.

 

2005 ~ James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (né Leonard James Callaghan; d. Mar. 27, 1912), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died 1 day before his 93^rd birthday.

 

2003 ~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan (b. Mar. 16, 1927), American politician and United States Senator from New York State.  He was also the 12^th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He died 10 days after his 76^th birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

2000 ~ Alex Comfort (né Alexander Comfort; b. Feb. 10, 1920), English physician and author.  He is best known for his book The Joy of Sex.  He was also a poet, novelist, antinuclear activist, and an anarchist, as well as an authority on the biochemistry of aging.  He was born in London, England.  He died at age 80.

 

1996 ~ Edmund Muskie (né Edmund Sixtus Muskie; b. Mar. 28, 1914), American politician and long-term senator from Maine.  He also served as the 58^th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from May 1980 until January 1981.  He was born in Rumford, Maine.  He died 2 days before his 82^nd birthday in Washington, D.C.

 

1996 ~ David Packard (b. Sept. 7, 1912), American businessman and co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.  He also served as the 13^th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from January 1969 to December 1971 during the Nixon Administration.  He was born in Pueblo, Colorado.  He died at age 83 in Stanford, California.

 

1994 ~ Margaret Millar (née Margaret Ellis Sturm; b. Feb. 5, 1915), American-Canadian mystery writer.  She was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  She died at age 79 in Santa Barbara, California.

 

1990 ~ Halston (né Roy Halston Frowick; b. Apr. 23, 1932), American fashion designer.  He was born in Des Moines, Iowa.  He died less than a month before his 58^th birthday in San Francisco, California.

 

1983 ~ Sir Anthony Blunt (né Anthony Frederick Blunt; b. Sept. 26, 1907), English historian and Soviet spy.  He died at age 75 in London, England.

 

1976 ~ Lin Yutang (b. Oct. 10, 1895), Chinese writer and translator.  He died at age 80 in Hong Kong.

 

1973 ~ Sir Noël Coward (né Noël Peirce Coward; b. Dec. 16, 1899), English composer and playwright.  He died of heart failure at age 73.

 

1970 ~ Julius Krug (né Julius Albert Krug; b. Nov. 23, 1907), 33^rd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Harry S. Truman from March 1946 until December 1949.  He was born in Madison, Wisconsin.  He died at age 62 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

1969 ~ John Kennedy Toole (b. Dec. 17, 1937), American novelist from New Orleans.  His most well-known novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, was published after his death by suicide at age 31.  He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Biloxi, Mississippi.

 

1966 ~ Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler (née Anna Johnson; b. May 5, 1883), American mathematician.  She is best known for her work in linear algebra in infinite dimensions.  She was born in Calliope, Iowa.  She died of a stroke at age 82 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

 

1964 ~ Hedwig Kohn (b. Apr. 5, 1887), German physicist and one of three women to earn habilitation prior to World War II.  She earned her Ph.D. in 1913 and obtained her habilitation in 1930.  She was forced to leave German under Nazi regime and ultimately moved to the United States.  She was born in Breslau, German Empire.  She died in Durham, North Carolina 10 days before her 78^th birthday.

 

1959 ~ Raymond Chandler (né Raymond Thornton Chandler; b. July 23, 1888), American detective-fiction writer.  He is best known for such novels as The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 70 in La Jolla, California.

 

1945 ~ David Lloyd George, 1^st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (b. Jan. 17, 1863), Welsh attorney and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of King George V.  He served as Prime Minister from December 1916 until October 1922.  He died at age 82.

 

1932 ~ Henry Leland (né Henry Martyn Leland; b. Feb. 16, 1843), American inventor and automotive entrepreneur.  He founded the luxury automobiles of Cadillac and Lincoln.  He was born in Vermont.  He died at age 89 in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1923 ~ Sarah Bernhardt (née Henriette Rosine Bernard; b. Oct. 22, 1844), French actress.  Her birth date is sometime noted as being on October 23, 1844.  She was born and died in Paris, France.  She died at age 78.

 

1902 ~ Cecil Rhodes (né Cecil John Rhodes; b. July 5, 1853), English-born South African explorer and businessman.  He was the founder of the DeBeers diamond mining company.  The Rhodes Scholarship was established in his will and was established in 1902.  He died of heart failure at age 48.

 

1900 ~ Isaac Mayer Wise (b. Mar. 29, 1819), Bohemian-born American rabbi and founder of the Reform Movement in the United States.  He died 3 days before his 81^st birthday in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

1892 ~ Walt Whitman (né Walter Whitman; b. May 31, 1819), American poet.  He was born in West Hills, New York.  He died at age 72 in Camden, New Jersey.

 

1885 ~ Anson Stager (b. Apr. 22, 1925), American businessman who co-founded Western Union.  He was also the head of the Military Telegraph Department for the Union during the American Civil War.  He was born in Ontario County, New York.  He died less than a month before his 60^th birthday in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1862 ~ Uriah Levy (né Uriah Phillips Levy; b. Apr. 22, 1792), Commodore of the United States Navy.  He was the first Jewish Commodore of the Navy.  He is best known for stopping flogging and corporal punishment.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died less than a month before his 70^th birthday in New York, New York.

 

1827 ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Dec. 17, 1770), German composer.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on December 17, 1770.  In his later years he became deaf yet continued to compose music.  His famous Ninth Symphony was written when he was completely deaf.  He was born in Bonn, Germany.  He died at age 56 in Vienna, Austria.

 

1814 ~ Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (b. May 28, 1738), French physician and namesake of the guillotine.  He did not invent the guillotine and was, in fact, an opponent of the death penalty.  He was born in Saintes, France.  He died at age 75 in Paris, France.

 

1776 ~ Samuel Ward (b. May 25, 1725), Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island.  He served two terms as governor, first from 1762 until 1763, and then from 1765 until 1767.  He was born in Newport, Rhode Island.  He died of smallpox at age 50 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1729 ~ Simon de la Loubère (b. Apr. 21, 1642), French diplomat and mathematician.  He was born in Toulouse, France.  He died in Montesquieu-Volvestre, France less than a month before his 87^th birthday.

 

1649 ~ John Winthrop (b. Jan. 12, 1587/88), Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but Jan 12 is typically the date ascribed to his birth.  He was born in England.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

 

1535 ~ Georg Tannsetter (b. April 1482), Austrian mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1350 ~ Alfonso XI, King of Castile and León (b. Aug. 13, 1311).  He ruled from September 1312 until his death in 1350.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Constanze Manuel.  After this marriage was annulled, he married Maria of Portugal.  He was of the House of Burgundy.  He was the son of Ferdinand IV, King of Castile and Constance of Portugal.  He died of the Black Plague at age 38.

 

1324 ~ Marie of Luxembourg (b. 1304), Queen consort of France and Navarre and second wife of Charles IV, King of France.  She was of the House of Luxembourg.  She was the daughter of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Margaret of Brabant.  The exact date of her birth is not known.  She died at age 19 or 20 in childbirth.

 

1211 ~ Sancho I, King of Portugal (b. Nov. 11, 1154).  He reigned from December 1185 until his death in March 1211.  He was married to Dulce of Aragon.  He was of the Portuguese House of Burgundy.  He was the son of Afonso I, King of Portugal, and Matilda of Savoy.  He died at age 56.

 

1130 ~ Sigurd the Crusader, King of Norway (b. 1089).  He ruled Norway from 1103 until his death in 1130.  He was married twice, and possibly three times.  His first wife was Bjaðmunjo Mýrjartaksdóttir.  His second wife was Malmfred of Kiev.  He may have married a third time to Cecilia.  He was of the House of Hardrada.  He was the son of Magnus III, King of Norway and his concubine, Tora.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He died about age 48 or 49.

 

908 ~ Ai (b. Oct. 27, 892), last emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He ascended to the throne at age 11 and was poisoned at age 15.

 

752 ~ Pope-Elect Stephen.  He died before he was installed as Pope.  He was elected Pope but died of a stroke before formally being ordained.  The date of his birth is unknown.