today.nukz.net: Almanac

Albert Hofmann 1906-2008

Events

630 – Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 to conquer Mecca.
1055 – Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.
1158 – Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
1693 – Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.
1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1794 – Robert Forsythe, a U.S. Marshal is killed in Augusta, Georgia when trying to serve court papers, the first US marshal to die while carrying out his duties.
1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
1838 – Samuel Morse first successfully tests the electrical telegraph.
1861 – Alabama secedes from the United States.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post – General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
1863 – American Civil War: CSS Alabama encountered and sank the USS Hatteras (1861) off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.
1919 – Romania annexes Transylvania.
1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.
1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announced the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
1935 – Amelia Earhart is the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1942 – World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
1943 – World War II: The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
1943 – Italian-American Anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York
1946 – Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as president.
1949 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming. [1]
1949 – First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
1960 – Henry Lee Lucas, once listed as America's most prolific serial killer, commits his first known murder.
1962 – An avalanche on Huascaran in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.
1964 – United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
1998 – Sidi-Hamed massacre takes place in Algeria, over 100 people are killed.

Births

347 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I "the Great" (d. 395)
889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, Emir and Caliph of Cordoba (d. 961)
1322 – Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)
1359 – Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)
1395 – Michelle of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy (d. 1422)
1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)
1630 – John Rogers, American educator (d. 1684)
1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish scientist (d. 1686)
1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)
1755 – Alexander Hamilton, Nevis born American Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher; 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
1757 – Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist (d. 1869)
1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist (d. 1866)
1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (d. 1895)
1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder (d. 1874)
1814 – James Paget, British surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
1815 – John A. Macdonald, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
1825 – Bayard Taylor, American poet (d. 1878)
1839 – Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist (d. 1903)
1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
1843 – Charles Yelverton O'Connor, Irish-Australian engineer (d. 1902)
1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (d. 1912)
1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American botanist (d. 1942)
1852 – Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1926)
1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (d. 1926)
1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1932)
1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)
1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
1859 – Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, British statesman, Viceroy of India (d. 1925)
1864 – Thomas Dixon, American playwright and legislator (d. 1946)
1867 – Edward B. Titchener, British psychologist. (d. 1927)
1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (d. 1940)
1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (d. 1945)
1872 – George Washington Pierce, American physicist (d. 1956)
1873 – John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (d. 1949)
1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)
1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general (d. 1952)
1885 – Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (d. 1965)
1885 – Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977)
1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist (d. 1948)
1888 – Chester Conklin, American comedian and actor (d. 1971)
1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American political figure (d. 1954)
1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (d. 1938)
1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian author (d. 1954)
1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player (d. 1976)
1895 – Laurens Hammond, American inventor (d. 1973)
1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress (d. 1991)
1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)
1903 – Alan Paton, South African writer (d. 1988)
1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist (d. 1960)
1905 – Manfred B Lee, American author (d. 1971)
1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
1907 – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Warsaw-born American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1972)
1907 – Pierre Mendès-France, French politician (d. 1982)
1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
1910 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (d. 1975)
1910 – Shane Paltridge, Australian politician (d. 1966)
1910 – Izler Solomon, American conductor (d. 1987)
1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian artist (d. 2003)
1911 – Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
1915 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier (d. 1955)
1916 – Bernard Blier, French actor (d. 1989)
1917 – John Robarts, Canadian politician (d. 1982)
1921 – Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (d. 1990)
1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist, educator, & civil servant; 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
1922 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and writer (d. 1986)
1923 – Jerome Bixby, American writer (d. 1998)
1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian
1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, automobile designer and businessman
1924 – Don Cherry, American singer and golfer
1924 – Roger Guillemin, French neuroendocrinologist, Nobel laureate
1924 – Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)
1924 – Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
1925 – Grant Tinker, American television executive
1926 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1998)
1928 – David L. Wolper, American television producer (d.2010)
1928 – Mitchell Ryan, American actor
1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian politician
1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-born American actor
1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian museum director and curator
1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican film director
1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian statesman, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
1934 – Sir C. A. R. Hoare, British computer scientist
1935 – Melvyn Hayes, British actor
1935 – Ghita Nørby, Danish actress
1938 – Fischer Black, American economist (d. 1995)
1938 – Vladimir Krpan, Croatian pianist
1938 – Arthur Scargill, British politician
1938 – John August Swanson, American artist
1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier
1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer
1942 – Charles Acton, American basketball player
1942 – Clarence Clemons, American musician (E Street Band) (d. 2011)
1942 – Leo Cullum, American cartoonist (d. 2010)
1942 – George Mira, American Football Player
1943 – Jim Hightower, American radio host, author, and activist
1944 – Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (d. 1989)
1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician
1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German-Austrian actress
1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer
1946 – Tony Kaye, British piano and organ player (Yes)
1946 – John Piper, American theologian
1948 – Fritz Bohla, German football player and manager
1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (the 54th Yokozuna) and professional wrestler
1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh rock drummer (Dire Straits)
1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian rock singer
1949 – Chris Ford, American basketball player and coach
1951 – Willie Maddren, English former footballer (d. 2000)
1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright
1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian politician
1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author
1952 – Lee Ritenour, American musician and composer
1953 – John Sessions, Scottish actor
1956 – Robert Earl Keen, American singer
1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player
1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
1958 – Vicki Peterson, American musician (The Bangles)
1958 – Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Colombian organized crime figure
1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Jasper Fforde, British author
1961 – Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, Prince of Austria and Prince Royal of Hungary
1962 – Kim Coles, American actress
1962 – Susan Lindauer, American peace activist and accused spy
1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American swimmer
1963 – Dean Reynolds, English snooker player
1965 – Roland Scholten, Dutch darts Player
1966 – Marc Acito, American novelist and humorist
1966 – Kelley Law, Canadian curler
1967 – Derek Riddell, Scottish actor
1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish politician
1968 – Tom Dumont, American musician
1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican baseball player
1969 – Kyle Richards, American actress
1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian visual artist.
1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American actor, film director, and screenwriter
1970 – Joy Nilo, Filipino Composer
1970 – Rick Hendrix, American writer
1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer
1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter and musician
1972 – Marc Blucas, American actor
1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer (The Aquabats)
1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress
1973 – Joanna Brodzik, Polish actress
1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor
1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer
1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player
1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer
1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player
1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player
1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player
1977 – Shomari Buchanan, American football player
1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater
1977 – Devin Ratray, American actor
1977 – Nadia Turner, American singer
1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress
1978 – Michael Duff, Northern Irish footballer
1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer
1978 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer
1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American film director
1979 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer
1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler
1980 – Lovieanne Jung, American softball player
1980 – Mike Williams, American football player
1980 – Deanna Wright, American actress
1981 – Jamelia, English singer
1981 – Tom Meighan, English singer (Kasabian)
1981 – Jaime Valdés, Chilean footballer
1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player
1982 – Ashley Taylor Dawson, British actor and singer
1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress
1983 – Matthew Palleschi, Canadian soccer player
1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer
1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver
1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player
1984 – Dario Krešic, Croatian goalkeeper at Greek club PAOK F.C.
1985 – Newton Faulkner, British singer
1985 – Rie Fu, Japanese singer
1985 – Kazuki Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
1985 – Aaron Porter, British politician
1985 – Kevin Rudolf, American singer, songwriter, and producer
1986 – Rachel Riley, British television presenter
1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American BMX rider
1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer
1988 – Daniel Dzufer, Australian rules footballer
1988 – Fuska, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Sammy Carlson, American freeskier
1989 – Darko Bodul, Croatian footballer
1993 – Flora Cross, French actress
1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter

Deaths

314 – St. Miltiades
705 – Pope John VI
802 – St. Paulinus II of Aquileia
812 – Staurakios, Byzantine Emperor
844 – Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor
1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1000)
1083 – Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria (b. c. 1020)
1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)
1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian author, literary theorist, and Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (b. 1583)
1696 – Charles Albanel, French missionary explorer in Canada (b. 1616)
1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)
1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French Protestant leader (b. 1637)
1735 – Danilo I, Vladika of Montenegro (b. c.1670)
1753 – Sir Hans Sloane, Ulster-Scot physician and collector (b. 1660)
1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French sculptor (b. 1695)
1763 – Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)
1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)
1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (b. 1717)
1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (b. 1749)
1836 – John Molson, Canadian brewer (b. 1763)
1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and writer of the American national anthem (b. 1779)
1867 – Sir Stuart Donaldson, first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales (b. 1812)
1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (b. 1810)
1891 – Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French civic planner (b. 1809)
1901 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (b. 1862)
1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian politician (b. 1815)
1905 – Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Hasidic rabbi (b. 1847)
1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and patron of the arts after whom the Carlsberg brewery is named (b. 1842)
1920 – Steinar Schjøtt, Norwegian educator, philologist and lexicographer (b. 1844)
1923 – King Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
1928 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
1931 – James Milton Carroll, American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author (b. 1852)
1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)
1944 – Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law (b. 1903)
1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian-born singer and entertainer (b. 1879)
1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)
1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor (b. 1885)
1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
1957 – Sir Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and early leading expert in Australian constitutional law (b. 1867)
1957 – Rose Sutro, American duo-pianist with her sister Ottilie (b. 1870)
1958 – Alec Rowley, English composer (b. 1892)
1958 – Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German mezzo-soprano singer (b. 1883)
1965 – Wally Pipp, American Major League Baseball player (b. 1893)
1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
1966 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, third Prime Minister of independent India (b. 1904)
1968 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1876)
1969 – Richmal Crompton, British author (b. 1890)
1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore (b. 1881)
1975 – Max Lorenz, German heldentenor famous for Wagner roles (b. 1901)
1978 – Ibn-e-Insha, Pakistani humorist and Urdu poet (b. 1927)
1979 – Jack Soo, American actor (b. 1917)
1980 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
1983 – Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
1985 – Sir William McKell, Premier of New South Wales, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
1986 – Sid Chaplin, UK novelist (b. 1916)
1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist (b. 1911)
1988 – Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, American World War II Marine aviator (b. 1912)
1988 – Florence Knapp, American, one-time oldest person in the world (b. 1873)
1988 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
1989 – Ray Moore, Radio 2 DJ (b. 1942)
1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)
1994 – Helmut Poppendick, Nazi physician (b. 1902)
1995 – Josef Gingold, Russian-American violinist (b. 1909)
1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army officer (b. 1918)
1995 – Theodor Wisch, German general (SS) (b. 1907)
1998 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
1999 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (b. 1897)
1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b. 1921)
2000 – Betty Archdale, Anglo-Australian educationalist and cricketer (b. 1907)
2000 – Ivan Combe, American inventor (b. 1911)
2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2001 – Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)
2001 – Michael Williams, English actor (b. 1935)
2002 – Struan Sutherland, Australian medical researcher (b. 1936)
2002 – Henri Verneuil, French playwright and film director (b. 1920)
2003 – Mickey Finn, English drummer (T.Rex) (b. 1947)
2003 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
2003 – Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
2005 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1938)
2005 – Jimmy Griffin, American musician (Bread) (b. 1943)
2005 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (b. 1913)
2005 – Fabrizio Meoni, Italian motorcyclist (b. 1957)
2006 – Nixzmary Brown, American child abuse victim (b. 1998)
2006 – Markus Löffel (Mark Spoon), German DJ (b. 1966)
2007 – Puchi Balseiro, Puerto Rican singer & songwriter (b. 1926)
2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961)
2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author (b. 1932)
2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, the first person to climb Mount Everest in 1953 (b. 1919)
2008 – Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)
2009 – David Vine, British sports broadcaster (b. 1936)
2010 – Miep Gies, Dutch Humanitarian, discoverer of Anne Frank's diary (b. 1909)
2010 – Mick Green, British guitarist (b. 1944)
2010 – Joe Rollino, American strongman, weightlifter and boxer (b. 1905)