today.nukz.net: Almanac

Chuck Yeager (b)1923

Events

1462 – Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
1503 – Disfida di Barletta – famous challenge between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
1575 – Henry III of France is crowned at Rheims, marrying Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on the same day.
1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
1660 – With the death of Swedish King Charles X Gustav, the Swedish government can start to seek peace with Sweden's enemies in the Second Northern War – something that Charles X Gustav had refused. As his son and successor on the throne, Charles XI, is only four years old, a regency takes over the ruling of Sweden until 1672.
1668 – Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.
1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
1739 – Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Zenne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
1880 – Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.
1881 – The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert.
1894 – Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector.
1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
1931 – New Delhi becomes the capital of India.
1934 – The Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean.
1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game
1955 – Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
1961 – A 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
1970 – Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.
1971 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
1982 – Río Negro massacre in Guatemala.
1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
2000 – The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.
2001 – An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
2004 – The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
2009 – At 23:31:30 UTC the Unix system time (time_t) number reaches 1234567890 seconds.
2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, were able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.

Births

711 BC – Jimmu, Japanese emperor (d. 585 BC)
1457 – Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1542)
1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (d. 1731)
1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, British naval officer (d. 1792)
1721 – John Reid, British army general and composer (d. 1807)
1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon (d. 1793)
1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d. 1835)
1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (d. 1844)
1804 – John Charles Prince, Canadian Roman Catholic Bishop (d. 1860)
1805 – Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)
1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French marshal (d. 1888)
1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American soldier, civil servant, and 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
1834 – Heinrich Caro, German Chemist (d. 1910)
1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (d. 1908)
1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, British statesman (d. 1895)
1849 – Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt German impostor who became famous as The Captain of Köpenick (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick) (d. 1922)
1855 – Paul Deschanel, French President (d. 1922)
1860 – Nienke van Hichtum, Dutch author (d. 1939)
1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist, composer (d. 1938)
1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (d. 1938)
1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-born American baseball player (d. 1933)
1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1949)
1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, English author (d. 1965)
1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player (d. 1947)
1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian director (d. 1922)
1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (d. 1961)
1885 – Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Harry S. Truman (d. 1982)
1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian writer (d. 1919)
1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and theatre director (d. 1974)
1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh nationalist and writer (d. 1985)
1891 – Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American jurist, 57th United States Attorney General and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1954)
1897 – William S. Bowdern, American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest (d. 1983)
1900 – Roy Harrod, English economist (d. 1978)
1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, American Sociologist (d. 1976)
1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist (d. 1978)
1903 – Georgy Beriev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1979)
1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (d. 1989)
1906 – Patsy Callighen, Canadian Hockey Player (d. 1964)
1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1994)
1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino singer (d. 2004)
1910 – William Shockley, British-American physicist and eugenicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1989)
1911 – Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani Urdu poet, Lenin Peace Prize winner (d. 1984)
1911 – Jean Muir, American actress (d. 1996)
1913 – Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician (d. 1947)
1916 – John Reed, British actor and singer (d. 2010)
1918 – Patty Berg, American golfer (d. 2006)
1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)
1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football coach (d. 2007)
1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
1920 – Eileen Farrell, American opera soprano (d. 2002)
1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French organist, pianist, composer (d. 1968)
1922 – Francis Pym, British Foreign Secretary 1982-83 (d. 2008)
1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist
1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American politician (d. 2002)
1923 – Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese violinist (d. 2003)
1923 – Chuck Yeager, American fighter and test pilot
1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist (d. 2006)
1928 – Dorothy McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)
1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian politician
1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian ruler (d. 1981)
1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian artist
1930 – Israel Kirzner, American economist
1930 – Yves Michaud, Canadian journalist and politician
1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician
1933 – Caroline Blakiston, British actress
1933 – Costa Gavras, Greek-French filmmaker
1933 – Patrick Godfrey, British actor
1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
1933 – Peter L. Pond, American activist and philanthropist (d. 2000)
1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer
1934 – George Segal, American actor
1935 – Dr. Don Panoz, American entrepreneur and motorsports impresario (ALMS)
1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese writer (d. 1992)
1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
1939 – Raôul Duguay, Canadian artist, poet, musician, and political activist
1939 – Beate Klarsfeld, German Nazi hunter
1940 – Arne Sølvberg, Norwegian computer scientist
1941 – Andrea Conte, First Lady of Tennessee
1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter
1942 – Carol Lynley, American actress
1942 – Peter Tork, American musician and actor (The Monkees)
1942 – Donald E. Williams, NASA astronaut
1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian
1944 – Rebop Kwaku Baah, Nigerian percussionist (d. 1983)
1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
1944 – Jerry Springer, American television host
1944 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-born actor
1944 – Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Indian actor (d. 2006)
1945 – King Floyd, American musician (d. 2006)
1945 – Simon Schama, British historian
1945 – William Sleator, American science fiction author
1945 – David Tremlett, English artist
1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American Senator
1946 – Louis Kondos, Greek actor
1946 – Colin Matthews, British composer
1947 – Stephen Hadley, U.S. National Security Adviser
1947 – Dick Kaysø, Danish actor
1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian Comic Singer
1949 – Judy Dyble, British singer/songwriter (Fairport Convention)
1950 – Ewa Aulin, Swedish actress
1950 – Bob Daisley, Australian musician, bassist (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne)
1950 – Peter Gabriel, English musician (Genesis), composer and humanitarian
1950 – Donna Hanover, American journalist, radio and television personality
1951 – Ellen Bry, American actress
1951 – Greg Fulginiti, American mastering engineer
1951 – David Naughton, American actor and singer
1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American musician (Foreigner)
1952 – Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
1953 – Rico J. Puno, Filipino pop singer
1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer
1956 – Liam Brady, Irish footballer
1956 – Peter Hook, English bassist (Joy Division and New Order)
1956 – Princess Alia bint Al Hussein, Jordanian Royal Family member
1956 – Yiannis Kouros, Greek-Australian runner
1956 – Richard Tyson, American actor
1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness expert
1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian cannabis activist
1958 – Derek Riggs, British artist
1958 – Tip Tipping, British actor and stuntman (d. 1993)
1959 – Richard Eden, American actor
1959 – Gaston Gingras, National Hockey League defenceman
1959 – Gord Hampson, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
1960 – Gary Patterson, American football coach
1960 – Matt Salinger, American actor
1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player
1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Kyi Hla Han, Burmese golfer
1961 – Cevin Key, Canadian musician (Skinny Puppy, Subconscious Communications)
1961 – Henry Rollins, American musician, comedian, and actor (Black Flag)
1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, American politician and 8th Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
1962 – Hugh Dennis, English actor and comedian
1962 – May Sweet, Burmese singer
1963 – Thomas Miller, German footballer
1964 – Stephen G. Bowen, NASA astronaut
1964 – Yamantaka Eye, Japanese musician (Boredoms)
1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish politician
1964 – Mark Patton, American actor
1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian musician (Annihilator)
1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
1968 – Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer
1969 – Ahlam, Bahraini singer
1969 – Andrew Bryniarski, American film actor
1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer
1970 – Diane Youdale, British television personality
1971 – Sonia, British singer
1971 – Galen Gering, American actor
1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
1973 – Jorg Bergmeister German race car driver
1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American hip-hop artist
1974 – Jeff Duran, American radio personality
1974 – Gus Hansen, Danish professional poker player
1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer
1975 – Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler, German politician
1975 – Ben Collins, British racing driver
1975 – Tony Dalton, Mexican (American born) actor and screenwriter
1975 – Iván González, Puerto Rican writer and musician
1976 – Feist, Canadian singer and songwriter
1976 – Dave Padden, Canadian musician (Annihilator)
1976 – Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist
1977 –Hamish Glencross, Scottish guitarist (My Dying Bride)
1978 – Niklas Backstrom, Finnish ice hockey goaltender
1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French sopranist countertenor
1978 – Randy Moss, American football player
1979 – Lucy Brown, British actress
1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress
1980 – Sebastian Kehl, German footballer
1980 – Mark Watson, British comedian
1981 – Matías Agüero, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
1981 – Sam Burley, American middle-distance track athlete
1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Liam Miller, Irish footballer
1981 – Luke Ridnour, American basketball player
1982 – Lanisha Cole, American model
1983 – Mike Nickeas, American baseball player
1985 – Matthieu Franke, French-born German rugby player
1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
1985 – Alexandros Tziolis, Greek footballer
1986 – Stephen Colletti, American TV star
1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
1986 – Jamie Murray, Scottish tennis player
1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
1988 – Fuat Kalkan, Turkish footballer
1988 – Aston Merrygold, English singer
1989 – Carly McKillip, Canadian actress
1989 – Rhys Palmer, Australian rules footballer
1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian Footballer
1990 – Olivia Allison, British synchronized swimmer
1990 – Gyaincain Norbu, 11th Panchen Lama
1993 – Sophie Evans, Welsh musician
1995 – Ayame Koike, Japanese actress

Deaths

858 – Kenneth I of Scotland
1130 – Pope Honorius II
1141 – Béla II of Hungary (b. 1110)
1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian Grand Prince (b. 1113)
1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)
1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1259)
1539 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)
1542 – Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed) (b.c. 1521)
1542 – Jane Boleyn, Dowager Viscountess of Rochford, lady-in-waiting of the above (b.c. 1505)
1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (b. 1500)
1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (b. 1515)
1592 – Jacopo Bassano, Italian painter
1600 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman
1608 – Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)
1624 – Stephen Gosson, English satirist (b. 1554)
1657 – Miles Sindercombe, attempted assassin of Oliver Cromwell
1660 – King Charles X of Sweden (b. 1622)
1662 – Elizabeth Stuart (b. 1596)
1727 – William Wotton, English scholar (b. 1666)
1728 – Cotton Mather, American Puritan minister (b. 1663)
1732 – Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1640)
1787 – Ruđer Josip Bošković, Croatian scientist and diplomat (b. 1711)
1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1717)
1813 – Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
1818 – George Rogers Clark, American military leader (b. 1752)
1826 – Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (b. 1745)
1831 – Edward Berry Royal Navy admiral (b.1768)
1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and writer (b. 1809)
1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher (b. 1773)
1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
1888 – Jean Baptiste Lamy, 1st Archbishop of Santa Fe (b. 1814)
1889 – João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (b. 1815)
1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene writer, poet, journalist in Hungary (b. 1864)
1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian president (b. 1865)
1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian author (b. 1875)
1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (b. 1877)
1952 – Josephine Tey, English author (b. 1896)
1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician (b. 1878)
1958 – Dame Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1880)
1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter (b. 1871)
1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (b. 1902)
1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
1974 – Ustad Amir Khan, Indian classical singer (b. 1912)
1975 – André Beaufre, French General (b. 1902)
1975 – Arthur Laing, Canadian politician (b. 1904)
1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian military leader (b. 1938)
1976 – Lily Pons, French-born soprano (b. 1904)
1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
1982 – Zeng Jinlian, tallest woman ever, at 8 ft. 1.75 in. (b. 1964)
1984 – Andre Stander, South African police captain and bank robber (b. 1946)
1989 – Dave Tarras, klezmer clarinetist (b. 1897)
1989 – Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)
1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor (b. 1900)
1991 – Ron Pickering, athletics coach and BBC sports commentator and presenter (b. 1930)
1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American businessman and eugenecist (b. 1906)
1997 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician (b. 1920)
2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian politician (b. 1914)
2000 – James Cooke Brown, American author and inventor (b. 1921)
2002 – Waylon Jennings, American musician (b. 1937)
2003 – Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)
2003 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (b. 1932)
2003 – Dennis McDermott, Canadian trade unionist (b. 1922)
2003 – Walt Rostow, U.S. government official (b. 1916)
2004 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1942)
2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen leader (b. 1952)
2005 – Nelson Briles, baseball player (b. 1943)
2005 – Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist (b. 1965)
2005 – Lúcia Santos, Carmelite nun and Fatima visionary (b. 1907)
2005 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (b. 1917)
2005 – Dick Weber, American professional bowler (b. 1929)
2006 – Andreas Katsulas, Greek-American actor (b. 1946)
2006 – Peter Frederick Strawson, British philosopher (b. 1919)
2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer (b. 1923)
2007 – Charlie Norwood, American politician (b. 1941)
2007 – Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (b. 1974)
2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, Air Marshal, Royal Air Force (b. 1922)
2008 – Henri Salvador, French singer and musician (b. 1917)
2008 – Roger Voisin, Trumpet player, Boston Symphony (b. 1918)
2009 – Edward Upward, British novelist and short-story writer (b. 1903)
2010 – Lucille Clifton, American poet (b. 1936)
2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer and songwriter (b. 1936)
2010 – John Reed, British singer of Gilbert & Sullivan (b. 1916)