today.nukz.net: Almanac

Teller (née Raymond Joseph Teller) (b) 1948

Events

842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
1014 – Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.
1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
1349 – Approximately 2,000 Jews are burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg.
1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
1778 – The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent – John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
1804 – Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
1843 – The event that inspired the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! is held in England.
1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital providing in-patient beds specifically for children in the English-speaking world, is founded in London.
1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Department of Commerce and Department of Labor).
1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
1912 – In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
1918 – The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (on 1 February according to the Julian calendar).
1919 – The Polish-Soviet War begins.
1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
1929 – Saint Valentine's Day massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign – General Hans-Jurgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
1944 – World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.
1945 – World War II: Prague is bombed probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.
1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship.
1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans.
1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.
1949 – The Knesset (Israeli parliament) convenes for the first time.
1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
1950 – Chinese Civil War: The National Revolutionary Army instigates the unsuccessful Battle of Tianquan against the People's Liberation Army.
1956 – The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union begins in Moscow. On the last night of the meeting, Premier Nikita Khrushchev condemns Joseph Stalin's crimes in a secret speech.
1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
1962 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
1966 – Australian currency is decimalised.
1979 – In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
1981 – Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people
1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.
1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
1990 – 92 people are killed aboard Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.
1998 – An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil drops a lit cigarette, creating a massive explosion which kills 120.
2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
2002 – The Budapest Open Access Initiative, one of the cornerstones of the Open access movement, was released to the public.
2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
2005 – Lebanese self-made billionaire and business tycoon Rafik Hariri is killed, along with 21 others, when explosives, equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT, are detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.
2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.
2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injuries.
2011 – As a part of Arab spring, the 2011–2012 Bahraini uprising, a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of civil resistance, in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain begins.

Births

1468 – Johann Werner, German mathematician (d. 1522)
1483 – Babur, Moghul emperor of India (d. 1530)
1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
1679 – Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, composer and organist from southern Germany (d. 1735)
1680 – John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)
1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)
1701 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)
1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English demographer and political economist (d. 1834)
1778 – Fernando Sor (baptized), Spanish composer (d. 1839)
1778 – Minh Mang, the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam (d. 1841)
1799 – Walenty Wankowicz, Polish painter (d. 1842)
1800 – Emory Washburn, American politician and 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
1812 – Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)
1818 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist (d. 1895)
1819 – Christopher Sholes, American inventor (d. 1890)
1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American Civil War general (d. 1886)
1828 – Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (d. 1885)
1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor, (d. 1914)
1846 – Julian Scott, American artist and American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1901)
1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette (d. 1919)
1847 – Queen Maria Pia of Savoy of Portugal (d. 1911)
1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
1856 – Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., American engineer and inventor (d. 1896)
1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (d. 1954)
1869 – Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1959)
1871 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (d. 1959)
1884 – Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor, film director (d. 1947)
1884 – Joe Jagersberger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1952)
1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet (d. 1974)
1885 – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian-born Pakistani philosopher (d. 1949)
1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech military commander (d. 1948)
1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-born American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
1903 – Stuart Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
1904 – Charles Oatley, British electrical engineer (d. 1996)
1904 – Hertta Kuusinen, Finnish communist (d. 1974)
1905 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)
1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)
1913 – Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)
1913 – Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)
1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (presumed d. 1975)
1913 – James Pike, American Episcopal bishop (d. 1969)
1914 – Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (d. 2007)
1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general (d. 2010)
1916 – Sally Gray, English actress (d. 2006)
1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director (d. 1996)
1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 2011)
1920 – Judith Holzmeister, Austrian actress (d. 2008)
1921 – Hugh Downs, American television host
1921 – Hazel McCallion, Canadian politician and 3rd mayor of Mississauga, Ontario
1922 – Murray the K, American impresario and disk jockey (d. 1982)
1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (d. 2007)
1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor (d. 1982)
1931 – Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Canadian hockey player (d. 2006)
1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)
1931 – Phyllis McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)
1932 – Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director
1933 – Madhubala, Indian actress (d. 1969)
1934 – Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor
1934 – Neil Davis, Australian cameraman (d. 1985)
1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress
1936 – Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer and Wilbur Mills scandal figure
1936 – Andrew Prine, American actor
1937 – Magic Sam, American blues musician (d. 1969)
1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist
1941 – Donna Shalala, American educator
1941 – Paul Tsongas, American politician (d. 1997)
1942 – Michael Bloomberg, American media mogul and politician
1942 – Andrew Robinson, American actor
1942 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican racing driver (d. 1962)
1943 – Eric Andersen, American singer-songwriter
1943 – Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
1943 – Aaron Russo, American movie producer (d. 2007)
1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist
1944 – Alan Parker, British film director and writer
1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish racing driver (d. 1978)
1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, Nauru politician (d. 2003)
1946 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)
1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1975)
1947 – Judd Gregg, American politician
1948 – Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host
1948 – Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)
1950 – Roger Fisher, American musician (Heart)
1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer
1951 – JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater
1952 – Nancy Keenan, American reproductive-rights advocate
1953 – Odds Bodkin, American storyteller
1955 – Ronald Desruelles, Belgian athlete
1955 – James Eckhouse, American actor
1955 – Carol Kalish, American publishing executive (d. 1991)
1955 – Rip Rogers, American professional wrestler
1956 – Dave Dravecky, American baseball player
1957 – Alan Hunter, American TV personality
1957 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano
1958 – Enrique Mansilla, Argentine racing driver
1958 – Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano
1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player
1960 – Meg Tilly, American actress
1961 – Phillip Hamilton, American author
1961 – Latifa, Tunisian singer
1962 – Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist (d. 2002)
1962 – Michael Higgs, English actor
1962 – Sakina Jaffrey, Indian actress
1962 – Philippe Sella, French rugby player
1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor
1963 – John Marzano, American baseball player
1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist
1964 – Zach Galligan, American actor
1965 – Slick Rick, English-born American rapper
1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player
1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, British entrepreneur
1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1967 – Mark Rutte, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1968 – Jules Asner, American television personality
1968 – Scott McClellan, American civil servant and 25th White House Press Secretary
1969 – Adriana Behar, Brazilian beach volleyball player
1969 – Harry Colon, American football player
1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
1970 – Sean Hill, American ice hockey player
1970 – Simon Pegg, British comedian and actor
1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipino Actress and TV Host
1971 – Tommy Dreamer, American professional wrestler
1971 – Gheorghe Muresan, Romanian basketball player
1971 – Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer
1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player
1972 – Big Daddy V, American professional wrestler
1972 – Hiroshi, Japanese comedian
1972 – Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress
1972 – Rob Thomas, American musician (Matchbox Twenty)
1973 – Tyus Edney, American basketball player
1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (d. 2009)
1973 – Yuka Sato, Japanese figure skater
1974 – Filippa Giordano, Italian singer
1974 – Philippe Léonard, Belgian footballer
1975 – Xie Hui, Chinese footballer
1975 – Yul Kwon, American reality television personality
1975 – Scott Owen, Australian musician (The Living End)
1975 – Malik Zidi, French actor
1976 – Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer (Leaves' Eyes)
1976 – Erica Leerhsen, American actress
1977 – Darren Bennett, British professional ballroom dancer
1977 – Donna Cruz, Filipina Actress and Singer
1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist
1977 – Darren Purse, English footballer
1977 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)
1978 – Dwele, American R&B/Soul singer
1978 – Dean Gaffney, British actor
1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
1978 – Darius Songaila, Lithuanian basketball player
1979 – Paolo Ginestra, Italian footballer
1979 – Pablo Pallante, Uruguayan footballer
1980 – Fátima Leyva, Mexican footballer
1980 – Josh Senter, American screenwriter
1980 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress
1981 – Randy de Puniet, French motorcycle racer
1981 – Erin Torpey, American actress and singer
1982 – Marián Gáborík, Slovak hockey player
1982 – John Halls, English footballer
1983 – Callix Crabbe, US Virgin Islander baseball player
1983 – Rocky Elsom, Australian rugby player
1983 – Vincent Labrie, Canadian speed skater
1983 – Rhydian Roberts, Welsh singer and reality show contestant
1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer
1984 – Hamed Namouchi, Tunisian footballer
1985 – Karima Adebibe, Moroccan-born British actress and model
1985 – Tyler Clippard, American baseball player
1985 – Heart Evangelista, Filipino singer and actress
1985 – John Prats, Filipino Actor and Dancer
1985 – Natsume Sano, Japanese gravure idol
1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer
1985 – Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
1986 – Michael Ammermüller, German racing driver
1986 – Roxanne Guinoo, Filipina actress
1986 – Markus Karl, German footballer
1986 – Oliver Lee, British actor
1986 – Gao Lin, Chinese footballer
1986 – Kang Min-Soo, South Korean footballer
1986 – Tiffany Thornton, American actress
1986 – Aschwin Wildeboer, Spanish swimmer
1987 – Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Joseph Pichler, American actor
1987 – Tom Pyatt, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Julia Savicheva, Russian singer
1987 – Fabian Schönheim, German footballer
1987 – David Wheater, English footballer
1988 – Katie Boland, Canadian actress
1988 – Ángel di María, Argentine footballer
1988 – Quentin Mosimann, Swiss singer and reality show contestant
1988 – Asia Nitollano, American dancer and reality show contestant
1989 – Néstor Calderón, Mexican footballer
1989 – Adam Matuszczyk, Polish footballer
1989 – Emma Miskew, Canadian curler
1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Deeksha Seth, Indian Actress
1992 – Freddie Highmore, English actor
1994 – Paul Butcher, Jr., American actor

Deaths

270 – St. Valentine marking Valentine's Day
869 – Saint Cyril, Greek monk, scholar, theologian and linguist (b. 827)
1229 – Raghnall mac Gofraidh, King of the Isles.
1317 – Marguerite of France, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1282)
1400 – King Richard II of England (murdered) (b. 1367)
1405 – Timur, Mongol conqueror (b. 1336)
1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal and Protestant (b. 1517)
1676 – Abraham Bosse, French engraver and artist
1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, Queen Consort of Spain (b. 1688)
1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
1744 – John Hadley, inventor (b. 1682)
1779 – James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)
1780 – William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)
1782 – Singu Min, King of Burma (b. 1756)
1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (b. 1732)
1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)
1831 – Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)
1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American Civil War Confederate General (b. 1815)
1881 – Fernando Wood, New York City mayor (b. 1812)
1885 – Jules Vallès, French writer (b. 1832)
1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War General (b. 1820)
1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (b. 1814)
1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (assassinated) (b. 1880)
1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter (b. 1875)
1942 – Adnan Bin Saidi, Officer of the Malay Regiment killed in the defense of Singapore (b. 1915)
1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer, and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)
1943 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (b. 1876)
1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi-Assyrian communist leader (b. 1901)
1950 – Karl Guthe Jansky, American Discoverer of cosmic radio waves (b. 1905)
1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)
1958 – Abdul Rab Nishtar, veteran leader of Pakistan Movement, (b. 1899)
1959 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)
1967 – Sig Ruman, German-American actor (b. 1884)
1969 – Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)
1970 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b. 1880).
1974 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1903)
1975 – Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
1978 – Paul Governali, American football player (b. 1921)
1979 – Adolph Dubs, American diplomat (b. 1920)
1980 – Luitkonwar Rudra Baruah, Assamese composer and actor (b. 1926)
1983 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
1986 – Edmund Rubbra, English Composer (b. 1901)
1987 – Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)
1987 – Karolos Koun, Greek theater director (b. 1908)
1988 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901)
1989 – James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
1990 – Tony Holiday, German singer (b. 1951)
1992 – Helen Vela, Filipina TV host/journalist and actress (b. 1946)
1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)
1994 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and social critic (b. 1932)
1994 – Rodney Orr American racing driver (b. 1962)
1995 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (b. 1923)
1995 – U Nu, Burmese politician (b. 1907)
1996 – Bob Paisley, English football manager (b. 1919)
1999 – John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)
1999 – Buddy Knox, American singer and songwriter (b. 1933)
2002 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
2003 – Dolly, first cloned mammal (b. 1996)
2003 – Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)
2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
2005 – Tatiana Gritsi-Milliex, Greek novelist and journalist (b. 1920)
2005 – Rafic Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician (b. 1944)
2005 – Najai Turpin, American boxer (b. 1981)
2006 – Darry Cowl, French musician and actor (b. 1925)
2006 – Shoshana Damari, Israeli singer and actress (b. 1923)
2006 – Lynden David Hall, British singer (b. 1974)
2007 – Ryan Larkin, Canadian animated filmmaker (b. 1943)
2007 – Gareth Morris, British flautist (b. 1920)
2009 – Sir Bernard Ashley, Welsh businessman (b. 1926)
2009 – Louie Bellson, American jazz drummer (b. 1924)
2009 – John McGlinn, American conductor (b. 1953)
2010 – Doug Fieger, American musician The Knack (b. 1952)
2010 – Dick Francis, British jockey-turned-novelist (b. 1920)
2011 – Sir George Shearing, Anglo-American jazz pianist (b. 1919)