today.nukz.net: Almanac August 27

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky, August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American modernist artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. Ray is also noted for his work with photograms, which he called "rayographs" in reference to himself.

Events

479 BC – Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan commander of the Greek army in the Battle of Plataea.
410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.
1232 – The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hojo Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)
1593 – Pierre Barrière fails in his attempt to assassinate King Henry IV of France.
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1776 – The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: the city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connaught.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Cisplatine War.
1832 – Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
1861 – Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1883 – The eruption of Krakatoa
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1916 – Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.
1918 – Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas and their German advisors in the only battle of World War I fought on American soil.
1921 – The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal I of Iraq.
1922 – The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks.
1927 – Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?"
1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the first 15 nations to do so. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1943 – Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
1957 – The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.
1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.
1969 – Israeli commando force penetrates deep into Egyptian territory to stage a mortar attack on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.
1971 – An attempted coup fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after, 18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland (see Warrenpoint ambush).
1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying they are avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
1985 – The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
1991 – The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 – Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1993 – The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 – 540-metre (1,772 ft)-tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
2003 – The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
2009 – The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.

Births

1407 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (d. 1425)
1471 – George, Duke of Saxony (d. 1539)
1487 – Anna of Brandenburg, Queen of Denmark (d. 1514)
1637 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English governor (d. 1715)
1665 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
1669 – Anne Marie of Orléans, Queen of Italy (d. 1728)
1677 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (d. 1748)
1724 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born Continental Congressman (d. 1781)
1730 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher (d. 1788)
1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)
1803 – Edward Beecher, American theologian (d. 1895)
1809 – Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States (d. 1891)
1812 – Bertalan Szemere, Hungarian politician (d. 1869)
1845 – Ödön Lechner, Hungarian architect (d. 1914)
1858 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (d. 1932)
1864 – Hermann Weingärtner, German gymnast (d. 1919)
1865 – James Henry Breasted, American Egyptologist (d. 1935)
1865 – Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States, Nobel laureate (d. 1951)
1868 – Hong Beom-do, Korean independence activist (d. 1943)
1870 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet (d. 1919)
1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (d. 1945)
1874 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
1875 – Katharine McCormick, American activist (d. 1967)
1877 – Charles Rolls, English automotive engineer (d. 1910)
1877 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss Federal Council member (d. 1963)
1884 – Vincent Auriol, French President (d. 1966)
1886 – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, English composer and violist (d. 1979)
1886 – Eric Coates, English composer (d. 1957)
1890 – Man Ray, American photographer and artist (d. 1976)
1895 – András Alföldi, Hungarian-born historian and archaeologist (d. 1981)
1896 – Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress (d. 1984)
1898 – Gaspard Fauteux, French Canadian parliamentarian (d. 1963)
1899 – C. S. Forester, English author (d. 1966)
1899 – Byron Foulger, American actor (d. 1970)
1903 – Ferenc Keseru, Hungarian water polo player (d. 1968)
1904 – Norah Lofts, Englis author (d. 1983)
1904 – John Hay Whitney, American financier (d. 1982)
1905 – Aris Velouchiotis, Greek party leader (d. 1945)
1906 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1908 – Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States (d. 1973)
1908 – Kurt Wegner, German artist (d. 1985)
1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist (d. 1966)
1909 – Lester Young, American musician (d. 1959)
1911 – Kay Walsh, English actress (d. 2005)
1912 – Gloria Guinness, Mexican socialite and writer (d. 1980)
1913 – Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, Russian-born German countess (d. 2006)
1914 – Heidi Kabel, German actress (d. 2010)
1915 – Norman Foster Ramsey, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
1916 – Martha Raye, American actress (d. 1994)
1916 – Tony Harris, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
1917 – Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player (d. 1986)
1918 – Jelle Zijlstra, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2001)
1919 – Murray Grand, American songwriter and singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg, French aristocrat (d. 1996)
1921 – Leo Penn, American film director (d. 1998)
1924 – David Rowbotham, Australian poet (d. 2010)
1925 – Darry Cowl, French actor (d. 2006)
1925 – Nat Lofthouse, English footballer (d. 2011)
1926 – Pat Coombs, English actress (d. 2002)
1926 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2002)
1927 – Jimmy C. Newman, American singer
1928 – Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South African politician
1928 – Péter Boross, Hungarian politician
1929 – Ira Levin, American author (d. 2007)
1931 – Sri Chinmoy, Indian guru (d. 2007)
1931 – Joe Cunningham, American baseball player
1932 – Cor Brom, Dutch football player and manager (d. 2008)
1932 – Antonia Fraser, English author
1933 – Jeno Hámori, Hungarian fencer
1933 – Joke Smit, Dutch feminist and politician (d. 1981)
1935 – Ernie Broglio, American baseball player
1935 – Frank Yablans, American film producer
1936 – Joel Kovel, American politician
1937 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (d. 2007)
1937 – Tommy Sands, American actor and singer
1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American author
1939 – Edward Patten, American singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips) (d. 2005)
1940 – Sonny Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (d. 1994)
1941 – Harrison Page, American actor
1941 – János Konrád, Hungarian water polo player and swimmer
1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboardist (Captain & Tennille)
1942 – Brian Peckford, Canadian politician
1943 – Bob Kerrey, American politician
1943 – Chuck Girard, American musician (Love Song)
1943 – Tuesday Weld, American actress
1944 – G. W. Bailey, American actor
1944 – Jan Bols, Dutch speed skater
1945 – Jan Sloot, Dutch inventor (d. 1999)
1946 – Tony Howard, West Indian cricketer
1947 – Barbara Bach, American actress
1947 – Peter Krieg, German documentary producer (d. 2009)
1947 – Harry Reems, American actor
1947 – John Morrison, New Zealand cricketer
1947 – Gavin Pfuhl, South African cricketer (d. 2002)
1948 – Sgt. Slaughter, American wrestler
1948 – John Mehler, American drummer (Love Song)
1949 – Jeff Cook, American musician (Alabama)
1950 – Charles Fleischer, American actor
1951 – Buddy Bell, American baseball player-manager
1951 – Mack Brown, American college football coach
1952 – Paul Reubens, American actor
1953 – Alex Lifeson, Canadian guitarist (Rush)
1953 – Peter Stormare, Swedish-born actor
1954 – John Lloyd, English tennis player
1954 – Derek Warwick, English race car driver
1955 – Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
1955 – Robert Richardson, American cinematographer
1955 – Diana Scarwid, American actress
1957 – Jeff Grubb, American author and game designer
1957 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer
1958 – Normand Brathwaite, Canadian TV and radio host
1958 – Sergei Krikalev, Russian cosmonaut
1958 – Tom Lanoye, Belgian author
1959 – Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver and team owner
1959 – Downtown Julie Brown, Welsh TV personality and MTV VJ
1959 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
1959 – András Petöcz, Hungarian author
1959 – Jeanette Winterson, English novelist
1961 – Yolanda Adams, American gospel singer
1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer
1961 – Helmut Winklhofer, German footballer
1962 – Vic Mignogna, American voice actor
1962 – Adam Oates, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 – Robert Bogue, American actor
1964 – Paul Bernardo, Canadian serial killer
1965 – Wayne James, Zimbabwean cricketer
1965 – Ange Postecoglou, Australian footballer
1966 – Jeroen Duyster, Dutch rower
1966 – Juhan Parts, Prime Minister of Estonia
1967 – Ogie Alcasid, Filipino singer and actor
1969 – Mark Ealham, English cricketer
1969 – Cesar Millan, American dog trainer
1969 – Reece Shearsmith, English actor and comedian
1969 – Chandra Wilson, American actress
1970 – Andy Bichel, Australian cricketer
1970 – Peter Ebdon, English snooker player
1970 – Mark Ilott, England cricketer
1970 – Tony Kanal, English musician (No Doubt)
1970 – Jeff Kenna, Irish footballer
1970 – Jim Thome, American baseball player
1970 – Karl Unterkircher, Italian mountaineer (d. 2008)
1970 – Park Myeong-su, Korean comedian, MC and singer
1971 – Julian Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer
1971 – Ernest Faber, Dutch footballer and coach
1971 – Aygül Özkan, German politician
1972 – Felix da Housecat, American DJ and record producer
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American musician (The Bloodhound Gang)
1972 – Jaap-Derk Buma, Dutch field hockey player
1972 – Denise Lewis, English heptathlete
1972 – The Great Khali, Indian wrestler
1973 – Carlene Begnaud, American wrestler
1973 – Danny Coyne, Welsh footballer
1973 – Dietmar Hamann, German footballer
1973 – Johan Norberg, Swedish author
1973 – Burak Kut, Turkish pop singer
1973 – Cory Bowles, Canadian actor
1974 – José Vidro, Puerto Rican baseball player
1974 – Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistani cricketer
1974 – Michael Mason, New Zealand cricketer
1975 – Jonny Moseley, American skier
1975 – Blake Adams, American golfer
1975 – Björn Gelotte, Swedish guitarist (In Flames)
1975 – Mark Rudan, Australian footballer
1976 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
1976 – Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
1976 – Milano Collection Akihito Terui, Japanese wrestler
1976 – Mark Webber, Australian racing driver
1977 – Deco, Portuguese footballer
1979 – Giovanni Capitello, American actor and producer
1979 – Aaron Paul, American actor
1979 – Tian Liang, Chinese diver
1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian musician (Arcade Fire)
1979 – Rusty Smith, American shorttracker
1980 – Neha Dhupia, Indian model and actress
1980 – Kyle Lowder, American actor
1981 – Demetria McKinney, American actress
1981 – Alessandro Gamberini, Italian footballer
1981 – Maxwell Cabelino Andrade, Spanish footballer
1982 – Damien Monier, French cyclist
1983 – Wilson Chen, Taiwanese actor
1984 – David Bentley, English footballer
1984 – Sulley Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
1985 – Alexandra Nechita, Romanian-American artist
1985 – Nikica Jelavic, Croatian footballer
1986 – Mario, American singer
1986 – Nabil El Zhar, Moroccan footballer
1987 – Darren McFadden, American football player
1988 – Alexa Vega, American actress
1989 – Romain Amalfitano, French footballer
1990 – Luuk de Jong, Dutch football player
1992 – Kim Petras, German singer
1993 – Sarah Hecken, German figure skater
1995 – Cainan Wiebe, Canadian child actor

Deaths

542 – Saint Caesarius of Arles
749 – Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i, Abbasid general
827 – Pope Eugene II
1312 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1262)
1394 – Chokei, Emperor of Japan (b. 1343)
1450 – Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, English politician (b. 1395)
1521 – Josquin des Prez, Flemish composer
1545 – Piotr Gamrat, Polish Catholic archbishop (b. 1487)
1572 – Claude Goudimel, French composer
1577 – Titian, Italian artist
1590 – Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
1635 – Félix Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1562)
1664 – Francisco Zurbarán, Spanish painter (b. 1598)
1748 – James Thomson, Scottish poet (b. 1700)
1773 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (b. 1721)
1828 – Eise Eisinga, Dutch amateur astronomer who built an orrery in his house in Franeker (b. 1744)
1857 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American literary critic and editor (b. 1815)
1865 – Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian author (b. 1796)
1871 – William Whiting Boardman, American politician (b. 1794)
1875 – William Chapman Ralston, American banker (b. 1826)
1909 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist (b. 1842)
1929 – Herman Potocnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket scientist (b. 1892)
1931 – Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)
1931 – Willem Hubert Nolens, Dutch politician and priest (b. 1860)
1931 – Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (b. 1846)
1934 – Linda Agostini, Australian murder victim known as the "Pyjama Girl" (b. 1905)
1944 – Georg von Boeselager, German nobleman (b. 1915)
1945 – Hubert Pál Álgyay, Hungarian engineer (b. 1894)
1948 – Charles Evans Hughes, American statesman, lawyer and politician, 11th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1862)
1958 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1961 – Kálmán Rózsahegyi, Hungarian Jewish actor and teacher (b. 1873)
1963 – Garrett Morgan, American inventor (b. 1877)
1963 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights activist and scholar (b. 1868)
1963 – Allama Mashriqi, Pakistani scholar and politician (b. 1888)
1964 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (b. 1895)
1965 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (b. 1887)
1967 – Brian Epstein, English manager of The Beatles (b. 1934)
1968 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
1969 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
1969 – Erika Mann, German writer and daughter of Thomas Mann (b. 1905)
1971 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television personality (b. 1898)
1971 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photo-journalist (b. 1906)
1975 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (b. 1892)
1976 – Mukesh, Indian playback singer (b. 1923)
1979 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, British admiral and statesman (assassinated) (b. 1900)
1980 – Douglas Kenney, American humorist (b. 1947)
1981 – Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
1984 – Bernard Youens, English actor (b. 1914)
1987 – Scott "La Rock" Sterling, American DJ (Boogie Down Productions) (b. 1962)
1988 – William Sargant, British psychiatrist (b. 1907)
1988 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (b. 1928)
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (b. 1954)
1994 – Frank Jeske, East German footballer (b. 1960)
1996 – Greg Morris, American actor (b. 1933)
1997 – Sotiria Bellou, Greek singer (b. 1921)
1998 – Essie Summers, New Zealand writer (b. 1912)
1999 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1909)
2001 – Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (assassinated) (b. 1938)
2001 – Michael Dertouzos, Greek internet pioneer, Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (b. 1936)
2002 – Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, "Father of the Modern Day Men's Movement," Founder of the Christian Men's Network (CMN) (b. 1922)
2003 – Peter-Paul Pigmans, Dutch gabber music producer (b. 1961)
2003 – Pierre Poujade, French politician (b. 1920)
2004 – Willie Crawford, American baseball player (b. 1946)
2005 – Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek songwriter and musician (b. 1922)
2005 – Seán Purcell, Gaelic footballer (b. 1929)
2006 – Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian film director (b. 1922)
2006 – María Capovilla, oldest living person from 2004–2006 (b. 1889)
2006 – Jesse Pintado, Mexican-born guitarist (Napalm Death) (b. 1969)
2007 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
2008 – Mark Priestley, Australian actor (b. 1970)
2009 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian writer and poet (b. 1913)
2010 – Anton Geesink, Dutch 10th-dan judoka (b. 1934)
2010 – Luna Vachon, Professional Wrestler (b. 1962)