today.nukz.net: Almanac October 20

Siyyid `Alí Mu?ammad Shírází ; October 20, 1819 – July 9, 1850) was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith. He was a merchant from Shíráz, Persia, who at the age of twenty-four (on May 23, 1844) claimed to be the promised Qá'im (or Mahdi). After his declaration he took the title of Báb meaning "Gate". He composed hundreds of letters and books (often termed tablets) in which he stated his messianic claims and defined his teachings, which constituted a new sharí'ah or religious law. His movement eventually acquired tens of thousands of supporters, was opposed by Iran's Shi'a clergy, and was suppressed by the Iranian government, leading to the persecution and killing of thousands of his followers, called Bábís. In 1850, at the age of thirty, the Báb was shot by a firing squad in Tabríz.

Events

1548 – The city of Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace) is founded by Alonso de Mendoza by appointment of the king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
1572 – Relief of Goes, Cristóbal de Mondragón with 3000 soldiers of the Spanish Tercios, release the siege of the city.
1720 – Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy.
1740 – Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
1781 – Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
1818 – The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
1827 – Battle of Navarino – a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is defeated by British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece.
1873 – Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.
1883 – Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.
1904 – Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.
1910 – The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1935 – The Long March ends.
1939 – Pope Pius XII publishes his first major encyclical entitled Summi Pontificatus.
1941 – World War II: Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre.
1943 – The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Suda Bay, Crete, and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it.
1944 – The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia
1944 – Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
1944 – General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.
1947 – The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
1947 – United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
1951 – The "Johnny Bright Incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
1952 – Governor Evelyn Baring declares a state of emergency in Kenya and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising, including Jomo Kenyatta, the future first President of Kenya.
1961 – The Soviet Union performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf class submarine.
1962 – China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, beginning the Sino-Indian War.
1968 – Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
1970 – Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state.
1971 – The Nepal Stock Exchange collapses.
1973 – "Saturday Night Massacre": President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.
1973 – The Sydney Opera House opens.
1976 – The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.
1981 – Two police officers and an armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery in Rockland County, NY, carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground.
1982 – During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
1991 – The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.
1991 – A 6.8 M_w earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.

Births

1463 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (d. 1512)
1496 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French general (d. 1550)
1616 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (d. 1680)
1620 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (d. 1691)
1632 – Christopher Wren, English architect, designed St Paul's Cathedral (d. 1723)
1656 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (d. 1746)
1660 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English politician (d. 1723)
1677 – Stanislaw Leszczynski, Polish king (d. 1766)
1700 – Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (d. 1761)
1711 – Timothy Ruggles, American military leader and politician (d. 1795)
1719 – Gottfried Achenwall, German economist and jurist (d. 1772)
1740 – Isabelle de Charrière, Dutch author and poet (d. 1805)
1759 – Chauncey Goodrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1815)
1780 – Pauline Bonaparte, French sister of Napoleon (d. 1825)
1784 – Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1865)
1785 – George Ormerod, English historian and antiquarian (d. 1873)
1801 – Melchior Berri, Swiss architect (d. 1854)
1808 – Karl Andree, German geographer (d. 1875)
1819 – Báb, Iranian founder of Bábism (d. 1850)
1819 – Karol Mikuli, Armenian-Polish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1897)
1822 – Thomas Hughes, English author (d. 1896)
1832 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect (d. 1894)
1854 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (d. 1891)
1858 – John Burns, English politician (d. 1943)
1859 – John Dewey, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1952)
1864 – James F. Hinkle, American politician, 6th Governor of New Mexico (d. 1951)
1873 – Nellie McClung, Canadian politician and activist (d. 1951)
1874 – Charles Ives, American composer (d. 1954)
1876 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (d. 1953)
1882 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (d. 1956)
1882 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (d. 1965)
1891 – James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1893 – Charley Chase, American actor, screenwriter, and director (d. 1940)
1894 – Olive Thomas, American actress (d. 1920)
1895 – Rex Ingram, American actor (d. 1969)
1897 – Yi Un, Korean husband of Bangja, Crown Princess Euimin of Korea (d. 1970)
1900 – Wayne Morse, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974)
1904 – Tommy Douglas, Scottish-Canadian minister and politician, 7th Premier of Saskatchewan (d. 1986)
1904 – Anna Neagle, English actress (d. 1986)
1905 – Frederic Dannay, American author (d. 1982)
1905 – Arnold Luhaäär, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1965)
1907 – Arlene Francis, American actress and talk show host (d. 2001)
1909 – Carla Laemmle, American actress
1909 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (d. 1993)
1910 – Bob Sheppard, American sports announcer (d. 2010)
1913 – Grandpa Jones, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (d. 1998)
1913 – J. Michael Hagopian, Turkish-American director and producer (d. 2010)
1914 – Fayard Nicholas, American actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2006)
1917 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (d. 1973)
1918 – Robert Lochner, German journalist (d. 2003)
1919 – Tracy Hall, American chemist (d. 2008)
1921 – Hans Warren, Dutch poet and author (d. 2001)
1922 – John Anderson, American actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Robert Craft, American conductor
1925 – Art Buchwald, American columnist (d. 2007)
1925 – Tom Dowd, American record producer (d. 2002)
1925 – Roger Hanin, French actor and director
1927 – Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet (d. 2007)
1927 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist and columnist
1931 – Richard Caliguiri, American politician, 54th Mayor of Pittsburgh (d. 1988)
1931 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1932 – Rosey Brown, American football player (d. 2004)
1932 – William Christopher, American actor
1934 – Bill Chase, American trumpet player (d. 1974)
1934 – Eddie Harris, American saxophonist (d. 1996)
1934 – Empress Michiko of Japan
1935 – Barrie Chase, American actress and dancer
1935 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004)
1937 – Wanda Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1937 – Juan Marichal, Dominican baseball player
1938 – Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer (d. 2006)
1940 – Kathy Kirby, English singer (d. 2011)
1940 – Robert Pinsky, American poet
1942 – Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
1942 – Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 – Bart Zoet, Dutch cyclist (d. 1992)
1943 – Dunja Vejzovic, Croatian soprano
1944 – Nalin de Silva, Sri Lankan physicist and philosopher
1944 – David Mancuso, American party planner, created The Loft
1946 – Lewis Grizzard, American comedian and author (d. 1994)
1946 – Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
1946 – Richard Loncraine, English director
1946 – Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist
1948 – Piet Hein Donner, Dutch politician
1948 – Melih Gökçek, Turkish politician, 27th Mayor of Ankara
1950 – Tom Petty, American singer-songwriter and musician (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mudcrutch, and Traveling Wilburys)
1951 – Al Greenwood, American keyboard player (Foreigner)
1951 – Patrick Hall, English politician
1951 – Ken Ham, Australian evangelist
1951 – Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish politician
1951 – Claudio Ranieri, Italian footballer and manager
1952 – Melanie Mayron, American actress
1953 – Keith Hernandez, American baseball player
1953 – Bill Nunn, American actor
1954 – Steve Orich, American composer
1955 – Robert ten Brink, Dutch television host
1955 – Thomas Newman, American composer and conductor
1955 – David Profumo, English author
1955 – Aaron Pryor, American boxer
1956 – Danny Boyle, English director
1957 – Chris Cowdrey, English cricketer
1957 – Susanna Haavisto, Finnish actress and singer
1957 – Hilda Solis, American politician, 25th United States Secretary of Labor
1958 – Valerie Faris, American director
1958 – Dave Finlay, Irish wrestler
1958 – Lynn Flewelling, American author
1958 – Scott Hall, American wrestler
1958 – Mark King, English singer-songwriter and bass player (Level 42 and Re-Flex)
1958 – Dave Krieg, American football player
1958 – Viggo Mortensen, American actor
1958 – Ivo Pogorelic, Croatian pianist
1959 – Mark Little, Australian actor and comedian
1960 – Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (d. 2004)
1960 – Lepa Brena, Yugoslav singer and actress
1961 – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer
1961 – Michie Tomizawa, Japanese voice actress
1962 – David M. Evans, American director and screenwriter
1962 – Dave Wong, Hong Kong-Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor
1963 – Julie Payette, Canadian astronaut
1963 – Nikos Tsiantakis, Greek footballer
1963 – Stan Valckx, Dutch footballer and manager
1964 – Kamala Harris, American lawyer, 32nd Attorney General of California
1965 – Norman Blake, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, and Jonny)
1965 – Jil Caplan, French singer-songwriter
1965 – Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player
1965 – William Zabka, American actor
1966 – Fred Coury, American drummer (Cinderella and London)
1966 – Allan Donald, South African cricketer
1966 – Stefan Raab, German comedian and television host
1966 – Patrick Volkerding, American computer scientist, founded Slackware
1967 – Luigi Lo Cascio, Italian actor
1967 – Elizabeth Carling, English actress and singer
1967 – Luck Mervil, Haitian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
1967 – Marco Ngai, Hong Kong actor
1968 – Susan Tully, English actress
1969 – Laurie Daley, Australian rugby player
1969 – Juan González, Puerto Rican baseball player
1969 – Lambros Papakostas, Greek high jumper
1970 – Sander Boschker, Dutch footballer
1970 – Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American wrestler
1970 – Neil Heywood, English-Chinese businessman (d. 2011)
1970 – Michelle Malkin, American blogger and author
1971 – Snoop Dogg, American rapper, producer, and actor (Tha Eastsidaz and 213)
1971 – Eddie Jones, American basketball player
1971 – Kamiel Maase, Dutch runner
1971 – Dannii Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Matt Norman, Australian director and producer
1972 – Pie Geelen, Dutch swimmer
1972 – Will Greenwood, England rugby player
1976 – Nikolaos Bacharidis, Greek footballer
1976 – Nicola Legrottaglie, Italian footballer
1977 – Matt Jansen, English footballer
1977 – Leila Josefowicz, Canadian-American violinist
1977 – Samuel Witwer, American actor and singer
1978 – Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer
1978 – Paul Wilson, Scottish bass player and songwriter (Snow Patrol and Terra Diablo)
1979 – Paul Ifill, Barbadian footballer
1979 – John Krasinski, American actor and director
1979 – Paul O'Connell, Irish rugby player
1980 – Gary Jarman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Cribs)
1980 – Niall Matter, Canadian actor
1980 – Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Willis McGahee, American football player
1981 – Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
1982 – Kristian Bak Nielsen, Dutch footballer
1982 – Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer
1982 – Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
1983 – Flavio Cipolla, Italian tennis player
1983 – Luis Saritama, Ecuadorian footballer
1983 – Takayuki Yamada, Japanese actor and singer
1984 – Florent Sinama Pongolle, French footballer
1984 – Andrew Trimble, Irish rugby player
1985 – Jennifer Freeman, American actress
1985 – Dominic McGuire, American basketball player
1985 – Alphonso Smith, American football player
1985 – James Sutton, English race car driver
1986 – Wanlop Saechio, Thai footballer
1986 – Priyanka Sharma, Indian actress
1987 – Raphael Hackl, German rugby player
1988 – Ma Long, Chinese table tennis player
1988 – Risa Niigaki, Japanese singer and actress (Morning Musume and Tanpopo)
1988 – Candice Swanepoel, South African model
1989 – Colin Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1992 – Ksenia Semenova, Russian gymnast
1992 – Mattia De Sciglio, Italian footballer
1994 – Morgan Featherstone, Australian model
1995 – Zhenwei Wang, Chinese actor and martial artist

Deaths

460 – Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine wife of Theodosius II (b. 401)
1139 – Henry X, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1108)
1570 – João de Barros, Portuguese historian (b. 1496)
1631 – Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1550)
1640 – John Ball, English clergyman (b. 1585)
1652 – Antonio Coello, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1611)
1713 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (b. 1652)
1740 – Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
1842 – Grace Darling, English heroine (b. 1815)
1865 – Champ Ferguson, American guerrilla (b. 1821)
1870 – Michael William Balfe, Irish composer (b. 1808)
1890 – Richard Francis Burton, English geographer and explorer (b. 1821)
1900 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet (b. 1846)
1907 – Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (b. 1834)
1910 – David B. Hill, American politician, 29th Governor of New York (b. 1843)
1913 – William Clark, American archer
1926 – Eugene V. Debs, American politician (b. 1855)
1935 – Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1863)
1936 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (b. 1866)
1940 – Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect, co-designed Skogskyrkogården (b. 1885)
1947 – Gilbert Bougnol, French fencer (b. 1866)
1953 – Werner Baumbach, German pilot (b. 1916)
1957 – Michalis Dorizas, Greek javelin thrower (b. 1890)
1964 – Herbert Hoover, American politician, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
1967 – Shigeru Yoshida, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
1968 – Bud Flanagan, English singer (b. 1896)
1972 – Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (b. 1885)
1977 – Cassie Gaines, American singer (The Honkettes) (b. 1948)
1977 – Steve Gaines, American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Detroit (b. 1949)
1977 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1948)
1978 – Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1948)
1983 – Peter Dudley, English actor (b. 1935)
1983 – Yves Thériault, Canadian author (b. 1915)
1984 – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
1984 – Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1987 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)
1988 – Sheila Scott, English pilot (b. 1922)
1989 – Anthony Quayle, English actor (b. 1913)
1990 – Joel McCrea, American actor (b. 1905)
1992 – Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (b. 1926)
1993 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (b. 1909)
1994 – Burt Lancaster, American actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Christopher Stone, American actor (b. 1942)
1999 – Calvin Griffith, Canadian-American businessman (b. 1911)
1999 – Jack Lynch, Irish politician (b. 1917)
2001 – Ted Ammon, American financier and banker (b. 1949)
2002 – Barbara Berjer, American actress (b. 1920)
2002 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (b. 1931)
2003 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
2003 – Miodrag Petrovic, Serbian actor (b. 1924)
2004 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (b. 1923)
2004 – Chuck Hiller, American baseball player (b. 1934)
2005 – Shirley Horn, American singer and pianist (b. 1934)
2005 – Endon Mahmood, Malaysian wife of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (b. 1941)
2005 – Eva Švankmajerová, Czech painter and poet (b. 1940)
2006 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (b. 1910)
2007 – Max McGee, American football player (b. 1932)
2007 – Paul Raven, English bass player (Killing Joke, Prong, Ministry, Society 1, Godflesh, and Zilch) (b. 1961)
2008 – Gene Hickerson, American football player (b. 1935)
2010 – Bob Guccione, American publisher, founded Penthouse magazine (b. 1930)
2010 – Parthasarathy Sharma, Indian cricketer (b. 1948)
2011 – Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan politician, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942)
2011 – Mutassim Gaddafi, Libyan army officer (b. 1977)
2011 – Tone Pavcek, Slovenian poet (b. 1928)
2011 – Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr, Libyan minister of defence (b. 1942)
2012 – Oli Ahad, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1928)
2012 – Jaouad Akaddar, Moroccan footballer (b. 1984)
2012 – Przemyslaw Gintrowski, Polish poet and composer (b. 1951)
2012 – Paul Kurtz, American academic (b. 1925)
2012 – Daniel Enele Kwanairara, Solomon Islands politician (b. 1947)
2012 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2012 – Raymond Watson, American businessman (b. 1926)