today.nukz.net: Almanac November 24

Baruch Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death. By laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. His magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes's mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important contributors. In the Ethics, "Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, and one in which the refined conceptions of medieval philosophy are finally turned against themselves and destroyed entirely." Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said of all contemporary philosophers, "You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all."

Events

380 – Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal entry, into Constantinople.
1227 – Polish Prince Leszek I the White is assassinated at an assembly of Piast dukes at Gasawa.
1248 – In the middle of the night a mass on the north side of Mont Granier suddenly collapsed, in one of the largest historical rockslope failures known in Europe.
1429 – Joan of Arc unsuccessfully besieges La Charité.
1542 – Battle of Solway Moss: The English army defeats the Scots.
1642 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
1835 – The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (which is now the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety).
1850 – Danish troops defeat a Schleswig-Holstein force in the town of Lottorf, Schleswig-Holstein.
1859 – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, the anniversary of which is sometimes called "Evolution Day"
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Lookout Mountain – Near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant capture Lookout Mountain and begin to break the Confederate siege of the city led by General Braxton Bragg.
1906 – A 13-6 victory by the Massillon Tigers over their rivials, the Canton Bulldogs, for the "Ohio League" Championship, led to accusations that the championship series was fixed and resulted in the first major scandal in professional American football.
1922 – Author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers and eight others are executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.
1932 – In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
1935 – The Senegalese Socialist Party holds its second congress.
1940 – World War II: Slovakia becomes a signatory to the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
1941 – World War II: The United States grants Lend-Lease to the Free French.
1943 – World War II: The USS Liscome Bay is torpedoed near Tarawa and sinks, killing 650 men.
1944 – World War II: Bombing of Tokyo – The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital from the east and by land is carried out by 88 American aircraft.
1950 – The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm, takes shape on this date before paralyzing the northeastern United States and the Appalachians the next day, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, records 57 inches of snow. 353 people would die as a result of the storm.
1962 – The West Berlin branch of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany forms a separate party, the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin.
1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald is murdered by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters. The shooting happens to be broadcast live on television.
1963 – Vietnam War: Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically.
1965 – Joseph Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.
1966 – Bulgarian TABSO Flight 101 crashes near Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, killing all 82 people on board.
1969 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found.
1973 – A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany because of the 1973 oil crisis. The speed limit lasted only four months.
1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.

Births

1273 – Alphonso, Earl of Chester, son of Edward I of England (d. 1284)
1394 – Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (d. 1465)
1420 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (d. 1473)
1583 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (d. 1641)
1615 – Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1690)
1630 – Etienne Baluze, French scholar (d. 1718)
1632 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (d. 1677)
1655 – Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
1690 – Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1750)
1713 – Junípero Serra, Spanish missionary (d. 1784)
1713 – Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist (d. 1768)
1724 – Maria Amalia of Saxony, queen of Spain (d. 1760)
1729 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (d. 1800)
1745 – Maria Louisa of Spain, Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1792)
1774 – Thomas Dick, Scottish scientific teacher and writer (d. 1857)
1784 – Zachary Taylor, American general and 12th President of the United States (d. 1850)
1787 – Franz Xaver Gruber, Austrian organist (d. 1863)
1801 – Ludwig Bechstein, German poet (d. 1860)
1806 – William Webb Ellis, credited with the invention of Rugby (d. 1872)
1811 – Ulrich Ochsenbein, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1890)
1815 – Grace Darling, English heroine (d. 1842)
1826 – Carlo Collodi, Italian author (d. 1890)
1833 – Antoine Labelle, Quebec catholic priest (d. 1891)
1849 – Frances Hodgson Burnett, British-born author (d. 1924)
1857 – Miklós Kovács Hungarian Slovene writer (d. 1937)
1859 – Cass Gilbert, American architect (d. 1934)
1864 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
1867 – Louis de Champsavin, French horse rider (d. 1916)
1868 – Scott Joplin, Ragtime Composer (d. 1917)
1869 – António Óscar Carmona, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal and 11th President of Portugal (d. 1951)
1873 – Julius Martov, Russian communiust leader (d. 1923)
1874 – Charles William Miller, Brazilian footballer (d. 1953)
1876 – Walter Burley Griffin, American architect (d. 1937)
1877 – Alben W. Barkley, American politician and 35th Vice President of the United States (d. 1956)
1877 – Kavasji Jamshedji Petigara, Indian CID Commissioner of Police (d. 1941)
1881 – Al Christie, Canadian-born film director and producer (d. 1951)
1884 – Itzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (d. 1963)
1885 – Christian Wirth, commandant of Belzec extermination camp (d. 1944)
1886 – Margaret Caroline Anderson, American publisher (d. 1973)
1887 – Erich von Manstein, German military commander (d. 1973)
1887 – Raoul Paoli, French athlete, boxer and rower (d. 1960)
1888 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (d. 1955)
1888 – Fredrick Willius, American cardiologist (d. 1972)
1893 – Charles F. Hurley, 54th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1946)
1894 – Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (d. 1978)
1897 – Lucky Luciano, American gangster (d. 1962)
1899 – Ward Morehouse, American theater critic and newspaper columnist (d. 1966)
1904 – Albert Ross Tilley, Canadian Plastic Surgeon (d. 1988)
1908 – Libertad Lamarque, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2000)
1910 – Larry Siemering, American college football head coach (d. 2009)
1911 – Joe Medwick, baseball player (d. 1975)
1911 – Kirby Grant, American actor (d. 1985)
1912 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (d. 1993)
1912 – Garson Kanin, American writer (d. 1999)
1912 – Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist (d. 1986)
1912 – Barbara Sheldon, American actress (d. 2007)
1913 – Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (d. 2005)
1916 – Forrest J. Ackerman, American writer (d. 2008)
1917 – Howard Duff, American actor (d. 1990)
1917 – Shabtai Rosenne, British-born Israeli diplomat and jurist (d. 2010)
1919 – David Kossoff, British actor (d. 2005)
1921 – John Lindsay, American politician (d. 2000)
1922 – Martin Poll, American movie producer (d. 2012)
1924 – Victor Grinich, Croatian-American businessman (d. 2000)
1925 – William F. Buckley Jr., American writer (d. 2008)
1925 – Simon van der Meer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1926 – Tsung-Dao Lee, Nobel Prize laureate
1927 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (d. 2003)
1929 – Franciszek Kokot, Polish nephrologist
1930 – Bob Friend, American baseball player
1932 – Fred Titmus, English cricketer (d. 2011)
1933 – John Sheridan, English rugby player (d. 2012)
1934 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian composer (d. 1998)
1935 – Ronald Vernie Dellums, American politician
1938 – Willy Claes, Belgian politician
1938 – Oscar Robertson, American basketball player
1938 – Charles Starkweather, American Spree Killer (d. 1959)
1940 – Don Metz, American architect
1940 – Paul Tagliabue, retired commissioner of the National Football League
1940 – Eric Wilson, Canadian children's author.
1941 – Pete Best, British musician and original drummer for The Beatles.
1941 – Donald "Duck" Dunn, American musician (Booker T. and the M.G.'s) (d. 2012)
1942 – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
1942 – Marlin Fitzwater, White House Press Secretary
1943 – Dave Bing, seven-time All-Star basketball player and 70th mayor of Detroit
1943 – Robin Williamson, Scottish musician
1944 – Bev Bevan, English rock drummer (The Move, Electric Light Orchestra)
1944 – Candy Darling, American transgender model and actress(d. 1974)
1944 – Ibrahim Gambari, Nigerian scholar
1944 – Dan Glickman, American political, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas and the 26th United States Secretary of Agriculture
1945 – Lee Michaels, American musician and singer
1946 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (d. 1989)
1946 – Penelope Jones Halsall (aka Caroline Courtney, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright, Annie Groves, Penny Jordan), English novelist
1947 – Dwight Schultz, American actor
1947 – Dave Sinclair, English musician (Caravan, Hatfield and the North)
1948 – Spider Robinson, science fiction author
1948 – Steve Yeager, baseball player
1949 – Shane Bourne, Australian comedian and actor
1949 – Linda Tripp, American political figure
1950 – Roscoe Born, American actor
1950 – Stanley Livingston, American actor
1951 – Mimis Androulakis, Greek politician and writer
1951 – Chet Edwards, American politician
1952 – Norbert Haug, German motorsport executive (Mercedes Benz)
1952 – Thierry Lhermitte, French comedian and actor
1953 – Glenn Withrow, American actor
1954 – Emir Kusturica, Serbian filmmaker
1955 – Ian Botham, England test cricketer
1955 – Clem Burke, American drummer (Blondie)
1955 – Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Swedish politician
1955 – Takashi Yuasa, Japanese lawyer
1957 – Denise Crosby, American actress
1957 – Edward Stourton, British radio presenter
1958 – Roy Aitken, Scottish former footballer
1958 – Alain Chabat, French actor and director
1959 – Robert Jüttner, German footballer
1960 – Edgar Meyer, American bassist and composer
1960 – Amanda Wyss, American actress
1961 – Carlos Carnero, Spanish member of parliament
1961 – Arundhati Roy, Indian writer
1962 – John Kovalic, British-born cartoonist
1962 – John Squire, British guitarist (The Stone Roses)
1962 – Ioannis Topalidis, Greek footballer
1962 – Tracey Wickham, Australian swimmer
1964 – Garret Dillahunt, American actor
1964 – Tony Rombola, American guitarist (Godsmack)
1964 – Brad Sherwood, American comedian
1965 – Shirley Henderson, Scottish actress
1965 – Kim Roe-ha, South Korean actor
1966 – Russell Watson, British singer
1967 – Henrik Brockmann, Danish heavy metal singer
1967 – Cal Eldred, American baseball player
1968 – Todd Beamer, American, acclaimed hero of United Airlines Flight 93 (d. 2001)
1968 – Bülent Korkmaz, Turkish footballer
1969 – David Adeang, Nauruan politician
1969 – Rob Nicholson, American musician
1970 – Doug Brien, American football player
1970 – Julieta Venegas, Mexican singer
1970 – Ashley Ward, British footballer
1971 – Cosmas Ndeti, three-time Boston Marathon winner
1971 – Keith Primeau, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Stephen Merchant, British comedian
1974 – Machel Montano, Trinidad & Tobago musician
1974 – Taro Yamamoto, Japanese actor
1974 – Dave Aizer, American television host
1975 – Thomas Kohnstamm, American writer
1976 – Christian Laflamme, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
1977 – Colin Hanks, American actor
1977 – Celaleddin Koçak, Turkish footballer
1978 – Katherine Heigl, American actress
1979 – Becca Barlow, American guitarist (BarlowGirl)
1979 – Joseba Llorente, Spanish footballer
1980 – Beth Phoenix, American professional wrestler
1982 – Ryan Fitzpatrick, American football player
1982 – Sean O'Loughlin, English rugby league footballer
1983 – Dean Ashton, English footballer
1983 – Lars Eckert, German rugby player
1983 – Meredith Henderson, Canadian actress
1983 – André Laurito, German footballer
1983 – José López, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Karine Vanasse, Canadian actress
1984 – Maria Höfl-Riesch, German alpine skier
1985 – Julia Alexandratou, Greek fashion model and singer
1985 – Tony Hunt, American football player
1986 – Pedro León, Spanish footballer
1986 – Mohamed Massaquoi, American football player
1990 – Sarah Hyland, American actress
1993 – Ivi Adamou, Greek-Cypriot singer
1994 – Reece Mastin, English-born Australian singer and songwriter

Deaths

654 – Emperor Kotoku of Japan (b. 596)
1072 – King Bagrat IV of Georgia (b. 1018)
1265 – Magnus Olafsson, King of Mann and the Isles
1326 – Hugh Despenser the Younger, English nobleman and favourite of Edward II of England (b. abt. 1296)
1468 – Jean de Dunois, French soldier (b. 1402)
1531 – Johannes Oecolampadius, German religious reformer (b. 1482)
1572 – John Knox, Scottish reformer (b. 1510)
1583 – René de Birague, French cardinal and chancellor (b. 1506)
1615 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (b. 1556)
1650 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (b. 1566)
1675 – Guru Tegh Bahadur, Indian religious figure (b. 1621)
1722 – Johann Adam Reinken, German organist (b. 1623)
1741 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (b. 1688)
1770 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian (b. 1685)
1775 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (b. 1703)
1781 – James Caldwell, American Revolution figure (b. 1734)
1793 – Clément Charles François de Laverdy, French statesman (b. 1723)
1801 – Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (b. 1725)
1807 – Joseph Brant, American Indian tribal leader (b. 1742)
1848 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)
1870 – Comte de Lautréamont, French writer (b. 1846)
1885 – Nicolás Avellaneda, Argentine president (b. 1837)
1890 – August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)
1916 – Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, American-born gunsmith (b. 1840)
1920 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian writer (b. 1854)
1920 – Lado Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Georgian theatre actor and director (b. 1857)
1922 – Robert Erskine Childers, Irish nationalist (b. 1870)
1929 – Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France (b. 1841)
1936 – Lucio Godina, Filipino conjoined twin (b. 1908)
1943 – Doris Miller, American navy cook (b. 1919)
1948 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (b. 1864)
1956 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
1957 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
1958 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, British politician, Nobel laureate (b. 1864)
1959 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby player (b. 1883)
1960 – Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1882)
1960 – Roscoe Lockwood, American rower (b. 1875)
1961 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (b. 1893)
1963 – Marotrao Kannamwar, Indian politician
1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, American accused assassin of John F. Kennedy (b. 1939)
1965 – Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1895)
1967 – Louis Fratto, American gangster (b. 1908)
1968 – d.a. levy, Cleveland poet (b. 1942)
1973 – John Neihardt, American writer (b. 1881)
1980 – George Raft, American actor (b. 1895)
1980 – Herbert Agar, American journalist and historian (b. 1897)
1980 – Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador (b. 1917)
1985 – Big Joe Turner, American singer (b. 1911)
1987 – Jehane Benoît, French Canadian culinary author (b. 1904)
1990 – Fred Shero, National Hockey League player and coach (b. 1925)
1990 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (b. 1896)
1990 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentine racing driver (b. 1934)
1991 – Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen) (b. 1946)
1991 – Eric Carr, American drummer (KISS) (b. 1950)
1993 – Albert Collins, American blues guitarist (b. 1932)
1996 – Sorley MacLean, British poet (b. 1911)
1997 – Monique Andrée Serf, French singer (b. 1930)
1999 – Hilary Minster, British actor (b. 1944)
2001 – Melanie Thornton, American dance/pop singer (b. 1967)
2002 – John Rawls, political philosopher (b. 1921)
2003 – Floquet de Neu, Ecuato Guinean albino gorilla (b. 1964)
2003 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player (b. 1921)
2004 – Wong Jim, Hong Kong songwriter (b. 1940)
2004 – Arthur Hailey, British-born author (b. 1920)
2005 – Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932)
2006 – Juice Leskinen, Finnish rock singer (b. 1950)
2006 – George W. S. Trow, American writer (b. 1943)
2006 – Zdenek Veselovský, Czech zoologist (b. 1938)
2007 – Casey Calvert, American guitarist (Hawthorne Heights) (b. 1981)
2008 – Cecil H. Underwood, American politician (b. 1922)
2008 – Kenny MacLean, Scottish musician (Platinum Blonde) (b. 1956)
2009 – Abe Pollin, American professional sports team owner (b. 1923)
2009 – Samak Sundaravej, Thai politician (b. 1935)
2009 – Chan Hung Lit, Hong Kong actor (b. 1943)
2010 – Huang Hua, Chinese statesman (b. 1913)