today.nukz.net: Almanac January 11

Albert Hofmann (January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008) was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann also was the first to isolate, synthesize, and name the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds, psilocybin and psilocin. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child. In 2007 he was ranked a shared first place, alongside Tim Berners-Lee, in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses.

Events

1055 – Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.
1158 – Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
1693 – Mount Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.
1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1794 – Robert Forsythe, a U.S. Marshal is killed in Augusta, Georgia when trying to serve court papers, the first US marshal to die while carrying out his duties.
1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
1861 – Alabama secedes from the United States.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post – General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
1863 – American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
1912 – Immigrant textile works in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.
1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.
1919 – Romania reincorporates Transylvania.
1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.
1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
1943 – World War II: The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
1943 – Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York
1946 – Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
1949 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.
1949 – First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.
1960 – Henry Lee Lucas, once listed as America's most prolific serial killer, commits his first known murder.
1962 – Cold War. While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartent.
1962 – An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.
1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
1998 – Sidi-Hamed massacre takes place in Algeria, over 100 people are killed.
2002 – The first twenty captives arrive at Camp X-Ray.
2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.

Births

347 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I "the Great" (d. 395)
889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, Emir and Caliph of Cordoba (d. 961)
1322 – Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)
1359 – Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)
1395 – Michelle of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy (d. 1422)
1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)
1630 – John Rogers, American educator (d. 1684)
1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish scientist (d. 1686)
1642 – Johann Friedrich Alberti, German composer and organist (d. 1710)
1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)
1755 – Alexander Hamilton, Nevis born American Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher; 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
1757 – Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist (d. 1869)
1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist (d. 1866)
1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (d. 1895)
1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder (d. 1874)
1814 – James Paget, British surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
1815 – John A. Macdonald, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
1825 – Bayard Taylor, American poet (d. 1878)
1839 – Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist (d. 1903)
1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
1843 – Charles Yelverton O'Connor, Irish-Australian engineer (d. 1902)
1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (d. 1912)
1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American botanist (d. 1942)
1852 – Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1926)
1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (d. 1926)
1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1932)
1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)
1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
1859 – Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, British statesman, Viceroy of India (d. 1925)
1864 – Thomas Dixon, American playwright and legislator (d. 1946)
1867 – Edward B. Titchener, British psychologist. (d. 1927)
1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (d. 1940)
1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (d. 1945)
1872 – George Washington Pierce, American physicist (d. 1956)
1873 – John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (d. 1949)
1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)
1875 – Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (d. 1941)
1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general (d. 1952)
1879 – John Symes, English cricket player (d. 1942)
1885 – Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (d. 1965)
1885 – Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977)
1886 – Chester Conklin, American comedian and actor (d. 1971)
1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist (d. 1948)
1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American political figure (d. 1954)
1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (d. 1938)
1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian author (d. 1954)
1890 – Harold Bride, English wireless officer on RMS Titanic (d. 1956)
1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player (d. 1976)
1895 – Laurens Hammond, American inventor (d. 1973)
1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
1897 – Bernard DeVoto, American historian (d. 1955)
1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress (d. 1991)
1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)
1903 – Alan Paton, South African writer (d. 1988)
1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist (d. 1960)
1905 – Manfred B Lee, American author (d. 1971)
1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
1907 – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Warsaw-born American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1972)
1907 – Pierre Mendès-France, French politician (d. 1982)
1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
1910 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (d. 1975)
1910 – Shane Paltridge, Australian politician (d. 1966)
1910 – Izler Solomon, American conductor (d. 1987)
1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian artist (d. 2003)
1911 – Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
1912 – Don "Red" Barry, American actor (d. 1980)
1915 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier (d. 1955)
1916 – Bernard Blier, French actor (d. 1989)
1917 – John Robarts, Canadian politician (d. 1982)
1921 – Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (d. 1990)
1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist, educator, & civil servant; 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
1922 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and writer (d. 1986)
1923 – Jerome Bixby, American writer (d. 1998)
1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian
1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, automobile designer and businessman (d. 2012)
1924 – Don Cherry, American singer and golfer
1924 – Roger Guillemin, French neuroendocrinologist, Nobel laureate
1924 – Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)
1924 – Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
1925 – Grant Tinker, American television executive
1926 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1998)
1928 – David L. Wolper, American television producer (d.2010)
1928 – Mitchell Ryan, American actor
1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian politician
1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-born American actor
1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian museum director and curator
1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican film director
1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
1934 – Sir C. A. R. Hoare, British computer scientist
1935 – Melvyn Hayes, British actor
1935 – Ghita Nørby, Danish actress
1937 – Felix Silla, Italian actor
1938 – Fischer Black, American economist (d. 1995)
1938 – Vladimir Krpan, Croatian pianist
1938 – Arthur Scargill, British politician
1938 – John August Swanson, American artist
1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier
1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer
1942 – Charles Acton, American basketball player
1942 – Clarence Clemons, American musician (E Street Band) (d. 2011)
1942 – Leo Cullum, American cartoonist (d. 2010)
1942 – George Mira, American Football Player
1943 – Jill Churchill, American mystery writer
1943 – Jim Hightower, American radio host, author, and activist
1944 – Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (d. 1989)
1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician
1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German-Austrian actress
1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer (The Judds)
1946 – Tony Kaye, British piano and organ player (Yes)
1946 – John Piper, American theologian
1948 – Fritz Bohla, German football player and manager
1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (the 54th Yokozuna) and professional wrestler
1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh rock drummer (Love Sculpture, Man and Dire Straits)
1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian rock singer (Sherbet)
1949 – Chris Ford, American basketball player and coach
1951 – Willie Maddren, English former footballer (d. 2000)
1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright
1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian politician
1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author
1952 – Lee Ritenour, American musician and composer
1953 – John Sessions, Scottish actor
1956 – Robert Earl Keen, American singer
1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player
1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
1958 – Vicki Peterson, American musician (The Bangles)
1958 – Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Colombian organized crime figure
1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Jasper Fforde, British author
1961 – Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, Prince of Austria and Prince Royal of Hungary
1961 – Eva O, American musician, singer/song writer (Christian Death, Shadow Project and Super Heroines)
1962 – Kim Coles, American actress
1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist, and antiwar activist
1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American swimmer
1963 – Dean Reynolds, English snooker player
1965 – Roland Scholten, Dutch darts Player
1966 – Marc Acito, American novelist and humorist
1966 – Kelley Law, Canadian curler
1966 – Tao Wei, Chinese footballer and sportscaster (d. 2012)
1967 – Derek Riddell, Scottish actor
1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish politician
1968 – Saša Ciric, Macedonian footballer
1968 – Tom Dumont, American musician (No Doubt and Invincible Overlord)
1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican baseball player
1969 – Kyle Richards, American actress
1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian visual artist.
1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American actor, film director, and screenwriter
1970 – Joy Nilo, Filipino Composer
1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer
1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter and musician (Bus Station Loonies, Oi Polloi and Disorder)
1972 – Marc Blucas, American actor
1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer (The Aquabats)
1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress
1973 – Joanna Brodzik, Polish actress
1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor
1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer
1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player
1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer
1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player
1975 – Kevin Koe, Canadian curler
1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player
1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player
1977 – Shomari Buchanan, American football player
1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater
1977 – Devin Ratray, American actor
1977 – Nadia Turner, American singer
1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress
1978 – Michael Duff, Northern Irish footballer
1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer
1978 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer
1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American film director
1979 – Michael Lorenz, German footballer
1979 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer
1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler
1980 – Lovieanne Jung, American softball player
1980 – Mike Williams, American football player
1980 – Deanna Wright, American actress
1981 – Jamelia, English singer
1981 – Bafo Biyela, South African footballer
1981 – Tom Meighan, English singer (Kasabian)
1981 – Jaime Valdés, Chilean footballer
1981 – Ali Zitouni, Tunisian footballer
1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player
1982 – Ashley Taylor Dawson, British actor and singer (allSTARS*)
1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress
1983 – Matthew Palleschi, Canadian soccer player
1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer
1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver
1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player
1984 – Dario Krešic, Croatian footballer
1985 – Newton Faulkner, British singer
1985 – Rie Fu, Japanese singer
1985 – Lucy Knisley, American artist
1985 – Kazuki Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
1985 – Aaron Porter, British politician
1986 – Rachel Riley, British television presenter
1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American BMX rider
1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer
1988 – Jun Jun, Chinese/Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
1988 – Daniel Dzufer, Australian rules footballer
1988 – Fuska, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Sammy Carlson, American freeskier
1989 – Darko Bodul, Croatian footballer
1991 – Hyorin, South Korean singer (leader group SISTAR)
1993 – Will Keane, English footballer
1993 – Michael Keane, English footballer
1993 – Flora Cross, French actress
1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer

Deaths

314 – St. Miltiades
705 – Pope John VI
802 – St. Paulinus II of Aquileia
812 – Staurakios, Byzantine Emperor
844 – Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor
1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1000)
1083 – Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria (b. c. 1020)
1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)
1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian author, literary theorist, and Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (b. 1583)
1696 – Charles Albanel, French missionary explorer in Canada (b. 1616)
1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)
1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French Protestant leader (b. 1637)
1735 – Danilo I, Vladika of Montenegro (b. c.1670)
1753 – Sir Hans Sloane, Ulster-Scot physician and collector (b. 1660)
1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French sculptor (b. 1695)
1763 – Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)
1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)
1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (b. 1717)
1798 – Erekle II, king of Kartli and Kakheti (b. 1720)
1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (b. 1749)
1836 – John Molson, Canadian brewer (b. 1763)
1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and writer of the poem that became the American national anthem (b. 1779)
1867 – Sir Stuart Donaldson, first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales (b. 1812)
1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (b. 1810)
1891 – Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French civic planner (b. 1809)
1901 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (b. 1862)
1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian politician (b. 1815)
1905 – Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Hasidic rabbi (b. 1847)
1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and patron of the arts after whom the Carlsberg brewery is named (b. 1842)
1920 – Steinar Schjøtt, Norwegian educator, philologist and lexicographer (b. 1844)
1923 – King Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
1928 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
1931 – James Milton Carroll, American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author (b. 1852)
1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)
1944 – Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law (b. 1903)
1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian-born singer and entertainer (b. 1879)
1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)
1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor (b. 1885)
1953 – Noe Zhordania, Georgian Social-Democratic politician (b. 1868)
1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
1957 – Sir Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and early leading expert in Australian constitutional law (b. 1867)
1957 – Rose Sutro, American duo-pianist with her sister Ottilie (b. 1870)
1958 – Alec Rowley, English composer (b. 1892)
1958 – Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German mezzo-soprano singer (b. 1883)
1965 – Wally Pipp, American Major League Baseball player (b. 1893)
1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
1966 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, third Prime Minister of independent India (b. 1904)
1968 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1876)
1969 – Richmal Crompton, British author (b. 1890)
1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore (b. 1881)
1975 – Max Lorenz, German heldentenor famous for Wagner roles (b. 1901)
1978 – Ibn-e-Insha, Pakistani humorist and Urdu poet (b. 1927)
1979 – Jack Soo, American actor (b. 1917)
1980 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
1983 – Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
1985 – Sir William McKell, Premier of New South Wales, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
1986 – Sid Chaplin, UK novelist (b. 1916)
1986 – Andrzej Czok, Polish mountaineer (b. 1948)
1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist (b. 1911)
1988 – Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, American World War II Marine aviator (b. 1912)
1988 – Florence Knapp, American, one-time oldest person in the world (b. 1873)
1988 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
1989 – Ray Moore, Radio 2 DJ (b. 1942)
1990 – Carolyn Haywood, American children's author (b. 1898)
1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)
1994 – Helmut Poppendick, Nazi physician (b. 1902)
1995 – Josef Gingold, Russian-American violinist (b. 1909)
1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army officer (b. 1918)
1995 – Theodor Wisch, German general (SS) (b. 1907)
1998 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
1999 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (b. 1897)
1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b. 1921)
2000 – Betty Archdale, Anglo-Australian educationalist and cricketer (b. 1907)
2000 – Ivan Combe, American inventor (b. 1911)
2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2001 – Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)
2001 – Michael Williams, English actor (b. 1935)
2002 – Struan Sutherland, Australian medical researcher (b. 1936)
2002 – Henri Verneuil, French playwright and film director (b. 1920)
2003 – Mickey Finn, English drummer (T.Rex) (b. 1947)
2003 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
2003 – Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
2005 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1938)
2005 – Jimmy Griffin, American musician (Bread) (b. 1943)
2005 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (b. 1913)
2005 – Fabrizio Meoni, Italian motorcyclist (b. 1957)
2006 – Nixzmary Brown, American child abuse victim (b. 1998)
2006 – Markus Löffel (Mark Spoon), German DJ (b. 1966)
2007 – Puchi Balseiro, Puerto Rican singer & songwriter (b. 1926)
2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961)
2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author (b. 1932)
2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, the first person to climb Mount Everest in 1953 (b. 1919)
2008 – Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)
2009 – David Vine, British sports broadcaster (b. 1935)
2010 – Miep Gies, Dutch Humanitarian, discoverer of Anne Frank's diary (b. 1909)
2010 – Mick Green, British guitarist (Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas) (b. 1944)
2010 – Joe Rollino, American strongman, weightlifter and boxer (b. 1905)
2012 – Chuck Metcalf, American jazz double-bassist (b. 1931)