Today XXVI

Birthdays:

• Augustin-Jean Fresnel, physicist, contributed to the establishment of the theory of wave optics, invented the Fresnel lens, May 10, 1788 – July 14, 1827


• Frederick Austerlitz, aka Fred Astaire, film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987


• Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin, film composer and conductor, May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979


• Mikhail Anatol Litwak, aka Anatole Litvak, international filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in a variety of countries and languages, May 10, 1902 – December 15, 1974


• David Oliver Selznick, Hollywood producer, May 10, 1902 – June 22, 1965. He is best known for producing Gone with the Wind, 1939, which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture


• "Mother" Maybelle Carter, nee Addington, Country music musician, May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978. Maybelle was the guitarist, and also played autoharp and banjo, for the Carter Family


• Milton Byron Babbitt, composer, known for his pioneering serial and electronic music, 1916. He studied violin and later clarinet and saxophone as a child. Early in his life he showed ability in jazz and popular music. He was hired by RCA as consultant composer to work with their RCA Mark II Synthesizer and, in 1961, produced his Music for Synthesizer


• Gary Altman, aka Gary Owens, a disc jockey, announcer, and voice actor, 1936. He was the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In


• Donovan Philips Leitch, musician and singer, 1946


• Dave Mason, musician, 1946

RIP:

• Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer, noted for his observations of comets and the painstaking calculation of their orbits, among which was Halley's comet [1456], 1397 – May 10, 1482


• Paul Revere, silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military, January 2, 1735 – May 10, 1818


• Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, chemist and physicist, known mostly for his contributions to the physical chemistry of gases, December 6, 1778 – May 10, 1850


• Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, teacher and soldier, January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863. He became a famous Confederate lieutenant general during the American Civil War as a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee


• Lucille Fay LeSueur, aka Joan Crawford, Academy Award winning American actress, March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977


• Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein, aka "Uncle Shelby," poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books, September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999

Also:

• Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland, 1534


• Bill Haley and the Comets release Rock Around the Clock, the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts, 1954


• Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa, 1994