Today LIX

Birthdays:

• Charles-François Gounod, composer, best known for his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette, June 17, 1818 – October 18, 1893


• John Robert Gregg, inventor of the Gregg Shorthand system, June 17, 1866 – February 23, 1948


• Noah Brusso, aka Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, June 17, 1881 – May 10, 1955


• Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, composer of modern classical music, pianist, and conductor, June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971


• Maurits Cornelis [M.C.] Escher, graphic artist known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints, which feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, and tessellations - a personal inspiration, June 17, 1898 – March 27, 1972


• Samuel Feinberg, aka Sammy Fain, composer of popular music, June 17, 1902 - December 6, 1989


• Ralph Rexford Bellamy, Academy Award nominated actor, June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991


• Clyde Julian RED Foley, country music singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968


• David STRINGBEAN Akeman, country music banjo player, comedy musician, and actor, best known for his role on Hee Haw, June 17, 1915 – November 11, 1973


• Atle Selberg, mathematician, known for his work in analytic number theory, and in the theory of automorphic forms, 1917


• Martin Böttcher, composer and conductor, 1927


• Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, former World Chess Champion, June 17, 1929 – August 13, 1984


• Frank Ashmore, actor, Martin in the mini series V and its sequel V: The Final Battle, 1945


• Beth Torbert, aka Bif Naked, punk rock singer, 1971


• Melinda Dee CHLOE Jones, model and actress, June 17, 1975 – June 4, 2005

RIP:

• Arthur Harden, biochemist, shared the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes, October 12, 1865 – June 17, 1940


• Dorothy Miller Richardson, first writer to publish a novel using what was to become known as the stream-of-consciousness technique, May 17, 1873 - June 17, 1957


• Ira Grossel, aka Jeff Chandler, film actor, December 15, 1918 - June 17, 1961


• George Edward DUFFY Lewis, former MLB left fielder, April 18, 1888 - June 17, 1979


• Kathryn Elizabeth KATE Smith, singer, May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986


• Richard Dalton DICK Howser, MLB shortstop and manager, May 14, 1936 - June 17, 1987