Today LVIII

Birthdays:

• Giovanni Boccaccio, author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women and The Decameron, June 16, 1313 – December 21, 1375


• Julius Plücker, mathematician and physicist, made fundamental contributions to the field of analytical geometry and was a pioneer in the investigations of cathode rays that led eventually to the discovery of the electron, June 16, 1801 – May 22, 1868


• Edward Davy, English physician, scientist, and inventor who played a prominent role in the development of telegraphy, June 16, 1806 – January 26, 1885


• Geronimo (Chiricahua Goyaaté), Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache, who long warred against the encroachment of the white man on tribal lands, June 16, 1829–February 17, 1909


• Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman, cosmologist and mathematician, discovered the expanding-universe solution to general relativity field equations in 1922, which was proven by Edwin Hubble's 1929 observations, June 16, 1888 – September 16, 1925


• Arthur Stanley Jefferson, aka Stan Laurel, comedian, actor, comedy legend, and member of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy, June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965


• William Fitzgerald Jenkins, aka Murray Leinster, science fiction and alternate history writer, June 16, 1896 - June 8, 1975


• Helen Traubel, operatic soprano, best known for Wagnerian, roles, especially that of Brünnhilde, June 16, 1899-July 28, 1972


• Jonathan 'Jack' Albertson, Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, dancer, singer, and musician, performing on stage, radio, movies, and television, June 16, 1907 - November 25, 1981


• Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographer, 1930


• Joan Van Ark, actress, 1936


• Erich Wolf Segal, author, screenwriter, and educator, 1937


• Joyce Carol Oates, author, 1938


• Lamont Dozier, songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland-Dozier-Holland, 1941


• Lauren Ophelia 'Laurie" Metcalf, Emmy Award winning actress and comedienne, 1955


• Kerry Lee Wood, MLB right-handed pitcher, plays for the Chicago Cubs, pitched a 20-strikeout shutout in only his fifth career start, 1977

RIP:

• Emmett Louis Hardy, jazz cornet player, June 12, 1903 – June 16, 1925


• William Henry "Chick" Webb, jazz and swing music drummer and band leader, February 10, 1905 - June 16, 1939


• DuBose Heyward, author of the 1924 novel Porgy, August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940


• George Keefer Brewer, aka George Bessolo Reeves, actor, best known for playing Superman on television, January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959


• Dr. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun, rocket scientist, March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977


• Raymond Nicholas Kienzle, aka Nicholas Ray, film director, August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979


• James Honeyman-Scott, rock guitarist, songwriter, and founding member The Pretenders, November 4, 1956 - June 16, 1982


• Melvin Allen Israel, aka Mel Allen, sportscaster, the first host of This Week in Baseball, and the New York Yankees' principal play-by-play announcer, February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996


• Curt Swan, comic book artist, known for his work on the Superman comics, February 17, 1920 - June 16, 1996