Today LXXX

Birthdays:

• Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf von Zeppelin, inventor, founder of the Zeppelin Airship Company, July 8, 1838 – March 8, 1917


• Sir Arthur John Evans, archaeologist, remembered for uncovering the "Minoan" civilization, July 8, 1851 – July 11, 1941


• Alfred Binet, psychologist, inventor of the first usable intelligence test, July 8, 1857 – October 18, 1911


• Percy Aldridge Grainger, pianist and composer; working in collaboration with Burnett Cross, he invented the "Free Music Machine" which was the forerunner of the synthesizer, July 8, 1882 – February 20, 1961


• Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm, physicist, shared the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Mikhailovich Frank for the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov-Vavilov effect, July 8, 1895 – April 12, 1971


• Henri Cartan, mathematician, known for work in algebraic topology, 1904


• Louis Jordan, blues, jazz, and rhythm & blues musician and songwriter, major influence on rock 'n' roll music, July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975


• William Clarence BILLY Eckstine, jazz singer and bandleader, played trumpet, valve trombone, and guitar, July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993


• Gail Shikles, Jr., aka Craig Stevens, motion picture and television actor, star of Peter Gunn on TV, July 8, 1918 – May 10, 2000


• Genaro Louis Vitaliano, aka Jerry Vale, singer, 1932


• Martin Alan MARTY Feldman, trumpet player, writer, comedian, and film and television actor, famous for his bulging eyes, July 8, 1933 – December 2, 1982


• Steve Lawrence, singer, known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, 1935


• Deborah Zerby, aka Kim Darby, actress and acting teacher, began acting at age 15, appeared as Miri in the Star Trek episode "Miri", 1947


• Raffi Cavoukian, OC, OBC, aka Raffi, children's entertainer, 1948


• Anjelica Huston, actress and former fashion model, winner of the <1985> Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1951


• Kevin Norwood Bacon, film actor and musician, 1958


• William BILLY Crudup, actor, 1968


• Michael Weatherly, Jr., actor, starred in Dark Angel, 1968

RIP:

• Christiaan Huygens, mathematician and physicist, April 14, 1629 – July 8, 1695


• Elihu Yale, the first benefactor of Yale University, April 5, 1649 – July 8, 1721


• Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, husband of Mary Shelley, August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822


• Thomas John TOM Thomson, artist, August 5, 1877 – July 8, 1917


• Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, aka Anthony Hope, novelist, author of The Prisoner of Zenda, February 9, 1863 – July 8, 1933


• Havelock Ellis, doctor, sexual psychologist and social reformer, wrote the first English medical text book on homosexuality, developed the concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, which were later adopted by Sigmund Freud, February 2, 1859 - July 8, 1939


• Vivian Mary Hartley, aka Vivien Leigh, stage and film actress, won Academy Awards for her roles as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind and as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire; was married to Laurence Olivier, November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967


• Sin-Itiro [Shinichiro] Tomonaga, physicist, influential in the development of quantum electrodynamics, for which he shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger, March 31, 1906 – July 8, 1979


• Robert Burns Woodward, organic chemist, made many contributions to modern organic chemistry, especially in the synthesis and structure determination of complex natural products; worked closely with Roald Hoffmann on theoretical studies of chemical reactions; received the 1965 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, April 10, 1917 – July 8, 1979


• James L. SKEETER Webb, MLB shortstop, played for 12 seasons, November 4, 1909 - July 8, 1986


• Howard Green Duff, radio and stage performer, film and TV actor, November 24, 1913 – July 8, 1990


• Ward Walrath Kimball, jazz trombonist and bandleader, and Academy Award-winning animator for the Walt Disney Studios, where he created several characters, March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002


• Paula Danziger, children's author, August 18, 1944 - July 8, 2004


• Ella Geisman, aka June Allyson, actress, October 7, 1917 – July 8, 2006