Today XCIX

Birthdays:

• Helen BEATRIX Potter, children's book author and illustrator, whose most famous character is Peter Rabbit, July 28, 1866 – December 22, 1943


• Marcel Duchamp, artist, painted Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, in which motion was expressed by successive superimposed images, July 28, 1887 – October 2, 1968


• Hubert Prior Vallée, aka Rudy Vallee, singer, actor, musician, bandleader, and entertainer, July 28, 1901 - July 3, 1986


• Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, physicist, recipient of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, July 28, 1904 - January 6, 1990


• Earl Silas Tupper, inventor of Tupperware, July 28, 1907 – October 5, 1983


• Carmen Dragon, conductor, composer, and arranger, active in pops music conducting, composed scores for several films, July 28, 1914 – March 28, 1984


• Charles Hard Townes, Ph.D., physicist and educator, known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices; shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with N. G. Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov, 1915


• Frankie Yankovic, polka musician, July 15, 1915 Davis, West Virginia - October 14, 1998


• Baruch Samuel Blumberg, Ph.D., biochemist, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on infectious diseases; identified the Hepatitis B virus, and later developed the diagnostic test and vaccine for it; from 1999 to 2002, was the Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, 1925


• Jacques d'Amboise, ballet dancer and choreographer, 1934


• Philip PHIL Proctor, comedian and voice actor, a member of The Firesign Theatre, 1940


• Riccardo Muti, conductor, Principal Conductor and Musical Director, Philharmonia Orchestra from 1973 to 1982, Musical Director, Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992, and Musical Director, La Scala from 1986 to 2005, 1941


• Michael Bernard MIKE Bloomfield, musician, guitarist and composer, member of Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag, played on albums with Bob Dylan and Al Kooper, July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981


• Richard William RICK Wright, pianist, keyboard player, and composer with Pink Floyd, 1943


• James Robert JIM Davis, cartoonist, creator of Garfield, 1945


• Georgia Bright Engel, film and television actress, known as Georgette Franklin Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for recurring roles on Coach and Everybody Loves Raymond, 1948


• Sally Ann Struthers, actress and voice actor, Gloria Bunker Stivic on All in the Family; has a recurring role on Gilmore Girls, 1948


• Stephen Ross Porter, aka Steve Peregrin Took, named himself after a hobbit, musician, drummer for Tyrannosaurus Rex, July 28, 1949 – October 27, 1980


• Vida Rochelle Blue, Jr., MLB starting pitcher for 17 years; in 1971, had a 24 - 8 record, struck out 301 batters, and won the Cy Young and MVP awards; was the starting pitcher for the AL in the 1971 All-Star Game, and for the NL in the 1978 All-Star Game; 1949


• Steven J. STEVE Morse, rock guitarist, played for the Dixie Dregs, Kansas and Deep Purple, and as a solo artist, in a career encompassing rock, country, funk, jazz, classical, and fusions of these genres, 1954


• Terrance Stanley TERRY Fox, CC, humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist, famous for his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, running with only one leg, July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981

RIP:

• Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, dramatist, best remembered for the many works of fiction which have been woven around his life story, March 6, 1619 – July 28, 1655


• Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, nicknamed Il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest"), priest, Baroque music composer, and violinist, March 4, 1678 – July 28, 1741


• Johann Sebastian Bach, composer and organist, listen to his music!, March 21, 1685 - July 28, 1750


• Allvar Gullstrand, ophthalmologist, awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, June 5, 1862 – July 28, 1930


• Leila Marie Koerber, aka Marie Dressler, Academy Award-winning actress, November 9, 1868 - July 28, 1934


• Otto Hahn, Ph.D, chemist, pioneer in the field of radioactivity, awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, March 8, 1879 – July 28, 1968


• Myril Hoag, MLB outfielder from 1931 to 1945, AL All-Star in 1939, March 9, 1908 - July 28, 1971


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


• Trygve Magnus Haavelmo, economist, awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Economics, December 13, 1911 – July 28, 1999


• Archer John Porter Martin, biochemist, specializing in techniques that laid the foundation for chromatography, awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, March 1, 1910 - July 28, 2002