Today CVIII

Birthdays:

• Barbara Strozzi, Baroque singer and composer, baptised August 6, 1619 - November 11, 1677


• William Hyde Wollaston FRS, chemist and physicist, developed the first physico-chemical method for processing platinum ore in practical quantities, and in the process of testing the device, he discovered the elements palladium and rhodium; showed that niobium and titanium were elements; the mineral Wollastonite is named after him, August 6, 1766 – December 22, 1828


• Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, poet, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, wrote Idylls of the King, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Lady of Shalott, and Ulysses, among other works, August 6, 1809 – October 6, 1892


• Leo Carrillo, actor and conservationist, great-grandson of the first provisional governor of California, son of the first mayor of Santa Monica, remembered as Pancho on the Cisco Kid TV series, August 6, 1880 - September 10, 1961


• Sir Alexander Fleming, biologist and pharmacologist, published many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy; shared the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Florey and Chain for the isolation of the penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum, August 6, 1881 – March 11, 1955


• Louella Rose Oettinger Parsons, gossip columnist, August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972


• Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson, rodeo champion, and a pioneer cowboy film actor, film director, and producer, August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962


• Lucille Désirée Ball, comedienne, August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989


• Robert Charles Durman Mitchum, film actor and singer, August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997


• Norman Granz, jazz music impresario and producer, founder of Verve Records; most of the names that made history in jazz signed with one of his labels, including Cannonball Adderley, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Louie Bellson, Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Buddy DeFranco, Tal Farlow, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, Billie Holiday, Illinois Jacquet, Barney Kessel, Gene Krupa, Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Flip Phillips, Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Ben Webster, Lester Young, and Ella Fitzgerald; also remembered for his anti-racist position and for the battles he consequently fought for his artists, in times and places where skin color was the cause of open discrimination, August 6, 1918 - November 22, 2001


• Andy Warhol, artist, avant-garde filmmaker, writer, magazine publisher, music producer, and actor, one of the founders of the Pop Art movement in the U.S., August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987


• Herbert 'Herb' Moford, MLB right-handed pitcher, August 6, 1928 - December 3, 2005


• Anna Marie Wooldridge, aka Abbey Lincoln, jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, still performing today, often at the Blue Note in New York City; co-starred in Nothing But a Man (1964) with Ivan Dixon, and in For Love of Ivy with Sidney Poitier; from 1962 to 1970, was married to Max Roach, 1930


• Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, aka Piers Anthony, science fiction and fantasy writer, 1934


• Barbara-Ann Deeks, aka Barbara Windsor MBE, actress, appears as Peggy Mitchell on EastEnders; won the first-ever Rear of the Year title in 1976; appeared briefly in the 2006 Doctor Who episode Army of Ghosts in a fictional episode of EastEnders, 1937


• Paul Bartel, actor, writer, and director, known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in, and directed, August 6, 1938 - May 13, 2000


• Peter Bonerz, actor and director, known for the role of Jerry Robinson on The Bob Newhart Show, 1938


• Raymond Leonard 'Ray' Culp, MLB pitcher from 1963 to 1973, 1963 NL All-Star and 1969 AL All-Star, 1941


• Jonathan Bruce Postel, Ph.D., computer scientist, contributed to the development of the Internet, particularly in the area of standards; The Internet Society's Postel Award is named in his honor, as is the Postel Center at the Information Sciences Institute, August 6, 1943 - October 16, 1998


• John Alexander Messersmith, former MLB right-handed starting pitcher from 1968 to 1979; famous for his role in the 1975 Seitz decision, which led to the downfall of MLB's reserve clause and ushered in the era of free agency, 1945


• Allan Holdsworth, jazz/fusion guitarist and composer, 1946


• Catherine Hicks, actress, known for her role as Dr. Gillian Taylor in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and as Annie Camden on 7th Heaven,1951


• James Robert 'Bob' Horner, former MLB third baseman/first baseman, 1978 Nl Rookie of the Year, and 1982 All-Star, 1957


• Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng, actress and dancer, Miss Malaysia 1983, known for her roles in action and martial arts movies, famous for roles in such films as Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Memoirs of a Geisha, 1962


• Manoj Nelliattu [M. Night] Shyamalan, film writer, director, and producer, 1970


• Jessica Andrea Steinhauser, aka Asia Carrera, former adult film star, 1973

RIP:

• Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, 1556 – August 6, 1623


• Benjamin 'Ben' Jonson, Renaissance dramatist, poet, and actor, known for his plays Volpone and The Alchemist, his lyrics, his influence on Jacobean and Caroline poets, his theory of humours, his contentious personality, and his friendship and rivalry with William Shakespeare, circa June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637


• Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, painter, June, 1599 – August 6, 1660


• Georg Wilhelm Richmann, physicist, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, pioneering work in Russia on electricity, atmospheric electricity, and calorimetry, July 22, 1711 – August 6, 1753


• Eduard Hanslick, writer on music, arguably the most influential music critic of the 19th century, September 11, 1825 – August 6, 1904


• Leon Bix Beiderbecke, jazz cornet player, March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931


• Anthony Michael 'Tony' Lazzeri, MLB second baseman, a member of the original [1933] American League All-Star team; holds the American League record for most RBI in a game with 11, set May 24, 1936, the same day on which he became the first major league player to hit two grand slams in one game, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, December 6, 1903 - August 6, 1946


• Edmund Preston Biden, aka Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, and director, won the first Academy Award ever given for Writing Original Screenplay for The Great McGinty in 1940; received two screenwriting Oscar nominations in 1944 , August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959


• Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, aka Cordwainer Smith, author, wrote science fiction, political thrillers, and poetry, among other genres, July 11, 1913–August 6, 1966


• Lizzie Douglas, aka Memphis Minnie McCoy, Blues musician, one of the most influential and pioneering female blues musicians and guitarists of all time; recorded for forty years, June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973


• Eugene "Jug" Ammons, jazz tenor saxophone player, the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, April 14, 1925 - August 6, 1974


• Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist, teacher, and chess player, recorded extensively in a trio with Arthur Rubinstein and Jascha Heifetz, and enjoyed playing chamber music privately with Vladimir Horowitz and Nathan Milstein; owned two Stradivarius cellos, April 17, 1903 – August 6, 1976


• Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, biochemist, awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, April 6, 1911 – August 6, 1979


• Klaus Sperber, aka Klaus Nomi, countertenor, January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983


• Quinn Martin, television producer, had at least one program running in prime time for 21 straight years from 1959 to 1980, May 22, 1922 – August 6, 1987


• Harry Reasoner, journalist, television commentator, and news anchor, teamed up with Mike Wallace in 1968 to begin the 60 Minutes newsmagazine; joined ABC in 1970 as co-anchor [with Howard K. Smith] of the ABC Evening News, until 1975 when he became sole anchor, April 17, 1923 – August 6, 1991


• Cecil Carlton "Tex" Hughson, MLB starting pitcher, played his entire career with the Boston Red Sox, from 1941 to 1944, and 1946 to 1949, February 9, 1916 - August 6, 1993


• Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter, known for Nel blu dipinto di blu, aka Volare, which he co-wrote with Franco Migliacci and sang, January 9, 1928 – August 6, 1994


• André Weil Ph.D., mathematician, known for his foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry, May 6, 1906 - August 6, 1998


• Prof Dr Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, computer scientist, received the 1972 A. M. Turing Award for contributions in the area of programming languages, May 11, 1930 – Nuenen, August 6, 2002


• James Ambrose Johnson, Jr, aka Rick James, funk and soul musician, singer, keyboardist, bassist, record producer, arranger, and composer, February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004


• William Thomas "Keter" Betts, jazz bassist, Ella Fitzgerald's bassist for nearly a quarter-century, 1928 – August 6, 2005


• Ibrahim Ferrer, musician; with the release of Ry Cooder's Grammy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated Buena Vista Social Club recording in 1999, Ibrahim Ferrer's talent as a bolero singer became known world-wide; in 1999, Ry Cooder recorded Ferrer's first solo album; in 2000, received a Latin Grammy for best new artist at the age of 72, February 20, 1927 – August 6, 2005

Also:
The Atomic bombing of Hiroshima - An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb, August 6, 1945