Today CXIX

Birthdays:

• Pierre de Fermat, lawyer and mathematician, created modern number theory; established a new branch of math - probability theory - with Blaise Pascal; discovered the fundamental principle of analytic geometry independently of Descartes; proposed Fermat's Last Theorem, on which mathematicians worked for over three centuries to find its answer, not succeeding until 1994, August 17, 1601 – January 12, 1665


• David DAVY Crockett [from de Crocketagne], represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress, served in the Texas revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo, August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836


• Sarah Frances Frost, aka Julia Marlowe, Shakespearean actress, August 17, 1866 – November 12, 1950


• Mary Jane MAE West, vaudeville, stage, and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol, August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980


• Leopold Nowak, musicologist, known for editing the works of Anton Bruckner, August 17, 1904 – May 27, 1991


• Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, chess player, International Grandmaster and World Chess Champion from 1948 to 1957, 1958 to 1960, and 1961 to 1963, August 17, 1911 - May 5, 1995


• William Mark Felt, Sr., retired agent and former senior official of the FBI, revealed himself in May 2005 to be Watergate's Deep Throat, 1913


• Preston Rudolph RUDY York, MLB first baseman, seven-time All-Star in 1938, 1941 to 1944, and 1946 to 1947; led league in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, extra bases, and total bases in 1943; hit 12 career grand slams, including two in one game, August 17, 1913 - February 5, 1970


• Maureen FitzSimons, aka Maureen O'Hara, film actress, 1920


• Glenn Rothenburg, aka Glenn Rothenburg, actor, was Lincoln Case on Route 66, and guest starred as Zefram Cochrane in the Star Trek episode Metamorphosis, , August 17, 1930 - January 16, 1993


• Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad [V. S.] Naipaul, T.C., novelist, awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature, and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990, 1932


• Luther Allison, blues guitarist, August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997


• Robert De Niro, Jr., actor, director, producer, and founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, has won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Raging Bull and Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather, Part II, 1943


• Eric Johnson, guitarist and recording artist, won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for Cliffs of Dover from his 1990 recording Ah Via Musicom, 1954


• Kirk Stevens, professional snooker player, in 1984, became only player to achieve a 147 break in the Benson & Hedges Masters, 1958


• Sean Justin Penn, film actor and director, won Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River, 1960


• COLIN JAMES Munn, blues, rock, and swing guitarist, 1964


• JORGE Rafael POSADA Villeta Cabron, MLB catcher for the New York Yankees, four-time All Star and Silver Slugger from 2000 to 2003, 1971

RIP:

• Ole Borneman Bull, violinist, February 5, 1810 – August 17, 1880


• Edmond Audran, composer, April 11, 1842 - August 17, 1901


• Ray Chapman, MLB shortstop, the only MLB player to have been killed in a game, when he was hit in the head by a pitch, January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920


• Otto Stern, physicist, awarded the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physics, February 17, 1888 – August 17, 1969


• Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué, composer, January 17, 1928 – August 17, 1973


• Paul Williams, singer, founding member and original lead singer of The Temptations, July 2, 1939 – August 17, 1973


• Conrad Potter Aiken, author of poetry, short stories and novels, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Selected Poems in 1930, August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973


• Vivian Roberta Jones, aka Vivian Vance, actress and singer, known for her role as Ethel Mertz in I Love Lucy, and other second banana roles on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy; first person to win the Best Supporting Actress Emmy, July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979


• Israel Gershowitz, aka Ira Gershwin, lyricist, collaborated with his brother, composer George Gershwin, December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983


• Pearl Mae Bailey, singer, actress, and voice actor, made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946; won a Tony Award for the title role in Hello, Dolly! in 1968; awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988, March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990


• Marcel Tisserand, aka Gérard Souzay, baritone singer and educator, December 8, 1918 – August 17, 2004


• John Norris Bahcall, Ph.D., astrophysicist, known for his contributions to the solar neutrino problem and the development of the Hubble Space Telescope, December 30, 1934 – August 17, 2005