Today CXXVIII

Birthdays:

• Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, stated the first version of the Law of conservation of matter; recognized and named oxygen and hydrogen; introduced the Metric system; invented the first periodic table including 33 elements; helped to reform chemical nomenclature; because of his prominence in the pre-revolutionary government in France, he was beheaded at the height of the French Revolution: be proud, France - be very proud, August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794


• Charles Robert Richet, physiologist, awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on anaphylaxis, whose research helped to elucidate problems of hay fever, asthma, and other allergic reactions to foreign substances, August 26, 1850 – December 4, 1935


• Lee De Forest, inventor with over 300 patents to his credit, invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that amplifies weak electrical signals, August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961


• James Franck, physicist, shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Ludwig Hertz, for work which included the Franck-Hertz experiment, an important confirmation of the Bohr model of the atom, August 26, 1882 - May 21, 1964


• Earl John SPARKY Adams, MLB second baseman and third baseman, August 26, 1894 – February 24, 1989


• Albert Bruce Sabin, medical researcher, known for having developed the oral vaccine for polio, August 26, 1906 - March 3, 1993


• Eugene GENE Moore, Jr., MLB right fielder from 1931 to 1945, 1937 NL All-Star, whose father, Gene Sr., was an MLB pitcher from 1910 to 1912, August 26, 1909 - March 12, 1978


• Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee, vice president of the Washington Post; as executive editor of the Post from 1965 to 1991, he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers, and oversaw the publication of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's stories documenting the Watergate Scandal, 1921


• Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor and pianist, Principal Conductor, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 1960–1970; General Music Director, Bavarian State Opera, 1971–1992; Principal Conductor, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1972–1980; and Music Director, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1993–2003, 1923


• Alexander Raymond ALEX Kellner, MLB starting pitcher over a 12-season career, American League All-Star in 1949, when he had 20 wins, started 37 games, threw 19 complete games over 245 innings, August 26, 1924 - May 3, 1996


• Peter Appleyard OC, jazz vibraphonist, whose first instrument was drums; the leading percussionist with the CBC on both radio and television since 1960; played with the Benny Goodman Sextet for eight years; after the death of Benny Goodman, he formed the Benny Goodman Tribute Band which is compromised of a number of Goodman alumni and some Toronto musicians, 1928


• Geraldine Anne Ferraro, lawyer and politician, served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985; received the Democratic Party nomination to run for U.S. Vice President in 1984, the first and only woman to be so nominated on a major party ticket; she and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated by the re-election of president Ronald Reagan and vice-president George H. W. Bush, 1935


• Don LaFontaine, voice-over actor, who has been n over 4000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promos, and video game trailers, 1940


• Akiko Wakabayashi, actress, known in English-speaking countries for her role as Bond girl Aki in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice, 1941


• Christopher Crummey, aka Chris Curtis, musician, drummer and singer for The Searchers, formed the band Roundabout, which became Deep Purple, August 26, 1941 – February 28, 2005


• Maureen Ann "MOE Tucker, was the drummer for The Velvet Underground, 1944


• Valerie Simpson, singer, songwriter, and producer, 1946


• Martin Fulterman, aka Mark Snow, film and television composer, wrote the theme music for The X-Files; composes for TV's Smallville; has won 18 ASCAP awards, 1946


• Will Shortz, puzzle creator and editor, 1952


• Efren Reyes, professional pool player, 1954


• Rick Hansen CC, OBC, athlete, paralyzed at the age of 15; became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in Physical Education from the University of British Columbia; world class champion wheelchair marathoner and 1984 Olympic athlete; in 1983, shared the Canadian Athlete of the Year Award with Wayne Gretzky; started the Man in Motion world tour in March, 1985, in Vancouver, and returned to Vancouver in May 22, 1987, after raising $10 million for spinal cord research, 1957


• Branford Marsalis, jazz saxophonist and bandleader, began his professional career in the early 1980's playing with Art Blakey's Big Band, Clark Terry, and Blakey's Jazz Messengers; from 1982 to 1985, he played with his brother Wynton's group; was musical director of the Tonight Show Band from 1992 to 1995; son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, 1960

RIP:

• Johann Franz Encke, astronomer, September 23, 1791 – August 26, 1865


• John Bunny, the first comic star of the American silent film era, September 21, 1863 - April 26, 1915


• Leonidas Frank Chaney, aka Lon Chaney, Sr., "The Man of a Thousand Faces", actor during the age of silent films, remembered as a pioneer in such [silent] horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930


• Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM, composer, whose mother, Margaret Susan Wedgwood, was the great-granddaughter of the potter Josiah Wedgwood; wrote nine symphonies, as well as numerous other works including chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores; a collector of British folk music; listen to his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis!, October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958


• Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., known as "Lucky Lindy," a pioneering aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974


• Lotte Lehmann, soprano opera singer, associated with German repertory, February 27, 1888 – August 26, 1976


• Charles Boyer, actor, starred in Gaslight, Algiers, in which he did NOT say "Come with me to the casbah," and in a musical version of Lost Horizon, August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978


• Frederick Bean TEX Avery, animator, cartoonist, and director, began his animation career at the Walter Lantz studios in the early 1930's, working on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons; did his most significant work for the Warner Bros. and MGM studios, creating the characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Droopy, February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980


• Roger Nash Baldwin, civil libertarian, pacifist, and social activist, one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and its executive director until 1950, January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981


• Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka, aka Ted Knight, actor, famous as Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore, for which he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy in 1973 and 1976; played the lead role in Too Close For Comfort from 1980 to 1986, December 7, 1923–August 26, 1986


• Georg Wittig, chemist, shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert Charles Brown, June 16, 1897 - August 26, 1987


• Irving Stone, writer, known for his biographical novels of famous historical personalities, July 14, 1903 – August 26, 1989


• Minoru Honda, astronomer, discovered twelve comets between 1940 and 1968, February 26, 1913 – August 26, 1990


• Frederick Reines, physicist, awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-detection of the neutrino with Clyde Cowan, March 16, 1918 – August 26, 1998


• Laura Branigan, singer/actress, known for the song Gloria, July 3, 1957 – August 26, 2004