Today CLXXVIII

Birthdays:

• Publius Vergilius Maro, aka Virgilius, aka Virgil. ancient Roman poet, the author of the Aeneid, October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC


• Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, philologist and philosopher, produced critiques of religion, morality, contemporary culture, and philosophy, centered around what he viewed as a fundamental question regarding the life-affirming and life-denying qualities of different attitudes and belief, October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900


• John Lawrence [John L.] Sullivan, boxer, widely recognized as boxing's first modern world heavyweight champion, October 15, 1858 – February 2, 1918


• Charles Timothy CHARLEY O'Leary, MLB shortstop, played nine seasons with the Detroit Tigers and one season with the St. Louis Cardinals, October 15, 1882 – January 6, 1941


• Moshe Shertok, aka Moshe Sharett, the second Prime Minister of Israel, serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms, October 15, 1894 – July 7, 1965


• Mervyn LeRoy, film director, producer, and sometime actor, received an honorary Oscar in 1946 for The House I Live In, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1976, October 15, 1900 - September 13, 1987


• Charles Percy [C. P.] Snow, Baron Snow, CBE, scientist and novelist, October 15, 1905 – July 1, 1980


• John Kenneth Galbraith, OC , Ph.D , LL.D, economist, one of the few two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, receiving one from President Truman in 1946 and a second from President Clinton in 2000, October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006


• Icchak Jaziernicki, aka Yitzhak Shamir, politician, Prime Minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1992, 1915


• Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr.< historian and social critic, 1917


• Mario Gianluigi Puzo, author, wrote The Godfather, October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999


• Ashod Malakian, aka Henri Verneuil, playwright and filmmaker, October 15, 1920 - January 11, 2002


• Italo Calvino, writer and novelist, author of If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, Invisible Cities, and Cosmicomics, among other works, October 15, 1923 – September 19, 1985


• Mark Lenard, actor, best known for his role as Spock's father Sarek in Star Trek series and movies, October 15, 1924 – November 22, 1996


• Karl Richter, conductor, organist, and harpsichordist, October 15, 1926 – February 15, 1981


• Barry McGuire, singer-songwriter, 1935


• Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, aka Fela Anikulapo Kuti, multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997


• Marvin Earl MARV Johnson, R&B and soul singer, performed on the first-ever Motown record, October 15, 1938 - May 16, 1993


• Dr. Peter C. Doherty, immunologist and researcher in the field of medicine, shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Rolf M. Zinkernage, 1940


• Carole Penelope Marsciarelli, aka Penny Marshall, actress, producer, and director, 1942


• William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC, politician, shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume, 1944


• James Alvin JIM Palmer, former MLB right-handed starting pitcher, who played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1965 to 1984; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, 1945


• Richard Lynn Carpenter, musician, one-half of The Carpenters, 1946


• Christopher John de Burgh Davison, aka Chris de Burgh, musician and songwriter, 1948


• Victoria Leigh Blum, aka Tanya Roberts, actress, 1954


• Emeril John Lagasse, chef, restaurateur, television personality, and writer, 1959


• Roberto Vittori, ESA astronaut, 1964

RIP:

• Zdenek Fibich, composer of classical music, including chamber works, symphonic poems, three symphonies, at least seven operas, melodramas, liturgical music including a mass, and a large cycle, almost 400 pieces, of piano works, among other works, December 21, 1850 – October 15, 1900


• Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, aka Mata Hari, exotic dancer and courtesan, executed by firing squad during World War I for alleged espionage, August 7, 1876 – October 15, 1917


• Raymond Poincaré, statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions, and as President of France from 1913 to 1920, August 20, 1860 – October 15, 1934


• Edythe Chapman, stage and silent film actress, October 8, 1863 - October 15, 1948


• Leopold Weiss, aka Lipót Fejér, mathematician, February 9, 1880, – October 15, 1959


• Clara Kimball Young, film actress of the early silent film era, September 6, 1890 - October 15, 1960


• Cole Albert Porter, composer and songwriter, June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964


• Mikhail Alexeyevich Lavrentyev, Soviet physicist and mathematician, whose main work was on conformal mappings and partial differential equations, November 19, 1900 – October 15, 1980


• Leon Dudley Sorabji, aka Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, composer, music journalist, and pianist, August 14, 1892 – October 15, 1988


• Konrad Emil Bloch Ph.D., biochemist, shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Feodor Lynen, for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism, January 21, 1912 – October 15, 2000