Today CCXI

Birthdays:

• August Ferdinand Möbius, mathematician and theoretical astronomer, best known for his discovery of the Möbius strip, November 17, 1790 - September 26, 1868


• August Wilhelm Ambros, composer and music historian, November 17, 1816 – June 28, 1876


• Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski, neurologist, known for his 1896 description of the Babinski sign, a pathological plantar reflex indicative of corticospinal tract damage, November 17, 1857 - October 29, 1932


• Korbinian Brodmann, neurologist, who became famous for his definition of the cerebral cortex into 52 distinct regions according to their cytoarchitectonic [histological] characteristics, November 17, 1868 - August 22, 1918


• Lise Meitner, physicist, who studied radioactivity and nuclear physics; she received the Max Planck Medal of the German Physics Society in 1949; element 109 is named meitnerium in her honour, November 17, 1878 – October 27, 1968


• Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, army officer, who commanded Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in World War II; troops under his command were largely responsible for the expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa; he was later a commander in Italy and North-West Europe, where he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord; during the two and a half month Battle of Normandy that followed, he was not able to follow the original campaign plan, but in a series of improvised offensives, the Allied armies under his command inflicted one of the biggest defeats of the war on the German army, November 17, 1887– March 24, 1976


• Gregorio López y Fuentes, novelist, poet, and journalist, one of the leading chroniclers of the Mexican Revolution, November 17, 1895 – December 10, 1966


• Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, developmental psychologist, founder of Cultural-historical psychology, November 17, 1896 – June 11, 1934


• Douglas G. Shearer, pioneer sound designer and director, who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures; he was nominated for an Academy Award a total of twenty-one times, winning seven times for Sound and Special Effects, November 17, 1899 - January 5, 1971


• Israel Lee Strassberg, aka Lee Strasberg, director, actor, producer, and acting teacher, considered by many to be the patriarch of American method acting, November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982


• Eugene Paul [E. P.] Wigner, physicist and mathematician, who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with Maria Goeppert-Mayer and Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen,
  November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995


• Mischa Ounskowsky, aka Mischa Auer, actor, who renamed himself Auer after his grandfather, violinist Leopold Auer; he began stage work in the 1920's, then moved to Hollywood, where he first appeared in 1928; in 1936, he was cast as a false nobleman in the comedy My Man Godfrey, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; from then on, he was regularly cast in zany comedy roles, November 17, 1905 – March 5, 1967


• Soichiro Honda, engineer and industrialist, the founder of Honda Motor Co., November 17, 1906 – August 5, 1991


• Rolland Mays ROLLIE Stiles, former MLB pitcher, who played for the St. Louis Browns from 1930 to 1933; he went 9-14 with an ERA of 5.92 in his three seasons; he is currently the oldest living MLB ballplayer - the oldest living professional baseball player is Emilio Navarro of the Negro Leagues, who turned 101 years old in 2006, 1906


• Stanley Cohen Ph.D., researcher and academic, who shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with neurologist Rita Levi Montalcini for their discovery of growth factors, 1922


• Roy Harold Scherer Jr., aka Rock Hudson, film and television actor, who appeared in many movies; his popularity on the big screen diminished by the 1970's, but he was quite successful on television starring in a number of made-for-TV movies; his most successful series was McMillan and Wife from 1971 to 1977; he was diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, but when the signs of illness became apparent, his publicity staff and doctors told the public that he had liver cancer - in July 25, 1985, while in Paris for treatment, he issued a press release announcing that he was dying of AIDS, November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985


• Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras AC CH CBE, conductor, 1925


• Rance Howard, film and television actor, known for his role on Gentle Ben as Henry Broomhauer, and on Babylon 5 in the recurring roll of David Sheridan, the father of Captain John Sheridan; he has acted in over 100 films; he is the father of actors Ron Howard and Clint Howard, 1928


• Norbert Henry NORM Zauchin, MLB first baseman; in a six-season career, he was a .233 hitter with 50 home runs and 159 RBI in 346 games; on May 27, 1955, he collected 10 RBI with three home runs and a double in the first five innings of a 16-0 victory over Washington, November 17, 1929 - January 31, 1999


• Peter Edward Cook, satirist, writer, and comedian, a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960's, closely associated with an anti-establishment style of comedy that first emerged in the late 1950's; he was a star of the hugely successful satirical stage show, Beyond the Fringe, together with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore; his comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to the popular and critically acclaimed television show Not Only... But Also, November 17, 1937 – January 9, 1995


• Gordon Meredith GORD Lightfoot Jr., CC, O.Ont, LL.D (hon.), folk singer, composer, lyricist, and poet, 1938


• Martin Luciano Scorsese, film director, 1942


• Mary Lauren Hutton, model and actress, 1943


• Daniel Michael DANNY DeVito, actor, director, producer, who first gained prominence as Louie De Palma on Taxi, 1944


• Lorne Michaels, television producer and writer, best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live, 1944


• George Thomas TOM Seaver, former MLB pitcher, from 1967 to 1986; he had 311 wins and 205 losses, 3,640 strikeouts, and a 2.86 ERA during his 20-year career; he was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1967, and won three Cy Young Awards: 1969, 1973, and 1975; in 1992, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1944


• Martin Lancelot Barre, rock musician, the guitarist for Jethro Tull since 1969; he also plays the flute, both on-stage for Tull, and in his solo work, 1946


• Steven E. de Souza, producer, director, and scriptwriter, 1947


• Stephen Root, comedic actor and voice actor, who played Jimmy James on NewsRadio; he provides the voices of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland on King of the Hill and Commander Chode on Tripping the Rift, 1951


• Dean Paul Martin, singer and actor, the son of Dean Martin; he was Dino in the pop group Dino, Desi, & Billy; he later began to go by his given name Dean Paul instead of the nickname; he became a successful tennis player and actor, November 17, 1951 – March 21, 1987


• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, actress and singer, 1958


• RuPaul Andre Charles, drag performer, dance music singer, actor, and songwriter, 1960


• Daisy Fuentes, model and actress, 1966


• Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, aka Sophie Marceau, actress, 1966


• Amber Michaels, actress, 1968


• Leonard Roberts, actor, who played Forrest Gates on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and currently portrays D.L. Hawkins on Heroes, 1972


• Elieser ELI Marrero, MLB player, who is currently a free agent; he started his career as a catcher, but now plays mianly [all three positions] in the outfield, 1973


• Diane Neal, actress, 1975

R.I.P.:

• Thomas Ford, composer, lutenist, viol player, and poet, c. 1580 – November 17, 1648


• James Ferguson, astronomer and instrument maker, April 25, 1710 – November 17, 1776
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• François-Auguste-René AUGUSTE Rodin, sculptor, known for such works as Le Penseur - The Thinker, originally titled The Poet, representing the poet Dante, November 12, 1840 - November 17, 1917


• Herman Hollerith, statistician, who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data; he started his own business in 1896, founding the Tabulating Machine Company; to make his system work he invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism, the first key punch, and a tabulator; the 1890 Tabulator was hardwired to operate only on 1890 Census cards; a wiring panel in his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to do different jobs without having to be rebuilt - the first step towards programming; in 1911, his firm merged with two others to form the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation; under the presidency of Thomas J. Watson, it was renamed IBM in 1924, February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929


• Tini Rössler, aka Ernestine Schumann-Heink, operatic contralto, June 15, 1861 - November 17, 1936


• Raymond Pearl, biologist, a prolific writer of academic books, papers, and articles, as well as a committed populariser and communicator of science, June 3, 1879 - November 17, 1940


• James Price [James P.] Johnson, pianist and composer, one of the originators of the stride style of piano playing, February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955


• Morton Cecil MORT Cooper, MLB right-handed pitcher, who played primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals; from 1942 to 1944, he won over 20 games each year, and received the 1942 Most Valuable Player Award, posting a 22-7 record with 10 shutouts and a 1.78 ERA; he was an NL All-Star in 1942, 1943, 1945, and 1946; he retired with a record of 128-75, a 2.97 ERA, 913 strikeouts in 1840 2/3 innings, and 33 shutouts, March 2, 1913 - November 17, 1958


• Heitor Villa-Lobos, composer, who wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and vocal works; his music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, March 5, 1887 - November 17, 1959


• Mervyn Laurence Peake, writer, artist, poet, and illustrator, known for the Gormenghast books, July 9, 1911 – November 17, 1968


• John Glascock, musician. the bassist for Jethro Tull from 1975 until 1979, May 2, 1951 - November 17, 1979


• Eduard Tubin, composer and conductor, June 18, 1905 - November 17, 1982


• Leonid Borisovitch Kogan, virtuoso violinist, November 14, 1924 - November 17, 1982


• Georges Besse, businessman, who led several large state-controlled French companies during his lifetime; he was assassinated outside his home, December 25, 1927 - November 17, 1986


• Samuel Paul Derringer, MLB right-handed pitcher from 1931 to 1945, October 17, 1906 - November 17, 1987


• Robert Hofstadter, physicist, shared the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics with Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer; he was the father of cognitive scientist and philosopher Douglas R. Hofstadter, February 5, 1915 – November 17, 1990


• Louis Eugène Félix Néel, physicist, who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics with astrophysicist Hannes Alfvén, for his pioneering studies of the magnetic properties of solids, November 22, 1904 – November 17, 2000


• Michael Karoli, guitarist and founding member of the band Can, April 29, 1948 – November 17, 2001


• Aubrey Solomon Meir, aka Abba Eban, diplomat and politician, Israel's foreign minister from 1966 to 1974, February 2, 1915 – November 17, 2002


• Arthur Lee Conley, soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit Sweet Soul Music, January 4, 1946 – November 17, 2003


• Donald Eugene DON Gibson, country musician and songwriter; he wrote and sang I Can't Stop Loving You, a song that would be recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962; he also wrote and recorded Sweet Dreams, which became a major 1963 hit for Patsy Cline; in 1967, Roy Orbison recorded an album of his songs titled Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson; he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and, in 2001, into the Country Music Hall of Fame, April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003