Today CCXXI

Birthdays:

• Anders Celsius, astronomer, known for the Celsius temperature scale, first proposed in a paper to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1742; the Celsius crater on the Moon is named after him, November 27, 1701 – April 25, 1744


• Sir Julius Benedict, composer and conductor, November 27, 1804 - June 5, 1885


• Sir Charles Scott Sherrington OM GBE, scientist known for his contributions to physiology and neuroscience, who shared the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Edgar Douglas Adrian for for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons, November 27, 1857 – March 4, 1952


• Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin, composer, teacher, and writer on music, November 27, 1867 – December 31, 1950


• Giovanni Giorgi, electrical engineer, who invented the Giorgi system of measurement, the precursor to the International System, November 27, 1871 - August 19, 1950


• Chaim Azriel Weizmann, chemist and statesman, the President of the World Zionist Organization, first President of Israel, and founder of a research institute in Israel which became the Weizmann Institute of Science, November 27, 1874 – November 9, 1952


• Konosuke Matsushita, industrialist, the founder of Matsushita Electric, November 27, 1894 – April 27, 1989


• Lars Onsager, physical and theoretical chemist, awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, November 27, 1903 – October 5, 1976


• Lyon Sprague de Camp, science fiction and fantasy author; in a writing career spanning fifty years, he wrote over one hundred novels, as well as works of nonfiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors; he won the Nebula Award as a Grandmaster in 1978, and the Hugo Award in 1997 for his autobiography Time and Chance; in 1976, he received the World Science Fiction Society's Gandalf Grand Master award; in 1995, he won the first Sidewise Award for Alternate History Lifetime Achievement Award, November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000


• Anatoly Ivanovich Maltsev, mathematician noted, for his work on the decidability of various algebraic groups; Maltsev algebras are named after him, November 27, 1909 - June 7, 1967


• David Lee Margulies, aka David Merrick, theatrical producer and director, associated with both musicals and dramas, November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000


• Francis Dayle CHICK Hearn, November 27, 1916 - August 5, 2002


• Robert Schmidt, aka Buffalo Bob Smith, TV host, who got his start in radio as a singer and musician; he was the host of the children's show Howdy Doody, November 27, 1917 - July 30, 1998


• Sir John Royden Maddox, chemist, physicist, and science writer, 1925


• Ernest Wiseman, aka Ernie Wise OBE, comedian, one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, November 27, 1925 – March 21, 1999


• Marshall Thompson, film and television actor, November 27, 1925 - May 18, 1992


• Jacques Godbout, novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker, and poet, 1933


• Al Jackson, Jr., musician, producer, and songwriter, the drummer and co-founder of Booker T. & the MG's, November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975


• Dave Giusti, former MLB pitcher, who played from 1962 to 1977; he was an NL All-Star in 1973, and won The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award in 1971, 1939


• Bruce Jun Fan Lee, martial artist and actor, perhaps the most influential, well-known, and celebrated martial artist of the 20th century, November 27, 1940 - July 20, 1973


• Eddie Rabbitt, country music singer, November 27, 1941 - May 7, 1998


• James Marshall JIMI Hendrix, musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, innovator, and cultural icon; a self-taught musician, the left-handed Hendrix played a right-handed Fender Stratocaster guitar turned upside down and re-strung; he exploited the sonic tools of feedback and distortion; he was inducted into the U.S. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005; in 2006, Are You Experienced was inducted into the United States National Recording Preservation Board's National Recording Registry; Listen to his music!, November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970


• James L. Avery, Sr., 6'5", classically-trained TV actor, scholar, and voice actor, known for his role as judge Philip Banks, aka Uncle Phil, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 1948


• Jayne Harrison Kennedy, actress, model, and sportscaster, 1951


• James Donald WEXBEE Wetherbee, former astronaut, a veteran of six space shuttle missions, 1952


• Kathryn Bigelow, film director, working in genres like science fiction, action, and horror, 1952


• Daryl Mark Stuermer, musician, who played guitar and bass for Genesis during live shows, and lead guitar for Phil Collins during most of his solo tours, 1952


• Curtis Armstrong, actor and voice actor, who had a recurring role as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting; well known for his role in the movie Revenge of the Nerds, and its film and TV movie sequels, 1953


• Patricia McPherson, actress and wildlife activist, known for her role as Bonnie Barstow on Knight Rider, 1954


• William S. Nye, aka Bill Nye the Science Guy, television host, scientist, and mechanical engineer, 1955


• William BILL Edward Fichtner, character actor, who starred on Invasion as Sheriff Tom Underlay, and now plays Agent Alexander Mahone on Prison Break, 1956


• Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, journalist and author, the daughter and only surviving child of John F. Kennedy, currently the president of the Kennedy Library Foundation, and the chairperson of the American Ballet Theatre, 1957


• Michael Lorri MIKE Scioscia, former MLB catcher, who spent his entire career, 1980-1992, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and current Dodgers' manager' he was named the 2002 AL Manager of Year, 1958
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• Charles CHARLIE Burchill, guitarist, keyboard player, violinist, and composer, a co-founder of Simple Minds, 1959


• Steve Oedekerk, film director, producer, writer, actor, and stand-up comedian, 1961


• Robin Simone Givens, actress, who appeared on The Cosby Show and Diff'rent Strokes; she achieved fame with the role of Darlene Merriman on the sitcom Head of the Class; she performed in New York in the Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues, 1964


• Andy Merrill, voice actor, 1966


• Jaleel Ahmad White, actor and voice actor, who played Steve Urkel on Family Matters, 1976


• James Calvin JIMMY Rollins, MLB shortstop with the Philadelphia Phillies, an NL All-Star in 2001, 2002, and 2005, 1978


• Hilary Hahn, Grammy Award–winning violinist, 1979


• Alison Courtney Pill, film, television and theatre actress, 1985

R.I.P.:

• Guillaume Dufay, composer and music theorist of the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance, August 5, 1397 – November 27, 1474


• Abraham de Moivre, mathematician, developer of de Moivre's formula, which links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory, May 26, 1667 – November 27, 1754


• Andrew Meikle, mechanical engineer credited with inventing the threshing machine; he also invented windmill spring sails, made from a series of shutters that could be operated by levers, allowing windmill sails to be quickly and safely controlled in the event of a storm, 1719 – November 27, 1811


• Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, known for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine; she translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's memoir on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine, appending a set of notes which specified in complete detail a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, recognized by historians as the world's first computer program; on December 10, 1980, her birthday, the U.S. Defense Department approved the reference manual for its new computer programming language, called Ada, December 10, 1815 – November 27, 1852


• Alexandre Dumas, fils, author and playwright, July 27, 1824 – November 27, 1895


• Clement Studebaker, carriage manufacturer; with his brothers, he founded Studebaker, which built wagons, carriages, and automobiles, March 12, 1831 – November 27, 1901


• Amalia Putty, aka Lya De Putti, film actress of the silent era, noted for her portrayal of vamp characters, January 10, 1899 - November 27, 1931


• Evelyn Jarvis, aka Eveleyn Preer, stage and screen actress, and blues singer, July 16, 1896 - November 27, 1932


• Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam, physicist, the main emphasis of whose work was broadly considered theory of oscillations, which included optics and quantum mechanics; he was a co-discoverer of inelastic scattering of light used in Raman spectroscopy, May 4, 1879 - November 27, 1944


• Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, playwright, won several Pulitzer Prizes; awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature, October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953


• Oscar-Arthur Honegger, aka Arthur Honegger, composer, March 10, 1892 – November 27, 1955


• Artur Rodzinski, conductor, Musical Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1929 to 1933, the Cleveland Orchestra from 1933 to 1943, the New York Philharmonic from 1943–1947, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1947 to 1948, January 1, 1892 - November 27, 1958


• Frank Joseph Christian, early jazz trumpeter, started working with bandleader Papa Jack Laine about 1908; formed the Original New Orleans Jazz Band with whom he recorded on cornet in 1918 and 1919; he was originally the leader of the band, but later turned leadership over to the band's pianist, Jimmie Durante, September 3, 1887 - November 27, 1973


• Alan ROSS McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, with his twin brother, Norris, August 12, 1925 – November 27, 1975


• Harvey Bernard Milk, politician and gay rights activist, assassinated in 1978, May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978


• George Richard Moscone, mayor of San Francisco from January, 1976, until his assassination in November 1978, November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978


• Karoline Wilhelmine Blamauer, aka Lotte Lenya, singer and actress, best known for her performance as Jenny in Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, and for other Brecht-Weill plays; she played Rosa Klebb in the movie From Russia with Love, October 18, 1898 – November 27, 1981


• Richmond Reed Carradine, aka Peter Richmond, aka John Carradine, actor, who appeared in ten John Ford productions, including The Grapes of Wrath, portrayed Aaron in The Ten Commandments, did considerable stage work, and appeared on Broadway; he appeared in more than 250 movies, and many television shows; he was the father of actors David Carradine, Robert Carradine, Keith Carradine, and Bruce Carradine, February 5, 1906 - November 27, 1988


• David White, stage, film, and television actor; he playes the role of Larry Tate on Bewitched for the show's entire run, 1964 to 1972, April 4, 1916 - November 27, 1990


• Fernando Lopes-Graça, GOSE, GCIH, composer and musicologist, December 17, 1906 - November 27, 1994


• Barbara Acklin, soul singer, whose biggest hit was Love Makes a Woman, February 28, 1943 - November 27, 1998


• Jocelyn Brando, character actress, who appeared in The Ugly American and The Chase with her brother, Marlon Brando, November 18, 1919 – November 27, 2005


• Joe Jones, R&B singer, songwriter and arranger; as a singer, his greatest hit was You Talk Too Much; he composed many songs, including Iko Iko; he is credited with discovering The Dixie Cups, August 12, 1926 – November 27, 2005