Today CCXXVII

Birthdays:

• Niccolò Amati, violin maker, who improved the model adopted by the rest of the Amati family, and produced instruments capable of yielding greater power of tone; among his pupils were Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri, the first of the Guarneri family of violin makers, December 3, 1596 – April 12, 1684


• Ellen Swallow Richards, industrial and environmental chemist, pioneering the field of home economics; she was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its first female instructor, and the first American woman to earn a degree in chemistry, December 3, 1842 — March 30, 1911


• Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, aka Joseph Conrad, novelist, author of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim, among other works, December 3, 1857 – August 3, 1924


• Anton Webern, composer, a member of the so called Second Viennese School; as a student and follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known proponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of pitch, rhythm, and dynamics were formative in the musical style later known as serialism, December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945


• Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn, physicist, awarded the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy, December 3, 1886 - September 26, 1978


• Anna Freud, psychoanalyst, the sixth and last child of Sigmund Freud, December 3, 1895 - October 9, 1982


• Richard Kuhn, biochemist, awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, December 3, 1900 – August 1, 1967


• Nino Rota, composer, best known for his work on film scores, notably The Godfather series, and the films of Federico Fellini, December 3, 1911 – April 10, 1979


• Phyllis Smith Curtin, soprano, 1921


• Robert Howard Daniel BOB Phillips C.M., B.A., LL.D., F.A.I.C., P.Ag., editor and publisher of The Western Producer, Second World War soldier, journalist, research economist, social historian, and writer, December 3, 1921 - May 6, 2006


• Sven Vilhem Nykvist, cinematographer, who worked on over 120 films, and is known especially for his work with director Ingmar Bergman, winning Academy Awards for Best Cinematography for his work on two Bergman films - Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander, December 3, 1922 – September 20, 2006


• Ferlin Husky, country-pop singer, 1925


• Howard Andrew ANDY Williams, pop singer, 1927


• Jean-Luc Godard, filmmaker, a members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French New Wave," 1930


• Mary Margaret "Jaye P." Morgan, retired popular singer and game show panelist, 1931


• Paul Jozef Crutzen, atmospheric chemist, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dr. M. Molina and Dr. F. S. Rowland, 1933


• Viktor Vassilyevich Gorbatko, cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, and Soyuz 37 missions, 1934


• John Michael OZZY Osbourne, lead singer for Black Sabbath, and solo artist, 1948


• Mickey Thomas, singer with Jefferson Starship, after the departure of Marty Balin and Grace Slick, 1949


• Steven Bradford Culp, actor, who had recurring roles as Clayton Webb on JAG and Major Hayes on Star Trek: Enterprise, 1955


• Daryl Christine Hannah, film actress, who played Pris in Blade Runner, the mermaid in Splash, and Elle Driver in Kill Bill, among other roles, 1960


• Julie Anne Smith, aka Julianne Moore, actress, 1960


• Steve J. Harris, actor and voice actor, 1965


• Katarina Witt, figure skater, 1965


• Brendan James Fraser, actor, 1968


• Tracy Armstrong, aka Keegan Connor Tracy, actress, who appeared on Jake 2.0, and Stargate SG-1, 1971


• Holly Marie Combs, actress, who has worked in movies and television series; she played Kimberly Brock on Picket Fences, and Piper Halliwell on Charmed, 1973


• Rainbow Sun Francks, actor and songwriter, who starred in seaon one of Stargate Atlantis as US Marine Lieutenant Aiden Ford - his role was reduced to that of a recurring character since Season 2, 1979


• Anna Chlumsky, actress, who played Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl, and is involved in off-Broadway stage productions, 1980

R.I.P.:

• Carl Zeiss, optician and lens maker, commonly known for the company he founded, September 11, 1816 – December 3, 1888


• Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature; among other works, he wrote Treasure Island, his first major success, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped, November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894


• Pierre-Auguste Renoir, artist, a leading figure in the development of the Impressionist style, February 25, 1841 – December 3, 1919


• Christian August Sinding, composer, January 11, 1856 – December 3, 1941


• Maria Ouspenskaya, actress, who achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films, July 29, 1876 – December 3, 1949


• Carl Heinrich Franz MATHIAS Wieman, stage performer and silent and sound motion picture actor, 23 June 1902 - 3 December 1969


• William Manuel BILL Johnson, jazz musician, considered the father of the "slap" style of upright bass playing, played in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, August 10, 1872 – December 3, 1972


• Emile Joseph Christian, early jazz trombonist and songwriter; he also played cornet and string bass, April 20, 1895 – December 3, 1973


• Walter Marvin Knott, farmer, who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park, December 11, 1889 – December 3, 1981


• Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin, mathematician, working in the fields of topology, geometry, and ergodic theory, August 23, 1919 - December 3, 1984


• Lewis Thomas, physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher, November 25, 1913 - December 3, 1993


• Madeline Kahn, movie, television, and theatre actress, her last role was her recurring role on the sitcom Cosby, September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999


• John Paul Larkin, aka Scatman John, jazz musician, who invented a unique fusion of scat singing and disco; he received 14 gold records and 18 platinum records for his albums and singles, March 13, 1942 — December 3, 1999


• Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn, television and film actor; he had a recurring role as Mark Healy on the sitcom Roseanne, and as Allen Francis Doyle, a half-demon, on Angel, May 28, 1970 - December 3, 2002


• David Hemmings, movie actor and director, who started his career as a boy soprano; his most famous role was the photographer in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup; he also appeared in Barbarella, November 18, 1941 – December 3, 2003


• Shiing-Shen Chern, mathematician, a leading differential geometer, October 26, 1911 – December 3, 2004


• Herbert HERB Moford, MLB right-handed pitcher, who played in four seasons, each with a different team; in 157 1/3 innings, he had a 5-13 record with 78 strikeouts, a 4.05 ERA, and three saves, August 6, 1928 - December 3, 2005