Saturday, December 09, 2006

Today CCXXXIII

Birthdays:

  • Gemma Frisius, aka Reiner Gemma, mathematician, cartographer, and instrument maker, who created globes, improved the mathematical instruments of his day, and applied mathematics in new ways to surveying and navigation, December 9, 1508 - May 25, 1555

  • Adriaan Adriaanszoon, aka Metius, geometer and astronomer, December 9, 1571 - September 6, 1635

  • John Milton, poet, known for such works as his epic poem Paradise Lost, December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674

  • Baldassare Ferri, castrato singer, December 9, 1610 - September 10, 1680

  • Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, aka August Bachmann, physician and botanist, December 9, 1652 – December 20, 1723

  • William Whiston, theologian, historian, translator, and mathematician, December 9, 1667 - August 22, 1752

  • Claude Louis Berthollet, chemist; along with Antoine Lavoisier and others, he devised a chemical nomenclature, which serves as the basis of the modern system of naming chemical compounds; he also carried out research into dyes and bleaches, introducing the use of chlorine as a bleach, and determined the composition of ammonia, December 9, 1748 – November 6, 1822

  • Émile Waldteufel, composer of popular music, waltzes, and polkas, December 9, 1837 – February 12, 1915

  • Emma Abbott, soprano singer, and guitar player, December 9, 1850 – January 5, 1891

  • Fritz Haber, chemist, awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of synthetic ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives, December 9, 1868 – January 29, 1934

  • Joseph James JOE Kelley, MLB left fielder and manager, in 1894, batted .393 with 111 RBI, 165 runs, and 107 walks, for a .502 on base percentage; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943

  • Berton Churchill, actor, December 9, 1876 – October 10, 1940

  • Joaquín Turina, composer of classical music, December 9, 1882 - January 14, 1949

  • Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin, mathematician, noted for his work in descriptive set theory and aspects of mathematical analysis with strong connections to point-set topology, December 9, 1883 – January 28, 1950

  • Clarence Birdseye, fur trader and inventor, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry, December 9, 1886 - October 7, 1956

  • María de la Concepción Supervía Pascual, aka Conchita Supervía, mezzo-soprano singer, December 9, 1895 – March 30, 1936

  • Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold, actress, who appeared on stage, on radio, in films, on television, and in recordings, December 9, 1897 - May 24, 1987

  • Emmett Kelly, circus performer, who began his career as a trapeze artist, and created the clown Weary Willie, based on the hobos of the Depression era, December 9, 1898 – March 28, 1979

  • Carol Dempster, film actress of the silent film era, December 9, 1901 - February 1, 1991

  • Margaret Hamilton, actress, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985

  • Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, naval officer and computer scientist; she was the first programmer of the Mark I Calculator, and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language, December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992

  • Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr., KBE, DSC, actor, December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000

  • William BRODERICK Crawford, actor, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1949 for All the King's Men, December 9, 1911 - April 26, 1986

  • Thomas Phillip TIP O'Neill, Jr. politician, an outspoken liberal Democrat and member of the U.S. Congress, serving in the House of Representatives for 34 years; he was the Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987, December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994

  • Dame Olga Maria ELISABETH Frederike Schwarzkopf DBE, soprano opera singer, known for her performances of Mozart, Strauss, and Hugo Wolf, December 9, 1915 – August 3, 2006

  • Issur Danielovitch Demsky, aka Kirk Douglas, actor and film producer, 1916

  • Leo James Rainwater Ph.D., physicist, who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physics with Aage N. Bohr and Ben R. Mottelson, December 9, 1917 – May 31, 1986

  • William Nunn Lipscomb, Jr., inorganic chemist, working in experimental and theoretical chemistry and biochemistry, awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1919

  • John Elroy Sanford, aka Redd Foxx, comedian best known for his starring role on Sanford and Son, December 9, 1922 - October 11, 1991

  • Nedenia Marjorie Hutton, aka Dina Merrill, actress, 1925

  • Henry Way Kendall, physicist, mountaineer, and photographer, who shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor, December 9, 1926 – February 15, 1999

  • Pierre Henry, composer, a pioneer of the musique concrète genre of electronic music, 1927

  • Dick Van Patten, actor, 1928

  • John Nicholas Cassavetes, actor, screenwriter, and director, December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989

  • Buck Henry Zuckerman, aka Buck Henry, actor, writer, and director, known for his work in television, film, comedy, and satire, 1930

  • Dame Judith Olivia JUDI Dench, CH, DBE, actress, who co-starred as Jean Pargetter on the series As Time Goes By from 1992 to 2002, with her close friend Geoffrey Palmer; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1998 for Shakespeare in Love; she has won several Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actress; in 1995, she took over the role of M in the James Bond film series, 1934

  • Amos Blakemore, aka Junior Wells, blues vocalist and harmonica player, December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998

  • Lloyd Vernet BEAU Bridges III, actor, who plays guitar, and active in handgun control and environmental protection; in January 2005, he was cast as Major General Hank Landry, the new commander of Stargate Command on Stargate SG-1, replacing Richard Dean Anderson's character, also playing the character in four episodes of Stargate Atlantis, 1941

  • Dan Hicks, musician, known for his work with Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, 1941

  • Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, 1950

  • Michael Dorn, actor and director, known for his role as the Klingon Worf in several Star Trek series and movies, 1952

  • John Gavin Malkovich, actor, producer, and director, 1953

  • Donald Clark DONNY Osmond, singer, musician, actor, talk show and game show host, record producer, race car driver, and author, 1957

  • Nicholas More NICK Seymour, bass guitar player, painter, and record producer, known for being the bassist for Crowded House, 1958

  • Juan Milton Samuel, former MLB second baseman, and coach; in October, 2006, he was named the third base coach for the Baltimore Orioles, before which he was a coach with the Detroit Tigers; in a 16-season playing career, he was a .259 hitter, with 161 home runs and 703 RBI in 1720 games, 1960

  • Felicity Huffman, film and television actress, known for her role as Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives and her starring role in the 2005 film Transamerica, 1962

  • Toby Huss actor and voice actor, who has appeared in over thirty-five movies and television series; he is the voice of Cotton Hill and Kahn Souphanousinphone on King of the Hill, 1966

  • Joshua Bell, violinist, who studied as a boy first under Mimi Zweig, and then with Josef Gingold; he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1985 with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, 1967

  • Dave Harold, professional snooker player, the winner of the 1993 Asian Open, 1966

  • Brian Bell, rhythm guitarist for Weezer, 1968

  • Jakob Luke Dylan, lead singer and songwriter for The Wallflowers; he is the son of Bob Dylan , 1969

  • Reiko Aylesworth, actress, known for her work on 24, 1972

  • Christopher Scott CHRIS Booker, MLB pitcher, 1976

  • Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap, singer-songwriter, 1977


R.I.P.:

  • Sir Anthony [Anton] van Dyck, artist and etcher, who became the leading court painter in England, famous for his portraits of royalty, March 22, 1599 – December 9, 1641

  • Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev, mathematician, known for his work in the field of probability, statistics and number theory, May 16, 1821 – December 8, 1894

  • Andrew RUBE Foster, pitcher, manager, and executive in the Negro Leagues; he founded and managed the Chicago American Giants, one of the most successful black baseball teams of the pre-integration era; he organized the Negro National League, the first lasting professional league for black ballplayers; in 1981, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, September 17, 1879 - December 9, 1930

  • Nils Gustaf Dalén, inventor and industrialist, awarded the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on automatic gas regulator controlled buoys, November 30, 1869 – December 9, 1937

  • Wesley BRANCH Rickey, MLB executive known for breaking baseball's colour barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, and drafting the first Hispanic superstar, Roberto Clemente; he created the framework for the modern minor league farm system, December 20, 1881 - December 9, 1965

  • Ralph Johnson Bunche, political scientist and diplomat, received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in Palestine in the late 1940's that led to an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in the region, August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971

  • Louella Rose Oettinger Parsons, gossip columnist, August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972

  • William Augustus Wellman, movie director, February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975

  • Leon Jaworski, lawyer, the Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal, September 19, 1905 - December 9, 1982

  • Mihailo Mazurski, aka Mike Mazurki, actor and professional wrestler, who appeared in over 100 movies, December 25, 1907 - December 9, 1990

  • Vincenzo Scognamiglio, aka Vincent Gardenia, stage, film, and television actor; in 1972, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in The Prisoner of Second Avenue; he is known for his role as Frank Lorenzo, Archie's neighbour on All in the Family, January 7, 1922 – December 9, 1992

  • Archibald Wright, aka Archie Moore, boxer, the World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion, December 13, 1913 or 1916 – December 9, 1998

  • Andrea Absolonová, aka Lea De Mae, model and actress, December 26, 1976 – December 9, 2004

  • Robert Sheckley, author and editor; first published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950's, his numerous stories and novels were unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical; he received the Author Emeritus award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001, July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005

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