May 22
Birthdays:
1982 ~ Apolo Ohno (né Apolo Anton Ohno), American speed skater and eight-time Olympic medalist. He was born in Seattle, Washington.
1979 ~ Maggie Q (née Margaret Denise Quigley), American actress. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1978 ~ Gennifer Goodwin (née Jennifer Michelle Goodwin), American actress best know for her role as Mary Margaret in the television drama Once Upon a Time. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1970 ~ Naomi Campbell (née Naomi Elaine Campbell), British fashion model. She was born in London, England.
1965 ~ Jay Carney (né James Ferguson Carney), White House Press Secretary. He served under President Barack Obama from February 2011 until June 2014. He was born in Washington, D.C.
1954 ~ Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics.
1950 ~ Bernie Taupin (né Bernard John Taupin), English singer-songwriter. He is best known for his collaboration with Elton John.
1943 ~ Betty Williams (née Elizabeth Smyth; d. Mar. 17, 2020), Irish activist and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. She was born and died in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She died at age 76.
1942 ~ Peter J. Gomes (né Peter John Gomes; d. Feb. 28, 2011), African-American gifted preacher who spoke out for tolerance. He was born and died in Boston, Massachusetts. He died at age 68.
1942 ~ Ted Kaczynski (né Theodore John Kaczynski), American mathematician and domestic terrorist. He abandoned his mathematical academic career and turned anarchist and was known as the Unabomber. His bombs killed 3 people and injured several others. In April 1993, he was captured by the FBI. He pled guilty and is serving a life sentence in prison. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1939 ~ Paul Winfield (né Paul Edward Winfield; d. Mar. 7, 2004), African American actor. He was born in Dallas, Texas. He died of a heart attack at age 64 in Los Angeles, California.
1938 ~ Richard Benjamin (né Richard Samuel Benjamin), American actor. He was born in New York, New York.
1936 ~ M. Scott Peck (né Morgan Scott Peck; d. Sept. 25, 2005), American psychiatrist and author. He is best known for his 1978 book, The Road Less Travelled. He was born in New York, New York. He was in poor health and died at age 69 in Warren, Connecticut.
1935 ~ Leonardo Del Vecchio (d. June 27, 2022), Italian tycoon who built an eyeglass empire. He was the founder and chairman of Luxottica, a company that made glasses frames for such brands as Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel. He was born in Milan, Italy. He died a month after his 87th birthday in Segrate, Italy.
1934 ~ Peter Nero (né Bernard Nierow), American conductor and pianist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1933 ~ Chen Jingrun (d. Mar. 19, 1996), Chinese mathematician. He made significant contributions to number theory. He died at age 62 in Beijing, China.
1931 ~ Czesław Olech (d. July 1, 2015), Polish mathematician. He died at age 84 in Warsaw, Poland.
1930 ~ Harvey Milk (d. Nov. 27, 1978), American politician and gay rights activist. He was assassinated in San Francisco, California. He was born in Woodmer, New York. He was 48 at the time of his death.
1928 ~ T. Boone Pickens (né Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr.; d. Sept. 11, 2019), American oilman who became a corporate folk hero. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1908s. He was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He died at age 91 in Dallas, Texas.
1927 ~ Peter Matthiessen (d. Apr. 5, 2014), American author who roamed the wild. He was born in New York, New York. He died of leukemia at age 86 in Sagaponack, New York.
1927 ~ George Andrew Olah (né Oláh György; d. Mar. 8, 2017), Hungarian chemist and recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. He died at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California.
1927 ~ Michael Constantine (né Gus Efstratiou; d. Aug. 31, 2021), American actor. He was born and died in Reading, Pennsylvania. He died at age 94.
1924 ~ Charles Aznavour (né Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian; d. Oct. 1, 2018), French-Armenian chanson master who crooned to the world. He was born in Paris, France. He gave his last concert less than 2 weeks before his death at age 94.
1914 ~ Lipman Bers (d. Oct. 29, 1993), Latvian-born mathematician. He was born in Riga, Latvia. He died at age 79 in New Rochelle, New York.
1914 ~ Vance Parkard (né Vance Oakley Packard; d. Dec. 12, 1996), American journalist, author and social critic. He was born in Granville Summit, Pennsylvania. He died at age 82 in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
1912 ~ Herbert C. Brown (né Herbert Charles Brown; d. Dec. 19, 2004), English chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was born in London, England. He died at age 92 in Lafayette, Indiana.
1910 ~ Johnny Olson (né John Leonard Olson; d. Oct. 12, 1985), American radio host and game show announcer. He was born in Windom, Minnesota. He died at age 75 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Santa Monica, California.
1907 ~ Sir Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier (né Laurence Kerr Olivier; d. July 11, 1989), English actor. He died at age 82.
1905 ~ Bodo von Borries (d. July 17, 1956), German physicist and co-inventor of the electron microscope. He died suddenly at age 51.
1901 ~ Maurice Tobin (né Maurice Joseph Tobin; d. July 19, 1953), 6th United States Secretary of Labor. He served under President Harry S. Truman. He served in that position from August 1948 until January 1953. He had previously served as the 56th Governor of Massachusetts from January 1945 until January 1947. The Mystic River Bridge, now known as the Tobin Bridge, was renamed in his honor. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He died of a heart attack at age 52 in Scituate, Massachusetts.
1900 ~ Marie Poland Fish (née Marie Dennis Poland; d. Feb. 2, 1989), American oceanographer and marine biologist. She is best known for founding the field of marine bioacoustics. She was also instrumental in finding eel eggs in the Sargasso Sea. Her research on underwater sound detection allowed the United States Navy to distinguish between submarines from wildlife. She was born in Paterson, New Jersey. She died at age 88 in Westport, Connecticut.
1859 ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (né Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle; d. July 7, 1930), Scottish physician and writer. He was the creator of Sherlock Holmes. He was born in Edinburg, Scotland. He died at age 71.
1848 ~ Hermann Schubert (né Hermann Cäsar Hannibal Schubert; d. July 20, 1911), German mathematician. He was born in Potsdam, Germany. He died at age 63 in Hamburg, Germany.
1844 ~ Mary Cassatt (née Mary Stevenson Cassatt; d. June 14, 1926), American painter. She was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. She died about 3 weeks after her 82nd birthday near Paris, France.
1813 ~ Richard Wagner (né Wilhelm Richard Wagner; d. Feb. 13, 1883), German composer best known for his series of operas, The Ring Cycle. He died of a heart attack at age 69.
1783 ~ William Sturgeon (d. Dec. 4, 1850), English physicist and inventor of the electric motor. He died at age 67.
1770 ~ Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. Jan. 10, 1840), member of the British royal family. After her 1818 marriage to Frederick VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (1769 ~ 1829), she became the landgravine consort of Hesse-Homburg. She was of the House of Hanover. She was the seventh child of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She died at age 69.
Events that Changed the World:
2017 ~ A suicide bomber killed at least 22 people following an Ariana Grande (b. 1993) concert in Manchester, England. Over 1,000 other individuals were also wounded. Many of the injured were young children. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
2015 ~ The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
2012 ~ The Tokyo, Japan SkyTree opened to the public. At 634 meters, was one of the tallest towers in the world.
2002 ~ A Birmingham, Alabama jury convicted former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry (1930 ~ 2004) of the 1963 murder of four young girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
2002 ~ The remains of Chandra Levy (1977 ~ 2001), were found in a park in Washington, D.C., about a year after her disappearance. She had been involved with a married Congressman, who had initially been implicated with her disappearance and murder. Several years later, a homeless man was arrested and convicted of the murder.
1992 ~ Johnny Carson (1925 ~ 2005) hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show after almost 30 years.
1992 ~ Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia joined the United Nations.
1990 ~ South Yemen and North Yemen became united as the Republic of Yemen.
1980 ~ The arcade game, Pac-Man, was released by Namco in Japan.
1972 ~ Ceylon adopted a new constitution and became a republic. In the process, it changed its name to Sri Lanka.
1962 ~ Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago, Illinois to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed in a clover field after a bomb exploded aboard, killing all 45 crew and passengers. An investigation determined that the cause was a suicide bombing committed as an insurance fraud by a passenger.
1960 ~ A 9.5 magnitude earthquake, called the Great Chilean Earthquake, hit southern Chile. To date it is the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded.
1927 ~ A massive 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Xining, China. Over 200,000 people were killed.
1915 ~ The volcanic Lassen Peak in northern California erupted.
1906 ~ The Wright brothers were granted a patent for their “Flying Machine.”
1872 ~ President Ulysses S. Grant (1822 ~ 1885) signed the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law, thereby restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
1864 ~ After 2 and a half months, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ended in failure.
1863 ~ During the American Civil War, Union troops began the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana. It lasted 48 days and is the longest siege in United States military history.
1856 ~ South Caroline Congressman Preston Brooks (1819 ~ 1857) beat Massachusetts Congressman Charles Sumner (1811 ~ 1874) nearly to death with his cane in the Halls of Congress over the expansion of slavery. Sumner had made a speech attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas. Sumner, who was seated at his desk and was unable to move away, had argued against allowing additional slave States.
1849 ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) was issued a patent for his invention that allowed boats to be lifted over obstacles in a river. He is the only United States President to date to hold a patent.
1846 ~ The Associated Press was established as a non-profit news cooperative.
1843 ~ The first major wagon train departed from Missouri on the Oregon Trail. Over the next few years, thousands of pioneer farmers would head west towards Oregon for farming opportunities.
1819 ~ The SS Savannah left port in Savannah, Georgia to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
1807 ~ Former United States Vice President, Aaron Burr (1756 ~ 1836) was indicted by a grand jury on charges of treason.
1766 ~ An estimated 7.1 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage in Constantinople, Turkey. An estimated 4,000 people were killed by the quake.
1762 ~ The Trevi Fountain in Rome was officially completed. Pope Clemens XIII (1693 ~ 1769) inaugurated the fountain.
1455 ~ At the First Battle of St. Albans, instigating the War of the Roses, Richard, Duke of York (1411 ~ 1460), defeated and captured King Henry VI of England (1421 ~ 1471).
1377 ~ Pope Gregory XI (1329 ~ 1378) issued five papal bulls denouncing the doctrines of John Wycliffe (1320 ~ 1384), an English reformer and theologian.
1370 ~ In the Brussels massacre, several Jews were murdered and the rest of the Jewish community was banished from Brussels.
Good-Byes:
2020 ~ Jerry Sloan (né Gerald Eugene Sloan; b. Mar. 28, 1942), American professional basketball player. He was known as the gritty guard who became a coaching legend. He was the head coach for the Utah Jazz for 23 years. He was born in McLeansboro, Illinois. He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease at age 78 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
2018 ~ Philip Roth (né Philip Milton Roth, b. Mar. 19, 1933), American literary titan who shocked and wowed America. He is best known for his novel Portnoy’s Complaint. He was born in Newark, New York. He died of congestive heart failure at age 85 in Manhattan, New York.
2015 ~ Marques Haynes (b. Mar. 10, 1926), American professional basketball player and Harlem Globetrotter who dazzled with his dribbling. He was born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. He died at age 89 years old in Plano, Texas.
2010 ~ Martin Gardner (b. Oct. 21, 1914), American author, mathematician and puzzlemeister. For 25 years he authored a column in Scientific American. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He died at age 95 in Norman, Oklahoma.
1998 ~ John Derek (né Derek Delevans Harris; b. Aug. 12, 1926), American actor, director and photographer. He was married several times. His last wife was actress Bo Derek. He was born in Hollywood, California. He died at age 71 of cardiovascular disease in Santa Maria, California.
1998 ~ José Enrique Moyal (b. Oct. 1, 1910), Israeli-Australian mathematical physicist and engineer. He was born in Jerusalem. He died at age 87 in Canberra, Australia.
1997 ~ Alfred Hershey (né Alfred Day Hershey; b. Dec. 4, 1908), American biochemist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He did extensive research on bacteriophages. He is best known for showing that DNA is the genetic material of life. He was born in Owosso, Michigan. He died at age 88 in Syosset, New York.
1997 ~ Myrtle Bachelder (b. Mar. 13, 1908), American chemist. She was also an officer in the Women Army Corps. She is best known for her secret work on the Manhattan Project. She was born in Orange, Massachusetts. She died in Chicago, Illinois.
1983 ~ Albert Claude (b. Aug. 24, 1899), Belgian biologist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died at age 83 in Brussels, Belgium.
1974 ~ Irmgard Flügge-Lotz (b. July 16, 1903), German mathematician. She is best known for her work in aerodynamics. She was born in Hamelin, Germany. She died at age 70 in Palo Alto, California.
1967 ~ Langston Hughes (né James Mercer Langston Hughes; b. Feb. 1, 1902), American poet. He was born in Joplin, Missour. He died at age 65 following complications of surgery in New York, New York.
1967 ~ Josip Plemelj (b. Dec. 11, 1873), Slovenian mathematician. He died at age 93.
1949 ~ James Forrestal (né James Vincent Forrestal; b. Feb. 15, 1892), 1st United States Secretary of Defense. He served under President Harry S Truman from September 1947 until March 1949. He was also the last cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy, a position he held from May 1944 until September 1947. He was born in Matteawan, New York. He died in Bethesda, Maryland at age 57 from a fall, which may have been a suicide.
1910 ~ Jules Renard (né Pierre-Jules Renard; b. Feb. 22, 1864), French author. He died of arteriosclerosis at age 46 in Paris, France.
1898 ~ Edward Bellamy (b. Mar. 26, 1850), American author, socialist and utopian visionary. He is best known for his novel Looking Backwards. He was born and died in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He died at age 48 of tuberculosis.
1885 ~ Victor Hugo (né Victor Marie Hugo; b. Feb. 26, 1802), French novelist best known for his novels Les Misérablesand The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He died at age 83 in Paris, France.
1868 ~ Julius Plücker (b. June 16, 1801), German mathematician. He died 24 days before his 67th birthday.
1859 ~ Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies (b. Jan. 12, 1810). He ruled from November 1830 until his death in 1859. He was married twice. His first wife was Maria Cristina of Savoy (1812 ~ 1836). They married in 1832. She died of complications of childbirth at age 23. His second wife was Maria Theresa of Austria (1816 ~ 1867). They married in 1837. He was of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He was the son of Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabella of Spain. He was Roman Catholic. He died at age 49.
1851 ~ Mordecai Manuel Noah (b. July 14, 1785), Jewish-American writer, playwright, and journalist. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 65 in New York, New York.
1849 ~ Maria Edgeworth (b. Jan. 1, 1768), Anglo-Irish writer and women’s rights advocate. She died at age 81.
1802 ~ Martha Washington (née Martha Dandridge; b. June 13, 1731), 1st First Lady and wife of President George Washington. She was the widow of Daniel Custis when she married George Washington. She had several children from her first marriage. She and George Washington had no children. The Julian calendar notes her birthday as occurring on June 2, 1731. She was born in Chestnut Grove, Virginia, British America. She died about 3 weeks before her 71stbirthday at Mount Vernon, Virginia.
1760 ~ Israel ben Eliezer (b. 1700), Polish rabbi. He was also known as the Baal Shem Tov. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to be about 60 at the time of his death.
1667 ~ Pope Alexander VII (né Fabio Chigi; b. Feb. 13, 1599). He was Pope from April 1655 until his death 12 years later. He died at age 68.
1666 ~ Gaspar Schott (b. Feb. 5, 1608), German mathematician and Jesuit priest. He died at age 66.
1602 ~ Renata of Lorraine (b. Apr. 20, 1544), Duchess consort of Bavaria and wife of William V, Duke of Bavaria (1548 ~ 1626). They married in 1568. She was of the House of Lorraine. She was the daughter of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine and Princess Christina of Denmark. She was the granddaughter of Christian II, King of Denmark. She was Roman Catholic. She died about a month after her 58th birthday.
1409 ~ Princess Blanche of England (b. Spring 1392), member of the British royal family. In 1402, she married Louis III, Elector of Palatine (1378 ~ 1436). She was of the House of Lancaster. She was the daughter of Henry IV, King of England and his first wife, Mary de Bohun. The exact date of her birth is not known. She died of complications of childbirth at age 17.
1067 ~ Constantine X (b. 1006), Byzantine Emperor. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 61 years old at the time of his death.
337 ~ Constantine the Great (b. Feb. 27, 272), Roman emperor. He reigned the Roman Empire from July 306 until October 312. Tradition holds that he was born on February 27. He is believed to have died at age 65.
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