Updated April 22, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
On April 23, 1858, Max Planck, the German Nobel Prize winner who developed the quantum theory, was born. Following his death on Oct. 4, 1947, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1616 The Spanish poet Cervantes died in Madrid. 1789 President-elect George Washington and his wife moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House in New York City. 1791 James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, was born in Franklin County, Pa. 1940 About 200 people died in a dance-hall fire in Natchez, Miss. 1954 Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his 755 major-league home runs in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (Aaron’s career total is second only to Barry Bonds.) 1968 Leftist students at Columbia University in New York City began a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings. 1971 The Rolling Stones album “Sticky Fingers” was released. 1985 The Coca-Cola Co. announced it was changing its secret formula for Coke. (Negative public reaction forced the company to revert to the original version.) 2005 Co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube.com. 2007 Boris Yeltsin, the first freely elected Russian president, died at age 76. 2010 Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation’s toughest illegal immigration measure into law. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Director Michael Moore (“Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Bowling for Columbine”) turns 58 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actress Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time,” “Hot in Cleveland”) turns 52 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer
1928 Shirley Temple Black, Diplomat, former child actress, turns 84 1939 David Birney, Actor, turns 73 1939 Lee Majors, Actor (“The Six Millon Dollar Man”), turns 73 1948 Blair Brown, Actress, turns 64 1949 Joyce DeWitt, Actress (“Three’s Company”), turns 63 1955 Judy Davis, Actress, turns 57 1957 Jan Hooks, Actress (“Saturday Night Live”), turns 55 1961 George Lopez, Actor, turns 51 1967 Melina Kanakaredes, Actress (“CSI: NY”), turns 45 1977 Andruw Jones, Baseball player, turns 35 1977 Kal Penn, Actor (“House M.D.”), turns 35 1983 Daniela Hantuchova, Tennis player, turns 29 1990 Dev Patel, Actor (“Slumdog Millionaire”), turns 22
Historic Birthdays
Max Planck 4/23/1858 – 10/4/1947 German Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1918); originated quantum theory.Go to obituary »
52 William Shakespeare 4/23/1564 – 4/23/1616
English poet and dramatist68 St. Catherine 4/23/1522 – 2/2/1590
Italian Dominican mystic49 Sir William Penn 4/23/1621 – 9/16/1670
English admiral and father of Pennsylvania’s founder76 J.M.W. Turner 4/23/1775 – 12/19/1851
English landscape painter77 James Buchanan 4/23/1791 – 6/1/1868
15th president of the United States (1857-61)79 Sir Frederick Whitaker 4/23/1812 – 12/4/1891
English politician and businessman; prime minister of New Zealand (1863-64,1882-83)48 Stephen Douglas 4/23/1813 – 6/3/1861
American Democratic Party leader78 Vladimir Nabokov 4/23/1899 – 7/2/1977
Russian-born American novelist and critic88 Edwin Markham 4/23/1852 – 3/7/1940
American poet and lecturer61 Johannes Fibiger 4/23/1867 – 1/30/1928
Danish Nobel Prize-winning pathologist (1926)62 Michel Fokine 4/23/1880 – 8/22/1942
Russian ballet dancer and choreographer62 Sergey Prokofiev 4/23/1891 – 3/5/1953
Russian composer75 Lester Pearson 4/23/1897 – 12/27/1972
Canadian statesman; winner of Nobel Prize for Peace (1957) and Canadian Prime Minister (1963-68)58 Roy Halston 4/23/1932 – 3/26/1990
American clothing designer
